Sorry for the long wait on this chapter. Real life has really been at me the past few days and I just couldn't get the words out. I'm not happy with this chapter, but I'm sick of it so it's going to stay this way. haha Next chapter should be up anywhere between tomorrow and next week, depending on what life decides to do next. Hope ya'll enjoy!

Disclaimer: If ya recgonize it, it ain't mine.

Chapter 4: Business as Always

Arthur was not in a good mood. That morning he had woken up to George and the gigantic breakfast that Arthur knew would take him at least a week to eat. Arthur had started to order the bootlicker out of his room and to send Merlin up, before he remembered that Merlin would be gone until at least noon collecting herbs for Gaius. And so Arthur had been stuck with George, who he swore was trying to kill him with all that food and his painfully stupid jokes.

Arthur had taken it quite well at first. He hadn't yelled, he hadn't thrown anything, and he hadn't shoved George out of the window like he so desperately wanted to. But after thirty minutes had passed, he had had enough. How many jokes could a man make about brass of all things? Arthur had never been so relieved as when he finally managed to escape the man and had left his room.

That relief had lasted all of five minutes. Then he had had to attend a council meeting regarding the northern border, followed afterwards by different trials. That had taken all of two hours—miraculously, they usually lasted hours longer—and then Arthur had training with some of the newer knights. By the time noon rolled around, Arthur was tired, grouchy, and lashing out at all he came across.

He barged right into his room and, not paying attention to his surroundings, collapsed onto his bed. With a sigh, he lifted his head and looked around the room, surprised to find that he was alone. It was well after noon; Merlin should have been back now. Arthur sighed and let his head fall back on his bed. Leave it to Merlin to be late on one of Arthur's bad days. He was silently reciting the incredibly long list of chores he was going to throw on Merlin when the door burst open and said manservant, a plate of food and a pitcher of wine in his hands, stumbled inside.

"Sorry I'm late, Sire." Merlin apologized, barely managing to catch himself as he tripped over his own two feet. "You wouldn't believe how hard those herbs were to find. I thought I would be gone all day! I barely made it back in time. I would have been here sooner, but Lowri had to lecture me on the importance of being on time."

As his manservant was rambling, Arthur had pulled himself out of bed and made his way over to the table that Merlin was putting the food on. He wasn't paying close attention to what Merlin was saying, but he was grateful that annoying Merlin was back and that George was gone. Arthur would never admit it, but he rather enjoyed Merlin's rambling, even if it did tend to get annoying at times.

"What happened to your face?" Arthur asked when he spotted the cut on Merlin's cheek.

"I…uh…tripped and cut myself." Merlin answered, hesitating slightly.

Arthur just rolled his eyes at his manservant's clumsiness and started on his lunch. Merlin stood there silently, looking around at the unnaturally clean room. Everything was in its place; the floor was clean with no dirty laundry waiting to be picked up and washed. The bed was made, though wrinkled now due to Arthur. Someone had cleaned the room and, Merlin noticed, shined every piece of brass there was.

"George covered for me, didn't he." It wasn't a question.

"Unfortunately." Arthur nodded, his mouth full of food. "I swear that man is the most boring, ridiculous, annoying man I have ever met." He paused to think. "Ok, one of the most annoying. You and Gwaine just might beat him."

"Ahh," Merlin teased, doing his best impression of Gwaine. "I can annoy the princess more than Mr. Brass. I'm so thrilled! It's a dream come true!"

"Merlin!" Arthur growled, though a grin threatened to break his serious face. "I should have you in the stocks for insulting me."

Merlin just laughed, knowing his friend was hiding a grin. Sure enough, Merlin's laughter proved to be contagious and Arthur couldn't help but join in. When the two settled down, Merlin hurried to smooth out the bed and fluff the pillows. Arthur ate quickly, knowing he had more meetings to attend and annoying people to listen too. Merlin sat down on the chest at the foot of the bed and watched Arthur eat.

"What are my chores for the rest of the day?" Merlin finally asked, causing Arthur to nearly choke on his wine.

"You're actually asking for chores?" Arthur exclaimed in surprise, looking at Merlin as if he had suddenly grown two heads.

Merlin didn't say anything, just tilted his head slightly as if wondering what he had said wrong.

"Well…um…." Arthur stammered, still shocked that his normally complaining servant had actually asked for chores. "My armor needs polished, my sword needs sharpening, my laundry needs done, the floor needs scrubbing, my dogs need to be taken for a run, my horses need fed and watered and the stables need to be mucked out."

"I'll get right on it!" Merlin said cheerfully, practically jumping up from his seat. "If you need anything else just send George after me."

With that, Merlin hurried out of the room, leaving Arthur staring after his retreating figure in utter confusion.

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The laundry didn't take long at all. George already had it washed so Merlin just had to remember to take it up to the King's room later on when he went to scrub the floor. He tackled the animals next, running Arthur's three dogs for thirty minutes before heading to the stables to feed and water the horses. Looking around, Merlin quickly decided to leave mucking the stables for last and hurried to the armory.

"Armor, floor, stables." Merlin said out loud, deciding on what order to do his chores.

The only armor in the place was Arthur's as the rest of the knights were all out on patrols or training. Normally Arthur would be out with them, but you could only push council meetings and the other boring duties off for so long, as Arthur was now learning. Merlin didn't mind. It meant that he got out of patrols and hunting trips that usually ended in an attempt on Arthur's life.

Merlin wasted no time in sitting and beginning the work on Arthur's armor. He hummed softly, glad to be doing as his queen had ordered. He was going about his business as always. Although he wasn't aware of it, his eyes flashed red before fading back to blue. The polishing didn't take long at all, except in a few places where the armor had rusted. At least, Merlin hoped that was rust. He couldn't remember whether the last outing he and Arthur had gone on had ended in Arthur being wounded or not, but Merlin decided that it hadn't and was relatively sure that it was rust, not blood, that he was cleaning. After seven years, he still wasn't use to blood and it still made him queasy.

He had just started on the chainmail when he heard footsteps. He looked up and saw Gwaine walking in, dragging his armor behind him. The knight blinked quickly, letting his eyes grow use to the dim light, and a smile lit his face when he spotted Merlin.

"Well looked what the cat drug in." Gwaine teased, dropped his armor on the floor beside his friend. "Princess giving you more chores than you can handle?"

"Of course not." Merlin replied cheerfully, not looking up from his work.

Gwaine looked at him in confusion, before shrugging t off as the mystery that was Merlin. The knight sat down heavily beside Merlin, ignoring his own armor that needed polishing. The two sat in an uncomfortable silence for several minutes, with Merlin not once looking up at the man beside him.

"You're awfully quiet today, Merlin." Gwaine commented.

"Nothing to say I guess." Merlin shrugged.

Gwaine looked at him in confusion, not sure what had come over his friend. They fell back into the silence and Gwaine reluctantly picked up his armor, looking at it with disgust. He really hated having to take care of the armor. Deciding to wait till later, he tossed it to the side and brought out his sword.

"You got a sharpening stone on you by any chance?" he asked, flipping his hair to the side as he looked at Merlin.

Merlin nodded and reached around his side to get the stone. When he turned back around, Gwaine noticed the cut on Merlin's cheek.

"What happened to your cheek?" he asked as he took the stone.

"I tripped and cut it." Merlin replied quickly.

Gwaine frowned, not completely believing his friend.

"On what?" He asked, grabbing his sword.

"The…uh… side of a table." Merlin replied hesitantly.

Gwaine frowned slightly as he started sharpening his sword.

"Really?" He asked. "Because that looks more like a cut from a ring than a table."

"I'm sure." Merlin replied quickly. "I tripped this morning when I was half asleep and the side of the table cut me."

Gwaine just looked at him unbelievingly.

"I know a cut from a ring when I see it, Merlin." Gwaine replied, pausing in his sharpening. "I've been on the receiving end of an angry woman's ringed hand many a time." He laughed briefly, remembering the many times a woman had slapped him. "So tell me, what girl hit you?"

"I cut myself on a table." Merlin exclaimed angrily, jumping to his feet. "No one hit him."

Gwaine looked at him in surprise. He had never seen Merlin angry, let alone been on the receiving end of the boy's anger. Merlin glared at him, his fists clenched, while Gwaine just looked up at him in confusion. Then Merlin's eyes flashed red. Gwaine's eyes widened and he nearly dropped his sword. He shook his head, sure he was imagining things.

"I think I would know better than you why I got cut." Merlin seethed and his eyes flashed red once more. This time Gwaine knew he hadn't imagined it.

"Y…yes, you would." Gwaine stammered in shock. "I'm sorry." He got to his feet and grabbed up his armor. "I think I'm going to go outside for a while."

He didn't wait for Merlin to answer and hurried out the room as fast as he could, wondering what on earth had come over his friend.