"I am the king now," Arthur said importantly, cracking one eye at the sunlight his servant had let in his room.
Merlin turned to him. "Yes, sire," he agreed.
Arthur could never tell whether or not he was mocking him when he said that. Brushing past that, he continued his line of thought. "You have to do what I want now, right?"
"I am sworn to obey you, sire."
…
Was that agreement? That sounded very similar to rebellion, actually. Arthur narrowed his eyes. "Yes, you are. And your king commands you to shut those curtains and let him sleep." With that, he flopped back into his bed and nestled into the pillows.
He heard Merlin sigh. A great long-suffering sigh. Then he yelped because suddenly his feet were cold and his legs were cold and there was cold all around his body. "Merlin!" he burst out. "Give me back my blankets!"
Merlin shook his head once. "How could I do that, sire? You told me to get you up bright and early today."
Arthur blinked. "Today?"
"Yes, today," Merlin said slowly, a grin fighting for appearance past his words. "You didn't forget, did you?"
"Forget? Of course not, my mind is a steel trap. I forget nothing," Arthur said as he rose majestically from his royal bed.
"You forgot, didn't you."
Admitting defeat at last, he deflated. "Yes."
Merlin smiled brightly. "Not to worry; I knew you would." He shoved a change of clothes into his king's arms and grinned.
Arthur frowned down at them. "What is going on today?" These were his nice clothes. His formal royal robes, he called them.
"Today is the day you welcome King Mithnir into Camelot for the celebration of the harmony between your two nations, and to renew your treaty."
"Oh, hell." Arthur flung his night shirt at his servant in token revenge for ruining his morning like this. "I don't know what I'm going to say, I didn't work on it at all."
"Which is why I awoke you early, sire," Merlin said cheekily.
Arthur stepped out from behind his 'dressing room' and narrowed his eyes at him. "Yes. And since you are my servant, Merlin, you can write my welcoming address." He strode regally over to the table and sat down. "Mm. Breakfast. Shame you'll be busy working, Merlin."
Merlin sighed. "Greatest king of Albion," he muttered, opening the door.
"What was that, Merlin?" Arthur called sweetly after him.
"Nothing, sire."
Arthur beamed at his plate. His royal, silver plate which was piled up with royal, bountiful food. "It's good to be the king," he said to himself.
Halfway as a present for some people in my life (myself included, I guess...) who are growing older and who (if they're anything like me) are not necessarily excited. But hey. Getting older can be great, right? Adulthood has all these privileges, and all this stuff you can do now...as someone once said, 'the trick is growing old without growing up'.