Arthur felt himself slipping from the sleep he wished to stay deeply in, as a loud bang filled his ears. It wasn't a worrying bang, by any means, he knew what...or who, rather, that it was. It was his bumbling, fool of a Servant, trying to wake him up. He clung onto sleep the very best he could, keeping his eyes slammed shut. Perhaps not because he was too terribly tired, more so because it caused Merlin grief, and that was always fun.

Merlin thrust open the curtains, that had been blocking out the sun, and a beam came right through the window and hit Arthur in the face, he groaned and rolled over, onto his stomach, and hid his face under the pillow. He could hear Merlin growl, from wherever he stood in Arthur's chambers. Maybe if Arthur laid still, Merlin would just go away.

"Time to...WAKE UP!" shouted Merlin, and now Merlin was shaking the mattress, Arthur dug his face into the bedding under him, trying not to laugh. "Arthur!" Merlin continued. "Listen, Clotpole, I don't care if you get up...I really don't, stay there until the day you die, for all I care, but it is my job to get you out of bed!" Arthur continued to say nothing, hands reaching out and taking the pillow and pressed it to his ears, showing Merlin should really just shut up, because he wasn't listening anyway. "Fine..."

There was silence, and for the dearest of seconds, Arthur thought Merlin had given up, but then, his warm, cocoon of blankets were being ripped away from him, thrown onto the floor no doubt, and replaced by two cold hands on his bare back. His face scrunched up and he tried to ignore this, but it was like ignoring a stab wound. Merlin's hands were not gentle either, he slapped Arthur on the back, hard, several times, with one hand, while the other hand ripped Arthur's pillow away. Arthur struggled to get away from him.

"MERLIN!" he shouted, rolling to the other side of the bed, but Merlin continued to both hit and shove him. It was as if he was trying to push Arthur out of the bed entirely. Arthur gripped the edge of the mattress, trying to use his legs to kick Merlin, but now he was pinning him, by sitting on them. Arthur swore he would never tell any of his Knights this. Being bested by his Manservant? No...no, definitely not. "GET OFF OF ME!"

"Time to get up!" said Merlin, and it almost sounded aggressive, like possibly Merlin had some sort of pent up annoyance toward Arthur he was letting out, but Arthur couldn't imagine why. He had clothes, he had food, he was paid...what more did Merlin need? Arthur was losing his grip and was slipping, slowly, off the side of his bed. But he manged to, in the last attempts at retaliation, grab Merlin's tunic, as he fell, and as Arthur landed with his back onto the cold, hard ground, Merlin landed on top of him.

Arthur found his moment of opportunity and as Merlin was momentarily stunted from the fall, Arthur grabbed him around the middle, flipped him, and pinned him to the floor. "Tell me...Merlin," he said, darkly, into the boy's ear. "Why I shouldn't kill you right now?"

Merlin shifted, obviously trying to find a way out of Arthur's grip, but that wasn't going to happen. He was lucky if he didn't spend the whole day in the stocks. If it wasn't for the fact that Arthur had a hunting trip planned for later in the day, he would have already dragged him there himself, bare chest or not. "You wouldn't kill me," said Merlin, and for some reason he didn't sound that upset, and he really should be, as he was about to be murdered within an inch of his life. "You wouldn't have anyone to drag my body out of your chambers and you're too big of a Royal Prat to do it yourself..."

Arthur lifted a finger to Merlin's stupid face, pulling back just enough to look at him, and narrowed his eyes. "I could have your head!"

Suddenly, as if his chambers were a public place, the door opened and in walked King Uther, he took large and proud strides, until he noticed the two on the floor, entangled in each other, and Arthur basically threw Merlin away from himself. Merlin, as Arthur pushed away from him, as if he were disgusting, slammed into the side table next to Arthur's bed and complained of the pain. Arthur stood up quickly, eyes widening as he saw his Father standing there, with a raised eyebrow.

"We were-"

Uther held up his hand, shaking his head. "I really do not want to know..."

Arthur huffed and looked down at his chest and frowned, troubled. If Merlin thought he was dead before, he would wish for death, after Arthur was done with him. Merlin scrambled to his feet now too, and bowed his head at the King, before walking passed them and back over to Arthur's table, standing there idly, as he watched them. Arthur wondered why he wasn't smart enough to leave. Arthur looked at his Father, blankly, without saying a word. Because, to be perfectly honest, he had no idea how to go around the fact that he had just walked into the room and found his son on top of his Servant, bare chested, after the fact that he had denied any romantic activity between them for some time now. This did not help his case...Merlin better wish his life goodbye, because it was over now.

"I only came," said Uther, pointedly, after they seemed to stare at each other for a long time. "To see if you wished to go on a ride with Morgana and I."

"I can't, Father, I have planned a hunting trip for the Knights and I," said Arthur, and he thanked God, because he could think of nothing duller than a horse ride with the King and Morgana, where...without fail, they would most likely get into an argument. Uther sighed, and shrugged his shoulders.

"Very well," said Uther, and he turned to leave, before he stopped and turned back to Arthur. "You ought to put on clothes before you go..." he remarked, as he looked his son up and down. "And next time...you wish to defile your Servant, you might want to lock the door."

Arthur's face turned red, redder than the stupid neckerchief Merlin was wearing that day, and then Uther grinned, wickedly, at him, turned to Merlin, smiled kindly, to which Merlin replied said smile, and then he stomped out, shutting the door, loudly, behind him as he went. Arthur waited a beat, kind of lost and horrified all at once, before he then walked over to the table, where Merlin stood, next to his food. He picked up his plate, looked it over, and then slapped Merlin right over the head, with as much force as he could muster in one hand.

"OW!" shouted Merlin, holding his left ear. "What was that for?"

"For you...being you."

"Ugh...there is just no pleasing you, is there?" he retorted and Arthur rolled his eyes, ignoring him, as he shoved several grapes into his mouth. "One moment you complain because I don't do enough work, and then I start doing more work and you complain...will you ever be happy?"

"Not with you around," Arthur shot back, gave Merlin a a cold smile, one he had learned well from Morgana, and walked over and picked his blanket up off the floor. "See, look...it's a mess in here, can you do anything right?"

Merlin muttered something, something he should probably never say in front of a Lady and turned to walk toward Arthur's wardrobe, going to pick Arthur's clothes out for the day. Arthur was dressed and ready for his hunt before long. Merlin continued to complain. Arthur knew Merlin hated hunting trips and he was never one to hide his distaste in anything, but Arthur found it easy enough to ignore him. Once they were on horseback and the dogs were there to be a loud distraction, it was like Merlin wasn't even there at all.

"Over there, Sire!" shouted a Knight, and Arthur pulled on the reins of his horse, as did the Knights that were with him. He jumped off his horse, as the dogs surged forward, sniffing and barking when they found the scent of something. Arthur urged them on, following the dogs deeper into the thick, brush of tree. They continued to bark and howl and run, and Arthur followed, his heart racing from the pace and the finger on his crossbow itching to pull the trigger. Arthur knew what they were following was big, he had seen a glimpse of it for a second or two, before it had gotten scared and ran off. Perhaps it was a deer, though Arthur swore it was pure white, but he had only seen a small bit of it.

They hit a dead end, as the dogs reached a clearing and stopped, it was like the trail had just disappeared, and that was odd. Arthur was a little disappointed, if he was being honest with himself. Merlin came marching up next to him, breathing heavily, but with a smile on lips. Arthur rolled his eyes, as he knew Merlin was only pleased because the animal had gotten away.

"Let's return to the horses, water them, let the dogs rest," said Arthur, and they all listened to him. Except Merlin, who leaned against a rather large tree, heaving and huffing for air. Arthur shook his head. "Don't be such a girl, Merlin!" he chided, as he headed back the way they had came.

They found a river near where the horses stood and Merlin, after convincing most of the horses to drink, sat down next to Arthur, at the bank of the river. One of Arthur's favorite dogs sat between them and Merlin reached over and petted the top of the dogs head. "It's almost like you're not a murderous beast," he remarked, and Arthur scrunched up his face, looking over to see the dog had rolled over for Merlin to pet his belly. Merlin did so, and as he did, he smiled up at Arthur. "I meant the dog...but I suppose you are, too."

"Excuse me?" offered Arthur, with a raised eyebrow, Merlin's grin grew.

"With that hair, you look a bit like a beast," he said, reaching up, with the same hand he had been petting the dog with, and ran gentle fingers through Arthur's hair. "You need a hair cut." he commented, brushing the fringe from Arthur's eyes. Admittedly, Arthur wasn't struck by this at first, it felt natural, almost like Merlin was supposed to do this, as if it were common between them to be so close that they could touch each other so openly. But it was not, and Arthur's eyes widened a little, as he shoved Merlin's hands away.

"Merlin!" he reacted, looking behind him to make sure none of the Knights had seen, they didn't appear to be staring, or paying much attention to them at all, as they huddled together, talking to each other. Arthur turned back and gave a glare in Merlin's direction, whose rejected hand was back on the dog now. "You can't just...do that," he continued to scold him. "Everyone already thinks us in love, are you trying to prove them right?"

"I'm..." Merlin frowned, shrugging his shoulders and looking rather innocently at Arthur. "I'm your servant...?"

"Yes, and as my servant I can give you permission to touch me or not," said Arthur, sternly, Merlin raised an eyebrow at this, his innocent look long gone at this point. "And I did not..."

"Oh...I see," retorted Merlin, eyebrows still raised in question, but now it was mixed with something else, something that looked a lot like pure defiance, as he took his hand from the dog, once more, who looked rather offended by this, and let it sit right on Arthur's thigh. "Whatever you say, Sire," he patted the spot. "I would never dream of making you uncomfortable."

Arthur rolled his eyes and pushed his hand off. "More like never dreamed of making me comfortable..."

"Well, if you like it..." Merlin grinned, knowingly. "You just had to say so."

"Shut up!" Arthur retorted, standing up now and marched away from Merlin, who he swore started laughing, as he walked off. He walked passed the men, not stopping or looking over to them, hoping and praying none of the Knights noticed this. He didn't need to look like such a push over in front of his men, why would you want to be led by a man who let his Manservant play with his hair? Or capture his heart? You simply wouldn't...and Arthur couldn't allow it.

(A/N: I am really obsessed with this story, but people seem to like it too, so I'll keep going. I really have no idea where it's going, normally by this point I have a clear idea of like...structure, and an ending, but to be honest, I'm just writing and letting things happen as they happen, and I really enjoy it! Thanks so much for reading!)