A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

43. Chapter 43

Merlin-somewhere along the way as he had been stomping to the knight's quarters-had gotten all hyped up. He was completely ignoring the knight who was supposed to be 'escorting him' but was trailing behind him because of Merlin's fast pace. Merlin was just so full of adrenaline-it coursed through his veins almost faster than he was even able to realize it was there at all-that he wouldn't have been able to slow down for the other knight if he tried.

His fists were clenched at his sides, and his eyes were flashing dangerously the closer he got to the knight's quarters. He had every intention in the world of walking straight up to Arthur, tying his neckerchief around his bicep, and cursing him out while he did it.

Because it was all Arthur's fault, the reason he'd been so completely stressed out-in between his stressing with Valiant-that the blonde deserved to be cursed out as he was given Merlin's 'token'. And maybe he had been pressured into by Gwen and Morgana, but at this point, he was just ready for it.

To shove his favor into Arthur's smug face-and hopefully wipe the usual smugness he wore off-and be done with it. His neckerchief would no longer be burning a hole in his pocket-which it had done for the better part of the afternoon-and he wouldn't be wasting anymore of his time thinking about it.

He could stress completely over Valiant in peace, without his other stresses and worries coming back to bother him.

What could go wrong?

There must have been something written on his face, something that spoke of something very horrible was going to happen if they tried to stop him, because the two guards that had been there the first time he came back here (Charles and Justin) didn't even try to stop him.

Charles was still going at him as he was going in, apparently still pissed that there was nothing he could really do to stop the 'peasant' from going in. Justin didn't have any expression on his face, looking so stiff that Merlin honestly didn't have a clue if the knight was 'ok' with his presence, or hated him as much as Charles but was at least being professional enough to do his job.

"I'll just wait for you out here!" The young knight called out to him, waving off the consort now that he knew the prince's husband had made it to his destination safely.

His voice had clearly been going through the late stages of puberty, because it was being scratchy and irritating in the worst of ways to Merlin who had his back to him, who also winced harshly as the sound of it reached his ears.

"Do whatever you want, I'll probably just be in and out." Merlin grunted, feeling as if his shoulders had risen all the way to his ears. It wasn't as if he knew how long this was really going to take, but if everything actually went according to plan, hopefully he really would be in and out. All he had to do was give the blonde his favor, and then he could be gone before Arthur had the time to realize what he had just given him. And by then, it would be to late, he could convince himself that the prince really had accepted his favor.

But as all great plans go, it was ruined as soon as Merlin found himself going through the curtain that led him into the knight's quarters.

The first thing he saw was Valiant, standing on the far corner of the room. The knight was looking so relaxed, nodding his head while he had a calm (and emotionless) smile on his lips as two younger knights were talking to him animatedly. If that wasn't enough for the consort to feel as if a bucket of freezing cold water had just been dumped on him, he didn't know what would.

Oh, actually, yeah he did.

It was when Valiant seemed to notice him-to finally realize that he was being watched by somebody who was most definitely not a knight-and turned towards him. As their eye's met, the knight seemed to start smirking at him, a brief and quick kind of smirk that Merlin probably would have missed if he hadn't been looking at him as hard as he had been.

The knight reached a hand over his shoulder, looking to any other as if he was just trying to readjust the weight on the heavy shield on his back. But Merlin knew instantly what he was doing as his eye's followed the brief and subtle movement, and the consort felt his jaw clenching as Valiant turned back to his conversation without another glance in his direction.

The knight was taunting him-while doing it gleefully as well-readjusting his stance so that his back was to Merlin. From this position, all Merlin would be able to see were the snakes, looking as deadly and as dangerously poisonous on the shield as they did in real life. He should have known that there was something going on with that the first time he had seen it, there was just no way (no matter how good the painter was) for somebody to paint snakes that could look so life like.

If he were closer, he would probably be able to see the venom clinging to their fangs, but maybe in hindsight, it was a good thing he wasn't closer.

He probably wouldn't have been able to resist setting the thing on fire to finally be rid of it, while it was still attached to Valiant's backside.

It would at least get rid of one of his many problems, which was what now led him to noticing the second thing.

Favors.

Not many, pretty much nobody actually, was wearing one. And he was almost convinced that the girl's had lied to him, and nobody had been spending their afternoon trying to get one of the four winners to accept their favor.

But maybe that was just the thing that Merlin needed tfor him to realize why there were no favors hanging around. There was at least twenty knights in the room, and most of them had already lost because there were only four winners still left in this mess of a tourney. And from what little Merlin knew about favors at all, they would have been passed out among the winner's.

Apparently nowadays it was less about the actual romance of giving somebody that you genuinely like a token 'of your affection' and was more about the status it would give you if your favor was the one being worn by the champion.

So there was really no point for somebody to give a favor to somebody who had already lost.

Merlin's eye's dropped, and felt his teeth clinch when he focused a little more on to Valiant. The knight still had his back to him, acting as if he wasn't taking in some kind of sick pleasure by tormenting Merlin just by being here at all, but he was also standing more at a slight angle.

It was what allowed Merlin to see the bright yellow and clearly made out of a rich silk fabric, tied neatly into a little bow around the knight's bicep. Merlin had to wonder just who it was that had given it to him-because they clearly didn't know anything about Valiant if they had been willing to get that close to him-or if the knight had done it himself to blend in among his fellow winners.

And speaking of winners, Merlin refused to allow Valiant to waste anymore of his time and started whipping his head around more urgently. He had absolutely no idea when the tourney was going to start, but he didn't want to be caught unaware or interrupted before he could just get this over with.

That was how Merlin caught sight of the second winner, a knight that was scrawnier than him standing by the entranceway to the field, watching as everybody was getting settled into the bleachers. He was also wearing a favor around his bicep, but this one looked as if it was made out of a thick velvet material. It was also a dark green, and looked to have some kind of design on it but what that was, Merlin was to far away to tell.

But that didn't stop the sense of dread from forming inside of his stomach. Valiant's looked to be made out of silk, while this knight looked as if his favor was made out of velvet. Those were definitely two types of material that he had never even been able to feel for himself before (unless one counted what his wedding clothes had been made out of-which he wasn't going to because he didn't feel as if he actually owned those) and his cotton favor was definitely and decidedly less expensive.

It wasn't as if Merlin hadn't been expecting it, he knew that his neckerchief (much longer and would probably be more noticeable compared to the other favors because it was made to be worn around the neck and not the arm) would fall short compared to an actual favor. But it was a surprisingly different feeling when he was actually seeing what a real favor was supposed to look like.

And speaking of real favors, Merlin's eye's froze as he looked at a complete giant of a man standing way on the other side of the room. His bicep's alone looked as if they could crush Merlin's head as if it were nothing more than a grape. But even he had a favor tied around his arm, some kind of sheer looking blue fabric that looked as if it were straining and coming apart at the seams because of how small it was compared to the man's arm.

Clearly, whoever had designed the favor, hadn't taken into account that it would be worn by a man that large. It would probably rip apart completely the second the man lifted his sword up in combat, but it would be a true miracle if the man somehow managed to not maim it.

And speaking of wanting to maim somebody, Merlin's eye's found Arthur, or at least the back of him. He hated to admit it, but that thick blonde hair was becoming increasingly familiar to him, he could probably find it (and the boy it was attached to) anywhere by now.

Merlin finally moved away from the doorway that he'd been blocking this entire time, and he headed in Arthur's direction. But his legs felt numb, as if he wasn't actually walking at all. His mouth tasted like cotton, so he couldn't swallow even if he had tried with everything he had. His brain was all fuzzy, but that was probably because he knew-on some kind of unconscious level-that all of this was going to end very, very badly.

Merlin stifled a yelp, jerking back as one of the other knight's crossed his path. Tristian gave him an annoyed glare-even though it was him who had gotten in Merlin's way (probably, because Merlin honestly couldn't remember who had been walking there first).

Merlin followed him walking away with his eye's, only able to see the epically large bruise that covered the majority of his face-stemming from the deep purple coloring on his nose. The dark haired boy was shaking his head, because damn, Arthur had really gotten that knight good in his last match.

And then Merlin was standing right behind Arthur, although he would have never been able to tell you how. Maybe he had just been moving on auto-pilot, because he definitely didn't remember walking over here. Or it was possible that he had just been to distracted by seeing Tristian's face to remember the walk.

He supposed it didn't really matter anyway, he was here now, standing behind Arthur's back. The knight didn't seem to notice him at first, leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest as he stared at one of the other knight's ahead of him.

Merlin opened his mouth to say something to get his attention, before he promptly closed it back. He found himself shifting from foot to foot, opening and closing his mouth. Should he just tap him on the shoulder and let him know that he was there? Or maybe he should just shove him and ask him if he was ever polite, because staring at somebody most definitely wasn't.

The longer the second's passed, the more frustrated and agitated that Merlin could feel himself growing. He wasn't usually like this, so awkward (well he was awkward) but he had never spent so much of his time second guessing himself. He usually just...did it. But things were a little different now, the red cotton neckerchief felt as if it were a stone weighing him down in the worst of way's.

Merlin, involuntarily, felt his eye's drop before he even realized what he had been looking for. He felt the tightness in his chest start to ease up some when he realized that both of Arthur's arms were bare. There was no sign of Arthur having accepted somebody else's favor, which was probably a really good thing for the prince and for Merlin as well.

Merlin had no doubt that he would have been spending the rest on his life in a jail cell when he was-inevitable-pulled off of Arthur after he tried using his neckerchief to strangle him.

Merlin found himself clearing his throat before he even realized that he was doing it, trying to catch Arthur's attention. But it clearly hadn't worked, because the prince made absolutely no indication of having heard him.

Merlin frowned, moving so that he wasn't behind him but now standing to the side of him. He could see the side of Arthur's face now, the way he was clenching his jaw and the way he was tapping his gloved fingers against his inner elbow. But still, the prince didn't seem to realize that he was there.

Merlin's frown deepened, before he found himself following Arthur's line of sight to see what had him so distracted. He had been half hoping that it was Valiant, that maybe Arthur had some inkling of an idea that something wasn't right with the knight either. And all Merlin had to do was fill in the pieces and then let Arthur deal with the legal stuff that would have to be done-like ordering the guards to have him arrested.

But no, of course things wouldn't be that easy.

It wasn't Valiant that Arthur had been staring at, it was the knight that Merlin had been half admiring earlier. The knight whose biceps were large enough to crush Merlin without even trying-the knight that was scary large for Merlin's taste-with the tiny scrap of blue fabric clinging to his arm.

Merlin didn't know why Arthur was staring at the knight so intently, but he did know why he himself was staring daggers at the favor on his arm. He could feel a stirring of jealousy in the pit of his stomach the longer that he was staring at it. While he greatly admired the woman that had been brave enough to put a tiny favor on that hulk of a man, he also bet that the woman hadn't been stressing out about it nearly as much as Merlin had been.

It took Merlin another second before the dots started to connect for him, before he started to realize what about this knight in particular had caught Arthur's attention. The large knight was wearing shades of brown, the same kind of brown that was on the little shield on the wall outside that told everybody who was fighting who next in the tourney.

Merlin's jaw dropped open, and he was talking with loud and stunned disbelief before his brain could catch up, "Please tell me you're not going out there to fight 'that!'"

He said the word 'that' as if he was talking about some kind of inhuman thing, something that didn't belong in a simple tourney. The man was just so...large, so large that his manservant probably had to stand on a stool just to be able to help him get dressed properly. And Arthur...while larger than Merlin himself, wasn't even in the same league in terms of muscle when compared to this other guy.

Arthur flinched, feeling his crossed arms loosening up at the sudden voice bellowing near his ear. He didn't even have to look to know who had joined him, there was only one person he knew of that could be that loud and irritating.

"I could, but I'd be lying to you." Arthur found himself grumbling his response to Merlin only after he registered what the other man had been saying. He tightened his arms back over his chest, leaning further against the wall as he steadfastly tried to ignore the boy at his side. All he wanted to do was calculate his chances against this other knight, it definitely wasn't the first time he'd gone against a much larger opponent but still, this other man was a bit...much.

Maybe Merlin had a right to seem so shocked.

Merlin found himself looking between Arthur and the knight, his favor almost forgotten in the back of his mind as he did his own mental calculations by comparing Arthur's stance to the other knight's.

"...He's going to clobber you, and that's only if he doesn't outright kill you." Merlin found himself deducing on his own. He didn't see how anybody would be able to beat that guy, it would almost be a miracle if a sword was even able to pierce those thick muscles at all.

...Maybe he didn't have to worry about Valiant competing against Arthur, not if the prince was already going to be dead because he had fought this guy first.

Arthur finally took his eye's away from the big hulk of a man so that he could give a subtle glance toward's Merlin, before he turned back away just as fast. "I can take him." He said confidently.

Merlin glanced back over at Arthur, giving him an obvious once over with a raised eyebrow, as if he was trying to weigh the blonde's muscle's against the other knight's, "Where? In your dreams?" He asked, doing nothing to conceal his scoff.

It was pretty hard to imagine Arthur going up against a man that large, but what did he know? Maybe Arthur did have some kind of special skill that Merlin hadn't seen yet-that he hadn't yet used in the other rounds-that would allow the blonde to get a step ahead of the other knight.

Arthur did nothing to conceal his heavy eye roll, "No." he said, sounding strangely off about it. As if he was trying to be sarcastic but clearly failing at it, and he knew it to.

It wasn't Arthur's fault that Merlin had shown back up, forcing the blonde to be hyper aware of the dark haired boy at his side. It was only when Merlin gave him a look did he realize just how strange he had sounded.

So playing it cool, Arthur was quick to clear his throat, trying to get his game face back on, "He may be large, and he is as strong as a bear, but he's also slow." That was the one thing that had stuck out to Arthur when he'd watched the man fight in his previous match, he was only able to win because of how much larger he was than his competition, it helped him put much more force than was necessary into his blows. But all of those muscles had a weak point-a huge disadvantage-by weighing him down and making every move he took take to much time to execute.

"Ah," Merlin said slowly, nodding his head as the pieces came together for him, "And you're fast." He supposed there was some kind of logic in there somewhere, speed and smarts (if Arthur had any) could be the one thing that would beat that guy.

But still, he found himself tilting his head and squinting a little, wondering if he was going to be seeing Arthur's squished body at the man's feet within the hour.

Arthur seemed to take his words to heart, and nodded while looking self-satisfied with himself, "Exactly." He could do this, Arthur thought to himself, putting all of his weight against the wall he was leaning on. He was going to go out there and beat this guy, but only after he sent Merlin on his way (and hopefully back to the bleachers where he belonged but never seemed to stay) and he was going to make his father proud by getting into the finals.

There was no reason to let his nerves get the best of him. As Prince Arthur Pendragon, he was not going to get nervous. Not about having to fight this new opponent, nor what his father's face would look like if he didn't come out on top. Hell, he wasn't even going to get all round up by Merlin's mere presence this time.

Everything was going to be...okay.

That was before a set of slim hands with long fingers started probing at the shoulder piece of his armor. Arthur nearly jerked his arm socket out of place when he yanked back, whipping his head around to glare at the taller boy.

"What do you think you're doing?" Arthur demanded, his eye's going into narrowed little slits of suspicion. It was as if he thought Merlin was trying to do something nefarious while his back had been to him.

Merlin held his hands up, giving him an extremely unimpressed glare, "If you want your thing to fall off, then fine. But that clamp looks loose and I was just trying to tighten it back." He nodded his head down to the little knob on the top of Arthur's shoulder blade, that kept the shoulder piece connected.

Arthur couldn't really strain his neck to see it because of where it was positioned, but he also didn't want to risk being distracted if the thing started to ease apart as he was out there fighting.

"...Fine..." he relented with a suspicious gleam still shining in his eyes. He did not look pleased in the least as he turned his back so that Merlin could reach the clasp properly. It didn't surprise him that there was something wrong, he usually got his armor checked between fights. But he hadn't been able to stomach Morris boot-licking presence for a moment longer, and there was no way in hell that he was going to track Merlin down. "But you better not screw anything up back there." He shot over his shoulder, trying to ignore the way that he could feel Merlin stepping up behind him.

Fuck, Arthur wanted to strangle himself now that he realized just how cornered in he had gotten. With the wall in front of him and the boy behind him...he felt strangely unsettled, even as he gave himself a mental prep talk, telling himself that all Merlin was doing was fixing a loose knob. This was a perfectly normal-and public safe-activity that could be done.

That still didn't stop him from stiffening when Merlin's hand returned to his shoulder.

"Oh, shut up and be grateful that I'm helping you out." Merlin said, taking his time with twisting the knob back into place.

He could still feel his heart-so full of the anxiety induced anticipation he'd been feeling on the entire walk there-picking up at his close proximity to the blonde. It was a pretty strong reminder about why he was there in the first place, the neckerchief in his pocket like a steady and never ending weight that was rooting him to the ground.

There was no reason for him to get himself so worked up, it was just Arthur. Arthur who was either going to laugh at him, accept him, or get pissed as hell. See, there was no reason for him to be freaking out so much...

Merlin let out a heavy exhale, trying to force the tingles to stop from going down his leg's, which was probably his first big mistake. Or maybe it was his second considering he had taken liberties and tried fixing the knob in the first place without telling Arthur first.

Arthur screwed his face up as he felt the huff of air brush against the back of his neck, "Ok, okay, it's done now!" He practically fell over his own feet in his scramble to jerk away, nearly knocking Merlin off his own feet.

Merlin, after flaring about himself, planted his hands on his hips and gave Arthur a stern look, almost resembling an annoyed parent trying to tangle in a rowdy toddler, "Hell no, we are not doing that fidgeting thing this time." The dark haired boy commanded, scowling because the stupid knob on the prince's shoulder was just shy from being on straight. He would have gotten it finished if Arthur had been able to hold out for one second longer. "Now stand still, so you don't end up fighting in your under garments!"

You'll like that, wouldn't you-Arthur thought to himself spitefully. But that comment would have probably opened another door to a whole host of problems that Arthur wasn't interested in entertaining.

"You don't get to boss me around." Arthur said, leaning away even when he-grudgingly-didn't take a step back as Merlin returned to his side. He craned his neck to the side to make sure that Merlin's fingers wouldn't brush against his skin.

"Well clearly, somebody needs to if you-a supposed expert in all this knight stuff-can't even hold still long enough to get dressed properly." Merlin shot back, steadfastly not looking the prince in the eye as he went to reworking the knob into place. "Beside's, I don't know why you are constantly fidgeting, I'm practically an expert at this stuff by now."

Arthur shot a glare at the boy, truly and honestly wondering just how he had gotten to be this stupid and naive so far into his life. Did he truly not realize the uncomfortable positions that he was putting Arthur in every time he was around-if not with the closeness of his body than with the strangeness of his words.

"Getting me dressed one time does not make you an expert in anything." Arthur grunted, rolling his shoulder as he felt the shoulder piece return to it's rightful position as the knob finally clicked into place.

"Three times!" Merlin protested, glancing up with a light smile on his face. "I do believe that, including this time, it should at least be my third." And he didn't take his hand off of Arthur's shoulder, leaving it there and feeling the cold metal pressing into the warmth of his hand.

This, this was alright. Merlin didn't have to come bursting in here and demand that Arthur wear his favor. Maybe he could lead up to that, try and be subtle with what he wanted and hope that Arthur got the message...but subtlety wasn't exactly his strong point, and brain's wasn't exactly his husband's.

Merlin's smile started to dim a little, not noticing that Arthur was now frowning fully and looking down at the hand on his shoulder as if he thought it was going to bite him.

Maybe he could bring up what Morgana had said, about how Arthur had apparently been looking for him after the last rounds of matches. That could be a good start, right? It could open a door for Merlin to do a little teasing, maybe some helpless flirting...and then he could casually mention favors and hold his neckerchief out with dainty fingers like a true noble Lady probably would.

...Fuck, he was screwed seven ways to Sunday.

"You look like you'd be a pretty good manservant, maybe I should hire you to do my own armor sometime." Another voice joined them as Markus returned to Arthur's other side. The knight had glanced over his shoulder mere second's before, and had started to smirk when he saw how close the two were standing on the opposite side of the room. He couldn't have resisted coming back if he'd tried.

Arthur stiffened when his friend came back, and all he could think about was Markus' joking remarks about how Merlin and him were seen 'getting cozy' in the alcove. He practically wretched his shoulder out from under Merlin's hand, taking a large step away from him.

Merlin raised an decidedly unimpressed eyebrow up to the newcomer, scowling at Markus and seeming to not even notice as his hand fell away from the blonde's shoulder. He simply returned the hand to his hip. "Oh, you couldn't afford my services if you tried." He said dryly.

Arthur winced as Markus suddenly broke into laughter, a deep kind of laughter that had many of the other knight's in the room to glance over in their direction before turning away.

Right, Arthur thought, feeling miserable with his whole scenario, Markus had just made a joke about 'hiring' Merlin. Although who would hire Merlin to do anything was a mystery to him, even as a joke. And while yes, insinuating that a member of such a high class family could be anything like something as less then what they were-like a manservant-could be considered a high insult, Arthur didn't say a word against it. If Merlin had been his bride-as in a noble woman-Arthur might had been more willing to cross blade's with his friend for the sake of his bride's honor.

But Merlin wasn't his bride, he was his-unfortunate-husband, so Arthur's hand didn't even flinch in the direction of his sword. But apparently he didn't need to 'defend' Merlin's honor anyway-not like he had been doing with Tristian-because Merlin was able to hold his own against Markus with just his word's.

"Oh, I don't know about that." Markus said cockily, looking like he was all swagger as he sidled his way over to Merlin. "I think I could give you more than whatever Arthur here is."

Arthur found himself frowning with confusion, looking back and forth between his friend and his consort. Was this...he didn't know where this conversation was going, but it sounded to much like flirting for his own liking. He felt a spike of irritation stirring in his gut, and he gave Markus an 'are you stupid' look.

He would have to be if he was actually 'flirting' with 'Merlin' of all people, and not just because Merlin was his consort.

"Don't hurt yourself if you don't have anybody to do it for you." Merlin said with a very dry expression. "But my services are only available for one person." And then he was waving his arm out, almost clocking Arthur straight in the face. Which was exactly what he would have done had Arthur's instincts not kicked in and he grabbed Merlin's slim wrist out of the air before it could smash his nose in.

Arthur gave Merlin-who was looking sheepish when he realized what he'd almost done-a sharp look of annoyance. "Will you stop talking to my friends?" He hissed under his breath at him, ignoring the fact that Markus had been the one to come over first and start conversing with him.

Merlin's sheepish expression dropped in an instant and he was left scowling, "Maybe if you didn't sound like such a dingbat every time you opened your mouth, I would talk to you more instead."

This hadn't exactly been the conversation Merlin had thought he'd fall into when he'd been storming in earlier, dead set on giving Arthur his neckerchief and then storming out like a boss. But it wasn't his fault that all of his carefully laid planning and thinking things through just seemed to fall through when the prat himself was actually in his sight.

"Di-dingbat-" Arthur started to stutter, feeling his hand clench just a little bit tighter around the tendons in Merlin's wrist. Before he could get the word out though, he caught sight of something even worse than Merlin's bold cockiness.

Like the smirk on Markus' face as he glanced from between the two of them. What was he...Arthur felt himself paling just a little as he realized that he was still holding Merlin by the wrist, for no apparent reason either. Oh, god no...even though Markus was one of the many people who thought Arthur had married Merlin for love, that didn't stop the prince from dropping Merlin's wrist as if it had scalded him.

He couldn't bring himself to keep up the act, not right now. Not when he was supposed to be concentrating-preparing himself-for going out there to fight any minute, not when he had already been making plans for doing something-anything-that would get him as far away from Merlin as he could reasonably get.

"Oh, don't stop on my account." Markus said, holding his hands back up in a gesture of surrender. It wasn't all that often that he got to tease Arthur about his romantic partners, he was going to take whatever he could get.

"Stop what? Arguing for the umpteenth time." Merlin asked dryly, his eye's glancing over the knight's shoulder. He felt himself, unnoticed by the other two knights, stiffening as he saw Valiant again. The other man was still talking to those two young and star struck knights, but he was now looking over their shoulders in Merlin's direction.

And he was smirking, his eye's never leaving Merlin as he carried on his conversation, looking as if not an entire thing in the world-his world-was wrong.

Arthur was saying something-some kind of protest and defensive answer to Markus' playful taunt-but Merlin was to out of it to really hear. He was just so stupid, worrying himself to death over rather or not his favor would be accepted when Arthur was probably going to be fighting for his very life if thing's went how-no doubt-Valiant was expecting.

At least until he was snatched out of his thoughts by a sudden shove to his shoulder, harsh and nearly unyielding in it's power as it almost knocked him off his feet.

"Isn't the right, Merlin?" Arthur demanded, both knights were looking at him now but only the prince was glaring at Merlin when the boy didn't answer him immediately.

"Isn't what right?" Merlin asked dumbly, as he righted himself back up. He glanced back over Markus' shoulder, where Valiant had already looked away. But he still had the hint of a smirk playing on the edges of his lips, he was taunting Merlin, trying to play with him.

Merlin felt his jaw clench up.

There was another harsh shove to his shoulder, as if Arthur couldn't stand to touch him but had to do it to get his attention, "My consort clearly has better attributes than his listening abilities." Arthur said, his own jaw clenched as he made his excuses to Markus for Merlin's own inattentiveness.

"Can we go somewhere more private?" Merlin interrupted their conversation, having no idea what it was about and not really caring that he'd just injected himself into the middle of it.

He was going to do this, he was going to warn Arthur before he even got near Valiant. If the man was so bold as to taunt Merlin in the middle of all these knights, when Merlin knew what the man was capable of, then he was clearly more sadistic than he had first thought. And Arthur needed to know, even if his uncle thought that it was a bad idea.

Arthur though, his jaw dropped and he looked decidedly horrified at him. As if Merlin had just said the worst possible thing that he could have said.

"Hey, if you two want to make out before the tourney, I say don't mind me." Markus drawled out, looking to cocky for his own good.

There was that word again, making out. It was the same phrase that he'd heard back when he'd first arrived in Camelot. He didn't know what it was supposed to reference to then, and he didn't know now but Merlin also wasn't in the right phrase of mind to care to find out what it meant.

Merlin grabbed Arthur by his arm, making the prince yelp as he was practically dragged into Merlin's chest, "Yeah, we're going to make out, so we need all the privacy that we can get." He may not know what it meant, but he wasn't above using it so that he could get Markus to go away. He needed to tell Arthur, sooner rather than later.

"Not making out, we are definitely not doing that." Arthur said just as fast, practically wrenching his arm away as his glare at Merlin was so strong that he would be dead if a look could kill. "He's just messing with you, we don't do that in public." He said, each word more forceful than the last, as if he was really trying to enunciate his point.

Merlin didn't know what he was talking about, but he still glared back at Arthur. If only one of his abilities had anything to do with the mind, it would definitely be an easier way to get Arthur to come with him without the fuss if he could just mentally tell Arthur what was going on. Because his intensified glare didn't seem to be getting the message across well enough.

"Well, we need to do something in public," Merlin hissed back, because it was just about killing him to not spit out the truth. Although he didn't know why he shouldn't, it would definitely be the one thing needed to get through his thick head.

Markus whistled, "I think I finally know why you married him!"

Both Arthur and Merlin froze, looking highly disturbed by this. Really though, it was Arthur-who knew his father was likely to kill him if word got out about how weak their kingdom had fallen because they had been bound to follow such a ridiculous contract-who looked the most disturbed, while Merlin just looked freaked out, mainly because he and Arthur had just made a deal. About how he would 'play nice' in exchange for the blonde to no longer kiss him.

Getting the contract found out not even a full day after he made the deal at all didn't seem like a good start to it. And he really didn't want Arthur to go back on their terms and start trying to kiss him again.

But 'playing nice' wasn't exactly in Merlin's cards right now, not when they were in such a dire situation that only he knew about.

"He's a little exhibitionist, isn't he?" Markus asked, looking quite proud of himself as he talked as if Merlin wasn't even there.

Arthur felt as if his entire soul had just screeched to a halt, and he honestly wasn't sure if he should be thanking his lucky stars that Markus had gotten everything so totally wrong. Or maybe he was wishing he could just get a tattoo saying 'tied in unlucky matrimony' in the center of his forehead so conversations like this wouldn't ever exist.

"What's that supposed to me-" Merlin started to say, forgetting about the urgent situation just long enough to frown with confusion at Markus.

"Okay!" Arthur interrupted frantically, before Merlin could finish his sentence. He was practically plastered to his consort's side, using his gloved hand to slap it over Merlin's mouth before he said something 'unknowing' to him-incriminating. He could hear Merlin's muffled exclamation, but at least this time the boy couldn't lick his hand with his glove on, not like the last time Arthur had tried to cover his mouth. "As fun as this is, my consort clearly needs a moment of my attention. So if you'll excuse us-" he quickly wrapped his other arm around Merlin's slim shoulders, practically shoving the boy in the right direction.

"Have fun!" Markus called out after them, and it made Arthur really want to turn around and just slug him. Because he was definitely not frog marching Merlin away so that they could 'make out' or whatever else in the seven hells that Markus thought they may be doing instead. But he figured he'd already stretched his boundaries enough for one day, it wouldn't do for word of his behavior-or his abhorrent behavior towards his friend (and the son of a lesser important noble who lived on the outer rings of their kingdom) to get back to his father.

Arthur made sure he only went as far as the other side of the room, to the opposite corner so that Merlin and him could talk in a more private setting. But still in full view of Markus who was still watching them with a smirking expression on the other side of the room, if only so Arthur could prove to his friend that he wasn't running off to get some 'frustration' out with his consort.

As soon as they were in their little corner space, Arthur practically wretched himself free from Merlin so that no inch of their bodies were touching. He did a quick glance around, positive that everybody was watching them even though nobody had even glanced in their direction out of anything more than a brief curtesy.

"What the hell was all of that?" Arthur hissed, looking downright furiously as he practically all but snarled at the taller boy.

"What was what?" Merlin demanded back, looking just as furious as he brought a hand up to his jaw, massaging the slight ache to his chin that was left burning where he had been touched, after the prince had pretty much manhandled him again.

Arthur looked as if he thought Merlin was being particularly obtuse on purpose, and he threw his arm out-urged on by his growing agitation, "You were the one who thought it was a good idea to claim that we were making out!" The prince snapped, looking downright murderous. "And weren't you the one barely an hour ago, claimed that you weren't going to pressure me into kissing you anymore."

He had to refrain from shouting, the last thing he wanted was to bring anybody's attention to this particular conversation. And maybe he was rewriting his own narrative, it was better to say in his own mind that Merlin had been trying to pressure kisses out of him rather than Merlin denying him anything that was-supposed to be-his right-as a husband to take.

"Pre-pressure you?!" Merlin spluttered, looking like he was seriously thinking about making another attempt to slug Arthur in the face. "Now you're not just a dingbat, but a delusional one as well!" Maybe it was a good thing he had told Arthur that kissing him wasn't allowed-that it was a hard no for him if the prince didn't actually want to-because having any physical contact with the prince right now would only be by his fist hitting that hard jaw line that Arthur had out of place.

"Stop calling me-" Arthur started to bellow, and he had to clench his jaw to force his voice into a more lower tone. "That." He said, finishing off his sentence forcefully.

"Well if you weren't so frustrating and making stuff up, maybe I wouldn't have to call your names. But at least a dingbat is a fitting description for you!" Merlin shot back, almost feeling the vague notion of their being some kind of tension starting to build between them. Something that was making him feel a little overheated, but while also being not completely unwelcomed either.

Maybe at this particular moment it was, but maybe if it happened again later, Merlin wouldn't have minded it so much.

"I'm frustrating?" Arthur repeated, having to resist the urge to just smack Merlin upside the head. If anybody was the frustrating one, it was Merlin in a nutshell. "You're the one who goes on and on about how I'm not allowed to kiss you anyone, and yet, you go and tell Markus that we're sneaking off to go and make out?"

Unlike Merlin, Arthur was completely obvious to the tension around them. Yes, he knew that it was there and he was aware of it starting to build something between them, but as far as he was concerned, it was nothing more than his rising frustrations making everything between them so much more heightened.

"What does us kissing have anything to do with us 'making out?'" Merlin finished off his question by lifting his hands and making air quotations around the last two words, his voice sounding nothing less than pure sarcasm.

Arthur stared at him dumbly for a second, not able to comprehend the question. Was...was Merlin being serious right now? Did he really not know what 'making out' referred to, or was there a reasonable explanation for any of this.

Maybe there was some kind of language gap here that he was missing. As prince, he had been tutored in several different languages for if foreign dignitaries were visiting, but he'd had rarely had the opportunity-if ever-to actually use it. So maybe Merlin just used a different word for it. But no, Cenred's kingdom wasn't that far from Camelot, so they definitely spoke with the same language that they did in his own kingdom. Plus, Merlin spoke with somebody who acted as if they were talking in his first language, not like somebody who had to learn it later on.

If he could call it that, since Arthur felt as if every word Merlin spoke was just him buttering up the common word.

"Nope, not doing this." Arthur said, even as the dread settled into his stomach. Even though Merlin may be a stupidly naive virgin-which was still something Arthur didn't think he could ever get over considering the kid was nineteen-but he definitely didn't sign up for a kid who didn't know that making out was just a more intense and involved version of kissing.

He was already turning to walk away, dead set on pretending that Merlin didn't exist by making sure that he wouldn't-in no way-concern himself with anything that involved Merlin in any way possible, when said person grab him by his arm and jerked him back.

"Wait, we still need to talk!" Merlin exclaimed, holding onto Arthur's arm in a death grip, dragging the prince back by the arm that was now tucked up against his chest.

Arthur looked at him with a veiled expression of distaste, "I am not explaining making out to you!" He hissed, knowing that he had to draw a line somewhere. Starting to explain that would only open the gateway for more questions and more involved explanations that would probably never end. He was not getting stuck in that, especially when he should be focusing on the tourney and thinking over strategy's that would make him successful in toppling over his opponent.

"That's not what I was going to ask!" Merlin exclaimed. He didn't give a crap what 'making out' was supposed to mean. He had to get this out before he talked himself out of it, or before something interrupted him. "I need to talk to you about Val-"

There was the sudden sound of horns going off somewhere in the stadium, the faint noise of people drifting into the knight's quarters quieting down the people, while it also managed to drown out the rest of what Merlin had been saying.

The tourney was starting.

The horns quieted down for a moment, but only just long enough for them to change their tune. A different and more upbeat kind of song started to play, signaling the first of the two semi-finale matches.

Merlin looked around Arthur, feeling as if every muscle in his body was suddenly alit, the hair on the back of his neck and arms lifting as if to warn him of the upending danger.

Valiant was walking through the crowd of knight's-the losers of the previous matches who had gathered in front of the entrance were now splitting apart so that the knight could make his grand entrance out onto the field. Merlin narrowed his eyes, seeing the snakes on the shield perched on Valiant's back, and he wondered if the knight was planning on using the shield on this match as well.

Just like he had in the last one.

Valiant stopped just before he left the doorway, and glanced back over his shoulder, straight at Merlin, seeming to already know exactly where he was. Apparently, Valiant had been watching Merlin as much as Merlin had been.

And then Valiant was winking at him, smirking cockily before he left for the field, being followed by his scrawny looking opponent.

Merlin felt his arms, still around Arthur's bicep-the prince having almost forgotten as he grew distracted by the sound of the horns-tighten. He probably could have cut off the blonde's circulation with how tight he was suddenly holding onto him.

It was just the thing for Arthur tor realize that Merlin was still clutching onto him-looking almost like some kind of love struck maiden to his eyes-and he stiffened. Why, out of all the people that he could have been stuck in this situation with, it had to be the one that was so touchy feely.

Rolling his eye's in disgust, Arthur didn't hesitate to yank his arm out of Merlin's grip, it was just the thing the boy needed to nearly fall off his feet in surprise. But Arthur didn't care that he had almost knocked the boy down on his backside, he barely even noticed it at all.

"Are you happy now?" Arthur snapped, taking it out on the boy for his sudden spike of nerves. "You have done nothing but waste my time with your nonsense when I have other things to be doing!"

He could have just walked away in that moment, could have gone back to stressing out over rather or not (no matter how confident he was in his abilities) he was good enough to beat his next opponent. And knowing what a failure he would be seen as for his people (and his father) if he wasn't able to succeed.

But he didn't.

"Like what?" Merlin demanded with frayed nerves, dragging his eye's away from the spot that Valiant had been standing at just seconds before. "Psyching yourself out about your next fight?"

Arthur didn't know how Merlin knew exactly what had been on his mind, because he refused to believe that he was transparent enough for somebody as moronic as Merlin to be able to see the obvious, "If you're just going to continue wasting my time, how about you do it when I'm not busy. Or never, is a better option."

He was stressing out about his fight, he couldn't bare to stress out over Merlin as well. At least not right now, not when he was about to go out there and fight for his right to be in the finals, something that was probably going to be his most important fight of the year.

Arthur turned his back to Merlin, prepared to stomp away and join Markus who had gone to watch Valiant's fight at the entranceway.

Merlin put a hand on his arm before he could get to far, stopping him in mid-step even though he hadn't put any force behind his grip, "Can't you wait...just for a minute..." he asked quietly, his voice surprisingly soft and steady.

Merlin bitterly swallowed down his anxiety, deciding at the very last moment-as Arthur was looking over his shoulder at him with a steady frown-that he wasn't going to tell the blonde about Valiant. Not yet at least, not when he still didn't know if he even had to.

For all he knew, Valiant very well could lose this match and all of this would be just Merlin starting stuff that didn't even matter any more. As long as they got the antidote for Ewan, and Arthur didn't have to fight him, then there wasn't any issue. At least not one that Merlin didn't have to bring up.

He might as well wait just a little bit longer, it wasn't like Valiant had done anything else in the last few hours that would force Merlin to bring Arthur's immediate attention to him.

Not unless one counted when Valiant had been following and taunting him in the hallway, which Merlin wasn't. And it seemed kind of silly for him to complain about that, when Ewan was dying of a slow poisoning in Gaius' chambers. And knowing that Arthur may just be next in the direct line of fire, so to speak.

But there was one reason above all other's that kept him from opening his mouth for what was probably the first time.

His uncle had been right.

Merlin allowed himself, for this one brief moment, to let the fear flood his body. He didn't want to die, and one wrong word from him-one misspoken thing-could mean the end for him. It could mean the reveal of his magic, and then all the things his mother had done to keep him safe over his entire life...it would have been for nothing if Merlin was left facing the pyre.

"What do you want now?" Arthur asked, the frustration written into every sound he made and movement of his body as he jerked his arm away from the slimmer boy.

There was something different in the air, some kind of untold tension that was just the slightest bit different than the kind of tension they'd been having when they had been fighting. It was subtle, and barely even there at all, but that might have been the reason that Arthur became so acutely aware of it.

Something was different, something was off, and he could feel the hair on the back of his neck starting to stand up on end. It didn't speak of danger, or at least not the kind of danger where Arthur needed to pull out his sword, but it still made the palms of his hands start to feel a little sweaty.

"What? Oh..." Merlin's eye's whipped around frantically, trying to think of something, some kind of lie to explain why he had called him back. If he wasn't going to tell him about Valiant, then he had to tell him something else.

His eye caught onto a glint of bright sheer blue material on the other side of the room, it was the favor that was tied about the bicep of the man Arthur was going to be fighting in the next match.

Fucking hell, Merlin thought as he suddenly remembered the whole reason for him coming down here in the first place. He felt the rush of nerves shooting through him, it flooded out the fear in his system that had been left behind by Valiant's departure.

...Just go for it, Merlin thought, taking a large and shaking breath. He could feel his lungs expanding inside of his ribcage, but he didn't allow that to distract him. It was now or never, while he had Arthur here and before Valiant did whatever his next move was going to be.

He wanted to give himself this one spark of hopefulness.

Merlin cleared his throat, extremely aware of Arthur looking at him with narrowed and suspicious eye's, apparently he could already tell that Merlin was going to do something, even if it was clear that he had no idea what it was going to be.

"Uh..." Merlin stuttered, hesitating for a second before he thought, screw this. Still feeling awkward as hell, and trying to sound not only a little bit flirtatious (even though he was pretty sure the intended effect fell short) but also trying to sound as if he had any idea what he was doing, he awkwardly put his hand back on Arthur's bicep, "Have you...has anybody offered you a favor yet?"

Arthur stared at him blankly for a second, before it became apparent what Merlin had just said. Arthur didn't answer him, and although Merlin couldn't see it, he could just barely detect the stiffening of Arthur's bicep through his armor. But what he did see was the unmistakable sight of Arthur's eye's going wide, his mouth popping open just a little with untold horror.

Crap, he was so not doing this right.

X

Gwen was sitting in the bleachers, playing with the end's of her skirts as she ignored the roaring of the crowd when Valiant had just emerged from where the knight's stayed barely second's before. She paid no attention to the knight as he raised a fist into the air, easily managing to rile up the crowd. Nor did she notice as the second night-a scrawny man that honestly, she had no idea how he had made it so far into the tourney-came out.

Her sole attention was on the slim and pale hand that was tugging on her thin red shawl wrapped around her shoulders, "You're not worried, are you?" She asked when it became apparent that Morgana wasn't going to stop absentminded playing with her shawl.

"No." Morgana said, but she didn't look at Gwen at all, which was probably her first sign that the Lady was lying. And her second sign was from the way Morgana didn't even try to stop from playing with Gwen's clothing.

Gwen looked at her worriedly, biting down on her lip. She didn't mind that Morgana was taking comfort by absentmindedly playing with her clothing, but she also didn't like the fact that her Lady was worried at all.

"Are you sure, M'lady?" Gwen couldn't bring herself not to ask. "Because it is perfectly reasonable to be concerned, rather it's about Arthur's fight coming up or maybe you are more worried about Merlin..."

"Of course I'm worried about Merlin!" Morgana said, finally turning to Gwen and ignoring the fight that was set to start at any second now. "Arthur can handle himself in a fight, so I'm not worried about him at all. But we did just send Merlin down there to win him over with a ratty old neckerchief, do you think we pressured him into doing it?"

Gwen should probably say yes, they had all but shoved him down the hallway and had literally told him not to return. But her lady was looking so worried, her kind eyes so full of concern that she almost couldn't bring herself to do it.

Gwen sighed heavily, "I'm sure everything will be fine. I mean, Arthur married Merlin knowing that he's a commoner, so it's not like he should be expecting some kind of grand and expensive token." It was still a marvel to her that Arthur had married a commoner at all. She had always thought of Arthur as to much of a-how did Merlin say it-a prat, even though she hadn't dared to actually voice that before. And while she knew that there was something that she was missing about that marriage-something that was being kept in the dark-she didn't know what that something was.

But Arthur had to have married Merlin for a reason, and favors were something that was very much expected in a noble marriage. She didn't think that was any different just because one partner in that marriage was a commoner.

Morgana nodded, turning back to look out at the field, even as she worried more deeply at her lip. "I'm sure you're right. Merlin is going to show up any minute now grinning ear from ear..." but her voice sounded off even to her own ears.

Unlike Gwen, she actually knew the real story, and she knew exactly what Arthur was like. Now that she had actually sent Merlin down there, she felt as if she had just sent him straight into the viper's den. She wasn't sure how Arthur was going to react, and the last thing she wanted was for Merlin to be hurt because he was to callous.

Arthur had never before held his tongue, not to those he thought were below him at least.

Morgana found herself drumming her fingers against the thick skirts covering her knee, still worrying herself half to death over rather or not Merlin's offer would be perceived well.

Gwen caught the motion of her fingers, and found herself frowning as well. Maybe it was just because of Morgana's obvious worry, but Gwen found herself starting to get a touch of concern herself.

She started to crane her neck to try and see over the people sitting nearest to her, to see if she could catch sight of Merlin coming their way, if only so she could let Morgana know and put her worries at ease. But Merlin was nowhere to be seen, which was strange, because it had actually been a pretty good bit of time that had already passed by.

She would have thought that Merlin would have been back by now.

X

Arthur was no stranger to receiving favors, he had gotten several offers every year since the day he turned eighteen and was officially considered an adult according to the laws of their land. He usually just accepted the first favor a Lady was brave enough to offer to him, it saved on actually having to make a decision out of the dozens of ladies that would approach him before that year's final.

He had an entire trunk buried somewhere in his closet that was overflowing with rejected favors. It wasn't something he often bothered to keep track of, but he was sure it was still in there...somewhere.

But this would have to be the first time that he'd been approached by a man. It was also the first time that he was being approached at all this year, when he would have usually had a dozen or so offers by this point. But he supposed, he had attributed that to the fact that there was one thing different this year than there was last year.

This year, he was married.

"I think it's time for you to return to your seat," Arthur said quickly, fearful that he knew exactly where this was going. He was already pulling his arm out of Merlin's grip-for what was probably the umpteenth time this afternoon, and he once again cursed in his head for having a consort that couldn't seem to stop touching him-and was grabbing him by the shoulder's himself. Without another moment of notice, he was ignoring Merlin's exclamation as he forcibly turned the boy around and started half guiding/half shoving him toward's the curtains that led to the outer hallway.

"Fine, fine!" Merlin exclaimed, jerking himself to a stop and refusing to budge an inch. The blonde probably could have just picked him up, or threw him over his shoulder and carried him out caveman style, but that didn't stop Merlin from planting his feet on the floor and refusing to let Arthur shove him out, "But before I go, you're missing something."

Merlin couldn't believe that he was about to do this, he couldn't believe that all this time he'd been stressing out over this has finally led to this moment. He wasn't some prissy noble, and he wasn't some 'fair' Lady either who should flirt-and fail in his case-to get his crush's attention, he was just Merlin.

So Merlin was how he was going to go about with doing this whole thing.

Arthur felt himself freeze up just a little, jerking his hands away from Merlin's shoulders as the slimmer boy jerked himself free and turned around to face him. It had almost completely slipped his mind about Merlin questioning him about favors, (he hadn't even considered before this moment that Merlin may be interested in carrying out some of Camelot's traditions on his own and give him something) because he had an entirely new concern on his mind.

What if Merlin had noticed that Arthur wasn't wearing his ring anymore, that he somehow knew that Arthur didn't have any plans for putting it on ever again if he could help it. He would probably run his mouth off straight to his father, and one word from his king and Arthur's little 'rebellion' by removing his ring would be as good as done.

Even though removing his ring had been the first thing he had felt that he had done for himself since Merlin had arrived, rather than doing what everybody else had been wanting him to do. Trust Merlin to be the one to ruin that one thing that he had felt he needed to do to regain just a little bit of control over his own life.

Arthur was forcibly thrown out of his thoughts when there was a sudden tightness going around his bicep, and his eye's shot down to look at his arm before he could stop them. Forget about the ring-apparently that wasn't what Merlin had been talking about and Arthur had to remember that he was wearing his gloves so it wasn't like the boy would actually know-Merlin had apparently been talking about...whatever the hell this thing was going around his arm.

"Now, I know that it's not the prettiest thing out there," Merlin said, keeping his eye's down on his work as he wrapped the red neckerchief around Arthur's bicep once so that he wouldn't be trying to guess what kind of expression the blonde was making-if he was accepting it or not. "But hey, maybe you can think about it as some kind of matching set, a messed up favor for a messed up prince."

Arthur couldn't get his voice to work, he couldn't even utter an exclamation of disgust or surprise as he watched Merlin tie the dirty rag (it was actually clean but look absolutely pitiful) around his arm for the second time to get it tighter so that it wouldn't fall off while he was fighting. He couldn't even bring himself to tell Merlin to shut up, as he made some kind of dig referencing his looks to the dirty rag.

"I just thought that maybe you should have something to wear yourself." Merlin said as he started tying it into an awkward looking bow just above Arthur's elbow. He felt strangely...vulnerable as he talking, odd and off centered. Kind of like he was raw, being completely turned over as he laid everything on the line for this one moment.

Arthur felt as if his entire world was ending, all centered around the thing being tied into a messed up bow-and of course Merlin couldn't even tie a favor properly, but what did he expect? Merlin couldn't even tie his cape the right way. But either way, only now was Arthur realizing why he had thought there was something off about Merlin when he had caught sight on him in the stands during the earlier matches.

The neckerchief, he was just now recognizing as the dirty rag, Merlin hadn't been wearing it then. Oh god, had Merlin been planning on giving this thing to him even then...he was going to be sick.

"And in case I'm not making myself clear, and I do want to make my intentions clear." Merlin said boldly, feeling the strong muscle of Arthur's arm under his hands as he tugged on the little bow he had made, "This is my extending an olive branch. I'm willing to work things out between us-get our marriage off the ground so to speak-if you are." Merlin had never been very good at subtly, so saying it plain and clear really was the best way that he could do this.

Arthur grunted, the first sound that he had been able to make, when Merlin gave a sharp yank to the bow, fastening it into place as it tightened sharply around his arm.

Merlin glanced up at the sound, raising a taunting and overconfident eyebrow up at him, "Now, so help me Arthur Pendragon, don't you dare take this off before your match is over."

At least he sounded more confident than when he'd briefly been trying to flirt with him, clearly flirting wasn't his strong point.

"I'll see you afterwards, so go out there and you know..." Merlin finally took his hands off his arm, glancing up from where he'd looked back down at his neckerchief, trying to determine if it looked as good on Arthur's bicep as it did on his neck. Hint: it looked better than he had thought it would. "...Don't be afraid to lose. You know, if you can't control yourself and want to come find me sooner."

Merlin still hadn't forgotten Valiant, no matter how much he tried to. He was still vividly aware of the danger that Arthur could be walking into if the blonde won his match.

Arthur was forced to watch, still unable to get his voice to work as Merlin spun around on his heel, leaving the knight's quarters and Arthur with this horrible thing around his arm.

X

"Uncle Gaius!" Merlin slammed to a stop just outside of the knight's quarters, the thick curtain fluttering shut behind him. His heart picked up a notch, almost positive that his uncle would be able to see the flush growing on his face and would know exactly what it meant. "W-what are you doing here?" He stuttered, trying and failing to look as if he wasn't riding off the high he was on after finally biting the arrow and just giving Arthur what he wanted.

He had been firm and direct, maybe a little bossy but hey, it wasn't like Arthur couldn't use a little direction in his life. And Merlin was just the man to be able to give him that, or so he liked to tell himself.

Gaius raised an unimpressed eyebrow at his nephew, scanning him over with the eye's of not only a trained physician but also with the look of a concerned uncle.

They both ignored the two guards at the door-Charles and Justin-and the young knight whose name Merlin still didn't know, but was apparently trying to force a strict looking Justin into conversation.

"Probably not the same thing that you are doing." Gaius said dryly, taking note of the flushes cheeks his nephew was wearing. It was either because Valiant had been inappropriate again-in which case Gaius didn't care if he had to march out onto the field if Arthur was already fighting to get him to do something about this shameful behavior toward's their family-or he had been talking to Arthur himself. "What exactly were you doing in there?"

Gaius figured it out pretty easily when he saw the flush grow darker on Merlin's cheeks. The boy quickly crossed his arms over his chest, trying to look casual and nonchalant even when it was obvious that he was feeling a touch more of giddiness than he'd probably felt the entire time he'd been in Camelot, "Oh, nothing, nothing at all. I was just making sure Arthur was ready, getting him prepared and all...minding my own business.."

He said this with a touch more of bitterness to his voice than he had been meaning to let out. But hey, why should he have to hide any of it? He really was upset, upset that he couldn't tell Arthur the truth about Valiant without revealing himself in the process. He was upset that he couldn't tell Arthur that Valiant was being particularly disturbing toward's him because once again, one wrong word from him and it would be Merlin that was on the fire.

He was upset not only because he was born with this strange magic and had no idea why he was-other than whatever the dragon had been going on about 'two sides of a coin'-but because his magic was probably the one thing that was stopping him from telling Arthur everything.

And it would continue to be in the way until Merlin had actually gotten some shred of proof regarding Valiant's treachery towards this kingdom.

Gaius glanced over at the knights, before giving Merlin a meaningful look, "So you didn't..." he trailed off, not actually wanting to say it in the presence of the other knight's, about how Valiant had been using magic to get ahead.

"Well, nobody's been arrested, myself included." Merlin said bitterly, stuffing one hand deep into his pocket as he brought the second up to scratch absentminded at the base of his neck. It felt weird to not be wearing his neckerchief, almost as if he was naked in some way. But he had two more in his room that he could use if it got to be to bothersome, the fresh air on his neck (currently stale because of the hallway they were in) would be a nice change of pace anyway.

He figured if he'd said anything to Arthur, he'd probably be the first one arrested rather that be 'for his magic if he said the wrong thing', or for 'spying on Valiant in the first place', or maybe even because he'd had the 'nerve' to accuse a 'noble knight' of such a heinous crime. His only consolation would have been if Valiant had eventually ended up in the cell next to his.

Gaius nodded at Merlin's response, still looking hesitant as he spoke with careful words, "And you didn't-" this time, he was referring to Valiant's disgusting and abhorrent behavior toward's Merlin.

Merlin bit down on the inside of his cheek and looked away, "Like I said," he said in a grumbly tone, the good mood he'd been in when he'd left Arthur's with moments before draining out of him at the reminder, "Nobody had been arrested yet, myself included."

In this particular situation-in Merlin's mind-if he got over his humiliation at what Valiant wanted from him and had just went ahead and told Arthur, it would be that disgusting knight that would have been arrested. And with it, Valiant's ability to get anywhere near Arthur with that shield of his.

But on the other hand, If Arthur hadn't done anything about it, it would have been Merlin who would be arrested after he got with the prince. That neckerchief that he had so painstakingly taken the time to tie around Arthur's bicep, would have been a lot higher up.

Merlin could almost fantasize the blue coloring that Arthur would have been turning as he was being strangled...he shook his head in astonishment at himself. At least his crush on Arthur hadn't made him blind, his mother used to that love had a way of making people see only the thing's they wanted to see. Although Merlin just supposed this wasn't the case with him because he wasn't in love with Arthur, even if the blonde did make him feel a certain touch of nerves that he was unaccustomed to.

"I see," Gaius said, looking as if he was almost disappointed by this. He'd been hoping that Merlin would have seen reason, would be more aware of the danger that Valiant could pose to him, and had taken this time to go to Arthur for help.

But of course, Merlin had opted not to take care of himself.

Merlin seemed to realize that his uncle was disappointed in him, and he frowned deeply, "I have to go watch the match." He said quietly. Valiant's fight was still going on, and as much as he didn't want to see the knight in any way or form, he also didn't want to sit here while facing his uncle's disappointment.

Besides, he grudgingly convinced himself, it would be best to keep some kind of eye on Valiant. If only so he could keep tabs on him, rather or not his uncle thought that they should just let thing's go.

Merlin sped walked away from Gaius and went deeper into the darkness of the tunnel, his 'escort' who was probably supposed to 'guard him' on the way back didn't even seem to notice he'd left.

Whatever giddiness he'd been feeling-experiencing-in the moment where he'd forcibly tied his favor onto Arthur's arm was gone. It was washed out of his system-after only having that giddiness for about a minute-with the reality of his other problems bearing down on his shoulders like a heavy weight he had no choice but to carry.

X

Arthur stared blankly ahead of him, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Even though several long second's had passed since Merlin had left the room, all he could do was stare at the spot where he had been just been standing. He couldn't bring himself to look down at his arm, especially since he knew that this wasn't some bloody nightmare he was being forced to live through until he jerked awake.

Not even the firm clasp of Markus' hand on his shoulder from behind was enough to jerk him out of his stunned blankness, not even when Markus started talking was enough for him to hear anything over the panicky beat of his heart.

"What a freak!" Markus was saying, crackling with an untold laughter. "Did he really say, making his intentions clear? What the hell was that about?"

Arthur didn't answer him, but he knew exactly what it meant. And he felt the gush of anxiety induced panic lace through him at a speed that was so startling, it almost made him feel dizzy. It was the kind of panicked induced terror that he hadn't felt so strongly since Valiant had made that stupid comment in the hallway during the first matches.

He was in so much deep trouble, he realized, feeling as if his throat was going to close up completely simply from how clenched up it was. In the back of his mind, he was searching frantically, trying to think of how he hadn't seen something like this coming, how it had come to this at all.

Maybe he had gone overboard the first time he had pinned Merlin down, back on that table when the boy had first been preparing him with his armor. He had known the boy had a crush on him then, and had done nothing less than what might have been an act of encouraging it. He'd just been trying to get answers out of the boy, had used his emotions to manipulate the truth out of him.

And oh god, maybe he really had put more effort than he had meant to when he'd been kissing Merlin's ring. He could see now that he'd been way to focused on it, had added in way to much heat that of course somebody as stupid as Merlin would think more of it than it actually was. Hell, that whole 'don't kiss me unless you want to' thing was probably just Merlin's own ruse to get a reaction out of Arthur.

All he'd wanted was to show Valiant that he couldn't touch something that belonged-in a sense-to the royal family so intimately...

Fuck, he was screwed...so completely screwed that his life was going to end right here and now. It ever there was a time for a freak thunder storm to arrive just long enough for a stray bolt of lightning to strike him in the chest, now would be the time.

Especially as the horror of what this meant dawned onto him.

"I mean, I know that he has peasant roots but this is just ridiculous." Markus said mocking, as he looked down at the favor tied around his bicep, not noticing the pale coloring that had overtaken his friend's skin.

Merlin was in love with him.

Arthur couldn't blame him either, he'd had dozens of people claim to be 'in love' with him over the years. Most of them had just been infatuated with him because of how rich he was, how much power he had in their society, or even just because of how handsome his good looks were.

But this was something different from all of that. For one thing, Merlin actually had something that none of the other's who had approached him at one point or the other had.

One-male parts

Two-an actual ground to stand on, because there was nothing that Arthur could-or would be able to do-to escape him. He was always going to be there, he realized, no matter how hard he tried to avoid him like he had been before his father had forced him to take him out on that stupid training session which had started this whole mess.

Merlin was always going to be hovering in the background, looking at him with those dewy eye's full of love and hope. He was going to be at every family dinner, at every royal council meeting, at every celebration or tragedy. He was going to be at every tourney, as well, just like this one, probably giving him more failures as a favor.

He couldn't do this.

Arthur's head whipped around when there was a sharp yank on the favor, Markus-who apparently hadn't noticed his friend's silence was because of how overwhelmed he was-gave the another sharp tug and scoffed.

"I really hope he doesn't expect you to actually go out there like this. It looks like some kind of dirty dishrag."

Oh god, Arthur felt his heart stutter in his chest as Markus said that. His entire world seemed to be crumbling around him as he realized he was going to have to go out there wearing this, this...this thing! On his arm.

Arthur's eye's shot up and he was looking around the room frantically, and he was almost positive that he could hear the echo of a laugh that sounded suspiciously like Merlin's echoing in his ears. Were they laughing at him? Was everybody looking at him, covering their mouths as they whispered to their friend's about Arthur and his-Arthur swallowed hard-his male lover.

Arthur turned back to Markus, his back turning to the main of the room, "Quick, who is it that's looking this way?" He needed to take a list of names, bribe them or threaten them or something so that what had just occurred in this room didn't get out to the public. If Arthur was feeling this nauseated at the thought of just this room gossiping about him and his 'lover, he didn't want to imagine how much worse it was going to be if the entire city was gossiping behind his back about this tragedy...oh crap, that probably actually wasn't going to help matters. He was still going to go out there with this, this...monstrosity on his arm!

He glanced down at the thing on his arm as if it was some kind of foreign object, something that was going to kill him if it wasn't removed immediately. The neckerchief was unlike any favor he'd ever worn before, it was so much thicker compared to the sheer cloth favors were usually made out of. And it was long, much longer considering the giant bow-and the end's that were hanging down were much to long as they were almost brushing against his elbows. Favors weren't supposed to be like that! They were supposed to be smaller, more delicate looking than whatever this thing was supposed to be.

It was bold, and ostentatious, standing out like a vibrant sign against the steel grey of his armor. There would be absolutely no way possible to hide it, no way to act like it wasn't there, no way to pretend that it hadn't just been tied to him by force-kind of (more like exactly) Merlin had been.

"What are you talking about?" Markus scoffed, finally letting go of the awkwardly done bow before he looked over Arthur's shoulder, "Nobody's even looking in this direction."

"Shut up, yes they are-" Arthur cut himself off when he glanced back over his own shoulder to see for himself. But Markus was right, everybody else was crowded by the entranceway to watch the fight still going on between Valiant and what's-his-name to notice what was going on with their prince.

Not a single person had been looking in their direction all this time, but that still didn't help alleviate Arthur's fear or panic.

"Whatever, let's just go watch the fight. You have to prepare yourself, you're going next." The other knight said, shoving Arthur lightly on the shoulder before he was walking off without checking to see if Arthur was following behind him.

Arthur didn't budge from his little corner, he couldn't even will his feet to move the few steps it would take to join his fellow knights.

This was so much different than being caught getting a little to close to his consort in an empty and dark hallway. Going over there, going out onto the field with this thing on his arm...it almost made him feel as if he was going out there with some kind of claim on him.

The bold choice in favor-from the vivid color to how large it was-would be like Merlin was claiming him for everybody to see. As if Merlin was putting some kind of sign on him saying 'back off' to anybody else who may show him the slightest bit of interest.

The neckerchief...it felt worse than he had felt the first time his wedding ring had been jammed on by Merlin's inexperienced and clumsy hands. Even though it was around his arm and not his neck, it still felt as if it was some kind of noose just waiting for Arthur to take the plunge and hang himself with.

"Prince Arthur," a voice said from behind him, strong and bold, making the prince stiffen up in horror that somebody else would approach him when he was clearly having some kind of mental breakdown. "I think it's time that we have a talk."

Arthur kept his back to the old physician-having recognized his voice instantly-as he licked at his dry lips. "...What about..." he asked, trying to talk so that his voice didn't sound as shaky as his leg's did. He didn't dare turn around, knowing that if he did, the favor would have been spotted instantly. If Arthur tried throwing his cape over his arm in an effort to conceal it, it probably wouldn't have helped matters. It would still poke out, or maybe even make a large lump in the fabric of his cape, bringing even more attention to the offending cloth.

"It's about Merlin," Gaius said bluntly, casting a glance over his shoulder to the other knights. As much as he wished he and Arthur could retire back to his chambers for this conversation-with Arthur's match being next-this was probably going to be as good as he was going to get. He shook his head and turned back to his prince, "I think we need to talk more about the terms of our deal."

He was, of course, talking about the deal Arthur and he had made not that long ago, but seemed like forever. When Arthur had approached him and ask him to lie straight to the face of his king about Merlin's virginity status. Arthur had swore that he would give Merlin 'the talk' in exchange, but only when the time came that it was needed, when somebody might have started to show an interest in Merlin.

Well, somebody had started to show an interest, an unhinged interest that needed to be taken care of. If Arthur wasn't going to have that man arrested for transgressions against the royal family, then Merlin needed to be made aware of the danger that he could be in, so that he could be more cautious and look after himself.

Arthur could feel his eye's clenching at the corners as his shoulders stiffened and unstiffened. But he found himself whipping around as a new sort of urgency shot through him, "Why, has my father..." he stopped himself short, because surely he would have known by now if his father had figured out their treachery.

Arthur froze though, when he saw Gaius eye's shoot down to look at the favor around his bicep, and what little color he had been clinging to seemed to drain out of his face completely.

Was there a chance that Gaius recognized it as belonging to Merlin? Arthur didn't know how often-if any-time Merlin had spent in the older man's company. It had to have been at least once, since Arthur had come across Merlin trying to visit the man, way back when he'd been searching for him when he'd been instructed by his father to take him out training for the morning.

But if Arthur had been expecting Gaius to say something, he was just going to be a touch disappointed, but it was nearly washed out completely by the relief he felt as well.

Disappointed-because he would have liked to have gauged somebody's reaction, to know and prepare himself for what he was going to have to face after he went out there on the field like this.

And relieved-because he honestly wasn't sure if he could take it if Gaius of all people started asking questions or making remarks about it. And if he couldn't take it from Gaius, how was he supposed to take it from the majority of his people? He was going to have to spend weeks locked in his room in an effort to escape the embarrassment that this thing brought with it.

"No," Gaius said smoothly, looking serious as he dragged his eye's away from the favor.

He had recognized it instantly, it was a little to distinctive for him to not have, and he also recognized the significance of what Merlin had done by giving it to the prince. But he ignored it, because at least now he had an explanation as for why Merlin had been so flushed moments ago, before Gaius had ruined it by questioning him about Valiant.

And speaking of why he was here in the first place, "Your father seems to have taken my word, and believes what I said it true. He does not suspect what we did."

Arthur nodded, feeling his fists clenching and unclenching at his side, trying stubbornly to ignore the way the neckerchief seemed to tighten around his arm with his every movement, "Alright, then what's the problem?"