Thought we could use with a little sweet stuff after Until the Day I Die, so here's a drabble based on last week's episode, Aithusa.
Care
They had been planning it all day. Even gentle Elyan was not averse to a cunning prank when it involved Merlin; he was, in the words of Arthur himself, "So much fun to torment." And indeed, Arthur was correct, for watching mild-mannered, innocent-eyed Merlin grow pink with frustration and bite the vexation from his tongue before it could spill out in brutal honesty at Arthur's and the knights' insensitive behavior had instantly become one of their favorite pastimes. It had turned into a sort of tradition that, when they found themselves on a journey, Arthur would devise some cruel practical joke—sometimes complex, sometimes small—to play on poor, naive Merlin. They would all be involved, but in the end, it was Arthur who would laugh the hardest at his flustered manservant.
Even so, it did not escape his knights' notice that, when Merlin huffed away to feed the horses as the young king had commanded, Arthur did not allow Leon to hide Merlin's bowl until he had put two more large spoonfuls of the stew into it.