A Million Little Things

A MERLIN FAN FIC

Warnings: An OC, kind of. He's in the legends.

A Million Little Things
Chapter 1/1

There was a whole list of things that should have been more awkward than what Merlin was facing now. Goblins, trolls, extremely confusing dragons—the list of odd and unusual things he'd faced since coming to Camelot was getting to near ridiculous in length. That this ridiculous instance was at the top of the list caused the young sorcerer to shake his head in disbelief.

If he didn't need Arthur for his destiny, Merlin swore he would have killed his King for this.

Glancing across the dimly lit cell to his new very unwanted companion, Merlin narrowed his stormy eyes. No, not Arthur. This was all Kay's fault.

Tumultuous grey-green eyes met Merlin's own with equal contempt. It was obvious that Kay thought this entire mess Merlin's fault, which it most certainly was not!

It was Kay, taller than Arthur by a head, all lean muscle, wild curled red hair, long nose, and smattering of freckles that had caused this mess by waltzing in to Camelot when everything had been going just fine without the young knight thank you very much.

He, Arthur, and the other Knights had been quietly going about their destiny that fateful day. The Knights had been training, each one trying his best to beat Arthur and Merlin watching each while pretending he wasn't so that he would know their behavior patterns as well as his own in battle when the strange Knight had ridden up.

From under his helmet, he had called out a challenge to the young king. Not one that called for his death, but one to test skills. The mysterious Knight had drawn his sword, Excalibur shining in Arthur's hand, before the pair had lunged at each other.

The fight had been bizarrely like watching Arthur fight a mirror. Each movement was followed exactly on both sides, the footwork and parrying nearly identical. The Knights had followed, partly awestruck and cheering for both combatants equally because either one winning made them a winner in some way.

As the tempo had increased drastically, the two becoming a whirl of shining armor and blades, and Merlin had been tempted to use his magic to slow down time to ensure that no harm was meant to Arthur when suddenly it was over. The knight crashed to the ground, Arthur's sword at his throat.

"I have beaten you. Yield," Arthur said calmly, triumph in his clear blue eyes.

"Um," Gwaine spoke up gleefully from the sidelines. "Might want to double check that assessment, Sire."

Arthur had looked down to find the tip of his opponent's sword against his own belly, where it would easily have gone through chain mail to gut the young monarch.

Gwaine had started to whistle and clap, ignoring all Percival's attempts to shush him, earning him a glare from Arthur even as the blond ruler helped the challenger to his feet.

"It appears you have some skill with a blade," Arthur had reluctantly admitted, running a hand through sweaty hair.

"And you," the stranger had said, the grin obvious in his voice, "seem to have finally started practicing, Wart."

Silence so heavy Merlin could feel it had fell upon the training ground. Even Gwaine had frozen, slack jawed, mid clap with his hands suspended inches apart. No one, not even Merlin, had dared been that insolent to the King, and all waited with baited breath for Arthur's inevitable roar of fury.

What they got instead was a loud disbelieving bark of a laugh from the young king. "Kay?"

With a boyish laugh that had matched Arthur's own in volume, the helmet had been removed to reveal a face unlike any Merlin had ever seen. Tall and broad as he was, it was obvious that he was older than Arthur and himself by a few years, but the face of the knight still seemed that of a boy. He had large grey-green eyes and across his face and long nose was a smattering of dark freckles that stood out from his skin.

Thin lips split into a toothy, lopsided grin, and he mimicked Arthur by running a hand through sweat-soaked hair. Not that the wild red curls had needed any help standing up. Even drenched as they were it looked more like he had just dismounted a galloping horse than been wearing a helmet.

Arthur, laughing with breathless delight once again, had stepped forward and the two men had grasped each other's forearms before hugging with the other, no trace of Arthur's usual awkwardness at such physical contact visible at all.

It was nothing but the first of many annoyances for Merlin.

Arthur had introduced Kay to the other curious knights as his foster brother. During the Purge, and for a number of years afterwards, Uther had though Camelot not to be a safe place for his young son. More to the point, he had been really too busy, too hurt, to care for the boy properly.

Instead, Arthur had been secretly sent to spend the first eight years of his young life with Uther's dearest friend and most loyal knight, Sir Ector. While still in Uther's kingdom, he would be protected from retaliation while Uther purged the land of magic.

Kay was Ector's young son, but months older than Arthur. Kay had called them milk-brothers, a term at which Arthur had slightly blanched at and Gwaine had actually giggled until Leon elbowed him.

Merlin was still trying to wrap his mind around the idea that Arthur had ever lived anywhere but Camelot proper, been anything but a cherished little princeling, while Kay explained that Wart had been Arthur's own babyish attempts to say his own name and had stuck around Sir Ector's household long after the Prince himself had left.

Kay and Arthur had shared everything the first few years of their lives. They had trained and fought together as equals, as brothers, believing that was what they were until Uther's men had come and recalled him to the palace, the King now deeming it safe enough for his son to rejoin him and Morgana at court now that every trace of magic had been swept from his lands. Wart, now Prince Arthur, had been taken home, while Kay stayed behind.

Since then, they saw each other only briefly, such as when Kay had been knighted just days before Merlin's arrival. Kay had been off on quests of his own, far from Camelot; he had promised the excited Elyan to share the stories of those later after Arthur demanded his foster brother come in and share a meal with him, summoning Merlin to his side.

The simple ease with which Kay had thrown his arm over Arthur's shoulder, demanding to hear everything about how he'd "slayed some sort of dragon or other, no one seemed sure" it had—well, to put it bluntly, the anger it caused settled like a rock in Merlin's stomach and made his hair stand on end.

Nothing had ever been that simple for them. Nobody came back from the past like that with good intentions. Gritting his teeth, Merlin had followed the pair and watched the easy way Kay fell into life at court with ever-growing frustration.

The infuriating knight, with his overly bright smile, immediately won the Knights over with his tales of the trouble Arthur had gotten in to as a young boy, and he had taken Merlin's seat at the their usual table at the tavern. Merlin had turned to go, ignoring Gwaine's calls after him that Percival could "move his overly large backside and squeeze your skinny ass in here somewhere".

Every moment Merlin was with Arthur, Kay was now there, becoming Arthur's swift ally in teasing Merlin without mercy for his clumsiness and eccentric habits. When it was just Arthur doing it, Merlin hadn't minded because, well, Arthur was Arthur and it was by now really all meant in good fun and to save face. With Kay it felt like someone was intruding on their game, and it rankled him.

It also may, or may not, have had something to do with his repeatedly forgetting to clean Kay's boots or ensure his room had been made up.

Merlin had chosen, instead, to use that time to follow the new comer around. True, he'd never seen any outright suspicious activity like he normally did, but this time he was playing with a far more skilled opponent. Kay had been to visit Gaius multiple times, and once Merlin saw him tuck a few plants up his sleeve, all the while asking Gaius about a number of subjects—including things potions could and could not be used for.

When Merlin had tried to show this to Gaius his guardian had dismissed it. Nothing that had been snitched was anything serious, and they had a number of perfectly harmless uses. As Sir Ector had also been an old and very dear friend of Gaius's, it was going to take more concrete proof of betrayal for Merlin to get his mentor as an ally.

Gaius had even had the gall to accuse Merlin of being jealous that Kay already had with Arthur in a matter of days what had taken Merlin years to cultivate. As if he, Merlin, could be distracted by something so petty when obviously this was just another tired attempt on Arthur's life.

More odd things kept piling up. He found Kay sneaking around in the strangest places—the armory, Arthur's room when the King wasn't there, even the stables. And the knight seemed to talk to everyone, obviously searching for a hole in Camelot's defenses as he asked a lot of questions.

When he caught Kay putting something in the ale on the tray Merlin had been about to take to Arthur's room, Merlin had had enough. He tackled Kay to the ground, sending them both rolling down the hall. They had tumbled head over heels, sending people scurrying every which way, both shouting at each other.

Kay's superior strength gave him the advantage, and he had Merlin pinned beneath him when they hit a suit of decorative armor. It had rattled at the collision before promptly falling apart. The ax it had held fell towards them, the still sharp edge—why on earth was it kept sharp, didn't they see how dangerous that was?—falling toward Merlin's face.

His magic had reacted on its own accord, as it was sometimes wont to do still. His eyes had flared gold, stopping the ax millimeters from his face before rolling it harmlessly to the side. Kay had gaped at him for a heartbeat before seizing his scarf and hauling Merlin to his feet.

When Kay had dragged him in front of Arthur, interrupting a council meeting, to accuse him of using magic, and Merlin had simultaneously demanded he confess that he was here to assassinate the king, Arthur had had enough. To the immense surprise of both parties, Arthur had had them thrown in the dungeons together, locked in but without guards, with orders that they stay there until this mess was sorted out.

Which was how they had ended up here, glaring silent daggers at each other.

It was Kay that spoke first, the contempt in his eyes obvious. "Your plan is really very clever you know."

Merlin looked around him, at the only too familiar stone walls and bars. "So clever I have been locked up completely. Yes, I can see how you would make that assumption."

Frustratingly, Kay didn't rise to the bait. "What I can't understand is why you're still waiting. You've infiltrated Arthur's household so completely, and have had so many opportunities to kill him. I don't know if you were waiting for a time when it would seem an accident, or if you've tried before and were foiled by luck, but I assure you," Kay stepped into Merlin's space, towering over the shorter man, "now that I'm here, I will ensure you never get another chance."

There was only one response Merlin could have to that. He started to laugh. Not just mild chuckles, but laugh so hard he had to lean against the wall to keep up, and he felt a spasm of hiccups threatening to overcome him as he gasped for air.

Kay waited for him to speak, a look of obvious disgust and confusion mingling on his face.

"You," Merlin gasped when he finally got his breath back, "you think I've been trying to kill Arthur?"

"Why else would a sorcerer work so hard, be a servant to the son of Uther Pendragon?" Kay sounded genuinely confused. No other explanation had obviously come to mind.

Now it was Merlin's turn to be intimidating. Kay knew what he was, and with no good excuse coming to mind, he decided to use it to his advantage. He was shorter than Kay, but he called on his magic, maybe just a little, to create an aura of power around him. "I am here to protect my King. No more or less than that. And those that seek to cowardly poison him would do well to learn to fear the name of Merlin."

If Kay was at all intimidated he did not show it. "I fear no one, sorcerer, and anyone that tries to poison Arthur is going to have to go through me first."

Merlin blinked a couple of times, trying to process the bold-faced lie that was being shoved in his face. "Exactly how thick do you think I am? I saw you putting poison in Arthur's drink."

"That wasn't for Arthur," Kay shouted at him, "that was for you."

Huh. Suddenly he felt a whole lot less safe in this cell. Not that he was afraid of Kay exactly, because there was little to stop him from using his magic now, but it was still a little disconcerting to be stuck in a cell with someone who had outright tried to kill him.

Kay backtracked as Merlin debated whether or not he was allowed to yell for a guard. "Not poison. Sorry. It…well, I think it was supposed to be a truth serum."

Right, so he probably would have ended up dead, considering the hand that had mixed it. And if it had been a truth serum, well—yeah, he probably would have ended up dead then, too. Or, stuck down in this dungeon in even less favorable circumstances.

Merlin felt the blood rush from his face and he swayed unsteadily. He didn't know if there really was an ideal circumstance for Arthur to find out about his magic, but that absolutely was not it."Wh-why did you want to subject me to that? You didn't know before…" Merlin was sure of it. Since Kay had arrived he had used his magic very little, he couldn't have known before.

"Make no mistake, Arthur is my little brother." Kay said defiantly, his green eyes daring Merlin to try and deny it. "No matter how much time, what has happened, he will always have my protection. He trusts you. I wanted to make sure you were trust worthy. That's why I was spying at you."

"Wait, you where what?" No, no, that had to be wrong, because Merlin had been spying on Kay while he was—talking to his friend, to Gaius, to the servants he associated with on a regular basis. And asked them questions about Merlin among the ones he wanted to know about Camelot. Oh.

Well, now he felt stupid. Not that it would have changed his mind about Kay, exactly, but still it may have shifted his approach. Or something.

"I wanted to be sure that Arthur wasn't being misled. He's never been the greatest judge of character." Kay hung his head. "I don't like that I have only your word to go on that you mean Arthur no harm."

Merlin blinked repeatedly again. This time it was not Arthur that Kay reflected, but himself. He could see the same fierce, protective determination in Kay's eyes as Merlin felt burning in his own soul whenever his King needed him. Whenever Arthur needed him.

He was reluctant to simply take Kay's word for it either, but what else could he do? "Magic isn't evil."

"I know." Kay dropped his head, looking down at his feet. "My mother had some power in magic. Uther never knew; Arthur doesn't know. She was never evil a day in her life."

There was something comforting about that. "Then, can you, trust that I am not evil just because I am magic?"

"I can…accept that idea." It was as close to an apology as he was going to get, and Merlin knew it. "Should we start over then?"

"No. We'll just," Merlin shrugged one shoulder. "Leave this knowledge alone for now, yeah?"

"So don't tell Arthur," Kay said simply. "Fine. If you don't tell him I tried to give you a potion."

"Fair enough." Merlin stood up straighter, looking around the dungeon. "How long do you suppose Arthur intends to keep us down here?"

"Until we learn to either get along or I kill you, I expect." Kay leaned against the bars, sticking his face between a pair. "Although I'm sure he'd prefer the early option."

"I vote we stay in here until Arthur has to fetch his own dinner," Merlin said cheerily. "That'll teach him to send me to my death like that."

Kay sniggered. "And I suppose I still do need to come up with a good reason for claiming you have magic, don't I?"

Merlin didn't respond, dropping down onto the floor. "You know, I never got to hear any of your Arthur stories."

"If we're staying until dinner, I think I've got enough to entertain." Kay grinned at him and, quite suddenly, he moved so he was sitting next to Merlin instead of across. "One of my very favorites was when Arthur decided he was going to run away and become a bandit. Gave our nurse a heart-attack when he ran out of our room with his leggings tied around his head—"

Grinning wickedly, and closing his eyes, Merlin decided that maybe, just maybe, he could have one more real true friend. With blackmail material alone, Kay was going to be worth his weight in gold.