Request by parimalik

Summary: Mordred has a toothache. Merlin, Arthur, and the Knights want to help.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, this prompt was requested by parimalik

Mordred was having a bad day.

Of course, if he was being honest, it really wasn't all that bad. He had woken up early to get his breakfast, as usual, and had managed to make time to say hello to the cute young woman who worked in the kitchens before going to meet the other knights for morning training. There had been the usual banter, with the king teasing Emr- sorry, Merlin- as they went over simple drill techniques. It was during that moment, though, that everything went downhill.

Having been a Knight of Camelot for nearly a year now, Mordred had had time to get used to Merlin's treatment. They had had a discussion about it not long after he had returned to Camelot.

"He doesn't mean anything by it," Merlin had told him, "it's just playful banter."

And if Merlin didn't get upset over it, than neither would he. Or at least, that's what he told himself. It didn't stop him from clenching his teeth as Arthur smacked his Lord Emrys on the back of the head. And that what when it happened. A sharp pain rattles through his tooth, sending a spike of agony into his cheek. He let out a cry of surprise, followed by a low whimper of pain, and put his hand to his cheek. Beside him, Percival jerked his head to look at the younger knight.

"Mordred?" The large man's eyebrows furrowed in worry. 'Is everything alright?"

Mordred's eyes widened and he quickly thought up a lie. "Yeah, of course! I just remembered that I left the window of my quarters open this morning. It's a good thing it's nice outside, eh?"

Percival nodded, still looking unconvinced, and returned to his previous conversation with Gwaine. Mordred raised his head, making eye contact with Merlin from across the field, and gave him a pleading look. Merlin raised his eyebrows curiously, but nodded and turned to say something to Arthur. Moments later, he was walking back across the training field towards the young druid.

"I forgot that Gaius requested to see you." He spoke, loudly enough for those nearby to hear. "Something about the wrist you sprained a few months ago, he wants to make sure it healed correctly."

Mordred looked at the other knights and shrugged with a What can you do? expression before following Merlin off the field.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Merlin asked suspiciously.

Mordred looked down, suddenly feeling silly. He mumbled something that the warlock couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry, what?"

Mordred looked up at him, his face turning pink. "My tooth hurts."

Merlin froze before a grin came to his face.

The young knight huffed. "It's not funny!"

"You're right, it's not," spoke a familiar voice from behind them.

Mordred whipped around to see Arthur and the knights standing behind them in the hall.

Percival spoke up. "You said you were going to see Gaius, but I remember Merlin saying he was out of the city helping a woman birth her first child. Also, I don't remember Mordred spraining his wrist. So I told Arthur, and we. . . well, you know."

"Followed us?" Mordred snapped, annoyed. "It's none of your business."

Merlin put a hand on his shoulder soothingly while Arthur stepped forward. "That's the tooth talking, Mordred." Arthur sighed and reached out to grip his knight's arm. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

Mordred shot a look at Merlin, looking momentarily like a scared doe. Suddenly, Merlin understood. Mordred was a druid, and had been raised by druids. Things like toothaches and sprained limbs were fixed in mere moments with potions and whispered words. It was the first time that Mordred had been in physical pain since coming to Camelot, and therefore the first time he had ever had to endure it. Though he had been a knight almost a year, he was still conditioned to magic solving the simple problems.

Merlin looked at Arthur. "It's just a toothache, you prat, he probably thought it a trivial matter."

Arthur glared at his manservant, mumbling a quick "idiot" before meeting Mordred's eyes. "No matter is trivial, Mordred. When a knight is in pain, he can't focus on doing his best. And if my knights all suddenly stopped doing their best, then we wouldn't be the best, now would we?" Mordred gave him a shy smile and shook his head. "Good, now Gaius isn't here, so I suppose it's up to us to fix this, isn't it?"

And that was how Mordred ended up here, sprawled out on Merlin's bed, flipping through pages and pages of remedies he didn't understand. Merlin sat beside him, one leg crossed under the other, with his foot dangling off the side. The door was wide open, and Elyan was sitting against the frame with his nose buried in yet another of Gaius's many volumes. Percival was against the wall with Gwaine leaning against him. Arthur and Leon could be heard from the main quarters, mumbling to each other about herbs and poultices. They were all surrounded my piles of journals and books that Merlin had retrieved from his uncle's personal library. Though none of them understood most of the medical gibberish that was written in the texts, it didn't stop them from searching.

Mordred leaned in so that only Merlin could head him. "Can't you just. . .?"

Merlin groaned, muttering, "I'm rubbish at it."

Mordred sighed, the ache in his mouth seeming to dull his other senses. On any other day, he would be rolling on the floor laughing at the ridiculous scene, but the pain was excruciating and somehow made the whole ordeal seem humorless.

Suddenly, Elyan jumped up. "Cavity!" he yelled.

Mordred blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You must have a cavity!"

Gwaine sat up from where he was leaning against Percival. "What's a cavity?"

Merlin looked at Mordred. "It's when someone eats too many sweets and it begins to rot their teeth."

Arthur and Leon ran in, looking slightly panicked. "His teeth are rotting?"

Merlin reached out to take Mordred's face in his hands. "May I?" He leaned the youngest knight's head back and peered in his mouth, allowing his eyes to flash golden where the others couldn't see. He spotted the problem instantly. "Yep, that's a cavity all right. Looks like a nasty one, too."

Mordred's eves widened in fear. "Well, what do we do?"

Merlin thought for a moment. "Well, I can't think of anything Gaius could make to fix the problem. . . so I suppose that we'll have to pull it out."

The other knights ignored Mordred's yelp of panic and came over to hold him down as Merlin sat on his chest. "What? No! I say we wait for Gaius." He looked at Arthur for help. "Sire, won't pulling it out just make the pain worse?"

Merlin looked him in the eye. "Pain, I can help with. Rotting teeth, however. . ." He shook his head. "Relax, I promise it will only hurt for a moment. After that, I can give you a numbing remedy and you won't feel a thing."

Mordred sighed, looking at the knights who were still holding him against the bed. They gave him reassuring looks and Gwaine winked at him. "Don't worry, jailbait,"Gwaine smiled, "After this we'll head down to the tavern and numb a heck of a lot more than your tooth."

Mordred chuckled, turning back to Merlin. "Alright," he resigned himself, "do it."

When Gaius returned that night, the first thing he noticed were his books scattered carelessly around his quarters. He looked around, confused, before spotting a rag with spots of blood on it, and he sighed. Then, with a loud yell that could rival even that of Arthur Pendragon-

"MERLIN!"