Part 1
Peering around the corner of the building of the alleyway, Merlin had ducked down, he wanted to make sure that the guards who had been right on his heels were now gone. He didn’t see anyone wearing red with the Pendragon’s emblem on it, so he slithered around the tight corner, making sure to press himself flat against the brick so as not to bring any attention to himself. Only one hand was able to help him be pressed up against the building because the other one was too busy holding onto the loaf of bread he had managed to grab from one of the market stalls. It wasn’t that successful though because the moment he had wrapped his nimble fingers around that particular loaf of bread the stall’s manager had yelled out ‘thief’ and that was when all hell broke loose, leaving him running for his life, bread snuggled tightly under his arm and against his side so as not to let it fall to the ground. If that had happened, he would have stolen it for no reason at all.
That would have been his luck though, but thankfully he had gotten away with it.
Merlin had made his way towards the less crowded area of the market, knowing that after the fruit and vegetable stand belonging to a really nice couple who gave him a few free things here and there, he would be free to duck down an alleyway that led to a nice little cave. It wasn’t much really, all filled with cobwebs and it rank of death, but it was somewhere that he would be able to sit down and enjoy his meal of the day. Of course he had forgotten to grab something to drink along the way, but that could easily be rectified a trip to Camelot’s well, which was free no matter your social status. Came in handy plenty of times when he had to escape the guards. So this whole being chased thing wasn’t quite new to him, not in the slightest.
He had just past the last market stall when out of nowhere Pendragon’s men came out and grabbed his arm. “Got you now, boy. Thought you could get away with it, aye?” The guard who had a hold of him gave him the most smug look Merlin had ever seen before in his entire life. It reminded him too much of his childhood pet cat’s look whenever she caught a bird and would bring it back to him to show him what she had caught just for him.
Which, of course, meant that he was going to be in some serious trouble.
And some trouble he was in, having been dragged to kneel before the King, admitting to what he had done out in the market.
“Is it true that you stole a loaf of bread?,” Uther asked, used to things like this daily, but from a boy like this he was appalled.
All Merlin could do was nod his head, cursing himself inwardly for getting caught like this. First time ever he had gotten caught, which probably meant that he had been watched from time to time because they had known exactly where to grab him. He needed to be a lot trickier from now on. That is…if there was a next time. No one knew with the King.
Uther stared at the boy kneeling before him, sighing at the fact that another one of his own people was stealing from the vast food supply. “Very well,” he said with a great boom, sitting further back in his throne, his eyes meeting the guard who held the boy by the arms. “Send him to the dungeons until we figure out what to do with him.”
The guard nodded, pulled Merlin up by his arms and dragged him to the dungeons.
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Being locked in cell was one of the worst experiences of his short life. Even more than him losing both of his parents in the course of a year and him eating people’s left over scraps of food for more then a few months. Even though he knew that he shouldn’t be here, locked away like this, he couldn’t do anything about it because even he knew that he had to face the consequences. But what his consequences were for stealing a single loaf of bread he wasn’t even sure, maybe. The King hadn’t been exactly clear on what his punishment would be. Merlin was imagining the worst possible scenarios and was hoping beyond all hope that he wasn’t going to be put to death. Not that he had heard of anyone getting hung for stealing food, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen.
He had been in the middle of imagining one of the townspeople with a giant axe in their hands and it coming down onto his head, when the gate of the cell opened and in walked a blonde boy with two guards behind him. Merlin vaguely remembered seeing this boy in court when he had appeared before the King. It didn’t click who the boy actually was until he opened his mouth.
“Get up,” Arthur muttered, placing his hands on his hips, eyebrow raised as he watched the boy scramble to his feet. “The King has decided on your punishment. Unfortunately, I am to take a new servant and…my father had suggested that I take you on to serve…me.” It was difficult for Arthur to accept his father’s order when it was to take on another servant. The only reason he was even doing this was because his father had simply fired his recent servant just to get his butt in gear. How utterly sad and pathetic.
Merlin simply stood there in stunned silence for a few seconds before he stumbled out, “B-but, Sire, I have nowhere to stay and I have never served anyone before.”
The Prince simply rolled his eyes. He was clearly getting agitated and was not liking this one bit. Just hearing that boy say that meant that he would have to teach his new servant how to serve him. How absurd it was that he would have to actually show this…scrawny boy how to make the bed, clothe and bathe him and everything else. Unless… “Very well then, that’s fine. I can have Argwan here show you how it’s done.” He motioned to the boy behind him who was carrying the new servant's dinner.
Glancing between the Prince and the servant behind him, he fumbled with the hem of his tunic, clearly confused as to why he was getting left off so easily. He thought for sure that he was going to get cast out of Camelot and would never be allowed to come back. But…this. This was something that seemed so easy that he would be stupid to refuse. With a nod, he glanced back to the Prince. “I accept.”
Arthur found himself nodding as Merlin got handed his food. “Good…that’s settled then,” he said, turning around, but stopping short. “If you are going to be my servant, you need to tell me your name.” As much as he loved calling the scrawny boy in front of him just boy, he knew that wasn’t going to work out for either of them.
“Merlin,” he got out before stuffing his face with the food he had been handed, groaning in pleasure at the taste. This was one of the best meals he had been given since he was sixteen, and that was only a year ago. But after eating off of almost empty plates and stealing something small from the market, made a meal of chicken, potatoes and tomatoes seemed like it was fit for the King. Which, ironically enough, it was.
He was so into his meal that he hadn’t realized the Prince had nodded and walked away, clearly upset at the thought of a new servant.
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“No, no, no, no!” Arthur was clearly agitated, not understanding how a boy like this Merlin could be such an imbecile. Not only did he have to toss away one of his favorite tunics, but now he had to get a new pair of boots because his so called servant was not capable to shine them without losing one of them. “How do you manage to lose a boot, Merlin?”
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t his fault because when Arthur got in a mood like this, there was no way that he was going to get out of it without humiliation. It looked to be like he was going to be sent to the stocks once more and he absolutely hated getting sent to the stocks. The townspeople threw all sorts of disgusting things at him, things that took pretty much forever to get out of his hair and his clothes. Poor Gaius had to put his back into it when he scrubbed his tunics and trousers clean. “It wasn’t my fault,” he shot back, upset that something like this had happened to begin with. “It was there one minute and then disappeared the next.” One thing he was leaving out was that he had been upset and with a blink it had gone…invisible. Getting used to this magic thing was something else and he didn’t need his Sire to be upset at his magic going awry. Not that he was going to be mentioning that.
“How can it just disappear like that, Merlin?”
“I-I don’t know, Sire, it just disappeared. Maybe someone took it.”
Before Arthur could open his mouth and say something back to the boy, he glared at him in disbelief. “Oh..so you’re trying to tell me that someone just came along and stole it while you were off shining it? Is that it?”
Merlin nodded, now knowing how awful that sounded being spoken out loud.
With a groan, Arthur knocked over a pitcher as he turned around to actually look at Merlin. “That wouldn’t happen, Merlin. No one would come into your chambers and steal a boot of the Prince. If that happened, then there would be plenty more people who would be sent to the stocks,” he muttered, letting out a breath in a sigh. Such an incompetent servant he had.
“I am certain that is what happened, Arthur.”
“You will have to get me new ones then out of your pocket. Those boots were my absolute favorite and you go and lose one of them. You are an incompetent servant.”
Merlin had been called many names before, but hearing that word made him stop halfway through saying something and just keep quiet. It wasn’t his fault that his magic had gone a little haywire in his mood. If he wanted anyone to blame, he should blame his prat self because he had been the one to call him in to put even more to do on his already full plate. After all it had only been a month of being his servant. He was still getting used to everything that had to be done. He couldn’t juggle being told to shine this or that and then being told to run around like a chicken with its head cut off just so Arthur could have some fun with him. Having swords thrown at you was not fun, no matter what type of shield one had.
“You are dismissed, Merlin….”
He didn’t say anything, didn’t bother thinking twice. Instead he nodded and backed out of the room, bowing as he did, clearly unhappy with the news that he had to give Arthur. Somehow he had managed to make his way through the halls, going back to Gaius’ chamber and into his room, closing the door shut behind him. Ever since he had spoken to that damn dragon who had called him one night and told him about that prophecy about Arthur, he had to learn to deal with how the Prince treated him.
It was unfair that he had to sit by and be the silent one while Arthur abused him day in and out, always talking about how much Merlin still had to learn and that he was so tired of having to go over the rules day in and day out. Granted, he wasn’t the best servant around, but at least he was learning quickly how to do everything. It wasn’t even learning how to do everything Arthur asked that was the hard part, but to do it all at once. His Prince just demanded so much out of him that he just wanted to say something harsh and leave Camelot, maybe go scour some other kingdom. But he was being treated so nicely here though(with the exception of Arthur), even after everything and the food was amazing. He couldn’t just up and leave what he had established destiny be damned.
With a sigh, he stared up at his ceiling, trying to come up with a few ideas as to how he could get Arthur his boot back. Not his fault that the boot had disappeared, he didn’t even know he knew how to do that. It was more of a psychological thing it seemed and it scared him a bit just how strong this magic thing was that had suddenly sprung up the moment he had found himself content and happy. And he couldn’t tell anyone, well, he did tell Gaius, but that didn’t help him out at all. Maybe he was better off just staying in his chambers and blowing things up with his mind.
Maybe…
….but he couldn’t do that. He was starting to like Arthur…just a bit.
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Merlin woke up with a start at the pounding going on beyond his door. It was still dark outside which meant that he hadn’t been sleeping that long. Which in turn made him wonder why someone was making such a racket outside of that very door.
Creeping slowly to it, he opened it a crack just to peek outside and saw a shadowed figure looking through one of Gaius’ many cupboards full of potions and cures he kept for those who needed them daily. Merlin glanced to the bed that his housemate usually slept in and found him to be snoring his way through dreamland. If Gaius was there, then who could possibly be sneaking around the chambers of the apothecary shop?
Being who he was, he couldn’t just stand at the door doing nothing, so he quietly pushed opened the door and, grabbed a pitcher of water. Sneaking up behind the figure, he raised the pitcher up and let it come crashing back down onto the back of a head. The body slumped straight to the ground, the noise startling Gaius awake.
“Merlin? What’s going on?”
“Somebody’s sneaking around, Gaius.” He pointed to where the man lay unconscious on the floor.
He watched as Gaius got up out of bed and made his way over to the lantern, lighting it up, silhouetting the room to show that the figure in the room was none other than Arthur. The prince was laying there in a heap on the floor, water from the pitcher seeping down the back of his tunic.
“Oh, Merlin, what did you do?”
“I-I didn’t mean to, Gaius. I thought it was a thief.”
“You have no idea how much trouble you’re in.”
Unfortunately he did know and he was not looking forward to Arthur’s wrath.
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Arthur woke sometime later, confused and wondering what he was doing in Gaius’ chambers. Then it all came rushing back to him; the idea to go look for something that would help him sleep and then the feel of wetness on him and the world going black. And that was when the pain hit him, the throbbing of a knot on the back of his head drawing attention. His hand went up, only to be stopped by another hand. Glancing up, blue eyes came into contact with Merlin’s grinning face.
“Merlin? What are you doing he…..oh, right. You live here.” Like he could forget that fact. “Why is my head pounding and why are you giving me that goofy grin of yours?”
“Don’t worry, Sire, the pain will go away soon. Gaius made you something for that….here,” he said, drawing it out of his pocket and handing it to Arthur, watching as he drank it. “You shouldn’t go walking around other people’s house in the dark if you don’t want to be hit over the head.”
“I….what?”
Merlin raised his eyebrows and nodded, waiting for the realization sink in.
“You hit me over the head? Merlin, why would you hit me over the head?”
“I told you, you were sneaking around, I thought you were a thief.”
“You don’t have to be quite so proud about injuring your master.” Arthur groaned, closed his eyes and laid his head back against the pillow.
“I thought you were a thief,” he said through clenched teeth.
“No need to go bopping them on the head, Merlin. You could really hurt somebody.”
Merlin found himself standing there in disbelief, looking down at Arthur like he grew a second head. “I…” He stopped himself, knowing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere
“Yes, Merlin?”
“Nothing….Sire.”
What a lovely night this was turning out to be.
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A few days later, Merlin was going about his duties as usual, picking up the pace a bit to deal with Arthur’s “payback” for getting knocked up. All he had to do was shine this and that, suit him up in his armor and do this and that and some more of this and some more of that. It was annoying and dirty and he came home scraped and bruised because in addition to his usual clothed Arthur was now using him as a battering ram and sparring partner. His bruises had bruises and he ached which was why he had sneaked into Arthur's chamber to have a nice bath. He was probably going to get in trouble for this, but he needed it.
Sighing, he slipped in and leaned back against the marble that was Arthur’s bathtub and found this to be quite comforting. No wonder Arthur always wanted one of these after a very long day. Not only did it soothe you, but it also just..relaxed you all over and that made him smile like the young boy that he was. This was something he wished he could get used to but knew that he couldn’t because his master was never out of his chambers for long at this time of night. Except for tonight of course, but that was because the king demanded his son come with him for a quick ride. Who knew when he would be back.
“Merlin!”
Merlin jolted up, glancing around quickly to spy Arthur standing in the doorway. Before he could say anything about why he was sitting in the tub, Arthur closed the door and walked over to stand in front of Merlin.
“Dare I ask what you are doing in my tub?”
“Um, taking a bath?”
“I cab see that, but why?”
“I…” What did one say to that question about why you were doing something that you obviously knew that you shouldn’t be doing, but did it anyway? Merlin sat there for a while, thinking over the answer to that question. “I needed one. I was…sore.”
“You can’t use your own chambers’ tub?”
“We don’t have one big enough….”
“So that means you should come in here and use mine then?”
“…no?”
Arthur sighed and shook his head. He decided to just let him enjoy the bath. Merlin deserved it, what with all he had been doing lately. “Just…hurry it up then.”
Merlin watched in disbelief as Arthur walked away toward the bed, wondering why Arthur was being so nice to him. This wasn’t the Arthur that he was used to, but something told him to not to dwell on it. It was nice being treated like a normal person….whatever that is.
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It had been a few days since the bath incident and Arthur hadn’t spoken one single word about it to Merlin. He was wondering if there was going to be something in store for him for having used the prince’s bath tub. These last few days had been stressful for him, making him jump at pretty much anything that moved, shadows included. It didn’t help that Arthur wasn’t ever straightforward with what he wanted to do to punish Merlin. Unless he sent him to the stocks to get vegetables and rotten food thrown at him. That seemed to be Arthur’s favorite punishment.
“Merlin.”
“Yes, sire?”
“You going to stand around and stare out the window all day or are you going to prepare my breakfast?”
Merlin blinked once at Arthur before moving away from the window and began making his way around the room to set it up for when the breakfast tray came. Gwen had promised to bring both Morgana’s and Arthur’s up from the kitchen to save both of them a trip up those many stairs.
He liked Gwen. She was such a pleasant girl, always willing to help others out. It seemed that Arthur liked her just a bit more than a friend should like anyone. It made him feel slightly jealous, but he didn’t dwell on the reason why.
Speaking of Gwen, a knock came at the door as he finished setting up the table. Before his master could blink, he had retrieved the food from her and placed it in front of Arthur, smiling his boyish grin as he watched his master start to devour the breakfast of eggs, sausage and a goblet of wine. He had to look away though once Arthur glared his way, realizing that he was staring just a little too much while he ate.
“Your armor is polished…” Merlin was just making conversation now, but it was still a bit awkward thanks to that stupid bath he had decided to take days ago. God he was just so stupid thinking he could get away with it. “I finished everything that you have given me…” Yeah definitely awkward right now. Probably not helping the situation.
“Is there something else, Merlin? You seem to be dying to tell me something.”
Glancing over to Arthur, he blinked, staying silent as he thought of what he could say. Should he bring up the whole bath fiasco and face the consequences or should he make something else up? There was just so much going on in his mind that he had no idea what to say until… “There’s something wrong with your horse.” There, that should work just fine.
Arthur sighed, wondering what was wrong with Merlin now. Ever since he had walked in on him enjoying his bath, things had been strained between him. And no matter how much he had tried to get him to do petty little things on a never ending list, he seemed to do everything as he was told and got that bloody list done. He was running out of options, but there was no way that he could possibly keep up with his servant acting this way.
Putting his fork down, he quirked his eyebrow at Merlin, indicating that he didn’t believe a word that he had just said. “I don’t believe anything that just came out of your mouth, Merlin,” he told him, standing up from his chair to walk over to him, trapping him in a corner so he couldn’t get away. “There is something you are obviously not telling me….and I think that it’s about this bath situation.”
Merlin made a slight movement that did not go unnoticed by Arthur, who held out a hand to land on his shoulder. “I told you there was nothing wrong. I let you bathe and that’s that. Do not go around making a big stink out of this, Merlin.”
To say that he was confused was an understatement because he was more than just confused. He was also wondering what he had done to deserve such treatment as this. Maybe he shouldn’t worry about it too much.
“You probably want to know why I don’t care about your bath,” he muttered, gesturing to the tub that was in the other room. “You smelled, you needed to take a bath so I let you. I didn’t need you stinking up the place.”
Suddenly, just like that, things between them were back to normal; Merlin smiling at his retort and doing his everyday routines.
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For quite a while they lived their lives like nothing was happening at all. Merlin chose to ignore those feelings inside of him that were trying to tell him that he was liking Arthur just a little too much. And by like he didn’t mean in the way of that pure friendship. He meant something that he knew he would never be able to admit. If he did admit his feelings for the prince then things would more than likely end badly. He probably wouldn’t end up in the stocks or anything like that, but something much worse. Maybe he would hang for what he was feeling. Someone out there would chalk it up to witchcraft, accusing him of being a magic user. Not to mention the fact that he was, but no way in bloody hell could he let anyone know about that. It was like a sin just knowing about someone doing magic and unfortunately he was the one doing it.
He knew about Morgana, too. She may not have known about how she was magical, but he did. It took one to know one and having told Gaius, he was shocked to find out that he had known about it all along. Merlin was confused. How had Gauis known and not told him? He would have been ecstatic knowing that someone else was magical just like him and maybe he would have even approached her about it if Gauis hadn’t warned him about the consequences of it all. As it was, the only person he talked to outside of Arthur was Gwen. And as much as he loved that girl, she was busy doing whatever her mistress wanted her to do. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t approached Morgana. He actually liked being alive, even if he had to constantly clean Arthur’s room and shine his armor.
The fact that Morgana was a magical person like him made his day go by in a blur because his head was trying to figure out a way around telling her about who she was. Arthur had to have noticed something was off about his servant because he called his name a few times before he would even look his way and acted like he had been in a fog all day. If he hadn’t known better he would have assumed the boy was under a love spell of some kind. But that was laughable because who would want to give Merlin a love spell to begin with?
That was a question that didn’t last long in his mind though. He was too worried about how he was going to defeat his next opponent in the fight. Fighting to one’s death was an adrenaline rush in itself, but to try not to fail because he was a Pendragon was tough work.
Suddenly he was snapped out of his thoughts. “Merlin, what are you doing?” His mind had reacted the moment he saw Merlin stop to stare out the window like someone in love, someone who had major hearts in their eyes. This servant of his was being a bit interesting today.
Merlin briefly heard his master at first, but when it sunk in that he had been called, he turned around, his eyes growing huge when he realized that he had been caught staring at Morgana down below. “There was a bird flying past the window.” That…was not what he meant to say.
“Honestly, Merlin, I feel like I am going to have to replace you. You need to get your heard out of those bloody clouds and come back down to Camelot so you can get on with your duties. Once again, Merlin, you forgot about my dinner.”
Realizing that he had done wrong, he apologized then excused himself, surprised to see Gwen outside the door with a food tray in one hand, the other raised to knock. “Oh, thank you for bringing this up to me today,” he whispered to her, looking guilty. “I forgot about dinner and he was about to eat me if a miracle didn’t happen.”
Gwen gave him her usual big, shining smile, glad to have helped out her friend. “Oh, Merlin, sometimes I wonder where that head of yours goes. You are quite lucky Morgana was summoned by Uther or there would be no dinner for your lovely Prince.”
“He’s my Prince?” Shaking his head, he took the tray and thanked her once more before closing the door, giving Arthur a smile as he placed it down before his master. “There. I had it all covered.”
Arthur simply rose one eyebrow, not bothering to say anything to him. There was simply no point at all talking to Merlin when he was acting like this. Instead he simply just started eating, watching as Merlin got around to pouring him a goblet of wine.
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Later that day, Merlin had got something thrown at him and was told to retire for the evening and come back only if he could keep his head out of the clouds. He was glad to be excused so early because he had finally figured out a way to mention to Morgana about the possibility that she was magical just like him. It would take a few days because he was going to have to make sure Gauis stopped giving her that medicine that she took to stop her night visions. Merlin found it pretty interesting that someone could see things before they happened. Something in him told him to talk to her about this as soon as possible so she would know that she wasn’t alone.
So the moment that he was excused from Arthur, he made his way to Morgana’s room, surprised to see that she wasn’t in it. Slipping into the room, he grabbed the vial that was left on her table so she could take it before bed. Of course he wasn’t just going to take the vial without leaving something in its place so he replaced it with a vial with wine in it. She would never know the difference unless she sniffed it before hand which he doubted that she would do.
Snapping out of staring at himself smirking in the mirror when he heard voices, he glanced frantically around the room trying to figure out where he could hide. Finding the only escape to be the curtain, he slipped behind it just in time for both Morgana and Gwen to enter the room.
“Are you sure you left it in here, my lady?”
“Quite positive, Gwen, I cannot think of anywhere else that I could have left my bracelet.”
“You were summoned by his Highness earlier, my lady.”
“If I had left it in there it would have been returned to me quickly. Uther would never have let me leave a thing like that around.”
“No, not if it reminded you of your mother. I don’t believe he would have.”
Merlin heard a bunch of shuffling before someone exclaimed that they had found it. Waiting a few minutes before he peeked around the curtain, he was glad to see that both of the girls had gone. That was a close one.
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Honestly, Merlin had no idea what he was thinking when he had switched Morgana’s night potion with that of wine. It hadn’t seemed like a bad idea at the time though, but that changed the moment he had heard Morgana rush in to talk to Gaius about how the nightmares had returned. He could have sworn that his mentor was looking right at him when she mentioned it. Not that Merlin let on to his plan, but Gaius always suggested he had done something unusual because he was always getting into trouble. This time though he actually had done something, not that he would be telling Gaius that. He already got reprimanded by Arthur, he didn’t need it from Gaius, too.
Once Morgana left with a new night potion in hand, Gaius walked over to him, his face showing nothing at all of what he was feeling. “I know you had something to do with this, Merlin.”
Merlin simply raised an eyebrow at Gaius. “Gaius…you’re clearly getting old if you’re having delusions of this rot.”
Gaius didn’t know what to say to that. There were many things that he could say to the boy, but he had no proof that he had actually done anything. Only assumed it of course once Morgana said that her potion tasted very much like wine. It sounded like something he would do. “I will be keeping my eye on you. Now…shouldn’t you be getting to Arthur?” The words hadn’t even left his mouth before he heard the door slam after Merlin. With a chuckle, he said, “That boy…”
That would have been his luck though, but thankfully he had gotten away with it.
Merlin had made his way towards the less crowded area of the market, knowing that after the fruit and vegetable stand belonging to a really nice couple who gave him a few free things here and there, he would be free to duck down an alleyway that led to a nice little cave. It wasn’t much really, all filled with cobwebs and it rank of death, but it was somewhere that he would be able to sit down and enjoy his meal of the day. Of course he had forgotten to grab something to drink along the way, but that could easily be rectified a trip to Camelot’s well, which was free no matter your social status. Came in handy plenty of times when he had to escape the guards. So this whole being chased thing wasn’t quite new to him, not in the slightest.
He had just past the last market stall when out of nowhere Pendragon’s men came out and grabbed his arm. “Got you now, boy. Thought you could get away with it, aye?” The guard who had a hold of him gave him the most smug look Merlin had ever seen before in his entire life. It reminded him too much of his childhood pet cat’s look whenever she caught a bird and would bring it back to him to show him what she had caught just for him.
Which, of course, meant that he was going to be in some serious trouble.
And some trouble he was in, having been dragged to kneel before the King, admitting to what he had done out in the market.
“Is it true that you stole a loaf of bread?,” Uther asked, used to things like this daily, but from a boy like this he was appalled.
All Merlin could do was nod his head, cursing himself inwardly for getting caught like this. First time ever he had gotten caught, which probably meant that he had been watched from time to time because they had known exactly where to grab him. He needed to be a lot trickier from now on. That is…if there was a next time. No one knew with the King.
Uther stared at the boy kneeling before him, sighing at the fact that another one of his own people was stealing from the vast food supply. “Very well,” he said with a great boom, sitting further back in his throne, his eyes meeting the guard who held the boy by the arms. “Send him to the dungeons until we figure out what to do with him.”
The guard nodded, pulled Merlin up by his arms and dragged him to the dungeons.
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Being locked in cell was one of the worst experiences of his short life. Even more than him losing both of his parents in the course of a year and him eating people’s left over scraps of food for more then a few months. Even though he knew that he shouldn’t be here, locked away like this, he couldn’t do anything about it because even he knew that he had to face the consequences. But what his consequences were for stealing a single loaf of bread he wasn’t even sure, maybe. The King hadn’t been exactly clear on what his punishment would be. Merlin was imagining the worst possible scenarios and was hoping beyond all hope that he wasn’t going to be put to death. Not that he had heard of anyone getting hung for stealing food, but that didn’t mean it didn’t happen.
He had been in the middle of imagining one of the townspeople with a giant axe in their hands and it coming down onto his head, when the gate of the cell opened and in walked a blonde boy with two guards behind him. Merlin vaguely remembered seeing this boy in court when he had appeared before the King. It didn’t click who the boy actually was until he opened his mouth.
“Get up,” Arthur muttered, placing his hands on his hips, eyebrow raised as he watched the boy scramble to his feet. “The King has decided on your punishment. Unfortunately, I am to take a new servant and…my father had suggested that I take you on to serve…me.” It was difficult for Arthur to accept his father’s order when it was to take on another servant. The only reason he was even doing this was because his father had simply fired his recent servant just to get his butt in gear. How utterly sad and pathetic.
Merlin simply stood there in stunned silence for a few seconds before he stumbled out, “B-but, Sire, I have nowhere to stay and I have never served anyone before.”
The Prince simply rolled his eyes. He was clearly getting agitated and was not liking this one bit. Just hearing that boy say that meant that he would have to teach his new servant how to serve him. How absurd it was that he would have to actually show this…scrawny boy how to make the bed, clothe and bathe him and everything else. Unless… “Very well then, that’s fine. I can have Argwan here show you how it’s done.” He motioned to the boy behind him who was carrying the new servant's dinner.
Glancing between the Prince and the servant behind him, he fumbled with the hem of his tunic, clearly confused as to why he was getting left off so easily. He thought for sure that he was going to get cast out of Camelot and would never be allowed to come back. But…this. This was something that seemed so easy that he would be stupid to refuse. With a nod, he glanced back to the Prince. “I accept.”
Arthur found himself nodding as Merlin got handed his food. “Good…that’s settled then,” he said, turning around, but stopping short. “If you are going to be my servant, you need to tell me your name.” As much as he loved calling the scrawny boy in front of him just boy, he knew that wasn’t going to work out for either of them.
“Merlin,” he got out before stuffing his face with the food he had been handed, groaning in pleasure at the taste. This was one of the best meals he had been given since he was sixteen, and that was only a year ago. But after eating off of almost empty plates and stealing something small from the market, made a meal of chicken, potatoes and tomatoes seemed like it was fit for the King. Which, ironically enough, it was.
He was so into his meal that he hadn’t realized the Prince had nodded and walked away, clearly upset at the thought of a new servant.
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“No, no, no, no!” Arthur was clearly agitated, not understanding how a boy like this Merlin could be such an imbecile. Not only did he have to toss away one of his favorite tunics, but now he had to get a new pair of boots because his so called servant was not capable to shine them without losing one of them. “How do you manage to lose a boot, Merlin?”
It didn’t matter that it wasn’t his fault because when Arthur got in a mood like this, there was no way that he was going to get out of it without humiliation. It looked to be like he was going to be sent to the stocks once more and he absolutely hated getting sent to the stocks. The townspeople threw all sorts of disgusting things at him, things that took pretty much forever to get out of his hair and his clothes. Poor Gaius had to put his back into it when he scrubbed his tunics and trousers clean. “It wasn’t my fault,” he shot back, upset that something like this had happened to begin with. “It was there one minute and then disappeared the next.” One thing he was leaving out was that he had been upset and with a blink it had gone…invisible. Getting used to this magic thing was something else and he didn’t need his Sire to be upset at his magic going awry. Not that he was going to be mentioning that.
“How can it just disappear like that, Merlin?”
“I-I don’t know, Sire, it just disappeared. Maybe someone took it.”
Before Arthur could open his mouth and say something back to the boy, he glared at him in disbelief. “Oh..so you’re trying to tell me that someone just came along and stole it while you were off shining it? Is that it?”
Merlin nodded, now knowing how awful that sounded being spoken out loud.
With a groan, Arthur knocked over a pitcher as he turned around to actually look at Merlin. “That wouldn’t happen, Merlin. No one would come into your chambers and steal a boot of the Prince. If that happened, then there would be plenty more people who would be sent to the stocks,” he muttered, letting out a breath in a sigh. Such an incompetent servant he had.
“I am certain that is what happened, Arthur.”
“You will have to get me new ones then out of your pocket. Those boots were my absolute favorite and you go and lose one of them. You are an incompetent servant.”
Merlin had been called many names before, but hearing that word made him stop halfway through saying something and just keep quiet. It wasn’t his fault that his magic had gone a little haywire in his mood. If he wanted anyone to blame, he should blame his prat self because he had been the one to call him in to put even more to do on his already full plate. After all it had only been a month of being his servant. He was still getting used to everything that had to be done. He couldn’t juggle being told to shine this or that and then being told to run around like a chicken with its head cut off just so Arthur could have some fun with him. Having swords thrown at you was not fun, no matter what type of shield one had.
“You are dismissed, Merlin….”
He didn’t say anything, didn’t bother thinking twice. Instead he nodded and backed out of the room, bowing as he did, clearly unhappy with the news that he had to give Arthur. Somehow he had managed to make his way through the halls, going back to Gaius’ chamber and into his room, closing the door shut behind him. Ever since he had spoken to that damn dragon who had called him one night and told him about that prophecy about Arthur, he had to learn to deal with how the Prince treated him.
It was unfair that he had to sit by and be the silent one while Arthur abused him day in and out, always talking about how much Merlin still had to learn and that he was so tired of having to go over the rules day in and day out. Granted, he wasn’t the best servant around, but at least he was learning quickly how to do everything. It wasn’t even learning how to do everything Arthur asked that was the hard part, but to do it all at once. His Prince just demanded so much out of him that he just wanted to say something harsh and leave Camelot, maybe go scour some other kingdom. But he was being treated so nicely here though(with the exception of Arthur), even after everything and the food was amazing. He couldn’t just up and leave what he had established destiny be damned.
With a sigh, he stared up at his ceiling, trying to come up with a few ideas as to how he could get Arthur his boot back. Not his fault that the boot had disappeared, he didn’t even know he knew how to do that. It was more of a psychological thing it seemed and it scared him a bit just how strong this magic thing was that had suddenly sprung up the moment he had found himself content and happy. And he couldn’t tell anyone, well, he did tell Gaius, but that didn’t help him out at all. Maybe he was better off just staying in his chambers and blowing things up with his mind.
Maybe…
….but he couldn’t do that. He was starting to like Arthur…just a bit.
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Merlin woke up with a start at the pounding going on beyond his door. It was still dark outside which meant that he hadn’t been sleeping that long. Which in turn made him wonder why someone was making such a racket outside of that very door.
Creeping slowly to it, he opened it a crack just to peek outside and saw a shadowed figure looking through one of Gaius’ many cupboards full of potions and cures he kept for those who needed them daily. Merlin glanced to the bed that his housemate usually slept in and found him to be snoring his way through dreamland. If Gaius was there, then who could possibly be sneaking around the chambers of the apothecary shop?
Being who he was, he couldn’t just stand at the door doing nothing, so he quietly pushed opened the door and, grabbed a pitcher of water. Sneaking up behind the figure, he raised the pitcher up and let it come crashing back down onto the back of a head. The body slumped straight to the ground, the noise startling Gaius awake.
“Merlin? What’s going on?”
“Somebody’s sneaking around, Gaius.” He pointed to where the man lay unconscious on the floor.
He watched as Gaius got up out of bed and made his way over to the lantern, lighting it up, silhouetting the room to show that the figure in the room was none other than Arthur. The prince was laying there in a heap on the floor, water from the pitcher seeping down the back of his tunic.
“Oh, Merlin, what did you do?”
“I-I didn’t mean to, Gaius. I thought it was a thief.”
“You have no idea how much trouble you’re in.”
Unfortunately he did know and he was not looking forward to Arthur’s wrath.
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Arthur woke sometime later, confused and wondering what he was doing in Gaius’ chambers. Then it all came rushing back to him; the idea to go look for something that would help him sleep and then the feel of wetness on him and the world going black. And that was when the pain hit him, the throbbing of a knot on the back of his head drawing attention. His hand went up, only to be stopped by another hand. Glancing up, blue eyes came into contact with Merlin’s grinning face.
“Merlin? What are you doing he…..oh, right. You live here.” Like he could forget that fact. “Why is my head pounding and why are you giving me that goofy grin of yours?”
“Don’t worry, Sire, the pain will go away soon. Gaius made you something for that….here,” he said, drawing it out of his pocket and handing it to Arthur, watching as he drank it. “You shouldn’t go walking around other people’s house in the dark if you don’t want to be hit over the head.”
“I….what?”
Merlin raised his eyebrows and nodded, waiting for the realization sink in.
“You hit me over the head? Merlin, why would you hit me over the head?”
“I told you, you were sneaking around, I thought you were a thief.”
“You don’t have to be quite so proud about injuring your master.” Arthur groaned, closed his eyes and laid his head back against the pillow.
“I thought you were a thief,” he said through clenched teeth.
“No need to go bopping them on the head, Merlin. You could really hurt somebody.”
Merlin found himself standing there in disbelief, looking down at Arthur like he grew a second head. “I…” He stopped himself, knowing that he wasn’t going to get anywhere
“Yes, Merlin?”
“Nothing….Sire.”
What a lovely night this was turning out to be.
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A few days later, Merlin was going about his duties as usual, picking up the pace a bit to deal with Arthur’s “payback” for getting knocked up. All he had to do was shine this and that, suit him up in his armor and do this and that and some more of this and some more of that. It was annoying and dirty and he came home scraped and bruised because in addition to his usual clothed Arthur was now using him as a battering ram and sparring partner. His bruises had bruises and he ached which was why he had sneaked into Arthur's chamber to have a nice bath. He was probably going to get in trouble for this, but he needed it.
Sighing, he slipped in and leaned back against the marble that was Arthur’s bathtub and found this to be quite comforting. No wonder Arthur always wanted one of these after a very long day. Not only did it soothe you, but it also just..relaxed you all over and that made him smile like the young boy that he was. This was something he wished he could get used to but knew that he couldn’t because his master was never out of his chambers for long at this time of night. Except for tonight of course, but that was because the king demanded his son come with him for a quick ride. Who knew when he would be back.
“Merlin!”
Merlin jolted up, glancing around quickly to spy Arthur standing in the doorway. Before he could say anything about why he was sitting in the tub, Arthur closed the door and walked over to stand in front of Merlin.
“Dare I ask what you are doing in my tub?”
“Um, taking a bath?”
“I cab see that, but why?”
“I…” What did one say to that question about why you were doing something that you obviously knew that you shouldn’t be doing, but did it anyway? Merlin sat there for a while, thinking over the answer to that question. “I needed one. I was…sore.”
“You can’t use your own chambers’ tub?”
“We don’t have one big enough….”
“So that means you should come in here and use mine then?”
“…no?”
Arthur sighed and shook his head. He decided to just let him enjoy the bath. Merlin deserved it, what with all he had been doing lately. “Just…hurry it up then.”
Merlin watched in disbelief as Arthur walked away toward the bed, wondering why Arthur was being so nice to him. This wasn’t the Arthur that he was used to, but something told him to not to dwell on it. It was nice being treated like a normal person….whatever that is.
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It had been a few days since the bath incident and Arthur hadn’t spoken one single word about it to Merlin. He was wondering if there was going to be something in store for him for having used the prince’s bath tub. These last few days had been stressful for him, making him jump at pretty much anything that moved, shadows included. It didn’t help that Arthur wasn’t ever straightforward with what he wanted to do to punish Merlin. Unless he sent him to the stocks to get vegetables and rotten food thrown at him. That seemed to be Arthur’s favorite punishment.
“Merlin.”
“Yes, sire?”
“You going to stand around and stare out the window all day or are you going to prepare my breakfast?”
Merlin blinked once at Arthur before moving away from the window and began making his way around the room to set it up for when the breakfast tray came. Gwen had promised to bring both Morgana’s and Arthur’s up from the kitchen to save both of them a trip up those many stairs.
He liked Gwen. She was such a pleasant girl, always willing to help others out. It seemed that Arthur liked her just a bit more than a friend should like anyone. It made him feel slightly jealous, but he didn’t dwell on the reason why.
Speaking of Gwen, a knock came at the door as he finished setting up the table. Before his master could blink, he had retrieved the food from her and placed it in front of Arthur, smiling his boyish grin as he watched his master start to devour the breakfast of eggs, sausage and a goblet of wine. He had to look away though once Arthur glared his way, realizing that he was staring just a little too much while he ate.
“Your armor is polished…” Merlin was just making conversation now, but it was still a bit awkward thanks to that stupid bath he had decided to take days ago. God he was just so stupid thinking he could get away with it. “I finished everything that you have given me…” Yeah definitely awkward right now. Probably not helping the situation.
“Is there something else, Merlin? You seem to be dying to tell me something.”
Glancing over to Arthur, he blinked, staying silent as he thought of what he could say. Should he bring up the whole bath fiasco and face the consequences or should he make something else up? There was just so much going on in his mind that he had no idea what to say until… “There’s something wrong with your horse.” There, that should work just fine.
Arthur sighed, wondering what was wrong with Merlin now. Ever since he had walked in on him enjoying his bath, things had been strained between him. And no matter how much he had tried to get him to do petty little things on a never ending list, he seemed to do everything as he was told and got that bloody list done. He was running out of options, but there was no way that he could possibly keep up with his servant acting this way.
Putting his fork down, he quirked his eyebrow at Merlin, indicating that he didn’t believe a word that he had just said. “I don’t believe anything that just came out of your mouth, Merlin,” he told him, standing up from his chair to walk over to him, trapping him in a corner so he couldn’t get away. “There is something you are obviously not telling me….and I think that it’s about this bath situation.”
Merlin made a slight movement that did not go unnoticed by Arthur, who held out a hand to land on his shoulder. “I told you there was nothing wrong. I let you bathe and that’s that. Do not go around making a big stink out of this, Merlin.”
To say that he was confused was an understatement because he was more than just confused. He was also wondering what he had done to deserve such treatment as this. Maybe he shouldn’t worry about it too much.
“You probably want to know why I don’t care about your bath,” he muttered, gesturing to the tub that was in the other room. “You smelled, you needed to take a bath so I let you. I didn’t need you stinking up the place.”
Suddenly, just like that, things between them were back to normal; Merlin smiling at his retort and doing his everyday routines.
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For quite a while they lived their lives like nothing was happening at all. Merlin chose to ignore those feelings inside of him that were trying to tell him that he was liking Arthur just a little too much. And by like he didn’t mean in the way of that pure friendship. He meant something that he knew he would never be able to admit. If he did admit his feelings for the prince then things would more than likely end badly. He probably wouldn’t end up in the stocks or anything like that, but something much worse. Maybe he would hang for what he was feeling. Someone out there would chalk it up to witchcraft, accusing him of being a magic user. Not to mention the fact that he was, but no way in bloody hell could he let anyone know about that. It was like a sin just knowing about someone doing magic and unfortunately he was the one doing it.
He knew about Morgana, too. She may not have known about how she was magical, but he did. It took one to know one and having told Gaius, he was shocked to find out that he had known about it all along. Merlin was confused. How had Gauis known and not told him? He would have been ecstatic knowing that someone else was magical just like him and maybe he would have even approached her about it if Gauis hadn’t warned him about the consequences of it all. As it was, the only person he talked to outside of Arthur was Gwen. And as much as he loved that girl, she was busy doing whatever her mistress wanted her to do. Maybe it was a good thing that he hadn’t approached Morgana. He actually liked being alive, even if he had to constantly clean Arthur’s room and shine his armor.
The fact that Morgana was a magical person like him made his day go by in a blur because his head was trying to figure out a way around telling her about who she was. Arthur had to have noticed something was off about his servant because he called his name a few times before he would even look his way and acted like he had been in a fog all day. If he hadn’t known better he would have assumed the boy was under a love spell of some kind. But that was laughable because who would want to give Merlin a love spell to begin with?
That was a question that didn’t last long in his mind though. He was too worried about how he was going to defeat his next opponent in the fight. Fighting to one’s death was an adrenaline rush in itself, but to try not to fail because he was a Pendragon was tough work.
Suddenly he was snapped out of his thoughts. “Merlin, what are you doing?” His mind had reacted the moment he saw Merlin stop to stare out the window like someone in love, someone who had major hearts in their eyes. This servant of his was being a bit interesting today.
Merlin briefly heard his master at first, but when it sunk in that he had been called, he turned around, his eyes growing huge when he realized that he had been caught staring at Morgana down below. “There was a bird flying past the window.” That…was not what he meant to say.
“Honestly, Merlin, I feel like I am going to have to replace you. You need to get your heard out of those bloody clouds and come back down to Camelot so you can get on with your duties. Once again, Merlin, you forgot about my dinner.”
Realizing that he had done wrong, he apologized then excused himself, surprised to see Gwen outside the door with a food tray in one hand, the other raised to knock. “Oh, thank you for bringing this up to me today,” he whispered to her, looking guilty. “I forgot about dinner and he was about to eat me if a miracle didn’t happen.”
Gwen gave him her usual big, shining smile, glad to have helped out her friend. “Oh, Merlin, sometimes I wonder where that head of yours goes. You are quite lucky Morgana was summoned by Uther or there would be no dinner for your lovely Prince.”
“He’s my Prince?” Shaking his head, he took the tray and thanked her once more before closing the door, giving Arthur a smile as he placed it down before his master. “There. I had it all covered.”
Arthur simply rose one eyebrow, not bothering to say anything to him. There was simply no point at all talking to Merlin when he was acting like this. Instead he simply just started eating, watching as Merlin got around to pouring him a goblet of wine.
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Later that day, Merlin had got something thrown at him and was told to retire for the evening and come back only if he could keep his head out of the clouds. He was glad to be excused so early because he had finally figured out a way to mention to Morgana about the possibility that she was magical just like him. It would take a few days because he was going to have to make sure Gauis stopped giving her that medicine that she took to stop her night visions. Merlin found it pretty interesting that someone could see things before they happened. Something in him told him to talk to her about this as soon as possible so she would know that she wasn’t alone.
So the moment that he was excused from Arthur, he made his way to Morgana’s room, surprised to see that she wasn’t in it. Slipping into the room, he grabbed the vial that was left on her table so she could take it before bed. Of course he wasn’t just going to take the vial without leaving something in its place so he replaced it with a vial with wine in it. She would never know the difference unless she sniffed it before hand which he doubted that she would do.
Snapping out of staring at himself smirking in the mirror when he heard voices, he glanced frantically around the room trying to figure out where he could hide. Finding the only escape to be the curtain, he slipped behind it just in time for both Morgana and Gwen to enter the room.
“Are you sure you left it in here, my lady?”
“Quite positive, Gwen, I cannot think of anywhere else that I could have left my bracelet.”
“You were summoned by his Highness earlier, my lady.”
“If I had left it in there it would have been returned to me quickly. Uther would never have let me leave a thing like that around.”
“No, not if it reminded you of your mother. I don’t believe he would have.”
Merlin heard a bunch of shuffling before someone exclaimed that they had found it. Waiting a few minutes before he peeked around the curtain, he was glad to see that both of the girls had gone. That was a close one.
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Honestly, Merlin had no idea what he was thinking when he had switched Morgana’s night potion with that of wine. It hadn’t seemed like a bad idea at the time though, but that changed the moment he had heard Morgana rush in to talk to Gaius about how the nightmares had returned. He could have sworn that his mentor was looking right at him when she mentioned it. Not that Merlin let on to his plan, but Gaius always suggested he had done something unusual because he was always getting into trouble. This time though he actually had done something, not that he would be telling Gaius that. He already got reprimanded by Arthur, he didn’t need it from Gaius, too.
Once Morgana left with a new night potion in hand, Gaius walked over to him, his face showing nothing at all of what he was feeling. “I know you had something to do with this, Merlin.”
Merlin simply raised an eyebrow at Gaius. “Gaius…you’re clearly getting old if you’re having delusions of this rot.”
Gaius didn’t know what to say to that. There were many things that he could say to the boy, but he had no proof that he had actually done anything. Only assumed it of course once Morgana said that her potion tasted very much like wine. It sounded like something he would do. “I will be keeping my eye on you. Now…shouldn’t you be getting to Arthur?” The words hadn’t even left his mouth before he heard the door slam after Merlin. With a chuckle, he said, “That boy…”