A/N: Hey guys, this is just a really loose sort of idea I had – not sure where it came from. Sometimes, I just start writing at like 4am and see what my brain produces… and this is the result. I was planning on making another chapter for this, but I'll see what you all think first. This is random and I don't know if this is funny or what – so I kinda struggled with the genre.

I did notice the lack of description in this, but I'm trying to ease my way into writing stuff to actually post up – so any mistakes I do apologise for.

This is very different from my normal writing style, I am trying to improve.

Hope you like it!

Nice Try Arthur

By Nada Themis

Arthur's fist pounded against the wooden door leading to Gaius' chambers. Seconds later, a certain warlock opened it.

"Merlin," Arthur seemed out of breath and Merlin stood to one side, allowing the prince entry into the chambers.

"…Yes?" The warlock quirked an eyebrow, there was something odd about his master this morning.

"I know."

Merlin blinked slowly, eyes never leaving Arthur's, "Know what sire?"

"About your… magic." Arthur looked around the chambers, as if expecting Gaius to jump out at any given moment.

"My… magic?"

"Yes, Merlin, your magic. How many times must we repeat the word?" Arthur seemed weary, and started to look around the halls behind him – ensuring no guards were making their way down the corridor. He closed the door suspiciously as Merlin took a step back.

The warlock let out an awkward laugh.

"I don't have magic, sire."

"Yes, you do. I saw you. You were… well, I don't know what it was you were doing exactly, but you were casting a spell, I am sure of it."

"No I wasn't."

"For goodness sakes Merlin, I'm not stupid."

"Well, obviously you are or else you would know that what you're saying is complete nonsense."

"Oh please, you are such a liar."

"I'm not lying." Merlin stood straight, furrowing his brow, clearly offended.

"You are, I can tell."

"How?"

"You start doing this odd thing with your eye. At first I thought you suffered with twitch but now I see it's just a nervous habit of yours."

"I don't have magic Arthur. Do you really think I'm that stupid to practice it when I work under the King? And you, for that matter?"

"Yes, see, that was my first thought – then I realised you are that stupid. So you can imagine how nicely the pieces of this little puzzle are fitting together now."

The two stood silent for a moment, both eyeing the other suspiciously.

"Prove it." Merlin's voice broke the silence.

"Prove it?"

"Prove I'm a sorcerer."

"… And how do you suggest I go about doing that?"

"Exactly, you can't prove it – so I'm not."

"Hmm, fine, alright – I'll prove it. I'll…" Arthur's eyes darted to the table beside Merlin, and he gave a wide smile and marched over to it. He examined a bucket on the edge of the table. And, with one last smirk at Merlin, he slapped the bucket's side, sending it to the floor.

Wood collided with the stone floor as water spilled across the floor, running in a small river towards Merlin's feet.

Arthur's smirk fell, his eyes darting back to Merlin with a fury inside them.

"Why did you just knock that bucket over?" Merlin half-heartedly pointed to the bucket, looking genuinely confused.

"You were supposed to freeze time and catch it before it fell!"

"What? You are joking, why would I do that?"

"Because you didn't want to have a wet floor – I don't know!"

"Well, if I did have magic, that would seem like a pretty petty thing to be using it for."

"Yes well, that's exactly why I thought it might work on you."

"Well, whatever Arthur. You knocked it over – you can clean it up." Merlin handed Arthur a mop, in which the Prince simply held at arms length with a look of disgust on his face.

"I shouldn't have to clean it up – it's your chambers and your bucket!"

Merlin shrugged nonchalantly.

"Yeah but you knocked it over."

"Yes, well I'm aloud – I am future king."

"And that means you have the right to walk into someone's chambers and knock their bucket over?"

"Yes Merlin that is exactly what it means."

"You're unbelievable." The warlock shook his head in disbelief at the Prince's arrogance.

"And you're stupid. Clean that up, and when you're done come to my chambers – you will admit to your magic Merlin, I'll see to it."

With that, Arthur turned and left the chambers, the door slamming shut with a great deal of force. Merlin could hear the Prince's retreating footsteps outside and felt that then was the perfect time for the warlock to show his horrified expression.

His hand clenched the mop tightly, and he stared aimlessly at the mess Arthur had left. He swallowed hard, and got to work.

Later that morning, Merlin entered into the prince's chambers – glaring at him.

"All clean?" Arthur asked, his face facing down at the papers at his desk.

"Yes, no thanks to you," he said spitefully, closing the door behind him.

"Good, then you can now go on to prove you don't possess magic." Arthur stood and folded his arms, a small smirk on his face.

Merlin seemed even more puzzled, "Prove I don't have magic?" He repeated, quirking an eyebrow questionably.

Arthur nodded, "Yep."

There was a moments silence, then;

"… And how exactly do I go about doing that?"

"Well, unlike you Merlin, my mind isn't totally useless – and I've managed to come across a certain artefact in Father's vault that Geoffrey had spoken of once." Arthur made his way round his desk to stand opposite his manservant.

"Oh?" Merlin took a step back, eyebrows raised in both wonder and fear (or something close to it).

Arthur shot him a sly smirk before pulling a multicoloured stone ring from behind his back. It was an odd piece of metal, boring a mixture of colours, swirling around into and beside one-another, never truly deciding on what colour to be.

Before Merlin could object Arthur had taken hold of his hand and started to try and slide the ring onto his index finger.

Merlin guessed what it may be, having read about something similar in his spell book, and tore his hand from Arthur's grip. The prince looked at him with mild astonishment, but Merlin's mouth stuttered open before Arthur could say anything.

"What're you doing?" Merlin put his hand behind his back, his other hand remained by his side as if it didn't know where to go or whether to shield itself as well.

The prince looked at him oddly, "What does it look like Merlin? I'm putting a ring on your finger." As if it was the most common thing a prince could do for a servant.

"Why? What is it? What's it for?" The questions came out in splutters, his head already trying to come up with possible escape routes. A quick one.

"It won't hurt you Merlin, it'll just… Just put it on!" And without warning Arthur darted his hand out to snatch the warlock's left one and pulled it towards him – fiddling with the ring to try and position it onto Merlin's finger.

The manservant shouted Arthur's name in protest and tried to pull his hand away once more, but Arthur's grip tightened – almost crushing Merlin's hand.

"Just stay still Merlin, it won't harm you I promise." Arthur said, in a weak attempt to calm the warlock, but Merlin seemed way beyond being rationalised.

Without thinking, Merlin began to pull and squirm under Arthur's grip, refusing the ring by flexing and dodging it with his fingers.

This just made Arthur angrier.

"For heaven's sake Merlin, stop being a girl! I'm going to put this ring on your finger and you're going to answer the question!" Tucking the manservant's arm up under his own and turning his back to him, using one hand to keep hold of Merlin's own fidgeting left hand and the other in attempt to slip the ring on.

It wasn't until they both heard the loud and highly exaggerated "Ahem!" that they both froze, sending their attention to the figure stood at the doorway.

"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Sir Gwaine quirked an eyebrow, a smirk growing on his face as he observed the frozen and suddenly paled expressions he received from the two men.

At that moment, Arthur automatically let go of Merlin's hand and took a long step away from him. Merlin, glaring at the Prince, began rubbing his hand (which had gone slightly red from Arthur's unsurprisingly tight hold).

"You're not interrupting anything," Arthur began awkwardly; "I was just… showing Merlin a new move I was planning on sharing with the knight's in training tomorrow."

Gwaine raised both eyebrows and nodded sarcastically, folding his arms across his chest, "Oh? That seems helpful. Very helpful indeed," he grin widened, "I don't suppose you'll be sharing it with the Lady Guinevere any time soon?"

"Gwaine, if you're suggesting I was trying to-"

"Oh no, 'course not sire," Gwaine, arms still folded and face still grinning, began to wonder around the chambers until he reached Merlin, "It's just, I think you'll find getting down on one knee a much more effective tactic-" He was interrupted as a random boot flew over his head, just barely missing his hair (as throwing a goblet at a knight was not taken lightly, annoying as he was) but interrupting him nonetheless.

The knight gave Arthur one last knowing grin before jogging out the door, calling back to Merlin as he did;

"No worries mate! You can do much better I'm sure-!" At the moment Arthur had ran out the room and began to chase the laughing knight down the corridors and god-knows-where.

Merlin stood alone in the chambers, hearing the loud shouts and sounds of hard feet against stone echoing down the corridor (as well as the occasional clash of tipped armour and surprised scream of a startled maidservant).

From inside Arthur's chambers, Merlin could hear Gwaine shout, "King Arthur and King Merlin – got a nice ring to it sire!" And could also hear Arthur's foot steps quicken at the given chase.

It was Arthur yelling now, "You dare tell Guinevere-!"

"Tell me what?" The small voice, though very distinctively belong to Gwen, stopped to the Prince and knight and Merlin could hear Gwaine's laughter (and, if it were possibly, Arthur's pride shattering).

Holding back a laugh, the young warlock quickly surveyed the room and spotted the ring on the side of Arthur's desk. He took hold of it, examined it for a moment.

The Ring of Darzirh, Merlin mused for a moment, the colours turn to a full shade of gold if anyone with magic wears it. Finally, he dropped the ring into his pocket and headed for the door.

The warlock shook his head and grinned to himself as he left.

Nice try Arthur.

A/N: Okay, yeah, I know this isn't that great. I do apologise for any mistakes in this. I can only improve off of your feedback.

Thanks for reading!

Nada, x

(Oh, and special thanks to my sister and BETA – Justine Themis).