Author's Note: Wow! Here we are at my favourite installment so far! It's almost too bad that this is the second-shortest one in the collection so far, but it's perfect for me the way it is. 3 I love when I love my writing! I don't know yet which part I'll upload next... I have another romantic one I could put up or a really dramatic one. Hmm...
Credit for all goes in part to chibikaty!
You'll know where this was inspired from as soon as you read it. So long as you're up to date and at least completed season 2.
Glow
"Fetch me another."
After being hit in the face with a tossed shirt for the fifth time that morning, Arthur figured he was entitled to know what exactly the big deal was.
"Not this one either."
Sixth time.
"Is today a special occasion, sire?" The words were forced through grit teeth, properly annoyed with the prince's peculiar behaviour.
But instead of rolling his eyes like he usually did when the prince thought Arthur ought to know what he obviously didn't, Merlin deliberately avoided looking towards his servant. Inadvertently, this dispelled Arthur's annoyance and replaced it with intrigue.
"Not particularly," he said, short.
"Is that so?" Arthur jibed, not falling for any of it.
"Absolutely," his master snapped, irritated with how perceptive and talkative Arthur regularly insisted on being.
"So all this fuss has nothing to do with the visitor we are to be expecting?"
Whipping around, Merlin could see the mischievous gleam in the eyes of his manservant and he resented it. Arthur had to be taking a shot in the dark because he was not that obvious.
Was he?
"Nothing whatsoever."
Arthur hummed in mock understanding and went about the room, tidying up the tossed and rejected clothes. Swiping a bit of cheese off the prince's breakfast platter, Arthur turned to throw together a pile for washing when he caught sight of Merlin. Fixing his hair in the mirror.
Utterly flabbergasted, Arthur grabbed the whole pile and swiftly escaped the room, frightened that he wouldn't be able to restrain himself from poking fun at the prince and, as the royal's retribution, never discovering the reason behind all his preening.
By now, Arthur had greeted enough of Camelot's guests to know that very few of them arrived on horseback. Spells or enchanted objects or even magical beasts were more popular methods of transport for most nobles; peasants, if they ever visited, usually came by foot. So when the trumpets began to sound, signaling the arrival of the anticipated dignitary, Arthur was no longer confused at the sight of the empty roads before the castle or the absence of clip-clopping sounds on the cobblestones.
He wasn't completely prepared for a half dozen flying beasts to suddenly land in the courtyard either, but at least he hadn't fallen to his backside like the first time it had happened.
"King Halig!" King Gaius greeted the man currently dismounting a winged grey and black cat, "It has been too long!"
Halig laughed a hearty laugh. "Far too long, old friend."
And then he embraced Gaius with a genuine and ageless friendship, one which the king of Camelot returned. Arthur tried not to stare. It was odd to see the bitter and callous – even merciless and frightening – king in such high and light spirits. He seemed rather human then.
Distracted with the kings' happy greetings and jibes about how old the other was getting, Arthur hadn't noticed that Prince Merlin had slipped away from his side. The prince was off a bit, positioned beside another winged cat and gently assisting someone off the creature's black back. It didn't take Arthur two seconds to see Merlin's soft handling of the person's waist, or deduce why he must have been acting so flustered this morning.
It was a woman. And one he knew well, if their smiles and too-quiet conversation were anything to go by.
"Ah! And your daughter," Gaius said, his voice prompting both kings back into Arthur's (and Merlin's) span of attention.
"Yes, it must have been ages since you've seen her last – four years at least," Halig said, eyeing Merlin carefully as Camelot's prince escorted the lady forward. "May I present: Princess Freya."
"Your Majesty," she bowed, smile wide and dark eyes sparkling in proper reverence of a king.
But Arthur saw the way Merlin had yet to remove a hand from her waist and wondered if that contributed anything at all to the glow he could see on both their faces.
Author's Note: Cute, right? ^w^ I love fluff and I don't write enough of it. I was really happy to include a bit of MerlinxArthur fun too - the Merthur fangirl inside of me was well pleased. When it comes to choosing my favourite pairing for Merlin between Arthur and Freya... It's kind of a toss up depending on my mood of the day but I probably spend more time shipping Merthur. I wish Freya were a bigger part of the canon series.
