"Arthur's not himself when he's hungry." Merlin stood with his back to the servants' entrance to the prince's chambers.

"I may have also been galivanting on a dragon, completing a dangerous quest to aid Camelot, so he's pissy because I've been gone without my lord's permission." He articulated his words as if he had something stuck in his teeth. Gideon sensed sarcasm.

"So, I am not terribly excited to greet him this morning."

Gideon was, excited that is, considering anytime Merlin and Arthur were in the same room (which was most of the time, lest the two get cranky) amusing things happened.

Merlin opened the door and walked towards the curtains to pull them open. He looked around the room; the place was a jumbled mess. Gideon noted that Prince Arthur slept shirtless.

Prince Arthur glared at Merlin, who stared back at him, unafraid.

"What happened?!" Despite Merlin's position as a subordinate, he never let Arthur get away without imposing some responsibility. Surely a prince could keep his own chambers tidy. But Merlin did not have the insight to gander that Arthur threw a fit because his favorite person was gone and he had no one to throw objects at.

"What happened? I've had to make do without a servant, that's what happened!" Arthur's hair was not yet arranged, and was noticeably mused from a night of sleep. Merlin thought that this was his favorite look, angry in bed. No further questions, please.

Gideon tried to pressure Merlin into admitting just how gay that comment was, but Merlin stood up, realizing he had a super urgent task to do that he forgot about and only remembered just that moment, that could not wait for a second more. Gideon thoughtfully considered what injuries could arise from rolling one's eyes too much.

"I wasn't gone for that long." It went over Merlin's head entirely that Arthur hated every moment without him, for Merlin was under the impression Arthur also hated every moment with him.

"Without my permission!" Gideon snickered at the foreshadowing; Merlin knew exactly how the prince thought. Well, when it came to banter and noble matters at least. Arthur and Merlin both shared a single brain cell when it came to matters of the heart, and it seemed they had let Morgana borrow it for the time being.

"What if I was dying?" Merlin had in fact almost died. Arthur did not know this, but his chest seized, which he had to hide under superficial anger, lest he admit that he missed and worried about the skinny prick.

"I wouldn't be complaining! But you're not. So, where have you been?" Merlin looked to Gideon, staring lamely as if to communicate do you see this. Later on, Merlin would confirm that he desperately wanted to call bullshit on that one, but doing so would overstep into unknown territory, where this mixed language of fighting and flirting would simply become flirting- and that wasn't appropriate.

Gideon nodded along to Merlin's squabbles, glancing at the paper that held the bets for when Merlin and Arthur would first publicly court. God forbid the flirting became real flirting- Gideon didn't know how it could be worse.

Um, excuse me? "I was dying." Arthur seemed unbothered to be so naked in front of his manservant. Yes, it was expected to be unclothed at times, but no one made any move to clothe him.

"I don't have time for this. The future of the kingdom rests on my shoulders. Do you have any idea what that feels like?"

"Well...", Merlin and Gideon shared a look. Merlin would later complain about Arthur's ignorance, and Gideon would point out that he could tell Arthur, and then Merlin would scowl and suggest that such matters could not be comprehended by a boy of his age.

Arthur looked to Gideon for just a moment, but otherwise entirely ignored him. It seemed his presence induced Arthur's ability to put on a shirt, for he reached onto the floor (where tunics should not be stored- seriously, he's to one day run the kingdom?!) and clenched it in his fist.

"Merlin, I should have you thrown in the dungeons. So, what do you have to say for yourself?"

Merlin had been arranging small things that had been strewn onto the floor, but he glanced at Gideon and smiled knowingly.

"You've not had your breakfast this morning, have you?" Arthur visibly recoiled from that comment, and proceeded to angrily launch up from his position on the bed to attempt to put on his own shirt.

"I'll have you for breakfast!" Gideon often inquired of the others if Prince Arthur spoke so... so questionably with anyone else. Sir Gwaine winked at him and told him it was reserved for Merlin.

Sir Leon placed a few more coins in the pot after hearing about this exchange.

Arthur threw something at Merlin, and missed. He was unsuccessful in dressing himself, and had thrown the tunic back onto the floor. Merlin was used to Arthur's violent, immature tendencies. One wouldn't dare complain of abuse from the Crown Prince, as if such notions of abuse even existed at the time. Arthur definitely had his shortcomings as a traumatized, insecure child of abuse and neglect himself.

"Oh, no wonder this place is such a mess!" Arthur threw another object at Merlin. Gideon had to duck.

"Oh, yes I can see you've got all the makings of a great king," Merlin spoke more in sarcasm than he did sincerely. Arthur would never let Merlin know, but these occasional comments of his capacity as a regent hit him hard in that dark spot. If Merlin ever knew of this dark spot, he would obliterate it with his faith in Arthur. Neither simply had the hindsight to discuss it.

Arthur threw a sock at Merlin, but he was already on his way out of the room. Gideon followed.

........

"Oh, he's a drama queen." Gaius sat across from him; his hands wrapped around a cup of tea. Gideon noted he must have lost all sensation in his hands because the tea was steaming hot.

"Every day there's a new issue. Some new magical threat. Arthur this, Arthur that. He does know that I can hear him when he gets up in the middle of the night?" Gideon was pleasantly surprised when Gaius invited him for tea this afternoon. He did not realize it was to discuss his difficult teenage son.

"I don't know if it's his hormones or his magic but he gets moodier every season! He lives in his fantasy world where everything revolves around Prince Arthur. Certainly, as servants to the crown, we must adore and respect the young prince, but Merlin has an addiction. Working for him, doting on him hour to hour isn't enough- no, he must use his free time to discuss the prince as well!"

Gaius had not previously had someone to discuss anything with. He had been bottling up his frustrations, and was euphoric at the chance to discuss Merlin's antics. The moody warlock was every bit as dull as Arthur, only Gaius had mentally adopted him, and could not adequately describe what it was like to babysit such a boy; one part heart and two parts fool. Gaius would not admit this to anyone, but the same spirit that drove him mad currently, was also what made him immediately sign for custody of child. He could never relent his love.

Gideon pulled out the betting pool paper. "Have you some coin you'd like to gamble, Gaius?" At this time, it was not yet illegal for 14-year-old boys to hold gambling rings.

Gaius arched an eyebrow, intrigued. "A gamble?"

"Yes, there's a bet on when Prince Arthur and Merlin will publicly court." Gideon slid the paper across the table, noting the curve of Gaius' mouth. He had him hooked.

"Oh, I see. Are we to suggest Merlin and Prince Arthur are already court- Morgana is even in on this! ...No-!" Gaius looked up, eyes lit up and mouth opened.

"What's so scandalous?" Gideon already knew. Gaius pointed to a name on the parchment.

"You don't mean to tell me the king has subjected himself to such a game." His incredulous expression was rounded with mirth.

"King Uther? Yes, he's placed coin on the two courting publicly, but behind his back." Gaius took back the parchment.

"Yes, but when did he realize the two were so close?" Gideon sipped his tea, pretending his tongue did not just lose all sensation at the scalding leaf water. He couldn't understand why Gaius religiously drank such a thing.

"It was after one of the enchanted knights or other? I'm not sure, but King Uther approached me claiming that Merlin had admitted he had a bond with the prince, and that Sir Percival had let slip that there was coin involved." Gaius thoughtfully sipped his own tea, gazing off into the distance.

The two idiots had to eventually recognize that their bond was not brotherly in nature, but Gaius had no faith that the two would ever publicly court. As king, Arthur would either give up entirely (in an iconic 'fuck it' play) and come out with Merlin as his consort, or never admit to his own feelings and sulk like an emo child trapped in an unhappy marriage- whilst secretly courting Merlin. Gaius simply didn't think anything else could happen. Well, unless one of them died.

"Wet that quill boy, I have a few coins of my own that could use some action."

........

The knights were hard to catch by themselves, they often stuck together like a herd of animals or a cult. Perhaps they had separation anxiety.

"Sir Elyan! What do you think of Merlin?" Sir Elyan stopped his fast walking. He was attempting to casually escape the boy, but this question piqued his interest.

"Merlin? The impossibly bad servant?" Elyan struggled to keep his stoic demeanour. The truth was, the boy was irritating, but he was also irritatingly adorable. Plus, his sister loved him. And so did his boss.

"The one and only. Do you have any comments on the recent bandit attack? Merlin always gets in the way, doesn't he?" Gideon enjoyed poking at the knights when it came to Merlin's involvement in protecting the prince. Sir Elyan was the only one not to admit to knowing of Merlin's magic, to the point where Gideon wondered if he actually didn't know.

"Well, he's always helpful to some extent." He did not know of Merlin's magic because no one had thought to tell him, assuming he would be a tattle tale bitch about it. Those are Gwaine's words. Elyan knew that everyone else in the castle blabbed everything to the boy, but he wouldn't dare share so much. He was afraid it would come back to bite him somehow. It wouldn't do for Prince Arthur and Guinevere to find out that Elyan also had a begrudging fondness for the boy.

"Really? With no weapon? He just flails around while you lot protect him." Gideon did not believe this; he did know better. He was just trying to push Elyan into admitting something or other and he had learned through experience that pressure provided a slippery slope into confessions.

"Look, if I were to say anything bad about Merlin, Arthur would beat me silly, Gwen would be disappointed in me, and I don't know what would be worse. How about we drop the subject?" Gideon noted that Elyan was nothing like his sister.

........

"Sire, what do you think of Merlin's presence at all the bandit attacks?" Arthur chewed inelegantly on some dried meat.

"I don't understand, are you trying to suggest Merlin is the cause of the bandit attacks? You do realize he's a useless nobody and that the bandits are there for me." He spoke with a mouth full of food. Gideon felt as if he had let the prince get too familiar with him; either that or Merlin was right and Arthur was a prat.

Sir Gwaine was sitting backwards on a chair, facing them both. He snuck out an arm and sniped a piece of jerky. Arthur slapped his hand away, glaring at the knight. Gideon noted Arthur was possessive of his food.

"No, I meant to suggest that you keep bringing him along but he gets in the way. Do you mean to purposefully put him in danger?" Arthur gawked at Gideon, jerky in hand.

"I would never put Merlin in danger! He's just the idiot that feels the need to be at my side." Sir Gwaine stole a piece of jerky during Arthur's outburst. Gwaine didn't know what Gideon was trying to pull but he was glad to be here to witness it. Surely, Arthur would make a fool of himself, for there was no way he had caught onto Merlin's magic. The whole castle would know when that happened, for Arthur was sure to sulk like a cheated maiden.

Gwaine also considered that Merlin wasn't the only idiot that felt the need to be at his side. He was convinced it was mutual.

"You do understand that you aren't supposed to drag Merlin along every time, and that you are risking his life when you leave him weaponless?" Arthur noticed Gwaine had succeeded in nabbing a piece of jerky. An annoying voice in his head told him it would be good for his figure to stop snacking.

"Look, Merlin is a hopless toad of a servant. He is entirely incompetent and has no regard for the mannerisms of refined people, but he is not weaponless. I'm right there, with this big shiny sword. Don't know how you could miss it." Arthur purposefully brushed over Gideon's comment of Merlin's necessity. Of course Merlin always had to come along. Why would Arthur go anywhere without him? Ridiculous. He was the crown prince! He didn't have to explain himself to anyone.

No, indeed he did not, because both Sir Gwaine and Gideon knew why Merlin always came along, and always had to come along. They had both put coin in the pot, you see.

"Some of the other knights mention that he's an impossibly bad servant." Gwaine and Arthur jumped, and immediately rushed to defense. Arthur used his hand to stop Gwaine.

"Who said that? No one's allowed to say that!" Gideon didn't flinch at Arthur's outburst; he was getting used to it.

"You just said that, sire." Arthur stayed silent for a moment. Gwaine watched him carefully. Slowly Arthur sunk back into his chair. His brain needed a break after that one.

"Merlin has some redeemable qualities. I merely think it's inappropriate that anyone comment on my manservant. Don't know why anyone would even bother."

Gwaine and Gideon shared a look. Yep, don't know why anyone would bother.

........

"Percy's arms rival the size of Arthur's ego." Gwaine sat backwards in his chair, as he often did. The two were in Sir Percival's quarters. The larger knight was currently away, and Gideon did not concern himself with such trivial notions as to how Sir Gwaine had access to his room. "And I say that with the utmost respect of both."

"Alright." Gideon sat uncomfortably on the floor, parchment on the floor. "...Is that all?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to get that off my chest."

"Sir Leon, any comments on the relationship between the prince and his manservant?" The knight was seated in the armoury where Gideon had managed to corner him. For some reason he thought the man hated him.

Leon adored the young boy, but was under the same impression as Elyan- that if he said a little some too much, he'd regret it. He was, as the cool kids once foretold, a bro. He was almost certain the prince and his manservant were fucking, but he wasn't about to say that.

His lips thinned as he pressed them together, eyebrows rising. He opened his mouth for a moment, but quickly closed it.

"None at all." He smiled politely.

........

"What happened with the bandits yesterday?" Merlin and Lancelot were sitting on a log beside Gideon. The campfire made the air a little smoky, and he wasn't particularly fond of the smell. His quill dried up too quickly so close to the heat.

"Took care of 'em. As always." Lancelot slung an arm around Merlin, smiling ear to ear. The Spaniard had a bit too much to drink and was less reserved with his affections.

"Merlin here to the rescue!" Merlin laughed at Lancelot's unabashed humour. The lot of them knew of Merlin's magic, and so there was no reason to pretend that the bandits were anything but a bit of a distraction in their day to day life, for they were no threat with Merlin around.

Merlin took Gideon's hand. The boy stiffened, as this was not in Merlin's nature, and he did not recall the pale broomstick drink a lick of anything but water.

Merlin had definitely drank a bit of whatever Lancelot was having, but he thought it was in good fun.

"I saved their asses. Don't know how Arthur still doesn't know I have magic at this point." Merlin recalled the scene.

There were only 10 or so bandits, for no one took the time to count, but if they rounded up to twenty to make the story meatier, surely no one would blame them for the inaccuracy. The men attacked in the midst of a hunting trip, decidedly while Prince Arthur was squabbling with Merlin about how he was such a pansy for not desiring the murder of cute woodland creatures.

It was only Elyan, Lancelot, Arthur and Merlin that had come along, as so to an outsider it would be feasible that they stood no chance against 30 bandits- oh, did I say 10 earlier? You must have misheard me.

Elyan and Lancelot together managed to fight off four of them at the same time. Not too difficult for the dream team. The threat of Guinevere's disappointment lingered over their necks.

"Merlin!" Lancelot pushed Merlin, almost taking him off the log. "Gwen's in love with you and we both know it."

"Nah, pretty certain it's you she's in love with." Gideon did not comment, for he was not certain either of them were wrong. Guinevere was the type to spread her affections far and wide, for her devotion had no limit and neither did her honour. It was truly a shame that they lived in a time of monogamy equating to sincerity.

"So anyway, Elyan and Lancelot have got their hands full..."

Arthur had unsolved daddy issues and so he had no problem taking on a few bandits on his own. There just always happened to be a bandit that bothered with Merlin, and he'd always find himself in the way of a few misplaced branches.

If Arthur got the last hit in, then of course he must have saved the day and got to spend another horse ride bragging to Merlin about how he'd saved his sorry ass.

........

"Lancelot, how do you feel about Merlin?" The knight was sober now, and Gideon could not be certain he remembered much from last night. His hair was a bit ruffled and he was standing stiffly somewhere in a nook of some hallway in the castle, leaning against the stone, facing Gideon.

"Merlin?" Lancelot blinked lamely at the sunlight. He looked down at the floor trying to rid himself of the taste in his mouth.

"He's... I mean he's incredible. One of the most noble men I know, if not the most. And he's a bit," Lancelot took a pause. He looked down to his feet as a smile rose onto his face.

"He's- he's got his own charms." Gideon was not surprised in the slightest as the list of people who adored Merlin grew. Merlin's life depended on the length of that list, for Gideon did not think he could have survived Camelot if people hadn't found his snarkiness charming.

"And what about Guinevere?" Lancelot looked up in surprise.

He scratched the back of his head. His face exploded in a blush barely visible under the color of his skin. "She's nice...probably the most beautiful woman in all of Camelot. Definitely the kindest."

Lancelot did not realize he had been so obvious with his feelings. He lived in fear that they would get out one day, and Elyan would hunt him down with a mace. He was also incorrectly convinced that Gwen did not reciprocate those feelings.

Guinevere, as previously mentioned, had a strong enough heart that it reached many people. Who was she truly in love with? Well, she couldn't quite pick just one person, but she could give you a list of the possibilities. Gideon was unsurprised (as he could understand) that Morgana was on that list, but he did raise his eyebrows at Leon.

"Leon?!"

"We were childhood friends."

Lancelot of course was on this list. Probably in capital letters.

.........

Merlin passed Gideon a tankard of water. The three of them had snuck down to the tavern. Gwaine was the third among them. I doubt there was any consideration on the identity of the third party after confirming that three men had gone down to the tavern and one of them was Merlin. It would be strange if Gwaine had not come along.

One could not be certain of the drinking laws in Camelot at that time, but Merlin refused to give the young boy ale. Merlin did not realize that that was how the other knights saw him.

"To the once and future prat!" Merlin raised his tankard. The two followed suit.

"Cheers to the once and future prat!"

Said prat was back at the castle, gloomily looking out a window, wondering when Merlin would come home. He did indeed hate every moment without him.