A/N: Enjoy and thank you for the reviews and follows!

Seriously guys you make so happyyyyy!

Breaking Point

That night The Rising Sun, the tavern of Camelot, was filled with working man, farmers, servants, travelers and knights—the few knights that didn't have assigned duties were taking their well-deserved night off with good company and bottles of wine and beer—Merlin found himself amongst them as he had practically been shoved out his room and into the tavern by a very enthusiastic Gwaine.

"Tavern not canceled, Merlin!" Gwaine's voice boomed as he sauntered inside the physician's room. Merlin was sitting on a stool near Percival's bed, talking about the knight' fast and almost miraculous recovery. Gaius, who had been working on a nearby table glared at the knight, eyebrows raised. Gwaine bowed in silent apology as he raised his arms in defeat. Merlin chuckled; Gaius could make anyone feel bad about anything. Maybe that came with age.

"Sorry." The obnoxious knight muttered before he took a seat on the other side of Percival, lowering his voice. Gaius just stared at the young men for a few moments before he shook his head and returned to his work. "Hey, Perce, how are you doing mate?"

"Hey," Percival said good-naturedly. He shrugged. "Good, it doesn't hurt that much anymore."

"According to Gaius, he's healing fast," Merlin added.

"Not fast enough," Percival grumbled.

Gwaine crossed his arms and perched his feet at the edge of Percival's bed. "So, when are you going to be able to return to the knight's quarters? Leon is good company and all that but he complains a lot in the mornings."

"That's because you snore," Merlin said simply.

Gwaine looked affronted at that. "That's not true… I think."

"Merlin," Gaius called, the other three looked towards the physician. "I need to take this potion to the king, keep an eye on Percival will you?" Gaius announced. Merlin and Gwaine both nodded dutifully, Gaius had not even finished closing the door behind him when Percival sat on his bed and turned to both his friends with something close to suffering.

Gwaine beat him at it.

"Don't worry, Percival, we'll get you out of here," Gwaine said with a smirk at the sight of his friend. "Is Gaius that bad, mate?"

Merlin blinked, he didn't know that Percival had wanted to leave in the first place. One look at the desperate face of Percival and the sorcerer rolled his eyes. Of course. Arthur would have been up and about in less than two days if it had been him. Actually, he had—limping around the castle with his just a barely healed leg—so he didn't expect any less from Percival. What was it with knights hating days offs? Merlin would kill for one.

"I know about ten different uses of belladonna, and I can tell you the difference between valerian and henbane just by hearing Gaius talking about them, Gwaine," Percival whispered in dread. "I'm a knight. I can't even stand still for a few hours and I have been here days."

"Oh, just bear with him, I know Gaius can be a bit… boring." Merlin conceded. "But he means well."

Merlin knew better than anyone how life could be with Gaius, so he had been keeping the knight company during these past days but there was just so much time Merlin could give Percival, the other knights eventually came during the day but no one could spare that much time either, the castle was always busy and the knights, after what happened to Agravaine, had been in training and on longer shifts than normal.

Merlin had tried to convince Percival that an arrow shot leg—let alone one that had been poisoned, it had been only luck Gaius had the remedy—would take a month to heal, sometimes even longer, and it was only incredibly good luck that Percival was actually up and about. He had made a magical recovery—which Merlin had nothing to do with— but the knight refused to listen. Percival had been off duty barely over a week but, apparently, the knight thought nine days doing nothing was more than enough time to heal.

When Gaius came back, Gwaine made it his day goal to get his friend out of there, Gaius, however, didn't look convinced no matter what the knight said, so Gwaine started to ask about every trinket he could spot—as annoyingly as only Gwaine could. Gaius had a face of mortification when Gwaine made a beeline to the vials on a shelve making all kinds of questions about them.

"C'mon, Gaius," Merlin said, gesturing to Percival. "He has been resting for a week, locked inside doing nothing. I mean, he needs fresh air, right? And he needs to test his leg—look, If he is in any pain I'll bring him back myself, I promise."

"I think you would need help, Merlin, no offense but—"Gwaine turned, then gestured with a hand towards Percival then Merlin— proving a point— and then he turned to the shelve again, pointing to a bottle. "Look, this vial is red, is it blood or wine?"

"It's alright, Merlin," Percival said placating his friend. Merlin furrowed his brows confused, "We could hang out here instead of in the tavern."

Gwaine shrugged, "I could snatch a few bottles from the kitchen."

Merlin smirked with his back towards Gaius. Gaius might fear for Percival's health but he feared more for his lifetime job. Gwaine almost broke the red vial and Gaius sighed in defeat.

"Is blood isn't it?" Gwaine asked disgusted as he put it where it belonged.

"Alright, fine. You can go to the tavern the lot of you. Just don't push your leg too much Sir Percival, remember you are still recovering. If you feel dizzy or in pain come right away, residuals of the venom might be in your system so we need to be careful" Percival was already struggling to his feet before he finished talking. Merlin quickly handed him a cane when Gaius had a second thought; "And no beer, at all, you hear me?" Gaius said sternly before he looked towards Gwaine who was poking at yet another potion "And Sir Gwaine, please do not touch that unless you want to end up blind."

So that's how Merlin ended up in the tavern with the rest of the knights. Merlin kept an eye on Percival for the first hour or so before realizing Percival didn't need a babysitter. The knight was enjoying himself and true to his word he wasn't drinking beer (he was drinking wine) but neither Merlin or Gwaine were about to call him on that. Merlin was sure by now that Percival would be fine and Gaius was just being paranoid, all Percival had to worry about was his noticeable limp—that would heal with time— and his training, even when he healed he might wait for a few weeks before he could start again. 'Days off, Percival, days off, what is wrong with you?' Merlin had complained quite loudly everytime Percival complained about 'staying inside doing nothing.'

Now at the tavern, though, the days off looked even further away, Merlin thought, with Morgana's threat over their heads Merlin couldn't afford a day off.

"So, who's up for some dices?" Owen asked bringing Merlin to the present. The sorcerer quickly volunteered, he had spent his last salary on some new breeches and a new green shirt. Merlin was in a desperate need of a new jacket. He could ask Arthur for money, but in four years that day had yet to come and if you asked him it would remain that way.

The knights rounded the table exchanging amused glances between them; apparently, Owen didn't know what he had gotten himself into, but they were not about to correct him. It was always amusing to see people lose against ARthur's servant.

Lancelot sighed but said nothing, he had given Merlin several speeches about how he ought to use his magic for good deeds: to help people, to build Camelot for the better, to save people's lives but he had eventually got tired of it and let his friend be, at least it was harmless, most of the time. There had been one time were the knights had agreed on betting clothes— that had been an interesting night.

"All right, Merlin," Owen said taking the dices first and smiling amiably. "Let's see what you've got."

Five minutes later and Merlin's side of the table was filled with coins pilled on little towers, while Owen's side looked even more deserted than the tavern on a quiet Monday morning. Soon enough he only had only one more silver coin to bet.

"Seven," Merlin said and the knights cheered when he got a five and a two, all but Lancelot, who just shook his head. Merlin smiled and shrugged in his direction: he was not obliging Owen to play, was he? Owen looked deflated for a moment before he raised a hand.

"Wait," Owen said as he started to look into his pockets for a coin, he was certain that he had a golden coin somewhere. "One last chance."

"Merlin…" Lancelot whispered in what ought to be a warning voice but Merlin ignored him.

"Oh c'mon, Lancelot." Merlin whispered back but they dropped their whispered discussion when Owen slapped a golden coin on the table startling everyone around.

"That's a man who knows what faith awaits him and cares nothing about it!" Gwaine whistled drinking from his jar.

"You sure, Owen?" Percival asked amused—who was sitting comfortably on a stool. "Merlin has never lost a dice game."

"Certainly, now c'mon!" Owen said and clapped once, immersed in the game. "All in, Merlin."

Merlin looked around. The tavern waiting impatiently for his decision.

"Alright," Merlin said amiably. The tavern broke in jeers as they pushed each other to get closer to the table, eager to see how this ended. Some were already making bets on the winner. Merlin took all his coins and placed them in the center along with the golden coin. "You first."

Owen looked at Merlin, then up and down the table and smirked, taking the dices he closed his eyes, sent a little prayer and threw them.

"Seven," Owen said and was disappointed when he got a four and a two, he cursed under his breath, Gwaine gave him a pat on the shoulder.

Merlin smiled impishly. Raising his brows in a 'sorry mate´ stare, then he took the dices and opened his mouth to blow on them when his eyes strayed unto the crestfallen face of Owen. Merlin doubted for a moment. Merlin knew Owen had a little sister to take care of. His father had just died last winter, his mother has been dead for years … he looked down at the golden coin, it was probably the only golden coin he had…

He could feel Lancelot glaring at him… he was sure that dare he look behind at him he would see Lancelot's disappointed face, crossed arms, raised brows—what Arthur had labeled as "Lancelot does not approve of this" maneuver.

Merlin closed his eyes in dread and breathed out. "Nine."

A moment of silence—as silent as one could be in a tavern—and then Lancelot spoke, walking a step closer to the table to see better.

"You lost," Lancelot stated with furrowed eyebrows as he stared at back at Merlin. "You lost."

"I can't believe this!" Gwaine said aghast, feeling like he himself had lost and in anger he drank his whole just filled jar in a go. Owen stared in disbelief at the two ones staring back before he cheered, looking at Leon for confirmation—like if Leon's being the highest on command had any saying in a play of dices in a tavern.

Leon shrugged as nodded incredibly amused. "You won."

Owen cheers filled the tavern and with a little jump—very unknightly—Owen took all the coins on the table.

"He really lost." Percival chuckled, taking a sip of his wine. "I had begun to think Merlin had made a pact with a sorcerer."

Everybody laughed—all but Leon who looked half relieved as he stared at Merlin, the recent events fresh on his brain— as the people around scattered to get some more drinks, sing more drunk songs, flirt with some maids.

"So, who thinks can beat me, fellows?" Gwaine said as he took Owen's place. Placing his empty jar down with determination and a smirk.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

"I'm proud of you, Merlin," Lancelot said as he took a seat in front of Merlin as the rest of the knights settled around the tavern.

Merlin shrugged as he sipped his own jar of beer. "Now you owe me a new jacket. I could clean the floors with this and no one would tell the difference."

Lancelot laughed as Merlin showed him the holes on his brown jacket and made a note to buy Merlin a new one for his upcoming birthday. "So, any improvement on our once and future king? Had any luck?"

Merlin tilted his head and made an uncommentative sound. "Still brooding, but we talked and—you were right, he was not mad at me or anything. But something is bothering him, he just refuses to tell me, what do you think happened in the clear anyway?"

Lancelot shrugged. "No idea, he hasn't talked with me about it either. Remember that Agravaine was the brother of Arthur's mother, whatever went down there we might never know."

"That is Arthur." Merlin sighed and nodded. "Bottling everything up and I have to be there when he decides to unleash it on someone. He needs to vent out or just—don't know, do something. He still passes a lot of time on his own and there's just so much he can do in the research about well—you know." Merlin said talking about Uther's loss of memory.

Lancelot nodded and raised his brows, not amused in the least. "First Morgana, then his father, now all the problems in between. He needs a break, from all this."

"He trains… but there's so much training can do." Merlin complied.

"He needs a project." Both Merlin and Lancelot snapped their eyes to see Owen holding a beer to his lips, neither of them realized they had been overheard.

"A project?" Merlin asked bewildered and Owen nodded taking a seat beside Merlin.

"Of course, you are talking about Arthur, right? He needs something to occupy his time with— everybody has a project, you know, to pass the time." Owen said and then turned his head in the direction of Gwaine—who had just lost on dices against James. "Gwaine, for example, whenever he is not on duty he comes to the tavern, no, no—I didn't mean at nights, you might not know but some mornings he comes to help cleaning up after the mess we make."

Lancelot and Merlin both laughed but after the serious look on Owen's face they stopped, narrowing their eyes at the knight.

"He does?" Lancelot asked bewildered, turning to look for Gwaine like if he really was pointing to the same man.

Merlin scoffed and shook his head. "You saw another man; Gwaine can barely wake up early on good days."

"Promised over my life to not say a word, but…" Owen hummed happily and took another sip of his beer. Merlin grinned amused and looked towards his friend. Gwaine helped to clean the mess after a drunken night? That he didn't see it coming.

"By the way Merlin, here." Owen tossed the sorcerer a little bag with silver coins and smiled apologetically. "I accept that betting his my greatest weakness, but—I never fancy going home with the money of my friends."

"You earned it, good and fair." Merlin insisted but Owen didn't hear of it.

"You know, Owen, you might be right," Lancelot said after a moment, returning his stare to Owen, still not quite convinced about Gwaine. "I know that Elyan is trying to restart the business of his father and retire with a running blacksmith hut, he has been looking for an apprentice for a while now."

Merlin hummed, thinking about Gwen, who had a little garden behind her house where she grew crops or flowers on occasion. Then it was Gaius, he was a physician, he worked for the king and the court but you could find him doing several experiments on his free time.

"See? Even Percival has one, he helps rebuilding the wooden houses on the outskirts of the city just for the good of his heart." Owen smirked looking at the knight, who had his leg propped against a wood stool as he talked with a pretty maid.

Merlin stared at Owen for a moment. "And you? What do you do, what is your uh—project?"

Owen gulped down his jar of bee in a go. He stared at the bottom of it for a moment before replying. "There's a little house by the east entrance of Camelot, a woman lives there that takes in lost children, orphans. Lilian is her name, might heard of her. Well, she needs help more often than not, so my sister and I tag along on free days to help around."

Merlin nodded as Lancelot and Owen got immersed on a talk about the woman. Merlin looked around and realized that he knew very little about his friends lives besides knighthood but Owen was right, they were men, humans, being a knight was a full-time job but they had lives before becoming one, and surely they must have a life out of it too. Some were brothers, other's had sisters, most were married and a bunch of them had family.

Even Merlin was on that list, he supposed, Merlin was not just a manservant; he was Emrys, the sorcerer in charge to bring Albion to life.

"See? Everyone of us here is a knight— or manservant—but it's not the only thing we are." Owen said as he rested his jar solemnly on the table, befor looking to his friends. "So, project."

Merlin chuckled. "And what could Arthur do on his free time? Write poetry? He's the prince, Owen, he has enough on his hands already."

"No, of course not, but—" Owen said raising a finger in the air, trying to get this point across. "Take away his crown and title and what is he? Once you have taken away everything that Arthur Pendragon was born with, what is left?"

Owen smiled quizzically before getting up to get himself another drink, leaving the two friends to ponder over such wise—drunk—words. Lancelot and Merlin shared a glance in dread. That was the problem, wasn't it? Arthur was nothing but a prince. Merlin had never thought about it, but if Arthur suddenly were no prince… what would Arthur become?

Merlin was ripped from this thoughts when he heard cheers just a few feet away. James and Gwaine were about to finish their game of dices. Merlin smirked and when James threw his dices, he—magically—got a perfect twelve. James cheered triumphantly while Gwaine mumbled something about luck.

"I saw that," Lancelot whispered.

Merlin smirked and shrugged, eyes no longer gold. "Nobody saw."

"I did."

"You are only able to tell because you know,." Merlin said good-naturedly ending his beer, the last for the night otherwise he might start singing ridiculous songs with Gwaine and God knows how bad Merlin is at singing. "Funny, isn't it? You don't even possess any of… well you know, in fact, if you didn't know I had magic you wouldn't even be able to—"

Merlin cut himself short, straightening in his seat so fast he almost tumbled his jar in the process. Lancelot raised his brows, glancing at Merlin and then around, fearing they might have been overheard. Merlin had one of those faces that either indicated a 'funny feeling' or a 'this will be a bad idea but I'm doing it anyway'. Lancelot hated them both.

"Merlin, was is it?" Lancelot pressed but Merlin just shook his head as he got up, tapping the table excitedly.

"I have an idea," Merlin said grinning. "God', how could we have been so stupid?"

"Merlin, where are you going?" Lancelot asked worriedly, louder this time over the noise of the tavern as Merlin made his way to the exit.

"You will see," Merlin said as he ducked to avoid being hit on the head by two fighting drunk men. He straightened up and as he passed James and Gwaine, James got—magically, of course—another perfect twelve before Merlin was out the door.

"Alright, this time you are definitely cheating," Gwaine complained as he gave his last coins to the extended hand of James.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

It took a few seconds for Arthur to understand that someone was shaking him awake, the prince had been so tired after the meeting with the lords he had fallen right asleep, besides it was the first time in nine days—since everything with Merlin was alright again—that he could sleep peacefully. No nightmares, no guilt, no nothing. Just tiredness.

Of course, it would not last. He grunted and rolled to his side.

"Wa'is it?" He said with his eyes firmly closed knowing perfectly well who was shaking him awake, after all, who, in the whole Camelot, didn't bother to knock on the damned door? But then again, since when Merlin did anything Arthur wanted?

Never, was the answer.

"C'mon Arthur, wake up, it's important." And he felt as Merlin's hand left his shoulder and instead he took the covers off from Arthur. Arthur closed his eyes harder and sighed, feeling like he always did when his father would call for him to do something he really, really didn't want to do, but he ought to do anyway.

"Alri't fine," Arthur mumbled annoyed, he counted to three in his head to push away the anger before he nodded. If Merlin was waking him up it might be important. Might being the keyword, the idiot usually wakes Arthur up for whatever reason. Once he had woken him because he was doing spring cleaning. His drowsy brain registered that maybe it had been one of the, apparently, multiple occasions where Merlin had been saving his life.

Arthur finally got the courage and opened his eyes, he grunted and blinked around at the sudden light. The room was lighted with burning candles even when he was sure that he had blown them out—except the one on his desk, the magical candle that no matter what would never burn out thanks to Merlin's spell.

Arthur then looked to the side to see Merlin with a bucket of water on his hands, he looked like he was two seconds away of throwing it to Arthur's face.

Arthur stared at Merlin. Merlin stared back.

"Merlin?" Arthur finally asked as he sat on the bed, eyeing his friend with a glare. "What's that?"

"It's uh—it's a bucket, Sire."

"I can see that." Arthur scoffed and after a moment,he tilted his head. "Were you about to do what I think you were about to do, Merlin?"

"No," Merlin said hurriedly, as he quickly put it down. Arthur glared. "Maybe."

"Merlin— if you ever, in this life or the next, wake me up with a bucket of water I will make sure to make your life a living hell, understood?" Arthur said slowly to make himself clear. Merlin nodded nervously, muttering under his breath (talking about next lives already?) "And drop the sire, for god's sake; we are well past that point now." Arthur said as he scrubbed his face from sleepiness and sat straighter on his bed, swinging his legs to the side, yawning.

"Sorry, habit." Merlin said mind-absently as he looked around the room. "And I'm sorry for waking you up but it was urgent."

Merlin's eyes shined gold and a stool came just in time for him to seat in front of Arthur, the prince blinked, well whatever it was it was indeed important. "Alright, it is official, I hate when you enter my chambers unannounced at night. It's always bad news. Last time you turned to be a sorcerer."

Merlin gulped but Arthur scoffed and rolled his eyes, making clear that he was joking. He suppressed a yawn as he motioned for Merlin to speak up.

"So? What is so urgent? Speak, Merlin." Arthur then sniffed around and glared. "Wait, were you at the tavern? I thought I canceled it!"

Merlin wisely chose not to comment. "I know what to do about your father."

"What?" Arthur asked fully awake now as he moved to sit at the edge of the bed. "You found a—a spell or something? You found a cure?"

"No, not exactly but I got an idea, how about if all this time I wasn't able to spot what was hurting him because I am magic myself."

"I'm not following," Arthur said bluntly, narrowing his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Sometimes magic, or objects of magic, can escape the notice of others sorcerers by certain spells placed upon them, more times than not I had missed them completely in the past. Sometimes magic can't be detected by magic." Merlin explained simply, moving his hands as he talked.

"So, you are saying you hadn't been able to see what kind of magic had been placed on my father…" Arthur said pondering what Merlin said. "…because you have magic."

"Yes."

"That's stupid." Arthur finished his thought.

"In any case—oi more respect, I'm trying to teach you something here," Merlin said very Gaius's style and slapped Arthur's arm. "It doesn't matter if you think is stupid or not, that's how it works, so far though Gaius and I were right, your father is under no spell or potion. So that leaves objects, it must be, a magical enchanted object that might be hurting your father, right?"

Arthur nodded annoyed and huffed trying to follow. "Yes, yes I guess—but you had already been in my father's room three times and found nothing, am I right? But you are saying that— that… something is escaping you because you have magic."

"Exactly," Merlin said waiting for Arthur to spot the plan.

Arthur nodded and after a moment shook his head, totally lost. "So what? If you, the great Emrys—oh, for god's sake stop the smirk—can't detect this object what do we do? Destroy everything in his room? Test one by one? My father has like a centenar different things in his room, Merlin. It will take months."

"That's where you come in."

"Me? I don't know anything about magic, Merlin." Arthur deadpanned, incredibly annoyed at Merlin's behavior. "What can I possibly do?"

"You can steal your father's white rock, Arthur," Merlin said with a glint in his eyes and an impish smile, like he was delivering this huge plan for Arthur to see. "We have been blind all this time when the answer was right in front of us. If I can't use my magic to look for it…"

A second passed before Arthur opened and closed his mouth twice.

"Merlin, you are brilliant!" Arthur said with a chuckle when he caught up with the plan, sitting straighter. "The stone, we can test the objects with the stone! Gods Merlin!"

Merlin even laughed a little and clapped once, rising from his seat as he paced in front of the bed. "Yes! All this time and Uther himself had the answer! Of course, I can't touch the stone, my magic would trigger it, but you can use it and test the objects, the one that shines is the one that is enchanted! There! Gods! "

"We take it out, destroy it or whatever you have to do and my father will be back?" Arthur said rising from his bed to make himself clear. " Merlin, do I get my father back?"

Merlin shrugged but the smile didn't die on his face and turned towards Arthur. "We will have to do some research on the object, it's never easy to break a spell, Arthur, but—I have never failed before, have I?"

Arthur and Merlin stared at each other for a moment, like little kids who had solved the most incredibly difficult puzzle. Merlin was still grinning for his great discovery when Arthur did something unexpected that caught Merlin off-guard. It was, actually, unprecedented.

Arthur hugged him.

"A—Arthur?" Merlin asked softly in panic, not daring to return the sudden embrace. For a moment there, he had thought Arthur was going to punch him.

Arthur never hugged Merlin. In four years Merlin was certain it was the first time ever.

"Thank you, Merlin." Arthur said in a husky voice, so low that Merlin thought it could have been the alcohol running on his system. Then the prince patted Merlin's back again and quickly put him at arms length, nodded once and let him go with a tight nod, not making eye contact. He sat on the edge of his bed again, hands steepled in front of his face like in a prayer and closed his eyes. The hug had lasted less than two seconds but it was enough for Merlin to realize how much Arthur was hurting for his father and, this time, Merlin's smile did die on his lips.

Merlin felt a little bit guilty after that, for being blind about Arthur's pain. Arthur had been hurting for weeks now and he had completely missed how much all these days Arthur had been wanting to not show it. To act like he was fine.

Merlin realized that all man brake, even Arthur.

The sorcerer finally walked and placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder, Arthur looked up, not really looking at him, eyes moist. The prince quickly looked down and blinked, taking a huge breath to steady himself, ashamed that his emotions were getting the best of him.

Arthur opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of an excuse to explain himself when he realized there was no point in trying to cover for this and then he went for the next best question. He cleared his throat. "So, when do we do this? When do we test the room?"

"Tomorrow when the King is at a meeting," Merlin said simply, ignoring the side of this brain that wanted to say something to comfort Arthur, and instead acted as if nothing had happened, taking his seat again at the stool.

Arthur nodded, regaining his composure and frowned. "So—wait, you are saying that we should… you want me to steal my father's rock…tonight?"

Merlin nodded as if it was obvious. "We don't have time to lose; Arthur, besides we have to do it while he's asleep, otherwise we will waste another day. We can't get close to him by day. We have to do it tonight."

"Merlin, imagine I could enter my father's chambers tonight—who knows who is in guard— but even then, how do you want me to steal it and don't have my father immediately noticing it's missing in the morning? He never loses sight of the bloody thing." Arthur said moving his hand. "He's obsessed with it."

Merlin rose from his seat and walked to Arthur's closet taking the first cloak that he found.

"You seem to forget I have been saving your ass for years, really, have you ever read the list I gave you?" Merlin joked over his shoulder.

"Are you going to ever let that go?"

"And I have a plan, better than just knocking you unconscious." Merlin faked deafness as he walked back to Arthur's side.

"I knew you would start complaining eventually." Arthur rolled his eyes annoyed but not really angry.

"I already woke Gaius, he knows what to do," Merlin grinned and basically tossed the deep blue cloak to Arthur's face. The prince was bewildered for a moment. Since when Merlin treated him like that?

"I will forgive you for such attitude because you are a bit drunk Merlin." Arthur mumbled eyeing his friend, who was at the door impatiently waiting for him."Seriously, I'm your prince, show some respect."

"You told me to drop the sire," Merlin reminded him almost singing and Arthur glared but took a steady breath, alright, fine, just this once he will let it pass. "So? Ready?"

Arthur sighed in defeat but nodded— as the man in action he was— and placed his cloak over his royal pajamas with an elegant twirl. "As ready as I will ever be, Merlin."

A/N: Well, I kept the chapter short and nice, as I promised didn't I? Cute, funny, bromance everywhere guys, everywhere, just yesterday my sister was watching Merlin for the first time ( after a lot of convincing from my part) and she was seeing season 2 chapter 9 I believe, where Arthur gets to see his mother when Morgausse like, brings her soul back from the dead for a minute or something. I suffered all over again.

The hug idea came after that, man Arthur needed a hug then and he needed a hug now, in this fic, everything just keeps going wrong for him. Hope I did justice to the chapter, but next chap we will get on with the story. Fun times ahead, and well, there is the vase! You will have to wait for the next chaps to see how they deal with it. I was going to deal with this until way later in the story but it seemed to fit perfectly now.

Thank you for your reviews, really, I'm alive because of them! God's love them all (I will answer yous reviewssss in a minute!)

AAAANDDD if you think of a better name for the chapter, write it on the review! My mind is not working anymore and that's the title I came with.