Supermerwholock One Shots

(Prince) Arthur X Reader - Interesting

Being a maid in Camelot castle sucked, you thought. Though, it did have its perks. When you had to change the Prince's bed, for example, and he was still in the room.
Though, every time you saw him, you came out as shy and timid, not to mention that you would blush profusely. Then again, all of the other maids would blush, too. And then they'd gush about him to each other afterwards. You wouldn't. You didn't really get on very well with the other maids. Cultural differences and so on.
But that's beside the point. It was one of those rare occasions when you had to go and change the Prince's bedding. You were carrying it to his room - the fresh bedding, that is. As you reached the door to his room, he was leaving the room and shutting the door. As he saw you, he opened it again for you.
You mumbled, thanking his grace for being so gracious.
He smiled as you said this. "Oh, his grace is gracious, is he?" he asked, smirking. Your cheeks looked as if red roses were blooming on them.
"I'm guessing that you are (Y/N), from your lack of audible answer and profuse blushing," he smiled to you.
"I'm sorry, my lord!" you gasped, believing that you were being told off for not responding when you had been spoken to.
"There's no need to be sorry, (Y/N). I quite enjoy that you don't insist on automatically replying to everything that I say. Don't tell Merlin this, but I hate being called 'sire' and 'My lord' and 'your highness' and so on, all the time. Merlin will just use it as another way to annoy me."
You sniggered, somehow managing to forget who you were talking to. "Okay, then," you whispered. "How do you wish to be addressed?"
"Just call me Arthur." He paused, taking the opportunity to look at you. "Don't tell the other maids, I don't want to seem like I've got a favourite."
"Don't worry, sir... I mean, Arthur. I don't really talk to the other maids, anyway." You gave a small, mousey smile.
He looked at you with his head tilted ever so slightly to the right, a confused smile creeping across his lips. You looked down, not wanting to be dragged into the beautiful abyss of his amethyst eyes.
"You intrigue me, (Y/N)," he uttered.
"I am really not that interesting," you replied, just a couple of seconds too quickly. You then realised that the two of you were still in the corridor. Arthur seemed to notice, too, but did nothing about it.
"Oh really?" he asked, smirking slightly. You went to answer, but stopped because what you were going to say could be interpreted as insulting the prince. "Stay in my presence for the rest of the day and I say that I will have found something interesting about you by sundown."
"You really think that you could possibly be able to do that?" you eventually asked. You had spent ages trying to work out a way to say it that wouldn't​ necessarily be seen as rude.
"Yes, I believe I can. If I am able to find something suitably interesting about you by sundown, you must do something that I directly ask you to," he replied, sounding too sure of himself.
"How about if you are unable to? What do I get?" you demanded, making sure not to sound like you were bossing his majesty around.
"In the unlikely event of me being unable to find anything interesting about you, you can have the week off and I'll spend two days doing your jobs."
You rolled your eyes at his over-confidence. "Okay, then, let me put your fresh bedding onto your bed and you can have yourself a deal." Ten minutes later and you were ready for your bet to commence.
You were supposed to just act as if you had been given the day off, but stay within Arthur's sights, so that he could try to find something interesting about you.
He had training first, so you sat, cross-legged, on the grass beside where he trained. You had a book that you were reading. You were reading a fictional story that had quotes from Greek philosophers.
You thought that it was quite an interesting book. The entirety of Arthur's training session went by and he had yet to call anything about you interesting. You shrugged. You had predicted this. But you didn't say anything, as he still had the rest of the morning and the whole afternoon to find something.
You didn't notice as, when his training finished, he quickly got Merlin - his manservant - to write something down for him. You were too interested in your book.
When he came over to you, at the end of his training session, he told you what he would be doing next. "(Y/N)," he smiled, as he walked towards you.
"Your Highness?" you replied, matching his tone.
"We are going on a short hunting trip for the remainder of the day. If you wish to continue our deal, I may be able to get you permission to join myself and the small team of knights."
"Of course I am willing to continue our deal, your highness," you replied, carefully standing from where you had been sat on the grass. Naturally, being the knight that he is, Arthur had offered to help you up, but you refused, saying - under your breath - that being a woman did not make you incapable of standing up by yourself.
And so, you were allowed to leave to prepare for an excursion to the forest with a group of knights, on a mission to hunt for food. When you returned, at the time when you were set to leave, you found Arthur waiting with three horses and Merlin. He helped you onto one of the horses, before climbing onto his own, at the same time as Merlin. Then, the three of you rode to the main gate to the castle. When you reached the gate, there was a small tag-team of knights. Arthur asked Merlin to wait with you as he rode ahead to talk to them.
You and Merlin talked a little while you waited. "So, (y/n)," Merlin started. "Why's Arthur bringing you on this little trip?"
"Well, we made a deal..." You briefly explained everything that had happened with Arthur throughout the day so far, getting the feeling that Merlin knew more about all of this then even you knew.
"Hmmm," Merlin hummed, once you had finished explaining. "That's interesting."
"Don't you start!" you laughed quietly. Arthur turned to face you for a moment, before returning to talk to the knights.
Eventually, Arthur turned his horse and came back towards Merlin and you. "Okay! We are all set for going hunting, now!"
"What's up, Arthur?" Merlin asked what you were thinking: "Why are you acting so strange?"
"Strange? I'm not being strange."
"Interesting," you muttered, smiling profusely. When you realised that he had heard you, you started to blush as profusely as you had been smiling just a second before.
"Pardon, (y/n)?" Arthur asked, smiling. He seemed to enjoy making you feel uncomfortable.
"Never mind, your highness. It was nothing of consequence," you replied, visibly less comfortable around him. It then occurred to you that he might be doing this to tease you. If he was, it was definitely working.
He smiled kindly to you. "(y/n), I have already told you, just call me Arthur. Anyway, come on, we should get going, if we are going to have a productive hunt."
And so you all set out to the forest. You rode, for a while, at the back of the group with Merlin. He seemed nice, making you regret having not spoken to him sooner. Thankfully, he also found that Arthur had annoying tendencies. Though, as he told you, Arthur would never agree to do something just for a chance to tease someone.
Him saying this made you feel guilty for having thought that the prince would do something like that. Eventually, Merlin was called to ride alongside Arthur. So you rode alone for a while, at the back of the group. Then your hunting party was attacked by bandits. Because you were just a maid and didn't know self-defence and were at the back of the group, you were both easy for them to get to, and unable to properly fight back. One, who was giant in size, lifted you from your horse and started to carry you away, a hand over your mouth.
You saw the group that you had been with, desperately trying to fight these bandits. Then, you saw Arthur. As you saw him, he saw the bandit carrying you away.
"(y/n)!" he cried, fighting his way towards you. He wasn't quite strong enough to fight at the speed he needed to in order to save you. You realised this before he did. You didn't even notice as you started to cry. As he disappeared from view, you saw him mouth 'interesting'.
You silently cried yourself to sleep in the impossible-to-escape arms of the bandit carrying you. When you next awoke, you were in a dark cell somewhere, tethered to a wall with cast iron shackles. Unable to see to the other side of the cell, you returned to sleep.
This must have continued for a good few days, it felt like, to you. You felt sure that Arthur would have forgotten about you by now. After all, you were just a maid. Just another expendable maid in an army of girly, proper maids in Camelot. And so you resigned yourself to a life - for as much as you probably had left - of day in, day out, waking up in the dark cell before returning to sleep.
However, one time, when you awoke, something felt slightly different about your surroundings. You strained your ears and were able to hear the faint signs of someone breathing. Then, there were frequent sounds of violence and swords clashing, above you.
You kept your eyes closed, unsure of what to think. Your head was bowed. Then you heard the metallic slash of sword against lock. You flinched at the sound, though didn't look around, in case your situation was about to become worse.
The cell door, that you had never seen before, creaked open slowly, flooding the cell with a weak light. You could tell this from your eyelids growing pinker, in front of you, from their usual dark colour - when they are closed. You kept your eyes closed, still, and your head remained bowed.
You heard a sword being re-sheathed somewhere in front of you. Then, the light ahead of you steadily grew brighter. Then, there was the gasp. "(y/n)!" You heard someone rush towards you. Their hands holding your face up. Only then did you start to look at what was happening.
Your head was pounding and you could barely hear them talking to you. Then - finally - your eyes adjusted to the higher amount of light. In front of you, crouching down to your height, was the one person that you had convinced yourself that you would never see again.
You tried to speak, before discovering that your throat was too dry. "Shh, (y/n)," he whispered to you. "Don't speak... it's okay... I'm here now." He started working on unshackling you. "It's okay, I've got you." When he had freed you of the shackles, you tackled him in a hug. You hugged him as tight as you could. Then, when you looked up at the light source, you saw that Merlin had come with Arthur to find you. You tried to stand, when you pulled out of the hug with Arthur. You were a little shaky, but Arthur supported you. Then, you gave Merlin a hug too.
When you had finished hugging them both, you just about managed to whisper-croak a 'thank you' before your voice died completely.
"Come on, (y/n), let's get you out of here," Arthur whispered to you. He gently held your arms.
You let him guide you towards the open cell-door. The sounds above grew louder and you started to shake uncontrollably because of this.
"Shh, it's okay," Arthur promised, rubbing your arms gently to reassure you. Still you kept shaking. Gently, he moved away from you for a moment, to draw his sword. He handed it, hilt first, to Merlin. "You do know how to use this, don't you?" he asked, wanting to reassure both you and himself. Merlin nodded, taking the blade from the prince. Arthur returned to comforting you. "There. Now, if anyone comes at us, Merlin will fight them off. Is that better?"
You nodded, your shaking subsiding a little. The three of you carried on moving and, eventually, you were free of the bandits' base. You'd had to pass the fighting, though, which you had disliked immensely. As you had passed Sir Leon, Arthur had left a message with him, saying to carry on fighting for a maximum of ten minutes, then retreat and return to Camelot.
Once you had got free of the bandits' base, you felt light-headed due to the lack of harsh noises and the bounty of light. You swayed slightly when the three of you stopped to catch your breath. Arthur noticed. You heard a noise from behind you. Merlin and Arthur turned to look. When Arthur returned to facing you, he scooped you up in his arms and carried you away.
As he started to run through the trees, he protected you from the branches snapping at the three of you, using his arms. You looked back at one point, but couldn't see anything. Whether this was because they had lost your trail, or because you couldn't see them due to the running, you didn't know.
Eventually, you got to a clearing. On the far-side of the clearing, three horses were tethered. When you reached the horses, Arthur lifted you onto one, before climbing onto another for himself. Merlin mounted the third.
Arthur grabbed the reins for both your and his horses. "Lay forwards, (y/n)," he told you. "It'll stop you from falling off." You opened your mouth to dispute this with him. "I'll guide your horse, you need to keep as still as you can, until we have got you to Gaius."
You sighed, nodded and complied with what he had told you.
"Merlin, ride ahead to the castle and alert Gaius. We'll need him ready as soon as possible." Merlin nodded and commanded his horse to gallop. Soon, he was out of your sight-range, and off in the distance. You rode on for a while, Arthur holding the reins for your horse as well as his own. Arthur was ensuring that the horses didn't go so fast that you would be unable to stay on, but fast enough to get you both to safety as promptly as possible.
At one point, however, your grip started to slacken. You had no control over it. He stopped both horses. Your grasp failed completely as Arthur dismounted his horse. You slipped off the horse's back. He caught you and held you upright. He sits you down against a nearby tree, before tethering the horses, so that they couldn't bolt, were anything to happen.
He reaches and pulls a water-skin out of his saddle-bag. He hands it to you, helping you to have a drink of water. You drank approximately half of the skin before you felt able to speak. You let him return the skin before asking him a question.
"How long?" you asked. "How long did it take for you to find me?" Your voice cracked​ and almost failed you.
He smiled, trying to make the situation a little better. "The first opportunity you get to speak, and that is what you say?"
"What would you rather I asked?" you replied, smiling a little.
"Something unrelated. Or maybe you could tell me about yourself?"
"Alright then. Did you manage to find anything interesting about me on that day?"
Arthur sighed. "You were away for two days, (y/n). And yes, I found things about you that make you interesting."
"Oh yeah? Go on, then?"
"Well, when you were reading the book, you sat hunched up, as if you were trying to get dragged into the book. The fact that you disputed my saying that you intrigued me. The fact that, when you were reading, you didn't look up once, until I was almost next to you. When you said that you don't really talk with the other maids. The way you blush whenever you see me. How quiet and gentle you seem and how confident you act..."
"You didn't come up with all that in a day," you replied, before starting to cough. Each cough brought an explosion of pain to your body.
He hurried to get the water-skin for you and helped you to have a drink. When you tried to pass the skin back to him, he insisted that you kept it. "No," he eventually replied, after a little prompt. "I didn't just come up with that on the day. That was just an excuse to have you around me for a whole day."
"Just an excuse... Wait!" you exclaimed to him softly, so as not to ruin your voice completely. "Arthur are you saying...?"
"Shh, (y/n)," he whispered in reply, pressing his finger to your lips. Then, you both looked each other in the eye. "Don't waste your energy on speaking. You don't look like you've had food or water since before we left to go hunting."
You nodded. "I haven't eaten since that morning," you replied, barely even whispering. He picked you up, then, and put you on his horse, before climbing up himself, behind you. Then you both set off for Camelot, once more, with your horse following, still being guided by Arthur Pendragon.
On the journey back to Camelot - when you were awake, that is - Arthur continued to talk about things he found interesting about you. "... How you insisted on standing up for yourself because 'being a woman did not make you incapable of standing up for yourself'. How you act as if I was just another man, but blush and whisper whenever you see me around the castle."
You took another gulp out of the water-skin, draining it of liquid. "I understand, you have a lot of things about me that interest you."
"So...?" he asked. "Have I won our wager? Did I find something suitably interesting about you?"
"Technically, yes, considering the amount of things that you found," you started. "But..." You paused to annoy him, and to cough. "I didn't hear you say any of them to me until today. So, technically, I also won."
"Oh, yes?" he said, pulling you closer to him and letting go of the reins with one hand, so that he could hug you.
"Yes," you laughed in response, allowing him to pull you closer yet to him.
"So what are we going to do about the rewards?"
You smiled. "I get the week off and you get to have me do something that you directly tell me to. Sound fair to you?" You barely felt him nod behind you, before he spoke his affirmation.
"You have some more rest, (y/n), we can have our rewards later on, when you are feeling better." You nodded, resting against his chest, which was covered by his chainmail. You didn't understand how you managed it, later on, but you somehow fell asleep in his arms, on his horse, against his chainmail. You didn't wake up until you reached Camelot. And, once you did, Merlin and Gaius were waiting to take you to the Physician's Chambers.
You were kept away from doing your chores for a week, to recover. Over this time, you were given plenty of food and water. Arthur came to visit frequently, if not every day and always ensured that you remembered just how many things about you he had found to be interesting.
Eventually, you returned to your full strength, and were permitted to return to work, by Gaius, who deemed you healthy enough. That was when Arthur decided that your rewards should commence. Therefore, you spent another week away from your chores. But, you also had to do one thing that Arthur asked you to.
And so, on your first day off, you were called to his chambers, to speak to him. "(Y/n)," he spoke, with mocked formality. "It is time for you to repay your side of our deal." You nodded. "You must do one thing that I directly ask you to." Again, you nodded. "(Y/n), will you allow me to woo you?"
"Of course, sire," you replied, smiling. "But, sire," you added, enquiring. "I thought I had already agreed to that, when I agreed with the deal." Then, both of you were grinning to each other. And so your first - of many - dates with prince Arthur Pendragon began.

A/N ~ Sorry it's so long. I sort of started writing this, not expecting too much to come from this, but once I started, the ideas of what could happen just kept coming. Also, sorry it's been so long since I last published. I'm terrible for this book and publishing schedules. Thanks to Mernyer for reading some more of this every time I forgot how much you had read especially on the 12th May... Cough cough... Bus journey... Cough cough. And thanks to all who read this and - somehow - don't get bored in the middle. If this is you then I applaud you and want to know your secrets. I'm serious. If you have any tips for not getting bored in the middle of doing stuff, please message me, as this is a recurring problem for me. Especially in lessons. Oh god, in lessons I'm hell. Thanks and I love you all.