Note: Alright, so, as promised- the next chapter, coming to you in record time (for me, anyway)! And let me tell ya what: it's probably my very favorite bit of fiction of all the things I've ever written! If this doesn't induce massive 'squeeee' and stimulate a flurry of reviews consisting mostly of "Awwwww!" and "Love them!" then, well, I might as well burn my pencil and unplug my keyboard, cause I apparently have zero insight into the fangirlish mind! And the funny thing is- I'd still keep a link open to this chapter, cause I love it so much I can't not read it again. Now go ahead and see if I've oversold this adorable bit of bromancy fluff, will you! And please, please, please tell me if it makes you smile! Yoroshiku ne!

*Chapter 4*

"Merlin." Something whispered to the warlock in his sleep. His hazy dreams swirled vaguely and re-formed to include visions of Kilgharrah's shadowy form looming out of the darkness of the cavern. It was somewhat comforting to see his old friend as he used to. Somewhat gauling as well, when he remembered the events following the dragon's release.

"Merlin." But hang on a moment: he hadn't spoken with Kilgarrah like this in a long time. They'd had no need. Nowadays Merlin summoned Kilgharrah, not the other way round.

Perhaps it was druids, then. Druids? That wouldn't be good at all. Suspicions would be running high after all this trouble with the Lamia. Druids would do well to stay far away from Arthur and anyone else even linked to Camelot.

Merlin nearly sent out a mental warning when something poked him -hard- in the arm. Miraculously, it didn't hit a bruise, but it was enough to bring him back to reality with an undignified grunt.

"MERLIN!" the harsh whisper grated inches away from his ear this time.

"What?" Merlin's half-awake groan slurred the word into something more like 'whaaarl...?' as he turned his head and found himself staring into the shadowy but unmistakable face of his master.

He blinked slowly as he remembered the odd circumstances of the group's sleeping arrangements. While rank and age would normally put Arthur and Gaius and as many knights as possible closest to the fire for the night, this time there was some sort of unspoken mutual agreement that Merlin, too, would enjoy a prime fire-side sleeping location. After Arthur protested loudly about his servant's feet smelling even worse than Gwaine's, the two of them ended up lying head to head as part of the inner circle around the campfire.

"You awake?" Arthur asked, clearly trying to sound friendly- something only Arthur would be oblivious enough to do whilst rousing an exhausted friend in the dead of night.

"...am now..." Merlin grumbled semi-intelligibly in response.

Arthur either didn't catch the complaint in his friend's voice or didn't bother to dignify it with a response. "The others are out." He continued on.

Merlin turned his head to stare blearily around the fire. He didn't see any movement. All but the knight on watch must be asleep.

"The men are still getting their strength back," Arthur explained, "And a day on horseback must be tiring for an old man."

"But you're still up..." Merlin stated the fact that Arthur so obviously wanted him to point out.

"Yeah." The king flopped over onto his back, gazing at the stars through pine needles, "Not enough action today," he complained, "We didn't do enough to properly tire a person out, you know?"

Merlin didn't know. In fact, Merlin had done more than enough that day to thoroughly tire him out under normal circumstances, let alone while his entire body complained mightily about the smallest movement. Of course, tempted though he was, the servant opted not to mention any of this, choosing to tease rather than reprimand outright. "You could go get some more firewood." He said with a groggy smile.

"Merlin..." Arthur's voice was low and threatening. Merlin was glad, not for the first time in the past few days, that he could probably count on his master's pity overriding his desire to thump him for his impudence.

"No, really," the servant continued, taking advantage of his probable immunity, "All that pinewood is only going to get us partway through the night so you probably ough..." he was cut short by the gasp of pain that escaped him as he made to roll over onto his elbows and accidentally chose the wrong direction to try it.

Broken ribs pressed into the unforgiving ground before he realized it and he hissed and curled instinctively, only compounding the agony, until a hand darted out to restrict his movements and ease him back down to the ground.

"Not that way, idiot!" Arthur snapped.

"No kidding," Merlin wheezed out, trying to catch his breath. When he was finally able, he eased over onto his other side.

"Good, now shift that arm back..."

Merlin was surprised at Arthur's voice joining in to direct him.

"Right, and move the other forward- don't tense up or it'll hurt more." The king went on, pointing occasionally to clarify.

In moments Merlin had succeeded in rolling over onto his elbows with relatively little pain, something he would not have guessed possible. He looked up to see Arthur facing him, lying in the same position and looking a tad pleased with himself.

"That was the voice of experience, I take it?" Merlin asked.

Arthur grimaced. "You have no idea."

"Oh, I really think I do," Merlin pointed out. "Remember who has the pleasure of looking after you when you've done getting yourself beaten with blunt instruments, for sport?"

Arthur scowled.

"'Help me off with this armor, Merlin, before my chest caves in!'" the servant mimicked in a girly falsetto.

"I do NOT sound like that!" Arthur objected.

"Sorry, did I not put enough condescension into the voice?"

Arthur pulled a face, "Its a good job I can't hit you right now," he hissed sourly, making a fist just for good measure.

"Don't I know it!" Merlin broke into a grin and Arthur couldn't help but join in.

"But I will admit-" Merlin finally said, "-this does give me a new appreciation for the risks you lot take."

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"I just...don't think I could go take a stand for glory and honor and Camelot if I knew that, even in victory, I might come home feeling like this for a month."

Arthur nodded in firm agreement. "Count yourself lucky that that's usually not your burden to bear."

Merlin gave a thoughtful nod.

"I saw the knights making their apology to you." Arthur noted.

"And to you!" Merlin interjected, "And, from what I could see, you couldn't resist having a little fun with them!"

Arthur grinned wryly, "Well, I wouldn't say fun exactly. They are good friends to me, all of them, and they all feel fairly horrible about what happened. I just had to make sure they understood the...gravity...of their crimes."

Merlin smiled, a little of the pride Arthur had noticed earlier creeping into the expression.

"Of course, I still don't know how on earth they found out." Arthur added thoughtfully.

"Ah, that's because there's someone we both forgot!" Merlin smiled.

Arthur was doubtful, "Oh?"

"Just think about it!"

Arthur frowned suspiciously.

"Right, forgot who I was talking to, sorry-"

"Merlin!" he cuffed the servant lightly across the top of the head and Merlin cringed while grinning, completely failing to appear wounded.

"Who's the only person who could tell them the truth with enough kindness that they wouldn't immediately set to falling on their swords?" Merlin went on.

"Gwen!" Arthur answered and Merlin nodded in pleased affirmation.

There was a moment of silence while Arthur got that funny look on his face that he always did when he was thinking of the gallant serving-girl. Even Merlin had to admit it was rather adorable.

"You're going to have to go ahead and marry her before long." He couldn't stop himself saying.

"I know!" Arthur said, much to Merlin's surprise. The king shifted a bit to lie on his side, propped up on just one arm. "It's fantastically complicated," he admitted, "and Agravaine's sure to give me hell for it, but frankly- It's got to be soon!"

He gave Merlin a 'you know what I mean, mate' nod, and Merlin gave him a 'I really don't want to know what you mean' head shake in return.

Arthur barked a quiet laugh and went on, "Actually, I was wondering if that wouldn't be a little strange for you, Merlin. Me and Gwen, you know..."

The servant raised a hand to cut Arthur off, "No, nothing strange at all." Merlin said, "My two closest friends...sharing a bed...ruling the kingdom together...not awkward in the least!"

Arthur grinned broadly. "So I have your blessing, then?"

Merlin took a split second to marvel at the fact that the king of Camelot was asking for his blessing in marriage, even in jest, before answering. "Arthur, Gwen is the only woman good enough to accept the queenship for your sake and the sake of the people, and wise enough to wield that power in justice. And she's the only woman who makes you truly happy. Of course you have my blessing."

Arthur was practically beaming. "Thanks, friend!" He reached out and clasped Merlin's arm before really thinking about it.

He might not even have realized what he'd done if it hadn't been for the faintest flicker of pain in his servant's eyes and the unusual amount of heat radiating from the bruised part of the arm he'd just touched.

"There you go again!" Arthur exclaimed, changing tack so fast that Merlin was well and truly lost.

"There I go where?" he asked.

Arthur gave him a look of profound frustration. "Just- tell me that didn't hurt." He pointed to Merlin's arm.

"That didn't hurt." Merlin said flatly, frowning in confusion.

"And now you're lying to me!"

"What? You! You just told me to say that!"

"And you did it so well! Like lying to cover up an injury is second nature to you!" Arthur's hand pointed accusingly at his servant.

"And...thats...bad...?" Merlin's eyebrow arced incredulously, genuinely confused as to what his master was on about.

"I'll have you know that any one of my knights who is found to be concealing an injury of any significance is sent to the stocks!"

"Oh, you're threatening me with the stocks now? Really?" Merlin let a bit of hurt into his voice, and a lot of indignation, just for good measure, "Cause honestly, I think it would be faster and less painful if you just killed me right now."

"No, I-" Arthur rolled his eyes. "I just mean-" He blew out a breath in irritation and continued. "If its not a problem for the knights to keep me appraised...why should it be a problem for you?"

"Well in case you hadn't noticed- knights and servants operate in completely different ways."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, for example, if a knight fails to report an injury and collapses in battle, his loss may influence the outcome of the engagement; lives and territory may be lost."

Arthur nodded.

"If a servant fails to report an injury and collapses on duty- somebody else brings you your supper. You see the difference?"

Arthur pursed his lips but didn't reply.

"The point is - part of a servant's business is to keep his business to himself. Ask any servant how he's doing and it's 'Very well, my lord, and how are you?' not 'Well, I've had a headache all day.' or 'My knees are killing me.' Its simply the way things are meant to be, and I'm certainly not in any position to change them."

Arthur's brow furrowed. Clearly he was trying to work out how to acknowledge the truth behind Merlin's words while still having his own way in the end.

"Well," he began, "I can appreciate that you want to hang on to the one skill you seem to have picked up in four years of service, but you're failing to account for one thing."

Merlin cocked his head.

"Somewhere along the line, against better judgement and the natural order of things, you and I," he flicked a finger back and forth between them, "I'm forced to admit- became friends."

Though part of Merlin was smiling inside, he kept up his look of skepticism.

"And friends don't keep important things from each other, like injuries or heartache or difficult decisions..." the king pointedly named off a few things that he frequently shared with his friend and servant.

"I suppose not..." Merlin said slowly, guilt blossoming inside him has he realized that those were all things Arthur shared with him, but he virtually never shared with Arthur.

"But you see - the problem solves itself, doesn't it?"

Merlin gave him a quizzical look.

"As your friend I can prefer that you stop keeping important things from me, and as your master I can order it!" He smiled broadly. "From here on out I require that you inform me of any all major injuries or illnesses, and I expect an honest answer if I enquire about your wellbeing." He nodded firmly as if to add finality to his pronouncement.

Merlin stared at his master, trying to gage Arthur's seriousness against how he wanted to respond. "As your servant," Merlin said carefully, "I will, of course, comply with your orders to the best of my ability. As your friend...I'll try my best but I make no promises." He gave a half-smile but still looked at Arthur uncertainly.

Arthur nodded, as if the non-commital response was expected, and said, "Alright then, let's put it to the test, shall we?" He leaned forward again, propped up on his elbows like Merlin, and looked his servant in the eyes, "How are you feeling, Merlin?" He asked, pointing an open palm to his servant, voice dripping with sarcasm.

Merlin frowned. "How am I feeling? right now?"

Arthur nodded, affecting patience, and rested his chin in his hands, looking at Merlin expectantly.

"Well, to be completely honest: I'm exhausted and I hurt all over. Despite Gaius's binding, I feel like I'm being stabbed in the chest just a bit every time I take a breath. Four of my best friends still feel dreadful about something that wasn't their fault, and yet I still can't stop myself seeing fists and boots every now and then when I look them in the eyes. Oh, and the prat I work for decided it would be a grand idea to wake me up the moment I finally, after all these restless nights, fell asleep." He paused, thinking, "And you want to know the worst part? It hasn't even actually been that awful a day!"

Having finished, Merlin paused again, waiting.

Arthur didn't comment.

He waited a tick longer.

"Arthur?" he asked, suspicions growing.

He couldn't see his friend's features all that clearly in the low firelight, "Arthur, if you've fallen asleep...!"

"Merlin is your head sore?" came the sudden unexpected question.

It caught Merlin off guard and he actually had to think about it.

"Um...no, I suppose not." He thought for a moment. "You saying I should be thankful for that? 'Cause I hardly thi..."

He suddenly had an arm around his neck and felt knuckles being ground into his skull in an all too familiar manner.

"Ow! Get offa me, would you!" he complained, though he noticed distantly that he had been captured in a way that somehow avoided aggravating any of the worst of his injuries. He twisted and pushed against his friend's arms till the ridiculous king finally released him, though not before cuffing him lightly over the head once more for good measure, grinning all the while.

Merlin rubbed his head, wearing something akin to a pout, and Arthur sent him huge smile and the all too familiar turn of phrase: "Don't be such a girl, Merlin."

Merlin looked up and failed to suppress a short laugh.

"That's better." Said Arthur, approvingly.

And despite the indignity and the pain, Merlin smiled deeply, knowing that for all the years they'd spent together this was one of Arthur's only means of cheering up his friend. Merlin got the message.

"Now," Arthur changed directions amiably, "Those ribs really giving you a hard time at night?"

Merlin looked down at himself then back up at Arthur with suspicion. "...Yes." He said cautiously.

"Right, well I might just be able to help with that." He sat halfway up and began extricating himself from his bedroll.

Merlin gave him a disbelieving look. "Unless you're keeping some sort of magical elixir hidden in there..."

Arthur looked up in mild disgust. "Don't be stupid, Merlin."

"If you fall asleep lying like this..." the king stretched out on top of his bedroll and assumed a position that looked remarkably like he was welcoming a particular sort of visitor to his bed.

"Oh you have got to be joking..." groaned Merlin.

Arthur sprang up, snatched the small pillow that was a particular luxury of his royal bedroll, and clouted the servant. "Do you want to sleep without pain, or don't you?" He hissed.

Merlin looked skeptical, but finally nodded. "Fine..." he said, and began shifting onto his uninjured side, "So it was like this?"

"Yes,- no!" Arthur scooted over to assist.

"Make up your mind!"

"Just, stop! You're getting tangled in your blankets!"

"Blanket."

"What?"

"Blanket. I only have one."

"Really Merlin? Semantics? Right now?"

Merlin sighed, "Fine."

"Now shift forward, there."

"Ow!"

"That was not my fault."

"I know..."

"You have got to be the only person in the world clumsy enough to fall down- when you're already lying on the ground!"

"...thanks."

"Have you got it now?"

"Think so."

"Right, shift this arm over here..."

"Ok."

"...and how does that feel?"

Merlin took a long but still tentative breath. "Whoa." He inhaled again, more deeply. "That's amazing! I can barely feel my ribs!"

Arthur grinned widely and nodded, clearly pleased with the results of his instruction.

Merlin let out a profoundly contented sigh and closed his eyes, as if about to fall asleep on the spot.

"Hang on," Arthur protested, "You're not sleeping yet, clot-pole. Shift your arm under here first!"

Merlin gave his master an unhappy look. "That part of my arm is one big bruise. Sort of defeats the purpose, doesn't it?"

"Merlin," said Arthur in a deadly growl, "You are NOT falling asleep- on MY arm!"

Merlin glanced sideways at the forearm that Arthur had wedged under his head to help demonstrate the correct position. "Fine." he said. "Is there something else I could use?"

Arthur saw the wood pile and suggested, "What about a log?"

Merlin's face wrinkled. "Too hard, and all the ones big enough have been burned already." He tried without success to keep the smirk out of his voice.

"We could stuff one of your boots with all of our socks."

Merlin looked horrified, "Only if you want to kill me with noxious fumes! No thanks!"

Arthur kept looking around while Merlin kept looking sleepier.

"Fine." The king finally said sourly. He lifted the servant's head slightly with one hand, grabbed his pillow with the now freed limb and jammed in unceremoniously under Merlin's face. "Happy now?"

He peered imperiously down on his groggy friend's face and couldn't help but catch the smile of pure contentment that crossed the younger man's features.

"Yep." Merlin said, not bothering to open his eyes.

Arther snorted, and shifted back to crawl under his own blankets. He blew out a tired sigh as he shifted to rest his head on his arm in lieu of his pillow.

He realized that, strangely, he now felt tired enough to sleep.

He glanced up at the back of Merlin's head, just a few feet away from his own, and idly remembered something.

"Say, Merlin."

"Hm?"

"Back when the knights were apologizing to you- what on earth were you laughing about?"

"Oh," Merlin gave a short chuckle. "Well they insisted that I find a way they could square up with me, you know, make up for what they'd done."

Arthur nodded, "Mmhm."

"It took me a minute, but I figured out the perfect thing to ask them for."

Arthur waited, but Merlin didn't continue.

"And?" he finally asked.

"And what?"

"What was funny?"

"What I asked them for was funny. They would have thought so too, if they hadn't been feeling guilty already." Merlin paused, thinking apparently slowly, "And if they didn't have to find a way to get it themselves." he added.

"Well, damnit, what did you ask them for!" Demanded Arthur, clearly fresh out of patience.

"Oh, I can't say..." Merlin interrupted himself with a massive yawn, "That would spoil the surprise."

Arthur blinked. "Surprise?"

"Merlin, what surprise?" he turned urgently to his servant, but the younger man wasn't responding.

"Merlin!"

The only movement was the rise and fall of the servant's chest in the deep, slow cadence of sleep.

"MERLIN."

Nothing.

After a moment indecision, Arthur settled back down with an uneasy yawn. It would probably be unfair to wake his friend a second time that night.

Luckily for Merlin, Arthur completely failed to notice his servant snuggling a tad deeper into the royal pillow and allowing himself a single mischievous grin as he nodded off to sleep.

Note (part 2): I know- I don't do endnotes ordinarily. But I couldn't very well ask you this question beforehand, could I? What do you think the surprise is going to be? True, I already have an idea, but I really want to know what you think and, who knows, I may end up using one of your ideas instead! Now, please go ahead and make my day- hit that 'review' button!