A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

37. Chapter 37

Merlin found himself racing through the halls of Camelot castle at a neck-breaking pace. It was early afternoon, and the castle had returned to life with the rising of the sun. This was why Merlin was having to duck and dodge around people in his frantic speed to get to where he was going, nearly knocking several people-guards and servants alike-off their feet as he screamed 'sorry's' over his shoulder. He would take the stairs going up two at a time, but only after George, the manservant following after him with great fear that he would be left behind, had corrected the direction he was going.

Originally, Merlin had been heading down towards the training grounds, assuming that was where Arthur was waiting for him to do his 'duty as a consort', which would be the 'honored' tradition in Camelot to help his husband get dressed in his armor before a match.

Apparently the tournament grounds wasn't where he was supposed to go. Since the competition had been cut neatly in half after the first round's, there were only half as many people still fighting. Since there wasn't as many, each of the twenty or so knights had been assigned to a spare room of their own, so that they could get dressed in a more private manner instead of out in the open in front of everybody.

Which was why Merlin was heading up, towards the hall that apparently had enough spare rooms to house twenty knights, instead of down.

-

Barely ten minutes before-Merlin grumbled as he felt himself being shaken awake. It had been nearly four AM when he had finally submitted to his sleep, and he just did not want to get up right now. It had felt as if he had practically just closed his eye's, and already he was being forced back into the land of the living.

"-lin? Sir Merlin, wake up please!" The frantic and begging voice was probably the only thing that made Merlin blearily open up his eye's, looking tiredly up at George.

"W-whaaaaaaat?" Merlin's question seemed to break up as he raised his hand up to cover his yawn, the yawn had been so great that it had nearly cracked his jaw in half from how wide he had stretched it.

"Are you sick, Sir?" Merlin nearly flinched when George placed a hand on his forehead, trying to feel for a temperature.

Merlin's face scrunched up and he poked his hand out of his blanket just long enough to swat at the manservant's hand. "No, I'm not sick! What on earth are you going on about?"

George was looking at him worriedly, "But then..." he seemed to hesitate, as if not entirely sure if this was the proper question to ask. But he steeled himself, and went ahead with it anyway. "Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

Merlin blinked at him, confused, for several moments before George's question finally registered to his sleep fogged mind. He drew his eye's away from George long enough to take in his surroundings and true enough, Merlin had been sleeping on the floor.

He was so used to sleeping on the floor back in Ealdor, that it honestly hadn't registered to him that he was doing it now. But he should have known he was, the blanket he'd wrapped himself in was nowhere near as scratchy as the one he'd curled up with back home.

He hadn't slept on the floor since his first night here, back when he just wanted something more familiar than the actual bed could offer him in this strange, and new place.

He'd taken to sleeping in the actually bed since he'd been in Camelot, starting to become accustomed to the over fluff and downy bed covering's. So why was he now curled up, slumped over, against the corner of his room...?

It was as if lightning struck him, and any and all source of tiredness drained out of his body in an instant. Merlin jolted up off the wall, his eye's growing wide as they darted across the room to his now opened doorway.

The door that he'd locked because Valiant had been trying to bust it down in his effort's to get to him. Merlin felt his breath spike at the horrible reminder, and for a second, he almost could have sworn that it was still happening. That he was still all alone, with absolutely nowhere to turn to, as that monster tried to kick in his door.

And all because Merlin wouldn't kiss him.

Before Merlin had refused him.

George put a hand on Merlin's shoulder, and Merlin flinched under the gentle touch, being dragged back into the reality of what was clearly a new day. The manservant practically snatched his hand away when he felt Merlin's violently flinching.

"Sir Merlin!" George exclaimed, looking more than just concerned now. He looked downright worried...really worried. "Are you alright? Did something happen?"

Merlin supposed that this was his chance to confess to what had happened to him last night. This was his chance to tell someone, and for something to be done about it.

But he didn't, and he didn't know why.

Instead, Merlin whipped his head around to look at his manservant, his eyes were looking almost wild at this point. "George, how did you get in here! I know I locked that door last night!"

Had it already been unlocked when George had come to fetch him? Because Merlin definitely didn't remember unlocking it himself. But he did remember staring at his still door long after Valiant had left, for over two hours at least, before he had finally lost all sense of self and had fallen into a slump of sleep against the wall.

But had there been something else that he wasn't remembering? Had Valiant returned at some point in the middle of the night and had somehow gotten his door to open? Had he done anything to Merlin as he slept, to exhausted to wake up even as somebody was violating his body?

"I unlocked it myself, Sir Merlin." George explained, making Merlin jolt around to look back at him with a startled frown. "I did knock, for several minutes but there was no answer. I supposed that was because you were asleep, but there are some things that require your attention, so I had no choice but to allow myself entrance."

That did...absolutely nothing to answer his question. "How, George." Merlin practically enunciated, doing absolutely nothing to remove himself from his blankets or his position against the wall. "How did you get into my locked room?"

If George had managed to do it, then would Valiant manage to do the same? Would he return tonight, with the hopes of 'getting lucky' with Merlin? Would he seriously push things when it was obviously that Merlin didn't want them?

"Oh!" George finally got around to what Merlin had been asking him. "After you didn't answer me when I came up to get you just before the meet and greet and we were late, I thought it would be prudent to make sure that I was prepared for the next time, I even considered the possibility of being locked out next time."

Merlin remembered that, he'd been trying to practice his unlocking spell from his spell book. The spell itself hadn't gone over so well, and he'd nearly been caught several times before he managed to get George out of his room. Almost involuntarily, his eye's darted across the room to his bed where he knew his book was hiding behind the curve of the headboard. Just as fast was his eye's darting back to George.

George, who was now pulling open his jacket to reveal that he had a handmade pocket sewn into the inside. And poking out the top of it was a little metal ring, but he couldn't see the rest of it because it was pushed down securely into the pocket.

"I had this key made for your door. And it's a good thing I did as well, or I never would have gotten in here with how deep you were sleeping."

"You-" Merlin felt his eye twitch, staring at where the little key was at, even after George had closed up his jacket. "You had a key to my room made?" Wasn't that illegal, like breaking into a house that wasn't yours? Or did those same rules not apply in Camelot?

Or maybe those same rules just didn't comply because the one doing it was his manservant. And wasn't the entire job of a manservant was to take care of their 'master,' which was kind of hard to do it they couldn't even get into their master's bed chambers.

"Yes, Sir Merlin." George nodded, still crouched on the floor beside him. "I thought that it would be the best course of action. But you don't have to worry, I and the royal locksmith are the only people who know I have this key."

They have a royal locksmith, Merlin thought dumbly. Of course they did, why not? They seemed to have everything else around here. Even a royal locksmith that could apparently have a key made and ready to use within hours, as the meet and greet was just last night.

"So nobody else is going to come walking in on you." George finished, with a gracious tip of his head to Merlin.

Merlin's eyes widened, because he hadn't even thought of that. Now that there was a key to his room floating around out there, who was to stop somebody from taking the key from George? Who was to stop Valiant from finding out about the key and using it to open the door, easily and quietly in such a way that Merlin wouldn't even wake up until it was to late and he was trapped.

Like a fly in a spider web.

Merlin's hand shot out of his blankets, and he grabbed George by the wrist, probably way harsher than he meant to. But this was important, far to important for him to not impress just how serious this was to him.

"George, you need to make sure that nobody knows about that key. You can't go around telling 'anybody'." He made sure to put as much force behind his last word as he possibly could. "That this key even exists. I don't want nobody being able to get in here without me knowing."

Maybe it would have been better for Merlin to just take the key himself. But he honestly didn't trust himself to be able to keep it safe, he'd probably lose it within the time it took for a heart to beat. And apparently he would also have to start being more careful in his own room's, lest George decide to make use of the key and come bursting in when Merlin was trying to practice from his spell book.

George seemed to get the message loud and clear, because he nodded firmly. And there was a look in his eye that said he clearly understood. George wasn't taking this as Merlin asking him, he had taken this as an order from his master.

Merlin didn't bother to correct him, not if it was going to keep his safe.

"Of course, Sir Merlin. The knowledge of this key will die with me." George said, sounding as if he would give his life if he had to, to protect the key. And maybe that was a little more than Merlin had actually been going for, but if that was how George was going to take it, then he wasn't going to complain. Not if it stopped strangers from walking in whenever they wanted to.

"Good, good." Merlin said, letting out a shaky exhale as he slumped against the wall. He felt as if he was going to hurl when the sudden relief washed over him now that that had been taken care of.

He brought a shaking finger up towards his mouth, pressing one of them up against the softness of his bottom lip. He would just have to trust that George was telling him the truth, it was a better explanation than thinking that Valiant had somehow managed to get his door open sometime in the night.

And he was more than grateful that there was no actual evidence that Valiant had managed to somehow get in the night before. That meant that he could finally start to relax some. Especially since his lips definitely didn't feel as if they'd had something unwanted press against them.

He didn't even care that he didn't know how somebody was supposed to tell if they'd been kissed recently, he was just relieved that it was George that had gotten into his rooms. Besides...surely there would have been something that he would have been feeling if Valiant had gotten into his room and had been kissing him as he slept.

A lingering taste that he couldn't quite explain...his lips feeling slightly out of place after they'd been moved around by somebody else...something!

But there was nothing, absolutely nothing.

"Sir Merlin?" George was asking him, his frown returning full force to his face. "Did you have a nightmare last night? Is that why you're here on the floor instead of in your bed?"

Merlin stared at him dumbly, just now registering the array of windows situated just behind George. The sunlight was streaming into the room so brightly, indicating that it was probably early afternoon or very late morning. It was a miracle that the sun hadn't woken him up earlier, but he supposed that was just because the light couldn't reach him. The corner that he'd taken cover in was right next to the windows, creating a little cubby area where the light wouldn't be able to reach because of the awkward angle it was in.

"Yeah," Merlin said quietly, his voice sounding numb even to his own ears as he looked out towards his windows. From the angle he was sitting at, all he could see was the brightness of the blue skies. How was it fair that the outside looked so damn beautiful, and he was inside with all of this turmoil going on inside of him. "...A nightmare."

It was better than admitting to George the truth. If he did admit everything that had happened, if he admitted to himself that it had been real and not just some delusional nightmare, Merlin doubted even ordering George not to tell would stop him from going straight to the king now that Merlin had actually been threatened.

It was better this way, it was better than Merlin testing rather or not Uther or Arthur would even care to do anything about it. He wanted to live in his bubble just a little bit longer, where he didn't doubt that the people in his life actually cared.

George smiled with a glimmer of understanding in his eye's now that Merlin had claimed he'd just had a simple nightmare, "Maybe all you need to do is get your day going, to shake it off." And then he was boldly reaching into the blankets and grabbing Merlin by the arm, helping him to his feet. "I do feel sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you actually do have somewhere to be."

"Let me guess," Merlin said dryly, when he was steady on his feet, the blanket dropping in a puddle around him. He'd all but completely forgotten that he was standing there in just his underwear and a shirt. "Does it have something to do with somebody whose head is to big to fit the crown he has?"

"If you are referring to the prince," George said, and Merlin was almost startled to realize that George had adopted a tone that was as dry as his own was. "Then yes. The next rounds are starting soon, and the prince is probably already waiting on you to arrive so that you can help get him into his armor."

Merlin stared at George blankly for a minute, before all of the dots started to connect, "Argh!" Merlin exclaimed, nearly startling George. Merlin didn't care that his doorway was still open, and anybody could have been passing by as he hurried around his room.

He threw open his wardrobe, where apparently George had started putting his clothes at some point after he left the room. Even though Merlin had once told him to keep them at his uncle's, it was clear that Merlin had started to sleep in his actual room, which was why George had anticipated his need for them and started transferring them over one by one.

Merlin yanked his blue tunic off one of the hangers-it was probably the first time any of his clothes had seen a hanger-and started stripping off his sleep shirt, mumbling under his breath the entire time. "That prat wouldn't manage without me, would he? He's probably just sitting there going-where's Merlin? Is Merlin coming? What's taking Merlin so long-How did he ever get himself ready before I came into the picture?"

It was a rhetorical and sarcastic question as Merlin dropped his old shirt somewhere on the floor, and dragged his blue one on over his head, but George answered anyway.

"The prince does have his own manservant, Sir Merlin, and he is actually allowed to dress his master." George looked disgruntled by this, apparently still upset that Merlin never allowed him to dress him. "If you are still shaken from your nightmare and don't wish to leave, I can always have him informed that you've taken ill. Morris will take over his old duty, and see to it that the prince is properly prepared for his-"

"No!" Merlin interrupted before George could finish, bouncing across the room with one leg in his brown pants and trying to force the second into the other leg. "Arthur's definitely not getting out of this! If I have to do this then damn it, I'm gonna be doing it from now on, so Arthur will just have to learn to live with it."

Like hell he was gonna let Arthur off the hook so easily. There were still some things he wanted to bring to Arthur's attention, a few things that they needed to talk about. And if Merlin was getting him ready for his match, then he couldn't go running off before he was done.

And maybe he had also felt a spike of annoyance when George had mentioned Morris. He still remembered the first time he had seen Morris helping Arthur get ready, back before he even realized that putting the prince into his armor was traditionally done by his Consort after he was married. Morris had been all over him, and it had truly been a disgusting display on the manservant's part.

He was so not letting Morris get his grubby little hands all over Arthur's biceps. Not when this was actually one of the few thing's that were required of a consort-one of the few things that Merlin knew of-that he could actually somewhat accomplish.

He wasn't gonna let 'Morris' take that away from him.

"As you wish, Sir Merlin." George agreed with him, bowing his head as Merlin finally got his pants on over his hips.

Merlin threw himself into a sitting position on his bed, snatching up his boots along the way. He found one near his wardrobe, and the other had somehow been shoved underneath his bed. It had taken a lot of wiggling for Merlin to climb under and retrieve it. He yanked them on harshly, thinking that any extra minute he took was another minute for Morris to be alone with Arthur.

Merlin snatched up his jacket and his bright red neckerchief, struggling to put both on as he made his way to his opened doorway. His arms were stretched over his head, trying to force his arms through the sleeves of his jacket as he walked, his neckerchief was hanging from his mouth so that he wouldn't leave it behind.

"If you require assistance-" George tried, apparently still showing bitterness that he wasn't allowed to help Merlin with his morning dressing.

"I'm fine!" Merlin grunted, his voice coming out all muffled because of the neckerchief he was holding between his teeth. With another grunt, he finally managed to get his jacket to settle around his shoulders.

Merlin stopped walking just as the toe of his boot hit the entranceway to his room. All he could see was the wall across from his room, with some kind of painting on it that probably cost more than everything he'd owned in his entire life put together.

Merlin swallowed hard, slowly pulling the end of the neckerchief out of his mouth. His fingers worked on auto control, slowly tying it in it's usual fashion around his neck.

What if Valiant was still out there somewhere, what if he was just waiting for Merlin to come out so that he could jump him? If Merlin walked out of that doorway, would he be saying goodbye to a life where he had never been assaulted...

"Sir Merlin, I do hate to rush you but I'm sure Prince Arthur will be starting to feel anxious about your late arrival." George threw out there from somewhere behind him, when Merlin was still standing there for to long, even after he'd gotten his neckerchief into place.

"Right," Merlin mumbled, still staring out his doorway, even as his body felt as if all of his nerve endings were standing on end. "We wouldn't want the prince to have to wait for anything, it'll be a disgrace."

His tone took over as somewhat dry, even when he wasn't actually feeling up to his normal self. How could he be when he'd spent the entire night terrified that Valiant would bust in and come after him?

But George did have a point, if he stalled for any longer than Morris would have already gotten Arthur prepared before Merlin could even arrive. Then Merlin would have to wait even longer before he there was another opportunity for him to have an actual, serious, conversation with him.

Merlin still took his time poking his head out from around his door, giving a cautious look around just to make sure that there was nowhere that Valiant could have been hiding out. But as far as Merlin could see, Valiant really had apparently given up, because he was nowhere to be seen.

Or maybe he had just given up for right now, and he really would be back later.

Merlin shook those trepidation thoughts out of his mind, and finally left his room, followed by George. He stopped only long enough to make sure that his door was securely closed before he turned away from it.

"Alright George, let's get going before 'his highness' gets to impatient to wait on us." Merlin said, hurrying down the hall into a light jog. The kind of jog that would soon develop into a race when he realized just how late time had gotten away from him.

Merlin would vaguely notice that there was no guard stationed at the end of the royal hallway when he started down his first flight of stairs.

Merlin had only just woken up-he thought as he started taking the stairs down two at a time before George would correct him on his directions-but already, he wasn't doing a very good job at proving to Uther that he 'wasn't going to be a burden.'

X

In another wing of the castle, there was a long corridor with at least twenty small rooms going down the length of it. These were the rooms that each of the knights still competing in the tournament had been assigned to so that they could be prepared in a more private setting.

Arthur Pendragon was in one of these rooms, his face showing nothing less than pure aggravation as he stalked back and forth, pacing across the room as if he were an animal in a cage.

"Where is that brat? He should have been here by now!" Arthur blew up, his hands clenched into fists and his arms moving back and forth as he walked in a fast and jerking manner.

"Maybe he overslept, sire. You know us peasants sire, he's probably just enjoying that he doesn't have to do any actual work to make a living anymore." His manservant Morris, standing by the nearby wall watching his prince pacing, said in a very snide tone.

If Arthur had been any less agitated than he already was, he may had actually realized that the tone was much to bold coming from a peasant talking about his new consort. But as it was, Arthur's agitation was at it's wit's end, so the tone went largely ignored, as he'd been waiting for almost an hour for his-that-moronic brat to show up and prepare him.

"There is going to be hell to pay if he doesn't get here soon." Arthur hissed under his breath, not even sparing Morris a glance as he did another round across the room.

Arthur was dressed in his long sleeve orange undershirt that he'd be wearing under his armor to prevent chafing, and the simple brown pants that he always wore under his armor (they were still made out of a much richer material than any commoner could ever hope to afford).

Along the far side of the room was a single table. Morris had already set up and prepared the armor on top of it in the neat little set up that he had always done it in. The entire problem only came up when it was becoming apparent that Merlin wasn't showing up.

Morris couldn't help but throw out his own opinion to Arthur, "I really don't think that you should trust Merlin with your armor." The blonde didn't even notice Morris' disrespectful tone, nor did he care enough to notice that Morris wasn't addressing Merlin with his 'proper' title. "He was all clumsy and awkward when he last prepared you. It was clear that he doesn't understand how to treat your equipment properly."

For the past hour, Morris had been trying to subtly convince Arthur that he shouldn't allow Merlin to prepare him any longer. But it was more obvious than ever that it wasn't working. Especially since the only thing his word's did was send Arthur's agitation-that was growing as the minute's passed them by and their time to prepare was starting to run short-threw the roof.

Arthur scoffed, waving a hand dismissively at Morris' words, "You've already cleaned and buffed it up into ready form for the next rounds. As horrifyingly clumsy as he was-" and Arthur didn't even stop long enough to realize that he actually did know that Merlin was abnormally clumsy. "Not even he can damage pure metal."

Arthur supposed he could have already gotten himself prepared. He had Morris at the ready, he could have already been dressed and on his way back to the stadiums to wait for the next rounds to start. It wasn't like there was anyone around to argue that it was 'tradition' for the prince's consort to prepare him themselves.

Arthur kept pacing, practically tossing that idea aside as fast as it had come. If Merlin didn't show up before he had to be out there, then Arthur would just have to find a suitable punishment for the brat. Maybe he could convince his father that it would 'boost morale' or something to have Camelot's consort being seen mucking out the stables.

Arthur hissed under his breath as he came to the wall, abruptly turning around to start pacing in the other direction.

After everything that he had done to prevent them from having to go through with the consummation, the least Merlin could do was be bothered to show up when his presence was actually needed.

"But sire, you said it yourself, he's a very clumsy person." Morris cut in through his agitated thoughts. "I'm sure that if anybody could find a way, then it would probably be him."

Arthur scoffed, dismissing the feeling that he may actually be impressed if Merlin somehow found a way to damage his pristine armor, "If he could get me into it the first time without damaging it, then I'm sure even a simpleton like him can do it again."

But to do it again, Merlin would actually have to show up. Arthur shot a look of disdain towards the closed doorway. He'd done sent Morris out into the hallway three times to have him check for Merlin, but each time he had returned empty handed.

Arthur was starting to find what little patience he had was starting to wane. There was only so long that he could wait before he was finally forced to admit that he just wasn't coming. And then he'd have to deal with Morris, putting everything on him in that annoyingly perfectly done way that he'd done it for the past few years that he'd been in Arthur's employ.

Merlin's way of doing it had been annoying as well, far more annoying that Morris had ever been. And honestly? It had never occurred to Arthur just how annoying Morris' perfect way of doing it was, until he had experienced Merlin's way of doing it.

Merlin clearly had no idea what he was doing, but that hadn't stopped him from taking charge and moving Arthur's body in whichever way he pleased.

Fuck, there had to be something seriously wrong with Arthur if he actually preferred Merlin in anyway-and maybe that was why he was still waiting for him-when he could have just gotten this whole thing out of the way and had Morris do it instead.

"I don't know about that, sire." Morris said, his tone sounding far to casual to actually be normal. But Arthur didn't notice, he was used to tuning out whatever antics Morris was up to, if he was even up to anything at all. "There are just some people who fail at everything that they do, no matter how much they are actually instructed on how to do it. Merlin strikes me as such a person."

Arthur scowled, making an abrupt U-turn in his pacing, making Morris jump because for a second, he thought that Arthur had been making a beeline straight for him. But no, he hadn't been. He'd walked straight passed Morris and up to the small window allowing in the sunlight, planting his hands on the windowsill and glaring out through the glass.

Almost as if he was expecting to see Merlin, as his eye's scanned the courtyard below, running across the yard. But of course, Merlin was nowhere to be seen, nor would he be out there even if he was on his way. After all, Merlin was somewhere in the castle, and if Morris was correct, probably still curled up in bed while Arthur sat here waiting for him.

"Morris, there is something that I need to know." Arthur said bluntly, ignoring Morris' last words. He already knew that Merlin was going to be a problem from the second he actually met him, he wasn't going to have a conversation about it with his 'manservant' of all people.

Morris straightened up, looking pleased that his prince was consulting him, "Yes sire, whatever it is that you need to know, I'd be happy to answer."

Morris grin grew almost into a smirk, maybe him and the prince were actually getting closer if Arthur was actually consulting him about his problems (and it was definitely a problem if the look on Arthur's face was anything to go by).

It didn't occur to Morris that the only reason Arthur was talking to him about this at all, was because he was the only one there.

"Have there been any rumors going on in the city?" Arthur asked bluntly, feeling his fingers curling sharply around the windowsill. "About my...my consort?"

It had been bothering him all night. After he'd finally gotten Merlin saying 'sire' out of his head, and after he'd spent at least an hour being pissed that Merlin may try to seek out Valiant's attentions at some point this week, another thought had occurred to him.

About something else they had talked about at the meet-and-greet. It was something that seriously needed to be addressed, feeling almost as if it were the elephant in the room between Merlin and him so to speak-but Arthur wasn't going to bring it up himself.

He was perfectly content with ignoring it, acting as if it had never happened.

"Rumors, sire?" Morris practically brightened up, using this as the perfect opportunity to tell Arthur a few things that had been going on in the kingdom. "Well, the news of your marriage has spread across the kingdom. And I'm sure it won't be long now before the other kingdom's become aware that there is a new member to...your...family."

Morris made a face at the term he'd just used, but Arthur didn't see it as his back was to him. "Most of the servants seem to be very pleased about the match, although why, I couldn't begin to tell you."

It baffled Morris that anybody would be happy about this random guy, who was nothing more than a stranger to their kingdom and their ways, was their consort. It would have been a much better match if it was somebody that the kingdom actually knew, somebody like himself who has been there from the start and had studied the laws and traditions of their kingdom so hard that he had felt as if his eyes would start to bleed if he read anymore.

"On the other hand, the knights and nobility seem to be the exact opposite. They have no idea why you would agree to such a union, nor does anybody see what you saw in Merlin enough that you would make him your consort."

Morris stopped talking just long enough for Arthur to cut in if he wanted to. As if he seriously thought that Arthur was going to give him some kind of insight into the real reason for this union. It obviously wasn't because the two were in love, Morris honestly couldn't see how anybody could fall in love with the mess that was Merlin.

"That's about what I expected." Arthur grunted, but gave no actual answer to the unspoken question that Morris was clearly trying to ask him. He wasn't dumb enough to confess the terms of the contract that nobody was supposed to know existed to a mere servant. All of Camelot would know before the afternoon was over.

When it was clear that Arthur wasn't going to give Morris a more definite answer, he continued on with his spiel, "There had also been no rumors about any attempted assassination on you, not since that dreadful witch during the twenty year celebration since the Great Purge started." He used that term, because it was better than saying 'at Arthur's wedding'. "And subsequently, there have been no rumors about any attempts to be made on your consort's life."

If Arthur was paying closer attention to anything other than the word's themselves, he may had noticed the touch of disappointment in Morris' voice. Hearing something like that would have made Arthur perk up, and be a lot more concerned then he actually was.

He may have a...complicated...relationship with his consort, but he also didn't want to see him dead just because he had been married off to him.

But alas, Arthur didn't notice, and thus, there was no spike of concern for his wayward consort.

"Is there anything else?" Arthur asked urgently, finally turning away from the window to face his manservant. Because as fascinating as all of this was, none of it was the one thing that he was actually looking for.

Morris frowned, finally getting the sense that there was something specific that the prince was looking for. "If there is something you'll looking for sire, then maybe you could just tell me. And I can make some inquiries with the other staff to see if they'd heard something."

It wasn't a very much known fact, but the servants did often know more than they actually let on. They were often ignored or not noticed as they went about a room doing their duties, so it was only far to easy for a servant to hear something they weren't supposed to hear.

But Arthur waved that idea away almost immediately, "No, there won't be any need for that." He said firmly. In Arthur's mind, the servants were nothing more than gossipers. If Morris didn't mention the one thing he was looking for-which he surely would have done because he doubted that it wouldn't have spread about-then clearly nobody knew about it:

Morris frowned, "Are you certain that I can be of no help to you, sire? I do have connections, and you never know what I could dig up."

He'd already tried to dig up whatever news he could on Merlin, trying to find something on him. But really, all anybody seemed to know was that he came from a small village in the next kingdom. It was actually a mystery to all how Arthur and Merlin had even met, let along fell in love and married before Merlin had moved out here.

Arthur almost laughed at that, "Connections? What connections could a servant possibly have?" He shook his head, his turmoil briefly stopping just long enough for him to have a brief spike of amusement.

Morris just bowed his head, already knowing that nothing he could have said would have made Arthur believe him. The nobility had a serious problem with dismissing their servants, when they were probably the best tools in their arsenal 'ironically' because of how often they were dismissed.

After having his little laugh at his manservant's expanse, Arthur expression turned more serious. "Morris, I need you to keep an eye out for me. If there are any rumors concerning my consort, then I need you to pass them to me."

Arthur had this intense desire to know, he had to know, if Merlin had talked. He needed to know if Merlin was going around telling everybody what had happened back at the stadium. If he was telling everybody that Arthur had freaked out so badly, that he had taken off running as if he were some kind of girl.

Something like that would have spread quickly, Camelot was a large city but the rumor mill seemed to be even larger. Some people couldn't even sneeze without the entire household of the castle knowing about it within the hour.

Morris bucked up his chest, looking more pleased then ever that Arthur had asked this of him. And then he was bowing, deep and low with almost a flourish to it. "Of course, sire. If anything comes up concerning you 'consort' I will bring the news straight to you."

Arthur nodded, turning away from his manservant with a distracted look on his face. He hated to admit it, but he might need to bring it up to Merlin himself, to demand to know why he hadn't gone about blabbering it to everybody under the sun.

They had talked about it briefly at the meet-and-greet, but Arthur had all but shut that down. There had been nothing resolved, nothing to make him feel as if he was ready to move on from what had happened to him in that stupid stadium hallway.

But his consort never kept his mouth shut, so why would he when it came to something like this?

Was Merlin waiting for something? Was he planning on exploiting what had happened, to blackmail Arthur into giving him something?

No, that was ridiculous. As much as it loathed him to admit it, Merlin's new status probably made him one of the most, if not The Most, important person in Camelot. He wouldn't have to blackmail Arthur for anything. All he would have to do was ask one of the many servants or even the guards and it would have been given to him.

Jewels bigger then his head? His.

Clothing tailored for him specifically? His.

Whatever other little trinkets that caught his consort's eye or interest? His.

All he needed to do was ask. Because heaven forbid Camelot's very own consort found his new life lacking in any possible way.

There was no reason to draw something like this out, to try and blackmail Arthur into...anything.

Unless he didn't want an item...he may want something else. Atari had an instant flashback to when he had pinned Merlin against that table, and his wide eye's had glanced down to Arthur's lips.

Shit.

"Sire." Morris said, stepping up next to Arthur who had returned his gaze sometime back to the window without his noticing.

Arthur blinked, startled by the sudden interruption. "W-what?" He demanded gruffly, turning a glare onto Morris that showed just how annoyed he was at the interruption, that even Morris found himself wishing he had just kept quiet for once.

"Uh, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but I do not believe that Merlin is coming, and time is starting to run short." Morris pointed out, nodding his head towards the window where they could see that the sun was poised high in the sky, signaling mid-afternoon. "It will probably be prudent for us to just go ahead and start, if only so you won't be running late."

Arthur gazed back out the window, staring not at what was outside but instead at his own reflection reflecting in the glass of the window, before he solemnly nodded. "Very well, you may get me prepared."

It infuriated Arthur to know that he had waited this long, and his brat still hadn't shown up. But strangely enough, there was also a pang of disappointment in his chest, masked only by his own relief. Because if Merlin wasn't here, then at least Arthur had a pretty damn good excuse to deny him anything if his plan really was to try and attempt to blackmail him into submission.

"Thank you, sire." Morris said, giving another painfully low bow, but only to hide the small smirk appearing to grace his face for the briefest of second's. It pleased Morris to know end that Merlin hadn't shown up, maybe it was a sign that Merlin had finally realized that he had no place here in Camelot.

Morris turned away from Arthur and put his hand's on the first thing that was closest to him, the chest piece that was sitting on top of the table. He would have to loosen up the straps to get it over Arthur's head, Merlin had somehow managed to mess up the carefully maintained system that Morris had confected when he'd first started dressing Arthur.

For maximum speed, to impress Arthur with how efficient he was. To bad the prince never noticed before, Morris thought grudgingly as he started playing with the underside of the chest piece where the straps were hidden.

At that moment, both Morris and Arthur's head jolted up startled when they heard what sounded like the slamming of a door and then the screaming of a manservant somewhere down the hall.

"Morris, my sword!" Arthur exclaimed, even as he rushed forward to snatch it off the table before Morris even had the chance to grab it himself. But before Arthur could race to the door and discover what on earth was going on, there was a very loud and familiar voice coming from the same direction, loud enough to practically echo down the entire hall and their rooms.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Wrong door!" And then there was the slamming of the door again, as it was being closed. Arthur stared dumbstruck at his own door, even as he heard several more doors down the hall opening and slamming shut, coming closer toward's his own. There were several startled screams and many screams of apologies along the way.

"Sir Merlin! As I'm trying to tell you, his door is that one!" Another voice, the manservant, yelped as there was another startled scream just next door.

Arthur could feel his eye start to twitch as he dropped his sword back onto the table just as his own door slammed open with enough force to hit the wall. If this had happened moments before, it probably would have hit Morris as that was where he had originally been standing before he had approached Arthur.

Merlin came scrambling in, followed by his manservant-which just made Arthur's eye twitch again in aggravation-because of course Merlin was enjoying his newfound wealth by having a manservant still following him all over the place.

"Whew, I knew I'd make it on time!" Merlin exclaimed loudly when he realized that he was finally in the right room, slamming the door shut behind him just as loud as he had the other doors.

Arthur winced as the volume practically rung in his ears. He felt something in his chest easing up at the sight of his stupid consort but it was swallowed up when his agitation at Merlin's lateness practically roared at an all time high.

"On time?" The blonde exclaimed, glaring daggers at the slimmer boy. He steadfastly ignored Merlin's startled expression with his rounded eye's, as well as the flush across Merlin's cheeks and harsh breathing (no doubt from how fast Arthur had heard him running down the hall, how long had he been running like that to get here?) "You should have been here just shy of an hour ago!"

Morris watched this with a scowl, dropping the chest piece back onto the table. The manservant brought his hands up to rest on his waist, "Sir Merlin," he said snidely, "It really is prudent for you to be here on time. What kind of impression would the prince make if he was late because of your own tardiness?"

Merlin shot an annoyed look at Morris, seeing him standing by the table of equipment, before turning away from him and back to Arthur. "As you don't have to go out quite yet, I do believe I made it right on time." He said, stomping past the spluttering blonde, practically hip checking him out of his way to get to the table before Morris got any idea's that it would be him dressing the prince.

"Y-you...you've disrupted everybody!" Arthur exclaimed with a sputter, bringing his hand up to his hip where Merlin had all but pushed him out of his way, watching as Merlin picked through the equipment, quite easily messing up the straight and neat lines that Morris had put them in. "Don't think we couldn't hear the entire hall screaming!

Merlin didn't glance up from the table that, to Morris and Arthur, looked like he was messing up the carefully placed equipment that was to Morris' exact specifications for maximum efficiency. "Well then, maybe you should have these rooms numbered or something. Then I wouldn't have wasted all of my time tracking you down."

Arthur shook his head, looking at Merlin's back as that was all he could see, finally withdrawing his hand away from the spot his skin was practically burning after Merlin had the audacity to hip check him out of his way. "You want me to have the rooms numbered?" He repeated dumbly, because he'd never heard of such a ludicrous idea.

Merlin shot a wearily but cheeky grin over his shoulder as he moved Arthur's arm guards to the other side of the table, "Why not? Are you afraid that it's going to mess up the aesthetically look you've got going on around here?"

He said this dryly, and Arthur almost felt offended on behalf of the people who had actually designed the looks of the many halls his castle had.

"There's nothing wrong with how the castle looks." Arthur grunted, trying to look and see around Merlin's shoulder, to find out exactly what he was doing to all of his equipment.

"I'm just saying," Merlin said, waving a dismissive hand as he turned back around to what he was doing. He nearly hit Arthur in the face because of how wildly he was waving his hand, and Arthur to jerk back before it actually did smack him. Merlin didn't even seem to notice as he kept talking, even as Arthur started to scowl. "Numbers would probably be a lifesaver, just think about it."

Yeah, he would think about it, the prince thought with a touch of spitefulness. If he found out that Merlin ever took the liberty to number the rooms himself, he would be ripping every one down and hosting a giant bonfire with them right in the middle of the courtyard.

"Sire, if you would like for me to proceed," Morris cut in, practically shoving Merlin away from the table without actually touching him, and trying to rearrange the table back into the neat lines that he had them. "I can go ahead and get you prepared for the next rounds."

Merlin scowled, undoing Morris' work by rearranging the equipment how he wanted them to be instead of how Morris had them. "That won't be necessary." Merlin cut in, cutting Arthur off as the prince opened his mouth, just in case he actually agreed. "Now that I'm here, I'll be the one to prepare him."

Morris scowled spitefully, and him and Merlin were full on glaring daggers at each other. Arthur looked back and forth between the two confused, while George standing against the back wall just shook his head, truly appalled with Morris' less than stellar demeanor.

"But it's unnecessary since you are obviously...unwel-" Morris was cut off when Merlin let out a giant yawn. The kind of yawn that was almost enough to break his jaw in two as he rose up a hand to cover his mouth.

Morris' expression at the interruption showed just how displeased he was, his lips pursing out in distaste. It was only Arthur's presence that prevented him from saying something even worse then what he'd already spoken.

"Sorry," Merlin said, still half-yawning as he started to lower his hand. "I...had a rough time sleeping last night." And there was something off about his voice, something that sounded more awkward than he usually did.

If Arthur had half a mind to care, he probably would have asked about it. Because now that Merlin had actually said something, Arthur could see just how much of a mess he actually was. His hair was messier than usual, which seemed like a feat in itself, and he had bags forming under his eye's. His clothes looked all rumbled, as if he'd thrown them on with little to no care, even that stupid neckerchief he always wore was askew.

But as it would turn out, Arthur found that he didn't care enough to ask. Not when he had more pressing matters to worry about, like actually making it to the next rounds before they started.

So he just scoffed, and rolled his eyes, "You know, you should really work on your excuses if this whole 'keeping me waiting when you're needed thing' is going to become a habit."

He watched as something in Merlin's shoulders stiffened, and his consort's head was tilted just far enough that Arthur could see his lips thinning.

"I'll keep that in mind, honey." Merlin said through a clenched jaw, a half mocking tone in his voice when he said the last word.

Eventually, Arthur would start to catch on that Merlin only called him 'honey' when he had done something that particularly struck a nerve in Merlin. But as of today, Arthur hadn't been around Merlin near enough to realize this.

"Don't call me that!" Arthur exclaimed, scowling because it was bad enough that he'd waited all of this time for Merlin, just for him to come in and start messing around with his equipment. He didn't need to be reminded that it was his 'husband'-via 'pet names-that he had been waiting for, who was probably (if they had that kind of relationship) the only person that had a right to call him that.

"Whatever you say, sire." Merlin said, but his lips now had a wry curve to it, that somehow made Arthur think that he was being made fun of.

But ignoring that, Arthur could feel the heat creeping up the back of his neck because there it was again. That stupid word that made him feel as if there was fire licking at his veins.

"Don't call me that either!" Arthur barked, honestly not sure which 'nickname' was worse. Honey just sounded so...derogatory, normal. It wasn't something that was fit for a prince of his statue. Sire though, it was what everybody called him and something he probably should have found himself enforcing so that Merlin would always know that his place was beneath Arthur's.

But the abnormal fire in his veins was enough to squash his desire to make sure that Merlin knew exactly where he ranked in Arthur's life.

Merlin finally seemed to have enough of him, and dragged the sword he'd been mishandling next to his cape, where the long hilt of it hit the edge of the table with a bang. Before Arthur could protest at the rough treatment, Merlin was turning to give him a death glare. He had one hand planted on the edge of the table to hold himself up as he leaned against it, and the other hand planted on his hip.

"So what would you like for me to call you?" Merlin asked, actually scowling at him. "Prat? Arse? Jerk? Or maybe I'll just call you Arthur, when you're not being particularly annoying, if there ever a time where you aren't."

Arthur could hear Morris sputtering something behind him, looking absolutely horrified, and properly pissed on his prince's behalf.

Arthur felt something in him relaxing, while at the same time, he shook his head with heavy disbelief, amazed that it still surprised him when Merlin took to insulting him. There was just something about the way that Merlin said his name, so mocking and full of confidence, and it was so absolutely infuriating...

"We really need to talk about your manners. It isn't becoming to talk to your husband like that, yet along to your prince."

Merlin had the nerve to snort, to honest to god snort, "We'll talk about my manners when we talk about your jackass-hiness."

Arthur opened his mouth to say something back, something that his mind hadn't even fully thought of yet. Probably something about how he wasn't a jackarse, and clearly Merlin was delusional if he thought Arthur was going to let this insolence pass. While at the same time, trying to ignore that bubble of laughter growing in his stomach-at being talked to so casually, as if he was just any other person off the street instead of a royal prince.

He was abruptly cut off when Morris stepped in, apparently taking it upon himself to 'defend' his honor. "That is a highly inappropriate way of talking! Why, if you weren't the consort, you would be put in the stocks for that!"

Arthur scowled, not appreciating the interruption. Even though he knew that it was probably a good thing that Morris had interrupted (he had a feeling that Merlin and him could just go back and forth trading insults for hours) it still annoyed him that Morris had done so at all.

He opened his mouth to tell his manservant to back down, when he was once again cut off, making his eye start to twitch.

"Oh, I don't have to worry about that." Merlin said dryly.

Arthur whipped his head around to glare at Merlin, feeling a spike of agitation at his word's. Because it sounded as if Merlin was using his newfound position as a freedom to milk his place in society and do whatever he wanted.

But then Merlin shifted his eyes from Morris and back to him. The thinning of his lips were gone, and he was raising a decisive eyebrow at the blonde.

"My husband already took the liberties of making sure that I was well acquainted with the stocks on what was it, only my second day in town."

Arthur felt the flush on the back of his neck creeping up, and it took every ounce of self control he had not to allow the flush to move towards his face. He had, of course, heard that the man who'd tried to punch him had been let free early, but only because he had agreed to being put in the stocks. Only now was he realizing that obviously, that boy was Merlin.

Arthur cleared his throat, feeling more awkward than he thought he should be feeling. It was probably just because he didn't want the embarrassment of Camelot's consort being in the stocks, nor did he want the embarrassment of the people knowing that Arthur had allowed it.

"Well, you did deserve it." Arthur said, and ignoring his embarrassment, he involuntarily felt his lips curling up into the briefest hint of an almost playful looking smirk.

Merlin didn't ask him for an apology or to make amends like Arthur would have assumed. Instead, he had an equally playful smirk blossoming on his lips, only much wider and more acknowledged than Arthur's had been.

"If I deserved it," Merlin said cockily. "Then you deserve to be in one right next to me." He could see it now, people would probably be lining up if they knew they had a chance to throw some rotten vegetables at their insufferable prince.

Arthur felt himself come to a stand still, looking at Merlin as if he thought his consort was nothing less than absolutely mad. "Me?" Arthur asked, trying not to sputter in indignation. "The prince of Camelot in the stocks?"

He made sure to make it sound as ludicrous as it actually sounded.

Merlin just shrugged, leaning fully back against the table, looking so calm and casual, as if there was nowhere else that he would rather be, "I think it'll be a good business venture. I bet people would come from miles around-even if they have to pay for it-for the chance to throw rotten food at you."

Arthur was left shaking his head with absolute baffleness-but surprisingly giddy-at Merlin's boldness. Only Merlin would even come up with the possibility of Arthur in the stocks, yet along actually come right on out and say it to the prince himself.

Morris was looking back and forth between the two of them, looking absolutely horrified by the exchange. Not only by Merlin's loose tongue, but by Arthur's clear investment into the conversation. If Morris didn't know any better, if he didn't know that there was no possible way on God's green earth that Arthur would ever see Merlin as anything more than just a pest, he could have sworn that there was some kind of flirtatious energy sparking in the air.

Which was just strange over all, because of the actual content of their conversation.

Morris found himself purposely stepping in between them to block off their view of each other, anything to stop the weird spark of energy that seemed to be traveling between them, as if they thought they were the only one's in the room.

From Merlin's startled expression when Morris was suddenly in his way, it was clear that Morris' assessment hadn't been to far off. And he had a sinking feeling that if he looked behind him, Arthur would probably be mirroring the same look.

"Sir Merlin," Morris said, but his forced smile was awkward and wavering. "I must ask that you stop destroying the table I've set up. I'll have to fix it now, before the prince is able to get prepared."

He was still dead set on it being himself that got Arthur prepared, if only so he could shoot a smug look of cockiness over Arthur's shoulder when it was Merlin that was having to stand to the side.

Morris reached passed Merlin, intent on fixing the damage the consort had done to the carefully laid out system that he had. He was stopped when Merlin wrapped a hand around his wrist in a loose grip, preventing him from touching anything.

Merlin grinned at him, but it was obvious to Morris just how strained the grin was, "I think that I'll prefer to use my own system, as it's me that has to get his royal pratness into it."

Morris could feel the flush of outrage practically showing all over his face as he wretched his hand away, not that it was all that hard to do. Apparently, Merlin hadn't been all that eager to be touching him in the first place, and had let go at the first opportunity.

"You-you-you ingrat-!"Morris started, practically having to swallow his tongue before he finished that word. His eye twitched violently as he forcible said, "Sir Merlin, I do believe my system is better. As I have worked these many years into perfecting how exactly everything should be laid ou-"

He was interrupted when somebody stepped around them, looking down at the mess the equipment had been scattered into. "What system?" Arthur asked, raising a hand to run it through his bangs and over the top of his head, staring at the twist and turns of his gear. Hell, even his cape had somehow been tied around his sword. "It looks like nothing more than one giant mess."

He scowled with disdain at seeing his equipment treated so poorly.

Morris practically whipped around, voice all eager and full of simpering sunshine as he said, "You are absolutely right, sire! Please, allow me to dispose of your consort, and then we can get started on our ow-"

"It is not a mess!" Merlin cut in, voice loud and firm. "I know exactly where everything is, and now I know how to put it on him. It's my own little system." And he looked quite pleased with the mess he managed to make of the equipment.

Morris scowled, eye's narrowing in on the consort, "There's no way that this-" he waved a hand at the gear all tangled up together in one way or the other. "Is a system. I spent years developing my own, and this doesn't even come close to a proper syste-"

"Show me." Arthur cut him off.

Both Merlin and Morris whipped around to look at him with varying looks of confusion (Merlin) and disbelief (Morris).

"Sire!" Morris butted in, panicked. "You can't honestly be seriously considering taking any of this seriousl-"

"Show me." Arthur repeated, looking right over the top of Morris' head so that he could better see Merlin on the other side of him. "Show me what you've done to my things."

A bright grin spread across Merlin's face in an instant, and Arthur straightened up startled, before he narrowed his eye's at him. Did he have to look so happy that Arthur was showing an interest? All Arthur wanted to know was what he'd done, and if he had ruined anything with his uncaring handling of his delicate equipment.

"Gladly." Merlin said, practically nudging Morris to the side and out of his way with his hip so that he was now standing next to Arthur. They both ignored Morris sputtering somewhere behind them, as Merlin started to explain exactly what he had done, pointing thing's out to Arthur.

Arthur nodded along, looking completely serious, as if he actually understood a damn thing Merlin was saying. Even though his face didn't show it, Arthur was getting more and more lost the longer Merlin blabbered on.

He said things like 'he'd put Arthur's shin guards on the corner of the table so that they'd be among the last thing he put on Arthur. Because with all of Arthur's fidgeting like he'd done last time, he was liable to kick Merlin at some point. And when he did, Merlin would be able to walk away and tell Arthur to figure out the cape, sword, and the belt (all that would be left after the shin guards) by himself.

And Merlin also pointed out that he had Arthur's chest piece sitting up on one side of the table with his arm guards sitting propped up in the center of it because they all went together. Merlin explained how, but Arthur wouldn't have been able to explain it himself, honestly just baffled by how messy it was, and yet Merlin seemed to have the entire thing figured out.

"I've also put your belt on top of the cape because I know that will have to be one of the last thing's you put on. You fidget a lot, so it might take an extra minute to get it around your waist." Merlin said, pointing out the belt that Merlin had tightly wrapped in a rounded circle. Which surprised Arthur, because he would have thought Merlin would have just left it sprawled out on the floor somewhere.

"And I've also wrapped your cape around your sword." Merlin finished off, bringing Arthur's attention to the one thing that he'd been constantly glancing at. The way that Merlin had his cape carefully bundled up and wrapped around his sword's as if it were some kind of rope.

"You can't!" Morris broke in from behind them. "Do you know how expensive that fabric i-"

He was interrupted when Merlin reached out, grabbing an edge of the cape that was sticking out. Arthur jolted in surprise, looking dumbstruck when he saw Merlin pulling it with all of his might, looking as if he'd been trying to rip the cape into two. But the cape didn't yield and Arthur made no move to stop him from trying to ruin it.

He had a dozen more just like it.

"This thing is practically brand new." Merlin said, letting the wrinkled but un-ruined edge fall back down on top of the lower half of the sword. "It was made to last, and that fabric is obviously expensive just because of how thick it is. Maybe if it was older, and had thinned out over the years to come, it'll be easily to tear. But right now, it's not going to budge. It's definitely not going to rip just because I wrapped it around the sword. Besides," Merlin stopped to stare disdainfully at the sword, as if it had done something to personally offend him. "This way, if I'm not paying attention, the sword won't stick me when I'm reaching for something else."

And was it Arthur's imagination, or was Merlin now holding his index finger, as if it had some kind of invisible injury on the pale flesh.

"That is not a proper system!" Morris exclaimed, practically blustering. "I don't know what you do or how you behaved back where you came from, but this is just simply not how things are done around here! Things need to be organized and put in their place and-"

"Be absolutely and completely wrong." Merlin interrupted. "You may have had them straight, but you were practically reaching all over the table to get what you wanted when you needed it. It was disorganized simply because you had one thing on one end of the table, and the next thing you needed in a completely different area. I'm honestly baffled by how you were able to grab anythi-"

"It's suitable."

Both Merlin and Morris stopped their squabbling to turn around and look back at Arthur, who refused to look at either of them in turn.

"...Sire..." Morris said slowly, as if he had thought that he had said something completely different and he'd just misheard it.

At the same time, Merlin was saying loudly, "Arthur?" with a look on his face that spoke volumes about what he would do to Arthur if the prince tried to mess up his hard work.

"I said that it was suitable." Arthur said dismissively, turning his back to the table and subsequently, Merlin's sly grin. It was the last thing that he wanted to see at the moment. "Now, if you're done yapping like a bunch of girl's, I do believe that it's time to prepare me."

There was a sudden stillness to the air as Arthur reminded everybody that it was time for him to prepare. Although none of the four could have known what had caused the very air to suddenly feel so stilted.

George glanced between the three men from his rightful position against the wall, frowning as he detected the weirdness in the air. The other manservant, Morris, looked as if his face was going to fall as he was forcibly reminded that it would be Merlin who once again, got to be up close to the prince.

Merlin's gaze had dropped to the floor, his fingers twitching at his side. Now that he had Arthur here, now that he was actually in the same room with Arthur, he knew he wouldn't be leaving it without getting some much needed answers. But at the same time, he would have preferred it in privacy, without George and especially Morris listening in to all of his concerns or problems.

Arthur had his back to them all, but there was a certain stiffness to his shoulders. He to, could detect the strange air in the room, only exasperated because of how quiet everybody had gone. But he wasn't sure how to address it, or if he should just ignore it and act like it was never there.

"I will only if you agree to shut up with the 'girl comments'."

Morris and George whipped around to look at Merlin, both dumbstruck and horrified by the consort's apparent lack of respect. As if they didn't already know that Merlin's respect for Arthur was all but nothing.

Nobody noticed the subtly relaxing of Arthur's shoulder blades, not even Arthur himself.

"We really do need to do something about your mouth." Arthur said dryly, glancing over his shoulder. His eye's darted down to the neckerchief around Merlin's throat. "Maybe we can put that neckerchief of yours to good work and use it as a gag."

Merlin felt a furious blush rising up on his face, even as he jerkily grabbed the long red cloth that he'd awkwardly folded on the edge of the table, the one with Arthur's family symbol stamped on the chest in gold coloring. It would need to go over his head and dropped down to his ankles as another layer of covering.

But despite the furious blush on Merlin's face as he let the cloth open up and the bottom of it falling to the floor as he held it up by the shoulders, he still shot back a cocky, "Oh, I have plenty of ideas about what I could do with my neckerchief. And none of them includes using it to gag myself."

He gave a meaningful and raised eyebrow to the blonde. Although Merlin had never considered it before, he wouldn't say no to tying it around Arthur's head if it got him to stop talking. Although...Merlin stopped just long enough to tilt his head to the side and gave Arthur a curios expression...he might need a bigger piece of cloth if he was going to stop Arthur's big mouth.

Arthur could feel his heartbeat increase, and he scowled at Merlin's curious expression. He wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know what Merlin was thinking, that expression alone just seemed as if it spelt trouble.

Arthur stiffened when Merlin carried the cloth around him, and he could no longer keep suspicious eye's on the boy. There was a harsh poke to the base of his spine, "Hey!" He barked, nearly flinching at the sudden contact.

"Oi, just bend down some so I can get this over your head. Lest you wanna go out there missing it." Merlin exclaimed, and Arthur could have sworn that his voice was ringing in his ears.

Arthur felt his jaw clenched, resisting the urge to spit out that Morris had never had to make him move to get him dressed. He breathed sharply through his nose to alleviate his annoyance before bending his knee's just slightly.

Just far enough for Merlin to be able to sling the cloth down passed his head, and let it drop down to just above his ankles.

"That is highly disrespectful." Morris was saying, having grudgingly moved to stand next to the door where George was patiently waiting to hear if his master had any need for him.

Merlin ignored him, and Arthur could feel him behind him, tugging on his cloth to straighten it. Arthur stared resolutely straight ahead as Merlin moved around to his shoulders, tugging on the top of the sleeves on his arms to make sure that they fell the right way.

And then Merlin was in front of him. Arthur glanced down at the boy, but all he could see was the inky jet black of his hair. Merlin had his hands on him, his fingers curling around the cloth on his chest as he tugged it into a more fitted position. And when he raised his head up just far enough for Arthur to get a brief glimpse of his face, he could see the look of intense concentration he had.

Arthur forcibly moved his chin up so that he was looking blankly ahead. He kept his eye's resolutely on the wall in front of him, if only to keep his eye's from darting back down to his wayward consort.

Morris tried again when it became clear that Merlin was ignoring him, "He's a prince, you can't just command him to do whatever you want him to."

Merlin finally looked up from where he had his hands on the center of Arthur's chest, not trying to feel him up but just trying to resituate the cloth so that his family symbol was dead center in his chest. Merlin's eye's met Arthur's, and Arthur was almost dumbstruck when he saw the solemn expression that he had taken on.

Without looking away from his eye's, Merlin spoke up so softly that his lips had barely moved at all, "Morris, George. I think you should be excused, my husband and I need to have a moment of privacy."

Arthur stiffened, quickly averting his eye's so that he was looking at the wall again instead of Merlin's blue eye's. He should have know that this was coming-he had known that this would come at some point. He'd just hoped that it wouldn't be today, he had hoped that it wouldn't happen just before his big competition.

But it didn't surprise him that Merlin had the worse timing ever.

Morris gave a loud and startled gasp, looking absolutely mortified by this. As if he was thinking something so much wors...Arthur stopped as what Merlin had said rung through his head again. And it took everything he had not to slap a hand to his forehead...or to Merlin's.

Did Merlin really have to make it sound like they were about to get up to something weird? Did Merlin have to make it sound like they were what, about to have quicky sex in the middle of the room where just anybody could barge in at any given second...Arthur could feel a sense of dread returning to his body.

Logically, he knew that wasn't what was about to happen. That clearly, Merlin was in no way ready-or knowledgeable-about that step in an adult relationship. And Arthur was liable to punch him if he even had a notion of the idea that anything like that was about to happen right now.

Arthur didn't even like Merlin taking his time dressing him, putting his hands on him as he got him prepared. He definitely wasn't going to be doing anything like...that...anytime soon. Or ever.

That still didn't stop him from feeling the urge to run, and to never stop running if only so he and Merlin could avoid talking...ever.

"Of course, Consort Merlin." George said respectfully, folding his arm over his stomach and giving a low bow. "I will just to outside if you have need of me." And still bowing and with his head lowered, he backed up to the door. He only stopped, and poked his head up when he realized that Morris wasn't following him.

The other manservant hadn't budged from his spot, and was looking at Merlin with pursed lips. Ignoring Merlin's request completely, he looked straight at Arthur.

"Sire?" He asked, looking as if he was truly expecting for Arthur to come to his defense, and to tell Merlin to stuff it.

Arthur looked away from Morris with a roll of his eye's, before turning back to Merlin who now had his own lips pursed at him for taking so long with his response. Arthur almost lost his eye's with how hard he rolled them this time, feeling his own lips start to purse. Especially when Merlin started to glare at him, and tug more on his overtop in an attempt to fix something that wasn't even broken, his movements now much harsher and forcing the cloth to tug tightly around his shoulder's.

Arthur grunted, "I think it's best for you to leave. My consort and I need to have a word of privacy." There, that sounded marginally better. It didn't sound like Arthur was about to bend Merlin over the equipment table and push his peasant pants down over his hips just enough to give him the space he needed to work with.

Arthur glanced at the equipment table at that thought, and couldn't stop the shiver of distaste that went through him. Great, now he wouldn't be able to look at the table again without that disturbing thought constantly creeping into his mind.

Morris' mouth dropped open a little, "But sire!" He protested, speaking out of turn, then he lowered his voice as if he was trying to talk to Arthur in private despite being loud enough for Merlin and George to hear. "Do you really think that's proper? Being alone up here..."

"What exactly do you think we're going to be doing?" Merlin tore into him, hands now clenching around the front of Arthur's overtop shirt, glaring over his shoulder at Morris.

Arthur almost wanted to point out how inappropriate Merlin's word's had sounded like. But he didn't, if only because he knew that they would bring up way to many questions from Merlin that he was in no way prepared to actually answer.

And Merlin would probably attempt something stupid in an effort to figure out those answers for himself after Arthur denied him. Or just bug Arthur for weeks on end until the prince broke and finally just gave in.

"What I think-" Morris started to snipe at the consort.

"Enough." Arthur interrupted before Morris could finish whatever insult he was about to give the consort. Arthur wasn't stupid, he knew that there was some kind of tension between his manservant and his consort. But he also didn't care enough to get involved, or to put a resolute stop to it. As long as Morris didn't forget his place, which he seemed to be taking liberties with doing. He needed his manservant to be present, and not off in the stocks because he was running his mouth.

Oh well, as long as he didn't go to far in front of the wrong people.

Arthur was forced out of his thoughts when there was a subtle-but forceful-tightening around his chest as Merlin's fist got entangled in his overtop. Arthur's eye's shot down to the fist bunching up his top, before reverting to Merlin's eye's with a scowl.

"We really need to talk." Merlin hissed, glaring daggers at Arthur. "Now, I don't know about you, but I actually would like to keep some conversation's private."

It was a startling reminder of how, back in the stadium, they kept getting interrupted because they had decided to have their conversation just outside the knight's quarters.

And with a sinking feeling in his stomach, the reminder made Arthur feel even more dread as he realized what Merlin may be wanting to talk to him about.

Arthur took a deep breath through his nose, averting his eye's away from Merlin. Feeling as if the whole world was somehow against him in that moment, he turned back to Morris.

"As you can see, my consort has requested a moment of my time. You are dismissed."

Morris exclaimed, his eye's darting between Merlin's back and Arthur's face, "But sire! Propriety is in question..." he liked to think that Arthur would take his excuse and run with it. He wanted Arthur to agree with him, because he doubted Merlin was smart enough to know that he was just bullshitting this.

If they weren't all ready married, it would have probably caused a stir among the people if the prince was caught unattended with another, at least if there wasn't a proper escort also with the two to make sure that there was nothing inappropriate going on. A question over purity would became an issue, and it quite possibly would have caused shame among both of their families if they were caught in a more... compromising position.

But he was betting on Merlin not knowing that it didn't matter so much, since he now wore the prince's ring on his finger.

"There is no propriety in question!" Arthur scoffed, his eye's going hard with his aggravation when it became clear that Morris wasn't just going to do what he was told. "My husband and I are allowed to be alone together."

Merlin scoffed at that and rolled his eye's, the solemn expression his face had fallen into now going annoyed. Because really, Merlin didn't want to have this conversation anymore than Arthur did, but at the same time...there were just some thing's that couldn't go ignored.

That Merlin wouldn't allow to go ignored.

Arthur gave Merlin a stern glare, as if silently telling him off for interrupting with his rude noise. But all that did was make Merlin roll his eye's in response, apparently not scared in the least by the deadliest glare that Arthur could muster up.

Not moving his glare away from his consort, Arthur spoke clear and firm, obviously talking to his manservant. "Leave. Now."

Morris tensed up, because he knew that tone very clearly. It was when Arthur had gotten to his last straw when it came to Morris. Even though Morris made sure his work was up to the standards of a prince, and Arthur rarely-if ever-had to use that voice with him. There had only been less than a handful of times he'd done it, in the three years Morris had been in service to him.

It meant that Arthur was about to start throwing the first thing's he could grab at his head.

It had been mortifying each time, and made Morris strive to be better and to not make that mistake again. Arthur hadn't talked to him like that in over a year because of Morris' due diligence.

Morris had to swallow the bite of his next word's, before lowering his head, and bowing down at the waist while he crossed one of his arms over his stomach. "As you wish, sire."

He backed out toward's the door where George was watching, looking at Morris with shame and disappointment for daring to try and argue against their master's.

Arthur watched as the two manservant's departed, feeling the weight of Merlin's gaze on him. He could feel something rising up in his throat as the manservant's walked out, and it took everything he had not to shout after them and tell them to stay. Or to say that he was going to leave with them, preparing for the tournament be damned.

But the door slammed shut behind the manservant's with a resolute thud, almost making Arthur flinch now that he was alone with the other boy.

Swallowing hard, while being slightly nauseated but feeling as if he had no other choice, Arthur finally drew his eye's away from the door to look back at Merlin.

X

Outside the door, Morris had his head pressed up as close to the door as he could possibly get it. He could feel the indent's of the door making markings in the side of his face, but he paid it no mind as he tried to listen in to what was happening inside.

"That is entirely inappropriate. My master and your's need privacy, you can't just spy on them." George protested, standing with his back to the wall on the other side of the door. Which was the proper stance for a manservant waiting outside for his master to return.

"Hush!" Morris hissed, everything he said going in one ear and out the other.

George shook his head, truly baffled that any manservant would have the nerve to try and actively spy on their master's. Morris was clearly getting out of hand if he was growing so bold, and it was a wonder that he hadn't been fired yet.

George turned away from Morris with a look of disappointment on his face. Sighing heavily, he said quietly, "If you cannot shape up and do your duties properly, I fear that I may have no choice to report you to the quartermaster." That was the man that trained all of the new servant's as they entered the castle household for the first time. The one that assigned all of the servant's in the household to what their duties for that day would consist of. "If not to the prince himself. I'm sure he would love to hear how you are actively trying to interfere in his private conversation's."

There was a moment of silence, where the only thing that anybody could hear was the sound of their own heartbeats. And before George could blink, Morris had him by the collar of his ascot, jerking him forward.

George let out a startled yelp when he was practically jerked off his own feet towards the other manservant. But his voice died in his throat when he caught the dark swirls of Morris' eye's, there was something almost disturbing about them.

"Oh, George, George, George." Morris said, sounding condescending as he used his other hand to pat George on his cheek. It was just slightly harder than it was supposed to be, making George wince. "You aren't going to say anything about this to anyone."

George frowned, outraged at the audacity a manservant had. It was a manservant's sacred duty to make sure that their master's life ran smoothly, but all Morris seemed to be doing was putting his nose into the business of thing's that just did not concern him.

"And why won't I?" George asked, braving the darkness of Morris' eyes. It wouldn't have been the first time that George had approached somebody when he thought a particular manservant was starting to slack in their responsibilities.

"Because," Morris said in a calm tone, readjusting George's collar so that it was folded neatly over the ascot wrapped around his throat. "Doing something like that would cause more problems then I care to handle right now."

George tried to stick out his chest, looking every bit the indignant manservant that he was, "I fail to see how that would be considered my problem. It is not my fault that you are apparently lacking in your duties. I tried to help you, but you've ignored my advice and are still acting as if you have a voice among our future noble leaders."

Morris smiled, the kind of smile that was disarming and charming. It was almost startling when George realized that the darkness that had been swirling in Morris' eyes were completely gone, almost as if it had never been there in the first please.

"Well obviously," Morris said, loosening his grip on George so that he could start brushing off invisible flecks of dirt on George's shoulder's. George knew that there wasn't anything there, he kept himself impeccable groomed and in a presentable state at all times. "If I have a problem, and you are the cause of it, then I'll be sure to make it your problem as well."

George breathed in sharply through his nose at the subtle threat, "And how exactly are you going to do that?" He asked cautiously.

"Well for starters, do you know how easy it would be to have you fired from your position as Merlin's mans-"

"Sir Merlin." George interrupted, puffing out his chest in pompous pride over having been the one chosen for the sacred duty of being a manservant to the new consort.

Morris smiled at him again, even as he stated, "Merlin's," with a little more force, and it was obviously clear that he was being disrespectful on purpose. "Manservant. All it would take was one word from me to the quartermaster about how inadequate you are, and that it's impossible for us to work together for our master's sake. Who do you think they would replace?"

George could feel his eyebrow's creasing together, a small wrinkle of concern forming in between his brow's. Between him and Morris, he knew that Morris had seniority in this situation. Even if George explained what was happening, he doubted that anything would be done to Morris since he'd been in the prince's service for so long.

No other servant had lasted so long under the prince's charge. They used to quit after just a few day's, unable to take the prince's sharp words and how quickly he was prone to temper easily.

Morris continued talking, finally pulling his hand's away from where he'd been readjusting George's ascot into a neater fashion, despite the fact that it wasn't even askew. "So, you might want to reconsider your position. Just think, you were chosen as Merlin's manservant because you were one of the best servant's who didn't have a specific position. It would be a shame if all of the hard work you've done to become the best, in all of your years of service to this castle, would be practically all for nothing."

George shifted his gaze away from Morris to look solemnly at the ground. Because it was true, George had worked harder than practically any servant in this castle. If George got fired as Merlin's manservant after practically just starting, nobody would want to hire him again. He would be just one of the many servants in the castle, instead of a personal manservant to somebody who was so important.

This opportunity as the one chosen to be the consort's personal manservant...something like this would probably never happen to him again. This failure...it would be a mark on his record, and prevent him from ever coming this high up in the status of servant's again.

Morris reached out and put a hand on George's shoulder, bringing George's attention back to him easily. Morris just looked so genuine when he said, "I'm just trying to help you, so that you don't make some kind of huge mistake. Something like this, it could completely ruin your reputation."

There was just something so genuine about his expression, the darkness that had been in his eye's earlier completely gone, and George had to wonder if he had just imagined it in the first place.

But after a moment, George could feel himself relaxing under Morris' hand, and a soft smile appeared on his face. "Of course, thank you for looking out for me, Morris."

Morris shrugged, smiling as if it was no big deal, "It's no problem, what are servants for other than helping their fellow servants. Now, go back to what you were doing, and I'll go back to what I was doing."

George's smile slipped a little when Morris went back to pressing his ear to the door. But he took his place on the other side of the door, and opted to solemnly wait for his master.

He believed that Morris was just trying to help him, but he couldn't stop the creeping feeling under his skin as he watched Morris trying to listen in through the door.

Morris though, his helpful expression had slipped into a scowl as he realized that he could hear literally nothing. The door was just to thick and sturdy for him to be able to hear even the softest of sounds.

For all he knew, their two master's could have been fucking in there.