Thought about this while I tried to force myself to fall asleep because I had to get up early for work. Wrote it at 7 in the morning while I tried to wake up. Probably caused by my cousins obsession with juggling while I was on a road trip to Prince Edward Island with him a couple summers ago. It's about the distance of driving halfway across the country from where I live in Toronto and if you know Canada it's not a small distance.
Wrote another oneshot already and thought of other ideas that I'll work on tomorrow. I'll post it in the morning. It turned out pretty long though so be excited.
Tip
Merlin was carrying Arthur's armor back from the training grounds. Where the prince deemed it suitable to strip of his armor early rather than wait to get back to his chambers because it was so hot.
He was taking his usual short cut through the market, when he tripped, causing him to drop the helmet and the other pieces of armor to teeter precariously.
"Dam." He didn't want to have to walk all the way back down here to retrieve the helmet, so he tried to bring it towards him using his foot.
An arm cuff started to fall in his movements. The manservant ended up quickly ducking under it and balancing it on his nose.
He was surprised to hear the sound of a giggle along with a coin hitting metal. Forgetting about the armor on his nose he quickly looked towards the noise; the cuff clattering to the ground.
It was a little girl and she had just thrown a copper coin into the helmet. Apparently she found him entertaining like a street performer. Which gave the warlock an idea.
Merlin placed the larger pieces on the ground and took the small ones into each hand, which he proceeded to juggle. (place circus music here)
The girl started to clap in excitement which gained the attention of the other early morning market shoppers. Soon he was surrounded by a crowd who also proceeded to follow the girls example and place coins in the prince's helmet on the ground.
The cheering from his audience drove the manservant to do many different tricks which caused them to grow louder at intervals and place more coins in the helmet.
The sound had attracted Arthur's attention who was also on his way back. He was curious what the crowd was looking at so he made his way over. He had to strain his neck to try and see what was happening. He was surprised to see his manservant in the middle… Juggling, his, armor.
"Merlin!" The prince shouted, causing his manservant to drop all the armor at the sound of his masters voice. He pushed through the crowd to stand in front. "Shows over folks."
The crowd groaned in disappointment but didn't question their prince.
His manservant gathered all the armor he had dropped under the prince's glare. Following after him when he left. " What the hell did you think you were doing, Merlin?"
"Getting a tip." Merlin emphasized what he meant as he shook the helmet. The prince could hear the many metal coins jingle together.