Merlin; comment fic; De-aged!Arthur
Another comment_fic post. Merlin this time, and all in the same 'verse.
Title: The Last Place you Look
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 508
Warnings: Schmoop
Pairing/Characters: Merlin, wee!Arthur, Slash Dragon
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, or any of it's characters, these fics are purely for entertainment purposes.
Author's Note: This entire series comes from prompts by merry_gentry on comment_fic.
Summary: Arthur's been turned into a kid and Merlin's struggling to look after him.
The cooks haven’t seen him, nor have the stable boys. He’s not in his chambers, or the throne room or Morgana’s chambers (because he’s still Arthur even if he has been turned into a tiny boy with chubby cheeks and a mischievous grin). He’s not in the tallest tower or in the lowest basement. He’s not even, and Merlin had to grit his teeth before he went down there, down in the dragon’s cave.
Although the ‘Great Dragon’ did have some advice to dispense, as usual.
He will be in the last place you look.
Honestly, sometimes Merlin wasn’t even sure why he bothered.
Fine, so then the beast had corrected himself to the last place you’d think to look, but still. It was useless advice.
He was just lucky that no one had told Uther that he’d misplaced his ensorcelled son and heir yet. His fault or not, every second Arthur was missing his head felt as though it was attached that little bit more loosely.
After a good afternoon’s worth of searching, he trudged back into Gaius’ chambers and, without even a smile at the physician, headed up to his room to collapse on the bed. No one had told him, when he had started working there, how many staircases the bloody place had, nor how much energy it took to run up and down them after some five year old brat of a Prince.
True, no one had expected Arthur to regress to a five year old and start pulling Morgana’s hair again, but that was beside the point. Someone should have taken Merlin aside and said, firmly but kindly, never go up to the North tower… ever, your legs will never be the same again and your entire chest will be in agony. But no one had.
He fell backwards onto his bed with an oof as the air rushed out of his lungs, and a strange squeak that sounded like a giggle.
A lot like a giggle… in fact, Merlin thought it sounded very much like the giggle of a five year old boy who had been hiding under his bed waiting for this exact moment.
“Arthur?” he said to his ceiling. The giggle came again and Merlin felt a lump, which he had presumed to just be part of his less than perfect mattress, move. The whole bed shook slightly. “Arthur, come out… very funny.”
There was a shuffling sound from under the bed and the lump under Merlin’s back disappeared. Seconds later a red faced child-Prince with a face-splitting grin and a smudge of dirt across one cheek was looking at him.
Merlin couldn’t help but smile back. But he really should have paid more attention, because the moment he relaxed, a look came across Arthur’s face that reminded him of his older self, standing on the practise field, about to take advantage of another knight’s weakness.
Seconds later and a blur of red and gold with blond hair had pounced on his stomach and Arthur’s giggles echoed round the room.
-
Title: Nap Time
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 530
Warnings: Even more schmoop... if that's possible
Pairing/Characters: Merlin, wee!Arthur
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur's determined that he's not tired.
Arthur’s energy eventually ran out. Merlin was almost surprised when it happened after he’d been forced to play evil enchanter and evil monster and evil warlord over and over again while Arthur ran at him with a short wooden sword Morgana had presented him with earlier that morning. He should have known better than to be grateful when she had that arch little smile on her face.
But now that he had bruised Merlin’s bruises, after leading him on a merry tour of the castle and forcing him to sing every song his mother had ever taught him (but not every song Will had ever taught him because, while he is singing to Arthur, there are some things it just doesn’t seem right to mention in front of a child that small. Maybe he’ll sing those when Arthur’s back to himself and they’re getting over this with a large quantity of wine).
“’mnot tired,” Arthur informed him, rubbing at his eyes with a small fist and glaring.
“Really?” Merlin asked watching as Arthur struggled to contain a yawn. The Prince’s size might have changed, but Arthur was just as stubborn and annoying as ever.
“Really.” Arthur crossed his arms over his chest and glared, the same glare Merlin had seen a million times before. It said very clearly ‘I am a Prince and I refuse to show weakness… ever.’ It was the same glare that came after Arthur had received the blow to the head , and when he was recovering from the questing beast, and when he had been going to battle Tristan and… most of the time really. “’mno-ot.” He yawned halfway through the sentence, leaving Merlin with no room for doubt.
“Arthur... just get into bed.”
“’m a prince… can’t… say that…” Arthur told him, but he obediently clambered into bed, disregarding his clothes, and tunnelled under the covers. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go.
He had almost reached the door when he heard a slither of fabric and the soft pad of small feet on the stone floor. Drawing in a breath, ready to pick Arthur up and carry him back to bed - Prince or no Prince, he turned around.
Arthur ran and hugged his legs, holding on hard, pressing his face against Merlin’s thigh with a small “g’nite, Merlin.” Before Merlin picked him up and began to carry him back. Arthur’s arms fastened round his neck and he pushed his face into Merlin’s neck so that his manservant could feel his breath puffing out and gradually evening.
The Prince had fallen asleep before they even made it across the room. Merlin settled him down in the bed, smiling at the thought that when Arthur was back, this was going to be worth it just for the look on the Prince’s face. He drew up the thick covers around Arthur’s shoulders as he watched the little boy curl into a ball and brushed some blond hair away from the boy’s forehead. Letting out a weary sigh, he smiled and headed for the door again. Unless this was just a day long curse, then he was going to have another long day tomorrow.
-
Title: Back to Normal
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 638
Warnings: Fluff, fluff and more fluff
Pairing/Characters: Merlin/re-aged!Arthur
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur's himself again, but he misses it a bit.
Merlin was relieved when he got to Arthur’s room that morning to find him his normal obnoxious and, most importantly, adult self. He wasn’t even a little bit upset or disappointed. Five-year old Arthur had been a self-absorbed hell-brat who had run him ragged and given him more bruises and aches than his normal self ever did. It was good that the curse had lifted - unexpected, but good.
Gaius had hmmed and hahed over Arthur for a minute or two, before announcing that the spell must have required too much power to last for very long. He had also shot Merlin a knowing glance, but Merlin had shaken his head firmly. He had definitely not had anything to do with that… Unless he was doing advanced magic in his sleep now.
Arthur had been giving him strange looks too, but Merlin had shaken them off. Arthur was bound to look at things a little strangely after having been a child again for a day. It was nothing to worry about.
It certainly didn’t seem to distract Arthur from giving him enough chores to keep the entire household busy. He was still tired from the day before, but he still had to do loads of laundry, tidy away all the things that Arthur had thrown across the floor of his chambers the previous day (and when exactly had the Prince managed to steal Morgana’s jewellery anyway?), fetch and carry for him, prepare him for training, prepare him for dinner, take extra care of his horse and run errands from Arthur to his father. Most of the messages he was sent with were so inane - did Uther have any special instructions for the feast that night - that Merlin knew that Arthur was running him ragged on purpose.
Dinner came and went, Merlin poured Arthur’s wine and made quiet comments about the other people there, from the way a lady to their right was only pretending to drink her wine, to one of the older lords who was quite blatantly trying to seduce a serving girl under his wife’s watchful eye.
When they got back to their room again Arthur was watching him with the same long, curious gaze.
“What is it?” Merlin asked, feeling uncomfortable. Arthur blinked and looked down at the table in front of him for a second before swallowing and turning back, his face determined.
“Thank you…” Arthur said. “For yesterday.” Merlin stared back. That he hadn’t been expected. Maybe a variation on ‘we must never talk about that ever again’ or ‘Merlin why have you got dirt all over your face’, but not thank you.
“Uh… that’s fine, any time,” he said.
“I hope that’s not going to happen again,” Arthur told him with a small smile.
“You know what I mean,” Merlin said hurriedly, trying not to think that he really wouldn’t mind that much if it did happen again, because Arthur the brat wasn’t really as bad as all that… really. He took a deep breath. “I’ll be leaving then… see you tomorrow.” He bowed perfunctorily and headed for the door.
He was about to turn the handle when he felt Arthur’s hand on his arm, pulling him back slightly. He turned to find Arthur’s face only inches away, looking slightly conflicted.
“Merlin…” the Prince said, “yesterday… I.” Arthur brought his eyes up to meet Merlin’s, his jaw set stubbornly with a look of complete determination. “I miss naptime,” he said.
Merlin almost burst out laughing there and then, only the seriousness on Arthur’s face stopped him, and the warm weight of his hand on his arm. He let out a shaking breath, somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh and nodded a little. He raised one hand, almost shyly and swept a lock of Arthur’s hair away from his forehead.
“So do I.”
-
Title: A Most Dangerous Quest
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 558
Warnings: Slightly cracktastic fluff
Pairing/Characters: wee!Arthur, Morgana, Gwen
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur braves terrible dangers in order to rescue the treasure from the evil monster.
There was no time to wait for reinforcements, it was now or never. He had to cross the clearing to reach any sort of cover at all, and from there it was a series of ducks and dodges to the far end: the far end where the treasure was waiting.
Of course, that was if he managed to evade the beast that roamed this area.
He checked the sword in his hand, feeling the palm begin to sweat a little and took in a deep breath, as he had seen his father do before starting something unpleasant.
This was it, the moment of truth.
Arthur ran across the stone floor as silently as he could, a small dash of red and blond, biting his lip to keep quiet. It was important that he remain completely silent.
He brought the hand not holding his sword up to his mouth to stifle a giggle and peered his head around the table leg he was currently behind.
The beast hadn’t noticed. It still stood at the far end of the room, staring out of the window, its long dark fur blowing in the breeze. He heaved a sigh of relief. The next bit was the difficult part.
He darted from hiding place to hiding place until he was at the small table on the other side of the room, where the looking glass sat. He scrambled up onto the chair and, keeping one eye on where Morgana stood, oblivious to his presence, he leaned over to tug the large wooden box containing the treasure over to him. It was heavier than it looked and he had to move it very, very, slowly so that it didn’t make a whisper of a noise. If he made a sound then all was lost.
When it was finally within reach he slowly opened the lid, sticking his tongue out between his teeth in concentration.
There it was - the treasure of Camelot, he had found it.
Now he had to get out of there.
He grabbed the treasure, sticking it into the money purse he had taken from Merlin earlier, pushing in the pieces of chain that still hung out before tying it up firmly. One of his fingers almost got caught in the knot as he struggled to tie it, but he freed it and then he was off. No time for cover this time, just a straight run across the room and out the door.
He set off as soon as his feet touched the ground, speeding towards the door.
As he reached it, the wood swung open and he collided with someone’s legs.
“What…?” Arthur looked up, eyes wide. It was over. He’d been found. Gwen looked down at him, over the basket of laundry she was returning, with a confused smile. “Ar… Your highness,” she said, startled. Arthur could hear the monster stirring from its place by the window. He had to get out of there fast. “What are you doing here?” Gwen asked.
Arthur bowed as low as he could, smiling at her, before dashing round her legs and haring off down the corridor towards his chambers, where Merlin would be waiting for him, no doubt.
As he reached the end of the corridor and hurtled round the corner towards the stairs, he could hear Morgana’s voice calling his name.
-
Title: Grown up Too Fast
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 467
Warnings: None
Pairing/Characters: re-aged!Arthur, Knights, Merlin
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Things are so much easier for a five year old.
“Good to have you back, sire,” Kay said, grasping Arthur’s arm firmly in greeting.
“Good to be back,” he replied, trying to shake off the part of his brain that remembered the previous day, running at imaginary creatures, sword held high, never even thinking of the word fear. It was too simple to be brave when you were five years old and had no concept of the future.
The knights were watching him as they usually do, totally respectful, totally in control. Their armour was polished, their heads held high. They stood in rows, prepared to go through the formations.
For the first time in years Arthur wanted to throw down his sword and just run - somewhere, anywhere. These were his friends, his companions and yet still they stood on ceremony with him. He was proud of their respect, proud of his ability to command, and pleased with the patching pride he saw in his father’s eyes when he watched his son, the Prince of Camelot, put his knights through their paces.
Yesterday Lionel and Kay had laughingly hidden him from Merlin when he came looking. They had perched him on top of his war horse and answered his ridiculous questions when he had asked them.
Today they stood firm by his side and…
At the side of the field, Merlin was standing watching them intently, as he did now and then. He didn’t look the same as yesterday either. His usual inane grin had been replaced by a small frown of confusion, and Arthur, even as he opened his mouth to begin calling out the patterns, wanted it to be yesterday again, and for his biggest worry to be Morgana glaring at him or Merlin getting bored.
The moves were automatic once he began, he was glad to find that his body had lost none of its strength or speed because of the inconvenience, and he kept an eye on the knights in front of him as they swung their swords into position.
Bors leant too much to his right, Lionel was over-extending. They should be sharper, more precise.
Arthur remembered brandishing his wooden sword with more enthusiasm than skill, and chasing Merlin down a corridor. If only real monsters were that easy. If only he had that much fun with a blade in his hands these days.
Merlin was still standing by the side of the training field, rubbing at one of his ears absently. Arthur could see that he was still tired from the day before. He’d had the man running after him all day, until he’d practically fallen asleep in his arms.
He’d have to do something about that, too.
It was so easy to feel safe when you were young, but he had a feeling he had Merlin to thank for that.
-
Title: Hide and Seek
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 491
Warnings: fluff
Pairing/Characters: wee!Arthur, Merlin
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur ropes Merlin into playing hide and seek... properly.
Arthur has his small hands clenched tightly over his eyes as he counts haphazardly upwards. There have been a few numbers missing along the way - most numbers with a seven in, for instance - and Merlin’s beginning to think that a hundred isn’t as far away as it should be.
It was fine when they were playing this the other way round, and Arthur was the one crawling under beds and behind chests and into tiny nooks and crannies of the castle that Merlin never knew existed. But Merlin’s not really small enough to do that. The only place he can really think of hiding himself is behind the curtain and he has a sneaking suspicion that Arthur would not be happy with that.
He’d been about to start counting again himself when the Prince, although tiny still as bossy as ever, had pushed him over to the door with the command “‘s your turn now.”
‘Sevendy four, sevendy sevendy seven…” Arthur continues, apparently trying to make up for lost sevens, and Merlin sighs. He ducks behind the curtain and arranges it so that at least it covers his toes. He’ll be found in about half a second, but it shows willing.
“Ninety five, one hundred,” Arthur announces, and Merlin hears his friend laugh as he removes his hands from his eyes, and run to the door.
Before he gets there though, he pauses and turns before the small footsteps make their way slowly to where Merlin is standing.
A small finger pokes him in the thigh through the thick material of the curtain, poking again harder before Arthur rips the curtain away and Merlin is face to leg with the Prince.
Arthur isn’t happy. His bottom lip is stuck out as he pouts, and he crosses his arms over his small body, slumping his shoulders.
“You’re supposed to hide, Merlin…” he says.
“I did hide.”
“Not good ‘nuff,” Arthur dismisses his manservant’s hiding skills with as much arrogance and disdain as his older self dismisses his mental capabilities. “Now… Now we hafta start all over again from one. And we’ll repeat it until you do it properly.”
His last sentence sounds almost identical to his father’s voice and intonation, except for being several octaves higher, and Merlin sighs.
“Yes sire,” he says in his most put upon voice, and Arthur beams.
Reluctantly the corners of Merlin’s mouth twitch up his face in the force of Arthur’s smile. He’s grateful he wasn’t in Camelot when Arthur was actually young, he doubts even he would have been able to say no.
Arthur bounds across the room to throw himself face down on the bed and covers his eyes with his hands again, beginning to count up from one again.
Merlin opens the door to the chambers taking a deep breath. He thinks he might have seen some possible hiding places in the kitchens, and, if not, he can always distract Arthur with sweetcakes.
-
Title: The Last Place you Look
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 508
Warnings: Schmoop
Pairing/Characters: Merlin, wee!Arthur, Slash Dragon
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, or any of it's characters, these fics are purely for entertainment purposes.
Author's Note: This entire series comes from prompts by merry_gentry on comment_fic.
Summary: Arthur's been turned into a kid and Merlin's struggling to look after him.
The cooks haven’t seen him, nor have the stable boys. He’s not in his chambers, or the throne room or Morgana’s chambers (because he’s still Arthur even if he has been turned into a tiny boy with chubby cheeks and a mischievous grin). He’s not in the tallest tower or in the lowest basement. He’s not even, and Merlin had to grit his teeth before he went down there, down in the dragon’s cave.
Although the ‘Great Dragon’ did have some advice to dispense, as usual.
He will be in the last place you look.
Honestly, sometimes Merlin wasn’t even sure why he bothered.
Fine, so then the beast had corrected himself to the last place you’d think to look, but still. It was useless advice.
He was just lucky that no one had told Uther that he’d misplaced his ensorcelled son and heir yet. His fault or not, every second Arthur was missing his head felt as though it was attached that little bit more loosely.
After a good afternoon’s worth of searching, he trudged back into Gaius’ chambers and, without even a smile at the physician, headed up to his room to collapse on the bed. No one had told him, when he had started working there, how many staircases the bloody place had, nor how much energy it took to run up and down them after some five year old brat of a Prince.
True, no one had expected Arthur to regress to a five year old and start pulling Morgana’s hair again, but that was beside the point. Someone should have taken Merlin aside and said, firmly but kindly, never go up to the North tower… ever, your legs will never be the same again and your entire chest will be in agony. But no one had.
He fell backwards onto his bed with an oof as the air rushed out of his lungs, and a strange squeak that sounded like a giggle.
A lot like a giggle… in fact, Merlin thought it sounded very much like the giggle of a five year old boy who had been hiding under his bed waiting for this exact moment.
“Arthur?” he said to his ceiling. The giggle came again and Merlin felt a lump, which he had presumed to just be part of his less than perfect mattress, move. The whole bed shook slightly. “Arthur, come out… very funny.”
There was a shuffling sound from under the bed and the lump under Merlin’s back disappeared. Seconds later a red faced child-Prince with a face-splitting grin and a smudge of dirt across one cheek was looking at him.
Merlin couldn’t help but smile back. But he really should have paid more attention, because the moment he relaxed, a look came across Arthur’s face that reminded him of his older self, standing on the practise field, about to take advantage of another knight’s weakness.
Seconds later and a blur of red and gold with blond hair had pounced on his stomach and Arthur’s giggles echoed round the room.
-
Title: Nap Time
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 530
Warnings: Even more schmoop... if that's possible
Pairing/Characters: Merlin, wee!Arthur
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur's determined that he's not tired.
Arthur’s energy eventually ran out. Merlin was almost surprised when it happened after he’d been forced to play evil enchanter and evil monster and evil warlord over and over again while Arthur ran at him with a short wooden sword Morgana had presented him with earlier that morning. He should have known better than to be grateful when she had that arch little smile on her face.
But now that he had bruised Merlin’s bruises, after leading him on a merry tour of the castle and forcing him to sing every song his mother had ever taught him (but not every song Will had ever taught him because, while he is singing to Arthur, there are some things it just doesn’t seem right to mention in front of a child that small. Maybe he’ll sing those when Arthur’s back to himself and they’re getting over this with a large quantity of wine).
“’mnot tired,” Arthur informed him, rubbing at his eyes with a small fist and glaring.
“Really?” Merlin asked watching as Arthur struggled to contain a yawn. The Prince’s size might have changed, but Arthur was just as stubborn and annoying as ever.
“Really.” Arthur crossed his arms over his chest and glared, the same glare Merlin had seen a million times before. It said very clearly ‘I am a Prince and I refuse to show weakness… ever.’ It was the same glare that came after Arthur had received the blow to the head , and when he was recovering from the questing beast, and when he had been going to battle Tristan and… most of the time really. “’mno-ot.” He yawned halfway through the sentence, leaving Merlin with no room for doubt.
“Arthur... just get into bed.”
“’m a prince… can’t… say that…” Arthur told him, but he obediently clambered into bed, disregarding his clothes, and tunnelled under the covers. Merlin breathed a sigh of relief and turned to go.
He had almost reached the door when he heard a slither of fabric and the soft pad of small feet on the stone floor. Drawing in a breath, ready to pick Arthur up and carry him back to bed - Prince or no Prince, he turned around.
Arthur ran and hugged his legs, holding on hard, pressing his face against Merlin’s thigh with a small “g’nite, Merlin.” Before Merlin picked him up and began to carry him back. Arthur’s arms fastened round his neck and he pushed his face into Merlin’s neck so that his manservant could feel his breath puffing out and gradually evening.
The Prince had fallen asleep before they even made it across the room. Merlin settled him down in the bed, smiling at the thought that when Arthur was back, this was going to be worth it just for the look on the Prince’s face. He drew up the thick covers around Arthur’s shoulders as he watched the little boy curl into a ball and brushed some blond hair away from the boy’s forehead. Letting out a weary sigh, he smiled and headed for the door again. Unless this was just a day long curse, then he was going to have another long day tomorrow.
-
Title: Back to Normal
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 638
Warnings: Fluff, fluff and more fluff
Pairing/Characters: Merlin/re-aged!Arthur
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur's himself again, but he misses it a bit.
Merlin was relieved when he got to Arthur’s room that morning to find him his normal obnoxious and, most importantly, adult self. He wasn’t even a little bit upset or disappointed. Five-year old Arthur had been a self-absorbed hell-brat who had run him ragged and given him more bruises and aches than his normal self ever did. It was good that the curse had lifted - unexpected, but good.
Gaius had hmmed and hahed over Arthur for a minute or two, before announcing that the spell must have required too much power to last for very long. He had also shot Merlin a knowing glance, but Merlin had shaken his head firmly. He had definitely not had anything to do with that… Unless he was doing advanced magic in his sleep now.
Arthur had been giving him strange looks too, but Merlin had shaken them off. Arthur was bound to look at things a little strangely after having been a child again for a day. It was nothing to worry about.
It certainly didn’t seem to distract Arthur from giving him enough chores to keep the entire household busy. He was still tired from the day before, but he still had to do loads of laundry, tidy away all the things that Arthur had thrown across the floor of his chambers the previous day (and when exactly had the Prince managed to steal Morgana’s jewellery anyway?), fetch and carry for him, prepare him for training, prepare him for dinner, take extra care of his horse and run errands from Arthur to his father. Most of the messages he was sent with were so inane - did Uther have any special instructions for the feast that night - that Merlin knew that Arthur was running him ragged on purpose.
Dinner came and went, Merlin poured Arthur’s wine and made quiet comments about the other people there, from the way a lady to their right was only pretending to drink her wine, to one of the older lords who was quite blatantly trying to seduce a serving girl under his wife’s watchful eye.
When they got back to their room again Arthur was watching him with the same long, curious gaze.
“What is it?” Merlin asked, feeling uncomfortable. Arthur blinked and looked down at the table in front of him for a second before swallowing and turning back, his face determined.
“Thank you…” Arthur said. “For yesterday.” Merlin stared back. That he hadn’t been expected. Maybe a variation on ‘we must never talk about that ever again’ or ‘Merlin why have you got dirt all over your face’, but not thank you.
“Uh… that’s fine, any time,” he said.
“I hope that’s not going to happen again,” Arthur told him with a small smile.
“You know what I mean,” Merlin said hurriedly, trying not to think that he really wouldn’t mind that much if it did happen again, because Arthur the brat wasn’t really as bad as all that… really. He took a deep breath. “I’ll be leaving then… see you tomorrow.” He bowed perfunctorily and headed for the door.
He was about to turn the handle when he felt Arthur’s hand on his arm, pulling him back slightly. He turned to find Arthur’s face only inches away, looking slightly conflicted.
“Merlin…” the Prince said, “yesterday… I.” Arthur brought his eyes up to meet Merlin’s, his jaw set stubbornly with a look of complete determination. “I miss naptime,” he said.
Merlin almost burst out laughing there and then, only the seriousness on Arthur’s face stopped him, and the warm weight of his hand on his arm. He let out a shaking breath, somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh and nodded a little. He raised one hand, almost shyly and swept a lock of Arthur’s hair away from his forehead.
“So do I.”
-
Title: A Most Dangerous Quest
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 558
Warnings: Slightly cracktastic fluff
Pairing/Characters: wee!Arthur, Morgana, Gwen
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur braves terrible dangers in order to rescue the treasure from the evil monster.
There was no time to wait for reinforcements, it was now or never. He had to cross the clearing to reach any sort of cover at all, and from there it was a series of ducks and dodges to the far end: the far end where the treasure was waiting.
Of course, that was if he managed to evade the beast that roamed this area.
He checked the sword in his hand, feeling the palm begin to sweat a little and took in a deep breath, as he had seen his father do before starting something unpleasant.
This was it, the moment of truth.
Arthur ran across the stone floor as silently as he could, a small dash of red and blond, biting his lip to keep quiet. It was important that he remain completely silent.
He brought the hand not holding his sword up to his mouth to stifle a giggle and peered his head around the table leg he was currently behind.
The beast hadn’t noticed. It still stood at the far end of the room, staring out of the window, its long dark fur blowing in the breeze. He heaved a sigh of relief. The next bit was the difficult part.
He darted from hiding place to hiding place until he was at the small table on the other side of the room, where the looking glass sat. He scrambled up onto the chair and, keeping one eye on where Morgana stood, oblivious to his presence, he leaned over to tug the large wooden box containing the treasure over to him. It was heavier than it looked and he had to move it very, very, slowly so that it didn’t make a whisper of a noise. If he made a sound then all was lost.
When it was finally within reach he slowly opened the lid, sticking his tongue out between his teeth in concentration.
There it was - the treasure of Camelot, he had found it.
Now he had to get out of there.
He grabbed the treasure, sticking it into the money purse he had taken from Merlin earlier, pushing in the pieces of chain that still hung out before tying it up firmly. One of his fingers almost got caught in the knot as he struggled to tie it, but he freed it and then he was off. No time for cover this time, just a straight run across the room and out the door.
He set off as soon as his feet touched the ground, speeding towards the door.
As he reached it, the wood swung open and he collided with someone’s legs.
“What…?” Arthur looked up, eyes wide. It was over. He’d been found. Gwen looked down at him, over the basket of laundry she was returning, with a confused smile. “Ar… Your highness,” she said, startled. Arthur could hear the monster stirring from its place by the window. He had to get out of there fast. “What are you doing here?” Gwen asked.
Arthur bowed as low as he could, smiling at her, before dashing round her legs and haring off down the corridor towards his chambers, where Merlin would be waiting for him, no doubt.
As he reached the end of the corridor and hurtled round the corner towards the stairs, he could hear Morgana’s voice calling his name.
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Title: Grown up Too Fast
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 467
Warnings: None
Pairing/Characters: re-aged!Arthur, Knights, Merlin
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Things are so much easier for a five year old.
“Good to have you back, sire,” Kay said, grasping Arthur’s arm firmly in greeting.
“Good to be back,” he replied, trying to shake off the part of his brain that remembered the previous day, running at imaginary creatures, sword held high, never even thinking of the word fear. It was too simple to be brave when you were five years old and had no concept of the future.
The knights were watching him as they usually do, totally respectful, totally in control. Their armour was polished, their heads held high. They stood in rows, prepared to go through the formations.
For the first time in years Arthur wanted to throw down his sword and just run - somewhere, anywhere. These were his friends, his companions and yet still they stood on ceremony with him. He was proud of their respect, proud of his ability to command, and pleased with the patching pride he saw in his father’s eyes when he watched his son, the Prince of Camelot, put his knights through their paces.
Yesterday Lionel and Kay had laughingly hidden him from Merlin when he came looking. They had perched him on top of his war horse and answered his ridiculous questions when he had asked them.
Today they stood firm by his side and…
At the side of the field, Merlin was standing watching them intently, as he did now and then. He didn’t look the same as yesterday either. His usual inane grin had been replaced by a small frown of confusion, and Arthur, even as he opened his mouth to begin calling out the patterns, wanted it to be yesterday again, and for his biggest worry to be Morgana glaring at him or Merlin getting bored.
The moves were automatic once he began, he was glad to find that his body had lost none of its strength or speed because of the inconvenience, and he kept an eye on the knights in front of him as they swung their swords into position.
Bors leant too much to his right, Lionel was over-extending. They should be sharper, more precise.
Arthur remembered brandishing his wooden sword with more enthusiasm than skill, and chasing Merlin down a corridor. If only real monsters were that easy. If only he had that much fun with a blade in his hands these days.
Merlin was still standing by the side of the training field, rubbing at one of his ears absently. Arthur could see that he was still tired from the day before. He’d had the man running after him all day, until he’d practically fallen asleep in his arms.
He’d have to do something about that, too.
It was so easy to feel safe when you were young, but he had a feeling he had Merlin to thank for that.
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Title: Hide and Seek
Fandoms: Merlin
Rating: G
Word Count: 491
Warnings: fluff
Pairing/Characters: wee!Arthur, Merlin
Spoilers: Merlin 1x01, nothing more than that.
Summary: Arthur ropes Merlin into playing hide and seek... properly.
Arthur has his small hands clenched tightly over his eyes as he counts haphazardly upwards. There have been a few numbers missing along the way - most numbers with a seven in, for instance - and Merlin’s beginning to think that a hundred isn’t as far away as it should be.
It was fine when they were playing this the other way round, and Arthur was the one crawling under beds and behind chests and into tiny nooks and crannies of the castle that Merlin never knew existed. But Merlin’s not really small enough to do that. The only place he can really think of hiding himself is behind the curtain and he has a sneaking suspicion that Arthur would not be happy with that.
He’d been about to start counting again himself when the Prince, although tiny still as bossy as ever, had pushed him over to the door with the command “‘s your turn now.”
‘Sevendy four, sevendy sevendy seven…” Arthur continues, apparently trying to make up for lost sevens, and Merlin sighs. He ducks behind the curtain and arranges it so that at least it covers his toes. He’ll be found in about half a second, but it shows willing.
“Ninety five, one hundred,” Arthur announces, and Merlin hears his friend laugh as he removes his hands from his eyes, and run to the door.
Before he gets there though, he pauses and turns before the small footsteps make their way slowly to where Merlin is standing.
A small finger pokes him in the thigh through the thick material of the curtain, poking again harder before Arthur rips the curtain away and Merlin is face to leg with the Prince.
Arthur isn’t happy. His bottom lip is stuck out as he pouts, and he crosses his arms over his small body, slumping his shoulders.
“You’re supposed to hide, Merlin…” he says.
“I did hide.”
“Not good ‘nuff,” Arthur dismisses his manservant’s hiding skills with as much arrogance and disdain as his older self dismisses his mental capabilities. “Now… Now we hafta start all over again from one. And we’ll repeat it until you do it properly.”
His last sentence sounds almost identical to his father’s voice and intonation, except for being several octaves higher, and Merlin sighs.
“Yes sire,” he says in his most put upon voice, and Arthur beams.
Reluctantly the corners of Merlin’s mouth twitch up his face in the force of Arthur’s smile. He’s grateful he wasn’t in Camelot when Arthur was actually young, he doubts even he would have been able to say no.
Arthur bounds across the room to throw himself face down on the bed and covers his eyes with his hands again, beginning to count up from one again.
Merlin opens the door to the chambers taking a deep breath. He thinks he might have seen some possible hiding places in the kitchens, and, if not, he can always distract Arthur with sweetcakes.
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