The brightly lit throne room was alive with music, laughing and amicable chatter. In the midst of all this were two men, dancing slowly around the room, ignoring the rather obvious staring and cooing.

"So," started the blonde one softly as they spun, taking a long pause before speaking again.
"Who's the queen?"

The brunette stumbled at these words, into his companion's waiting arms.

"You, of course." he declared quietly as they began dancing again.

Arthur looked bewildered. He chuckled as he drew the other man close.
"I'm not the feminine one."

Merlin grinned.

"If we were to go to bed right now," he murmured lowly back, keeping his blue eyes focused intently upon his partner,
"Who would be the feminine one?"

Arthur immediately blushed deeply, quickly looking around to see that no-one had overheard the princes' hushed conversation.

"How about we both just be King?" he asked hurriedly.

Merlin laughed.
"I'd like that," he said softly, leaning in to kiss h-

"ARTHUURR!"
The two princes turned to see a drunken Uther waddling over, looking scarily ecstatic.

"So!" he hollered joyfully, gesturing at them wildly.
"Are y-you two p-planning the big d-day then?" he hiccupped, beaming at them. Merlin's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Arthur cringed at his babbling father.
"Maybe you should adjourn to your chambers and sleep." he suggested hopefully, completely disregarding the question the King had posed.

"Sleep?" asked Uther, blinking. "Sleep!" his voice was rather high, outraged as it was. Arthur looked on, dreading, as the older man drew himself up; into his condescending stance.
"How can I sleep! Cavalon is on the rise!" he pointed a finger dramatically at the two princes before flouncing away. Merlin watched him make his way back to the table.

"Cavalon?" asked Merlin. Arthur slowly shook his head.

Then, of course, was the time that Gwen and Morgana saw fit to enter the conversation.

"D'you know what he was hinting at?" asked Gwen matter-of-factly, appearing beside Merlin.
"It has to do with you two." added Morgana, also seemingly appearing out of nowhere, smiling slyly.

"Yes, I do know what he was hinting at, I'm not that stupid!" snapped Arthur, scowling at the two mischievous ladies.

Morgana raised an eyebrow, to which Arthur responded to with a matter-of-fact "He's hinting that we should get married."

Merlin blinked, taken aback.
"I- Wh- What!"

"Well, you may as well," inserted Gwen smoothly in a business-like manner.
"Look at you two!" continued Morgana,
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were already married, the way
you look at each other."

Arthur glared at her, glancing at the still speechless Merlin.
"Are you trying to pressure me into marriage? That's shameful."

Gwen couldn't help noticing that Arthur pulled Merlin the tiniest bit closer.

She subtly pointed this out to Morgana after she had snarkily replied that she wasn't pressuring, just stating the truth. Morgana grinned, staring at Merlin, who was almost immediately yanked fully into Arthur's protective arms.

"Stop... staring at him." ordered Arthur.

The two women smirked superiorly before making their way through the crowded throne room to Gaius, who greeted them warmly.

Wrenching his suspicion-addled mind from their possibly-nonexistent devious plans, Arthur looked down at the man in his arms.

"So..." said the brunette slowly, then gulped.
"M-marriage, huh?"

"N-no! I don't want to marry you!" Arthur protested quickly.
Merlin looked up at him through confused blue eyes.

He heard a resounding thump. Looking around, Arthur saw Morgana hitting her head on the wall repeatedly, as Gwen shook her head exasperatedly at him.

Well, what was that for? ...Oh! OH CR-

"N-No! I mean, I do want to marry you!" he yelled.
And of course, because fate is a rather strange thing, as he was yelling this, there was a lull in the many conversations in the room.

He froze as people turned to stare at him. The silence was only broken by Uther's drunken applause, and his soft triumphant cries of "Cavalon!"

Balinor and Hunith, lounging on the two thrones, were the only ones not staring at Arthur, instead watching their silent son intently.

Merlin's mouth moved wordlessly.

Arthur's eyes flickered around the room, landing upon a gesturing Morgana. 'Ask him' she mouthed, while Gwen grinned. Gaius simply raised an eyebrow.

"W-Will you," he started, and then gulped, turning his gaze toward Merlin again, whose eyes widened. Arthur's wavering voice was clearly audible in the hall. "Will you m-mar-" he stuttered again.
"Will y-you m-marr-"

"He's asking if you'll marry him," stage-whispered two impatient voices in unison.

Merlin ignored Morgana and Gwen, all his attention fixed on Arthur, who was looking at the ground.

At the two girls proclamation, a small murmur was heard, and suddenly, conversations sprouted all around them.

Arthur and Merlin didn't notice. They simply stared at each other, unsure.

"It's oka-" Merlin was cut off mid-consolation.
"Will you marry me?" Arthur's eyes were fixed upon Merlin as if he would disappear if he blinked.

"I- I don't know." he said softly.

Arthur's world fell apart. He blinked rapidly, trying not to let his tears spill at Merlin's rejection. He could withstand sword-fights, almost-fatal wounds, and tragedy without a tear. But being rejected by Merlin, the one person he cared about more than anything, he loved more than he thought was possible, was something else entirely.

Merlin smiled, leaning forward to plant a kiss on Arthur's lips.
"Will you marry me?" he murmured, and Arthur's head jerked up, his eyes huge.

"Wh-" He was cut off by Merlin's lips.

"Well," mumbled the brunette, "you're always the masculine one, with the sword-fighting and the muscles. I should at least get to propose."

Arthur stared.
"You mean," he growled, "that you just rejected my proposal just so you could ask?"

Merlin nodded meekly.
"Um," he said softly, "sorry?"
He grinned winningly.

Arthur glowered, but then, as if struck by a thought, the tension left his face, and he smiled smugly.
"Well," he started thoughtfully, taking a lengthy pause, "I can think of one way for you to make it up to me…"

They met each other's eyes in silent, lusty understanding.

A/N:

I love you all for reading this, and I love you even more (if possible) if you've reviewed. I'm slowly rewriting this story, but don't worry, I'm not editing the plotline.
ANYWAY, I am so sad that this is over :(
The following people, for reviewing every (or almost every) chapter, I LOVE YOU;
IchigoPudding
emiliexox
Kironomi
Catindahat

JoyHeart; you actually have no idea how much your reviews helped me improve :)

Um also, to whoever 'Dude Where's My Magic?' is, your name made me laugh for about five minutes :D
Thank you!

Thanks to Lady Asteri for her adorably persistent nagging for me to update :D

If I could, I would personally hug every one of you for reading. Unless you're a paedofile. Sorry :S
X