"If I were a woman, you would've been in my trousers by now!"

Arthur froze, he had been sitting in the council chambers alone, going over plans for a treaty, as his Father had asked him to look over it, before they presented it to King Olaf, at the tournament that would be in the next few weeks. He had been reading along, minding his own business, when suddenly the door burst open and in walked Merlin, looking quite annoyed. Arthur had only looked up, briefly, noted it was him, and then looked back down...until Merlin uttered these words. Arthur look back up, in complete shock and confusion.

"What?" he retorted, as Merlin marched in and slapped the heavy door behind him, until it closed.

"I was just talking to Morgana, and she was talking about your chauvinistic ways," explained Merlin, but he still did look rather annoyed. "And I was defending you at first, but then I realized...if I were a girl you would have shagged me a long time ago!"

Arthur was not entirely sure what this meant. Why did Merlin think that? He stare up at him, both horrified and still, very confused. "I hardly think you're gender has much to do with it, at this point..."

Merlin tutted at this and pointed a finger at him. "But you're always nice to girls." he retorted. "You're not nice to me..."

"I am always nice to you!" retorted Arthur then.

"But you're nicer to Gwen...you don't tell Gwen she's an idiot and to shut up, but you do me," Merlin continued to complain. "Why are you nicer to Gwen, because she's a woman?"

"No!" said Arthur, standing up then, feeling his own level of annoyance come on him, rather quickly. "Because she's not annoying!"

"Are you saying I'm annoying...?"

"YES!"

Merlin paused then, his lips in a pout, as he stare over Arthur. "Rude..."

"Listen..." Arthur trailed off, the last thing he wanted to do was argue with Merlin. "Perhaps I do not always treat you very nicely, I have been trying more lately..." Merlin only look at him, Arthur sighed. "I will try harder in the future, to make you feel more appreciated."

"And you'll stop throwing things at me and hitting me?" questioned Merlin, with a raised eyebrow.

"When do I ever hit you...?"

"This morning you hit me in the face with a spoon because I had forgotten a fork..."

"That was not to be mean," argued Arthur, and he wasn't really lying either, he hadn't meant to offend Merlin. "That was horseplay...between friends."

"If it were horseplay...between friends," said Merlin, as he titled his head and look over Arthur's body, Arthur felt his cheeks grow warm suddenly. "I can do it back to you?"

Arthur shrugged, "If you really think you should..." And apparently, Merlin really thought he should, because the next second, he was cocking back his fist and said fist was coming for Arthur's face. Arthur dodged it, grabbing this fist and twisting it's owner around, pinning Merlin face first, into the table. He held Merlin down. "What the hell was that?"

Merlin didn't answer, he didn't say anything at all, it was only when Arthur was deciding to loosen up his grip, did Merlin manage to flip himself around, so that he was laying with his back on the table. Which also meant that Merlin's arm and because of Arthur's hold, Arthur's arm, were behind Merlin's back, and this made it so Arthur was yanked forward, now leaning over Merlin. What the hell was happening? Arthur grabbed Merlin's other hand, and pinned it above his head, so he didn't get any other bright ideas. But he did anyway, Merlin was just full of good ideas today, apparently. He took one of his long legs, and hooked it around Arthur's back, making Arthur flushed against Merlin's body, and also...very trapped.

Arthur had to admit, he had never realized how agile Merlin was, he was not just tall and tree like, but could apparently move...a little too well, and these thoughts made Arthur's cheeks go pink, as he looked down and Merlin was looking back at him. Arthur wanted to ask if he were happy now, he has attacked not only his Master, as Merlin is his servant, but also the Prince...and if he was looking forward to the stocks, that should surely await him. But instead, Arthur was trapped, in a trap he could easily get out of, if he wanted to hurt Merlin...which he didn't. He was struck by Merlin's eyes, no longer glaring, but gazing at him, the blue rather dark and musty, like the night sky, even with speckles of gold...like the stars. Arthur felt the heat in his face and now down his neck, grow hotter. Merlin bit his lip, still staring back at Arthur, all while Arthur stare at him. And Arthur wanted to be the one to bite his lip, to kiss his stupid, disobedient lips so hard that Merlin would never forget who was supposed to be in charge.

Arthur knew he couldn't, well...he could, it would be really easy, all he had to do was lean forward a little more. But he shouldn't, he knew he shouldn't, but did he care...? Did Arthur really care anymore? These feelings had plagued Arthur for so long now, that they might as well just be apart of him. Not all the time, sometimes it was alright, but other times...they made him crazy, almost angry. He was feeling angry now. He pressed Merlin harder into the table, and he watched as Merlin swallowed hard, his eyes searching Arthur's face for only a second, before meeting is eyes again.

"Give me one good reason, Merlin, why I shouldn't..." he said, his voice was deeper than he expected it to be, it cut the silence in half, like a sword would an apple, and the words hung there, between them, for a long time. Arthur realized Merlin might not know what he meant, but Arthur didn't care, he still wanted the answer. He stare at him still, but now more intently. Merlin's lips parted, as his eyes fluttered a few times, while he shook his head.

"I can't..." he said, and his voice was soft and breathless, Arthur almost couldn't hear it. But he did, and he was confused by it, what did he mean he can't...? Can't what? He couldn't give Arthur a good reason why not, or he couldn't do this...? What did he mean? Arthur was tired of this, tired of the games Morgana had talked about before, she was right...well, somewhat right. Right enough, at least. All Arthur knew was he wanted him, and he just needed to know if Merlin wanted him back, even half as much, nothing had to happen between them...Arthur just needed to know.

"Merlin, I-"

But just then, at this exact moment, Uther walked in, first looking mildly irritated by the servant following him, but then utterly shocked and then disgusted. "For God's sake, Arthur, I eat there!" Merlin let go of Arthur at once, and Arthur jumped back, so Merlin could peel himself off of the council table, and he did, and then without a single word, walked out. Thanks, Arthur thought, as he watched him go, now Arthur was left alone with Uther, who was glaring at him. "It is one thing to behave like horny dogs in your chambers, Arthur, but in my council?!"

"Nothing happened!" Arthur retorted.

"Yet..." Uther rolled his eyes. "But another moment or two, it would have."

Arthur rubbed his face with his hands, throwing himself back into the seat he had been in, before all this had taken place. He wished his Father was right, that something would have happened, but truthfully, Arthur had no idea if it would have or not. He tried to pay attention to his Father's council for the rest of the afternoon, but he couldn't. His mind was just elsewhere. First on the events that had happened, he thought of each of them, in great detail, he didn't quite know how it had all happened, what was Merlin's goal there? It was Merlin who initiated it, well...mostly. It was Merlin who tried to hit him and then Merlin who flipped himself over and pulled Arthur closer, but perhaps that was just defense...Arthur had no idea. Or, was Merlin really angry at Arthur about how Arthur treated him? Arthur tried his best to balance their usual banter and playfulness while still being nice to Merlin. Yes, they called each other names, and yes...sometimes Arthur hit him with things, but Arthur had thought Merlin understood this was all just part of the game. Perhaps not, perhaps Merlin still thought Arthur thought of him so poorly, or perhaps Merlin still thought so poorly of Arthur, no matter how much Arthur tried to better himself, or no matter how much Merlin spoke highly of him.

Arthur didn't want Merlin to feel under appreciated, Arthur valued him above anyone, even his own Father sometimes. At least lately, anyway. Arthur thought that maybe he did a bad job of showing this, he was sure he did, actually. Arthur was rubbish with feelings. So, that is why, Arthur excused himself from the council, before it was really over and Uther made side comments, in what he probably thought was an undertone, about why Arthur was leaving, but Arthur ignored them. Instead, he left the room, on a quest to find Gwen. Which might seem odd, but Arthur had an idea. He didn't want to just tell Merlin he was appreciated, he wanted to show him. Arthur found Gwen by the kitchens, and she was very pleased at Arthur's request, and of course she was...she cared about Merlin. She grinned at Arthur the whole time, as he spoke.

She said she would need some time to do what he asked and Arthur was fine with that, he would wait. He would wait an entire week, during this time Merlin didn't mention what happened between them in the council chambers and of course he didn't...he never did, he was better at forgetting things happened than even Arthur. Because Arthur never actually forgot them, was just too much of a coward to bring them up again. This would be the first time he actually would, bring something up, even if it wasn't exactly the part he wanted to bring up. Well, he did, but there were other parts that also baffled him. But he would chose those thoughts to sweep out of sight, maybe one day he would have the spine to mention them, too.

The morning Gwen brought the two garments to his chambers, after Merlin had left to see to an earned for Gaius, Arthur smiled at them. It was quite a nice tunic Gwen had made, with thick, purple fabric, along with a matching, deep rich, red neckerchief. If Merlin wanted to dress like a buffoon, at least Arthur would offer him the chance to do it a bit better than he did already, and perhaps stop wearing the same two color combinations.

"These are wonderful, Guinevere," said Arthur, in thanks, as she continuously grinned at him. She smiled while biting her lip, as he said her full name.

"Merlin will love it, he always looks at the purple fabrics when we shop together," said Gwen, Arthur nodded. "It is just rather expensive, so he can never buy them."

"It is not expensive for me," said Arthur and Gwen blushed, he shook his head at her and put the tunic and neckerchief in his wardrobe, for when he would give them to Merlin later. Arthur had thought he might leave them in Merlin's room, in Gaius' chambers, but Arthur wanted to see his reaction. He turned back to Gwen after he put them away and smiled at her. "Thank you, Guinevere."

He had kind of wanted her to leave now, but she just continued to smile at Arthur. "It is so sweet you want to do something nice for Merlin," she told him. "He deserves it."

"Yes," agreed Arthur.

"He does a lot for Camelot," said Gwen, and Arthur nodded. She stood there then, and idly stared at him. "You are a good man, Arthur."

"Thank you," said Arthur, and then ushered her toward the door. This whole strange conversation needed to end now, so Arthur had time to think of what he was going to say to Merlin when he gave him his gift. "Excuse me, Guinevere, Merlin will return soon and I want to prepare."

"Prepare what?" offered Gwen. "Do you want me to go fetch anything else? Wine...flowers?"

Gwen and flowers, Arthur rolled his eyes. "No..." he admitted. "I need to think of what I'm going to say."

Gwen giggled at this, "Just be honest with him, tell him you love him and wanted to do something special for him. He will love it no matter what you say, he will know the thought you put in."

"Right," Arthur nodded, opening his door and all but throwing her out of it. "Of course...thank you."

Gwen walked off then, off to probably gossip with Morgana. Arthur wished he could be as honest as she wanted him to be, but there would be no love confession, at least not today. Instead, Arthur paced his whole room for a good two hours, until long after lunch, Merlin came bustling in with a plate of stale looking bread. Arthur wasn't sure he entirely appreciated that, he threw it onto the table and heaved deep sighs, as he caught his breath.

"I...ran here...Gaius had...me cleaning..." Merlin heaved a long breath. "Out his leech tank..."

Arthur smirked. "Sometimes I wonder if you are his servant or mine."

"Me too..." said Merlin, but he smiled at Arthur all the same. "Eat your lunch, it's a week old...I took it from Gaius."

"No thank you," said Arthur, as he now just stood there and stare at Merlin. Merlin tilted his head, noticing Arthur's strange behavior rather quickly.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing," said Arthur. "I just wanted to...give you something."

"Give me something?" offered Merlin then, his breathing was back to normal and now he just look at Arthur in suspicion. "Is this another lecture about being a good servant? Because I don't care."

"No..." retorted Arthur and eyed his cupboard door then. "Go into my wardrobe."

"Excuse me?"

"Open the door," Arthur told him. Merlin did not move. "Go on!"

"What did you put in there?" said Merlin then, as he slowly walked over. "You don't have to be such an endless Prat, if you want me to do something..." But his words were gone, as he pulled open the door, and hanging on it, was the tunic and neckerchief, Merlin stare at them, with wide eyes. Arthur watched him, a fluttering way worse than normal in his belly. He almost couldn't breathe, waiting to see Merlin's reaction. "Arthur..." Merlin picked up the tunic and looked it over, as he turned back to Arthur. "If you think you can start dressing like me to make fun of me, I'm going to make fun of you instead, and trust me...I still won't change."

"It's not for me, Idiot!" retorted Arthur then, stepping forward, to take the clothing and look it over again. "I got it for you!"

Merlin paused at this now and stare at him. His jokes were gone now, only true surprise was laden in his eyes. "Arthur..." he muttered. "That was..." he struggled for a long moment. "Why..?"

"I don't want you to feel as if I don't appreciate you, I do," said Arthur, and that was not at all what he had practiced to say, for the last two hours, it was supposed to be much grander than that. A true show of his feelings, but Arthur was actual rubbish. He gulped. "I don't always show it much...or at all, really, I try to...but-"

Merlin took pity on him and his lack of words. Give Arthur a speech to tell a Knight before his untimely death, Arthur had it covered, but tell Arthur to express his feelings, you might as well give up and go home, because it would be endlessly stupid to listen to. And rather ramble-ily. "They're very nice," said Merlin then, as he smiled at Arthur, a little bigger than before. He took the tunic back from Arthur and held it up to his person. "It's pretty..." he said, but then bit his lip. "But it is purple, that's a royal color...I'm only a servant, I shouldn't wear it."

"You can if I give it to you," said Arthur, finding his words again. "And I have. So no nonsense about rank, alright? You don't even believe in it, and to hell with anyone else who dare judge you for it. Tell them they can bring their worries to me and I'll leave them to the stocks."

Merlin laughed a little, at this and continued to bite his lip for a long moment, and then looked up at Arthur with an almost glare, but not quite, it was a mix between a glare and a smirk. "You're such a prat, it's just so like you to buy me new clothes, when you go around complaining about how I dress all the time..."

"Well, it's rubbish," said Arthur. And that bit was true, but he had done it more so because Merlin needed for very little else, and Arthur was not very creative, he wasn't exactly being a prat...maybe.

Merlin rolled his eyes. "How did you know I liked purple?"

"Gwen," Arthur admitted, but she had only just told him that. In truth, Arthur had only told her to make him a tunic and gave her the funds to do so, she chose the color. And maybe that made it a little less personal, so Arthur chose not to add any of this, as Merlin was now grinning at him, biting his lip yet again. He should really stop doing that, it was unsightly...for all the right reasons. "And really, I shouldn't have had to go to someone else for information about you, I thought we were friends," Arthur shot at him then, instead of focusing on his dastardly lips. "I should know all these things about you, Merlin. Most of all, your favorite color..."

"Sorry," retorted Merlin, with a bit of a pout. "I never thought you cared about that stuff."

"Well, I do," said Arthur, though he lied...at least about everyone else, except Merlin. Because he cared about every single detail about Merlin, no matter what it was.

"I will start telling you things, in the future, then," said Merlin, with a smile once again, as he gazed down at the tunic. "...did I tell you thank you?"

"No," said Arthur, stubbornly then, with a pout of his own, Merlin laughed

"Thank you, Arthur."

(A/N: This was a complete filler chapter, honestly. I just wanted something in between the storylines from the show. Although, the line Merlin says at the start is based off of me looking up ff's to read and finding a bunch of Merlin gender-bent stories, and I have read them and if you like them go for it, like whatever. But I just don't like making Merlin a girl, the only reason being, that if Merlin was a girl in the show, this show would have ended very differently, or at least their relationship would have actually happened in the show, and maybe I am just a little bitter about that. Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I really can't remember if they've ever had a conversation about favorite colors before, maybe at the very start of the story, I can remember something about Merlin saying he liked blue...but that might not have been this story, but like I am 46 chapters deep at this point...I am lucky I remember my own name. Thanks for reading! The next chapter we start getting into The Sins Of The Father, can't wait for you all to see that, they are some of my FAVORITE chapters I've written so far.)