The Gift that Keeps on Giving for Salamandair
Title: The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Recipient: salamandair
Author: archaeologist_d
Rating: PG
Pairing/s: Merlin&Arthur
Character/s: Arthur, Merlin, Aithusa
Summary: Merlin thought he had found the perfect Solstice gift for Arthur. How was Merlin to know that Arthur would be a prat about it?
Warnings: fluff
Word Count: 3075
Camelot drabble Holiday Gift exchange: I hope it’s what you wanted!
Author’s notes: Prompts are listed at the end of the story.
Many thanks to the mods for running this. I’m always so grateful to them for all the hard work they do running a comm and dealing with issues. You are truly inspiring!
Beta: gwyllion. She was a star for doing this! I really appreciate everything she did for me. 😊
Disclaimer: I do not own the BBC version of Merlin; They and Shine do. I am very respectfully borrowing them with no intent to profit. No money has changed hands. No copyright infringement is intended.
“What the hell is that?” Arthur yelled, grabbing his sword, and rushing toward the baby dragon. “Merlin, get back!”
In the next second, it was chaos. Merlin tried to keep Arthur from making an arse of himself while poor little Aithusa sent out a fireball in surprise, flew up to the top of Arthur’s bed curtains, clumsily enough that he almost missed the top entirely, then sat there staring down at Arthur and squeaking like a mad thing. Skrrrp, skrrrp, skrrrp.
Merlin didn’t blame Aithusa. Ignoring the problems of flames crackling in the fireplace where there had been none a moment before, the large slashes in the window curtains where Aithusa had tried to climb up earlier in the day, the half-eaten rat in the corner, and Arthur glaring at the dragon as if ready to skewer him, none of what Merlin thought would happen had gone to plan.
“He’s just a baby, you arse. Stop waving that damn sword around. You’re scaring him,” Merlin yelled, stepping in front of Arthur.
Sometimes Merlin had to yell. Arthur wasn’t always the brightest candle in the castle and ofttimes he didn’t listen, either. Usually it was just easier to sneak around Arthur’s back and hope for the best. But sometimes, Merlin had to put his foot down and push back.
Arthur didn’t stop waving his sword, but at least he stopped glaring at Aithusa. He was glaring at Merlin instead. “I’m scaring it? That? That’s a dragon. Just look at it. What did you think I’d do, you idiot? It must be destroyed.”
“He’s a baby,” Merlin shouted, waving his hands up toward the still squeaking Aithusa, his wings flapping a bit as if unsure what to do next. At least the little dragon hadn’t set Arthur’s bed on fire -yet. “Stay up there, Thusa, and try not to chew on anything. I’ll get you your supper once we’re done here.”
Sputtering, looking at Merlin as if he’d lost his mind, Arthur bellowed, “Stop treating it like it’s a pet. Have you totally lost your mind? Wait, don’t answer that. Of course, you have.”
Merlin just glared at Arthur. “If you are going to be a prat about it, I’ll just take him home with me instead.”
“It’s a dragon. You can’t take it home with you. It’s dangerous,” Arthur snarled but he wasn’t waving that stupid sword around anymore. Maybe he realised he couldn’t reach Aithusa with it, and with any luck, Arthur would come to his senses in time.
“He’s not an it. It’s a him and his name is Aithusa. How would you like it if I called you an it, you clotpole?” Merlin said, scowling at Arthur.
“Merlin, you can’t be serious. It….” Arthur must have seen how upset Merlin was about it all. Grumbling, Arthur said, “Fine, he’s a dragon. I can’t be having a dragon wandering around my bedroom. And you can’t take him home, either. Gaius would have a fit and don’t even think of what my father would do.”
Sputtering, Merlin started to say something about Gaius already knowing and giving Merlin the stink eye about it, but Arthur just ignored him.
Nodding up toward Aithusa, Arthur said, “Besides, baby or not, he will grow up and become even more dangerous. We can’t have a dragon just running around willy-nilly around Camelot and scaring people.”
“They used to run around Camelot all willy-nilly. You were telling me all about it. Hell, that’s where your name came from. Pen-dragon this, Pen-dragon that. You just went on and on about it. How your crest was a dragon design, and Camelot was the most powerful kingdom and it made sense that you’d want your crest to be like that, but I thought it was just you puffing yourself up again like you always do,” Merlin snapped, then ran over to the chest tucked into one corner of the room, and threw open the lid. “Then I found this.”
Pulling out an old toy, a soft dragon whose stuffing was starting to come out but decorated with a Pendragon mini-crest and well-loved, Merlin shook it in Arthur’s face. “Want to tell me again how you don’t like dragons, you cabbage-head?”
Arthur tossed his sword onto the table, the sound that had Aithusa flapping his wings and berating Merlin from his perch on Arthur’s bed hangings. Skrrrp, skrrrp!
But Arthur wasn’t paying attention to Aithusa or Merlin trying to hush the young dragon. Instead, staring at the toy, under his breath, sounding almost wistful, Arthur whispered, “Draca.”
Then, realising that Merlin was staring at him, turning red as Merlin waved the stuffed dragon in his face, Arthur grabbed it. After a surreptitious cuddle-hiding it as if Merlin couldn’t see him doing it at all, he put it on the bed, near the edge, but within arm’s reach. If Merlin didn’t know better, he could have sworn that Arthur was apologising to the old plaything.
When Arthur finally turned around again, his cheeks still pinked, he snapped, “I was a child. I didn’t know any better. And don’t tell me you didn’t have any toys growing up.”
“I had a stick and leaves and a bit of twine. Nothing so fine as that,” Merlin said, then gave Arthur a glare that morphed into disappointment. “You loved it once. I just hoped you would love Aithusa, too.”
“Aithusa is not a toy. He’s a dragon, you bumbling buffoon,” Arthur snapped, looking up at Aithusa with a careful eye.
Giving a very put-out huff, glaring at Arthur as if to try to pound some sense into that head of his by merely willing it so, Merlin said, “Well, he was your Solstice gift, sort of. I thought we could bond over taking care of him, but if you are going to be an absolute arse about it, you aren’t getting anything for Solstice or any other holiday, either.”
Something must have penetrated that thick head of Arthur’s. Staring at Merlin as if he’d completely lost his mind, Arthur sputtered, “Wait, what? A gift? You… you seriously thought a dragon would be a perfect gift for me? You really are an idiot.”
“Better an idiot than a baby-killing prat.” Merlin just stared eye-daggers at him.
At that, Arthur opened his mouth a couple of times, looking more like a gaping fish than prince of Camelot, before he finally said, “I am not… look, just get him out of here and we can forget the whole thing.” He looked up, then, seeming to check on a still restless Aithusa before turning back to Merlin.
Planting his fists on his hips, glowering at Arthur, Merlin huffed, “You ruined Solstice. See if I get you anything else.” Then he turned his back on the git, his voice pitching higher, opening his arms to try and placate Aithusa enough to entice him down. “He didn’t mean it, Aithusa. He’s just being a stupid donkey-head of a prince.”
“Listen to me for once, you clack-brain.” Arthur jerked Merlin around, frowning at him. He also sounded thoroughly exasperated.
Merlin wasn’t having it. “I never listen to you.” When Arthur didn’t look all that thrilled about Merlin defying him, Merlin pressed the point. “You said I can’t take him back to Gaius’s? Fine, I’ll just go home. To Ealdor.”
When Arthur gaped at him, still Merlin wasn’t going to back down. “They, at least, would be thrilled to have a dragon protecting the village. They’ll appreciate Aithusa’s fire-lighting abilities. And he’s good with catching rats right now and he’ll be even better scaring off bumbling prats and keeping people safe from thick-headed knights when he gets bigger.”
Arthur blinked at that. He must have realised that Merlin was serious, not just babbling nonsense. “Wait, you can’t leave. You have duties, you have responsibilities, you… no, absolutely not.”
“It’s me and Aithusa or no one at all. Or you could get George as your new manservant. I’m sure he’d be thrilled to regale you with brass jokes.” Merlin knew that Arthur didn’t hate George, but the man was so boring, he would drive anyone to drink.
‘By all the gods, not George,” Arthur said, horrified. Then, glancing up at a still wary but growing more curious Aithusa, Arthur let out a sigh. “Look, it’s just not possible and you have to know that, Merlin. If my father ever found out-.”
With that, Merlin knew that he had won. Arthur could throw out all the objections he liked, but Merlin knew that once he accepted Aithusa, he’d grow to love the dragon as much as Merlin did.
Grinning, he said, “He won’t. I’ve had Aithusa here for weeks and weeks and nary a peep. Besides, look at him up there. He just wants to be friends. So if you promise not to hurt him, I’ll call him down.” As Arthur gave another long, put-upon sigh, Merlin stepped back a little and gestured for Aithusa to fly down into Merlin’s arms. “Come here, Thusa. Yes, I know he’s scary but he’s got a good heart and I think he’ll love you as much as I do in time.”
Aithusa wasn’t having it, though. The little dragon kept looking at Merlin and then Arthur and chirping rapidly, almost as if he were arguing with Merlin.
“Come on, Thusa. He really is lovable. And if you are good, I’ll get you a chicken, a whole one. With potatoes. And rat pie for dessert.”
That seemed to work. With another skrrrp, Aithusa launched himself into the air, flying around Arthur’s chambers and landing neatly onto Merlin’s shoulder. It was a bit painful. Aithusa’s claws were sharp, but Merlin had been padding his shoulder with leather and wool for just such a reason and it seemed to work.
Arthur still looked horrified, ducking as Aithusa had flown around the room, then staring at him when the dragon began to berate Merlin. Skrrrp, chppp, pppph?
But Merlin just laughed. Aithusa was always telling him off, nuzzling into Merlin’s ear and searching his hair for snacks. Warm, Aithusa curled his tale around Merlin’s throat, and stared at Arthur as if waiting to see what he would do.
“He can’t stay here, though.” Arthur said, carefully. He looked as if he wasn’t sure this Aithusa wouldn’t fly straight into his face and tear him apart.
“Your antechamber is fine. And he’s been staying with me at mine, too.” Merlin gave Arthur a grin. “Gaius really didn’t like it but just look at Aithusa. Who could say no to that cute face?”
“My antechamber has an inch of dust because someone whose job it is to clean it hasn’t done it in years.” One eyebrow raised in challenge, Arthur glared at Merlin as if it were Merlin’s fault. Which it was.
“So no one would know, then. It’s perfect. And when Aithusa gets too big, we’ve a cave under the castle ready.” Merlin gave Aithusa a little head nudge, then moved closer to Arthur.
Arthur didn’t step away, he didn’t, although Merlin could see that Arthur was fighting his instinct to back up. But Merlin kept smiling and stroking the little dragon who was purring rather than screeching and as he got close enough, Merlin said, “He won’t bite. And he likes his neck scratched, right below his chin.” Merlin turned toward Aithusa and rubbed his cheek against Aithusa’s head. “Don’t you, Thusa? You like scritches? Scritches?”
Rolling his eyes a little as Merlin’s voice rose into babyish talk, Arthur reached out, slowly, and touched Aithusa’s head. Aithusa trilled at that and elongated his neck as Arthur began to scratch him under his chin.
Before Merlin could say ‘Prince Prat is a cabbagehead,’ Arthur was smiling. “He’s warm and softer than I thought he’d be.”
With Aithusa purring and chasing after Arthur’s fingers for more scritches, Merlin said, “He likes you. You want to hold him?”
Arthur looked like he didn’t know what to say, half worried, half eager. “I… umm.”
“So the brave knight is afraid of a little baby dragon?” Merlin raised one eyebrow in challenge, then stepped closer so that Arthur didn’t have to really stretch to pet Aithusa.
Lifting his chin, glaring at Merlin, Arthur said, “I am not afraid of anything.”
Aithusa gave a little pppft, making Merlin laugh. Apparently, even Aithusa could see that Arthur was just making up excuses when what he really wanted to do was play.
Decision made, Merlin leaned over, touching Arthur’s shoulder with his own and in the blink of an eye, Aithusa was settling himself down on Arthur, little tail around his neck, his paws already messing with Arthur’s hair.
Arthur looked a bit wild-eyed, trying to see what Aithusa was doing without knocking the little dragon off, but Merlin watched them both with satisfaction. “He’s perfect for you. Aren’t you, Thusa?”
“He has sharp claws,” Arthur grumbled, but didn’t stop petting Aithusa. “Ow, that hurt.”
Letting out a little chirp, sounding almost like an apology, Aithusa settled back down, his head rubbing against Arthur’s ear, and let out a little puff of smoke.
“I had the same problem with him at first. He doesn’t know how sharp his claws are but he’s better than he was. I can’t tell you how many shirts he ruined. But I’ll pad up one of your jackets like I do mine,” Merlin said, then glancing at the window and the tears in the curtains there, he grimaced a little. “I do need to… umm… sew a few things. But our biggest problem is how much he eats.”
Aithusa looked up at that, his golden eyes glancing toward the far corner where the dead rat lay, then launched himself off Arthur, flying around the room a moment before settling down and chomping on rat leftovers.
Merlin nodded toward Aithusa. “See, rat problem solved.”
“It would appear that even baby dragons are smarter than you.” Arthur shook his head, probably remembering the last time they had that discussion about rats and getting rid of them. And admittedly, Merlin was pants at it. So with Aithusa around, it was a win-win.
I would think my father would be the bigger problem,” Arthur said, sounding worried.
“Nah, it’s fine. We’ve lots of places to hide him and once he’s big enough, then he’ll be able to take care of himself. Besides, if anyone notices him, we’ll just say he’s the castle cat.” When Arthur just looked at him like he’d been dropped on his head one too many times, Merlin grinned.
Before Merlin could say anything else, Aithusa finished the rat and hopped up onto Arthur’s bed, settling down next to the raggedy stuffed dragon of Arthur’s, and closing his eyes. He was asleep in seconds.
“He looks nothing like a cat,” Arthur pointed out, sounding like he couldn’t believe that Merlin was that stupid. He flicked one finger on Merlin’s forehead, shaking his head as he did. “You idiot.”
But when Arthur turned back to Aithusa, Merlin quickly muttered a spell, one of transformation, although to be fair, it might have been a recipe for Gaius’s terrible soup.
Luckily, it worked. On the bed was a fluffy white cat, a bit oddly shaped, but still dozing. His tail flicked a bit, and he let out a little thrupp before twisting his head around and under the stuffed dragon and went back to sleep.
Of course, the prat couldn’t let well enough alone. He jerked back, sputtering, “What the hell? Is that…? Does he have magic?”
But before Merlin could deny it or try and weave some kind of devious story, Arthur slapped his hand over Merlin’s mouth. “No, I don’t want to know. I don’t.”
Wanting to laugh at Arthur’s horrified yet curious expression, instead, Merlin licked Arthur’s palm. It was a bit salty but he could tell that Arthur had been eating honey cakes. Arthur, on the other hand, was livid, jerking his hand away just as fast as he could, and wiping it off on Merlin’s shirt. “That is disgusting.”
“Yeah, not the cook’s best work. I think Rose makes better cakes although Elamere’s apple crumble is the best.” Then Merlin smacked his lips, grinning a gormless grin at Arthur, and batting his eyelashes.
“What the hell are you on about?” Arthur shook his head. “Never mind. You are a head louse in search of meaning and I don’t want to talk about it. We’ve gone down enough rabbit holes as it is.” Nodding toward the bed, he said, “So, is that Aithusa or some other creature you haven’t told me about yet?”
“Nope, just Aithusa. He’ll change back in a bit,” Merlin said, his grin widening. “I thought you’d like him. You and he have a lot in common. Stubborn, not all that bright, likes to make my life difficult.”
“Hey,” Arthur protested, scowling hard enough to worry anyone who didn’t know him well.
But Merlin just laughed. “Makes a mess of everything but is cute in a weird off-putting kind of way.” Arthur was still sputtering but perked up at the cute remark. Merlin ignored him, of course. “And thinks the world revolves around them.”
“I do not make a mess,” Arthur grumbled.
“And there he is, the centre of the universe,” Merlin reached over and punched Arthur’s arm, much like the thick knights would do to each other. Arthur seemed to like that kind of thing. And as Arthur rubbed the spot, Merlin said, “Happy Solstice, Arthur. And oh, I’ll replace the curtains when I get a chance.”
Arthur rolled his eyes, then gave Merlin a quick smile. “Happy Solstice indeed.”
With that, Arthur snuck over to a drowsy Aithusa and began petting him, gingerly at first but relaxing into it when Aithusa began humming in delight. The dragon was really a ridiculous-looking cat, oddly shaped as if a combination of dragon and cat, but his fur/skin was soft and Aithusa’s joy in Arthur’s attentions was so endearing that Merlin relaxed.
And it wasn’t ridiculous at all when Arthur started whispering to Aithusa, asking him if he wanted to play or if he wanted part of that herb-encrusted capon Arthur had ordered for supper, and wasn’t Merlin silly for worrying while Aithusa rubbed his face against Arthur’s leg and trilled at all the attention.
Apparently, it was going to be all right after all.
It was going to be the best Solstice ever.