Chapter 7 : thefts and mischief

( this starts as Merlin's perspective but after the dialogue comes in I'm not sure if it may be both )

Merlin awoke to Arthur sitting at his desk watching out the window at the kingdom bellow. It took his groggy mind a few minutes to catch up with everything that had happened, including how he ended up falling asleep in Arthur's big soft bed.

"your still here?" The question was spoken softly yet laced with complete disbelief.

"gee thanks Merlin, I haven't even been back for a whole 24 hours yet and your already trying to get rid of me" (Arthur knew that that's technically a lie since he's been back for two weeks already, but Merlin didn't know that) Following this sentence Arthur had moved to sit beside Merlin on the bed, looking at him with nothing but warmth and happiness in those royal blue eyes.

"that's not what I meant, I had just assumed you were either a figment of my tired brains imagination or would have gone to see Gwen or the knights."

Arthur's response to this was far softer than his previous comment, "I'm here Merlin, I'm here and I'm real... and I'm not planning on leaving anytime soon" then he continued with a bit of a lighter tone "besides, how am I supposed to keep you out of trouble if I let you out of my sight. "

This did, in-fact, trigger a small laugh from Merlin, followed by a teasing taunt of "and how exactly do you plan to 'keep me out of trouble' when you apparently can't even touch me" the smirk following this line resembled that of a cheeky child, it was a fairly rare expression of Merlin's, but one that Arthur had truly missed.

"I have my ways"

"well I look forward to seeing them" Merlin responded while heading to kings wardrobe and pulling out one very expensive, formal and fairly new royal blue tunic with gold buttons, and a far more warn, casual red one, then turned towards the bedroom door.

"Merlin," Arthur warned in his best 'king voice'. "Merlin don't you dare ruin any of my perfectly good tunics" ... in response to this Merlin gave him one of his best fake 'innocent' expressions mixed with a shrug, then left the room. "Merlin!"

Just before the door had fully shut Arthur got a glimpse of the glee and playfulness written all over his face.

Arthur

Once Merlin was gone, Arthur let his features morf from that of fake anger into fondness. If he was completely honest he loved seeing Merlin like this; even when he was alive, Merlin and Arthur being able to mess around like this had become rare, even more so after he became king- there was just always so much serious stuff happening constantly, that it left little room for playing or genuinely having fun.

So, right now he didn't really care if Merlin was destroying those tunics (it's not like he had much use for them now anyway). That's exactly why he's not rushing to follow straight away - after all it may make whatever Merlins planning harder to complete with ghost of the king hovering over his shoulder, especially if people see him. Basically although he wants Merlin to still think he's irritated by him, he's also trying to give him a mini head start-

- one of which has now been long enough, so Arthur heads off to find his servant. There are Many things Arthur had expected Merlin to do with the tunics, like: selling them, using the material for his chores, or attaching it to something. However something he hadn't considered was Merlin planning to wear one. In result of this, as Arthur floated through Merlin's bedroom door -prepared to go on a big rant about whatever Merlin was doing- Arthur instead found himself frozen and completely lost for words.

Luckily, due to Merlin being an oblivious idiot, who had his back to the door, he didn't notice his former kings flustered state. This gave Arthur just enough time to force a fake angry expression before the younger man turned around.

That 'angry expression', lasted for a total of 20 seconds. Arthur Mentally cursed himself for not being able to keep it up much longer, but how could he when Merlin's wearing his favourite red shirt, which is far too big for his tiny figure. Especially considering that with the difference in size you would think Merlin would look absolutely ridiculous wearing something soo big, but he didn't, somehow he just looked cute. Not to mention the colour suited him very well, like obviously he's seen Merlin in red before but this shade was a much deeper crimson red, rather than Merlin's washed out red shirt. It was only missing Merlin's blue neckerchief and brown jacket- although maybe the nicely fitted jacket may ruin the cute effect of the oversized shirt ... unless, Merlin wears an equally oversized jacket.

Noticing that Merlin has become fidgety under his intense gaze, Arthur realised that he too had been expecting an annoyed response, so when Arthur's gaze softened but didn't say anything Merlin quickly became unsure on how to respond to it.

"so... let me get this straight. You took my tunic because you wanted to wear it ... and yet you chose the old and warn red one rather than the brand new royal blue which is your favourite colour and you also grabbed out?"

Although clearly grateful for Arthur to have finally spoken, his words seem to have not been what Merlin was expecting looking at his confused expression. It only took Merlin a couple moments to collect his thoughts before responding with "uh, yeah. Well we have a lot of annoying nobles coming today, so I gathered you would rather I wear something neater than my usual faded clothes ... however, I'm not sure if you've noticed but this (Merlin holds up the blue tunic) is considered a little too special for a servant to wear, so I have other plans for it." Merlin spoke as if stealing the dead kings old shirt is just an obvious thing to do when nobles are coming. Although Arthur's certain that Merlin hasn't actually had the chance to see this so called 'professional' look for himself yet, and honestly Arthur doesn't really want to correct him either.

"well the look is missing two things" at hearing this Merlin looked extremely confused, but before he could check what Arthur was talking about in the mirror, Arthur explained "your blue neckerchief Merlin" while pointing towards where it sat on the bed. Suddenly understanding, Merlin found it and started to put it on while Arthur continued. "And an equally nice brown jacket, I have a few back in my room you can choose from if you'd like." Once again this comment seemed to take Merlin by surprise, but he just thanks Arthur grabs the other shirt then leaves the room.

While walking the castle corridor, clearly looking for a specific target (who? Arthur didn't know) Merlin started a new conversation.

Merlin

"so, since you've been back and talking, have you spoken to anyone else here?" Merlin knew he really should ask how he's here, but honestly he's scared for what the answer may mean.

" uh no, not really- so far it's only you". That's strange, Arthur loves Gwen and she'd be so relieved to see him. This thought suddenly fills Merlin with guilt that literally the queen of Camelot is still grieving her husband, while he's talking to him right now. Maybe Arthur's worried about how she'd react, after-all he and Arthur were the ones to see and talk to Uther, so of course Arthur knew Merlin wasn't going to freak out, but people can. That must be it.

"you know, I don't think she'd mind the whole' being a ghost' thing, she's far stronger and more open than people give her credit for, plus she loves you" Merlin tried his best to reassure his friend without letting his own feelings show.

"yeah your right Merlin, I should go talk to her"

"great! You go do that, while I finish my mission with your shirt"

"Merlin, what are you going to do with my shirt?"

"Arthur, stop worrying about your shirt and go talk to your wife!"

Arthur dramatically threw his hands upwards in a frustrated motion and a loud huff. "You, Merlin, are so infuriating" then began to float away to find his other friend.

Despite watching Arthur float away to find Gwen ( at least he hopes that's where he's going) Merlin still couldn't help responding with an equally frustrated/ shouty tone "And you are an insufferable clotpoll!"

He could hear Arthur's faint laughter fade into the distance then finally let his own laughter and fondness out. He's really missed that idiot and this banter these last two weeks.

"Merlin? Who were you talking to?"