It wasn't that Arthur was annoyed…except he totally was and it was all Merlin's fault. The one person who had always been capable of eliciting the most intense of emotions out of Arthur, irritation being one of them.
He opened the doors to his bedchamber with way more force than necessary, muttering and grumbling and thinking how Merlin would've surely called him a drama queen by now, when he suddenly stopped short.
Huh. Well this was a surprise. One Arthur wouldn't have expected on this day especially. Wonders never ceased indeed.
A smile tugged at his lips and he went closer to the plate of heavenly-looking honey cakes sitting on the table. They were still warm. Arthur had to admit that this was rather nice of Merlin, despite what had happened earlier. Maybe he shouldn't have been so hard on him…
Basically starving after a therapeutic hunt that went on for too long, Arthur quickly swiped a piece of cake from the plate and popped it into his mouth, the warm sugary sweetness enveloping him.
Yes, oh yes. Merlin was definitely forgiven. Arthur would visit his chambers at first light and –
A knock sounded at the door, breaking Arthur's stream of thoughts.
"Come in," he called and grinned, only being able to think of one person who could be at Arthur's door so late.
However, the door opened and Lancelot stood on the other side of it, smiling apologetically.
"Sorry to disturb you at this hour, my lord but –"
Suddenly, a crash sounded behind Lancelot and a servant girl skidded to a halt at his feet. Her eyes went in quick succession from Lancelot to Arthur to the plate of cakes sitting on the table inside the room, and looked horrified.
She quickly composed himself.
"I –apologies, my lords," she squeaked, backing away slowly. "This won't happen again."
Then she ran like her life depended on it.
Arthur and Lancelot both looked at her retreating form with puzzlement.
"Well, as I was saying," continued Lancelot, clearing his throat "I just wanted to confirm whether I can take a few days off to visit my sister next week? She hasn't been feeling well."
"Oh yes," said Arthur, remembering the conversation he'd had with his knight the day before. "Of course. You've been working hard and you certainly deserve a well-earned break. You have my permission to go."
Lancelot beamed and bowed low. "Thank you, Arthur. Goodnight."
With that, Lancelot left and Arthur was left alone to focus on those cakes again….
"Merlin!" called Gaius from outside, "A guard is at the door. Arthur's calling for you."
Merlin looked up from Gaius's worktable where he was crushing herbs and he smirked to himself when he heard those words. Arthur was looking for him? Indeed? The prat had come to his senses this soon? Miracles do happen.
Well, obviously Merlin would've preferred it if Arthur had come to him instead of calling Merlin but he would take what he could get.
He quickly finished his task, washed his hands and set off towards the prince's chambers, ignoring Gaius's knowing glance on the way out.
As was the custom, Merlin entered without knocking when he reached Arthur's room, not being able to help but smile smugly at his win.
Arthur was looking intently out the window, a sappy expression blooming on his face…which did strike Merlin as odd but he didn't dwell on it.
"Ah Merlin, you're here" said Arthur, finally noticing his presence. "I want you to quickly pick out some wildflowers and bring them to me."
Merlin frowned. "What?"
Arthur exhaled. "Honestly Merlin, why must we go through this every single day? The instructions are clear."
"Are you seriously trying to apologise to me by asking me to bring flowers for myself? This is low Arthur, even for you," Merlin commented, crossing his arms in protest.
"Apologise? To you?" Arthur said, barking out a laugh. "Why on Earth would I do that?"
Merlin stared at him, his jaw going slack. "Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable, Arthur Pendragon."
Then he shook his head and glared at Arthur. "You know what? I'll be the bigger person, even though it was completely your fault. Right then…sorry, I suppose" said Merlin, not sounding sorry in the least.
"Listen Merlin, I don't know what you're talking about. Just do what I asked you to," Arthur said impatiently, shooting Merlin an exasperated look.
Merlin balled his fists by his side, blue eyes flashing in anger. He could scarcely believe this was happening. Granted, Arthur was a difficult and stubborn man but this was going too far.
"Fine," he snarled. "Be like that. See if I care."
Merlin left the room fuming, making sure he banged the door loudly behind him.
As it turned out, Merlin in fact did care, and he was seething. Especially as Arthur's behaviour got progressively ruder and Merlin was starting to question many decisions he had made in these past few months.
They were on the training grounds and Merlin glowered as Arthur picked out Lancelot to spar with again.
The rest of the knights gave annoyed sighs and finally sat down on the grass. It didn't look like they were going to get a chance at training anytime soon.
Lancelot looked slightly uncomfortable and also a little tired but Merlin knew he'd never refuse his future king. He just took it in his stride and tried to keep up to the best of his abilities, which gave rise to another mystery.
Arthur kept losing. Now Lancelot was a fine warrior, everyone knew that and it wouldn't be a surprise if it was anyone else but this was Arthur. Not even Lancelot could keep beating him repeatedly. It was very suspicious. Not to mention the fact that Arthur kept smiling at Lancelot and kept touching him. A little inappropriately, in Merlin's opinion. It wasn't like that treatment was supposed to be reserved only for Merlin…but it was exactly like that.
What was Arthur playing at? Was he trying to get back at Merlin? Could he be that cruel? He knew Lancelot was Merlin's closest friend. The situation was beyond anything he'd dealt with before.
Practice continued and a rush of jealousy went through Merlin as Arthur squeezed Lancelot's arm for the fifteenth time, but he looked away quickly as Arthur approached him, sweaty hair flopping and a huge grin on his face.
"Training went alright today, don't you think?" asked Arthur, as he splashed some water on his face.
"It was something," muttered Merlin coldly, trying not to look at Arthur's face, lest he get the urge to bonk him on the head.
"Excuse me?" inquired Arthur, with raised eyebrows.
Merlin huffed out a mirthless laugh. "Arthur, look at the other knights. Not a single one but Lancelot got to practice today. You wasted everyone's time."
"It's not of your business how I train my knights, Merlin. I suggest you don't stick your nose where it doesn't belong," snapped Arthur and stalked off. He then proceeded to track down Lancelot who was trying to slink away unnoticed and put an arm around his shoulder, their proximity making Merlin ground his teeth in frustration.
"I haven't forgotten that you didn't get me the flowers I asked for this morning," Arthur commented, as he mulled over state reports.
Merlin stopped fluffing the gargantuan pillows on Arthur's bed, took a calming breath. "You didn't tell me what they were for, sire."
Arthur glanced at him. "Not that it's your concern in any way but I'm going to be making a declaration of love."
Merlin's heart stopped and he whizzed around to gape at the prince. He must've heard him wrong. He must've. This couldn't be. It couldn't.
"Wh –what?" he stuttered, blood rushing to his ears and vision getting blurred at the edges. No, no, no…
Arthur rolled his eyes. "A declaration of love, Merlin," he enunciated, "Do ask Gaius to check your ears, I don't know what the matter is with your hearing these days."
"Declaration of love…to whom?" Merlin ventured to ask hollowly, almost scared to hear the answer.
Arthur smiled widely at that, getting a dreamy look in his eyes. "Why, Lancelot, of course."
Merlin's whole world turned upside down. He dug his nails into his palms to keep from spinning out. It was all he could do from trembling. No, no, no. Merlin refused to believe this.
He could feel his voice shaking as he said, "L –Lancelot? What are you talking about, Arthur? What about us?"
Arthur shrugged noncommittally and flicked through the reports casually again. "There is no 'us', Merlin. I'm sorry if I gave you any wrong ideas but –"
"Shut up," said Merlin, tears pricking at his eyes. His magic coursed through his veins, his mind filling with the heady feeling of power. It was seconds away from bursting out of him. He needed to calm down. He couldn't potentially lose Arthur and his head on the executioner's block on the same day.
He took a shuddering breath and turned away from Arthur, to hide how broken he probably looked. Arthur didn't deserve to see him like that. That ass. Merlin couldn't believe he had the audacity to fall for him. Truly bad decision-making on his part.
Arthur's thick head seemed to sense the tense atmosphere in the room and he wordlessly left the room, muttering some excuse about visiting his father.
Merlin collapsed on the bed, staring numbly at the ceiling. He wanted to smother himself with the same ridiculously large pillows on the bed that he'd often lain on in the past few months. He was at a loss for words. Arthur's name kept bouncing around in his head, without any other coherent thought to support it…which wasn't that out of the ordinary, he supposed.
Of course. This was it, wasn't it? It was his fault for centering his entire existence around the prattiest prince in all the land. He shouldn't have gotten so close…shouldn't have allowed himself to develop feelings.
Merlin didn't know what had gone wrong.
He got his answer soon enough.
Later when Merlin was furiously pacing Arthur's room (instead of doing his chores), his eyes met a curious sight. Well, it wasn't that curious, since they were just honey cakes but how did they get there? Merlin was the only one who brought Arthur his food directly from the kitchens. No one else had access to it except him and the cook, and Merlin certainly didn't remember getting any cakes. He knew how Arthur got when he was hopped up on sugar, and Merlin made it a point to keep him away from it as much as possible.
Eyebrows furrowed, Merlin picked up a piece of it and sniffed it. Well, it smelled fine…but there was something stuck to one side of the cake. On closer inspection, it looked like a fluxweed seed which was puzzling because that was a rare plant and if he remembered correctly, wasn't the seed commonly used to make –
Realisation struck and Merlin dashed through the castle to get to Gaius. If this was what he thought it was, then that would explain all of Arthur's strange behaviour…. but then it would pose an even bigger problem. Merlin didn't know which one he preferred.
It was as he suspected, and Gaius confirmed it. Arthur was under the effects of a love potion, and his affections seemed to be targeted towards Lancelot which didn't make any sense because that would mean that Lancelot was the one who brewed the potion and –no, it was too horrifying to think about.
"We don't know that, Merlin," repeated Gaius, rubbing his face. "There are hundreds of different types of love potions that work in hundreds of ways. I hardly think Lancelot would slip the prince a love potion. I thought he and Guinevere were quite happy together?"
"They are!" whined Merlin, flopping onto the floor helplessly. "I don't understand."
Merlin had a headache. He didn't deserve this.
Gaius placed a comforting arm on his shoulder and said, "I think we'd better direct our efforts at undoing the effects of the potion and determine who the perpetrator was later."
Merlin looked up and stared at him, praying that this was the easy part. "And how do we do that?"
Gaius smiled impishly, his eyes twinkling. "Well as far as I'm aware Merlin, no matter what kind of love spell or potion it is, the remedy for it is always the same. A kiss from the one Arthur truly loves."
A/N: I'm back on my Merthur bullshit, lmao there's no escape huh? So I promised a longer fic next time and here it is! There's going to be another chapter to this that I'll be posting in a day or two, so look out for that!
Just for the record, I'll be getting to writing new chapters for Golden Strands right after this. That's a bigger project so WHEW.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Credits to Coldplay for title inspo.
Till next time!