Title: New Years Resolutions 1/3
Author:faydako
Fandom: Merlin
Summary: Arthur writes his anual New Years Resolutions, except this year they are slightly different.
Paring: Merlin/Arthur
Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC where as Merlin belongs to Arthur
A/N: Beta'd by the wonderful waldorph thanks for your all your hard work hun :)
Arthur could never understand the fuss people made when it came to making New Year's resolutions.
For as long as he could remember, his father had always told him to write his list, and each year his list remained the same. He understood that the resolutions were a test of his own will but when he hardly stuck to them he couldn't see the point in making them in the first place. His father had always insisted on seeing his list, and each year , Uther kept a strong eye on him, especially if he failed to show for patrol duty, because he'd gotten a hangover from the feast the night before. Uther had of course been livid; and as punishment for his actions, Uther had had him restrained in the dungeons with his list the only source of company.
Arthur shuddered, his hand subconsciously moving to his wrist where the scars from the chains were still slightly visible.
This year however his resolutions were different. He still wrote the ones that would please his father, but his main resolution list was concentrated more around the welfare of Merlin.
1. Be Nicer To Merlin
As much as he liked Merlin being his servant (but never admitted it) there were times when the other boy got him so aggravated that Arthur had no other choice but to throw him in the stocks. He had practically lost count on how many times Merlin had shown him up in front of the court or in front of his father.
He remembered their first meeting, when he was throwing daggers at the table his latest servant was carrying, using the table for target practise. Merlin had come along defending the servant, and even had the nerve to stand up to him. Of course Merlin ended up being landed in the cells for the night, but at that moment Arthur couldn't have cared less.
Their second meeting had resulted in a playful fight within the court yard, Merlin somehow managing to make a mockery out of him, his mockery stunning Arthur and his knights. Since then Arthur's respect for his servant grew, and instead of sending him to the stocks whenever he got him angry, he would slap him up the side of his head, or come out with some witty remark instead.
At least he could say that he had started sticking to one resolution early this year.
2. Tell Merlin You Love Him
The revelation had dawned when Merlin had drunk from the goblet in order to save Arthur's life, almost dying as a result in order to protect his master.
Arthur had done everything in his power to save Merlin's life; defending him when his father had said that his life wasn't worth saving. Even Morgana knew that he loved him, he didn't know how she knew but she did, and it was her encouragement that gave Arthur the strength he needed to defy his father all because he finally realised that Merlin meant more to him than anything else in Camelot.
This realisation had cost him a night locked up in the cells, not knowing whether or not risking his own life had been enough to save that of the man he loved.
Hearing that Merlin had recovered had been the best news Arthur could have hoped for, and no sooner he had finished his conversation with his father upon the balcony overlooking the kingdom he went straight to Gaius' chambers in order to see Merlin for himself. He was a bag of nerves the moment he arrived at the physicians chambers, his heart beating so hard in his chest he found it hard to breathe. His breath caught in his throat, the moment his eyes had landed on Merlin, and he couldn't help the grin that spread over his features as he watched the boy sit eating whatever concoction Gaius had prepared for him. Of course he couldn't help the playful banter between them, with him ordering Merlin back to work bright and early in the morning.
His visit was short with Merlin thanking him for the trouble he had gone through in order to save his life. That night Arthur summoned Merlin to his chambers, much to the other boy's annoyance at being called away at such an ungodly hour. It was that night when Merlin had admitted that he loved him, it was that night when they first made love, and it was that night that Arthur would never forget.
3. Give Merlin More Training Lessons
Merlin wasn't the best when it came to sword fighting; Arthur knew that ever since their first training session. He had some knowledge but not enough to disarm his opponent. The events of Elador had shown Arthur that Merlin's combat training had come in handy, but the Prince needed to give him more lessons.
Of course Merlin being Merlin would moan and groan at him, make up some stupid argument that he didn't need "damn sessions", his protests didn't last long however, what with Arthur promising him kisses every time he found a bruise or an injury from their session, those soon shut him up. And what bugged Arthur even more, was the fact that he knew Merlin was porously causing Arthur to hit him in certain places, maybe the promise of kisses wasn't such a good idea after all.
4. Let Merlin take more control
Now this was one resolution that Arthur was going to have difficulties in keeping. Whenever they ended up having sex, Arthur always liked to stay in control of the situation, maybe it was because of his hunting instincts and he always saw Merlin as his pray, or maybe he liked to remind Merlin that he was his.
He would deliberately leave marks on his skin, reminding Merlin who was the master. He liked to be buried inside Merlin, he liked to watch him wither and beg for more as he pumped harder and faster. He liked to make Merlin come first making him scream out his name.
It wasn't that he was getting tired of taking control all the time, it was because of the one time that he'd let Merlin take control and if he was going to be honest, it was the best sex he had had in a very long time.
Arthur sighed heavily as a soft knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. Looking up from the list he gave permission for whoever was at the door to enter his chambers.
"Sorry to disturb you sire, but your father has sent for you" Arthur sighed heavily
"What is it that my father requires of me?" Arthur asked the guard at the door,
"It's about the old physician sire" Arthur sighed heavily and nodded dismissing the guard who had brought him the message. Grabbing his favourite long brown jacket from the back of his chair the prince, hastily tidied his desk. He sighed heavily knowing the summons from his father could only mean one thing.
Merlin sighed heavily as he continued to walk through the castle hallways, his arms laden with fresh bed linen for Arthur. There were times when Merlin hated being Arthur's servant, and today was proving to be one of those days. Instead of being at Gaius' bedside where he wanted to be, Arthur had given him plenty of duties to keep him occupied.
He knew his master was just looking out for him, and every so often would ask how the older man was doing but all Merlin could do was shrug in response.
"I would know better if you let me see him for once!" he'd snapped at him after Arthur had asked him what seemed to be the 100th time that day how Gaius was.
He knew that Arthur would have been angry with him for snapping at him like he did, and he had waited for some witty remark back from the prince, but it never came. He was sure Arthur had flinched when he had snapped at him and he was about to apologise for his behaviour, when the Prince surprised him by allowing him to see Gaius.
Merlin had spent a good hour tending to Gaius' needs when Arthur had summoned him back to his duties. As usual Arthur had him cleaning out his stables, and then made him polish and re-polish his armour; he also washed his tunics as well as provides fresh his bed with fresh linen, even though Merlin had only changed it a few days prior.
Without having the means to knock not that he ever did,Merlin entered his master's chambers. The chambers were quiet, except from the crackling noises from the fire. Merlin sighed heavily and placed the linen down on the chest of drawers nearest to the door, he walked briskly to the large four poster bed that was the centre piece of the room, his movements whipped up a sudden wind and caused the parchments on Arthur's desk to flutter to the ground.
Sighing heavily, Merlin bent down to pick up whatever important work Arthur had been working on when he spotted his name written on the parchment he was currently holding. Wondering why on earth the prince would be writing something about him, his curiosity got the better of him and concluded that taking just one tiny peak at whatever Arthur had been writing wouldn't hurt.
His eyes widened as he realised what he was reading, he couldn't believe what he was reading. Gaius had always told him that the Pendragon's were very keen on keeping a resolution list, but Merlin never in his dreams thought Arthur would make one concerning himself.
He knew that reading Arthur's private list was wrong, but he just couldn't help himself especially when the first resolution was for Arthur to be nicer to him. He continued to read, his eyes skimming quickly over Arthur's neat handwriting.
Movement from outside the door caused Merlin to hastily place the parchments back neatly onto the desk; footsteps drew closer and as Merlin returned to undressing the Arthur's bed, the footsteps faded away again. With his heart in his mouth, Merlin went back to the desk and picked up Arthur's resolution list again, he swallowed and licked his lips subconsciously wondering how he could make the list to his advantage.
If Arthur wanted to please him, then Merlin was going to make Arthur's life just that little bit more interesting.
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