Archive of Our Own ^beta

Osian hadn't been in Camelot long. He'd been told that it was the best place to go if you wanted to get a good education as a knight. The training was far superior to anywhere else, and the standards that you had to meet just to be seen by Leon, Arthurs' second, were insane to most people. 

Luckily Osian wasn't like most people. He'd been determined to be a knight since he was just six years old. Now, finally, at nineteen, he was here. He was ready. And his final trial with Leon and the King's knights had been this morning. 

He’d done it. He’d passed. He was through. 

He couldn't believe it. He got to work with Arthur, the King of Camelot. He was part of his elite, the team of knights that followed him everywhere. They were the first line of defence for the whole kingdom, protecting the king from threats, and following him out into the wilderness whenever he went to face whatever wanted to attack the kingdom. 

And now they'd taken him out drinking. 

He liked drinking. He was good at drinking. But he was pretty sure he'd had too much. 

That was the only explanation for the fact that King Arthur himself had come to join them. 

Osian was, quietly, losing his shit.

The strangest part of the whole affair, however, was that Arthur had brought along his manservant. All the other knights took this Merlin's presence in their stride, joking and chatting with him like he was another knight. But he was a small, skinny man with all the grace of a drunk toddler and the strength of a straw gate. 

They seemed to like him anyway. 

"So when we do head out to the border, you'll be glad of Merlin. He can't hunt for love or money, but you bring him a rabbit and you'll dine like a king." Gwaine was saying loudly, and that got a laugh from the table. He was... he was bragging about this servant. They all were. Osian had spent enough time living rough to know that a decent cook along with your party in the wilderness made a big difference but... it was still a rabbit. He couldn't possibly be that good. Could he?

"Do you remember when he brought Arthur rat to eat? He didn't even notice the difference for three days of eating it. I swear he's got some kind of magic touch." Sir Percival said, and the whole table laughed. Osian was watching Merlin though, and the man seemed to get paler, and he ducked his head. Arthur clapped him on the back with a grin. 

"And he learned his lesson about that. There won't be any more rats for any of us if we can help it." 

"It was a famine, Arthur." Merlin spoke up for the first time. "I didn’t really have a choice. And I wasn't exactly eating any better."

Arthur gaped in shock, as though offended, and then winked at him and stood, grabbing a few of the empty tankards as he went. 

"Alright, well we're not starving now. None of us. But we might be getting thirsty. Who wants another?" Arthur asked the table, and there was a general exclamation of 'yes' from everyone that was gathered, and so Arthur nudged his hip against Merlin, who stood to go and help carry the drinks back to the table. 

"That's something to write home about, eh? Getting a round off the King." Leon said in his ear, just about audible over the general din of the tavern. 

"Not sure anyone would believe me. They barely believed I'd get through to join the knights, never mind join you lot." Osian said honestly, his tongue suitably loosened by what he'd had so far to be more honest than he really intended.

"They'll have to believe you when we go through your home on our first patrol. You're Round Table material Osian, don’t doubt it." Leon said with a grin.

"When we what?" 

"Oh yeah. Tradition. Ever since we all went out to Merlin's place when Arthur was still prince. I'm pretty sure Arthur just wanted to check Merlin hadn’t spontaneously died, but now he's got a soft spot for Merlin's mum, and they visit regularly. I think that's where Merlin gets his cooking skills from, actually. The food there was damned good." Another of the knights, Osian wasn't sure of the name, jumped in with a story of when they'd visited his home, and the feast that his parents had put on. They hadn't even been able to stay for the main event, but the knight - Bedevere? - had been so pleased that he got to show off his knighted status to his family, and his familiarity with Arthur - who had only recently become King at that point. 

A few other of the knights were sharing stories of when they'd visited their own homes, and Merlin arrived back with a collection of tankards, each overflowing with the foam from the beer. 

"Sorry guys, new barrel. Let it settle a bit, it'll be fine." Merlin said, but most seemed to not care and grabbed at the drinks greedily. Once his hands were empty, Merlin went back to the bar and picked up another pair, walking back to the table with Arthur following close behind. They put all the drinks down on the table, and Osian grabbed one of them, taking a greedy drink. 

This really was a strange place. 

One long draw of beer later, Osian put down his half empty tankard and looked up at the head of the table. 

Where Merlin was still standing, Arthur directly behind him, having his neck bitten by his king. 

As Osian watched, Merlin tilted his head further sideways, his eyes closed and with a big grin on his face. Arthur was leaving faint marks up and down Merlin's neck, teeth marks and bruises alike. 

Osian was... He couldn't... what?

He took another long drink.

He put his, now empty, tankard down and looked back at his King. 

He was still doing it. 

He leaned over to Leon. 

"Um, does the king usually-"

"Yes." Gwaine said with a long sigh.

"So they're... Is he... They’re love-"

"Yes." Leon said, reaching over to grab the clearly forgotten tankard in the centre of the table. Osian thought that was probably the King's beer. 

The king didn't seem to be missing it.

Merlin, however, had apparently spotted the motion and grabbed up his own drink greedily. He tapped Arthur on the side and Arthur's head picked up. Merlin offered him the drink with a smile and Arthur took it, gladly putting it to his lips and then downing it in one, long, draw. 

Osian found himself gulping. He'd never looked at a man in that way before, and he was reasonably sure he wasn't about to start, but that was objectively.... a lot.

Merlin watched the tankard land on the table, then turned around in the bracket of Arthurs' arms, and started to bite the king's neck right back. 

Osian was not the only knight to sigh at the display, and he followed the example of the rest of the company and started their own conversations. 

Well, that at least explained why it was that they were all so.... understanding of the King bringing along his manservant. He wasn't just a manservant. Not really. 

He had been pretty sure there was a queen. Maybe he'd been mistaken. He hadn't really had time to do anything but train and sleep since he arrived, so he'd be the first to admit to not being fully up to date on the happenings of the castle, but he thought he'd know if this was public knowledge. 

Osican looked around the tavern, and was struck by something as he looked more closely. 

Everyone in here was a knight. Oh, the table he was at was the only table where the elite were sat, but everyone else was familiar from the training grounds. There weren't any civilians, no local women here to make nice with the handsome single men sat at the tables and deep enough in their cups to want a little something to finish off the evening. 

This was clearly how they did it. Arthur and Merlin were open here because... because it was closed. There was nobody else to see what was happening. The rumour mill was closed, in this room. 

None of these knights would betray the confidence of their king. 

There was a commotion at the head of the table, and Osian turned around just in time to see Arthur and Merlin both stumble and fall down, laughter erupting from both of them almost before they'd hit the ground, and the rest of the knights burst out as well. 

"Come on Merlin, you know what you're like. You just don't have the tolerance of Arthur." Sir Elyan said, and he reached down to grab hold of Merlin, pulling him upright. 

Merlin was facing away when he stood, but he turned to reach down and pull up Arthur, and that's when Osian saw the blood. 

Around Merlin's mouth. 

And on Arthur's neck. 

Osian was pretty sure if he'd been more sober he would have stood and gone to defend Arthur's.... honour? Protect him? Merlin had made him bleed , he couldn't just let that happen. He was supposed to be part of Arthur's elite guard. 

"Merlin, you're a mess," Gwaine said with a laugh, jolting Osian out of his anger. 

"What.. what's happening?" Osian asked Leon, who was once again drinking. 

"Oh don't... don't mind that. Merlin is just... um well.." Leon looked sideways at Osian, clearly uncertain.

"Leon, he was going to find out eventually, don't be a drip about it." Percival said from Leon's other side. Osian leaned forward to better see the tall, imposing figure of Sir Perceval. "Merlin's a vampire. Sort of. It's complicated. Anyway, he needs to drink blood. And he doesn't get on well with regular food." 

"Pretty sure that's why he's such a good cook, though." Gwaine said from Osian's other side. "I think he can taste what we eat when he drinks from us. So he's made it his mission to make sure we all eat as well as possible."

"And he gets drunk on us if we've been drinking too," Bedevere cut in. "Can't hold his drink for toffee though."

"It's still funny watching him go from sober to falling over in a single drink though." Gwaine said with a wink.

Osian was pretty sure he needed another drink. This was... this was too much. 

"Do I... is that part... Am I supposed to-" Osian really didn't know how to ask this one.

"Oh no, it's totally optional. Give you a helluva high though." Gwaine answered. "Merlin taking a drink is like... you're nineteen right? So you've got laid? Well.." Gwaine started, but Osian raised his hands and started batting Gwaine to stop.

Osian was sure he'd never blushed so hard in his life, and he tried to actively climb under the table. The rest of the knights roared with laughter at his response, but he got several claps on the back and knowing grins. They weren't mad that he didn't want to have his blood sucked by the king's manservant, then. 

"Alright so... that's why he and the king-'' He started to ask. 

"Oh no. They'd been like that before it happened." Leon said. 

"And trust me, you can be very glad that you did not know these two before they first got laid. They were insufferable. Both of them." Gwaine said.

"Well, Arthur was."  Osian jumped a little at the voice of Merlin interjecting in the conversation. 

"Hey, I like to think that you were just as much of an idiot." Arthur said, and this time Osian could hear the teasing in his tone. 

Well, this was a strange place, but he figured if he could get over the weird Manservant thing, they did at least seem to be having a good time.