Merlin one shots

Mind reading gone wrong

When Arthur was taking a bath, Merlin may have looked when he shouldn't have and pictured... an erotic image. Arthur had jumped in shock and ordered Merlin to get out immediately.

Ashamed of himself, Merlin hadn't said a word. He'd simply raced out blushing like a madman.

.........

The amount of times this type of thing had happened was extremely embarrassing. Truly horrid. Arthur now held a knowing smirk on his face whenever Merlin came in sight. After seeing this knowing smirk, Merlin would blush and not look at anybody for a good few minutes.

At this point the knights had noticed a change and were asking what had happened between the two. Each time someone questioned Merlin, he would get flustered before giving a terrible excuse as to why he needed to go. On the other hand, Arthur would just smirk playfully, before going back to whatever he was doing.

Sleeping had all but disappeared for Merlin. He was either thinking about one of the... situations, or researching how to get rid of it. It took him a week and a half to find a possible solution. It wouldn't be totally effective, but it would work for now.

The next part was slightly more challenging. Speaking a full sentence to Arthur without wishing to die.

"Ar-arthur?"

"Yes Merlin?"

"I think I've found a way to st-stop you from reading my mind. I mean, all minds."

Arthur couldn't decide if this was a good thing or not. He would stop hearing the thousands of muddled voices from all around Camelot. Hearing thoughts had also been quite a blessing when it came to battles, arguments or finding traitors. Recently Arthur had heard a few of Agravaine's thoughts and it had become quite clear whose side he was on. Despite this, trying to fiture out what was said and what was thought was rather hard.

"Oh? Do tell Merlin."

"This spell that he did on you, it wasn't just a spell. It was a complete transfer of..." Merlin didn't even say the last word. He simply thought Magic and Arthur understood. "He basically gave you his own ability from what I understand. You need a decent amount of magic to transfer it to someone else, so that's off the table. The next option is to learn to control it. This would take lots of practice."

Nodding, Arthur confirmed that transferring was definitely not an option. By learning to control it, he could still use it but it wouldn't plague him every second of the day. "So how would we go about this... practice?"

Taking a breath, Merlin expelled his nervousness and began, "well there's only so much research I can do, so the best bet would be to find someone with the same ability. For now we can try exercises from inside of books."

"So someone magical or you?"

Merlin didn't really know how to respond to that. "Well technically yes."

"Y'know if someone had this ability around you Merlin, we would've all been dead by now. You think way too much."

Merlin replied, "I know sire, its one of my weaknesses. Everyone has one. Including you." He attempted to add a joke.

"Yes, I know. One example of you thinking too much was you debating how you could kill Agravaine."

At this Merlin paused. There had been multiple ways. Most of them involving magic. Merlin quietly muttered, "sugar honey ice tea." (Get the reference?)

"Between the times you sound insane, your thoughts explain a lot. Don't worry though, I wouldn't get rid of you." Walking away, Arthur remembered what their earlier conversation was about. "For now, you'll teach me, but if you can find someone who can teach me, that would be great."

.........

Months later, Arthur had figured out how to control his mind reading. Whenever he wanted, he could listen to other's thoughts, and he could stop whenever he wanted.

This had come in handy for literally everything. Arthur could get some peace and quiet without going into the wilderness. Multiple times Arthur had found out who was a spy/ assassin before Merlin did. Arthur could also tell if an enemy kingdom truly was seeking an alliance or if it was a trick.

Despite all this, his favourite by far was listening to Merlin's thoughts. Believing that once he gained control of it, Arthur would stop listening to his thoughts, Merlin let his thoughts wander.

This was one of the things that got Arthur through boring meetings, parties and unamusing performances. Thoughts from Merlin like, what in the world Is she wairing? Or that guy is so needy, he wouldn't survive a day without his wife. And sometimes the inappropriate thoughts about what he would do to Arthur if he could. Those inappropriate thoughts were usually followed by profanities and hopes that Arthur wasn't listening to him.

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