Sassy Old King Consort

Chapter 2: Prank Queen Merlin

The next morning when Merlin woke, Arthur's arms were tight around him, refusing to let him leave, and just this once Merlin didn't have the energy to fight him. That had been the best night's sleep he had gotten in weeks and he was more than a little sleepy. He had no reason to rush to get up anyway.

The next time he woke, Arthur was awake, still holding Merlin but this time greeting him softly.

"G'morning sunshine."

"Hey Arthur," Merlin sighed softly, rolling in Arthur's arms and taking in his smell, "What time is it?"

"A few hours after sunrise," Arthur replied, shushing Merlin when he started to panic about how much he'd missed, "I told the guards to cancel everything you had today except the feast. You've got the day off until then."

"There's so much to do, I can't take a day off!"

"Yes you can, I can cover all the royal boring stuff, and all you need to do is be at the feast tonight. I saw to it that Alyn had the day off, being paid as though he were here, so that you didn't have to worry about his potion until tomorrow. How does that sound?"

"Sounds nice," Merlin admitted, burying his face into Arthur's neck, "Wanna have a bath?"

Arthur nodded his agreement, almost calling a servant to fill it up when Merlin fluttered a hand out, filling the bath with warm water.

He rolled to the side of the bed, sitting up and reaching a hand to Arthur.

"Shall we?" He offered, glad he was finally comfortable enough with his scars that he could let Arthur see them on full display like this, instead of just in the dark as it used to be.

Arthur mumbled something incoherent about not wanting to get up, but he still followed Merlin to the bath. Once in, he pulled Merlin gently into his lap and started to massage the knots out of his neck. Merlin sunk into the touch, not having realised just how tight all his muscles had been.

When Arthur was done Merlin offered to help Arthur with his own shoulders, but Arthur insisted today was about Merlin, and instead simply found a towel for him and helped Merlin out of the bath.

"Alright, so about this disguise..."

"You may want to look away, the process of changing has been known to make people feel sick."

Arthur nodded, looking away and Merlin recited the spell softly.

"Miht dagan, beþecce me. Adeadaþ þisne gast min freondum ond min feondum."

Once the transformation was done he spoke, this time his voice sounding much older.

"You can get the potion to undo the effects from Guais, he always keeps some stocked, I've used the spell a few times now."

Arthur turned to face Merlin and startled somewhat before peering closer into Merlin's eyes.

"I knew I had seen those eyes somewhere before," Arthur sighed softly, seemingly content to simply admire Merlin's blue eyes.

"Apparently I'll look like this when I'm older, Will you still love me?" Merlin teased.

"Merlin, we've already established that I would in fact still love you if you were a worm, so yes, of course I'll still love you, now go have fun, and don't you DARE do any work."

Merlin nodded in agreement, gave Arthur a kiss goodbye and walked out through the servants passage that he had never once used. Ok, maybe he had a few times, but that had only been at the beginning of his relationship when they had been keeping it on the down low.

Now, all Merlin had to do was find some way to spend the day. He had never been too fond of alcohol, so the tavern was an easy miss, and explaining this whole aged up thing to the knights would result in endless teasing. There was however, one person who would have fun with him like this.