Be Warm Inside and Out

 

“Come on, Dad –just do this as a favor to me,” Arthur Pendragon, son to the big business tycoon Uther Pendragon, was doing his best to give his father puppy eyes he’d grown out of years ago –all for the sake of his best friend he was pleading on behalf for.

 

Not that Merlin knew he was.

 

Uther rolled his eyes, turning from his son to focus on his breakfast. He knew it would irritate Arthur, so he made especially sure to chew slowly. But while he let his son stew in his frustration, he took the time to think about his son’s request.

 

Cooperative education was upon his son’s class. Arthur was being placed with The Los Angeles Times, and while he knew Arthur would have preferred something to do with sports, Arthur said he’d bear it. So his request had nothing to do with himself.

 

No, Arthur was instead asking Uther to request his best friend for the assignment. One Marilyn Amber, nicknamed Merlin.

 

Uther’s never met the girl before. Despite Arthur and Morgana (and even little Gwen) having been friends with the girl for a long time now, he has yet to come face to face with the illusive Merlin. He’d highly disapproved of his children’s friendship with the girl, considering her lower class status, but they refused to listen to him and stop associating with the girl. So he put up with it, and because he kept himself busy with work and didn’t care enough to meet her, he never found time or did meet with the girl his family seemed enamored with.

 

“I’ll think about it, Arthur,” Uther sighed. “But she better be a hard worker.”

 

Arthur practically beamed at him. “Of course, Dad. You wouldn’t regret it! I’ll see you after practice today.”

 

And then his son was off and he was left to ponder his decision over his breakfast.

 

Meanwhile, the girl in question cursed under her breath as she stumbled around her home, getting ready for school. Afterwards, she darted out of her house after locking it, found her bike and unchained it, and then started peddling like a bat out of hell towards school.

 

“I’m late!”

 

Her dark hair flew behind her and she held her paper bag lunch in her mouth as she rode her bike as fast as she could. If there was one thing she knew, it was that if she hurried her ass up, she could reach school in record time. Of course, her legs would be burning and she’d probably collapse in homeroom…but she wouldn’t be late at least.

 

Once there, she hurriedly dumped her bike to the ground, searched for the bike’s chain in her backpack and quickly locked it, and then ran into the building and searched for her room.

 

Sliding into it with a minute to waste, she managed to find her seat and sit down just as the last bell rang. No one paid her any mind, and she didn’t pay anyone else attention in return.

 

She wasn’t under any illusions. She was a charity case. The only reason she was attention St. Albion Private Academy was because she was friends with Arthur and Morgana Pendragon. In middle school, when the two were in a phase where they’d wanted to go to a “normal” school with “normal” kids, they attended a public school where they both met her and became very good friends. Their friendship lasted and stayed strong the entire time, so much so that when the two rich kids decided they’d go back to attending expensive private schools, she was dragged along. Her tuition was currently being paid by their father, through the insistent desire of his children.

 

But she made damn sure to get good grades that were hard-earned and would prove she was smarter, or at least as smart, as any rich kid going to St. Albion’s.

 

Merlin sighed, waiting for the teacher to come and for them to get started with the day.

 

“Hi,” someone to her left whispered.

 

Blinking in surprise, she turned to see who it was and didn’t recognize the fellow.

 

“Hi,” he repeated. “I’m Gwaine.”

 

Smiling awkwardly, inwardly happy that she might finally make a friend out of someone, she introduced herself.

 

“I’m Merlin,” she whispered back.

 

“Like the wizard?” he grinned at her.

 

“Like the knight?” she shot back.

 

He laughed lowly, especially since the teacher had just arrived and was starting to call roll.

 

“Marilyn Amber?”

 

“Here?”

 

“Gwaine Atherton?”

 

“Here,” Gwaine winked at her, and she withheld a giggle.

 

“At least I’m actually named Gwaine,” he teased.

 

“At least I don’t have a snob last name,” she retorted.

 

Gwaine burst out laughing, very loudly, startling her and bringing odd stares from the class.

 

“Gwaine! Warning,” the teacher looked disapprovingly at him. “Don’t disrupt the class or it’ll be detention.”

 

Gwaine pouted and Merlin couldn’t help smiling fondly.

 

Later, at lunch, she wasn’t able to find Arthur or Morgana and she kind of felt lost without them. She usually ate with them. She had no other friends in school, and mostly they all either ignored or even bullied her.

 

“Well, if it isn’t Charity,” one of her usual bullies called out and she was tempted to do a quick turnabout and suckerpunch the guy.

 

“Original, very original,” she said sarcastically turning around to face him.

 

“What was that?” he snarled.

 

He started to stalk closer to her when Gwaine suddenly appeared by her side, glancing coolly at the jerk.

 

“You know, it’s not nice to pick on ladies. Then again, maybe you have a complex?” Gwaine said cheekily, before grabbing Merlin’s hand and hightailing it out of there.

 

She didn’t notice their destination until they were already on the roof of the English building.

 

“What are we doing here?” she asked, trying to catch her breath. “I don’t think we’re even allowed on the roofs of the buildings.”

 

“Nah, we aren’t,” he answered nonchalantly, making her stare at him. “But who cares? They’re not monitored anyways and I like coming up here to think, skip class –you know, the works.”

 

Merlin couldn’t help but be baffled and yet intrigued by this boy.

 

“Thanks for, um, back there,” she scratched the back of her head awkwardly.

 

“Aw, don’t worry about it. I’d like to think I’m a ‘Knight of the Maidens’, like my namesake,” he beamed happily at her.

 

“Well, still,” Merlin smiled shyly. “It was still very kind and it was very chivalrous of you.”

 

“And they say chivalry is dead!” Gwaine crowed in victory, pumping a fist into the air.

 

She laughed and he grinned.

 

“Now come on! Sit, sit. Have some!” Gwaine thrust his very expensive looking lunch box towards her, having fetched it from his backpack.

 

She hesitantly put her backpack next to his and accepted it, not wanting to seem ungrateful for his help. She opened it to sushi and she looked up to see him give her the ‘go on’ gesture. She grabbed a California roll and handed the box back quickly.

 

“How come I’ve never see you in class before?” she asked him as she took a bit of hers.

 

He stuffed a whole roll into his mouth and chewed quickly, so much she was afraid he’d choke.

 

“I transferred in,” he explained after he’d swallowed. “I was in another class, but I was too much of a troublemaker and too much for the teacher to handle, so they put me in your class. Funny, eh? I don’t mind so much now, ‘cause I met and befriended and am casually hanging out with a pretty girl I met in this new class.”

 

Merlin blushed, but didn’t say anything.

 

“So what other classes you have?” he asked eagerly and she started listing them off. He pouted again. “Aw, we don’t have any other classes together.”

 

“Yeah, most of my classes are with Arthur or Morgana,” Merlin shrugged.

 

Gwaine gave her a strange look. “So it’s true then. You’re…friends with the Pendragons?”

 

Merlin became uneasy. “Yeah, so?”

 

He was the one who shrugged this time. “Nah, it’s cool with me. Still, they don’t really talk with anyone. It’s weird, is all.”

 

“Well, I suppose it is odd, if you put it that way,” Merlin hadn’t actually realized that.

 

“Whatever! It don’t matter!” he said cheerily. “Let’s eat!”

 

After lunch was over, she headed to her next class. She spotted Arthur and Morgana already seated, an empty seat in between them saved for her. Morgana spotted her first, waving her over eagerly.

 

“Sorry we weren’t around for lunch,” she said apologetically. “Arthur is getting caught up on his internship with the Times and I had to meet with the representative of my internship to show my portfolio.”

 

Merlin gave them a small smile. “It’s alright. I think I made a friend.”

 

“You did?” Morgana’s own smile turned stiff and she froze.

 

“Who?” Arthur demanded, narrowing his eyes.

 

Merlin was taken aback, but answered them uneasily. “Oh…just some boy I met in homeroom. Um…Gwaine? Gwaine, uh, Atherton?”

 

The siblings traded looks, but they turned back to her with their regular smiles and acting like nothing had been up.

 

“Well, good then. How about tomorrow, Morgana and I will take you off campus for lunch to make up for today?” Arthur grinned brightly.

 

“You guys don’t have to –”

 

“But we will,” Morgana cut her off, giving her a stubborn and yet mischievous look.

 

“…There is just no arguing with you two.”

 

Their teacher finally came in, took roll, and then started talking about their internships.

 

“This is an important and life-changing opportunity, so make sure you all work hard and do well. Now –for the leftover students that still need their assignments. Merlin?”

 

Merlin looked up from her desk and accepted the folder from her teacher, looking inside as the teacher continued on. Her eyebrows flew up and she looked at Morgana and Arthur suspiciously.

 

“Hey…you two wouldn’t have had anything to do with my assignment, would you?” she asked, frowning.

 

Morgana looked confused, but Arthur started immediately shaking his head.

 

“Nuh uh, nope. I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he denied.

 

Merlin sighed and looked back at her folder.

 

Well…it was a prestigious place at least…

 

Still, she didn’t want special privileges. And she also knew part of the reason Arthur had done it was because of her financial situation, of that being in the poor class would not look impressive to any of the employers accepting interning students and she wouldn’t be one of the ones easily picked.

 

Well, there was that, but there was also that Arthur wanted her taken cared of and also that he knew she would be fine and safe in his father’s employ. Plus, if he remembered right, Merlin had mentioned to him once that she’d like to work for his dad in the computer engineering department a long time ago, and he knew that she was way more than a wiz with anything to do with electronics.

 

“Are you sure this is okay, guys? I mean, your dad hates me,” Merlin said anxiously.

 

“He doesn’t hate you,” Morgana huffed. “He’s never even met you, so how can he hate you?”

 

“Exactly,” Merlin hissed at them. “He’s never wanted to even meet me.”

 

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Cared. Cared! He’s never cared to meet you.”

 

“Same difference,” Merlin glared at them.

 

“Nooooo. There’s a difference. Not wanting to means Father has a problem with you for some reason. Not caring is just him not caring –being indifferent and not caring either way, but that’s normal for him. But that doesn’t mean he hates you or that he would be angry he has to finally meet you.”

 

Morgana nodded her head in agreement, but Merlin knew they were wrong. She knew that Uther Pendragon, if he didn’t hate her, at the very least he disliked her and her friendship with his children.

 

And she was going to find out pretty soon, since her internship at Camelot Industries started an hour after school was over. Arthur offered to drive her over, so she wouldn’t get lost and so she would get to know the easiest route there from school. It sounded like a good idea to her and she didn’t want to be late, especially on her first day.

 

Arthur had to go soon to his own internship, having started that day also, so he had to drop her off at the front and she anxiously stood at the entrance before steeling herself and going in. She was directed several floors up, to where she realized was the top of the building, and entered the final floor in trepidation. It was empty, with the secretary desk clean and polished aside from a computer and phone, and no sign that anyone was currently using it. There were two large mahogany doors beyond the desk, where she could guess was where Uther Pendragon was.

 

She felt like she was about to do battle with a dragon and he was going to breathe fire and turn her into a crisp and there’s just no going back now –

 

Merlin took several breaths to calm herself. She was nervous and rambling in her head. And using weird metaphors. Not a good sign…

 

She wondered what she was going to have to do. Her papers weren’t specific, listing the areas as ‘N/A’, and when she was directed from the downstairs service, they’d just told her to go up here. She supposed he was going to give her her instructions himself, before dismissing her off to her job.

 

While she was wondering about that, she might as well wonder what the hell was she supposed to do? There was no secretary, so she didn’t know if she should knock, wait out there, or what. Gathering her nerve, she decided to heck with it and just knocked on the thick doors.

 

The phone rang and she jumped, staring wide-eyed at it. She hesitantly rushed over to it and took one look to recognize the style of the phone and how to use it.

 

“Come in,” she heard as soon as she held up the phone to her ear.

 

“R-right away, sir.”

 

Well, okay. She didn’t know if this was a good or bad start so far…

 

Entering through the doors, she saw her best friends’ father sitting quietly at his desk, looking through some documents and not looking up at her entrance. She stood there waiting, trying not to fidget.

 

“Marilyn Amber, 17 years of age, senior at St. Albion Private Academy, straight A student with a 4.4 GPA, and preferred nickname Merlin. Travels on public transit, or the forest green race bike owned since age 14. Favorite dessert is chocolate cream pie or lemon pie, favorite band are The Beatles, favorite color is gold, and a praised computer tech,” he said all that without even looking at her once.

 

Her eyes widened and she barely managed not to visibly freak out. Oh God, had he looked her up or did some kind of search or background check on her? She knew Morgana or Arthur could have told her some of that, but she’s never told them her exact GPA and that little detail about her bike…

 

“Um…yes?” Ugh, she sounded stupid. How was that supposed to impress him? What should she have said anyways, though?

 

He finally raised his head up and looked at her, raising his eyebrows. However, momentarily (before he had), for some reason he’d seemed taken aback at seeing her, before he had become calm and collected as if that hadn’t happened.

 

“How good are you at typing, Ms. Amber?”

 

“Oh, uh…well, if I just started and or not too eager or rushed, I can go 50 to 60 words per minute, 90 once I warmed up, and over 100 when I get going,” she answered honestly.

 

He blinked before nodding approvingly. “Good. Most people are required to be able to at least go 40, so you’re practically overqualified at that front. Now I want you to type these up, do fact checks on this pile, sort this paperwork into subject matter, deliver these to the right departments, and schedule me a Thursday appointment with my doctor with a 4-5 pm timeframe, get a reminder that I have a conference call this Saturday, and here is a list of the other things I want you to do after all that.”

 

Merlin numbly took the paper from him and waited to be dismissed, her eyes widening again from hearing what she had to do already. He didn’t want to admit he was rather impressed, considering most people (especially actual temps and hired workers) would have burst into to tears or freaked out from the amount of things they had just been assigned to do, or just generally have a more visible reaction than the wide-eyed look she’d gained.

 

“I just fired my secretary two days ago, so you’ll do for now, though you’re closer to a personal assistant, considering you will be doing more work aside from administrative tasks. Unlike the other co-ops, you will be coming in every day, after school, to work for me. This will include weekends also. You will be paid part-time in exchange, though you will be doing full-time work –which is mostly because you won’t be hear the full day due to your schooling. Are we clear on everything?”

 

“Y-yes, sir,” she stuttered, still rather ruffled about it all.

 

“Then get started,” he said shortly, already turning back to the paper he had been looking at before she’d come in.

 

She scurried out of his office, gently closed his door and rushed to her new desk, getting to work.

 

When he glanced at the security camera of the outside of his office, he saw several file folders neatly lined up on the desk, lots of post-its placed all around the computer monitor, and the girl talking on the phone as she scratched something onto a notepad. He dismissed whatever she was doing, choosing to think she was at least doing some of her job, and went back to his own work.

 

Closer to a late time, he called it a night and decided to it was time to leave. Leaving his office, he was surprised to see the girl diligently working still, calmly sitting at her new desk as she took a post-it from the monitor, crumpled it up and then threw it away. If he remembered right, her assigned work hours ended at nine and it was close to midnight already, which is the usual time he stopped working. He had expected her to have left immediately, as soon as it had been time for her to leave, and not still be here, continuing to work well passed her hours and patiently go through the list of things he’d assigned for her to do. Well, at least he knew that Arthur had not been making empty promises that she was a hard worker and that he wouldn’t regret hiring her…

 

“It’s late. You should be getting home,” he spoke suddenly and he could see he’d startled her.

 

“Oh, Mr. Pendragon! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there. Um, let me tidy up then…You, uh, have your doctor’s appointment this Thursday, at 4:15. I’ve managed to finish most of everything, though I didn’t get to complete the fact checking,” she looked extremely chastised, but he was again impressed with how much she’d managed to do.

 

“No, it’s fine,” he said with a neutral tone. “Those need to be thorough, so taking your time with them is fine. Do you need a ride home?”

 

She turned red and shook her head. “No, sir. I’m fine. I can probably just wait for a bus.”

 

He pursed his lips. “The next bus comes in an hour…and it’s very late. I’ll drive you home,” he insisted firmly.

 

Unable to change his mind, she tentatively nodded and finished tidying up her workspace. She followed him out and they headed over to his car, which she strangely started feeling intimidated when she saw it. It was an expensive model, and while she was used to riding sometimes with Arthur and Morgana…this time someone a little more daunting was driving her.

 

“I-I live over near Portman Ave., by Courtside –”

 

“I know where you live,” he cut her off and she couldn’t help gaping at him this time, especially when he turned on his GPS and pressed the button for one of the programmed addresses.

 

He had her address programmed.

 

“Oh…Sir…did you do a background check on me or something?” she straight-out asked.

 

“Of course. It’s an update on the one I had done on you years ago, when you first became friends with my children,” he just as bluntly confirmed, not looking the least bit repentant or any sign he thought it was an…odd…thing to do. “But you’re pretty gutsy to ask me about it.”

 

She didn’t reply because she was too busy inwardly freaking out that he’d had a background check on her done when she was thirteen.

 

They drove up to the crowded apartment complex, which Uther almost scrunched his nose at. His eyes darted around the shady area warily.

 

“This is my stop,” she muttered.

 

“Are you sure you live here –”

 

“Yes, very sure!” she said quickly, and then she was as gone from his car as if she’d disappeared instantaneously.

 

But what he hadn’t known was that she’d seen a familiar midnight blue Ferrari parked nearby and she had wanted him to get going and for her to hurry up and meet up with the owner of the car and hurry to get him out of her home.

 

“Welcome home, Merlin. You’re a little…late, aren’t you?”

 

Merlin closed her eyes and clenched her hands, before she slowly turned and closed her door, hearing the quiet click. She locked it and then turned to the man standing in the middle of her living room, dispassionately looking at the scant pictures she’d placed around.

 

“Cenred,” she mumbled.

 

He gave her a pleased smile. “It’s good to see. I’ve been gone for awhile now, haven’t I? A week? Never mind that. I have something for you.”

 

He held out a paper bag she glanced apprehensively at, but pushed herself to come over and retrieve it from him. She looked inside of it and mentally balked.

 

“Come on. I’ll even drive you to school tomorrow morning, so you won’t be late,” he tapped her shoulder playfully.

 

She just sighed and nodded.

 

In the bathroom, she tightened the bathroom robe around herself and stood in front of the mirror, staring at herself. Cenred appeared behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing down her neck lightly.

 

“Do it for me, Merlin. Please?” he smiled boyishly at her.

 

She gave him a shaky smile and he left her to head back to her room. She took the blonde wig from the bag and adjusted it onto her head, slipping into the lacy torsolette afterwards. She took the sheer stockings and slid them onto her feet and then her legs. She put on the garter belt around her waist and took the attached suspenders and clipped them onto the top of the stockings.

 

She swallowed heavily as she looked at her reflection in the mirror, not really recognizing herself. She quickly put on the mascara and then grabbed the bright red lipstick, when Cenred called out to her from her bedroom.

 

“What are you doing in there? Do you want me to come in there and get you? Would you like that?” his tone was playful.

 

“Just-just a second.” Her voice was still shaky…She started to cry a little, and she unsteadily wiped them away.

 

“Alright then. But I’m going to count to ten! One!”

 

She blinked away her tears and smeared the lipstick onto her lips.

 

“Two!”

 

She pressed her lips together and rubbed them, spreading the color, before she got the powder and lightly brushed her cheeks.

 

“Three! Four! Five!”

 

She fixed her wig and the top of the torsolette, wincing as she saw her breasts being pushed up more and her cleavage being displayed.

 

“Six! Seven!”

 

She slid on the clear high-heels, fingers fumbling to fix the straps.

 

“Eight! Nine! T…en…” he trailed off when she appeared, standing awkwardly just outside the door of her bathroom.

 

“There. Don’t you look beautiful,” he murmured, sitting up on her bed and watching her eagerly.

 

“C-Cenred, do I –?”

 

“Shh,” he shushed her, getting up and moving to her side.

 

He rubbed his hands down her shoulders and to her hips, squeezing as he kissed along her jaw and then moved his lips down her neck, before moving up again.

 

She couldn’t help crying and shirking from him, but he just grabbed her wrists and kept her close, continuing his kisses.

 

“Cenred, please, I don’t want to –”

 

“Don’t cry, don’t cry,” he murmured, nuzzling the side of her face.

 

He led her to her bed and pushed her onto it, climbing on top of her. She kept crying, pleading him not to.

 

“It hurts.”

 

“Shh, Merlin. It’ll feel better. I promise you’ll feel good.”

 

She cried the entire time and wished she had never met him.