Author's Note: It seems like every time Merlin's paycheck comes up in fanfictions, it's to say Arthur isn't paying him enough, probably because a) that makes for a better story than "and everything was fine" and b) I don't think it's actually possible to pay Merlin enough for everything he does for Arthur. I really don't. HOWEVER, Arthur doesn't know everything we do, and I have a different theory . . .
Admittedly, he'd been hoping the idiot boy would quit at first. Initially. He'd made the idiot's first weeks miserable, but it was impossible to stay mad at him for long. He was just so . . . genuine.
What? No. Of course they weren't friends. Of course not.
And when Merlin had said he'd be staying with his mother after that bandit attack, he didn't panic. Not in the slightest. Merlin wasn't his first real friend or anything. Hardly.
And he hadn't formed a back up plan. Not at all. Because he hadn't overheard Merlin and his mother talking, and he hadn't learned that Merlin sent most of his earnings home, and he didn't know that those earnings were crucial to supporting Hunith. Of course not.
And the nonexistent back up plan had not involved offering Merlin a raise, and it wouldn't have been a bribe if he had.
But without one word from Arthur, Merlin had come back, and everything was good. Excellent. Except, well, life threatening situations abounded. And abounded. And abounded. And Merlin kept getting caught in the crossfire, and Arthur knew sometimes he could vent his frustration with others (Re: his father) on someone who couldn't retaliate (Re: Merlin, although, to be fair, Merlin could, and did, retaliate. Just not by putting him in the stocks.)
Merlin didn't leave, and Arthur eventually realized he wasn't going to. They were friends, no matter what anyone else said on the matter.
That didn't change the fact that Merlin went well and beyond his job description. It only seemed fair that he be paid like it.
Merlin was the best paid servant in Camelot. Arthur made sure of it.
After all, the idiot had earned it.
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Merlin Headcanons
Fanfiction. . . As well as theories, drabbles, and rants on ships.
