Kink Me! #5
Kink Me! #5 Closed to new prompts Welcome to Kink Me! Merlin #5!
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Unfortunately for Merlin, his magic responded best to those impulses he didn’t have to think too hard on, and spells he had to say aloud. He doubted there was a spell out there that would do this - or at least he hoped there wasn’t, because he was buggered enough as it was that he didn’t want to think that it could possibly (and with Merlin’s luck, would) happen again.
It didn’t happen immediately. He didn’t wake and find himself suddenly changed, a complete stranger to himself. Instead he woke and felt something was… off.
The obvious difference was that he was up early. Most servants were up and working before dawn but Merlin rarely found himself opening his eyes before Gaius came to knock on his door. But here he was, up before the sun had peaked over the horizon line, because he needed to wash his clothes.
But no - that wasn’t right. All his clothes were dirty (what little he had of them) and he would need to wash them before he could get dressed and get to work, but it shouldn’t take long. He stared at the pile and thought that he didn’t need to wash them because he usually used magic… he used magic, but…
He shook his head, trying to make his thoughts come together, but they just wouldn’t. There was something he was forgetting, about how he cleaned his clothes, and… well, it didn’t matter anyway. He couldn’t just sit here thinking; he’d woken up early to wash these clothes, and he’d better do it or else he’d be late - and we couldn’t have that, could we?
He managed to be late, anyway, because in his mood last night he’d forgotten that he’d promised Gaius he’d label the new vials he’d prepared yesterday. His fingers flew over the bottles, ink spilling into the bed of his nails, but even writing as fast as he could he didn’t make it to the kitchens until just after dawn.
As he carried the tray for Arthur’s dinner up to his chambers he watched his steps carefully just in case anything should jump out and threaten to trip him up, be it forgotten laundry or rats or dragons or anything else that Merlin happened to have problems with often enough. But he still made sure to hurry - he was delayed enough as it was.
And it was fine, really. He was usually late anyway… but no, that wasn’t right, either. He should be on time always, and he shouldn’t make excuses like that. He told himself firmly that he would not be late again.
He thought it sounded like a hollow conviction. Even though his steps were steady he felt somehow unbalanced, at odds with himself. And yet the reason behind it escaped him, like sand through the hourglass.
The door to Arthur’s chamber appeared soon enough, and he knocked twice, gently, before nudging the door open with his shoulder. Despite his attempt to be discreet the door swung open wide, loose on the hinges, and he was met with the sight of Arthur, already up and dressed and seated at his table, mouth quirked into a half-frown.
“You’re late.”
Merlin froze in doorway. His eyes widened and his hands tightened painfully on the tray, almost against his will.
“I’m sorry,” he said, unable to do more than stand in the doorway and feel his stomach squish about in his shoes
.
When he continued to stand still, Arthur leaned back in his chair, a put-upon expression crossing his face as he drawled “Merlin.”
A part of Merlin heard that tone and knew Arthur that was only teasing, and wanted to grin and banter away, but the larger part only heard disappointment and it was… Merlin didn’t even know how to describe the feeling other than that it was awful. Even though he tried so hard, he did everything right and didn’t even use… he didn’t… he did it right and he still got it wrong. He got it wrong and Arthur was disappointed and Merlin didn’t know how he’d bear it - he couldn’t live with himself if he knew that Arthur was disappointed in him.
And that was the moment when he knew that something was very, very wrong.
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Thanks for writing a story for the meme! :D
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eagerly awaiting more, anon. \o/
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