Of Socks and Sewing:
Merlin was curled up into a ball, knees up and face buried in his arms. Arthur stared at Merlin's sleeping form contemplatively for a minute before telling Gaius firmly, "You can leave."
Merlin stirred slightly as Gaius shut the door behind him, and Arthur tried to look busy; he picked up the large, ancient looking book at the foot of Merlin's bed, staring at the strange looking runes on the front cover with concentration. He would not look at Merlin sleeping. He would not look at Merlin sleeping. He would not look at Merlin sleeping...
He looked up when he heard a sharp intake of breath. Merlin was sitting up in bed, staring at him white faced.
"Shoot! Did I wake you?"
"I- is this a raid?" Merlin asked, shakily. "Is there another sorcerer at large? Because yesterday, if you need to know, in the evening, I was nowhere near the kitchens. I was here, helping Gaius. If-"
He stopped short when Arthur gave him a look that said, very clearly, "Shut up."
"Oh. Not a raid then." He slumped back against the pillows, a little colour returning to his face. "But wait... why are you here?"
"Heard you were sick," said Arthur, sitting down at the foot of Merlin's bed, frowning slightly when he felt how hard it was. "Besides the fact that I waited for my breakfast for one hour because someone forgot to report sick again," he added, mock-glaring at Merlin.
Merlin grinned.
"Honestly, Merlin, I'm serious! What if you had died! I would have had to find someone new you know! Unless you had merely fainted so I had to go to some bloody godforsaken cave to get some flower with spiders and almost die for y- my honour."
"You didn't die then, remember? There was the light! And how is going to save me dying for your honour? "
"Because I couldn't let you die after you saved my life, now shut up, Merlin, let me continue-or maybe you'd run away again or gotten love-sick over Morgana like last time or-"
"You were worried about me, weren't you?" Merlin said, a slow smile spreading over his face as he threw back his covers.
"What are you doing?" Arthur asked, jumping up and shoving him back onto the bed. He seemed slightly pink. "You're sick!"
"I see you didn't reply to that and, well, do you make a habit of pushing sick people?"
Arthur glowered at him. "Put your sheets back on."
"No. And you still didn't reply."
"Put them on, Merlin."
"No! And stop telling me what to do! It's my room!"
"Oh yeah? Well, it's my kingdom! Ha! So you and the rest of the land and people technically belong to me! You have to do what I say!"
"I'm not even actually from here! I'm from-"
He was cut off by Arthur's perplexed gaze. He was staring at Merlin's feet with an air of bemusement. "You sleep with socks on?" he asked, tilting his blonde head.
"Well, yeah... If I slept half- naked like you, I'd wake up sick and wouldn't be able to attend to you in the morning, pretty much like right now," explained Merlin in his 'Explain things to Arthur like he is two years old' voice, adding under his breath, "Not that I'm complaining..."
Arthur, who did, in fact, hear the last bit, though he was pretty sure he was not supposed to, decided to ponder on that little titbit of information later. Instead, he concentrated on the strangest thing at the moment: "You sleep with all your clothes on?"
Merlin snorted as he climbed out of bed. "We can't all afford blankets like you can, you know... And thick bedding isn't cheap. You saw my place at Elador! That's how I used to sleep every night before I got here."
"Oh, said Arthur, frowning. The socks were blue and tattered, with patches of red where Merling had apparently mended them. Merlin followed his gaze and flushed slightly. "Oh. Well, I can't really afford new socks either."
"You can sew?" Arthur asked, sitting back on Merlin's bed.
Merlin flushed even brighter red. "My mum taught me. Said it's always useful, even if I don't need to-" He paused. "Or, you know, if I find someone to do it for me." He smiled. "She said that whomever I marry'll be very lucky, especially if they don't know how to sew."
"Which woman doesn't know how to sew?"
"Oh, I know a few," said Merlin vaguely, waving his hands.
"Name one wife in the city on Camelot who doesn't know how to sew, Merlin," Arthur said, standing up, "And I will give you a hundred gold coins, so you can buy yourself a new mattress, okay?"
"Deal!"said Merlin, springing out of bed and grinning. "You! And you still didn't reply!"
Arthur sent him a glare. "'Me' had better not mean what I think it means, Merlin, or I'll send you to the stocks."He shoved him back into bed. "Get well soon. I expect you to be at work tomorrow." He smiled one last time and shut the door carefully behind him.
"You still didn't reply!" Merlin said loudly.
He thought he heard a , "Oh, go to sleep, you idiot."
But then the next day, when Merlin was at work, someone delivered two large, soft mattresses with thick, cosy blankets and a pillow, with a note that read:
'Well, Morgana says that we squabble like husband and wife and if we were in a relationship, I would be the wife (I object!), so I suppose she thinks you won our little bet. But this is probably the only time you'll ever win anything (there was something scratched out here that seemed to start with 'except' and end with 'eart') so don't get used to it. Anyway, at least one of us knows how to sew. But I'm a prince, I don't need to know how to sew.
From-
Your Prince
(Who thus owns you and the rest of Camelot)
Arthur.
PS: Okay, maybe a little. Now stop bloody smiling that smug smile or I'll make you polish my armour!
-A.
And Merlin smiled.
A/N: so... did you like it? T'was my first fic. in this fandom/for this ship, so it would be awesome if you could give me feedback. Or something. Were they OOC?
Also the scratched out thing? It read 'Except my heart'. Yes it's cheezy. I don't care.