TITLE: Born with it
CATEGORY: Gen (Canon), Humour

CHARACTERS: Merlin, Arthur
RATING: K
SEASON: Five
CONTENT WARNINGS: Season Five so could have spoilers!
SYNOPSIS: Merlin and Arthur are out hunting

DISCLAIMER: Merlin is not mine, and never will be, although as a fan it's fun to play around with these characters. No money has been nor will be made from this. It's from a fan for fans to read. Merlin is owned by the BBC and Shine.

Don't you dare move."

"Not moving."

"Don't even blink, and when you even think of sneezing you will be so doomed."

"Sneezing is out of the question."

Arthur peered through the dense brush aiming his crossbow at the small deer that was sniffling around the clearing trying to find saplings to eat. Arthur would rather eat the deer, if he was lucky this time and Merlin wouldn't scare it off, like he'd done all morning.

The King had wondered many times before why he even took Merlin along when he went out hunting. With him around he never caught anything larger than a pheasant, and it was almost like Merlin did it on purpose, scaring the animals away.

Fact was that he liked having Merlin around for some obscure reason. It made him feel secure and yes, it made him happy. He might complain out loud that the man's talkative nature made him feel irritated, but it was actually very comforting, in a strange way.

He gave Merlin hand signals that made the man duck behind him, peering over his shoulder. It took like years before Merlin finally had grasped the idea behind signalling. Well, maybe that was a little unfair. He did grasp the idea, he just wasn't interested in learning them it seemed.

But he'd known Merlin for a long time now, and things had definitely changed, with the exception of being on a hunt. Yes, Merlin definitely did things on purpose for the sake of annoying him, more than Arthur would want to think about right now.

Arthur concentrated, his finger on the trigger. Just one more second and...

CRACK!

"Merlin!"

"Sorry, " Merlin stumbled backwards almost falling on his bum because of Arthur's stormy reply. "Just wanted to, well uh, got a cramp in my foot and had to move and didn't see that branch, so sorry."

"No you're not." Arthur let out a deep sigh and gave up. This was not going to work and they might as well go home. Next time he would take along the knights, two for the hunt and two to keep Merlin out of the way. Yes, that was certainly an option.

On their ride home they came across a stream. The water looked clear and cool, perfect to fill their water bags Arthur thought. He jumped off his horse and winked Merlin to follow him. "Let's fill up our drinking bags, it's still a long ride back to Camelot."

Walking up to the stream Arthur saw it first. A pheasant. He wasn't picky. A pheasant would do nicely and he would at least have caught something. The bird was sitting on a log near the stream, its back turned at them. The wind coming from its direction, so it wouldn't smell them until it was too late.

Before Merlin could as much as sniff, he grabbed the crossbow from his belt, aimed and the arrow flew at high speed at the pheasant. This would be a clear hit, had to be. The pheasant fell, and Arthur had to suppress a shout of triumph clapping Merlin on the back. "Yes!"

Merlin shook his head, seemingly unhappy with the result. "I'll get it."

"You do that."

Merlin reached the slippery muddy bank of the stream, grabbed for the pheasant when the bird suddenly rushed up from behind the log, not so dead after all. It startled Merlin who lost his balance, swayed his arms in the air trying to grab hold on something that wasn't air and with a loud yell he fell backwards into the stream. There was a splash, the pheasant flew up and away and then nothing.

"Merlin?" Arthur gaped at the scene in front of him, and he couldn't help a grin from spreading on his face. Served Merlin right to scare off all the animals. This time an animal had scared him off it seemed. Arthur couldn't suppress a chuckle. His servant would so hear about this in the weeks to come. What a great way to get back at him, all handed to Arthur on a nice shiny platter.

Quickly making his way to the bank, making sure he didn't slip, Arthur was just in time to see a head pop up out of the water covered in duckweed. Merlin tried to get back his footing and stand, but he failed miserably and fell backwards again, arms flaying.

Yes, even after so many years some things would never change, including Merlin's clumsiness. Arthur stood there, not sure if he should laugh out loud or not. He definitely wasn't going to get his feet wet, that was one thing he knew for sure.

Merlin was splashing around in the water, spluttering and dripping water finally standing up while he pulled duckweed out of his ears, making it harder for Arthur not to burst out laughing.

No, he had to stay stern. Merlin had robbed him of his last chance to bring home some prey. Not even a pheasant this time. It was certainly pathetic.

"You were born with it, weren't you, Merlin?"

"Wha, what?" Merlin's face, dripping with water while he now plucked duckweed out of his hair, fell and he gaped at him. His face was a mixture of innocence, and was that a slightly shocked look?

"Born clumsy." Arthur continued.

"Ah, yes." Merlin seemed to recover quickly from his ordeal and sneezed loudly. "I'd rather be clumsy than a pheasant finisher, a deer destroyer, or a Royal bunny butcher.

"Bunny butcher?"

Merlin didn't answer while he waded out of the stream and stalked passed Arthur, water dripping from his nose. "Are we really going home now, my Lord?"

"Thanks to you I didn't 't even catch a pheasant today."

"Now don't tell me I did this on purpose." Merlin had removed his neckerchief and was wringing water out of it, a thundercloud glare was send Arthur's way.

"With you, I'm not so sure, Merlin."

"So you're angry with me?"

"I didn't say that."

"I was born with it after all."

Arthur couldn't help but laugh this time, his own words bouncing back at him. Merlin stared at him like he'd lost it, then started grinning along with him.

"Yes you were, Merlin, you sure were."

The End