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"Get your head out of the clouds, Merlin. I thought you wanted to learn more about the leeches?" Gauis interrupts the delightful fantasy Merlin was enjoying.
He groans as the mental picture of Uther in the stocks watching as he ran off with Arthur disappears before he can even throw a potato.
"Gauis, you misunderstood. I only asked why you must keep them, as I do not wish to clean their tank."
"Would you make a poor old man do it instead?"
"Honestly I'd prefer that stupid Lord who made a fuss when I tripped yesterday."
"I can't have a Lord clean my leech tank."
"But wouldn't it be nice if you could?" Merlin asks, grimacing as he looks at the tank.
He's never been so glad to hear Arthur's prat voice yelling for him as he is now, jumping up and running for the door.
"Destiny calls! What a shame. Stupid old dragon and his prophecies!" Merlin says the same words he's said many times, but this time he's much happier about it.
"You'll have to find someone else to clean it or do it when you get back!" Gauis yells after him.
He pretends not to hear as he searches for Arthur.
"Arthur! Oh, I've never been so happy to see you!" Merlin says as he runs into him.
Literally, Arthur has to grab him so he doesn't fall to the floor.
"Glad to know where I stand on providing your daily dose of joy."
"Gauis wanted me to clean the leech tank." He says by way of explanation.
"Ah." Arthur immediately understands, his father has conspired with Gauis to give him that punishment when he was younger.
Honestly, he would've preferred the stocks.
"Did you need something, or were you just missing me?" Merlin teases, noting the faint redness on his cheeks.
"I needed you to polish my armour."
"Already did."
"Wash my outfit for the banquet tomorrow."
"Did it this morning."
"Sharpen my sword?"
"No point doing it until after training."
"We only use blunt swords!"
"Still."
"Would you rather be with the leeches?"
"What are you doing just standing there, come on! I'm sure you've got something do to. You royal types act as if you're so busy, but I do way more." Merlin says, grabbing Arthur's arm and pulling him along.
"I do plenty!"
"All you do is wave a piece of metal."
"Shut up, Merlin."
"If you didn't want me to talk, why'd you come after me?"
"Maybe I wanted you to quietly do your job."
"Where's the fun in that?"
"It's not supposed to be fun."
"But that's boring."
"If you were a little more boring, I wouldn't have had to deal with Lord Wilson calling for you to be punished."
"All I did was trip!"
"He says you ruined his jacket."
"So there's a little wine stain on it, it'll come out!"
"Not everyone has a magical servant. Just because you get the stains you leave on my clothes out, doesn't mean it'll be alright for other people."
"It adds color. That ugly thing needed something. I was helping him!"
"He didn't see it that way."
"What did he want?"
"Stocks for three days."
"Three?!"
"I talked him down to one."
"I'm not going to the stocks."
"You could avoid the leeches there."
"I'd just have to do them after! My back would never be the same!"
"You don't actually have to go to the stocks. Wilson is leaving this evening, as long as he sees us walk towards them, he'll be fine."
Merlin's huffs in relief, smiling at Arthur.
"Maybe you're good for some things."
"I can still put you in them."
"No, then who will... clean under your bed?"
"Not you, because you don't do that."
"I might, how often do you look under there?"
"Never, that's how I know you don't. I don't look, so neither do you."
"I do every once in a while, ever since I had to hide under there."
"Ah. Well, now we've found something you can do. That's what I needed you for." Arthur says, opening the door to his chambers.
"Nah, I did that two weeks ago."
"Dust piles up fast."
"You know what else piles up fast? My annoyance." Merlin says, dropping into one of the chairs by the fireplace.
"And my patience runs out fast. So admit why you actually wanted me."
"You know why."
"Perhaps, but I'd still like to hear you say it."
"I knew you were about to clean the leech tank, I was helping you."
"Telepathic, are you? I didn't know you have magic too."
"That's it, I wanted to ask about magic. What haven't you shown me?"
"You haven't seen my spell to turn princes into frogs yet."
"Fine, I just missed you." Arthur says as if he's admitting something terrible.
It's never easy for him to speak about emotions, but the way Merlin smiles and kisses him could help it get easier.
The leech tank ends up being cleaned by Lord Wilson after all, when he interrupts them and it's discovered he was trying to kill Arthur so he could be next in line for the throne.
Merlin is quite happy with how it all turned out, since he gets to continue kissing Arthur, and Lord Wilson gets leech kisses.