Here's a quick one-shot story that I made last night. I was stuck on another story and I think One-shots are just way easier to write and manage.

Title: Throwing Them Through Hoops

Category: Merlin

Rating: K+

Pairings: None

Warnings: None

Spoilers: Not really

Summary: Merlin is having a normal day. Running late with Arthur's breakfast and staying on the sidelines while Arthur trains his knights. A normal day, that is, until one of the knights challenges Merlin to a bet with serious consequences.

Merlin had woken to birds chirping right outside of his window. The musical notes floated in the air, allowing the boy to enjoy a few seconds of peace before jumping to his feet and scrambling to the door in his rush to go wake up his master and friend after realizing he was late.

Again.

That was normal, of course. Being late to wake up the royal prat was an almost daily occurrence and was anticipated by everyone. That included the cooks who shook their heads at him in fondness as he grabbed the now king's breakfast, the knights who waved and greeted him as he rushed, breakfast in hand, to the king's chambers. And of course, the King himself as Merlin had burst through the doors without knocking and placed the food in hand on to the table.

"About time you arrived Merlin, I was starting to worry that I wouldn't get to eat breakfast before knight training," Arthur teased as he rounded the four-poster bed and approached the table where said food was now arranged.

"Wouldn't want that, now would we Arthur?" Merlin joked back as he began to tear off the sheets on the bed to be washed.

"Are you trying to imply something there Merlin?" Arthur asked through a mouth full of sausage.

"No, of course not," Merlin grinned as he moved the dirty linen to the basket at the end of the bed and grabbed the new sheets that would go on the bed. "I just think that you could do with skipping a few breakfasts is all."

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Arthur asked back in indignation. "I'm not fat!"

"No, never fat," Merlin said as he shook his head. "I just mean that you're getting a little pudgy around your tummy from all those banquets is all."

"No I am not," Arthur retorted, looking down at his stomach as if to see for himself. After a second of poking his stomach he shook his head and looked back up at his servant who was now going through Arthur's wardrobe to pick out his outfit to wear under his armor for training. "Besides, your one to talk. You're so skinny that I'm constantly surprised that you can even pick up my sword, let alone my armor."

"Yes, well, not all of us can afford to eat like kings," Merlin shot back, grinning to show that his feels weren't hurt. This was normal. This was what they did every morning. Arthur would complain about Merlin and his skills at being a servant and Merlin would return them with just as much sarcasm and witty retorts as could be expected.

"Somehow I don't think that's the problem," Arthur joked, finishing up his breakfast and walking over toward Merlin to get into his clothes.

Merlin just grinned at Arthur as he went about his job, fastening buckles and adjusting the chainmail as he dressed Arthur up in his armor for training. "There, I think that should do it. You're now officially ready to join your knights in beating each other into the ground."

"Good, now grab my sword and let's go, I have a meeting with the counsel later today that I still need to do. I am not looking forward to that," Arthur said over his shoulder as he walked out of the chamber doors.

Merlin shook his head at Arthur before grabbing the mentioned sword and running after him. They reached the field in no time at all and watched as the knights warmed up by lightly sparing with each other.

"Alright men, gather 'round," Arthur shouted to the men, getting their attention. Arthur grabbed his sword from Merlin's hands as the knights all walked over to hear what the king had to say. "We will start off today by pairing off and sparing, then we'll move on to blocking and then we'll finish off by working on our throwing aim. Some of you really need to work on that."

The knights groaned at that but did as they were told and began to pair off with each other. Merlin watched from the sidelines as the knights fought with one another. Arthur had paired himself with Leon, with Arthur winning of course. Gwaine had paired off with Percival, playing on each other's strengths and weakness. Percival was strong and each hit he took didn't seem to faze him while Gwaine was fast and tended to use moves that tricked the bigger knight into revealing an opening. Elyan had paired off with Lancelot, Elyan was using his bar tricks and moves while Lancelot seemed to stick to his defenses and fended him off more than counterattacking.

Throughout all of this Merlin watched and assessed then from the sidelines, not really noticed by the knights. After a few rounds Arthur finally deemed them ready to move onto defense training. Each knight paired off again with a different partner, one holding a shield whilst the other a sword. While the one with the sword advanced on the knight with the shield the knight with the shield was tasked with fending them off the longest and the best they could. This went on for a while before Arthur made a signal and had the partners switch roles.

Occasionally a knight would walk to the sidelines and get a drink before returning back onto the training field with the others. This went on for another few more switches before Arthur finally called it quits.

While the knights all took a quick brake Arthur had walked over to Merlin and shoved his sword into Merlin's hand with a offhanded, "Put that away, would you Mer-lin," before nearly guzzling down a gallon of water Merlin had gone and fetched during one of the switches.

Merlin only grunted and retorted with a sarcastic "Of course, Sire," before placing the blunt training sword away on the rack with a few others. By the time Merlin returned back to the field the knights were all gathering around again only this time with throwing knives in hand.

"Alright men, line up," Arthur shout. "I want all of you to go one at a time and aim at the target. You will throw five knives each before getting back in line. I expect to see bullseyes men otherwise we're going to keep doing this all day. Got it?"

With a few more groans the knights all lined up with Leon at the front and Percival at the back. A candle mark later and all of the knights had gone at least twice with only a few hits in the inner rings and one accidental bullseye from Gwaine who had sneezed right as he released the knife. According to Arthur that didn't count and Gwaine was not excused.

Merlin of course was laughing at a few of the throws that had been made. He couldn't help it, some of the throws were just hilarious and half of the knights didn't even have the correct stance down. Arthur would glare at him for a bit but would then ignore him to shout at some of the knights for missing a "simple throw."

One of the knights Merlin barely knew, Sir Ethan he thinks, was at the front of the line now, this being his third try. He was huge, but not as big a Percival, and had dark curly hair that went down a little past his ears. He was about Leon's age and had a beard and mustache as well. He wasn't well liked among the knights because of his short temper and his habit of getting into fights. Merlin could tell that the heat, the yelling and the fact that he still hadn't gotten closer to the bullseye than the second to inner ring that he was getting angry.

Unfortunately Merlin couldn't hold in his laugh as Sir Ethan threw another knife that had gone of course so bad as to go all the way over the target and stick into the tent a few yards behind it, nearly hitting a council member on his way to the castle.

That apparently was the last straw for the knight as he turned to Merlin and started marching over to him. "I've had just about enough of you and your laughing you little shit," He gritted out as he neared Merlin, throwing knives forgotten and murder in his eyes. "We'll see whose laughing when I'm through with you."

Merlin gulped as he looked at the looming knight, backing up a few steps as the knight neared him. Just as Merlin was sure that Sir Ethan was about to strike Arthur showed up at his side and glared at the knight, "That's enough Sir Ethan. Merlin is my servant and I'd advise you to back up now. I will punish my servant as I see fit."

"That little rat has been laughing at us all day and I've had enough. If he thinks he can do better than let him," the knight spat, pointing a beefy finger in Merlin's face. By this time the Knights of the Round Table had gathered around him and were also glaring at Sir Ethan.

"Merlin can't pick up a sword, let alone throw a knife straight," Arthur said incredulously.

"I bet your servant can't make a bullseye even if his life depended on it," Sir Ethan growled, looking Merlin right in the eye.

"Of course Merlin couldn't-" Arthur started to retort before he was inturupted.

"I could do it," Merlin said over Arthur, making all the knights snap their heads in his direction.

"What?!" Arthur and Gwaine shouted out at the same time.

"Merlin, I don't think this is a good idea," Elyan said, trying to reason with Merlin.

"You're darn right that's not a good idea!" Arthur shouted. "Merlin, you can't possibly think that you'll actually make that shot? You're useless when it comes to weapons."

"Merlin, buddy," Gwaine started. "Think about this."

"Yeah, I have to agree with Sir Gwaine and the king on this one," Leon said, placing a hand on Merlin's shoulder.

Merlin just ignored them as he looked at Sir Ethan. "What happens if I don't make the shot?"

The knight smiled, showing off his otherwise perfect teeth if one ignored the missing one near the back on the left. "I get to beat you with a switch in front of everyone here."

"Now that's not-" Arthur started only to be interrupted by Merlin again.

"And if I win you have to do my chores for a week."

Sir Ethan snorted before laughing in Merlin's face. "Yeah, sure. You get ten chances to get a bullseye."

"Deal," Merlin said before walking past him and heading towards some of the throwing knives that the knights had been using.

"Merlin, wait, you can't be serious!" Gwaine shouted as the knights all began to gather.

"You know what, I know I always say this Merlin, but you're an idiot!" Arthur yelled. "There's no way you can make that shot. What were you thinking?"

Merlin picked up three of the knives and turned to the knights; his friends. "Guys, it's alright. You don't have to worry about me all the time."

"I beg to differ, because you're always getting into trouble Merlin. You can't hold a sword correctly to save your life. What makes you think you can throw a knife, let alone make the bullseye?" Arthur argues, getting more hysterical as he talked.

Merlin looked at his friends in the eye before finally stopping at Lancelot. He seemed to be the only one who hadn't said anything about this, other than Percival but he barely spoke anyway. Lancelot saw Merlin's gaze and nodded back in return.

"Guys," Lancelot said, making the others look at him, "I think Merlin knows what he's doing."

"Are you kidding me right now?" Arthur nearly shouted again.

"Just let Merlin do this, he might surprise you," Lancelot said in return.

"Surprise me how? By missing so bad that he ends up killing himself?"

"I think he can do it," Percival finally said, barely heard by everyone.

All the knights paused, surprised by the big knight's words. Finally Arthur turned to Merlin and signed. "I can't do anything now, you've already accepted the bet. That also means that if you lose there isn't anything stopping Sir Ethan from switching your hide in front of everyone here."

"Thanks Arthur," Merlin said sarcastically. "Your faith in me is inspiring. I think I might tear up a bit."

Before anything else could be said Merlin turned away from them and walked over to the mark that indicated where the knights had thrown from. The target was about thirty yards away, pretty far in fact, which had made the whole thing challenging in the first place.

Everyone went silent as Merlin raised one knife and readied himself to take the shot. Merlin closed one eye and lined up the knife. His stance was way off and the knife was even upside-down. The knights all began to laugh at Merlin, knowing he wasn't going to make the shot.

Just as everyone thought Merlin was going to throw the knife he lowered his arm and turned in the opposite direction of the target and started walking away.

"What's the matter?" Sir Ethan shouted at the servant as he walked further away. "Going to grab the switch already?" That made a few of the knights laugh.

Just as Merlin was about fifty yards away from the target he stopped and spun around. Before anyone knew what had happened Merlin had placed his feet apart, getting into the correct stance, swung his arm upwards in an under arch and released the knife, all within a second.

A thud was sounded across the field as everyone stopped laughing and looked at the target. One knife was stuck to the colored board, right in the center of the target. For a few moments none of the knights said anything, not even Gwaine.

Finally Arthur snapped out of his daze and looked back over to Merlin. "What was that? How did you- Merlin?"

"Yes Sire?" Merlin asked, a big grin plastered on his face.

"What. Was. That?" Arthur asked, enunciating every word clearly.

"That would be called a 'bullseye' I believe. I can understand your confusion as you might have not seen one before, Sire," Merlin sarcastically retorted. "And I believe, since that was within ten shots, that Sir Ethan owns me a week's worth of chores."

"No!" Sir Ethan shouted, anger seeping into his words. "You cheated! There is no way you could have made that shot!"

Without another word Merlin lifted another knife with one hand and took another shot, his time without looking away from Sir Ethan. Another thud sounded throughout the field as a second knife appeared on the target, right next to the other one, but still within the red center mark.

"How about now? Do you think I'm still cheating?" Merlin asked, a smirk now on his face. Sir Ethan had his mouth hanging open by this point.

"Whoa, Merlin!" Gwaine whistled, grinning at the servant. "Since when could you do that?"

"Yeah Merlin, I'd like to know that too," Arthur asked.

Merlin rolled his eyes before smiling at his friends, "Since I was seven. We didn't have swords in Ealdor, but we did have small knifes. They cost less and some were easy to make."

"How come you never said anything?" Arthur asked, confusion written all over his face.

"Well, you never asked. You just assumed since I was horrible with a sword and mace that I was bad at other things as well."

"Other things?" Gwaine asked, picking up on that. "Does that mean you can do more?"

Merlin blushed before nodding, "Yeah, I mean, I'm good at a bow, not a crossbow just a normal bow. And I was told that I can be real mean with a quarterstaff."

"Really? Who would have thought?" Gwaine said as he walked over and threw an arm over his friend's shoulder. "You hear that Ethan? A bet is a bet."

"But-" Sir Ethan started to argue.

"Are you going back on your word Sir Ethan?" Leon asked, an eyebrow rose in challenge. Nobody messed with his friends.

"No but-"

"Good, because I have a council meeting I have to attend and I need my laundry washed, my sword sharpened, my armor polished, the stables mucked, my dogs need walked and my quarters cleaned before I get back," Arthur listed off, walking over to Merlin before patting his shoulder. "Merlin, it looks like you've got a week off. Enjoy it." With that Arthur began to walk off towards the castle.

Sir Ethan growled before glaring at Merlin. "Next time, you won't be so lucky." With that the knight grabbed his sword and walked off to follow the king.

"Come on buddy, celebratory drinks at the pub, on me," Gwaine shouted, pulling Merlin away from the field.

"But you don't even pay for your own drinks. Arthur gets your bill then complains about it till you promise to not do it again, which you don't do," Merlin argued as he was tugged away.

"Aww, come on Merlin, live a little. You just showed all the knights how much of a bad ass you really are. You just got a whole week off, celebrate a little!"

Merlin looked around at all of his friends who were also following them. At his questioning look they all began to agree in some form or other, whether through nods, pats on the back or a shout of "Yeah Merlin."

"Alright, I guess. But only one drink," Merlin relented.

The knights all let out a shout of joy before the group walked into town, ready for some drinks, all of them proud of their friend.