It was a castle, an actual castle. At least that was Merlin's first thought upon arriving to the house. It had to be on the biggest plot of land in London. Having lived in Ireland for all of his life, Merlin knew the living conditions were quite tight in the city. And although this property did look old, it appeared as if every few years it was touched up until it was shining again.

Merlin's father's house had been quite small, only two bedrooms, Merlin couldn't even guess how many bedrooms there were in this place. His father's house, or he supposed Merlin's childhood home, was comfy though, and homey. This was not. But he had his own bedroom, be it much larger than Merlin had ever had before, and that's all that really matter to him. Besides, Uther had a daughter named Morgana, a year older than Merlin. He was excited for that, he had never had any siblings growing up, although shy as Merlin was, he hoped to get to know her better.

Uther, being Merlin's mother's fiancé. Though, he preferred boyfriend, or old man friend...as they, in his opinion, were rushing things much too fast. Merlin's father had only died three months before this, and his mother's visa was running out. Hunith, Merlin's mother, was from the Ukraine, even though Merlin was born and raised, with his father, in Ireland. She had gotten pregnant with Merlin on a holiday, and feeling as if she was trying to trap him, Merlin's father refused to marry her, but agreed to take Merlin. So, when he got sick, she came back and when he died, instead of taking Merlin back to the Ukraine with her, they traveled to London. Enter Uther Pendragon. They barely dated before Hunith was talking about marriage and Merlin wondered how he could be so stupid to believe she really loved him and wasn't just marrying him to stay here.

Merlin wasn't stupid enough to believe it, it was the same thing she did to his father. She always seemed to forget anymore, that she didn't raise Merlin, maybe Uther didn't know that, but when they sat down for dinner every day, and sometimes even in the formal dinning room, which was huge, with vast ceilings that looked up to the second floor. She always told stories of Merlin as a baby, that must be made up, because Merlin had only met her three times before his father got sick.

Yes, Merlin was sort of painting his mother in a bad light, but Uther wasn't much better himself. He got angry easy, especially with his daughter, Morgana, and sometimes Hunith too, when she didn't like certain things he suggested about the wedding. Like once he suggested they just get married quick, as this would be his third and that was rather embarrassing for him. Hunith got rather upset, as this would be her first wedding, and maybe Merlin could understand both sides of that argument, but it was the nasty things they said once angry that he couldn't agree with. Uther also seemed to get angry when Merlin didn't talk, he didn't seem to understand that Merlin was shy and he didn't really know him. Once he had even caught Uther yelling at his mother for it, and Hunith made excuses, but truth being that she barely knew Merlin herself, they were all the wrong ones.

Morgana, whom had been listening in too, told Merlin not to worry about it, because soon enough they would both be of age and could move out. Merlin didn't really see that as a possibility just yet, as he was only fifteen.

Morgana wasn't Uther's only child either, He had a son and an Ex-step daughter he spoke darkly of. His son though, Arthur, he seemed very found of him, as he constantly reminded Merlin that he was going to become a professional footballer, and suggested Merlin follow in a similar path. Or maybe a lawyer or a doctor, Merlin was interested in none of that. He had yet to meet Arthur, but from what Uther said about him, Merlin wasn't much of a fan. "When Arthur was in school, he would crush bullies, no one messed with my son and got away with it," said Uther, once when Hunith informed him Merlin was being harassed by students at his new school. "Arthur isn't all skill, he is smart too, he could easily beat you at Chess...with his eyes closed," he said as he demanded to teach Merlin Chess one day. "Arthur can be quite violent, he once punched me when I tried to reprimand him," Uther said, having had just punched a wall out of anger.

What Merlin was gathering here, was Uther and his son were both bullies and Merlin mostly just wanted to be left alone and get on with life. He wasn't going to lie though, he was a little scared to meet Arthur, what if he was worse, if that was possible, than what Uther was saying? Merlin didn't think he could take two Uthers, he didn't even want one...

But the day was upon him, it was November, winter break was starting at Arthur's Uni and he was expected home that afternoon. Merlin wondered if Uther had told him about Merlin at all, did he even know Merlin was there, would he even care?

Merlin was sat at the breakfast nook, a still very large table, but smaller than the dining room table, in the kitchen, eating his jam on toast and trying not to think about the school day that was ahead of him. Uther and Hunith were taking around the corner, in the kitchen part of the kitchen, they had walked over there to speak privately, but spoke perfectly clear, as if forgetting Merlin was even there.

"I'm telling you, Uther," she was saying. "I haven't felt this way since I was pregnant with Merlin, bloated, nauseous, it might be possible...?"

"I have already told you, the doctor said my vasectomy is irreversible, I already tried with my last wife," said Uther, with a hint of annoyance. He got annoyed very easily though, so that wasn't surprising. "If you're really pregnant, than I am going to assume you're stepping out of our relationship."

"You know I would never cheat, Uther..." said Hunith, sounding a little scared now. "Maybe it's gas..."

"Yes," said Uther, but then the sounds of Hunith forcing herself to cry could be heard and then a loud sigh, which was probably from Uther. "Come now, Hunith, don't cry. I know you want a baby, but what am I to do?"

"I just want something that is ours, is that so bad? I missed...I miss being a mother," she cried out. "There are other ways to have a baby, Uther."

"Like what?"

"Adoption...using another persons sperm."

"Oh...no, no," said Uther, frankly. "If it's going to have the Pendragon name, it will have my sperm or no sperm at all."

As fun as it was to listen to someone say sperm as you were eating, Merlin ducked out, neither seemed to notice as he dropped off his plate in the sink and said goodbye. Merlin's day at school wasn't so bad today, Gwen, the only girl who even bothered talking to Merlin at this school sat with him for lunch for the very first time.

"That's new," said Merlin, as she sat down across from him, but she did look a little harassed.

"Oh, this bitch is mad at me," said Gwen, looking over her shoulder at a blond girl she normally always sat with, named Vivian. "She says I made out with her boyfriend."

"Why would she say that?"

"Because she saw us," grinned Gwen. "But still, how dare she accuse me!"

Merlin would never understand girls. He did wonder about something though. "Aren't you engaged?"

"Yes, but Lance is off at Uni probably doing the same thing," she rolled her eyes. Merlin frowned, he remembered her telling him last week that she had been engaged since she was fourteen. He didn't really expect them to work out, once this Lance came back and found out his girlfriend was a-

"SLUT!" yelled Vivian, as she walked passed, Gwen held up her middle finger at her, until she was out of sight. Merlin, being a nice, respectable virgin, how did he manage to attract such people?

When he arrived home he rushed up to his room, mostly just afraid he would run into Arthur before dinner and he didn't think he could manage to deal with it today, he had already spent the last forty-five minutes walking Gwen home and explaining how she wasn't a trifling whore, even though they both knew she was. He checked his phone, as he swore he had felt it vibrate at one point while talking, though it was rude to read a text while comforting someone. He was alone now. but alas, it was only Pokemon-Go, he really needed to delete that app. He sighed, it had only been a month since leaving Ireland and already his one and only best friend was leaving him on read. Was he really that forgettable?

He couldn't find it in him to do his homework, he only laid in his bed and wondered if he should text Will again, was he being too needy? Maybe Will was busy? Merlin knew that wasn't true though, all Will did was sit on his backside and play video games, clearly that was more important than Merlin. Apparently most things were...

(A/N: Okay, woo...New story time, I haven't posted anything in like actual years. And honestly, to be perfectly honest, I'm a little scared to post it now. I've been NOT posting this for so long. I think I've been writing it for almost a month now, so I have like 15 chapters of this story written, it's not anywhere to being close to done yet. but I'm getting into the good stuff right now, let me tell ya. But I know me, and this is why I've been so scared to post it. Because, basically, if I post it and I don't feel like anyone likes it, or it doesn't get 'views' or whatever, I'm going to be like WELL WTF IS THE POINT? And I'm going to stop writing it and I really don't want to do that, I love this story so much, I've done so much research for this story. I've put just as much effort into this story as I would a non fan fiction story. Like, I even bult their house so I would know exactly how it was laid out, so it can be correct. This would not be the only story connected to it, I have at least two sequels that I can write for this, like...I am so invested, and it's so nice because I haven't felt that way about a story in a long time. There are a few characters I just love so much, like I've put a lot of my own life experiences into this story, and that's why I'm so scared to post it, and I told myself I would post the first chapter on May 1st and I didn't because I was scared, but I have to now, because I want to share it and hope people like it.

Okay, so obviously I don't own anything, and I hope you enjoyed reading the first chapter. And I have so many chapters written, I pretty much write two chapters a night, or at least I try to, so if people like this and want to see more I can post at least two or three times a week, at least until quarantine ends for me. ;p)