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Morgana burst into Arthur's quarters, slamming the door shut behind her before trying to compose herself - like she hadn't just fully sprinted across half the castle.
"Arthur?" She called, walking further into the room. "Arthur." She spotted him, staring mournfully out of the window like the picture of a damsel in a tower dreaming of her knight...
"Morgana." He greeted her, glancing at her briefly before returning his gaze to beyond the panes of glass with a heavy sigh.
Morgana barely refrained from rolling her eyes.
"Arthur? You said something happened?" She prompted. "The messenger was nearly out of breath when he tried to deliver the message, he said that you had ordered him to run!"
"Yes." Arthur agreed absently and Morgana ground her teeth in frustration.
"Arthur!" She snapped, and finally she got his attention. "What. Happened."
"Merlin kissed me." He explained, blushing.
"Finally!" Morgana whooped, lifting her arms in triumph before deciding it looked unladylike. Then she frowned suspiciously and moved closer to the moping prince. "And what did you do?"
The blond avoided her gaze, a little sheepishly.
"Arthur!" She commanded with the voice of a sovereign. "Tell me what you did."
"It's not exactly what I did..." Arthur replied, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's more what I said."
"Which was?" She glared at him until he caved.
"I said 'thank you'." He confessed with another lengthy sigh.
"Let me get this straight." Morgana groaned, ignoring the pun of her words. "Merlin kissed you."
"Yeah." Arthur sighed, a little dreamily this time.
"And you said... Thank you!?" Her tone was near incredulous with disbelief and exasperation.
"Yeah." Arthur sighed again, then he went back to staring woefully out of the window.
"Well that was... Very polite of you." Morgana told him, doing her best to suppress a smile. She contained her giggles until she got into the corridor, after which point the whole castle heard her explosion of laughter!
Meanwhile on the other side of the castle in the Physician's Quarters...
Merlin was pacing, muttering to himself under his breath. Gaius was patient until the third huff of frustration and the sixth circuit of his quarters.
"Merlin, you'll wear a hole in the floor at this rate! Whatever is the matter?" He asked, pointedly putting down his book and levelling his gaze at Merlin.
"I- I did something." Merlin began, halting his pacing to Gaius' relief but when he sat down opposite his mentor he began tapping the table top.
Gaius sighed. "What did you do this time?"
"Nothing with magic!" Merlin added quickly, before mumbling under his breath. "I kissed Arthur."
"What was that?"
"I kissed Arthur!" Merlin shouted, before covering his mouth with his hands as if that would prevent any further outbursts.
Gaius raised one eyebrow.
"And?" He prompted. "Why does that have you wearing a path through my floors? Did he push you away?" He was somewhat concerned for his ward's heart if he was rejected by Arthur, but the whole castle knew how the two felt about each other.
"No." Merlin answered slowly. "He kissed me back, actually." He clarified, flushing red - Gaius threw an Eyebrow at him again and he grinned sheepishly.
"Then what happened?"
"He said- he said..." The warlock trailed off, an expression of resolute confusion on his features.
"Merlin." Gaius clicked his fingers to regain the boy's wandering attention. "What did Arthur say after you kissed him?"
"Thank you."
"I'm sorry, he said what?" Gaius blinked.
"He said 'thank you'. I kissed him and he said 'thank you'." Merlin stood again and resumed pacing with a vengeance. "What the fuck does that mean, Gaius?" He cried.
Gaius rolled his eyes and picked up his book. Without looking up from the page, Merlin's boots scuffing on the stone floor as he pivoted, Gaius remarked: "He's stupid, Merlin, you know that."
"But 'thank you'!" He repeated, shaking his head. "What does that mean?" By this point the young man was talking mostly to himself so Gaius resigned himself to an afternoon spent tuning out his nephew's rantings.
10 years later
Merlin gazed out of the windows from the royal suite, drinking in the sight of Camelot at peace - he couldn't help his smile when he spotted a magically conjured dragon fly up between two rooftops.
A man walked up behind him, sliding his arms around his warlock's waist then whispered in his ear: "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"We didn't do a bad job, eh?" Merlin agreed with a grin, turning around to face his king and throwing his arms around Arthur's neck.
"I couldn't have done it without you." Arthur whispered into Merlin's shoulder, pulling the other man close. Then he drew back and kissed him.
"Thank you." Merlin told him with a cheeky grin and Arthur rolled his eyes; the joke was an old one now, but Merlin had refused to let it die.
"You should be thanking me, it is a great honour to be kissed by a king." Arthur retorted, his eyes never losing their fond gleam.
"And it is just as great an honour to be kissed by Emrys, Lord of the Druids, High Priest of the Old Religion, Master of Life and-"
Arthur shut him up with another kiss. "I'd say we're both equally honoured." He suggested.
"No, I think you should be way more honoured than me!" Merlin teased mercilessly. "In fact," he added, with a mischievous smirk. "I think you should thank me."
"Gladly." Arthur kissed him again. "How was that?"
"Hmm." Merlin pretended to contemplate seriously, but the effect was ruined by how his eyes couldn't leave Arthur's lips. "How about I show you how it's done?"
His fingers slid down Arthur's arms to grip his hands; then he turned away from the window and led his king to the royal bed.