AN: Last time I checked, Merlin was not mine.
I'm back! Hopefully the updates from now on will be more frequent, but I was camping for the last few days and just got back, so.
Enjoy!
Arthur stood at his window, watching Gwaine and Merlin walking through the courtyard, talking and laughing. The two were so alike - both lighthearted, fiercely loyal, sometimes idiots, and had a certain disregard for rank and authority.
And they both seemed to have a drinking problem.
Arthur frowned slightly. He'd been angry with Merlin at first when he'd started skipping his duties to go to the tavern, but now, after the umpteenth time it happened, Arthur was starting to get slightly worried.
He knew there was no chance of curing Gwaine's bad habit. That ship had sailed long ago. But Arthur did not want to see Merlin sink into the pit of alcohol addiction. Gwaine, Arthur wasn't too worried about. But he was older than Merlin and was a trained knight of Camelot. Arthur had seen the kind of brawls that could get started by drunks. Merlin could barely hold a sword, much less defend himself if a drunken rage prompted a fight in the tavern.
Overall, it just wasn't a good idea.
So when Merlin came into his chambers a few minutes later, he made the servant sit so he could give him a lecture.
The raven-haired man raised an eyebrow as the king sat across from him, looking serious.
"Merlin, this has gone on long enough," the blonde said. "It's time you stopped drinking so much."
He saw his servant realize what he was talking about, and, to his extreme irritation, Merlin rolled his eyes and grinned, like he thought this was a joke.
The king scowled. "I'm serious, Merlin. This needs to stop."
"Alright, fine," the servant replied, still grinning slightly, indicating he wasn't taking this seriously. "I won't go to the tavern anymore. Happy?"
Alright, fine. If he wasn't going to take this seriously, Arthur would give him a reason to.
"Alright, I'm going to hold you to that. If I hear of you going to the tavern again while you're supposed to be on duty, I'm cutting your salary for the month in half. Clearly you have enough that you can afford the basic necessities as well as the costs of buying drinks."
He stared at his servant, daring him to protest. Thankfully, Merlin seemed to get the message.
"Alright, fine. No more tavern."
0o0
Gaius barely looked up as Merlin entered his chambers.
"Arthur's just talked to me," his ward informed him, coming over to sit on the bench next to the physician's work table. "He said no more going to the tavern. So next time he asks, you really will have to come up with a better excuse. For real this time."
0o0
It was hardly a week later that Merlin missed a good portion of the morning due to the fact that he had been captured by the imposter of a visiting noble who was really a sorcerer looking for revenge on Arthur. Thankfully, Merlin was able to escape his bonds, rescue the real noble, and get rid of the sorcerer.
Unfortunately for him, that meant when he didn't show up for work in the morning, Arthur stormed down to the physician's chambers to ask Gaius where his servant was.
Gaius, remembering what Merlin had said, offered a weak "He's collecting herbs for me, sire."
Arthur sighed in defeat. "He's in the tavern, isn't he?"
"No!" protested Gaius, but Arthur was clearly not dissuaded.
"I give up," he grumbled as he trudged back to his chambers.
