Dealing with Prats
This is a fairly light-hearted story and is set early in the first season, soon after Merlin has become Arthur's manservant. Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from 'Merlin', nor do I own the show itself. All I own are my ideas.
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"Merlin, did you get any sleep last night?" Arthur asked, annoyed at his manservant's hopeless lack of awareness. He had been giving the scrawny man a list of chores – polish my armour, sharpen my sword, clean my boots, muck out my stables, etc, etc, etc – only to look up and realise that Merlin had been paying no attention to what he had been saying and instead was staring into space like an idiot. Hence the question of whether or not his servant had slept at all the night before, because if he had he would need a very good excuse for his lethargic attitude and complete lack of attentiveness.
"No, I didn't", Merlin cried, irritated. Arthur threw his hands up in exasperation.
"The reason I didn't get any sleep is because I was up all night polishing your armour… washing your clothes… mending your clothes…" The servant trailed off, realising that his excuses weren't going anywhere with that prat of a prince. Arthur stood with his arms folded across his chest, and seemed relatively unimpressed by his servant's tale of woe. Merlin held the prince's doubtful gaze, neither man blinking or turning away. Finally, Merlin tore his eyes away from Arthur's and walked over to collect the young prince's clothes, which were in desperate need of a good wash.
"Merlin!" Arthur shouted. Merlin turned, arms full of dirty laundry, and Arthur threw a heavily embroidered jacket with expert aim, landing it right on the gangly man's head.
"That needs to be mended", Arthur informed his servant, struggling not to grin and failing miserably. Merlin looked considerably disgruntled, but meekly tugged the jacket off of his head and added it to the pile of clothing in his arms. He turned stiffly and walked towards the door.
"Oh, and Merlin", Arthur called after the dark-haired man. "Seeing as you polished my armour last night, you won't have to do it again until after this morning's training session!" Merlin smiled sarcastically at the prince before exiting the room. Arthur sank down onto his newly-made bed, grinning. Having Merlin as a manservant was turning out to be a lot of fun.
…..
I think Arthur enjoyed making Merlin do as many chores as he could think up! But the two had a really good friendship which was developed well over the seasons and I think that was one of the strongest points of the show.