Merlin One-Shots

Uther and the Warlock (pt1)

Uther scowled as he watched Arthur with his servant on the stairs in the square. They were laughing and smiling as if they were friends. Prince Arthur of Camelot friends with his manservant. Uther shook his head and then an idea came to him. For some bonding time, he would go hunting with just Arthur. No knights. Just father and son. Yes, then he could speak to Arthur about his friendship with that boy. What was his name again? Matthew? Maverick? Miles? "M" something.

-

"Merlin," Arthur called his servant over as his hand was on the door, he was about to leave.

"Arthur?" Merlin questioned. Arthur had just dismissed him, right after Merlin brought him his dinner.

"There was one more thing I wanted to ask..." Arthur trailed off, wondering if he was making the right choice.

"What is it?" Merlin asked, nervously. Arthur wasn't being his usual confident self and that worried him.

"My father wants to have some 'bonding time'," Arthur said "bonding time" in a mocking manner, "and go hunting. Alone. But I figured, it'll be a few days and we'll need someone to cook for us," Arthur explained, hoping to get the message across with his pleading eyes.

"Of course. What time are you leaving?" Of course Merlin understood, he always did. He didn't miss the relief in the Prince's eyes either.

"Just before noon," Arthur answered.

"I shall be there," Merlin bowed before walking out of the room.

-

Uther was scowling at his son with his servant again. He didn't understand why Arthur had to bring him. Arthur argued that he'd cook for them and help care for the horses, but Uther could tell that was a lie. He sighed, he'd have to find a different opportunity to lecture his son. They had already ridden a few hours into the forest.

"Merlin!" Arthur scolded, trying and failing to hide the smile on his face.

"Yes, Arthur?" Merlin asked innocently.

"I hate you," Arthur grumbled.

"I'm glad we're on the same page, prat," Merlin smirked. His smirk soon turned into a frown as he yelped, rubbing the spot on his head that the prince smacked.

"Let's stop here," Uther cut in, preventing any more of their unintentional flirting. They all climbed off of their horses, Merlin tried to make himself look as clumsy as possible, before getting their weapons. Merlin tied up the horses in the forest, before following the king and his-the prince.

Contrary to popular belief, Merlin can be very stealthy when he wants to be. The hunting trips that Merlin goes on with Arthur when he trips on thin air or any stick in his way, are the ones where Merin purposely trips over anything and everything or just makes as much noise as possible to scare the animal away. This time, since Uther was there, he would not be doing that.

Arthur could tell Merlin was trying really hard to be stealthy. He was happy because he couldn't be responsible for the words that would come out of his mouth if his father chose to insult hi-Merlin. Just Merlin. Not his Merlin. So when Merlin did trip and fall, ultimately scaring a deer away, he was quite surprised. He immediately went to help Merlin up and his father got angry.

"Arthur, what are you doing? He's a servant! You're a prince! You shouldn't be friends with people of lower class! And he just scared the deer away, you should be punishing him not helping him up! I don't understand why you care about him so much! He's a lowly servant why-"