[Fic] Arthur and his, maybe not so useless, Manservant (Merlin/Arthur)

[aurora_primavera]

Title: Arthur and his, maybe not so useless, Manservant
Author: auroraprimavera
Pairing(s)/Character(s): Merlin/Arthur + Appearances by Gaius & an OC
Warnings: NONE - Unless, well, it turned out slightly cracky in a fun, silly sort of way.
Spoilers: NONE - HURRAH \o/
Rating: NC-17 (to be safe)
Word Count: 2,517
Summary: The time when Arthur found out about Merlin's "secrets" and made a new friend.
Author's Note: This was written for cherrybina during camelotsolstice and was originally posted here. Based on this prompt from cherrybina:
Merlin finds a magical plant! It's growing somewhere in the castle (outside maybe? or in the dungeon, IDK.) He takes care of it in secret, and one day Arthur finds him. SOMEHOW THIS LEADS TO UST FOLLOWED BY SEX. Also, awkward bonding while caring for the plant together.

Disclaimer: This is a work of fanfiction – none of this ever happened. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is made from this work. Please observe your local laws with regards to the age-limit and content of this work.

---

It was late afternoon and Merlin was nowhere to be found. Normally Arthur wouldn’t have minded his absence, but today – today was a not so good day in Arthur’s book. And that meant that Merlin, stupid useless manservant that he was, should have been there for him. Instead, he was running around the castle looking for Merlin.

Arthur spotted Gaius at the other end of the courtyard and headed straight for him. When Gaius saw him coming, he stopped and raised an eyebrow, his look both obedient and amused.

"Sire?"

"Gaius," he nodded in greeting, "I wondered if you happened to have seen Merlin at all, recently."

"Merlin? No, I can’t say that I have. Not recently."

He held back a sigh of frustration. "Well then? When did you last see him?"

Gaius hmmed and hummed and tapped his chin with a finger. After a couple of minutes – a couple of long annoying minutes in which Arthur re-learned how to keep his temper in check – Gaius shook his head. "I’d say last night. He was up much earlier than me this morning. I’m afraid I have no idea where he could have gone."

Holding back a sigh of frustration Arthur smiled tightly and turned around. Where could Merlin have disappeared off to?

*****
Later that same night, while Arthur was trying to mend his own shirt (which he would actually have to admit was turning out to be a not so successful endeavour) Merlin finally decided to show up. The problem was – and there was always a problem with Merlin, wasn’t there? The problem was that he acted as if nothing was amiss.

Arthur scoffed, the nerve!

"Sire." Merlin gave him a polite nod and walked over to the fireplace, setting down the small stack of wood he’d carried in.

"Merlin."

A few minutes passed and Merlin didn’t say anything. Hadn’t he heard the tone that Arthur had used? Just in case he hadn’t, Arthur tried again. Maybe if he emphasised the first part of his name instead?

"Merlin."

Again, nothing.

After watching Merlin shuffle about his chambers, organising and cleaning and doing – well, actually, Merlin was doing manservant-ly things, fancy that – Arthur had had enough. He stood up, walked over to him and reached out a hand to place on his shoulder. It was meant only as a way of getting his attention, but Merlin – being the clumsy oaf that he was – yelped, jumped, threw the very expensive clothes he had in his arms up in the air and twirled around so quickly with a raised arm in some semblance of self defence that he actually managed to hit Arthur.

In the eye. Hard.

That was going to hurt come morning.

"Merlin!"

"Oh! Arthur, I am so sorry. Let me, let me – "

"No!" Arthur backed away and pressed the palm of his hand against his throbbing eye. "You’ve done quite enough, Merlin."

Merlin had the grace to look sheepish. "I’m sorry, you startled me is all. Let me get something for your eye. I’m sure Gaius has a poultice or – "

"Merlin, I said no."

"Sure about that?"

"Yes. Now," carefully settling himself in his chair, Arthur glared up at Merlin as best he could with only one functional eye, "where have you been all day?"

"Been? Me?"

"Yes, you. Do you see any other useless servants around here?"

Merlin opened his mouth as if to argue but closed it with a snap when Arthur sent him a look. There was a moment of awkward silence and then Merlin slumped down, his shoulders drooping – and quite possibly his ears too, Arthur couldn’t tell from this angle – and he heaved a great, sad sigh.

"Well?"

"I’ve just. Um, you see the thing is. No, I mean." There was another sigh and then Merlin looked up at Arthur with big, wide eyes that reminded him of the newborn pups one of his hunting dogs had just sired.

It was going to be like that, was it?

"Alright, Merlin. Go about your duties and just make sure not to disappear on me again."

With a bright grin and an overly enthusiastic Of course, Sire! Merlin left for the night.

*****
Of course that meant that Merlin instead disappeared at random points throughout the day, mostly when Arthur needed him the most. And every night, when he tried to figure out where Merlin went off to, he was treated to the same blustering excuses as before.

When two weeks had gone by Arthur decided that enough was enough.

*****
The sun was high in the sky as Arthur followed Merlin through the castle and down into dungeons. He’d never been down here before and had to wonder at how Merlin could have found his way down there. Time passed slowly, the only light coming from the torch Merlin held aloft, shadows playing along the walls and reaching out towards them, the darkness gasping closed immediately behind Arthur. After what seemed like an eternity to Arthur, Merlin turned into a large open space and headed to a back corner.

Arthur stayed back, not wanting Merlin to spot him just yet. He watched as Merlin lit a few torches that were set into the ground, lighting up most of the area and then sitting down. He was facing to Arthur’s right, his eyes intent on the ground. There was a moment of silence and then Merlin gave one of his sighs and held out his hand.

"Hey, I’m here. You can come out now."

Who was Merlin talking to? Arthur decided then and there that Merlin had officially lost what little sense (which, to be honest, wasn’t a lot) he had. Just as he was about to step out from his dark hiding spot the ground in front of Merlin moved.

Okay, not so much moved as it squirmed a bit and then started rising up. Before Arthur could draw his sword and go charging in as if Merlin were some swooning maiden, which he was, the thing spoke.

"Merlin."

Merlin, being the brainless idiot that he was, smiled happily at it. "Hello!" He chirped, as in the sound he made literally sounded like a word-chirp sound thing. Which, of course, wasn’t surprising seeing as Merlin was such a girl.

"Feed me." The thing said. Its voice was thick and gravelly (funny that, given, that you know it had just been in the ground) and was rather grating on his ears as well.

"In just a moment, but you need to shed that silly disguise. I know what you look like."

The thing didn’t answer and then it turned to look in Arthur’s direction, and how the thing could see with all that dirt on it Arthur didn’t know, then turned back to Merlin. "He doesn’t."

"What? Who?" Merlin stood up, standing in front of the talking thing and raised a hand, palm open and fingers spread wide. "Who’s there?"

Arthur thought about denying being there and staying quiet but, yeah, he wasn’t going to. So, he stepped out into the circle of light Merlin’s torches made. "Do you really think that anyone would be scared of your hand? What are you going to do, push them away?"

Merlin faltered, his hand dropping for a moment then raising again. "Um, no?"

This time he really couldn’t help the roll of his eyes. "Honestly, Merlin, I don’t know how you’ve managed to survive this long."

"It’s his magic." The thing was shaking the dirt off now, a bright green colour revealed slowly. "Merlin’s survived this long because of his magic."

Arthur smirked and looked from Merlin (who was looking kind of pale and really panicked) to the thing. "Well, yes, that would make sense." He walked to it and pushed Merlin to the side. Crouching down he poked the thing gently and asked, "What are you anyways?"

"I am a Tazmanian Devil Plant."

"I’m sorry, a taz-a-what?"

The thing gave a sigh, long suffering and annoyed. "I’m a plant."

"Oh, well then." Arthur sat down in front of it and laid his sword on the ground, just in case. "How did you end up down here."

"I don’t remember, I only woke up a few days ago. No, Merlin woke me up." It looked at Arthur and tilted its – head? – before smiling. Yes, it smiled. "He woke me up with his magic."

Arthur looked up at a strangled choking sound that came from Merlin. "Merlin, what is wrong with you. Breathe, that’s what people need to do to live." He pointed at the thing, plant, and then at Merlin. "Seems you woke it up. Now, feed it."

"Yes," the plant nodded, "feed me. Feeeed me."

"Oh gods." Merlin sort of (flopped was the best word Arthur could find) flopped down and pulled his small bag towards him with a shaky hand. Arthur noticed this and called him out on it. "What? No, not, not shaking. Just. Cold. Very, very cold. Yes, Arthur, it’s cold."

Merlin was denser than Arthur had originally thought. "No, it’s not. It’s really hot and the fire from those torches of yours makes it worse. Hurry up and feed this thing."

"Okay, okay. Just..." He trailed off and with one last scared blink of his eyes, turned back to the plant. "I brought you your favourite, Righteous, green and brown pine needles covered in sand."

When Merlin pulled his hand out of his bag, he was holding a fist full of pine needles, sand trailing down through his fingers. The plant, Righteous, purred in delight and strained towards his food.

"Righteous? You named it righteous?"

Merlin shook his head. "No, he told me that’s what his name was. Who was I to argue?"

Arthur was about to point out that it was a plant for crying out loud, why even argue with it, when Righteous opened its mouth and yeah, okay, the razor sharp teeth could be very convincing he supposed. "And pine needles? Sand? Really?"

Righteous nodded happily, "It’s my favourite food." Except it sounded more like: Ifmahfafood, seeing as how it was talking with its mouth full and all. Arthur would have to teach it manners, honestly.

"Now, how often does he need to be fed?" This he directed towards Merlin, who was busy pulling out handfuls of pine needles from his bag.

"He needs to be – Wait, what?"

"Well, Merlin, he’s obviously going to need looking after. And you won’t always be able to do it, seeing as how you have your duties and all. So, I shall help. Now, answer the question."

"But, Arthur, you – And it’s a magical plant – My magic! You – He told you and you – But?"

Arthur blinked at him and then smiled. "I know, now," he snapped his fingers and made a come on gesture with his hand, "feeding schedule, Merlin."

*****
They spent the next few hours under the castle, talking with Righteous and learning what he knew. Arthur would never admit it, but the thing kind of...grew on him. Which, when he thought about it, was really a weird choice of words seeing as how it was a plant. But...anyways.

Merlin was mostly silent, and only entered the conversation when either Arthur or Righteous poked him. That part Arthur enjoyed the most, especially when Righteous would snap at Merlin and then giggle.

*****
It was close to nightfall when they left Righteous with a full belly and headed back up to the castle. Arthur was full of ideas and he knew that as soon as he became king, Righteous would be joining his court. The plant was a genius! Not to mention funny.

When they reached Arthur’s rooms, he realised just how quiet Merlin was being. He turned to his manservant, who okay maybe wasn’t that bad of a manservant, and noticed that he was hunched over, arms wrapped around his stomach, a broken look on his face.

"Merlin?" Had Righteous infected him with something?

"Sire?" Merlin’s voice was weak, sad and maybe just a little defeated.

"What is wrong with you now, Merlin?"

"You are – Are you? I mean. My magic. And your father. And...laws?"

Arthur blinked. Then blinked some more. Finally when he’d deciphered Merlin’s incomprehensible speech (which happened more often than he liked) he shook his head. The sheer denseness that was Merlin was really, well, frightening.

"You don’t have any idea, do you?"

This time Merlin blinked. "Huh?"

With a sigh Arthur walked to Merlin and pushed him back against the nearest wall. "Merlin, you idiot, I already knew about your magic."

Merlin squeaked. It was kind of hilarious in an overly endearing way. "You what?"

"You’re very obvious. Luckily for you, my father isn’t all that observant, not any more. He leaves that sort of thing for me."

"But...you knew? What? How? When?!"

"Yes. For a while, now."

"And you – You didn’t tell your father." There was an awed hope in Merlin’s voice and his eyes were bright and wet and Arthur just knew that he was going to cry.

"No, I didn’t."

"Why not?"

Like Arthur needed more proof of how dense Merlin was. So, in lieu of words Arthur leaned in and kissed him.

There was no searing, sudden lust, or anything ridiculous like that. It was more...comforting. And when Merlin finally relaxed, it was amazing. They kissed with open mouths, Arthur hungry to have as much of Merlin as he could.

After a few minutes though, it wasn’t enough and he was reaching down and pushing, pulling clothes aside. When he had his hand on hot, hard flesh he groaned, his knee pushing in between’s Merlin’s thighs. Holding both their cocks he moved his hand up and down, strokes quick and desperate.

It was hot and fast and dirty. Merlin was practically useless as he rode Arthur’s thigh, his hands clutching weakly at his tunic, breathy gasps of ‘Arthur, Arthur, Arthur’, sending Arthur into a tailspin. He worked them harder and finally, Merlin gave a soft cry and stilled, his hips just barely moving. Arthur followed him a moment later and buried his face against Merlin’s neck as the aftershocks poured through him.

When he finally felt capable of higher brain function and therefore movement, Arthur pulled away slightly and grinned at Merlin’s dazed look. "That’s why."

Merlin blinked and then smiled, wide and happy and so beautiful Arthur had to hold back from throwing him on the bed and just having his way with him. "Oh, okay."

Arthur nodded and then directed Merlin towards the bed, gently. Merlin, being the big girl that he was, would need slow and soft and romance. Arthur could do that, he was a prince after all.

But, first: "Tomorrow you’ll need to clean out my armour, you’ve sorely neglected it as of late. And my hunting dogs desperately need exercise. Also, you’ll have to muck out the stables. And I’ll feed Righteous, that way you can get your work done."

He ignored Merlin’s indignant squeaking sound and proceeded to really demonstrate why he hadn’t told his father that Merlin was the worst sorcerer in the history of ever.

[THE END]

Comments

[debris_k.livejournal.com]

Awwww, Arthur was adorable with the plant! This was lovely, thanks for sharing.