Merlin walked into Arthur's chambers, it was very cold in the hall, yet in Arthur's chambers it was still a little warm, from the fire that had died over the course of the night. The Prince was fast asleep, still wrapped up his in red duvet and looked very comfortable. Though, all Merlin could see was the back of Arthur's head, as his face, as it normally was, was shoved into his pillow. How he slept like that, Merlin had no idea. He was more of a back sleeper, or side sleeper. Arthur liked to sleep on his stomach, in the very middle of the bed. Good luck to his future wife...she would probably end up on the floor. Which, for someone like Merlin was fine, but for a Princess, that might become a problem. Merlin set the plate of breakfast down on Arthur's desk and walked over to the bed. Arthur kind of needed to get up quickly, which he didn't like to do, ever. But Merlin was running late today, as he had stopped by Morgana's chambers first thing that morning, to see how she was. Because her chambers kept getting set on fire during the night and it was worrying her, though Merlin knew exactly what it was, she did not...

And he wanted to tell her, to tell her how to stop that from happening, but he was forbidden, by not only Gaius, but also the Great Dragon, not that he would dare speak to said Dragon ever again, as he so willingly let Merlin put his own Mother's life in danger, to save Arthur from the Questing Beasts bite. Which he was glad he could save Arthur, and his Mother, too. But he still didn't like how the Dragon was so sneaky and conniving, if this was how all of the people, or dragons, of the Old Religion acted, Merlin was fine without it. It was people like Merlin himself, or the Druids, who were kind, and people like Morgana...even if Gaius didn't want him to say it, it was people like that he would worry about saving, they deserved it. The Great Dragon did not.

Pushing the thoughts of unexplained magical ability and dragons aside, Merlin reached forward and ran a gentle hand over Arthur's shoulder. "Arthur," he said, and he didn't stir, he never did. "Arthur!" He shook him and Arthur groaned, like he always did. He really hated waking up. "You have to get up, you have a council with the Court today, and...you're late."

"No...Merlin..." said Arthur, with tiredness in his voice, it made his words run slowly. "You're late..."

"If I let you be late for another appointment your Father will kill me," said Merlin, and Arthur seemed to think that was rather funny. Merlin glare into the back of his head.

"Maybe I should let him..." he mumbled, burying himself deeper into his mattress. "I'm very warm here, and I couldn't careless about how to produce more grain."

"You will have to care when you are king."

"Yes, but see...I'm not yet king. so I don't have to."

Merlin rolled his eyes and picked the plate up again, maybe he could get him out of bed for food. He flopped the plate down on the bed, right under where Arthur's nose was. "Come on, the biscuit is still warm...nicked it from the Cook, while she wasn't looking."

"That's treason, I'll have you know..." said Arthur, but he sat up now, blanket still draped over one side of him. Merlin watched him for a long moment, he rubbed his eyes and picked up the plate, looking it over, carefully, before looking over at Merlin, for the first time today. And just like that, upon seeing his face, Merlin grimaced, his face turned up in dislike and turned his eyes away quickly. "What's the matter with you?"

"I forgot, I can't stand looking at you..."

"Merlin," said Arthur, darkly. And through squinted eyes, Merlin turned back toward him, but his stomach turned as he did. Arthur reached up and touched it, and Merlin thought it must be like touching a ferrets backside. It was horrible. "It's coming in nicely..."

"Ew..." Merlin said, without exactly meaning to, but he wasn't sorry about it either. "Stop touching it, it's disgusting!"

"It's not that bad!" said Arthur, and he did seem a little hurt by this, but Merlin didn't care, he needed to know the truth. "I like it."

"It looks like you rolled your mouth in dirt..."

"Shut up," retorted Arthur. He eventually got up, and got dressed, though Merlin knew he was going to be very late at this point. He followed behind Arthur, to the Council chambers, so if Uther wanted to shout at him for holding up his son, he could do it then and Merlin wouldn't have to wait around for it. When they entered the chamber, everyone was standing around, talking to each other, and among themselves. Uther noticed Arthur walk in at once, and walked over to him.

"You are late," he said, and Arthur nodded, with a shrug.

"Blame Merlin, he was very busy fa-"

"Don't tell me, I don't want to know!" said Uther, promptly, holding up a hand. "You cannot say that in Court, Arthur, no one wants to hear of your romantic rendezvous with your servant."

"I didn't-"

"Arthur, I see no reason why you really need to be here, I can handle the proposal for grain growth, why don't you..." Uther looked around Arthur all of a sudden and gave Merlin a grin, who didn't exactly deserve it, but he returned it anyway, because at least he wasn't mad at him. "Take Merlin out for the day?"

"Father...I really-"

Uther wrapped an arm around Arthur's shoulder suddenly, and spoke closely to his face, as if he thought he was being quiet, but he really was not. "How many times have I tried to express to you not to focus so heavily on the boys body and treat him with some sort of respect? You are not an animal..."

Merlin and at least three Lords stare at the pair and Merlin had to push the worrying thought, that these people were in charge here, out of his brain. Arthur, who at this point, along side Merlin, had been dealing with Uther's wrong opinion of their relationship for several months, didn't look very phased by this. "Right..." Arthur nodded.

"Take him on a picnic," said Uther, and Merlin thought he must not have noticed that there was snow outside. "I had one yesterday, with Morgana, it was quite fun," continued Uther, and he suddenly shoved Arthur back toward the door, Merlin followed after him. "And Arthur...take that thing off your lip, you look foolish."

He slammed the door in their faces and Arthur touched his mustache, or the worm, rather, that slithered across his upper lip, because it was certainly not full enough to be called a mustache. He looked back at Merlin and rolled his eyes. Merlin knew Arthur thought it was ridiculous, and it was, but he was clearly happy to be out of the council. A Grain Proposal did seem rather dull.

Somehow, though they really had no real reason to, as it was cold outside, they still ended up on said picnic. Probably, so Uther didn't know they didn't do what he had said, because even though the relationship was none existing, Uther still liked to meddle in it. The problem with this, is that it was cold. Merlin might have mentioned that a few hundred times, as his hands were about to freeze off and he would have to carry them back in the picnic basket and ask Gaius to reattach them. Arthur didn't seem to notice, as he sit on the blankets Merlin had brought, that were now cold and wet in the snow and ate bread, that luckily still was rather fresh, and not at all stolen from the Cook. Merlin, as this was supposed to be his courting, stuck his hand in the basket, before Arthur ate all the bread and stole a piece, Arthur looked at him, disapproving.

"You already had breakfast!" retorted Merlin, as he finished the piece and went back in for another, Arthur did the same, he really was a pig with food, and their hands fought for the last piece of bread. Merlin won too, because his cold fingers had wrapped around Arthur's wrist, and the frozen nature of them scared Arthur and he pulled his hand back. Merlin happily ate that piece of bread, in victory.

"Why the hell are your hands so cold?" asked Arthur, who had gloves, and wore his armor, not the plates, just the chainmail, to keep warm. Merlin, wore the same clothes as always. "Why aren't you wearing gloves, are you stupid?"

"Probably because I don't have any..."

"You don't have...gloves?" said Arthur, looking alarmed at him, as he sat up more, from where he had otherwise been lounging against a tree. They were at the spot Uther had taken them before, just off the side of the Castle. It was too cold to go any further.

"I am poor...?" resorted Merlin and Arthur rolled his eyes, suddenly pulling off his own gloves.

"I pay you!" he said, and then trusted his gloves into Merlin's hands. "Put them on...for God sake." Merlin looked at them, for a long moment, in his slightly blue hands, and he thought it was rather gross, he didn't want to put his hand inside where Arthur's hand had been, what if it were sweaty? But, as Arthur glared at him, as if he were dumb or something, he did it anyway. Lucky, they were not sweaty. "Tell me, Merlin...what exactly do you do with the money I give you?"

"What money?" offered Merlin, and Arthur rolled his eyes, yet again.

"Forget it, I don't want to know..."

Merlin was sad now there was no more bread. so he sat up, shivered a little, and looked at the water, which was covered over with a thin line of ice. Not too deep, as the water underneath moved too much to freeze over entirely. He sighed. "How long do we have to stay here?"

"We are meant to be on a date..." said Arthur, Merlin didn't look back at him, as he was now leaning against the tree once more, and Merlin really didn't care to. "Don't complain, it is a great honor to be courted my me."

"Ew..." said Merlin, but he was only joking. Kind of. "If you were any good at courting, maybe I wouldn't be so bored."

"Well, what do you suppose we do?" said Arthur and Merlin shrugged.

"What do people normally do on dates?"

"I hardly know...talk about our future together, I suppose."

"Well...alright, in the future...I would like it if you would get up on time, so then maybe my backside wouldn't be frozen right now, and you would be listening to Uther rant about grain," said Merlin. "That seems only fair."

"I see..." said Arthur, and his tone said Merlin had better shut up soon, but he wouldn't, Merlin never learned his lesson. "In the future I would like it if you were not such an idiot, but I hardly see that happening."

"No, you're probably right," Merlin retorted. "It probably won't, but it's nice that you have that dream..." He grinned, as he heard Arthur make a tsk noise behind him. Like he was getting annoyed. "We all have dreams, some come true...some don't, that's just life, I guess..."

"Shut up...seriously," said Arthur, but there was no heat in his words, only a little annoyance, so at least Merlin knew he wasn't in danger of being smacked. "You, by far, are the worst date..."

Merlin looked back at him, finally, and smiled. "I'll take that. As my fellow...date has a lip deformation."

That earned him a face full of snow, and as Merlin was already all but frozen, he didn't even mind all that much. The rest of the day was uneventful, soon after that they had wrapped up this outing, as Merlin's lips were turning blue, according to Arthur. And after that, Merlin went back to his normal chores, which meant he was actually hiding in a cupboard for the rest of the day, because the Cook had found out who stole her breads. The next day was dull and gloomy and it was snowing very hard. Arthur was impossible to wake up yet again, even worse today, probably because of the weather. But it resulted in Merlin calling him a lazy sack of something, that ended with Arthur sitting up and throwing a goblet at his head.

The goblet in question missed Merlin's head, but landed on the top of the wardrobe, where Arthur had all of his royal, pratty clothes, and got lodged there. Merlin had to wait the for Arthur to leave, to go train with his Knights somewhere in the Castle. Because snow did not keep the threat away, apparently, even if that meant they couldn't train outside. Once Arthur was gone, Merlin tired to call upon the goblet with his magic, but as he didn't know where it was up there, he couldn't get it. In the end, Merlin got annoyed, and ended up getting one of Arthur's chairs, and dragging it over there.

He stood up on it, and finally looked, there it was, at the very back, stuck between the wall and the wardrobe and Merlin leaned forward, trying to reach it, he couldn't, with just his hand alone, so he called upon his magic again. But just as he was about to knock it loose, with his helpful, illegal friend, someone opened the door to Arthur's chambers, and the quiet. "Merlin...?" made by Gwen, made him stop what he was doing. "Merlin, what on Earth are you doing...?"

Merlin frowned, looking over at her. "I'm trying to get this goblet, Arthur threw it at my head..."

She sighed. "Let me see," she told him, and he stepped off the chair. She held her hand out to him and he took it, helping her onto the chair. She looked around, and it was obvious as day, where it was. She hummed, as she leaned forward, on her very tippy toes, nearly leaving the chair as she reached for it. Merlin knew she couldn't get it, he couldn't even, and one; He was taller, and two; He had longer arms than her. "Why did he throw this at you...?"

"Because he's a prat..." he shrugged, and she looked at him, questioningly, as she gave up and he helped her off the chair.

"You two are the strangest couple I have ever met.."

Merlin shrugged. "It's not all bad...he's nice to me sometimes."

"I hope so," she smiled at him and moved aside, so he could get back on the chair once more. "I hope I find love like that one day...well, maybe not like that...I don't want to be called names, but love..."

"What about Lancelot?" he asked, as he leaned forward again, trying to reach the damned goblet. He wished he could use his magic, but she might see, and he didn't feel like explaining how he was a sorcerer and really it was okay today. He looked over his shoulder at her and she was frowning.

"I met him once, Merlin," she said. "I doubt he even remembers me..."

"I bet he does," said Merlin and she looked away from him, in thought. "He thought you were very pretty..."

"And I thought him...-"

"Handsome? Courageous? Breathtaking...?"

"Yes, I am..." said a voice, and suddenly both Gwen and Merlin looked over, to see Arthur walking in his door. He grinned. "Why are you talking about me?" he smirked, as he threw his sword upon the table, and rubbed his back, as if he had hurt it, in training. He grinned up at Merlin. "It figures you only say the nice things about me when I'm not around to hear..."

"We were not talking about you," retorted Merlin, as he was still on the chair and Arthur seemed to notice this now, and made a face as he looked him up and down.

"Arthur," Gwen curtsy toward Arthur, and then looked back at Merlin. "We were talking about Lancelot."

"Oh," said Arthur and he rolled his eyes. "He was a good man, great fighter..."

"Yeah..." said Merlin now, and he turned to watch Arthur walk further into the room, and looked at the breakfast plate that still sit there from earlier. "That's what we were talking about, his sword fighting skills..."

"Well, as you should, they are very impressive," retorted Arthur, as he glare up at Merlin now. "I would hate to think you were sitting around talking about his body, as if you were a few hens."

"Why..." said Merlin, just to test him, because it was fun, even though it was very stupid on Merlin's part. "Jealous?"

"I have nothing to be jealous of..."

"WELL..." said Merlin, and the look of utter damage that Arthur could cause to Merlin's person flashed across Arthur's face and Merlin did not need to finish that sentence. Gwen took several steps toward the door.

"I ought to go, see if Morgana needs me," said Gwen, and then she turned and ran, as if scared of what might happen. She was gone, with a click of the door, and suddenly Arthur was very close to Merlin. Though, Merlin was still on the chair.

He look up at Merlin, with dark eyes and a raised eyebrow. Merlin smiled, innocently, in return. "I am better looking than Lancelot..."

Merlin let out a hearty laugh, one he forced just a bit, to annoy Arthur. Again, that was very unsafe for Merlin's person, but he was feeling daring...and conspicuously dumb. "Okay..."

Arthur let out a rather large sigh, unexpectedly, Merlin expected to be punched or worse, and the Prince shook his head. "Forget Lancelot, already. Why the hell are you on this chair?"

"I am trying to get this goblet that you threw at my head like a prat..." said Merlin, and reached for it again. He growled when he couldn't get it yet again, but he wasn't alone, still, and couldn't use magic. "Give me your sword!"

"My sword?" said Arthur, and Merlin looked back down at him and nodded. "I'm not so sure, you cannot be trusted with such weapons."

"What do you think I'm going to do?" said Merlin, staring down at Arthur, with pursed lips. Clearly suggesting Arthur was stupid. "Do you think I'm going to whack your head off?"

"If I'm not careful...one of these days, yes," said Arthur, in a grumble, as he walk toward the table, to get his sword. He came back and handed it to Merlin, he reached with the sword now, to the very back of the wardrobe, trying and trying to just reach it. It was very wedged in there, and it was annoying Merlin greatly. He stood on the edge of the chair, pushing with all of his might to reach it...he was almost there...almost...and then...

The chair was gone, just gone from under his feet entirely, and it was almost like, for a second, he was hung in mid air, and then two strong, and not at all handsome or courageous, and definitely not breathtaking, kind of prattish...if Merlin was being honest, arms were around him, and Merlin was still falling, but now falling on top of somebody else.

He landed on top of Arthur, who groaned and not only still had him around the middle, but still found the strength to shout at him. "Merlin...by far, you are the biggest moron I have ever met!" It took Merlin a moment, a stunned moment, before he realized something. He remembered something actually, and he suddenly let out a rather loud and large laugh. "Why the hell are you laughing...?" said Arthur, still...underneath him. "I know you can't have hit your head...because I did..."

"No..." said Merlin, and he grinned, pulling up a bit, to look at Arthur, who was not at all amused. "This is how I told Gwen we kissed...when she asked."

"Why are you telling Gwen we kissed?" retorted Arthur.

"Because everyone thinks we did anyway, and she wanted to hear the story of our fist kiss," Merlin explained, to a not very happy looking Arthur. "She insisted, so I told her I was cleaning off your wardrobe and fell and..." he laughed again. "Here we are."

"No offence, Merlin...no actually, offence," said Arthur, though, if Merlin really thought about it, he didn't really seem that mad. "I'd rather not kiss you."

"Hmm...I didn't think so, and I wouldn't kiss you with that thing on your lip anyways."

(A/N: Well, here I am with another chapter, I am just too good at updating, I know! ;) But I hope you enjoyed 3500 words of complete nonsense, because I enjoyed writing every minute of it!)