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"Do you remember what I asked you to do earlier, Merlin?"
"Um. Cleaning... something?"
"Yes, Merlin. My hauberk. And showing the Lady Eva to her rooms."
"Oh, sorry. I'll get right on that."
"Don't bother, I did it myself." Arthur looked annoyed. But Merlin was saved from Arthur's imminent lecture when Gwaine came around the corner.
"Hey, don't give him too hard a time," Gwaine said, swinging an arm around Merlin's shoulders. "After all, Arthur, you're going to have to learn to make do without this guy more often now that he's the new court physician."
Arthur wrinkled his nose and Merlin looked wildly back and forth between them.
"He's joking, right?"
*
The rest of the day found Merlin ensconced in Gaius' workroom, dealing with sundry complaints.
He probably should have guessed that reuniting Gaius with Alice would land him in this position. No good deed and all that.
Merlin's last appointment was the Lady Eva, a haughty noblewoman with a perpetual grimace, the cause of which turned out to be internal discomfort. Merlin soon learned far more than he had ever wished to know about anyone's digestive system.
He scanned the shelves frantically, then grabbed a bottle he recognised.
"Here you go, take this twice a day, you'll feel much better!"
"Oh, but I haven't told you about my other symptoms--"
"No need! That'll do the trick. And you might try eating some oats."
"Oats?" The lady paused, insulted. "But those are for horses!"
*
"Everything going well?" Gwaine asked, dropping into a chair and putting his feet up.
"No," Merlin said, head in hands. "I can't believe anyone thinks I would make a good physician."
"You do, though. You're good at listening to people."
Merlin snorted.
"Anyway, you can always use magic!"
Merlin shot up, eyes darting around the room.
"Shhh! How do you even know that?"
Gwaine chuckled. "It's obvious?"
"Anyway, I can't use magic. What if I got caught?" Merlin said, conveniently leaving out the part where he'd spelled the bunion off someone's toe today when they weren't looking. He pulled Gwaine out of his chair and pushed him towards the door, while Gwaine laughed at him.
"Out! Out of my office!"
"But I thought you weren't-- Oof!"
*
"You can push harder than that!" Uther barked.
The King had summoned Merlin to his chambers to administer his regular back massage.
"Ahhh, yes, that's it! Get in there and work it! Uhnn."
Uther thanked him effusively afterwards.
"There's more power in those hands than I would have thought," he said appreciatively.
*
Some people, however, had trouble adjusting to the change.
"Hello Gwen," Merlin called. "It's been a while since I've seen you. Have you--"
"I'm fine!" Gwen interrupted, flushing bright red. "Absolutely fine! Nothing wrong with me at all!"
"Oh," Merlin said, mildly confused. "Um, that's good."
*
Gwaine's advice paid off in a way -- Merlin started using magic when he could get away with it. He had never been able to get through Gaius' textbooks but magic, well. That just came naturally, whether it was dropping a large object on someone or knitting up bone and flesh.
The downside was that he started getting more patients.
Which was why he cursed the ancestors of whoever was shaking him out of sleep with the most disgusting and pustulent of abcesses.
"Merlin, wake up," Arthur said again.
"What is it?" He groaned, finally managing to open one eye.
"Gwaine is sick."
*
Gwaine was wrapped in a rather pathetic and holey blanket and shaking like a leaf in the wind.
"You idiot," Merlin said, "Why didn't you come get me?"
"D-d-didn't want to bother you," Gwaine said.
"It's okay," Merlin said to Arthur who was wavering in the doorway. "I can handle this."
"Good," Arthur grunted before disappearing.
The spells Merlin knew for fever helped, as did the medicinal tea.
But when he tried to extricate himself from Gwaine's bed, a hand shot out and held him still.
"You don't have to go."
"Are you sure?" Merlin asked, peering at him in the guttering candlelight.
"Definitely," Gwaine said, rolling them over and kissing Merlin, noses and teeth bumping and hot breath, and then hot tongue.
"You seem to have a bit of a problem," Gwaine said, grasping Merlin's rapidly hardening cock and grinning down at him. "Perhaps I should examine you more thoroughly."
"Oh God," Merlin panted. "Please, please do."