I wrote a thing...

First "Merlin" story. Bare with me.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Merlin was taller than Arthur.

It wasn't a huge height difference; they were only separated by an inch or two, and unless you knew the two of them very well, it was hardly noticeable. But this wasn't what bothered Arthur.

Oh, sure. It bothered him when Merlin first became his manservant. At that time, they were both still young and still growing, and they were the same height. Arthur was used to his servants being much shorter than he was, so this new one that pushed his buttons purposely, talked back, treated him like a commoner, and was altogether horrid at his job being right at his eye level irked him to no end.

He's not sure when the height difference stopped being a problem. Probably around the time that he started thinking of Merlin as a friend instead of a servant. Arthur never told him this, obviously, but he kept it filed away in the back of his mind nonetheless.

It wasn't until long after Morgana had betrayed them and his father had passed away that Arthur remember it. By that time, both boys had crossed the threshold into manhood and grown-in more ways than one.

Arthur had been wandering the castle, Merlin chatting amiably a step behind him as he was wont to do, when the king stumbled, almost falling down the steps. Merlin, having surprisingly quick reflexes, shot forward and caught his master before he tumbled down several flights. The brunette man grunted as he helped him stand, Arthur brushing himself off.

When he went to say something to Merlin, his words caught in his throat. Instead of looking directly into Merlin's eyes, he was met with the middle of Merlin's nose. Arthur blinked once, then flicked his eyes a short distance up to gaze into those blue orbs.

"My Lord?" Merlin had asked, worry in his voice and his forehead creasing. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Arthur blinked once more, then shook his head slightly and scowled. "No, luckily," he huffed. "If you had been paying more attention, maybe I wouldn't have slipped!"

Merlin's face morphed into confusion, anger, and then amusement. He fired back with a witty retort, as usual, and Arthur responded in like, as usual. The blonde continued on his wandering, Merlin trailing behind as they kept up their banter, but that niggling observation was the only thing in his mind.

The more he thought about it, the more Arthur didn't like it. He didn't like how Merlin was taller than him, but mostly because no one knew.

Merlin was a servant; a servant was to be seen and not heard (or in Merlin's case, at least in front of company… normally…). The brunette was always in the shadows at dinner, a step behind the king when they walked…

But most of all, Merlin slouched.

There were times when he didn't. Times when Merlin seemed to be the tallest man in the world and commanded everything around him from this giant pedestal that he stood upon.

The slouch always returned.

Later that night, as Arthur half lay in bed watching as Merlin pattered around gathering up laundry and doing other last minute things before he too retired for the evening, chattering away, the king interrupted him.

"Why do you have such poor posture?"

Merlin paused next to the bed and glanced curiously at Arthur.

"What?"

Arthur rolled his eyes. "You slouch," he waved a hand in the air towards his servant.

The brunette stood up straight, though his shoulders automatically slumped forward, giving him the appearance of being a few inches shorter, and gave Arthur a small grin. "What brought this on?" he asked.

A sigh escaped Arthur's lips. "Today, when I… when you almost made me fall," Merlin snickered at that, "I noticed that you… you're taller than me…" Oh, the hell with it, Arthur thought. It's not like I haven't told him worse.

Merlin cocked an eyebrow.

"But you seem shorter because you never stand up straight!" Arthur exclaimed, scowl deepening.

Merlin's other eyebrow joined the first.

"And that… bothers you…" Merlin stated, amusement clear in his voice.

"No!" Arthur immediately retorted. "I mean, yes! You're going to end up with back problems if you don't get better posture!"

"You're concerned about my slouching… because you're worried I'll get back problems…"

"I can't have a useless servant, Merlin."

"I'm quite useless now."

"Even more useless."

"I don't think that's possible."

"You'll make me look bad."

"You do that quite well on your own without any help from me."

"Merlin."

Merlin grinned. Arthur groaned and flopped onto the bed, staring at the ceiling. He heard Merlin moving around a bit more and crossed his arms over his chest. He heard the door open and Merlin pause on his way out.

"If I stand up straight, then I'm taking the focus off of you," Merlin's voice floated over to Arthur. The blonde raised his head slightly to look at his servant; he was doing that thing where he looked like he knew everything in the world that was to come. "A king should be the center of attention, not his manservant. I don't want to take that away from you. You are the Once and Future King of Albion, and your importance is greater than mine. Height is associated with power; the taller the person, the more power they have."

Arthur said nothing.

"Why do you think royalty wears crowns, Arthur?" Merlin mused quietly. "It's not because it's gold or shiny or covered in jewels. It's because it adds on a few extra inches to their stature to make them seem more powerful. Tall in any shape or size equals power."

Merlin gave him a small smile before bowing slightly and backing out of the room. "Goodnight, My Lord," he said quietly, then shut the door.

Arthur didn't get much sleep that night. The next morning, Merlin's slouching returned.

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Many years later, long after magic was reinstated in Camelot, after Arthur discovered Merlin's magic and appointed him Head Sorcerer to the Court, he gave Merlin a gift.

Merlin was confused when the note read, "This way, everyone will know that you are the most powerful being in the world."

He then burst out laughing when he opened the box to reveal a tall, glittering, pointed purple wizard's hat covered in silver stars.

The thing about the crown is my own musings and probably 100% false. But I like my little musing about this topic and I'm sticking to it.