Chapter 28
Warning/s: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin.
A/N: I hope this is what the prompter wanted – I really enjoyed writing this, I seriously had so much fun and it honestly is one of the best things I think I've written. It's not as long as I hoped for it to be because I didn't want it to become too drawn out, but I still love it! I hope you guys do as well 3
Prompt: darklordess668 – "Merlin wants to propse to Freya but doesn't know how so he goes to Arthur for help."
The first try was an early morning. Merlin thought it would be romantic for Freya to roll over to kiss him good morning as she always did, and to be met with the gold band instead. Then Merlin would appear with a bunch of her favourite flowers and a bowl of strawberries, and they would laugh and rejoice together.
That wasn't quite how it happened.
To be fair, Merlin did try to do it on three separate occasions before giving up.
He failed right from the first hurdle when he tried it initially. He tried to slip out of bed, so he could plant the ring and scurry to fetch the flowers, but his foot became caught up in the bedsheets and he fell onto the floor with a crash.
He heard a cry from Freya and hurriedly hid the ring (currently on the floor, where it had landed when he had fallen) in his palm just as she appeared. "Are you alright?" she asked anxiously, crouching down beside him and stroking his hair.
"I'm fine," Merlin groaned. "Just fell out of bed when I was trying to get up, that's all."
"Idiot," Freya said affectionately, and bent down to kiss him on the cheek.
The second time, Merlin was hindered because Freya got up earlier than him.
He woke up to find her side of the bed empty, and when he made a sound of confusion, she answered back from behind her dressing screen, "I woke up early and decided I might as well get ready!"
Merlin smiled. One of Freya's rather lovable habits was how shy she was; although she was comfortable with her body around Merlin when the time was right, she refused to change in front of him at any other time. "I didn't get my kiss," he called back, stretching.
"You'll get it in a second," Freya giggled. She emerged from behind the screen in her navy blue dress, one that fitted so well that it always made Merlin rather protective over her. "What do you think? I am needed for a council meeting."
"You look as beautiful as ever, love," Merlin said truthfully, smiling when Freya clambered onto the bed to kiss him on the lips.
"I don't need to go for a little while yet, though," Freya grinned with a smirk, hitching up her skirts.
You couldn't really blame Merlin for getting distracted.
The third time was – well, Merlin wasn't quite sure how to describe it. Far too many things happened for it to be put down to one single event. It all started with the pig-boy, though.
It started off when Arthur had rushed into their chambers without knocking. Luckily, they weren't in the middle of anything intimate – like that one time before that everyone chose to just pretend never happened – but Merlin was in the middle of trying to conjure a piece of parchment into a dove.
The door flying open startled the sorcerer, and the parchment turned into an owl instead, which angrily flew around the roof, screeching all the while. "Arthur!" Merlin shouted exasperatedly. "What do you want?"
He, unconsciously by now because he had been doing it for so long, patted his pocket to make sure the ring was still there.
And froze.
Because it wasn't.
Glancing around the room frantically, he saw a familiar glint of gold in one of the owl's talons. Merlin cursed internally and then forced himself to focus on what Arthur was saying.
"…so that's why there's a pig running rampage in the castle and it tried to eat one of Guinevere's shoes, which obviously frightened her quite a bit, because the shoe was on her foot at the time, and just now a farmer came running into the castle proclaiming that one of his sons played a trick on his other son, and the pig is that other son, so we need you to turn him back."
Merlin nodded mutely and glanced back up towards the owl. "Bring the pig here and I'll sort it out," he said hastily. "Oh, Freya, why don't you go with him? To help?"
Freya looked a little surprised but by now she was used to Merlin's odd requests, and knew that they usually meant that he needed to do something first that was better not talked about. So she nodded and followed Arthur.
Merlin swore as soon as they were out of the room and muttered a spell that would – hopefully – turn the bird back into parchment; when a heavy ring and a light leaf of parchment floated down to him, Merlin could have cried in relief. He stowed the ring back in his pocket securely and cleared a space for the pig to go.
This wasn't exactly how he'd planned the evening to go – he was going to make Freya a meal, a nice one, and then give her a bath and then, when they had woken up the next morning, propose. Well, he could still salvage the evening, right?
Wrong.
It was one in the morning before either of them even considered the possibility of bed. The pig had been so frightened at his ordeal that, both when he was a pig and then turned back into a boy, he had run around their chambers and destroyed nearly everything in sight.
So there had been gratuitous amounts of tidying going on.
And then Merlin burnt the dinner. And then he forgot to call for a bath to be prepared for Freya. And then he fell over his own feet as he was finishing putting away the last of the books, and Freya had to bind his ankle for him.
And then when they both woke up the next morning – later than usual – it turned out that Freya was running late for a council meeting that she needed to attend as one of Arthur's advisors, and as she was going, she slipped on the floor, and when Merlin came to help her, he banged his head against the door, so neither of them were really up for much more than stumbling back to bed.
That was when Merlin decided to give up on that idea.
It was only a day after the final failed attempt that Merlin came up with another great idea to propose. He would set up a treasure hunt for Freya, all around the castle, that would eventually lead her to a bowl of strawberries – and right at the bottom of them, for her to find when she had eaten the red fruits, would be the ring.
That was perfect – until Merlin realised one flaw in his plan. Freya would see right through the treasure hunt and just use magic to find out where she needed to be in the end.
So Merlin sat and racked his brains for another brilliant idea.
Merlin sat bolt upright in bed. It was the middle of the night, but he had just had the most brilliant idea. He would pretend that he had to go out on a week-long quest, but return a couple of days early, and surprise Freya by sliding the ring under the door. Then he would open the door and propose properly.
That was the plan, Merlin decided. And he was definitely going to put it into action.
Until he got the flu the next day.
Merlin's next plan of action was just to do something straight forward and simple. Freya would still love it, and that way his ingenious plans couldn't be foiled. And he was quite right – his plan to just get down on one knee and hold out the ring wasn't foiled by anything.
Apart from Merlin's nerves.
Eventually, he went to Arthur. He knew the King's schedule as well as, if not better than, his own. So he entered his chambers, sat down at his table, and waited for him to finish his training. It would be an understatement to say that Arthur was surprised to see Merlin waiting for him.
He yelped so highly that Merlin was worried he had given a serving girl a heart attack for a moment. Then he saw Arthur clutching at his chest, and wondering if maybe he had indeed given someone a heart attack, just to Arthur instead.
"I need your help," Merlin said plainly. Arthur raised his eyebrows and Merlin pulled out the ring and showed it to him. Arthur nearly cried, but of course he didn't. Because Arthur would never cry. Especially not at his best friend – ahem, Court Sorcerer – getting married to his soulmate.
"I can't do it," Merlin said sadly. "I tried to do it in nice, creative ways, and they kept failing, so then I thought I'd just do it normally. But I couldn't. I was too scared that she'd say no."
Arthur snorted with laughter at that. "Freya say no? Merlin, she adores you. She's probably been waiting for this moment even since you two first met."
"Help," Merlin said pleadingly, and he gave Arthur those puppy-dog eyes that Merlin knew were irresistible.
"Fine," Arthur said grumpily, although secretly he was thrilled that Merlin trusted him with such a big thing. "How many candles do you have?"
"Um, I don't know. Lots?"
"Good. Get more. Get enough to fill up your bedchamber."
"Will do." Merlin pulled a scrap of paper from his pocket and scribbled that down. "And then?"
"Run her a bath. Put some petals in it, girls like that. And wash her hair for her – Gwen always loves that."
Merlin made a note of all of those things as well. "And then I propose?"
"Not when she's in the bath. Wait until she's gotten ready for bed, and when she asks whether you should blow all of the candles out – because she inevitably will – say no, because there is one thing left to do."
"Propose?"
"Exactly." Arthur grinned, happy that Merlin was getting it. "She can't say no."
"Would she have said no otherwise?" Merlin asked, suddenly anxious again.
Arthur groaned. "No, I just meant – never mind."
Merlin stared at Arthur with narrowed eyes for a few seconds and then shrugged, standing up with the scrap of parchment in his hand. "I'll go and buy some candles," he said ponderously, wandering to the door.
With a wave of his hand, every single candle was lit – and would stay lit no matter what. They burnt brightly, some flickering slightly, others perfectly stationary. He had asked Gwen to spend the day with Freya, and she was due back any second. He hoped that Gwen hadn't given the game away even slightly – she was so excited when he told her of the plan that she had squealed and kissed Merlin on both cheeks.
The bath was full, with rose petals scattered in it. Freya's favourite night-dress was hung neatly over the dressing screen, freshly laundered and soft. Merlin had the ring in a small box in his pocket, and he had made the bed as neatly as it ever could be made.
He heard the tell-tale sounds of Freya approaching – footsteps, humming, and the special call she always used. "Mer-lin!" she sang, as she opened the door. Merlin did a quick check to make sure that everything was alright, and smiled at Freya when she walked in through the door.
"Oh, Merlin!" Freya gasped when she walked into the room. "This is beautiful!" she exclaimed, beaming.
"Almost as much as you," Merlin replied, helping Freya to undo the back of her dress. "I thought you might like a bath."
"Oh, thank you," Freya breathed. "You are truly too kind to me, Merlin."
"It's what you deserve." Merlin kissed the bare skin of Freya's shoulder as the loosened dress fell down her body, and then helped her into the bath. "Relax for a bit, I'll do your hair in a bit, okay?"
"That would be nice," Freya agreed. "Are you not joining me?"
Merlin forced himself to not get distracted. "Not tonight, love," he said awkwardly. "You know I love it but I have something planned." He might have imagined it but he could have sworn he saw Freya look hopeful for just a fleeting second.
"Okay then," she said readily, and sank back into the bath to enjoy the hot water.
"This is so sweet of you, Merlin," Freya said happily, as she was drying her hair behind the screen. "Honestly, you've put so much thought into all of this."
"You're worth it," Merlin replied, fingering the ring anxiously. He pulled back the covers on the bed, ready for Freya to slide into, and got changed into his nightclothes himself.
Freya emerged from behind the screen, her hair now only slightly damp, and wearing the freshly washed nightgown. "Any other activities planned for tonight?" she asked mischievously.
"That depends," Merlin said nervously. He turned around to face his hopefully-future-wife and smiled at her. She returned the grin and sat on the edge of the bed, obviously waiting to hear what he was going to say.
Feeling more nervous and anxious and stressed and just plain overwhelmed than he ever had before, Merlin lowered himself onto one knee and held out the ring. "Will you be my betrothed?" he asked, licking his lips.
"Did you even have to ask?" Freya asked incredulously, and flung herself onto Merlin. They toppled to the floor, laughing, and Merlin slipped the ring on Freya's finger.
"How do you feel about becoming Freya Emrys?"
"I feel like life couldn't be better," Freya sighed.
As it turned out, several other activities did happen that night.
A/N: I feel so conceited because I laughed and got really soppy over my own writing…but this is one of my favourite things I've ever written. I'm so happy with it! And please leave me some prompts that you'd like to see written :)