A King with No Title

I should leave

Merlin awoke still dressed in the clothes he had been in the night before, he had fallen asleep thinking again. Yet there was an odd addition to his outfit now, as Gwaine was sat on top of him and yelling at him to get out of bed because himself and Arthur were hungry. Merlin couldn't help but think of Gwaine as a big man child, with a serious alcohol issue.

Yet, he did have to admit Gwaine was extremely loyal throughout all his encounters with him. Never once telling a soul of his magic, not even telling Merlin he knew showed Gwaine's true nature, he never wished bad things on anyone. In effect he had broken a law of Camelot by protecting Merlin's secret, although it would certainly not have been the first time he had broken the law.

Merlin threw Gwaine off him, using some force as he himself was still quite a bit smaller than the man, even though he had worked on his muscle a bit through the years. "I taught Arthur to make toast. He can make you breakfast." Merlin wafts Gwaine away and turns onto his stomach, crawling to his pillows and hugging one of them as he wishes to fall back to sleep.

"Now Merlin, that is not how you treat your..." Merlin felt two hands grab his ankles, "King." Gwaine yells dragging Merlin off the bed. Catching him just before he hit the floor and placing him more gently.

"Gwaine, you are a bastard." Merlin says turning his body round as Gwaine helps him from the floor.

"Well Merlin you must have mistaken my title, for I am a Knight of the round table." Gwaine states, while exaggerating a "heroic" pose, and smiling at Merlin. "Now come on, I want to eat, and we both know Arthur can't cook."

"Fine... fine." Merlin rolls his eyes but follows Gwaine to the kitchen where he finds Arthur sat at the table head in his hands. "Arthur?" Merlin questions, and he jumps a small bit in shock. He nods and as he moves his arms away Merlin realises he's shirtless, "Do you need a shirt?"

Arthur looks down at himself and turns a bright shade of red, "I didn't even realise." His voice is low, as confusion and tiredness fills him. He could have been certain he dressed himself this morning. He had yesterday. "I'll be back." He says, and Merlin chuckles to himself. But then stops realising if he's questioned, neither Arthur nor Gwaine would know The Terminator. Merlin had watched a lot of movies in his time; because they were good way to waste it, when he didn't want to think.

Merlin goes to his fridge and gets bacon, and then proceeds to get eggs, toast, beans and other things from around the kitchen. He begins to cook a full breakfast, he'd be damned if he was going to do this every morning, but he wanted to eat well too, so he'd make an exception.

...

Breakfast was rather uneventful and Merlin honestly just wanted to go back to sleep, but he knew with Gwaine around that was unlikely to happen, especially if he wanted his house intact. "I need to clean this morning, then we can either go out, or I'll teach you about the internet." Merlin says casually.

"I have heard of this internet." Gwaine exclaims, "Someone at the bar told me it was the best way to find someone now." He laughs and his head hits the table, as if he were tired of carrying his own head around with him.

"Yeah..." Arthur responds utterly dumbfounded by the small exchange that had just occurred.

"Considering you have to learn new things, Gwaine, wash the dishes. Here's a cloth." Merlin hands Gwaine a cloth and points towards the bowl. He feels as though Gwaine may retaliate, but instead he just shrugs and starts cleaning. This was oddly surprising to Merlin, until he remembered Gwaine had done so much he never needed too, like that time he sat with him and cleaned boots even though he could have easily been excused of such duties by making the fact he was of noble blood. "Arthur, come with me."