AN: A drabble challenge from the HeartofCamelot site. An idea jumped on me immediately, so sorry for those who're waiting for their own prompts to be written. :)
Prompt: "Magic Goes Awry"
Characters: Arthur, Gwaine, Merlin
Ratings/Warnings: Post-Reveal.
Word Count: 416
Experimenting
Arthur's blazing sapphire eyes narrowed into slits, and he said in a deadly voice, "What do you mean, you don't know?"
"I'm not his bloody keeper! He's a perfectly capable Court Sorcerer now, and he can take care of himself. Now, if you don't mind—"
"Gwaine," Arthur said sternly (despite himself, his panicked worry colored his exasperated tone, making him far less intimidating than he would've liked to be), "I haven't seen him since yesterday evening."
"Not my fault you lost him."
Given Gwaine's apparent apathy, the King knew that he, at least, knew where Merlin was and was covering for him, and suddenly, the worry was overcome with suspicion.
There was only one reason Merlin would want Gwaine to cover for him.
He was doing something he shouldn't be doing, and when Merlin did that…
"He isn't," Arthur groaned.
"Isn't what, Arthur?"
"Stop playing me, Gwaine."
"I'm not playing anythin'," Gwaine protested. "It's Merlin who's playing with magic tricks that you wouldn't approve of."
Having realized what slipped out, a horrified Gwaine shouted, "Wait!"
But Arthur was already out the door and running—running to Merlin's tower, which he had given his friend as new living quarters and a place to practice magic…
But no. Merlin was beyond practicing, it seemed. Instead, the idiot wanted to experiment with magic.
He was learning to hate that word coming from Merlin's mouth, and after the last explosion, he had mandated that Merlin talk to him whenever he wanted to "experiment."
"MERLIN!" Arthur shouted angrily as he crashed through the door.
He expected to catch Merlin in the act. He expected to feel smug victory that he did catch him in the act. What he had not expected to see was a shaggy black dog with Merlin's cobalt eyes and red neckerchief wagging his tail at him.
When all Arthur could do was stare incredulously, the dog rolled its eyes in a Merlin fashion and barked reproachfully at him.
"Mate, I'm sorry!" Gwaine's voice sounded behind him. "I couldn't—"
Gwaine screeched to a halt beside him and began to laugh hysterically upon seeing Merlin's predicament, and Arthur, who was snapped out of his stunned state by the bark, tried to hide a growing grin and instead attempted to scowl at his warlock, lunged forward, grabbed him by the collar, and said as he dragged him out of the room (for Gaius was undoubtedly going to hear about this), "You are an idiot."
AN: :D Hope you liked this!