Merthur One-shots

When King Becomes Prince

Summary: Uther wakes in Arthur's body and vice versa. Things get...awkward.

_______________________________________

When Merlin woke that morning, he hadn’t sensed anything wrong. After all, everything had seemed relatively normal! Well, everything but Arthur…

“Arthur! Up! You’ve got a rare day of minimal duties,” Merlin announced as he ripped back the covers from Arthur’s body, before walked over and throwing open the curtains. “You know what that means…”

“You! How dare you—!” Merlin turned around and raised an eyebrow at Arthur’s sudden outburst. Arthur was staring at him with a furious glare, his hair a mess. Merlin should have taken that as the first sign something was wrong, but, well, he had his mind, and eyes, on other places. Merlin’s gaze flicked to Arthur’s bare chest, admiring his lover’s body.

“I realize you don’t like the mornings, Arthur,” he missed the confusion that crossed Arthur’s face when he said his name, “but I’ve already let you sleep in longer than usual today, since you’ve not much to do.”

Merlin walked over to the wardrobe and began to pick out clothes for the day, as Arthur hurried off the bed and to the mirror. Merlin paused, a pinch of confusion on his face, when he suddenly heard Arthur mutter in awed shock ‘sorcery!’

He also should have taken that as a sign something was wrong. Of course, he didn’t, though.

“I shall dress myself on this morning, you are dismissed until I send for you. Leave now,” Arthur suddenly spoke, his voice stiff. Merlin frowned and walked to the bed, setting the clothes down before looking over to Arthur. How strange…

“Arthur, are you feeling alright?” Merlin asked, before walking up to him.

Arthur gritted his teeth. “You will address me properly. Now, I have dismissed you. Leave me.”

Merlin recoiled slightly at his harsh tone, a bit hurt. Had… He done something wrong? Why was Arthur acting so cold? He didn’t think he’d done anything wrong…

“R-right, yes, I’ll just… leave, then,” he muttered, shaking his head with a frown before leaving the room. What was going on with him?

Merlin had been rather excited to spend the day together, since Arthur would have a significant amount of time free to be with him without work and duties getting in the way of them truly relaxing. After all, it’s not really a date when one or both parties are working, is it?

Now, though… Now he wasn’t sure he’d get his day of Arthur’s attention.

Merlin took a deep breath as he walked back to the Physician’s quarters. Perhaps he just… Had a bad night’s sleep, Merlin told himself. He’d be back to normal in no time, and they’d be riding out for some alone time before he knew it.

Reassured, Merlin walked into the Physician’s Chambers, to see Gaius working on some potion already. That man got to work too early… Though, Merlin supposed it made sense, being a physician and all.

“Back so soon?” Gaius raised a knowing eyebrow, “I wasn’t expecting to see you back tonight.”

Merlin felt his face flush red at his father-figure’s words. “I-I don’t know why you would say that, not sure why you’d not expect me back,” he cleared his throat, looking away as he walked over to the table. Gaius hummed, but didn’t push any further. The younger sorcerer sighed and dropped onto the bench at the table, leaning his head on his hand after propping his elbow up on the table.