Prized Possession

by Sonayesul

Summary:

“My friends are my hoard,” Merlin groaned into the table his face was slammed on and Gaius raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

“Is this you just now realising it, or just you finally admitting it?” He asked and Merlin raised his head and glared at him.

“Gaius, how am I meant to deal with this? I mean, they’ve already asked me so many questions! And today-! I accidentally revealed to Percy my magic!” Merlin complains.

~~~

It's been five years since Merlin became a dragonlord and now he's going through "dragonlord puberty." He grows wings, talons and fangs and gets Dragon-like behavior, such as collecting a hoard.

Which would be all fine and dandy except that Merlin's inner dragon decided to hoard his friends and now Merlin has to hope none of them notice his strange behaviours.

Chapter 1

Merlin wakes up in agonising pain, and he can’t help the pained scream that rips itself from his throat as he bolts upright in his bed, hands scrambling to feel his back, finding the source of pain.

 

His door opens instantly and Gaius rushes to his side, asking what was wrong.

 

“My-” Merlin chokes out a pained cry and shakes his head. “My back hurts.”

 

Gaius lifts up the back of his shirt to find the source of the problem and pauses.

 

“Oh, I suppose it has been five years now.” He mutters and Merlin turns and squints at him.

 

“What?” He asked, wondering if he had misheard Gaius somehow but his uncle just sighs heavily and turns to him. 

 

“There’s a bit to explain, but first I’m going to get some numbing salve to help with the pain.” Merlin nods weakly and lets out a pained huff as Gaius leaves.

 

After that’s all settled, Gaius returns with a thick book and Merlin’s eyes lock on to it.

 

“What is that?” Merlin asked as Gaius sat next to him.

 

“A book about Dragonlords.” Gaius said and Merlin raised an eyebrow. 

 

“A book about Dragonlords?” Merlin echoed. “Why did you never tell me you had this?” 

 

“Because none of the information in here would’ve been helpful to you until now.” Gaius said and then gestured vaguely. “There’s a coming of age time for Dragonlords, normally when they turn five, but in your case, it’s five years after you became a Dragonlord.

 

“You start to become one with dragons, meaning you’ll pick up some more animalistic traits that they have.” Gaius explained. “And one of these traits is that you will, well, grow wings.”

 

“ What?! ” Merlin shrieked, eyes bulging out of his head and his hands fumbled around to reach his back to where he’d felt pain before just to brush against two nubs. He winced at the pain and turned back to Gaius. “Wings?! How the hell am I going to hide that?! And- And Balinor didn’t have wings when I met him!”

 

“Your father’s wings had been cut when most of the Dragonlords had been hunted. But worry not, Merlin. Your wings, once they’ve fully grown, will be able to fold completely into your skin. Even with your shirt off, no one will be able to see them.” Gaius reassured and Merlin nodded a bit.

 

“How long will it take for them to grow in?” Merlin asked.

 

“About a week.” Gaius said. “You won’t be able to hide them during that period and you’ll be in a considerable amount of pain.”

 

“A week ? Gaius, I’m Arthur’s manservant, I can’t hide out here for a week!” Merlin protested.

 

“I’ll tell him you got sick, and it’s extremely contagious so that way no one comes to visit you,” Gaius said and Merlin nodded. That was a decent excuse, but he was sure once he got back to work, Arthur would give him a week’s worth of chores to make up for his absence.

 

“What else is there?” Merlin asked, leaning forward and wincing as the movement stretched his skin. 

 

Gaius gives him a hesitant look before opening the book and turning it so Merlin can read.

 

“You’re also going to grow fangs and talons, but they’ll both be retractable after growing in.” Gaius informed. “But there are some mood behaviour changes you may have after.”

 

Merlin’s eyes scanned the page with a tight frown placed on his lips.

 

“I’m going to become possessive?” Merlin asked with an eye roll. “Easier to make angry. Strong intense emotions. Oh great, I’ll be just like all the thick skulled knights.”

 

“You need to take this seriously,” Gaius said. “Unless you can find a way to control these emotions, it can be very dangerous.”

 

“Gaius! These are too many changes!” Merlin said, flipping through the book quickly. “How am I going to hide any of this from everyone?”

 

“You’ve managed to hide being a warlock,” Gaius pointed out. “I trust, Merlin, that you will be able to. Or else who knows what could be the consequences.”

 

Merlin huffed and nodded slowly. “Okay, okay, I got it. I’ll do my best to... To not lash out.”

 

“There’s some more,” Gaius said after a moment, taking the book back and Merlin groaned, flopping backwards on the bed and immediately regretting it as it sent pain shooting down his back.

 

“More?!” Merlin cried and Gaius gave him a sympathetic look as he read off the page.

 

“Like Dragons, you’ll have increased strength, resistance to fire- Merlin, that’s resistance , it doesn’t mean you’re immune to fire so be careful- And you yourself will run at a warmer temperature. Some are given the ability to breathe fire in dire circumstances. You’ll also develop hoarding tendencies. You’ll also be territorial of your own space and what you claim as yours.” Gaius informed and Merlin sat up, frowning.

 

“Go back- Hoarding tendencies? ” Merlin asked, sceptical and Gaius nodded.

 

“Yes, you know how Dragons will collect gold, treasures and such like that?” Merlin nods a little. “Basically you’re going to collect things and claim it as yours. Clothes, books, jewellery, whatever you deem most important to you. This could be troubling, if you start hoarding coins or the likes you could be accused of thievery.” 

 

“I don’t think any of that stuff is important though,” Merlin said. “Books... Maybe. Do you think Geoffrey would be mad at me if I took some books?”

 

Gaius gives him a look that reads oh absolutely but the older man says nothing.

 

“So basically I’ll be a super strong, hot headed brute that gets mad when people touch my things.” Merlin said and shook his head. “Gaius, that’s like the complete opposite of me.”

 

“Well I would say you get territorial over things sometimes.” Gaius said and then grinned. “Remember when Cedric had tried to take your job and you hit him?”

 

“I didn’t hit him! I just... handed something to him a little harsher than I should have!” Merlin defended. “And besides, he was trying to use Arthur to break into the vault.”

 

“Which you hadn’t known yet when you hit him,” Gaius teased and Merlin glared at him. “Look, I’m just saying it’s not completely different than you. And as long as you’re aware these emotions, you should be able to handle them decently. And it’s a possible side effect that will go away with time anyway. It wouldn’t be a permanent change, Merlin.”

The warlock simply groans loudly and flops face first down onto his bed.

 

So began the week of agonising pain.

 

It was hard to sleep with wings growing out of your back and it was hard to eat when your mouth felt like it was melting. His talons growing in didn’t hurt much, thankfully. It just became inconvenient when he went to pick something off the ground only for the long talons to stop him. His bed had also been torn to shreds by him grasping at the bed in pain when he woke up before Gaius could reapply numbing salve.

 

No one had come to visit him, thankfully Gaius’ lie about it being highly contagious made everyone very wary about coming near the physician’s quarters unless needed. Though a lot of his friends made get better baskets and gave them to Gaius to deliver, which warmed Merlin’s heart through the weak of pain.

 

On the last day though, Gaius had informed Merlin that Lancelot wanted to talk to him through his door.

 

Desperate for some sort of human contact that wasn’t his uncle, Merlin told Gaius Lancelot could come in, he already knew he was a warlock, this couldn’t be that much more surprising.

 

The knight stepped into the room and his eyes went wide.

 

“Okay so, definitely not actually sick,” Lancelot said and Merlin winced in pain. It was the last day of his wings growing in. They were at full size now but shedding off layers, like a snake. Gaius told him he wouldn’t shed often and that other times it wouldn’t hurt but because this was all completely new to him, these new limbs shucking off a layer of dead skin was agonising pain to him. The numbing salve provided no relief so he was forced to suffer, talons twisted into his sheets and tearing.

 

“Long story short,” Merlin gasped out, gritting his teeth. “I’m a dragon lord, dragon lord’s have dragon-like tendencies. This hurts like Hell.” 

 

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Lancelot asked, moving to kneel next to his bed. Merlin weakly reached out for his hand and Lancelot gave it to him with a gentle smile and let Merlin squeeze it tightly. Lancelot raised his other hand to gently run through Merlin’s hair and the warlock eased up a little, slumping in his bed some at the comforting touches of his closest friend.

 

“Was there something you needed to tell me?” Merlin asked as he focused on his friend’s presence and not the excruciating pain he was in. Lancelot gave him a wide smile.

 

“Just came by to wish you a smooth recovery,” Lancelot said. “The King has been... somewhat unbearable without you these past few days.”

 

“Of course he has,” Merlin tried to smile but he knew it looked more like a grimace. “The prat has at least been able to dress himself, right?”

 

“Well, not the first day,” Lancelot joked. “George has been filling in for you in the meantime. I think he’s started to run out of brass jokes though.”

 

“Really?” Merlin asked. “I thought he was just flowing with them.” 

 

Lancelot chuckled and removed his hand from Merlin’s hair. The warlock resisted the urge to scream at him to put it back. 

 

“So, the wings?” Lancelot asked. “How are you going to hide those?”

 

“Apparently they’ll blend into my skin once they’re done shedding.” Merlin said. “Same with the talons and fangs.”

 

Lancelot nodded and gave Merlin a soft look. “Is there anything else I should worry about?”

 

“Apparently I’m going to be a thick headed prat like Arthur,” Merlin grumbled. “I’m gonna have more strength and a shorter fuse. And be territorial of what I think is mine. And hoard. Do you know what hoarding is?”

 

“No,” Lancelot answered, his thumb gently caressing Merlin’s hand as he held it softly. 

 

“It’s like how dragons collect big piles of gold. Whatever I think is important I’ll hoard.” Merlin said. “Gaius is afraid I’m going to be accused of being a thief.”

 

“I’ll help cover for you,” Lancelot said. “You’re my friend Merlin. I don’t want you getting in trouble for something you can’t control.”

 

Merlin nodded weakly and huffed. “I hope I can hide this well, I'm just... I’m worried.” He mumbled. “Like if this is the thing that ruins my cover, how am I meant to protect Arthur? I’m supposed to help him unite Albion, protect him so he becomes an amazing King. If this ruins the cover I’ve had for seven years all because of some stupid dragon thing, I don’t- I don’t know how I’d be able to live with myself.

“Like, ignoring the prophecy, ignoring destiny. If Arthur got hurt because I couldn't protect him? Lancelot- I can’t do that.” Merlin said, and his voice is strained and his eyes burn with tears as he squeezes Lancelot’s hand. 

 

Lancelot gives him a gentle look and nods slowly, squeezing his hand right back.

 

“Merlin, even if you got revealed, I don’t think in a million years Arthur would banish you. He may be mad, or demote you. But you wouldn’t be banished. Arthur is not his father,” Lancelot reassured. “But I’m here for you. If you ever need help coming up with a cover or anything, I am here for you.”

 

Merlin smiled, feeling a genuine surge of contentment surge through him and he nodded lazily at his friend. “Thank you, Lance. I appreciate it a lot.”

 

“Of course,” Lancelot said and dropped his hand. “I’m going to be late for training, but if you need me, send Gaius.”

 

“Okay, beat Arthur up good for me,” Merlin waved goodbye and Lancelot chuckled as he stood at the door.

 

“I’ll do my best.”

 

Lancelot left with a smile and the moment he was gone, Merlin felt this pit of emptiness start to grow in his chest.

 

Oh no .

 

The next morning he wakes up delightfully pain free. He turns around and looks at his wings, moving them to stretch out in his room.

 

They don’t reach full size due to Merlin’s small living quarters, and it takes a little bit of effort to move them, trying to get used to new limbs and all, but as Merlin turns his head to look at them, he feels a surge of pride swell in his chest.

 

His wings are, for lack of better words, marvellous. They’re blue wings with a few red scales scattered around, the blue is a magnificent royal blue that shimmers in the dim sunlight peeking into his room. Merlin lets out a happy little laugh as he practises moving them around, letting the light reflect off them in certain angles.

 

Merlin stands up and focuses on folding them back, and to his delight, they fold and practically meld into the skin of his back. He looks at his hands then and his talons quickly do the same. He can feel his fangs retracting back in his face and he feels a little bit calmer knowing none of his physical dragon like traits would be failing him.

 

He left his room and found Gaius making them breakfast.

 

“Ah! Good to see you up and around!” Gaius said and Merlin grinned. “It feels great to not be stuck on my bed anymore.” He said back, sitting down as Gaius settled a bowl in front of him.

 

“Now remember, to be careful today,” Gaius reminded. “Your Dragonlord abilities are still new. They’ll be tricky to manage at first.”

 

“Yes, yes I know, don’t be an idiot, I got it,” Merlin grumbled and then started to eat, ignoring the question trickling at the back of his mind.

 

Gaius, however, can read him easily and raised an eyebrow at him, silent, but obviously waiting for Merlin to say something.

 

About halfway through his food, the young warlock broke.

 

“Can you hoard people?” Merlin asked and Gaius’ eyebrow only raised higher. “I’m just asking cause like- I mean, I know it sounds stupid but like, when Lancelot left yesterday, I got so sad. And not like, normal, I’m randomly sad, like it felt like I lost someone. But all he did was leave the room. Or do you think it could’ve just been the pain affecting my mind?”

 

Gaius is silent for a long moment before taking a deep breath.

 

“It’s not unheard of,” He informed. “You’ve heard of stories of Dragons being guards to sleeping princesses locked in towers. Part of those come from the dragons hoarding them. But I supposed in your case, you would hoard your friends. You view the world of them and would do anything to protect them. But this can be troubling.”

 

Merlin groaned and rested his forehead on the table.

 

“Oh great,” He grumbled. “How is this troubling?”

 

“Well, you’ll become possessive over your friends. You’ll want to keep them neat much like how dragons will obsessively clean their gold. And you’ll want a visible claim on them, something that others will see and know it means they’re yours .” Gaius explained. “It’ll be tricky to keep it a secret. You know what preening is, right?”

 

“Isn’t that something birds do?” Merlin asked. “It’s like when they groom their wings, right? Pick out feathers and put everything into place.”

 

“Yes, and no.” Gaius said. “Birds do it.... And Dragons.”

 

“Omigod,” Merlin’s face grew red. “You’re telling me I’m going to preen my friends?”

 

“Essentially, yes.” Gaius said and Merlin groaned, banging his head on the table a few times.

 

“Would it be easier to just never leave my room?” Merlin asked and Gaius shook his head.

 

“Not with your destiny. Plus you would become agitated if you’re separated from your hoard.” Gaius said and Merlin groaned. “Look, maybe you’re wrong and you’ll hoard actual objects. Maybe you’re right and you’re hoarding your friends. Either way, I’m sure it won’t go as terribly wrong as you think.”

 

Gaius was a liar. Gaius was a terrible liar because Merlin is standing in front of Arthur, fixing his hair for the third time that morning and Arthur has definitely noticed something is wrong with him.

 

The king bats Merlin’s hand away and the warlock frowns at that but takes a step back.

 

“What is with you this morning?” Arthur asked, running a hand through his hair and perfectly messing up everything Merlin just fixed. 

 

“What do you mean?” Merlin asked and Arthur glared at him. 

 

“You’ve fixed my shirt and hair like, fifty times already!” Arthur shouted. And rude, because Merlin had only fixed both a few times. He wasn’t that bad. “You normally wouldn’t even care if my shirt was wrinkled.”

 

“Well,” Merlin started and then stopped because he literally could not think of any excuse in the moment so he just shrugged. “Maybe I care now, ever thought about that?”

 

Arthur levels him with a confused stare but shakes it off as he moves to leave his room. Merlin follows closely behind and Arthur scoffs.

 

“ Mer lin, you’ve been gone for a week, I need you to clean my room.” Arthur ordered and Merlin frowned but nodded. “After that, muck out the stables, take care of Llamrei, clean my armour, mend my clothes, wash my clothes, then help me put on my armour for training today. You’re to attend me at training as well, provide me water and such.”

 

Merlin rolled his eyes at all the chores but bowed mockingly to the King with a teasing grin. “Yes, my Lord .” Merlin said and Arthur scoffed with an eye roll and flicked Merlin’s forehead.

 

“Don’t mock me, Merlin,” Arthur said, but the corners of his lips twitched up. “It’s good to see you up on your feet. Don’t get sick again.”

And with the command, Arthur leaves his room, leaving Merlin to clean up the completely trashed living quarters by himself. 

 

Merlin handles the chores well, Arthur has given him loads of tasks in the past, it’s not terribly overwhelming.

 

But when he’s almost finished with his tasks, he starts to get a really ugly feeling in his chest. It’s a strange pull, a weird feeling of.... Like he’s missing something, almost. Or that he needs to go find something.

 

Merlin waves a hand and finishes up his chores with magic before getting to his feet and following the strange pull in his chest.

 

He pushes open the stable doors and walks around aimlessly for a moment, eyes squinted in confusion as he lets this random force pull him towards... something.

 

It leads him to the kitchen and he almost crashes into someone and the pull stops as the person almost drops the plates they were carrying.

 

Merlin reached out and helped them steady and looked up to meet Gwen’s face. She smiled widely at him and moved past to continue where she’d been walking to. Merlin quickly follows after her, beaming right back.

 

“Merlin!” Gwen greeted happily. “You know, Gaius had almost made it sound like you were dying . I felt terribly awful I couldn’t go visit you. Are you feeling all better now?”

 

Merlin thought for a moment and realised that weird... unsettled feeling he felt before was gone and just smiled with a nod.

 

“Yeah! I’m feeling great actually! Finished Arthur’s chores already and the prat doesn’t need me for a bit longer so now I have some downtime.” Merlin explained, keeping in step with Gwen. She smiled brightly as she opened the door to the dining hall.

 

“Could you help me set up then? There’s apparently an important meeting tonight that King Arthur of course waited until very last minute to tell me about.” Gwen asked and Merlin quickly moved to take half the plates from her.

 

“Anything for you.” Merlin said and Gwen smiled softly at him before moving to set everything up.

 

Arthur comes to collect him near an hour later, when he and Gwen have just finished setting all the goblets up. They had to make about a dozen runs back to the kitchen since everyone in there was too preoccupied with the sudden feast they had to prepare to assist them. Both servants were practically out of breath but smiling wide when the King rushed in.

 

“ Mer lin!” Arthur shouted and Merlin shot Gwen an exasperated look to which she laughed at. “I have been searching the entire palace for you! What are you doing in here?”

 

“I was helping Gwen,” Merlin informed. “She was left alone to set up the feast you forgot to tell quite literally everyone about.”

 

“It-” Arthur huffed angrily. “It slipped my mind, okay?! Now come on , we need to get to the field and you need to get me into armour.”

 

Arthur turned without waiting for him and Merlin rolled his eyes. Gwen reached over and gently squeezed his shoulder with a bright smile. “Good luck,” She said and Merlin grinned, rushing after the King.

 

They got down to the field and it was strange, but the moment all the knights ran up to them, Merlin felt... Almost whole. Warm and like all his things were in place.

 

He frowned internally at himself. His friends were people not things for him to possess . Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling or the spark of contentment that shot through his body as he stared at all his friends.

 

“Merlin!” Gwaine shouted and ran forward, scooping his friend into a hug and lifting him off the ground. Merlin laughed loudly and let his friend throw him around like a child. “Oh, the love of my life ! How we missed you, darling!”

 

“Hey now,” Arthur said, voice tight as he stared at Gwaine. The knight rolled his eyes and dropped Merlin and backed up, but not before pressing a big, fat kiss to his cheek that caused Merlin to just laugh louder.

 

Percival clapped a hand firmly on Merlin’s shoulder and Elyan shook him a little in excitement. Leon and Lancelot stayed a few steps back but smiled in welcoming to Merlin.

 

“Guys, I was sick, not away,” Merlin said, but welcomed their friendly touches all the same.

 

“But we couldn’t visit you!” Gwaine whined. “It was basically like you were on a trip to Ealdor.”

 

“I’m fine now,” Merlin reassured and looked over at Lancelot, who gave him an earnest expression, Are you really? Merlin nodded at him and Lancelot loosened his firm stance up a bit. 

 

“Yes, yes, he’s alive, he didn’t die,” Arthur said and then pointed his sword at Gwaine. “Field, now.”

 

“Are you kidding?” Gwaine groaned and Percival and Elyan just laughed at him. 

 

“You did it to yourself, mate.” Elyan teased as Gwaine grabbed his sword and met Arthur in the middle.

 

Merlin rested on the bench with the other knights, sat between Elyan and Leon. Leon smiled at him and asked him if he was okay, experiencing any side effects from his illness.

 

“You’re not dizzy or anything? Tired?” Leon asked, caring and kind. “You know, if working the moment you’re better is too much, we can all convince Arthur to give you another day off.”

 

“Nah, I’m fine,” Merlin said. “Besides, the dollophead wouldn’t give me the day off after all the chores I did this morning. I’ve been gone for a week and he forgets how to be a human.”

 

“Oh, you don’t even know,” Elyan said with a sharp grin. Merlin notices his chainmail hood is crooked and absentmindedly fixes it. Elyan gives him a hesitant look but doesn’t push him away and lets him fiddle with the armour until it looks alright. “Without you, he’s basically lost his head. It was endearing at first, then it got rather annoying.”

 

“What do you mean?” Merlin asked and Elyan went to say something but Lancelot elbowed him sharply with an intense stare. 

 

Merlin gave him a strange look and Lancelot just shrugged while Elyan glared at him. Elyan shook his head and Merlin moved to fold up the ends of Elyan’s sleeves so they were nice and even. This time Elyan doesn’t even spare him a look, just shifts his arm so Merlin can fix his sleeve easier.

 

They sat there for a bit while Arthur beat Gwaine over and over again in training until the other knight laid on the ground and groaned.

 

“I’m done, that’s it, kill me if you need to but I’m done.” Gwaine whined and Arthur rolled his eyes but stabbed his sword into the ground near Gwaine, who flinched and stared wide eyed at the sword.

 

“When you’re on the battlefield, you’ll need to be prepared to fight for longer durations of time,” Arthur informed. “You won’t be able to just step aside and take a break. The lives of your brother Knights could very well depend on if you’re watching their back or not.”

 

“Okay, I would rather be at the front of war right now than fighting a King with jealousy issues.” Gwaine said, still not budging from where he collapsed on the ground.

 

Arthur went to grab his sword and Percival jumped to his feet, rushing into the middle of the field. 

 

“He’s joking, he’s joking.” Percival said, grabbing Gwaine’s arm and dragging the man up to his feet. 

 

“No I-” Percival hits Gwaine hard over the head as he drags his friend over to the benches.

 

“Elyan, you’re next,” Arthur said and Elyan shared a weary look with the others as he got to his feet, meeting the same sharp glare Arthur had given Gwaine prior. The King looks down at Elyan’s neatly folded sleeves with a tight frown. 

 

The day of training is long and hard for the knights, but Merlin watches happily from the sidelines, enjoying just being around his friends.

 

They all talk with him when they’re not doing anything, but at some point Arthur calls all his knights on the field for a group training exercise and even though Merlin can literally see them all, he feels upset that he’s not training with them.

 

And he doesn’t even like training!

 

This Dragonlord nonsense is really going to be a pain in the arse...

 

A few days go by and while there’s been a few moments where Merlin is more than obvious about the fact something is going on , no one notices anything wildly out of the ordinary.

 

He thinks they start to get suspicious when Elyan and Gwen decide to ride out to a nearby kingdom to get some precious metals they had been offered a trade for, though.

 

They’d only just left but Merlin is already filled with unease, this overwhelming feeling that something is missing, something is wrong, and he’s pacing back and forth the stairs to the castle while wringing his hands.

 

“Merlin,” Leon appears at his side. “The King requests your presence.”

 

Merlin waved a hand dismissively at him, eyes locked on the gates that Elyan and Gwen had left through not so long ago. 

 

Leon stays at his side for a moment longer before clearing his throat.

 

“He said it’s urgent.” Leon informed and Merlin scoffed.

 

“Is he dying?” Merlin asked. 

 

“Well, no I don’t think-” Leon cuts himself off when Merlin suddenly turns and walks up to him, fixing the tie of his cape. “Why have you been doing that?”

 

“Doing what?” Merlin asked, smoothing down the parts of Leon’s cape that fell over his shoulders before turning back and resuming his pacing.

 

“You keep fixing all our clothes and hair these past few days.” Leon informed. “Not that I mind, I was just wondering.”

 

“Dunno,” Merlin mumbled, not paying too much attention, still looking at the entrance.

 

Leon stays with him in silence for a few more minutes. He watches Merlin pace with a gentle expression and sighs, running his hands through his hair.

 

Merlin turns at this and starts to fix some of the strands that have been messed around and Leon takes this moment to talk to him while Merlin leans in close to him, fussing about his hair.

 

“Elyan and Guinevere will be back soon,” Leon reassures. “And they’re both more than capable of handling a sword should they need it. They’re safe and will return safe.”

 

Merlin huffed as he moved Leon’s hair around, getting slightly frustrated when it won’t stay put.

 

“I know ,” Merlin said and shrugged a little. “I’m sorry, I’m just- I have a weird feeling.”

 

“It’s okay to be worried.” Leon said. “You had a rough week and we don’t have a great track record with not getting in trouble. But they’ll be safe.”

 

Merlin inhaled slowly and nodded, feeling some of his unease shrug off him. “Okay,” Merlin said. “You’re probably right.”

 

The door opens and they both turn to find Arthur looking rather frustrated.

 

“ Mer lin!” Arthur shouted. “I ordered you up forever ago!”

 

Merlin shared an exasperated look with Leon before glaring at Arthur.

 

“I’ll be right up, Your Royal Pratness.” Merlin said and quickly tucked a strand of hair behind Leon’s ear before rushing up the steps.

 

“You are the worst servant ever.” Arthur informed as he came up to him.

 

“Yet you keep me anyway,” Merlin shot back.

 

Arthur had nothing to say to that and just led him to his chambers where he held up a shirt. “The buttons all fell off,” He informed.

 

“ That’s what was so important?” Merlin asked and chuckled as the King frowned at him.

 

“Yes! This is one of my best shirts and all the buttons wore down. I need you to mend it immediately. And hopefully it’ll distract you from moping about Elyan and Gwen’s absences.” Arthur said, crossing his arms and leaning against his bed post.

 

Merlin flushed a little as he ducked his head, surveying Arthur’s shirt to see how bad the damage was.

 

“I’m not moping ,” Merlin huffed and Arthur laughed at him. 

 

“Could’ve fooled me,” Arthur said. “They’ve been gone not even for a full candle mark and you’ve been pacing around like it’s the only thing you know how to do. Don’t be such a baby about them leaving.”

 

Merlin shook his head and held up the shirt. “If you’re done, I’m going to fix your shirt now,” Merlin knew his voice lacked the lighthearted, upbeatness it normally had but he was just feeling so... lost with two of his friends missing. He really hated this.

 

Arthur turns to him, regret itching across his face and his shoulders went tense.

 

“They’ll be back tonight,” Arthur tried. “And if they’re not, we can ride out to meet them.”

 

Merlin perked up a little at that and Arthur relaxed some. “Promise?”

 

“Just fix my shirt, and sure.” Arthur said with a wave of his hand and Merlin nodded and left.

 

Elyan and Gwen came back only a few hours later and were both met by Merlin body tackling them into a tight hug the moment they dismounted their horses.

 

“Omigosh, Merlin!” Gwen said, laughing with a wide smile as the three of them toppled over.

 

“Miss us that much?” Elyan teased and Merlin said nothing, just smiling widely as he hugged his friends close.

 

It’s still another week later until Merlin fully accepts the fact that he is subconsciously hoarding his friends.

 

The final straw comes when Arthur has decided that the day was perfect for a hunt and took all his knights out to join him.

 

Merlin feels a little weird about Gwen not being able to join, but he’s able to force the unease away by focusing on his friends around him.

 

Merlin stays on his horse while the knights all dismount to chase after a few birds and rabbits they had seen and Merlin huffed, slumping forward on his horse.

 

He’s alone for a bit but with each second that passes and each step further away his friends get, he feels weirder and weirder. 

 

Underwhelmed, lost, missing, unwhole, and he tries to push the feeling back but it keeps growing.

 

It gets bad enough that it feels like there’s a hole burning in his chest and he doesn’t even understand it completely.

 

He sleeps without his friends, he does most of his chores without his friends, so what about them frolicking in the woods after some harmless animals for a few minutes is making him so uneasy.

 

His chest hurts too much to the point he lets out a low sound, akin to a growl and jumps off his horse, following where he had seen the Knights run off to.

 

He sees most of them foolishly chasing after one singular rabbit, all swords drawn and Merlin rolls his eyes at their ridiculousness. But he quickly notices that one of his friends is missing and alarms start going off.

 

“Where’s Percy?” Merlin asked and Gwaine turned, looking out of breath and shrugging. 

 

“Dunno, he was just here, said he wanted bigger game and then I didn’t hear from him.” Gwaine said and suddenly that burning feeling in Merlin’s chest felt almost like molten lava was dripping down his throat.

 

He swallowed thickly, fear creeping up his spine and he ran off in a random direction of the woods, ignoring Gwaine’s confused shouting behind him.

 

He doesn’t know where he’s running, just that it’s the right way with no question and soon he comes to a clearing in the woods.

 

Only to find a giant, human-sized Owl with sharp talons attacking Percival.

 

“What-” Merlin started because he’s never seen this creature in his life but he stops himself when Percival grunts in pain. He moves quickly then, his own talons growing to full sized and he all but tackles the Owlman.

 

“Merlin, wait,” Percival gasped out, sitting up. Merlin paused, holding the creature down and turning to the Knight. “Your- Your hands?”

 

“I’ll explain later,” Merlin said, his voice was deep, a growl etched in his words and he kills the Owlman moments later before getting to his knees, his talons retracting quickly. Percival grabs one of his hands and Merlin uses his free one to twist and turn Percival’s arm, where he’d been scratched deeply.

 

Merlin frowns at the cut, it in itself isn’t worrying, but without immediate treatment, it could very quickly get infected and it’s a deep wound to clean, and still bleeding steadily. Merlin mumbled a few words under his breath and pressed his hand over Percival’s arm. They cut doesn’t heal fully, but it stops bleeding and closes up just slightly, so it’ll at least be easier to tend to when they get back.

 

The strong knight’s eyes widen but he says nothing, dropping Merlin’s hand but not backing away. Merlin is hesitant to meet his eyes for a moment, worried he’d meet fear, or maybe disgust. But he can’t stall forever so he looks up at Percival, who only stares at him with worry.

 

“How long have you been hiding this?” Percival asked and Merlin huffed.

 

“Far too long,” Merlin mumbled. “I was born like this. With magic, the- The claws are a recent development. I can explain better later.” 

 

Percival nods and then ruffles Merlin’s hair with a boisterous laugh.

 

“Full of surprises, aren’t you Merlin?” Percival teased and Merlin grinned as suddenly Gwaine came bursting through the woods. He saw them and immediately rested against a tree, breathing heavily.

 

“Are you-” Gwaine gasped out and then leaned his head against the tree, hands moving aimlessly in the air. “-Both okay?”

 

“Yeah,” Merlin said, smiling at his friend, amused by his worn out state. “Everything’s taken care of.”

 

The other Knights joined them quickly and Arthur’s eyebrows shot up at the dead Owlman carcas.

 

“What, is that? ” Arthur asked.

 

“No idea,” Merlin said, casting a barely there glance at the defeated animal. “Percival killed it though so it’s not a problem.”

 

Percival gives him an incredulous look but doesn’t correct him.

 

The entire rest of the hunting trip, Merlin makes sure all of his friends are well within his view and safe. He’s not risking any of them getting hurt.

 

They get back from the hunting trip with about fifty comments about how “weird” Merlin was being and the other rushes into the Physician’s quarters and he slumps in a chair, wacking his head on the desk.

 

“Don’t do that,” Gaius says boredly, not looking up from the book he was currently reading or making any move to stop Merlin from giving himself a concussion.

 

“My friends are my hoard,” Merlin whined and Gaius raised an eyebrow.

 

“Is this you just now realising it, or just you finally admitting it?” He asked and Merlin raised his head and glared at him. 

 

“Gaius, how am I meant to deal with this? I mean, they’ve already asked me so many questions! And today-! I accidentally revealed to Percy my magic!” Merlin complains and that gets Gaius’ attention.

 

“Merlin, you need to be careful with this.”  Gaius said. “The knights may be your friend, but they do serve Camelot. And as of right now, magic is still outlawed under Arthur’s rule. If you aren’t careful with this, it won’t end well.”

 

“I’m trying!” Merlin complained. “But today, Percy was being attacked by this giant- Giant- I don’t know what but it was attacking him and it hurt him and it was like, every other logical thought just went right out the window and the only thing I could focus on was protecting him. I didn’t even really think twice about using my magic either. I just knew he had been hurt and I needed to fix it.”

 

Gaius gives him a gentle and sympathetic look.

 

“I know it’s hard, but there has to be something.” Gaius said. “Something that can satisfy the dragon in you that your friends are safe.”

 

Merlin is quiet as he thinks for a moment before jumping to his feet and running to his room to grab his book of magic. 

 

“What have you thought of?” Gaius asked and Merlin starts rapidly flipping through his book.

 

“There’s this spell I found a while ago I wanted to cast onto Arthur. A protection spell basically. It hadn’t worked last time because I wasn’t powerful enough? Or something,” Merlin explained. “But maybe it’ll work this time. I could cast it on all my friends and then maybe it’ll stop my dragon from coming out whenever I think they might be in danger. It’s not foolproof but it’ll help.”

 

“That’s smart,” Gaius said. “But be careful, it’ll take a lot of energy with a big spell like this, especially if you’re casting it onto many people.”

 

“I’ll be fine,” Merlin said with a dismissive wave.

 

Fourteen hours later, he was most definitely not fine. 

 

He had done it, he was successful in casting the spell. He had to make a lot of loopholes so the knights were still able to train without noticing anything was wrong, but that alone had made the spell so much harder. He had spent all night practising casting it on small objects before moving onto using Gaius as a human trial. It had worked well and then Merlin had focused on the Knights, his King and Gwen and he could feel his magic work, but it drained him quickly, and his head hit his pillow the moment the spell was done being cast.

 

He was awoken by someone shaking his shoulders and he jolted upright at the sudden motion, blearily blinking at the person as his magic crawled under his skin, ready to attack if needed.

 

“Woah, woah, Merls, calm down, it’s just me,” Gwaine said, hands up placatingly. “I came to check on you.”

 

“Check on me?” Merlin asked, squinting at his friend before he resettled on his bed. Gwaine nods and sits next to him and Merlin’s inner dragon likes this, having Gwaine in his den. Merlin internally grimaces at calling his bed chambers a den but he supposes there’s only so much dragon crap he can ignore.

 

“You’ve been asleep for like, two days.” Gwaine said and now Merlin is fully awake, moving to jump to his feet but Gwaine grabs his arm. “Calm down, Princess isn’t mad at you. He’s pretty worried too, actually.”

 

“Arthur,” Merlin deadpanned. “Worried about me ? Pft, sure, in a million years, maybe.”

 

“He worries a lot about you,” Gwaine said, brows furrowed. “The King can barely even function if you’re not okay. There was this one time when we were all in the woods and you got knocked out, he wouldn’t stop pestering us until we got you home back safe. He had been pacing outside Gaius’ door so much the old man thought he was gonna wear down the floor. He’s the reason I’m even here right now.”

 

Merlin just stared long and hard at Gwaine, trying to decipher if there was some hidden joke he missed but Gwaine just raised an eyebrow at him when the staring doesn’t end.

 

“Merlin, he’s been losing his mind these past few weeks.” Gwaine informed and Merlin raised an eyebrow.

 

“What? Why?” Merlin asked and Gwaine scoffed and rolled his eyes.

 

“You’re kidding, right?” Gwaine asked. “First, you’re out sick for a week so bad none of us can come visit. Then you start being super touchy, not that any of us mind it’s just- A little sudden, I guess. And you’re acting, like, really weird, like when Gwen and Elyan left. And then you pass out suddenly for two days straight! We’ve all been a little worried for you but Arthur the most.”

 

Merlin tries to not act like he’s been somehow caught, knowing all his friends have noticed how different he’s been and crosses his arms, tucking his knees into his chest and trying to make himself small. 

 

“I’m not being weird,” Merlin mumbled and Gwaine frowned.

 

“Merls, seriously?” Gwaine asked and his voice goes soft. “Come on, you can trust me, tell me what’s up. If something bad has happened, I can help you. It’s not good to keep things like this to yourself.”

 

Gwaine’s words make Merlin feel warm, comforted, happy and secure. Merlin can’t tell if it’s him or his dragon that’s been appeased, but Merlin turns to meet Gwaine’s caring eyes. For someone who gets drunk and flirts most of his time, he’s a really good listener, a good friend.

 

Merlin knew Gwaine’s loyalty lied with him before Arthur, that when it comes down to it, Gwaine would stand by his side over Arthur’s if he ever needed it. And that Gwaine has trusted him with the secret of his nobility status, maybe that’s what convinces Merlin to tell him.

 

“I’m the last Dragonlord.” Merlin mumbled, hoping Gwaine didn’t hear him, but the man does, clearly with the way his face morphs quickly into shock.

 

“Is this... new?” Gwaine asked and Merlin shook his head. 

 

“No, I’ve been the last Dragonlord for five years.” Merlin mumbled and for some reason, those words make Gwaine’s face light up in recognition. 

 

“Oh,” Gwaine said, looking at Merlin with understanding etched into his features. “This is like... what, Dragonlord puberty, right?”

 

Merlin raised an eyebrow. “You know about it?”

 

“Hey, I’ve travelled to many places for a long time. I’ve heard every fairytale and legend under the sun.” Gwaine said and then looked at Merlin’s back. “Aren’t you supposed to like, have wings or something though?”

 

“I- I do.” Merlin mumbled, turning away so Gwaine couldn’t see his face. “It took a week for them to grow in.”

 

“Oh,” Gwaine said. “That’s when it started then? You weren’t sick, your wings were growing in. And then you’ve been behaving weird because... What? I’m not sure I’ve heard of any Dragonlords becoming super clingy.”

 

“I’m not clingy !” Merlin defended and Gwaine laughed at him with a bright smile. “It- It’s embarrassing.”

 

He feels Gwaine’s arms wrap around him in a tight, secure hug and without his consent, a low rumble, akin to a purr pulls itself from his chest and Merlin flushes more at that but leans into Gwaine’s arms.

 

“I won’t laugh,” Gwaine promised and Merlin sighed.

 

“Dragons have hoards, and- And so do Dragonlords. Basically something they really care about and want to protect.” Merlin explained, fiddling with his fingers and leaning into Gwaine’s warmth. “You- You guys are my hoard.”

 

“Awww!” Gwaine coos. “Merls, that’s so sweet of you.”

 

Merlin gives him a disgusted expression and pulls out of his arms while Gwaine just smiles and tries to pull him back.

 

“No, no, it’s cute,” Gwaine promised and Merlin gave up trying to get away, letting himself become boneless in Gwaine’s hold. “What’s the side effects of having a hoard? Like what behaviour changes do you get?”

 

“I become really... possessive over what I claim as my hoard,” Merlin mumbled, ashamed. “I’ll want to protect it, keep it close to me to make sure it’s safe. Gaius said I’ll want to stake my claim on my stuff. And I’ll want to keep it clean and perfect, make sure it looks amazing on display. Which- It sounds so bad when I say it out loud but I don’t see you guys as things or things I own . You’re my friends, but my dumb dragon brain or whatever has decided you’re all mine .”

 

Gwaine nods, his head resting against Merlin’s and ruffling his hair with the action.

 

“Besides that sounding mildly kinky, it’s not as bad as you think,” Gwaine said and Merlin rolled his eyes. “Really. You love us, you want to protect us, it’s actually really nice. Plus, having a Dragonlord watching my back at all times? Hell yeah, makes me feel ten times safer.”

 

Merlin pulls away from his hold a bit to look in his eyes. “Really?” He asked, hesitant and Gwaine nodded with a smile.

 

“Of course,” Gwaine said. “Plus, now I feel a little more at ease knowing you can protect yourself. I get worried about you in fights sometimes, y’know.”

 

“I can handle myself just fine.” Merlin insisted and then hesitantly added on. “I- I’m a warlock t-too.”

 

“Oh, I knew that already.” Gwaine said with a dismissive hand wave and Merlin’s eyes widened. 

 

“What?!” He asked and Gwaine jolted. 

 

“I don’t think anyone else does though!” Gwaine added quickly. “I just- I mean, there’s a lot of branches that fall during fights when you conveniently hide I put two and two together!”

 

“Are you sure no one else does?” Merlin asked, worried. “I- This is Camelot, Gwaine! If Arthur finds out-”

 

“Arthur would never ,” Gwaine said, grabbing Merlin’s shoulders. “Arthur would never in a million years even think about hurting you seriously like that.”

 

“How can you be so sure ?” Merlin asked, all but sobbing. “He hates magic, he’s hated magic since he was born and it killed his mother and his father. He’s hated magic every day of his life. He’s been King for years now and the anti-magic laws still exist! How can you be so sure he wouldn’t hurt me after finding out? Wouldn’t send me to the pyre?” 

 

“Because it’s you , Merlin.” Gwaine said. “If there’s one thing I know for a fact in this world, it’s that your and Arthur’s bond is stronger than any I’ve seen and they he would never, never , hurt you like that.”

 

Merlin stares at Gwaine for a long moment before turning away. 

 

“I’m just-” Merlin shakes his head. “Scared.”

 

“And that’s fine,” Gwaine said. “You’ve been hiding this... for how long? It’s probably terrifying after all you’ve seen. But you need to trust him.”

 

“I do.” Merlin insisted. “I trust Arthur with my life, I just- I get scared .”

 

“Okay,” Gwaine said. “Being scared is okay .”

 

They then both relax on the bed for a bit, Gwaine wrapping an arm around Merlin, holding him close and Merlin rests his head on his shoulder, his Dragon thrilled about their closeness.

 

His bed chamber door opens some time later and Arthur stands in the entrance, looking over them with a strange, tight expression and Gwaine grins dopily at him. 

 

“Hey Princess,” He greeted and Arthur half heartedly glared at him before turning to Merlin.

 

“Where have you been ? I have armour that needs to be shined and you’re in here laying about?” Arthur asked, words familiar but his tone is... soft in comparison to the normal snappiness of the orders, there’s also a thread of concern weaved in his voice and Merlin realises that Gwaine is right ( Ugh, Gwaine is right ) and that Arthur has been worried about him. 

 

“Sorry you dollophead,” Merlin said, getting to his feet and away from Gwaine to stand in front of Arthur, giving him a challenging stare. “Forgot you can’t do anything without me.”

 

Arthur rolls his eyes but he smiles down at Merlin, ruffling his hair a little too hard and his inner Dragon sings at the contact. “Just get it done.”

 

Merlin feels a lot more at ease now as he goes about his day, knowing his friends are protected by his spell, knowing that some of his friends actually know his secret, knowing that deep down, Arthur would never hurt him if he found out.

 

It makes the next few days easier.

 

He stands awkwardly behind Arthur’s throne as the King listens to some issues citizens have been having in his town. Arthur hates this part of his day the most because it can drag on for hours, but he also enjoys being able to come face to face with the people he governs over and hear their issues, so he never ends up delegating the task to someone else like his father had.

 

As the last citizen leaves and the guards retrieve the next person, Arthur sighs heavily and slinks down in his seat, running a hand through his hair and Merlin huffs, annoyed at that.

 

“Tired yet, Sire?” Merlin asked and Arthur gave him a half hearted glare.

 

“I’m always tired, Merlin.” Arthur grumbled and Merlin frowned a little.

 

“Not sleeping well?” He asked, inching closer and Arthur turned in his throne to face him better. 

 

“Not lately,” Arthur admitted and it’s just now Merlin can see the faint dark circles under his eyes, the heavy way his eyelids rest. Merlin frowns deeply at that, a sympathetic sound crawling out of his throat but Merlin coughs to cover it.

 

“You should’ve told me sooner,” Merlin stated. “Gaius has like, a dozen draughts to help with sleep issues.”

 

“I didn’t want to bother him,” Arthur said dismissively.  “He’s been overworked with that sickness spreading in the lower town. Didn’t want to bother him with my sleeping issues.”

 

“Well it’s no good,” Merlin said as the doors opened and the guards walked in the next person. “I’ll figure something out for you.”

 

Arthur gives him a sceptical look and scoffs. “Merlin, your physician skills are subpar at best.” He said.

 

“I’m getting better!” Merlin defended and nudged his King’s shoulder so he’d focus at the person before him.

 

~~~

 

Arthur came into his room that night and found his room set up in a much more calming setting than normal. Candles barely lit, his bedding freshly washed and softer than normal, the smell of lavender made his eyes heavy and he turned to Merlin who stood by a warm tub of water with his hands folded neatly behind his back with a proud smile.

 

“You did all this?” Arthur asked and Merlin nodded. 

 

“Lavender is supposed to be a calming scent and a nice warm bath before bed is supposed to make one more drowsy than normal. And keeping lights lower an hour before bed is to help calm the mind into a more fatigued state.” Merlin prattled off. “Can’t be a good King if you're falling asleep to daily reports.” 

 

“Merlin, I really don’t know how to respond to you sometimes,” Arthur comments and Merlin tilts his head, mildly confused. “It’s a compliment,” Arthur reassured and Merlin nodded as he helped Arthur into the bath.

 

~~~

 

Merlin behaved as normally as he could, and Gwaine, Lancelot and Percival all being in the know now helped as well. They’d be extra cautious in battle and training, making sure not to get themselves hurt lest suffer Merlin’s frantic worrying over even a minor cut. 

 

They’d make sure to stand as close to him as possible, give him all the physical affection they thought he would need and Merlin basked in it. His inner Dragon loved the way his possessions would stay as neat as possible, ever the perfect representation of perfect display. Merlin hated when he thought of his friends like objects but he couldn’t help the little pleased hum when he noticed Gwaine making an active effort to not mess up his hair while training.

 

Of course however, one would notice three knights suddenly being so close to Merlin, acting so oddly around him suddenly and almost bending to a manservant’s will.

 

A knight, Sir Gaheris, not of Arthur’s closer knights, pointed it out during training one night while hunting.

 

“You four are quite close.” He said, nodding to where Gwaine and Percival sat on either side of Merlin, Lancelot sat at Merlin’s feet while the manservant ran his fingers through his hair.

 

“Of course they’re close, they’re the King’s friends,” Another knight, Sir Ector, said with a teasing grin. “Naturally they’re all closer.”

 

“Closer than normal,” Sir Gaheris insisted. “I mean, closer than Sir Leon or Sir Elyan and they’re the King’s friends as well.”

 

Merlin’s inner Dragon withered at this. Had he not been doing his job of staking his claim? Making his hoard clear? Were Gwen and Arthur not clearly staken as well. Merlin frowned deeply at this, a low growl in his chest that only those closest to him heard and Gwaine rested a hand on his leg.

 

“He does not mean it like that,” Gwaine reassured. “He knows Leon and Elyan are your friends just as close as us.”

 

“No,” Sir Gaheris insisted. “You four really are closer. Especially these last few days. You all are practically attached to each others sides.”

 

“I care for Elyan and Leon the same!” Merlin defended and Percival groaned, burying his hands in his face with a mumbled here we go . “They are my dearest friends!”

 

Sir Gaheris raised his hands in defeated with a small shrug. “I’m just saying it doesn’t seem like it.” He said. “I have no doubt you care for your friends but it’s quite clear you don’t care as much for them.”

 

Merlin left his little bubble of his friends, who all made grabs to try and pull him back down, but he marched over to where Leon and Elyan were sitting, not even listening to the conversation he’d had, only talking about the day’s journey.

 

“Come over here,” Merlin said before walking back to his log. Elyan and Leon shared a strange look but got to their feet, confused as they followed after the servant. Merlin pushes Gwaine to sit next to Percival on the log, then grabs Leon by the shoulder and puts him on the other side, gesturing for Elyan to sit before him next to Lancelot.

 

“What is he doing?” Elyan asked Lancelot, who just sighed heavily. “Just go along with it,” Lancelot said. “Please.”

 

Merlin plops himself between Gwaine and Leon and crosses his arms, glaring at Gaheris.

 

“What were you saying?” He asked challengingly and Sir Gaheris just laughed breathlessly, unclear whether to be intimidated or amused by the sight before him and turned to talk with Sir Gareth instead.

 

“What have you brought us over here for?” Leon asked, voice kind and genuinely curious and Merlin pouted at him.

 

“Sir Gaheris was implying I like the others more than you and Elyan.” Merlin grumbled and Elyan grinned, knocking a hand on his knee.

 

“Had to prove ‘em wrong, ay Merlin?” He asked and Merlin nodded.

 

“You are all my-” Merlin almost says hoard out loud. “My dearest friends. I care about you all the same. I would die for each and any of you, I would kill for you all.”

 

“Let’s not do that ,” Gwaine said, resting a hand on his shoulder. “But thank you, Merls. You’ve made your point loud and clear.”

 

After that, despite not being in the know , Leon and Elyan catch on to the others' behaviour and follow with it quickly. Though they don’t know why exactly, they can very quickly see the agitated way Merlin gets whenever he can’t help one of them, the way he preens them all to be perfect, the way he frets over any small injury they get (which they’ve all definitely noticed they’ve been getting hurt less they just don’t know why or how ).

 

Leon and Elyan aren’t sure why this change has occurred, but it isn’t harming them or Camelot, and Merlin is their friend, they cherish him and his comfort, so they are more than happy to oblige with his strange behaviour and requests.

 

Merlin is almost content with it, except that he hasn’t been able to get Gwen or Arthur to act in line with the Knights.

 

Gwen, of course, wouldn’t because she doesn’t spend as much time with the knights and Arthur would give strange reactions anytime Merlin fretted over the Knights so the warlock doesnt think the King will be following anytime soon.

 

Merlin makes a point of seeking out Gwen whenever he has free time though, helping her with her duties and chores, talking to her and asking her about her day, willing to sit for hours on end just listening to his friend talk about what she did that day.

 

Gwen seems to greatly appreciate it as she’s been in a lighter mood ever since Merlin’s begun to do this and she even tells him it’s become her favourite part of the day.

 

It’s not enough, but for now it will have to do. Merlin’s actions are already raising questions among his friends who don’t know any better and he’s getting closer and closer to revealing himself sooner than he’s ready.

 

Merlin hasn’t been able to break Arthur yet, and it’s starting to bug him like an itch he can’t reach.

 

He tries to ignore it, but the longer he’s stuck in his normal routine with Arthur, the worse it gets.

 

He almost breaks one day when Arthur’s hair keeps getting messed with the wind. He’s already fixed Arthur’s hair enough for the King to bat his hands away each time he tries to fix it now. 

 

Merlin stands at the side while Arthur trains the others, hands folded behind his back and jaw set as his eyes remain locked on Arthur’s messed up hair.

 

Imperfect, imperfect, imperfect , Merlin’s Dragon hissed inside him and Merlin huffed. Merlin himself thought Arthur looked quite alright with the messed hair, but the need for him to be perfect, his hoard, his treasure, his , to be perfect was stronger.

 

Gwaine clasped a hand on Merlin’s shoulder and the warlock flinched, not having heard him approach.

 

“You’ve got a little problem there,” Gwaine whispered low in his ear so Leon who was a few steps away wouldn’t hear and gestured behind Merlin. 

 

Merlin brought his hands in front of him and his eyes went wide when he saw his claws had come out. He focused on retracting them but they wouldn’t obey and he hid them behind his back again quickly.

 

“Percy, Lance and I’ve been doing some research since this all began,” Gwaine said. “That normally happens when something is wrong with your hoard, or of the likes. What’s wrong?”

 

Merlin growled low under his breath and Leon shot him a strange look but turned back to watch Arthur train against Percival. 

 

“Arthur’s hair,” Merlin mumbled, a little flustered. “It’s so dumb but it’s been bugging me all day. It’s not right and he won’t let me fix it.”

 

“Ah,” Gwaine said. “Princess still hasn’t caught on?”

 

“No,” Merlin grumbled and Gwaine laughed a little. 

 

“You should really just tell him,” Gwaine said, voice gentle. “He won’t hate you.”

 

“I know,” Merlin mumbled, watching Arthur push Percival to the ground with a triumphant smile. “I’m not ready yet.”

 

“Okay,” Gwaine said, patting him on the back firmly before taking a step away. “But in the meantime, how are you going to handle your claws?”

 

“I’ll figure it out,” Merlin grumbled as Percival approached with a wide smile and Merlin felt warmth surge in his chest as his friend turned around in a 360 before him, showing to Merlin that he was completely unharmed and fine.

 

~~~

 

Merlin did not in fact have the situation handled because as the day went on and Arthur’s armour got crooked and his hair got more messed and he fell into some mud, causing his pants to be dirty but still brushed Merlin’s fretting hands away, his claws only grew sharper to the point where they were becoming harder to hide.

 

“Merlin,” Arthur said, looking up at his manservant from his table, eating dinner. 

 

“Hm?” Merlin hummed, his back turned to Arthur as he cleaned the room, keeping his hands close to his body to keep the risk of Arthur seeing the frighteningly long claws. 

 

“Face me,” Arthur commanded and Merlin tucks his hands behind his back as he turns quickly, smiling at the King. Arthur only frowns more and now that he’s facing him, Merlin can see the way Arthur’s hair is still unbrushed and he winces as he feels his claws grow more.

 

“Show me your hands.” Arthur said and Merlin had been dreading that request all day and simply scoffed. 

 

“Whatever for?” He asked and Arthur frowned at him as Merlin refused to follow the order. 

 

“What are you hiding?” Arthur asked, leaning forward over his plate and Merlin shrugged.

 

“Nothing. Nothing at all. Why would you think I’m hiding something, have I done something to earn your mistrust?” Merlin asked and Arthur gave him a once over, humming.

 

“I don’t think there’s anything you could possibly do to truly earn my mistrust,” Arthur said simply and Merlin’s eyes widen a tiny fraction as he feels his claws retract a little.

 

Are you kidding me? Compliments, that's how you’re satiated? Merlin hissed at his inner Dragon, except, really there was no Dragon and Merlin , as much as he loathe to admit it, they were pretty much the same.

 

“But you’ve been acting strange all day and I don't think I’ve seen your hands at all since breakfast.”  Arthur continued.

 

“Didn’t realise you cared so much about my hands, Sire.” Merlin teased, trying to figure out how on Earth he was going to get Arthur to compliment him enough times for his claws to fully retract.

 

“It’s not as if I study them,” Arthur defended. “But you stopped reaching out at some point and I was bound to notice you know. I do notice things about you, whether you think or not.”

 

Apparently that’s close enough to a compliment because Merlin’s claws retract some more.

 

“I was struck under the impression you barely noticed me at all,” Merlin said, though he’s coming to the sense that he knows it’s not true. It’s hard to believe that Arthur cares for him as much as the others say, but he’s begun to pay more attention since this all began and it’s clear the King cares for him at least a little. “Didn’t think you cared about me, I am just your manservant.”

 

Arthur huffed and looked up, making eye contact with Merlin. His expression shifts from joking to incredulous when he realises Merlin is being serious.

 

“You’re joking, right?” Arthur asked. Merlin stayed silent but his shoulders went stiff a little. “Merlin, I know you have a mental affliction of some sort but there’s no way even you could be that daft. Of course I care about you, you’re my closest friend I have.”

 

Merlin’s no longer focusing on his claws, now more genuinely interested in the conversation and he scoffs at Arthur.

 

“Really? What happened to all those I’m the King and you’re a servant, we could never be friends reminders?” Merlin asked, a little self deprecatingly, ducking his head. “I’m completely fine with just being your manservant Arthur. No matter what, I am still loyal to you, I will still stay by your side to the very end, it doesn’t matter if you feel the same.”

 

Arthur gets out of his seat and walks towards Merlin, clearly upset.

 

“You are my friend, Merlin.” Arthur said. “All those- Those reminders were me trying to convince myself we weren’t. Because my father always told me connections were a weakness, a liability. And then it became fear, fear that others would notice and try to use you against me. You are my closest and most cherished friend Merlin. I know you’re an idiot who struggles to understand basic things, but understand this: I mean it.”

 

Merlin looked into Arthur’s eye, the King standing only a step away from him and he exhaled shakily, bringing his now claw free hands in front of him.

 

“Oh,” Merlin mumbled and Arthur scoffed.

 

“ Oh ,” Arthur said and then flicked Merlin’s forehead. “All those nights in the tavern finally affecting your brain?”

 

“No,” Merlin said and smiled softly at Arthur. “Just... processing.”

 

“Process faster,” Arthur said, seeming content that Merlin finally understood just how much he meant to the King. “And finish making my bed, I’m going to retire early tonight.”

 

Merlin smiled and nodded, turning back to the bed and pulling the cover back so Arthur could get into bed easier and rearranging his pillows so Arthur could have a comfortable rest.

 

Arthur stood up and walked over, Merlin turning and almost crashing right into him.

 

Arthur grabs his shoulders and looks at him earnestly. “If something was wrong, you would tell me, right?” Arthur asked, voice gentle and Merlin sighed, nodding small.

 

“Of course I would,” Merlin said and Arthur smiled gently and nodded and turned to his changing screen then. 

 

“Good,” Arthur called. 

 

~~~

 

After that night it’s much much harder to keep everything under control and Merlin feels like he’s going insane.

 

“I have torn through like fifty shirts!” Merlin whined one morning as Gaius inspected his hands, claws free. “I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to keep this a secret. Arthur doesn’t like my pestering and yeah, it’s nice the others are going along with it but it’s not enough! Why isn’t it enough?”

 

Gaius hummed, inspecting his hands for a final moment before grabbing his book and handing it over to Merlin, who carefully flipped through the pages.

 

“I did mention that part of having a hoard is also claiming your items. It’s not enough to only have a hoard, you will need it to be clear to others that it’s your hoard, not to be messed with.”

 

“Claim my friends?” Merlin asked. “I really hate this, it's so-... It makes me feel so... skeezy . Thinking of my friends as possessions , like they’re mine and now needing a claim? It feels so wrong.”

 

“I know you don’t like this, Merlin,” Gaius said. “But it’s how it needs to be, otherwise these incidents will keep happening.” 

 

So now Merlin had to think, think of a claim to put on his friends, hopefully without Leon, Elyan and Gwen asking. Hopefully without Arthur noticing.

 

Except, it has to be clear enough that Merlin’s inner Dragon feels satisfied with the claim as well, showing off to the world that his friends are his friends and no one else’s.

 

Merlin tried with some cloth at first.

 

He had torn thin strands of his neckerchief and tied them around Lancelot’s arm and Leon used it to tie up his hair as it was getting longer.

 

Lancelot came up to him later in the day, sheepishly telling him that he had lost it while training earlier that day and Leon had lost his while out in the woods.

 

Then Merlin tried flowers, braiding them into Gwen and Gwaine’s hair neatly and the flowers looked stunning on them both.

 

But by the middle of the day, the flowers had wilted and already begun to die, much to Merlin’s distress.

 

Merlin tried once more with coloured chainmail links, attaching them to Percival and Elyan’s armour and the chains lasted all day but Merlin’s inner Dragon decided that it wasn’t obvious enough to satisfy because no one knew what the chains meant.

 

Merlin walked into his room, groaning before he landed face first onto his bed.

 

He groaned into his pillow, muffled until he turned around and laid on his back, staring at the ceiling as he angrily poked his chest.

 

“ You are ridiculous,” Merlin said, as if he were addressing his Dragon. “Absolutely insufferable.”

 

His Dragon, of course, did not respond and Merlin growled at the air. 

 

“What do I do ?” He whined and turned in his bed, pouting a little, staring at his open closet, which showed him his torn clothes he’d ruined over the weeks.

 

His eyes landed on one of his older shirts, one that he’d worn from all the way back in Ealdor. There’s a patch at the bottom where his mother had sewn it over to cover a hole in his shirt. It held the symbol of Essetir but upon spotting it, Merlin sat upright in his bed.

 

He had an idea, and he frowned down at his chest.

 

“I hate you,” He grumbled as he stumbles to his feet.

 

Merlin is up all night sewing and cutting fabric, the needle pierces his finger about three dozen times but he could care less.

 

He’s barely gotten two hours of sleep in when he skips into Arthur’s room that morning.

 

Arthur is already awake, surprisingly. Sitting in his bed clothes over his desk and when Merlin comes into the room, he scrambles to hide whatever he was writing.

 

“You’re early,” Arthur said, avoiding eye contact with Merlin and the servant raises an eyebrow but shakes his head. 

 

“And you’re awake,” Merlin said and then shifted his weight from foot to foot. “I have a strange request.”

 

Arthur settled in his seat some and gave Merlin his full attention.

 

“When is anything about you not strange?” Arthur teased and Merlin rolled his eyes.

 

“I made patches,” Merlin said and showed Arthur one. “I- I was wondering if I could stitch them onto the knights’ cloaks? And yours? And I- I also made one for Gwen.”

 

“Patches?” Arthur asked and reached his hand out. Merlin shakily handed it too him, nervous as Arthur looked it over.

 

It was a patch of red fabric with a golden dragon on it, like the Camelot crest. But it was sewn on with blue thread and there was a tiny ‘M’ stitched on the wing in orange thread. Arthur looked at it and then Merlin, who looked nervous, scared out of his mind and jumpy.

 

Arthur has known something has been up with Merlin for the past few weeks, he’s not an idiot like everyone claims him to be. He’s noticed he’s been agitated a lot lately, also sad sometimes. He’s not sure why, but he’s seemed to latch onto the knights, his friends.

 

Though it does, admittedly, fill Arthur with a wave of jealousy, it’s also nice to see the way Merlin relaxes and smiles around them after being so twitchy all the rest of the time.

 

Arthur has no clue what the patch means, but it’s obviously important if Merlin is asking him for permission since he never does that, and it’s obviously important if he’s shaking like he’s going to explode with nerves any minute.

 

Arthur acts nonchalant as he passes it back to Merlin.

 

“Sure,” He said, turning back to his desk and Merlin smiles, rocking back and forth on his heels. “Just make sure your stitching isn’t too shoddy, don’t want to ruin the gratefulness that comes with being a Knight of the Round Table.”

 

“Of course, sire,” Merlin said, absolutely beaming. 

 

And soon all his friends, and even Gaius, have adorned the dragon patch, and it fills Merlin with pride as he stares at his friends wearing them all proudly.

 

At first he was a little worried, worried his inner Dragon would think it wasn’t enough still, that it wasn’t obvious.

 

But the ‘M’ really helped, because it didn’t stand for Camelot, or Arthur, or even Uther, so anyone who saw the patch, would wonder who ‘M’ was, would know there was someone else and that was enough for his Dragon. The fact that people would see the patch and wonder was enough to settle it down.

 

Everything was smooth sailing after that.

Merlin was getting a hang of his emotions, and he was able to go longer durations without seeing his friends before he freaked out, he didn’t constantly need to be preening them. It was like before just he was a tad bit more tactile is all.

 

Everything was going incredibly well.

 

Which of course meant something had to come and fuck it all up.

 

The knights, Merlin and Gwen had all been out on a trip. Gwen had tagged a long because a flustered Lancelot had begged Arthur to let him invite her and the King eventually agreed, and it was supposed to be a fun trip.

 

Not a hunting trip, not planning out war tactics, but just a fun trip with his friends out in the woods to find the waterfall that apparently sparkled and would clear you of any blemishes and scars.

 

They had gone out under the excuse they needed to confirm these rumours about the waterfall, but Merlin, Gwen, Leon and Lancelot had gone because they wanted to take in the beauty of this glittering waterfall, and Arthur, Elyan, Gwaine and Percival had gone in hopes that the waterfall truly did wash away scars. 

 

Anyway, it was supposed to be a fun trip, but then they had been surrounded by bandits and out numbered four to one, and Merlin had been knocked out before he could even jump into action.

 

When Merlin finally came too, he was tied up in a dungeon, along with the rest of his friends.

 

His inner Dragon began to thrash around in his chest in panic and he willed his talons and fangs to stay down while he surveyed the room.

 

“Anyone hurt?” He asked, worry thick in his voice.

 

“No,” Gwaine reassured, a few feet away and offering him a weak smile. “They only knocked you out before hitting us with some spell that knocked us all out. Figures they’d have an evil sorcerer.”

 

Merlin smiles a little at the fact Gwaine specifies evil sorcerer instead of just saying a sorcerer, like anyone capable of magic would of course be evil.

 

“We need to figure out how to get out of here,” Arthur said and Merlin looked up, finding Arthur tied to another wall farther away from him. Gwen was tied next to him.

 

“Has anyone come by and said what they wanted?” Merlin asked and Leon shook his head.

 

“No, been just us for an hour or so now.”  Leon said and Merlin tsked, looking around the room again.

 

They were in a jail cell, Merlin and Gwaine tied up on one wall, Arthur and Gwen across from them, Leon, Percival, Elyan and Lancelot on the wall in between them, it was also the longest wall. Across from them was thick and strong jail bars. 

 

Merlin looked up at his restraints, unlike the others, his restraints weren’t tied behind his back, but rather above him, forcing his feet just slightly off the ground. Merlin also cursed when he realised that his shackles were cold, hard iron. He reached for his magic, but he could feel it sizzle off on his fingers.

 

He was powerful enough that he could definitely break out, but then he would pass out right after, rendering himself completely useless to helping his friends and getting them out of there.

 

No, he had to wait and see what their captors wanted to first, try and figure out a plan from there.

 

It felt like forever until finally someone came by. He was a heavyset man with beefy muscles, dressed in fine clothing and Merlin internally groaned.

 

No, they couldn’t just deal with bandits, of course, that was too easy , it had to be fucking nobles that kidnapped them. Merlin loved his life.

 

“Welcome, Knights of Camelot,” The man said, his voice deep and booming and Merlin stared at him, completely unimpressed. 

 

“What do you want?” He asked, interrupting whatever spiel he was about to go on and Arthur gaped at him while the other knights snickered a bit.

 

“ Mer lin!” Arthur scolded and Merlin shrugged. “I’m just trying to speed this up,” Merlin said. “It’s not our first time being held captive. Definitely not our last.”

 

“Oh it will be your last,” The man said, crossing his arms and grinning smugly. “None of you are escaping here alive. Except maybe the girl,” He points at Gwen and gives her a sickening grin. “She might sell for some cash.”

 

Lancelot starts to struggle against his restraints and Merlin growls at the man for the comment. 

 

“Oh! It seems we’ve got some suitors of our fair lady in here,” The man teased as he watched Lancelot’s expression grow dark and threatening.

 

“You will not touch her,” He said, threat heavy in the air and the man laughed loudly.

 

“You’re not in much position to be demanding things.” The man pointed out and looked at them all. “Mmm, yes, you would all be good fighters for our championship. Though you would all be restrained and stripped of your weapons, facing one of Morgana’s sorcerers, of course.”

 

Merlin frowned even deeper and tried to figure out how to get out. If Morgana knew they were here, it was only a matter of time before she came to stop them, to kill Arthur to take her “ rightful spot on the throne” and Merlin would not let that happen.

 

“You will not hurt them,” Merlin said, slowly and he felt everyone’s eyes turn to him. The man laughs even louder now, taking in Merlin’s scrawny appearance.

 

“You? Honestly! I could snap you in half, you little twig.” The man informed. “Morgana told us to treat you as the highest threat, but you don’t seem all threatening to me. Your clothes are hanging off you body, you’re nothing but bone, boy.”

 

“Hurt my friends and you’ll find out just how strong I can be,” Merlin continued and there was a bit of growl to his voice as he stared down the man. “It’s in your best interest to let us go.”

 

The man simply laughs and pulls out a key, opening the cell and entering in, standing in front of Merlin now.

 

“Is that so?” He asked. “You gonna do something bad and scary if I hurt one of your friends? You realise they’re knights , right? And you’re just a lowly servant? They don’t care for you!”

 

The room erupts into several knights disagreeing with the captor and the man blinks in surprise, turning around to look at them and grinning in delight at them correcting him.

 

“Ah, it seems they do consider you a friend,” The man slowly walks around the room, looking them up and down. “Which one is your best friend, little servant?”

The man wants to torture his friends, hurt them to get back at Merlin for trying to threaten him, and Merlin under any other circumstance would be confident his protection spell would hold. But it’s been a bit since he casted it, and his magic was completely cut off, so he’s not too confident to spell is still holding, or that it would be strong enough to defend against a full on attack.

 

“I’m not answering that,” Merlin said, and he can feel Arthur’s intense gaze on him and he’s trying to will him to look away without glancing at him.

 

Arthur is an idiot though because he stays looking at him and the man catches his eye before grinning.

 

“Our Royal Highness, is it then?” The man asked and Merlin glares at him as he stands right before Arthur, pulling out a jagged knife. “What would you do if I hurt your precious King then? Throw some fruit at me? Mop the floor and not dry it so I slip? How terrifying!”

 

“I’ll be your worst nightmare,” Merlin said, voice dropping, gaze entirely too threatening for anyone to not take him seriously, and his face is so serious that the man even hesitates for just a second before rolling his eyes. 

 

“ Sure ,” He said and before anyone can blink, he drives the knife deep into the bicep of Arthur’s arm.

 

The King howls in pain and Merlin howls right back, but something fierce . He howls with the need to protect , to attack, to defend, and he pulls at his restraints, screaming and growling and the chains snap easily, eyes glowing a bright yellow and his fangs, talons and wings all come out. His wings stretch as wide as they can before he’s tackling the man.

 

“Holy shit! ” The man shouts in fear as Merlin claws deep into his chest. “What the fuck are you?!”

 

Merlin claws and claws before leaning down, glaring sharply and growling lowly. “Your worst nightmare,” He reminded before digging his talons deep into his chest and the mans’ screaming goes silent.

 

Merlin huffs for a few minutes and slashes at the man once more before sitting back on his heels, heaving as his fingers drip blood.

 

The room is deathly silent as his friends stare at him and slowly his talons, fangs and wings disappear and Merlin is left to deal with the deafening quiet.

 

“Uhm,” Merlin said, suddenly ashamed of what he’s done (though he’s never felt bad necessarily for killing before, he’s more ashamed his friends have now all witnessed how ruthless he can be) as he avoids eye contact. “Sorry.” 

 

“ Sorry?! ” Arthur shrieked behind him and Merlin tenses, shoulders raised to his ears and anticipating Arthur cursing him out. Screaming at him that he’s betrayed him, calling him a monster and other names, telling him to leave Camelot and never come back, or to tell him he’s to be executed the next morning.

 

He is definitely not expecting Arthur to twist around his restraints some, like he’s trying to get as close to Merlin as possible and to shout excitedly: “That was so badass!”

 

Merlin blinks a dozen times before turning in shock. “ What? ” He asked, voice strangled like he somehow misheard but Arthur is looking at him with wide eyes and a- Well not quite a smile, more a slack jawed look. 

 

“You took that idiot down so fast! I mean, it would’ve been cooler if you did it before I got stabbed, but you know-” “You’re not mad ?!” Merlin asked, jumping to his feet to stand before Arthur, his hand immediately hovering over the deep cut on Arthur’s arm.

 

The King shrugged. “I mean... yeah? Maybe a little. Mainly I’m just kind of relieved actually.” Arthur admitted. “Not entirely thrilled you’ve been keeping this a secret but... I mean, better than being dead right now, I guess.”

 

“I’ve been lying to you my entire life,” Merlin said, wide eyed. “I’m a warlock. I’m the Last Dragonlord and you’re just fine with this?”

 

“I didn’t say that ,” Arthur said and frowned and his voice gets quiet, hurt deep in his voice as he asked in a small voice: “Your whole life?”

 

Merlin ducks his head, nervously. “I didn’t want to but.. You know with living in Camelot I couldn’t-” “Your whole life and you moved to Camelot willingly? What is wrong with you?!” Arthur asked, but it’s not entirely in an angry way, there is anger and betrayal etched in his voice, but what mainly stands out right now is sheer befuddlement. 

 

“I had to!” Merlin said. “People at home found out about me being a warlock and Gaius could train me, keep me safe! And then you had an assassination attempt like every other week, so obviously I had to stay to protect your dollophead!”

 

“Still not a word!” Arthur said and then blinked. “Every other week?! How many people try to kill me?!”

 

Merlin thinks for a moment and shrugs. “Like... Everyone. I think Mithian is like our only guest who didn’t try to- Wait. No, cause there was that one time, actually, nevermind.”

 

Merlin trails off before looking down at the ground and then nervously back at Arthur.

 

“You don’t mind? Me being a warlock?” Merlin asked shyly and Arthur sighed deeply.

 

“I need to think about it, what it means for the future, and we need to talk , because it’s a lot to process. But right now, in this current moment? I’m glad to be alive and I’m glad it’s because of you,” Arthur said, smiling softly at Merlin and the warlock’s face turned red, ears burning.

 

“I’ll always save you,” Merlin promised, voice soft as well. “ Always .”

 

And they smile and stare at each other for a moment, blue eyes meeting blue.

 

Their moment is ruined when Gwaine loudly clears his throat.

 

“Not to ruin the moment,” Gwaine said and Merlin turned to him. “But we are all still tied up and I’d really like to leave this cell.”

 

“Right, sorry,” Merlin then begins to rush around the room, untying some of his friends by hand while saying a spell to untie the rest. “We should go, there’s probably going to be guards out for us.”

 

“Well, we should be fine,” Leon said, collecting his sword from where it’d been stored away outside the cell. He grins blindingly at Merlin. “We’ve got a dragonlord protecting us, after all.”

 

Merlin feels pride swell in his chest and Gwen comes over and hugs him tightly, whispering a teary eyed thank you . 

 

Arthur is leaning against the wall some, holding his injured arm and wincing. Merlin makes his way over to him and rests his hand carefully over Arthur’s wound. He mutters a few words and the wound closes up, leaving behind some raised scar tissue and Arthur just stares at his arm wordlessly.

 

Merlin stares at him and there’s a dozen conflicting emotions in Arthur’s expression, relief, betrayal, anger, gratefulness and a few others Merlin can’t name. He wants to ask what’s going on in Arthur’s head, but the King moves to follow to others out of the cell and Merlin rushes to catch up.

 

The group lets Merlin lead and now that they’ve gotten over their shock of how powerful and ruthless Merlin can be, they only stare with fascination and admiration as he attacks anyone that gets in their way.

 

When they’re outside, Merlin lets his wings stretch out to their full wingspan, scales glittering in the light and he hears several of his friends gasp around him.

 

“Oh Merlin,” Gwen said, utterly astounded as she stared open mouthed up at his wings. “They’re gorgeous.” 

 

Merlin flushes a bit as she reaches a hand out to gently touch his wings. He lets her and shrugs a little, shoulders hunched as he curls in on himself a little.

 

“They’re just wings...” He mumbled, but when he catches his other friends’ gazes, they’re all staring at him like he’s the most beautiful person they’ve ever seen. His inner dragon swells with pride that his hoard admires him so openly.

 

“Really Merlin,” Arthur said, walking around him to observe every angle of his wings. Merlin glances over his shoulder to watch him stare at the wings with an inquisitive gaze. “You should start dressing less dull when your wings are this stunning.”

 

“The point was to not stand out,” Merlin said and looked at Arthur. “Magic is outlawed in Camelot and your father killed every dragon. I couldn’t exactly be walking around flaunting them. Still can’t, I’m just stretching them. I haven’t been able to since they grew in.”

 

“You’ve been hiding these for weeks?” Arthur asked, looking over each wing very closely. He tsked when he saw some of the dust gathered at the bottom of his wings, dulling the gleaming scales. “That won’t do, honestly.”

 

“Arthur,” Merlin said, in that tone he reserved for when Arthur was being especially an idiot. “I can’t .”

 

“Mm,” Arthur hummed non committedly. “Well, we all know now, so at least during Round Table meetings you could.”

 

Arthur draws his eyes away from his wings to meet Merlin’s, the warlock staring at him, a little nervously and he can’t exactly read Arthur’s expression, but he can see he’s being secretive about something. 

 

When he turns to look at his friends, they also have that mischievous gleam in their eyes, like they know something he doesn’t and he wants to ask, but he feels like enough secrets have been spilled for the day.

 

“Well,” Arthur said, walking around to the front of the group. “It’s going to get dark soon and we are without our horses, so unless Merlin can get us back somehow, we need to set up camp for the night.”

 

Everyone turned to him expectantly and Merlin thought for a moment before sighing and shaking his head when he couldn’t think of any spell that would be able to get them all back without completely draining him.

 

“You have wings, couldn’t you fly us?” Gwaine asked, and the look in his eyes reveals he’s been waiting a long time to ask that question.

 

“So, one, I didn’t grow wings and just suddenly gain the knowledge on how to fly, I would need to practise that,” Merlin said and Gwaine deflated. “And two, I would not be able to carry everyone back.”

 

“Well, then camp it is,” Arthur said and they all walked for a bit to find a big enough clearing for them to all sit and Merlin got to setting up a fire for them all while Gwaine and Percival hunted and Elyan and Leon went fishing.

 

Lancelot and Gwen went to go collect water and some dry sticks, leaving Merlin and Arthur alone.

 

Merlin felt tense as he worked, aware of Arthur’s eyes following his every move and his wings began to curl around himself, instinctively protective.

 

“Can’t you use magic for that?” Arthur asked, tone indescribable, after Merlin failed to start the fire for a few long minutes. Merlin paused and looked at where Arthur was sitting on a log he’d dragged over. 

 

Merlin swallowed thickly and nodded hesitantly before reaching his hand out and staring at the pit intensely. Soon, flames erupted from the ground, sparks dancing to the skies and Arthur watched with a not insignifcant amount of emotions swirling in his face.

 

Merlin stared at him now while Arthur kept his gaze to the sky.

 

“I am mad, by the way,” Arthur said, but his voice was soft. Merlin ducked his gaze then and began poking at the fire with his bare hands. The flames feel just a little warm as he readjusted the arrangement of wood. “You did lie to me. For years, I should mention. I had been nothing but honest to you this past decade, I thought we were friends, I thought you treated me as an equal. And now it kind of feels like I never really knew you. That I don’t know anything about the man I considered my closest friend.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Merlin said, and tries not to let the way Arthur uses past tense hurt him. “I am, really. I’m the same as I was before, I just- I just have magic and dragon abilities is all. But I promise, my magic? It’s for you, Arthur. It’s only ever been for you.”

 

Arthur is silent for a long moment and Merlin is too, not daring to be the one to break the quiet. It’s suffocating, and Merlin feels like every single one of his senses are raised.

 

He’s scared for what Arthur will say, it’s one thing to accept him moments after being saved by him, it’s another to still accept him later when they’re safe.

 

“Why did you never tell me?” Arthur asked after what felt like forever and Merlin sighed deeply.

 

“I couldn’t,” Merlin said and Arthur finally meets his gaze and god , Arthur’s eyes are red rimmed and Merlin can see the tears welling up in his eyes. “Arthur-”

 

“Did you not trust me? Was that it?” Arthur asked, and he sounds so heartbroken that it breaks Merlin’s own heart and he wants to get up and reassure him, his inner dragon shouts at him to comfort Arthur. But he stays seated on the other side of the fire, letting Arthur speak his piece. “Did you believe I was truly so awful that I wouldn’t consider all that you’ve done? That I would just execute you without hesitation? That I’d be so blind to follow my father’s orders that it wouldn’t matter that you’ve been nothing but loyal to me since day one?”

 

“It’s that I knew you wouldn’t ,” Merlin said and Arthur looks at him confused. “I knew you would let me explain, I knew you wouldn’t just rush to have me executed, you’d hear me out, you’d let me tell you everything I did. And then you’d have to choose. Me or your kingdom. And I didn’t want to make you choose , Arthur. I didn’t want to do that to you. So I- I just couldn’t tell you.”

 

Merlin ducks his head, picking at his nails.

 

“I wanted to, though.” Merlin continues on. “Everyday, I wanted to tell you. Even back when I still thought you were a right prat, I wanted to tell you I was a warlock. Tell you I’ve saved your life, but you had already begun to change so much. You listened to me when I warned you about Valiant and I knew from then on, you were nothing like your father. And I wasn’t going to make you choose. But Arthur, just know, I wanted to tell you every single day of my life.”

 

Silence falls over them again, except instead of the tense, forced quiet they’d been in before, drowning and gasping for air, it’s a calm quiet, a contemplative one as they both sit and think.

 

“I would’ve chosen you,” Arthur said and Merlin refuses to meet his eyes, swallowing thickly. “I would’ve chosen you, Merlin, because Camelot wouldn’t be where it was without you. I wouldn’t be able to continue to rule it without you, without Merlin, there is no Camelot. So, I would choose you.”

 

Merlin smiles a little and shakes his head.

 

“Only you, Arthur,” Merlin teased and Arthur scoffed.

 

“I wouldn’t choose many over my kingdom, Merlin, you should accept this as the honour it is.” And Arthur is smiling and joking and something settles deep in Merlin’s chest, soothing and relaxing. His wings uncurl from around him and he sits up straighter, meeting Arthur’s gaze.

 

“Accept such an honour from a clotpole like you? Never.” Merlin said and Arthur leaned over his log, picking up a handful of dirt and throwing it at Merlin, the warlock laughing loudly as he raised an arm to stop any dirt from getting in his eyes.

 

“I knew you were something else from that first fight,” Arthur said. “I just didn’t know what.”

 

“I used magic in that fight,” Merlin confessed, still grinning brightly as Arthur threw another handful of dirt at him. “You never stood a chance.”

 

“I knew you cheated!” Arthur shouted and Merlin only erupts into laughter once more as Gwaine and Percival return with three dead rabbits and a squirrel. “There was no way you would’ve won in hand to hand.”

 

“Merlin?” Gwaine asked. “He could totally win in a hand to hand fight. I once watched him take out a dude twice his size in a bar fight.”

 

Arthur’s mouth drops open at that and he looks at Merlin, who just shrugs and takes the offered animals, setting them up to roast nicely over the fire.

 

Elyan and Leon come back with some fish as well and Merlin throws those on as well, talking with all his friends about nothing and anything until Lancelot and Gwen finally return.

 

Lancelot is extremely flustered while Gwen walks with her head high and a proud smile on her face, and upon seeing them, Gwaine whistles, which only flusters Lancelot more.

 

Merlin serves them all food and they all settle down, talking to each other and laughing with smiles on their faces.

 

It’s when Merlin is cleaning up after that someone finally asks.

 

“So, with you being a Dragonlord,” Elyan began and Merlin looked over at him. “Is there anything you need us to do? Like to help you with all this dragon stuff? Or just anything we should know?”

 

“Uhm,” Merlin ducked his head and poked at the fire again nervously. “Do- Do you guys know about Dragon hoards?”

 

Gwen and Arthur shake their heads no, Elyan shrugs and Leon nods. The others make vague gestures, pretending they didn’t all already know this all.

 

“So- So basically dragons have hoards right? Like you know how they’ll collect piles of gold or claim a town as theirs?” Merlin explained. “It’s called their hoard, something they protect, you know? It’s theirs, so they get aggressive when people try to interfere with it, or mess with it. They keep everything neat and pristine too, and they do their best to keep all their things in their places.”

 

Merlin shakily inhales. “I guess, you know, with nothing about me being normal, I couldn’t be normal about my hoard either. Cause- Cause turns out of all things, I had to hoard people. You guys... You’re my hoard.” Merlin buries his face in his hands, ashamed as the others take in this information.

 

“Aw, Merlin!” Gwen said, smiling brightly at him. “That’s so sweet!”

 

“Is that why you’d been so picky about our appearances lately?” Elyan asked. “You’re always fixing our shirts and stuff.”

 

“Yeah,” Merlin mumbled, embarrassed. “I’m sorry and if- If it makes any of you uncomfortable I can try to, I don’t know, like... fight my dragon instincts or whatever.”

 

“Merlin,” Arthur said and Merlin lifts his head out of his hands to look at the King. “Obviously it doesn’t make any of us uncomfortable, we would’ve told you to stop when you’d first started to do it, if it bothered us. Now that we know it helps you or whatever though, we’ll probably stop complaining when you do.”

 

“Like you’d ever not complain about anything,” Merlin grumbled and Arthur glared at him while the others chuckled. “You guys are sure it doesn’t bother you?”

 

All his friends nodded and smiled reassuringly at him.

 

“There’s... a few other things, you know,” Merlin said and began to explain all the mood changes, the protective urges he now had to deal with, the fact he acted before thinking now (which earned him a “when have you ever thought before acting?” from Arthur), the protection spell he had casted over them, about how being away from the others too long makes him antsy and the whole claiming nonsense.

 

“Is that why you made us the patches?” Leon asked, moving his cape to look at his own patch. 

 

“Uh, yeah. I was actually really struggling trying to find out what to do. You know, most dragons don’t actually need to worry too much about the claim since they just keep everything in one place,” Merlin explained. “So most people know it’s theirs but since you know, you’re real people with free will and all, I can’t just keep you in one place. I wasn’t trying to make it too obvious, but my inner dragon wouldn’t settle if it wasn’t obvious enough .” 

 

Everyone looks at their patch now, smiling at it and back at Merlin and Merlin feels a lot less anxious about it all after having talked with his friends for so long about it. He’s at ease and his inner dragon screeches with joy at the fact all his friends have accepted him as a dragonlord, even more appeased that Arthur had been honest with him about how he felt about his magic. Angry, but not going to hurt Merlin, never going to hurt Merlin.

 

It made his inner dragon glow with delight in his chest that Arthur had accepted him, that they had talked about it.

 

“I wear your claim with pride, then,” Leon stated and Merlin smiles widely at that.

 

“As do I,” Gwaine said and then winked. “Though, you know if you ever wanted to claim me in other ways-”

 

“ Gwaine ,” Arthur warned, glaring sharply at the other knight and Gwaine just laughed at him. 

 

Everyone asks Merlin a few more questions and Merlin answers (or turns bright red and glares at Gwaine scandalously asking him why the hell he would want to know that ) and then soon they all rest for the night.

 

“I’ll take first watch,” Merlin said, and no one argues with him, all settling close to each other for warmth since they were without bedding to shield them from the cold. Merlin had muttered a spell over the area to keep the cold winds out, but it was all he could do for the night while tired.

 

Everyone else quickly settles in and falls asleep, Merlin resting against a tree with his wings spread wide behind him, watching over his friends with a sharp stare.

 

Everyone looks so relaxed, and Percival is snoring loudly, a sleeping Gwaine blindly hitting him as if he were trying to get him to shut up and Merlin chuckles at that. 

 

He glances over where Arthur is sleeping, close to Merlin and the warlock smiles at that, gaze sweeping over Arthur’s face. He looks so peaceful, comforted, and it’s an expression Merlin hasn’t seen on Arthur in a long time, not even in his sleep. 

 

Something settles deep in his chest at that, at the fact Arthur feels safe around him, because of him and Merlin sits up a little proudly as he continues his watch.

 

A few weeks pass and they’re probably some of the best weeks he’s had in years.

 

He still hides his magic, years and years of fear controlling Camelot and the fact it was still legally outlawed kept him in hiding, but when he was with just Arthur, or just Gwen, or just the knights, he let himself feel free to use magic in front of them.

 

His friends no longer complained when he fretted over their appearances, no, instead they all took great care in staying neat and presentable, letting Merlin fix whatever he needed and never shied away from the way he’d smooth out a shirt or two whenever they passed him in the halls.

 

Merlin soon realised his inner Dragon was also greatly pleased with physical affection, though Merlin wasn’t actually entirely sure if this was an all dragonlords kind of thing or just a Merlin thing. Either way, his friends had seemed to pick up on it and soon came hair ruffles, high fives, back claps, warm hugs and shoulder bumps.

 

They all took great care with wearing their cloaks everywhere they could, and Merlin had even made them more patches to sew into other clothes, all wearing it proudly and smiling when people acknowledge the great detail in the stitching and how much care was put into creating the patch.

 

Whenever someone needed to leave the citadel, one of two of his friends would remain close to Merlin at all times to try an ease any worries or concerns he had at not being able to protect part of his hoard.

 

It was amazing, it was wonderful.

 

Except-

 

For some reason, his inner dragon hadn’t gotten with the program , or at least, it still fought him at times.

 

Specifically about Arthur.

 

Merlin would fret the most over Arthur’s appearance, making sure not a single hair was out of place, that there wasn’t a single unwanted wrinkle in his clothes, that he was bathed and cared for. If Arthur ever had to leave the citadel and didn’t take Merlin with him, Merlin was inconsolable. Nothing would reassure him or relax him, even if surrounded by everyone else in his hoard. Not even the claim seemed to comfort his inner dragon, like he wanted Arthur to walk around with a sign that declared him Merlin’s . 

 

Merlin was trying to handle it, keep himself calm as they had visiting nobles over and he couldn’t afford to freak out over his inner dragon. Not when the visiting nobles were from Mercia, Bayard, specifically.

 

He was here to try and make amends about everything that had happened in the past, to strengthen their alliance and hopefully form a trade deal as well. Bayard was also officially introducing his daughter, Emilie, to everyone.

 

Merlin did not like her.

 

It wasn’t cause of her attitude, or that he suspected her of an assassination attempt against Arthur, or how she dressed or even anything in particular that she had said.

 

Okay well, there was one thing, but it was less what she said and more what it was about .

 

Emilie smiles up at Arthur, practically a whole head shorter than him, so gorgeous and dainty, and she reaches up to touch his cloak, thumb swiping over the dragon patch and Merlin straightens up where he stands behind and to the left of Arthur. The King tenses a little at her touching it but he doesn’t make to move away.

 

“This is so pretty,” Emilie complimented and normally that would make Merlin’s inner dragon sing with pride, but right now, he only glares at the girl as she leans in closer to Arthur to inspect the patch closer. “There’s a few stitching mistakes, must’ve had an old handmaiden make this, no?”

 

“Uhm, no,” Arthur said and Emilie hums curiously, eyes still locked on the dragon. 

 

“What’s the M for?” Emilie asked and Arthur stumbles over trying to find an answer. “I know! It can mean Mine from now on, yeah?”

 

And oh, Merlin’s inner dragon did not like that. And neither did Merlin, actually. He thinks that despite all this dragonlord nonsense, that comment would’ve still upset him. 

 

From that moment on, Merlin has decided he does not like Emilie, and the others quickly picked up on it.

 

“Come on Merlin, lighten up,” Gwen said, bumping their shoulders together fondly as they gather their wine jugs from the kitchen. “She is very kind and sweet. She’s just bold is all.”

 

“I don’t like her,” Merlin grit out between clenched teeth and Gwen rolled her eyes. “She said Arthur was hers .”

 

“Okay,” Gwen waved a hand around with a teasing grin. “You’ve really gotta get a hang on this whole, yknow, business, because it’ll mess with diplomatic affairs. If Bayard sees you glaring at his daughter like that, he’ll take offense to it. He’s already not your biggest fan after you accused him of trying to poison Arthur and then got him thrown in the dungeons.”

 

“It’s not my fault there was poison!” Merlin defended. “I was trying to protect Arthur. I still am!”

 

“Women flirt with Gwaine all the time and call them his.” Gwen pointed out. “You never get like this over them.”

 

Merlin pointedly doesn’t bring up to one time he’d made a bar maid spill an entire tray of drinks because she had said she’d claim Gwaine hers. 

 

“It’s different,” Merlin grumbled under his breath and Gwen smiled.

 

“Why?” She asked and Merlin exhaled deeply. 

 

“I don’t know why,” He suspects why (he’s in love with Arthur, he would die for Arthur, he would destroy the world if it meant keeping Arthur safe ) but he doesn’t dare say. 

 

Gwen gives him a disbelieving look though as they move into the feast hall and begin to go around filling goblets with fine wine. 

 

Bayard and Emilie sit with Arthur and Merlin keeps a careful aze on the visiting princess like she’s going to strike at any moment.

 

She mostly smiles and laughs, talking with the Knights of The Round Table, listening to her father and Arthur talk and asking questions now and then.

 

Merlin will admit, she seems nice, kind, and she’s very beautiful.

 

But he keeps staring at the way she will rest her hand on Arthur’s arm, grip a little tighter than necessary as she excitedly tells him about something interesting, her hand on him like a claim and with Arthur sitting like this, his cloak folds over and covers Merlin’s claim, and it makes his inner dragon roar with fury.

 

“ Merlin! ” Gwen hissed, resting a hand over his and Merlin looks down in alarm when he finds his fingers had distorted into talons in his anger. He tries to will them down but they will not go away .

 

“I’ll tell Arthur you weren’t feeling well and went to see Gaius,” Gwen whispered. “You need to get this under control!”

 

“I know,” Merlin mumbled resolutely as he turns to quickly return the wine pitcher and rush to the Physician’s quarters.

 

“Merlin? Aren’t you supposed to be at feast?” Gaius asked and Merlin raised his hands up defeatedly. 

 

“They won’t go down,” He whined and slumped down at the bench while Gaius sighed. “It’s this princess from Mercia, she’s like- I dunno, so clingy to Arthur? She said something about him being hers and it was downhill from there. But it’s never been this bad before!

 

“And like, all week I’ve been going crazy! No matter how many times I fix Arthur’s hair, the stupid dragon is never satisfied. And it’s like I can’t be satiated if he’s out of my sight for a bit! Even now I feel like I need to run back up there!” Merlin wailed. “What is wrong with me?”

 

“I feared this might happen.” Gaius said and Merlin lifts his head to glare at Gaius.

 

“Was there something you forgot to tell me?” Merlin asked, and Gaius sighed.

 

“Not entirely, but yes.” Gaius said. “It’s not something that always happens even with dragons, so I wasn’t sure it’d happen with you.”

 

“What? What is it?” Merlin asked and Gaius took a seat across from him, silent for a moment.

 

“You know dragon hoards,” Gaius said and Merlin nodded slowly. “How it’s normally a pile of gold that they clean and protect?” Another nod. “Well, sometimes... Dragons have a- Well, some would call it a prized treasure .”

 

“ No .” Merlin stated, absolutely horrified as he stares at his uncle and Gaius winces but continues. 

 

“With dragons, their prized treasure rarely ever leaves it’s place. Rather than flaunt it about like the rest of their treasures, they keep it on display, and far out of reach so no one can even think to get to it.” Gaius said and Merlin is digging his talons into the table, looking mortified with each new piece of information Gaius gives him. “And a normal claim won’t work. It can’t be just implied the object is owned, everyone must know it’s that dragon’s items. Again! I only didn’t tell you this because I was hoping it wouldn’t become a problem! But your relationship to Arthur transcends friendship so it was only a matter of time that-”

 

“This is insane!” Merlin shrieked. “I can’t- Gaius! What am I supposed to do with that information?! I can’t keep Arthur just in his room all the time where no one can touch him just because my stupid dragon decided that because I love him he’s fucking prized treasure! That’s so dehumanising! Arthur doesn’t deserve that! He doesn’t- What am I supposed to do?! ”

 

“I’m not sure,” Gaius said, sighing deeply. “But you need to figure this out quickly. You can’t be getting upset with visiting Princesses and Princes just because they get close to Arthur. It was cause a lot of political problems and if your dragon can’t be appeased with whatever it is you have been doing, you need to at least tell Arthur what is going on.”

 

As if this entire situation couldn’t get any worse , Merlin now has to tell Arthur about it all.

 

Merlin groans loudly and thunks his head down on the table with a loud thud while Gaius watches sympathetically.

 

Merlin, like he does with most of his problems, decides to ignore it and try his best to pretend it isn’t there for the next few days.

 

Unfortunately, until the alliance is reformed and a trade has been established, Bayard and his other guests would be staying in Camelot.

 

And with these kind of deals, it could mean he’d be staying for weeks meaning Emilie would be staying for potential weeks as well.

 

Merlin’s talons still hadn’t gone done, but he was using every trick in the book to hide them from people around the citadel who didn’t know of his powers.

 

Wearing big gloves, conveniently having his hands in the laundry basket anytime someone walked in, hands clasped behind his back most times.

 

He was doing okay, but he couldn’t keep hiding forever, but until Emilie left, Merlin was sure his problem would only get worse.

 

He stands in Arthur’s room now, making his bed as carefully as he could with razor sharp talons and Arthur is working on... something.

 

It’s the same something he’s been working on for weeks that he refuses to let Merlin see, and Merlin only gets more disgruntled each time Arthur refuses to let him read over it, despite insisting it needs to be perfect.

 

“Merlin,” Arthur said, and Merlin looks over.

 

“Yes, sire?” Merlin asked and Arthur gets up from his desk, walking over to Merlin and without warning he grabs his hands to inspect them. Merlin gives him a confused look as Arthur’s thumb rubs along the back of his hand.

 

“You’ve been agitated these past few days,” Arthur noted and Merlin’s dragon feels happy that Arthur had noticed but Merlin himself is just upset he hadn’t done a better job at pretending everything was fine.

 

“No I haven’t,” Merlin said and Arthur gave him a disbelieving look that Merlin almost wilted under.

 

“No more secrets, remember?” Arthur reminded and Merlin’s shoulders fell in defeat, but still, he rolls his eyes and scoffs.

 

“Don’t you have better thing to do than interrogate me?” Merlin asked bitterly. “Why not go hang out with Emilie or something.”

 

Arthur stares at Merlin in shock for a long moment before he leans in a little closer to Merlin, trying to get the warlock to look at him.

 

“Are you jealous?! ” Arthur exclaimed and Merlin flushed bright red.

 

“What?! No!” Merlin said and used the hand Arthur wasn’t holding to punch him in the shoulder. “No it’s my stupid dragon!”

 

Arthur looks a little disappointed at that but stares at Merlin inquisitively. “What about your dragon?” 

 

“It’s-!” Merlin begins and flushes a bit. “It’s possessive! Remember?! And she called you hers and disregarded my claim, and then she’s been like draped over your side like she owns you or something but she doesn’t!” 

 

“Why, cause you own me?” Arthur asked, expression not entirely thrilled being talked about like an object. Merlin hates the way his dragon sings at Arthur asking that though.

 

“No! You’re- You’re a person, Arthur, your own person. No one owns you but yourself,” Merlin said and his dragon hisses at him for that. “But she- It’s- She’s just annoying me!”

 

“I just don’t get it,” Arthur said. “The others have had this happen to them too. In fact, I’m sure it’s happened more and worse to Percival or Gwaine than it has me, but you’ve never gotten like this over them. Why is it different when it’s me?”

 

Merlin refuses to meet Arthur’s eyes and he’s embarrassed, embarrassed to tell Arthur his dumb feelings got in the way and now his dragon thinks Arthur is some prized possession that should never see the light of day.

 

Merlin really hates his dragon.

 

“Gaius said-” Merlin began and groaned, looking at his shoes. “Gaius said it’s cause you’re my prized treasure. So- So it’s worse when it’s you basically.”

 

Arthur says nothing, still holding Merlin’s hand, still leaning into his space. Their toes are almost touching and if Merlin is quiet enough, he can hear Arthur’s breathing, his heart beating. 

 

“So basically,” Arthur said, voice low. “What you’re saying is I’m your favourite?”

 

Merlin rolled his eyes and groaned as Arthur grins devilishly at him.

 

“ Yes , fine, it means you’re my favourite,” Merlin said and Arthur only grins wider, leaning in a little closer and it makes Merlin’s breath catch in his throat.

 

“Even over Gwaine?” Arthur asked and Merlin meets his eyes now, finding a touch of insecurity swimming in Arthur’s eyes and Merlin’s brows furrow.

 

“Of course,” Merlin stated factually and something settled in Arthur but now Merlin is thinking about his question, what could’ve made him ask that .

 

Merlin thinks back over the past few weeks, over how everytime Gwaine would senselessly flirt with Merlin, Arthur’s expression would become pinched, or he’d call Gwaine over for training, about Gwaine telling Arthur about his jealousy problems, about the way Arthur would cut into Gwaine’s inappropriate jokes with a furious glare.

 

Merlin is suddenly hit with realisation and he straightens immediately, eyes lighting up.

 

“Omigod, were you jealous?!” Merlin shrieked and Arthur’s face turned bright red.

 

“What? Of Gwaine ?!” Arthur asked, like the mere idea was absolutely preposterous. “No, never in a million years.” 

 

“You were!” Merlin said and he is absolutely delighted about this fact and something like hope sparks in his chest and begins to burn a fire. “You were jealous of Gwaine!”

 

“Was not!” Arthur argued and Merlin twisted his hand around to wrap around Arthur’s wrist as Arthur tries to move away, pulling him back and pinning him with a pointed gaze.

 

“Why would you be jealous of Gwaine?! He’s a flirt! He flirts with everyone!” Merlin said. “It doesn’t mean anything!”

 

Arthur looks off to the side, biting the inside of his lip and huffing.

 

“Yeah but it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t mean anything,” Arthur mumbled. “It’s the fact he gets to .”

 

Merlin tries to get Arthur to meet his eyes but the King just keeps turning his head and Merlin sighed.

 

“Arthur,” Merlin’s voice is small, quiet. “What does that mean? What do you mean by that?”

 

Arthur is silent for a long moment and Merlin releases his wrist, the King’s arm falling to his side as he thinks.

 

“ I don’t get to flirt with you,” Arthur said and sighed. “All the others do, and it can mean nothing to them. But it would mean something to me, but I- I can’t .”

 

The fire in Merlin’s chest roars and he feels hope burst into unfiltered joy and love.

 

“What would it mean?” Merlin asked, voice soft as well. “If you flirted with me, what would it mean to you?”

 

Arthur is silent again for a longer moment, like he doesn’t know quite what to say and Merlin lets him, feels like he might explode with hope at any second, but he lets Arthur collect himself, decide what he wants to tell him.

 

“Everything,” Arthur settled on, exhaling deeply and finally turning to meet Merlin. “It would mean everything. Every- Every word I said, it wouldn’t just be some harmless flirting, it would be the truth. And I can’t do that because I’m the King and you’re my manservant so it would be entirely inappropriate if I ever made a move first or anything because I’m in a position of power of you and-”

 

Merlin moves his hands forward to cup Arthur’s face, talons having shrunk back long ago, letting Merlin’s calloused fingertips rest on Arthur’s soft cheeks.

 

“Arthur, you’re an idiot,” Merlin said, smiling widely and Arthur glared at him.

 

“Merlin, here I am trying to confess my feelings and you’re being rude to me,” Arthur said and he almost pouts and Merlin finds it so endearing, simply grinning widely back at him.

 

“Because you’re an idiot. I’m a Dragonlord , a sorcerer, some would even say the most powerful sorcerer to walk the Earth.” Merlin said with a grin. “If either of us were in a position of power of the other, it would be me .”

 

Arthur blinks at him. “Oh.” He mumbled and Merlin giggles a little, so in love, happy and feeling insanely giddy. “Does- Does that mean- I mean... Do you love me?”

 

“Arthur,” Merlin said softly, looking at Arthur like he had created the entire world by hand. “Of course I do. I’ve always loved you, been in love with you. How could I not be?”

 

Arthur exhales a little shakily, any tension left in his body dissipating in an instant and he leans forward, resting his forehead against Merlin’s. 

 

“I love you,” Arthur mumbled and Merlin smiles so widely he feels like his face is going to split in two. “Even if you’re the worst servant to ever grace Camelot’s lands.”

 

“Listen, it’s hard to be a good servant when I’m focused on making sure people don’t kill you every week.” Merlin said and Arthur shooks his head a little.

 

“I want to tell you something,” Arthur said. “It was originally going to be a surprise for you.”

 

“What?” Merlin asked and Arthur sighed.

 

“I’m appealing the ban against magic,” Arthur said. “I’ve been working on it for a while. At first it was just, I mean, you’ve always been pro-magic, I thought it would make you happy it was being repealed and stuff. And I know Gaius used to dabble in it, so I was hoping it would bring you reassurance no one you cared for would ever be harmed for what they’ve done. And then you- You revealed all this and I knew it needed to be done soon .”

 

“ Arthur ,” Merlin breathed his name like a gasp and he holds Arthur’s face just a little firmer. “I- Thank you .”

 

“Of course,” Arthur said and rested his hands on Merlin’s waist. “Don’t think this will get you out of your chore duties.”

 

Merlin laughed and rolled his eyes.

 

“Well damn, there goes my plan,” He joked and moved to hold Arthur tightly, arms around him firmly and Arthur moves to do the same, holding Merlin protectively in his arms. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too,” Arthur said, mouth pressed into Merlin’s neck. “I love you and not Princess Emilie, remember that. Can’t have you glaring at her across the room at every meeting lest Bayard accuse you of treason.”

 

“He can’t do that outside his own kingdom,” Merlin scoffed and then pulled back, suddenly looking at Arthur with wide eyes. “He can’t, right?”

 

Arthur laughs and smiles at Merlin. “No, but he can still come up with any other reason to try and discipline you or get you punished so behave .”

 

“Tell her to keep her hands to herself then,” Merlin grumbled and Arthur shook his head.

 

“You’re insufferable,” Arthur stated and Merlin scoffed.

 

“You love me,” He said and Arthur smiled, leaning in close.

 

“I do,” Arthur mumbled before leaning closer and pressing his lips against Merlin’s.

 

Merlin leans into the kiss instantly, inhaling deeply as he wraps his arms around Arthur’s neck, bringing him in closer.

 

Their lips move against each other desperately, like they’ve both been waiting ten years to do this, and they very well could have. 

 

Merlin kisses Arthur like he never wants to kiss anyone in his life again and Arthur kisses Merlin like he’s a starving man and Merlin is a feast.

 

Arthur pushes on Merlin’s waist and soon they’re falling backward onto the bed and Merlin laughs a little into the kiss as Arthur adjusts them so he’s hovering over Merlin, arms caging his head as he leans down and continues to kiss Merlin.

 

Merlin opens his mouth a little and his tongue swipes across Arthur’s lips, the King groaning lowly and Merlin grabs onto Arthur’s shoulders, flipping their positions so he hovered over Arthur now, pressing him down into the bed.

 

Arthur’s fingers tightened in Merlin’s jacket, pulling him as close as Merlin was physically able to be and Arthur’s own tongue met Merlin’s.

 

Merlin has had his fair share of kisses, chaste kisses when he was young, hidden and desperate kisses when he was supposed to be cleaning out stables, tearful kisses with a girl no one was supposed to know existed.

 

None of them compared to this though, this moment right now, holding onto Arthur while Arthur held onto him, lips moving fast and both of them panting into the kiss and feeling slightly breathless, but refusing to break the kiss.

 

Merlin felt like he was in absolute bliss and he never wanted to stop kissing Arthur, to have Arthur let go of him.

 

Arthur lets out a sound in the back of his throat that sounds like a whimper and Merlin’s inner dragon roars in delight at that and Merlin feels his wings stretch behind him, but he’s dizzy with bliss and couldn’t care any less as he continues to kiss Arthur.

 

“Merlin,” Arthur says into his mouth, breathless, whiny and desperate and Merlin thinks this is how Arthur should always sound. “I have to- To meet Bayard for a council mee-eeting soon.”

 

“No,” Merlin said, voice low as he continued to kiss Arthur, though the King had his mouth opened in a gasp so it was mostly Merlin kissing the side of his mouth.

 

“ Mer lin,” Arthur complained and Merlin moved to mouth along Arthur’s jaw line, pressing bruising kisses along the bone, letting his teeth drag lightly against skin.

 

“Come on ,” Merlin mumbled against his skin, kissing his neck now and Arthur arches his back a little and Merlin’s chest rumbles at that. “You can meet with him later, stay here for a bit.”

 

Merlin thrives in the sounds Arthur makes, pressing his lips together as Merlin kissed and bit at his neck, marking it all over, practically shaking under the sorcerer.

 

“Mer lin," Arthur said after collecting himself and Merlin pouted against his skin. “I really have to go.”

 

“Fine,” Merlin said and bit a little too harshly at Arthur’s skin with a smug grin. “We’ll resume later.”

 

Merlin gets off of Arthur and watches as the King rushes around the room to fix his clothes and look presentable before meeting with the other King.

 

Arthur stops in front of a mirror to look at himself and his face grows red.

 

“ Merlin! ” He shouted and Merlin gets up to stand next to him, looking at themselves in the mirror. “Yes?” Merlin asked, grinning and Arthur glared at his reflection.

 

“I can not go have a meeting with Mercia’s court looking like this!” Arthur said and tilted his head back to look at the quickly forming bruise and bitemarks littering his neck. Merlin rested his hands on Arthur’s hips, standing behind him and resting his head on his shoulder.

 

“Mm, why not?” Merlin asked and Arthur scoffed. “Emilie is going to be there, maybe she’ll keep her hands to herself now.”

 

“You are ridiculous,” Arthur declared and Merlin just presses a gentle kiss over a forming bruise with a loving smile.

 

“Oh shut it, you’re just as bad.” Merlin said. “If it was Gwaine draping himself over me during a meeting, you’d behave the same way.”

 

At just the mental image, Arthur’s eyes darken and Merlin laughs at him and pulls away, his wings folding in along his back. “Come on, you have a meeting.” He reminded.

 

“Merlin!” Arthur said, scandalised Merlin really wanted him to go have a meeting looking like he had just been devoured . Merlin just smiles at him in response and Arthur resigns himself to his fate, sighing heavily and walking out.

 

When they get to the council room, Bayard and Arthur’s councils are both all already in there, seated and they watched the King enter with his manservant at his heels and Arthur tries to keep a blank expression, but his face burns red as people in the room begin to mutter to each other, staring wide eyed at the pair.

 

Arthur takes his seat next to Bayard and Emilie looks over her father, staring incredulously at Arthur and her eyes dart to Merlin, who stands at Arthur’s side, smug. 

 

“ Jesus Merlin,” Gwaine said over the hushed conversations and curious mumbling. Merlin simply grins and Arthur glares at Gwaine in response.

 

“Can we proceed?” Arthur asked and the room fell silent while Merlin stands looking much like the cat who caught the canary.

 

After the meeting, which goes mostly smoothly except for Arthur getting flustered now and then, Gwaine is talking with Merlin while the King speaks one on one with Bayard.

 

“I thought you were a dragon not a goddamn vampire ,” Gwaine commented and Merlin’s ears turned red at the comment and he lightly punched Gwaine.

 

“It’s not my fault ,” Merlin said, though it very much was. “It- It was my dragon!”

 

“ Sure ,” Gwaine said, disbelieving with a teasing grin. “Maybe I should start using that excuse. No Arthur, I wasn’t flirting with Merlin, it was just my Dragon! ”

 

“I hate you,” Merlin declared and Gwaine chuckled. “I am your best friend, don’t lie to me,” Gwaine shot back.

 

“Nope, no, that spot is taken by Lancelot, you know this,” Merlin said and tried to step back when he saw Gwaine start moving, but was much slower as the other knight pulls him under his arm and close to him.

 

“Oh, then I’m your side piece!” Gwaine exclaimed delighted. “Your little lover on the side?”

 

“Arthur is going to kill you,” Merlin informed and Gwaine laughed. 

 

“Glad you finally see it!” Gwaine said and then pulled Merlin even closer, the sorcerer laughing  at his friend's antics. “So no more unbearable to watch pining, right? You two are together now and I don’t have to put up with that anymore?”

 

“I don’t know,” Merlin mumbled, ducking his head. “I mean, we- We both confessed but that... It doesn’t mean we’re together right away. He’s still king and I’m just a manservant.”

 

“Merlin,” Gwaine said, losing the joking tone and moving his arm to rest around Merlin’s waist, comforting. “Arthur loves you, I don’t think anything is going to get in the way of that. And I mean, you’ve made your claim on him pretty clear.”

 

“Don’t say that ,” Merlin groaned, resting his head on Gwaine’s shoulder. “It feels so- dirty when you say it like that.”

 

“Well I mean-” Merlin elbows Gwaine before he can say whatever it is he wants to.

 

“The other kingdom’s wouldn’t accept me as the King’s consort. I’m a servant and a man, I can’t produce an heir. Not only that but I’m a sorcerer and a Dragonlord!” Merlin keeps his voice down, wary of visiting nobles milling about around them. “I don’t want Arthur to have conflict over me.”

 

“Arthur would choose you any day though,” Gwaine said. “Over what other kingdoms think? If it means being happy with you, he would take it. And, pffft-, heirs, who cares? Worst case scenario, you can appoint an heir. Nothing will stop Arthur from loving you, Merlin.”

 

And it’s a little reassuring, and a little scary.

 

The dragon in his chest though sings with delight as Arthur walks up to them, Merlin’s claim visible on him and everyone in this room knows who it’s from. His inner dragon is thrilled with this fact and Merlin feels calmer and more at ease than he has in weeks.

 

Arthur comes up to him and gives Gwaine a sharp, steady look. The other knight quickly dislodges from Merlin’s side, hands raised in surrender and smiling nervously before he’s out of the council room in a flash. 

 

“ Arthur ,” Merlin begins to complain but Arthur grabs Merlin by his waist and pulls him in close with a dark look in his eyes that makes Merlin want to melt . 

 

“My turn,” Arthur said with a smug grin and Merlininhales sharply as he’s dragged to Arthur’s bedchambers.

 

When they show up to training the next day, both equally covered in marks made by teeth and tongues, Merlin’s dragon sings .

 

He’s claimed, and been claimed, and all his friends are safe and protected, they’re neat and his hoard is safe.

 

Maybe this whole dragonlord puberty nonsense had more pros than cons to it.