"Blah, blah, blaahhh blah." That's all Merlin heard. He hated meetings. Especially ones at foreign kingdoms. Nothing was familiar to him, giving Arthur protection was harder, and the amount of times he got lost was far bigger than it should be
"Those documents documented the past trade of materials our kingdoms had and we have gone through them to find..." This was what Arthur heard. These meetings were incredibly important. Unfortunately, they were also incredibly boring. Arthur would have to deal with them.
How these meetings were so important, Merlin would never know. He was either zoning out or trying to stop Arthur from being killed. Today, it was zoning out. These meetings always took forever. By the time they were done, Merlin could take out eight assasins. He had one time.
After ages of heavy conversing, the meeting was over. The sun had gone down, and they were far from Camelot. So when the king offered them rooms, the group gladly accepted.
"Knights, please follow my lead trainer to your rooms. Arthur, please follow me," the king spoke.
Merlin wasn't sure where to go. Follow Arthur, or go with the knights who were closer to his status. Not by much though, he knew. In the end, he followed Arthur. Perhaps this king wished to get him alone to kill him.
"This way please." They followed the king up stairways, through hallways and around multiple corners. Finally they reached a door.
Opening it, he turned back to Arthur and Merlin. "I have heard of your closeness, and wish to say, that you two have lovely relationship from what I've seen." The king then smiled, before walking away briskly.
Eyebrows furrowed with a slight frown, he walked into the room. Merlin on the other hand was freaking out internally. Did this king really think them... together? Well Merlin following Arthur instead of the knights certainly hadn't helped.
"Merlin, why are you outside blushing like a maniac? Get in here and tell me what you think of this!" Arthur shouted.
Swiftly Merlin went in. The sight before him caused him to look like a shocked fish. That is if fish can even look shocked.
There was only one bed. It was king sized, which truly didn't surprise Merlin. The part that caused him to gape was the many rose petals all over the bed.
"This is quite obviously a romantic gesture... why would he give us a room like this? And what closeness was he going on about earlier? I don't understand! Merlin! What are you doing?"
"I'm looking for an imaginary place I've heard about in books called Narnia," came Merlin's annoyed reply. "I'm sleeping on the floor prat. What does it look like?"
Arthur looked at him strangely. "No you're not. Get up. The bed is big enough for both of us. You get that side and I get the other."
Sighing, Merlin did as told.
When they'd settled down. Arthur muttered, "you'd think that king Julius thought we were together!" Looking at Merlin, he noticed a blush tinge his cheeks, and his ears were bright red. "Wait... he did didn't he?"
Merlin simply nodded at the prat's relevation. Then questioned what Arthur was doing. He refused to look at first though.
Soon Arthur had built a line of pillows between the two of them. "There. Now we're not together. We're separated by a line. Just don't cross it."
"Alright sire."
In truth, Merlin was quite happy with the wall of pillows. He knew Arthur had a habit of moving in his sleep, and it was likely that Merlin would have been kicked multiple times without the pillow wall.
"Goodnight Merlin."
"Good night Sire."
..........
Slowly opening his eyes, Merlin noticed there was light and felt refreshed. This meant it was morning. He should probably find his way to the kitchen and get Arthur breakfast. Although, that was a wonderful night of sleep. He usually had nightmares, but he didn't have any that night.
Attempting to get up, he noticed there was something warm holding him. That could be right... Where was he? Who was holding him?
They were in Julius' kingdom, he remembered that much. They had been led down to their own separate room because the king had thought Arthur and Merlin were... together. It was Arthur?
Attempting to get up, the arms wrapped around him tightened and pulled him back.
Those arms were firmly wrapped around Merlin's waist. Nestled beneath his butt and upper legs were someone's thighs.
Using his legs, he pulled his lower body out of the embrace. Then he began to slip out of the arms too. He was almost out, when those arms pulled him back, and legs wrapped around his thighs.
For a while, Merlin waited for the person to wake up. Somehow listening to the soft breaths along with the warmth slowly lured him back to sleep.
.........
Overnight he had gone over the pillow wall and started hugging Merlin. Arthur had woken up as Merlin stirred. Then Merlin had tried to get out, so Arthur pulled him back. Twice. Merlin was far too comfy. When Merlin had sighed and relaxed into the embrace, he felt a flutter in his stomache. Not too long after, he had heard adorable light snores, and fallen back asleep to them.
.........
"Breakfast!" A low voice called with a knock.
Merlin had fallen off of the bed, and Arthur had sat up immediately.
"Bring it in," Arthur had called out.
After the servant had placed it on a cabinet, he swiftly left. Merlin stood up and grabbed it. Blushing, he brought it to Arthur.
"Arthur, I'm so sorry, I don't know what happ-" before he coudl finish, Arthur interrupted.
"Are you kidding? I was the one who crossed the line. Not you. Actually, I think we both slept better than usual. Neither of us had our usual nighmares. Now, if you're comfortable with it, get back in, and we'll have breakfast together."
Meekly, Merlin slid back in, and ate breakfast with Arthur. How Arthur knew about his nightmares, Merlin didn't know.
When they got back to Camelot, Arthur had told Gaius that Merlin wouldn't need his room anymore. He hadn't offered an explanation though, so the next time he saw Merlin, he raised his eyebrow.
For the next week, he couldn't talk to Arthur without blushing. In fact, he couldn't talk to a lot of people without blushing because a lot of them brought up the topic of him not living with Gaius any more.
Despite this, Merlin had never been as well rested as he was now.
.