This is my first try at a requested oneshot, hope I do paramalik's ideas justice! I am up for anymore requests on Merlin, or any fandoms listed on my profile.

Merlin's POW

Merlin's heart leapt into his throat as something rustled in the nearby bushes. He was part of a small hunting party, just Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table and himself,meandering back from a fairly unsuccessful hunt, thanks to Merlin's efforts, of course.

"What was that noise?" Merlin called out, a slight quiver in his voice. He knew what often made that noise when slithering around the forest.

"Probably just a snake or something" called back Elyan from up ahead.

Merlin's eyes widened a fraction, and suddenly went pale, his worst fear confirmed. He felt his throat go dry and subtly moved away toward the middle of the path.

Arthur POV

Most people, even those who knew Merlin well wouldn't have noticed his sudden shakiness, but Arthur's keen eyes spotted this immediately. He knew Merlin almost as well as he knew himself, and was always watching out for him to make sure he wasn't in any danger. However, he couldn't resist exploiting this slightly, and couldn't help but pick fun at the boy he felt to be almost the younger brother he never had, not that he would ever admit this,naturally.

"What are you, scared Merlin? You are such a girl's petticoat sometimes."

The knights around him laughed, enjoying the prince and manservant's banter, that was always a great source of entertainment for them.

Merlin's POV

If only Arthur knew how petrified Merlin was. But he was too embarrassed to let anyone know about his biggest fear; snakes. So he put on a fake cheery voice, and retorted, "Well at least I'm not a dollophead."
Arthur shook Merlin cheeky comment with a laugh, he was used to it by now.

Later...

Arthur POV

They were still about an hour away from Camelot, and boredom was setting in. To make everyone laugh, Gwaine decided to scare Merlin into thinking he had a snake on his back, for a bit of harmless fun. He drew the blunt edge of his sword down Merlin's
back, whilst crying out, "Watch out Merlin! There's a snake on your back!"
Merlin leapt into the air and span around in fright. The look on his face was one that Arthur had never really seen on Merlin; fear. Merlin was one of the bravest people he knew, Arthur had almost believed he wasn't afraid of anything. Maybe it's just the shock. Or maybe it is something more, he
thought. However, he was bored and he doubted it was anything more than the slight fear of snakes that many people had. So he joined in the knights' laughter.

"Honestly Merlin, it's not even real, you are such a girl", he crowed.
Suddenly Merlin sunk to the ground, shaken, his face ashen. All laughter stopped as they all realised Merlin must be genuinely terrified of snakes. A huge wave of guilt washed over Arthur as he stood stock still in disbelief. Merlin was actually scared of snakes?

Percival was the first to carefully approach Merlin.

Merlin POV

"I'm afraid of spiders" Percival murmured gently down to him.
"You are?" Merlin whispered. He knew Percival was a gentle giant really, but he was so big and brave Merlin had believed he wasn't afraid of anything.
The others began to sit down beside him.
"Yeah and I'm afraid of rats. They make my skin crawl" added Leon.
"I've hated heights ever since I nearly fell off the battlements during a battle" commented Elyan.
"I sometimes have nightmares about all the taverns in Camelot closing" joked Gwaine. "But seriously mate, it's ok to have a phobia, everyone does.
They all looked to Arthur for his input.
"What? I don't have any fears".
The knights glared at Arthur.
""Ok, ok, I suppose that I fear the deaths of those closest to me. And the downfall of Camelot." Arthur grimaced.
"So you see we all have fears Merlin. It's often best to talk about these things. Why are you so terrified of snakes?"
Merlin thought back to his childhood in Ealdor, and one of the worst days of his life. He was seven years old, and had been playing with Will in the forest near his home. They had been playing hide and seek, and Merlin was hidden behind a tree, giggling at how Will couldn't find him. He stepped back, and turned to run to a new hiding place, but looked up into the face of a snake rearing up at him. He had trodden on its tail as he stepped grabbed the nearest thing to him, a stick off the ground, and used it to beat away the serpent. Will noticed to commotion and rushed in to help beat it away. They managed to hit it over the head hard enough for it to slither away I defeat, but not before biting Merlin on the leg.
Although he had escaped relatively unscathed, the incident still gave Merlin nightmares.
He related the story to the knights and show led them the scar on his leg. They were sympathetic and promised him they would make sure they protected him from anything without legs that ever slithered near him again.
As they stood up to leave, Merlin realised how comforting the knights were, and how they had cheered him up. He then truly believed that he had the best brothers in the world.

So I really like how this story is going, so will make it into a two shot, where the knights try and help Merlin overcome his phobia, and with an extra twist. Hope you all enjoyed, please review, and thanks again to the wonderful paramalik for requesting this! x