Characters, unfortunately, do not belong to me. Television-wise they belong to the BBC, and the original Arthurian legends belong to themselves.

I felt the need to write this; Arthur gets all the girls, and the one time Merlin - handsome as he is - gets one the poor girl dies. That was two seasons ago, and even Colin Morgan agrees that his character needs more lovin'.
So there you go: a fic that sprang into my mind one late afternoon whilst on the train headed home, about how Arthur comes to realise that Merlin isn't as "ugly as well as dumb" as he seemed. Not to others anyway.

Enjoy!

Another bright, sunny morning. The sun had risen mere hours ago, and already the mists that had drifted in last night had cleared. It seemed the sun was fiercely battling the autumn that was slowly but steadily creeping into the kingdom.

Arthur Pendragon, king of Camelot, had awoken just before sunrise, and had enjoyed at least an hour of just blissfully lying in the warmth of his soft bed. Listening to the peaceful breathing beside him as Guinevere, now his queen, slept on happily. One hand under her cheek as she lay on her side, the other laying between the two of them as if reaching out for Arthur.

Arthur wasn't sure what he liked most about his new morning-situations: watching the woman he loved sleep without a care in the world, or kissing her awake.

Now he stood at his desk, which was littered with parchments, already dressed and once or twice looking up to follow the progress of Gwen's dressing.

'You should really get a maid,' he commented, not for the first time. Guinevere, struggling with the last of the bindings on the back of a lilac dress, let her head drop and sighed. 'I know,' came her exasperated reply,' but I know them all, they're my friends. It's not as easy as you make it sound, Arthur.'

With a small, amused smile, Arthur abandoned the pile of parchment for the umpteenth time that week, and tied her bindings while pressing a kiss to his queen's shoulder. 'It's not a king's job to dress his queen,' he said softly, and added with a lower voice ,'it is, however, his job to undress her...'

Guinevere giggled, but stepped away from Arthur before he could act on his words. 'You've a busy morning, sire, so that will have to wait.'

Arthur pretended to be sorry, but made sure to remember the silent promise in her words. 'Speaking of busy,' he said, voice louder as he marched back to his desk. 'Where is that dollophead?'

When Guinevere drily mumbled,' I think you mean Merlin,' and went on that the man did have a name and how he should use it, Arthur glanced out the window onto the square.

'Well I'll be,' he managed, walking over to it and taking a better look.

'What is it?' Guinevere, curious as ever, quickly joined him and actually let out a soft squeal most unlike her.

Down below, on the town square which was only just filling with people, Merlin was making his way to the stairs.

Only he wasn't alone - if he was, the manservant would have been walking much faster to try and be on time - he was joined by a brown-haired woman.

That, of course, could have been any scenario. Someone else from the palace, perhaps, who Merlin could be having a chat with.

If only it weren't for the fact that their arms were linked together, and they walked a little too close to be "just friends".

'Aw, look at that,' Guinevere said softly, resting her hand on Arthur's. 'I don't think I've ever seen him with anyone before, have you?'

When the king didn't answer she looked up at his face and promptly laughed. 'Arthur, close your mouth, you look ridiculous.'

Arthur did, but only because she'd said so. The rest of his expression remained utterly perplexed.

'I haven't,' he managed,'I assumed everyone thinks he's an idiot. An ugly idiot.'

Guinevere tutted, moving away from the window to brush her hair. 'That's just you, Arthur. Merlin has more female attention than you, or he for that matter, know.' And now a berating tone crept into her voice. 'But you always keep dragging him around, and if he's not with you he's doing work for Gaius. Merlin doesn't have time for love.'

'Didn't think he'd need it,' Arthur muttered, eyes still fixed on the for him foreign sight. The pair below had stopped before the stairs, and were talking. The girl laughed at something Merlin had said, and the man seemed utterly pleased about it.

Arthur made a tone of surprise when Merlin leaned in and ever-so-casually kissed the girl on her mouth before unlinking their arms and going up the stairs. The girl stood on the spot for a moment, watching him go, before she walked back to the town with more bounce in her step than before.

'He just kissed her,' Arthur said loudly, turning from the window to Guinevere. She rolled her eyes at him, the brush diligently moving through her partially tangled hair. 'You make it sound like its so horrible, but you kiss me all the time,' she remarked smartly, turning to the mirror. 'She's a lucky woman; he's not a bad kisser at all.'

Her words were so casual it took the king some time to digest them. From her mirror, Guinevere closely watched how Arthur seemed utterly taken aback, then shocked and finally badly-hidden jealousy.

'What.'

Gwen chuckled. He had to find out someday.

'It happened long ago, when he'd been here only a few weeks,' she explained, watching Arthur's growing jealousy with amusement. 'When he drank that poison, remember? I was so relieved when he woke up I just...kissed him.'

'You were in love with Merlin?' Arthur managed to grind out, holding himself up on the table. Guinevere felt sorry for the wood; Arthur was squeezing it so tightly his own knuckles turned white.

'I wouldn't say "love",' she said calmly, putting down the brush and beginning to divide her hair into different parts. 'I think...maybe a crush? Or just interest...short-lived in any case.'

Slowly, ever so slowly, Arthur relaxed again. He still looked suspicious though. 'Why short-lived?' He asked.

Gwen began braiding her hair, but turned around to answer him. 'Because of Merlin, I fell in love with you.'

Arthur looked like he would stride over and kiss her without caring that humans needed to breathe, but at that moment the large wooden doors opened to reveal Merlin, looking chipper and ready to face Arthur for the day. He was going to need it.

'Good morning, your highnesses,' he said brightly, bowing slightly for Arthur and smiling playfully at Gwen. She mildly glared back at her friend, knowing that he knew she disliked being called "highness", especially by him.

When Guinevere looked back at her husband, her heart sank a little; Merlin was in for a tough day today. Perhaps I should have told him at a different time.

'Ah, Merlin, you're right on time,' Arthur said, sounding very cheerful. But to the trained ears of both Guinevere and Merlin, it was a warning. Merlin swallowed, glancing at Guinevere with questioning eyes. She returned an apologetic look.

'We'll start the morning with training, just you and me.' Arthur pulled his jacket from the chair it hung on, and marched out the door, brushing past Merlin.

A little confused, Merlin turned to Gwen. 'What's with him?'

Guinevere scratched her neck awkwardly. 'I might have told him that I kissed you once.'

Merlin's face fell, his shoulders slumped, and his eyes widened with disbelief. 'Oh no.'

'Sorry,' she apologised, getting up and finishing her braid. They both winced when Arthur's loud cry of 'Merlin!' came from the hallway.

'Let's go before he hurts himself,' Guinevere said, pushing Merlin ahead of her, out of the room. 'I'll come with to make sure he doesn't kill you.'