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Joy was absolutely loving Camelot. The ban on magic and the execution of the sorcerer he saw did kind of put a damper on things, but it made up for it with the liveliness and beauty in it. He could barely keep it together as Merlin met Gaius, and then proceeded to save him. Joy loved his magic. It made him… well, joyful!
Fear, on the other hand, kept passing out. He kept muttering to himself about how risky the whole endeavor was, but Joy paid him no mind. Now was not the time to be afraid. It was the time to celebrate! He watched as Merlin merrily walked towards Gaius’s chambers and Disgust, Anger, and Sadness came and sat next to him.
“What are we doing now?” Anger asked, stretching into his chair. Disgust looked at him with revulsion and pushed him off the chair. Thankfully Anger had been taking anger management classes from Joy, so he just counted to ten and took another chair. That did not stop him from glaring at Disgust though.
“Merlin just gave Sir Olwen his medicine, and he drank it all at once! Ugh, it looked like piss,” Disgust said, nose squirming in his thought.
“And-” Joy began to say but was quickly interrupted when Merlin walked into the square, with a quite handsome man bullying a boy.
“Where’s the target?” the blonde man said, holding a bunch of daggers in his hand. The men next to him, Knights, Joy thought, laughed. Disgust frowned. “That’s not even funny.”
The young mouse-looking boy in front of the prat said, “There, sir?”
“It’s into the sun.”
The boy looked up. “It’s not that bright.”
“A bit like you then?” the blonde man smirked. The knights around him laughed again. Anger came over and slammed his hand on the table. “He’s just so full of himself! We should teach him a lesson!”
Fear quaked in his boots and said, “We can’t use magic! We’ll die!”
“Settle down, both of you,” Disgust said, not bothering to move from his seat. Sadness just looked at the scene with anxiety on his face. Joy put his hand on his shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. “It’s going to be just fine, don’t worry! All of you.”
As the others settled down, they decided to just see how it would play out. And if their magic decided to have a go, well, they’d have to control it back. Except for Anger, the others did have some self-preservation skills after all.
“I’ll put the target down the other end, shall I sir?”
The prat jerked his head in confirmation, while the knights around him goaded him on. “Teach him a lesson!”
He turned around and said something to his friend and then threw a dagger at the target, which was still being carried by the young boy. He cried out, “Hey, hang on!”
“This is not right. We should interject!” Anger said, pacing the room.
“Okay, I agree with you, Anger. Maybe we should say something?” Disgust said, as the man continued to throw daggers at the boy, who was now running around. The target must’ve been super heavy as the boy stumbled and the target rolled over, right to their feet.
“Time to interject,” Anger said, pulling the lever. Merlin put his leg on the target and helped the boy up. He said, “Hey, come on, that’s enough.”
The man looked at him and raised his eyebrow. “What?”
“Okay, everyone. Let’s take it easy, okay?” Joy interjected. Merlin responded, “You’ve had your fun, my friend.”
“Do I know you?”
“I’m Merlin.”
“So I don’t know you.”
“He’s kind of cute, you know?” Disgust said, peering through his eyelashes. Anger grunted. “I suppose.”
“Merlin looked at the man and said, "No.”
“And yet, you called me friend.”
“That was my mistake.”
“I think so, yeah.”
“Is this flirtation?” Fear asked, peering through his fingers. “Are we going to flirt back?”
Joy shrugged, a plan forming in his mind. “Maybe we should. There’s no harm, after all.”
“We are not flirting with a bully,” Disgust stated. Anger nodded in agreement with him. Joy bumped his shoulder against Anger. “Let’s just have a bit of fun then.”
Disgust smiled at him. “Plan put-the-prat-in-his-place?”
Joy nodded. “Plan put-the-prat-in-his-place.”
“I’d never have a friend who could be such an ass,” Merlin said, lips quirking up to form a smirk. The man scoffed and Merlin turned to walk away when he spoke again. “Or I one who could be so stupid. Tell me, Merlin. Do you know how to walk on your knees?”
“What is he up to?” Anger asked. “This definitely sounds like flirting to me.”
“Check him out! Maybe it is, and maybe we’re going to get lucky tonight,” Joy said, wiggling his eyebrows. Disgust smirked at him. “Play along then.”
“No,” Merlin repeated his words from earlier.
“Would you like me to help you?”
“He has no idea what he’s in for. Poor lad,” Anger chuckled, the others joining him. Merlin laughed airily, "I wouldn’t if I were you."
The prat actually laughed at that. “Why? What are you gonna do to me?”
“You have no idea,” Merlin said. The man goaded him on, spreading his arms, and said, “Be my guest. Come on. Come on! Come oooon.”
Anger started fuming by now. “Oh, it’s going down now. Time to teach him a bloody lesson!” He pulled a lever and Merlin swung for a punch, which the man easily caught. He twisted his arm behind his back.
“I’ll throw you in jail for that,” the man said, his breath tickling Merlin's ear.
“We’re so dead,” Fear said, trembling against Sadness, who looked like he was on the verge of tears.
“Who the hell does he think that he is?!” Anger yelled. Joy winced at the sound, knowing there was nothing he could do to quell the rage now.
“Who do you think you are, the King?” Merlin voiced Anger's rage aloud.
“No. I’m his son. Arthur.”
“Oh fuck,” they said in unison. They fucked up. Goading the handsome man was not as fun as Joy expected it to be after all. Merlin was taken and thrown into the dungeons then.
“This is a nice change of scenery,” Disgust said, eyeing the rat droppings and hay in the cell. Anger snorted. “We’re literally in a dungeon.”
“That was sarcasm, you idiot.”
Thankfully, Merlin was rescued by Gaius by the next day. That did not stop Anger from having a hissy fit and Disgust reducing to tears when Merlin was put in the stocks. And that definitely did not stop them from admitting that if Arthur wasn’t such a prat, they would’ve most probably been interested in him.
“Gwen is nice,” Fear said at one point, and the others agreed on that. She was nice, Joy thought. Even though she did call Merlin a “not-one-of-those-big-muscley-save-the-world-kind-of-fellows”. That was not very nice, but she probably didn’t mean it like that. Not that they took it to the heart of course.
They did not have time to ponder over that however or the history of Magic in Camelot that Gaius told Merlin after. They didn’t even have time to ponder over Lady Helen’s weird behavior, because Camelot’s most annoying prat made his appearance again.
“How’s your knee-walking coming along?” he jeered at Merlin, his knights snickering away behind him.
“Okay, Anger, deep breaths,” Joy said, patting Anger’s back to calm him down. “Remember what happened yesterday? Let’s not have a repeat today.”
Arthur continued to prod at him. “Oh, don’t run away!”
“That’s it. This royal arse is going down today.” Anger pushed past Joy. As he took over, Merlin retorted, “From you?”
“Thank God. I thought you were deaf as well as dumb.”
“Look, I’ve told you you’re an ass,” he said, turning to face Arthur. “I just didn’t realize you were a royal one.”
“Ooh, that was a good one,” Disgust said, giving Anger a high-five.
Arthur smirked and shared a look with his knights. This really set Disgust off, who nudged Anger aside. “Oh, what are you going to do? You got your daddy’s men to protect you?”
Arthur laughed. “I could take you apart with one blow.”
“Did he really just say blow?” Joy exclaimed at the innuendo. If that weren’t flirting, Joy would take over Anger’s role. Disgust shrugged, “Does it matter? We’re going to obviously beat him with our magic.”
“I could take you apart with less than that," Merlin smirked at Arthur.
“That sounded a lot more insinuating than what he said,” Fear said, laughing a little. He was probably nervous. He has been all over the place since Mother decided to send them off to Camelot.
Arthur raised his eyebrow and gave him a mocking smile. “Are you sure?”
“We’re preparing for a show-down, boys! Get ready!” Anger said, huddling everyone closer together. They shrugged off their jacket as the thick-headed knights laughed at them. Arthur tossed them a mace, which made Fear yelp in concern, and Merlin dropped it.
Anger smacked Fear behind the head. “Idiot. Now we look like fools. Just follow me, okay?”
Merlin picked up the mace as Arthur swung his all around. “I warn you, I’ve been trained to kill since birth.”
“Wow, and how long have you been training to be a prat?”
“Disgust! Really, we shouldn’t be saying stuff like that!” Fear exclaimed, clutching his arm. Disgust shook him off. “He deserves it.”
Arthur laughed and said, “You can’t address me like that.”
“Sorry. How long have you been training to be a prat, my lord?” Merlin said, giving a mocking bow.
“That was perfect! Now move, it’s my turn,” Anger pushed Disgust out of the way, and placed his hand on the lever. They watched as Arthur swung his mace at Merlin. Fear clutched the lever and pulled back and Merlin stumbled onto a nearby cart of hay.
“What are you doing?!” Anger screeched as he wrestled the control from Fear.
“We’re going to die!”
Joy watched desperately as Anger and Fear tussled for control and Merlin barely managed to duck out of Arthur’s way. Joy summoned their magic in a frantic attempt to save him a few times, and Fear screeched at him publicly using magic.
Anger was getting heated slowly and the next thing they knew, Merlin spotted Gaius looking at him from the crowd, his eyebrow raised in disappointment. Sadness took that opportunity to quickly pour a bucket of water over Anger’s flaming head, dousing him out. What they did not notice, was Arthur hitting Merlin from behind, and ending the match.
The guards hauled him up, ready for another night at the dungeons when Arthur stopped them and let Merlin go.
“He may be an idiot, but he’s a brave one,” Arthur said, eyeing him up and down. If emotions could blush, Joy was sure they were all turning red. And Anger redder. The royal prat looked directly into Merlin's eyes, and then, Joy was sure, at his lips. “There’s something about you, Merlin. I can’t quite put my finger on it.”
“So, this is the one we choose to love?” Disgust asked, raising his eyebrow. Sadness nodded solemnly and said, “I like him. He called us brave.”
“I’ll admit,” Anger began, “I was having doubts, but nobody has infuriated me as much as he has. He’s perfect.”
Fear shook his head. “I do not love him. But I can tolerate him. We cannot tell him about our magic, though.”
Everybody agreed on that. Joy beamed. Arthur was a total clotpole, but he could see themselves falling in love with him. This could just work out.
---
Meanwhile, in Arthur’s head.
The bell was ringing at full volume as Fear, Joy, and Sadness ran amok in a frenzy. Disgust and Anger shook their heads at the behavior.
“CUTE BOY ALERT! SUPER CUTE BOY ALERT!” Fear yelled, holding Joy in his arms, and shaking him like a ragdoll. Sadness sobbed in a corner as he thought about the predicament.
“We’re going to have to ride this, won’t we?” Disgust said, looking at Anger. Anger nodded, running a hand down his face in exasperation. They would have to handle the controls until at least Joy could come and take over. Thankfully for them, it did not take long until Joy was merrily handling the controls as Merlin was announced as their manservant.
And the rest, as they say, is history.