Chapter Text
Merlin had energetically made his way down to the kitchens to gather Arthur's food for the afternoon. He felt giddy and happier than he'd felt in weeks, even Audrey the cook noticed it. Granted she was hardly ever happy, but she didn't threaten to thwack him over the head with her wooden spoon when he came in late.
He went to gather Arthur's tray to bring it up to him, mentally listing out his chores. He'd first have to clean up Arthur's chambers entirely, since the rush of arriving knights and Arthur so kindly loaning his services to Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan, he hadn't had enough time to clean Arthur's chambers earlier that morning.
And speaking of Sir Ethan and Sir Oswald...
He still needed to tend to them.
He grimaced, feeling the wave of dread overcome him as he looked down at Arthur's tray of food and nervously up at Audrey.
"I uh... forgot to do something, I'll be right back?" he gave a weary smile and took a few steps back, watching the look of disapproval on Audrey's face form as she pointed at him with the end of her spoon.
"You best hurry up then. The prince won't be happy to receive cold porridge." she held his eyes, picking the tray up and separating the cold food from the warm and setting the bowl on a table closer to the fire before returning to her kitchen.
Merlin breathed a sigh of relief and rushed back out the door he came in, mentally reminding himself to thank Audrey properly later, and hurried up the dreadful seven flights of stairs to the part of the castle where visiting knights were staying.
He paused outside the door to their chambers, pondering heavily if it would be worth it to plea to Arthur to assign him to serve absolutely any knight other than these two. He knew that Arthur would probably be willing to assign him someone else, but unfortunately everything went through Uther, and Uther would see this as disrespect. He had no say in anything about the matter.
He knocked, despite his mind's desperate protests and stepped inside their room.
Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan were standing close by their table, observing an item in Sir Oswald's hand that Merlin couldn't see. They were talking quietly to each other till Merlin entered, immediately silencing themselves. Sir Ethan was the only one to turn and face him, the look in his eyes made Merlin mentally scold himself for not waiting for permission to enter. He looks at the table and at whatever they'd been focused on, but he didn't get much of a glance before Sir Oswald covered the item with the fold of a long red cloth it'd been wrapped up in.
"I- sorry," Merlin gave a slight bow out of nervous respect, "I came to see if there was anything you needed before I tended to Prince Arthur." he explained. Gods above- why couldn't he just wait for a response before he walked into a room?
"You'd think a servant would know better than to barge into a knight's room." Sir Oswald moved slowly towards him. Merlin's posture tensed, his hands settled behind his back to hold that of a servants stance.
"I didn't mean to intrude-"
"Be quiet and stay quiet." Sir Oswald snapped, to which Merlin tensely listened and silenced himself.
"So you do know how to follow some orders then." Sir Ethan scoffed. Merlin fought back the urge to glare. He hated this, hated everything about this. He hated not being able to speak out, not being able to just leave and not being able to tell Sir Ethan to go fu-
"A servant knows their place. You've shown me that you don't." Sir Oswald began speaking again, now standing directly in front of Merlin. "Most masters wouldn't be as lenient with you as Sir Ethan and I are willing to be. If the king would hear of this, he'd probably have that pretty little head of yours cut off." he said as his expression twisted to something untoward, making Merlin shiver. His hand reached out to stroke Merlin's cheek, close to his ear, and as he leaned away from Sir Oswald's touch a cold realization dawned on him.
The flower. He had completely forgotten about the flower.
"The king might even be so kind to let us remind you of your place." Sir Ethan spoke from Merlin's left. The disquieting smile on Sir Oswald's face at the suggestion sent a direful feeling through Merlin's chest.
"I'm sorry sire but I must return to Prince Arthur-"
"I said be quiet, boy." Sir Oswald snarled, but his expression was soon replaced by a leering grin. He gripped Merlin's chin and tilted his head upward, turning his face slightly in hand to observe him. "You continue to talk out of turn...keep it up and I'm sure we could find something to use your mouth for, hm? We'll even let you keep that little flower in. I'm sure it'd look lovely against your exposed skin."
Merlin barely managed to keep a repugnant look from his face as he straightened his posture and pushed Sir Oswald's hand off, trying not to give off even the tiniest bit that he was growing scared.
"I am Prince Arthur's manservant, I obey his orders. He has extended and assigned my services to you but he did not assign my body. Even he doesn't have the power to do that, nor do you have a place to demand it." he snapped.
He didn't even get to feel proud of his words when suddenly a pain and force on the back of his right knee sent him to the ground, landing hard on it with an audible thud. He'd barely registered it in time to steady himself with his hand, but managed to grit his teeth to bite back his yelp, not wanting to give them the satisfaction of knowing they'd hurt him.
At some point, Sir Ethan had mirrored Sir Oswald's circling and made his way behind Merlin. The moment Merlin spoke out, he'd kicked the back of his knee.
A hand came down and yanked his head up by his hair, forcing him to look up and face the now enraged Sir Oswald and gods he was seething. His other hand moved down and grabbed Merlin tightly by the throat.
"We do not need a place to demand it. You are a servant, your job is to serve. I don't care if it's opening the curtains or opening your legs, you obey and you keep your mouth shut." he tightened his grip on Merlin's throat, pressing his thumb against the hollow of his neck where his windpipe was and forced him to choke. Pain bloomed in his throat as his air was cut off and he coughed and wheezed.
Sir Oswald's hand remained firmly clasped around Merlin's throat, tightening when he made eye contact and then abruptly releasing him with a hard shove. Merlin's hand flew up to his throat as he coughed and gasped, head hung low to avoid their gazes and attempt to regain himself.
"Pathetic." Sir Ethan sneered. Merlin flinched. With the pain he was in from the situation, he might as well be pathetic. He had the power to stop all of this with the blink of an eye, but instead here he was, at the mercy of two tainted knights.
"I won't be so clement with you next time. Get out of my sight, before I change my mind." Sir Oswald snarled.
That would be the first and only command of Sir Oswald's that Merlin would ever eagerly listen to.
He fled their room, the cold and empty hallway brought little comfort to him as he hurried almost blindly to the staircase. The pressure on his trachea had caused a lump in his throat to form where Sir Oswald had squeezed. His fingers gently stroked along it before becoming rougher, a hysteric attempt to rub it from existence so he could just stop feeling it.
He stumbled down the first flight of stairs when he forced himself to stop before he fell and hurt himself. He limply dropped to sit on a step and muffled his choked out sobs. It caught up to him, hitting him all at once, the ache and lump in his throat plus the intensifying pain in his knee were two unpleasant reminders to the situation he was in.
The urge to go to Arthur and beg to not have to serve the two knights was strong, but the last thing he needed or wanted was to be questioned or ridiculed. Arthur was a good man, he knew that, but when it came to see reason for the un-pleasantries the servants went through during events like this, the man was blind.
He held his head in his hands, pressing the base of his palms against his eyes to stop the tears from falling. He needed to get himself together, sooner rather than later if he was going to make it through the rest of today.
A pedal brushed along his fingers, startling him from his stupor.
Lifting his head, he tentatively removed the flower from behind his ear and looked down at it. It was still a vibrant, beautiful blue, the thread wrapped around it had slightly loosened, but it stayed intact. He still couldn't believe that Gwaine had snuck into the royal gardens just to get it for him.
A thought had passed him, that maybe Gwaine had meant it as a joke, which he could believe, but... the kiss they shared earlier couldn't have been. Gwaine didn't seem like someone who would play such a cruel one if it were.
He carefully tucked the flower back behind his ear and stood up, steadying himself and his breathing. The last thing he wanted to do was more chores, but he knew the sooner he got them taken care of, the sooner he could see Gwaine.
Going down the last few flights of stairs and making the last of the trip to the kitchens was still a bit painful with his knee, but it was tolerable if he walked slow enough.
He was grateful to see the kitchens were now significantly more empty, meaning none of the servants around were ones that cared enough to comment on his awkward walking.
Audrey gave him a simple stern glance and nodded her head back towards the exit. Merlin had been around enough to know that meant "get going" and learned to not question it. He picked up Arthur's tray of food, grateful to notice it was still warm and gave Audrey his best smile before slipping out the door and back up the stairs, belatedly remembering that climbing stairs with an injured knee was not going to be fun or easy.
The first thing he planned on doing was going back to Gaius's, hopefully to be able to spend a moment with Gwaine before he joined Arthur for training. He began to compose himself after climbing the last stair, he smoothed out his features to hide any pain he was still in and took a last deep breath to relax himself.
He entered Arthur's chambers and put on his best convincing smile.
"Sorry, I'm late I know." Merlin carried the tray over to Arthur's desk and set it down on his table.
"No, not at all." Arthur said, sounding surprisingly calm. Merlin was expecting some kind of remark toward his tardiness, but nothing came. Arthur just stared at him.
"Uh... right." Merlin smiled, taking a step back. He was about to turn and start tidying up Arthur's chambers, but stayed still when he saw Arthur was still staring at him. His eyebrows furrowed and he wore a confused expression. Merlin found himself mirroring the look.
"What is that?" Arthur eventually spoke, pointing to Merlin's...face.
"Sire?" Merlin gaped. But then he remembered. The flower. "Oh!" his hand flew up to adjust it and smiled widely at the feeling of it. "It's from Gwaine."
"Gwaine?" he looked incredulous.
"Yes..." Merlin hesitated now. "Why, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all." Arthur frowned and shook his head. "I just didn't think Gwaine was your type."
"My type?" Merlin tilted his head.
"Though I suppose it doesn't seem entirely like Gwaine is the kind to give you a flower like that." Arthur continued on, paying no mind to Merlin's question. "He must like you." Arthur gave a knowing grin.
"Well-" Merlin felt his face flush, "I-I... suppose he does. But it's just a flower." he shrugged. And a kiss, he reminds himself, but Arthur didn't need to know that.
"Just a flower, Merlin? Ha! Tell me, how often does anyone take a fancy to you and is brave enough to show it?" he scoffed. Merlin frowned at that, but did actually think about it. The few people that he ever had mutual affections for were not memories he wished to revisit.
"You think Gwaine does actually fancy me?" he frowned, hating that his uncertainty was out for display to Arthur. It wasn't that he didn't trust Arthur with sensitive subjects like this, it's just that oftentimes Arthur didn't quite go about them in the best of ways.
The matter of Gwaine was a very sensitive one, one even Merlin didn't fully understand; He wasn't sure if he wanted Arthur's opinion on it.
"Merlin, I know you're an utter dollophead, it's actually quite concerning sometimes-"
"That's still my word." Merlin mumbles with a pout. Arthur ignores him.
"-but I want you to stop and think about this scenario." he grinned.
Merlin's face scrunched confusedly as he pondered Arthur's words.
"Gwaine gave me a flower?" he lamely said after a moment.
"Yes, Merlin well done. You're absolutely brilliant." Arthur deadpanned as he spoke.
"Prat." Merlin tsked. "Would you be so kind as to enlighten me then, sire?" he huffed. Arthur gave an uncharacteristic smile and leaned back against his chair.
"Gwaine, who you've just met, has taken a liking to you. Even went out of his way to get you a flower. Now mind you, he was drunk and not entirely in the right mind, but he still consciously formed the thought to go and gather you a flower."
"Well... yes, but he wasn't-" Merlin's eyebrows shot up and he slapped a hand over his mouth. He shouldn't let Arthur know that Gwaine wasn't drunk when he had stolen the flower from the bloody royal gardens, even if Arthur didn't know it was a stolen flower.
"He wasn't what?" Arthur smirks, leaning towards him now.
"Nothing!" Merlin answered immediately.
He hesitantly considered Arthur's perspective, which then became an entirely different story since Gwaine was only drunk when they'd kissed earlier, he wasn't drunk that morning, which meant one thing.
Gwaine, completely sober and sound of mind, snuck into the royal gardens to get him a flower.
"Oh..." Merlin's blush reached his ears.
"Mhm." Arthur raised an unimpressed eyebrow. He plucked a grape from his tray and popped it into his mouth.
Merlin took a step back towards Arthur's bed, ready to start making it when he realized something.
"Wait," he turned around, noticing Arthur's eyes still on him fit with a knowing look, "how did you know Gwaine was drunk?" he tilted his head.
Arthur smiled at him with unnerving fake politeness as he lifted a paper from his desk and dramatically straightened it.
"Let's see...14 quarts of mead," he began and oh shit, Merlin entirely forgot about sending Gwaine's bill to Arthur, "3 flagons of wine, 5 quarts of cider-"
"Ah- Arthur- I can explain-"
"And four dozen pickled eggs." Arthur glared.
"That was Gwaine." Merlin grinned stupidly. Arthur fixed his eyes on him, waiting for him to continue. "He went to the tavern earlier and couldn't pay for it."
"So you said that I would." It wasn't a question, Merlin couldn't tell how upset he was and it was making him nervous.
"Mm, yeah no if I hadn't then- that barman, he would've strung us both up!"
"I fail to see the downside." Arthur's teasing levels were still debatable behind his monotone voice. Merlin deadpanned, raising his eyebrow towards him and returning to his bed frame.
"You did say Gwaine should be given anything he needs." he mumbles, suppressing a smile.
"Merlin!"
"I'm sorry!" he gave in and broke out into a grin. Arthur simply sighed and looked over the paper once more, mumbling something under his breath. "Actually... Arthur, how did you know that was Gwaine's bill?"
"Well at first I assumed it was your bill, but you don't drink, so it couldn't have been you." he tilted his head. "Then you said Gwaine gave you the flower. Given where we first met the man, it wasn't a totally off assumption."
"If I'd known Gwaine giving me a flower was what kept me from punishment then I would've-" he paused, pressing his lips into a thin line. He was about to say he would've kissed him sooner, but he'd sooner die than say that to Arthur. Instead, he hurriedly began straightening up Arthur's bedsheets.
"Well I hate to break it to you, Merlin, but you're not kept from punishment. You won't do it alone though, as Gwaine will be helping you serve your sentence."
Merlin rose at that, turning his head with furrowed brows and pursed lips.
"My what?"
"You are going to drag Gwaine out of bed and to the knights lounge, gather all of their boots and give them a nice cleaning."
"All the knights?!" Merlin gaped.
"All the knights." Arthur smiled.
Any protests Merlin had were futile as Arthur flung the paper down upright on the table as a reminder. He groaned loudly and annoyed as he finished tidying the pillows on Arthur's bed, picking the last one to fluff it.
"This is going to be absolute torture, isn't it?" he whined.
"It most certainly will be." Arthur grinned.
Merlin fought every bone in his body to not launch the pillow in hand at the prince's face.
Arthur held Merlin captive in his room to clean it for a slow hour, mostly keeping him around to have him deliver a letter or three to council members between cleaning. After his last delivery Arthur had finally dismissed him to gather Gwaine and carry out their punishing chore. It should've been straight to the knights lounge to start cleaning, but because Merlin was still assigned to Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan, he had to attend to them before any miscellaneous tasks. He could get away with just quickly bringing them their food, but he had little to no power over what they decide to do when he's there.
His job would've been to bring their lunch and organize their chambers, neither of which he wanted to do. Since it was now mid afternoon, the knights would be meeting for training soon, so he would have to bring their lunch beforehand.
Either way, he didn't have a choice.
He gathers their meal trays and hurries back up to their chambers. He feels like the pain in his knee gets worse whenever he was doing something specifically for the two knights, hell or even if he thought about them.
He reminds himself he still needed to get Gwaine and then gather the knight's boots. Or should he gather them himself and then wake Gwaine? He didn't want to make Gwaine do a lot, even if the punishment was because of him, he was still injured and he still needed rest. Maybe it'd be best to just try and get it all done himself...
He was barely down the cold hallway to Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan's chambers when the familiar feeling of dread and panic settled in him. It stopped him in his tracks, any step forward from there he tried to take felt like it was an added weight to slow him down. He couldn't, he just... he just couldn't.
Backtracking, he turned and walked back down the direction he came till he saw a passing servant with a tray of dishes. He called out and nervously approached him, all but begging the poor boy to take the platter to the knights chambers and in turn Merlin would complete whatever job he was on his way to fulfill. The gods took pity on him, finally that day, as the servant agreed to it, explaining how he was just returning from serving one of the other visiting knights and had been dismissed.
They swapped trays and turned to walk back in the directions they'd came. Merlin had absolutely nothing to say against the pain in his knee as he hurried back to the kitchens again, more grateful than ever to be going down the stairs.
Audrey gave him an irritated but sympathetic shake of her head when he set the tray down in the sink and shooed him away, mumbling something about too many distractions in her kitchens.
That just left gathering Gwaine and the knight's boots, then cleaning them. Shouldn't take too much time.
He didn't even get a start towards the knights armory before the same servant that'd helped him suddenly stopped him.
"George says you're needed in the great hall." he'd said.
'George?' Merlin thought with a frown, mostly to himself. He gave the serving boy a quiet thank you before changing route, heading towards the great hall instead. He couldn't imagine why George of all people would've sent for him, especially given that the two were polar opposites and therefore constantly separated, but there was only one way to find out.
He approached the great hall a few moments later and pushed the door open, entering in time to see George rising from kneeling at the end of a long line of neatly organized and lined up boots.
Merlin blinked, trying to figure out the picture of what he was looking at. George must've noticed the look on his face and nodded towards the row.
"Prince Arthur sent for me to gather the knight's boots and bring them to the great hall. I assume something for you and your guest to do." he said. There wasn't any malice in his voice, maybe a touch of sympathy? Merlin subconsciously touched the stem of the flower to ensure it was still tucked behind his ear. He hadn't even realized he'd just done it, but thankfully George didn't comment on it.
"Er...yeah, thanks George. It was probably a lot of work gathering those." Merlin gave a hesitant smile.
"Everything within the castle walls of Camelot is a lot of work, Merlin. A helping hand is the least I could do." he gave a polite smile. It looked a bit awkward on his face, as if it wasn't something he wore often.
"Well if you ever need a helping hand, I'd be more than glad to return the favor. " Merlin grinned, giving the man's shoulder a friendly squeeze.
"And speaking of helping hands, I shall go and gather your guest." George nodded in recognition before gracefully exiting the room.
Merlin relished in the relief that filled him as he was finally able to take a break from walking around. He turned to look down the long row of boots, letting a defeated sigh bounce off the walls of the empty room.
Pushing his sleeves up, he plopped himself down on a step and picked up one of the brushes, which George had also kindly brought, and picked up the first pair to clean.
With some much needed silence and a decent distraction, Merlin set to work, alone with his thoughts.
He didn't know how long it would take Gwaine to arrive, but he wasn't planning on waiting for him to start.
The flower behind his ear shifted and he immediately went to fix it, gently bending the stem so it curled around his ear again. He thought about taking it out whenever he needed to serve the knights, since it didn't seem like having it in around the two men was the best idea, but the thought of removing it so soon felt wrong.
He loved it. Gwaine could say it had been a joke or that it hadn't meant anything at all, he could say the same thing about the kiss, and it would hurt more than Merlin thought himself capable of dealing with in his current state of mind, but it was the circumstance in which they'd happened that Merlin clung to. Gwaine had gotten him a flower, which didn't sound like much, but when you added in that he'd snuck into the royal gardens to gather one for him made it much more sentimental.
A kingdom's royal gardens are tenderly cared for, filled with the best flowers that only royalty received as compliments of beauty.
There was no doubt in his mind that Gwaine was entirely aware of all that.
It was approximately 15 painfully lonely minutes later when Gwaine came through the door, peering his head in and scanning the room first. Once his eyes landed on Merlin, he broke out into a bright grin and stepped inside. His shirt was loosely done up and his hair was a bit messy, but somehow it's made him look even better.
"Merlin! Fancy seeing you here, you look good." he winked.
"I'd say the same to you, but you look like you just rolled out of bed." Merlin scooted over to make room for him.
"I did, out of your bed." Gwaine scoffed, taking a seat beside him and running his hands through his hair to try and reduce its messiness. "What's this that sod that brought me here said about a chore from Prince Arthur?" he kept his eyes fixated on Merlin.
Merlin didn't respond, instead he quietly closed his eyes and took in a deep breath, fighting to choose between either laughing or being irritated. After a moment of silence, he turned his head and opened his eyes to meet Gwaine's eyes.
Merlin laughed.
"Four dozen pickled eggs?! Gwaine!" he grinned. Gwaine stuttered momentarily, trying to find something to say in response, but eventually gave in too with a small laugh.
"Ah- sorry. I do get a little out of control when I'm drunk." he chuckled, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.
"A little? Gosh Arthur was terrible when he got that bill." Merlin snorted, but stopped and instead composed himself because they had work to do and handed Gwaine a second polishing brush.
"What's this for?" Gwaine made a face at it as he took it, which worsened when Merlin handed him a boot.
"Our punishment." Merlin said with a smile that was too cheerful for something like this. "We're to polish the boots of the knights of Camelot and we need to finish by this evening." he turned his attention to the boot in hand and aggressively began brushing.
Clicking his tongue, Gwaine took the boot and brush and got to work.
They worked in silence for a while after that, the only sound between them was of brushes against leather and boots returned in pairs set aside as completed.
After Merlin's 3rd pair of boots, he realized Gwaine wasn't moving, instead he was glaring at the brush in hand.
"Prince or not, Arthur is a thoroughbred little braggart for making us do this."
Merlin breathed out a small laugh, looking back to his task and resuming it.
"I think it's fair, all things considered."
Gwaine looked cynical at him, gesturing down the dreadfully long line of boots that hadn't looked like it'd gotten any smaller.
"For the entire army?"
Merlin paused, pursing his lips as he looked at Gwaine and blinked owlishly.
"If you told Arthur your father was a knight then you wouldn't have to." he gave a tiny fake smile and began aggressively scrubbing the boots again.
"As tempting as that sounds, I wouldn't stoop to be almost as bad as Arthur and leave you alone to do all this." Gwaine gave a half-hearted scrape to the boot in hand before tossing it aside with the rest.
They returned to their comforting silence, nothing but the sound of the brushes against leather and their occasional puffs of air to lingering loose dirt.
Merlin was a bit glad now to be set to work, even more so with Gwaine there too. The last thing he wanted to do was be around the two knights any more than he'd already been, but even then he would still have to worry about Sir Oswald or Sir Ethan following after and bothering him here.
Gwaine was just flat out bothered to be doing this, especially just after waking up with another aching headache, but he reminds himself that he is the reason that both he and Merlin are doing this. This was also a chore that Merlin would have to deal with more times than Gwaine ever would have too. It was his job, a thankless job Merlin often had to do by himself.
"My father would never be as okay assigning such onerous jobs to his servants as Arthur is." he spoke quietly when Merlin turned to give his full attention. "He treated them well."
"I thought you didn't know your father?"
"I didn't," he spared Merlin a hardened glance, "but I'd like to think that he treated them well."
Merlin furrowed his brows, but had no riposte towards Gwaine's shift in tone.
"I'm sure he did, Gwaine." he gave a small smile and resumed working.
Gwaine's features softened, quieting as he took to watching Merlin. In the moment, he'd blame it on his headache, maybe the alcohol still in his system, but later he'd acknowledge that anything to do with his father always set him in a mood. Gwaine let out a hesitant exhale and nudged his knee against Merlin's to get his attention.
"What about your father, then?" he asked, his tone softened now.
"Hm? Oh- no, he- he didn't have any servants. He didn't have...well, anyone, actually." Merlin recalls. His father had lived by himself, isolated in a cave he'd cloistered in since before Merlin was even born.
"When did he die?" Gwaine was now focused entirely on Merlin, having discarded the brush and boots at this point.
"About a year ago." he swallowed his emotions before they could display themselves in his voice. It felt bittersweet talking about his father. He'd had a year to grieve, and truth be told Merlin was still grieving, but it had been a year since he had anyone to talk to about his father. "I wish I'd gotten to know him better... there was so much he could've taught me."
"But you did get to meet him." Gwaine's voice had lowered, the softhearted tone sent a positive clench to Merlin's heart. He gave a gentle nod of recognition, smiling lightly.
"At least one of us can hold a warrior father to a higher standard of nobility than we can with most royalty." Gwaine's smile was terse.
"What makes you think my father was a warrior?"
"I can't see you being the descendent of anything else." Gwaine raised an eyebrow at him, pausing before giving him a smile. Merlin returned the smile with a small chuckle.
"Maybe it was because my father wasn't a nobleman of any kind that he was so great. Nobility, royalty, any sort of title tends to go to people's heads. You rarely meet a nobleman that treats people well. Especially knights." Merlin grimaced, subconsciously having just shamed Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan in his words. Gwaine's brow furrowed at his words, picking up on it immediately.
"Are you talking about Arthur? I thought you said he isn't like that?" Gwaine then tensed protectively, "Did he do something?"
"No no! It's... it wasn't... the knights were just..." Merlin sighed shakily and gave up, looking at him with pleading eyes to drop the subject and to pretend they never started this conversation, but Gwaine's eyes never strayed and he reached out to him, setting a hesitant hand on Merlin's shoulder.
They were interrupted by the sound of the door to the room suddenly swinging open, Merlin yanked himself away from Gwaine, who hadn't missed the fear that filled his eyes for the briefest of moments before relaxing when he saw who entered.
Gwaine's eyes narrowed as the same servant that had brought him here leaned halfway through the door and looked at them. His eyebrows furrowed, apparently having noticed Merlin's reaction before adjusting his features to his normally blank expression.
"Merlin, Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan have requested your presence in their chambers." he said. Gwaine frowned at the statement. He distinctly remembered Merlin saying he was Arthur's manservant, so who were Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan? He turned to ask, but felt his body turn rigid at the state of Merlin.
Merlin was frozen, his eyes were wide and he wasn't smiling. His hold on the brush was tight, clenched in his hands till his knuckles turned white. He looked terrified.
"Merlin?" he dropped the items in hand and put his hand on Merlin's arm, feeling how tense he was and didn't miss either how he'd jumped at the contact.
"S-Sorry- I- George can you- I'll, um-" he stuttered, looking terribly distraught. It was upsetting, seeing Merlin in such distress from a mere two names...it didn't sit well with Gwaine.
George opened the door and stepped fully into the room, standing with a stiff posture as he kept his gaze hardened on Merlin in his distressed state. For a moment, Gwaine thinks he's about to scold Merlin, but he doesn't.
"I shall tell them that you are busy with Prince Arthur's chores and will instead attend to them after training. Should they ask where you are, I shall regretfully inform them that I could not locate you. If they find a problem with my resistance to their orders, I'll ensure that I will send Sir Leon's servant to locate you."
Merlin frowned at the statement, the confusion was a welcome change to the terror that had originally been daunting on his expression.
"But...Sir Leon doesn't have a servant." his voice barely loud enough to be heard from a distance.
"No? Could've sworn he did... my mistake then." he gives a knowing smile for all of one second before his expression drops to blank again. "As you were." he gave a respectful nod of recognition to them both before stepping out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him.
They listened to the faint echo of footsteps as they faded to nothing.
Left alone again, Merlin fell apart.
It wasn't till Gwaine reached out and grasped hold of Merlin's hand that he realized his breathing started to pick up in response to his rising panic. Gwaine gently squeezed his hand and waited for Merlin to calm down, watching terrified blue eyes dart everywhere before screwing shut.
It took a few minutes, but he felt relief when Merlin's breathing eventually became less labored, squeezing his hand in recognition.
He curled in on himself, pressing his hand to his forehead as he let out a shaky breath, finally feeling able to breathe again.
Two minutes turned to five, five turned to seven till he finally found his voice.
"Sorry." Merlin whispered, finally opening his eyes, "sorry... I just-" he shook his head, "sorry." he repeated. Gwaine felt his concern twisting to an unwanted anger, there was no reason that he should ever look so distressed at the mere mention of two knights' names.
"It's okay..." Gwaine spoke gently, leaning forward and pressing a gentle kiss to his hairline. "Talk to me, Merlin. Please." he frowned. Merlin hesitates again, and Gwaine briefly worries that he won't speak at all.
"I was assigned to serve two visiting knights here to participate in the melee, Sir Oswald and Sir Ethan. They're...they're foul, unfavorable, to say the least." Merlin mumbled, finally opening his eyes.
"Merlin, love," Gwaine clasped both his hands around Merlin's shaky left one, "unfavorable men don't send fear like through the heart of a man as brave as you. Something happened. Will you tell me what it was?"
The look that befell Merlin's expression made Gwaine tense with defensive anger. He doesn't think Merlin should ever look as scared and hurt as he did.
Merlin felt his throat clench in fear. He felt like saying the words out loud would give the men power.
It was brief, a split second, but Merlin's eyes flicked down to his right knee. He knew it was definitely bruised, or that it would eventually bruise but he was too nervous to look and find out. Part of him feared that Gwaine would get the wrong impression of how he got it.
Gwaine was attentive. He followed his eyes and looked at his knee, sparing Merlin a reassuring glance before pulling up his trouser leg with gentle movements. It'd only happened earlier, but there was already a distinguishing redness swelling the skin over and around his kneecap. By tomorrow it would be a disgusting swirl of black, blue and purple, but for now the only indication of it being exposed to any impact was the faint swelling and the tender ache that came from it. He didn't even want to think about the bruise that'd be on the back of his leg.
He finally dragged his eyes to look at Gwaine.
Gwaine looked like he was barely keeping himself calm; A controlled rage in his eyes waiting for something, anything, the final straw to set him off.
"What happened?" he asked through clenched teeth, taking a deep breath as he gently, oh so gently tugged his pant leg back down.
"Arthur assigned me to them during their visit here. Each time I went to serve them, they..." he paused, taking a deep breath to keep himself from breaking again. "They'd hurt me, threaten or say how they wanted to use me-" his voice closed up with emotion, silencing him completely.
"I'll kill them, Merlin. I swear I fucking will." Gwaine growled lowly. He leaned to gather Merlin in his arms and pulled him close, nestling his head in the space where his neck met his shoulder. Merlin's breathing hitched as he let himself be held and began to quietly sob. Gwaine tightened his arms and pressed a gentle kiss to his neck.
They sat together in silence, Gwaine's arms around him made him feel the safest he'd felt all day. His tears stopped and he relaxed against the protective embrace. Gwaine believed him, he would keep him safe...
"Thank you." Merlin said after a while. Gwaine tilted his head up toward him in acknowledgement, lifting his hand and gently adjusting the flower behind his ear.
"Nothing to thank me for." he smiled when Merlin began blushing. "You look beautiful, you know."
Merlin snorted. He wiped away any remaining tear streaks from his face and started smiling.
"Flattery gets you nowhere, Gwaine, we still have a chore to do. I'm going to be late serving Arthur for training. I won't have time to finish this before I need to be there." Merlin frowned and almost began losing himself to his thoughts.
"I don't want you to be overwhelmed more than you already are. This is my punishment, not yours." Gwaine frowned and nudged him to keep him from going to his thoughts. He watched relief flood through Merlin's expression before being replaced with uncertainty.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Merls, I'm sure." Gwaine said with a stern look, but dropped it to grin at him and nudged him to get going, hesitantly removing his arms. Merlin let out a faint annoyed grunt in response, but complied and stood from where he was seated. He took a step forward, but paused and tentatively turned to face Gwaine.
Before either of them decided to say anything, Merlin leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to Gwaine's lips.
Gwaine smiled as he immediately began kissing back, excitedly noticing how Merlin wasn't as hesitant as he was when they first kissed earlier. They parted, and Gwaine's eyes creased as he grinned.
"Again." his grin turning stupid and lazy on his face.
Merlin rolled his eyes, ignoring the blush that began forming and kissed him again, placing his hands on Gwaine's shoulders to stabilize himself. He pulled back, breaking the kiss much sooner this time and giving a playful glare down at him.
"I'll be late because of you." he huffed with a playful pout.
"Mmh, I think it'll be worth it, no?" Gwaine pressed another kiss to Merlin's pouted lips.
Merlin quietly watched him instead of responding, staring lovingly into Gwaine's gentle brown eyes. Gwaine watched the emotions and feelings lay themselves out in softened blue eyes. It was like staring into a decorated sky with calming clouds to contrast, and he had the sky staring back at him.
"What are you looking at?" Merlin murmured with a small smile.
"You. I love it when you look at me like that. Do it more often, please?" Gwaine kissed him again.
Merlin groaned and tilted his head back away from the kiss, hesitantly lifting his hands from his shoulders and standing up straight.
"I will if I ever have the time too. I'll be late for sure if I don't get going and then Arthur will assign me every chore under the sun." he sighed dramatically and began walking to the door to leave. He stopped before he could leave though and turned to Gwaine. "I'll be back when I've finished the last of my chores... maybe sooner if Arthur decides to dismiss me earlier. Get some rest, and try not to cause any more trouble, please?" he smiled and opened the door to step out.
"Sounds like a challenge... think I'm capable of it?" Gwaine called after him.
"Nope!" Merlin called back, and just like that, he was gone. He began grinning when he heard the sounds of Gwaine's muffled laughter.