Room 303, Tuesday Morning

[bitchprince]

Arthur awoke to a fuzziness of the mind and an overabundance of body heat. He was attempting to decipher several things all at once, but gave up once he realised it was entirely impossible to do so. He endeavoured to accept them at a more leisurely pace instead.

First of all, it occurred to him he'd woken up with someone. He'd have to kick them out of bed once he found the stomach to open his eyes. When he did open his eyes, he realised it was not his bed, so he imagined Leto would try to kick him out in a bit. He'd burn that bridge when he got to it.

Second of all, it occurred to him that Leto slept a lot like those blasted sea creatures Yzma seemed to be so fond of. To be fair, he wasn't protesting, but he dearly hoped Leto would be far less clingy once he'd woken up. There was a line, after all.

Third of all, he realised he'd have to get Merlin to clean up the pie stain on the wall. Sweet mercy, Leto had the worst drunken aim in the history of drunken aiming.

And finally, his head was pounding. Ow. Bloody hell, what was in that ale?

[[ for two at first, but certainly open if you want to see Arthur afterwards for whatever reason ]]

Comments

[future_sandworm]

His head hurt, and that wasn't comfortable. It also meant he was slowly awakening. Leto made sleepy noise, clung to the warm body next to him and decided he would rather go back to sleep.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Of course Merlin didn't knock. Merlin never knocked when coming in to do his normal duties.

Thought, he hadn't quite expected to see Arthur's bed empty. Or Leto's being very full.

And there was pie on the wall. That was much more in need of focus now. Lots and lots of focus there.

[bitchprince]

Arthur made a valiant attempt to extricate himself from the mess of limbs that was Leto Atreides. Eventually, with some groping about, he managed to push himself up and at least halfway out of grasp. "Merlin," he said, and while there was a wince in his voice, the old irritation was there just as easily, "Knocking. It is not an advanced science."

[future_sandworm]

Suddenly a lot less warm, the pushing made it impossible for Leto not to wake up. He blinked. "My head hurts." He would so use his Bene Gesserit skills to limit the effects of poinson next time.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin spared one glance in that direction before starting to pick up clothing instead of continuing any of that. "Oh course, sire."

[bitchprince]

"Get my underwear," Arthur instructed, rubbing his face with the palm of his hand. He squinted at Merlin, sighed, and muttered, "And take some of the pie while you're at it, or it'll merely waste away and stink up the place." He waved vaguely at the last few remaining pieces of the lemon meringue. He glanced at Leto. "Your aim is horrible."

[future_sandworm]

Leto covered his eyes with his arm. "I could prove to you that it is not, but... not right now." He didn't pay much attention to Merlin, but it seemed like a good idea to make him get the pie off the wall.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Stifling a sudden and odd urge to throw something at Arthur's head, Merlin abandoned the pile of clothing near the door and got him his undergarments and trousers from a drawer instead.

Moving very quickly, he put that on Arthur's bed and went back to the pie on the wall. Ah, the source of all trouble, that.

[bitchprince]

"Not on the--" He waved his hand vaguely. Downwards. There had been pie on the table before, right? Somewhere in the corner, there stood the plate, where it had gotten obscured somewhere during Leto's ill-advised pie-slinging misadventure. "The edible one, Merlin. Heaven knows you need some fat on those bones lest I lose you in a freak storm."

Arthur slipped out of bed. What? He did need his clothing. The room spun for a moment, then swam back into focus.

[future_sandworm]

Leto now had a lot more space, and he responded to this by pulling his blanket over his head and attempting to go back to sleep.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I've already eaten, Sire." Look at that, almost sounded like a proper servant there!

But he did pick up the plate holding the pie to put on one of the cupboards in the room. Off the floor was much better, after all.

[bitchprince]

"It's a miracle you don't vanish the moment someone opens a window," Arthur muttered, with only half his usual commitment to the barb, and acquired his underwear to put on.

Which he promptly did. He really didn't want a draft.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Which was a relief for all those involved.

"Shall I dress you for the day now?"

[bitchprince]

"I've got the trousers handled," he said, somewhat grouchily. "Just get me a bloody shirt."

Something about Merlin's attitude was starting to chafe on his already gigantic headache.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

He was just proving he could act like a proper servant! Why he picked this time was beyond him. It simply seemed like a good idea in the moment.

"Of course, sire," Merlin said, nodding and going to pick him a shirt.

[bitchprince]

Arthur reached up for his forehead, rubbed it, and finally muttered, "Now what is it?"

Merlin wasn't supposed to know what being a proper servant was. There was something horribly wrong about that.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin looked back, brow furrowed in confusion. "I'm getting you a shirt?"

[bitchprince]

"Well," he said, "I never thought I'd see the day you'd take your duties seriously."

Arthur didn't sound as if he knew whether that was a good thing or not.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"It's a shock for me as well," Merlin muttered under his breath, digging up a nice red shirt.

[bitchprince]

Arthur pulled the pants rather roughly over his legs. He was not a man with any feel for finesse. "Quit it," he said at last, "It doesn't suit you." He shoved on the other leg. "Don't think this gets you out of cleaning that pie off the wall."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I wouldn't dream of it, my lord." That was going to be near impossible to get clean without magic too. Bastard.

[bitchprince]

"And my socks," Arthur decided. "I'd like you to wash all of them again. They were filthy last time, Merlin."

God help him, he'd get a rise out of Merlin somehow.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"That was because you went hunting in them. In the snow." Merlin was very, very carefully folding up the shirts he displaced to get the red one.

[bitchprince]

Much better.

"I had to keep my feet warm, Merlin," Arthur pointed out, in no way radiating victory. He was above that sort of thing. "It's not my fault you've been lazy all over my boots. Do you even know how to find a hole?"

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

"I'll wash your socks now then," Merlin said, perfectly servile in his tone. "Will that be all, my lord?"

[bitchprince]

"Polish the shield," he started, "Muck out the stables. Fix my boots, they're still hole-ridden. Get me some new candles, and when you're through with that, scrub the floor and clean my blankets."

Come on, Merlin.

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Merlin gritted his teeth in something like a smile. "Of course, sire."

[bitchprince]

Arthur grunted something distinctly annoyed, and fell back onto his bed. "Then yes," he said, with roughly that same level of annoyance, "That will be all."

[bigdamndestiny.livejournal.com]

Dropping the shirt next to Arthur, Merlin bowed stiffly. As if he didn't have much practice at it--maybe because he didn't do much of it. "Arthur."

And went to pick up the pile of clothing. He'd take care of the socks when this was done.

[bitchprince]

Arthur muttered something rather insulting about Merlin's parentage, then let it go, shoving the shirt down over his head.

All right, perhaps not quite letting it go. He couldn't exactly reprimand Merlin for behaving like a model servant, but he'd... throw something at the boy's head if he kept this up. Serve him right.

He didn't even think to ask Merlin for assistance with the shirt.