Merlin was a very strange person. If you asked Arthur, then he would even go as far as confidently stating, that Merlin was probably the strangest person in the whole castle.
And yet, he was still surprised when he found his manservant in just another one of those strange situations, he always managed to land himself in.
That was to say, for a few minutes, Arthur did not find Merlin at all. Upon entering his chambers, they seemed positively deserted.
The mess he had asked Merlin to clean before heading off to his privy council, on the other hand, was still very much present.
He had just been about to barge out into the corridor again and yell at the next best person unfortunate enough to cross his chambers at this precise moment to go and get his lazy oaf of a servant here this instance – when he found him after all.
Or rather, he found a pair of very familiar, very worn boots peeking out from under his bed.
Arthur felt his eyebrows meeting his fringe.
Sure, Merlin did have a talent for falling asleep on the job – but under his bed?
"Merlin?", he asked. Just loudly enough, so that later he could pretend, he had actually tried to wake his manservant in a civilised way, before kicking him awake.
To his slight disappointment, however, a voice answered him from under the bed.
"Yes, sire?"
Not asleep, then. Well, he could still kick him out from under there later, he guessed.
"What the hell are you doing?"
There was a brief pause.
"Cleaning?"
"And what part of cleaning", Arthur asked perfectly friendly, "involves lazing around under my bed?"
"Uh. Many. I mean, you wouldn't know, obviously. You've never had to clean anything in your life."
"Right, and I suppose you have your supplies down there with you as well?"
"Yes."
"Of course."
Silence.
"Would you come out from under there now?"
He received no reply.
"Merlin?"
"Uh, I'd actually quite like to stay here for a bit, thank you."
"You would like to stay under my bed?"
"Yeah."
Alright, this had just reached a new level of strange.
With two steps, Arthur reached his bed, lowered himself onto his stomach and squinted into the darkness.
The first thing he saw was dust. A lot of dust, that made him cough.
"Whatever you've been doing down here the last few years, Merlin, it's certainly not been cleaning."
Again, he did not receive any response.
In fact, Merlin looked rather unresponsive in general right now. He was lying flat on his back, staring up straight against the underside of the mattress, his arms folded over his chest as if he was trying to hug himself.
"Are you alright?", Arthur asked, before he could think any better of it.
"I suppose", Merlin answered, not moving one bit. "I just feel like I need to stay here for a bit."
"But that's … not normal, is it?"
"I don't know."
Well, that had gone well.
So, Arthur did the only sensible thing and slid under the bed himself.
It was terrible. Uncomfortable. Cramped. And so dusty, God, his nose started tickling immediately.
For a while, they were both silent, lying next to each other and staring up at the mattress.
"So", Arthur said, after an awkward moment of silence, "is this a regular thing or …"
It had been meant as a joke, but when Merlin's answer was a sheepish sound, Arthur turned his head towards him.
"You've done this before?", he asked, dumbfounded.
"Well, maybe", Merlin said quickly. "A couple of times. Yes. It just … helps me calm down."
"Regularly lying under my bed helps you calm down?"
"Yeah, alright, it does sound strange when you put it like that."
"When I put it like that?", Arthur echoed in disbelief. "Merlin, this is strange. Very strange."
"Yeah. Sorry."
He did not sound like he meant it.
"What on earth would you need to calm down for anyway? Has my laundry upset you?"
"Your socks are an impertinence for everyone with a functioning nose", Merlin shot back.
"Well, yours can hardly be functioning well if you are regularly slacking off under here with all that dust. This is an impertinence."
"It's not like I asked you to join me here."
"I am just trying to be helpful."
"Well, stop then."
"Seriously, what's wrong with you?"
For the first time, Merlin met his eyes.
Oh, and Arthur really wished, he had not. Even in the semi-darkness under the bed, he could see that Merlin had been crying.
Damn it, what had he gotten himself into here? Quickly, he looked away, asking himself if he could still pretend, he had not noticed. Because having noticed, would mean acknowledging that Merlin was quite clearly upset. And Merlin being upset meant, that he would have to comfort him. Which had not ended well the few times he had tried in the past.
Even though Arthur would certainly never admit it, he did start panicking a little there. Suddenly, the space under his bed felt far too small for both of them.
"Look, I really don't think we need to have this conversation right now", Merlin interrupted his far too long silence. "It's fine."
"Merlin-"
"No, I mean it, Arthur", he cut him short, turning his head back. "I just – I just need a minute."
"Right", Arthur said, shuffling uncomfortably. He seriously needed to get a grip on himself here. "So – do you want me to stay or-"
"Would you?", Merlin interrupted, quickly turning back to face him.
For the love of … obviously, he would not. He had meant to ask as a polite way of leaving. But Merlin's eyes were so full of hope now, full of gratitude …
"Um. Yes?"
"Really? I mean – that'd be great. Thank you."
"Yes, well", Arthur grumbled, "don't mention it." He watched as Merlin turned back to face the mattress. "I mean it, alright? If you mention this to anyone in this castle-"
"You'll put me in the stocks?"
"For a week."
"Fair enough."
But Arthur did not miss the small grin tugging on his servant's lips.
They fell silent.
For about five heartbeats, before Arthur was beaten by the tickling in his nose. He sneezed three times in a row before he was finally able to draw a normal breath again.
Merlin did not make a sound, but Arthur could see the gleeful smile on his face.
"Merlin?"
"Yes, Arthur?"
"Shut up."
"I didn't say anything."
"Yeah, well, stop looking like that, then."
"Right." The word came out as a quiet chuckle.
"You do realise that there are more comfortable places to hide from your chores, right?", Arthur asked, feeling his own lips curling into a smile.
"Yes."
"Good", Arthur replied, trying and failing to shift into a position that would stop his back from hurting quite so much, "just checking."
They lapsed into silence then.
And it was strange, Arthur mused, lying there next to Merlin under his own bed, his back hurting, his nose tickling, his eyes stinging – it was strange that he felt quite at ease there. It was strange that it actually felt quite good. It was strange that it did not feel strange at all.
But then again, Merlin was a very strange person after all.