Merlin had always had trouble when it came to girls.
With ears too big for his head, his awkward period lasted entirely too long for his liking. When it finally, finally passed, though, well... He and Will terrorized the girls back home in Ealdor. His poor mother learned that when one of Merlin's stories started with, "Well, there was this girl..." it was simply time to give up. Whatever followed would be completely absurd. Really, for a while, Merlin's is main trouble was girls always got him into trouble.
In Camelot, it was a little different.
Between errands for Gaius, chores for Arthur, and generally fulfilling his destiny, he didn't have much time to meet a girl, let alone pull her hair or drop worms down her dress. (He never claimed to be good with women. Just completely fascinated by them.) Oh sure, there were a few awfully pretty ladies in the lower parts of town surrounding the castle. He'd just never gotten the chance to talk to any of them.
Well. Aside from the girl Gaius bought all his plants from. Merlin harbored a bit of a soft spot for the shy blonde. Her shyness was the trouble in that case though; he knew nothing about her other than her looks and her ability to grow the best herbs in town. Not much to go off of.
Of course, Arthur falling in love every other week didn't help matters much. The prince was, as even Merlin would grudgingly agree, rather handsome, and usually got the girl until he got bored. Before that inevitable moment, though, he made absolutely sure to rub it in his servant's face. (Merlin hated cleaning the room after a lady spent the night. So of course, he had to do it. Every single time.)
Clotpole.
After a few weeks, torturing Merlin about his lack of a lady friend wasn't enough. Oh no. Arthur just had to ask him about it.
"So how about it, Merlin? Got your eye on anyone?" He smirked.
His servant continued cleaning his chain mail, refusing to look at him. "Yes. I mean, no. No. I don't."
The smirk grew wider. This was one of Arthur's new favorite pastimes. "Who is she?"
"No one," Merlin grumbled.
"One of the girls in town?"
"Shut up."
"Is that any way to speak to a prince?" Arthur laughed. "You know, if you got a lady friend, I might give you some time off to see her. Have to make sure those ears pass on to another generation."
Merlin really, really hated working for Prince Arthur every single day. So that night, he decided that maybe, he could ask the plant girl her name. Just her name. No big deal.
Until he discovered the next morning, picking up some more rosemary for Gaius, that shy girls turned him right back until that gawky thirteen-year-old with chicken legs and abnormally sized hands and feet. (And ears.) Or at least, that one in particular did.
The truly unfair part of it all was as soon as Merlin discovered he was just as awkward around her as she was around, well, everyone, (from what he could tell, anyway) he could not stop thinking about her. Honestly, it was ridiculous. The day Arthur had teased him, she was just niggling around in the back of his brain. Now, her bashful little smile was center stage. He hated it even more than he hated working for Arthur. And that was saying something.
Soon, it became glaringly obvious that the man destined to be the most powerful warlock alive was madly infatuated with someone. He had to save Arthur's life every other week, study up on magic while keeping it hidden, work for Gaius, keep up with his various friendships, among all sorts of other duties, and yet again, just like the gangly preteen wrecking havoc with Will, one of his biggest problems was girls.
Gwen was the first person to notice his attraction. (Though she pointed it out to Gaius, Morgana, and Arthur soon after, and they all were all deeply amused by it.) She found it rather cute, actually, the way the pair fumbled and blushed and grinned during their every interaction. Coming from the girl, this was no surprise; even Guinevere was unsure of her name. She was that quiet. Seeing Merlin like this, however, was new and unusual but very welcome. He usually talked himself into a very deep hole (or perhaps a grave). Maybe, hopefully, she'd rub off on him a little.
Finally, after solid a month of pining for her, a month of Arthur's relentless teasing, a month of Gaius sending him up to her stand as often as possible, a month of the girls trying to offer him advice, finally, he blurted out, "I'm Merlin."
"I'm Nora," she replied quietly, blushing as red as the roses she was selling.
His brain told him to make conversation, compliment her, maybe. (Girls liked that, right?) His body, however, had different plans. Its strategy was to barely manage to smile at her before hurrying away and cursing himself for complete and utter lack of charm.
Oh yes, it was obvious: the boisterous boy was smitten with the quietest girl in Camelot.
A/N: Hi guys! This is my very first Merlin fanfiction. I'm very excited and also very, very nervous. If I make any sort of errors, feel free to point them out. I really dig constructive criticism. This takes place around the first or second season, but not everything will be canon, and not all things in the canon will be in here. I'd love to know your thoughts so please please review!