There was a question, but Valerie, is actually supposed to be Vivian, that one blonde that Arthur got magicked into loving. Sorry for the confusion.

00

"Father, the bandits were all eradicated, but we lost Sir William and Olsric." Arthur uttered tiredly, still standing in his muddy and bloody armor. Merlin shifted in his spot, beside Gaius, wanting nothing more than to drag Arthur out and wash him up and get him to sleep. It was obvious the prince had not slept for at least thirty hours. Uther only looked up for a second before he was immersed in the scroll again.

"Alright, well done, Arthur. Now, I need your input on this treaty with Mercia, if this falls through war is an alternative and neither of us have the power to do so…." Uther continued to prattle on, completely ignoring the rest of the room, expecting them all to be listening intently.

Merlin saw Arthur sighed, his limbs hanging lower. Arthur turned his head and dismissed his knights, who were just as exhausted as he was. Arthur himself stubbornly stood still. Merlin bit his lip and shuffled again, but looking closer at Arthur's face and then at where Uther was not even paying attention he moved.

Ignoring the council members and the few others in the room, Merlin crossed to Arthur and quietly whispered to him, keeping his eyes down respectfully, "You need to get out of that armor and sleep, sire." Arthur twitched but made no other movement as he replied.

"No, apparently my father needs my input, I need to stay here." Merlin growled.

"At least let me take care of you, you can input just as well when you're sitting and in your tunic. This weight is making you worse." Merlin then attacked the shoulder buckles for the chest plate and Arthur made no move to stop him.

Efficiently, Merlin gently extracted Arthur from his armor, gently setting it at their feet so as to not gather attention. When he got to unbuckling his sword, Merlin took a quick peek, sliding it out. Pursing his lips when he could mud, dried blood and some other unnamable fluids, Merlin glowered at Arthur.

The prince rolled his eyes, "I was busy." He bit out. Merlin sighed and set the sword down; he needed to clean that before it began to rot.

Then, Merlin tackled the stupid chainmail shirt Arthur wore. Pulling it up by Arthur's sleeves, he tugged and tugged, and Arthur leaned forward so it could fall off his shoulders. When finally, it came off, Arthur sighed in relief. Merlin cursed when the weight of the shirt sent him onto his backside with a clang. The prince snickered at him, and Merlin simply glared in silence.

At this interaction, Morgana giggled, and Gaius muffled a chuckle.

"Arthur, how would you show appreciation of Mercia's peace talks without giving any sign of weakness?" Uther said, shuffling his parchments. Merlin silently piled the armor into one place and then stood; he went to where a table stood and grabbed a chair, heaving it up so he didn't drag it. Merlin stumbled to Arthur, setting the chair down with care.

He pulled Arthur down onto it and tried not to smile as he groaned. Standing, Merlin twitched when he noticed that the majority of the counsel were watching him, Merlin blushed and then sat by the large pile of Arthur's equipment. Leaving the sword for later, Merlin took up the breast plate and examined it, identifying the cracks and dents with minute precision.

Arthur looked down at the mop of black hair by his knee and contained a smile. Here he was, sitting nearly naked in a council meeting, with three days of sweat caked on him, and Merlin was doing his armor in front of the king on the ground. Things weren't nearly as interesting as this before Merlin arrived.

Relaxing, Arthur let his knee lean into Merlin's shoulder and yawned.

Eventually, Uther had to look up to see why his son wasn't answering his questions, and he found him lounging in his seat, barely awake while that boy sat and scrubbed at his armor.

"Arthur! What is the meaning of this?" he asked, the council straightened, some looking worried.

Arthur himself woke up upon hearing his father's angry voice. "Father." He said evenly, not rising, "I think you've forgotten that I was sent to deal with a bandit threat and during three days have defeated three different groups, and then travelled back. I have not slept, nor eaten, forgive me if I let myself relax." Merlin controlled his smile as he kept his head down.

Uther stared, his mouth open. "What…what about this." He waved a hand around at their positions. Arthur coolly raised an eyebrow, "Considering you didn't dismiss me, I decided to sit down, lest I pass out. Merlin is simply getting a head start on his chores." Merlin, who at this time, droned out of the conversation, yawned, rubbing his eyes. He noticed a clump of dirt sitting on Arthur's leg, dried to the fabric. Frowning, he crumbled it and patted the leg when he finished.

Unknown to him, Uther's face was turning purple.

"Fine." He huffed, "go rest, but I expect you tomorrow for dinner." He turned away and the council drew to a close. Merlin helped Arthur out of the room while somehow carrying his armor, and as soon as they got to his chambers, Arthur collapsed on his bed.

He drifted off to the feeling of fingers in his hair, and whispered words.