Advent Calendar Day Twelve - Merlin ficlet: A Golden Age
Day One | Avalanche, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, R, 400 words | for pjvilar
Day Two | No Fu Manchu, Hawaii Five-0, Danny, Steve, PG, 803 words | for laceymcbain
Day Three | running away from nothing real, Inception, Eames/Ariadne, R, 1,358 words | for vinylroad
Day Four | they said a hundred times I should have died, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,192 words | for pau494
Day Five | try again, die again, die better, Torchwood, Jack, wallpaper | for pierhias
Day Six | monsters are always hungry, darling, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,001 words | for lunatics_word
Day Seven | The Nine Lives of Bryce Larkin, Chuck/Chrestomanci series (Diana Wynne Jones), Bryce/Chuck, PG-13, 1,760 words | for misura
Day Eight | Jump, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, PG-13, 2,045 words | for idrilka
Day Nine | It's a White Oahu Christmas, Eureka/Hawaii Five-0/Leverage/Supernatural/White Collar, G, 1,450 words | for vonilyn
Day Ten | The Jackpot, White Collar, Neal/Peter, PG, 644 words | for lazy-daze
Day Eleven | faster than sound, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, John, Cameron, PG-13, 237 words | for nrrrdy_grrrl
A Golden Age [Merlin (BBC), Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, (Gwaine, Lancelot, Gilli), PG, 780 words, for hypertwink, prompt: wishes. Beta thanks to such_heights.]
The people are still cheering outside. Even with the windows closed, Merlin can hear them. "Long live King Arthur, long live King Arthur."
Good thing they can't see their magnificent king now. Merlin's not sure he's ever known anyone put back so much wine in one evening, not even Gwaine, and he can pack it away like nobody's business. Merlin tugs Arthur a bit higher up the bed, just far enough that his feet don't hang over the end. Arthur mumbles into the pillow but doesn't stir.
He's going to have a killer headache in the morning.
*
"Good morning, your Majesty," Merlin calls out cheerfully, sweeping the curtains open and letting the glorious sunshine in. "Rise and shine. It's a beautiful morning. The sun's shining and the birds are singing."
"Urgh," Arthur moans, and throws a pillow at him. It misses Merlin by about ten feet.
"Ah, glad to see your aim is just as good as ever," Merlin says, picking the pillow up and dumping it on the end of Arthur's bed. Arthur's barely stirred from the position Merlin left him in last night.
"I hate you," Arthur says. "Close the curtains."
"Sorry, Sire, can't do that. Got to get you up."
"No," Arthur mutters weakly.
"Your orders. Yesterday. You said, no matter what, I had to make sure you were up in time for this morning's ceremony."
Arthur shakes his head blearily in what Merlin chooses to take as concurrence.
*
Gwen corners him in an interval of the ceremony. "I'm so happy for them," she says, looking across at Lancelot and Gwaine in their bright red livery - Sir Lancelot and Sir Gwaine, Merlin corrects himself.
"Yeah, me too," Merlin says. "They deserve it." Arthur's only just begun his rule, but the changes he's already made in Camelot are huge. Merlin will never, ever say this to Arthur's face, but Camelot under Arthur is going to be something minstrels will sing about for generations. For millennia. It's going to be a golden age, Merlin's certain of it.
"Gilli looks happy too," Gwen says, nodding across at him. Gilli's standing next to Gaius, looking proud. Merlin's pretty sure that he's wearing one of Merlin's old scarves. "Do you mind, him taking over as Gaius' assistant?"
Merlin shakes his head, though if truth be told - which it doesn't need to be - he does mind a little. He'll miss Gaius grumping at him in the morning. He'll even miss Gaius' mutton stew a little bit. But Gilli's settling in well, and Gaius is enjoying teaching him, both magic and healing. It was the right choice.
"I love being at Arthur's beck and call every minute of the day," Merlin says, grinning.
Gwen grins back at him, then laughs out loud as Arthur bellows, "Merlin, where are you? Merlin."
"Got to go," Merlin says. The part of the ceremony that Arthur's dreading is coming up next. Merlin's dreading it too. Well, sort of. He doesn't do well in the limelight - he tends to trip over things. On the other hand, Arthur's going to have to admit some things that are really going to kill him to say, and Merlin is most definitely looking forward to that.
*
"Are you happy now?" Arthur asks. Both the ceremony and the banquet are over. Arthur only had one glass of mead and one of wine this evening - he still looks a little green from the night before - so he's very sober tonight. And crotchety.
"Happy, Sire? Of course I'm happy that two pure-hearted knights have found their true place at Camelot." Hmm, maybe calling Gwaine pure-hearted is pushing it a bit. Big-hearted, yeah, that would be more appropriate.
Arthur whacks him around the head. Merlin had thought that being the official Court Magician and Advisor to the King might mean an end to being whacked by Arthur, but no such luck.
"I mean, you complete moron, are you happy now that the entire court knows that you've saved my life? You, of all people." Listening while Geoffrey of Monmouth recounted Merlin's deeds (in great detail) had been embarrassing. For both of them.
Merlin grins. "How many times did we make it in the end? Fifteen, was it? Was that it?" he asks again, when Arthur doesn't say anything.
"No, Merlin, as I'm sure you remember perfectly well, it was sixteen times." Arthur's going to have to be careful - he'll wear his teeth down if he keeps grinding them like that.
"Ah, yes, there was that time I saved you from drowning. Nearly forgot about that one. Yeah, sixteen times. That's quite something for an idiot."
"Oh, do shut up, Merlin," Arthur says. At least some things will never change.
//
N.B. I wrote this the day before the season finale, so at the moment everyone else was shouting yay, I was going damn, my ficlet's jossed.
Day Two | No Fu Manchu, Hawaii Five-0, Danny, Steve, PG, 803 words | for laceymcbain
Day Three | running away from nothing real, Inception, Eames/Ariadne, R, 1,358 words | for vinylroad
Day Four | they said a hundred times I should have died, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,192 words | for pau494
Day Five | try again, die again, die better, Torchwood, Jack, wallpaper | for pierhias
Day Six | monsters are always hungry, darling, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, NC-17, 1,001 words | for lunatics_word
Day Seven | The Nine Lives of Bryce Larkin, Chuck/Chrestomanci series (Diana Wynne Jones), Bryce/Chuck, PG-13, 1,760 words | for misura
Day Eight | Jump, Generation Kill, Brad/Nate, PG-13, 2,045 words | for idrilka
Day Nine | It's a White Oahu Christmas, Eureka/Hawaii Five-0/Leverage/Supernatural/White Collar, G, 1,450 words | for vonilyn
Day Ten | The Jackpot, White Collar, Neal/Peter, PG, 644 words | for lazy-daze
Day Eleven | faster than sound, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, John, Cameron, PG-13, 237 words | for nrrrdy_grrrl
A Golden Age [Merlin (BBC), Merlin, Arthur, Gwen, (Gwaine, Lancelot, Gilli), PG, 780 words, for hypertwink, prompt: wishes. Beta thanks to such_heights.]
The people are still cheering outside. Even with the windows closed, Merlin can hear them. "Long live King Arthur, long live King Arthur."
Good thing they can't see their magnificent king now. Merlin's not sure he's ever known anyone put back so much wine in one evening, not even Gwaine, and he can pack it away like nobody's business. Merlin tugs Arthur a bit higher up the bed, just far enough that his feet don't hang over the end. Arthur mumbles into the pillow but doesn't stir.
He's going to have a killer headache in the morning.
*
"Good morning, your Majesty," Merlin calls out cheerfully, sweeping the curtains open and letting the glorious sunshine in. "Rise and shine. It's a beautiful morning. The sun's shining and the birds are singing."
"Urgh," Arthur moans, and throws a pillow at him. It misses Merlin by about ten feet.
"Ah, glad to see your aim is just as good as ever," Merlin says, picking the pillow up and dumping it on the end of Arthur's bed. Arthur's barely stirred from the position Merlin left him in last night.
"I hate you," Arthur says. "Close the curtains."
"Sorry, Sire, can't do that. Got to get you up."
"No," Arthur mutters weakly.
"Your orders. Yesterday. You said, no matter what, I had to make sure you were up in time for this morning's ceremony."
Arthur shakes his head blearily in what Merlin chooses to take as concurrence.
*
Gwen corners him in an interval of the ceremony. "I'm so happy for them," she says, looking across at Lancelot and Gwaine in their bright red livery - Sir Lancelot and Sir Gwaine, Merlin corrects himself.
"Yeah, me too," Merlin says. "They deserve it." Arthur's only just begun his rule, but the changes he's already made in Camelot are huge. Merlin will never, ever say this to Arthur's face, but Camelot under Arthur is going to be something minstrels will sing about for generations. For millennia. It's going to be a golden age, Merlin's certain of it.
"Gilli looks happy too," Gwen says, nodding across at him. Gilli's standing next to Gaius, looking proud. Merlin's pretty sure that he's wearing one of Merlin's old scarves. "Do you mind, him taking over as Gaius' assistant?"
Merlin shakes his head, though if truth be told - which it doesn't need to be - he does mind a little. He'll miss Gaius grumping at him in the morning. He'll even miss Gaius' mutton stew a little bit. But Gilli's settling in well, and Gaius is enjoying teaching him, both magic and healing. It was the right choice.
"I love being at Arthur's beck and call every minute of the day," Merlin says, grinning.
Gwen grins back at him, then laughs out loud as Arthur bellows, "Merlin, where are you? Merlin."
"Got to go," Merlin says. The part of the ceremony that Arthur's dreading is coming up next. Merlin's dreading it too. Well, sort of. He doesn't do well in the limelight - he tends to trip over things. On the other hand, Arthur's going to have to admit some things that are really going to kill him to say, and Merlin is most definitely looking forward to that.
*
"Are you happy now?" Arthur asks. Both the ceremony and the banquet are over. Arthur only had one glass of mead and one of wine this evening - he still looks a little green from the night before - so he's very sober tonight. And crotchety.
"Happy, Sire? Of course I'm happy that two pure-hearted knights have found their true place at Camelot." Hmm, maybe calling Gwaine pure-hearted is pushing it a bit. Big-hearted, yeah, that would be more appropriate.
Arthur whacks him around the head. Merlin had thought that being the official Court Magician and Advisor to the King might mean an end to being whacked by Arthur, but no such luck.
"I mean, you complete moron, are you happy now that the entire court knows that you've saved my life? You, of all people." Listening while Geoffrey of Monmouth recounted Merlin's deeds (in great detail) had been embarrassing. For both of them.
Merlin grins. "How many times did we make it in the end? Fifteen, was it? Was that it?" he asks again, when Arthur doesn't say anything.
"No, Merlin, as I'm sure you remember perfectly well, it was sixteen times." Arthur's going to have to be careful - he'll wear his teeth down if he keeps grinding them like that.
"Ah, yes, there was that time I saved you from drowning. Nearly forgot about that one. Yeah, sixteen times. That's quite something for an idiot."
"Oh, do shut up, Merlin," Arthur says. At least some things will never change.
//
N.B. I wrote this the day before the season finale, so at the moment everyone else was shouting yay, I was going damn, my ficlet's jossed.