I seriously never expected anybody to follow my story, much less add it to favorites, so thank you! This chapter is going to be a little lighter than the others; just a little fluff. I have this taking place sometime after the incident with the questing beast. Hope you enjoy it!
Merlin was sitting in the armory, polishing the prat's armor, again. He honestly couldn't figure out why he was doing this; Arthur hadn't been out of his bed, much less in his armor, for the past two weeks as he was still recovering from the Questing Beast's bite. The door burst open with a bang suddenly, startling Merlin and causing him to drop Arthurs armor (of course it had to scatter all across the room). The knights all burst into the room, led by Gwaine, talking loudly and joking good-naturedly. At the clattering of the armor they all turned to stare at Merlin.
" Hello, Merlin. Does the princess really have you polishing armor again?" While Merlin nodded he began the arduous task of picking up all the armor; Gwaine bent down and began to help.
"And how is the Prince, Merlin?" This was Leon speaking, his lingering concern for his liege evident in his eyes.
Merlin flashed him a rueful grin, his hand flashing up to rub a sore spot on the back of his head. " Well his aim is certainly better than it was last week." Then, in a more serious tone he confided, " He truly is much better, Leon. Honestly, if Gaius doesn't allow him out of his chambers for more than an hour sometime soon…" He broke off and shuddered, as did the rest of the knights, each one imagining an already ill-tempered Arthur confined to his room for any longer.
Elyan spoke up, giving Merlin a sympathetic glance. "Ooh, I can't imagine having to deal with that, and I'm a full grown man and a knight to boot. I don't know how a boy who's only ten can deal with it."
"I'd imagine that's why Merlin is down here, polishing armor again, instead of up in Arthur's chambers dodging goblets." Lancelot, ever astute, had seen Merlin rubbing his head and guessed at his choice of chores. It was well known to the knights that Merlin had had the same list of chores for the past two weeks, and any chores that weren't required daily had been done on the first day. They also knew that for the most part he had spent the last two weeks in Arthur's chambers helping out and keeping him company despite his temper; so it had to be really bad for Merlin to be willingly polishing armor.
Merlin flashed Lancelot a smile and then rounded on Elyan, crossing his arms and giving him an indignant look. "Oi! I'm not ten anymore." In the proud, haughty tone that only a child can achieve he said," I'm eleven now."
"When did that happen?" Asked a slightly astonished Elyan.
"Well, normally for every year you're alive you get to add one year to your age. It normally happens for me on my birthday…not sure about anyone else thought."
Percival let out a snicker at the look on Elyan's face as Gwaine fixed Merlin with a scowl. "More importantly, why didn't you tell us it was your birthday?"
Looking at the hurt faces the knights had, Merlin hung his head, feeling slightly abashed that he hadn't considered it important enough for them to care. "I didn't think you guys would care, besides, it's not that big of a deal." He said this so quietly that Gwaine almost didn't hear him. Almost.
Not sure he had heard the boy correctly (because surely he didn't think that none of them cared?) Gwaine looked at the other knights. Each one wore a slightly stunned expression and Lancelot looked like he wanted to either hug the boy or throttle him (for Gwaine's part he was leaning towards throttle). To every one's surprise it was Leon who broke the silence first, speaking in a deceptively mild voice.
"When is your birthday, Merlin?"
" It's none of your business, Sir Leon."
"Don't make us force it out of you, Merlin. We are knights of Camelot trained all manners of unpleasant ways to make little boys talk." Lancelot shot a small smile at Leon, amused by this seldom seen side of the taciturn man.
"No. I don't want to."
"Merlin, tell us when your birthday is." This time it was Percy who spoke in a low voice.
Thrusting his chin out defiantly, the serving boy shook his head. "I don't have to tell you anything. You can't make me tell you!"
At this the knights grinned dangerously and shared a look. By the time Merlin realized his mistake it was too late to run; the knights were already closing in on him. Just as he made to dive between Gwaine's legs, Merlin was grabbed from behind by Lancelot. Eyes twinkling with undisguised glee, the others closed in on him Leon in the front of the group.
"Are you sure you don't want to give in," Leon asked Merlin as he made a big show of slowly pulling off his gloves.
Stubborn 'til the end, Merlin just shook his head. Leon had to admire the boy's courage, considering what was to come. Tucking his gloves into his belt, Leon flashed the boy an evil grin. "Good." With that he flexed his fingers and then began…to tickle the boy. After only a few moments of this "torture" Merlin had tears sliding down his cheeks and he was breathless with laughter, his chest heaving. His eyes were bright with joy and something else that Leon couldn't quite decipher.
"Are you going to tell us when your birthday is?"
"NOOoooooo! *giggle* Please st-*giggle*-stop Leon," he gasped, squirming to no avail. A few more seconds passed before Merlin broke. "Fine, I'll t-t-tell you *giggle* Just stop please." Leon stopped and Merlin eyed the hands that were still hovering dangerously close to his navel. " It was last Tuesday. Okay? That was when my birthday was."
Nodding to himself Leon stepped back and opened his mouth to say something. Before he could continue, however, he was interrupted by none other than Prince Arthur crashing through doors.
"MERLIN," he began only to stop as he took in the scene in front of him. Arthur felt his temper begin to rise again. All the knights were staring at him with the look of children who had been caught stealing cookies. He was going to ask for an explanation before his eyes landed on Merlin, who was still being held by Lancelot and who had tears streaming down his face. Concern, shock, and anger fought for precedence on his face before Arthur schooled it into a blank mask, but not before the knights had seen. Leon seemed to blanche as he realized how this must look to the king. He stepped forward, hands raised in a placating manner.
"Sire…I…It isn't…" He found he couldn't articulate his thoughts as the panic the prince had inspired gave way to anger. How could he honestly believe that any of them would hurt Merlin?
Before anybody else could, Arthur spoke, his tone deceptively composed and calm. "Merlin, leave us." When Merlin hesitated, opening his mouth to speak because he didn't want his friends to get in trouble on his account, Arthur glared at him. "Now, Merlin." With a quick glance at the apprehensive knights, Merlin scampered out of the armory, the door slamming behind him. Once again focusing on the knights, Arthur began to shout. "WHAT ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? AT THIS TIME OF THE DAY I EXPECT MY KNIGHTS TO BE ON THE TRAINING FIELD…"
"Sire…"
"NOT NOW ELYAN, I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT. I CAME DOWN HERE EXPECTING TO FIND MERLIN SLACKING ON HIS DUTIES, NOT BEING ATTACKED BY MY OWN KNIGHTS!"
"Princess, let us…"
"I SAID I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT, GWAINE. I SWEAR I'LL HAVE YOU RUNNING LAPS IN FULL ARMOR TOMORROW FOR THIS…" It went on like this for several more moments, with Arthur detailing the many unpleasant punishments they were going to receive for this, before Leon had finally had enough.
"Arthur, SHUT UP!" Taking advantage of the dumbstruck look on the prince's face, Leon hurriedly began to explain the situation. "We were trying to get information out of him. All we were doing was tickling him. How could you think we would ever hurt him, Arthur? He's like a little brother to us."
At his words Arthur had the decency to look ashamed; then he did something that would have given Merlin a heart attack had he been there to hear it. He apologized. "I'm *ahem* sorry," he said looking at each of them. " You're right of course, Leon. I know that none of you would hurt him; I was just frustrated at being cooped up for so long." The knights were all giving him curious looks, Gwaine was full on gaping at him, and it was slightly unnerving. "Erhm… so what information were you trying to get out of Merlin?"
Gwaine gave him a dark look. "Well, princess, were you aware that Merlin had his birthday last Tuesday? 'Cause we sure as hell weren't."
At the confused look on Arthur's face Leon explained. "Merlin let slip that he was eleven now, not ten. He wouldn't tell us when his birthday was, only that it was none of our business."
Looking hurt, Percy added, "when we asked him why he didn't tell us, he said that it wasn't that big of a deal and that he didn't think that we would care anyway."
Suddenly Arthur snorted, and then broke into a chuckle. At the others' questioning looks he just shrugged. "That's just so completely Merlin. Only he could make such a huge deal about everybody else's birthdays and be enough of an idiot to think that only his didn't matter. You know what though? We can change that." Looking each knight in the eye he said, "We'll throw Merlin a surprise party; just us, Gwen and Gaius. Now let's get planning."
