Arthur groaned as he opened his eyes. The sky was flushed a pleasant shade of pink, first rays just beginning to trickle in through the window and caress his face. It's too early for this, thought Arthur, mind groggy and still sore from playing the events of two days past over in his mind. He couldn't quite figure out what had driven him to be so impulsive that night, and the more he tried to tease out an answer, the more frustrated he got. He turned over in bed, pulling the sheets up and closing his eyes; it was definitely too early to deal with this.

"Your breakfast will be here in a moment, sire," came a familiar voice. Arthur's eyes flew open, catching the slightest movement of blue out of the corner of his eye. He was here. Arthur hadn't expected it, as his manservant hadn't shown up yesterday morning, but today he was here. The prince wasn't quite sure how he felt about this.

He slowly eased himself out of bed, convinced that this might all be some stress-formed dream and any sudden movements would scare the apparition away. But as he walked behind the changing screen, he noticed that the man still stayed.

"Merlin?" he asked as he pulled on some pants. He quickly tugged on a shirt as well, but couldn't hear a response past the scratchy material over his ears. "Merlin?" he queried again, this time poking his head out from behind the screen. But there was no answer and no Merlin. Arthur had to suppress a frustrated sigh. He wasn't even sure what he wanted to tell Merlin, but the simple fact that he was here and then not left him oddly disappointed. I need to eat something, Arthur grumbled internally as he shuffled over to the table. He was nothing without breakfast.

As Arthur sat at the table, rubbing sleep from his eyes, the door swung open, and Merlin appeared carrying a tray of warm breakfast food. Arthur felt his spirits lift. He inhaled the scent of fresh bread and preserves but also noticed the familiar bitter scent of herbs and poultices.

"Would you like wine, ale, or cider with your breakfast, sire?" came the question. Arthur was awake enough now to notice that Merlin had a tone: flat, deferential, and extremely un-Merlin-like. It made Arthur want to grind his teeth.

"The ale will be fine," replied Arthur, trying - and failing - to keep the clipped tones from his voice. He noticed that Merlin kept as much distance as physically possible between them while pouring the ale, and Arthur rolled his eyes. So this is how it was going to be. Both dancing around the obvious problem and neither willing to do anything about it. Except Arthur wasn't the type of person to just leave things be and hope for the best.

"Merlin?" asked Arthur, glancing over at this friend who stood at attention over in a corner.

"Yes, sire?" came the reply.

"Would you mind sitting with me for a moment?" Arthur asked as he spread some jam onto a piece of bread. He could see Merlin hesitate for a moment, torn between his duty to follow the request and his desire to remain as far as physically possible from the prince, but duty won out and he seated himself across from Arthur.

"How are you feeling this morning?" asked Arthur casually, taking a moment to look at his friend. He remembered that he had seen Merlin for a brief hour or so yesterday afternoon, but his friend had looked terrible then; dark circles seemed to sink into his face under his bloodshot eyes, and a perpetual frown tugged at his lips and furrowed his brow. At least today, his eyes were more alert, and the frown was mercifully missing.

"I am doing fine, sire," replied Merlin, offering a small dip of his head as he responded. Arthur abruptly slapped his hand onto the table.

"Will you stop doing that?" Arthur asked forcefully, voice strained as he tried not to yell too loudly. "I know you're my manservant, but you are also my friend. You don't need to cower around me."

Merlin blinked in surprise and nodded. "Of course."

"Good," said Arthur, giving a quick nod to himself and returning back to breakfast. He paused as he chewed for a moment before he said, "I would like to apologize for my behavior two days ago. It was highly inappropriate."

Arthur nearly choked on his ale as he watched Merlin's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. He tried to cover it with as much of a dignified cough as he could muster.

"Sire?" Merlin finally managed in his shock. Arthur let out a sigh of relief; Merlin wasn't angry.

"I also understand if you would like to request to work solely with Gaius," continued Arthur. He paused as he chose his next words. "And yet despite how annoying you are, I would still be willing to keep you on as my manservant. The choice is yours."

Arthur kept his eyes down as he sipped on his ale. He didn't want to see Merlin's face, didn't want to watch it shut down again before he inevitably responded "no." But Arthur wanted Merlin to have the choice; he deserved that much.

The silence stretched out a beat longer than Arthur would have liked when he heard the soft reply, "I would like to work with Gaius."

Arthur felt the hope that had bloomed in his chest collapse. His heart stuttered as he struggled to find the right words to respond with, mind unwilling to process what just happened.

"Of course," he managed dumbly, voice threatening to break at any moment as he white-kuckled the mug of ale in his hand. "You are… you are free to go."

Merlin nodded before he excused himself from the table, slipping a scrap of parchment towards Arthur. "These are the books on the five kingdoms' histories for the peace talks today. I've already pulled them from the archives," he offered as an awkward farewell before he walked out of the room and softly closed the door.

Arthur was crushed.

He wasn't surprised; he had expected Merlin to choose Gaius, but it still stung. He was losing his friend. He had tried to handle this with as much maturity and respect as he could, and yet it felt like things were still crumbling around him. Who would he talk to now? Confide in? He could possibly speak to Morgana, but she was having terrible dreams, and he didn't want to burden her any more than she already was. That left Gwen. But those were just fleeting moments, and Arthur wasn't quite sure where they stood anymore. Merlin had stepped out of the room and sent the prince's life into a vacuum.

Arthur let his head fall into his hands as he tried to steady his breathing. There had to be a way to fix things. Had to be a way to at least patch up the friendship that he had come to appreciate more than he initially realized. But for now, he had no idea how to do that. For now, he had to prepare for peace talks that held the fate of Albion in its sway. For now, it was about making it through one night.

Arthur squared his shoulders, wiping once at his eyes as he sat up in his chair. Arthur was a future king. He would have to bear much graver burdens than this. Slipping into the mindset of the prince that he was raised to be, Arthur finished his breakfast and headed to the archives, determination pressing him on. The studying would be dull and the festivities of the night would be tedious, but he knew his place and would not shirk his duty.

Author's Note: WHY ARE YOU GUYS SO AMAZING? Seriously, I am blown away by y'all's support. You are all wonderful people, so have a cookie on me. Also, slowmances are my thing, so yes. More conflict. Also, also, it's close to the end of the semester on my end, so I can't promise when the next update will be; it could very well be weeks or months into the future. HOWEVER, I promise that I will not abandon this. I'm quite enjoying myself, so you can count on a follow-up. So again, thank you all for being wonderful (especially those who left reviews and/or alerted/favorited), and I'll see you at the next update!

EDIT: After reading a certain review (you know who you are), I had inspiration to re-write the ending of this chapter. Much more pleased with it.