Author's Note: I had fun writing this! *grins evilly* Thanks for beta to -bare-footed-muse- and Girl With a Pearl Earring. Now, on with the story.
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It had been a month. A clean, organized, and boring month that had been completely Merlin-free with the exception of the one time Arthur barged into Morgana's rooms and was faced with the servant boy holding a vial that must have been meant for the lady herself. That time the prince had just backed away, muttering something about a hunting trip. But after an incident during a ride out in the woods, Arthur had gotten ill. Fever, runny nose, sore throat, the lot.
Arthur was not happy.
He'd been forced to stay in his bed far too much lately. It was getting on his nerves and the new servant he'd employed after he'd sacked Merlin was not helping.
"Warm blackberry juice, sire?"
For starters, he was much too polite: every sentence he uttered ended with a "Sire" or "My lord". And no matter how many unpleasant things Arthur ordered him to do, his expression of unintelligent loyalty never wavered. And he never laughed. Ever. Probably too stupid to recognise a joke even if it was waving a pig's bladder in front of him.
"No, no blackberry juice for me, Tom."
The worst part was that even though the boy was as far from Merlin as one could get, he still reminded Arthur of his predecessor. Arthur reached for a handkerchief from the bedside table and blew his nose viciously. If only this illness would pass… It made him think of all the kind and caring things Merlin would no doubt have done, grumbling affectionately, just for the joy of seeing his prince smile.
Suddenly Arthur longed to see Merlin's face, hear his laughter… It must have been the fever that made him feel stuff, because he was definitely over Merlin. Definitely. So if he, in the grasp of the fever, obviously, ordered Tom to fetch Merlin, he was not to blame, was he?
That was logic.
"Tom, I want you to fetch a boy called Merlin. You should find him in the court physician's quarters."
"Yes, my lord."
Merlin was chopping herbs for Gaius. It was what he'd been doing for the last month - that, and pouring liquids from one container to another. Gaius did not trust his hands not to shake anymore, but neither was he ready to let Merlin do any of the interesting work. In fact, if it weren't for his imagination, Merlin would probably have gone out of his mind with sheer boredom by now.
When he was doing some particularly uninteresting manual work, he made up stories about what Arthur was up to at the moment. These stories mostly ended with Arthur getting into an almighty mess, which Merlin then had to save him from, inadvertently exposing his magical talents. In this fantasy world of his, Arthur invariably forgave him for secretly being a sorcerer and the stories usually ended with a kiss. Or multiple kisses. Or more… adult endings.
A knock on the door stirred Merlin from his latest fantasy.
"Come in," he answered. Merlin immediately recognised the freckly, broad-faced boy who entered as Arthur's new manservant.
"Gaius is not here," Merlin announced, unsmiling.
"Um, you're Merlin, right? The prince wishes to see you."
Merlin could feel his pulse accelerate.
"Me? Are you sure? Why would the prince want me?"
"How could I know? He's ill, the physician's away, maybe he wants you to treat him."
Merlin had to repress the mental images that the last sentence conjured up in his mind. Of all the times his brain could choose to go innuendo on him!
"He's ill? Oh, let me guess - he was riding by the lake and came upon two dastardly peasants trying to have their wicked way with an innocent maiden, valiantly rescued the damsel in distress and got pulled into the lake by the villain he pushed into it. And now he has a cold because he rode the whole way home soaking wet. Right?" Merlin's sarcastic tone of voice had a dreamy quality to it - this was exactly the kind of thing he thought about while chopping herbs…
"Oh, I hear word has gotten around, already," the boy answered, stone-faced. Merlin regarded him thoughtfully. Did the boy not have a sense of humour or hadn't he understood that it was a joke? Anyway, why was he wasting time thinking about that? Arthur had finally sent for him.
He had better go before the offer of peace was withdrawn.
"All right, let me just clear away these herbs."
A knock on the door woke Arthur from his sleep. It took a second or two for him to remember that it would be Tom knocking, possibly accompanied by Merlin. He pushed himself into a sitting position and the effort had him breathing heavily.
"Enter!"
Tom walked into the room, Merlin trailing behind him.
"Merlin, sire."
Merlin stopped and took in the magnificent sight that was Arthur Pendragon. The ruffled blonde hair, the toned arms, that exact shade of gold in his skin… His nose was red raw and his eyes red-rimmed and only half open, but Merlin was so starved of the sight that, to him, Arthur looked more beautiful than ever.
"Merlin? Merlin, you're staring." Arthur didn't sound the least bit amused, so with considerable effort Merlin collected himself.
"Sorry, Arthur. What do you want from me?"
Even Tom, the ever impassive servant boy, couldn't help looking a little surprised at this frank answer that definitely didn't follow court etiquette.
Arthur rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"Tom, would you leave the chamber, please. Go peel some carrots or something."
Merlin kept his eyes on Arthur but didn't say anything until Tom had shut the door behind him. Then he cleared his throat.
"Polite as always. I did tell you not to be such a prat, didn't I?"
"You did. But the bootlicker bores me half to death."
"Bores you? I'll tell you what's boring: helping Gaius chop herbs!"
Arthur smiled weakly and there was a moment of amiable silence. Then Merlin opened his mouth again.
"So what do you want from me?"
Arthur avoided his gaze.
"I was sick. And bored." His voice was a little hoarse.
"Well, what do you want me to do? Dance a reel and magic your illness away?" Merlin's voice was sharp with anger.
"No, of course not, don't be an idiot. I just… I don't know, I…" Arthur closed his eyes and felt his head thump with pain.
Merlin let the silence stretch on a bit longer before he took pity on the prince.
"So how did you catch this, then," he asked as he moved to sit by the empty fireplace.
"Oh, my chivalry got the better of me," Arthur said and swallowed laboriously. "I was riding along the lake when I spotted these two men who were clearly bothering a young lady. One of them I managed to scare away and the other I threw into the lake but he caught my foot as he fell, and, well… Let's just say that the gratitude the girl showed may have warmed my heart but it didn't warm much else, more's the pity."
Merlin snorted with laughter.
"You may not believe me, but my guess was actually pretty accurate then."
Arthur smiled at the sound of Merlin's laughter. He thought that summoning the boy was worth it just for that one sound. Merlin, on the other hand, thought about how much better the prince looked when he smiled. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.
"So what else have you been up to? Any other heroic deeds you want to brag about?"
Arthur grinned.
"Of course, and as it happens I never brag. I do, however, feel that it might be good for you in a purely educational way to hear about my commendable actions but… I find talking a bit hard at the moment."
"Oh, 'fess up, you just haven't done anything else of importance," Merlin teased him. Arthur gave a weak smile.
"Merlin, I really don't feel like talking."
"Well, I could tell you all the kitchen gossip but I doubt that would be very interesting."
Arthur closed his eyes and shivered.
"I'm so cold… Could you get a fire going?"
Merlin raised an eyebrow.
"I'll come up with something to get you warm." He went to the door and Arthur could hear him speak to someone in a low voice. He could make out some words: "Oh, Tom… The prince.. Well, fever's rising… Watch over him… Tell Gaius… All right, night."
Merlin re-entered the room and closed the door behind him. Then he came to the bed and climbed up beside Arthur.
"Hey! What are you doing," the prince protested.
"Human warmth," the servant explained. "It's better than fire or any amount of blankets."
Tentatively Arthur touched Merlin's arm.
"Oooh, you're right," he exclaimed. "You're really warm…" Too cold and tired to care about the look of it, he snuggled closer to Merlin, who was so surprised by the prince's reaction that he just stayed still for a long time. Then, after a while, he put his arms around Arthur.
"Arthur?" he asked, feeling vulnerable because of what he was about to say. When there was no answer he peeked at the prince's face. He was fast asleep.
Hmm, Merlin thought to himself. This is not how I imagined sleeping with the prince would be. Ah well.
He buried his face in Arthur's hair.
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A-hah! Finally something I can claim as my own! Tom is mine. :P Ok, he's not much to brag about but, you know… And I should probably explain the story behind this chapter. See, I caught the flu (fortunately not that flu) and got so irritated I had to take it out on someone. Ergo poor ill Arthur. And oh, my, does Merlin need to wash his brain with soap or what! When did he get so suggestive?! XD