Lizlulu, Chrisybee, and I would like to thank everyone who favorited, reviewed, and followed our previous story "Merlin Holmes"! You guys are the best! This story is very much a work in progress and updates might be a little slow, but we will try our very best to update regularly. Enjoy, and please review!

Merlin adjusted his tie in the mirror. Satisfied with how he looked, Merlin grabbed his school bag and quietly left his bedroom so he didn't wake up Sherlock, not that he couldn't have woken his brother up already tripping over himself trying to put his socks on. John was already sitting at the kitchen table dressed for work at the clinic.

"Is he still asleep?" John asked as Merlin grabbed a scone off the kitchen counter and looked in the refrigerator for milk.

"No, well maybe. Last night I couldn't find my socks and this morning they were laid out with the rest of my clothes."

John smiled at the thought of Sherlock waking up in the middle of the night to make sure Merlin had everything he needed for his first day at a new school. "You've got your inhaler, right?"

Merlin nodded as he, unable to find any milk, poured himself a glass of water. "My asthma's not actually that bad." 'It's only when the criminally insane shove mystery liquids down my throat that it gets to be a real problem.' His hands shook slightly as he tried to get that face out of his head. John watched Merlin closely but said nothing, Merlin had been having these little panic attacks throughout the winter break but they had gotten better and less frequent. Merlin checked his watch and then headed out the door. "Have a good day John."

"Thanks you too."

"Tell Sherlock to get some milk would you?"

The bus ride was fast, and too soon Merlin was faced with the campus of Westminster. It was a beautiful school, all towers and old architecture. It rather looked like a castle.

Merlin entered the school, went to the front desk, and asked where the headmaster's office might be found. The lady pointed him in the right direction and Merlin fought his way through the crowds of busy students to the headmaster's office. When Merlin first entered the office he thought he was going crazy, Headmaster Gatiss, according to his name plate, looked exactly like Mycroft. It was creepy. Merlin did his best to shake off his shock as Mr. Gatiss smiled and gestured his to sit down in the chair opposite his desk.

"Welcome to Westminster, Merlin, how are you liking it so far?" Mr. Gatiss asked.

"I haven't seen that much of it yet, sir." Merlin answered.

"Well school's just started hasn't it? Before you start your day I'd like to give you a quick rundown of our rules and regulations here at Westminster and then send you off to Mr. Gaius, our student counselor. How does that sound?" Without even waiting for an answer Mr. Gatiss started in on the rules and regulations, even though a copy of them had been sent to Merlin's home over break and he and already read it. Once the headmaster was finished with reading the school rule book out-loud to Merlin, he walked Merlin to the school counselor's office and told him to have a good day.

Headmaster Gatiss walked Merlin into the counselor's office, bid him a good day and left. Merlin stood awkwardly in the empty room for a few moments then sat down on the chair opposite the large comfy one Merlin supposed belonged to Mr. Gaius. Within seconds of sitting down the office down banged open and Merlin, jumping, nearly knocking off some of the papers piled haphazardly on the counselor's desk.

"Who are you?" Mr. Gaius asked, as if Merlin was an unwelcome intruder.

"I'm Merlin, the new transfer student." Merlin explained.

"Merlin's supposed to be here on Wednesday."

"Today is Wednesday."

"Ah, right then. Well let's look at your manuscripts from Ealdor Academy." Mr. Gaius said puling a few sheets of paper out of the massive pile on his desk until he found the right one. "Well your grades are good, outstanding actually. If I may make a suggestion, transferring schools in the middle of the year can have a negative connotation on your University application so maybe you could join an extra-curricular activity."

"I was thinking about joining the football team." Merlin said.

Mr. Gaius looked surprised, "Well, I was thinking more along the lines of our gardening club or synchronized swimming team." Gaius said.

"I have more muscle on me than one would think, I have all kinds of hidden talents that everyone seems to overlook." Merlin got a little defensive.

Mr. Gaius rolled his eyes and the meeting continued without another dispute over Merlin's schedule.

Merlin felt good about how big the school is; surely in a school with this many students making friends will be a piece of cake.

Yet again, Merlin was sorely mistaken, because Merlin was just always wrong, wasn't he. It was approaching lunch time and Merlin was just sitting in his class ruminating on his awful first day. It wasn't even half over yet and Merlin had been shoved around in the hallways, pointed in the wrong direction after he was already hopelessly lost (his sense of direction sucked), and had a run-in with a blond haired, blue eyed jerk. Merlin could just tell by his cocky stride, the arrogant smirk that this guy would cause trouble. Merlin tried to be nice at first when he saw that he was teasing a smaller kid, only to be mocked and shoved into the girl's bathroom. At least he knew one guy to steer clear of. The bell ringing startled him out of his musing (not sulking) and he scrambled to gather his stuff as he followed the flow of traffic to a huge cafeteria. Having yet to meet anyone he would want to talk to, he took his solitary seat in a corner of the room; at least the food was good.

"Hi," said a sweet looking girl with a small purple flower in her dark brown hair and latte skin as she put her tray down next to him "I'm Gwen, and this is my friend Freya. We thought you might be new here, and we wanted to sit with you. I mean, if that would be ok? I didn't mean that you didn't have friends, you just looked lonely. Not that you're lonely or anything! I just meant that, well of course you would sit alone if it's your first day and all…" as she went on she just got more and more flustered. Her blushing and blathering strangely put Merlin more at ease, so he took mercy on her.

"Yeah, I'd love if you guys joined me." As they sat down Merlin noticed the much shyer, quitter looking girl who sat down across from him. She seemed nice, with pale skin, slightly wavy black hair, and a small smile like an innocent lamb. Merlin grinned at her as he introduced himself, "My name's, Merlin Holmes, it's nice to meet you two."

"So how is you're first day going, are you thinking of joining any clubs?" Gwen asked sounding like she actually wanted an answer, unlike the headmaster.

"Actually I was thinking of joining the football team."

Both Gwen and Freya looked surprised, Gwen recovered the quickest, "Did you play before?"

"No."

"Do you have any equipment?"

"No." Merlin was starting to feel stupid.

"Oh, well my brother, Elyan, plays on the football team now. I could probably give you his old football things, he won't care."

"Are you two in any clubs?"

"Well I'm in the garden club," Merlin made a mental note never to snub the garden club in front of Gwen, "and Freya's on the swim team, she's pretty good too."

"I'm not that good." Freya said, blushing.

"Wait, synchronized swimming?" Merlin asked.

"No, normal swim team, the synchronized swim team is for toffs."

Merlin laughed, glad his day had gotten better.

Merlin walked to Mr. Leon's office with confidence, or as much as he could muster. He had already had Mr. Leon's history class and knew he was a nice guy but was still nervous about asking to be on the team. When Merlin walked into the room Mr. Leon and the blonde haired git where talked about something at Mr. Leon's desk. Mr. Leon looked up from their conversation, "Merlin, do you have any questions about class today?"

"No, I was wondering, I know that the football team plays year-round, is it too late for me to try out?"

Mr. Leon and Blondie's faces showed as much shock as Freya, Gwen, and Mr. Gaius' did. Then Blondie smirked, "You missed the girl's tryout's better luck next year."

"Arthur, shut-up." Mr. Leon said not looking at the Blondie, who was apparently called Arthur. "Mr. Gaius said that you might be interested in this but he also mentioned that you suffered from asthma."

Merlin's face hardened and became determined. "My asthma isn't that bad, not unless I run too much." Unless-stop it, Merlin was never afraid of his asthma before Moriarty, but he realized that he needed a way to over-come his fear and there was no other way for Merlin to do things than to face it head on.

"Good thing there's no running in football." Arthur said.

"One more word and I will send you out into the hall like a preschooler, Arthur." Mr. Leon said sternly. "I have no problem with you being on the team, I just want you to know what you're in for. You'd probably be an alternate anyway."

"Alternate?" Merlin asked.

"We have too many players for one team and not enough for two so we have a few alternate players. You would just be bench-warming though you can double up as a manager."

"We are in need of a water boy." Arthur suggested mock helpfully, Mr. Leon ignored him.

"I'm still interested in being on the team, whatever my place will be."

"I'll schedule a tryout right after school for you tomorrow than if you want."

"That sounds great thanks."

Merlin dragged himself through the school hallways everything hurt, muscles he didn't even know he had hurt. It had been three days since his first day at Westminster and one since his football tryout. Since then Merlin had been to one grueling football practice. The only good news was that he had yet to have an asthma attack on the football field and somebody, probably Sherlock, had snuck heating pads onto his desk that helped him relax.

"Hey, Merlin!" Someone shouted. Merlin turned around to see Gwaine running down the hallway towards him. Gwaine slapped Merlin on the back (why anyone would think this was a proper way to say hello was beyond Merlin) and Merlin bit back a groan. "Great job at practice yesterday, that dive was awesome." Merlin didn't think that Gwaine needed to know that he had fallen over while, flailing, trying to get a bug out of his face. "Anyways, Coach wants to see you in his office."

"Thanks Gwaine." Merlin said, looking mournfully down the hallway to Mr. Leon's office. He had just made his painful trek all the way here and now he would have to go back. Nobody had mentioned this when he had first wanted to try out.

When Merlin appeared in Mr. Leon's office he saw that once again he and Arthur where already there. Merlin stood silently in the corner waiting until they finished their conversation. Arthur had continued making snide remarks all through his tryout and first practice, Merlin wasn't about to start giving him any real ammunition to hate him.

"Merlin, just the man I was looking for." Mr. Leon said looking up from his conversation with Arthur.

"Gwaine said you were looking for me."

"Merlin as a teacher I have access to students grades and I noticed that you have very good ones. Arthur is in danger of falling beneath the standard set for student athletes here at Westminster. So what do you say Merlin can you help the team out, tutor Arthur in English and History."

Merlin froze. This is the last thing he was expecting. Between the pleading look on coach's face that clearly said he was at the end of his rope and the enraged look on Arthur's Merlin was at a loss as to what to say. Then the words came out of his mouth without his permission, "Sure coach, anything for the team."

Later that day, laying on his bed, in 221B Baker Street Merlin kicked himself, clearly he had no idea what he was thinking.