A Marriage that Started a Legend

by IJustShowedUp

Follows canon but with my own arranged marriage spin on it. What happens when Hunith makes a mistake and is forced on the run with her infant son? What happens when Camelot knights find her twenty years later? What happens when Arthur learns he's betrothed to a peasant boy? Will Merlin be able to stand among royalty? Will these two different boys survive each other? Review!

42. Chapter 42

Okay, so maybe Merlin wasn't the best at keeping his own promises. Not to long ago, he had promised himself that he wouldn't go looking for Arthur at the first opportunity that was presented to him.

But clearly that wasn't working out, as Merlin was now heading up the stone walkway that led up to the stadium. He was being pushed and jostled from every direction as the crowd surged, more and more people joining in as everybody was drawn by the sounds of the ringing bells that were announcing that the semi-finals were about to begin.

Merlin still found himself craning his head-where he was just one face among the many commoners who were to busy whispering excitedly to notice the new noble now in their mists-trying to catch a spot of blonde hair.

Or maybe a glimpse of a red cape fluttering over his shoulders.

Or the glint of freshly polished armor shining brighter due to the light of the sun hitting it at just the right angle.

But there was nothing of that sort in any direction that he had faced.

Many of the nobility that were watching had arrived at the bell's first call, and had already entered the tournament stadium. They would, no doubt, already be sitting in the set of bleachers that had been cordoned off specifically just for them.

Now-at the second's bell's call-all of those that held no such worth or station were arriving in waves. The common people outnumbered the nobles at least fifty to one, so the walkway was overcrowded and the walk was slow as everybody tried to filter their way into the entranceway.

There would be a third ringing of the bell's eventually, that would announce the actual start of the tournament.

But Merlin's wasn't to concerned with any of that at the moment, he wasn't even terribly concerned that it was taking so long for the crowd to break apart-or that walking in this crowd felt as if they were all packed sardines-the closer he got as more and more people further up ahead of him were finding their way inside.

His troubled expression-if one cared to look up from their whispering excitements over rather Arthur would win for the forth year or not-was all anybody would have to see to know that he was not sharing in the same excitement as all of the others.

How could he share in any kind of excitement when he was so conflicted, so lost, so... having no idea what he should do.

He knew, on some level, that Gaius had been right to warn him not to speak to Arthur about Valiant cheating his way ahead in the tournament. Arthur would have questions for him, now that he'd taken a moment to think, that he wouldn't be able to answer honestly, and he wasn't to confident in his ability to lie straight to his face.

But at the same time, it also felt incredibly... wrong. For him to know that something so terrible had happened-and even more was probably going to happen if it wasn't stopped-and to keep it to himself.

Arthur deserved to know, didn't he? That his life was probably in danger-most likely in danger-if he and Valiant somehow got matched together in a fight. And since Arthur and Valiant were two of the competitors still fighting out of four, those odds were greatly increasing.

Merlin supposed he could just hope that Valiant somehow lost his match today, and then him fighting Arthur wouldn't even be an issue. But somehow-he thought sardonically of those snakes tearing into that poor little mouse-he wasn't to confident that Valiant would lose.

Merlin sighed heavily, finally giving in and letting his head drop. He stopped looking over the heads of those around him to try and spot Arthur-who was probably already in the knight's quarters (with Valiant-a traitorous voice whispered in the back of his mind when he knew there was nothing he could do about it)-and shifted his gaze onto the backs of the people in line in front of him.

But, he continued to think, as if all of that wasn't bad enough he also had Gaius' voice in his ear, whispering and encouraging him to tell Arthur about Valiant's behavior towards him.

And he wanted to, he really did just want to march straight up to Arthur and confess to everything that had been going on behind the prince's back. He already had practice at it, since admitting the truth to Gaius, so it shouldn't have been so hard to say it to Arthur when he found him.

But he also felt his throat clenching up as he imagined how a conversation like that was going to go. And something about the whole imagined conversation was holding him back from doing it in reality.

Maybe it was because Merlin wasn't even sure how to broach the subject in the first place. With Gaius, he had just blurted it out without any real thought or meaning-by the time he had realized what he'd said it was already out there-and maybe that was the way he should go about it with Arthur.

But he didn't think that the conversation would go about the same way as it had with Gaius.

Plus, should he really be discussing with Arthur about Valiant's behavior toward's him personally, when there were much larger problems at hand. It seemed so...silly...or maybe the word he was looking for was selfish, to tell Arthur his own problems when Valiant was all but attempting to murder his competition so that he could get ahead.

How could he look Arthur in the face and tell him all about Valiant and his misgivings towards him, when he knew that the other knight poised a much higher threat level than unwanted kisses. The unconscious knight in Gaius' chambers could attest to that, if he ever woke up.

Merlin huffed, shaking his head as the toe of his boot hit the corner edge of one of the cobblestones on the ground sticking out of place. It was enough of a jostle to knock him out of his thoughts, and maybe he should be thankful for the distraction as well.

He was just so tired of this Valiant problem, and he knew that-as the pressure inside of him from all of his stress over it was starting to build up to alarming degrees-sooner or later, something was going to pop.

"Merlin!" An arm wrapped around the crook of his elbow, which was another thankful distraction even though it surprised him greatly, and he whipped his head around to see that Morgana had attached herself to him.

Gwen was trailing after her lady, giving Merlin a gentle smile and nod of her head as she took her place behind the two. And there was a guard standing off to the side-walking in the grass beside the little walkway-standing watch over them.

"Morgana, Gwen." Merlin greeted, and he had an awkward smile gracing his face. But it might just be that he was already a known awkward person because neither Morgana nor Gwen commented on it. "I would have thought that the two of you would be inside already."

With Morgana's Royal status, she probably should have been the first to pick her seat among the bleachers. No doubt, she would have chosen a seat that was more known for housing the commoners instead of the single section that was cordoned off for nobility, which had nothing on the section that was cut off specifically for the King.

And Gwen, as her personal handmaiden, would have been allowed entry to sit with her in case she needed anything. Not that Morgana would have requested something that would take Gwen to far away from the entertainment, but there were still many nobles that would have no problems sending their own servants away during the festivities.

"We were going to be, but Lady Morgana wanted to wait for your arrival." Gwen answered, the ends of her fingers toying around with the wool shawl around her shoulders. "We weren't entirely sure, but figured you probably wouldn't have gone in with the nobles. Or maybe you had already gone to see to Arthur, to check on how he was doing and all. We were about to give up and enter when Lady Morgana's guard pointed you out in the crowd."

The crowd in question had parted up some, and formed a semi-circle around them as more and more people took notice of who was with them.

Morgana's expensive dress was all anybody needed to see to know that her status was well above their own, but it also wasn't needed because her face was well known and loved by the people. At least more so than Uther, or even Arthur himself.

And with her presence, brought more attention to Merlin. He could practically hear the crowd whispering, some of them asking questions about who was the guy their Lady Morgana was hugging all up on, and many asking their friends if they knew if Lady Morgana was courting a peasant boy. But others were quick to correct that, pointing out the expensive ring on Merlin's finger, which had gone unnoticed by anybody until now.

But the presence of a guard watching over the group of three were enough to quell anybody's tongues before they could dare to approach either of the two nobles in their mists.

"And speaking of Arthur," Morgana cut into Gwen's ramblings before she could go off into another tirade-which the girl was more than thankful for. "You will never guess what he has done now."

Merlin had to suppress the wince that was trying to force it's way out of his body at the sound of that name. And he honestly wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to hear about the blonde's latest exploits. Not when he already had so much on his plate, he didn't think he could handle yet another problem.

But he put his concerns on the back burner, opting to try another smile at her as his curiosity got the best of him, "Oh, good lord, what has he done now?"

Maybe Merlin would be lucky and Arthur had gotten kicked out of the tournament for 'unprincely' conduct or something. Like maybe he was seen attacking another unarmed peasant boy in the marketplace (which Merlin would swear up and down to his dying dies that he would have won that fight with the maces if he hadn't been distracted by Gaius showing up).

It would definitely solve his problems on trying not to give Valiant an easy opportunity to take Arthur out of the running. Which would be only all too easy to do if the prince didn't even know what he was really up against.

"Well," Morgana took in a deep breath before she could start her own rant. "This morning, after the morning matches that you left in the middle of-" Merlin nodded to let her know that he understood when she was talking about. That had been when he'd gone to Gaius to help out with Ewan, before he had even figured out that Valiant was behind the whole thing. The matches had just ended when Arthur approached us."

And then she stopped, and gave Merlin an expectant look, as if he should have known what she was talking about and shared in her excitement.

"...Is that it?" Merlin asked confused. Maybe if Morgana was a peasant girl and Merlin wasn't married to the guy, the idea of the prince approaching her would be a lot more thrilling to him. But considering both Morgana and Merlin saw him on the daily, it didn't seem like something to get so excited about.

"He was asking about you!" Gwen blurted out, her voice coming out loud and maybe a little high pitch from her place in line behind them. "He seemed a little...thrown, that you weren't out there to greet him."

Merlin's head whipped around to look at her in surprise, "He what?" He asked with his eyes going all wide, all the thoughts of Valiant briefly escaping his mind as his brain circled back around to Arthur.

He hadn't even though that Arthur would notice that he was gone, hadn't even questioned rather the man would come looking for him or not when he didn't show up himself. After all, Merlin had been there after the first round's, and he'd had some great entertainment by teasing Arthur during the second rounds. So had Arthur been waiting around to see if Merlin would come to him after the second rounds themselves had ended?

"Pissed." Morgana corrected her handmaiden. "He seemed more pissed that you weren't around waiting for him. When we told him you had already gone, he seemed to think that you were off causing somebody else problems for a change."

Merlin's jaw dropped open in stunned astonishment, "What, did he think I was just gonna sit around and wait for him to grace me with his presence!" He exclaimed, truly wondering just how large Arthur's head was, apparently it was bigger than he had already assumed.

And as loathed as he was to admit it to himself, if he hadn't been so freaked out about seeing Valiant again, he probably would have waited out front until Arthur came out. Fuck, Merlin hung his head as he realized how desperate he was for a little bit of Arthur's attention.

He knew that he wouldn't have waited out front, even if he liked to think that he would have. He would have marched straight in and gone looking for Arthur himself. And who knows what may had happened after that...

"I think he was expecting not to be left behind." Morgana pointed out, smiling far to slyly for Merlin to feel entirely comfortable with her presence all of a sudden.

"...Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked, feeling the incredible need to start running for fear of his life, with the way that Morgana was observing him.

"I think she's just excited about what's going to happen." Gwen said helpfully, which wasn't all that helpful to Merlin in the least.

"What's going to happen?" Merlin asked nervously, feeling a sinking dread in the pit of his stomach. They were almost to the doorway now, and Merlin could see two guards on either side of the doors, directing the traffic so that nobody would get crushed in the stampede that was sure to happen if the commoners were left to their own devices for even a moment.

"Well, you are going to go talk to him," the lady said, her arm around Merlin's never leaving as she practically started tugging him after her instead of allowing him to walk for himself. But this was probably a good thing, because Merlin didn't think that he could feel his legs very good right about now.

"That-that doesn't sound to bad." Merlin said slowly, trying to figure out what the catch was going to be. He had already planned on talking to Arthur anyway...at some point, but definitely not now. He had been hoping for a little more time before he was forced to make his decisions of what he should do regarding the Valiant situation.

"And while you're back there, you could wish him good luck." Gwen said, apparently her and Morgana had talked about them in some great detail. And Merlin wasn't entirely sure how he felt about his love life-of lack thereof-being the subject of scrutiny.

"I can't do that!" Merlin exclaimed loudly, cutting himself off when he saw the two girl's that were now looking at him strangely.

How was he supposed to admit that he was half hoping that Arthur would lose this upcoming round. Because at least then, there would be less of a chance of Arthur ever going anywhere near Valiant or his shield.

"Er...I just mean...the guy's ego's already large enough." Merlin said quickly, under their scrutinizing looks. "I don't want to over inflate it even more than it already is."

Their looks seemed to evaporate at this response, which sent a thrill of relief through Merlin's body as Gwen smiled at him while Morgana gave a light laugh.

"Well you have to do something for him, this is the semi-finals after all." Morgana said, her painted lips curving up into a smile.

Merlin looked away, feeling as if the pocket where his neckerchief was starting to burn a hole through it. "Why do I have to do anything at all? It's not like he won the damn thing." He said awkwardly, trying to hide the flush he could feel working it's way up his neck. And maybe it wasn't such a good idea to be keeping his neckerchief in his pocket right about now. It would have been better suited on his neck where it belonged, at least that way it would have hidden the red flush that was standing out in a surprisingly stark contrast to the orange shirt he was wearing.

"But he is getting closer," Gwen said slowly, taking a step so that she was now standing on the other side of him. "And usually, this is the part where people start handing out favors-" Merlin nearly flinched at the word, but Gwen continued as if she hadn't noticed the pause in his movements. "I'm sure that many people have already approached the competitors still fighting during the break, but it still isn't to late to be giving Arthur a token, did you ever decide on rather or not you were going to give Arthur one? Or have you found one that you could use..."

She trailed off, noticing Merlin sucking on his bottom lip in growing embarrassment. He had thought Valiant wanting to kiss him was bad, but this was a whole new bad in Merlin's book. A different kind of bad that couldn't even compare to Valiant, but it was still bad in it's own way.

Favors had been being passed out during the break? And there were only four competitors left in the tournament, did Arthur have a favor wrapped around his bicep by dainty fingers while Merlin had been off worrying himself half to death because of Valiant?

Had he somehow missed his chance with Arthur while he had been subsequently, trying to save his life? No, he was just being ridiculous, that had to be it. He hadn't lost his chance just because he was a little late to the game, it wasn't as if a favor was a marriage proposal.

And Merlin had to rub the fingers on his left hand together to remind himself that he was the one that was married to Arthur, and he had the ring on his finger to prove it.

"No way, did you actually find something for him?" The young lady Morgana asked eagerly, making Merlin's head whip around to look at her startled. She must have seen something on his face, some kind of expression that he hadn't known he'd been wearing, to indicate his conflicting feelings.

"Well-uh, it's definitely...something..." Merlin trailed off awkwardly, reaching down deep into his pocket. After a minute of hesitation, where he was peered pressured by Morgana and Gwen's expectant stares on him, did he finally pull it out.

He ducked his head, feeling the sudden embarrassment that flooded through him when he stared down at the neckerchief laid out over his hand. It didn't look nearly as eye catching or feel like such a great idea, now that he was having a second look at it.

It looked really pitiful, the way it was laying out across his hand, the ends of it hanging down and moving a little along with the light breeze.

The vivid red color that he had been so excited about didn't look as bright as it had earlier, it seemed like a more burnt out and faded coloring. The end's were more tattered and uneven instead of the smooth lines that he had been envisioning.

It looked ratty and old...disgraceful.

It looked like it belonged around the neck of a peasant. It didn't look like it belonged in the hands of a consort, yet along given as a gift or taken to be tied around the bicep of a prince.

Arthur wouldn't accept this old thing, not if other people had already attempted to hand him their own trinkets to show him their affections. Anybody else would've-could-given Arthur something much more beautiful, or expensive, or just downright anything else that would be loads better then the only thing Merlin did have to offer him.

It didn't help that Morgana and Gwen didn't say anything for the longest time, both of them staring down at the neckerchief with the same look of despair and disappointment that Merlin wore on his face.

"I think it's perfect." Gwen finally said, it was an easy way to break up the silence that had fallen around him.

Merlin scoffed, feeling his cheeks flush as he clenched his hand around it. "Don't try to make me feel better about it." He grunted, wanting nothing more than to just shove the neckerchief into his pocket and forget all about this.

He just wouldn't give Arthur a favor, or anything to wish him luck in the semi-finals. It was better to give him nothing than it was to humiliate himself by trying to give this to Arthur.

"No, no, no, I think that Gwen has a point. It's not to bad." Morgana said quickly, and this was coming from the girl who grew up in the midst of Royal balls and passing out courting gift's and such. This coming from a girl who probably had her own favor, already chosen and designed to her own specifications, hidden away somewhere in her room until the time came that she found a suitor who she had decided was worthy enough for her own affections.

"Don't say anything," Merlin said, sounding pitiful as he tugged the neckerchief to be held up against his chest. "I know it's bloody awful." If only he had come to that conclusion earlier, if only he wasn't being run down with everything that was happening with Valiant. If only, then maybe he would have had a longer minute to think about things, maybe he could have found an alternative favor in place of the one he had.

"No, I think it has potential." Morgana said, and before Merlin could just give in and shove the thing as deep into his pocket as he possibly could so that he really could forget all about it, it was gone. All he had done was blink, and then he was staring down at his empty hand.

"H-hey!" Merlin stuttered in a token protest, head whipping around so that he could stare at Morgana. The lady in mind paid him no attention as she held up the neckerchief. She let it fall open, holding it over her head by the edges so that she could get a better look at it in the sunlight. And Merlin's eye twitched, knowing that even though nobody would realize Merlin had intended to use it as a favor, it didn't stop the embarrassment when he realized that just anybody could see it now.

And since they were constantly getting glanced at from the circle of commoners around them, everybody was seeing it. It kind of made Merlin feel as if it were akin to flashing off his under garments in the middle of town square.

"Put the damn thing down." Merlin hissed under his breath, giving a light push of his arm against hers, trying to make her see reason.

But Morgana largely ignored him, to busy with her inspection over his neckerchief, "It is surprisingly soft, maybe a little scratchy but it's not all that noticeable." Morgana critiqued as she brought the cloth down, only to rub it against her cheek as if she was trying to test that out for herself.

Merlin's jaw dropped open, looking strangely offended by this. "Hey, it's not for you to rub yourself with!" He hissed. "It's gonna get all wrinkled before I even get it to him!" As if it hadn't already been wrinkled enough by sitting in his pocket for the better part of the day.

"I thought you were having doubts about giving it to him." Gwen said innocently, tugging one of her erect curls around her slim finger.

"Well, I mean...I wasn't...I'm just gonna...I..." Merlin stuttered helplessly, feeling his face growing redder and redder as he realized he was struggling to come up with a feasible excuse. "...Shut up..."

Gwen just smiled as him amused, as Merlin hung his head. He really didn't want to give Arthur something like his neckerchief, but it really was the only thing he had. And not just on him, it was the only thing he had at all, among his meager possessions.

He was seriously playing around with the idea of just not giving Arthur anything at all, except for maybe a solidarity pat on the back before Merlin shoved him out through the entranceway and onto the field. But that didn't seem like the more romantic option...but then again, did Arthur even deserve for Merlin to try something?

Or would Arthur's head swell even bigger when he realized that Merlin may or may not have somehow developed a crush on the prat over these last few days.

"And I really do like this one." Morgana was saying, apparently having taken this time between Merlin and Gwen to keep inspecting the cloth in her hands. "I've seen you wearing your other one's, and I think the red one was a good choice to make."

Merlin wondered if he should tell her that it was his only choice to make. He hadn't exactly decided on using the neckerchief until the last minute, and it was just pure coincidence that he happened to be wearing the red one today...nah, he'd just let her think he had actually had the time to pick and choose among his very few neckerchiefs before deciding on that one.

Morgana apparently wasn't looking for an answer anyway, because she started talking again almost right away. "It's probably not the most pretty favor that somebody would have chosen, but I think it's better this way. It has more character than any other favor for sure."

"Is that just your way of being nice?" Merlin asked dryly, knowing full well what a mess his neckerchief was. And saying that it had this 'character' she was going on about was probably akin to saying 'good job' when your cat brought you a dead rat as a gift and you had no idea what else to say to that.

Morgana scoffed at him, "Trust me, you'll know when I'm saying something just to be nice. But I really do think you did a good job, considering you refuse to take the money that's rightfully yours to have one commissioned. It can't be to easy to find a proper favor when you are..." she trailed off, looking like she had just put her foot in her mouth, and quickly tried to correct her words, "A...a person of limited means."

"Poor person." Merlin corrected her, probably enjoying the wince she gave a little more than he should. "You can say it you know, it's not a bad word or incorrect. I am poor, as in scraping the barrel poor." He made sure to take his neckerchief from her this time, and she only let him because she already felt embarrassed enough from remarking on somebody's past status in their society.

Things like that were best to go unmentioned.

Gwen took this opportunity to cut herself into the conversation, "The only difference is that you now at least have access to the gold. You could have gotten yourself something better if you wanted. I mean, as a consort, there are certain things that you can have that you may not have been able to get from before your marriage."

There was that word again, consort, and Merlin felt himself giving an involuntary wince at that. He sure didn't feel like what he would imagine a consort was. He could imagined that a consort was braver than he was, a person that would march straight up to Arthur the second he had confirmed his suspicions and told him that Valiant was being a cheat. Somebody who was stronger, and would have been able to land a punch on Valiant's smug face when he had pressed for more after Merlin had told him no the first time, somebody who wouldn't have hidden away behind a door frame like a coward waiting to be eaten up just like the mouse had been. A consort was somebody who had the ear of the people, who was kind and gracious despite their higher status, so nobody would hesitate when listening to his word. Somebody who didn't have all of their decisions decided on rather or not it was safe to come forward with his claims because he still had to worry if the truth about his magic would come forward with it.

Somebody who...wasn't him.

Gaius was right, he hadn't earned the title of 'Consort' and he had no idea how he was supposed to go about doing it.

"Arthur can keep his gold." Merlin said quietly, feeling as if his legs were lead and wondering just how stupid he had been to be getting his hopes up about anything. "And I'll just keep my neckerchief." He stuffed the wrinkled piece of cloth as far down into his pocket as he could get it to go. He couldn't even look at it, knowing that he was this fraud who bore the name Consort by chance and not because he had done anything to earn it.

"No, you should give it to him." Morgana insisted at his side. "I really admire that you opted to go for your neckerchief instead of a more fancier offering."

Merlin looked at her dubious, "You do?" It wasn't like his neckerchief was anything special, the exact opposite actually. It was probably the worse thing that he could have gone for, now that he was actually thinking things through instead of just seeing what he wanted to see.

"Yes," Morgana nodded, before clarifying for him. "You were right when you said your weren't going to use Arthur's own gold to get him something." He had said that way back during the first rounds, when him and Morgana and Gwen had been conversing on what he should do about his favor the first time. "This shows that you aren't just using his gold and spending it silly because you never had the opportunity to do it within your own limited means." She reached over to tap a painted fingernail on the pocket that she knew was holding his neckerchief. "It shows him what you have and are willing to offer him."

Now, didn't that just make Merlin feel worse than he already did. He ducked his chin down, feeling almost as if he was some kind of side show freak, "So you're saying it's a good thing that I show him just how poor I am? That the only thing I have to offer him is a wrinkled up old neckerchief that I've had for years?"

Maybe Merlin should just give up on his crush completely. If he and Arthur hadn't been married off to each other by chance, the prince would have never even acknowledged his existence. Hell, the only reason he did now was because it was his 'duty' or some shit like that. It wasn't because the blonde liked him or anything, and maybe that was for the best.

Merlin should just push this crush of his into the very deep recesses of his heart, and pretend that it had never existed in the first place. After this tourney was over, Arthur could go back to avoiding him like he had been after their wedding ceremony. He could be perfectly content being married to this man who showed him absolutely no ounce of affection, who would never know that Merlin had somehow-against the odds-felt a stirring of feelings for the blonde brewing in his heart.

...He was doomed.

Gwen's gentle hand rested on his shoulder, encouraging him to look up at her, "I think that Lady Morgana has a point." She said, which wasn't exactly what Merlin wanted to hear at this point. He was just so sick of talking about favors and Arthur, and everything else that was in-between.

"Well, I think that we should just let this conversation die, or maybe we should just kill me now." Merlin grunted in his misery. Arthur would probably be the one to kill him when he realized what Merlin was trying to give to him.

"Oh, stop being so melodramatic." Morgana said, giving him a light shove to his shoulder. A light shove that almost knocked him straight off his feet, distracted with his own problems as he was.

"Merlin, I'm not just agreeing with my lady, I really do think that this is the best thing you could have chosen." Gwen insisted as Merlin balanced himself back into his feet. "It will show Arthur that, even if you don't have much in the matter of belongings, that you are willing to hand over to him what little it is that you do have. And how romantic is that going to be? Giving over everything you have to that one special person."

Merlin felt the blush growing on his face to an almost red hot level when he heard Gwen say the word 'romantic'. It sounded so awkward and bad when it was coming from the lips of somebody else.

"Who said I was trying to be romantic?" The dark haired boy found himself stuttering through his sentence, flashing a more than awkward looking smile at the girl's. "Maybe I just wanted to see what his reaction would be if I gave him something...or maybe I want to know if his head will explode..."

Like Merlin felt as if his own head was going to, the heat that had built up making it hard for him to breathe when all he felt was as if his cheeks were on fire. And not even when he amused himself by imagining Arthur's head literally exploding when he saw Merlin's 'favor' was enough to quell his own flushing embarrassment.

"You say that now, but you can't exactly fool us." Morgana said proudly, wagging a teasing finger in his direction. "A girl knows when somebody is crushing hard."

Merlin hunched his shoulders up to his ears, trying and failing to act as if he wasn't wishing that the ground would just open up and go ahead with swallowing him whole, "I guess that means it's a good thing that Arthur is so dim-witted then."

If Arthur had a shred of brains in his head that wasn't filled with straw-or at least that was what Merlin imagined was in his head since nothing good ever seemed to come out of his mouth-he might actually be worried about Arthur discovering his crush on him to soon. Knowing the arse, he'd probably go about bragging about it to everybody, while trying to treat Merlin like a love struck puppy who had nothing better to do than to follow him around faithfully.

Arthur would learn real quick that if he ever tried to 'pat Merlin on the head' or whatever it was that they did with real dogs, he would be getting bitten-probably with Merlin's words then his actual teeth but it was the sentiment that counted.

"Dim-witted or not," Gwen stuttered, not used to such blatant disrespect towards the royal family (even though it was Morgana that was smirking at Merlin's term) "It is you who has the crush on him."

"Don't remind me." Merlin grumbled, trying to come up with an actually good reason for why he had grown to like the prince so much in such a short amount of time. When it had first hit him that he may actually have started harboring some kind of feelings for the blonde, there had been a few reasons that had stood out to him, or at least they had been reasons for Merlin to not just outright hate him.

But right now, after all this panic over something as silly as a favor-which wasn't actually silly because it was the thing that Merlin was planning on using to basically what amounted to admitting his feelings for Arthur, and knowing that the neckerchief was in no way, shape, or form, good enough-he was having difficulties remembering exactly what those reasons had been in the first place.

"Oh, don't be so hard on yourself, just go on and do it." Morgana suddenly said, moving so that she could give him a harsh shove to the back of his shoulders. The kind that made him yelp and nearly fall over his own feet before he was able to straighten himself up.

"Lady Morgana, Sir Merlin!" There were two guard's standing at the entrance to the stadium, both looking surprised when they realized that two members of the royal family were being herded into the entrance with the rest of the commoners. The two quickly bowed their heads, looking almost ashamed by their lack of action taken.

"I apologize, my Lady." One of the knights said, talking mainly to Morgana as the three of them stepped out of the main line. "If I were aware that you were in this line, I would have had the crowd parted so that you could be allowed entrance first. I was made unaware that you had not yet arrive, so I gave the okay for the peasants to be allowed to come in." And then he was looking as if he was expecting Morgana to punish him then and there for not knowing that she had spent her time waiting for Merlin's arrival, instead of securing a good seat for herself.

The common people in question were still looking their way as they passed by, but the line was still long and moving slow as everybody tried to filter in without running each other over, which was why the guards were there in the first place. To keep everybody in line so there wasn't any riots or such trying to get in.

The guard off to the side, the one that was supposed to be keeping an eye on the Lady lest any rouge commoners forgot their place or manners with her, grunted as he looked at the much younger and fresher knight-he clearly hadn't been on the job for very long-with disgruntlement.

Merlin hadn't even realized that they had made it to the front of the line till just now, to busy stressing out as he had been about his favor, that he had almost forgotten that they were actually walking to get somewhere.

"Nonsense," Morgana answered, sounding every bit like the noble that she was as she waved him down. "If I wanted my presence announced, I would have called for the Royal announcer to grab his horn. I was perfectly content going in with the common people for once."

Gwen, standing just half a foot behind her Lady, shook her head with an almost amused and fond smile on her face. It wasn't often that Morgana got to partake in what she considered 'normal people activities', like having to actually wait in a line instead of the crowd parting to allow her to go first even though she had been the last to arrive. This whole experience was probably a novelty for the lady.

The second knight that was guarding the door suddenly gave the first knight a sharp jab to the side with his elbow. It made the first knight yelp in surprise, while also getting across the message the second knight was trying to conceive.

The first knight quickly bowed again, much lower than he had been doing to the Lady, and stayed down as well. "Please, accept my humble apologies, Sir Merlin. A man with your high status should not have to wait among those with common blood."

Merlin blinked, having to take a minute to realize that the knight was talking to him, and this time it wasn't because he was surprised by the sudden use of this 'title' he now had, which he would probably never actually get used to.

But this time, the problem itself was with the words the man had used. Not only had he addressed Merlin as if he was some kind of afterthought-which probably wasn't to far off since apparently it wasn't only Merlin that needed to get used to Camelot now having a consort-but the knight had also spoken up about him not 'mingling' or whatever words he had used, with those of common blood.

"Er...what she said." Merlin said, voice sounding gruff and slightly annoyed as he nodded his head toward's Morgana. Maybe he should throw out there-in the man's face-that in case he forgotten, which he doubted because that seemed to be the one thing that everybody was stuck on, Merlin was also someone with common blood.

The knight only rose after Merlin had spoken, but it was clear from his face that he had realized he had said something wrong, given the tone Merlin had used on him. But what he could have said to upset his consort so soon after meeting him was lost on him.

"I apologize, Sir Merlin." The knight said in a rushed tone, looking as if he was scared to be punished for saying the wrong thing. He really did look like a kid, (his helmet alone was clearly a size to large and kept falling into his face) probably a year or two younger than Merlin, and had no doubt only been a knight at all for a very short amount of time. "If there is anything I can do to make up for causing you offense-"

Merlin was staring with boggled eyes, trying to make sense of the man's rapid apologies to him.

"Yes!" Morgana interrupted him, before the knight could get to far into his tirade. "Our consort here-" she stopped to casually wrap her arm around Merlin's arm again, tugging him closer to her. "Would like to see Prince Arthur, to wish him luck before the matches are to start. Would you mind terribly to escort him, I would hate him to not arrive there safety."

And she was really playing up the dewy eyed innocent look, somehow able to look years younger than her modest twenty two years said she was by the way she was fluttering her eye's.

Merlin didn't buy the act for a second.

"Morgana!" He exclaimed loudly, looking as if he'd grown a tomato for a head with how red he had gone. "You...I...he...I don't need an escort!" He exclaimed, mainly so he didn't start sprouting off at her about how he knew exactly what she was trying to do. She was trying to force his hand, to force him to Arthur so that he'd find he had no choice but to just throw his favor to the prince. Merlin guessed he should only be lucky that she hadn't spelled it out for the knights. He didn't want his feelings to be broadcasted to these random people, and he knew that Morgana knew that as well.

The knight that now resembled more of an eager puppy, hopeful and happy to please, practically seemed to jump onto the excuse to do something to make up for his earlier offense. "Yes! I would be more than pleased to help the consort to our prince! I'm sure he will be most eager to see his love before he goes out to win a victory for him."

Merlin looked at him, with his eye twitching in disbelief. He wasn't sure which was worse, the fact that the knight thought he needed 'help' getting to Arthur, or how he had no problem sprouting about Arthur's supposed 'love' for him.

Merlin whipped back around to glare panic like at Morgana, "I am not going with him! I've already decided I'm just gonna pass on this and wish Arthur luck afterwards!"

Okay, maybe he had just lied and he really hadn't already made a definite decision at the point. These last few days, he might have been trying to have convince himself that everything was going to work out. That he and Arthur were husbands, it was practically expected for Merlin to pass the blonde a small token for luck so it probably wasn't going to be as nearly as embarrassing as he was picturing.

But then he thought of Arthur-about how he would either be really pleased or really pissed (probably more pissed than pleased) and he would start backtracking by asking himself why he should even bother giving the prat anything.

But then he would think about how if everybody else had a favor, and if Arthur hadn't accepted any offers, he would be the only one going out to the field with his arm bared. And then he would feel the urge to march to wherever Arthur was and literally demand he wear Merlin's poor neckerchief as a favor just so he wouldn't go out there with nothing.

That mood would never last for very long before Merlin found himself getting pissed, because he had better not get back there and find out that Arthur had accepted some other favor from some floozy of a girl while Merlin had been spending all of this time stressing out over it.

Maybe Merlin was just a complicated person, or maybe he was just overthinking things, but he couldn't help himself! One thing would lead to another and Merlin would find himself needing to calm down before the array of his emotions forced his magic to rise up and do something about it itself.

"Nonsense!" Morgana's voice stirred Merlin out of his self reflection. She turned to give the guards a stern glare, and the three knights quickly averted their eyes and at least acted as if they weren't listening in. She turned her steady glare back onto the awkward looking Merlin, "This has gone on long enough. How long have you been stressing yourself out over this favor business?"

"...It feels like a lifetime." Merlin grunted, reaching up a hand to tug harshly at his hair. Logically, he knew that Morgana was right and he should just go ahead and get this over with. But he still felt as if he was floundering with everything that was going on in his life.

Ignoring Valiant and doing what he could to keep his magic a secret for now, and focusing sorely on the favor...yeah, he still didn't know what to do. It wasn't like he had ever 'confessed' or anything like that to somebody before, let along wished somebody luck with a 'token of his affections' or whatever crap that was being sprouted in regards to any of this.

Should he drop to his knee and ask for Arthur to accept his favor-like he had sarcastically suggested when he'd first started stressing over this. No, that sounded to much like asking for Arthur's hand (which he didn't have to do because the ring on his finger said that he already had it-if not emotionally than at least legally).

Or maybe he should be more subtle and shy about it, casually bring it up and try doing that thing Morgana had been doing earlier when she had been fluttering her eyelashes at the knight. That was what girl's did when they flirted with somebody, right? They fluttered their eyelashes some...Merlin nixed that as soon as the idea started forming in his head. He wasn't a girl and he wasn't going to act like some needy little thing trying desperately to get her crush's attention.

...Merlin was fucked, absolutely and one hundred percent fucked in a way that he'd never experienced before.

"Which is why your going to go back there and do what has to be done." Morgana said, chiming in forcefully, her voice almost daring Merlin to try and wiggle his way out of this one with the million and one excuses he was struggling to think of as for why he shouldn't do this at all.

"And don't come back until your favor is around Arthur's bicep!" Gwen threw in there, looking almost fanatical about this as Morgana was. Which was why both Morgana and Merlin whipped around to look at the girl who had silently been standing back and watching them talk.

Merlin blinked.

"Wicked, you two are very wicked." Merlin said, feeling his eyebrow twitch violently as he saw both girl's turn to give him stubborn and firm looks. It was clear that neither one of them were willing to let him off the hook with this one. "...Maybe I should go find a nice and slow flowing river to drown myself in."

They couldn't possibly make him give Arthur his favor if he was dead on the banks of some random river.

"Just be happy you found something to use as a substitute favor." Gwen said helpfully. "I and the Lady Morgana have been talking about what you could do if you turned up without something."

Merlin looked back and forth between the two girl's, feeling a sinking sensation in the depths of his stomach. He wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know what they had been planning behind his back. "...Okay, I give. Just break it to me gently, what was your plan?"

Morgana didn't seem to take his subtle pleading to heart, because her way of telling him had been anything but gentle. "I was going to send you down there, and instruct you to give him a proper send off." That didn't sound to bad, but that was before Morgana was sending him a surprisingly wicked smile, "In the form of a kiss."

If Merlin's head hadn't already felt as if it had exploded from how red he had been glowing minutes earlier, it definitely would have been right now. He shot straight pass tomato red and went almost purple.

"Kiss...I can't kiss him!" Merlin found himself nearly bellowing, ignoring the startled stares from the common people still walking passed them. "Are you...have you lost your bloody minds!"

Merlin was having difficulties processing that he could be giving his favor to Arthur at any bloody minute, if the girl's really did have it their way. But a kiss...now that was a very unreasonable demand, and completely out of the question. It didn't matter that Merlin may/or may not have already thought (more than once) that he probably wouldn't mind his husband giving him an actual kiss, but him and Arthur had already had that little discussion back when he'd been preparing him. Merlin might (maybe) throw out the first move by (if he got his legs to fucking move already) giving him his favor, but any kissing going on was sorely going to be on Arthur's side of things.

If Arthur wanted to kiss, he was just gonna have to be a bloody man and plant one on him-without people watching or his father instructing him to.

"I thought giving him a kiss on the cheek would be a better option." Gwen said, as if that was any actual help to him. "Because at least then it'll show him, despite your teasing with him, that you actually do want him to win."

"Who said I wanted him to win?" Merlin said quickly, still feeling as if he'd somehow ran a marathon without noticing it. "Maybe I want him to lose, it might make the swell ness in his head go down some if he didn't win all the time."

Plus, you know, Valiant wouldn't be getting to him if one of them lost their next match.

"Just be thankful that Gwen talked me out of bringing my lipstick tube." Morgana said, her own ruby red lips smirking at him. "I think that you would look absolutely fetching with some makeup on." Morgana told him what her idea had been before Gwen had insisted it may be a step to far. About how she was hoping to put a little lipstick on him, and when he kissed Arthur on the cheek, it would leave a kiss mark on his face. "That way," she continued, looking pleased with herself by this failure of an idea. "When he took his helmet off after he-inevitably-wins, it would be no secret that he'd been claimed by somebody."

Merlin felt his heart jump in his chest at that word, at 'claiming' Arthur. Apparently, in Morgana's eye's at least, he hadn't already done that by marrying the guy. But in the recesses of his mind, maybe he did like the idea of 'claiming' Arthur, or at least showing people that he and the prince were working out in their marriage life just fine.

Maybe the neckerchief wasn't such a bad idea after all. It was at least less embarrassing than smattering his lips in Morgana's lipstick and trying to kiss Arthur himself.

He shook his head of those thoughts and cleared his throat, probably sounding a little rougher than he'd been going for when he finally managed to speak, "I think the favor will work just fine. We wouldn't want Arthur to be mistaken for having a woman on the side."

Morgana and Gwen looked at him confused.

"The lipstick," he clarified, waving a hand over his own face. "I'm pretty sure that it's obvious I've never used a tube of it in my entire life."

Morgana immediately turned back to Gwen and said, "I didn't even think of that. Maybe it is a good thing that I didn't bring any of them with me." She had been serious about the idea, even going through her colors to try and find which one would look the most suited with Merlin's skin color-or contemplating on rather or not they should go with a more daring color and give Arthur something to really talk about.

But maybe it was for the best that she had forgone it after all. It would have been all to easy for somebody to claim that Arthur was having some kind of illicit affair, as marked by the kiss mark that would have been left behind by Merlin on his cheek.

"Not to be telling you anything that you might already know," Gwen interrupted them in a slow tone, almost as if she wasn't sure if she should be interrupting a conversation between royalty or not.

But Morgana and Merlin both turned to give her their full attention without complaint, giving Gwen the confidence she needed to know that it was perfectly okay to interrupt their conversation in a way that wouldn't had been allowed should she had worked in any other high class family.

Clearing her throat, she started saying, "But the tourney is prepared to start soon," she nodded her head to the entranceway where less and less people were in the line, most of them having already gone down the hall to find their spot in the bleachers. "So Merlin, if you're planning on giving Arthur anything, this might be your last chance to do so."

Merlin followed her eye's to the people still traveling passed them, and he hated to admit it but she did have a point. The people were becoming less and less as pretty much everybody had already retreated inside. They now had large gaps from person to person, which was a stark contrast compared to how it had been earlier when everybody had been trying to cram themselves inside.

He really didn't have much time left. If he was going to do this-if he was just going to bite the arrow and give Arthur his piss poor excuse for a favor-then now would have to be the time. Before his match started, before he went out there and people started to realize that he was the only one among the still competing knights to not have a token.

As if to make his own decision so much harder in the long run, that knight that looked more like a boy cut in and started talking rapidly. He kept rambling on about favors, and how they were such an important part of their culture's heritage, and that there was a certain status and a sense of pride when one was being offered something so meaningful to the owner. And how not many nowadays still took the time to really think thing's through by treating it as more of a game, and just shoved their favors at the first man they saw, trying to up their own status by having it be accepted.

Merlin mainly tuned him out, especially when the other knight started elbowing his young companion, hissing at him to shut up and that it was now his place to get involved with the Royal matters of the court. That he was sure Sir Merlin wasn't interested in hearing a history lesson when today was supposed to be about enjoying themselves.

"What!" The young knight finally exclaimed after the fifth elbow into his side. "I just think it's wonderful that Sir Merlin is so in love with the prince that he's giving him a favor! Now many couples still act like their in love after they have wedded."

"They are still considered newly weds," the other knight hissed. "Of course they act more in love then the other people who come through here that have been married for fifty odd years and are tired of each other."

Merlin felt his eye twitch as their conversation reached his ears, because yeah, that was really what he wanted to hear before he was trying to make this decision.

He didn't want to be tired of Arthur in fifty odd years or so, even though he did find a certain irritation toward's the prat, that was completely different from being just plain 'tired' of him. And as much as it pained him to hear the young knight go on about how 'in love with Arthur he was'-which he was in no way, shape, or form because something like that wasn't even a blimp on his radar since he was just now starting to feel like his crush on Arthur was his new normal-he rather be that 'so in love with each other couple' even fifty years from now then one where Merlin was still pining away after him.

"...Fuck all of this." Merlin said, effectively cutting off the two squabbling knights while easily getting Morgana and Gwen's attention from where they had developed into their own whispered conversation over rather Arthur would really like his favor or not.

Well then, if Arthur didn't like what Merlin was able to give him, then fuck him.

Merlin whipped around to give the young knight a wild eyed glared, "Are you coming or not?" He barked at who was supposed to be his 'escort' before he started stomping down the second hallway in the direction of the knight's quarters without looking back to see if he was following. He had his fists clenched dangerously at his side, looking ready to hit somebody if they dared tried to stop him from doing this.

It was just like Morgana had said not all that long ago, about how he had been wasting enough of his time and energy on stressing out over rather or not he should give in and risk the blonde's ire over his favor. It wasn't like he didn't drive Arthur up the wall on the daily anyway, what was one more slight made against him?

So fuck everything.

He was going to let himself rest, and allow himself to forgot all about Valiant for this brief moment so that he could live his life and do the one thing that had been fluttering in the back of his mind ever since Gwen had suggested it back in her little hut when she had been helping him with Arthur's armor.

What did he have to lose anyway if Arthur turned him down? Other then his pride, his dignity, and all the hope he'd been harboring for his marriage to develop into something more than just an unfortunate arrangement between their parents...

You know, the little things.

X

Arthur could literally feel himself zoning out, and he had to keep snapping himself back into attention. But it was just so hard, listening to this man prattling on when all he had wanted to do was be alone.

"I'm just saying, I can't believe that I didn't make it to the semi-finals." Markus griped to Arthur. The other knight, Arthur's friend, had approached him mere minutes ago but all he had done in that short time was complain, complain, and complain some more about how he had already lost.

"There's always next year." Arthur said, half grumbling to himself as he said his response while half hoping that it was the right thing to say. He just couldn't help but find himself losing focus in this conversation, so all he really knew was that Markus was complaining but he wasn't to sure if what he'd said had matched up to the other knight's latest complaint.

Not that he cared much, even if he tried to will himself to so he wouldn't seem as out of it as he was.

"Ugh, that's way to long to wait! I was hoping to show my family how good I am by my competing in the final's, against you yourself of course." Markus said, his eye's strangely focused on Arthur's next response. Almost as if he thought Arthur was going to say something to him about waiting there while he pulled some strings to get him back in the running.

But Arthur didn't notice, to busy staring at that stupid bloodstain on the floor that he'd noticed during the first rounds. "You'll just have to train harder for next year." He said, vaguely coming up with random scenarios for how the bloodstain had gotten there or how long it had been there.

Any other thoughts would have been a welcome relief to him at this point-except for Markus' ramblings-even a two decades old stain on the floor. Which was actually kind of strange, because he usually enjoyed his conversation's with Markus. The man was probably his only actual friend, which was kind of sad but also not surprising since most people he met only wanted to talk to him because of what he could give them.

Rather that was a higher status by association...or gold...or the king's attention... his mind trailed off again after that.

He didn't notice that Markus had started scowling at his side, or that he was now looking annoyed because Arthur not only hadn't taken his obvious and carefully hidden in his words hint. Or that Markus had finally gotten notice of Arthur's clear and very obvious inattentiveness.

Markus ran his tongue over his teeth, letting his eye's wonder away from Arthur to glare disdainfully at the people that were still in the running-while ignoring the people who (like him) hadn't been good enough to get so far.

"So," Markus said deliberately, trying to catch Arthur's attention with a new conversation topic, and he knew the perfect one. "I heard that you were caught leaving an alcove with that consort of yours yesterday."

If Arthur wasn't going to pull some strings for him to get him back into this-which he no doubt (and easily could) in Markus' eye's since he was the prince-then Markus was more than happy to throw him under the carriage-so to speak.

Markus eyed the prince carefully, noticing with an almost sick glee of please, how the other man stiffened up at his words.

Arthur whipped his head around to look frantically at his knight as all thoughts of that bloodstain screeched to a halt. "Where did you hear that?" He demanded harshly, his tone going frighteningly cold as he became laser focused on Markus in a way that he hadn't been before.

Markus grinned-a saucy and sardonic kind of lewd smile when he realized that he'd finally found something to get Arthur's attention, "One of the servant girl's that I often meet with-if you get my drift-mentioned seeing the two of you. Said you two looked like you were getting all cozy, and that you looked mighty pissed about being interrupted with what you were doing."

Yeah, Arthur did get his drift, loud and clear actually. It was no secret to him that his friend was a sex starved maniac, and pretty much went after everything (man or female) at any given time of day. It had never bothered Arthur before, truth be told he usually ignored it since it wasn't his usual thing. He was perfectly content with the (barely) handful of girl's he'd been with in the last five year's, since he was sixteen. The urge just didn't strike him all that often, it never really had even when he'd been with his first. It had always felt more like going through the motions more than anything else.

But that was also before he realized that his only option for anything like that was now a man.

But Arthur's own actual sex life was the least of his problems, at least right now when he was more concerned about his perceived sex life.

"We weren't getting cozy, we were having a serious discussion." Arthur hissed, looking displeased and outright pissed that any of this had been brought up. He was also cursing the trio of serving girl's that he'd ran across when he'd been trying to make his escape from Merlin, lest the moron ask him anymore awkward questions.

Markus just smirked at him, looking like he was almost enjoying getting under Arthur's skin like he was, it was clear that he didn't believe him in the least. "Seriously, was the peasant boy really that good on your wedding night, that you couldn't stop yourself from finding the first spot you could-where anybody could find you-just so that you could dip into him again?" Merlin definitely didn't look as if he'd be up for a good time but who knows, maybe that big mouth of his was actually good for something after all.

Arthur felt himself stiffen, even more than he already had been before, and he could feel a curl of disgust go through him at Markus' words. His jaw was hard, clenching tightly as he had to stop himself from punching his long time friend over a comment that he would have disregarded BMA-before Merlin arrived. "I am going to have to ask you to refrain from making such comments in my presence again."

"What, you aren't interested in sharing the details? You've never been shy about talking about it before." Markus threw out there, smirking crazily at him. "Tell me, did he show you a good time? Or did you have to do all of the work yourse-"

He was cut off when Arthur grabbed him by the shoulder plates of his armor, practically shoving him up against the wall and holding him there. Markus let out a surprised grunt, looking dumbstruck when he realized what was happening. And he was even more confused when he saw that Arthur's face was near his, finally registering the hard look the prince had on him.

The entire room went hushed, head's whipping around to look at them as the clang of their armor hitting against each other bursted throughout the room.

Arthur ignored all of them, to busy glaring disgustingly at his best friend, "I told you, refrain from making those comments." He repeated, making sure that he enunciated each and every word so that Markus would get the message.

Markus' hands had rosed up to grab Arthur by the wrists on instinct, "Okay, okay. I hear you." He said quickly, giving a thump to Arthur's wrist like one would when they were training and somebody else had pinned you down, it was a way of letting them no that you yielded and that they could get off you now.

Because unlike Arthur, Markus was fully aware of the crowd of people watching them.

Arthur didn't let up at first, still giving Markus a narrowed eyed look, as if he thought the other man would say something at the first opportunity. But when the man didn't, the prince finally pulled back and gave Markus his space.

Arthur retreated back against his original spot on the wall, crossing his arms and acting as if he hadn't done anything, despite the audience that he had so easily gained.

Markus cleared his throat, "Nothing to see here people! Go on with your lives!" He called out, practically waving them off so that the other knights would see that nothing else was happening.

One by one, the other knights finally turned away and resumed their conversations. The last of the knights to look away-Markus noticed-was Valiant. But as their eye's met, Valiant casually turned away and resumed to what he had been doing-showing off the excellent craftsmanship of his shield to a couple of younger and still starry eyed knights that hadn't lasted very long in the tourney.

Markus dismissed this, whipping around to look at Arthur now that he knew that nobody else was staring them down, "What was that?" He demanded, practically hissing this so that his voice wouldn't carry over to anybody else.

"It was nothing." Arthur hissed back, wishing that Markus would just forget all about it, while hating himself just a little bit more for what he had been doing. First, he had nearly broken Tristian's nose in one hit for lewd jokes he had made to Merlin weeks ago that didn't even matter now. So he'd taken his ring off and had decided he would just have to move on with his life and pretend that the brat didn't exist as best as he could. But now, here he was, shoving around his best friend because of that-of that...that brat!

This couldn't go on, something was going to have to give. But what was he supposed to do now, to prove to himself that he was more than ready to never have Merlin-or even thoughts of him-to grace his mind ever again.

He'd already removed his ring, so he was gonna have to do something that was even bigger (and more solid) than that move had been. But what he could do now, now that was the question.

"Don't give me that." Markus was protesting back, drawing Arthur out of his thoughts, which was probably a good thing (lest Arthur fall down the rabbit hole that was filled with Merlin all over again). "You don't just shove me up against a wall just because you don't like what I have to say, that's not like you at all."

Sure, Arthur and him had shoved each other plenty in the decade or so that they've known each other. But they had always been more like competitive, training induced, or playful shoves. They had never been like that, where Arthur looked like he had been more than willing to rip his head off his body if he didn't shut up.

"Is this because of M-"

"Don't." Arthur interrupted before Markus could get the actual name out. If he had to hear anything that had to do with that stupid consort of his, he was going to hit the roof. But as Arthur would learn (and soon)-being a prince didn't always mean you got what you wanted."

"So it is about him." Markus smirked, looking cocky by his own deduction skills. "Why are you so bent up about him anyway? Did he do something that I should be beating him up for?" And while it sounded like nothing more than a best friend wanting to get revenge on his behalf, there was something that spoke of just a tad too much eagerness in Markus' expression.

Arthur felt himself rolling his eye's, not all that concerned even as he felt his hands clenching into the folds of the thick cloth covering his inner elbows, "That would be treason." He said blandly, only half paying attention to him at all, while he mused over what Markus had asked him.

What was he so bent up and out of shape about? Why was he always so pissed off and angry all of the time, even more in the last few weeks then he had ever been in his entire life.

He knew the reason of course, and he felt the bitterness course through him. The only difference in his life now compared to then was Merlin, who had somehow managed to change everything about his day to day life without actually doing anything but existing.

Arthur ignored Markus who had started rambling on about Merlin, although what he was saying he couldn't understand. Not with the subtle roaring sound that seemed to be ringing in his head the more and more his thoughts circled so tightly around Merlin.

Arthur's fingers clamped harder around his elbow, and if it wasn't for the thickness of the cloth situated there, he had no doubt that he would be sporting some pretty gnarly scars from his fingernails.

Merlin...he was nothing more than a peasant boy, something that was more common than the dirt under the sole of his boots. A person whose only luck seemed to come from being the firstborn child to the people his father made that bloody contract with.

And as if his common blood-that he was now tied to forever (his life over before it had even truly begun, as if he'd been given some kind of death sentence for a crime he hadn't known he'd committed)-then it was his whole bloody personality.

He was a moronic (virginal) brat who got his jollies off by being all cheeky and bold, while doing whatever he could to get under Arthur's skin. And it pained Arthur to admit that it worked, even when the moron wasn't here, Arthur felt himself getting-how did Markus put it-all bent up and out of shape.

"And did you know that Merlin is still talking to the servants? Acting as if they are his friends or something." Markus said boldly, his voice finally cutting through Arthur's thoughts.

But Arthur wasn't entirely sure if that was a good thing or not, because rather he was lost in his anger of thoughts or involved in this conversation with Markus, the topic was still the same.

"I've noticed." Arthur said-which was the only thing he'd allowed himself to say-if only so he could make sure that (which he wasn't sure he could) he wouldn't start yelling at his friend who was talking about Merlin so casually, as if Arthur's life wasn't completely ruined by his mere presence.

"And you hadn't put a stop to that!" Markus exclaimed, looking at him horrified. "I mean, I would be pretty ashamed if I was married and my own consort was seen getting friendly with the common folk."

Markus point of view wasn't entirely different from every other noble that Arthur had met before. It was something shameful, to act as if the servants who worked under you were your friends and not just something that could be replaced in a split second. It was all about status and power, the people in charge couldn't be seen consorting with those who had nothing: it just wasn't right according to the unwritten laws that all nobles seemed to live and breathe by. It was one thing for him, for Arthur, to protect the people of his kingdom-it was his job as prince and would be his duty the day he became king. But to actually be friends with them, as if they were anything special...that was a different story entirely.

But then again...Arthur waved at Markus dismissively, "There are worse people that he could be talking to." Like the nobles, Merlin could open his big mouth-which he would-and no doubt ruin whatever relations Arthur had managed to get on his own. "At least the one he's talking to is just Guinevere." As far as he knew, but it wasn't like he was going to stalk the boy to see who he was spending his time with. And Guinevere, who Arthur knew did her job well according to Morgana, could probably (maybe) keep Merlin distracted and out of trouble. Or at least out of Arthur's hair for the time being. "My consort's fascination with the servants are honestly, the least of my problems."

Because with everything else that was going on, with Arthur's increasing need to be able to get himself separated from Merlin in any way that he possibly could, the last thing that he was worried about was Merlin talking to the common folk. Yes, it was embarrassing to some degree, and he supposed that it was just one more thing to be irritated about, but he has bigger problems on his plate.

And-grudgingly-he thought to himself about how Merlin wouldn't listen to him anyway if he started complaining about that again. And then he would have Morgana on his case if Merlin mentioned it to Gwen, who would then tell her mistress. It was just one more big hassle that he didn't care enough to start on about again.

"I don't know," Mark said in a singsong voice, nudging Arthur in his side. "I think I would be a little concerned if my consort was spending all of this time with somebody else. Gwen might be a serving girl, but she's not all that bad looking either."

Arthur felt himself stiffen up. And he looked at Markus with narrowed eye's, "And what is that supposed to mean?" He demanded, with a heat in his tone that made Markus flinch.

The other knight just held up his hands in an 'I surrender' motion, "I'm just saying, do those two spend an awful lot of time together? Because I'd want to put a stop to that, especially if you ever come across them and they're alone. Who knows what they might get into with each other if they're left to their own devices."

Arthur almost felt as if he wanted to laugh, the idea of Gwen and Merlin was completely outrageous! He felt himself relax back against the wall, shaking his head now that he knew Markus was doing nothing more but speculating.

"Don't concern yourself with that," Arthur said. "Merlin wouldn't even know what to do with a woman if he tried." And it wasn't even because Merlin was a virgin that he knew this. That brat of his was such a klutz, he'd probably fall over attempting it, and stick himself in the wrong place.

But Markus didn't know any of this, nor was Arthur willing to share it. Which was why he had nobody to blame but himself when the other knight opened his big mouth, "So what? He's only into guys?"

Arthur felt as if he was going to kill himself, and bring Markus down with him. Hell, he was going to track Merlin down and kill all three of them for good measure, if only to get out of this conversation. Because he was married to Merlin-and according to the majority of the population, happily in love-so he should definitely know what Merlin would consider his sexual orientation as.

Which he didn't.

Merlin's crush on him was the most obvious thing on the whole, something Arthur was more than willing to either ignore or use to his advantage if the situation called for it, but did that mean that he was gay? Or was he open to women as well...crap, he could feel a very familiar and Merlin-induced headache was starting to form.

"I believe that this line of topic has gone in a more inappropriate direction." Arthur said stiffly, feeling his jaw locking up. It was the most diplomatic answer that he could come up with, he answered Markus without actually answering his question at all. Which was just another thing he was going to blame Merlin for, because he'd never had to use something like diplomacy on somebody that he would consider his friend. That had always usually been reserved for visiting nobles that Arthur was trying to leave a good impression on, so that they would believe in him when it was his turn to be king.

Markus scowled, not liking that Arthur wasn't interested in playing whatever little game he had brewing in the back of his mind, "I was being inappropriate?" Markus demanded hotly. "You mean like when you shoved my up against the wall?"

Arthur winced, but mainly because all he could think about was the last time he had shoved somebody-Merlin-up against something. It hadn't been the right thing to do back then, especially with the following consequences (his freak out and Merlin constantly questioning him about it at the most inapt times), and it hadn't been the right thing to do now.

Drawing up his nerve, and mentally cursing Merlin for getting him so out of wack, he bit out an, "I do apologize for the misconduct that I've just displayed." It was the least that he could do. Markus wasn't Merlin-who was somebody that Arthur had no problem being able to push around (Merlin-who Arthur was now dead set on never seeing again if he could help it). This was Markus, his friend and somebody that Arthur was supposed to be able to talk to about all of the things that was bothering him.

But Arthur still couldn't bring himself to admit that any of his problems existed, let along bring them to somebody else's s attention.

Markus rolled his eye's at him, "Will you stop talking to me like that! You sound as if you're at one of those stuffy old council meetings that you have to attend to."

Arthur raised a hand up to his face, shoving an agitated hand through the thickness of his blonde hair, "Well, what do you want me to say!" He snapped, feeling the carefully made cage that he had around his emotions starting to fray and crack at the edges.

"Anything!" Markus hissed back, not liking how Arthur's marriage seemed to only be the start of more changes to come. He'd hardly even seen Arthur since the man got married, but he figured that the prince had just been squirreled away in his room with his consort after finally figuring out all the wonders that gay sex had to offer. But that didn't seem to be the case, not when Arthur was so full of tension that it was ridiculous. He'd never seen Arthur looking so close to just blowing up.

"Anything?" Arthur asked, a surprisingly bitter laugh coming out of his throat. It was only his luck that all of the other knights in the room had gathered in the entranceway to watch as the slow moving commoners finally found a seat and got settled into their places, or he may had just ruined whatever strong and solid reputation he had gained amongst his men. Arthur allowed his mouth to get away from him, "Maybe we should talk about certain thing's after all. Like when you were making inappropriate remarks to my consort."

Arthur hadn't been going to mention it, had honestly put it out of his mind considering the bigger issues that he has going on. But he hadn't forgotten how Merlin-in that stupid alcove not that long ago-had told him that Markus had also been making weird remarks to him earlier that day. Just like Tristian had made them on their journey to Camelot. And while Markus could say whatever the hell he wanted, Arthur had never cared before, he couldn't say those things to Merlin. Because then Merlin got all huffy and would approach him for answers, leaving Arthur with cleaning up the mess left behind while trying not to give in to what would be the most humiliating moment of his life when it finally came time to giving Merlin 'his talk'.

He was trying to put it off for as long as he could, and Markus wasn't helping him at all with giving Merlin those weird comments.

Markus held up his hands again, as if he was surrendering, but his voice told a different story as he immediately got on the defensive, "Hey, I don't know what he told you, but I haven't done anything to him!"

Maybe Markus hadn't physically hurt Merlin, maybe it was really no big deal that he had made those comments at all. If this was any other situation, if Merlin wasn't such a clueless idiot, Arthur wouldn't have given it a second thought.

"Oh, so asking him if he had a good time, and if it was 'good for him', none of that is ringing a bell to you?" It wasn't to hard for Arthur to remember the exact words that Merlin had used back when he had told him what felt like an eternity ago.

Arthur's word's seemed to strike a cord with Markus, but he didn't look ashamed like somebody who had just been called out for being inappropriate should be. No, he looked downright pleased with himself as he lowered his hands back down.

"Oh, that." He said bluntly, showing no hint of concern over Arthur's growing irate.

"Yeah, 'that.'" Arthur repeated, drawing out the word. It was as if he was trying to make Markus see sense, to know that comments like that would not be tolerated. All they did was make Arthur have to work twice as hard as he already was whenever Merlin was involved.

"I was just trying to see if he did you a service, or if he was any good." Markus reached out to playfully punch Arthur in his arm, but Arthur didn't react as he usually would. There was no playful punch back, or some mocking comment on the edge of his tongue. In fact, Arthur barely reacted at all, opting to give Markus a blank expression, until the other knight's smile started to dim some.

"And I will only say this one time," Arthur said firmly, refusing to allow his friend to cause anymore problems for him, rather he knew that he was or not. "Don't." If Merlin showed up and started asking more questions because somebody (Markus) had said weird things to him, then he was literally going to find the closest ledge and throw himself off.

Markus opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to argue. But he seemed to think better of it second's later, and his mouth snapped shut with a clink. It might had been because of Arthur's stern expression, or no-nonsense tone.

Markus leaned over so that he was leaning against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest, "I was just trying to have a little fun with him." And he sounded like a disgruntled toddler who'd just been told 'no.'

"Have whatever fun you want." Arthur said, his eye's flashing. "But the kind of fun that doesn't involve personal question's about a private moment between him and myself."

It practically killed Arthur to say that, and he had to force the word's to literally come out of his mouth. It gave off the illusion that something had actually happened between the two of them that night, which would only help in the long run if his father ever got suspicious about what had really happened that night.

But it was better this way, he had to convince himself, no matter how much he just wanted to break and tell Markus the truth of the matter. Or to tell anybody the truth, he wasn't picky as long as he could talk to somebody.

But he didn't have that kind of luxury.

Markus gave a non-communal shrug of his shoulder, "Fine, I'll leave him alone about it, we wouldn't want to upset our new consort, after all, would we?" He said this sarcastic and mocking, the exact tone that should never be used when talking of someone who was so much higher in status (now) then themselves.

But Arthur didn't correct him, he wished that he could do the same. Which he could (and was more than willing to do) to Merlin's face, but that was only because Merlin knew the true nature of their relationship. He couldn't do that in front of Markus, who would no doubt start asking questions about Arthur's marriage that he couldn't answer-if Arthur started going off about how much he hated Merlin and the effect he was having on his life.

"But, if I may sire," Markus started, and there was something about his voice that had the blonde tensing up immediately. "I don't think this consort of yours is doing in adequate job in the bedroom, you are way to tense to be getting some on the daily."

Arthur didn't hesitate to give Markus a sharp punch to him arm, way harder than what his normal and more 'playful' punches would feel like, "My-sex-" he choked out the word in an almost strangled tone. "Life is not up for discussion." And god help Markus is he ever brought any of this up again.

"Okay, okay," Markus finally relented, bringing up a hand to rub at his arm. His armor had done absolutely nothing to protect the arm underneath from feeling the force of the prince's blow. "But if I were you, I'd be better off finding attention elsewhere."

Arthur looked at him confused, so Markus rolled his eye's before elaborating.

"Your husband is clearly not a good lover, not with how twisted up into knots you are. So maybe you should find a girl, or boy if you want that, to get some of that friction out of you. You'll probably be better off for it, I'm not a prince or anything but I sure wouldn't let a ring on my finger stop me from having a little fun on the side."

And then he was ducking the punch Arthur had been aiming at his face this time. The knight ran off, smirking at the prince over his shoulder as he hurried across the room to join the knights in the entranceway as they waited for the bells to go off again, the ones that would announce the start of the semi-finals.

Arthur didn't follow him.

He may not have his ring around his finger anymore, but Markus had already planted the seed of an idea in his head. A thought that hadn't even fully formed yet, but it wouldn't be a bad idea when it did.

Maybe that was exactly what Arthur needed.

A girl, somebody that could give him a proper distraction away from all thing's Merlin. He'd be pushing the boundaries of the contract if he actually did anything with said girl, but it might just be doable if he planned this right.

This was something that would make an even bigger remark to Merlin then taking his ring off would be.

It wasn't something that he should do, it was actually something his father would probably kill him for if things got out of hand.

But at the same time, this was something that Arthur felt he needed to do.