The Search ➳ Merthur

chapter seven

oh god here we go

some fluff and some angst so it evens out I hope

and a feature from goodmom!lance

lance is also quite ooc I took some liberties man

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Ever since Arthur had kissed Merlin, he couldn't get the other man out of his mind. Whether he was in a meeting, training, taking care of affairs, or even searching for the sorcerer, he just couldn't keep the image of Merlin's gorgeous smile out of the back of his head. To make matters worse, every time he thought of it, a smile would creep itself onto Arthur's face as well. He would be sitting in a meeting at the round table, staring down at his feet so he wouldn't make eye contact, smiling like he was out of his mind. It had come to the point that his knights were concerned for him, because he wasn't acting normal anymore. They stood in front of him, Leon, Gwaine, Lancelot, Elyan, and Percival, after a meeting had just ended, in order to find out what had happened to their beloved king.

"Sire, won't you tell us what has gone wrong? We'll fix it the best we can, and I can swear to that upon the knight's code." Leon said. He seemed nervous to find out what had happened to the king, as if Arthur had caught some horrible disease and would be dead by morning. The thought itself was absurd.

"There is nothing wrong, Leon, I promise that to you." Arthur said, and raked a hand through his hair. This intervention was wasting away his time, and he'd wanted to stop by Merlin's home after he'd gotten off from work and bring him some flowers. The thought of Merlin smiling brightly at him as he presented the flowers made Arthur want to do anything he possibly could to keep the other man as happy as possibly. He started smiling again, without knowing, and whatever Elyan was currently saying was going straight through one ear and out of the other. Placing his elbows on his desk, he rested his head on his hand and sighed wistfully. However, it seemed the knights had taken notice as Gwaine slapped Arthur across the face.

"Wake up, Princess." He said, and Arthur glared for a moment at him, but Gwaine just laughed. Arthur went back to paying attention to the men in front of him, and found some of them looking back at him in disbelief. He furrowed his eyebrows, about to ask why they were looking at him like that, but Gwaine spoke up before he could. "I told you, he's so completely and utterly besotted with someone that he can't even think straight. Isn't that right, sire?" And Arthur found himself nodding without even processing what Gwaine had said. When it hit him, however, he spoke up.

"What?! No, of course not!" Arthur tried to convince them, but the way his face turned red at the accusation denied everything he said. The knights looked at him, knowingly. After realizing Gwaine was right, they all wanted to know exactly who their king was lusting after. They had never seen him act like this before, and it was news to them that Arthur could possibly be so infatuated with someone that he wouldn't be able to pay attention during important meetings and events.

"So? Who is it?" Lancelot asked, smirking. The look on his face made Arthur wonder if he already knew it was Merlin, considering they were good friends. If Lancelot knew, then Gwaine would also know, and if Gwaine knew, the entire kingdom would find out by the next night. Arthur couldn't let that happen.

"Why don't you tell me who it is, Gwaine?" Arthur said, looking at the knight. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, trying to cover his anxiety. The idea of the entire kingdom knowing Arthur was taken with a boy from the lower town would ruin him; they would think he was weak. If they thought he was weak, they might try to overthrow him, and Arthur would be unable to fight them off, and then he would lose his kingdom.

"I would if I could, sire, but alas, it is not my place to tell." Gwaine said, and winked at him. Arthur couldn't tell by his facial expressions whether he was telling the truth or not, but to save his head, he hoped Gwaine didn't actually know and was just joking around. The rest of the knights looked at Gwaine questioningly, even Lancelot, which Arthur figured ruled him out as to knowing it was Merlin.