A silly little thing I jotted down. Enjoy! I own nothing.

"I can't be held responsible," Merlin said. "I wasn't even there."

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Weren't you." It wasn't a question.

Merlin tried to shrug nonchalantly. "I wasn't," he replied. "I was with Gaius. In the medic's tent. Helping with… medicine."

"That's interesting," Arthur said, taking a step toward him. "Because I have no less than five eyewitnesses who could have sworn they saw you up on that balcony just before the roof came down." He took another step forward, until he was right in Merlin's face. Merlin leaned back slightly. "What do you say to that?"

"Trick of the light. Someone who looked like me. And in any case, even if it was me, it's not as if I could possibly make a building collapse, all on my own."

"The knights who heard you bellowing spells and enchantments might beg to differ," Arthur said.

"They were all caught up in the heat of battle. Lots of clanging and shouting going on. Probably just assumed they'd heard spells and enchantments to explain the ceiling falling down." It wasn't even a bad explanation, Merlin thought smugly.

But Arthur wasn't buying it. "So you're telling me you got all covered in dust and cuts working in the medic's tent."

Merlin nodded emphatically. "Oh, yes. It can be dangerous work. Knights who don't know what's going on, try to attack the physicians."

"Merlin-"

"Look, the beast is dead, it doesn't really matter how, does it?" Merlin grinned. "Or are you trying to give me credit?"

"The great hall is a ruin!" Arthur shouted. "It'll take years to rebuild!"

Merlin opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again. "That's what you're angry about?"

Arthur scowled at him. "You destroyed part of my castle, I think I have the right to be angry."

Merlin stared at Arthur. Arthur looked evenly back at Merlin.

"You knew!" Merlin exclaimed finally. "You knew, you prat, I can't believe-"

"You know, Merlin, if you actually bothered to take responsibility for your actions once in a while, you might have learned that months ago-"

"Months!?"

"-and we might have been able to plan for this little piece of news getting out. As it is, I suppose things are going to have to change around here a bit faster than I was anticipating."

Merlin looked incredulously at Arthur. Arthur waited, rather patiently, he thought.

"I can fix the great hall," Merlin said finally.

Arthur grinned, and clapped Merlin on the back. "Excellent! Go right ahead. Oh, and Merlin?" Merlin looked at him warily. "How do you feel about pointed hats?"

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed!