Monday Morning Blues
Summary: Merlin and Facebook. What could possibly go wrong?
A/N: My first and possibly only Merlin fic, and it's a silly one I had in mind whilst overseas recently.
It was early morning, the sun was just beginning to appear through the small slits of the curtains. Merlin, who had been awake for about an hour, got out of bed, sat down at his computer and logged onto Facebook. Immediately after signing in, he could see that he had several notifications waiting for him. With a pensive sigh, he clicked on the red notifications icon, and started to read from the newest at the top of the page.
Arthur Pendragon commented on a post you were tagged in: "At the Tavern again, hey Merlin? Well, after you've had the pleasure of visiting the stocks this morning, I'm going to have you muck out my horses. TWICE!"
[Monday 5:27am]
"What?! The Tavern?" Merlin exclaimed, slapping his forehead with the palm of his hand. It was only then that he saw the notification below it.
Gwaine W checked in to The Rising Sun with you: "It's beer o'clock!"
[Monday 1:12am]
"Argh, Gwaine!" chastised Merlin, screwing up his face. He rested his fingers on the keyboard and began to think up a reply to Arthur's comment. Something witty, he thought, but not something that would get him into more trouble. "But… I wasn't at the Tavern," Merlin said out loud as he typed, "That's just Gwaine being a dollop head…" he paused, rolling his eyes at what he wrote, "Oh yeah, Merlin. Real witty."
Within a few seconds of Merlin pressing enter, a new notification popped up on the screen.
Arthur Pendragon replied to your comment: "I know it's very early for you, but is that really the best you could come up with, Merlin?"
[Now]
"He must have alarms that go off when he gets replies on Facebook!" Merlin grumbled to himself, mostly out of annoyance. He decided not to answer Arthur for now; instead, he trawled through the rest of his notifications, seeing some new comments on his recently updated profile picture.
Gwen Pendragon commented on your profile picture: "I always knew you were a cutie, Merlin. x"
[Sunday 8:49pm]
Which, in typical Arthur fashion, was followed by:
Arthur Pendragon replied to a comment on your profile picture: "Merlin? Cute? I think it's time to go to Specsavers, Guinevere."
[Sunday 9:02pm]
Merlin snorted after reading Arthur's comment. The guy just couldn't help but be involved in anything and everything; whether it was online or off. Merlin thought about using his magic to change something on Arthur's Facebook page (an embarrassing baby photo would work), but he made the decision to do something when he was with Arthur. That way he would be able to see the King's reaction.
So for now, Merlin continued to read.
Gaius tagged you in a post: Picking up some supplies" – with Merlin at Camelot Pharmacy, Lower Town.
[Sunday 11:36am]
He hit the 'like' button. At least that one was correct.
Freya likes your profile picture.
[Sunday 8:44am]
Merlin couldn't help but blush at that particular notification. He felt his face warm up, and he unconsciously put his cold hands over his cheeks to get them back to a normal temperature.
Morgana Pendragon wrote on your timeline: "I'm going to get you one day, Emrys. It's only a matter of time."
[Sunday 3:28am]
"Hah!" Merlin rolled his eyes, before wondering how on earth Morgan had managed to write on his Facebook page; they weren't even 'friends'. She probably used magic, he thought with a slight shrug of his shoulders. Merlin hit the delete button on her post; he had better and more important things to do than worry about Morgana making online threats. He likened her to Dr Evil from the 'Austin Powers' movies - mostly because she always seems to have silly plans that never worked.
Leon R wrote on your timeline: "Hey Merlin, if you're awake and happen to see this, how do you manage to deal with Gwaine when he's drunk? I can't get him to leave the Tavern!"
[Sunday 2:17am]
Merlin let out a guffaw, but covered his mouth when he realised how loud it was. He didn't want to wake up Gaius, he was sleeping in the room next door to his. About to reply to the post, Merlin saw that there was another from Leon.
Leon R replied to a post on your timeline: "Never mind, Merlin. Got Gwaine sorted!"
[Sunday 2:32am]
Merlin then briefly looked at his news feed, noticing that Arthur had a number of posts within the last 12 hours, most of which were memes. "He must be bored," he chuckled, as he liked a few of them at random. With nothing else to do on Facebook, Merlin soon signed out and shut down his computer so that he could start his day. Facing his bed, he whispered a short spell, "Ascýre beddstów," which tucked his sheet and blanket neatly under the mattress. Merlin left his bedroom, happily but quietly humming a soft tune as he walked along.
His happiness disappeared when an all too familiar voice came thundering through to the room, echoing as the sound passed through the walls of the castle, "MERLIN!"
"What have you done now?" a sleepy looking Gaius, who was sitting on the side of his bed, asked. His eyebrows were raised out of curiosity, even though he wasn't exactly surprised. Merlin was almost always in Arthur's bad books for one reason or another.
"Nothing, I swear!" Merlin exclaimed, defending himself. There was a short pause, "Gwaine did post something on Facebook earlier, which said I was at the Tavern with him…" he explained when he saw that Gaius was giving him a questioning look. "I wasn't though!"
"That bloody Facebook," Gaius shook his head in disapproval, "You really should stop using all those…" he paused, trying to think of the right words, "Hash tag websites, Merlin. They're no good."
"I think you mean 'social media', Gaius," corrected Merlin, grinning.
"Whatever they're called, they're no good," Gaius offhandedly waved one arm about in the air, unfazed by his lack of knowledge when it came to 21st century technology.
"MERLIN!" called out an impatient Arthur again, more stern this time.
"You'd better go," Gaius told Merlin, standing up, "You don't want to get into any more trouble."
"MERLIN!"
Yep, it was going to be just another one of those days.