Requested by @ImBtsTrashDude

Is "ask her out" a medieval times phrase? No. Did I have any other ideas about what to name this preference? No. So here we are.

Summary: His friends push him to ask you out.

QOTP: Morgana Or Mordred?

Word Count: 2264

Arthur -
Merlin walks into Arthur's chambers shortly before sunrise. He's carrying a plate of breakfast with him, and he quietly sets it on the table. He starts to go get Arthur's clothes for the day when he hears mumbling coming from the bed.

He turns, expecting to see Arthur waking up on his own, but instead he just watches as Arthur rolls from his side to his back, still fast asleep. He mumbles again, though, this time, it's intelligible. "Y/N."

Merlin suppresses a laugh, practically tip-toeing as he gets the clothes. He's used to hearing Arthur talk in his sleep, but he's never heard him say your name before. This could get interesting.

Arthur continues. "No, honey, I'll put her to bed."

Merlin stops, wondering what in the world he's talking about.

"Don't worry about it." He rolls over again. "What kind of father would I be if I didn't put my own daughter to bed?"

Merlin's eyes go wide. Arthur is dreaming about being married to you and putting your — and his — daughter to bed. Merlin, though, having already set out Arthur's clothes, is forced to wake him before his food gets cold.

Arthur seemed disgruntled at being woken up from his dream. However, he doesn't complain as he gets changed and sits down to eat his breakfast.

Merlin smiles cheekily. "Good dream, sire?"

Arthur grunts, then says, "It was fine."

"Sounded... interesting to me."

Arthur stops, his spoon halfway to his lips. "What do you mean 'sounded'? What did you hear?"

Merlin pretends to think for a moment. "Oh, I think it was something along the lines of, 'No, Y/N, my lovely, beautiful wife, I'll put our daughter to bed."

Arthur looks up at Merlin, brows furrowed, though he's blushing. "I never said that."

"Close enough!" Merlin replies. "What else did you say? I think you called her — what was it? — honey?"

Arthur jumps up. "I did not!"

"You did! And, honestly, I'd think she'd quite like you to call her that." He wiggles his eyebrows. Arthur sets off, then, running at him. Merlin turns and sprints out the door. "You like her, you like her!"

"Shut up!"

"But you do! And I'm going to tell her if you don't!" Merlin looks back at him, then turns around again. His eyes widen as he finds you in the middle of his path. You quickly jump out of the way, confused as he runs past you.

This causes you to not notice Arthur, who's so intent on killing Merlin, he doesn't see you, either. You crash into each other, both of you falling to the ground. He looks at you with wide eyes. "I'm so sorry."

You shake your head, laughing. "It's alright."

Suddenly, Merlin looks around the corner. "Tell her!"

"Merlin-" Arthur starts angrily.

Merlin begins running away. "Tell her! Ask her out!"

Arthur starts to get up to go after him. "Merlin-"

"Ask me out?" you ask, brows furrowed.

Arthur looks back at you, then sighs. "Yeah. Merlin thinks-"

"I would love to go out with you," you interrupt.

He stops. "You-You would?" You nod, and he smiles. "Great. I'll, uh, I'll go see when I'm free, then, and I'll get back to you."

You grin. "Great."

Gwaine -
The knights had just saved the city from an attack executed by a magician. So, of course, they're in the tavern, celebrating their victory with free drinks.

Unfortunately, Gwaine and free drinks don't mix well.

"Oi, Lancelot!" he shouts, looking at the man. "There's two of you!"

Lancelot chuckles, walking over to him, along with most of the other knights. "You should probably go home, Gwaine."

"Nah, I'm fine. I'll stay a few hours longer," he replies, yawning as he waves them off. "I should wait to make sure Y/N is in bed before I go back. I don't want her to see me like this."

Lancelot's brows raise. "So you admit you're a mess?"

Gwaine nods, then lays his forehead on the table, nearly upsetting a glass of ale. "Compared to her, definitely."

"Is that so?" Leon asks, chuckling.

Gwaine nods again, those his forehead is still on the table. "Oh, yeah. Sh-She's so... beautiful. Like, all the time. Once, I... I saw her covered in mud be-because she helped Merlin clean up our knight st-stuff, and she still looked re-" he interrupts himself to hiccup, which causes him to look back up from the table "-really good."

"Have you told her this?" Perceval asks, brows furrowed.

Gwaine snorts. "N-No, of course not. She's way too good for me. Sh-She's so nice. And kind. And sweet. And pretty... and kind. And beautiful. An-And she does this thing wh-when she's really focused on something, and her face just... it's just so cute. All the time."

"You should ask her out," Elyan says. "I see her blushing when you talk to her all the time."

"No, I-"

"You should," Leon jumps in.

"I don't know-"

"Ask her out!" Lancelot says.

Other knights begin encouraging him, causing him to stand, smiling as his confidence builds. "Yeah! I'm gonna ask her out!" He turns to go do just that, but stumbles as he tries to walk. Percival catches him.

Arthur shakes his head, laughing. "You really need to go home and sleep."

Gwaine rubs his face. "Do I?"

Leon suddenly grins. "I'll go get Y/N. She can help him back to his room."

Most of the other knights laugh and grin as he runs out, heading for the castle.

He finds you quite easily. You're finishing up the laundry for the day. You smile when you see Leon. "Hello. Is there something you need me for?"

He grins. "It's Gwaine."

You stop, dropping the shirt you were washing into the water. "What about him?"

"He's absolutely drunk at the tavern, and he can barely walk by himself. You gotta come help him to his room."

You don't comment on the fact that he seems like he could do it himself quite well, but wordlessly follow him to the tavern, where the knights are patting Gwaine on the back. He lights up when he sees you. "Y/N!" Before you can respond, he hugs you tightly.

You try to turn your face away from him, as he stinks of sweat and alcohol due to his evening activities. "Hi, Gwaine. I'm here to take you back to the castle, okay? You're very drunk."

He pulls back, keeping one arm around your shoulders. "Am I?"

"Yes," you reply, suppressing a laugh as you lead him out.

After the door swings shut behind you, Gwaine sighs, leaning his head on your shoulder. "You're so great."

You laugh. "Thank you?"

"You're welcome."

He's quiet again until you actually enter the castle. "Where are we going?"

"Your room," you answer, brows raised as you've realized just how drunk he is.

"Oh."

Once you reach his room, you open the door and help him inside. He falls onto his bed without even taking off his shoes. "Thank you," he mumbles, turning over onto his side.

You chuckle, going to leave. "You're welcome."

Before you can get halfway out the door, though, he says, "Wait." You stop and turn, seeing him sitting up, looking at you. "I... I just wanted to tell you that... that I think you're re-really pretty."

You blush despite yourself. "Thank you."

"An-And you're also really nice and kind an-and wonderful, and I... I really like you. A lot. In a romantic way."

You stop, shocked, and try to rationalize that he's just drunk, and he doesn't know what he's saying. "How about you get back to me when you're sober?"

He's already half-asleep. "Okay."

Needless to say, once you told him what he said the next day, he was mortified, but he confirmed that he really meant it. You, of course, told him you like him, too. He sighs. "I just wish I were smoother with that delivery, but what can you do?"

You laugh. "Not get drunk again?"

"That sounds like a good plan."

Lancelot -
He could practically feel your eyes on him as he trained with Gwaine. Usually, they would be evenly-matched, but he's too distracted by you to focus.

You're simply watching with Merlin and Morgana on the sidelines. From his perspective, logically, there are plenty of other knights you could be looking at besides him. From your perspective, though, you can't even begin to watch anyone else.

Lancelot stumbles as Gwaine successfully knocks his sword out of his hand. He laughs. Arthur walks over, arms crossed. "Honestly, Lancelot, what's gotten into you today?"

Lancelot shakes his head a little, willing himself to focus as he picks up his sword. "Nothing, sire."

Gwaine smirks. "Oh, no, Your Majesty, I think something has gotten into him. And I think I know exactly what — or who — it is."

Arthur rolls his eyes. "Stop with the riddles, Gwaine. What are you talking about?"

Gwaine gestures over to where you're standing with Morgana and Merlin. "Y/N Y/L/N, sire. Our Lancelot has a bit of a crush."

Arthur looks at Lancelot for a moment. Lancelot nods a little. Arthur almost cracks a smile. "Try to focus, Lancelot. And ask her out after we're done."

Lancelot blanches as Arthur walks away. "Is that an order, sire?"

Arthur finally grins, looking at him over his shoulder. "Maybe."

He and Gwaine begin again, Lancelot's head more in the game now. Gwaine smiles. "She's watching, you know."

"Shut up."

"Just wanted you to know."

"Shut up."

Gwaine just laughs, then Arthur calls for them to move on to the next thing. They stop, and Gwaine says, "You really should ask her out, though. I think she likes you."

Lancelot shakes his head. "No-"

"She does," Percival butts in. "At least, it certainly seems that way."

"It does?" Lancelot asks.

Leon rolls his eyes, deciding to join the conversation. "Yes, it really does. Ask her out before I puke watching you two flirt with each other."

"We don't flirt," Lancelot replies, getting somewhat defensive.

Arthur overhears. "You're telling me you guys don't do that on purpose? Alright, seriously, if you don't ask her out immediately after training, I'm going to do it for you."

Soon after, they begin their last training activity, which takes forever in Lancelot's mind. Finally, though, they're done. Gwaine claps Lancelot on the shoulder. "Go get her, tiger."

"But I-"

He meets Arthur's eyes across the field. Arthur shouts, "Ask her out!"

Lancelot sighs and turns, seeing you still there with Morgana and Merlin. Morgana and Merlin leave, which makes him slightly less nervous. He takes a deep breath, then walks over.

You smile at him when he reaches you, leaning on the fence in front of you. "So how annoying was Gwaine today?"

He chuckles. "Very." You laugh, but he turns serious. "So I... I was, um, wondering if you maybe wanted to... go out with me? Sometime?"

It takes you a moment to get over your shock, but when you do, you grin. "I would love to."

Merlin -
He'd just spoken to you before heading inside the tent, and now he can't wipe the smile off his face.

He's polishing Arthur's armor as he stands off to the side, waiting to put it on. They're preparing for a tournament, which you're sitting in the stands to watch right now. Your ears must be burning, too, because Merlin cannot shut up about you.

"She's really just the most amazing person I think I've ever met," he says.

Arthur snorts. "Really? Well, lover boy, you clearly haven't met me."

"Sorry, sire, but nobody compares to her," Merlin replies. "She just so smart and caring and kind and just... I can hardly describe her in words. She's perfect."

Arthur rolls his eyes. "And, considering you insist on sharing your thoughts with me, I'm assuming you haven't shared them with her?"

Merlin scoffs. "Oh, no, of course not."

"Well, you should, so I can stop hearing about it."

He shakes his head. "No, I can't."

"Why not? I've seen her looking at you all lovey dovey before."

Merlin stops polishing and looks up. "You have?"

Arthur gestures at him to continue polishing. "Yes, I have. So just get together already. Please."

"I... I don't know."

Soon after, he finishes polishing and helps Arthur get his armor on in time for him to go out and compete in the tournament. By the end of it, he's the winner, and Merlin's debated on whether or not to ask you out the entire time.

He's standing with Arthur when he sees you approaching him from the stands. His eyes widen, and he goes to run away, chickening out. Arthur, however, pushes him toward you. "Ask her out!"

Merlin stops in front of you, looking down. You look at him, waiting for him to speak for a few moments, but he doesn't. "Hey, Merlin."

"H-Hi."

"Is there something you want to ask me?" you ask.

He looks up at you, at the hopeful look on your face, and his confidence is boosted. "Do you want to go out with me?"

You smile. "I would love to."

Behind Merlin, Arthur shouts, "Finally!"