Turniphead in Love

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Author: Kateeilonwy77
Title:Turniphead in Love
Rating:PG
Pairing/s:pre-Arthur/Merlin, Arthur/Sophia
Character/s:Arthur, Merlin
Summary: Arthur has a Valentine's surprise for Merlin.
Warnings:none
Word Count:1000
Prompt:Blind Date
Author's Notes:When the prompt was "Valentine's Day Card" it reminded me that I had I wanted a Valentine's Day tag to another story I wrote. Governess Hunith would of course want the boys to make their own valentines, too. But then the prompt switched to "blind date" and it kind of changed things a little. It's all a bit meh, but I'm turning it in because I signed up. So yay, fulfilling commitments!


January flew by.  Merlin had always thought January the slowest month of the year, the doldrums of winter that stretched endlessly between the excitement of Christmas and the tantalizing lure of spring.  At least February had Valentine's Day going for it, to add a little color to the ever-grey of winter. 

The reason for January's swift passage this year was because, for the first time ever, Merlin was receiving magic lessons.  He spent each Monday evening in Gaius’ office, looking through spell-books.  And if he mostly had to listen to long speeches about magical theory and almost never practice spells, no matter.  He was thrilled with it all.

Except for the impromptu training Gaius had set up for him. 

Merlin had an alarming propensity to break things when startled or emotional.  So Gaius had enlisted seemingly the whole palace staff to help him learn control.  Hr had been given meditation exercises to do each day.  They were designed to calm his magic and help him maintain focus.  Merlin wasn't convinced, but grudgingly did them anyway.

He was working on a plan for reducing his exercises when a pillow came flying across the room and beaned him in the face.  Merlin dropped the glass of milk he'd been holding, and it shattered on the floor of his mother's tiny kitchen. 

“Arthur!” he yelled.  Milk ran down Merlin's shirt and pants.  There were drops of milk and shards of glass everywhere.  He looked up angrily to find the prince beaming at him.

“Good job, Merlin!  You didn't break anything that time!”  Arthur paused to assess the situation.  “Well, your magic didn't break anything.  You, on the other hand….”

Merlin felt no compunction against using his magic to lift the milk-splattered pillow off the floor and send it careening back at Arthur's head.  Arthur, the prat, managed to catch it easily. 

“Look at this mess!  Couldn't you help me practice control when, maybe, I don't know…..  I'm not holding something breakable?!” Merlin couldn't quite help the way his voice screeched at the end. 

“You know Gaius never specified, Mer.  Just said to startle you at random moments, help you practice keeping your cool.”

Arthur had taken those instructions to heart.  For two weeks now, just about anyone that Merlin saw might try to startle him.  The palace guards shouted just as he walked past, Mum slammed doors, the king teased him gently about being arrested (just the king talking to him at all made him panic, despite the fact that the king had firmly proven to be on his side).  But Arthur had been the worst, banging pots, launching objects at him, jumping out from behind doors.  There were times that Merlin felt certain Arthur was trying to give him a heart attack.  When Arthur pounced on a sleeping Merlin in the middle of the night, he knew that Arthur was going to send him to an early grave.  Merlin's magic must have thought so too, because it threw Arthur across the room while Merlin was busy screaming his head off.  But if Arthur crept back into Merlin's bed and huddled close for the rest of the night—claiming it was his duty to calm Merlin down since he was the one who'd wound him up—Merlin wasn't going to complain. 

Merlin muttered obscenities while looking for towels to clean the disaster that was their kitchen.  Arthur merely laughed at him.  “You know you're not supposed to cry over spilt milk.  Besides, why can't you just make it all go ‘poof?’”

Merlin looked up from his task to glare at Arthur.    “It’s not that easy to make thousands of shards go ‘poof.’”  He wiggled two fingers on each hand to clearly mark the air quotes.  “I'd be liable to disappear you along with the rest of it.  Though now that I think of it, that wouldn't be such a bad idea…”

Arthur snorted, clearly not buying it for a second.  In a somewhat uncharacteristic move, he grabbed a towel and started wiping up the drops of milk on the cabinet doors. 

After a moment, Merlin said, “We are making valentines this afternoon. Mum thought you might like to join us.”

Arthur had a dreamy expression in his eyes.  “Can't.  I'm meeting Sophia in the arboretum.  I doubt she'd want a homemade card anyway.  I imagine diamonds would be more to her taste.”  He sighed, as if longing for diamonds were a most desirable trait. 

Merlin stared blankly at him.  “Who?”

Arthur looked back, bemused.  “Sophia?  The girl I'm going to marry?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.  Back up there.  You're getting married?”

“I haven't asked her yet, since I just met her yesterday, but I'm sure she'll say yes.”  Arthur had a dazed look on his face, nothing like his usual arrogant smirk at all.  “After all, who wouldn't want to be a princess?”

Merlin's heart started thumping.  “How did you meet this girl?” 

Arthur smiled, but there was something not quite genuine about it.  “You know that Father set Morgana up on a date with the prince of Tír-Mòr.  He's hoping they'll get married one day.”

Merlin had known this.  He'd come across Morgana stewing in Gaius’ offices, proclaiming that princesses should not be required to go on blind dates, not even for the sake of political unions.  Gaius had nodded, then said it wouldn't kill her. 

Arthur continued, “The prince brought his sister, Sophia, along.  She's perfect.  I'm going to ask her to marry me!”

Merlin wasn't sure he'd heard correctly.  “You can't ask her to marry you.  You're only fourteen. Your father will never allow it!”

“Then we'll just have to run away.”  Arthur looked decided. He laid the towel back on the counter, and made for the door. 

“Have a nice life, Mer,” he called, then was gone. 

Merlin felt as if he had just been hit by a truck. 

The milk-drenched pillow that Arthur had thrown at him burst in a spectacular explosion of feathers. 

Comments

[schweet_heart.livejournal.com]

Oooh, this is so good! I love the banter between them, it's totally spot-on, and I had to laugh at the idea of Arthur arranging to harass "help" Merlin with his magical training by having people scare him randomly. And that last line is just perfect. Are you going to turn this into part of a longer fic/sequel to Elf-Boy and Turniphead?

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Hello! Thank you, I'm glad you think it's not completely meh. :-)

My mom has been begging for a sequel, because I (perhaps foolishly) had her be my beta. I'm not really ready to let on about the whole slash thing to her.... And elf-boy and turniphead have to end up together... (Maybe there will be slightly alternate sequels? *insert clenched teeth smile here*)

But someone better do something about that Sophia. There's a pool in that arboretum!

[schweet_heart.livejournal.com]

Ah, I hear you on that! I'd love to read more if you do write it, though, even if it just ends up being pre-A/M or gen :)

Uh oh, Arthur's definitely in trouble! Merlin and his magic need to get after him, stat, otherwise this little infatuation/enchantment is going to end very badly...

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

It could totally be gen and then I could add on the grown-up happy in love ending later on. Just to make myself happy.

I keep adding in little details that could be interpreted as "we're flirting" but there whole show was kind of like that. (Not that my mom watched the show to know). Ah, whatever, I'll figure it out.

And yes, get on it Merlin. Stat! I never did like that Sophia chick,...

:-)

[emrys_mk]

I enjoyed this. The image in my mind of Arthur and the the others "helping" Merlin control his magic is priceless. That would be a missive Arthur would definitely take to heart, as you have shown. And, hm, fourteen-year-old Arthur declaring his intentions for Sophia are as adorable as they are scary.

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. And Sophia sure it's a scary one. There's a pool in that arboretum! Uh ohs. :-)

[tari_sue]

LOL, I love that Arthur has been given licence to pull Merlin's pigtails :D

Nice twist at the end, I wasn't expecting them to be 14. Everyone needs to fall for someone inappropriate at that age :D

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Oh, sorry! I probably should have warned that they were young in the notes? It's a tag to a different story, so there is info missing. I guess I did say governess hunith in the notes, but who reads those? :-)

Hurray for pigtail pulling!!! :-)

[tari_sue]

I don't think it needed an underage warning, it's not like they were doing anything! Sorry, I should read the notes!

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, not an underage warning for sex. Just so you know they're kids and hunith is the governess and she has shown an alarming propensity to make the boys engage in holiday crafts in the past. :-)

[jelly-1andonly1.livejournal.com]

Ooooh unexpected ending...I like it

And they such awkward teenagers when they're not sure how to show they like each other :) I also liked the part about Uther just talking to Merlin was scary enough, let alone teasing him about putting him in jail 😊

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Uther war the big bad bogeyman of Merlin's childhood fears, and it is maybe a bit hard to change all of a sudden! (Anyway, that was all in the other story, and here I'm just playing with sequel ideas...)

That darn Sophia, getting in the way of young awkward affection. But it's not like Arthur's going with her to a place with a swimming pool or anything...

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

Arthur reveling in startling Merlin is hilarious and in character, though I thought it quite sweet that he voluntarily cuddled Merlin when he woke him in the middle of the night.

How the heck did Sophia get Arthur to fall so hard and fast? I don't trust her.

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

When Arthur's done pulling Merlin's pig tails, he'll probably realize that happy cuddly Merlin is a great thing.

That is if Sophia doesn't cause problems first!

[dreammaidenn.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed this so much. The banter between them was great and the fact Arthur revels in helping Merlin is so like him. ❤❤

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Arthur is thrilled to help Merlin, of course!

I'm so glad you liked it. :-)

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

I liked how Arthur wanted to 'help' Merlin so much. Ha, he was just enjoying it for fun's sake. Very cute. Hopefully Merlin will fix it about Sophia.

[eilonwy77.livejournal.com]

Merlin better deal with that Sophia situation ASAP, or it's going to be a very sad Valentine's day for everyone.

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. :-)