Work Text:
“Where have you been?” Arthur bellowed, struggling to pull his nightshirt over his own head. George stood politely off to the side, knowing better than to offer his assistance after having been scolded for doing so twice already.
“Sorry, sire,” Merlin winced, cradling his head in his hands.
“That is not an answer, Merlin,” Arthur seemed to get louder the more frustrated he got. Eventually, he gave up and let George pull the garment from his head.
“I was at the tavern, sire, with Lancelot and Gwaine. Of course, Percival tagged along after some time, and so did Gwen,” Merlin rambled, rushing his way over to the King’s wardrobe.
Arthur growled, spinning Merlin to face him. George fled the room. “The bloody tavern? Again?”
Merlin resisted the urge to blush, faced quite closely with a half naked (and enraged) Arthur. “Yes, sire.”
“It is things like this, Merlin, that make me glad you will no longer be my servant soon,” Arthur huffed, taking his tunic from Merlin’s stunned hand.
Merlin resisted the urge to tear up, stepping backwards from Arthur. “Well, sire, since you wish to be rid of me, I shall send someone else in my place,” he whispered. “Good day, your majesty.”
“Merlin!” Arthur called after him, but he had already left.
Merlin showed up, bright and early, the next morning, despite Arthur’s fear he would not return.
“You don’t have to do this, Merlin,” he said as Merlin strapped him into his armor, unnerved by how polite the man had been all morning.
“It is my job, sire,” he replied stiffly, perfectly professional in every way.
“Merlin, please,” Arthur begged, turning so they made eye contact, ignoring Merlin’s huff of impatience when he could no longer reach the straps of his armor.
“Yes, sire?” He asked, folding his hands behind his back and grimacing.
“I’m sorry I said that, it was unwarranted.”
“Said what, sire?”
“Stop being cheeky!”
“My confusion is genuine, sire.” Merlin’s facade began to crack, a small smile forming at the corner of his mouth.
Arthur grinned, big and beautiful. “I am sorry, for suggesting I shall have want of anyone but you as my servant.”
Merlin’s small smile dropped, a look of wonder passing over his face as a larger one grew in its place. “We’d better get you ready,” he said, suddenly dropping his head as if shy. “Lest Leon have my head for making you late again.”
“I see you’ve resolved your little lover’s spat,” Gwaine whispered to Merlin once they’d reached the field.
Merlin swatted at his arm, Gwaine dodging easily. “He actually apologized, for once!”
“Bar is in the dirt, Merls, and how low can he go?” Gwaine said, suddenly serious. “He doesn’t deserve you, not with the way he treats you.”
“He doesn’t have me, Gwaine. Not in the way you’re thinking.”
“But he does! In all ways but one.”
Merlin blushed, wringing his hands. “You better get out there, if he sees us slacking off for too long, we’ll both be sparing with him.”
“You’d win,” Gwaine said, winking as he jogged away.
“What Gwaine said is true,” Lancelot said after training was over, scaring Merlin half to death.
Merlin gasped, throwing Arthur’s shield a yard away in his fear. “Lancelot!” He scolded, patting the man on the arm as he attempted to catch his breath. “You scared me!”
“I can see that,” he chuckled, assisting Merlin in standing upright. He jogged forward, grabbing the tossed shield and returning it to a still stunned Merlin. “He was right,” Lancelot continued. “About you deserving better, I mean.”
Merlin snorted, throwing a less than free arm around the man. “Better than Arthur? I’d be so lucky as to have His Royal Prattishness.”
“Is that even a word?” Lancelot laughed, taking some of Merlin’s load from him and returning the awkward side hug.
“Of course.”
“Really? Give me a definition.”
“Two words?”
“Sure.”
“Arthur Pendragon,” Merlin grinned.
Lancelot bent in two, bellowing his laughter for everyone to hear. Gwaine glanced over, giving the two a slightly wild grin of his own.
“You, Merlin, are a treasure.”
Arthur looked alarmed when he returned to his chambers some time later, a dinner tray in hand. He looked as though he had been pacing and running his hands through his hair.
“Arthur?” Merlin inquired, setting the tray on the table. “Are you alright?”
“Merlin!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Where have you been?”
“Uh, fetching you dinner, sire, is something wrong?”
“Nothing, nothing is wrong now that you are here!”
Merlin flinched, confused and a little hurt at the direction the conversation had taken. “Very funny, Arthur,” he said. “Now sit and eat before your food gets cold.”
Arthur pulled out a seat, surprising Merlin by not sitting immediately. “Well?” He asked, gesturing to the seat. “Sit! Eat dinner with me,” he elaborated once it became clear Merlin did not know what he wanted.
“What?” Merlin stared at the seat in bafflement.
“Sit, eat dinner with me, as a future member of my court!”
“Future member of your court?”
“Well, yes, you are to be court sorcerer soon, are you not?”
Merlin sat, moreso because his knees had gone weak than because he actually wanted to. “Magic is not even legal,” he whispered.
“Not yet,” Arthur said cheekily, taking his own seat.
Merlin stared in a mix of wonderment and horror as Arthur dug into his meal, decidedly not noticing when he pushed a few of Merlin’s favorites from his own plate onto Merlin’s.
“Arthur?” Merlin questioned after a long bout of silence. “Are you serious?”
“I’m always serious,” Arthur laughed. “I’m the king.”
Merlin nodded as though he understood, though Arthur was making no sense, and began eating as well.
“I think I’m under a spell of some sort,” Arthur said once he had finished eating, prompting Merlin to choke on his turkey leg.
“Pardon?” Merlin gasped, reaching for a goblet of water.
“I cannot seem to control my words.”
“In what way?”
“I have the uncontrollable urge to speak everything I think. You look radiant tonight, by the way.”
Merlin blushed, waving a hand as if to dispel the compliment from the air. “We must see Gaius, before you begin spilling court secrets to the laundry maids.”
“I will have you know, Kate is probably the most trustworthy woman I’ve ever met.”
Merlin stood, grabbed Arthur by the arm, and led him out the door.
“Have I ever told you that I love your hands?” Arthur whispered in his ear, pulling him in an alcove. “Because I do.”
“Arthur!” Merlin scolded, dragging him back on their path.
“What? Am I not allowed to admire a fellow warrior?”
“I am no warrior,” Merlin insisted, feeling the flush rise to his ears and creep down his neck.
Arthur traced a finger over a scar on Merlin’s knuckle, bringing the hand up to his mouth to kiss it. “Warrior’s hands,” he whispered against the skin.
Merlin shivered, pulling his hand away slowly, letting his thumb drag along Arthur’s bottom lip. “We need to get you to Gaius,” he said softly, regretfully.
“Gaius who?” Arthur teased, ushering them behind a tapestry.
“Gaius the physician,” Merlin stuttered out as Arthur began kissing each finger of his right hand.
“Hm, sounds boring,” Arthur muttered, switching hands.
“Aren’t you the least bit concerned about the enchantment?”
“Why would I be?” Arthur murmured, working his way up Merlin’s arm. “I’ve got magic himself right here with me,” he whispered into Merlin’s ear, prompting a full body shiver.
“I,” Merlin tried to say.
“You?” Arthur teased, kissing at Merlin’s neck.
“Hate you, hate you so much.”
“I hope not,” Arthur whispered. “Otherwise this would be pretty awkward.”
“Get a room!” Someone yelled from the corridor, prompting the pair to jump apart. “Gods above,” the person Merlin now recognized as the laundry maid Kate, said. “Like rabbits, these knights.”
Merlin supposed he would have flushed harder, had he been able, as Arthur chuckled into his palm.
“Imagine the scandal,” Arthur snickered. “The king and his servant, caught groping in the hallway.”
“I was doing no such thing!” Merlin said, outraged.
”I’ve seen your power, Merlin, no one can make you do anything you do not want. Not even me.” Arthur whispered, looking up at him through his lashes.
Merlin huffed, nodding his head in agreement. “We should get you to Gaius,” he reiterated, making Arthur groan.
“I love you, even when you’re frustrating,” Arthur whispered, grabbing Merlin’s wrist and leading him towards the physician’s quarters.
They arrived with no more distractions, Arthur placing himself willingly on the table for inspection.
“He’s acting strange, Gaius. He’s being,” Merlin hesitated a moment, then continued at Gaius’s raised brow. “Affectionate.”
“Am I not usually affectionate, my turtle dove?” Arthur asked from across the room, making the two of them jump.
“Calling me a bird? How original,” Merlin snapped back despite the flush returning to his cheeks.
Arthur chuckled, then raised a hand and beckoned them both over. Grasping Merlin’s hand, he began to speak with a very serious air about him. “Gwaine and Lancelot, they are plotting something.” At Merlin’s horrified face, he continued. “I believe them to have the purest of intentions,” he soothed, running a finger in circles over Merlin’s palm. “But I believe they are the ones that enchanted me.”
Gaius sighed, pinching his nose between fingers and rubbing beneath his eyes as if Arthur had just caused him a great headache. “I will interrogate the knights myself,” he volunteered, though Merlin suspected he was doing so simply to leave the room.
Once Gaius had left, Arthur hopped down from the table, cornering Merlin against the shelf in the process. “Hello,” he said simply.
“Hullo,” Merlin answered, perplexed.
“May I kiss you, now?” Arthur asked very politely.
Merlin squawked, diving beneath Arthur’s arm as the man laughed at him.
“You could have just said no!” He chuckled as Merlin dashed across the room.
“No! You’re enchanted!” Merlin yelled, ducking beneath a table.
“What is happening in here?” Gwaine asked, opening the door slowly.
“Merlin will not let me kiss him because you enchanted me,” Arthur answered plainly, staring at Gwaine with a stormy expression.
Gwaine laughed, doubling over and grasping at the knob of the door for support. “Told ya it would work, Lance,” he yelled out to the corridor.
Lancelot pushed his way into the room, looking sheepish and concerned.
“Treason!” Arthur yelled out, to the collective horror of the room. “You committed treason just so I’d admit to wanting to kiss Merlin?”
“Correction,” Lancelot said. “We committed treason so you’d treat Merlin the way he deserves to be treated.”
“Humped in the hallway?” Merlin exclaimed, making everyone in the room but him laugh as his face grew hotter.
“Shown genuine affection,” Lancelot corrected once he caught his breath. Lancelot slips a vial from his pocket, handing it to Merlin. “Here, the antidote. If you want it, that is.”
“Want it? Of course I want it!” Arthur shouted, reaching for the bottle.
“I said if Merlin wants it,” Lancelot said, batting away Arthur’s hands. “Maybe he wants to keep you honest and nice for a while.”
Arthur pouted, and Merlin held the vial out to him, snatching it away at the last second so Arthur would pay attention to him speaking. “They’re right, you need to treat me with more respect. I would appreciate it if you said thank you once in a while, and you need to stop calling me useless. You know better than anyone the work I do for this kingdom.”
“Anything you wish, my love,” Arthur promised him.
With that, Merlin handed him the antidote.
Arthur took it in one shot, wrinkling his nose at the taste. “You definitely don’t want to kiss me after that,” he said to Merlin, reaching for some water.
Gwaine slapped Merlin on the back, laughing as he turned bright red.
Merlin stepped forward, suddenly brave, and kissed Arthur on the cheek.