You see, Arthur was being nice to Merlin when he called him a girl, he was!

It all started back when he saw Merlin wearing a flower Gwen had given him on his neckerchief. At first Arthur had thought Merlin had something going on with her, and who was he to judge if his servant was with another? But then again Merlin was doing chores for him all day so when would he have the time to see a girlfriend?

Thus his investigation began.

Contrary to what some people (Merlin) may believe, Arthur was quite clever (according to himself) and so began watching the boy whenever he came in contact with Gwen.

From what he could see, while Merlin was friendly with her, there were no symptoms of love per se… but it could have been a ruse so he didn't catch on. How sneaky of them…

Then there was the incident whereby Merlin gave some flowers to Morgana after her room set on fire.

Ah ha!

Perhaps Merlin was in love with Morgana! That would explain why he was so friendly with Gwen, using her to get close to his Lady love. Arthur felt rather proud of himself that he had figured it all out; this was what a good princely education did for someone.

So when he saw Merlin again he smugly asked 'So where are my flowers?' to watch as he stumbled, blushed and denied his 'affections' for Morgana. Although this would usually be enough to damn a man as being in love with someone Merlin looked too honest when he said he was 'only trying to be nice'. So what kind of a man is Merlin that he receives, wears and hands out flowers? Arthur decided he needed to investigate more.

The truth came out the night he happened to walk past the manservant as he was carrying a purple dress.

Of course! It all made sense now, Merlin wanted to be a girl. That explained why he was so friendly with all the other servants but wasn't in love with any of them. It explained why wore Gwen's flower and picked some himself for Morgana. So the dress must be his for whenever he was alone (which would explain why he was sneaking about with it).

Being the soul of goodness and kindness as Arthur believed himself to be complimented that the colour suited Merlin (see? How many masters are as kind as him?) before continuing on his way. A small part of his mind suggested there may be more to the story than Merlin desiring to be a girl but he quickly squashed the thought. He had taxed his brain far enough to come to the conclusion he had and dammit, he was not doing anymore. As far as the Prince was concerned he had worked out his servant's big dark secret.

It was from then on he called 'Merlin! Stop being such a girl!'

It was one thing for Merlin to want to be a girl but it didn't mean he could skive off his duties.

I always did wonder what Arthur thought of Merlin carrying dresses around, picking flowers, etc. Surely he would begin to wonder...

Depending on how many/ what kind of reviews I get this may become a two-shot... (subtle hint: please review) ^_^ Thanks for taking the time to read anyway