"God, is this kingdom always so boring!?" Arthur whined, turning over in his bed and burying his face into his mountains of duck feathered pillows.

Merlin rolled his eyes at the young prince; god he was such a child. He was always off on some new adventure, battling blood thirsty beasts and protecting Camelot from certain destruction but there was one battle that Arthur could never win; the battle with boredom, once he was bored one would never hear the end of it.

"You could help me out if you like; I've got plenty to do!" Merlin suggested, an eyebrow rose at the over grown child lying in its bed having a sook.

"HA! Good joke Merlin!" The prince muttered sarcastically; his face still buried within the pillows.

"Why don't you just relax anyway? You're always off saving someone's life, putting your own in danger; I thought you'd be glad to have some rest." Merlin asked, who for one, was glad he didn't have to follow Arthur around today making sure the prince didn't get himself killed.

Arthur sat up from the pillows and turned to sit on the edge of the bed, "Don't you see Merlin? That's why; I'm always off on an adventure! Saving damsels in distress, slaying monsters that dare to harm Camelot-" Arthur jumped from his bed and landed heavily on his feet to add to the dramatic tone in his voice, "-Saving your butt Merlin! I need to be out there, doing something; that is how I relax."

Merlin turned and placed his hands on his hips, shooting a quizzically look at Arthur.

"Saving my butt!? Ha, I seem to be saving your butt constantly!"

Arthur laughed; a deep hearty chuckle at the servant's words.

"Oh, you're hilarious today Merlin!" Arthur wiped a fake tear from his eye.

Merlin shook his head and continued to tidy up the princes finished breakfast; did he even get any of this food in his mouth?

"You are good to me though, Merlin" Arthur added, after he'd stopped laughing, "Perhaps we should go out for a ride, just the two of us; should be great fun!"

Merlin stared at the prince; was he going mental?

"So you're suggesting we actually go out and do something fun, like a day off?" Merlin asked astounded.

"Sure, why not, if that's what you would like to call it, Merlin, a day off!" Arthur smiled.

Merlin's eye brows knotted in concern, "What's the catch?"

"No catch! I'm just suggesting we go out, honestly Merlin, don't you trust me?"

"Of course I do sire, but…I can't help but be a little suspicious"

Arthur placed a hand over his heart, "Ow, your words hurt me Merlin! Honestly, we'll have a picnic out in the forest, it'll be a way to relax, as you so suggest"

Merlin's concern faded into a feeling of happiness; a day to hang out with Arthur as friends; not being bossed around by the arrogant twat sounded good to him.

"Oh, alright then." Merlin smiled.

Arthur returned the smile full-heartedly, "Excellent! Prepare the horses would you, Merlin, we'll ride at noon."

"-and there's the catch" Merlin muttered.

XXXXXXXX

"Ready to go?" Arthur met Merlin out the front of the castle, a bag packed with food for their 'day off.'

"Yep all ready, I'll take that sire" Merlin stretched out his arms to collect the bag of food he knew Arthur would make him carry.

"Oh no, it's fine, I'll take it." Arthur strapped the bag to his horse, and climbed up onto the back of the creature.

Merlin looked up at the prince, "Are you feeling alright Arthur?"

"Of course I am, now shut up and get on your horse; we can't waste the day asking questions!" Arthur snapped, and took off on his horse.

"-now that's the Arthur I know" Merlin smirked.

XXXXXXXXXXX

They rode their horses through the forest, trees grew high above and the path was blocked by many fallen branches.

Arthur looked over his shoulder at Merlin, and raised an eyebrow challengingly, "D'you reckon your horse can make it over all these branches?"

Merlin smirked at the prince, "With ease!"

Arthur chuckled, "Just try to keep up servant boy"

"Oh, bring it on Pendragon!" Merlin laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The boys rode on until they came to a clearing at the edge of the forest that looked out onto a cliff face. The grass was short and the perfect green that one only hears about in stories, and was surrounded by small purple and white flowers.

"Pretty sure I won that race!" Merlin teased.

"I'll give you this one, but next time I won't go so easy on you!" Arthur smirked, climbing down from his horse and un-tying the bag of food.

"Oh, so you were going easy on me were you?" Merlin asked.

"Obviously" Arthur muttered.

"I thought you only played nice with the pretty girls?" Merlin laughed at his own joke.

"Only with the prettiest of girls, Merlin" The prince snickered.

Merlin stopped laughing and thought about what he just said for a moment.

"No, wait! I didn't mean I was a pretty girl, because I'm not…a girl, I was trying to make you-make-you feel-I stuffed that up"

"Did you really Merlin? I hadn't noticed." Arthur said sarcastically, throwing open the blanket and lying it carefully over the green grass.

Merlin curiously looked over the edge of the cliff face, and his breath was taken away; the view was beautiful. You could see the tops of every tree, and out further you could see Camelot; the kingdom was so much more beautiful from up here.

Merlin turned to Arthur who was lying down on the blanket and had already begun munching on one of the bread rolls he had packed.

"This place is beautiful!" Merlin exclaimed, rummaging through the bag for a bread roll for himself.

Arthur chewed, and then swallowed his bread, "Told you, only for the prettiest girls"

Merlin shoved Arthur playfully, "You're never going to let that go are you?"

"Never" sniggered the prince.

The boys continued eating in a comfortable silence, just taking in the amazing view and enjoying each other's company, when Arthur spoke up.

"What was it like for you growing up, you know, being normal?"

Merlin almost choked on his bread; yeah, normal is one word for it.

"What do you define as normal?" Merlin asked, turning to look at the prince who was lying down on his back, hands underneath his head looking up at the sky.

"You know, being able to actually be a kid, as soon as I was able to speak I had responsibilities; couldn't do this, couldn't do that. I couldn't play with the peasant kids, I had to act like a nobleman…I had to grow up before I could even have a childhood" Arthur turned onto his side and looked up at Merlin; his eyes full of curiosity, he just wanted to know what it was like to have the one thing that he could never have, the one thing that Merlin had that was forbidden to the spoiled prince; a childhood.

"It's not all it's cracked up to be" Merlin joked, "I mostly remember being pushed over into the mud for most of my childhood"

Arthur smiled, "I'd give anything to have had that."

"Truthfully, I had to grow up pretty quickly too. I used to play, and run a-muck like most kids, but then my mother got sick for a while, nothing serious, but she couldn't do anything on the farm and it was just me and her, so I had to put playing aside and look after her, I did all the jobs on the farm and I did the best I could to nurse her back to health which, thankfully, I managed to do, but I was always worried she would get sick again so I decided it was time to grow up and start working instead of playing."

"-and then you decided to behave like a child now to make up for lost time?" Arthur smiled cheekily up at the servant boy.

Merlin smiled and shook his head, "You're a clot pole."

"I am not!"

"Who's the child now?"

"Oh, you're in for it this time Merlin!"

Merlin got to his feet quickly and ran into the forest, Prince Arthur hot on his tail.

"You're getting slow your highness!" Merlin called out over his shoulder, laughing as the wind pushed his pitch black hair off his face.

Merlin kept running, not daring to let the prince catch him.

But there were no footsteps behind him, just the sound of his own two feet hitting the ground hard.

Merlin stopped and looked around; no Arthur in sight.

"Oh god…" Merlin's heart fell into the pit of his stomach; he had lost the Prince of Camelot, Uther was not going to like this.

"ARTHUR!?" Merlin called out to the forest; a few birds flew from the tops of the trees, but there was no sign of Arthur.

Merlin spun around on the spot and called out again, but there was still nothing.

"Uther is going to kill me…"

Suddenly a twig snapped from above Merlin, who looked up and before he knew it Arthur jumped from one of the branches above the servant and landed on top of him.

Arthur held Merlins arms and sat on his legs to keep him pinned down, "Who's a child Merlin?"

Merlin said nothing and just smiled up at the prince.

Arthur took Merlins hands and pinned them down together with one hand and began tickling him with the other; Merlin burst into a fit of uncontrollable giggles.

"Who's a child?" laughed the prince.

"You are!" Merlin managed to splutter through the giggles.

"Oh, you are cheeky today!" teased Arthur, who began dancing his fingers along Merlin's sides even faster.

"Okay! Okay, you win! I'm a child!" Merlin finally surrendered.

"And don't you forget it!" chuckled Arthur, who had freed Merlins pinned hands but was yet to get up off his legs.

Merlin smiled up at the prince, and the prince back at Merlin; sweat trickled down the sides of both boys faces.

"Hot, are we Merlin?" Arthur pointed out the sweat trickling down past his ear; he still hadn't gotten up off of the young warlock.

"Could ask you the same thing" Merlin panted; droplets of sweat rolling across Arthurs jaw line.

"So I am" Arthur said, wiping away the sweat, "there's a small pool of water not far from here, care to cool off?"

"Sounds good"

Arthur finally stood up and freed Merlin from his not-so-uncomfortable trap and held out a hand to him to help the servant to his feet. Merlin gripped his hand tightly, and was lifted up but Arthur, being the trickster he is, let go of Merlin's hand before he was standing up properly and the warlock fell back down hard onto his bottom.

"CLOT POLE!" Merlin called after Arthur who was chuckling loudly as he jogged off to collect the horses.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"We'll have to leave the horses here, they won't fit between those rocks" Arthur jumped down off his horse and tied her to one of the trees.

"Are you sure they'll be safe here?"

"They'll be fine, just make sure you tie your horse up securely or you'll be walking back to Camelot" Arthur grinned deviously.

"I could ride on the back of your horse" Merlin said jumping down off of his horse and patting her gently.

"I'm not sure your fat butt would fit, Merlin"

"Oh, says the prince that eats a meal fit for three for breakfast, lunch and tea!"

Arthur shook his head and smiled, "It's just through here"

Merlin followed him through the rocks.

XXXXXX

"Oh, wow!" Merlin commented, his jaw dropping.

The pool was even more beautiful than the view from the cliff. The rocks surrounded the pool of water isolating it entirely from the forest, you'd only be able to find it if you followed the river for miles. The river water fell into the pool over the rocks in a water fall; the constant fall of the water was the most elegant sound Merlin had ever heard. It was so clear, you could see the bottom until it got too deep and the sun sparkled across the water; it looked as though the pool was filled with gems from the king's crown.

Arthur squatted by the water and cupped it in his hands and then threw it onto his face, washing away the sweat.

Merlin squatted next to the prince and did the same; the water was cool but not freezing, it was at an absolutely perfect temperature.

"It would be perfect for bathing in"

"Way ahead of you Merlin!"

Merlin turned to the prince who had taken off his shoes, stood up and had begun tugging his shirt over his head.

"Wha-what are you doing?" Merlin gulped.

"Going for a swim, what does it look like, are you coming in?" Arthur finally pulled the shirt off, which messed his hair up in a sort of adorable way that made Merlins blood pump faster, he then rolled up the bottom of his pants and dived into the pool.

Merlin watched as Arthur swam up to the surfaces, flicking his head back and breathing in deeply, before turning to Merlin, "I said, are you getting in or not?"

"I-ugh-there's nothing in there…right?" Merlin stuttered; he'd never told anyone before, but he was not particularly fond of water, he wasn't frightened of it or anything, but he couldn't swim; fish on the other hand, they scared him, freaked him out quite a bit.

"What's wrong Merlin, not scared of a bit of water are you?" Arthur splashed a wave of water up at Merlin playfully.

"I'm not frightened of it, it's just- I can't actually swim, I never learned how…" Merlin muttered.

"Oh..." Arthur looked at the servant boy concerned, "It's not hard, I could teach you?"

Arthur swam back to the bank and got up out of the water, joining his friend on dry land.

"Take your shoes and shirt off and I'll help you" Arthur instructed.

"Arthur are you sure?" Merlin was nervous; he would much rather just sit on the shore and watch Arthur.

Arthur came to stand close to Merlin and looked him dead in the eye; his beautiful blue eyes, stared into Merlin and he couldn't get them out.

Arthur placed a wet hand on Merlin's shoulder, "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise; you trust me, don't you?"

Merlin looked away for a moment, then back up at the prince and nodded.

Arthur smiled and grabbed the bottom of Merlin's shirt and pulled it up over his head, "I'll look after you don't worry"

Merlin quirked a small bashful smile up at the prince; he couldn't help but smiling when he was with Arthur.

Merlin slipped his shoes off and rolled up the bottom of his pants, and looked nervously toward the water.

"There's no…fish in there…right?"

Arthur giggled, "No, I don't think so, you're safe from the man eating fish"

Merlin glared at Arthur, and Arthur put his arms up in surrender.

Merlin breathed in and out slowly and closed his eyes.

"Okay, I think I'm ready"

Arthur intertwined his fingers with Merlins and led him towards the water; never loosening his grip.

They waded through until Merlin was about waist deep, before Arthur stopped leading him and let go of his hand.

"First of all, we need you to just dunk your head under the water, just to prove to you it is safe that I'm watching out for you, alright?"

Merlin nodded.

"Just dunk your head underneath and count to five and then come back up, I'll do it as well, ready?"

"Alright…Do you mind holding my hand again, it's reassuring" Merlin asked.

Arthur smiled, and grabbed Merlin's hand.

"Ready, set, DUNK!"

Both boys went under; Merlin had his eyes shut tight, but Arthur opened his slightly to make sure Merlin was okay and not panicking, but he was fine and the face the servant was pulling was incredibly endearing.

"Five!" Merlin almost squealed as he breathed in the fresh air once more.

"See! How easy was that Merlin?" Arthur said encouragingly, 'Okay now we are going to go into deeper water"

Merlin shook his head, "I don't know Arthur…"

"It'll be fine look, I'll carry you"

"No, Arthur it's fi-" But Merlins words were cut short as a pair of strong arms found their way around Merlins waist and hoisted him up.

Merlin wrapped his legs around Arthur's firm body and his arms around his neck and held onto him tightly.

"You do realise this is a tiny bit embarrassing" Merlin muttered,

"I'm fine" Arthur chuckled; he could feel the laugh vibrate through Arthurs chest, and once again Merlins blood was pumping a lot faster than usual.

"I didn't mean for you"

"It's only embarrassing if you let it be, Merlin"

And for some reason, Merlin held tighter to the prince, his warmth was comforting and watching the droplets of water dancing across his toned body was, honestly, incredibly engaging.

"Okay, I'm going to let you go, you can still touch the bottom here, but you'll probably freak out a bit at first." Arthurs grip didn't loosen "Are you going to be alright?"

"Yeah, I think so"

Merlin breathed out slowly, and let Arthurs grip loosen and, he to, let go of the prince.

Merlin did freak out a little until he felt Arthurs hand on his waist, and he settled letting his toes find the rocks on the bottom of the pool.

"There you go!" Arthur laughed happily, "I knew you'd be able to do it!"

Merlin smiled up at Arthur, "Thanks to you Arthur!"

"You still need to learn how to swim, but you're getting there slowly"

"Swimming can't be that hard, don't you just move your arms and legs a bit, like this…"

Merlin started moving his arms and legs and found himself doing an awkward breast stroke, but swimming none-the-less.

"Just like that Merlin!" Arthur threw his arms up into the air and clapping, sending water droplets to rain down on Merlin.

"I'm swimming!" Merlin beamed.

"Yes you are, well done!"

Arthur watched Merlin swim around in small circles and he couldn't help but smile at the black haired boy that had fallen into his life, saved his life over and over again and was always there for him when Arthur needed a friend most.

Friend.

Was that the right word for Merlin? Do friends look at one another this way? With longing, with so much love, just wanting to hold them and keep them safe from all of hell's demons. To be the one person in their life that can protect them from that one thing that frightens them most…even if that thing is fish.

He wanted to hold Merlin. Touch him. Be with him at all times. He wanted to taste him. Kiss him.

He really did, he wanted to kiss Merlin. He'd dreamt about running his fingers through Merlin's midnight darkness hair and getting lost in his blue eyes and throwing the map away. Just to explore Merlin's mouth would send him into a whole new world of pure lust and heat; a place he never, ever wanted to leave.

Before Arthur had even realised he was moving, he was right in front of the muse of his lost thoughts.

Arthur placed a hand to the side of Merlin's face and rubbed his thumb along his cheekbone; Merlin leaned into the touch, it was safe. It was warm. It was Arthur.

"You are truly amazing Merlin, the things you do to me, honestly" Arthur whispered slowly into Merlin's ear, dropping his hand from Merlin's face to rest on his hip, "I almost had to fire you, you were always on my mind, I would wake up in the mornings covered in my own-well I think you get the point, but I couldn't even think straight with you around, oh but how I enjoyed it"

Merlin couldn't even breathe as Arthurs hot breath growled into his ear; Merlin felt his voice go straight down south.

"Having to relieve myself whilst I screamed your name, over and over, every morning Merlin, you have no idea"

Merlin chuckled.

"What?"

"Oh, I have an idea. Could you even imagine what it was like for me sire, having to wait till Gaius was out so I could relieve myself panting your name over and over again"

Now it was Arthur who couldn't find any air to breathe, Merlin had taken it from him and was refusing to give it back.

Merlin's mouth kissed at Arthurs neck sending shivers through his body.

"Arthur" Merlin panted, as he lifted his mouth from Arthur's neck; Arthur groaned deeply.

"Arthur" he panted again, more longing in his voice.

"Arthur." Again even louder. "Arthur" he was saying it faster now. "Arthur" Merlin was literally screaming his name.

"I can't do this anymore" Arthur slipped his hand into Merlin's pants and held his cock tightly in his hand and began pumping back and forth.

And this time, Merlin moaned for real.

"Oh god, Arthur!" his nails dug deeply into Arthurs slippery chest.

Arthur latched his mouth onto Merlin's as he pumped him faster and harder with each aching kiss.

My god did Arthur taste good; it was the most delicious thing Merlin had ever tasted in his life and as he continued to explore the hot and dangerous mouth of Arthur Pendragon, he lost himself in a pit of complete ecstasy.

Arthur closed his eyes as he continued to stroke and pump Merlin, whilst the servant boy explored the insides of his mouth, his tongue running over his teeth and relishing his taste; it was amazing, just holding Merlin, to have his hand wrapped around him; oh it was good.

Merlin couldn't breathe, he pulled his mouth away from Arthurs and threw his head back as he screamed Arthurs name over and over, and Arthur could feel his on cock aching to be touched, and he began pumping himself to relieve that pain.

Both boys panted and screamed each other's name louder and louder with every pump as Arthurs hands worked faster and faster until…

"Arthur, I'm gonna…I-OH GOD YES!" Merlin screamed so loud the birds flew from the tree tops; his vision went blurry for only a moment as he found himself.

"Merlin!" Arthur panted, "Touch me, please!"

Merlin finally caught his breath and began pumping Arthur long and fast.

"Oh god Merlin, OH GOD!" Arthur panted.

Merlin nipped and sucked at the young Pendragons neck and he was sent over the edge.

"I'm gonna-I'M-OH MERLIN!"

Both boys stood together in the middle of the pool, panting and holding onto one another tightly.

"Hey Arthur" Merlin whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for teaching me how to swim"

"Oh, you are so welcome!" Arthur chuckled.