1. Loathing

Not even an hour ago, if someone had told Merlin he'd be leagues beneath the castle and talking to a Dragon on completely civil terms concerning the matter of his and Prince Arthur's 'intertwined destinies', he would've wondered if one of his spells had gone astray and given that person temporary brain damage. And yet here he was, doing just that. Well, perhaps the civil bit was a little much. Because vehemently arguing a completely ludicrous idea in a voice with very heavy undertones of 'are-you-absolutely-mental' could never really be called civil, could it? And yet all the beast could do was chuckle and give even more unwanted advice/wisdom.

"None of us can choose our destiny Merlin… and none of us can escape it."

Merlin shook his head fervently; his eyes, filled with denial and other not-so-nice emotions, never left the Dragons'.

"No. No way. No. No. There must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot." And no, that was not just his own personal opinion -thank you very much- it was a fact.

Not as much of an idiot as the Prince's father though, apparently, as Merlin was soon to find out.

You know, when you save the 'Once and Future King's' life and then don't ask for a reward, you'd think any sane person would let it go. Or at least have given Merlin a purse full of coins for his troubles. But nooo he's made a servant to the biggest royal pain in the arse around. And then people start applauding? Like being the prat's manservant was something worth celebrating? What about his completely selfless act of valor that merited such a 'reward'? Nope, it's silent as a tomb when that happens. Merlin opened his mouth, about to protest, when the prat himself cut him off to do it for him.

"Father!" But the king simply walks away to do God knows what, completely ignoring both their horror-struck looks of outrage. Arthur then proceeds to glare at Merlin as if the whole thing were his fault; which really wasn't fair seeing as he'd just saved the guy and everything. They both turn away at the same time, disgusted. Merlin retires immediately. Gaius comes in not long after and talks to him even more about 'destiny' and 'purpose', causing the Dragon's words to come back to him for the hundredth time in as many minutes.

"…and none of us can escape it."

Merlin finds himself seriously hoping this isn't true. Especially when he's called by another servant, or guard, or whatever, informing him that Prince Arthur wants him right away. Gaius' little quip about his 'destiny calling' does nothing to help.

2. Tolerance

Once, when a group of visiting knights from a foreign kingdom had passed though his home village on their way to Camelot, Merlin had just sat on a fence and stared, slack-jawed in awe as they trotted by on their regal steeds and in their shiny armor. He had never seen something so uniformly cool in his life before, and he watched them go in open admiration. He may not have ever seriously considered becoming a knight himself, but that didn't stop him from pestering Will into letting him borrow his dad's old chain mail, and swinging a stick around while he fantasized about something bigger than the life he knew in the village.

Well he'd gotten something bigger alright. A bigger position in the royal household that other servants only dreamed about. A bigger understanding of why knights wore armor in the first place. A bigger appreciation of the fact that he'd never have to become one. And even a bigger body too. Thanks to the blows Arthur felt the need to badger him with at every sparring session, he was now swollen all over. And none of his new-found bulging-ness was muscle. Which he really could've used at the moment considering that he was pretty sure Arthur was trying to kill him.

Every day at dawn he was told to be up and dressed for combat. Why? Because the Prat needed a sparring partner and all the other servants collapsed after the first blow apparently. This was what had convinced him that His Royal Pain was slowly trying to kill him in the most painful, and unsuspicious way possible. Who was to blame if Arthur 'accidently' hit him too hard over the head one day and he just so happened to die? Merlin that's who; for not being fast enough, strong enough, hard-headed enough. Yes, it'd be all his fault. He just hoped he'd have some time off to tend to his wounds while 'His Highness' was busy winning the upcoming tournament.

There was another thing; If Arthur was such a shoe-in for champion, and Merlin so obviously oblivious about anything having to do with swords or armor or maces, then why didn't the Prince find some knight to practice against instead? Yet another hint Merlin was being targeted for murder at the hands of his 'master'. The verbal abuse would have only added insult to injury as well if his ears weren't filled with clanging noises he was sure no one else heard, instead. So he brushed the insults off and acted as polite as possible with as little sarcasm as he could manage in hopes Arthur might change his mind about killing him in the near future. That was him- ever the optimist (aside from the slight paranoia of dying from internal bleeding of course).

Unfortunately for Merlin, tournament etiquette required that he stay on-site for the whole thing, thus ruining his plans for catching a few well-earned naps between fights. What was oddly surprising though was that he actually enjoyed watching Arthur beat everyone. It was nice to have the Prat beating on someone else he supposed. But then, after a very brief encounter with Sir Valiant (now there was a fake name if he ever heard one, especially considering his outfit; yellow and green, the colours of cowardice and jealousy. Really?) Arthur had actually laughed –well, more like snorted really- when he called the yellow-draped knight a creep. And he found his smile widening at the fact. Until he was given a list of chores no mortal man could possibly finish in one afternoon, immediately following.

The compliment of his handy work and armor-fitting the next day was another pleasant surprise, and he had to admit –albeit grudgingly- that maybe being a manservant wasn't so bad after all. As long as he had his magic to help him out every once in a while of course.

Then there was the whole snakes-living-in-a-shield thing. Now that was creepy. And incredibly stupid. Really, was 1000 pieces of solid gold really enough to kill over? Okay… maybe it was for some people. But to do so by means of enchantment in a land where people were executed on suspicion of possessing magic was beyond idiotic. Granted, Merlin was risking exposure every day for far less than that wasn't he? But the fact that he, as a lowly servant, couldn't even accuse the yellow knight of cheating, or save a man's life, was what really got his blood boiling. And then of course, Valiant had to win all his next fights fairly, after using the snakes on Sir Yuen, landing him in the final round against Arthur. There was nothing left to do but get proof and tell the one person who would have any influence over the king, what was going on. It was his only chance. And he was positively ecstatic- or as close as one can be with the overlying threat of impending doom- that the Prince believed him.

Only because he would be able to convince the King of Valiant's treachery obviously.

Of course though, Yuen had to die and all they had to go by against the entire court was a chopped off snake head, and a servant's word against a knight's. And then he had to go mess it up even more by 'interrupting' the conversation –a rather terrible offence it would seem- when the king was in a right stroppy mood and in no mind to hear his pleas. Then even Arthur got angry at him. Well, that was a particularly regular occurrence in all honesty, by this time it was even more so than usual. Royalty did not take well to being embarrassed or called cowards apparently.

A week earlier, he would've given anything to be sacked and relieved of his duties as the Prince's punching bag. Now however, it actually stung a bit- knowing that Arthur actually hated him. Even more so than he'd ever have expected. So he went to see the Dragon that started this whole mess, and decided a good rant was in order. And what did he have to offer? More riddles that made the prince and him sound more like lovers than anything. But luckily, a revelation, thanks to Gwen of all people, popped into his head and he knew he could make it work. Or at least he hoped. After a couple of hours practicing having gotten him nowhere, as well as a useless conversation with someone who cared more about bravery than his own life, he did the only thing he was ever naturally good at and worked on a spell that would help him. All night. He really wished the Prat could know what he did for him sometimes. But only as a passing fancy because if the idiot did manage to figure it out, he'd be on the chopping block. He tightened his neckerchief just thinking about it.

So in the end, he'd finally gotten the spell right, saved Arthur's life again, and exposed Valiant. An though that made him feel all very proud of himself and whatnot, for some reason, none of it compared to the feeling of elation he got when the Crown Prince punched his shoulder –rather harder than was necessary really- and smiled as he passed him by on his way to get ready for the banquet (but that was only because Merlin hated to be hated of course. He would've felt the same if he and Gwen had had a fight, he was sure). And at the feast, as if nothing had happened between them just the other day, Arthur came up and started to not only talk, but also apologize to him. Now that smile took a lot to keep tuned down. It wasn't that hard to though once he heard the list of chores the Prat seemed to have left just for him to do when he got back.

When Merlin thought about it later on that night… he couldn't help wondering if maybe Arthur had been intending to re-hire him all along. ­

Author's Note:

Hello all. As you might be able to tell, this is my first Merlin fanfic. I just finished watching the entire 1st season on youtube in 2 days. Yes, I have no life. But ONLY because my supposed friends LEFT me alone here to rot in summer school while they're all off visiting family-ha! yeah right, more like partying- around the world. Life is so unfair. So yes, just my little take on the whole series. It might very possibly turn into my first ever slash fic. Usually I dont do slash, but this show just makes it so EASY. I swear there is at least ONE line in every episode that can be misinturpreted to be more than friendship. Which is why I've started at the beginning.

Also I would randomly like to comment on the fact that my word processor recognised the name Gaius, but not the word prat. How retarded is that?!

Anyways, hope you all enjoy it. And I do try my best, so a review would be REALLY appreciated. Thanks! :) And yes, the title is subject to change as I dont really like it that much. Ideas would be welcome.