I own nothing. Little one shot reveal. Do not plan to continue. But please feel free to continue it if you want.

It was all Gwaines fault.

Things had been going so well. So incredibly well! Guinevere was queen, the harvest had been bountiful, bandit attacks as a whole had dropped sharply, and Arthur had even managed to earn a growing respect and support from the council of nobles. All the while Merlin stood dutifully at his side, protecting and encouraging him from the shadows. Morgana had disappeared, maybe even was dead, and there had only been two attempts on the kings life in the last six months. Only two!

So really, Merlin should have been expecting something monumentally bad to happen. As it was, he had decided to see their good fortune as a well-earned break, and was determined to enjoy it.

So when Gwaine poked and prodded and finally convinced all of the Knights of the Round Table to join him in the tavern, Merlin decided to let his guard down for once and go with them. He'd been surprised when Arthur had also agreed to go, but glad never the less. Arthur deserved a break about as much as he did.

That's how they ended up with just Arthur and Merlin still upright, all the knights having succumbed to sleep or passed out in the booths around their table. No other soul was left in the tavern, the barkeep having retired to his bed several hours ago, and the sun was sure to rise in the next few hours.

"I bet…." Arthur decreed rather prattishly with his finger pointed in Merlin's face "that you've never even kissed a girl." The finger wavered in circles struggling to stay pointed at Merlin.

Merlin had his head propped up on his elbow and was looking at Arthur through drooping eyes.

"yessss I have." He slurred out, managing to look slightly offended.

"Nope. I bet… I bet" Arthur scanned the room for something to use as ammunition and settled on the half full bottle of mead. "I bet you the rest of this that you haven't"

"Well then you're going to have to drink it, because I have." Merlin said firmly, shooting the king a dopey grin. Arthur narrowed his eyes at him.

"You're lying! Lying to the king is treason you know." Arthur reminded him.

"I'm not lying!" Merlin huffed indigently. This time, he added in his mind.

"Fine, then who was she? This mysterious merlin-kisser?" the king challenged.

Merlin bit his lip and debated with himself, until something occurred to him.

"Are we counting girls who have kissed me or girls I kissed?" He said with mischievous smile.

Arthur's jaw dropped comically.

"Who on earth would want to kiss you?" he demanded with a disgusted face. "I mean, I thought maybe you had tricked some poor girl and stole a kiss. If was dark, and she didn't know you. But some girl actually kissed you? She must have been hideous."

Merlin had started laughing half-way through Arthur's speech and ended up on the floor clutching his stomach. He peeked up to see the king glaring down on him with confusion, which only made him laugh harder.

"What? What's so funny?" Arthur demanded.

Merlin wheezed out something that Arthur couldn't understand because the dark haired man was still rolling on the floor with laughter.

"What!" Arthur hissed, truly irritated and feeling like the butt of a joke.

Merlin finally composed himself long enough to hoist his weight back into his chair.

"Fine, I'll tell you." He said, with another giggle. If he had been sober, he might have processed that it was probably a bad idea to do what he did next, but as it was; sober he was not. "It was Gwen. Gwen was my first kiss and she kissed me!"

"what?" Arthur said very dryly. Again, Merlin missed the warning signs, like the dangerous glint in the king's eyes.

"Ha, you see. She is not hideous. You think she's pretty too or you never would have married her." Merlin almost taunted in a triumphant voice.

"You think my wife is pretty?" Arthur accused with narrowed eyes.

"Of course I do, she's Gwen." Merlin answered honestly. "She's a pretty person, inside and out."

Arthur could hardly argue with that, and even though the idea of Guinevere kissing anyone other than him bothered him, for some reason he just couldn't manage to feel all that threated by Merlin.

"When did this….kiss happen anyway?"

"It was right after I'd been poisoned" Merlin said casually with an exaggerated flick of his hand. "You remember? When you brought that flower back from the caves? Well apparently she and Gaius thought I was dead for a little bit. So when I woke up, Gwen was so relieved she kissed me."

"Well, that doesn't count." Arthur protested.

Merlin shrugged "Alright. She wasn't the only girl I've kissed."

"Who else?" Arthur asked, but Merlin had grown very quiet, the distant look in his eyes troubling the king.

"It doesn't matter" Merlin said softly "she's gone now."

Arthur swallowed, a bad feeling churning in his gut.

"Gone?"

"Dead." Merlin corrected. Thoughts of Freya always hurt, and he was struggling not to think about the life they could have had together, the life they almost had together. Thinking about it only brought more pain, but at the same time it was a fantasy he was addicted to, that he couldn't let go of.

Arthur watched his manservant and even through his drunken haze, he could see the aching and the agony behind the blue eyes. He said nothing, but clapped a firm hand on the younger man's shoulder.

Merlin was startled out of his remembrance by Arthurs touch. He looked over and met the king's eyes with his own. Arthur nodded slightly and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. It was a simple gesture, but it meant the world to Merlin. Arthur didn't ask him questions, he didn't press him for more information or try and provide false sympathies. He was just there, like he always was, and that simple gesture was enough to put Merlin at ease. He couldn't help the toothy grin he shot at the king.

Arthur obligingly drained the rest of the mead in a couple of guzzles and slammed it on the table while Merlin slumped onto his hand and fought to keep his eyes open, fatigue hitting him hard.

Arthur peered into the bottle and realized it was indeed empty.

"Merlin, go get us more mead." He ordered arrogantly.

But Merlin was tired. He was so tired, and all he wanted to do was follow the example set by the knights and fall asleep right there on the table. So when he looked back and saw another bottle of mead on the far side of the room, his magic acted without prompting and the bottle flew across the room into his hand.

"Here." He said, and set the bottle down in front of Arthur. Then he returned to his previous position and let his eyes fall slowly shut.

In the meantime, Arthur was frowning at the bottle in front of him. He looked at the bottle, then to the other side of the room, them back to Merlin. Was he really that drunk?

"Umm, Merlin?" Arthur asked, vaguely realizing that he should be panicking. But the alcohol had dulled his senses to the point where he wasn't quite sure if he could rely on his own eyes. And yet, there was no mistaking what he'd just seen. "Did you just do magic?"

"Mmmhmmm" Merlin hummed affirmative, not even bothering to open his eyes.

Arthur rubbed his hand across his eyes, trying to sober himself a bit. The panic was working its way slowly into his system.

"Oh." The king said, trying together his thoughts.

There was dead silence throughout the room. Arthur shook his head violently, trying to clear the drink haze.

"Ummm…Merlin?" Arthur tried again.

"Hmmmm?" The dark haired man hummed with irritation at being disturbed.

"YOU"RE A SORCERER!?" Arthur bellowed, jumping to his feet.

Percival's head shot up at the disturbance. He blinked a couple times, then fell right back down on the table, out cold.

Merlin on the other hand, froze where he was and his eyes snapped open.

"No I'm not."

"I'm drunk, Merlin, but not that drunk!" Arthur snarled, partially lunging at his manservant and catching his weight on the table. Merlin instinctually jumped back and ended up falling down and scooting away from the king like he was a wild animal.

"But…But…" Merlin stuttered, desperately searching for a way out.

"I saw you!" Arthur spat at him, waving the bottle of mead around so that a little sloshed out "I saw you do magic! By the gods, Merlin! Don't you know the sentence for sorcery? Don't you know…" Arthur's words choked in his mouth as the image of Merlin burning at the stake sprung up an bit him. He felt like he was going to be sick.

Merlin pushed himself up and leaned heavily on the wall trying not to hyperventilate as he began to comprehend what was happening.

"I'm sorry." He whispered to his king. "I'm sorry." What else could he say?

Arthur ran his hands across his face and paced around the room. Well, tried to pace. He ended up wobbling around until he crashed into a pillar and hugged it to stay upright.

A dark look crossed his face as her turned to Merlin and demanded;

"Are you working for Morgana?"

"No! I work for you!" Merlin pleaded. He just kept thinking, this is the most important conversation of my life and I can't believe I'm drunk for it!

At this point Gwaine lifted his head a little and loudly shhhed both of them, irritated that his sleep had been disrupted by their shouting. Arthur swung around and directed his fury at the long haired knight.

"Don't shhh me! He's a sorcerer!" He snapped, grabbing Merlin by the shoulder and shaking him for emphasis.

"Mmmmhh." Gwaine mumbled. "That's nice." Then he rolled over and fell back to sleep.

Arthur continued glare at him for a moment, before turning back to the sorcerer he still held by the shoulder. He swayed dangerously and Merlin realized that his hold on his shoulder was probably the only thing holding the king up. Arthur wouldn't look at him, instead staring at the floor for a long time before he finally whispered in a quiet voice:

"Do you hate me?"

"What?!" Merlin screeched, a little spooked. That had been the exact question that had been running though his own mind, but hearing the words from Arthur's mouth seemed wrong to the highest degree. For a while longer Arthur was silent before he whispered again in the same small voice:

"All the sorcerers seem to hate me. Do you?"

"Never." Merlin swore without hesitation. He knew what he said next was vital to everything he was and everything he had done. He only wished he wasn't so bloody drunk and could clear the fog clouding his mind.

Merlin unconsciously reached out and grasped on to Arthur's arm, which was still attached to his shoulder.

"I will never hate you, Arthur." Merlin said, holding on to Arthur's forearm like it was a lifeline. "Not if you banish me, not if you kill me, not even if you make me wash your bloody socks again" (because really, that was the worst thing Merlin could think of) "All I want is for you to be safe."

Merlin hadn't realized he'd been crying until he felt the tears drip off his chin and down his neck. Arthur's clumsy fingers tried to wipe the tears away, but that only made Merlin cry harder.

"You're such a girl." Arthur muttered, but there was no bite behind the insult. The king ran his fingers, still sticky with Merlin's tears, through his blond hair and gave a deep sigh.

"I am far too drunk for this." He declared, and Merlin snorted in agreement.

That's when the sound of the warning bell began echoing through the streets from the castle.

Arthur turned an accusing look on Merlin.

"I didn't do it!"

Arthur narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Really!" Merlin said, throwing his hands in the air as proof. Unfortunately this only served to off-balance him and he ended up hugging the table so he didn't wind up on the ground. Arthur rolled his eyes and stumbled over to the knights, beating them with the flat of his hand to wake them.

"Get up!" He ordered loudly. "We're under attack!"

There was a chorus of groans but the Knights all rose from their slumbers. Their short naps had provided them a brief recovery. While Percival still looked a little wobbly on his feet and Elyan looked like he wanted to slash anything that made noise, for the most part they were all sober. Which was more than could be said of Merlin and Arthur.

Arthur grabbed Merlin by the scruff of his neck and followed the knights out the door.

"You're not leaving my sight."

Together they hobbled down the street and up to the castle (The steps were a bit of a struggle). When they finally got to the throne room the knights had surrounded a sorceress in long flowing green robes.

"King Arthur." She purred "Glad you could finally join us. Now prepare to meet justice for the crimes you have committed against my magical kin."

Arthur snapped his fingers and pointed at the sorcerer while declaring to Merlin;

"See! That's how sorcerers are supposed to act! All evil, and murdery and not complicated or confusing at all!"

"You want me to be evil?" Merlin asked, then added "And murdery is not a word."

"Shut up!" Arthur glared at him, completely ignoring the sorceress "I'm the king, it's a word if I say it is."

"You're the prat." Merlin muttered.

"I heard that!"

"Excuse me?" the sorceress interrupted indignantly "I'm trying to kill you here!"

"oh, bite me!" Merlin hissed, annoyed. The sorceress's mouth dropped open in shock, then her expression morphed into one of pure furry.

"I shall teach you some respect, lowly servant!" she spat back at him.

If Merlin had been at his full potential, he would have anticipated the fireball she sent his way. As it was, he was still extremely inebriated, worried about Arthur knowing his secret, worried about Arthur's safety and generally had more important thing on his mind than an attacking sorceress. Therefore he didn't see the fireball that was fired directly at his head.

But Arthur did.

For only a few fractions of a second everything in Arthur's world slowed down and his head cleared as he saw the gigantic fireball flying directly and Merlin's head, which was turned in his direction. His earlier vision of Merlin burning at the stake once again flashed through his mind and it was immediately clear to him that he could never let that happen. He would never allow Merlin to burn. Whatever lies Merlin had told, if he had betrayed him or not, Merlin was his responsibility to keep safe; to protect. He could not tolerate the mere idea of Merlin's death.

Thankfully, his body processed this fact a lot faster than his mind and he lunged at Merlin, tackling him to the ground. What followed was a weird moment of de je vu between Merlin and Arthur where their roles had been reversed from that first sorceress when Merlin had been made his manservant.

When Merlin got shakily to his feet, his face was absolutely livid. He said a few words in an ancient language and a jet of purple light shot out of his hand at the sorceress…..

And went right over her shoulder.

"Ooppps." Merlin said.

"You missed!" Arthur snorted, trying not to erupt into laughter.

The sorceress growled and shot another spell at Merlin and Arthur. Merlin easily deflected in back at her and it hit her square in the chest. Her dress caught fire and she screamed as the flames engulfed her. It wasn't long before she was nothing more than a pile of ash.

"What the hell is happening?" Gwaine yelled exasperated. The rest of the knights seemed just as lost. Poor Elyan was cradling his head.

Arthur stumbled away from merlin, glareing at the pile of ash as he passed. He slumped down into his throne and pinched the bridge of his nose. He could feel a massive headache coming on. Suddenly, and idea occurred to him.

"Merlin?" He asked "You don't happed to have a spell that works as a cure for hangovers, do you?"

"Yes, actually." Merlin said, and tried to ignore the way Gwaine was suddenly looking at him with interest. "a pretty good one too."

"Huh." Arthur said thoughtfully. That could be handy, he thought. I wonder what else he could actually be useful for….