"I don't want to go to this… festival." Arthur grumbled.
"It's not a festival, sire, it's a dinner." Merlin specified. "A dinner to celebrate the visit of Queen Marie and King Felipe. You have to be polite, respectful, and cheerful. Like you want to be there."
"But I don't want to be there. I would much rather be harassing you."
Merlin rolled his eyes. "You can harass me at the dinner. But right now, you need to get dressed."
"I'm already dressed, Merlin." And with that, Arthur threw a pillow across the room. Merlin ducked with an experienced grace and held out the shirt in his arms. "Fine." The crown prince sighed and he took off his red shirt and replaced it with the white. "Happy?"
"Of course sire. Now, just smile and be pleasant." Merlin turned around and started walking towards the door. "If you can." He muttered, and failed to dodge the empty goblet that hit him in the back of the head. "Prick." He muttered again, and ducked behind the armoire to dodge the next projectile. Thump. Whatever it was, it was apparently heavy. He opened the door and jokingly bowed lowly for Arthur to walk through.
Arthur pulled Merlin into a headlock and ruffled his hair while rubbing his knuckles on his head. "Well, you'll just suffer with me. I expect a constant flow of wine. I can deal with Felipe and his wife- it's his son Sufter I cannot stand."
"That's not advised, sire-"
"Merlin, stop advising me, you are my servant, not my counsel. Wine."
"Okay." The man in question raised his hands in defeat. "Wine."
The two headed to the main hall and Arthur was greeted while Merlin slipped into the shadows. Until Arthur tapped the side of his glass with his finger. Rolling his eyes at Gwen, he excused himself with a groan and went to pour Arthur more wine.
"My head still hurts." He whispered as he leaned over.
"Good. A constant reminder to fill up my goblet." Merlin rolled his eyes. "Merlin, I will have you out on the street if you roll your eyes again."
He rolled his eyes again. "Who would pour your wine?"
"I'd get Guinevere to do it. She's polite and respectful."
"And she's waiting on Lady Morgana at the moment, you're stuck with this blubbering buffoon." And with that, Merlin stepped back with the pitcher and went back over to Gwen. Throughout the night, that was how it went, with Merlin stepping in every little when he ran low on wine, and whispered exchanges. Soon, Merlin could tell that Arthur was… losing control of his faculties. Sure enough, Uther was in charge of everything and Arthur just had to sit there and essentially look pretty.
"Merrrrrlinnnn." Arthur slurred. "Moorrre wiiiine."
"I think you've had enough, sire."
"Youuuu don't telll meeee whaatt toooo doooo."
"I'll be right back then sire, I'm out of wine at the moment." Merlin lied. He quickly walked out and stepped into a random room. His eyes burned gold as the wine in the pitcher turned to colored water. Heading back to Arthur, he watched the prince meticulously. He's drunken more than this. Why is he so affected?
He was drugged. It's the only explanation. He rushed over to Arthur and poured him the water. He watched as Arthur took a sip. "Thisssss taastesss diffent." Merlin cringed at the lack of syllables. That's definitely not normal.
"It's an older wine." Merlin lied.
"Okaay."
Merlin tried his best not to run over to Gwen. "Can you make sure Arthur only gets this to drink? I'll be back soon, but I need a… bathroom break."
"Alright." She looked at it. "Why this one?"
"You know Arthur, picky as ever." He covered. She smiled sympathetically. "Just this pitcher. Got it."
"Thanks so much, Gwen."
"No trouble." He once more had to hold himself back from running. Until he was out in the hall, and then he ran, full-pelt, coat flying out behind him, until he opened the door to the medical supply in the castle, where Gaius was taking inventory. "Gaius! Arthur's been drugged!"
"Hold on. How do you know?"
"He's acting all funny, and he's had more than this and not been affected, but now he's just completely out of it."
"How could he have been drugged? Wasn't it only you filling his goblet?"
"Yes-wait," Arthur mentioned this! "Earlier, he scolded me for being so late that he had to call over another servant. A blonde girl."
"Find her. I'll see what we can do." He bustled about while Merlin ran back to the feast.
He relieved Gwen of her 'Arthur-serving' duties and refilled the pitcher while his back was turned to the crowds, almost all of whom were drunk. Refilling Arthur's glass, he hoped the water was working to somewhat dull the effects. His eyes were constantly scanning the room for a young blonde wandering about. If she's left already, or if she changed her appearance, we're done. Just then he spotted a flash a light. Sure enough, bright blonde hair, on an attractive young woman, had moved in the candlelight.
Pushing his way through the crowds, Merlin finally caught up to the girl and cornered her. "What did you give Prince Arthur?" He accused. She gave him a panicked look.
"Can we talk out in the hall?" She begged. "Please. That's all I ask."
"Fine." He grabbed her arm and made it look like he was a gentleman leading a young lady out when in reality he had her arm in a vice grip that was as tight as he could manage. "Why? With what? When? Why him?"
"Slow down. I just wanted him to notice me. I'm just a serving girl, and he never would anyway. It was just concentrated. Highly concentrated."
"How 'highly concentrated?'"
"Nearly 98% potency." She whispered.
He rubbed his temples. And there it is. "So he's just severely drunk?"
She nodded meekly.
"Why?"
"I told you, I wanted him to notice me!"
"There's more to it than that." He said plainly. She sighed in defeat.
"The mistress I work for is cruel. I thought if I could get him to notice me, he would interfere with her for me." She whispered. This girl is easier to get things out of than most.
"What's your name?"
"Margaret."
"Well, Margaret, I suggest you don't interfere with Arthur or attempt to for the remainder of your stay and I'll make sure no one ever knows it was you. Clear?"
She nodded again. She went back inside while he ran back to the medical supply. Gaius was brewing something.
"It's 98% concentrated alcohol," Merlin said.
"Then this'll work. I was hoping it'd be something like that. I'll just be another minute. This will wear off most of the extremities, but he'll still be drunk. And he'll wake with a nasty headache. But for now it's the best we've got."
Merlin watched closely as the mixture was poured into a vial and the corked. Grabbing it and running back to the hall, he noticed Arthur looking grumpy. Or as grumpy as a hopelessly drunk prince can. Slipping the draught into a pitcher of plain water, Merlin quickly dashed up to the front table and made sure Arthur got his drink.
"Whaat took yoouu sooo loongg?"
"I was in the bathroom. I'm sorry. The night's about to end, Arthur."
"Is it? Yay!" Merlin stifled a laugh. Arthur drank it greedily and shut his eyes sharply. "That tastes… weirrd." The slurring was nearly gone already. Merlin held back a sigh of relief.
Soon, but not soon enough, Merlin was able to guide Arthur back to his chambers and force the prince into bed. "Drink this." He enticed with more of the tonic. After he had slurped down the drink, and let Merlin tuck him in, Arthur called out, "You've never done that before."
"What?" Merlin called from the doorway.
"Obeyed my orders. Properly. And I'll probably regret it in the morning, right?"
"That you will, milord."
"Be here early then."
"I'll try."
"Merlin?"
"Yes?"
"Good night."
"Good night to you too, Arthur." The prince saw the raven hair through the near darkness disappear. And with that, he drifted into the abyss that is sleep.
.*&*.*&*.*&*.*&*.*&*.*&*.*&*.*&*.
He moaned and turned over. The pounding in his head was atrocious. It was so bad, in fact, that he was using words like atrocious. How much did I drink last night? Why did Merlin choose that order to obey perfectly, rather than all the other ones? He sighed and winced with the pain. He held his eyes shut, knowing the light would be more painful than helpful. He felt a cold towel being lain on his forehead and sighed in relief before wincing at the pain that sigh caused his head.
"Shhh… don't speak. Or sigh." Merlin whispered. "You were drugged."
"I was what?!" He said, sitting up straight and immediately regretting it. Merlin pushed him slowly onto his back and moved the wet towel back into position.
"Drink this." He said quietly. The blonde took it and sipped. "It's a tonic Gaius made for you. Some girl thought she could drug you and it would work in her favour. It didn't."
"Did you stop her?" Arthur whispered.
"Yes."
He chuckled quietly. "No, you didn't Merlin. Someone else did."
"Alright, Arthur, whatever you want milord. Someone else did."
Their morning went on in near silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was happy, despite Arthur's hangover, which was steadily fading thanks to Gaius' tonic. This was what life was supposed to be like. This, is bliss.