Merlin walked into Arthur's chamber, nearly three weeks later, only to find the king completely dressed. Merlin rolled his eyes. The prat was acting weird lately. Dressing himself, cleaning his room, carrying things for himself, and generally being nicer to Merlin. It bored the servant half to death.
"'Morning Arthur," she said. The king smiled brightly and walked over to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Merlin rolled his eyes again.
"Alright today, Merlin?" asked Arthur, eyes sliding to the spot where her stomach had been pierced. Merlin was going to roll her eyes so much today, that they would fall out.
"Fine, Arthur. Don't you have training?"
The king nodded and went to pick up his armor, which Merlin had polished the day before. Merlin, per usual, helping him into it, but Arthur kept tensing whenever her hands would touch him. Weird.
The training field was had knights milling around everywhere, some practicing and some gossiping. Gwaine was just in the middle of telling Lancelot a thrilling tale about him and an angry tavern maid, when he stopped and spotted Merlin. The knight immediately walked over, placing an arm around her waist. Merlin's eyes rolled. Gwaine had been acting strange too. Arthur materialized at her other side, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. While Merlin rolled her eyes, she did not notice the two men glaring at each other.
"So, Merlin, do you have plans for tonight?" asked Gwaine, batting his eyes at her.
"Umm, no, except serving Arthur," she said, slightly flustered by the question.
"Yeah, and you'll be working late tonight," said Arthur, with Merlin missing the possessiveness in his tone.
"Whatever it is, I can probably use my magic to get it done faster," said Merlin. Both men tensed. Magic was still illegal, and everyone just ignore Merlin's gift. Besides, Merlin hadn't chose to have magic, so were they really going to punished her for something she couldn't control?
"Oh, Merlin," Gwaine laughed.
"Hmmm…magic's illegal, last I checked," said Arthur raising an eyebrow.
"Please, Arthur. You love me too much to kill me," said Merlin, jokingly. Arthur's heart stopped, then realized she was joking.
"Yeah, and princess would have to answer to me, if he did," said Gwaine, putting on his 'I'm-a-freaking-knight-of-Camelot-and-no-harm-will-ever-come-to-you' voice.
"Aww, thanks Gwaine," said Merlin. "Oh, look there's Lancelot. I have to tell him something." The servant untangled herself from the men's arms and ran at the other knight.
"What are you playing at?" Arthur growled at Gwaine.
"Just friendly conversation," Gwaine replied.
"You really seemed to want her to be free tonight."
"And you really seemed to want her all to yourself tonight," Gwaine said with venom. Arthur gaped at him before responded.
"What?!"
"How did you put it? We all know you just want to get in her pants," sneered Gwaine.
Arthur blushed and regretted his earlier choice of words. "Gwaine, I do not think of Merlin that way! But you certainly seem to."
"Merlin is my friend; I would never do anything to hurt her!"Gwaine cried indignantly.
Arthur glared at him and Gwaine glared right back. The knight opened his mouth to say something, but Merlin suddenly appeared next to both of them. Her face was flushed and a smile plastered on her face. Lancelot came up behind her and grabbed her waist. Gwaine and Arthur had jealousy burn in their hearts. They saw him whisper in her ear, his words making her giggle.
"Alright, I won't tell," said Merlin, unable to keep a smile off her face.
Lancelot nodded and walked away. Merlin kept giggling while Arthur wrapped his arm around her waist and Gwaine doing the same with her shoulders. Her giggling wouldn't stop. After a few minutes of pestering her, she answered.
"Oh, Lancelot's going to propose to Gwen tonight. But don't tell anyone!"
Duh, duh, duh! Gwen and Lancelot are getting married and who will be Merlin's date to the wedding? Hmmm...got to type that next chapter. Thank you to sakuraflowerstar for reviewing chapter 8! And to Luka-Knight, did chapter 7 really make you cry? I didn't know I was that bad of an author! (JK, I knew what you meant. Thanks.) Hope you enjoyed! :)
