For the Love of Merlin
There are times when Arthur hates Merlin and there are times Arthur adores him. A simple moment in time where Merlin proves his worth in Arthur's life. No Pairing.
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I was going through my documents and found several finished but unposted works. This is one of them. I'm so confused, though, because I see I posted this to LJ on 1/26/11 at 8:13 PM but apparently never posted it anywhere else? So apologies for the wait, I suppose. -shrug-
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There were times when Arthur hated Merlin; times when all Merlin could seem to do were things that made them both look bad or made a bad situation worse. There were times when Merlin wasn't where Arthur needed him when he needed him to be there. There were times when Merlin made a fool of himself in front of the Court, when he lost Arthur a perfect buck, when he forgot to do his duties and Arthur was left without a bath or clean clothes or a meal. During those times, Arthur wondered why he even bothered to keep Merlin on as servant; why he didn't just sack the stupid git and get a better servant. Yes, there were times when Arthur hated Merlin.
Then there were times Arthur absolutely adored and loved Merlin; times like these:
Arthur was sitting at a grand feast where he'd been sat next to a visiting Duke's daughter. Her name was Katterli and she was gabbing away at him in some failed attempt to somehow woo him and Arthur couldn't make her leave him alone. She was notorious for angering easily so any attempt to end the conversation could be disastrous.
That's when Merlin stepped in. He walked over to fill Arthur's cup, standing on the completely wrong side to reach the goblet, and proceeded to drop his entire pitcher of wine right in Katterli's lap.
Arthur slapped a hand over his mouth to keep from snorting aloud as Merlin began muttering repeated heartfelt apologies. Katterli, in a stunning show of control, didn't scream. She was shaking and looked as angry as any man had ever seen her, but she did not scream.
"You fool," she seethed, staring at her lap. "You bumbling imbe-" she trailed off, looking up at Merlin as he knelt down to mop wine from the floor.
"I am so sorry," Merlin gushed.
Katterli blushed and Arthur blinked at her in curiosity. She pushed her perfectly curled brown hair behind her ear. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. Who're you?" she inquired softly, almost shyly.
Arthur had never seen anything like it. Katterli, famed for her temper, was acting like a flower maid!
"Uh," Merlin began, stopping what he was doing and looking back at her. "I'm Merlin..." Arthur saw Katterli mouth 'Merlin' silently. "I'm...Prince Arthur's manservant," he finished almost like it was a question.
Katterli froze for a moment and then scowled. "Right," she hissed out, her angry demeanor returning. With a huff, she faced the table again.
"My Lady," Merlin tried. "Your dress-"
"Leave it," Katterli ordered. Merlin glanced at Arthur and shrugged before leaving.
Katterli didn't talk to Arthur the rest of the meal. She was too busy doodling invisible drawings into her napkin and muttering to herself and blushing every time Merlin came over to assist Arthur.
Oh yes. There were definitely times when Arthur loved Merlin. And he would definitely love teasing Merlin about this later.
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fin.