Chapter Text
The moon was high in the sky as Camelot slept. Merlin, however, had woken up in the middle of the night panting and sweating. This had become a common occurrence in recent months as night terrors plagued Merlin's mind and when he had woken up from one of these nightmares, he hated going back to sleep. It would only start the dream again. The dream where he saw his destiny play out in different ways each more brutal than the last. So, to combat this, Merlin’s simple solution was to begin his work as Arthur’s servant. He decided it was best to do his job as it was much more important than anything he enjoyed like reading. When he got up to leave, he made sure not to knock anything over so as to not wake Gaius, who was growing concerned over Merlin’s new found dedication to his work. Once he arrived at the kitchens, which were attached to the laundry room, he would begin doing chores for either Gaius or Arthur.
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Merlin thought to himself as he walked the hollow halls of the castle ‘Why is my mind my own worst enemy?’
He grabbed the first thing he could see, which in this case was the dishes from Arthur’s dinner last night. Although seemingly a small task, Arthur used more dishes in one sitting than a family could in one week. Merlin rolled up his sleeves and dug in.
While he was scrubbing dried fat off the plate from the pork belly that Arthur had for dinner, he noticed a figure enter the room. Although still very late at night, or early in the morning depending on who you ask, he assumed it was one of the cooks getting in early and didn’t bother to turn around and look as he was tired and too focused on this plate that was proving to be bothersome.
“What are you doing here at this time of night?” A low voice grumbled through the darkness
“I could ask you the same thing.” Merlin stated, after re-adjusting the plate he almost dropped in his hand after being surprised to hear Arthur’s voice.
“I was hungry and wanted to come and grab an apple.” Arthur replied, grabbing an apple out of a bowl on the counter and then leaning against the very same counter. “You?”
“And you wonder why we had to put an extra hole in that belt.” Merlin stated through a smirk.
“Oh, that was uncalled for.” Arthur scoffed. “I’ll have you know, apples are healthy! Also, clotpole, answer my question, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be asleep?”
“Shouldn’t you be? And, I thought it would be obvious.” Merlin gestured towards the dishes on the drying rack and his wet hands.
Arthur rolled his eyes at this. “Just try not to break anything, you know how clumsy you are!”
“Oh please! I get things done. Plus, I can’t be that bad considering I’m doing what you can’t.” Merlin said also rolling eyes at Arthur
“Who said I didn’t know how? I just don’t because I’m far too busy being your King remember? I can’t busy myself with meaningless tasks. That’s what you’re for.”
“And to think, I thought we were friends Arthur. All I am is a meaningless servant, made to do meaningless things.” Merlin said, words filled with dramatic sarcasm. “I simply can’t believe this.”
With a smirk Arthur played back “Yeah, and to think you thought we were anything more is utterly ridiculous.” Arthur stopped leaning onto the table and walked closer to Merlin, who was facing him “I have no idea what could insinuate anything other then a King and his useless servant.”
“Honestly, me neither. Especially considering you treat your servants so awfully.” Merlin said, turning back round to his dishes, stopping Arthur in his tracks
“How dare you! I don’t treat you awfully! Or my servants!” Arthur jokingly raised his voice.
“Please, if how you treat me is great, then I must be magic, because that’s a load of bull” Merlin said, shaking his head, placing the finally clean of fat plate to the drying rack.
“Is that a confession of magic?” Arthur said, widening his smirk “I guess I’ll have to call the guards. Guards!” Arthur fake yelled to the kitchens doors
“Noooooo, how could you betray me like this” Merlin said dramatically, turning to face Arthur, who was closer then he had prepared for, and raising his hand to his forehead.
“Arthur burst out laughing at Merlin's antics “God, you’re weird sometimes, I have told you that right?”
“A million times, sire, but isn’t that why you keep me around?” Although phrased a question, it was said as a matter of fact
Arthur’s face went red as he looked at Merlin in the light of one candle before he broke the short silence with “Believe what you want to believe Merlin. Anyway, while hanging out with you has been the bore it always is, I’m going to go to sleep.”
“Good, I thought you would never leave! You are so annoying! I have told you that right?” Merlin said smiling
After rolling his eyes while leaving the kitchen, Arthur taunted Merlin “Good luck with my dishes!”
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Arthur thought to himself as he walked back to his chambers ‘I didn’t realise Merlin had muscles. They are really prominent when he rolls his sleeves up. Well, in this dream anyway, he’s not that strong in real life. I mean, it’s Merlin, he’s a stick’ Arthur chuckled at the thought as he unlatched the door and got back into bed. ‘I should find a way to check in the morning though.’
After lying down with his eyes closed, he presumed he had awoken from his weird dream as the light started to pour into his room. It was still hours before he needed to be awake though so he decided he had had enough sleep and began to catch up on paperwork so that he could have free time later to figure out a way to spend more time with Merlin.
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Merlin, after a couple hours of work, was finishing up some laundry as the servants of the castle started to flood in.
“Morning Merlin!” One said, seeing Merlin as she walked in
“Mornin’ Bri!” Merlin replied
“Hello Merlin!” One greeted
“Hi, George!” Merlin responded
“You’re here early Merlin!” One said coming up and stopping to the side of Merlin
“Hi Gwen” Merlin pegged the last peg and turned to face her. “Yeah, thought I’d get an early start in hope of free time. However, I should go wake up our lazy excuse for a King”
“You’ve been showing up early a lot, I hope you aren’t skipping meals” Gwen said concerned for Merlin’s well being “I won’t keep you though, good luck waking up Arthur at this hour.”
“I’m going to need it!” Merlin chuckled back as he left the kitchens.