One of my friends sent me one of this emails and while I read it with absolutely no intention of passing it on in any form, I found myself thinking of scenarios and hence this Fanfiction was created. Sorry.
SLASH references: Merlin/Arthur
**
I love you not because of who you are, but because of who I am when I am with you…
Arthur stormed through the castle, his face as black as thunder. Another tournament had been arranged and again, his father had arranged it without his knowledge and simply expected him to compete and to win. Arthur quite looked forward to tournaments; he enjoyed the attention and relished the chance to prove himself against other skilled fighters, but he hated the pressure his father put him under. He put himself under enough pressure without Uther making things worse. So Arthur was in a bad mood, tired and irritable after a day of training and it did not help when an errant servant boy ran into him. The boy was knocked down whereas Arthur barely noticed the collision until he had tripped over the boy; fresh linen and armour went everywhere.
The boy froze on the floor, his eyes wide and staring as Arthur let loose a string of curses worthy of a sailor rather than a Prince. He clambered up and turned on the boy when a giggle stopped him and he spun, his anger focused on whoever dared to laugh. Merlin stood there, clutching a tray of food, his face contorted with the effort not to laugh. He took one look at Arthur's expression and gave in. He burst out in great guffaws that shook his entire body, tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes and the tray trembled in his hands. Arthur hurried forward and took the tray off him before he dropped it, staring at Merlin with amazement. Then he grinned at Merlin and turned back to the boy, still sitting, still frozen with terror.
"Come on then" said Arthur, smiling at the lad, "Up you get"
Arthur transferred the tray to one hand and reached out with the other and hauled the boy to his feet, then picked up the linen that wasn't too scrupled and handed it back to the boy. Merlin was just getting his laughter back under control as he picked up the scattered pieces of armour. Arthur sent the shell-shocked boy on his way and turned back to Merlin, who was now making his way down the corridor and into Arthur's room.
Arthur followed him into the room, where Merlin was arranging the armour on the table. Arthur put the tray down and turned on his servant.
"It wasn't that funny" he pouted as Merlin turned and kissed him lightly on the nose.
"I wasn't going to hit that boy" Arthur continued, smiling as Merlin kissed him gently on the lips.
"I know" Merlin said as Arthur held him tightly and drew him in for a deeper kiss.
**
