Those Damn Golden Eyes

- Chapter One -

Merlin woke up, he knew he was late and that made him rush around like a headless chicken as he knew Arthur would not be happy with him. He felt his head and it felt like someone had been punching it over and over again. He couldn't really remember why this was happening, probably due to a lot of ale, but Merlin was too focused on getting Arthur his breakfast before anything else.

Merlin ran to the kitchen and grabbed the tray and quickly walked to Arthur's chambers. He didn't really process that the tray was very hot because of the cooked food. He used his foot to push the door open and quickly walked in and went to place the tray down, but being the clumsy Merlin he is, he slightly caught his arm with the hot tray causing Merlin to drop the tray in pain.

"OW" Merlin let out a little screech of pain as he quickly placed his hand over his now burnt arm. Great. Not only was I late, but I also have to go and burn my arm and drop all the food everywhere, Merlin thought in his head as he sighed in shame."Merlin are you alright??" Arthur said quickly walking up to Merlin moving the now ruined food away from him but he didn't care, he cared more about Merlin's arm.

"Yeah, I'm o-okay Sire, just a small burn. I'm sorry about the food" Merlin said as he pointed to the food and then put his head down in shame.
"Merlin I don't care about the food, I can go get more, I care more about your arm," Arthur said, his tone had now become a soft-sounding tone which made Merlin more confused since he had never talked to Merlin like this before, he never really talked like this to anyone come to think of it, Merlin thought. Merlin got lost with his thoughts as Arthur stood there clicking his fingers in front of him, making Merlin come out of the little trance he had.
"Merlin are you sure you are okay?" Arthur spoke softly and looked into Merlin's eyes. Arthur could tell that there was something wrong with Merlin, he didn't know what, but he was sure going to get to the bottom of it, no matter how long it might take. Arthur did really care about Merlin, he may not show it as much as he probably should, but Merlin was his closest friend even if he was his servant.

"Yeah Sire, I'm okay, shall I clean up the mess since it was my fault, Sire" Merlin asked as he put his hand onto his head to try and stop it from hurting, which didn't really work, it just made him look weirder, which made Arthur more concerned.
"Merlin, go to Gaius now, please" Arthur spoke in a more worried and concerned tone to his voice as he looked at Merlin in the eyes. Merlin just nodded his head and walked out of Arthur's chambers.

Merlin walked down, still lost in his own thoughts. Some bad, like how he felt useless for not being able to carry a tray correctly but then, on the other hand, he questioned why Arthur didn't shout at him and didn't fire him there and then. Why was he so worried about me? And spoke to me in such a soft tone? He never talks like that to me. Merlin got lost with his thoughts again as he walked into his home. Gaius was stood making some type of herbal remedy. "Merlin?" Gaius looked up from what he was doing to see Merlin sat down, he looked deep in thought which worried Gaius. "Merlin?" Gaius said his name again, this time he looked up to him. "Oh hi, Gaius" Merlin replied, his face looked emotionless.
"What's wrong Merlin, you looked really deep in thought there" Gaius asked being careful to not push him to tell him. Merlin looked down to his arm and started to move his sleeve on his red tunic top so he could show Gaius without saying much as he still felt ashamed for what happened."And how did this happen, Merlin?" Gaius asked as he went to grab some bandages and cream. Although Gaius knows Merlin has magic and can heal with just a simple spell, he knew it would heal in no time anyway since it was only small. "Well Gaius, you know just clumsy old Merlin drops prince Arthur's tray all over the table because it caught it on my arm causing it to burn my arm" Merlin told Gaius, sighing afterwards as Gaius wraps some bandages over the burn.