This show is so great, I thought I would try my pen (figurative) at a fanfiction. I'm warning before-hand, Merlin may be a bit too rebellious '^^ my bad.

Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin. It belongs to it's respective owner.

Merlin, shockingly, was undaunted by the sheer bulk of grime that had collected on the armor. Arthur succeeded in falling off his horse (of course looking royal while doing it) into an abundant pile of mud (that… looked only slightly less royal). He now nursed a broken arm and a rather bruised ego.

"I need you to clean it. Spotless." And of course. "In an hour."

Merlin gingerly picked up a breastplate, examining it absently. "Why an hour? Haven't you fallen off your horse enough for one day?" Arthur silently fumed and rubbed his arm.

"Yes, in fact I have. I want it done because I told you to have it done." Merlin flinched slightly, prompting the anger boiling to cool to a simmer, then freeze over completely. Feeling bad, he turned his expression smug. "Plus, you were late this morning."

"Of course," the manservant rolled his eyes and replaced the armor. Arthur knew better than to feel disrespected, well… he should, but knew he couldn't. Instead, he only grinned in his self-satisfied status quo before leaving the room, his servant, and the messy armor in one slam of a door.

Allowing for the time it took for him to stop and have a few sarcastic and witty repartees with Morgana, it only took him three minutes to run into his searching father (a new record, it usually took about five minutes for the king to find his prince).

"Arthur," his voice was characteristically hard and cross. "We have an unexpected guest and I need you to meet him." Wearily, he glanced at the younger Pendragon's broken arm but offered no comfort besides a shake of his head.

Shamed, Arthur cleared his throat, "Yes sir. Who is our visitor?"

"You'll see soon enough," then he turned and left, leaving Arthur to follow at a respectful distance. His mind whirred and worked, trying to think of possibilities. He didn't have too much time to construct a proper guess before he was presented with the answer.

The young man seemed to be Arthur's age, of Arthur's disposition, in fact the only thing he was missing was the shockingly tardy manservant and the looks (at least that's what Arthur's ego said. In reality, they could've been from the same womb). He had a smug smirk that struck Arthur with déjà vu save for the raven locks framing his chiseled face.

"This is Prince Aster Femhorn. He has come to visit us for a few months." The first opinion Arthur had was a disgusted why?

"Nice to meet you." Though, since Arthur was as chivalrous as could be, that was all he said.

Aster's smirk deepened, "indeed." His tone made Arthur grind his teeth. "So nice to meet you, I've heard so much about you." Yet as flattering as it was, it sent chills down his spine. Funny, I've heard nothing of you.

"Arthur, I assume you have better things to do than to stand idle all day." Uther sniffed, prompting Arthur to actually wonder why his father had called him down there if he was only going to send him off again.

Straightening, he replied with a "yes sir" and bowing a good day, he left. Upon re-entering his room, he expected (that nagging, insistent part of his mind that kept calling Merlin 'friend') for the armor to be clean. He knew it hadn't been nearly an hour, but that just seemed to be how the servant worked. Sure enough, as soon as the door swung open the first thing he saw was his armor gleaming happily on the table and Merlin sitting on the windowsill reading a book.

The young servant didn't seem to notice him as he went to sit in the oversized window across from him, mimicking his position with his elbow propped up and his other foot hanging limply off the side.

"I think you missed a spot," he said dryly trying to fill the silence while searching Merlin's face for any sign of life. The young man closed his eyes, snorted condescendingly, then continued reading without ever sparing the prince a glance.

"I doubt it." Those couple of words shot down the prince's ego faster than any bow and arrow. Seemingly deflated, he thought of another topic.

"We have a guest." That got the young man's attention. He gently closed the book and stared at him with those big, blue eyes.

"A guest?" he echoed.

Feeling back on top of things, Arthur lent back against the sill and sighed. "Are you deaf? A prince."

"Another one?" Merlin chuckled, giving that ear-to-ear grin Arthur found himself wishing was always there, then realizing what he said, shot the prince a slightly apologetic shrug.

"You think I'm bad? I've never even talked to this prince and I already know he's worse than I am."

Merlin's face twisted in confusion, "is that possible?" Arthur rewarded him with a playful punch.

"Oh, it's a happy day in Camelot when a prince and his servant can come together in the face of evil." Arthur turned in synch with Merlin as Aster's voice echoed through the room. He used the doorframe he was leaning on to push off of and the walked into the room. His head dipped in courtesy of Arthur, who did the same in return, Then, he turned his almond eyes to Merlin, his gaze holding his expectancy. Merlin held his gaze, but never budged from his spot. Aster raised his eyebrows and Arthur realized with a jolt that while he wasn't used to polite help, this stick probably was.

The blond prince cleared his throat and nudged Merlin's dangling foot. The servant glanced at him curiously.

"I see your help is in need of discipline." Aster muttered, shooting Merlin a cold glare. The young man finally got what he was missing and stood up, quickly bowing. The raven prince returned with his smirk and paced around the standing man. As Aster made to walk behind the servant, he stepped forward and glanced awkwardly at Arthur. "Hmm… nice looking servant you've got here. Strong build, seems to get his work done effortlessly." He paced back around to face him, switching his gaze from the big blue eyes, the glinting armor, and back. Aster brought a strong hand to cup his chin, and while Merlin made like a skittish horse and tried to back up he merely gripped tighter. Arthur felt a biting sensation to reach up and smack away that hand, but instead smacked away that thought. "Nice big honest eyes." He paused, "probably as dumb as a dragon dung." He laughed, smacking the back of Merlin's head.

"Ouch!" Merlin muttered. Arthur couldn't help throw in his chuckles with Aster's as he saw the confused expression on his manservant's face. As soon as Aster heard Merlin's cry, his laughter stopped.

"Outspoken too. You should probably take care of that. He needs some polishing and discipline and you'd have the perfect servant." These were his parting words as he left the room, leaving the two in bewilderment.

"It is possible…" Merlin hissed, rubbing the back of his head. Arthur gave no response, yet was still internally fighting swords with his urge to go and flay the absent prince. "Arthur?" he jabbed at the idea and it ran off, promising to return another day. "Arthur!"

"Eh?" he glanced up at the curious servant.

"Something wrong? You seem… mad about something." Arthur quickly realized that his face must be reflecting his inner turmoil and schooled it into a smug grin.

"Nothing's wrong," but his answer came a bit too quickly. Merlin gave you a disbelieving scowl, then returned with that Cheshire Cat grin that never failed to either aggravate him or brighten his day. Today, it just unnerved him.

M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~M~

The knock came early, almost too early for Arthur's liking. He sat up in his bed and absently rubbed the back of his head.

"Merlin?" The thought was instantly deemed 'insane'. The manservant was never on time, so he was especially never early. He shook his head and got out of bed, wavering slightly from the sleep. "Come in." One of the many servants cracked open the door then found some way to fit through that microscopic slash. Ah, he thought absently, watching the young man nervously stand before him. He was shaking enough to make the castle quake. So this is why Merlin's always so strange to me, he doesn't quake at the mere sight of me.

"Sorry to wake you, sir. But the King commands you accompany him in the dining room this morning."

"Now?" Arthur whined, examining his nightclothes wryly. The quaking page lowered his gaze.

"Yes sir."

Arthur sighed, resigned, "Okay, you're dismissed." It almost seemed like the boy magically disappeared from the room, leaving the younger Pendragon to his own devices. His broken arm twitched in annoyance.

He dressed then stalked down to the dining room. The castle was abuzz with early-morning activity, servants dashed down the corridors with bundles of clothes and the like. It made him wonder what exactly went on while he slept. Also, the thought crossed his mind what it would be like to have a servant that was actually on time and did what he was told. The possibilities were endless. But, then he wouldn't have the 'joy' of being crossed with every order he made.

The dining room was filled more than usual. His father, King Uther, sat at the head of the table (as per usual), beside him his ward Morgana and beside her Aster. The seat next to the king was empty, waiting to be filled by the heir. Merlin stood at a respectful distance from Arthur's chair with a bemused and half-asleep look on his face. Uther noticed his son had arrived and waved him to his seat. Upon sitting, he finished chewing and took a sip of his drink.

"Arthur's meal," he snapped to the air behind him. With a whish, a tray was placed before him. "I usually don't talk matters over a meal, but Aster prompted me into it," he gave a small chuckle and Arthur felt a sense of foreboding wash over him that had nothing to do with the eggs scrambled on his plate. He silently ate his food while he waited for his father to continue, as he knew he would. "Aster is a marvelous prince, alas he is, at the moment, at a lack of a good servant." The eggs seemed slightly ominous now as they nearly danced off his fork. "And seeing as you have had no comment or remark on your help, I think it would be best to give him the services of your manservant while he is here." The eggs took on a life of their own and stuck a sword in his throat, stubbornly sticking in his windpipe. A reflex sent a wave through his spine and he quickly took a drink of early morning wine. Helplessly, the obstruction drowned as the red liquid won out. Out of the corner of his eyes, Merlin's face was twisted in confusion and foreboding, glancing from the prince to the other prince.

"But sire, Mer- my manservant…" he trailed off as the king set an icy cold glance on him. He would say that Merlin was always late but that would probably get him in a worse position. He turned his look from his father to Aster, forcing a grin. "…Will be by your side with bells on." Aster gave a cold snort as he examined Merlin, turned to Arthur with a triumphant smirk.

"Why thank you, I'm sure he will not only serve me well, but might learn something in the process," his words were spoken to Arthur, yet he was sure that he wasn't the only one who remembered yesterday. Outspoken too. You should probably take care of that. He needs some polishing and discipline and you'd have the perfect servant. Arthur wasn't positive, yet he was sure that the prince's idea of 'polishing and discipline' couldn't be pleasant. The slightly sadistic gleam in Aster's eyes rang true to his thoughts.

Uther's wild chuckle brought him back to the table, "Teaching a servant, why you are the true face of a Saint, Prince Aster."

"Oh yes," Arthur agreed, not quite noticing what he was agreeing to. The young prince turned his face slightly so he could get a better look at Merlin. Behind the young manservant's back his hands wrung each other. His already big eyes were rounded to disk-like proportions and his face held no evidence that a smile had ever graced it.

"Sire," Morgana spoke to the King. "Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to give him someone he picked out himself?" she reasoned, obviously noticing the distraught servant that she faced near directly. "The aforementioned is a wonderful servant, yet he has a temperament that matches Arthur only." She gave a microscopic smirk in their direction. Arthur raised her smirk a dark scowl. "Surely we can find Prince Aster's perfect match." She finished with the finality of an angry lioness that had finished it's meal.

"Nonsense," that single word struck down her idea and Arthur watched it crumbled to her feet. "Temperament? That has nothing to do with a servant, there should be no reason why he couldn't be anybody's servant. As for the perfect 'match', that has already been sorted, Aster asked for him himself." He finished with the finality of a hunter who'd just finished his dinner: lioness.

It was a good thing Arthur hadn't the mind to eat another forkful of eggs.

"Oh," was the only thing Morgana could possibly say.

"For the time being, the boy I sent to your room will take over his duties," Uther waved a hand at Merlin. He's got a name, Arthur stabbed at that same part of the mind that wanted to flog Aster. Merlin! It shouted before running away with its tongue out. Aster gave a beaming smirk, stretching his thin lips across his miraculously white teeth. Slowly he took a draft from his goblet before asking smartly.

"So, is it settled?"