Work Text:
Johnny has worked for King Arthur for only 20 minutes and the king has already brought up his former manservant 5 times. He had gone missing 3 days ago, while on a hunt with the king and his knights and hadn’t returned. The knights had been looking for him day and night! This surprised Johnny since most kings wouldn’t care about a mere manservant. He seemed to care more than all of the knights he’d ever worked for.
Johnny thought that maybe Merlin had committed treason or he ran away from his duties to the king. Maybe the king doesn’t treat him well.
Johnny would understand this.
He wasn’t born in Camelot, but was from a place much further away. He’d worked for a knight so horrible there, that he had made a run for it towards Camelot, where the knights would supposedly be nicer. He’d been skeptical at first, but now that he’s been here and worked here for a few years he’s glad to say that they were right.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s suddenly not skeptical about working for the king. He’d heard from other servants how Uther had treated his servants and he had sounded an awful lot like the knight he’d run away from.
He thought maybe the king cared so much about this servant because he didn’t act accordingly and so he wanted to make an example out of him by hanging him or something. Since Arthur hadn’t been king for very long yet and still to prove that he’s a strong king.
This theory of him is beginning to feel very stupid as he’s looking at King Arthur talking to Gaius, the court physician and his uncle Agravaine.
“He hasn’t come home.” The very worried physician has a frown on his face.
“The knights still have not found him either, I’m going to look for him.” The king seems determined. “It’s my fault he’s out there somewhere and I am going to find him.” He continues earnestly.
“Are you sure, sire? You’re king now, you can’t just leave to look for a servant! You have responsibilities!” Arthur’s uncle looked annoyed.
“He’s just a servant. You can get another one! Or two or three or four or however many you want! What’s so special about Merlin that you have to risk your life for him!?”
“Agravaine, will you handle my responsibilities for Camelot for the time that I am gone? I’ll be back as soon as I can, I promise.” Johnny could hear the hidden anger in his question, however his face revealed nothing. This was King Arthur asking, not his nephew Arthur, a no wouldn’t be taken.
“Of course, sire.” Agravaine seemed to know this too, based on his startled face which he quickly masked.
This answer seemed to satisfy Arthur enough.
“Pack my stuff, Johnny.”
Arthur and sir Leon were riding in front of him. Leon had been the only knight he trusted that wasn’t already looking for Merlin. He had also been there when Merlin had gone missing. The only reason he wasn’t out looking for him already was because there also needed to be knights patrolling the castle.
Johnny was slightly worried he was going to fall of his horse. They’d been riding for a few hours to go to the place were Merlin had gone missing. He wasn’t used to riding a horse as he usually just did his tasks inside. The knights he’d worked for before almost never required this.
So this was quite the new experience, which didn’t go unnoticed.
“You alright there, Johnny?”
“Of course, sir Leon.” He answered as he almost fell of his horse.
“Are you sure? I am pretty sure you just almost fell of your horse there, buddy.” Sir Leon seemed worried about him. ‘Have you never ridden on a horse before?’
Johnny contemplates lying to sir Leon, he doesn’t want I’m to think that he’s incompetent, but ultimately decides against it. King Arthur is also paying attention to him now, great.
“I’m fine, I just- I usually don’t ride a horse for this long, my butt just kind of hurts I guess.” He stammers clumsily.
Embarrassment immediately floods him. He tries to hide his face in his hands, but in the process of doing so he loses his grip on his horse and falls off. He tumbles through the grass and grunts when he bumps into a tree. King Arthur and sir Leon now both look at him with concerned expressions, the kings mouth slightly ajar and his eyes opened wide, the knights face mirroring him.
And he thought it couldn’t get any worse then saying his butt hurt.
“Are you alright?”
Their genuine faces of concern shock him almost enough to forget about the humiliation he feels right now. After 2 painfully long seconds where they have seemingly established that he’s not hurt, they burst out laughing. Johnny can’t help but smile too.
The moment of joy is disrupted when they hear a branch break. Arthur and Leon are immediately on guard, their swords drawn. Johnny just stands there cowardly, he doesn’t have a sword, he doesn’t have a weapon, he doesn’t know how to defend himself. King Arthur jumps before him and sir Leon stands behind him, while trying to see where the noise came from.
Johnny has never felt this special before.
A figure approaches them from afar. He’s running towards them, as much as one can run with a limp it seems. The figure is also covered in dirt and seems to have exceptionally large ears. ‘Is that-‘ Leon begins.
“Merlin!”
So this is Merlin then, the manservant Arthur seemed to care so deeply about for some reason.
“Arthur! I knew that was your laugh!”
Arthur smiles brightly as he looks at Merlin’s face. He opens his arms to hug him and Merlin embraces him tightly back.
“I thought we’d lost you!” The king says happily, even though he has a serious undertone. He really was worried he’d lose the man standing before him.
“Didn’t know you cared so much, your majesty.” Merlin says in a teasing tone.
A manservant teasing the king? Johnny holds his breath. King Arthur has been kind as far as Johnny’s seen the past few hours, but that has got to be too much. All that looking for Merlin, just for him the insult the king and end up dead anyways.
It’s silent for a few moments while Arthur looks… embarrassed? Flustered? Until Leon breaks the tension by extending his hand. “It’s good to have you back Merlin.” Merlin takes the hand and gets pulled into a hug by the knight, who has been looking at the scene stoically but that mask seems to slip away as he holds him. He is relieved to have found the man.
While they embraced Arthur seems to have pulled himself together again as he asks what happened. He gets a vague reply about getting lost in the woods after falling asleep on his horse, which doesn’t sound like a good explanation to the king’s new manservant (or is he not the king’s manservant anymore now? He’s not really sure) but Arthur just takes the answer he gets. This makes Johnny think that this kind of thing is a regular occurrence for them.
They decided to sleep in a cave they found for the night. It’s pretty cold outside, but it’s not freezing or anything, still Merlin and Arthur claim it’s best to sleep tightly next to each other to be more warm. It’s kind of weird because Johnny isn’t snuggling up to Leon and he’s not even cold.
Maybe the king just gets cold easily.
As he’s almost falling asleep he hears some mumbling coming from their side.
“Soo.. you care about me, huh?”
“No I don’t!”
A soft chuckle from Merlin.
“Yeahh right, that’s why you spend so much time looking for me.”
“Well you were missing!” Johnny hears him loudly now and he’s sure Leon hears him too if he’s still awake. “You care abouutt mee!” Merlin says it in a singsongy voice. “Just admit it.”
“Okay fine, I do! Now shut up Merlin.” Arthur seems to become more self conscious about the other knight and manservant sleeping next to them.
“You’re an idiot” Merlin whispers to him as he turns around and laughs. He hears Arthur softly laughing too.
Johnny smiles to himself as he thinks to himself that he made the right decision to come to Camelot.