And this is where the plot thickens! I claim no ownership of "Merlin", no copyright infringement is intended; this story is just for fun.

TapTap

Uther looked at his son as they ate breakfast in the morning. Arthur seemed more relaxed this morning, and far less fidgety than he had been for weeks. Both the King and the Queen felt some relief at this, not having liked seeing their son unhappy and restless.

"So, how is your new model, Arthur?" Morgana asked, reaching for the toast, just as a few of Arthur's Knights poked their heads into the room. "He is great" Arthur smiled. "He has only one fault - he is so painfully polite. He doesn't stop me when I ask him to pose for far too long without breaks. I know I can be abrupt sometimes when painting, but hopefully he'll speak up for himself eventually... would you guys drop by and bother me occasionally, please?" "That, we certainly can do" Gwaine grinned, making virtually everyone roll their eyes at him. Except, of course, the Queen, who only smiled slightly, and her ever-stoic husband.

The days quickly began to settle into a pattern after that. Merlin got time off whenever the Prince was busy, and as that was a lot of the time, Merlin enjoyed a lot of free time, even as he had to stay fairly close, as he had to appear within an hour of being summoned.

Arthur was easy to work with, if not easily pleased, and accomodating in many ways. He was always very clear with what he wanted, never inappropriate, and if Merlin needed to get undressed for the drawings the Prince made, he always made sure the room was pleasantly warm before he requested it. Merlin enjoyed working with him, to be honest, he was a good painter, and not unreasonable in his requests of his model.

Merlin had been Arthur's model for five weeks when the Knights all walked into the room Arthur had moved to in order to paint Merlin with a grand piano. Since it was easier to move them than the large instrument, and Queen Igraine always gave her blessing for her son to paint whereever he needed to in the castle, they had left the studio.

Merlin watched out of the corner of his eye as the Knights sat down to watch. Most of them were men, some of which had come to watch Arthur paint before, but there was a dark-haired, stunningly beautiful, slightly dangerous-looking woman amongst them. She was easily recognisable as the princess Morgana. There was one more woman with them, stunning in a completely different way which almost had Merlin turn his head an ruin the pose. Oh, she was pretty. He wondered who she was.

Arthur watched as Merlin seemed to grow increasingly less focused after his friends came into the room. Percival was there, Lancelot, Gwen - the two holding hands as always - as well as Morgana, Leon, Freya, Galahad and Gwaine. The latter had crashed into Arthur in the café of the same university where he met Galahad, completely drunk at two in the afternoon, and they had - strangely enough - been friends ever since. Life was strange.

Arthur refocused on Merlin and the piano, ignoring Gwaine's lewd jokes, same as Merlin seemed to do. The Prince held back a smile as he saw where the model's eyes were actually fixed. Freya had been visiting Island for a few weeks and was finally back home, intently studying the male model. Oh, the urge to smirk. Was this what Morgana felt like, all of the time? Looking back down on his easel with a half-hidden smile, Arthur just knew.