Imagines and Preferences: Book 1

Preference: How You Meet | Merlin

Shoutout to @JishTyUriePeteWay for all the votes!

Summary: How you meet Prince Arthur and Merlin.

QOTP: What's your favorite episode of Merlin?

Word Count: 1085

Arthur -
Arthur and his knights are rushing to the throne room; in the middle of training, a woman requested an audience with the king.

When he and the knights arrive, a guard lets the woman in. She - you - bows before the king, Uther Pendragon.

"Your majesty," you say. "My name is Y/N Y/L/N."

Uther recognizes your name. "Your father is Y/F/N Y/L/N, yes?"

"He is," you reply.

Your father was a skilled knight in his time - a worthy opponent of Uther Pendragon and his other knights when Camelot and your kingdom fought each other. The war ended in a truce and Uther, remembering your father's skill and wanting to show your kingdom that he trusted them, asked your father to help train some of his knights. Your king told your father to accept, which strengthened the truce.

While in Camelot, your father fell in love with a woman and they had you. You always wanted to help your father train the knights and you were fascinated by the swords and other weapons. You never saw the king or the prince around the castle; they were royals after all.

But once you saw Uther training with Arthur, which caused you to ask your dad to train you. He did excitedly; he had wanted a son to train, but then he had a daughter. He loved you nonetheless, and he was thrilled that you wanted to be a knight.

Soon after he started training you, you moved back to your kingdom. Your father continued to train you, shaping you into one of the best knights in the kingdom.

That is, if you were a knight. Which you weren't.

"My father has fallen deathly ill," you tell Uther. "And his dying wish was for me to continue his legacy."

"What do you mean?" Uther asks.

You sigh, "Since I was a child, my father has been training me to be a knight. He wants me to put my skills to good use. He wants me to be a knight. I asked the king and queen in my kingdom, and they banished me for doing so."

"And what makes you think I won't banish you from Camelot?"

"Nothing. You might, I know that. But you knew my father. At least, for his sake, give me a chance."

"This is outrageous!"

"Please, your Highness. Just let me show you want my father has taught me-"

"Leave Camelot at once," Uther says sternly. You hesitate, trying to think of something to say, but Uther's gaze silences you and you turn to go.

"Are you any good?" Arthur suddenly asks.

You turn toward him and nod. "I am. I'm as good as my father."

Uther furiously whispers to Arthur, who waves him off and comes to stand in front of you, taking out his sword. "Do you have a sword?"

You remove a sword from your belt in response.

Arthur smiles. "No rules, except no killing, obviously. I beat you, we work out an arrangement for you to live here - because of what your father did for this kingdom.

"You beat me, you're a knight. No strings attached. Just like all the other knights - which means training just like all the other knights."

"Alright," you agree.

Uther starts to protest, but Arthur holds his sword out in front of him. "Sir Percival," he cues.

After a few seconds, Percival starts the duel between you and Arthur.

You're a flurry of limbs and metal for about three minutes. You're almost equally matched; you've both been training your whole lives. After around five minutes, you have Arthur on the ground, your sword at his throat.

He laughs and you sheath your sword, then hold out a hand to him. He takes it and you pull him up.

"Well, Lady Y/N," he says, a smirk on his face, "your knighting will be tonight."

Merlin -
You're talking with your friend, Guinevere, about apprenticing with Gauis, the court physician.

"I'm sure Gaius would appreciate the extra help, especially with Merlin constantly with Arthur," she says.

Your brows furrow. "Merlin?"

"Prince Arthur's servant," she elaborates. "He originally came to help Gaius, then he ended up saving Arthur's life, so Uther appointed him Arthur's servant."

You laugh. "Then I'll try not to save anybody's life. That must be awful."

"It was at first," Gwen replies, "but Arthur's gotten better. He's less of a jerk now."

You continue walking towards the castle, going to talk to Gauis. When you enter the room, Gauis is there, mixing something. A boy, about your age, is sitting at the table, eating. He smiles. "Hello, Gwen."

"Hello, Merlin," she replies.

Gauis looks up. "Oh, hello. How can I help you?"

Gwen answers. "My friend, Y/N -" she gestures to you "- would like to apprentice with you."

"Well, the extra help would be nice," Gauis says, thinking. After a minute or so, he says yes.

Merlin stands, going to leave. He stops, though, and turns to you. "Well, I live in the other room over there, so I guess we'll being seeing a lot of each other." He blushes as he continues. "Oh, uh, I'm Merlin, by the way. I-I should be the one helping Gauis, but I'm Prince Arthur's servant, so I never have much time... Um..."

Luckily, the prince himself barges in - in his pajamas - to break the awkward silence (Gwen was quietly laughing at Merlin, of course, but it was still relatively quiet).

"Merlin!" Arthur shouts. "Where's my breakfast?!" Recognizing the prince, you hastily bow. He looks over at you and suddenly realizes he's standing there in front of not only you, whom he does not know, but also Guinevere, whom he likes. A lot.

"D-Don't do that," he says to you. "Who are you again?" He tries to keep from blushing, silently begging Gwen to leave the room.

"I'm Y/N," you reply. "I'm apprenticing with Gaius."

Arthur nods, "Well, that's nice, isn't it? Um... Merlin, if it's no trouble, could you actually do your job?!"

Merlin nods, "Yes, sire. Breakfast, coming right up." He hastily walks out of the room, smiling at you as he leaves. Arthur, momentarily forgetting Gwen, smiles to himself.

He knows.

He turns down the hallway, running after Merlin, already teasing him about a crush that has yet to fully blossom.