Greetings Readers! Here's the latest oneshot - and it is pure fluffiness. PURE FLUFF. It's set in season 5, but there are no real spoilers.
This was inspired by a title prompt called "The Cure: A Fluffy Remedy for 5x05" from the Heart of Camelot website. There be a lot of good writers there, and right now, there is a sudden emergence of fluff!
I hope that you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, or any of its characters.
Gwen switched the folds of her gown away from her feet as she slowly came down the palace steps, raising up one hand to shield her eyes from the early afternoon sun. "Merlin?"
It had been far too long since the two of them had been able to spend any amount of time together, and Gwen decided to take advantage of the gloriously free afternoon to hunt down her friend and remedy the situation. For once, Arthur had given his manservant the afternoon off, and they hadn't seen him since the noon meal. Usually, Gwen would have been pleased that Merlin was getting a well-deserved break, but it was beyond frustrating that she couldn't find him.
He'd disappeared like magic.
A group of tittering kitchen maids had mentioned that they'd seen Merlin walking outside, their cheeks flushing bright red and their eyes sparkling as they spoke his name. Gwen had just barely managed to keep her grin to a polite smile, having to smother a laugh as she walked towards the castle doors. Merlin really had no idea.
Gwen knew, as she looked over the courtyard, that she had to keep moving, otherwise some well-meaning knight would insist on accompanying her, and that would ruin the time alone with Merlin. She decided to just start walk in any direction and just hope she'd find him, when she heard of a burst of children's giggles and applause. A warm smile tilted the corners of her lips, and she followed the sound of the laughter.
Peeking around the corner of a building, feeling a bit like a child herself, she saw a crowd of young ones sitting at the feet of a taller man. A taller man with dark hair, blue eyes, and a familiar red neckerchief. Merlin.
The giggles and uproarious applause continued, and Gwen squinted against the brightness of the sun to see Merlin throwing something in the air. And then catching it. And then throwing it.
Merlin was juggling.
Gwen laughed out loud, the smile crinkling her entire face as she beamed. Merlin was just full of surprises. It would figure that, even on his day off, Merlin would be doing things for others. Once again, she wondered how her husband and so many of the knights could say that Merlin was clumsy; she'd like to see any of them pulling off such a feat.
The image of her brother trying to juggle shields as he was outfitted in all of his armor filled her mind, his clanking loud and cacophonous as he crashed to the ground. She positively snorted with laughter, drawing the attention of the young ones and their entertainer. Her cheeks flushed a bright red as all the children turned in her direction, the older ones dropping to their knees in a respectable bow while the littler ones jumped up and down with excitement. The queen was always very nice and so pretty, and maybe they could get her to play with them.
"Hello, Gwen," Merlin smiled at her, bending down to pick one of the balls that he'd dropped off the ground. "How are you?"
"Fine," Gwen smiled, feeling a little unsure of herself, "I didn't mean to interrupt."
Merlin laughed, and shook his head. "You're not interrupting! Come on over."
Some of the little girls ran over to Gwen and started tugging eagerly at her skirts with excitement that would have sent their parents scolding them had they been present. Gwen let them tug her over and she sat down in the midst of them, her dress pooling around her in flows of purple and silk. The children wasted no time in sitting on the loose fabric on the ground, and a particularly small girl plopped down in the middle of Gwen's lap.
"More, Merlin!" A little boy crowed, waving a wooden ball in the air, "More juggling!"
The children began bouncing up and down where they sat, and the little girl in Gwen's lap ended up with Gwen's tiara around her neck. Her lip wobbled as she looked up at Gwen, expecting to be scolded, but the queen only smiled down at her and adjusted the crown around her tiny head. Merlin smiled at the sight, fancy dresses and crowns or not, Gwen would always be Gwen. "All right," Merlin cried dramatically, holding out his hands to the sides, I shall now juggle. What should I juggle?"
Apples, and toys, and balls of yarn emerged from pockets and were eagerly shoved in his direction. Merlin scooped up a doll, two apples, and a ball of yarn before straightening up, grinning cheekily at all of them. And then he began to juggle.
Gwen watched, entranced as any of the children as the objects soared and made an arc in the air, silhouetted against the brightness of the sun. After setting up a steady rhythm, Merlin began to move around with the balls, ducking forward and backward, catching the objects behind his back and sending them flying forward. He moved with the fluidness of the wind as he bobbed and set the objects high into the air.
"I didn't know you juggled, Merlin," Gwen managed to say after a time.
Merlin quirked an eyebrow in a way that would make Gaius proud. "Always the tone of surprise. Sometimes I think you've been married too long – he's rubbing off on you."
Gwen burst out laughing and shook her head. "Not what I meant."
"Sure, your highness," Merlin snorted as he continued to juggle, bouncing the apple off his elbow so that it landed in one of the older girls' lap. She giggled very shrilly and turned a bright red, hiding her face in her apron.
The children's mothers, finishing up the afternoon's shopping in the courtyard bazaar, came over to collect their children from the group. They gave Merlin a warm smile as they collected their young ones, even those who fervently did not want to leave. One little boy even grabbed Merlin's leg so firmly that he sent all the balls Merlin had been juggling crashing to the ground.
The young boy's lip began to quiver, but Merlin simply laughed as he ruffled his hair, gently pushing him towards his mother. "It's okay, Thomas," he grinned, "I can teach you to juggle tomorrow." As the last of the children left, Merlin flopped down on the pile of hay next to Gwen, running one hand through his hair and exhaling deeply. Then he lay back in the hay, folding his arms behind his head, his sleeves rolling up and exposing his toned forearms. Gwen smiled down at him. A lot had changed since she'd met that boy in the stocks all those years ago. Not just him either, she thought as she heard the rustle of her silk gown as she leaned back into her own pile of hay.
But he was still much the same that he had ever been; especially when he let his face relax and the tight worry lines between his eyes receded. His clothes, although they fit more snugly over the muscles his arms had developed, were even the same, much to her frustration. Year after year she'd tried to make him wear something else…but in the end, they were a part of Merlin as much as his blue eyes and bright laughter.
As she turned her gaze up to the blueness of the sky and the clouds, she remembered the trips they would sometimes take to the outskirts of the city, with Arthur and some of the knights, where they would just stare up into the heavens. As each member of the group slowly drifted off after a full picnic, Merlin would weave stories out of the windswept clouds with such clarity that Gwen could believe she could reach out and touch them. She missed those days, sometimes.
"Merlin?"
He cracked an eye open. "Yeah, Gwen."
Gwen's eyes sparkled mischeviously. "I don't know how to juggle."
Merlin looked at her a moment and then burst out laughing. "What, they never taught you that in queen training?" He shook his head ruefully, a cheeky grin lighting the corners of his eyes. "Guess that leaves it up to me."
Gwen reached over for a discarded apple as Merlin scooped up the balls he had brought down himself to the square. He dropped one of the balls in her lap and picked up the other two in his hands. "Are you ready to learn from the master?"
Gwen nodded solemnly, only just managing to keep the laughter back. "The student is ready."
~.~
If anyone were to be curious enough to search for the sound of laughter in the marketplace, they would see the queen and the king's manservant attempting to toss wooden balls into the air. They might have seen Gwen bonk Merlin on the head with a misplaced throw, only to see Merlin to retaliate with a handful of straw. By the time Arthur had figured out where his wife had gone, both queen and manservant looked a bit like ragamuffins, hay caught in hair and clothing.
Arthur took only a few moments to stare before launching at them with a fresh barrage of straw. He was the king, and he always won.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I love the idea of Merlin juggling to make a bunch of little kids happy. And I like stories with some Merlin and Gwen friendship going on!
Thanks for reading and please review! They make me happy!