A/N: I didn't write as much this week as I was hoping, but I'll post the next chapter a week from today at the latest, probably a bit earlier. Life's a bit hectic right now, so I'm trying to give myself plenty of time haha. And this chapter has a lot of Fred in it, so get ready for a taste of pure evil. Well, not really, but Fred is in it a lot. So yay!
Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. Although I am planning to ask for it for my birthday.
Merlin had only been asleep for a few hours when he woke to the feeling of a puppy licking his face. Fred of course. The sky was still dark and not an ounce of light leaked in from the window in his room. Well, maybe an ounce, there was a bit of moonlight after all. But as for the crack beneath his door, well, not an ounce of light leaked in from under there. The point was, his room was dark because it was the middle of the night.
"What are you doing?" mumbled Merlin, still half-asleep.
Fred continued licking his face happily, covering him in slobber.
"Really, Fred," said Merlin, a little more awake now, "why are you licking my face?"
Fred ignored him.
"Fred, stop!" yelled Merlin this time, and Fred looked at him with a wounded expression in his eyes. Merlin could not stay angry for long. "Okay, I'm sorry," he said. "I shouldn't have yelled."
Fred just looked at him.
"Still, you can't just be jumping on my bed in the middle of the night and licking my face," said Merlin. "I need to sleep." For a moment, Merlin could have sworn he saw an almost hungry look in Fred's eyes accompanied by a look of pure evil. It was gone in a flash, however, and Merlin knew that he had imagined it. It was night, he was exhausted and quite possibly delirious, and the moonlight was bound to play tricks on him.
Fred's eyes quickly changed to an expression of sorrow, barely different from the wounded expression that he had held before, except that now he looked sorry rather than hurt. He let out a soft bark.
"Okay, now I'm going back to sleep," said Merlin, "but I'm putting you back on the floor first." He picked up Fred and moved him over to a pile of blankets in the middle of the floor where Fred promptly curled up in a ball. Merlin was once again stunned by just how adorable Fred was.
"Good night, Fred," said Merlin, and Fred barked in reply. Merlin suddenly wished that Fred could talk simply because it would make their conversations a lot more interesting. That was a ridiculous idea, however, because Merlin knew full well that puppies, or for that matter dogs, could not talk. Merlin got into his bed, and within moments, he was asleep.
After what seemed like only a few moments more, however, Merlin suddenly woke again. This time, it was to the sound of barking.
"Bark, bark," went Fred. "Bark, bark, bark, bark, bark." It was a consistent bark, loud and irritating in the otherwise silent night. He was standing directly beside Merlin's bed.
"Fred!" said Merlin tiredly. "Shh. It's night. Night is a quiet time. A time to sleep."
"Bark, bark, bark!" continued Fred incessantly.
"Please, Fred?" said Merlin. It was almost as if Fred was conspiring to keep him awake. Then again, thought Merlin, Fred was a wild puppy. He and Arthur had found him in the forest while out hunting. Maybe Fred did not understand things like nighttime, and people sleeping.
Fred barked softly and looked at Merlin. Merlin looked at Fred. "Please?" he repeated.
Fred promptly lay back down and fell asleep. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief before promptly falling asleep yet again.
Suddenly, Fred was licking Merlin's face again. "Fred!" yelled Merlin, out of patience this time. He was tired, he could sense dawn approaching, and he had hardly got any sleep with Fred's constant interruptions. "Stop it!"
Fred continued licking his face, oblivious.
"That's it," said Merlin, "you're not sleeping in here anymore." He picked Fred up and carried him to the door before placing him outside and shutting the door behind him. "Good night, Fred."
He went back to his bed to lay down. He edged toward sleep, but as soon as he was about to fall asleep, the scratching began.
Scratch, scratch.
Scratch, scratch.
Scratch, scratch.
It was the sound of Fred's nails against his door.
Scratch, scratch.
Merlin rolled over and tried to ignore it.
Scratch, scratch.
He could ignore the sound if only he tried.
Scratch, scratch.
Come on, it wasn't even that loud, Merlin told himself. It was just a soft scratching on his door.
Scratch, scratch.
"Fred, stop it!" he yelled.
Scratch, scratch.
Merlin threw the pillow over his head, trying to block out the sound.
Scratch, scratch.
Who needed sleep anyway?
Morning came quickly. Merlin rubbed at his eyes as he woke up, exhausted. Somehow, he had managed to fall asleep despite the consistent scratching on his door. He could not imagine how. Then again, perhaps he had merely been overpowered by sheer exhaustion. He hadn't got much sleep after all. Anyway, the sleep that he had managed to obtain after the scratching had been restless at best, filled with dreams of nails on chalkboards and pounding footsteps. He was not altogether happy with Fred at the moment.
Despite his exhaustion, he pulled himself out of bed and to his feet with a groan. He needed to get to work. Arthur would be expecting him any time now, and Merlin did not want to be late. Not that he wasn't late often, but it would look especially bad if Merlin was late on a day after he had got off early. No, he really did not want to do that. Regardless of the impression he gave, Merlin did care about being a decent servant. Well, he cared a little bit anyway.
His room was no longer dark, of course, since it was morning, but Merlin still managed to trip over the pile of blankets on his floor once he stumbled to his feet. It had something to do with the heaviness of his limbs, a result of his lack of sleep. Within two steps, he had fallen, taking down a nearby shelf as well when he flailed his arms to catch his balance. Needless to say, his balance was not caught. Tiredness really did not help with Merlin's tendency toward clumsiness.
With another groan, Merlin pulled himself to his feet and dragged himself to the door, leaving the shelf and all of its contents lying in the middle of the floor. He did not bother to pick them up, and he had not even attempted to stop time to catch it. He was much too tired for that, and his brain was not working on a frequency capable of thinking so quickly.
Clutching the doorknob in his hand, Merlin managed to pull the door toward him, and he staggered out of the room like a puppet controlled by a drugged up marionette. Or perhaps as if he himself was drugged up. Everyone did always seem to think that he had a tendency toward drinking for some reason.
He came into the main room, blinking rapidly against the light that met his eyes, looking an awful lot like a startled goldfish, if a goldfish could look startled. Gaius looked up at his entrance.
"You don't look so good today, Merlin," said Gauis, taking in the dark circles under his eyes and the slightly dazed expression on his face.
"Thanks a lot," said Merlin. "It was Fred. He kept me up all night."
"Wait, who's Fred?" said Gauis. "Are you implying—oh, right, the puppy."
"Yes, of course, the puppy," said Merlin. "What did you think I—oh," Merlin stopped and looked at Gaius for a moment. "Well, anyway," he started again, "he was barking and licking my face all night, and then he started scratching on my door."
Gaius looked surprised at this news. "I don't know how I slept through all of that."
"Well, you've always been a heavy sleeper. You've always slept through—uh, never mind," Merlin stopped again.
"Slept through?" Gaius prompted.
"Nothing, nothing at all," said Merlin. How did he always manage to talk himself into things like this?
"I should hope so," said Gaius. "You would never wait until I was asleep and then do something stupid. You would much rather do that while I'm awake."
"Hey," said Merlin indignantly, "I don't do stupid things."
"No, of course not. You are always an embodiment of wisdom itself," said Gaius.
Merlin just glared at him, for once at a loss for a proper response.
"Have you thought about what you're going to do about Fred?" said Gauis next.
"At the moment, I'm hoping that this was just a one night occurrence."
"Yes, we can hope," said Gaius. "Well, whether or not that is the case, you still need to go to work. If you don't leave soon, you're going to be late, and you don't want to keep Arthur waiting.
"Of course not, Arthur could never wait like a normal human being," muttered Merlin, grabbing a piece of toast off the table and heading for the door. Sadly, the multi-tasking proved too much for him in his current state, and he stumbled over his own feet yet again, falling to the floor with a crash.
As he lay on the floor, Fred ran up to him and promptly stole the piece the toast from his hand. He moved back a few feet from Merlin and sat down just out of his reach, chewing the toast insolently. Their eyes met. Merlin's were annoyed, and Fred's were satisfied as he ate the toast.
Soon, the toast was gone, and Merlin glared. "You ate my breakfast," he said.
Fred looked at him peacefully.
"Don't worry, you can have another piece," said Gaius. "There's more."
Merlin stood up, still glaring at Fred. "Thanks, Gaius," he said. He walked over to the table and focused on picking up a piece. He was not going to trip this time. He was not going to trip.
He grabbed a piece of toast, and then turned and began slowly walking toward the door, taking care of where he placed his feet. At that moment, however, Fred began circling him frantically, running as if he were being chased by some sort of demon. Merlin stumbled over the fast-moving form, falling to the ground once again. Just in time, he spotted Fred jumping toward his toast.
"No, Fred, no!" shouted Merlin, before holding the piece of toast as far above his head as he could. He could not let Fred get this piece as well!
Thankfully, as awesome as Fred was, he was not able to jump high enough to reach the piece of toast held aloft by Merlin's outstretched arm. Not without a great deal more preparation anyway, preparation that he did not have time to do in the short amount of time before Merlin stood up, still holding the piece of toast above him.
"I think Fred is out to get me," said Merlin. "He won't let me sleep, he won't let me eat…" His voice trailed off.
"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin," said Gaius. "He's a puppy. He's just doing what puppy's do."
"What would you know about puppies?" asked Merlin.
"An awful lot," said Gaius. "I used to have one. He died." Gaius felt tears forming in his throat, but he promptly swallowed them down. The death of his puppy had been a scarring experience in his life.
"I'm sorry," said Merlin. "I did not mean to bring that up. I didn't know." Merlin never did think before he spoke.
"Of course you wouldn't know," said Gaius, shaking his head to bring himself back to reality and rid himself of the last of his tears. "It was a long time ago. Now go to work! Now you will be late."
"Oh no, I am going to be late! I almost forgot!" shouted Merlin, dragging himself to the door as rapidly as he could in his still borderline comatose state, which really meant that he moved at approximately the pace of a quick turtle. He didn't even bother to grab a piece of toast. It was a hopeless cause anyway.
This time, Merlin actually made it to the door. He even managed to make it out in the hallway without falling down. He began walking toward Arthur's chambers, once again fully aware of the heaviness of his limbs. They seemed to drag him downward, something he had not noticed while he was standing around talking to Gaius. However, now that he was walking again, the full awareness of just how tired he was returned to him.
Merlin dragged his feet forward as he stumbled down the hallway. "I can do this," muttered Merlin. "I can do this." He continued muttering as he walked. After a few minutes of slow walking, however, he suddenly realized that his repeated mantra had altered slightly. "I can't do this," he now mumbled. "I can't do this."
Merlin stopped walking immediately when he recognized the change in his words. He considered what he was saying, and then decided to change his mantra to something somewhere halfway between the two. "I think I can," he said, "I think I can." He had no idea where that thought had come from, but it seemed to be the best choice of what to say.
He continued repeating it as he continued staggering toward Arthur's chambers, only stumbling a few times. Well, a few times if 'a few' was synonymous with twenty-seven. Yes, Merlin had stumbled a grand total of twenty-seven times. All and all, it was a rather impressive start to the day.
Eventually, Merlin had reached Arthur's chambers. He practically fell into the door, happy to have finally reached his destination. Of course, he would have preferred if his destination was his room and his plan was to sleep, but one couldn't have everything.
Trying to compose himself, Merlin pulled himself to his full height and raised his chin. That only served to throw him off balance, however, and he promptly fell to the ground with a crash. Maybe that wasn't the best idea. Merlin would just have to try his best to look both awake and alert.
Standing up again, Merlin pulled open the door, trying to remain standing this time. His attempt was a success, and he walked through the door, closing it behind him. Sadly, this movement managed to throw him off balance yet again, and once more, he fell.
He stood up, trying to preserve a bit of dignity, and drew himself to his full height, before promptly slumping over with exhaustion. He could only hope that Arthur was still asleep. He looked up… and there was Arthur, sitting at the table, very much awake, looking at Merlin as if he was the clumsiest person on the face of the earth. Of course, at the moment, that was quite possibly true.
"You're late," Arthur said, rolling his eyes.
A/N: Ah Merlin, late again. Fail. I think now it is time for a further disclaimer. I do not own The Little Engine That Could. Ah darn. The joy of including random references in stories! I also feel the need to mention that I can totally relate to poor Merlin. My pets have kept me up all night and share some of Fred's psychotic traits. Well, except that they aren't evil haha. Anyway, I adore reviews. They are very much appreciated. That is my subtle hint for the day =]