Hi Guys! I had a plot for the second chapter and I knew how I wanted to write it, but when I wrote it... I didn't like how it came out. But I figured that I would post it anyway because I'm too lazy to go back and rewrite the entire thing, especially since I have a ton of other plot bunnies bouncing around. :)
Btw, disclaimer: I don't remember whether Arthur ever managed to hit Merlin with a goblet (or whatever he throws across the room), so for this fic, just pretend that he didn't.
Review replies!
guardianofdragonlore: Lol, very true!
Bitten Nails: Thank you! You're very sweet!
darkynstars: Awww! Thank you! I love their friendship too (who doesn't?)! Here's the second chapter since you asked so nicely!
Rachelle Lo: Thanks! I feel like Merlin had the potential to be so much lighter, so instead of drowning in the angst of the last season, I decided to outlet my need for humor into fanfiction. :P
wazka098: Lol, thank you. :)
In any case, here it is! Enjoy! If you guys have any requests, feel free to let me know. I need to write more, and the more ideas I have, the more I will write!
Chapter Two
That was when Arthur started watching Merlin.
The night air was chilly and the knights and Merlin had all just finished their dinner and settled around the fire. Light still penetrated through the leaves on the trees from the setting sun, but already, the fire was waning.
Arthur poked the dying flames with his sword and watched as the embers sparked before fading. Arthur spied Percival rubbing his arms, his cloak did nothing to protect him from the frigid air.
"Merlin!" Arthur called, "The fires going out."
Merlin looked up from his conversation with Gwaine and his eyes darted to the fire and back to Arthur. Slowly, as if talking to a child, he said, "Yes Arthur, the fire is going out."
Arthur raised an eyebrow, "Yes, then you wouldn't mind getting some more wood."
"I'd rather not, I'm very comfortable right here." Merlin said smiling. When all that was returned was Arthur's unamused expression, Merlin sighed and dusted off his pants. Making a show, Merlin huffed and narrowed his eyes before walking into the trees to gather more wood.
After a few moments Gwaine stood up, "I'd better go help him."
"You're right," Leon said approvingly, "Merlin has a knack for tripping over things."
Elyan piped in, "Not to mention how slow he is, he won't be back until morning!"
The knights laughed and someone jabbed at Merlin's inability to use a sword and how Merlin drops things all the time.
But really, all Arthur could think about was what had happened earlier today. Their most recent quest had taken them to a fight against Morgana's men—as usual. And as usual, Merlin disappeared, Morgana's men were somehow thwarted and Arthur ended up with barely his life and a pounding headache.
He didn't know how these things were connected, but he knew that Merlin played an integral part in whatever was happening.
Arthur had been watching him, under the impression that his manservant wouldn't be able to get to safety and help himself. However, what he found was rather startling. While Arthur defended himself against a brute of a man, he saw in the corner of his eye, Merlin moving through the clearing toward the trees to disappear again.
The important part was that Merlin had somehow managed to get himself through the clearing. The clearing in which about a dozen of Arthur's knights and Morgana's men were fighting, magic against swords against swords. It was astounding how Merlin succeeded in avoiding being thrown by an invisible force and simultaneously tripping men as he ducked their plunging swords.
Five minutes after Merlin disappeared off into the woods, several of Morgana's men fell down, others were hit by tree branches (Arthur couldn't even fathom how that happened) and one by one they started going down. And once they were all gone, Merlin jogged in, looking sheepish, but grinning childishly nonetheless.
Arthur wasn't stupid. Obviously Merlin was doing something. He just couldn't figure out what. Did he throw rocks at them? Did he purposely climb trees and make the branches fall? There were a number of reasonable and unreasonable ideas that Arthur had, but he wasn't certain of any of them.
There was one thing he did know—he and his knights were alive because of Merlin.
Never again would Arthur underestimate him.
"…isn't that right Arthur?" Arthur blinks out of his thoughts and faces towards the knights, their faces flushed with laughter. "Merlin must be one of the clumsiest people we know."
Arthur stared at them for a moment before a chuckle escaped him, soon becoming full-blown laughter. The knights looked at him curiously.
"I don't think we got the joke mate." Gwaine said, "Why're you laughing?"
Breathing deeply and stifling his laughter, Arthur responded, "You think Merlin's clumsy."
There was a silence over the campfire before Leon supplied, "He is clumsy, Sire."
"No, he really isn't."
"He's so loud on hunting trips—" Elyan said.
"Because he doesn't want us to catch anything." Arthur countered calmly. The knights quietly assented before Percival piped in, "But he's so slow!"
"Have you seen how fast he runs when the cook makes dumplings?" Arthur scoffed.
"Well… those are really good dumplings." Gwaine said, smacking his lips at the thought of food.
Leon said, "He always gets hurt."
Arthur didn't even bother to respond to that and just raised an eyebrow.
"Holy apples and gravy…" Gwaine muttered and then said more loudly, "Merlin's not clumsy!"
…
Something was very wrong. Merlin had noticed that since the last outing, the knights had been treating him differently. Normally, after training sessions, Percival and Gwaine helped Merlin carry the training materials back to the armory, but nowadays, they just clapped him on the back and said, "I'm sure you can handle it yourself" before walking away.
But that wasn't it.
Usually, Elyan would find Merlin just after noon and sneak him a pastry from the kitchen saying, "By the time you got down, they would all be gone". But Elyan hadn't come to give him lunch in a while.
Leon stopped going easy on him at practice.
Arthur was throwing things at him nonstop.
Merlin knew that between saving Arthur from angry sorcerers, fulfilling his manservant duties and helping Gaius, he needed all the help he could get. He wasn't ashamed in saying that he needed help, in fact he welcomed it, and let the knights know how much he appreciated it.
He knew that it was his responsibility to do all these things, but for some reason it still hurt that his friends had decided to abruptly turn their back on him. It was almost like all the knights had decided to gang up on him and Merlin would be angry if he wasn't so exhausted.
But he couldn't complain. It was his job and he had to fulfill his duties regardless of whether anyone helped him or not. So he carried on doing his chores, saving Arthur from being poisoned (again) and gathering a gross amount of herbs for Gaius.
It went on like this for several weeks. Little by little, Merlin slept slightly later or woke a little earlier to catch up on chores that he needed to accomplish, and the lack of sleep began to build up on him. It was a bitter morning when Gaius had asked Merlin to gather some Frankincense from the edge of the forest and Merlin lazily trotted through the forest, hacking off the resin from the trees surrounding him and putting it in a special cloth sack Gaius had given him.
Only when Merlin nearly tripped over his feet did he realize that he had been in such a daze that he had managed to wander deep into the forest. He didn't know where he was.
Many false leads later, Merlin gave up and used his magic sight to help him get back to Camelot, deliver the frankincense to Gaius and gather Arthur's lunch. As he walked up the stairs carefully balancing the tray in his hands he was startled by a friendly shout from Gwaine—causing him to drop all the food down the front of his shirt. Merlin watch forlornly as a chicken drumstick rolled down the steps while Gwaine winced. "Sorry mate, I didn't realize I'd scare you."
"Its fine Gwaine, I'll just get another lunch for his royal pratness." Merlin said with a sad smile.
"I just wanted to tell you that the princess will be eating lunch with the rest of the knights today in the dining hall, so you might want to bring his lunch there." Gwaine said, a crease slowly forming between his eyebrows.
"Of course," Merlin muttered, "I'd best be off then." He said before reaching down to gather the fallen food. After everything was in the tray, Merlin rushed back to the kitchens and exchanged the lunch (while the cook threatened him with a ladle) and managed to make his way to the dining hall.
"Merlin! Care to explain why you are so late today?" Arthur asked as Merlin burst through the doors, tray in hand. He placed the tray in front of Arthur and found that Gwaine had managed to sit between Percival and Elyan.
"I had a little incident, that's all." Merlin said, too tired to think of a retort. "Do you require anything else or can I leave, sire?"
Scrunching his eyebrows, Arthur picked up the goblet nearest to him and chucked it at Merlin's head, just as Merlin had reached down to grab the pitcher.
Filled with red wine.
Too groggy to even comprehend what had just happened, the goblet hit Merlin square on the forehead, and he fell backward, spilling the dark red liquid on the knights around him and on the papers littering the table. Rubbing his head, Merlin vaguely heard a "Bloody Hell, Merlin mate, you alright?", but instead of responding, Merlin chose to succumb to the darkness already threatening to take over his vision.
Arthur immediately rose, his jaw hanging open in shock. Never, in almost the decade that he knew Merlin, was he ever actually able to hit Merlin with whatever-it-was-he-threw-at-him. Looking down at Merlin, whose unconscious body was surrounded by Gwaine and several other knights, Arthur instantly felt guilty and made his way to kneel down next to Merlin.
"Merlin you idiot! Wake up!" Arthur said, softly slapping his manservant's cheek. All the knights were murmuring to each other, because in all honesty, none of them had ever seen Merlin asleep much less unconscious.
"What just happened?" Leon asked, concerned. "Merlin usually ducks!"
"Maybe he's not feeling well." Gwaine proposed, "I saw him today and he tripped on the stairs and dropped your lunch. That's why he was late."
"Why did he trip?" Leon asked, raising an eyebrow, not unlike Gaius' trademark expression.
"I dunno! I just said, 'Hey Merlin!' and he fell."
Arthur listened, his brows knitted confusedly as he turned toward his unconscious manservant. While the fact that Merlin had tripped for no reason was mildly concerning, right now, Arthur was more concerned with the fact that Merlin had allowed his face to be used as a target! "Why didn't you duck you clumsy oaf?"
At that, the entire room became silent.
"Holy apples and gravy…" Gwaine muttered and then said more loudly, "Merlin's clumsy!"
…
The days following the "incident" Merlin was pleased to find that everyone had resumed helping him. Regardless of the bruise that had formed in the middle of his forehead, Merlin found himself wishing that he had been knocked out earlier, so that he wouldn't have had to endure that tiring week.
In any case, Merlin was glad. It was much easier trying to save Arthur when he had a decent amount of sleep the night before.
For example, in the week that followed, a group of nobles came to visit Arthur's court. It turned out, they were actually assassins (what a surprise). While at the meeting table, Lord Your-father-killed-my-brother had taken a throwing dagger and aimed for Arthur's neck. With reflexes no one knew he had, Merlin reached forward and caught the dagger just inches away from Arthur's throat, the blade fixed between his middle and pointer finger without drawing blood.
Immediately the guards had taken the noble away as he screamed treason. Merlin sighed in relief and noticed Arthur gaping at him. Merlin narrowed his eyes before saying, "I think the words you are looking for are 'Thank you for saving my life Merlin. I'd be dead without you Merlin. Would you like a day off?'"
When Arthur replied by dropping his jaw even lower (because Arthur realized that Merlin was right, he would be dead without him), Merlin rolled his eyes. "Really you prat? You aren't even going to say thank you? I stopped a dagger from impaling your throat!"
Arthur started, "You…?" He rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hand. "I just… You were… and then you weren't… and now you are…? I just don't know any more Merlin. I just don't!" Arthur spluttered before walking away with a bewildered expression on his face.
Merlin was equally as dumbfounded. What was that all about?
Shrugging, he walked away, whistling as he flipped the dagger in his hand.