Chapter Five
"Gwen, really I'm alright."
"Are you-"
"-Yes, I'm sure. Arthur?" Merlin cut her off and motioned for the king to help.
"He's fine. No need to baby him."
Gwen shook her head. "Fine if you say so. But really now that I have the both of you…" She paused smacking both of them on top of their heads. "This whole thing is absolutely ridiculous. And really Merlin? While I am happy that you and your mother have managed to bond and reminisce about your father's death, to use it to win a contest as silly as this is just... shameless absolutely shameless. Seriously Merlin. And you" she turned to her husband poking him in the chest. "You are the King. The bloody king of Camelot and here you are participating in something as stupid a 'beard contest'. I do not know who I more ashamed off at this point, but I swear to you Arthur Pendragon, husband of mine, that if you as so much as try as attempt to mudsling and hurt poor Merlin after he just went out there and gave off that sob story to the entire city they will flog you at the very least so... Don't you dare. Am I clear."
Both men nodded before give one another a quick glance then turning away.
Gwen shook her head and was about to start up again when she heard cheering from the crowd. After a quick peek through the doors she saw Gwaine back up in the middle of the room still promoting Harry the Barber. This caused her to trail off and consider how at this point it was too late for the competition to be called off.
"One more thing. I hope you both know that I will have to stay completely impartial in my vote and that there are no hard feelings."
Merlin nodded seriously, "Of course, Gwen." he started but couldn't help himself, "I'll make sure to remind Arthur of that."
"Or I'll remind you of it when I win. You may have gotten a lot of attention with that story about your father, but were not being voted on for story telling. Although I'd still win."
Merlin sighed, deciding not to egg the king on further. Everyone knew Merlin had stories upon stories about his adventures protecting Arthur behind the scenes while also keeping his magic a secret.
"Well sire, I guess we will see."
As Arthur and Gwen were heading back inside, Merlin carefully passed a note to one of the servants telling him to give to Percival.
"Well Your highness, please tell us about your routine and about how long you've been letting your hair grow."
As Arthur was about to respond he paused. He isn't sure what products he used like Gwaine, or shaved regularly like Leon. He also didn't have a story like Merlin.
"In truth I don't necessarily have a routine. I have been letting my hair grow for awhile now ever since Camlann. I think more than anything my hair is an expression of everything we have been through. Its been almost three years since the Battle of Camlann where i was mortally wounded. Three years since I survived and came back. Since i appealed the ban on magic and appointed a court sorcerer."
"Arthur? You can't possibly be suggesting that you've been growing it for the past 3 years." Gwen interrupted.
"Of course not. But that is when this started. That was when I made the decision to let it grow and keep it somewhat long. Or at least longer than I was used to. "
Gwen nodded, "And your routine?"
"Right. Well as you are part of my routine you are quite familiar with it. My lovely wife helps in shaving me. She's a blacksmith daughter so she is good with blades…." Arthur trails off before remembering what else he does.
"I also wash with soap and uh Merlin actually lends me some potions to make sure my hair remains healthy and strong. I go through a great deal of stress and do a lot of work for the people and kingdom which could take a toll. Especially on my hair and genetics certainly doesn't help in my case."
Merlin stifles a snort and Gwaine isn't as successful causing Arthur to glare at him.
"Well" Gwen starts before Arthur can snipe back in defense, "Thank you, Arthur for that. This concludes the presentation portion. We will be having another brief intermission where you can write down the scores for each contestant. The score is out of 5 points and you must score each contestant individually. At the end Sirs Erec and Kay will tally up the points and we shall have our victor."
A/N
Hi everyone! I am just one chapter away from wrapping this story up. Next chapter will reveal the winner(s) of the contest and end the story altogether. I am actually on track with posting and have it all written out just need to upload and post. Expect it by this weekend. Honestly this was just a piece of chaos I had on the back burner that I always wanted to post. I honestly never saw it going this route with the contest, I just wanted some kinda back story to "Merlin's Beard" and of course a happy ending for Merlin BBC which we never got so this Christmas I am coming up with a new AU and choosing to be delulu... in this case.
Anyways I'm about to wrap up this note with a quick thank you to everyone who has been reading along and followed, fave'd, and or reviewed this story. Thank you all for your support especially with all the issues that the website has been having. Not being able to see if this story has any traction or viewers sucks so seeing that email update about new followers/reviews was great.
Special Thanks to Stern2003, lclose, bmpearl17, abooksrbest, and Gingeraffealene. Ya'll are amazing.
Happy Holidays!
~Agent C.