AN: A one-shot Merlin sickfic because I'm tired of reading the same ones on repeat (not that I'm going to stop). Plus, as much as I love collapsing characters, I find this a more realistic situation for someone with a fever, in fact it's something I've done in the past. That said, I'm sorry for any mistakes (I haven't written in ages and it's proving to be more difficult than I remembered) and I hope you enjoy!
"You're awfully quiet today Merlin. I feel as though I should thank you." Arthur glanced back over his shoulder and sent a smirk that almost became a smile at his mud-soaked manservant who was trudging grudgingly behind him. Carefully tossing his sword to Merlin, Arthur used his now free hands to dislodge as much of the muddy mess in his hair as he could. Both men, plus the knights, looked like something the cat had dragged in… Anyone would have guessed they'd just been in a battle rather than simply training. Really it was Gwaine's fault (when was it not?). After all he threw the first glob of gunk, and the last one with the rock in it, which ended both the training session and Merlin's perfect completion. Together the king and his servant strode from the muddy training field toward the castle, the knights still laughing a few paces behind them.
Merlin glanced up in surprise at Arthur's jibe, shielding his eyes from the light rain with a hand; had he been unusually quiet? He'd have to watch that. Drowsiness did tend to make him quiet and he was exceptionally tired at the moment. Unfortunately, he didn't have any good reason for it. Perhaps it was the gloomy weather, which although wet was still hot and humid. Making a mental note to watch himself, Merlin broke off for the armory to return Arthur's sword, not noticing that he still hadn't broken his silence.
Arthur, however, did notice and halted to watch his servant quizzically for a moment before continuing to his chambers where Merlin would meet him in a few minutes to remove his armor.
Training had been intense that day even before they had exchanged their swords for mud and although usually he would wait until evening for a bath, the combination of sticky wetness and inevitable soreness convinced Arthur to indulge himself early. As an added bonus he could enjoy the look on Merlin's face when he added the chore. As he stepped into his chambers, the king removed his gauntlets and dropped them on the table, taking a seat to wait for his servant to come and do the rest.
Merlin entered the armory and headed for the rack of training swords, stopping when he realized it wouldn't do to put such a muddy sword back on the rack. He was about to magic it clean when the door burst open again and the knights entered. Right, he'd forgotten they were just a few yards behind him. He'd almost died just for that slip of awareness. Sighing through pursed lips, Merlin spun on the spot to join the knights in cleaning their swords but froze as a wave of dizziness washed over him and his vision blurred. Shaking it off as soon as he could, he moved to get a rag, but quickly realized he must have missed something because Gwaine was taking the sword from his hand and waving toward the exit. The other knights laughed, presumably at whatever nonsense Gwaine had spouted and Merlin grinned a little uncertainly.
"Don't act so heroic," Elyan rolled his eyes at Gwaine. "Being that you're the one who gave him that black eye, you owe him more than just cleaning a sword."
"I apologized for that! Besides, I'm not just cleaning a sword!" Gwaine protested, a little too loudly for Merlin's developing headache. The knight took a valiant stance and stared off into the distance- about ten feet being that they were inside- then dramatically declared. "I'm saving his life! You know how the princess gets when he's made to wait. He's worse than-"
"You at the Rising Sun?" Leon interjected with a grin.
Percival shook his imaginary tankard in the air angrily, "More ale!"
The knights cracked up, drowning out whatever protests Gwaine was trying to make. Not waiting to hear the rest of their conversation, Merlin put a hand on Gwaine's shoulder and quickly thanked him before taking his leave. Once outside he leaned against the stone wall and took a steadying breath, enjoying the quiet and fresh air. His head pounded with more ferocity every second, likely due to Gwaine's mishap with the rock.
Merlin rubbed his sleeve over his mud caked face, it was starting to itch. He winced as he crossed over the large bruise that was blossoming around his left eye. Glancing up at side of the castle where he knew Arthur's room to be, the servant closed his eyes. It was so far away. Knowing the knights were right about Arthur's dislike of waiting, Merlin forced himself to push away from the wall and strike out for the castle.
When Merlin finally made it up to the king's chambers it was to find Arthur with his chin on the table spinning a coin, which he then flicked at Merlin, managing to hit him in the chest. After fumbling it for a moment, Merlin dropped the coin and disappointedly watched it roll across the floor and under the wardrobe, before directing his gaze back to Arthur.
"Merlin! Nice of you to drop by. Any longer and you may have missed my wedding." Arthur griped.
"You're not even engaged, Sire," Merlin pointed out, transferring Arthur's gauntlets from the table to a large basket.
"Maybe not but I would have been if you'd taken any longer." Arthur got to his feet and the two made their way over to the changing screen where Merlin began to remove Arthur's armor. "You tend to miss things when you take as long as you do to do- well everything really."
Merlin muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "at least I do things."
"As a reward for your terrible timing, you can draw my bath early today. Once you're done with this," The king gestured to his armor. "I'll take my lunch and you can draw my bath while I eat." He paused as Merlin dropped one of the shoulder pieces which clanged loudly and released a large amount of grassy mud all over the floor, then continued unfazed. "You can also clean this floor. After that you need to polish my armor and don't forget to fix the dent in my breastplate." He finished.
Merlin considered making fun of Arthur for the dent he had received courtesy of Percival, but another wave of dizziness caused to him to reconsider and instead he just sighed the words, "Yes sire," as he gathered up the discarded armor, tossed it in the basket and turned to take it to his own room.
"Oh and Merlin?" He waited until his friend turned around. "Try not to look as if I've just sentenced you to death."
Merlin didn't respond but Arthur thought he saw the corner of his mouth twitch up before he completely turned around and exited the room. Arthur didn't even know that what Merlin was about to do with the armor justified a death sentence.
A few minutes later, Merlin returned and dumped Arthur's lunch on the table. Arthur began to eat. Merlin stood awkwardly staring at the floor a few feet away, looking as though he was concentrating hard. Following his gaze, Arthur saw the gold piece he'd flicked earlier.
"Aren't you going to pick it up?" He gestured with his fork before stabbing a bite of steak. When Merlin didn't move, Arthur poked him with the handle of his fork to get his attention. Merlin jumped and Arthur rolled his eyes. "If you stare any harder you're going to bore a hole in the floor."
"Sorry." Merlin shook his head but stopped abruptly and squinted. "What did you want?"
"The coin," Arthur said slowly, annunciating as if explaining it to someone incredibly stupid.
Nodding distractedly, Merlin stumbled over to the wardrobe and knelt, reaching under for the gold. Once he had it, he sat back against the uncomfortable piece of furniture and pulled his knees up to his chest lazily eyeing the coin. Arthur raised an eyebrow.
"Merlin?"
"Yes?" He looked at Arthur.
"What are you doing?"
Merlin glanced at himself as if to check. "Sitting."
"I can see that." Arthur retorted dryly, turning his chair to face his friend and crossing his arms.
"Then why'd you ask?"
"Because I'm fairly certain I asked you to draw me a bath."
"Right…" Merlin drew out the word. "You did." He confirmed.
"I meant now."
"I know," Merlin mumbled making no move to obey.
"This is where you get up and do it, Merlin," Arthur informed him. He only got a sigh in response. "I could have you in the stocks for such a vibrant display of plain disobedience…" he mused nonchalantly. Still no response. "Do you know what happens to servants who won't serve?" It was rhetorical. "They get fired. Do you want to be fired, Merlin?"
A pause. Arthur assumed he was not going to get a reply, but then Merlin hesitantly spoke.
"No." He sounded so small. Was that a twinge of desperation in his tone? It couldn't be. This was getting ridiculous! All he wanted was a bath and this time Merlin's laziness was crossing the line!
"Then why, pray tell, are you sitting?" The question sounded more like a threat somehow, or a challenge.
If Arthur was puzzled before, he was even completely at a loss now when Merlin simply dropped his forehead onto his knees and shrugged in response. Shaking off a feeling of wrongness at this odd turn of events, Arthur stood and strode over to his friend. This couldn't be the result of Gwaine's rock. Arthur had seen the thing hit and Merlin had barely blinked. He'd been knocked out enough to know that Merlin did not have even a slight concussion.
After staring for a moment in contemplation, the king grabbed his servant's wrist and tried to yank him to his feet, but Merlin was an unwilling participant and pulled it back. Baffled, Arthur scanned the room before his gaze came to rest on his canteen, still mostly full since training had been so wet. He grinned. A second later Merlin was spluttering and jerking his head up to glare daggers at Arthur through the water dripping down his face.
This time gripping his friend's shoulders, Arthur forcefully pulled him to his feet. "Off you go then!" Arthur cheerily gestured to servant's entrance. Merlin stared at him for a moment then slid down the wardrobe back into his original position, burying his face in his arms. Definitely not normal; Merlin hadn't insulted him, or even given him a look.
Now thoroughly confused and a bit concerned, Arthur cautiously asked, "Are you alright?" Merlin's hum in the affirmative only served to make Arthur more certain that he wasn't, but he continued anyway.
"Then why aren't you doing as you're told?"
"Don't want to."
"Ah yes that clears everything up. You should never do something you don't want to."
"Prat," Merlin muttered.
"Sounds like the pot calling kettle black coming from you right now."
No reply.
"You're sure you're alright?"
Another hum in the affirmative.
"Yes, how silly of me. Because all people who are alright curl into useless balls and refuse to move."
"Of course," Merlin replied as though it was an obvious fact, voice slightly muffled because of his position.
"Maybe I should tell Gaius how alright you are..." Arthur thought aloud.
After a moment of contemplation, Merlin shook his head.
"I'm going to need a little more of an explanation than that." When he didn't get one, Arthur sighed deeply.
"Look if you're gonna be like this you might as well go home. You aren't doing any good here. In fact, you're being downright depressing."
This time Merlin sighed, but he didn't move, except to hug his knees tighter.
"If you're quite done acting like a child, you'd realize I just gave you the rest of the day off and take advantage of it."
"I can do that here." Merlin knew perfectly well how stupid that sounded and he hated the pleading tone that had snuck into his voice. Why was he embarrassing himself like this? He should really just get Arthur's bath now. Stronger than any of that though, was the overwhelming urge to stay exactly where he was, no matter what.
"You really have nothing better to do than spend your day off sitting on the floor of my chambers?" Arthur feigned an incredulous attitude but at this point he didn't think much would convince his friend to move, though he still didn't know why.
As if to prove his point, Merlin chose not to respond to his jibe. Not knowing where to go from here, Arthur sat down next to his friend.
"Merlin?" He asked after a moment. Merlin didn't acknowledge him. "Merlin," he tried again. "Look at me." When Merlin remained unresponsive, Arthur grabbed his shoulder and shook him. At first, he thought that hadn't worked either, but then Merlin sluggishly raised his head and rested it against the wardrobe, blinking blearily at him. Arthur gave him a scrutinizing look. His eyes had a glassy look to them. It was difficult to see the pallor of his skin through the water and bits of mud still on him, but his cheeks were definitely pink.
Suddenly, Merlin closed his eyes and lowered his head onto Arthur's shoulder, shifting most of his weight from the wardrobe to his friend. Shock froze Arthur for a few seconds, his muscles tense. His first instinct was to push the younger man off and say something mean, but he quickly registered the unnatural heat radiating from Merlin's skin, even through his clothes. Obviously today he wouldn't be following that instinct because contrary to popular belief Arthur was not a prat, but at any normal time. Resigned to his fate, Arthur relaxed somewhat and reached over and pushed away the hair plastered to Merlin's forehead, pressing his hand in its place. The once cold water he'd splashed on him was already suspiciously warm and beneath it was definitely an intense heat.
"I'm getting Gaius," Arthur decided.
"He's busy," Merlin mumbled. "an' I'm fine." Ignoring him, Arthur worked his way out from under Merlin and got to his feet, leaving his friend sprawled out on the floor.
"He can make time, and you're an idiot. It's probably not worth saying, but stay here until I get back," Arthur instructed as he headed for the door. Merlin's only response was to bury his face in knees again.
Arthur knocked on the physician's door but didn't wait for an answer before opening it to find an empty room. Apparently, Gaius was busy, but where would he be? Arthur pursed his lips and exhaled, before finding some parchment and a quill and ink and scribbling a note for the physician, letting him know he was expected in Arthur's chambers upon his return. Torn between waiting for Gaius and getting back to Merlin, Arthur stalled by grabbed a cup and rag, along with a bucket which he intended to fill with water on his way back.
When Arthur returned to his chambers, he half expected Merlin to have snapped out of it and be ready with an excuse and an apology, but he was exactly where he was been when the king left. Arthur was about to make a comment about how Merlin must be feeling really badly if had obeyed orders for once, but it died on his tongue when he saw that his friend was now trembling.
Quietly, Arthur put everything down by the bed and knelt down beside him placing a hand on his shoulder. "Merlin?" Half-lidded, glazed, blue eyes stared pitifully up at him. Arthur resisted the urge to smile. "Come on. You can't sleep here."
"Just did," Merlin pointed out, but allowed Arthur to sit him up and managed to survive having his wet jacket, neckerchief, and shirt removed, with only one small complaint of "i's cold" before settling back against his friend, who called him a baby for his whining. Now there was a dilemma with his boots. Arthur couldn't reach them from where he was, but if Merlin was cold now, he'd freeze on the floor.
"Merlin? I need you to stand up for a minute." If he had to guess at the look Merlin was giving him, Arthur would have said it was disbelief. Still, when Arthur pulled him to his feet, Merlin followed him obediently and sat on the bed while Arthur undid his boots and cast them aside. Filling the cup, Arthur gave it to Merlin, who dutifully took a few sips before handing it back.
"You can lay down now." Merlin looked at Arthur hesitantly. "I'll have someone else come in to change the sheets later. It's barely mid-day. You can use it until Gaius gets here." By the look on Merlin's face anyone would have thought the fate of the world rested on this decision. "Or you're welcome to walk across the castle through the rain and go lay in your bed." Actually, he wasn't because Arthur wanted to keep an eye on him, but he thought saying it would cement Merlin's decision to stay here. Instead he just looked more stressed. "For heaven's sake do I have to make it an order?" With that Arthur pushed Merlin down and pulled the covers over him, ignoring the mud on the sheets. Merlin seemed to accept his fate as he closed his eyes and nuzzled Arthur's pillow, letting out a small sigh. Wetting the cloth, Arthur ran it over Merlin's face -being mindful of his black eye- before rinsing it once more and setting it on his forehead.
For the next few hours, Merlin slept while Arthur finished his cold lunch and did paperwork at his desk, taking breaks whenever his friend made any sort of noise or movement to check on him and re-soak the cloth. Gaius showed up in the early evening. After making sure there was nothing seriously wrong with his ward, he roused him and asked Arthur to accompany them home as a precaution. It proved to be unnecessary, but after spending the day caring for Merlin, Arthur didn't really want to leave him and was glad for an excuse to come along. Once Merlin had crashed in his own bed, Arthur had no excuse to stay and with a final glance at his friend went to find a servant to take Merlin's place temporarily. After all, both he and his room were still covered in mud.
The next morning Arthur was surprised and pleased to be awakened by blinding light and an annoying yell of "wake up sleeping beauty!" Followed by some endearing- no wait obnoxious- rambling about how beauty probably wasn't the right word in this context.
"Merlin?"
"Yes, sire?"
Arthur realized he didn't have anything to say. "Nothing. I just wasn't expecting you." There was an awkward silence. Merlin shifted uncomfortably and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Um about yesterday... I'm sorry. I didn't realize I- well, what I mean to say is- my behavior was not-"
"As much as I'm enjoying watching you squirm," Arthur broke in. "I'm not going to judge you for being sick. Except you did act like a stubborn toddler, but of course that's not unusual for you and occasionally you whimpered like a little girl, but again that's not surprising-"
"Didn't you say something about not being judgmental? Besides last time you were sick-"
"Only about how you acted when ill, I can still judge you for your everyday embarrassments speaking of-"
And suddenly both boys were talking at the same time, each certain that they were winning the argument even without hearing the other side. Merlin knew it would end in extra chores for him, and Arthur was already choosing some of the easiest tasks he could assign. He didn't want a repeat of yesterday; Merlin was much more fun awake.