A/N: This is my first Merlin fanfiction, I'm quite late I know since I just recently started watching the series. Also I've haven't written in quite awhile now so please be kind. Hopefully writing something that I'm currently watching will help me get out of the writer's block.
Merlin gently wiped the cool cloth over the king's feverish forehead. If he had the chance, this was not the place that he would want to be in. He would rather take a day in the stocks, getting pelted by vegetables, over his current situation. But then again who's to say he wouldn't end up there anyway, he was bound to make a mistake, and the king sick or not will punish him anyway.
How the hell did he end up taking care of the feared King Uther you ask? Well the king's son, the great prat Prince Arthur deemed him trustworthy enough to take care of his father. He didn't actually say he trusted him he said, "You're clumsy Merlin, there's no way someone like you could hurt someone, and you're actually more of a danger to yourself." It also doesn't help that he is Gauis' ward and assistant as it means that he is expected to take care of the sick, whenever the court physician is busy. So here he was, taking care of a king who would have him killed if he ever found out that he had magic.
He was so lost in thought in imagining turning Arthur in a slimy green toad that he didn't notice that the king had awakened and was staring at him.
UTHER'S POV
I awoke to the feel of damp cloth being wiped gently over my forehead. The way it was done was different, the hands doing it wasn't shaking as servants hands always seem to do when they need to touch me or even be near me. I thought of all the people who would be comfortable around me, my first thought was that it was Morgana, but that's not right. She was gone wasn't she? She betrayed, betrayed the kingdom, and tried to take away the throne. So who was this? Opening my eyes I saw that it was the bumbling manservant of my son.
I thought that quite strange, but then again the boy wasn't like other servants who fear loyalty. I once heard him calling Arthur by his given name, I gave him a day in the stocks for that but I'm quite sure he still uses the name of my son freely.
I stared at him as he continued to wipe the cloth gently over my forehead and the sides of my face. He wasn't looking at me, that must be the reason why he wasn't shaking yet. But the feel of the cloth felt so nice that I haven't alerted him on the fact that I was already awake. I felt quite content right now and…..safe….as confusing as it seems safe is the only word for it. Safe and content, those were things I haven't felt in a long time, not since my wife died.
I stared at the boy through half-lidded eyes. He had quite a pretty face, high cheekbones, ears which were a little prominent, gentle looking eyes, and his skin looked so smooth. But why did I feel content and safe? Surely it didn't have something to do with the boy's look, as pleasing as his features may be.
Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he saved my life before…..he saved me from my own son. If it was another servant they wouldn't have known what to do, or more importantly what to say to stop my son running me through with a sword. But my son trusted the boy, he listened to a mere servant before listening to his own father.
What was it about this boy that made my son trust him so? That made his son change his attitude towards the servants, he wasn't quite nice before. But he cared about Merlin, even risking his life to get that damned flower against my orders. Or is it because the boy was loyal, so loyal that he is willing to get hurt and die for the prince. The guards would die for the prince, but they were duty bound were they not? But this boy, someone who didn't have any fighting skills at all, do what the guards or knights do so easily.
Could that be it…loyalty….pure loyalty that doesn't ask anything in return? Not thinking about yourself, only caring that the person you love doesn't get hurt. I felt a little pang in my chest, was that loyalty only for Arthur? Can it extend towards me as well? Can this boy who didn't care about status treat me the way he treats Arthur, with trust and devotion. Can this boy give me those things that I crave?
A/N: There's supposed to be a little more before this chapter ends, but I seem to be lacking time. So I'll post the rest later.
Please read and review and give me your opinions. Sorry for any mistakes that I've made. I've become a little rusty.