Chapter Text
Arthur was very drunk. He was at the tavern after a long day of smiling, talking about nothing, and looking generally princely; in other words, doing what he called “Boring prince-stuff.”
He often complained about these types of duties to Merlin but, of course, Merlin always retorted by complaining about duties that Arthur had assigned him. Arthur thought this was stupid, he was the prince, after all, his performance could affect the peace of the kingdom. He also considered himself above doing things that he didn’t want to; that kind of thing was for servants! Nevertheless, he quite enjoyed the friendly banter between him and his friend.
By the end of the day, Arthur had been utterly exhausted and thoroughly bored. Merlin had suggested that he get some sleep but Arthur, being Arthur, had decided to go to the tavern instead. He had planned to have a couple of drinks and then retire to his chambers, he wanted to get a good night's sleep so he’d be ready for tomorrow's training. To nobody’s surprise, things had not gone exactly to plan. It turned out the barman had a new, stronger, type of mead. Arthur, who was unaware of this, had just as much as he normally would when he didn’t want to get drunk. He didn’t notice the difference in strength until it was already too late. Once he was drunk he forgot all about getting an early night. Merlin, who had unwillingly come with Arthur to the tavern, had told him it was a bad idea to have so much, but when Arthur wouldn’t listen Merlin thought it was his own problem. He stayed at the tavern though, just to make sure Arthur didn’t get into trouble.
It wasn’t until Arthur was about to order his twelfth tankard of mead that Merlin changed his mind and decided to take matters into his own hands. This time he didn’t bother asking Arthur to stop drinking, instead, he grabbed him firmly by the shoulder and shook him.
“Hey, stop that.” Arthur slurred.
“You have training tomorrow, you have to go to bed.”
“What? No, I’m the prince, I don’t take orders from you !”
“We’ll see about that. Now, come on!”
“Nooooo…” Arthur moaned, he was drunker than Merlin had thought. He took hold of Arthur’s arm and tried to pull him out of his chair. It mostly worked but he collapsed on Merlin as soon as he stood up. He sighed and started to drag the prince back to his chambers.
After a tremendously exhausting walk, they entered Arthur’s room. Merlin dumped him on the bed and sighed. He started pottering about the room making sure everything was in order. He was closing the curtains when Arthur spoke and startled him, he had thought Arthur was asleep.
“You know Merlin,” he began, “you, are…actually quite a good servant.”
Merlin was surprised at this but still responded in his normal fashion.
“Really? I thought I was terrible.”
“No, you’re not terrible, you’re great.”
Merlin chuckled softly and smiled, “You’re drunk.” He started to walk toward the door.
“No, wait. I have to tell you something.”
“What?”
“I love you.”
There was a long silence. For a moment both knew exactly what the other was thinking. Then, the moment was gone.
“I have to go.”
The next morning Merlin came to Arthur’s chambers to wake him up as usual. He was trying to hide his uneasiness but Arthur, despite his limited emotional intelligence, picked up on it.
“Is something up? Are you going to start complaining about something? Because if you are, I’d like to just get it over with now.”
“How much of last night do you remember?”
“Oh, not much. I remember being at the tavern and then waking up here now. What’s that got to do with anything?”
Merlin sighed in relief, another disaster averted. And even though he was a bit disappointed he ignored it. He was probably just tired anyway. “Nothing, sire, I was just wondering.”
“Right…”