A/N:
To readers in general: Hi there! This story was written for my beloved friend Amiri. It's an Alternate Universe story for the Arthur/Merlin pairing. Which means, yes, this will be a yaoi story (eventually). If you're not into yaoi, you should not be here reading this. Anyone who doesn't like m/m pairings and feels the need to flame the story will be, at best, ignored and at worst….well, we'll see. XD. Regular constructive criticism, however, is very welcome. :D Also, just to warn anyone else who may read this, this will most likely be a cheesy story. It'll be hard to avoid it when I'm writing Merlin AU at a boarding school. XD Also, since it is AU, some characters'll be out of character and such. Basically, I'm taking liberties. Don't kill me. XD.
To Amiri: I hope you like it, it's a big first for me. First Merlin fic, first yaoi fic, first AU fic….jeez. All this to make you happy. : D. I think I'll make it into a whole story, too. So it's a long extended gift, I suppose. XD. In any case, like I said before, cheesy. I know how much you like cheesy stories, so I assume you won't mind. XD Do make sure to review though, because otherwise I'll never know if you like it or not. And since it's a story for you, it's important that you like it, ne?
Merlin unpacked his bags, already feeling horribly out of place. Camelot Academy was for knights and nobles, not peasants. But he hadn't had much of a choice in the matter. His mother had sent him to the Academy out of necessity. First of all, his magic. The Academy was the only place in the kingdom where a person could possess and use magic without being killed on sight. It still wasn't advisable to flaunt it, of course. Magicians were loathed by the upper-class nobility, who took every opportunity to 'put them in their place'. Secondly, his uncle Gaius was the Academy…nurse, so to speak. Gaius had managed to get Merlin enrolled, despite his being a peasant with no noble blood.
Which was going to cause him no end of grief, he knew. Even the other magicians in the school, few though they were, were of noble blood. He was the only non-noble to be enrolled. Ever.
And he'd already been singled out for it.
He'd arrived on horseback an hour ago, and had gone to the stables to get his horse settled in. And had run into a duke's son. Ilvelt, he'd said his name was, the youngest son of Duke Marlain, who ruled somewhere far away.
"Well, if it isn't the peasant trash. I'd heard a rumor a piece of filth was going to enroll. I was hoping it was just a lot of rubbish." The young man sneered.
Merlin bit back his retort, and instead made sure his mare was comfortable in her stall, checking her feed bag.
"Did you not hear me?" The man demanded.
"I heard you."
"And?"
Merlin turned to face the noble, putting on a smile that more often than not provoked anger rather appeasement. "I'm unimpressed."
"Oh?"
"I was rather hoping that such a well-talked about academy would have students who were a little smarter."
"Are you calling me stupid?" The noble asked dangerously, advancing on him.
"No."
Ilvelt's eyes narrowed. "It sounded like you were."
"No it didn't."
"It didn't?"
"No."
The next ten minutes had been spent with Ilvelt detailing the various ways he would pummel Merlin if the younger man talked back to him again. Merlin didn't think his threats of throwing him down a well or tossing him into a dung heap particularly creative, but nevertheless wanted to avoid such spectacles. As a result he'd managed to put on a submissive face and nod convincingly enough to get Ilvelt to leave him alone. For the time being, anyway.
And now he stood in his room. It was extremely small, but still more than he'd had at home in his village. Bed, bookcase, dresser, cabinet. There was even a small desk crammed into the corner.
Everything a student needs, he mused. Pity the school's full of arrogant jerks.
He finished unpacking his few belongings, and went to find the dining hall. It was late afternoon and Saturday, so they'd still be serving lunch.
He couldn't help but notice the looks the other students gave him as he walked through the halls. Who is this street-rat? The looks said. Who is he to be here with us?
After sitting down in the banquet hall with his lunch (a stew and some bread) he saw a strange spectacle. A boy who seemed to be around his age was being harassed by some other students. The boy had dark shoulder-length hair and lightly tanned skin. He was dressed like nobility, but his clothes were frayed at the edegs, like they'd seen better days.
"Who is that boy?" Merlin asked, leaning over to talk to a student further down the table.
The student looked up. "Who?"
Merlin pointed.
"Oh. Him." The student frowned. "Marlet Dorvain. Poor kid. They're always hassling him. Arthur and his crew are, I mean" He pointed to a tall golden-haired boy who was standing back a bit, but smirking.
"Arthur?" Merlin repeated.
He nodded. "He's the king's son, which is why no ones dares stop him." He stabbed at his lunch. "He's nothing but a bully."
"Hm." Merlin stood up.
"Hey. Where are you going?"
"Over there."
His eyes widened. "You did hear the part about him being royal, right?"
"Yeah."
"So you realize that if you even go near him looking funny you're in trouble."
"Yeah."
The student looked at him carefully. "What did you say your name was?"
"I didn't say. But it's Merlin." The young magician smiled. "And yours?"
"Lancelot."
"Nice to meet you Lancelot. See you later."
Ignoring Lancelot's calls after him, he approached the knot of people surrounding poor Marlet. He grabbed a piece of fruit from another student's plate as he walked, and lobbed it at the golden haired boy. It hit him in the back of the head, and he spun around.
"Ah," he said, noticing Merlin. "Someone who thinks he's clever." He walked forward. "You do know who I am, don't you?"
Merlin nodded. "A prat."
"What?"
"Royal prat." he amended.
Arthir gave a strained chuckle and stepped forward.
An hour later, Merlin was released from the infirmary covered in bruises. His uncle Gaius tried to get him to stay overnight, but he wasn't having any of it. He left as soon as he could, motivated more than a little bit by the threats he'd received from two of Arthur's lackey's following his thumping. He heaved a deep sigh and headed for his room.
"I did warn you."
Merlin turned, and saw Lancelot leaning against the wall. "Warn me?"
"Arthur is the king's son." Lancelot said, pushing off from the wall. "You didn't stand a chance."
"Yet another vote of confidence. Thank you." Merlin walked past him.
Lancelot followed. "All I'm saying is that you should have known better."
"Yeah, maybe."
"Maybe?" Lancelot repeated, shooting him in incredulous look. "You get beaten black and blue, and all you can muster up is a 'maybe'"?
Merlin shrugged. "Is there something you want? Why are you talking to me anyway? You're a noble."
"No."
Merlin stopped walking. "What?"
"I'm not a noble. And neither are you."
"Yeah. The farmer clothing kind of gives it away. But you…you're…" The magician waved a hand at Lancelot's fine clothing.
"I'm here under….false pretenses."
"Huh. And why are you telling me this?"
"Because you asked."
"No I didn't"
Lancelot rolled his eyes. "Not in so many words, no, but you were curious."
"Mm." Merlin continued walking.
Once again Lancelot followed after. "So…"
"So."
"You're new here."
Now Merlin rolled his eyes. "You're really on top of things, aren't you?"
"I try."
"You never told me what you wanted," Merlin noticed.
"I don't want anything."
"Everyone wants something."
"Yes, I suppose that's true. But I don't want anything particular at the moment. Just a friend."
"Friend?" Merlin repeated, glancing at the other young man from the corner of his eye.
Lancelot noticed the look, and openly grinned. "Yes. And you could use one as well, seeing as how you're picking fights with Arthur."
"I didn't pick a fight." Merlin grumbled.
"You threw fruit at him."
Merlin just shrugged. "So I threw fruit. There's no rule that says you need to beat the tar out of someone who messes up your hair."
"You're going to make things very interesting around here." Lancelot observed.
"The fun's only just starting." Merlin answered.
A/N: Well, how was it? Terrible, I know. But I did my very best, and it was written with love. XD.
It is going to be a full-length ongoing story, and I'll probably update it about every week or so? So chapter length'll probably vary. Also, any ideas as to how to work in the other characters would be nice. Because as we all know, Merlin has a bucketload of characters. XD.
Reviews, please! (But none that tell me how much this story sucks. Because I already know that. Even my author's notes are exceptionally cruddy. XD.)