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It had been a week since someone last tried to kill Arthur, and Merlin was starting to get restless. He never got to have a break, and granted, running around after him and Gaius isn't exactly relaxing but it's as good as it gets. So when he heard that some stranger had entered the castle he started investigating immediately. After two days, Merlin was baffled. This guy was completely normal and didn't have any ulterior motives which involved killing Arthur. But just as he thought that things were finally settling down, destiny turns around and kicks his ass.
----
"It sounds like you're complaining that no one is trying to kill the king" Gaius smirked
He sighed "I'm not complaining it's just, this never happens! I must have missed something, or...Something!"
"Take a break, Merlin. Arthur and the knights are going on a hunt later so there's still time for things to go wrong." He reminded
"Yeah, yeah, you're right. I can't be too careful, thanks, Gaius!" He yelled before bolting out the door.
The old man shook his head in exasperation, swearing that his surrogate son would be the death of him. Elsewhere in the castle, a gangly man was running around after the king preparing to venture into the woods. Just as he was strapping the saddle to the horses, the king along with his knights started down the steps to the courtyard.
"Merlin! How slow can you be? Are the horses ready yet?"
"Yes, they are your royal pratness. Everything is packed and ready to go"
Arthur didn't even bat an eye. "Well, good." He turned to his knights "Saddle up"
Once everyone was ready, they rode out the gates. Passing the lower town and seeing the villagers smile and wave at the group gave them extra motivation. Merlin however still wasn't excited to go out and hunt perfectly innocent animals for sport, but the time with his friends was nice. About 10 minutes of riding later, Merlin and Arthur started their usual bickering about anything and everything, this made the knights give each other knowing looks which flew over the heads of the other two. A couple of hours later they were far away from Camelot, and the knights heard movement
"Sire" Leon grabbed the attention of the king who was distracted by his manservant. "There," He gestured to a doe that was between the bushes, munching on some leaves. They all dismounted and crouched behind the trees, Arthur loaded his crossbow and aimed.
Merlin cringed at the sight of the poor thing that was so unaware of what was about to happen. He briefly considered warning it by making some noise or sneezing, but before he could it suddenly perked up, swiveled its head, and then sprinted in the other direction. All of them were confused because no one, not even Merlin had made a sound. Lance looked at Merlin with a question in his eyes, but the man shook his head, equally confused. Lance went on the defensive and started to look around for bandits, the rest of the knights caught on and started doing the same. A thorough examination of the vicinity later revealed that there was nothing else around, including animals which was very strange.
Percy cleared his throat "Arthur, we should set up camp"
"Yes, right. Merlin-"
"Already on it" he cut in
Arthur scoffed "You can't just interrupt me like-"
"Huh?" Merlin smiled
"I said you can't just-"
"What?"
The knights had to stop themselves from laughing, except Gwaine, he didn't even try holding back.
"I said-"
"Pardon?"
"Merl-"
"What was that?"
"MERLIN!"
Arthur was the only person not laughing.
----
The fire was going steady as Elyan was regularly feeding it dead sticks, he, along with Leon, Lance, Gwaine, and Percival sat on one log, while Merlin and Arthur were on the other. Neither of them seemed to notice that the knights did this on purpose. They had been fed with the rations that were packed since no one caught anything, but they would simply try again in the morning.
"Clearly, his hunting needs work" Merlin joked.
"I didn't see you catching anything either"
"Well I'm not royalty, am I? I was under the impression that the king was supposed to be the best hunter out of everyone."
"You're going the right way to getting yourself banned from the tavern" He jested, knowing damn well that Merlin barely even goes.
He laughed "Oh? And why would you do that"
The king smiled "Because you're a mooncalf"
Merlin positively beamed "That's a big word Arthur, are you sure you know what it means?"
Arthur smirked "foolish"
He nodded "Very good"
"Irksome"
He grinned, knowing what was coming "Doesn't quite mean that"
"No, these are other things you are" Arthur finished.
They both cackled boisterously, which snagged the attention of the others who were busy with their own conversations.
"What are you laughing at?" Gwaine accused.
The king and his manservant shared a glance and burst out laughing once more,
"Oh how the tables have turned" Merlin sighed.
They got more questioning looks but waved them off. Everyone settled down into a comfortable silence, breathing in the late-night air and letting the stress of the day melt from their shoulders.
Percival stood and grabbed his sword "I'll take first watch, you guys get some rest"
They all gave an appreciative noise, since, none of them actually wanted to do it, and sleep was quickly creeping up on them. Everyone was crowded around the fire, trying to get as much warmth as possible, but Merlin and Arthur we just that little bit closer together than the others. Over the course of the night, they all swapped on watch, and Merlin was supposed to go after the king, but strangely, no one woke him up.
----
The sound of people yelling and fighting pulled him from slumber, only to find his friends in the middle of a fight with a bunch of people he didn't recognize. For a moment he was frozen, confronted with something that required a certain amount of awareness that he did not currently have.
"Merlin!"
The sound of his king screaming his name was enough to jostle him out of the little trance just in time to dodge an incoming attack, he rolled to the side and scrambled to his feet. The attacker charged at him with the intent to kill but before she could the warlock held out his hand and made her fly backward into a nearby tree, knocking her out. Glancing around to see where he was needed Merlin discovered that the situation was mainly under control, just a few stragglers that he easily took care of.
The fight was over, and the adrenalin flowing through his veins was slowly fading. Arthur ran up and grabbed him by the forearm with stress practically oozing out of his pores.
"Are you ok? Merlin, hey look at me, are you ok?"
He smiled at the amount of concern and was about to respond but an incoming arrow aimed at the king distracted him. On instinct, Merlin pushed him out the line of fire but didn't have enough time to move before the small piece of metal lodged itself between his own ribs. The knights all started yelling, but none louder than Arthur, and in a blur, Gwaine had knocked the crossbow out of the attacker's hand and kicked the back of his knees, forcing him to the floor. He had a sword to the guy's neck and sliced it without hesitation. Arthur gently helped his best friend to the floor and shakily covered the wound with a ripped piece of his shirt.
"You're gonna be okay, Gods, why would you do that" His voice wavered.
The blood had fully soaked through the cloth and was now running across Arthur's hands. Merlin choked out an incomprehensible response that was drowned out by his blood.
"No no don't say anything" tears were in his eyes but he managed to smile "I know, you're an idiot" He received a bitch face.
"Sire, we must get him to Gaius" Elyan urged.
He looked up at them from his position on the floor, "Yeah, Yeah ok, just don't jostle him too much"
His knights nodded and lifted the injured man, earning a groan from him. They placed him as gently as they could on the horse he brought, the mare gave an uncertain nudge, being able to smell the blood on him made her uneasy. The ride back was slow and tense with them trying not to make his wound worse, all of them were on high alert.
When they rode back through the lower town the people threw worried glances at them but they paid no mind, getting Merlin help was the top priority. They stopped before the steps and dismounted, Leon told a servant to let Gauis know that they'd be coming.
----
"-ake up?" noises were muffled and he didn't have the strength to move.
"-e days" someone was talking.
"-derstand that but-"
Merlin was drifting, it wasn't cold but not warm either. He took deep breaths that calmed his state even more, he was completely relaxed. Until he wasn't. His eyes snapped open when he realized what had happened, the breaths that were calm were now erratic as he tried to gain his bearings. Hands were on his shoulders as quick as he sat up which caused him to grip theirs back.
"My boy you must not move"
"Wha-? Gaius? Where-what?" He couldn't seem to say a full sentence.
"You were on a hunting trip with the king and the knights, you got shot with an arrow to the chest. They brought you back, and now you're recovering, does that answer all of your questions?" He raised an eyebrow.
He stared blankly at his father figure for a moment then he shut his mouth and nodded. He was gently laid back on his bed, and then Gaius mentioned someone wanting to see him but he wasn't paying enough attention. Soon he was back to drifting.
----
The next time he woke up it was early in the morning, so early that not even Gaius was up yet which was good for him because that meant he could sneak away. He gingerly sat up, trying to ignore the pain that flared in his chest, and slowly started towards the bedroom door. He made it into the main area where he saw his mentor snoozing off to the side, so he very carefully walked to the other door and sneaked out into the hallway. It took him roughly half an hour to get to Arthur's room since he had to try not to worsen his injuries and avoid Leon who was patrolling the palace.
He stood outside the king's chambers with a sudden wave of nervousness, he knew Arthur was angry with him for jumping in front of the arrow but he couldn't just let the king of Camelot die. With a big sigh, he silently pushed open the door and stepped inside to see the man still slumbering away peacefully. It was still really early and he didn't need to be up for another 2 hours at least, but if Merlin has to be awake then so does he. An evil smile grew on his face as he made his way to the curtains, pulling them open he yelled,
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!"
Only to topple over at the pain it caused. At first, He just rolled over and ignored his manservant, until it clicked in his head. He quickly sat up and stared at the man by the window, swinging his legs over the bed, he marched up to the poor excuse of a servant with a stern expression. The red neckerchief-wearing man stiffened at the incoming clipped head, but instead of pain, he felt arms wrap carefully around him. Shocked, he didn't respond until he started to pull away, only then did the smaller boy encircle the king in a careful embrace. They pulled apart but stayed close.
"Gaius said he didn't know if you would wake up, he thought you were going to die Merlin"
There was a pause, "Well, who would bring you breakfast?"
"You can't be that reckless, you could have-you could have" He averted his eyes not even being able to say those words.
"Hey, look, I'm fine ok?" He tried to reassure, "I'm sorry I made you worry"
"Promise me that you'll never do something that stupid ever again" He pressed.
Merlin hesitated, "You know I can't do that"
"Merlin, you cannot keep sacrificing yourself for me"
"I wouldn't have to if you weren't such a dollophead" He tried to lighten the mood.
The king laid his head on his manservant's shoulder and heaved a sigh. "What am I going to do with you?" It wasn't really a question.
"You could let me have a day off" He received a raised eyebrow.
"Fine"
"Because I really need some time to heal- wait what?"
"I said fine. You deserve a break" He admitted.
"If I'd known that getting shot would get me a day off, I'd have done it years ago" Merlin smiled.
"Tell you what, you ever get shot for me again and ill give you twice the chores" He retaliated.
"Hey, now that's not fair, you're an idiot, and if I wasn't always saving your ass-"
Arthur grabbed the collar of Merlins brown jacket and tugged him forward, crashing their lips together. After a beat, he responded very enthusiastically, holding onto his nightshirt. They parted, and Arthur's hands slid from his collar to his hips in a slow motion. A shiver went up Merlins' spine at the contact, and he shuffled slightly closer until they were leaning against each other. They kissed again, and again, and again, then suddenly Arthur was sitting on the bed with Merlin leaning over him, and though the once and future king would never admit it, seeing Merlin above him like that was, uh, let's say very nice.
Arthur was very aware of his new lovers' injuries and refused to take him unless he was completely healed, and though Merlin huffed in annoyance, it warmed his heart that he cared so much. Instead, they laid under the covers cuddled close together, and drifted to sleep.
"Hey Merlin" He whispered before drifting off.
"Yeah?" a quiet voice replied.
"...Thank you." He sunk into a deep sleep.
After he was sure that Arthur was asleep he replied, "I love you too, you cabbage head"
The king smiled.
Fin.