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Ten years have past since Merlin left Ealdor, ten years have past since he was anywhere close to those boys who thought him to be useless, but thanks to his —awesome— luck he now found himself waiting for them.
Merlin had been sending letters and money to his mother since he started working at the citadel, he always made sure to tell her what he’s been doing and how he loved being in Camelot, unfortunately for him, Moraine and Kaine’s mother had heard Hunith talk about it and decided that she wanted her boys to live the same ‘good life’ Merlin had, so now, he was out in the cold waiting for them to finally show up.
He had been waiting for a while and he was starting to get impatient, but just as he was about to walk back inside the castle he heard a loud voice calling his name.
“Merlin, long time no see, have you finally grown taller?” ——“Or stronger?”
Merlin turned around to see Moraine and Kaine smirking and looking at him up and down as if they were looking for something to make fun of as they used to when they were kids. He really hated it when they gave him that look.
“Oh hi, I was beginning to think you weren’t gonna show up” said Merlin with a tight smile on his face, leaving all hopes of their visit being just a weird nightmare.
“Of course we were going to come here, you really think you can brag about your perfect life without us finding out?” Moraine was looking at him with that awful gloating smile that he always had.
“I don’t brag about it” Merlin really was trying to explain, he didn’t want to have them looking at him as if he was a spoiled prat the whole week they were going to stay in Camelot. “I just really happen to like my job and the friends I’ve made here”
“Right…… well servant boy, aren’t you going to show us where we are staying?” Ah there it was, Kaine’s condescending voice that still haunted him to this day.
“Follow me”
Merlin directed the boys to the room they where going to share, he had manage to talk to Gwen about the visit and convinced her to let Moraine and Kaine stay in a rather big room for a servants chambers.
“Well umm, here is where you are going to stay, your mother asked me to take you with me to do my chores the first days and then to assign you your own, so be sure to be awake at 6:00 am sharp” Merlin tried to say with calmest voice he could produce, however the boys didn’t look happy.
“6: 00 am?, you’ve got to be kidding me” said Kaine in an offended voice.
“We normally wake up at 8:00, and that’s if we are in a good mood” Moraine had stopped unpacking his things to look at Merlin as if he was out of his mind.
“Yeah well, you are here to work as a servant of Camelot, you are obviously gonna have more chores here so you better get used to it” Merlin really wasn’t up to discussing their schedule right that moment, he hadn’t slept properly the night before and he really needed to go to bed to wake up Arthur at the time he was supposed to.
“Ha, would you look at that Moraine, the idiot is now giving us orders”
Kaine was really starting to get on his nerves so before Moraine answered and they continued the conversation he interrupted.
“They are not my orders, I’m simply letting you know that that is when I’m going to come to get you tomorrow so that we can do the chores I’m supposed to do, if you have a problem you are free to go to Gwen tomorrow and talk about it, she is the Head of the Household and she will se you fit, now good night”
Just as the others where about to complain about whatever bothered them about Merlin he turned around and practically flew to Gaius chambers and into his room, tomorrow was going to be a long day.
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
The next morning arrived in a flash and Merlin found himself going up stairs with a tray of breakfast into Arthur’s room, he had decided he was going to try to get the brothers away from Arthur, it was for the best, he didn’t want them to get to comfortable with him and start asking for stuff and he definitely didn’t want Arthur founding out about how he was treated back in Ealdor, it was embarrassing.
He stepped into the room as he always does and proceeded to do his morning routine in Arthur’s room, like getting the breakfast in the table, thinking of what outfit to pick for Arthur and opening the curtains, once that was settled came the fun part, waking up the prat.
He got close to the bed and said in the loudest sweetest voice he could.
“Rise and shine”
Arthur groaned and pulled Merlin by the arm, making him fall in his bed and cuddling into his neck.
“Shut up Merlin, five more minutes” he said with a raspy low voice that send shivers down Merlins spine.
“You know you have to much to do today sire” Merlin tried to escape Arthur’s arms but failed miserably giving a small giggle when he felt Arthur’s arms holding him closer.
“Don’t care” he just nuzzled closer to Merlin’s neck and gave a long sigh.
Arthur wasn’t giving up so Merlin had no choice but to give him his five more minutes, which he adored.
Once a couple minutes had passed Arthur finally woke up and stared at Merlin for a few seconds, a stupid lovestruck grin forming on his face.
“Morning Merlin”
“Morning sire”
They looked at each other, shared a chaste kiss and finally, Arthur was up. While Arthur was eating a little bit of his breakfast and reading some reports Merlin made his bed and spread out the outfit of the day, then went and sat down with Arthur, stealing some food and reading one of the reports that were laid out on the table.
When they had eaten most of the breakfast, they stood up and dressed Arthur, discussing some of the papers they had just read, Arthur asking questions and Merlin giving his opinion. Once they finished dressing Arthur up, Merlin gave him a rather long and sweet kiss and went to look for the brothers reluctantly.
“Hellooo” Merlin looked inside the room fortunately finding the brother awake and dressed for work.
“Finally you’re here, didn’t you say 6:00 am sharp? It’s already 6:30”
“Did you overslept after nagging us yesterday?”
The brothers looked angry at him and again, he didn’t want to deal with them bothering him so early in the morning so he decided a simple explanation would be enough.
“No I didn’t overslept, it just took longer to wake up my master than I had expected, but now that we are all awake let’s get going”
Merlin turned around and started walking making sure that the brothers were following him, after that he just went on his day trying to pretend they weren’t even there, those first days where just for them to observe and learn, and fortunately that’s what they were doing.
He had gone to gather herbs for Gaius, helped in the kitchen, checked on the stable and how the horses were, polished Arthur’s armor and some others and helped with a little problem other servants were having. Every thing was going accordingly until the brothers decided to start with their bullying.
“Why are you doing all this?”
“Going around the castle as if you had so many obligations”
“Are you pretending to be important to impress?”
“Did you ask the other servants to put up this show?”
Merlin just stood there in front of them, listening to their accusations.
“Honestly Merlin, you are not that important” Moraine said looking down at Merlin and laughing with Kaine when Gwen came running through the doors
“MERLIN! Thank gods I found you, I need your help, I need another opinion” Gwen looked tired and a little sweaty, obviously from running around the castle.
“What happened? Are you okay?” Merlin met her halfway looking concern for the state of her friend.
“I want your help with some of the planning for the feast, I really need your opinion” she was breathing quickly, trying to catch her breath.
Just before Merlin could ask again what was going on the brothers interrupted him.
“You are Gwen? The Head of the Household?” Kaine asked eyeing her up and down
“Yes that’s me, who are you?”
“They are the brothers from Ealdor I told you about” Merlin introduced them felling a little uncomfortable and nervous.
“Oh, hello, I’m sorry I hadn’t introduce myself but I have been a little busy”
“Yes hello um, can I ask you a question?” Moraine looked like he was holding in his laughter which could only mean something bad for Merlin.
“Um sure, is there something wrong?” Gwen, oh sweet Gwen looked worried at Merlin, as if she was looking for the so called -problem- in his eyes.
“No no, we were just wondering, why do you need Merlin’s help? You are the Head of the Household” Moraine asked as if it was the most ridiculous thing in the world.
Gwen looked visibly confused at the question.
“Why would you care about his opinion?, he’s just a manservant” Kaine added explaining their point.
“Umm” Gwen turned to look at Merlin confused but answers non the less. “Well because he is Merlin, why would I look for someone else when I have him?”
Moraine and Kaine were a little shocked at that and just before they could ask more Gwen continued.
“After all, I might be the Head of the Household by title, but everyone knows that the one that really keeps this place running is Merlin, I’m more of his right hand” Gwen smiled at them and turned to Merlin, since it looked like her answer would shut the brothers up for a little while.
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
They couldn’t believe it, they had been following scrawny useless Merlin all day and he didn’t look as unimportant as they originally though.
And after that encounter with the so called ‘Head of the Household’ there was no doubt there was something weird with Camelot. Why would someone chose Merlin, of all people, to have such responsibilities.
Moraine and Kaine decided to go back to following Merlin quietly, taking on all the information.
When they first heard Hunith talk about Merlin’s life in Camelot they didn’t believe her, and after reading one of the letters they were certain he was bluffing, there was no way he was so outgoing, he wrote her about hunt travels, feasts and parties, helping Gaius and about all the wonderful people he now called friends. It just didn’t make sense.
Oh how wrong they were.
The next day they did the same, they waited for Merlin to show up and followed him around all day, doing chores and listening to all the people who talked with him OR about him.
That day when they were walking out of the armory after polishing some swords Kaine bumped into one of the knights, he was huge, looked serious and was made out of muscles, Kaine was ready to beg for his life until Merlin stepped up from behind them and greeted the giant.
“Hey Percy! Are you guys done with today’s training?” Merlin looked so relaxed that it was terrifying.
“Hi Merlin” They were perplexed, what first looked like a giant who could kill them with a swing of his fist now looked soft and happy. “Yeah we finished, if you were looking for Arthur he said he was going to his chambers but I think you can still catch him.
“Oh no, I’m not looking for him, we just finished polishing your swords” Merlin smiled and the giant nodded.
“Problems in paradise Merlin? You know you can always come to me” Another man with long curly hair creeped out from behind the giant, winking and smirking at Merlin.
“A kind offer as usual Gwaine, but there is no need” Merlin said, as if a man winking at him was the most normal thing.
“Well then what is it? You always come to our practices, princess has been sulking and moody since yesterday, Did you guys had a fight?” The man, Gwaine, said now staring at Merlin fondly.
More knights arrived at once, interrupting the conversation, but every single one of them came into the armory greeting Merlin and some of them patting him on the shoulder or the head.
What the hell was going on!
“To answer your question Gwaine, no we didn’t had a fight, it’s just that he let me give my tasks as a manservant to George for a few days since I’ve got visitors.” Merlin said, stepping away so that Moraine and Kaine were visible to the knights. They just nodded at them, expecting an introduction.
“Hi, I’m Moraine and this is my little brother Kaine” Moraine couldn’t be more nervous, but he relaxed a bit when the knights nodded and introduced themselves.
“Pleasure to meet you, I’m Percival, this flirt over here is Gwaine, that’s Elyan and Leon, and this is Lancelot”
All the knights greeted them but quickly turned around and cornered Merlin, well, at least they would get to see Merlin get beaten up by a bunch of knights, there was no way Merlin could talk to them with such disrespect for their positions as knights for there not to be a consequence.
Except that didn’t happen.
“Merlin, when are you going back to being his manservant?”
“Yeah, he’s being all moody and cranky”
“Please tell us that at least is you that is waking him up”
Merlin laughed at them, as if they were his closest friends. And that’s where it hit them. They were his closest friends, the ones he mentioned in almost all his letters, except there was one missing, a prat, according to Merlin, whoever might that be.
“Don’t worry, I am waking him up and helping him get ready for bed, and today is the last day, tomorrow I’ll go back to my normal routine”. Merlin explained as the knights relaxed at his words.
“Helping him to bed huh” that was Gwaine, who was looking at Merlin with a smirk and doing a weird wiggle with his eyebrows.
“Oh shut up Gwaine” Was Merlin blushing?, Moraine and Kaine couldn’t understand, what did that mean.
Merlin started to walk away from the knights when they kept making kiss sounds and whistling at him.
They both agreed, that was so weird.
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
The next day they had their own schedule, and they didn’t see Merlin for most part of the day, and when they did he was running somewhere saying he didn’t have time because his master gave him a task.
And that lead to the question……………who was that master?
They realized that they didn’t even knew, they obviously kept making jokes about Merlin being just a manservant but they didn’t knew who his master was.
Until they saw them.
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
The feast was finally happening, all those weeks of preparation were finally going to pay off, and Merlin wanted his king to be the most handsome man in the whole place.
He had chosen the perfect outfit, and he was now waiting for Arthur to finish bathing while he displayed everything on the bed.
“Merlin, pass me my towel will you?” Arthur asked, with a little of a flirty tone to his voice, which with a lot of effort Merlin ignored, doing as he was asked.
“Thank you Merlin” he got out of the tube and dried himself behind the screen and went out to get dressed by a very flushed Merlin.
“Merlin”
“Sire”
“Oh, so I’m sire now, why so respectful? Merlin” Arthur said so close to Merlin he could feel his breath.
“I though you wanted me to be respectful my lord” He really was trying to just get him dressed so they could go to the feast, but gods Arthur wasn’t making that easy.
“Fine, then I’ll let you keep on being respectful and I expect obedient as well” A wink, he fucking winked at him, that prat.
“If I promise to do whatever you want after the feast would you let me do my job without getting a hard on?” Merlin looked at him with the best serious/annoyed face he could pull.
“My, that’s quite a promise Merlin, are you sure?” Merlin hated him, looking all pretty with the stupid perfect outfit he picked, and those blue eyes, and gorgeous smile and ughh, if he didn’t stop looking at him like that they will never get to the feast.
“Yes you royal prat I promise, now stop staring at me like that and let me fix your collar”
Arthur just smiled and did as he was told, clearly thinking of what to do later on that night. Gods what did he got himself into.
“Alright you clotpole, all dolled up, you ready?”
“Yeah, let’s get this party started” he said with a smirk and a wink, seriously, it would be the end of him.
Merlin tried to step away before anything happened, but that wasn’t in Arthur’s plan, he kept him in place holding him by the waist and started kissing him, slow and tempting, going from his lips, to his jaw and to his neck, Merlin couldn’t care less about the feast right now, he felt Arthur bite his neck a little and soothing the pain with his tongue, and just as he was about to actually do something Arthur pulled away, giving him a last quick kiss on the lips he walked away.
“Sorry love, just wanted to take precautions with those Lords, now no one will try to take you to bed this night but me”
And with a last wink, he walked out of the room, leaving Merlin in the middle of it analyzing what he was told, and then it clicked, he rushed to the mirror to see his neck with three little red marks, that clotpole, but no worries, he would get him back.
≪•◦ ❈ ◦•≫
He walked in the room after splashing some water to his face and took his place behind Arthur as he used to.
Moraine and Kaine finally spotting him confirming their theory of who he served. It was the king.
Useless clumsy Merlin was the manservant of the king.
As the night developed they also came to the conclusion that the -prat- that Merlin loved talking about was the king himself, but that can’t be right, how can that idiot be friends with the freaking king of Camelot. So they took the matter in their hands.
“Your Highness, hello, we hope we are not bothering you” said Moraine felling like he was going to die of nervousness.
Okay, maybe they didn’t plan this correctly but they already did it so, here goes nothing.
“No, don’t you worry, who are you tho? I don’t believe I’ve seen you before” Arthur was now giving them his full attention, really carefully observing the pair standing in front of him.
“I am Moraine and this is my little brother Kaine, we come from Ealdor, we just got here these week”. Moraine explained as both of them bowed to Arthur.
“Ealdor? Do you happen to know someone called Merlin?” Arthur asked kind of putting the puzzle together.
“Yes we do my lord, we came here after listening about his life from his mother” Kaine answered trying to be as respectful as he could.
“Ah yes, Merlin told me some people from Ealdor would be coming, you followed him around this past two days I believe”
“Yes my lord” both Moraine and Kaine answered surprised Merlin would mention them to the king, but remembering he had asked for permission to skip his labors as a manservant to show them around so it was obvious he knew.
As they were going to ask about Merlin as discreetly as possible, the man in question appeared out of nowhere.
“What are you two doing?” Merlin looked a little angry at them but nothing they couldn’t handle. And besides, this was their opportunity to know if they were actually friends or not.
“We were just introducing ourselves to the king Merlin, after all we expect to stay here working for him for a while” said Kaine with the most innocent expression he could pull
“And you made him sound so approachable in your letters to your mother we thought we ought to give it a go and try to become ‘friends’ with him like you” finished Moraine smiling like the cat how got the cream.
“You read the letter I sent to my mother?” Okay, maybe he sounded a little bit angrier than before but they could manage
“You wrote to Hunith about me?” The king was smirking…SMIRKING at Merlin
“Oh shut up” And Merlin was telling him to SHUT UP!
“Why would I? Gentleman, what exactly did the letters said?” Oh my gods now the king was curious about Merlin?, where they actually close?
“Umm we don’t really remember much, it’s just that it sounded as if Merlin was close to you my Lord.” Moraine answered being partially honest, they don’t really remember what the letters said, who would memorize someone else’s letter?
“I see, well…” The king was about to explain everything, but Gwaine, one of the knights they meet before interrupted him.
“Princesss glad to see you and Merlsss are okayyy” He sounded drunk to say the least
“Sorry Arthur, he had to much to drink, I’ll take him to his chambers” Oh gods, the mountain knight called the king by his first name
“Don’t worry about it Percy, take care of him” The king was so normal about it, did everyone call the king by his first name? No, they heard everyone else calling him accordingly, which means it’s just this people.
“I’ll make sure to bring him medicine tomorrow morning” Merlin said, not looking angry anymore but looking fondly at the drunk knight.
“Thanks guys, okay Gwaine, let’s go” The giant knight, Percival, picked the drunk one up in his arms and walked away, while the drunk one kept saying how happy he was the ‘fight’ was over.
“Sorry if it comes of as rude your Highness but, are you really friends with Merlin?” The curiosity was eating them alive, they needed answers and the feast was coming to an end so it was now or never.
“Friends? Not quite”
“AHA! We knew it, there was no way you were friends with Merlin, he’s just a manservant, you could never be…….”
Just as they were they were celebrating their proved theory they were given the reason they weren’t friends.
Moraine and Kaine stared in disbelief how the king lowered Merlin’s neckerchief to reveal three red love bites on his neck.
And they just stayed there, watching the useless Merlin smack the kings hand and proceeding to walk away with said king with an arm around his shoulders. And they could swear they saw them kiss when the door they walked through was closing.
Everything made sense now,the letters with funny nicknames, the influence Merlin had in the palace and the love he had for Camelot.
Who knew.