Chapter Text
“So, Merlin,” Leon slurs, stumbling towards the young sorcerer.
Merlin laughs at Leon’s drunken moves, but Leon, obviously drunk off his mind, doesn’t notice. The knight is followed by others, Gwaine, Elyan and Percival, nursing their own drinks.
“Tell us,” Leon says, after taking a big gulp of his drink. “If the rumour is true.”
The knights all laugh, clearly pleased with Leon’s choice of conversation. They all have a glint of amusement in their eyes, with genuine curiosity specked in there somewhere. Merlin finds this suspicious, but a lot of things the knights do are quite so.
“What rumour?” Merlin asks, because he doesn't know there's a rumour going around.
Knowing the knights, it can honestly be anything. Merlin isn’t that close to any other workers from the castle, so it’s pretty acceptable that he doesn’t know about any rumours. However, seeing the immense amusement the knights got when they talked about it made the young sorcerer quite curious.
“The rumour of you and Arthur,” Gwaine grins, raising his eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner, which confuses Merlin.
Merlin is shocked at Gwaine’s statement. And especially by the look the knight had given him, meaning the rumour was of sexual nature.
“W-what? What rumour about Arthur and I?”
At this question, the knights start to laugh once more, as if this is one of the funniest things they have ever heard. There’s a lot of waving arms as they laugh and Merlin shrinks away slowly, not sure he wants to take part in this coming conversation.
“C’mon, Merlin! You both think we can’t see it, but we do. No use denying it,” Percival puts in, smacking Merlin’s back and therefore bringing him back into the conversation.
Merlin is getting more and more confused by the second. Why would anyone talk about him and Arthur? Arthur’s the king of Camelot, that’s understandable. But Merlin? He’s just a servant. Sure, to the king, but that doesn’t matter, a lot of servants work under Arthur, only maybe not as personally and closely as Merlin does. But still, Merlin doesn’t see why anyone would talk about them together, no less start a rumour about them.
“I- I don’t understand,” Merlin says, wide eyed.
“Oh, please! You and Arthur don’t even try to hide. It’s so obvious what you both do behind his closed bedchamber doors .” Gwaine says, snickering like a child, the knights quickling joining with their own giggles.
“What we do ? We don’t do anything! W- why would anyone think we’re doing things?” Merlin exclaims.
“Well we often find you both rummaging around the castle very oddly.” Leon laughs drunkenly. “It’s very suspicious.”
“Oh and Merlin ,” Gwaine exclaims, barely being able to talk through his chuckles. “ Merlin is always so flushed around our beloved king.”
“Don’t forget Arthur’s heart eyes!” Elyan reminds the knights, snickering into his beer.
“W-what heart eyes?” Merlin asks, eyes wide.
“Oh you oblivious pup! Arthur looks at you with such adoration in his eyes he looks like a madman in love!” Gwaine laughs, slapping at Elyan's chest as he nods his head in agreement.
“Once he’d given Guinevere those looks but now,” Percival hiccuped, “ Now it’s you, Merlin! ”
Merlin doesn’t know how to process the information given to him by the knights. Were they telling the truth about the way Arthur looked at him? The young sorcerer doesn’t know if he should feel horrified at all the things he apparently missed, or happy about the way Arthur supposedly felt about him.
“Oh, oh! And how else would you explain how disoriented and messy you both look when coming out of his bedchamber?” Elyan points out excitedly.
Merlin is his servant! Of course, they spend a lot of time together in Arthur’s room. Merlin spends most of his time dressing the king and cleaning his room. Sure, he might look roughed up when he comes out, but that’s only because he spends his time working while arguing with Arthur. (Which is a lot of work.)
“That's because we fight all the time! Haven't you noticed how much we're at each other's throats all the time?” Merlin tries to explain, flushing in exasperation.
“Oh, don't we just!” Leon says, turning Merlin's words against him, which made all the knights laugh loudly.
“No! Not- not like that!” Merlin tries to regain the argument but the knights are too busy laughing.
They’re all so frustrating to talk to! Merlin can never put some sense into them, especially not when they’re drunk. It’s absolutely impossible to try to convince them of anything when they’re drinking.
“What's so funny?” Arthur asks, appearing beside Merlin.
Merlin jumps, hoping the king hadn’t heard their conversation. Merlin’s surprised by his appearance; Arthur had earlier refused the knights request to join them for drinks at the tavern. Merlin wonders why Arthur decided to come after all.
“Oh look who it is, Merlin!” Leon says, smirking widely at the king. “It’s-”
“Your king. ” Merlin says, trying to divert the conversation.
“Oh, yes, of course. And your-”
“My king too, yes. Thank you, Leon ,” Merlin says through his teeth, trying to dismiss the knight and avoid the conversation Leon is trying to continue.
“I'm sorry, what's happening?” Arthur asked, quite confused by Leon’s strange behaviour and Merlin’s tenseness at Leon’s words.
“Oh, n- nothing they're just drunk of their minds.” Merlin said, his voice wavering. “They're not thinking straight.”
“And neither are you, eh, Merlin?” Gwaine laughed, shoving at Merlin's shoulder, making him tumble into Arthur's chest.
Arthur takes Merlin’s shoulders to straighten him out, his hands lingering. Arthur gives a reassuring smile at the young sorcerer, which Merlin strikes as a bit odd. Usually Arthur would kindly shove Merlin off of him, not linger.
“Alright, Merlin?” Arthur asks at Merlin’s quietness.
“Yes,” Merlin croaks out. He clears his throat out, his ears tingeing in embarrassment. “Yes, my lord,” Merlin regains.
The knights are now giggling amongst themselves, obviously entertained by Merlin and Arthur’s interaction. Merlin sees Percival smirk and whisper something into the other's ears.
“Ah! I'm out of beer!” Percival exclaims, sounding immensely staged. “I should get some more. Gwaine, Elyan, Leon, care to join me?”
“Yes, I'd love a refill myself,” Gwaine chuckles, but Merlin can very well see the knights’ drinks are very near full.
“I have no idea what just happened and I'm a bit afraid to ask…” Arthur says, watching the knights walk away. He looks back at Merlin, eyes squinting in skepticism.
“Nothing to worry about, sire,” Merlin laughs awkwardly.
“Are you sure you're alright, Merlin?” Arthur looks at him worriedly. “You're acting a bit odd.”
“No, I'm not!” Merlin exclaims, making the king tilt his head.
Merlin lowers his head when he realized his tone had told Arthur the complete opposite of his statement. Merlin purses his lips as he casts the king a sheepish look.
“The knights were just joking around, is all. Telling me things,” Merlin says with a hesitant laugh, without revealing the topic of conversation the knights had engaged Merlin in.
“Such as…?”
“Nothing, my lord,” Merlin says with difficulty.
Arthur is very skeptical of Merlin's behaviour. He’s never usually so nervous and almost never uses Arthur's formal names when they're alone (even when he does, it's said in a mocking tone). Even now, they are being overused, as if Merlin needs to remind himself of Arthur’s position.
“Mer-”
“Well it's getting a bit late, isn't it? I should be going, heading off to bed. Getting up bright and early,” Merlin rushes, already starting to walk away from Arthur. “Goodnight, sire.”
And with that, Merlin runs off, leaving Arthur confused as all hell.