Notes:
Change of plans for this chapter, it will hopefully be a short and fluffy one to prepare for the fun next one.
chapter six: caring friends and missing servants
Gwaine
Since Leon had told him about his previous interaction with Merlin, Gwaine had been looking everywhere for his friend.
He's checked his room, the stables, kitchen, dungeons, Armoury and even asked the servants weather they knew of any small out of the way rooms he may have gone to hide in - and checked all of them.
Merlin was no where in sight and Gwaine was really starting to worry about the younger Man. After a while of searching he arranged a meeting with the rest of their friends for help. To begin with everyone had just mentioned places he'd already checked, that was until Gwen had suggested to check Arthur's Bedroom.
"But Merlin doesn't want anyone going in there" Elyan responded
Followed closely by Percival: "I tried to encourage him to go in there himself, either alone or with one of us - just to help himself grieve and process it. But Merlin had snapped at the idea of it, then apologised saying that if people want to go into the room he can't stop them, but out of respect to Arthur he doesn't think anyone should be allowed to go in apart from Gwen- just like no one was originally allowed to go into Uther's room apart from Arthur."
"following from that conversation I had told him that out of respect to Merlin I wouldn't let anyone go in Arthur's room unless it's an emergency. However out of respect to Arthur, Merlin too would be allowed into the kings room due to having been his Man Servant, dear friend and the one who was with him when he passed" after a small pause Gwen then continued with "I wanted him to see Arthur's room as a safe place he could go into just as Percival had suggested, especially considering he's been doing soo much to help all of us- I was worried he wasn't making time or space for himself."
Gwaine has always been so protective of Merlin, everyone knew that. But looking around this room and listening to what everyone else is saying just reminds him how much they all love and care about Merlin. So how is it that someone so loved and protected was always the first to look after others but to lock himself away when he's the one hurting or in trouble.
So following this conversation he announced that he would check Arthur's room then let them know if Merlin's there and ok afterwards.
After sprinting to Arthur's room, Gwaine suddenly slowed down as his hand reached for the door. If Merlin was in there he's likely in a vulnerable state, but one were he's maybe finally letting himself grieve and Gwaine didn't plan to disturb it, he just needed to make sure his friend was ok and safe.
So as quietly as possible Gwaine cracked the door open just enough to see inside. There he saw his friend sleeping( for what looks like the first time in ages) soundly on the kings bed.
Relieved that his friend was safe, Gwaine left his friend to sleep.
notes
this wasn't quite the chapter I had planned, however it felt like an important back story to what I have planned next.