People Will Say We're In Love

CH. 1 - The Slime Prince

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Merlin' or any of the characters from the TV show that are included in this work of fanfiction such as Merlin, Arthur, Uther or Morgana. I do, however, think I own the Slime-Prince and, to be honest, I'm not really sure I want him.

Summary: Merlin and Arthur are put to the test when they are intruded upon in their natural habitat by a slimy prince from another Kingdom. With his observations and Morgana's interference and seemingly everyone saying they're in love, will the pair finally realise or be trapped in this endless dance forever?

AN: Here goes! This was originally meant to be a oneshot but it kind of ended up with too much of a plot and so has transformed into a very short story with around three chapters. Hope you enjoy, it is my first time on here so if I do something wrong please don't eat me!

The grand hall was decked up with colour to celebrate the forming of an alliance between Camelot and a nearby kingdom. A festive dinner was being carried out and currently the kings were making speeches of gratitude and hope for the future. For once, nothing seemed amiss; no enchanted songs, no poisoned gifts, no shady servants. Arthur Pendragon sat at the head of the table overlooking the performances from the kings in the centre. He was looking in their vague direction but once again found his eye caught by his manservant, Merlin, standing across the room. Their eyes locked and they shared an eye-roll and shrug at the typical, cliché sentences gushing from the mouths of the rulers, leaving both of them with smiles toying with the corners of their mouths.

After the speeches the full festivities could begin with drinks all around and food to feast your stomach and your eyes on and still have more to spare. Arthur found himself in a long winded conversation with a pompous young prince who seemed to only wish to talk about himself; his thrilling achievements, his heroic deeds, his mountain of adoring ladies. On and on he went. Never seeming to share one possible thought that Arthur might actually want to partake in this conversation and include some of his own daring adventures, which were, it was to be truly said, much more thrilling and heroic than this other princes. Merlin, seeing the way in which Arthur's eyes were hurriedly flitting around the room trying to see some escape, made his way over to the pair just in time to hear the 3rd Prince of Darya drawling "Oh and did I mention this time there was this gartoon who had taken this beautiful, fair maiden so naturally I stormed into the deep, dark forest, fought the creature putting my very life at risk of its terrible claws, and swept the maiden onto my horse to take her home, meaning I had to walk, although… she repaid me well…" The story was followed by a smarmy smile which made Merlin positively sick to the stomach. He could tell from Arthur's face however that, yes, he had mentioned this before, possible twice judging by the extremity of the expression. He decided that now would be a good time to rescue the damsel in distress from the vines entwined around him by this slimy beast of a prince.

Arthur felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Merlin and honestly felt like he was about to throw himself on him with relief. Instead, he settled for a more subtle out-and-out grin.

"My lord," Merlin dipped his head. "The Lady Morgana wishes to call upon you to share this evening's most gracious merriment and mirth." Arthur raised one eyebrow. Sure, that boy might be a clumsy clotpole most of the time but he could really spew out literate crap when he needed to; even Arthur believed he was actually fit to serve a King in that moment.

"Of course," he replied before turning to the slime-Prince. "I am most sorry but I must ask to take leave from this simply enthralling conversation." However, he made no promises of returning to it later and saw the slime-Prince stick his chin in the air and stalk away. Thank God that was over. Or really, thank Merlin. Speaking of… "Morgana doesn't really want to see me, does she?" Arthur asked.

Merlin, at least had the decency to look a little embarrassed but still maintained defiantly steady eye-contact while he replied, "No," he grinned. "Not at all." Arthur couldn't help but chuckle a little at his funny antics.

"Well, let's get the hell out of here before that slime-Prince comes back." Merlin turned to go but just before he started moving, Arthur spoke so quietly that Merlin barely dared to believe he had heard what he thought he had heard. "But, you know, thank-you, Merlin, for, err, that." Arthur muttered before he pushed past Merlin… so that Merlin wouldn't see the blush that now dotted his cheeks. However, it also meant that Arthur missed the pure, full-out, beaming grin that was now plastered happily all over Merlin's face.

For the rest of the evening, Merlin and Arthur hid in the corners of the hall, chatting happily about stupid nothings, hilarious previous happenings and any random thought or fancy that wandered through their minds. It was easy conversation, completely different to any of the forced questions through gritted teeth that one usually finds at these sorts of occasions. In fact, the pair became so lost in the fun of their conversation that they completely forgot about the rest of the party, only sneaking out from their hidey-hole behind a pillar to get more food, more wine or occasional to peer at a particular tapestry or part of the room near which some jolly jape had occurred in Arthur's tales. Perhaps it was improper of Prince Arthur to go stealing away with his man-servant during such a feast and a party as it was expected of him that he should socialise with the company of the guests but if the slime-Prince was anything to judge by, he highly doubted any of the other members of their party were going to be more interesting than his, quite honestly, ludicrously comical friend, who was, truth be told, even more witty and mirthful once he had a few glasses of wine and tankards of beer in him.

By midnight, the conversation had slowed from a high-speed torrent of the absurd, amusing and just plain silly to a more real, gentle and, well, deep discussion.
"Meeerlinn…" Arthur sighed, now slightly more than slightly drunk. "Doooo yoouu remember that first feassst we had afteeerr you'd got heeere and you saved my-yy l-lifffe?" Merlin giggled.

"Youu were suchh a d-*hic*-dollophead baack thenn! So arrogaaant and pompouuss and full of youuuself!"

"Like sliiiime-Princeee over theeere!" Another giggle. And then Arthur's head cleared a little as he thought on what he had just said. He wasn't ever as bad as slime-Prince was he? Oh god, he actually was! He used to go on and on and on about everything that he'd done and what a brave hero and brilliant fighter he was. Merlin, sensing something was wrong, managed to sober up a little to look Arthur in the eyes, searching to see the problem. He saw the fazed-out look of remembrance mixed with realisation, disgust and, a small amount of, shock. Even in this hazy state of mind, Merlin knew Arthur well enough to guess what he was thinking.

"You were never as bad as slime-Prince." The words fell solemnly out of Merlin's mouth before he even realised he was going to say them, accompanied by a soft hand to the shoulder which Merlin had certainly not permitted.

"How can you say that so surely? I used to boast, I used to brag, hell, I used to talk on and on and never shut up! I was exactly like slime-Prince, wasn't I?" Arthur cried. Merlin just shook his head.

"You could never have been like slime-Prince."

"How do you know?"

"Have you seen his nose?" Merlin joked and was rewarded by a small smile from Arthur. God! Merlin had never known someone who appeared so strong to be so insecure. Mind you, Arthur would probably threaten him tomorrow if he reminded him of this. Merlin sighed. "Look, Arthur, do you want to know how I can be so absolutely and utterly sure you were never as bad as slime-Prince?" Arthur nodded slowly, warily. "This conversation we're having. Slime-Prince could never hope to have a conversation like this to a servant. And even, all those years ago after we got in that fight with the maces and those guards came to take me away and you stopped them, do you remember what you said?" Arthur lips moved slightly but no proper sound came out, yet Merlin could see that he remembered. "You said I was an idiot but a brave one. Slime-Prince would absolutely never be able to admit to anyone, let alone a servant, that they were brave. And ever since then you've only got better and better and kinder and kinder; you do good deeds out of the kindness of your heart to honestly save and better the kingdom and its citizens not so you can brag about it to other princes or to steal the virtues of a fair maiden. Maybe, once upon a time, you were the tiniest sliver of an ounce like slime-Prince over there, but you've changed Arthur, and now any resemblance you ever had to that pompous, big-headed snot-ball is gone and you're a fair, just and kind-hearted prince who is destined for great things." He paused for a moment wondering if Arthur was on his head enough to be listening and understanding and that it wasn't going in one ear and out the other or, worse, just straight over his head. There was a second of silence while Arthur considered and then slowly, thoughtfully, he spoke,

"Because of you." He raised his head and looked Merlin straight in the eye and said again. "Because of you. I am who I am today because of you. I changed because of you. Why?" he asked but it wasn't a question. He knew why. And then, just when the conversation was in danger of becoming too solemn, too morose, Arthur's cheeky smirk returned and he commented "But you haven't changed a bit have you, Merlin. You're still the feeble little weakling you were when we first met. I swear you've been wearing the same clothes for five years? Ahh, do you remember when you tried to punch me and I twisted you away so easily like you were nothing more than a child." And despite Arthur's taunts and pig-headedness, Merlin knew he was only teasing and they were back into their easy going rhythm; fast, slow, pause, insult, move on, repeat. Again and again. Like a married couple.

"How could I forget, sire." With this title, that had really become more of a pet name, and no longer felt right to Arthur when anyone but Merlin called him it, there came the signature, bold head tilt that was daring Arthur to bring him up on the lack of respect. Naturally, he never did. "You laughed at me when I called you "friend" and then taunted me when my comebacks were too good for you."

"I said I could take you apart with one blow and you said that you could take me apart with less than that." Arthur replied, raising an eyebrow at the euphemism that neither of them had noticed until much later.

"And you asked me if I could walk on my knees." Merlin replied just adding to the list. They shared a chuckle at the innocence of their former selves.

"You were so small."

"So were you!"

"You still are."

"I'll thank you to know that I've grown!"

"The problem is, Merlin, that other people can grow as well so you're still shorter than me."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"Child!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too! And you're still shorter than me!"

"Am not!"

"Come here." Arthur stood up straight as Merlin obeyed him and moved closer. And it was then that he realised how much shorter than Arthur he actually was. "See, nothing more than a child. I could do anything with you and you would have no power to stop me."

Merlin snorted and muttered,

"Euphemism…"

"Child!"

"We're not going here again…"

"But you are such a child; in body, in mind, in innocence."

"Oh, I'm not innocent!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

With this comment from Merlin, Arthur moved even closer and without even seeming to put in any effort at all, swept Merlin up, spun him around and pushed him against the pillar. He leant right in to Merlin's ear and whispered "Are too." He pulled away slightly, before slowing and becoming still, just like Merlin. And then there was this moment. You know those moments where everything else seems to stop and nothing else matters apart from you and perhaps one other thing? Well, it was one of those moments. One of Arthur's hands was resting, seemingly without his knowledge, on Merlin's waist and it just seemed to fit there by his skinny hip, easily slotting into place. The other hand was up by Merlin's head keeping him imprisoned there against the pillar and both of Merlin's hands were placed against Arthur's chest where they were evidently meant to be attempting to push him away but were doing nothing of the sort. They were both breathing heavily and their bodies were so close it was possible that one could actually feel the others increased heart-beat. Their faces were close from where Arthur had pulled away from whispering in Merlin's ear and two pairs of blue eyes, both with oddly large pupils, met. One was a pale blue, the colour of a spring sky perhaps and the other was a deeper hue more like the sea, but far out in the middle of the ocean, just after a storm. And, it is true to be said that, Arthur really was much taller than Merlin… by really quite a big margin. Merlin's neck was craned to look up to meet his gaze and even then Arthur was stooping slightly, keeping Merlin even more enclosed in his human cage. This moment seemed to settle upon them, shrouding the rest of the room, the rest of the world into a hazy mist of unimportance. They were still, silent, caught up in each other. It must've only been a couple of seconds but to them it seemed like an unmeasurable stretch of time and although there was complete silence between the two, so much was being communicated. And then a silhouette broke out of the surrounding fog and just like that the moment was shattered like a shimmering bubble being brutally popped; everything that they had been too captured in the second to notice before, they realised now, such as their rather interesting position. Almost, simultaneously, they coughed self-consciously and turned their gazes to the newcomer.

"Ahh, Arthur." Of course, it just had to be the slime-Prince. "I was hoping to see you to bid you goodnight and to promise to continue our conversation tomorrow but I didn't realise you were so… (he cast a sly glance towards Merlin) busy." Again, the pair coughed and moved away from each other, dusting themselves off as though the flapping could remove the awkward air now settled upon the scene.

"Well, er, goodnight." Arthur said, rather disjointedly.

"It was a pleasure meeting you and I rather enjoyed our conversation, as I'm sure you did." The slime-prince turned to go before throwing over his shoulder. "Oh and don't worry. I won't tell anyone about your... situation."

"We're not…" they both began but the ends of their sentences faded away as Merlin and Arthur could almost feel the self-satisfied smirk and pleased-with-himself strut coming from the man who had turned around the pillar out of their view. The couple turned back to each other before uneasily looking away again and scratching the back of their necks.

"You know, it is late, Merlin, perhaps we should be getting to bed too." Arthur suggested and Merlin was only too happy to agree. They said a rather rushed and apologetic goodnight to Uther and Morgana who gave them questioning looks as to where they had been for the last few hours but neither culprit seemed ready to give them satisfactory answers so they let them hurry on to bed with the feelings of excitement yet nervousness and slight confusion or perhaps incompletion fluttering about in their stomachs.

AN: Thank-you for reading. I proof read it but rather late at night so would greatly appreciate reviews telling me all the mistakes. Go, go, go. I'm inviting you to be, reasonably, mean and critical. Also, if there is anything in there, even one itty-bitty sentence or word or phrasing that you didn't understand, tell me, I'll try and fix it. I'm sorry if my writing is not the best, I'm just an aspiring writer, probably like the rest of you. A review would make me very happy or a follow or a favourite. Here's a bunny:

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(o.0) - Please review to get bunny love ... oh god that sounded soppy. And cheesy. Whoops. I'll just go now.

Now updated with lots of help from the wonderful Bailieboro so that it's hopefully easier to read and distinguish which characters are speaking.