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George thinks of himself as a man with good taste and standards.
His clothes, while plain, are always clean and crisp, he carefully washes them after each use, he is always early for work and, as a proud member of the royal household’s staff, he does his best to anticipate the needs of any lords he interacts with.
He does this so as not to disgrace the royal name of the Pendragons whom he serves, unlike some servants. Or at least, that’s what George thinks to himself, as he furiously polishes the melee weapons in the armory, his eyes avoiding Prince Arthur’s personal practice weapons. After all, when was the last time Merlin polished His Highness’s flail or mace? The only time George has ever seen Merlin polish any of the prince’s weapons was during knights training! It drove him mad! Merlin should have that done before training began!
As he finishes getting the last speck off the mace in hand, he accidentally glances at Prince Arthur’s things. He desperately wants to polish them, for what an honor that would be! But he refuses to help that poor excuse of a manservant.
He picks up the weapons he has polished and, after several trips, has them all out on the field, ready for training.
The knights are soon trotting out and George is glad that earlier he had asked another servant, Caleb, to bring out a few pitchers of water. He asks the closest knight, “Sire, would you care for some water?”
George fills a glass for him and another knight when he sees Prince Arthur from the corner of his eye. He can’t help but frown as he sees Merlin once again flouting social protocol and walking beside the prince, rather than behind. Honestly, the man has been Prince Arthur’s manservant for over six months, he should know how to do his job properly by now!
Taking a deep, calming breath, George continues passing out flanks of water before training begins. He waits until the knights are busy sparring to walk over to where Merlin is sitting on the ground polishing Arthur’s sword.
As his shadow falls over Merlin the man looks up. “Oh, hello George.”
“Merlin,” George says politely, debating whether to say what he came over to say or not. Afterall, while he has worked here for several years, Merlin, as manservant to the prince, outranks him.
Raising an eyebrow Merlin stops polishing and asks, “Did you need something?”
Well, in for a pence, as they say.
He coughs. “Ahem. I know you are new to the castle…” and completely unqualified for such an important position in the royal household! George thinks bitterly. “But as the Prince’s manservant, you must make sure all of His Highness’s weapons are polished, not just his sword, and it all should be done before training begins.”
“But I have to help Arthur get ready for training before.”
“You should do it after giving his Highness his lunch.”
“That’s usually when I run errands for Gaius.”
While George believes the prince should take precedence, he can understand how tasks for the Royal Physician are of importance.
George holds back a sigh and calmly tells him, “You should do it while the prince is working at his desk then.” It was well known that in the morning before council sessions His Highness would be working at his desk on important papers for the kingdom.
“Arthur and I work on his reports then.”
“You help him with reports? Really?” George says, dubiously.
Merlin practically glares at him. “Yes.”
George snorts. How could a commoner, let alone one so new to Camelot and all its politics, possibly help the Crown Prince with such important matters as reports?
“Yes well, I am sure, Prince Arthur can do those perfectly well without you.” And really, Merlin should know better by now than to be so familiar with his master!
“He really can’t,” Merlin says while chuckling. Chuckling! Of all things!
“Right, well, why don’t you give it a try. I’m sure His Highness would understand if you told him you needed to polish his sword.”
George swears he sees Merlin roll his eyes, but he sees Sir Bedievere walking towards where the water pitchers are so George simply nods and heads back to the table to serve the knight.
George is, in fact, going to strangle Merlin.
It has been two weeks. Two! And yet Merlin is still polishing Arthur’s weapons during training, not before!
He is furiously polishing silver cutlery in the kitchens with two other servants, David and Caitlin, for tomorrow’s breakfast when Merlin finally comes in to grab Arthur’s dinner.
Audrey, rightfully, glares at Merlin as she plates the prince’s food. “You’re late.”
Merlin gives her his brightest smile. “Right, sorry. Arthur has me working on his notes for his meeting with the merchants’ guild tomorrow.”
She gives him an unimpressed look and George knows entirely how she feels.
“If the Prince complains…”
“He won’t! If anything he’ll blame me, he always does.”
As he should, George thinks.
Audrey glares at Merlin for a moment but nods. “Go.”
The man doesn’t need to be told twice before he bolts out with the food.
Audrey sighs. “Honestly.”
George nods. “It’s a miracle he hasn’t been sacked yet.”
David nudges Caitlin. “Yeah, a miracle.” She laughs too.
He blinks. Wondering what they are implying.
Caitlin looks over at him grinning ear to ear. “Wait, don’t tell me you don’t know George?”
“Know what?”
They both lean over conspiratory and Caitlin whispers, “About Merlin and the prince.”
Now George is not a man who normally involves himself with gossip, especially about the royal family, but he is rather curious why Merlin, of all people, hasn’t been fired yet. “What about them?”
Caitlin looks around before saying, “It seems Merlin’s talents reside with his mouth.”
George frowns. His mouth? “That’s nonsense. His lack of decorum when he talks is by far his worst quality.”
David shakes his head. “No, she means Merlin uses his mouth for other things.” Then he makes a very lewd gesture that makes George gasp.
Merlin, and the Prince? It couldn’t be true! “No.”
Caitlin nods. “Samatha heard it from several guards. Apparently, they can be rather loud while His Highness is working on reports .”
Suddenly Merlin’s insistence that Arthur needs his help with reports makes a lot more sense. “But-”
“Come on George, why else do you think Merlin gets away with all the things he does? Calling the prince his name without titles? Walking side by side with him? The way he teases and insults him?” David says, waggling his eyebrows.
“Not to mention how Prince Arthur went against the king’s orders to get that antidote when Merlin was poisoned,” Caitlin adds.
David nods. “Clearly, he has a special relationship with Prince Arthur.”
George nods slowly as he tries to wrap his head around this. “Right, special.”
Since his talk with David and Caitlin, George has been keeping an eye on Merlin, especially when he is with Prince Arthur. With every interaction he sees, he is torn.
Like right now. Merlin is, once again, walking side by side with the prince and, oh god-did he just bump into his shoulder?
George squeezes the broom he is holding tightly and waits for someone, a guard, to arrest Merlin, but instead His Highness bumps him back! And now they are laughing! And oh god, what is Merlin doing now?
He watches while his heart nearly jumps in terror as Merlin reaches up and touches the royal head!
Merlin has the gall to smirk at His Highness, as he says, “How is there still mud in your hair?”
Prince Arthur grunts, swatting Merlin’s hand away. “Maybe because someone needs to do a better job of washing my hair.”
“Well maybe if someone else stopped splashing me in the bath I would have.”
George just stares at them as they pass him, wondering how they were well, flirting, when not more than ten minutes ago Arthur was storming up this hall yelling because he couldn’t find his “useless” servant.
And god, now that he knows he can’t unsee it, because every time they are together it’s like this! One minute they are fighting the next he worries they are about to create a rather public spectacle.
He just keeps thinking, it can’t be true! But oh god, what other explanation is there?
Which is how he, George, has unfortunately arrived in the corridor where Prince Arthur sleeps in the middle of the night.
George’s mind has never been more unfocused in his life than it has been the past week, which is why, when he was changing the sheets for the noble who is visiting for tomorrow’s feast, he forgot to take the old sheets with him.
Now, with the dirty sheets in arm, George is stalling at the end of the hallway for a moment, debating whether to take the sheets down now before going back to bed or early in the morning, when he sees a certain manservant come out from another corridor and start walking the opposite way.
Curious, George follows him, quietly. He stops and pretends to look at a tapestry when he sees Merlin reach Prince Arthur’s door.
He tries to hear what Merlin says to the guards but, curses, he’s just out of earshot.
He watches as the guards let Merlin through and as they close the doors smirk to themselves. One of the guards looks over and puts a finger to his mouth and winks. Bloody winks at him!
George quickly nods his head and bolts out of there, all the while thinking in horror, Oh god, he can’t deny it any longer. Prince Arthur is bedding Merlin!
George is once again polishing weapons when, low and behold, the prince’s lover walks in. He keeps his head down and rubs the practice sword harder.
“George,” Merlin says, as he walks past him towards Prince Arthur’s weapons.
“Hello.”
As Merlin grabs a few of the prince’s weapons he says, “I haven’t forgotten what you said, I’m taking up some of Arthur’s weapons to his chambers so I can clean them when I have a free moment.”
He snorts. “Sure you are.”
Merlin stops and George looks up to see the man frowning. “I am.”
“Oh please, we all know what you and His Highness are up to when you have a free moment.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.” George rolls his eyes, and he stops polishing. “You’re not subtle at all. Which, really, if you’re going to continue being Prince Arthur’s lover you need to learn some decorum.”
“What-”
But George continues on because, frankly, someone needs to tell Merlin. “And you shouldn’t flaunt his affections so much, it could cause problems for His Highness.”
Merlin squawks at that. “Arthur doesn-”
“And you must remember there is a time and place; you shouldn’t be making eyes at the prince during council! Not only does it distract the prince, but also the other council members and the staff who are supposed to be working!”
“I don’t make eyes at Arthur!”
“Right, and you don’t polish his sword loudly and enthusiastically either. Or at least, that’s what the guards say.”
Merlin’s mouth drops open. A good minute goes by before he finds his tongue and asks, “So everyone…?”
“Yes, everyone knows. As I just said, you’re not subtle.”
George watches as an array of emotions cross the manservant’s face. He has no idea what any of them are, but nonetheless, it’s interesting to watch their journey.
“I have to go.” Then Merlin runs out the door.
“You forgot His Highness’s weapons!” he shouts after him, but if Merlin hears him he decides to ignore them for now.
George sighs, really why is it always him that has to talk to Merlin?
He grabs the polish and goes back to the task at hand.
Six Years Later
George stands proudly behind King Arthur and his consort, Prince Merlin, as the food is brought out for the feast to celebrate the alliance that’s been made with Queen Annis.
He feels almost smug as Prince Merlin talks with her for, all those years ago, after his little talk with Merlin, Merlin’s behaviour drastically improved. He was still a terrible servant and frankly was still overly familiar with His Highness, but their affections for each other were more subtle after their talk. And Merlin, thankfully, stopped making eyes at the then prince during council meetings.
Noticing His Majesty’s goblet needs refilling he does so, just as Queen Annis asks, “I heard you used to be King Arthur’s manservant?”
Prince Merlin nods. “Yes, that’s right.”
Tilting her head to look at King Arthur she says, “Hired him for his pretty face, I see.”
George steps back only for the queen to beckon him over. He fills her goblet as well.
Arthur laughs. “No. He saved my life. Becoming my manservant was his reward. We didn’t get together until several months later.”
“It’s actually a funny story,” Merlin says grinning, right as George steps back. Normally George does his best not to listen, but he’s always been curious when their relationship began.
“I had no experience as a servant, let alone as a manservant, when I got the job, so I messed up rather a lot in the beginning. There were many things I was supposed to be doing that I didn’t and, I learned later, a few things that weren’t part of the job that I was doing. That, and the fact that Arthur and I got along so well despite all my mistakes, led to some rumors.”
“I can guess what kind.”
Merlin chuckles. “Yes. However, I was completely unaware of them until one day a fellow servant, who often tried to give me advice on how to improve in my job, decided to give me a speech about how to properly conduct myself as Prince Arthur’s lover.”
It is only because of his years of training that George does not drop the pitcher in his hands, but it’s a close thing.
“I just stood there dumbfounded as he went on about how it was improper to flirt so much with Arthur in public and how obvious we were.” Grinning Merlin reaches over and places his hand on Arthur’s. “So I thought, well if everyone already thinks we’re together, I might as well go for it.”
Arthur laughs. “Yes, which led to him storming into my room and kissing the living daylights out of me, and then telling me he has magic.”
“What? I figured if I was about to go on the run or be banished, I might as well take my chances and see if the Prince of Camelot was a good kisser or not.”
Queen Annis laughs as Prince Merlin and King Arthur continue to bicker, but George? George is frozen in place with one thought in his brain: If Merlin wasn’t sleeping with the Prince back then, how the hell did he last so long in his job?!