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He couldn't help but frown at their "guest", so sue Merlin for not liking anything about Camelot's most recent addition to the knights in training-- none other than the Druid boy Merlin, Morgana and Arthur helped escape awhile back-- Mordred. The boy, not much older than when Merlin had first come to Camelot all those years ago, had barged into Merlin's mind and had asked for an audience with the king.
Of course, Merlin wanted to forget he even had that conversation- -one-sided, if grunts and sighs were accepted as proper responses- but he wanted to see Arthur with utmost importance, and. He had been looking at Merlin with big eyes as if he were a foal at the stables, asking for more apples, and Merlin who was the only person at that time and place who had two hands, was the only one to satisfy that desperate need of his.
So of course Merlin had gone out and beyond his station to ask Arthur if he could meet with Mordred- - although he did leave out the fact that he was definitely a Druid, and was definitely the Druid boy he had met back then, and that he was most definitely not a boy anymore.
Which led them to their current circumstances- - the Knights of the Round Table and Merlin were all standing back as they watched their king and the Druid teen walk in circles, swords drawn and their eyes apprehensive. They're carefully making their steps, making sure that their every move was precise and calculated; they were taking too long that Merlin called for the wind to blow towards Mordred, making him trip on his own feet, startling Arthur into action.
Mordred catches himself before he could even fall, and parries the king's strike. His sword only nicks at the hem of Mordred's shirt, but neither of them had yet to land a finishing blow. As if sensing Merlin's blatant dislike for him, Mordred spares a curious glance toward the warlock, and surges forwards to attack.
Arthur twists around to avoid it, only sending him down to his knees, but he was able to strike his sword to block Mordred's attack. In a turn if events that Merlin hadn't seen coming -he was scrambling around for a wet towel for his king- Mordred was able to flick Arthur's sword on of his hand.
The knights watching them erupted in applause, louder when Mordred helped Arthur back to his feet. The grin on the king's face only grew when Mordred ducked his head as if he was hyper-aware of who he had just defeated, and who had just thrown an arm around his shoulders as brothers-in-arms do. It was Gwaine who first broke from the audience to give the Druid teen a friendly slap on the back- - a bit too hard by the way Mordred groaned, at least from where Merlin stood, frowning at the display of camaraderie.
"You remind me of myself when I was younger, and I'm incredible!" Arthur was now standing at his full height— the grace and regality of a monarch exuding from him was like a force pulling Merlin towards him. "I'd be a foolish not to knight me!"
And like a lovesick fool, Merlin found himself beside his king, even as he sired Mordred and named him a knight of Camelot.
"You shouldn't have done that! It was all too quick!" Later that night found Merlin pacing in Arthur's chambers as he read over reports at his desk. Instead of cleaning as he had been ordered, Merlin was kicking up more dust that he should have been cleaning. He went over to the fire place to stoke the embers, grumbling under his breath.
"I know, Merlin. I was there," Arthur said with a sigh. He out his quill down to glare at his manservant. "If you pace a couple more laps around my chambers, you'll wear a hole into the floor."
Merlin heard him, but hadn't acknowledged it. The glare Arthur received was anything but friendly -he reckons it could even wilt a flower- but he did take a seat across Arthur at his desk, and grabbed for a grape. From Arthur's dinner plate, much to his chagrin. So much for getting mad when he could only notice how thin his manservant's wrists were. He only pushed the plate towards him. There were more pressing matters at hand—
"He really did remind me of myself when I was younger, you know?" This whole conversation was ridiculous, Arthur thought. Merlin had been there to help him and Morgana smuggle the Druid boy back then? Why was he so against him now?
"How would I know? I didn't know you back then!" Merlin had thrown his hands in the air to prove his point. It was as if their positions had switched- - or were they playing the roles of husband and... husband? who disliked his new friend.
"Why do you hate him so much?" Arthur asked, and the surprise on Merlin's dace was hard to place, but it was obvious that he hadn't been expecting that question.
"I don't- - I don't hate him, it's just that I'm worried." His voice had gotten softer then, and less shout-y. Arthur could hear how weary he was from his tone alone.
And there was only one way Arthur knew how to turn the conversation's mood around—
"Another one of your funny feelings, Merlin?" He teased, although he regretted it the moment it left his mouth, especially how condescending it sounded. The response he received was just one sigh shy of Merlin's dismay. "I mean! I meant, what kingdom couldn't use two me's?"
“Ours.” Came Merlin's flat reply. Arthur has had enough of Merlin's cryptic and despondent responses that he rounded his desk to kneel in front of Merlin's. He held his manservant's oddly soft hands with his own.
"I know you're worried because he's a stranger, but I also know you'll come to like him. I hope. I mean," Arthur coughed into a fist, "if you had come to like me at least enough to stay under my employ this long, I believe you can find something about him to like.
If there's anyone I believe to get to know someone so well so they can befriend them, it's you, Merlin. I know you won't disappoint me."
The seriousness of their conversation draped a blanket of awkward silence over Arthur's chambers, only to break once Merlin squuezed Arthur's fingers.
"Thank you, sire. I'll, I'll do my best to get along with him," he said through gritted teeth. But that was technically a smile too, right?
At least he's gotten Merlin to smile again.
That's better.