Archive of Our Own

Arthur couldn’t believe his eyes. What impudence! What treachery! There she was, giddy as can be, strolling around the lower town in one of his knight’s shirts. It even had the royal emblem on it! And she was, Arthur spluttered with indignation, a mere serving girl. Not even one he knew.

He squinted his eyes at her and tried to place her. Maybe she helped out in the kitchen? Never mind that, there was only one idiot who would be careless enough to leave his clothes around unattended.

“Gwaine,” Arthur snarled in a low voice, eyes not leaving the girl, “why is she wearing your shirt?”

He heard the rustling of chainmail, as Gwaine shifted to look in the same direction as his king and began to chuckle.

“Well, you see, it’s called courting. You give your lady some of your clothes, it’s custom.”

Arthur, who was very well aware of what was custom in dating and what was not, thank you very much, turned around to face his knight in confusion.

“Are you trying to tell me you… gave… that shirt to her? The one with the golden hand stitched Pendragon crest on? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Gwaine smirked – the audacity! – and clasped Arthur on the shoulder.

“Relax, princess, we’re only clothes sharing. She’ll give it back.

“…clothes sharing?”

Gwaine nodded.

“It’s all the rage in Cenred’s kingdom and I thought it was… cute, you know? Wearing each other’s clothes… intimate.”

Arthur blinked.

“cute… intimate…”

He was immediately assaulted by pictures of Merlin in one of his tunics. The way they would undoubtedly slide over Merlin’s delicate shoulder. Merlin in one of his tight fitted jackets, which would just hang loose enough on his manservant’s frame…

Cute. Intimate.

He could get on board with that.

1.

Arthur didn’t quite know how to go about this ‘clothes sharing business’. Did you have to be courting already to bring it up? If not… or, actually, in either case, how did one bring it up? Hello, I adore you and I would much like to see you in clothes that I have already hunted and fought in and which has been drenched in my sweat many a times previous to this encounter?

He scrunched up his nose. No. That didn’t sound quite right. At least it didn’t sound like something he could say to Merlin. They weren’t courting, after all. He has never allowed himself to… follow… his feelings. But things were different now, surely?

He was the king, after all. He could do whatever he wished.

Arthur nodded to himself and prepared a tunic for when Merlin would come in to light the fire.

He –

“I’m sorry I’m late, Arthur, Sire!”

The door was pushed open so violently that it banged against the wall, but Merlin had the sense to look sheepish.

“Sorry, sire, I was out, er, picking herbs.”

Arthur rubbed one of his temples, trying very hard not to look too nervous.

“That’s fine, Merlin,” he finally said, slowly.

“You are relieved for today, but,” he took a deep breath, “would you mind taking that tunic with you? It is… old. And I don’t like it anymore. Maybe you could wear it instead of that sad excuse you’re currently sporting. It has holes. “

Merlin briskly walked to the bed and picked the white tunic up. He bristled.

“Certainly,” he said and when he turned around to face Arthur, his expression was decidedly forced.

“It’s always a joy to hear how much you think of my clothes. Especially since I earn so much in your employ that I can buy the newest and fashion for myself, right?”

He shook his head.

“Good night, Arthur, I am sure your tunic will make a fine washcloth. I’ll give it to Gwen.”

When the door was shut, Arthur exhaled long and slow.

Well that had went horribly.

Merlin stared in horror at the monstrosity in Arthur’s hands.

“I am not going to wear that,” he hissed but Arthur just smiled.

“But Merlin, King Lendor is visiting Camelot for the first time and in the Kingdom or Algethar, it is custom for the servants to be dressed appropriately.”

Merlin raised an eyebrow as if to call Arthur’s bluff.

It wasn’t ideal, Arthur had to admit. But when he’d gone through the closets in the basement, he’d found the princely garment he had to wear on royal visits to other kingdoms when he was still a teenager. When looking at the gold-rimmed, puffy sleeves of the red and gold, shimmering ensemble, he was automatically reminded of the one or other mischief he’d been up to.

When he’d held it against himself, he figured that it should be a great fit for Merlin. Which made it a perfect fit for operation “Clothes Sharing with Merlin” (Shut up, Arthur was creative on the battlefield, not with words). What made this particular piece of clothing so perfect, was the additional effect of sentimental value for Arthur that he would be sharing with Merlin. If only he could see it the same way.

“Come on, wear it.”

Merlin shook his head and crossed his arms in front of his chest defiantly.

“No.”

“Merlin…”

“It is embarrassing, Arthur. Look at it. The jacket will be too short, as will the trousers. Who even does fit into this? A child perhaps! Certainly not me!”

“But…”

“No, Arthur. I will not wear this. If I must I will wear the servants uniform you made me wear when I first started working for you.”

And that was how Arthur was treated to a whole evening of Merlin with a ridiculously large feather on his head instead of Arthur’s closing.

Sitting next to the visiting King, Arthur couldn’t help but sigh. He needed to change tactics.

Arthur was slowly running out of ideas. Of course, he could always say: “Hey Merlin, guess what, I fancy you something rotten, so wear my socks, will you?” but he dismissed that idea very quickly again. It wouldn’t be very kingly, would it?

So he would just have to make sure to get Merlin to wear his socks another way.

“Merlin?” he asked, when his manservant was putting his clothes away after having them laundered.

“Mh?” Merlin didn’t even look at him. He just continued with his work. Where was his uselessness, when Arthur needed it? Absolutely great for him to become responsible now.

“I think I have too many socks,” Arthur announced, careful to watch Merlin’s reaction.

He laughed.

“One can never have too many socks, Arthur. Socks are literally the thing everyone in your kingdom needs. It protects your feet.”

“You think of shoes.”

“Are you wearing shoes right now?”

“No.”

“Do your feet feel protected?”

Arthur sighed. Touché.

“Anyway,” he powered on, set on not letting himself be deterred from his plan, “I think you should take some and, er, I mean why should only be my feet protected and…”

“Alright,” Merlin smiled at him, eyes crinkling.

“Alright?” Arthur was surprised. Was it really going to be this easy?

“Sure,” Merlin confirmed and took two pairs of socks.

“I’ll take these then, yeah?”

Arthur nodded enthusiastically. He felt excited. Giddy. He imagined what it would feel like to see Merlin in his socks for the first time. He couldn’t wait.

___

Two whole weeks later, Arthur was yet to see Merlin in his socks. His socks were of so much better quality than the thin ones Merlin wore and they were rapidly approaching winter. Surely, it would be more practical for Merlin to wear his socks in these weathers?”

After another week, Arthur just couldn’t take it anymore.

“Merlin?”

“Yes, sire?”

“It has come to my notice that you… are still wearing socks.”

He wanted to mentally slap himself. Of course, Merlin was wearing socks.

Merlin looked equally confused as he looked down on himself and to the sliver of socks that was visible over his beaten up boots.

“Uhm, yes, sire. I am wearing socks. Are you feeling alright?”

Arthur nodded.

“Quite. No what I was wondering is why you’re not wearing the socks I gave to you a little while ago.”

He tried not to sound too worked up about this. After all, he was courting Merlin and Merlin shouldn’t think he was an idiot before the courting was successful. Not that Merlin should think he was an idiot after, but… Arthur sighed. He was pretty sure Merlin thought of him as an idiot already.

“Oh, yes!” Merlin beamed at him, “I distributed them to some lower town people. You know that a lot of them can’t afford socks? So they’re either barefoot or in their cold shoes all day long? Even the children!” he looked at Arthur with wide eyes, trying to make his point, “so I suppose you’ll encounter some young ones wearing your socks next time you go there. You did a really good thing, Arthur. Really good.”

And Merlin smiled this smile at him that made Arthur’s insides melt. It was wide and full of joy and pride.

“Of course,” he replied, trying to smile back but felt somewhat shaky, “the children, yes, quite.”

4.

Arthur was slowly but surely running out of ideas. If Merlin wasn’t going to take his tunic, or royal ensemble, or his socks, what else was there to give?

Merlin was cleaning Arthur’s combat boots, when he walked back into his chambers after training.

Seeing Merlin rub down the extra strong leather gently with a washcloth, he has an idea.

“You know what?”

Merlin made a non-committal sound.

“I think you should take a pair of those,” he gestured towards the rows of boots Merlin had already cleaned.

Merlin’s head shot up.

“What?”

“Boots, Merlin. They look much more solid than yours and I would like to think that you’re as safe as can be when we ride out together.”

Merlin cocked his head at him, brow furrowed.

“What?”

Arthur felt himself get a little nervous. Why was this so hard?

“I mean, when we go… hunting or… on a quest, I just don’t want you to be, er… lacking.”

“Lacking?”

Merlin’s intense gaze on his face made Arthur break out a sweat on his neck. He nervously tried to stifle it by clasping his hand on it but figured he must look absolutely mad.

“Well, not lacking, per se, just… you know. Us knights we have strong boots to withhold all weather and all ground conditions and I just worry that you’ll… hold us up.”

Arthur winced. That was not at all how he wanted that to come out.

“Hold you up,” Merlin parroted and stood up, gaping at Arthur.

After a second, he tried: “Arthur…” and just shut his mouth before shaking his head slightly.

“I think Gaius needs me. I will be back later for you fire.”

And with that, he was gone.

And he didn’t even take the bloody boots.

5.

Arthur was sure that it was going to work this time. He was sure that he had a solid plan. He’d gotten out his light blue outer-robes to make a trip to the market place incognito.

Because nobody would suspect the king underneath cape for a commoner, would they?

He looked around at the various trinkets that were being offered and stopped at the stall of an old lady.

This. This was exactly what he’d been looking for.

He held a bracelet in his hands, the leather incredibly soft to his touch. It was thin and elegant, with a slight woven in pattern in the middle of it. It was perfect.

“I’ll take two of these, please!”

___

One bracelet already on his wrist, Arthur waited for Merlin to attend him that evening. He was feeling confident about his gift. Granted, it was more of a gift than clothes sharing. But he was running out of ideas, wasn’t he?

He fiddled with the second bracelet on his desk, when Merlin came in.

“Good evening, Arthur. Do you want dinner?”

Arthur nodded at him.

“Later, Merlin, I have something for you.”

And just like that, Merlin’s expression went from his usual cheeriness to utmost suspicion.

“Another thing? Arthur I am quite content with my closet as is, thank you.”

Arthur nodded.

“Yes, I understand that, but… I went to the marketplace today and this lady absolutely begged me to take two of her creations and, well, she made women jewelry with the exception of one kind of bracelet for men,” he held his wrist aloft, “and she gave me two,” he chuckled.

“Crazy, right?”

Merlin stared at him.

“Crazy,” he finally muttered and Arthur was starting to think that Merlin was starting to have some kind of mental affliction. Was copying his words all he could do nowadays?

“So, I want to give the second to you. A show of goodwill of sorts.”

Merlin edged closer to the desk, eyes darting between the bracelet on Arthur’s wrist and the one in his hands.

Then he grinned.

“Arthur, I cannot possibly!”

Arthur was taken aback.

“Why not?”

“Here this woman is, giving her precious handiwork to you only for you to share it with a servant? What would she think?”

Arthur blinked and Merlin used his moment of confusion to turn around and leave Arthur’s chambers with the promise of getting his dinner.

Arthur sighed. He was officially aborting the mission. Mission “Clothes Sharing With Merlin” was officially a bust. He hung his head. Now what?

+1

It had been difficult for Arthur to come to terms with the fact that Merlin would never want to share his clothes. That didn’t keep him from imagining Merlin in one of his thick winter jackets or in one of his hats, when they were riding one cold November morning to get Arthur out of his funk.

Merlin had declared that Arthur was officially moping. He thought it had to do with knight training being over for the year due to the weather conditions. He didn’t know that Arthur kept looking out of his window and seeing Gwaine’s lady friend with his clothes. He was depressed, he was utterly love sick. And maybe he was also being a little dramatic.

“Is this helping any, Arthur?” Merlin asked from the back of his own horse, riding in front of Arthur. When had his servant taken charge, anyway?

“Sure,” Arthur mumbled, looking around at the slightly frosted forest around them. The only thing of importance however, was that he was cold. Which meant that Merlin must be cold, too.

But them being together was so rare that he didn’t want to spoil their time by asking to go back and sit in front of the fire.

He was just about to ask Merlin something, when a violent sneeze left his mouth instead and echoed around the trees.

“Bless you,” Merlin had stopped and was looking at him with concern.  Arthur just nodded, trying to pretend nothing was wrong.

“Are you cold? Are you getting sick? Do you want to turn back?”

Arthur couldn’t believe that Merlin was waiting for him to decide. Not while Merlin himself was actually shivering as he lined his horse up with Arthur’s and halted them both.

He placed a shaking hand on Arthur’s forehead.

“You’re shaking,” Arthur started, but Merlin shushed him.

“Don’t talk, I am trying to check for a fever.”

Arthur huffed.

“Your hand is stone cold, I cannot believe my head is going to be as cold as that.”

Merlin leaned toward him on his horse and was now unbearably close. Arthur could count every single one of Merlin’s lashed if he wanted to. Merlin was also sporting a red nose from the cold, which, if it wouldn’t be concerning in regards to Merlin’s health, would look adorable.

Merlin leaned back and started undoing his neckerchief.

“What are you doing, you’re going to be…”

Arthur trailed off.

Because Merlin had managed to untie the piece of cloth and had leaned over to tie it around Arthur’s neck instead.

Arthur looked down on himself and saw blue.

He saw Merlin.

He was wearing a piece of Merlin.

He couldn’t breathe.

“Keep this on,” Merlin instructed, “I don’t want to be stuck nursing you back to health just because you’re a stubborn dollophead who didn’t tell me he wanted to go back.”

Arthur touched his hand to the fabric and while it felt cheap and scratchy, it was the most wonderful thing he’d ever felt.

“You’re sharing your clothes with me,” he whispered, full of wonder.

Merlin went beetroot red.

“Arthur, I… you’re cold!”

“You never took any of my clothes… the ones I offered to you.”

Merlin looked confused now.

“You… the clothes you offered to me?”

Arthur nodded, a strange kind of courage washing over him.

“For clothes sharing.”

“For… clothes sharing. Arthur, do you even know what you’re saying?”

Arthur nodded.

“I love you.”

Okay, maybe he had not meant to say that at all. Maybe he had figured that he would say that some time along the line when they would be starting to share smallclothes. If people even did that.

Merlin stared at him aghast.

He then shook his head slightly and pinched his nose.

“You offered me clothes to share because you love me?” the last part came almost out as a shriek.

Arthur nodded solemnly.

“It has come to my attention that that’s what people did nowadays when courting.”

Merlin threw his hands in the air.

“Courting? You were courting me?” He laughed, “You did a horrible job. Horrible. You were insulting the whole time…”

“Part of my charm?”

“Pretending to give me handouts…”

“The kingly way.”

Merlin stopped short and closed his eyes.

“You stupid, stupid dollophead. Let’s get back to the castle.”

With that, he started riding in front of Arthur again.

Arthur’s hand was still fisted in the fabric around his neck.

“But Merlin?”

“What?”

He sounded mad. Any shred of self-preservation would have told Arthur to keep his mouth shut. But he’s never been good with that.

“But you shared your neckerchief. What does that mean?”

Merlin rolled his eyes and barked: “Well I guess I bloody well love you too, alright?”

He turned back and kept his eyes on the path in front of them but Arthur couldn’t contain the massive grin spreading over his features.

“You love me?”

Merlin huffed, sounding annoyed.

When they were finally out of the woods and in an open field, Arthur caught up with Merlin.

“Merlin, stop for a second, will you?”

Merlin pretended not to hear, so Arthur stopped both of their horses, standing as closely together as they had been before.

“What?” Merlin bit out.

Even Merlin’s temper couldn’t deter Arthur from what he was about to do. Not even knowing that Merlin was mad at him for going about this all wrong could make him reconsider.

He sneaked his hand around Merlin’s bare neck (god have mercy. This was a sight he could get used to) and gently yanked him towards his own face before their lips met.

Stone, and ice, and perfect.

Merlin made a sound in the back of his throat and Arthur only pressed closer in response.

This. This feeling was what he’d been missing in his life. He moved his lips softly against Merlin’s before finally parting.

“You couldn’t have waited until we were back in the castle and somewhat warmed up, could you?” Merlin asked but there was a small smile on his face and a healthy blush tinting his cheeks.

Arthur grinned so wide he felt like his face was going to be split in two any second now.

He didn’t trust himself to speak, so he just shook his head.

Merlin laughed.

“Well come on then. Maybe I’ll let you share my neckerchief a while longer. Depending on how fast we get back to warmth and food. “

Arthur gave Merlin’s neck a last squeeze.

“Race you, then?”

Merlin snorted and studied Arthur’s face for a moment.

“All right then.”

Arthur nodded.

“Alright.”

And with that, they were off. Towards warmth and food and hopefully – at least Arthur hoped so – lots and lots of more kissing.