Princes are above dares

"Honestly, what on Earth do you do all day?"

It would be sometime later that Arthur would look back and regret those words. But for now, it was nearly sunset and Merlin had arrived late with his dinner, hadn't cleaned his chainmail or his robes for the annual midwinter feast, and had obviously only just mucked out the stables. Obvious because he still had hay in his hair.

It was the kind of comment that Arthur was used to Merlin either ignoring or responding to with some smart riposte of his own, usually involving the words 'arrogant', 'ass', or 'prat'. But tonight, for some reason, Merlin gave him a speculative look, tightened his lips and then said, "I tell you what, why don't we swap?"

"Swap? Swap what?"

"Our lives," said Merlin, "for one week, you can be me and I can be you."

"That has got to be the dumbest idea you have ever... do you really think the Crown Prince of Camelot can just take a week off... honestly, you, Merlin, the clumsiest man ever to step foot through the front gates, training the Knights and defending the Kingdom? Merlin... really..."

"Fine then, if you think being me would be too hard..."

On some level, Arthur was very aware that Merlin had just essentially called him a chicken and that princes shouldn't respond to that sort of taunt. They should be mature. They should be removed from such petty concerns as the opinions of servants, particularly the annoyingly-upbeat one in front of him. They should...

"Merlin, I can say without a doubt that anything you can do I can do, and better. You have a deal," he found himself saying. I mean seriously, he thought, how hard could it be?

As he had suspected, Uther was unimpressed by the arrangement. He tried to order Arthur not to do it, but the combined weight of his troll bride, the incident with the Witchfinder and 'that fight of which they did not speak" regarding Arthur's mother, had sapped the King's ability to fight his son's will.

"This is insanity," he'd protested, "that you would lower yourself to such menial tasks and for what? To prove that you can do household tasks even peasants can do. You have far greater abilities and far greater responsibilities to this Kingdom, to me, and to yourself."

Arthur had stood firm to his father, floating various arguments in favour of the proposal (the people would love it, it would help him understand how the Kingdom functioned, there were no important social visits and no danger to Camelot at the moment, it could be said to be a joke for the Midwinter festival, a reversal of fortunes that people would see as amusing, it might help them like him better) until he'd finally just told him he was going to do it and there was nothing Uther could do to stop him.

"Merlin and I will swap rooms tonight and as of tomorrow morning, he will be me and I will be him. We've even decided to swap names so you can start calling me Merlin. No jokes about my ears."

He went to his chambers and began gathering a few items to take with him.

"Ah, no," said Merlin's cheerful tones behind him. "You're me now and, I hate to break it to you, but you don't actually own anything. You're a peasant. All that you have belongs to the Crown by law. You are allowed to use certain things with their compliments. They don't include those," and he pointed to the clothes Arthur was gathering up.

"I have, however, taken the liberty of procuring some appropriate attire in your size," and Arthur noticed he was carrying a small package with him.

"Gwen made them for you," Merlin said absently, his bottom lip tucked under his teeth as he negotiated the string around the package.

"Here you go," he said, and handed him the clothes.

"You have got to be kidding me," said Arthur flatly, eyeing the two shirts and one pair of trousers Merlin had handed him. "This is it, for one week."

"Yep," replied Merlin, far too happily, "I did tell Gwen that one shirt was enough for only one week but she appears to have made you two. And oh," he stripped off his jacket, "here you go, you can have my jacket. I want that back in one piece, mind you. It's the only one I have."

"But what do I sleep in?" asked Arthur, incredulously.

Merlin cocked his head in a way that Arthur had always thought as insolent. Now he found it annoyed him even more.

"You're looking at it," said Merlin earnestly and then beamed. "Now, if you wouldn't mind leaving my room? I'd like to get an early night."

Arthur turned toward the door, wondering precisely when he had agreed to allow his life to spiral out of control like this.

"Oh, Merlin," said a contented voice behind him, "I've spoken to Sir Leon about your responsibilities for tomorrow. I mean, of course my responsibilities for tomorrow, which are your responsibilities for tomorrow. I need you to get everything ready for me to go out on patrol with the Knights two hours after breakfast. Probably best to get it done before you go to bed."

And then as Arthur – Merlin he said to himself mentally, I must remember I'm bloody Merlin – left to clean the armour, chainmail and sword and get the horses ready for tomorrow, he could have slaughtered Merlin – Arthur! – for the satisfied smirk on his face as he climbed into bed with a sigh of pleasure.

And Merlin... Arthur... the Merlin with blonde hair suddenly thought. Didn't we just make this deal a few hours ago? How did he get clothes tailored so quickly?

"That devious, scheming, underhanded...skinny, big-eared, funny-faced..." the insults continued (and continued getting lamer) echoing off the hallway as he walked toward the armoury all the time cursing a certain dark-haired servant who'd obviously been planning this little revenge for a while.

"I'll show him," he muttered to himself as he stalked through the silent halls of Camelot. "I'll show him how easy it is being him. You just watch. I'll show him."

My muse is still missing but a plot bunny dropped by my place instead. Bit of fun after the seriousness of 'A Lion and a Unicorn'. New multi-chapter story but unlike the other I have no idea where this one is going. Canon relationships but I might have a bit of fun later on.