ladydrace | 100 Things Challenge, #8! (Reply)

Working title: "Squire Duties"
Fandom: BBC Merlin.
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur.
Other stuff: ---.
Word count: 400-ish so far.

This is basically a "Merlin discovered gay sex" bunny.

Notes: Thing is, I imagine most of Arthur's knights have squires. Not that we really ever see them, but still. But we all know that Arthur seems to rely on Merlin for all those squire things. Carrying his jousting lances, taking care of his horse, cleaning his armor...
So the bunny goes that Merlin walks in on one of Arthur's knights (I picked Sir Kay, just because), being "serviced" somehow by his squire, and at first he's horrified, because he thinks that the squire is being raped. But shortly he realizes not only that the squire totally loves it, but also that this is a regular occurrence. And somewhere along the way, whatever is being said (I haven't figured out the details yet) makes Merlin wonder if this thing is something all squires are expected to do. Which in turn makes him wonder why Arthur doesn't have a squire, and from there to wondering if this is something Merlin is supposed to offer Arthur as well.

Snippet.

Merlin hadn't been Prince Arthur's manservant for very long before he realised something that made his immediate future look even more dismal. Camelot was full of knights. Arthur trained with them every day and had about three times as much armour and weapons to keep track of. But there was one major difference. Knights had squires. Each knight had his own personal common born lad to lug around his lances, shields and helmets. Arthur did not.

Whether it was because he now had Merlin and couldn't be bothered to pick one, or because all others before him had thought the prince too obnoxious to stick around (all of them clearly being more clever than Merlin and blessed with not having a damn destiny hanging over their heads), Merlin wasn't sure.

What he did know was that his manservant duties were quite enough to be going on with and being Prince Arthur's squire as well was more work than Merlin had ever even imagined being able to do. So he used every trick he could think of to get ahead, including catching each of the squires alone, so he could quiz them about how to get stuff done as fast as possible.

After a particularly helpful chat with Sir Kay's squire in the armoury, Merlin was trotting towards the training grounds when he remembered that he had forgotten the dagger he was sent to get in the first place. The knights had just finished with training for the day and they all left as fast as possible, desperate not to be caught alone on the training field with Arthur, who for some masochistic reason that Merlin hadn't worked out yet, started earlier and finished later than all his men. Sir Kay had been one of the first to pass Merlin, looking stormy and seemed relieved to learn that his squire was in the castle, far away from Arthur.