Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Fuck!" Arthur yelled out as he hit the ground and tried to roll away as quickly as possible.

The big stallion that was the reason for his ungraceful and very sudden connection with the ground, had already set off to the other side of the enclosure, trying to find a way out as he trotted up and down the short side, seemingly looking for a place he could easily jump over.

"Are you okay, Arthur?" Leon, who had witnessed the embarrassing incident, hurried over, always keeping an eye on the horse.

Arthur scrambled up. "We might just as well shoot him." Taking a deep breath that he blew out loudly, Arthur examined himself for damage. He had been lucky. When the stallion had bowled him over, he had been fast enough to escape the animal's big hooves. Not that it hadn't hurt where he had fallen flat onto his behind, but he wouldn't mention that in front of Leon.

Leon stared at him and then blinked. "You don't mean that." He threw the horse a look.

"All he does is cost me money, it was a mistake to buy him."

"Give him some time. I think it's still too early. He might need a few more days to recover from the flight. Let him get settled before you try again."

Arthur knew that Leon had his doubts when he had wanted to ride the new horse the day after it arrived at the stables and maybe he was right. He had been blinded a bit by the horse's beauty and the idea that he could make lots of money if he bred him. Of course, he wanted to find out about his qualities as a riding horse and had tried to saddle him up. The horse had different ideas, though. He hadn't even allowed him coming near or the saddle getting closer than a few meters away and he had used that tiny moment in which Arthur wasn't paying 100% attention to charge at him and run him over.

The horse could have killed him, Arthur knew that. He hadn't and there was something in the stallion's eyes that told him that things wouldn't be easy. It was almost as if the horse was challenging him. If this was a battle, the animal wouldn't win, Arthur promised himself.

Things didn't get better. At least it didn't feel like it was any better. Either the stallion seemed to be scared of everything and bolted at the slightest new thing in sight or he tried to attack. He had even bitten one of the stable hands and tried to do the same to everyone who was close enough.

When they got him to the paddock close by the stables, he stayed as far away from anyone as possible and couldn't be coaxed by treats.

In the beginning they discussed the probability of men having been violent or aggressive to the animal or that he was just one of those horses that only allowed women close, but not even Morgana, who was usually a lot better with horses than Arthur, had managed to get close to him.

Arthur sighed in frustration.

"It won't work like this, Arthur." Morgana, who was redoing her long braid, stepped up next to him where he stood by the fence and looked at the horse.

"Joe can't be ridden, we can barely get near him. He is a waste of money. I'll have to see if we can recover our losses and try to forget about him."

"Joe?" Morgana threw him a sideways look. "His name is Qadir, isn't it?"

Arthur knew that the horse's name was something long and complicated in Arabic and someone told him that Qadir meant something like forceful but also destiny. He didn't really care about that and those names were difficult to pronounce anyway. "Yes, but Joe is his name from now on. He's nothing special, he's just average. So he gets an average name, not a fancy one."

Morgana chuckled. "He's got a pedigree as long as the Queen's, even longer probably and you're naming him Joe? He's getting under your skin, little brother. You're so angry and frustrated lately and that shows when you deal with the horses, especially with him."

"How can I not be angry? He cost me a fortune! And now proves to be impossible to ride! How can I breed him when he can't even be ridden? If he bites one more person or kicks them, that's it, I'll end all of our misery."

Taking a deep breath, Morgana turned her back to the paddock and leaned against the fence. "How about...we call a horse whisperer?"

Arthur scoffed. He knew that Morgana loved watching those fake shows where people brought seemingly untrainable horses to those fake people who pretended to be able to communicate with animals and with a snap of their fingers, the horse did just what everybody thought it would never do. Yeah, right. "You've been watching too much TV."

They had tried everything. Joe just wasn't the average horse Arthur tried to make him sound like. He was special and he was untrainable. Everyone on the estate had tried. But not even Leon, who still managed to keep his calm around Joe, had gotten any further with him.

Taking his cap off, Leon wiped the sweat off his forehead and then picked up the halter that he had dropped when once again Joe had kicked at him. It was exhausting trying to work with this horse, you had to be on full alert at all times and not even that made sure that you got out unharmed.

So far, he had managed to stay in the paddock with Joe a lot longer than anyone else, but that didn't mean he had made any progress. Thinking that the horse might calm down and let him close had earned him another bruise just the week prior when he had to jump aside and stupidly hit his shin on the fence when he jumped up.

Some days were better than others and he could put the halter on Joe. The horse was very nervous, though, and he hadn't even managed to pat him on the neck so far. He had years and years of experience, but not even that got him anywhere with this horse.

He blew out a deep breath.

"So, what do you think?" Arthur leaned against the fence and had watched the training.

Leon shook his head. "To be honest, I'm at my wits' end. We all are. We need to do something."

"And with 'we' you mean me, I have to do something."

"Yes, Arthur. You just have to agree. This guy works wonders, I've seen him do his thing. He will be able to make Qadir into a good horse."

"It will only cost me an arm and a leg. This stupid horse has cost me enough already." Arthur crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Leon sighed. "He'll just cost you even more and you won't be able to do anything with him. What happens if he seriously injures someone?"

Not even looking at Leon, Arthur blew out a breath and kept his eyes trained on Qadir, who once again kept his distance and was trying his best to ignore them. "So you're saying, I should just toss more money at this horse magician, just so he can do a few tricks?"

"They're not tricks, Arthur. He's worth every penny."

Arthur shook his head. He was not convinced anyone could do anything about this horse.

"Come on, Arthur." Morgana shoved her plate away. "Why are you so stubborn? Why can't you admit for once that this is too hard for any of us? That we've failed?"

"It's the stallion's fault." Arthur frowned.

"We just don't know how to handle him."

"And this hocus pocus bloke can?"

"Don't call him that." Morgana sipped her tea. "It's like his senses are fine-tuned on a horse's needs. We might be overlooking something that is obvious to him. I've been told that he just points that out and teaches the owners how to deal with it. It's not like it will take weeks. We just have to follow his instructions."

Arthur wasn't happy. It felt as if he personally had failed. His instincts had totally left him. The moment he had seen the stallion, he had wanted to own him. How could he have been so dumb not to check what the horse could do? Why had he blindly spent money and bought the cat in the sack? Now he would have to spend even more to get his mistake fixed.

"We can all learn from him. Don't you want to see him work?" Morgana seemed to be way too excited.

"Not particularly, no." Arthur shook his head.

"You have to, Arthur, he works wonders. And he's not even that pricy." She tossed her braid back over her shoulder and pretended to be busy with her toast.

Arthur knew she had him with that. If there was a remote chance that this bloke could do what everyone said, they might at least be able to find out what was wrong with Joe and if it didn't cost too much money, they could work with the instructions and fix the issues themselves.

"Alright, call them."

"Wow..." Gwaine looked at the screen of his old laptop. "You need to look at this, Merlin."

Merlin finished brewing his tea on the counter of the old kitchen they were in and then turned. "What is it?"

"This woman from Camelot just sent a video. It's really bad." Gwaine scratched his beard.

Taking a sip of his tea, Merlin made his way over, not letting go of his travel mug. "Camelot, huh?"

"Yeah, I think she said so in her email."

"Isn't she the one who's called a couple of times?" Percy, who had just entered the kitchen, frowned when he saw the bucket in the middle of the room. "Is the roof leaking again?" He sighed. "We really need to do something about that, Merlin, or else the place will collapse over our heads."

Merlin knew that Percy was right. The house desperately needed fixing. "I don't have the money to have it done."

"You could have the money if you didn't fix all those horses for free." Gwaine looked up.

"I'm not fixing them for free." Merlin took another sip of tea.

"But almost for nothing. You should think about changing your pricing, Merlin." Percy nodded. "Take money just for looking at the horses before you decide if you can help them, charge by the hour. Or you could finally accept the offer that TV station made. You'd be popular all around the country and wouldn't have to worry when the next job comes in."

That was a topic Merlin didn't like to talk about. He just wasn't brought up that way. He had a gift, he could read horses and just knew what to do, how could he make the well-being of a horse depend on if its owner could pay enough money? He sighed. "Let's look at the video."

Gwaine and Percy exchanged a look.

After watching at the video twice, Merlin blew out a deep breath. "We need to help that horse."

"Thought you might say that." Gwaine grinned.

"Get them to bring him here as soon as they can."

"I'll give them a call first thing in the morning."

"Stay out." Arthur shot Morgana a look. She had attempted to open the corral and enter, but he couldn't allow her anywhere near Joe. This horse was dangerous. Leon had somehow managed to put a halter on him and now it was time to load him into the trailer, and drive across half of the country to Wales where the Whisperer people had their stables.

He hadn't been thrilled when he learned that his treacherous sister had sent a video to show them how bad it really was. He didn't appreciate that he was in this video, trying to work with Joe. What he hated most of all was that this Whisperer bloke had sent a message not even 24 hours after Morgana had contacted them with the order to bring the horse to Wales.

It felt like it was his fault that the horse wasn't behaving the way it was supposed to and as if these people who he had never met, judged him personally for it. It was very clear that they were thinking that when they had requested his presence.

Usually, Arthur wasn't to be summoned. He was the master of this estate and used to be treated as such. That some lowly peasants told him that he needed to accompany the horse was plain wrong. Then again, Joe was an investment and he would lose quite a bit of money if they couldn't fix him. That was the only reason why Arthur had agreed on coming along.

"Let's take a trip to Wales, Arthur." Morgana had been way too cheerful when she announced that the Whisperer had accepted Joe. "You'll like it there."

Arthur had never been big on trips to the countryside, but if he looked at it this way, it was probably easier to bear. They had packed their suitcases and loaded the car. The only thing that was missing now, was Joe.

The dangerous horse that didn't like to be caught.

"We need all the hands there are to load Joe into the trailer," Morgana insisted and came in.

"We can handle it." Leon threw Morgana a look.

They had set everything up, brought the trailer to the corral so Joe couldn't escape and now they had been trying for half an hour to convince the horse to enter the trailer.

"There, there," Leon turned his attention back to the animal. "There's nothing scary about this, Qadir, it's just an old trailer, it won't hurt you. Now come, be a good boy and get in."

Arthur almost snorted when Leon started talking like that, but he had a way with animals that usually worked, may they be a stray cat taking residence in their stables, the dogs or the horses. It sounded funny, but most of the time it worked, so maybe it would this time, too.

Merlin shoved his baseball hat back and rubbed the horse's head. "Good girl." He had been working with this mare for a few days and very slowly she was starting to trust him. She was one of the harder cases, being scared of most everything and especially everyone, so it was a big step forward that she let him touch her. "We'll pick it up from here tomorrow morning. Now you earned yourself some rest."

He was just as sweaty as the horse was, but he didn't hand her off to anyone else. Not that there were many people on the ranch. He just couldn't afford to pay extra hands, so if it was a normal work day, there would be just Gwaine, Percy, him and a few kids from the nearby village who helped feed the horses and muck out the stables.

When he was done feeding the horse, he entered the house that had seen better times. Of course he could put the little money he had into fixing the house, which would probably attract more potential clients, but it was risky. Merlin had never been a business man, he just wanted to help the animals.

"Merlin?"

Sighing, Merlin toed his boots off in the entrance area. "Yes?"

"Come here, telephone for you."

Usually Gwaine handled the business side of their operation. He dealt with new clients, he was the first point of contact. He also made sure that the clients paid their bills and took all the paperwork from Merlin, so he could fully concentrate on his work with the horses. That Gwaine wanted him to answer a call was new.

Tiredly, he padded into the kitchen where Gwaine once again sat at the laptop, phone pressed to his ear.

"Yes, he's here, hold on." He just streched his arm out to Merlin and waited for him to take the phone.

"Hello?" Merlin frowned and glared at Gwaine.

"Hi? Mr. Emrys?"

"Merlin, call me Merlin."

"Merlin, hello! I'm Morgana Pendragon calling from Camelot Mansion. We were supposed to come to your estate and bring Qadir for you to work your magic on."

More often than he actually wanted had Merlin heard the name 'Pendragon' and 'Camelot Estates' in the past days. "I know."

"There is a slight issue at the moment."

"An issue." Merlin didn't want to deal with the owner's issues. Either they brought the horse and he would do anything he could to help it or they left it. Anything else, usually Gwaine dealt with.

"We tried to get Qadir into the trailer this morning." The woman at the other end of the line took a deep breath. "He trashed the trailer, kicked at Leon and hurt himself. There is no way we can get him into the trailer."

The woman sounded desperate, but Merlin said nothing for a while, so she started rattling down all the things they had tried to coax the horse into the trailer and described in detail what had happened.

Obviously the injuries to the man called Leon weren't too bad, but the horse had obtained a little cut which they had treated by a vet after the horse had calmed down a bit.

"My brother gets so frustrated with the horse and he talks about putting him down. Please, Merlin, can you come here?"

"You did what?"

"Come on, Arthur, there is no way of getting Qadir to Wales, so Merlin agreed to come here." Morgana crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"You just invited those people to come live with us for a couple of weeks or however long it may take?" Arthur blinked. He couldn't believe it! How could Morgana do that behind his back?

"Arthur." Leon spoke up. "Maybe that was the best idea and we should have thought of that in the first place." He looked as if he realized that it wasn't his place to speak of 'we'. Even though they had grown up together, Leon worked for them.

"It means we have to get the guest house ready and it will cost me even more as they will have to eat." Arthur wasn't thrilled. This damn horse was costing him way too much already.

Morgana shook her head. "It would have cost us just as much money if we stayed in Wales for a couple of weeks, so what's the difference? If this is the only place they can help him, then this is the place they will do it." She nodded once.

Arthur turned towards the window but didn't really look out. "It will trouble the daily operations of Camelot Estates if there are more people. How many are we speaking of anyway?"

"I've just been on the phone with them again. It's only three of them, but they do bring a few horses and some equipment." Leon got up and made a face. Even though he had been lucky and wasn't injured badly, he was still bruised all over from where Qadir had tossed him against the railing. "I'll make arrangements for the back part of the stables to be cleared for them, so they can work without distractions."

"You should get some rest, Leon." Morgana threw him a concerned look. "I can arrange all that."

He shook his head. "Thanks, but I'm fine."

Arthur watched the exchange and said nothing.

"Fuck me." Gwaine murmured.

Merlin blinked awake. "What?"

"Look at that! It's a fucking castle!"

"Language, Gwaine." Merlin had to admit that Gwaine was right, though. The woman he had spoken to on the phone, Morgana, had sounded very posh and of course anything that had a 'mansion' on 'estate grounds' wasn't a small shack on a parking lot, but this was indeed a lot bigger than he had expected.

"Come on, Merlin. We've never seen anything like that before! At least not from the inside!"

"And we might not get to. Who says that we get to stay inside the mansion? Maybe there are some rooms attached to the stables where we can make camp." Everything was so big and the grass was so neatly cut, the park-like area around the house so well-maintained that it was quite a bit intimidating.

"I bet you a fiver that the rooms attached to the stables of this castle are better than anything we have at home."

Merlin threw him a look.

"Yes, sorry, didn't mean it like that. But if you can pull this job off, Merlin, we might finally be able to fix the roof...and a few more things." Gwaine drove along the alley slowly.

"Is Percy still behind us?" Merlin said stiffly.

Checking in the side mirror of the truck, Gwaine grinned. "Yup, has out backs as always."

Arthur came over from the main building after he had gotten the call that the whisperer people had arrived. If he were honest, he didn't believe in this and was convinced that this man would never manage to make a decent riding horse out of Joe.

He had no idea what he would do with the horse if this failed. He had spent a fortune on it and most everybody knew by now that the horse couldn't be ridden. There was no way anyone would give him the kind of money he had spent. On top of it, he was the laughing stock at the club because he had managed to accquire an un-rideable horse.

He steered his steps over to where Morgana was talking to a man who was dressed in old tattered jeans, boots that had seen better times and a t-shirt that already showed a few holes. She seemed delighted, though, about how he flicked his longish dark hair over his shoulder.

So this was the horse bloke. Hmm. Somehow he had imagined him a lot older.

"Where can we unload the gear?" A man so tall that Arthur almost took a step back to look him in the face, asked.

"I'll have someone help you with that and the staff will take care of your luggage, too." Arthur said stiffly.

"Ah, no." The tall man shook his head. "Merlin doesn't want anyone to touch our equipment." He shrugged and smiled apologetically. "We've had stuff stolen before, you know?"

It took Arthur quite a bit to not lose control over his facial features. That someone could talk to horses was weird enough, but that they also accused everyone around them of theft was a bit too much. As he was about to make a remark that he didn't appreciate being called not trustworthy on his own premisses, Morgana called him over.

"How long do you think it will take?" Arthur said instead of a greeting.

The man grinned widely and let his eyes wander up and down Arthur's body in a way that made Arthur squirm. "Well, that depends on the horse, I'd say."

"When can you start?" This was a stupid idea and the sooner those men were gone again, the better.

"We've already started."

"I've already shown them the way to the guest house and John is showing them where they can put their gear and the horses they brought." Morgana said in a very friendly tone of voice and the glare in her eyes was clearly aimed at Arthur.

He took a deep breath. "Alright. Then...good luck." He nodded stiffly and turned to go back to the house, there was obviously nothing for him to do, Morgana had it all under control. Which was fine by him, he didn't need to be involved in any of this, he just wanted a horse that wasn't a danger to anyone around him. A tiny little part of him wanted them to fail, just so he could say 'Told you so' right into Morgana's face, though.

As he stepped into the main building, he heard Morgana laugh. He didn't know what to make of the way the man had looked at him and especially his body. If he weren't mistaken, Morgana wasn't what the man was looking for. She was way out his league, too, but that was a different story.

Arthur took off his boots and made his way to his office. Slumping down into his chair, he closed his eyes. Nobody had looked at him like that in a long time. Which was partly because he barely ever left the mansion for anything other than business and probably also because he usually ignored looks like those.

Clearing his throat, he sat up and opened his laptop. To ignore it this time, too, was the best he could do. The horse man was here to do a job and would shortly be gone, hopefully.

"Why are you like this?" Morgana had stormed in without even knocking.

Arthur finished typing something on his laptop before he looked up. "Pardon?"

"Come on! We invited those people here and they came all the way from Wales and all you can do is be rude!" She glared at him.

"Invite? You begged them to come here after the horse took the trailer apart. I had nothing to do with it. And while they are on my payrole, I can be as rude as I want." He didn't mean it that way and he didn't think he had been rude in the first place. Distanced, probably, but not rude!

"No, you can't. They are actually doing you a favour with their visit!"

"A favour that costs me a lot of money." Arthur got up. "He is not your best friend, so stop treating him as such."

"You've brought that upon yourself by buying a horse just because it is pretty." Morgana crossed her arms in front of her chest. "Wasn't the first time you fell for a pretty face."

Ouch. Morgana was referring to the various flings he'd had in the past. Usually, he went for the pretty boys and that only ended in disaster. Although his last encounter of that kind had been years ago, it still stung that Morgana rubbed it into his face so mercilessly. "I was assured that the horse was trained," he answered stiffly.

Morgana's face turned softer. She knew that she had overstepped a line. "Listen, Arthur, all I want is that you treat them with the respect they deserve. It'll cost you a lot of money whether or not they can train Qadir, you won't get it back regardless. Maybe they will manage to make a decent horse out of him, so..."

Arthur knew she was right. It wasn't their fault that he had foolishly bought this horse without seeing what it could actually do. He was just angry that he had to spend even more money without anyone giving him a guarantee that this would work. He took a deep breath, looked at Morgana and nodded once. "Alright."

A wide smile showed on her face. "I knew you would do that. And if you could manage to smile a little, they might even believe that you want them to be here."

Even though he pretended not to be interested in what exactly the whisperer people were doing, Arthur wanted to know anyway. He needed to make sure he got his money's worth. It wasn't as if he couldn't afford this, but Camelot Mansion wasn't as flourishing as it was years ago. He needed to keep a close eye on their finances, so he couldn't waste even more money than he already had.

Putting his boots back on, he wandered down to the stables, trying to make it look as if he was taking an after-dinner stroll that accidentally took him to where the horses were. He had always liked the stables and had come here as a kid any moment he could sneak out. As he grew up, the horses were his confidants and he visited them when he had exciting news to tell but even more often when he got his heart broken. They listened and even if he didn't have anything to say, they were there, snuffling at his neck with their soft noses, being a huge comfort. They didn't judge, they just didn't care who you were and who you loved, they liked you just the same.

Arthur would have loved to pride himself in being an excellent rider, but as much as he practiced, Morgana had inherited all the instincts, so it had been hard work for him. It was not that he was bad, it just didn't come as naturally as it did with Morgana. It was almost like with driving a car. Some people were great drivers and could park their cars in tiniest spot. Some were good drivers but couldn't park decently for the life of them. That was him, just on a horse. He almost chuckled. Had anyone ever compared riding a horse with driving a car? The image of him backing a horse into a parking spot amused him a lot more than it probably should have.

Should he take a peek at the horses the whisperer people had brought in? These were his stables, he could do whatever he pleased. Walking to the end of the building, it felt good to see all the stalls filled. Some of the horses came to the doors to see who was intruding their peace and quiet at this time of evening, some were busy munching on some hay. Arthur stroked a few noses here and there as he made his way down the wide corridor.

He was irritated to find himself in front of a locked door. Of course he knew that the corridor could be closed off basically in the middle of the building but they hardly ever did that. And the doors were never locked, ever. Now they were.

Oh, maybe they just wanted to avoid coming into contact with the other horses? It irritated Arthur that the Whisperer people thought that his horses might carry deseases or infect their horses with something. First, the tall bloke accused him of wanting to steal equipment, now this. Who did they think they were?

Frowning, Arthur made his way back outside and rounded the building. Maybe he could get in from the other side?

As he walked along the building, he saw someone leaning against the fence of the paddock where Joe was pretending that nothing was out of the ordinary at the far end, grazing on some grass. Who was this bloke? Arthur slowed his steps and tilted his head slightly. Even though clad in a pair of jeans that were way too wide, the arse that stuck out a bit as the bloke was leaning forwards onto the fence, was a very fine one, as far as Arthur could tell.

What was he thinking? Arthur shook his head and then approached. This person was most likely one of the assistants the Whisperer had brought along, he should not be thinking about his arse or other body parts. Especially not as he was still rather irritated about their behaviour.

When he stepped up to the fence, he kept his eyes trained on the horse. "Hello." If this was just a lowly stable hand, he didn't need to make any conversation, but Arthur also didn't want Morgana to scold him for being rude again.

"Hi." The man, who was wearing a beanie and an old, tattered t-shirt, didn't say more and didn't even grace him with glancing over.

"Found everything you needed?" Why was he trying to make conversation with a stable hand? Arthur almost rolled his eyes at himself. Just because the guy had a nice behind, didn't mean he needed to make him his best friend.

"It's alright."

There was a long silence between them in which Arthur tried to come up with something to say. When he looked over, the man was still watching Joe. "Beautiful horse, isn't he?"

If this had been someone from the village, a lengthy and very polite conversation about the dabble grey stallion with the black mane would have ensued, but he didn't get the response that he had hoped for.

"All horses are beautiful. Each one has its own unique beauty. Like with humans, a beautiful face means nothing if there isn't anything inside that matches the beauty." The man turned his head to look at Arthur. "Contrary to humans, horses are always beautiful, inside and out."

Arthur swallowed. The moment, the man laid eyes on him, he barely heard what he said and missed the underlying possible insult. The man's blue eyes were the most wonderful he had ever seen and the way his full lips molded around the words with a slight accent let his body respond in ways he hadn't allowed it to react to anyone in ages.

"So...," he stammered before he cleared his throat. "When will he start?"

"When will who start what?"

"Well, this Whisperer bloke. When will he start working? I hope tomorrow morning at the latest. I want this to be done as soon as possible." Arthur pulled himself up to his full height and tried to give the man his best business look. He had to made clear who was the employer here.

"Maybe he already has?" The bloke turned his head again and only had eyes for the stallion, who seemingly wasn't interested in them at all.

"Oh, so you think that coming on to my sister and flicking his hair all over the place while accusing us of attempting to steal his gear and locking the stables, so nobody else can get to the horses he brought is actually considered working? I don't think so." There, he had to say it. Arthur didn't care if the bloke ran to his boss and told him word for word. Actually, he would have appreciated if he did, so the Whisperer guy knew exactly where he stood in all of this.

And yes, as he nodded and then turned to briskly walk away, he felt a bit better. If he overheard the hissed 'Prat', he ignored it.

"Good morning." Morgana pulled up a chair at the breakfast table where Arthur was already reading the latest news on his tablet.

"Morning." Reaching for his coffee, he didn't even lift his eyes but then there was an unsettling silence. Morgana was never this quiet in the morning. Arthur looked up. "What is it?"

"You. It's you." She didn't even attempt to take the scenic route but addressed what she thought was the problem right away.

An amused smile showed on Arthur's face. "Isn't it always?"

"And that exactly is your problem!" Morgana, who had taken up a knife, slammed it down on the table again. "You are the rudest, most pompous arse that ever walked the earth."

Arthur just turned his eyes back to his tablet. This wasn't the first telling-off Morgana gave him. Whenever he did something she didn't like, she used meal times to have a go at him, he was used to it. "Am I?" He made sure that his face showed very clearly how unimpressed and bored he was.

"That little stunt you pulled on the Whisperer last night! First, you sneak around the stables to spy on them and then you are plain rude at the paddock."

So helper boy had blabbed. Good. "My dear sister," Arthur started.

"Don't you 'my dear sister' me now, Arthur, you know very well what I'm talking about. You were not alone, what you said was overheard and even though the person who brought it back to me laughed about it, I find nothing about this funny. It's not worthy for the Master of Camelot Mansion to act that way. You embarrassed yourself."

Arthur shot her a glare. "I just set the rules straight. This is my property and they are on my payroll, they should get to work and stop treating everybody like thieves and idiots."

"Oh, they only do the later when they do encounter an idiot." Morgana flicked her long braid over her shoulder and reached for the toast.

Shoving his chair back with a bit more force than probably necessary, Arthur grabbed his tablet and left the room. Who was she to say something like that? He wasn't an idiot! And even if he were one, it wasn't her place to tell him!

When he was back in his office, Arthur started to pace. It had felt good to say those things last night. He had felt better and could walk a bit straighter. That the helper-boy had gone straight to Morgana to tell on him only showed that he had done the right thing.

Stopping in the middle of the room, Arthur frowned. If he had done the right thing, why had the victory tasted so stale a while later? He didn't get a good night's sleep, tossing and turning, waking up every now, the little scene playing in his mind. He had to admit that assistant was attractive. Maybe that was why he couldn't sleep. He hadn't been with anyone in so long that everybody who was slightly what he fancied seemed to be attractive.

His clothes were hideous, though, starting with the pair of old, tattered jeans that were way too wide and needed the laundry, to the t-shirt was fraying at the edges, the ridiculous beanie... Arthur was sure that there had been at least one dream in which he undressed helper boy. He shook his head. Could he really be so desperate that he was fantasizing about the assistant of an employee? Hardly. They were here to do a job and he would make sure that they did it.

This was about the horse, not about him not getting any lately.

When he was done going through the mail and making a few calls, Arthur decided it was time to check on the Whisperer again to see if he really had started working with Joe. The morning was almost over, so enough time had passed that he could keep up the pretense of being utterly bored and having nothing better to do.

He pulled his boots on again and made his way down to the paddock. If he was done quickly, he could still have one of the horses readied and go for a ride a bit later. The weather was perfect for it.

When he reached the fence, he stopped in his tracks. Actually, he had expected to find nobody but Joe and he could take that as a reason to fire the Whisperer people. It stroked him the wrong way that they seemingly could do something that he wasn't able to and would have loved to see them fail. No, that wasn't right, he needed them to succeed if he wanted to make money with Joe, but still.

In the middle of the paddock stood helper boy just watching Joe. Arthur couldn't help but notice that the man was clad in a pair of jeans that at least weren't in any danger of falling down any second and a pair of old boots. Was that a band t-shirt he was wearing? And was that a baseball hat that exposed huge sticking out ears and the ends of what seemed to be black curly hair appropriate attire for someone who worked here? Arthur couldn't tell if the man had noticed him approaching, he never took his eyes off the horse.

Whereever the horse turned, the whisperer's assistant turned as well. He held a lunge in one hand a medium-sized crop in the other, but he did nothing with it.

Joe didn't seem to know what to make of this and pretended to not be interested, while his ears showed that he was on alert.

And then things went really fast as Joe turned and charged at helper boy. Arthur held his breath when things seemed to go into slow-motion. The man didn't move for what seemed like long moments before he gracefully stepped aside at the last possible second.

Even though he had an ambivalent feeling towards the Whisperer people, Arthur didn't want the assistant to get hurt. Then again, why was helper boy in there with Joe? Wasn't this the Whisperer's job? Where was he anway?

"He's fantastic, isn't he?"

Arthur startled as he had not heard the man stepping up to him and turned. It was the Whisperer, all long, swishy hair, stubble on his skin and a wide grin on his face.

"What are you doing here? Why aren't you in there?"

"Me? I'm not crazy enough to deal with a horse that pretentious. This is clearly a case for the boss."

"The...boss." Arthur remembered to close his mouth at the last second.

"Yeah, Merlin." The man jerked his head towards the paddock. "He's the best. I'm always in awe when I can watch him work."

Merlin. The boss. So little helper boy wasn't so little and he definitely wasn't a helper, he was THE WHISPERER. Oy.

Arthur gripped onto the politeness that had been hammered into him as a child and that usually came naturally. "I'm sorry, we weren't introduced yesterday. Pendragon, Arthur Pendragon." He thought the name was enough, it didn't need any explanation.

To his surprise, the man extended a hand.

"I'm Gwaine. I'm the driver." The man laughed. "And the things-around-hauler and the accommodations-checker and jack of all trades. Sometimes they even let me work with the horses."

It was a genuine laugh and it sounded as if he wasn't cross with Arthur, so Arthur couldn't help but smile back as he shook the offered hand. "Sounds like you are a man of many talents."

Gwaine winked at him and shoved his baseball hat back a bit. "So they say."

"He's quite a piece of work." Gwaine chuckled and dropped down into one of the comfy chairs of the sitting room in the guest house.

"He's our client, Gwaine." Merlin looked around and barely dared to touch anything.

"A rather nasty one, too." Percy kicked off his boots and occupied the couch. "Aah, this is comfy."

"Every little thing in here is worth more than anything we have at home." Merlin might not have been too happy to leave his little ranch, but that they had gotten accommodation that was so luxurious was nice. Even though it was a bit intimidating. "Gwaine, put that down!"

Gwaine laughed and set a little bronze statue back down on the side table. "It might have cost a lot of money, but it's ugly."

"The couch is comfy." Percy insisted and closed his eyes.

"Gentlemen, can we talk about the matter at hand for a moment?" He had been going about his horse whispering as he had done with every horse before him. First, he had watched and observed, then he had tried to make contact. Merlin had no idea what had gone wrong and who had done it to this beautiful horse, but the stallion had a lot of issues. None that he couldn't solve, he hoped, but it would take quite some time.

"Which one? That our client is a prat?" Gwaine laughed. "A good-looking one, though. Isn't he quite what you fancy, Merlin?"

Percy opened his eyes again and grinned. "Tall, built, blond, just what Merlin likes."

"I mean the horse. Let's talk about the horse." Merlin knew he was fighting a lost battle. When those two were on about his love-life, or the lack thereof, there was nothing to stop them and he had to wait until they ran out of steam.

"No, I know you're special, Merlin, but you can't have a relationship with the horse." Gwaine explained with a mock-stern expression on his face. Then he grew serious. "How long have you been alone for now, Merlin? Years, right?"

Merlin shrugged. It wasn't easy. They had their little business in a remote part of Wales, the place where everybody knew what everyone else had had for breakfast. He just knew everyone there and nobody seemed appealing. So he was rather alone and worked with the horses instead of chasing an unobtainable dream.

"That's too long." Percy shook his head. "While we're here, you can at least test the waters."

"And make us lose this job? No way." Merlin carefully leaned back in the armchair.

"You're right," Gwaine nodded. "He's a prat anyway. You don't need anyone like him who thinks he's better than we are."

"Well, look at the house, the stables, this 'guest' house..." Merlin couldn't help but being thoroughly impressed.

"Inherited from people who took it from people like us ages ago."

"And still he's giving people work." Merlin could never understand why Gwaine was sometimes so judgemental about people with money.

"He thinks he's something better."

Merlin shrugged. It was a weird situation that he had never been in before. Ealdor was quite different, he knew his way around and how to deal with everyone. Here, he had caught himself at least three times today or else he would have called the stable hands 'Sir'. "He's...different."

"But," Percy laughed. "It was quite funny that he thought that you were the whisperer and Merlin was the assistant."

Gwaine laughed, too. "His face was priceless when he saw you in there with Qadir and I had to tell him that you are the main man in this show."

Merlin couldn't help grinning widely. That had been fun. He loved when people underestimated him and hadn't felt the need to correct the man's false assumptions the night before. It was just too bad that he hadn't seen his face when Gwaine had. And as much as he denied it, the others were right, Arthur was just what he liked. The only thing he didn't like was the prat-part.

"They have settled into the guest house rather well." Morgana brought in the mail.

"They better not settle too firmly." Arthur didn't even look up from his screen.

"Why?" She laughed. "Because you don't want to put your foot into your mouth again?"

Arthur felt a little flush on his cheeks. That had been embarrassing. He had totally misunderstood who was who, which rarely happened with him, he usually had a good feeling for telling people apart. That someone who cared so little about his appearance that he didn't even set him straight, was rare. "Yes, so there was a little misunderstanding. It's all been rightened now. They can do their jobs, I can do mine."

"You should talk to him a bit more often. He's really nice." Morgana flopped down on the chaise longue and put her feet up.

Arthur sighed. "I don't care how nice he is. He's here to do a job."

"I'm sure he can do his job a lot better when you're not your nasty self. And by the way, he's just what you like."

"Huh?" Now he looked up.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me. He's taller than you..."

"He is not!"

"He is, and he has dark hair...isn't that what you usually go for? His muscles aren't from working out in a gym, he's doing some actual work..." Morgana grinned at him.

"He's skinny and dirty."

She laughed. "You can bathe him and feed him..."

"I really have work to do, Morgana. I don't have time for your games. He's here to fix Joe. If he can't do this, he'll be out of here sooner than later."

"We need to bring him in." Merlin shoved his baseball hat back as he leaned against the counter, waiting for the kettle to boil.

Percy clearly tried to bite back a grin and Gwaine smiled a very fake big smile.

Reaching for his mug, Merlin turned it in his hands. "Oh, you know what I mean."

"Oh, yes, we do know what you mean. You like him!" Gwaine chuckled.

Not being able to hide the slight blush on his face, Merlin rearranged his hat again. He would not admit that they were right. "This isn't about me. It's about Qadir. Each time he shows up, the horse gets nervous."

"He's quite hot, I'd get nervous, too, if he came to see me." Gwaine went for his best innocent face.

"Hey!" Percy, playfully kicked at Gwaine's chair without really reaching it.

"You're still my number one, you know that." Making kissy noises at Percy set them both off laughing. "But come on, you have to admit that he's a looker."

Of course he was. All tall and fit with shiny blond hair, that was totally Merlin's type and he would lie if he denied that the master of the manor had crept into his dreams lately. Even thinking of those dreams made Merlin blush even more. It wasn't right.

"He's a customer."

"So? Once we're done with the horse, he's not a customer anymore and who said you can't have some fun with customers?"

"Because!"

Merlin's fierce outburst amused the other two a great deal.

"We're here to do a job. It's a tough job and we're doing it. And when the job is finished, we go back home." Merlin looked at them sternly, but they wouldn't stop grinning.

Gwaine leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Home...you're at home any place where horses need your help."

Merlin couldn't deny that. Of course, he was attached to Ealdor. He had been born there, grown up, developped his skills at that place, but Gwaine was right. His calling was helping those beautiful animals and their owners and if he were honest, staying in this guest house wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to them. At least they needn't worry that the roof might collapse over their heads at night.

"And their owners."

The huge grin was back on Gwaine's face. "There you go. And their owners. If you admitted that you liked him, it might be easier to work with him. So why don't you just say it?" He teased.

The kettle went off that very moment and Merlin turned to pour the hot water into his mug so he could have a cup of tea before he decided what to do about the situation.

"He's a prat." He whispered, more to himself than the others.

"Like father, like son." Percy commented and then laughed. "I mean...like horse, like owner? It's like a match made in heaven, isn't it?"

Gwaine nodded. "They fit perfectly. And if Merlin can 'whisper' to one, I'm sure he could turn around the other as well."

"They want me to do what?" Arthur looked at Morgana with wide eyes.

"Merlin needs you to come to the corral, so he can work with both of you."

Blinking, Arthur didn't know what to make of it. "Isn't he supposed to fix the horse?"

Morgana very clearly bit back the answer that she had on the tip of her tongue, taking a deep breath. "Merlin thinks it's better if you both work on it."

"That makes me sound like I'm part of the problem!" Arthur couldn't believe it. He had hardly talked to the man, aside from that rather unfortunate first meeting and since he had started developping some kind of emotion - lust was an emotion, right? - for him, he had decided to stay away as far as possible.

Taking another deep breath, Morgana shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. "Maybe that's true, I don't know." Her face showed that without a doubt she really thought that her brother was part of the problem. "But doesn't it make sense? You are the one who wants to ride him, he should get used to you handling him."

Arthur frowned. It was so easy to see through his sister. She actually, really thought that he was the main problem, when in fact it was the horse couldn't behave properly. He was a good horseman, he'd been on horseback almost before he could even walk properly, so why did he have to waste his time now?

"Merlin expects you at the round corral the day after Percy does his bit." Morgana busied herself with intensely looking at the plants on the window sill.

"Percy? Which one is he now?" Arthur knew very well that the tall blond with the short hair and all the muscles was Percy. How could he not notice a man like that?

Snorting, Morgana turned around. "Oh, don't tell me you haven't lusted over his fit body at least once or twice since they came here. You know exactly which one Percy is."

Arthur shrugged. "So...what exactly does he do?" He couldn't hide a bit of interest. So far, he had thought that Percy was just a stable-hand but after finding out that Merlin, whom he had also mistaken for stable-hand was the main guy in this organisation and that Gwaine, who had introduced himself as the driver had many other tasks as well, he wasn't too surprised that Percy might have hidden talents, also.

"He's the chiropractor."

"The...chiropractor." Now Arthur was surprised.

"Yes, the chiropractor." Morgana grinned at him. "You know what chiropractors do, don't you? They find all the spots where the skeleton doesn't work together as supposed to and adjusts the bones and joints."

"Adjusts the bones and joints..." Arthur echoed. He had heard of chiropractors and knew that some people swore by them. But... "What does that have to do with the whole whispering business?"

Morgana rolled her eyes and drew the most annoyed breath she was able to let it out as an equally annoyed sigh. "He specializes with horses."

"So...he's a...horse chiropractor?" He had never heard about anything like this.

"An equine chiropractor," she corrected. "Yes, he is."

"What's he going to do? Let Joe lie down on a bench and make him hold his breath?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen it yet, but I plan to be there when he does."

"Why would any of our horses need that?"

"Merlin said that he sees signs that Qadir," Morgana emphasized the name, "needs a bit of re-adjustment to be able to move better. Maybe some of his issues will be solved then as well."

"Don't you think we would have noticed if Joe" What Morgana could do, he could do as well, "had issues moving? Or any other of our horses? It's not like we're beginners here at Camelot Estates."

Morgana laughed. "If we are all such experts, why can't any of us approach Qadir" There, she did it again. "Without any problems? Do you really want him to be in pain if it can be solved easily with some chiropractic manipulation?"

No. As much as he had resentments against the horse, he didn't want him to be in pain. Arthur didn't like it, but Morgana once again had won. "Alright."

She beamed at him. "Alright? If you are too proud to come down to see what they are doing, I'll dutifully report back to you as I will not pass the opportunity to see this."

"Do that." Arthur turned to sit down at his desk, so he could pretend he had better things to do and check on emails and numbers.

When she was at the door, Morgana turned again. "I'll let you know when Merlin wants you down at the round corral tomorrow."

Arthur huffed. Since when did he let himself be ordered anywhere by any of his employees?

"Lead him down there and then come back." Percy instructed, his eyes fixed on the dapple grey.

Merlin knew he didn't have to be there for this, but it was always fascinating to watch Percy work and he, too, knew that there was something not right with Qadir. It was barely visible, even trained horse people like everyone on the Estate here, could miss it.

"Alright, Gwaine, what do you see?"

It was endearing how Percy always tried to train Gwaine, but even though Gwaine was a fantastic rider and had picked up a lot of Merlin's techniques, so he could help out on the easier cases, he just wasn't a natural when it came to chiropractics.

"His back?" Gwaine asked tentatively.

"Make him trot now." Percy instructed and frowned. "Not only his back," he told no one in particular, never taking his eyes off the horse.

Blowing out a deep breath, Gwaine shrugged. "I'd say his hooves are too dry and what does his mouth say?"

"Haven't been that far. It's a miracle that he does let himself be led on the short rein by Leon." Percy still made a mental inventory of what to adjust.

"Merlin's doing." Gwaine smiled.

"So," Morgana stepped up to them. "What is wrong with him?"

"See how he sets his hind hoof on the right side?" Percy pointed and then said a bit louder, "You can bring him back now."

Leon brought Qadir over.

Morgana nodded. "I noticed that a while back, but..."

"That's why we're only doing something about it now." Merlin threw Morgana a look. "It wasn't safe before."

She nodded again. "I'm amazed that he lets Leon this close and that Percy can step up to him like that. He wouldn't have allowed it before you came here."

"We're still working, but slowly, it feels like we're working together."

"It's all your doing." She beamed at Merlin.

Merlin just smiled shyly. "We've all worked very hard."

They watched as Percy stepped up to Qadir, whose backwards-turned ears and wide eyes clearly showed that he wasn't comfortable with the situation.

With a few, practiced moves, Percy found the spots on the horse's back that seemingly caused him pain and discomfort when moving. It took him quite a bit of effort to lift the horse's legs to adjust them. Qadir shyed away a few times and then made it known that he didn't appreciate his legs being touched and his feet being lifted by trying to kick.

Percy didn't give up, though, so that was a small battle that Percy had won in the end.

Breathing a bit harder, Percy came back to them. "Lead him down there and back again, Leon."

"He's not happy with that right hind foot now." Morgana observed when Qadir stepped on it carefully and then jumped back to the other immediately.

"It will take him a while to get used to the fact that it doesn't hurt anymore and that he can use it properly again." As Percy explained that, the horse put weight on this leg just the way he was supposed to.

They watched as Leon lead Qadir up and down, made him trot and then came back to them.

"He looks a lot more relaxed already." Morgana looked at Percy in wonder.

"Imagine that you have a back pain or pain in your leg and you have to move around on it. You work out ways to avoid the pain and your body adjusts to the false way of moving. That's what he did. That caused him trouble, but now that the worst issues are dealt with, Merlin can work on getting a saddle on him."

Merlin grinned at Morgana's facial expression. That was the longest thing that Percy had said in her presence, but they were so used to Percy talking excitedly about helping horses that they hardly noticed. It was new to Morgana, though.

She chuckled. "Can you do that on people, too?"

"He might rip your leg off if he did that to you, Madam." Gwaine grinned. "As long as you don't have four legs and weigh at least a couple of a hundred kilos, he won't practice his art on you."

Percy shrugged with a wide grin on his face. "Sorry?" He grew serious again. "Oh, and you might want to call the farrier. Qadir needs new shoes and I've seen a few other horses that need to be looked at."

Morgana nodded. "I'll do that right away. Will that help the dry hooves, too?"

"Put him on a paddock that has more grass and preferrably a bit of standing water, like a pool from all the rain lately? He's been standing on sand and hay too much. That and the new shoes will help."

"New shoes are always a good thing." Morgana almost giggled. "But yes, I get it. Leon, can that be arranged immediately?"

Leon nodded. "I know just the place if Merlin allows."

"Now that Qadir can be convinced to come over and have a lead attached to the halter, we can let him run in a wider space. Want to make sure that it's the right one, Percy?"

Percy nodded and followed Leon and the horse.

Arthur walked down to the round corral at exactly ten sharp. He would show this Merlin that he wasn't the problem here and that he didn't need any training. If he were honest, he was quite nervous. What if Merlin and his crew thought he was a lousy horseman? That he was doing everything wrong his entire life? That he wasn't worthy of leading a company like Camelot? Old fears instilled in him by his father - who was a great horseman and a great businessman - resurfaced.

Taking a deep breath, plucking some imaginary lint off his immaculate riding breeches, Arthur stepped up to the corral. Standing in front of his closet, he had pondered for a moment whether to dress down, but his entire closet didn't hold clothes old and worn enough to match those of the whisperer people, so he had decided to go full out and show them how you really dressed when you were around horses. His jodhpurs were so white it almost hurt to look at them in the sunlight, his boots were shined to the max. The dark blue polo shirt he wore was spotless and the baseball hat he had on came from the same designer than his shirt.

He cleared his throat. "Good morning."

"Oh, you're here!" Merlin sounded a bit out of breath already, but put a bit more distance between Joe and himself before he turned to Arthur, still not letting the horse out of his sight.

Frowning, Arthur attempted to open the gate to the round corral to step in. He was here on time, not too late, not too soon, so why did Merlin sound so accusing?

"Don't!" Merlin yelled and then repeated "Don't," a bit softer.

What was wrong now? Couldn't the idiot decide on what he wanted?

"Let me..." Merlin put down the long lead and the crop and left the corral. He smiled widely. "This will be a bit safer for your first time."

That smile did funny things to Arthur's insides. "First time?" Oh, he meant the first time working with Joe.

Merlin shoved his baseball hat back a bit. "I know you have been watching a few times when I've been working with Qadir."

Nodding, Arthur felt himself getting all defensive again. There was nothing wrong with watching that.

"Might make it easier to explain to you what we need to do." He didn't give Arthur time to reply. "I think you both got a bad start together. Whenever you are around, he starts getting nervous."

He? Joe started to get nervous? He was a dangerous horse, everyone around him got nervous because of that!

"And you are nervous because he is nervous," Merlin continued. "What we've been working on was trying to make him see that he has nothing to fear from the people around him and that it's better to come to them than to run away from them."

"You managed him, so you could put the halter on him and Leon can lead him places."

Merlin chuckled. "I did not 'manage' him. I made him realize that it's okay and that sometimes in the end there's a treat in it for him."

"And you think stuffing the horse with treats is the right way?"

"We're not stuffing him with treats. Sometimes a little praise alone goes a long way, don't you think?"

Arthur took a deep breath. He didn't know what was expected of him, but he would never admit that he was actually a bit scared to step into the corral now. Merlin was here to help and he had done a few things that already made everyone feel better, so maybe he should just try to let it go and work with them. "Alright, what do you want me to do."

"Hop up on the fence, I'll explain while I'm in there."

He hadn't climbed on a fence since he was a little kid, but he hadn't forgotten how to do it. When he was seated, he saw how Merlin picked up the lead and the crop.

Watching Joe nervously jump about, Arthur knew he would have to work hard and he held his breath when the horse turned around and kicked at Merlin as he had done before.

While Merlin was working, he gave a running commentary that it was not only a mixture of fear and nervousness, but a lot of disrespect on Qadir's behalf. He explained how Percy had fixed Qadir's back and hind quarters, all the while making the horse alternate between a trot and a canter.

"Move his feet, that'll move his brain."

"What?" Arthur saw a pattern. Whenever Joe turned his hind towards Merlin, Merlin made him run, cracking the crop, never touching the horse. Arthur would have removed him personally if he hit any of the horses, but Merlin didn't. He just used the crop to make the horse run around the round corral. Once in a while, he made Joe change directions.

When the horse turned his front towards Merlin on the turn, Merlin stopped chasing him. The moment he turned his hind against him, sometimes accompanied by a little kick in his direction, Merlin pushed him into a canter again.

After a while, Joe stood still, facing Merlin, his ears turned forwards, looking at him.

"Good boy." Merlin just stayed in place.

It didn't take long for Joe to very slowly come over. Arthur held his breath. What if Joe would use the opportunity to bite Merlin? But the stallion did no such thing. He moved his big nose towards Merlin, snuffling at him, but keeping a respectful distance.

Merlin smiled. "That's a good boy." He reached up and stroked Joe between the eyes.

"Now's your turn, Arthur."

At any other moment, Arthur would have been annoyed about this man calling him by his first name and not addressing him by his proper title, but he was too fascinated by what he had seen. It hadn't even taken ten minutes for Joe to come over to Merlin.

"What do I do?" He didn't even dare to speak at normal volume as Joe already peeked in his direction, his ears in motion, starting to get nervous.

"You want him to repsect you, right?"

"Of course." Arthur nodded.

Merlin threw him a sideways glance. "Then you have to respect him, too."

"Oh, I do." Big hooves and large teeth needed to be respected, they could be dangerous.

Merlin shook his head. "No, you don't. You are afraid of him, but you don't respect him."

"I'm not...."

"Yes, you are. And you keep calling him 'Joe'. His name is Qadir and you will call him that from now on."

Arthur frowned a little bit, but didn't say anything. Maybe this man was right and this was a mutual thing.

"You need to let go of your frustrations. That's in the past. You're starting anew, right now."

Merlin's voice was soothing. "What do I do?"

"You've been watching, right? We'll reverse roles now. I'll be up on the fence, you do the training."

"But..."

"I'll be here to guide you through." Merlin picked up the lead and held the crop out to Arthur. "Here, take it. You've seen me do it, never touch him with it, just use it as a source of noise."

The moment Merlin had handed the crop over, Arthur felt sweat trickle down his back. It had looked so easy when Merlin had done it. Would he be able to pull it off as well?

An hour later, Arthur couldn't get the wide grin off his face. He was sweating like a pig and his formerly prestine clothes were probably a case for the bin now, but for the first time, Qadir had turned towards him and let him stroke his face and pat his neck. The stallion was just as sweaty and breathing hard from all the running about, but it looked as if he had stopped being so nervous around Arthur. That he trusted him enough to come close was a huge success.

"Good boy!" Merlin had slid off the fence and approached them. It wasn't clear if he was talking to the horse or to Arthur.

"He can be, when he wants to." Arthur almost chuckled, but he held it in just in case it would startle Qadir.

"Don't expect him wanting to be near you right away tomorrow morning. We need to practice. Once this works, we can start on trying to get a saddle on him. Come on, let's give him some rest. Let him cool down, then take him to his stall and give him a good rubdown." Merlin handed Arthur a short leash and picked up the things they had used.

A rubdown? Him? He wasn't a stable hand. Then again, the last hour had been such a breakthrough and if he could strengthen that small band of trust they had formed by giving the stallion a rub down, Arthur would do it.

"You did well." Merlin said as they walked towards the stables.

"Thank you." For some reason, the little praise from the whisperer's mouth made Arthur even more proud than his accomplishments in this morning.

Percy grinned. "They are almost like you and me."

"Hey!" Gwaine nudged his side. "You just compared me to a tiny, old pony."

"Just meant that they are rather different, but get on very well."

They were leaning against a fence and watched Qadir and Ellie peacefully grazing side by side.

"Just like Merlin and Arthur." Gwaine's grin went impossibly wider.

"Which is which, though?" Percy laughed.

Ellie was a little pony that had somehow found her way to their farm. She was friendly and interested in everyone around her, may they have two or four legs and easily made friends with the most complicated of creatures. One day, they had noticed that she was able to calm down nervous horses just by being there and so they had introduced her to Qadir.

Immediately, she had taken a shine to him, following him where he was going, always wanting to be by his side. Which led to some funny situations as her little legs were about half the size of his. It hadn't taken long and he kept watching out for her, slowing down so she could keep up and he was a lot less nervous when she was around.

"I'm not going to say what I'm thinking." Gwaine chuckled but then grew serious and sighed. "Will we ever get Merlin to admit that he likes the posh prat?"

Percy shook his head. "Not as long as they are working together. Things are going way too smoothly for him to go and destroy them by admitting something like that."

"He only thinks he would destroy them. I think he should move things forward. Have you seen Arthur looking at him?"

"You mean when they meet up for Qadir's training and both of their faces light up? Or when he thinks Merlin doesn't notice and he Merlin out?" Percy grinned.

"Yeah, that." Gwaine shrugged. "And they work so well together. Once Arthur dropped the attitude and accepted that Merlin knows a lot more about horses than he does, they are a perfect match and it does all of them good. Qadir included."

"They're making progress. They already started the saddle training."

"I can't believe he bought a horse without knowing if it was trained." Gwaine shook his head.

Percy nodded. "Happens. We've had that before."

"Just not such a serious case like Qadir."

"Will take a while."

"And while it lasts, we can enjoy the luxuries of Camelot Estates."

Percy turned his back to the horses and looked over the grounds. "It is nice here."

"A lot better than at home." Gwaine admitted.

"Do you miss home?"

"When I have a room bigger than the house there and don't have to step around buckets when it's raining? Nah. You?"

"A bit, but...you're right."

"Come on, let's see if we find something in the fridge that will make a decent dinner."

It became more and more difficult to work with Merlin. With Qadir. Arthur just couldn't focus and made mistakes that made him look like a bloody beginner. It all had started to work out, but now, more than once, Merlin had to step in and give Qadir commands saving his sorry behind from getting trampled again and the stupid horse just didn't seem to have any kind of respect for him. Which in return, made him very angry and that didn't help with the training at all.

"Arthur." Merlin called him over.

Blowing out a deep breath, Arthur walked over with hanging shoulders, not letting Qadir out of sight. "What?"

Merlin went into a lengthy explanation about what he had to do better for the horse to understand what he wanted from him, but all Arthur saw was Merlin's lips moving and his eyes darting back and forth. He wanted to bury his hands in the unruly dark hair so badly and find out if the sticking out ears were as sensitive as he imagined.

"And you're not even listening." Merlin made a face.

"I am! I...I need to be more precise in my body language and a lot more consistent." Arthur hoped that this was what Merlin had repeated as he had said it often enough before.

To his surprise, Merlin chuckled and shook his head. "I need to find new things to say."

"Not until I've got the hang of this training."

"Alright, let's work on that. What keeps you from doing it?" Merlin looked at him and the earnest look in the blue eyes made Arthur's insides do little flips.

'You', he almost said, but then took a deep breath. He couldn't come on to Merlin like this. He should take him out for dinner or a nice walk and have some good conversation and some even better wine and then, maybe...

"It's like you lose focus in the middle of training."

'Yes, yes I do and it's because I think of you.' Arthur took a deep breath. "I don't know. There's a lot going on lately. This training just adds to my workload, so..." It was a lame excuse, he knew.

Merlin gave him a long look, then the corner of his mouth lifted and he nodded. "Just one more time and we'll call it a day?"

If only he knew what Arthur was preoccupied with! Then again, Merlin had to admit that he wasn't the most focused either. Each time he thought that Arthur had it covered and was really working with the horse, his own thoughts wandered to that great arse clad in perfectly fitting jodhpurs and his throat went dry.

He couldn't have a crush on their client, it just wasn't professional. At least if he showed it or acted upon it. It just got more difficult each day not to reach for him. Like today, when he had been standing so close, all sweaty and worked up, his usually perfect appearance a bit rumpled, his white jodhpurs dirty, his shined boots dusty, his poloshirt showing sweaty patches.

Was that what Arthur looked like after sex? His hair plastered against his forehead, him breathing heavily, his face reddened from the physical activity?

Merlin shook his head. He needed to shove thoughts like that aside. Or at least only allow them when he was alone in his bed before falling asleep. Then he could act on them and have some solo fun that relaxed him and he could go to sleep and have pleasant dreams.

Some days, Arthur showed his prat-y side by making remarks or treating someone as if they weren't worth being in his company. While he was working with Qadir, Merlin thought he saw the real Arthur, the one that was buried deep inside and behind high walls. He liked what he saw. There was someone who cared, someone who was determined to work and even though his attention slipped sometimes, he always got back to the task at hand and gave it his all. It was difficult not to like.

There was a tension building between them that couldn't be ignored. It wasn't good. It wasn't good at all. Merlin had to focus on the job, nothing else.

Arthur had brought back the reigns and after hanging them up neatly, he examined his arm. The bruise showed all kinds of colours already and it was rather sensitive to the touch. He sighed. After all this time, he had not expected Qadir to push him against the wall of the stall when he came in with the saddle. Which had been the mistake exactly, he hadn't been paying attention. That wasn't quite right either, he had been focussed, just not on the fact that the stallion might still not be too fond of him bringing the saddle in.

"Are you alright?"

Startling a bit as he had been so deep in thought that he hadn't heard Merlin coming in, Arthur looked at him with wide eyes. "Yes." Quickly, he pulled the sleeve of his shirt down as far as possible.

"Does it hurt?" Merlin took Arthur's wrist and pulled the sleeve up again with gentle fingers. "Damn, that must hurt." He inspected the bruise.

"A bit," Arthur admitted.

"Sorry that I wasn't fast enough to prevent it." Merlin looked up and Arthur's breath caught when he looked into those blue eyes.

He shook his head. "It wasn't your fault. I wasn't paying attention."

Merlin chuckled. "You should know by now..."

"That I always have to be focussed when dealing with him." Arthur said at the same time. Merlin had mentioned this so often, it was difficult to forget.

As Merlin smiled and nodded, Arthur noticed that he still hadn't let go of his wrist. He swallowed hard. It wasn't good that Merlin gave his dreams even more fodder. Even though he didn't want it, tried to fight to keep the emotions down, tried to argue them away, he couldn't help it. He had fallen for the weird Welshman with the odd accent and the utter disregard for everything he was brought up with.

Arthur saw Merlin swallow and in the blink of an eye, he found himself pressed to a wall and kissed thoroughly. He didn't even have the time to make a noise and he was too surprised to do anything but close his eyes and enjoy. Usually, he would have fought being manhandled against the boards of the wall, but it was totally hot that Merlin took charge.

Enjoying the touch of Merlin's hand firmly placed in his neck, Arthur finally brought up his hands to caress Merlin's back. The soft play of hard muscle underneath the flimsy t-shirt, the warmth of his body, the way Merlin's tongue didn't have to force itself into his mouth and explored...Arthur hadn't been touched like this in what seemed like forever and his body reacted.

A disappointed little whine escaped him when Merlin pulled back and shook his head.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have..."

He was just as breathless as Arthur, who was trying to come up with something decent to say. "You...that was..."

"Inappropriate." Merlin pulled himself up to his full height, something Arthur had only seen him doing when working with horses, usually he slouched a bit. "I apologize."

"Don't! It was..." Just what I needed. What I wanted for a long time. Wonderful. But Arthur just gaped as Merlin nodded curtly, turned and left.

Arthur closed his eyes and his head fell back against the boards again. What had just happened? Had he, at any point, given Merlin anything to doubt that he enjoyed this? Why had he pulled back? Why had he turned away?

"Merlin?"

But Merlin had already left the stables.

"What's up, Merlin?" Percy handed him another bottle of beer and sat down on another one of the chairs on the deck of the guest house.

Merlin didn't say anything for a few long moments. Everything was wrong. He had foolishly gone and kissed their client. That was something you just shouldn't do. The way Arthur had looked at him in that dim light of the tack room had led him to believe that it was the right thing to do. Arthur seemed to be interested if the way he had reacted was anything to go by. It would just ruin the fragile work relationship they had built over the last couple of weeks and Merlin knew that they needed the money. He couldn't risk them getting thrown out.

"Nothing."

Gwaine, who had been handling calls and numbers since dinner, joined them on the deck. "Nope, nothing wrong with it."

"What's 'it'?" Percy looked up at him.

Merlin noticed how his ears started to burn and wished he had brought a hat out, so he could hide his blush a bit better. Gwaine had been pestering him about Arthur for days. He knew.

"Oh, just some snogging in the tack room."

"Gwaine!" Merlin sank deeper into his chair. Damn, damn, damn, Gwaine had seen them. He should have known that they weren't alone in the stables.

"Ah, come on!" Gwaine sprawled on the remaining chair.

"Snogging in the tack room?" Percy looked all excited.

"Alright," Merlin sat up a bit straighter. "I made a mistake. I gave in to my..." He closed his mouth.

"You gave in to your temptations?" Percy took a sip of his beer and grinned widely. "Good for you!"

Merlin shook his head. "No, not good. I still just work here."

Gwaine looked over. "Nothing wrong with a little workplace romance."

"It's not a little workplace romance!" Merlin insisted. It was no romance to begin with. It was just that Arthur made his blood boil. It was as if his entire day was just made to look out for the golden hair and when he caught a glimpse of that blue eyes, nothing else mattered. Damn, he had crushed hard.

"It's not little, that's for sure." Gwaine laughed and playfully hit into the direction of Merlin's upper arm without reaching him. He grew serious again. "Why the long face, Merlin?"

"It's not right. We need to finish this job and leave. That's the best for all of us."

"We're nowhere near the end of this job, Merlin, and you know it. The horse and the prat need a lot more training before you can go." Percy sat up in his chair.

"Don't call him that." Merlin bit his lower lip. That had come out too fast to make his friends believe that he didn't feel something for the man. Too late, both Gwaine and Percy chuckled. "I mean...yes, I know they do need more training, but..."

"By the look of it, he is into you, there is not 'but', Merlin. Have you noticed the looks he gives you? Have you noticed how many dead bodies were lying around if looks could kill when you talk to someone else? He's got it just as bad, so don't make complicated, just..."

"I walked away." Merlin took a sip of his beer.

"You did WHAT?" Gwaine rolled his eyes as Percy groaned.

"It's over. Nothing to discuss, nothing to talk about. Now back to work." Merlin got up. He didn't have any work left to do, but he needed to get away from those two.

Arthur was nervous when he stepped up to the gate. He hadn't seen Merlin since the incident in the tack room. Since he'd had to go to London for the sale of a horse, he hadn't seen him the previous day at all, not even a glimpse when he peeked out of his windows in the evening.

He had to clear his throat twice, before he got a "Good morning" out. Should he address it?

"Morning!" Merlin sounded as cheery as always.

Arthur knew he should only have eyes for Qadir, but there was Merlin and he was a lot more interesting than the horse at the moment. "Can I come in?"

Merlin made Qadir stop at the other end of the corral and waited for the stallion to turn towards him and step closer before he gave Arthur a sign to enter.

It was difficult to work with the horse that day. Merlin seemed to be able to focus and was wonderful, but Arthur couldn't really concentrate and made a few stupid mistakes. To his surprise, Merlin didn't go into their usual banter, he only corrected him with short sentences and in the end, he managed to get the saddle on Qadir without anyone being trampled or the horse bolting.

Arthur was in a foul mood when he entered the house.

"Qadir not cooperating?" Morgana looked up from where she sat at her laptop.

Tossing his baseball hat onto the small ottoman with more force than necessary, Arthur glared at nothing in particular. "Nothing is cooperating. My entire life is not cooperating."

Morgana got up, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth when Arthur poured himself a drink. "Pour me one, too."

"What's so funny?" Arthur turned his glare at her when he handed her her glass.

"Sometimes you're such a drama queen, little brother."

"Don't call me that."

"Drama queen? But that's what you are!" Now she grinned widely.

"No, that other thing. And I'm not a drama queen!"

"You so are. I don't know what happened, but I'm sure it has to do with Merlin. Why don't you just tell him that you like him?"

"Can't." Arthur sipped his drink and didn't even notice that he finally admitted to her that he had feelings for Merlin.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. It's easy. You just go to him and say 'Merlin, I like you'. Simple as that."

"Don't make me sound like I'm a five-year-old. I can't tell him that. He doesn't like me that way." Arthur downed the rest of his drink, only to turn and pour himself another one.

"Well, sometimes you act like a five-year-old. What have you done now? Hit him over the head with your plastic spade in the sand box?"

Arthur refused to answer. It was more like Merlin had first invited him to play together in the sand box and then hit him over the head with a bucket.

"Do I need to talk to Gwaine?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Gwaine? What does he know?" Arthur swivelled around.

Morgana threw him a pityful look. "You might have noticed that Percy and Gwaine are not only co-workers for Merlin, but his best friends, too? Gwaine isn't as thick as you might think he is, he is very perceptive, especially when it comes to Merlin. It's like he took it upon him to protect him. He knows when something's going on."

Arthur didn't like this and he knew that his face showed it.

"So, what did you do?"

Why did everyone always think that he was the one to blame? Arthur scoffed. "I didn't do anything."

"Maybe that's the problem? Go, do something. Talk to him!"

Arthur took the few steps to the window and looked out. "Alright, if you need to know...he kissed me."

He heard a delighted sound from his sister. "But that's a good thing! Why are you moping?"

Turning to look at her, Arthur swallowed hard. "He shoved me back and left right after."

Morgana blinked. "Oh."

"Yes, oh. So that's it. He kissed me, he didn't like it, end of story."

To his surprise, Morgana shook her head. "I wouldn't say that. It is probably only just the beginning."

"We're going to have a barbeque!" Leon announced, a happy smile on his face.

"A barbeque?" Arthur blinked. They never had barbeques. They let cook prepare something if they wanted to eat outside and then sat down at a nicely set table in the garden. Come to think of it, they hadn't even done that in a while, but then they hadn't had a reason.

"Yes, a barbeque. That's where you put meat and vegetables on a grill and cook it outside, you know?"

It wasn't like Leon to tease him like that, he must be in an exceptionally good mood. Or in a conspiracy with Morgana. Arthur's eyebrows rose. "I do know what a barbeque is, but who is we and why are we having one?"

He'd had a long, hard day of trying not to think of Merlin and what had happened a few days ago. They were still working with Qadir, but with him not being on point most of the time, it was difficult and exhausting. Merlin hadn't said anything, but the looks he sent him and the way he talked to the horse - trying to make it clear that it was his fault, not Qadir's, just with the tone of voice he used - showed that he wasn't happy. And now Leon dropped this news on him. What did he have to do with it?

"Just the blokes and us."

"The blokes...and us. Which blokes?" He had been invited to quite a few after-work drinks the staff of the Estate held regularly, but he had made it a rule not to go drink with employees. It only made things complicated.

"Percy, Gwaine, Morgana, Merlin, you and me." Leon still smiled widely.

So Morgana was in on that. It was probably her idea all along. "Morgana's a bloke now? Don't let her hear that."

"It was actually Percy's idea. Morgana just agreed to coming over."

"Over?" Why did he have the feeling that they didn't reveal the entire information to him?

"Yes, we're having it in the back yard of the guest house. Al and Neil are helping to set up a table and benches right now."

"What does it have to do with me?" Arthur was torn. He wanted to go. It not only sounded like a lot of fun, it would also give him the opportunity to see Merlin and probably talk to him and get this whole awkward thing between them out of the way. On the other hand, he'd have to spend the whole evening with Merlin, and things were awkward and embarassing. What if Merlin kept his distance or plain told him off?

"Come on, Arthur," Morgana entered the room. "You haven't had any fun for so long. It's all just work, work, work for you, so let go a little. It's not like we're asking you to get drunk and dance on the table. It's just a little barbeque with friends."

Arthur was about to say that those people weren't their friends. They were employees, they were only here to do a job and would soon leave. He could try to convince himself of exactly that, but he couldn't bring himself to say it. The three guys that didn't really fit into their world had become a part of Camelot and the stables ran a lot better since they were here. Friends? He wasn't sure of that. But they sure weren't just staff anymore.

"Say yes, little brother."

Looking from Morgana, who had stopped right next to Leon, to Leon and back - both of them wearing big fat smiles and making 'pretty please'-eyes at him -Arthur knew he didn't have a chance to say no.

"Okay, how does this work?" Arthur knew when he was defeated.

"Oh, don't worry about that, I've talked to cook, she will show you how to make a decent pasta salad." Morgana smiled and it looked a bit more like fleeing than just leaving the room when she made her way out quickly.

Arthur looked at Leon. "Did she just say that cook will show me how to make a salad?"

Shrugging, Leon laughed. "Yup, we're all supposed to bring something we made ourselves. Oh, and cook will provide us with beer and drinks from the cellars."

Watching Leon retreat just as hastily as Morgana had, Arthur sighed. He had not only been tricked into going to this thing, now he also had to make food and was the one who was paying for it. Yet, a tiny little part of him was already looking forward to it.

"There you are!" Cook greeted him with a wide smile when Arthur entered the kitchen.

"Here I am." He smiled uncertainly. Usually, he only made his way to the kitchen when he wanted a snack and didn't want to bother anyone with it. Taking something out of the fridge or from the pantry was easy. He'd never had to cook anything before and now he was here for his contribution to the barbeque.

The chubby woman he had known most of his life held out an apron to him. "Here, put it on. Keeps you nice and tidy."

Arthur felt ridiculous as he did so. "Where do you start?" He sat down on one of the stools at the counter. Sure she would just make him watch and then probably let him put some of the green stuff on top of the finished product, so he could claim he did something himself.

Half an hour later, Arthur wiped the sweat off his forehead. When he thought that he would just be a spectator, he had been badly mistaken. Morgana obviously had instructed cook not to let him get away with it.

He had been ordered to haul pots around, put water in them and make it boil on the stove. The lecture about how to switch on the stove alone had taken forever. He had learned how to see when the pasta was done and of course, the water had boiled over the rim of the pot when he hadn't paid attention. Cooking was hard!

Cook told him stories of her childhood in an eastern European country and spiced them up with information on the different foods - who knew that tomatoes weren't a vegetable but a fruit? Or at least something in between if he understood her correctly - and little lectures on why it was wise to put salt into the water before making it boil.

Arthur just tried to do everything she instructed him to do and to keep up to her pace while listening to her heavy accent and wonderfully screwed grammar. She'd always been a bit like the grandmother he never had and he dreaded the day when she would retire.

"Pay attention!"

He snapped back. "What?"

"You almost cut finger!" She scolded him and then showed him again how to hold the knife and how to bend the fingers that held the pickles just so.

When he had sliced and cut what felt like a million things and everything was neatly placed in little bowls and the big sieve with the pasta was sitting on the side to cool off, Arthur smiled. They were done and he had done most of it himself!

"On to mayonnaise!"

"What?"

"Mayonnaise. Dressing!"

"Oh." There he had thought that they would just toss all of the ingredients together and miraculously it would make a decent pasta salad. Of course, it needed a dressing, but that came from bottles, didn't it?

"Here, Arthur, eggs." She put a box with eggs next to him. "Get bowl from over there." She pointed. "High one."

As he tried to figure out which one she meant, she put more things on the counter, including the hand-held mixing thing that he had seen her use before.

When she was finally content as he seemed to have found the correct container, he brought it over and looked at what was there.

"Remember this," she demanded. "Always tastes good, not only in pasta salad of yours!"

Obediently, he watched how she put eggs into the container, salt and a bit of curry powder, some spoonsful of vinegar and mustard. She started mixing it all together and then put the mixer on the highest level. "Pour oil in!" She shouted over the noise.

Blinking, Arthur reached for the bottle that said something about sunflowers. As it was the only bottle left that she hadn't used before, it must be the right one. "How much?" Carefully, he started pouring the oil into the container, trying not to get in the way of the stirring process.

"More."

"Isn't that a lot of oil?"

"It's mayonnaise." As if that answered anything.

"Enough now?"

"More."

All of a sudden, she seemed content. "Stop!"

Immediately, Arthur pulled the bottle back. "How do you know how much has to go in there?"

She smiled at him. "You see colour." Reaching for two teaspoons, she tried the mayonnaise and motioned for Arthur to do the same.

"That's...fantastic."

"Needs pinch more salt."

Arthur didn't think so. He'd always thought that mayonnaise came from a jar. This looked nothing like the white goo he associated mayonnaise with and it was so tasty that he could have just spooned it down.

"Pasta will eat some of taste, needs more salt," cook announced and stirred another pinch of salt in. Then she seemed happy.

When they finally had put everything in a big bowl and carefully mixed it through just using the salad servers, she looked proudly at him. "Your first pasta salad!"

A big smile spread across his face. He had never thought that cooking would be so exhausting, but also so much fun!

Merlin still didn't know what to make of the situation. When Percy and Gwaine had surprised him with the news of a barbeque, he was all for it. He loved to play chef at the grill and he wasn't too bad at it either, if he might have said so himself. He got a bit wary, though, when he heard that they wouldn't be the only ones.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" He took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

Percy, who was already chopping things up for a salad or something, nodded. "A very good idea. I'm hungry and for once, not only you two will find out what a fantastic salad-maker I am."

"I'm just hungry." Gwaine grinned, but obediently took the other knife and started to cut up bell-peppers when Percy motioned towards them. "But you have to admit that it will be nice to have company over. It's been just the three of us for too long."

Merlin sipped his water. Gwaine was right. They hadn't asked over friends in forever, their life only consisted of work. If they did something like a barbeque, they usually just tossed whatever was in the kitchen on the grill and that was it.

"Do you know what they will bring?" It looked as if Gwaine ate more of the red bell-pepper than he was actually cutting into little stripes.

Percy frowned. "Tomatoes next. Arrange them on the platter with the mozzarella." He instructed. "Leon said something about special dips he seems to be good at, Morgana was all cryptic, so I don't know and Arthur? Morgana promised that she would make him come over with a surprise dish."

Merlin looked up. "He didn't want to come here?" He bit his lower lip. When he wasn't too sure about the prospect of being around Arthur for an entire evening before, he was disappointed that he probably wouldn't show.

"Don't worry, Morgana can be very convincing." Percy didn't even try to bite back the grin.

"I'm not worrying, just trying to figure out how many people we'll be." Merlin busied himself with his water. "What can I do?" He felt a bit odd standing there, watching his friends work.

Gwaine laughed. "Of course. He'll be here."

"And since you'll be the chef tonight, you can inspect the meat we got and then you go and make yourself presentable." Percy smiled all motherly now.

Opening the fridge, Merlin drew in a breath. They never had so much meat in the house. "Where did all this come from?" They couldn't afford all those steaks and other high-quality products.

"Morgana had it sent over."

So this was what Arthur was used to. Of course. Merlin knew that it was the right thing to not follow up on what he foolishly had started in the tack room. They came from different worlds, this would never have worked anyway.

"Go, take a shower." Percy was still busy with his various salad dressings.

Merlin didn't utter the 'yes, mom' that he had on the tip of his tongue.

"And wear that nice pair of jeans that's still in your bag." Percy shouted after him.

"The ones that show off your arse so nicely!" Gwaine added.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Merlin shook his head. He loved his friends dearly, but in moments like this, when they were meddling and didn't even care that he knew they were, he had to take some deep breaths. On the other hand, Percy was probably right. If he didn't fit into Arthur's world, he could at least look his best and show off his skill at the grill.

Arthur took a deep breath. He felt ridiculous with the giant bowl of pasta salad that he carried over. When Morgana insisted they would show up like 'normal people', Arthur had frowned. They were normal people. They had staff to prepare barbeques for them and they had staff to carry things around. That's what normal people had.

"Don't be so nervous," Morgana, who was balancing a platter of vegetables, smiled. "He'll be there and we're going to have a wonderful evening."

"He?" Maybe if he pretended not to know who Morgana was talking about...oh, but who was he kidding? Sometime he hated his sister for seeing right through him. "They better like my pasta salad, I've been working on it the whole afternoon."

Leon chuckled. "You were in the kitchens for a little more than an hour."

"And had mayonaise on your cheek when you came up the stairs." Morgana laughed. "If you didn't manage to mess up cook's recipe, everyone will love you for this salad."

They reached the guest house and Morgana decided they should just go around the back where they found everyone.

Percy ran back and forth, instructing them to set their things down on the table, Gwaine handed out drinks and Merlin was already busy with the grill.

Arthur's breath caught. For once, Merlin was wearing a pair of jeans that really fit him. Usually, he was hiding underneath baggy clothes, so this must have been an accidental purchase. He had combined it with a royal blue t-shirt that was snug at the shoulders but still rather wide around his middle and showed off his wide shoulders nicely.

Then he felt that someone had spoken to him. "Huh?"

Gwaine laughed. "Ale or lager?"

He hadn't had a beer in...probably since university. They had wine with dinner and sometimes champagne, but...this wasn't a normal situation. It was mingling with...friends. Arthur was about to think 'peasants', 'normal people from the village', but found he couldn't. The three men living in his guest house weren't peasants, they weren't from the village either and even Arthur couldn't deny that they were experts in their field and he had learned a lot from them. If the awkward situation with Merlin wasn't the elephant in the room, he would have felt all relaxed around them. They were friends.

"Oh, whatever you have."

"Ale and lager." Gwaine laughed even harder.

"Lager, then." He accepted the bottle Gwaine held out to him and leaned against the railing of the patio.

Morgana was already in an animated conversation with Percy about the different kinds of meat and vegetables she found on the skewers and Leon tried to assist Merlin in getting the coal right under the grill.

Gosh, now Merlin was bending down to blow a bit on the coal and stuck his arse out. Arthur's throat got tight.

He needed to talk to him. It couldn't go on like this. He made a total fool out of himself by pining over someone who didn't want him. He needed a clear answer, so he could go on with his life. Just as Arthur tried to push off of the railing and go over, Percy asked him to help move a few things around.

Damn, this was frustrating. Merlin was having a good time playing chef. He knew he was good at it and he tried to forget that his friends made him wear clothes that snugly fit his body. He preferred baggy clothes, in which he didn't have to worry about showing any body parts.

"Here, wear this." Gwaine held something out to him.

Reluctantly, Merlin took it. "What is it?" The grin on Gwaine's face couldn't mean anything good. Carefully, he unfolded it and found that it was an apron. He didn't mind wearing an apron while he was cooking, but this one said 'Kiss the cook'. "Gwaine?"

"Yes?" Oh, that voice was way too innocent.

"Where did you get this?"

"Oh..." Gwaine took a sip of his beer. "The manor sent it over with all the other things."

Merlin threw him a long look. The manor sent it. Yeah, right. When Gwaine started laughing, Merlin shrugged and with a chuckle, he put the apron on and hoped that nobody would act on it.

Morgana, of course, was the first one to react. She just went over and put a little peck on his cheek.

And then he was rather busy. The different types of food needed various length of time on the grill and he had to time everything so they could serve it all together.

Once in a while, he caught a glimpse of Arthur. It seemed that at first, he stayed as far away as possible but the longer the evening went, the closer he came.

Who was he kidding? He liked Arthur but he needed to make him see that they didn't have a future together and explain that he wasn't the type for short-term things. It made no sense to fling himself head over heels into something that would end the moment they were done working here. If Arthur understood that, they could probably be friends. He needed to talk to him.

It was like someone jinxed the evening. The weather played along nicely, it was still warm after sunset, the company was really great, the food was wonderful, but Arthur was frustrated. He hadn't managed to catch Merlin alone yet and the further the evening went on, the less likely it got as everybody had settled into their seats after the meal and were immerged in conversation. If he wasn't mistaken, Merlin peeked over every once in a while.

First, Arthur had tried to get closer to the grill to somehow make some small-talk with Merlin to test the waters. Each time he had gotten a step closer, someone asked him something or wanted his opinion on one thing or another. Then he had stood right where the slight breeze blew the smoke from the grill, so his eyes had started to water and he needed to switch position.

Whereever he was, he couldn't keep his eyes off Merlin. The way his shoulders moved underneath the t-shirt was a sight to see and when he bent down to check the coal, the shirt hitched up just a little bit to reveal soft, pale skin. Arthur swallowed hard a few times and had to deliberately look out to the garden while running the tip of his tongue over his bottom lip in an attempt to stay cool. It got harder and harder not to act on the saying on the stupid apron Merlin was wearing and Arthur was happy when he finally discarded it.

The few times, he was close enough to say something and had taken a deep breath, clutching the railing behind him for support, someone else barged in, asked Merlin stuff or brought him another beer.

At Merlin's sign, Percy called everyone over to the long table for dinner and Arthur had to admit that everything looked very appetizing. Strangely, he felt rather nervous when everyone took some of his pasta salad.

"Damn, Arthur," Gwaine said around a spoonful of it, "Didn't know you could cook, too."

Morgana broke out laughing at that.

"You need to give me your recipe, Arthur." Percy looked all eager.

Even though they all seemed to like it, Arthur only felt relieved when Merlin took a second helping. He carefully smiled at him and his throat got tight when Merlin smiled back.

So he complimented all the food from the grill that he managed to eat and didn't even have to make any of them up. It all tasted delicious and he would have eaten more if his stomach hadn't been quite upset with nervousness.

It got late and even though Morgana threw him looks and made little movements with her head towards Merlin, Arthur didn't manage to talk to him. It would have been odd now anyway. Everyone had fallen into companionable silence after dinner and they would have listened in on every word. It was difficult enough as it was.

They only came back to the main house after midnight.

"You're hopeless, little brother." Morgana got up on her toes and pressed a kiss on Arthur's forehead.

Instead of trying to explain why it hadn't worked out to talk to Merlin and that always something had come between them, he just sighed. "I know."

"And that brown mare with the heart-shaped blaze, the farrier needs to look at her, too. Don't they have any decent farriers around here? Most of the horses out there are wearing the wrong shoes!" Percy frowned.

"After you fired the last one, it might be difficult to get anyone else here." Merlin bit into the apple he had polished on his t-shirt.

Percy started pacing. "I can't believe they are all such bodgers. I told him exactly what the horse needed and he went and did the same old thing again. That's like your doctor tells you what kinds of arch supports you need and the person who makes them decides that you need something else!"

Merlin knew all this. They had encountered such people before and he had watched Percy get upset about it every time. He was right, too, the better the shoes were adjusted to the needs of a horse, the easier it was for the animal to move around. Just like with people, but a lot of folks didn't want to acknowledge that. Equine chiropractics was a rather new field and a lot of times it was just smiled upon. Percy proved so many people wrong.

"Gwaine will make a few phone calls, maybe we can find someone. If not, we'll just have to ask Pendragon to get Charlie here." Percy opened the fridge.

Charlie was their to-go-to guy back home. Merlin wasn't even sure he would be willing to travel this far, but maybe they could talk to Morgana. She seemed to be a lot more open to the new practices than her brother.

Arthur. Merlin sighed. As hard as he had tried to shove him out of his thoughts, he just couldn't manage.

"There's some pasta salad left." Percy said, his head almost inside the fridge. "Fancy some?"

Merlin swallowed hard. It was the pasta salad that Arthur had made. He had tried a bit of it at the barbeque and it was fantastic. But now it only made him sad. "No, thanks."

"Gosh, Merlin." Percy closed the frigde a bit more forcefully than neccessary.

"What?"

"Stop moping already! Go, talk to him."

"I can't. There is nothing to talk about."

Leaning against the kitchen table, Percy crossed his arms in front of his chest. "It can't go on like this. You guys almost ruined the party, it was so hard to watch you."

"It is difficult to work with him now, but that's my own fault." Merlin looked down at the apple he hadn't finished. He set it aside as he had lost all his appetite now.

"Come on, don't even try to tell me that you don't want him."

"I..."

Percy laughed. "You don't dish out those tight jeans for just anyone. He couldn't take his eyes off of you at the barbeque. Each time you bent down to check the coal, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets and he swallowed hard."

Merlin felt the heat rising on his cheeks and he glared at Percy, who had been the one insisting he wore those jeans. Arthur hadn't looked bad either in his off-white shirt and faded jeans. He had put some extra effort in his hair and Merlin had felt like jumping him each time he caught a glimpse. "He didn't want to talk to me."

"Oh yes, he did!" Percy insisted. "You were just perfect at turning away or being called over by someone else each time he had gathered up his guts and opened his mouth."

Taking a deep breath and letting it out in a sigh, Merlin shook his head. "He did that whenever I tried to say something. So it's probably better if we leave things unsaid."

"Bullshit."

Merlin's head snapped up. Percy hardly ever swore. No matter how long he had been with Gwaine, who had a quite large repertoire of very colourful curses, Percy had never adopted the language, so this was serious now.

"You know what?" Percy unfolded his arms and grabbed the edge of the table. "Wait until you are alone with him, maybe with everyone around wasn't ideal... How about...before you go in to work with Qadir tomorrow? You can at least lay some ground rules and see where it leads?"

He knew that Percy was right. What he had done created the elephant in the room and it wouldn't move unless he actively approached it. He had a job to finish and the non-communication they had practiced until now interfered with the progress. It didn't mean Merlin was ready for this talk.

"Okay, what did you do now?" Morgana raised her eyebrow and looked at him.

Even though he had resolved to keep his temper in check, Arthur frowned. "Why is it always me?"

She put a hand on his over the breakfast table. "You're not happy and usually when you look like that, you messed up. So...want to talk about it?"

"No." He didn't need his sister's advice.

"Arthur, I saw you going to work with Qadir yesterday and I saw that Merlin was waiting for you outside the corral. What happened?"

"None of your business."

As much as he wanted to tell someone, he sure didn't have to pour his heart out in front of Morgana. She would only try to meddle again.

He had gone to the training as usual and was surprised to find Merlin not already working with the horse, but waiting for him. He did not like the "Can we talk, Arthur?" that Merlin greeted him with. And he liked the rest of what Merlin said even less. Arthur did understand that Merlin didn't want to mess with their employer/employee status and that he needed to do a job and for the time it took to do that job, he didn't want to screw it up with one-night-stands.

Arthur had no intention of this being a one-night-stand, but Merlin didn't listen. When he accused him of luring him in with that kiss, Merlin had apologized. Apologized! As if there was something to apologize for! He had loved the kiss and wanted many repeats, but that wasn't what Merlin had on his mind.

After a while of heated discussion and Arthur probably exposing more of his feelings than he had intended to, they agreed on a purely business relationship. For Qadir's sake.

Which didn't mean he had to like it, even though working with the horse was a bit easier after that. At least he knew now where Merlin stood and there was nothing he could do about it. It didn't help that each time Arthur tried to get the topic back to more private things, Merlin blocked him.

At least they managed to make Qadir accept the saddle and he didn't throw a fit each time someone came in carrying one. They could slowly start getting him used to the additional weight of a human, so there was a silver lining. Maybe, it wouldn't be long before Merlin would be out of his life anyways and just a distant memory.

Morgana smiled carefully. "Did you read about the market in Mercia?"

Oh, good, for once she dropped the subject. "What market?"

"It's called something like 'all things horses' and they sell everything from saddles to halters to beautifully crafted reins and such."

"We have all our suppliers for such things." He threw her a look. Morgana knew exactly that he wasn't into buying trinkets from a market stall.

"I know." She smiled and reached for another slice of toast. "Why don't we go anyway? It'll get us out of here for a day and we might see things we actually like." When she saw his look, she added "Or need!"

Arthur sighed. She was probably right, he had been caged in on the estate for too long and if it made her happy, he could spend a day looking at 'all things horses'.

Arthur tried to keep the smile off his face or else he would have to admit that this was actually rather nice. Morgana had dragged him out of the house long before noon and they had stopped for a light lunch at a pub on the way.

That alone was reason to smile. For once, they had managed to keep the conversation light and Morgana hadn't mentioned Merlin (or his otherwise disastrous love-life) even once. Arthur was glad that he could get away for a day and would not accidentally stumble upon the big-eared Welshman with the contagious smile.

Morgana pulled him from booth to booth, pointing out beautifully decorated saddles, reins or fashinable riding gear and pretty knick-knacks. He usually just smiled patiently but discovered some new people who sold saddles, so he was emerged in negotiations right away. He had already collected a few business cards. Not that they needed anything at the moment, but it was always good to know where to turn to in case they would have an order.

"Look at this halter, Arthur! It would fit Qadir so perfectly!"

Morgana was right, it was beautiful. "He already has one."

"Well, you have more than one pair of shoes, too, don't you?" She grinned.

"Are you saying that he's developed a sense of fashion now?" Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Probably not, but why don't you want him to look his best?"

"He sure would look good in this." A familiar voice chimed in.

Morgana beamed. "Gwaine!"

Gwaine. If Gwaine was here, Percy had to be around somewhere and usually Merlin wasn't far either. Arthur took a deep breath.

"Hi Morgana." Gwaine greeted her like an old friend. "Arthur." The nod he graced him with was more than short.

"Gwaine." He hadn't spoken with Gwaine since the barbeque and maybe it was just his imagination, but it felt as if Gwaine was cross with him. Not that it mattered, but why on earth would he be?

Percy joined them and soon they were in a lively discussion whether a horse needed gear that was enhancing their looks or if it just had to be practical.

While Arthur wasn't opposed to his horses looking appropriate, he was more of the no-frills type of person.

What Gwaine and Percy said faded to a background noise when Merlin stepped up to them.

"Hi." Arthur stammered, totally out of context and in the middle of Gwaine and Morgana trying to convince Percy that each horse needed its own colour scheme.

That the three changed amused looks totally flew over his head. All that counted was that Merlin was there.

"Hello."

"So, what do you say, Merlin?" Percy seemed to have missed that Merlin and Arthur just had eyes for each other.

"What?" Merlin looked up.

"Would Qadir look better all in black or should we go for colour?"

Merlin blinked and seemed to frown for a quick moment. "Depends on what you want. Do you want to show him? All black would definitely look better on him than brown. It's a statement. But he would also look great with something that has colour, like red or azure. Well, probably not the saddle." He grinned. "What do you think, Arthur?"

Arthur swallowed. "I think that Qadir has a halter and reins and a saddle already, he doesn't need more than one set."

"Oh, come on." Percy shook his head.

"You could get the special things for when he's ready. As a gift for him and yourself." Merlin suggested softly.

A gift? A gift for the horse? Just because it didn't throw him off anymore? Which was a point in time that seemed to be really far in the future at the moment.

"Arthur," Morgana put her hand on his arm. "Maybe you want to show Merlin the saddles we've seen. Hear, what he has to say about them?"

Arthur knew that this was just a move to make Merlin and him be alone and that everyone saw right through it. He found, he didn't care. If this was time he could spend with Merlin, he would. Even if it was just about saddles.

"Oh, good idea. They claim they enhanced a certain riding style. I wonder what your opinion on it is. Would you take a look at them?" With beating heart, he looked at Merlin.

Merlin nodded once. "Sure. Lead the way."

Merlin couldn't keep the smile off his face on the way back. He had enjoyed this afternoon with Arthur to the fullest. As much as he tried to keep things professional, he didn't quite manage and it looked as if Arthur didn't have any interest in the professionality of their relationship anyway.

"That was a great day." Gwaine stretched his legs out when they were finally seated on the little porch of the guest house.

"It was." Merlin smiled and reached for his iced tea.

"Did you get any further with the prat?"

"Don't call him that, Gwaine! You know we've agreed on nothing but a professional way to deal with things around here."

"He's blushing." Percy grinned.

"I'm not!"

"Oh yes, you are!" Gwaine grinned wieder. "So...what kind of 'professional' things did you do all afternoon long?"

Merlin felt the blush burning on his face and looked at a tree instead of his friends. They had gone to that new saddle maker and had a really good discussion with them. After that, they had just wandered around the market, looked at things, had a drink and later a snack before they wandered on, talking about this and that. Merlin had felt so relaxed in Arthur's presence that he hadn't noticed how time flew. He'd barely made it back to the car at the agreed time.

"Oh, this and that. Saddles, reins, halters...stuff." He shrugged.

"Stuff..." Percy chuckled.

Merlin sipped his iced tea. "Yes...stuff. What do you want? I made it back to the car on time and..."

"That's exactly the problem." Gwaine huffed.

"Huh?"

Gwaine made a face. "That you made it back to the car on time. That's exactly the problem."

"Why is that a..." Oh. Merlin looked from Percy to Gwaine and back.

Percy sighed. "We hoped you would forget the time and then he'd have to take you back and things would develop."

Things had developped as far as Merlin was concerned. They had not only spoken about horse-related things. Most of their conversation were about private things, opinions, likes, dislikes and Merlin had enjoyed it a lot. Probably too much. It would be harder to go back to training with the horse the next day, now that they had spend the afternoon like friends.

It had been a particularly taxing day and it wasn't even over yet. The summer heat had set in and even though Arthur enjoyed the sun, it hadn't been too much fun to work with Qadir. For some odd reason, the stallion had been even crankier than usual after first allowing them to put the saddle on him without much ado.

When they thought they had made progress and the horse would allow the additional weight of a person, their good mood had been trampled by Qadir shying away and bucking as if his life depended on it.

After calming him down, they had checked the saddle again, just in case there was a fold in the saddle pad or something, but it took quite a while before they were able to saddle him up and try again.

More than once Arthur had just put his foot in the stirrup and hauled himself up, not even attempting to swing his other leg over the horse's back. He had done that a few times with other horses before, but usually, all horses they got were either trained or someone else broke the young horses in. He had only done it before to show that he knew how to do it.

With an unruly horse like Qadir, it was good to have Merlin around. They had talked this process through a couple of times and even though Arthur had developped a good sense for when to jump off, it was easier with Merlin having an eye on them and talking to Qadir and him.

All three of them had worked up some sweat and Arthur's clothes showed quite a few stains from where he had landed in the dirt after jumping away.

They both were kind of giddy when Qadir finally stopped bucking.

"Enough for today."

"Now that we finally made progress?" Arthur reluctantly jumped off.

"Yes. He needs to understand that if he allows a rider on, he gets his time off later." Merlin explained and stepped close to the horse to pat his neck and gently stroke his face. "Well done, gorgeous."

Arthur watched the little scene with a mixture of pride that they had gotten so far with Qadir and a tiny bit of jealousy that Merlin praised the horse, but not him. He had worked hard as well!

"Come on, Arthur, show him how well he's done."

The little smile Merlin sent his way made Arthur's insides do funny things. With shaky legs, he stepped up to Qadir, feeling not only the horse's warmth but Merlin's as well. "Merlin's right, you did a great job today." Carefully, he extended his hand and stroked Qadir's neck. Only a few weeks ago, the stallion wouldn't have allowed being touched like this, but now he snuffled at Merlin's hand and seemed to move a bit to get closer to Arthur's touch.

Merlin still mumbled nonsense to the horse, but Arthur couldn't help but beam widely at him. "Let me take him inside, so I can give him a rub-down. And then he can spend some time with his girlfriend Ellie."

The stallion's ears showed that he understood that part.

Merlin threw him a look. "You?"

"Yes, I." Arthur nodded.

Merlin's face gave away what he was thinking. The surprise that Arthur wanted to do some lowly chore like dealing with a horse after the actual work was done and the contendedness that he actively wanted to do something for the stallion without expecting anything back. "Sure, go."

Arthur reached for the reins and looked up at Qadir. "Come on, you, we've worked hard enough for today, let's go back to the stables."

Qadir's ears showed that he was listening and he followed Arthur willingly.

Arthur took his time. He didn't know what had happened, but he actually enjoyed spending time with Qadir. He knew he couldn't let his guards down around the big stallion, but he wasn't as tense around him as before. Carefully, he removed the saddle and exchanged the reins and head-gear for a simple halter.

It looked as if Qadir relaxed around him in as much as he let him move around his box freely, even though he was still highly interested in what was going on, especially when Arthur cleaned out his water dispenser and brought in fresh food.

While the horse munched, Arthur rubbed him down with a sponge.

"Maybe we should try to give you a shower tomorrow? It's warm enough by now and you might like to refresh?"

Qadir's ears played around, showing that he was listening and he made a sound in response.

"Alright," Arthur chuckled, "Let's try it, then."

As he stored everything away, Arthur felt tired, but as contented as he hadn't felt in a long time. It was, as if, for the very first time, Qadir was on the same page, that they had found a common ground and had taken a first step towards a friendship.

Arthur wasn't a fool. He knew that depending on the horse's moods, this could be destroyed in the blink of an eye, but he was more than willing to do his part for that not to happen.

He stopped by the box again on his way out and saw Qadir peeking through the little window in the side to where his pony girlfriend was. "Good night." He almost chuckled as he usually thought that people who talked to their horses were a bit looney. Now he did it himself.

"Good night."

A very familiar voice sounded back from one of the boxes further down the row. Arthur frowned as he stepped closer. "Merlin?"

Merlin looked at him when he entered and swallowed hard. "You did really well today."

"It was Qadir. Seems he finally understands." What was Merlin still doing here? He thought that he'd left even before he led Qadir back.

"It can be one step forward and two steps back, you know that. For the first time I had a feeling that you wanted to be a team with him, though." Merlin stepped closer.

"Aren't we?" Arthur looked at the big blue eyes that watched him so closely and his breath caught.

"You made a huge step towards it, that's for sure." Merlin swallowed hard.

"And us? Are we a team, too?" Damn, he shouldn't have asked that. Merlin would pull back for sure, but Arthur thought of nothing and nobody else lately and he'd had a feeling that things were going well.

Merlin closed his eyes for a moment and swallowed again when he opened them, his lips parted, his breath coming a little faster. "I don't know..."

Merlin was so close now that Arthur couldn't hold back, not that he wanted to. He leaned in, a nervous chuckle escaping him, but he waited for Merlin's reaction. Maybe he had read the signs wrong, but there must be a reason for Merlin standing so close. He wasn't disappointed as Merlin closed the little space there was between them and their lips met.

Arthur's eyes slid close and his whole world narrowed in on where their lips touched. He didn't know what do to with his hands and if it was alright to wrap his arms around Merlin and pull him as close as possibe, so he hooked one of his hands through Merlin's belt and pulled him close. The movement caused himself to fall back against the wall, but that was alright as Merlin didn't break the kiss and he felt his weight against him.

It felt so great that Merlin didn't pull back this time but took the lead. He pushed against Arthur as he explored his mouth hungrily and Arthur was hard from just those kisses. His hand came up to clutch at Merlin's back while the other grabbed Merlin's buttock.

Breaking the kiss, Merlin latched onto Arthur's neck and licked and sucked and Arthur made a little needy sound as his hips pushed forward to show Merlin exactly what he was doing to him. His hands started to pull Merlin's t-shirt up and get to his zip at the same time. When Merlin tried to do the same, they got into each other's way and chuckled breathlessly.

Arthur pulled his poloshirt over his head and tossed it aside. He wanted to feel Merlin against him, have his lips explore every little spot on his skin. It didn't matter that the wall scratched his back, that it was careless to get naked in the stables and that they probably shouldn't do any of these things at all, but he moaned shamelessly when Merlin's large hand cupped the front of his riding breeches.

"Fuck, Arthur..." was all that Merlin could say before Arthur grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for a passionate kiss.

It wasn't enough. He needed to have Merlin, had to feel him, all of him, so he shoved his hand into the waistband of Merlin's jeans, for once delighted that they were so baggy. He'd had a few steamy dreams about what Merlin was hiding, but what he felt now was beyond expectation. Had he fantasized about taking Merlin, all that was on his mind now was to have that hard length inside him.

"Merlin?"

They froze.

"Merlin, are you still here?"

When the steps came closer, they almost jumped apart. There was no way that Gwaine wouldn't see them once he had walked down the corridor far enough.

Merlin looked around with wild eyes, pulling his jeans up as far as they would go, at the same time pulling his t-shirt down, but it wasn't long enough. It wasn't hiding anything, even though the interruption had taken its toll on his dick already.

Arthur tried to find his poloshirt and got tangled in the fabric as he panically tried to put it back on. Luckily it was a lot longer than Merlin's t-shirt, even though it would be suspicious why he was wearing it untucked. If he tried to stuff it into his riding breeches, everyone would not only see his hard-on, but also the dirty imprint of Merlin's hand right there.

"Merlin, where are you?" Gwaine had almost reached them.

Running a hand through his hair and making it stand up even more, Merlin put a finger to his lips and gestured for Arthur to stay in a corner.

"What is it, Gwaine?" Merlin stepped out of the box and into the corridor.

That Gwaine stopped and looked Merlin up and down and then broke out into a wide grin was something that Arthur couldn't see from where he was hiding. His heart was still beating quickly and his breath still came in little pants, but at least Gwaine hadn't found them. Why he had been looking for Merlin and what he wanted from him eluded Arthur as Gwaine and Merlin left the stables.

As usual, Gwaine didn't have the decency to not talk about what he witnessed. Not that he witnessed anything, but the tell-tale signs were hard to miss.

"So, was he any good?"

Merlin blushed. "Don't know what your are talking about."

"Oh, come on." Gwaine laughed. "That panicked look and trying to pretend nothing happened are dead give-aways that something did happen."

"Nothing happened."

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Gwaine leaned against the railing of the porch. "What were you doing in that empty stall, then?"

"Checking something." Merlin blushed even deeper.

"Let it go, Gwaine." Percy stepped out onto the porch and handed Gwaine a bottle of beer.

Gwaine nodded in thanks and took a sip before he continued. "But it's so much fun. If he just admitted that something had happened, it wouldn't be half the fun."

Percy handed Merlin a bottle and blew out a breath. "He's right about that, too, Merlin. So..." He pulled a chair from underneath the little table in the corner, turned it around and sat on it backwards, his arms on the back rest. "What did happen?"

Merlin sighed. "Alright, alright. Something happened. Or rather...something almosthappened, hadn't someone" He gave Gwaine a stern look. "walked in, loudly looking for me."

"Woohoo!" Gwaine nodded, a delighted grin on his face.

"Good for you." Percy smiled widely and then took a sip of his own beer. "When will you see him again?"

"Don't know." Merlin frowned. "Because someone had to barge in and things were...."

Gwaine laughed. "Now I almost feel sorry. Almost."

The phone inside was ringing. "Coming." Gwaine shouted at the phone and reluctantly pushed himself off of the railing to go inside.

Merlin sighed.

"Don't do that, Merlin. Enjoy. You were on your own for too long." Percy said softly.

"That's one of the problems. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too much. It can't go anywhere." Merlin looked down at his feet and blew out a breath.

Percy reached over and squeezed Merlin's upper arm. "It doesn't have to go anywhere. Why don't you just take it as what it is? Like...an extended one-night-stand?"

Merlin threw him an incredulous look. "You of all people suggest one-night-stands?" They both knew that Percy had always been the one looking for the love of his life and ended things as soon as he noticed the other person wasn't in it for the long haul.

"We still have a lot of work to do around here, it's not like I tell you to jump into it and leave tomorrow morning. You still have a few weeks at least to find out if this is a good thing and makes your life better."

"Make my life better..." Merlin frowned at Percy. "I don't want him for his money."

Percy leaned back a bit. "Not what I mean."

"What do you mean then?"

The big man smiled. "You know that feeling in your stomach when you think of someone else? That funny fluttery thing your heart makes when you see him? The way the world around you fades into meaninglessness when you're together? The way you feel good about yourself and break out into a whistle all day long? That's what I mean."

Merlin swallowed and looked at the beer bottle he was still holding. "You know it's not that easy."

"It never is. All this relationship stuff is hard work." Percy got up. "You have to give it a chance, though." He smiled. "It might be worth it."

Merlin wasn't too sure. He stood there, looking at his beer bottle as if it held all the answers. Who was he kidding? He had it bad for Arthur. How was he able to resist the blue eyes and the shiny blond hair? The sculpted boy and that great arse?

In the beginning, he had thought that Arthur was a horrible prat - and maybe he was - but working with Qadir had changed Arthur, too. When he thought that Merlin wasn't listening, he talked to the horse or when he was convinced he wasn't noticing, Arthur caressed his neck or nose. While he was frustrated and angry before, now he was calm and patient. No, changed was probably not the right word. Merlin was convinced that this was just another side of Arthur, a side he didn't like to show, so he masked it with arrogance and superiority to show no weakness.

Merlin sighed deeply. Could he just go over to the mansion and ask to see Arthur? Could they just pick up where they were so rudely interrupted? It probably wasn't a good idea. He would wait for the next day and see how Arthur reacted. Maybe he had second thoughts after letting himself be carried away by passion.

"What?" Arthur threw Morgana a look at the breakfast table.

She smirked. "You're in an exceptionally good mood, dear brother." She chuckled.

"Can't I be in a good mood for once?"

"You're scaring the staff." She laughed.

"I am not."

"In a good mood or scaring the staff?"

She had decidedly too much fun with this for Arthur's liking. "Both." But that wasn't true. He was in a good mood. Or rather...he didn't know if he should be in such a good mood. He was still very frustrated that last night had ended in sneaking out of the stables, hoping that nobody would see him on his way back to his rooms and a long wanking session in the shower.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you got some." Morgana put a spoonful of her porridge into her mouth, but managed to still grin widely.

Arthur nearly choked on his tea. "What do you know?" The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he'd made a mistake.

"Ha!" Triumphantly, she pointed her spoon at him. "I knew it!"

"You know nothing, dear sister." Arthur wished he still had a paper he could hide behind, but there was just his tablet to read the news on and that wasn't big enough.

"I wouldn't say that." She smirked that annoying smirk again but then her features softened. "I'm happy for you, Arthur. I really am." Reaching over, she put her hand on his. "You've been alone for too long, it's good to see you found someone."

"It's not like that." The two encounters with Merlin hardly counted as having found someone. The first time, Merlin had snogged him and then pushed him away and now that they were finally getting somewhere, they had been interrupted. Maybe Merlin would have stopped at some point anyway, only to hold him at arms' length again?

Sipping her coffee, Morgana looked at him over the rim of her cup. "Then tell me how it is?"

"For you to make fun of me again?"

"When do I ever make fun of you?" She smiled sweetly and batted her eyes.

Arthur took a deep breath. "Just every time I was interested in someone."

The smile fell off of Morgana's face. "That was just when I knew they weren't good enough for you."

He studied her face for a moment but for once, there was nothing false in it. That sounded as if Morgana was mean and evil all the time, which wasn't true, but she had a sharp tongue and wasn't shy in speaking her mind. "And Merlin is?"

"I don't know, you tell me."

Should he confide in his sister? She already had meddled, being all enthusiastic about the barbeque, forcing him into the kitchen and all that.

She smiled softly. "Look at that smile."

Arthur glared at her, but then shrugged. "I don't know if this is going anywhere."

"How about...you talk to him?"

"Yes, but..."

"Talking is not your strong side, I know. How about..." She tapped her spoon lightly against her lower lip. "Try to spend some time with him? I mean, outside the corral, when you're not working with Qadir."

"We're both busy."

She sighed. "You're making it more difficult than it is. I'm sure you can take an afternoon off and if he leaves the other horses to Gwaine and Percy for half a day, the Estate won't collapse."

Arthur looked at his sister for a moment. Maybe she was right. He should come up with something so he could spend some time with Merlin away from prying eyes and people walking in on them.

"Arthur!" Merlin yelled out and ran over to where Arthur had fallen into the dirt.

"Still alive." Arthur rolled around and then took the hand Merlin offered and let himself be pulled up.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, don't worry." Arthur cleaned his hands on his breeches.

Merlin knew it was his fault, at least partially. After the previous evening in the stables, all he could think of was Arthur. Would Arthur have changed his mind? When he had shown up at the corral for their training with Qadir, he hadn't said a word, so Merlin assumed that Arthur wasn't all that interested and didn't want to pick it up where they had left off. That had made him nervous and unfocussed.

What made the whole situation worse was that Arthur didn't seem to be in a better state of mind either, which had led to Merlin giving a command just that fraction too late to make Qadir throw Arthur off. Their nervousness had rubbed off on the horse. Merlin knew he needed to find his center again, their training would only destroy what they had been working for if they went ahead.

"But I do." The words had left his mouth before Merlin could think about them and he stopped in his tracks, throwing Arthur a nervous look.

A weight fell off his shoulders when Arthur's face split in a brilliant smile. "I like that."

"Falling off horses?" Merlin tried to bite back a grin.

"Not that." Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Let's call it a day. Qadir is only going to get more worked up if we try to work with him today."

Arthur nodded and turned to reach for Quadir's reins. Merlin noticed that, despite the mixed feelings and the horse picking up on them, the stallion had stayed not too far from Arthur and now followed him willingly.

Merlin swallowed as they walked towards the stables. What did Arthur expect? That they would find themselves an empty space and went at it again? Merlin wasn't averse to that, but he felt they needed to talk about it, so they both knew where the other stood.

"Can we...can I ask you something?"

Arthur's question almost startled him. They had reached Qadir's box and Merlin liked that Arthur didn't hand the horse off to a handler but intended to rub him down again. "Sure."

"I..." Arthur looked up at the horse, who turned his head and snuffled at the hand he had close to its nose. "I wondered..."

It obviously wasn't easy for Arthur to ask what he wanted to ask, so Merlin just waited.

"I wondered if you'd like to go for a ride sometime?"

"A ride?"

"Yes. I thought...you've been here for a couple of weeks but haven't seem much more than the stables and the immediate surroundings. I'd...I'd like to show you how beautiful Camelot Estates and the area around it is." Arthur scratched the back of his neck and made the hair stand on end without noticing.

Merlin felt a huge smile showing on his face, he couldn't hold it back. It had been difficult for Arthur to take this step, to voice his invitation and it also meant he wanted to spend more time with him. It was a great idea, he had to give him that. This way, they could do what they both were good at, Arthur could show him the surroundings and they would have a chance to get to know each other a bit better. "I'd love to."

"Would tomorrow be good for you?"

There was a slight blush on Arthur's face and Merlin found it utterly endearing. Who would have thought that the master of Camelot Estates, who commandeered staff and conducted big business, would be so nervous asking him on a date. It was a date, wasn't it?

Merlin nodded.

"Good. I'll have the horses readied by 10:30."

Arthur slowed his horse down when he made out the car between the trees. He had been giddy as a school boy when Merlin agreed on this day off with him and gone into organizing mode right away. He asked Leon to have two horses ready a few minutes before 10:30 and then went to talk to cook to prepare a nice picnic.

She smiled widely and pinched his cheek like she had done since he was a little boy. "You take nice young man on picnic? I make good food! He fall in love in no time!" Pointing her chubby finger at his chest. "No time, I tell you!"

Trying to keep the blush off of his face, Arthur tried to flinch away. He had spent so much time here in the kitchen as a child, watching her work, listening to the stories from her home land, that she knew him too well. "I just want to show him how beautiful Camelot is."

Throwing him a very amused sideways look, she nodded. "You part of Camelot", she said in her heavy accent.

Arthur hadn't checked back with her. He knew that she would make all those wonderful things that they didn't appreciate enough. He made a mental note to have some flowers brought to her quarters and to look into the books to give her a raise.

When he had talked to Leon again, he knew exactly which spot he was talking about.

"You mean the one with the big willow, right?"

"Yes, Leon. If you could bring the car there by...let's say noon, I'd appreciate that."

Leon nodded. "Horses will be ready by 10:20. I thought Elf and Hobbit would be the perfect ones for a ride tomorrow?"

"Good choice." Arthur liked those two.

"At noon, the Range Rover will be waiting for you by the river, picnic basket in the boot."

"Wonderful." Arthur nodded. As Leon turned to leave, Arthur called him back. "Leon?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

A wide smile broke on Leon's face. He nodded and then left.

For the first time in ages, Arthur was nervous. He didn't sleep very well that night and got up early. Usually, he just grabbed whatever was at the front of his closet and he knew that he didn't own a single piece of clothing that didn't show off his good physique in the right way or emphazise his eyes. Today, he needed to look great, though. Just dressed up enough to show that he was making an effort, not enough to make a big deal out of it.

He knew that Merlin would show up in jeans. He hadn't seen him in anything but jeans all this time, it would have been a surprise if he wore real riding breeches today. Should he go for jeans as well? He had this one pair that made his behind look really good. And then...a shirt? Would that be too much? Probably, so maybe one of his red polo shirts?

It had taken him a while to decide and he wasn't able to have more than a toast for breakfast.

"Will you be wearing a decent riding helmet or will your hair get the chance to flow freely in the wind?" Morgana stabbed fun at him, of course.

"Haven't decided yet."

"You know," she grinned widely. "Safety first."

Rolling his eyes at her and yet unable to keep the flush from his face, Arthur made a big deal out of drinking his coffee.

Now they were nearing the picnic spot and Arthur was relieved to find everything prepared.

Merlin had been really nervous. It had been forever since he'd been on a date and he already liked Arthur way too much.

Gwaine and Percy had alternately given him unwanted advice and made rude remarks - especially Gwaine, who had taken it upon himself to shove a strip of condoms and some lube packets into the back pocket of his jeans when he had turned to brew himself another tea.

"You really want to go like that?" Percy looked him up and down.

"What's wrong with it?"

Percy blinked. "That old striped t-shirt? Look, it already starts fraying at the neckline. You can hardly impress him when you're wearing old rags."

"If he doesn't like Merlin for Merlin, he's not worthy of him anyway." Gwaine threw Percy a look and then turned to Merlin. "But he's right, this thing has to go. Didn't you pack that nice royal blue one?"

"Yes, that's a good one." Percy was already out of his chair and on his way to Merlin's room. None of them were big on fashion, but Percy had a thing for making the most simple pieces of clothing look good together.

They made him change right there in the kitchen, Percy had rearranged his hair and then kissed his cheek. "Off you go."

Merlin chuckled. Sometimes, Percy was the biggest queen of them all.

And then he had forgotten all about Percy and Gwaine and their banter. Arthur was waiting by the stables and beamed widely when he approached.

Arthur introduced the horses and let him pick and after saying hello to the wonderful chestnut mare, he had mounted the horse and off they went.

They just let the horses trott until they left the grounds and Merlin got used to Elf, as she was called and let her get used to him. She was very responsive and attentive, but also very relaxed and sure of herself. Merlin already liked her.

Arthur gave him a few facts about the mansion and the whole estate that Merlin realised was his usual speech when he wanted to impress business partners, so he tried to hold back a smile. When he heard how big the property was, his eyes widened. This was by far larger than he had thought.

"I thought we'd take the scenic route across the plain and then up the hill. From there, you can see to the far end of Camelot."

"Lead the way." Merlin nodded.

They changed pace a few times and Merlin hadn't felt so free and easy in a long time. It was as if all the worries about his own home and doing a good job to make money for them fell away as he followed Arthur and Hobbit.

Chasing across the plain and only slowing down when the horses had to climb the hill, Merlin felt a huge smile on his face. The landscape was a bit different than where he came from, but it was beautiful. It was just warm enough to enjoy the day but not too hot. And there was Arthur. It felt like he'd known him forever, they talked about this and that and teased each other any way they could. Arthur seemed to enjoy their banter, too.

Now they were riding towards the little river they had seen from the top of the hill. It was close to noon and they all deserved a break. They dismounted and made sure that the horses could drink and graze.

"What's the car for?" Merlin grinned. "Are you too tired to ride back?"

Arthur laughed. "Good idea, but this is our catering."

"Catering?"

"Aren't you hungry?" Arthur turned to the car and opened the boot.

Merlin shrugged. "A bit peckish maybe?"

"Then what are you waiting for." Arthur turned and tossed him a picnic blanket. "Here, under the tree is a great spot."

They spread out the blanket and set up all the little bowls and packages that Arthur took out of the cooler.

"What's all this?"

"I don't know what cook prepared for us."

"Oh, you didn't venture into the kitchen again?"

Arthur laughed. "Just to ask her for this." He made a gesture to the food. "You should be happy about that. Or would you have just ended up with another of my famous pasta salads?"

Merlin looked at him. "I liked that pasta salad."

Hobbit took that moment to wander over to check if there were some treats for him, too and they both laughed as they tried to keep the horse's nose out of their food.

Arthur had started to relax when Merlin showed up and then went into his usual explanation about the property, which seemed to amuse Merlin a lot. He loved that he could show him that he was actually a good rider and could communicate with a horse. He hadn't gone on a ride like this in ages and it was as if he experienced his own land for the first time with Merlin and he was rightly proud of the beauty of it.

He was relieved when he noticed that the picnic was prepared and had a good time setting it up with Merlin's help.

Now, that they had eaten their way through all the goodies cook had prepared, he felt relaxed and sleepy.

Merlin, who put the last left-overs back into the cooler, looked at him when he closed the lid. "That was fantastic. Thank you."

"I didn't do anything. But I'll relay your thanks to cook." Arthur leaned against the tree and smiled.

Merlin scrambled close. "I don't just mean the food. The whole day. You picked two great horses, you told me a lot about these lands and I got to see the spectacular views."

Arthur swallowed as Merlin was really close all of a sudden. His breath came out as a nervous chuckle and then he leaned in when Merlin did.

The kiss was very different from the urgent, hectic one they had shared at the stables. It was soft and careful, as if they were kissing for the very first time.

He felt Merlin scooting even closer and loved when Merlin's hand came up to cup his neck. Arthur had had his fun when he was in boarding school and university, he had taken advantage of the time in the 'forbidden' clubs and the dark corners. It just had been a while and most of his previous experiences were battles for dominance, always trying to keep the upper hand. It was totally different with Merlin.

Merlin explored, Merlin charted new territory. He made it clear what he wanted, so Arthur parted his lips and sighed when Merlin's tongue gently touched his. He didn't want Arthur to submit to him, it felt as if they were equals and Arthur liked that a lot.

Somehow, he had slid down and now was lying on the blanket, Merlin still there with him, never breaking the kiss. Arthur drew in a breath when Merlin's hand found its way underneath his shirt. He hadn't been touched in a long time. Then he felt Merlin chuckle and broke the kiss. "What?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Merlin tried to pick up the kiss where they left off.

"You find me ridiculous?" There it was again, that little voice of insecurity Arthur always heard when he got physical with someone.

"Not at all. It's just endearing how you try to pull your stomach in when there is nothing to pull in." Merlin smiled.

"There is...and after a meal like we just had..."

Shaking his head, Merlin caressed the skin on Arthur's stomach. "It's perfect either way."

Slowly, Arthur relaxed. He'd had guys tell him he was a bit on the chubby side, but Merlin didn't seem to mind and just continued that slow kiss that drove him crazy.

Reaching for Merlin, he scrambled around and turned Merlin on his back. Now it was up to him to explore and there was so much to find out. Had he loved how Merlin had made little sounds before, he enjoyed how he made him make those sounds now by finding a little sensitive spot underneath Merlin's ear. He took his time to tease him with lips and tongue, sucking a little bit but not hard enough to leave marks.

"Arthur..." Merlin breathed.

"Not good?" He whispered, licking at that wonderfully sticking out ear.

"Fantastic...but...nnngh...if you keep that up..." Merlin grinned a bit breathlessly.

Feeling like he had won an important prize already, Arthur decided to give Merlin a breather and explore other regions of his body. He tugged at Merlin's t-shirt and when Merlin lifted up a bit, he pulled it over his head and tossed it aside. Gasping, he pulled back. He had imagined Merlin's body quite often lately, but it was even more beautiful than what he had thought.

"What?" Merlin got up on his elbows.

"Don't." Swallowing hard, Arthur reached out. He need to touch that perfect, pale skin, let the fine dark hair tickle his fingers.

With wide eyes, Merlin watch his every move.

"Gorgeous." Arthur hadn't even noticed that he said that out loud, but Merlin seemed to relax. He obviously had made some bad experiences as well. Feeling a surge of jealousy rage through him, Arthur leaned over to tease Merlin's nipples with his tongue. Nobody else should ever do that to Merlin!

Merlin tugged at his shirt and Arthur pulled back to get rid of it, too. While he was at it, he could as well try to get Merlin out of his jeans and discard of his own. That was better; no fabric in the way. He felt giddy, almost as if he was doing this for the first time. Arthur let his fingers slide downwards and Merlin gasped when they found his hard cock.

"Can I suck you?"

Merlin groaned. "Condom..." His right hand felt around for his jeans.

Arthur didn't really like giving a blow-job when the other was wearing rubber, but Merlin was right, they still knew nothing about each other, so this was the safest way. Weirdly, Arthur never had an issue using condoms with someone he'd known for a while, it was an intimate moment and he knew they would last longer using one. It was still a bit embarrassing with someone new, though, as it implied that they didn't trust each other. Which was nonsense, Arthur knew, but it was also true.

All these thoughts flew out of his head when Merlin found his condoms and ripped it open with his teeth. Just watching Merlin putting the condom on sped up Arthur's breath. For a moment, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to suck Merlin or if he much rather would have felt him inside right away.

He leaned forward to kiss Merlin thoroughly and then licked down his chest to finally wrap his lips around the head of Merlin's cock.

Had Merlin watched him, propped up on his elbows before, he groaned and laid back down.

Arthur scrambled around a bit, so he was between Merlin's legs and went to work. This had to be the best blow-job he'd ever given. Not only did he try to feel Merlin's cock through the rubber, he also wanted Merlin to never forget this.

Usually, he didn't like his head being held or 'guided' and had shied away lots of times when he felt the other's hand in his hair, but found he didn't mind it now. Merlin didn't try to force him, he just wanted to keep the connection.

After a while, in which Arthur had used a bit more pressure with his tongue and while sucking, Merlin's hand in his hair tightened and tried to pull him off.

"Arth..."

When Arthur let the cock slip out of his mouth and looked up, Merlin's face was torn and it was the most fantastic thing Arthur had ever seen. The thought that he was the one who had done this to Merlin was exciting and his own cock twitched.

"Sorry."

A wicked smile showed on Merlin's face as he opened his eyes. "Don't be. I'm...I'm just too close."

Wiping the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand, Arthur nodded. "I want you to come in me."

Merlin swallowed and Arthur stopped every movement. Had he really just said this out loud? It had just been a thought, but by Merlin's reaction, he must have uttered it.

"Gosh, Arthur..."

Arthur sat back on his haunches, his prick still sticking out. It lost a bit of its rigidity now. "Sorry...we should probably have talked about that before. If you don't do that...it's alright."

"Fuck, Arthur. I wanted that for a long time. Just thought you wouldn't...you know...bottom..."

A blush burned on Arthur's cheeks. It was ridiculous; they were naked, he had just sucked Merlin to the brink of orgasm and now he blushed like a school boy talking about who did what to whom and what they liked best. He just shrugged. "I don't always, but..."

"Come here."

Arthur leaned in and let himself be kissed. When they broke the kiss, he grinned. "Want me to finish this first?"

Merlin groaned.

It didn't take much for Arthur to make Merlin come now. It wasn't only how he used his tongue and lips, the talk seemed to have turned Merlin on just as much as him.

Trying to catch their breaths, they lay side by side until Merlin discarded the condom and cleaned up a bit. Then he reached over and caressed Arthur's body.

After a while of soft kisses and gently letting his fingerstips slide over Arthur's skin, Merlin took to exploring Arthur's chest and stomach with his tongue.

Arthur's cock had filled again when they started kissing, but he was determined to hold back until he had Merlin inside him. It seemed to take forever before Merlin touched him there and he had made quite a few sounds that he could be embarrassed of. Merlin gently massaged his balls before he applied a bit of lube on his fingers and caressed Arthur's arse.

"Merlin..." Arthur breathed. They weren't even half-way there and he was already going crazy. He tried to press against the fingers and couldn't help buck up a bit when Merlin's thumb pressed against him.

"Shhh." Merlin directed. "Slow..."

He took his sweet time and Arthur yelled a few curses when he felt Merlin's fingers inside him before Merlin finally slipped another condom on and applied lube generously.

"Ready?"

Arthur nodded. He was as ready as he would ever get. And yet he clenched his teeth when he felt Merlin breaching him. It had been a while and Merlin felt so big.

Merlin was breathing hard, too, but he stopped all movement and Arthur was thankful for the breather. He could adjust and relax before Merlin pushed a bit further in. When he closed his eyes, he only felt Merlin, on him, above him, in him, and he hadn't felt that good in forever. "More."

Finally, Merlin was in all the way and slowly started to move. It was agony when he pulled back and Arthur's body cried out for him to stay. And then he slammed in quickly and Arthur lost all track of his surroundings. All that counted was Merlin.

It was glorious and he never wanted it to end. Being teased and relaxed in turn so expertly, Arthur knew he wouldn't last. He had no time to give a warning as his orgasm washed through him, tickled down his spine and into his groin up to the tip of his cock. He clenched around Merlin as his whole body tensed and the blood rushed in his ears when he shot his load.

Merlin tried to catch his breath again after reluctantly slipping out. This had been the most intense climax he could remember. Not that many of his brain cells were fully functional at the moment. Arthur had surprised him with his request but Merlin had been more than willing to comply. He had been fantasizing about Arthur's arse for weeks and it had proven to be just as fantastic as he had hoped.

He turned to his side and folded his arm under his head. The blissed-out look on Arthur's face was a sight to see. "You okay?"

"Hmm." Was all he got out of Arthur.

When he finally opened his eyes, Merlin reached for him and pressed a soft kiss on his lips.

They kissed for a while and then napped and just enjoyed the sun that came through the leafs of the tree on their naked skin.

What a perfect day. Not only did he have lots of fun riding through this wonderful landscape with Arthur, they had talked like they'd know each other forever during their picnic and then made love. Merlin wanted it to never end.

When he managed to see the business side of their relationship, he had been able to push his feelings for Arthur aside. Well, most of the time anyway. Now he felt like the weight of the world had tumbled from his shoulders. He didn't need to hide it anymore, he was in love. Maybe it was a crush, but if it was a crush, it had epic proportions. He'd figure that out later.

"How about..."

"How about what?" Arthur smiled and Merlin reached up to mess up some strands of blond hair that were sticking out.

"Can we swim here?"

Arthur grinned. "It might be a warm day, but the water in this river is really cold."

"Oh, so you're chickening out already?" Merlin scrambled up and held his hand out.

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you." Arthur let himself be pulled up and ran towards the river.

Merlin chased after him and just ran into the water. "FUCK!" Arthur hadn't exaggerated! It was COLD, capital letters!

Arthur, who had waded in rather slowly until the water was up to his knees, laughed. "Told you so."

It wasn't deep enough to really swim, but Merlin tried. He was a good swimmer, but this just wasn't really much fun.

"Let's get out!"

"You wanted to go for a swim." Arthur still laughed.

Merlin made his way to the land and felt goosebumps everywhere. "I swam, now I want out."

Arthur followed and sat on the blanket next to him. "Do you need to be warmed up?"

Only mockingly Merlin pretended to think about the offer, before he nodded. "Good idea."

When the sun started to set and it became too cool to lie about naked, they got dressed again, packed the picnic things into the car and called the horses over. Arthur would much rather not have let go of Merlin, but that couldn't be helped and he loved how close Merlin stayed on the ride back.

A stablehand took the reins and led the horses to the stables when they arrived at the mansion.

Arthur reached for Merlin's hand. "Would you...would you like to have a drink?"

"A drink?" Merlin smiled.

"On my balcony and then we'll see what else we could do?" He grinned.

Merlin leaned in and pressed a quick kiss on his lips. "I'd love to, but I still have work to do."

"Hey, that's usually my line." Arthur wrapped his arm around Merlin's waist. "But it's okay. Even if I want you to spend every minute of the day with me, I understand that you are a busy man."

"And so are you." Merlin seemed just as reluctant to let go.

"Not too busy for you." Damn, he sounded like an old sap.

Smiling, Merlin leaned in for another kiss.

When they finally pulled apart, Arthur stood and looked after Merlin until he was out of sight before he turned and jumped up the stairs to the house.

Inside, he ran into the cook. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

Cook nodded. "Careful, young master." She looked at him. "You liked picnic?"

"I liked the picnic very much."

"And young man? Liked, too?"

Arthur chuckled. "Yes, Merlin liked it, too."

She nodded, a rather self-confident look on her face. "Told you. I make food, he fall in love with you."

He surprised her by pressing a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you."

When Merlin came back from working with Qadir, he found Percy and Gwaine in the kitchen.

"Look who's here." Gwaine looked up from his laptop and grinned.

"How was it?" Percy asked and the look on his face made it perfectly clear that he didn't mean the work with the horse.

Merlin pulled his boots off and left them by the door. "Won't be long before Qadir is an actual riding horse."

"And Arthur?"

Unable to keep the slight blush off his face, Merlin to a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water at the tap. "He's not a riding horse." The moment he said it, he knew that it was the wrong thing to say around these two.

"Judging by the way he's been walking for the past two days..." Gwaine laughed and Percy chuckled, too.

"None of your business." Merlin grinned.

"Did you actually get some work done with the horse?" Percy tried to keep a straight face.

He was right, too. It was so difficult keeping his hands off of Arthur when they met to work with Qadir. Still, they had made more progress. It seemed that the horse sensed that something had changed and was cooperating a lot better.

"Look at that happy grin." Percy teased. "I'm happy for you, my friend."

"So am I," Gwaine nodded. "And I hate to burst your bubble, but we need to go over these numbers as soon as possible."

Merlin groaned. He hated going over numbers with Gwaine. He left that numbers-part to Gwaine because he was so much better with it. He trusted him and saw no need to interfere. When Gwaine forced him like this, something was seriously wrong.

"Let me take a shower first."

Sighing, Arthur shoved the plate away.

"He'll be back in no time." Morgana threw him a look.

"I know, but still..."

Two days ago, Merlin had gotten some bad news about his little ranch and he had dropped everything and left to see how bad it really was. If Arthur had understood it correctly, it was something about a collapsed roof. From various converstations, Arthur knew that Merlin's childhood home wasn't in top notch condition, but a collapsed roof sounded bad.

He had tried to call Merlin a few times to find out some details and if he were honest, just to hear Merlin's voice, but Merlin had been busy and mono-syllabic on the phone and Arthur didn't like that at all. He felt like the roof had just been a good reason for Merlin to dump him. But why? Why would Merlin do such a thing? Things between them had gone great.

"Don't look as if you'd been left standing at the altar, brother. He's busy." Morgana reached over and squeezed Arthur's hand.

"He doesn't even talk to me."

"Maybe he is working really hard to get his roof fixed or to at least arrange for it to get fixed and he just doesn't have the time."

"He could call in the evening?" Arthur knew he sounded like a spoilt child but he missed Merlin. "And calling someone to fix the roof...he could have done that from here." A spoilt child that pouted.

Morgana took a deep breath. "From what I heard them talking about...Arthur, Merlin can't just call someone to fix the roof. He doesn't have the funds."

"I know that he's doesn't have a background like we do, but he could surely..." Arthur saw the look on Morgana's face. "Oh."

"You know that if the roof collapsed over our heads, it would be a lot of work to get the financial side straightened out to have it fixed, too. It's even more difficult for Merlin."

"What are you suggesting?"

"Wait for him to come back and give him the time he needs. He will tell you how bad it really is and then we can take it from there. If you get on his nerves now, he might not come back."

That surely wasn't an option at all. Merlin had to come back. "Should I start calling some roofers in the area?"

Morgana shook her head. "Don't patronize him. Wait."

Arthur knew she was right. He just wasn't a patient person.

"Ah, Percy!" Arthur tried to make it look as if he'd run into him when in fact he had been looking for the tall man.

"Hi, Arthur." Percy was busying himself feeding Ellie and skritching her neck when she pressed against him.

"How are you today?"

Percy threw Arthur a long look. "You're not here for some small-talk about the weather, are you?"

Arthur took a deep breath and then shook his head. "No. I wanted to find you to ask how Merlin is. He's not returning my calls."

Patting the pony's neck and making dust fly up, Percy sighed and then sat down hard on a stack of hay. "Arthur, Merlin's in deep shit."

Alarmed, Arthur came closer. "What do you mean?" He had never seen Percy so serious before.

"The house...Merlin's childhood home...is in a terrible state." Percy sighed. "It had been bad when we left. We'd put up buckets in a few places because the roof leaked, but we hoped that when we finished this job here, we'd have enough money to fix it. Merlin needs a lot more time with Qadir than he usually does with other horses. Usually, he just needs to show the owners what to do. This is the first time he's stayed to help and then there are so many horses here that need our help."

Arthur said nothing. How was it his fault that their house had collapsed now?

"And with the heavy rainfalls and thunderstorms last week..." Percy looked up. "From what Gwaine said, the damange is immense. Part of the roof came down and it rained inside..."

"That's horrible. How can I help?"

Percy got up and straightened up to his full height. "If you paid at least part of the invoice now, that would help."

Frowning, Arthur looked at Percy. "What do you mean? You should be getting a payment each week." He had sent Uncle Aggravaine a note, instructing him to make weekly payments. That the guys were living on his premises didn't mean they didn't have many expenses and they'd been here for weeks now.

"Gwaine says, we've recieved nothing so far. And he knows, he's our bookkeeper." Percy crossed his arms in front of his chest. "And now we don't have much of a home to get back to when we're done here."

"Let me make a few calls."

Arthur was livid. He paced the room, but it didn't help.

"What?" Morgana, who had heard yelling and slammed doors, came in. "What happened?"

"You were there, weren't you?"

She blinked. "When?"

"When I wrote that note to Aggravaine, telling him to make weekly payments to Merlin and the guys."

Chuckling, she nodded.

"What's so funny about this?"

"Merlin and the guys. Sounds like the next big boyband." Morgana giggled.

"This is not funny, Morgs. You were there."

She leaned against the desk and nodded. "Yes, I was. Did anything go wrong with that?"

Arthur stopped pacing and looked at her. "He thought it was better to let them finish the job to see what they can actually do before wasting any money on humbug like that." He made quotation marks with his fingers in the air, using the same condescending tone of voice his uncle had when he had called him.

"What? He can't do that! They need money to live!"

"He just did." Arthur took another deep breath. "But apparently they just mooch off of us by living in the guest house and consuming our food." Once again, he used the voice.

"They did not! I have cook send things over once in a while and the fridge was filled when they arrived. They paid for everything else! They even brought their own equipment. This...this is outrageous!"

It didn't really help that Morgana was just as angry as him, but Arthur felt that he was right to be so outraged.

"He even ignored your instructions." Morgana worked herself up into a rant.

She was right, too. It was not only that their uncle, who was a lawyer and worked for them in finances, had kept the payments from the guys, he thereby overruled his judgement, giving him nonsense about humbug and waste of money. If Arthur were honest, he had thought that in the beginning. Yet, he would have never not paid Merlin, Gwaine and Percy for their time. He knew what they could do now, which made it even more unbelievable that all that time they hadn't recieved payments.

And why had nobody mentioned it before?

Gwaine pulled Merlin close and for the first time since they'd arrived in Ealdor, he let himself fall apart. The house was in a horrible state. Not only that part of the roof had come in, thereby damaging the room underneath, the rest was nearly completely unprotected and the rain had mercilessly beaten down. Everything was waterlogged.

From the moment that Gwaine pulled up to the house, Merlin had been in a state of shock. He had imagined it bad, just not that bad.

Knowing it wasn't safe, they had gone inside anyway to rescue a few of their personal belongings and then they had worked on getting the few pieces of furniture over to the stables, so they could dry. They had worked all day until late in the evening before they made camp in one of the empty boxes in the stables.

No matter how much Gwaine joked that it felt like camping with the boyscouts, Merlin couldn't fall asleep for a long time. He was exhausted.

Just as things had begun to look better, this had to happen. And he had no money to fix this. If the house could be salvaged at all, they would have to do it with their own hands. Which meant, they would not have time to do their actual jobs, which would then lead to them having even less money. Merlin's thoughts turned in circles for hours before he finally fell asleep.

"There's nothing else we can do here now. Let's go back to Camelot and finish the job there. I'll talk to Morgana."

Merlin pulled back, sniffed and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hand. "Don't."

"Merlin!" Gwaine pulled back further and took Merlin by the shoulders. "We've been living off our savings for weeks now. Not that we have much to live off...We need to find out why they haven't made the payments we had agreed on."

"Gwaine..."

"I know you don't like talking about money. But this is an emergency. If they can't or are not willing to pay us, we need to get out of there anyway. I've been trying to tell you that for quite a while now."

"But..."

"I know... Arthur." Gwaine let go and took a deep breath. "I know, you like him. And we are happy that you finally found someone. But...Merlin," He exhaled audibly. "If he won't pay you for your work, he's not the man you think he is."

"Don't say that! I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

"Get in the car."

Reluctantly, Merlin walked to the passengers' side and opened the door. He turned to take one last look at his home. Not that there was much left of it now. He didn't know if it could be rescued at all and it tore him apart. Would any of this still be standing when he came back next time?

Climbing in and buckling up, Merlin knew that Gwaine was right. He had been in a happy bubble ever since that wonderful picnic, which seemed to be ages ago. He had been blind to the fact that Camelot mansion never kept to the agreement. He just didn't want to deal with things like that. How could Arthur spend time with him, knowing that he owed him money?

The situation exhausted him mentally just as much as he was physically exhausted and they were on the road for only fifteen minutes and he fell asleep.

"Merlin!" Arthur ran out of the mansion the moment he saw their car pull up. It took Merlin a moment to climb out and Arthur took a deep breath. Merlin looked horrible. It wasn't only his old, ragged clothes that were covered in dirt, it wasn't just that his hair looked as if it hadn't seen a comb in weeks or the scruff on his face, which was weirdly attractive. There were dark circles underneath Merlin's eyes and he was even paler than usual.

Yet, he managed at least an attempt of a smile. "Arthur."

Arthur didn't care who might be watching, he just wrapped his arms around Merlin and pulled him close. "How bad is it?"

He felt Merlin shiver in his arms and looked at Gwaine.

Gwaine just took a deep breath and shrugged.

"Merlin, it was a mistake. Why didn't you ever mention that we hadn't paid you? When Percy told me, I rightened it immediately." He whispered.

Merlin pulled back a little bit. "Percy...?" He sniffed once. "Thank you."

"Come on, tell me what we can do to fix your house."

He barely managed to lead Merlin to his rooms where some snacks were already waiting, but Merlin didn't eat a thing. He also didn't talk much, which was the most alarming thing. Ever since the day at the picnic, Merlin basically hadn't stopped talking. Things must be seriously wrong if he retreated like this and fell silent.

"Do you want to take a shower?" All Arthur wanted to do was running Merlin a bath and then climbing in with him to make sure he wouldn't drown.

Merlin just nodded once and let Arthur show him the bathroom and where he could find towels. It took forever until Merlin reappeared, clad in nothing but a towel around his hips, his hair still dripping onto his shoulders and the sight of single drops making their way down Merlin's torso gave Arthur quite some ideas. But no, he wouldn't. It was obvious that Merlin was exhausted, physically and mentally, he wouldn't take advantage of that.

To his surprise, Merlin almost attacked him and fucked him desperately, slamming into him harder and harder, before he came with a grunt and rolled to the side.

Arthur tried to catch his breath. He usually wasn't too fond of being surprised and wasn't used to not being asked his wishes. It just felt that this was what Merlin needed right now and Arthur was more than willing to give it to him.

Lying on his side, feeling used and raw, he watched Merlin's face.

"I have to go back to Ealdor." Those were the most words that Merlin had said since he'd come back.

Arthur nodded. "If there is anything I can do..."

"No, Arthur." Merlin took a deep breath and turned to his side. "I have to go home. I will leave and then see how to rebuild."

Staying silent for a moment, Arthur blinked. "I...I don't think I understand." A cold fist clenched around his heart. Did Merlin just break up with him?

"I've had time to think about it. My house is broken, I'm broke...I have an obligation to Gwaine and Percy. If I don't make money, they don't eat. I can't spend my time here with one horse when there are so many others who need my help."

Merlin couldn't look at him and all Arthur wanted to do was jump up, take Merlin's face between his hands and make him. Then he would kiss him silly until all stupid thoughts of Merlin wanting to leave had left his pretty head. He couldn't. It would have been selfish.

"Qadir needs your help." And so do I.

"No," Merlin chuckled bitterly. "He's far beyond needing my help. You are very good with him now and will manage the rest on your own. You became a good team. I've stayed on for too long for very egoistic reasons. I have people depending on me."

Arthur didn't say anything, even though his mind was whirling. So he had been right sensing the desparation in their fucking, just that it was a good-bye. "You can't do that, Merlin. I..." He swallowed hard. "You..."

Merlin scrambled up into a sitting position. He sniffed and swallowed hard. "What we had was wonderful, Arthur, but you and I come from different worlds. I will forever be grateful that you let me be part of yours for a while, but now it's time to go back to my own."

"You make it sound like you're going to move to Antartica." Arthur sat up, too. "It's just Wales, not out of this world. We can work something out. We'll manage."

After a while, Merlin shook his head. "We're both busy, we won't have the time."

Arthur leaned back against the headboard in shock. "So that's it? You come back here just to tell me that?"

Merlin let his head hang and then buried his face in his hands. "Don't make it harder than it is."

"It doesn't have to be this hard. If this means anything to you, we will be able to work it out. It might not be easy, but..."

"Don't think this doesn't mean anything to me. There's too much going on at the moment, though. I can't wait for a knight in shining armour to save me. That's not how I was brought up. I have to work hard to save my company and my house and it will take up all the time I have. I won't be able to travel here to see you and if you think about coming to Ealdor, don't. I won't have time for you there either."

"So you're simply shutting me out." Arthur hadn't meant it to sound so bitter, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to be there for Merlin, to at least try and help him, but Merlin had decided that he would no longer be part of his life. It stung so badly that he could barely breath.

"It's better for both of us. I know that Camelot is not as thriving as it once was. We're both struggeling." Merlin laughed bitterly. "Me more than you. I can't drag you down with me, you deserve better."

"But it's not what I want." He wanted to struggle together with Merlin. Everything had worked so perfectly lately and now Merlin wanted to take that away from him. It wasn't fair! "I want you. Any way I can. If it means long-distance, I'll do long-distance."

"Long distance never really works out. It's just two people living their lives and then spending holiday-weekends together where everything has to be perfect and everyday life is on hold."

"Never said it would be easy." Arthur felt the pout on his face. "I just...want you."

Merlin turned to look at him and then leaned in for a long kiss.

Merlin had never felt so miserable in all of his life. He tried to be busy with packing their things onto the trucks but his mind wasn't in it. When he was finally in the passengers' seat and buckled up, he couldn't even remember if he actually said good-bye to Morgana and Leon who had come to see them off.

Truth was, he didn't want to say good-bye. As much as he had insisted that this was nothing but a job in the beginning, he had warmed up to these people and considered them friends. He had never been good at leaving friends behind, so he pulled his baseball hat deeper into his face as he felt the tears welling up.

That he had to leave Arthur behind was the hardest part. Just thinking about it, his body stopped functioning, his brain turned his thoughts in circles and his heart ached. It was for the best, he knew. That didn't make it any easier, though.

He would just dive into work and see what could be done. Now, that they at least had the money from the past couple of weeks of work, there surely was something that could be safed. He would rebuild his childhood home, no matter how long it would take.

"Do you think we can get a loan?" Merlin knew the answer before he had finished asking.

Gwaine sighed and shook his head. "I doubt it, Merlin. We barely scraped by every month. The Pendragon money will help, but the bank might laugh when we inquire about a loan."

Looking out of the window, Merlin watch the landscape turn and soon, he recognized where they were. Not long before they would pull up to what was left of their home.

"We can do it, Merlin. We will rebuild it."

It was nice that Gwaine was able to hold pep-talks like this. "You don't have to." It wasn't Gwaine's home, neither was it Percy's. They were his friends and they worked together, but there weren't obligated to do anything about his house.

"But we want to. Merlin, this is our home, too. If we left now, where would we even go? We might as well stay and help you rebuild."

Merlin felt his throat getting tight.

"And when we are done, we'll go back and you fix this thing with Arthur."

"Gwaine..."

"Oh, don't 'Gwaine...' me. You know what I'm thinking."

Both Gwaine and Percy had been outraged when he had informed them that he had broken off this fling with Arthur. They had tried to talk him out of it for hours, claiming he had never been happier in his entire life - he had to give them that - and that he needed Arthur as much as Arthur needed him - they were wrong.

It would have been nice to have a shoulder to lean on in this situation. So, yes, he probably needed Arthur. But Arthur definitely didn't need him or the millstone around his neck that was him and his situation. Arthur had to struggle to make Camelot Estates work. He was better off without a lowly commoner with financial trouble and a house that was falling apart.

Having his eyes trained on the Ipad with news that he wasn't reading, Arthur stirred his coffee over and over.

"You don't even take cream or sugar, what are you terrorizing your coffee for?" Morgana shot him a glare.

Usually, he would have gone into an explanation that the temperature of the coffee would go down a bit and bring it into perfect drinking-range, but he didn't feel like talking.

"And you know that the toast on your plate is cold by now, do you?"

Arthur looked up and then reached for his napkin. He dabbed the corners of his mouth, even though he hadn't eaten anything and then put the napkin next to his plate. "I'm not hungry."

"At least this is a perfect diet for you."

"What?"

Now, that she finally had his attention, Morgana tossed her long braid over her shoulder. "Do something."

"What do you mean?"

"All you do in the past days is moping about. You miss him, you want him back. Do something about it!"

His shoulders slumped and he sighed. "There's nothing I can do. He made it very clear that he doesn't want me. Around. Helping."

Morgana shook her head. "You two..."

"What about us?" Arthur regretted it the moment he said it. Us. There was no us or them anymore. It still hurt as badly as the night Merlin told him.

"One is as stubborn as the other."

"Morgs, this has nothing to do with stubbornness. Merlin broke up with me," he took a deep breath. "What am I to do about it? He doesn't want to be with me. The only thing I can do is respect his wishes."

"He's suffering just as much." She spread jam on her toast and took a healthy bite.

Arthur shook his head. "I doubt it. If he were, he would have sent a message or called. He didn't. Which is a pretty clear sign, isn't it?"

"He didn't call or text because reception on the ranch is really bad. Gwaine told me."

"So Gwaine has reception there and Merlin doesn't." That didn't sound plausible.

"He called me back when he was on his way to the hardware store to get something they'd forgotten and to order wood to fix the roof."

Arthur's heart was beating a bit faster. "What did he say?"

A fond smile showed on Morgana's face and she reached over to squeeze his hand. "Merlin is too proud to ask us for help. But he needs help."

"What are you suggesting?"

Morgana smirked. "How about...we go on a little trip to Wales?"

"You mean..." Arthur frowned. "Morgana..."

She got up. "Oh, I'm not saying that we should pay for their roof. Just...offer a little help? Leon can come, it was actually his idea in the first place, which would already double the number of people working on it. Maybe we can all fix it together and you have your Merlin back in no time."

Even though Arthur never had to work with his hands, he had enjoyed when they had learned to build a bird house back in school. If he could give a bird a roof, he should be able to help fix Merlin's, right? And he would see Merlin again. A wide smile showed on his face before he nodded.

"Merlin!"

Merlin had been hammering some nails into a beam of wood and only heard the third yell of his name.

"What?"

"Come here!"

Merlin sighed. When Gwaine or Percy yelled for him to come look at something, it usually meant that they discovered more damage or spots they fixed already but their method wasn't good enough. Reluctantly, he wandered to the stairs. "What is it now?"

"You've got to see this!"

But instead of the usual tone of voice in which Percy pointed out that there was more work, he seemed excited and almost giddy, so Merlin frowned and made his way down the stairs.

When he made it to the door, he stopped in his tracks. There stood a brand new pick-up truck that was loaded with tools and equipment and right next to it stood Morgana and Leon. That all faded away when he laid eyes on Arthur.

Arthur was here. What? Why? But he was here! That alone put a smile on Merlin's face.

"Aren't you going to say hello to our back-up crew?" Gwaine grinned.

"Back-up?" Merlin echoed. What did this mean?

Morgana came over and pulled him into a hug. "Back-up is here, ready for some action!"

Leon laughed. "I think we might get quite a bit of action." He looked around. "Hey, Merlin."

Merlin nodded and looked at Arthur, who just stood there and hadn't said a word. "Hello." It was embarrassing that Arthur saw his house in such a state. It seemed to look worse the more they did and a part of him didn't want Arthur to see it like that. He sure wouldn't see what he saw. A home. The smell of freshly-baked cake when he came home from school and the sound of his mother's voice when she lovingly scolded him for falling off the large tree behind the house while she bandaged his scratches. How could he? He had never been here before and his mother was long gone.

"Merlin." The look on Arthur's face changed from utterly shocked to a tentative smile.

Morgana tried to haul a big cooler out of the truck and Leon rushed over to help. "Cook sends her regards." She grinned.

"Did she send any of those little tarts along?" Percy looked at the cooler with interest.

"We don't have time for food now, Perce. We need to get the protective sheet on the roof before nightfall. They forecast light rainfall again for tonight." Which didn't stop Gwaine from trying to lift the corner of the cooler's lid.

Morgana laughed. "Alright, everyone. Gwaine, Percy, Leon, up on the roof, get this sheet on it before it gets dark. Where's the kitchen, Merlin? Is it usable? I'm going to make some tea and coffee and you can all have a snack when I call you. Merlin, show Arthur where we can make camp. Arthur, unload our personal things."

Gwaine grinned. "Yes, ma'am, General Pendragon, ma'am." He mock-saluted her and she pretended to chase after him.

Arthur seemed to be happy that Morgana had taken over. She seemed to be really good at handling crisis situations by assigning everyone different tasks. Opening the back hatch of the pick-up truck, Arthur searched for something. "Do we need the tent?"

Merlin, who had been standing there, rooted to the spot, still wearing his work gloves and holding the hammer he had been working with, blinked. Was it real? Was Arthur really here? "I...I don't think so. Only if you don't want to share the stables with us."

Arthur stopped and turned. "You're sleeping in the stables?"

"It's safer than the house at the moment and we at least get a few hours of rest, without having to worry about the roof leaking on us."

The look on Arthur's face was unreadable. "Lead the way."

Merlin set the hammer down near the front door, pulled his gloves off and stuffed them into the back pocket of his jeans before he reached for the backpack Arthur had pulled off the truck. It was probably Leon's and therefore safe for him to carry. "This way."

It felt odd to have Arthur here. It was almost like everything got even smaller the moment Arthur just looked at it. The house, the stables, the whole ranch. Admittedly, it was a lot smaller than Camelot, but it still was a good piece of land.

From the corner of his eyes, he watched Arthur looking around. He had been shocked when he saw the house, Merlin could tell, but he seemed to be content with the condition of the stables. No wonder; Merlin had always put the well-being of the horses first.

"Oh, we do get our own stalls?" Arthur grinned when he showed him where he could put down their bags and set the backpack down.

"You can share with old Callum at the end of the stables. But beware, his winds are deadly." The grin on his face felt genuine for the first time in days. Arthur was here and they were joking about things. It felt good.

Arthur slumped onto a stack of hay and closed his eyes. The past two days on this construction site had been the most exhausting he had ever had to experience. Yes, he was a pencil pusher. One that was probably a bit fitter than others, but this here was so far out of his world that his whole body ached.

When they had arrived, Arthur had been shocked by what he saw. He very nearly made a remark about it being easier to just burn this down and rebuild all new but held it in. It was good to see Merlin, though. Merlin had looked tired and utterly exhausted, but when they had started joking again, Arthur knew that not everything was lost.

Morgana had managed to make a nice snack from the things cook had packed and when they were all gathered around a wobbly camping table, it felt like together, they could make it.

It had shown pretty early on that he wasn't a good handyman. He could 'hold here' and 'give me that', but why some things had to be done this way while others couldn't be done like that eluded him. Instead of standing around, he had taken to dealing with the stables. Merlin didn't have to pay other help if he mucked out the stables and fed the horses. Even though these tasks felt a bit alien as he hadn't had to do them in ages, it felt good that he was doing something he actually knew about.

Still, it was very hard work and every muscle in his body ached. He still hadn't managed to catch Merlin on his own, so they hadn't talked and Arthur didn't even know what he wanted to say anyway. Maybe it was better to just let things take their course, to show Merlin that he was here for him and let Merlin decide what he wanted.

Tiredly, he yawned and stretched and then got ready to climb into his sleeping bag. Had anyone told him that he would be doing this instead of having a comfortable bed, he would have laughed. Even though his back hurt a bit in the morning, it was okay, though.

"Arthur."

Arthur startled awake when he heard someone whispering his name. It felt like only a few minutes had passed since he had fallen asleep.

"Arthur, wake up."

Merlin's face was close to his in the dark. "What happened?"

"Nothing. I need to show you something. Get up."

He was way too sleepy to question this and scrambled out of his sleeping bag. His jeans were right there and his feet searched for his work boots while he pulled them up.

Running a hand through his hair as he followed Merlin out of the stables, Arthur noticed that it was very early. The sun wasn't even up yet. Yawning, he stumbled after Merlin. "Where are we going?"

Merlin didn't say anything but motioned for him to follow.

He had seen the look on Arthur's face when he had seen the house and even though they managed to behave civilly around each other and treated each other companionably, once in a while he caught Arthur staring at his home.

As far back as he could remember, the house had always needed repairs and mam didn't make enough with the farm and her job to make ends meet. It wasn't as if he had missed anything as a child, but the older he had gotten, the more clearly he had seen that he wasn't living in a castle.

Merlin didn't mind. He didn't need tons of rooms so big that you got an echo when you said something. It was small and cozy and just the way he liked it. He was never good with numbers and didn't pay much attention to when Gwaine had taken over their bookkeeping and constantly tried to remind him to raise their prices. After that disaster with Will, he sometimes didn't even want to know how bad their account looked.

Maybe he should have given his okay to increase their fees, but he always focussed on the horses and their problems, tried to train their humans and was content knowing that he had saved a few horses' lives along the way.

Now, he had been served the bill for closing his eyes on the obvious. He wasn't sure they would be able to save the house.

As he climbed the little hill behind the house, Merlin breathed deeply. The air was so clean at this time of day. Even though he knew every blade of grass on a first-name-basis, he moved carefully. It was still dark and Arthur behind him wasn't familiar with the area. He hadn't wanted to involve Arthur in all this, but ever since he and the others had shown up, Merlin could breathe a bit more easily. Arthur wanted to be part of this, so he needed to make him understand why this little ranch was so important to him.

"Merlin?"

"Hm?"

"Why are you dragging me up here in the middle of the night?" Arthur sounded a bit more awake now.

"I need to show you something."

"You said so, but...here? In the dark?"

"We're almost there, don't worry." Just a few more steps up the hill and then to the left where Merlin's favorite tree stood.

"This is it? You could have shown me this tree when it's light. Then I could have appreciated it in its entire beauty. I can barely see the top like this."

"Stop complaining and sit down with me." Merlin smiled. "It won't take long now."

As he sat down, he smelled the familiar scents of the earth and the plants around him. Scents that he had known at all seasons since he had been old enough to come here on his own. Maybe even earlier.

Arthur sat down and stretched his legs before him, leaning back on his hands.

Merlin smiled when he noticed that the sun was about to rise. He knew all the changes and had always felt that the light seemed to tentatively feel its way into the dark night, as if it was testing if everything was ready, before the sun appeared at the horizon.

They sat in silence as the animals around them came to life and the first birds started chirping as if their life depended on it. There was a rustle in the grass close to the tree and some movement up in the branches.

When the sun was fully over the horizon, Merlin turned his head.

"That was beautiful. Thank you." Arthur still looked at the sunrise.

"It's part of this land. I've been coming here since I was a little child. Snuck out of the house and drove my mam crazy with just vanishing." Merlin huffed out a chuckle. "After a while she knew where to find me."

"You grew up here."

"I was born in that very house that looks so horrible now. Roamed these grounds ever since." Merlin hoped Arthur would understand. "It's where I inherited my gift, too."

"Your gift?" Arthur threw him a look.

"We've always had horses. Mam always struggled, financially. She worked a full-time job and then came home to deal with the ranch. I didn't understand until I was a bit older..."

"Where was your father in all this?"

Merlin swallowed. "I never knew him. The day he died, my powers came into full effect, though."

Arthur blew out a breath. "You're taking this more serious than I thought."

"It's...it's just there. I could always communicate with horses. Feel what was wrong with them, see what they needed. When my father passed, it was like there was a new surge of power, I could see more clearly when it came to horses." Merlin shrugged.

"So it's not because you've been around them all your life? And you're good at observing them?"

Merlin chuckled. It was difficult to explain his powers to anyone. Arthur had seen what he could do and yet, he questioned it. "No. I knew from the moment I saw my first horse."

"As a baby?"

"Yes." Merlin nodded. He had to admit that this sounded very weird. He had never met anyone else like himself, so yes, maybe he was strange. That woman up in Scotland who could do with dogs what he did with horses was the only person he had ever encountered who was close to his powers.

"You're odd."

There was no venom in that and the playful smile on Arthur's face showed that he was teasing.

"I know it sounds odd. I can't explain it. It was always there and it's what I know best. And it comes with this land. I'm part of it."

"But you can do this in Camelot, too."

"I can do it anywhere, Arthur. Which doesn't mean I'm giving up this little ranch. It's part of me like my gift is part of me."

Arthur stayed silent for a while.

"What are you thinking?"

Grinning, Arthur turned towards him. "I tried to imagine you as a little boy, climbing this tree and such."

"I've climbed it many times. One time I took a tumble. Broke my arm. Mam wasn't happy."

They sat in silence some more, watching the golden sunlight take over the land before them, bringing the colours to life until Merlin's mobile buzzed. He fumbled it out of his pocket and read the message.

"If we don't get our sorry behinds back to work, Gwaine will hunt us down with the nail gun." He relayed the message to Arthur and scrambled up. "Let's go. There's work to be done." He held out his hand to Arthur and pulled him up.

Arthur held his hand a bit longer than necessary before they made their way back.

They all worked hard and Arthur felt muscles he never thought he even had. So it came as a nice change when Percy asked him to come along to the hardware store in the little town nearby.

First, they had talked about what they needed to shop for and when they stopped for a cold soda after their purchases, Percy took a deep breath.

"You might need to know something."

Arthur looked up, alarmed. They had worked together for days now, so what did Percy warn him about now?

"You might wonder why Merlin is so attached to this house and why he seemingly never took care of it."

Arthur smiled. "He took me to his favorite tree the other day, we watched the sunrise and I began to understand why this is so important to him."

"That's just one part of the story." Percy took a deep drag from his Coke.

Turning his bottle in his hands, Arthur looked at Percy. What would he tell him now?

Percy threw him a look before he continued. "Merlin's fighting so hard to keep the house and the ranch because his last boyfriend tried to take it away from him."

Frowning, Arthur said nothing.

"They were childhood friends and as they got older, they discovered that they probably were the only two boys around who liked boys. So one thing led to the other and they ended up as a couple."

Fierce jealousy flashed through Arthur. Of course, it was irrational. Merlin had a right to his own history, but still. Merlin shouldn't be with anyone else but him!

"They lived in that very same little house that we're trying to save at the moment." Percy sipped his Coke again. "And they grew apart, as people sometimes do. Will tried to convince Merlin to give it all up and go to the city. To not be stuck any longer in that remote little community."

Arthur just listened.

"Merlin had started to making himself a known name in the horse community in the area. He had put some money aside, but he had made one mistake. He had put his business in both their names."

Swallowing, Arthur had a feeling that he knew where this was leading to.

"To make a long story short, Will left, took all the cash there was and tried to sue Merlin out of his part of the company, too."

The frown on Arthur's face deepend. What a douchebag!

"It took him forever to get back on his feet and he basically had to start from scratch all over again."

They didn't speak for a long time. Arthur's mind gave him vivid images of what he would do with this bloke if he ever got hold of him, but it also made him understand a lot better why Merlin was so protective of his operation and the bit of land he still owned.

"Let's go back." Percy finished his soda and got up.

It felt strange to be back in Camelot. A bit as if their Welsh adventure had never happened. After that morning where they watched the sunrise, Arthur had begun to understand what this run-down little establishment meant to Merlin. He had been born there, discovered his calling and felt more connected to the earth than Arthur could ever imagine. What Percy had told him made him understand why Merlin would never give it up. He had to do something to help him.

When they had to go back, Merlin had hugged him tight and all he wanted to do was kiss him. With everyone watching and nothing else happening between them during their stay, he couldn't, though. Now, he missed him.

His eyes trained on the files and spread sheets open on his computer screen, he dialled a number.

"Gwaine?"

"Arthur! What's up?"

It was weird hearing Gwaine so cheery. Arthur knew he was just as tired as the others from working all day.

"Hey...listen..."

"Merlin's not around, he went to town to get more supplies."

"Good. I need to talk to you."

"Me?"

Arthur smiled. Gwaine was a good guy, but they didn't have much in common. "Yes. I have a proposal to make."

"Oh, Arthur! I'm flattered." It came back immediately and with the most mocking tone Arthur had heard Gwaine in, ever. "But Percy has a say in that, too, and I think Merlin would be devastated, so...how do I let you down gently? No?"

Despite himself, Arthur laughed. "Good, as I have no intention of marrying you. It's a business proposal."

He could hear Gwaine grow serious immediately. "I'm all ears."

Arthur took a deep breath and then told Gwaine how he had checked all their accounts and as much as he wanted to, he couldn't come up with the money to have the ranch fixed.

"Nobody expects you to..."

"What I can do, though, is...Gwaine, do you even know how big the damage is? How much it will be to have this fixed?"

The silence that followed was answer enough. "Not really. We're just doing what we can."

"You might do stuff that's not necessary or that has to be redone anyway, which is a waste of funds."

"I know, Arthur, but..."

"What I can offer is...how about I send people out who know what they are doing?"

Gwaine laughed bitterly. "We can't afford that."

"There's no need for you to. I said I offer, which means, I pay the bill. And while they are out there and make the construction site safe, you bring everything here and finish the job. Which you will get paid for on time, I'll make sure of that personally."

"What do you mean? 'Bring everything here'?" Gwaine sounded careful.

Arthur smiled. "I mean that you bring everything you own to Camelot and stay at the guest house as long as it takes. We have enough space for your furniture and other things in one of the barns and you can bring all the horses to fill our stables."

"You only want to spend more time with Merlin." Gwaine laughed.

"That, too." Arthur admitted. It was the perfect solution, though. While the house that meant so much to Merlin was fixed, him and Percy and Gwaine had a place to live without the dangers of it collapsing over their heads. "But I mean it. You need a place to stay, you can't live in the stables forever."

"It sounds very generous, Arthur."

"What do you have to lose? It's a win-win-situation. You have a place to stay and to work and I get my stables filled." Which would look as if Camelot was thriving.

"You know Merlin. I'll talk to him, but..."

Arthur sighed. He had seen this coming. Merlin didn't own much, but he was proud and used to not needing anyone's help. "Promise you'll talk to him."

"And he called you?" Merlin looked at Gwaine disbelievingly.

"He did." Gwaine pointed to the camping chair but Merlin didn't sit down.

"I mean...why?"

Percy chuckled. "He knows you well."

"He barely knows me at all, why would you say such a thing?" Merlin frowned.

"He knows you well enough to know that you would say no for all the wrong reasons to his proposal." Percy sat down on the stack of hay across the table and leaned his back against the wall of the stables.

"The wrong reasons?" Merlin looked from one to the other. This couldn't be true! This was a conspiracy against him!

Gwaine smirked. "Being stubborn is the wrong reason, Merlin, and you know it."

"I'm not stubborn. I'm..." The other two started laughing. Alright, maybe he was a bit careful...okay, stubborn when it came to his home. Not that there was much left of it. The water had done more damage to the floors beneath than he was willing to admit. He had hoped that they could move back into the house after making sure it wouldn't rain in again, but after four weeks, they were still in sleeping bags on hay in the stables. It started to feel like an eternal camping trip. Just without the fishing and relaxing.

Not that he needed much luxury, but plucking out hay from his hair every morning wasn't much fun either.

He threw a look over to the house. It was not even a construction site, it was more of a ruin and he could see why everyone else thought it would be easier to rebuild completely. Not that he could afford that, nor did he want to. This was his home, the place he loved, the place where his mam had done everything to make him a decent human being and the place that he knew. He couldn't give it up.

"What did he sound like?" He had texted with Arthur a couple of times and each of his reply texts were like a beacon in the night. As they were usually only done working very late, Merlin hadn't dared to call. He still needed to fix his situation before he could decide to take any action with Arthur. Arthur had done so much more than what anyone could expect from him.

Percy smiled. "You miss him."

"Well," Merlin cleared his throat, "We worked together every day for weeks."

Gwaine's features turned soft, too. "Just admit that you still love him."

How could he not? Arthur was wonderful and they fit together so perfectly if the world didn't interfere. But... "That doesn't matter." He blew out a breath. "We're from two different worlds, it would never work out."

Percy groaned. "Why do you keep telling yourself that? You might be from different backgrounds, but you have so much in common."

"Like what?" Great sex was one thing, but the rest?

"You both like horses?"

"As if that was something to base a relationship on."

Gwaine sipped his beer. "Maybe it is. Come on, Merlin. Accept his offer."

"I can't be bought."

"He's not buying you. He only offered to finish the job at Camelot and while we are there, pros look at the house and we can take it from there."

Percy nodded. "The way things look around here, we will not be able to attract new jobs. Who'd want to bring their horse here with the house looking like this? If we could stay at Camelot for a while, we might be able to travel to the different stables and help the horses here. Camelot is a lot more central, geographically speaking."

Merlin tried to put up his feet on a stack of hay. "But...I'd never be able to pay him back."

"He didn't say anything about paying him back. But if it's so important to you, talk to him, work something out."

Merlin looked from one of his friends to the other. They both seemed to think this was a good idea and if he were honest, they were right with everything they said. With their little place here looking like it did, nobody in their right mind would trust them with their horses. Gwaine just needed WiFi to market their business, he could do it from the kitchen table of the guest house on the estate. They could work with the horses of Camelot and from there, it was easier to go to other places and not have the people come here.

He would be around Arthur a lot more, too. If Arthur still wanted. That thought put a smile on his face.

"I'll call him in the morning."

Leon had been the one who spotted the guys pulling up to the guest house again. He had called him right away and Arthur had rushed down to greet them. It wasn't seemly for the master of the estate to hug them all, but he did anyway.

Each time Merlin had sent a text, Arthur had a huge grin on his face and he didn't care that texting back immediately might have looked a bit desperate.

"It's so good to have you back." Morgana beamed. "It's been a bit boring around here and," she held her hand to her mouth and stagewhispered away from Arthur "Old Arthur here was moping and that's not a nice sight."

"I was not moping." Arthur declared but everyone laughed. "But welcome back."

Leon grinned. "Cook says hi and when you are done settling in, come over to the house. We'll have a little supper in the garden."

"That was my surprise!" Arthur shook his head at Leon, but couldn't be cross. It was too good to have the guys back.

It was difficult to leave and give them some room. Arthur would have preferred to stay close to Merlin at all times. Whatever Merlin had said when he left, Arthur didn't believe that it was what Merlin was feeling. That he had showed him his favorite place and sent all those texts said something else. Yet, he let Morgana drag him along, so they could unpack their bags.

Maybe it should have felt a bit déjà-vu-y when they sat around the nicely set table in the gardens, but it had nothing at all in common with the barbeque they had all those weeks ago.

"What?" Gwaine looked over the assorted foods. "No pasta salad?"

Percy nodded. "That was the least you could have done, Arthur." He grinned.

"See," Morgana chimed in. "I told you, brother dearest, you should have put on that apron again. You look so cute in it, too!"

Arthur threw her a look, but was way too happy to take this seriously. "You're just jealous of my infamous pasta salad skills!" Not that he really remembered how to do it.

There was lots of banter and good conversation around the table and if he wasn't mistaken, Merlin relaxed a bit, too. He made sure that Merlin always had a full glass and that he at least tried a bit of every food there was. It looked as if Merlin had lost weight in the past weeks.

"How's Qadir?" Merlin set his glass down and reached for another slice of baguette.

"You should see them, Merlin," Morgana answered for Arthur. "They really are a team now. Arthur might need a little bit of guidance on some of his signals, but the horse follows him everywhere."

"Now I have an image of Qadir running after Arthur like a dog in my head." Percy laughed.

"That's not so wide off the mark, Percy." Leon nodded. "If we let him, Qadir would follow him into the house. And he'd bring Ellie along."

"You got enough space here..." Gwaine made a gesture with his arm and then laughed.

Arthur chuckled. It was true. Since Merlin had been gone, he had been working even closer with Qadir and the horse seemed to feel that something was off. He was well-behaved and snuffled in Arthur's neck as if to comfort him. Once, he had not closed the corral too thoroughly when he went to get something from the tack room and was very surprised when he found the big stallion waiting at the door.

"He'd just take up too much pace if I let him sleep on the foot of my bed." He laughed.

When the others were talking amongst themselves, Merlin smiled at him. "That's good to hear."

"Did you think I would go back to wanting him gone? After all the work we've invested in him?"

"And all the work I've invested in you." Merlin's smile grew wider.

Arthur shrugged. "I probably needed that, too." Carefully, he reached for Merlin's hand under the table and his smile widened when Merlin didn't draw his back.

"It's a bit unfair." Merlin leaned back against the headboard of Arthur's bed.

"What is?"

"I get to live with you here in the mansion..."

"What's unfair about that?" Arthur turned to his side and looked up at him.

"It feels as if I'm taking advantage of your generous offer. The guys have to live in the guest house, but I am here..." Merlin didn't really know what he was on about anyways, it was just a weird feeling. The night they had come back, he had been so happy to see everyone. It felt as if their family was reunited. He and Arthur had talked until late into the night and even though he tried to get to the business part and to find out when Arthur expected the money back that he'd invested in the works on his ranch, Arthur found a way to distract him every time and later, it had felt like a date.

Not that he minded that. He had missed Arthur more than he was willing to admit and now that he had him back, a huge weight had fallen off his shoulders. It just felt weird that Percy and Gwaine lived in the guest house while he was here, in the mansion.

"You're saying that the guest house is not good enough for them?" Arthur grinned. Merlin knew that the guest house was like a castle compared to the situation they all had been living in for weeks.

"No, that's not what...Arthur, what if I get used to this?"

"Then get used to it."

A very warm feeling spread in Merlin's chest and he couldn't help but smile. They were back just a few days now and it already felt like Ealdor was a lifetime away. He had unpacked his things in the guest house but after two days it felt like he had already moved into the mansion.

The first morning, he had gone looking for Arthur and found him working with Qadir. He had watched from afar for a while and was delighted with what he saw. Even though they needed to fine-tune their communication, Qadir didn't seem to have an issue with Arthur as his rider anymore and stayed close to him when he dismounted. They both looked a lot more relaxed than in the beginning. The moment, Qadir had spotted him, he had trotted over to the fence to greet him.

Arthur had taken him out for dinner, but Merlin had been tense and jumpy. He wanted to get the financial discussion out of the way, so he had made Arthur listen and they agreed on him paying Arthur back as soon as the ranch got back on its feet. From that point on, it had been a date and they ended up in Arthur's bed later.

It felt like he hadn't left since then, even though they both got up in the morning and did their work througout the day.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" Arthur smiled at him.

"Too much and nothing at all." Merlin slid down and turned to his side. "The sun is rising, we should get up."

Arthur's smile turned into a mischeivous grin. "I have a better idea."

When he reached for him, Merlin chuckled and didn't mind at all.

Arthur sat down in one of the big comfy chairs on the patio and put his feet up on the railing.

"Where's Merlin?" Morgana sipped her drink and looked over.

"Said he had to run some errands and then talk to Gwaine. He'll be over soon."

She smiled. "It's all working out perfectly."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he's back, you're together, everyone's happy."

If it only were that easy. Merlin was talking about Ealdor constantly and his house and the ranch and his business. It was clear that he would go back when everything was rebuilt. Which, admittedly, would take a while, but it wasn't as if they had a happily ever after.

"What's wrong?" Darn, Morgana was way too perceptive.

Arthur sighed. "He wants to go back."

"What do you mean?" Leon stepped onto the patio. Even though Leon was one of his employees, he was also his oldest and best friend.

"He keeps talking about going back. The life in Wales and all that." Arthur swallowed hard. It was as if they were on borrowed time.

"Then propose to him." Morgana nodded.

When Leon gasped, Arthur shook his head. "You've got to be kidding. We barely know each other."

"From what I keep hearing througout the night when the windows are open, I'd say you're making good progress in getting to know each other." She smirked.

"Come on, this is serious. He wants to go back and Ealdor is too far away. It would be a long distance thing and they never work out."

Leon had pulled up a chair, too. "I don't think you'd have anything to worry about. You should hear the other two talking."

Alarmed, Arthur sat up. "What? What are they saying?" He should probably be angry that everybody were talking about them, but if he could get info that helped him in his quest of making Merlin stay, it was welcome.

Leon reached over and patted his shoulder. "No need to worry. Gwaine said he had never seen Merlin so in love and Percy is already making plans of colour schemes for a wedding."

Arthur relaxed back into his chair.

"See, propose to him." Morgana was back to grinning.

"Too early." Arthur sighed. "First, I need to find a way to make him see that staying is better than leaving."

"Just like he does with the horses..." Leon mused.

"What?"

Laughing, Leon took a sip of his lemonade. "Don't mind me. But you really need to come up with something. They are almost done with the work here. They need to be able to run their horse whisperer business somehow. You know them by now, none of them wants to be seen as charity."

"You can do it from here."

Arthur beamed at him while Merlin blinked. It was something Gwaine had hinted a while ago. Had they talked?

"Isn't it obvious? You are already here, we still have space in the stables. People could bring their horses here, which would also mean more sales for the inns and small shops in town when the owners have to stay somewhere for the night or go out for dinner."

Merlin still blinked. "You're making me responsible for the well-being of an entire community?"

"No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just showing you the positive effects this would have on all of us."

He went to the window to look outside. If he were honest, he had entertained thoughts like this a few times lately. As much as he loved Ealdor - and he would never give that place up - he had gotten used to being in Camelot. Things seemed to be so much easier here. There were so much more supplies on the premises alone and the next town was a lot closer and bigger than Ealdor.

And Arthur was here. It was very clear that Arthur would never leave Camelot. Especially not to live in a remote little place like Ealdor. He would have to make adjustments if he wanted to be with Arthur. But giving up the ranch was not in the picture. Giving up Arthur, on the other hand, would turn out just as impossible.

"You've talked to Gwaine already?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, I have."

Merlin didn't have to ask about Gwaine's reaction. Gwaine could be at home anywhere and the guest house of Camelot Estates was a lot more comfortable than anything Ealdor had to offer. Of course, Gwaine would move here without blinking an eye.

"He said he can do business from here as well."

He had said so before.

"Percy?"

Arthur smiled fondly. "Goes whereever Gwaine goes."

Of course.

"So it's up to me now?"

Arthur nodded once and then looked at him, the fond smile from before getting replaced more and more by a look of uncertainty. "It doesn't have to be a permanent move. Merlin, I know how much your property in Wales means to you. I'm not asking you to give it up. But you heard the experts, it might take a while to rebuild."

"So we could just use your premises to do our business until Ealdor is back up and running?"

"Basically...yes."

"Without you wanting anything in return?"

Arthur chuckled. "You would be near, that's more than enough."

Merlin stepped close. It had been a long time since anyone said anything remotely like that to him and meant it. He ran his hand down Arthur's cheek and the thought of being separated from Arthur for any length of time made his heart heavy. He leaned in for a gentle kiss.

"So that's a yes?" Arthur grinned.

Letting out a deep breath, Merlin nodded. "Under one condition."

Arthur frowned. "We need to redo this point here." He stabbed at the papers with his pen and then circled a paragraph.

"Arthur. This is the best contract they can expect." Agravaine just looked at him.

"It is not. It's not what we've been talking about."

"Arthur, it's the only way. It's risky enough to do this at all. They could ruin everything."

"What could 'they' ruin, uncle?" Arthur used the same snide tone of voice at the word that his uncle had used.

Agravaine got up. "As your uncle and head of the law and accounting company that represents you, it is my duty to point things like these out. Arthur, you can't have your personal feelings interfere with business."

"I am not." It wasn't really true, Arthur knew. If he wasn't head over heels for Merlin, he might not have willingly given up part of his estate for them to run their business on.

"You are, dear nephew. You have to think of your title, what comes with it, your obligations to Camelot and the surrounding communities and what would the Queen think if she knew you made deals judged on what other parts of your anatomy think instead of your brain?"

"Agravaine!" Arthur slammed his hand down on his desk as he got up. He took a deep breath or else he would have yelled at his uncle. "You're overstepping the line. Again." It was Aggravaine who was responsible for not paying the guys on time, which made him a culprit in the disaster that was Merlin's house. And now he wanted him to sign a contract that was totally in disadvantage of Merlin's business? That wouldn't happen.

It had been Merlin's condition that he would keep his own business and that they would pay some kind of rent for the stables they used and the guest house. Remembering what Percy had told him in Ealdor, Arthur hadn't wasted a single thought about just making him an offer to buy the company. It would probably have been easier and with a lot more stable income for the guys if they were his employees, but he understood that Merlin needed this and wouldn't take it away from him.

"I'm not sorry about that. Somebody has to tell you." Agravaine didn't move an inch.

"The Queen couldn't care less what I do. I am...oh, with all the new kids at Buckingham, I lost track...where? Somewhere between 140th and 170th place in throne succession? Very likely that this will happen." Arthur snarled. "Merlin's business will just add to the community."

"It's hocus pocus, nothing more."

"I've seen what they can do. All three of them. It's not some bogus venture, it's real. Now take this contract, make the changes and bring it here before you send it to them. I need to make sure that all my wishes are included." Arthur tossed his copy of the drafted contract into the bin with ostentation.

With that, he left the room.

"I can't believe it!" Gwaine was pacing the room as Merlin entered. "I never thought he would do such a thing!"

"Who's he on the phone with, Percy?" Merlin took his boots off and put them down by the door. He wiggled his toes. One one hand, it felt good to be rid of the confining footwear, on the other hand, he was so used to wearing boots that they felt like part of him and when he took them off, something was missing.

"Lance." Percy was leaning against the kitchen sink, his arms crossed in front of his chest and a look on his face that was downright scary.

"What's wrong with Lance?" Lancelot du Bois was a friend who happened to be a lawyer. He took care of all the legal things for them and charged them the smallest possible amount.

"Nothing wrong with Lance," Percy took a deep breath as Gwaine yelled "What an arsehole!" into his mobile.

Merlin was confused. Something was wrong. What? Who? Who was the arsehole and what had the arsehole done? He hoped this was just something Gwaine had misunderstood, he would calm down soon and Merlin could go over to the mansion to spend the evening - and preferrably the night - with Arthur.

"Yes, alright. I'll..." Gwaine threw him a sideways look, "he's here, should I wait for you to arrive?"

This got more serious by the minute. "What's wrong? Let me talk to Lance."

"Alright, I will." Gwaine ended the call before Merlin could reach for the phone.

"Gwaine! What is it?" Had the house collapsed completely? Had they overlooked anything and the land was in danger?

"Arthur is an arse."

"He can be sometimes, yes, but..." Merlin grinned but the grin died when he saw the look on his friend's face. "What?"

"Sit down, Merlin." Percy gently forced him into a chair.

"What did he do?"

"You know how he had this contract worked out by his people, right?"

Merlin nodded. "The one I insisted on."

"You cannot have insisted on this." Gwaine pointed to the screen of his laptop.

"Let me read!" Reaching for the laptop, Merlin's stomach was in knots. What had Arthur done that made everyone so angry?

When he was finished reading what was on the screen, he looked up. "Does that...does that mean what I think it means?" Merlin felt the colour draining from his face.

"If you think that fucking Arthur is a fucking arse who wants to make us his employees and take over our business, then you're fucking right." Gwaine had started pacing again.

"He did what? The contract should say that we pay rent here and take care of the horses of Camelot while we are here as payment for us using the stables and the guest house and being able to bring clients' horses here and..." Merlin couldn't believe it. That was what they had discussed and Arthur had agreed on that. And now he had his lawyer sent them a contract that bascially meant he would be their boss and their business ceased to exist as it would be part of Camelot? This couldn't be true. It felt as if someone had pulled the earth from underneath his feet. "I need to talk to him!"

"He left for London half an hour ago."

Merlin sat there in shock. He couldn't believe that Arthur had betrayed them in such a way. If he thought that he would sell his company to him only to get a salary and be grateful, Arthur had to think again. Why had he done this? He knew how much Merlin liked to be his own boss, they had been talking about it before. Hadn't he been clear enough on this?

Fear and anger boiled up in him. Why was this happening again? Why was someone always trying to take his business away from him? He couldn't stay here any longer.

"Let's go home."

Arthur was in a good mood on the drive back from London. He knew that the contract should be done soon, probably already waiting for him and then he could sign it. Merlin's lawyer would go over the contract, but that was just a formality. Soon, Merlin's Whisperer business would operate out of Camelot Estates and he was looking forward to it. It was always a sight to see how Merlin dealt with a new horse.

Pulling into the driveway in front of the house, he jumped out of the car and grabbed some shopping bags from the back seat. He knew that cook would have prepared something if he asked her for it, but some things needed to be celebrated with more style. The champagne he had bought was a treat and something from most everything the little delicatessen shop he liked offered wasn't bad either. He was looking forward to a spectacular night with Merlin.

He barely made it to the door when it opened from the inside. "There you are." Morgana didn't look happy.

"Yes, I'm back. Where is Merlin?"

Morgana looked a little deranged. Usually, she wore her long black hair in a neat braid, claiming that she needed to be able to fit a riding helmet on her head at any given moment, but at the moment, she looked as if someone had dragged her through the bushes backwards. "He's gone."

"What? Where did he go?" Arthur set his bags down and hung his jacket on a hook. "When will he be back?"

"Not at all." The icy tone in her voice made Arthur stop his actions.

"What do you mean? Where are Gwaine and Percy?"

"Left with him."

"Morgana, do they have an emergency with the house? What happened? Talk!"

She crossed her arms in front of her chest. "They saw the contract you signed."

"The contract? I..." He didn't get any further.

"Arthur! How could you?" She boxed at his upper arm and it wasn't playful. Damn, that hurt.

Rubbing the spot, he looked at her. "How could I do what?"

"You said you wanted to treat him as an equal partner!"

"Well, the contract should make sure of that."

"Making someone your employee by buying their business hardly makes them equal partners."

Arthur shook his head. What was going on? "What are you talking about?"

"You're such an arse, Arthur! Treating him like a lowly peasant, even mentioning that he's not of the same status...that's just...." She made an annoyed sound.

"What?" Blinking, Arthur tried to understand what was going on. This sounded a lot like the old contract, the one they had binned. He had never signed it and Aggravaine hadn't given him the new draft to read through yet.

"Morgs?..."

"Don't you 'Morgs' me now! I don't like you very much at the moment. Just tell me why you did this! This is a blow to his face! Why would you do that to the love of your life?"

Arthur swallowed hard. He had entertained that thought lately, but never dared to say it. Yes, he loved Merlin. Now that Morgana mentioned it, it felt good. What didn't was this whole weird situation.

"Listen, Morgana. I don't know what happened. What you are telling me about seems to be the first draft of the contract. I never signed that, I demanded changes. Aggravaine wanted to give me the new version when it was finished. So I could read through it and see that all the changes were made."

Morgana said nothing for a long while. "Do you think...?"

"Yes." Arthur's features turned hard. "I think he did it again."

Merlin felt miserable all the way back to Wales. He would have offered to drive, but he couldn't concentrate on anything. Gwaine was still ranting, so he probably drove even more reckless than usually, but Merlin didn't mind.

He knew it wasn't alright to leave like this. He should have talked to Arthur first. But Arthur had just snuck out, too. Obviously, he wanted to avoid a confrontation and had chosen that very day to go about some business in London. It fit that he hadn't told him about it.

Percy had talked him into going over to the mansion to at least find out when he would be back, but he had only met Morgana, who seemed to be honestly outraged and baffled by what she heard. Then she started to rant and it was consoling that she seemed to be on their side. The threats she ushered against her brother made Merlin's eyes go wide once in a while. He hadn't thought that a lady like her would ever know such words. She even tried to make him stay, at least until Arthur was back.

But Merlin had to get out of there. The mansion and the whole estate felt suffocating right now. Maybe it was a bit childish to just pack up and run, but that was the good thing of travelling light. They were packed up within an hour and on their way back. They could still get the few pieces of furniture they had stored in the barn at some later point. Right now, he couldn't stand being anywhere that belonged to Arthur.

Arthur. The thought alone hurt like hell. He had thought they had something special and they had found a way to be together. Only to be hit between the eyes with this contract. There might be a silver lining to it, too. He had found out what kind of a man Arthur really was before it was too late. A snobbish aristocrate who didn't think people who didn't hold titles and weren't part of nobility were worth being treated as equals.

How could this arrogant prat think he would be his employee from now on? What else would he get paid for? Sleeping with him?

He knew he was good at what he was doing. He was, in fact, the best. He would not give up his own business. They might have to rearrange a few things and maybe Gwaine was right and he had to rethink his pricing but they could do it.

But he wasn't Arthur Pendragon's little whore, who he could rent out.

Rank and status! Pah! He was Merlin Emrys from Ealdor, from a long line of Emrys' and the best horse whisperer who ever walked the earth, he didn't need Arthur's titles and name to be someone.

And then the memories came back. This felt almost like back when Will had tried to destroy him. At least, he had fought with Will, they had grown apart and it had gotten ugly. It hurt even more that he hadn't thought anything was wrong between him and Arthur so far. This had come out of nowhere. Merlin could barely breathe.

"Another hour and we're there." Gwaine said into the silence that had fallen since he had finished his rant a while back.

"Want me to drive?" Merlin offered half-heartedly.

"No, you're in no condition to drive and if we end up in the ditch, I at least want to blame myself for it."

"But you need a break. And so does Percy."

Gwaine shook his head. "We still need to set up camp in the stables, we can't afford a break right now."

Merlin sighed. Gwaine was right. It was good that at least one of them could focus on what had to be done. Merlin couldn't. It all still hurt too bad.

"There it is!" Arthur pulled the draft of the contract that he had tossed away out of the bin. "It's still here!"

"What do you need it for? It is probably exactly the one that made Merlin leave!"

Arthur leafed through it. "It has...look, it has my handwriting. I put the date in and I made notes and crossed things out. He might believe me when he sees this."

"What are you going to do?"

"We're going to Ealdor. Now."

He had expected his sister to protest, to tell him it was late and it was dark and it had been a long hard day and he should call Merlin before following him. She did no such thing.

"Let me get my jacket." When she was at the door, she turned. "Check your emails, maybe they mailed you the new contract."

"With my signature on it? I doubt Aggravaine is that stupid."

Arthur grabbed a few things and got angrier by the moment. Once he straightened things out with Merlin, he would call for an investigation on Aggravaine. If he dared doing something like this, he might have caused the company even greater harm. Printing out some last-minute notes and emails he had sent to him that clearly stated what he wanted to have in the contract, Arthur grabbed the papers and stuffed them into a folder.

"Come on, Arthur, I'll drive."

Merlin felt utterly exhausted, but he couldn't sleep. He hadn't even managed to sneak a peek at the house, trying to find out if it was even worse than when they had left, he just tumbled into the hay and pulled his sleeping bag on top of him. Yet, he just stared at the ceiling of the stables that was so far above him that he couldn't make it out in the dark.

What had he done to make Arthur behave like this? Why had he thought that he wasn't worthy of being part of Camelot? What had the guys done to deserve this? It just wasn't fair.

Swallowing hard, Merlin tried not to cry. He was a grown man, he wouldn't cry like a baby. If someone else tried to do this to them, it would hurt. But this was Arthur, the man he loved...Merlin didn't even know what he should be thinking.

Somehow he must have fallen asleep but startled awake when he heard a car pulling up. Scrambling up, he peeked outside.

"Merlin!"

Arthur? What was he doing here? Pulling on his boots in a hurry and running his hand through his hair to find the hay that surely found its way there, he took a deep breath.

"Arthur." Standing in the door to the stables, he looked at him. It wasn't only Arthur, but Morgana, too.

"Merlin, let me explain."

"What is there to explain? We have written evidence of how you think about us."

"Can you show me that contract?" Morgana came closer and Merlin sighed.

"Why? So you can snatch it away and pretend nothing happened?" Merlin knew this didn't make sense. The original contract was at Lance's office, even if Morgana took their copy, they could as well print out a new one.

"Merlin." Arthur held up a folder. "I never signed this. What I have here is the first draft and you can see that I made comments about what has to be changed."

"You could as well have done that tonight." Gwaine appeared.

"Why would I? This is not what I want. This is what Agravaine thought was best. He not only held your payments back last time, he is responsible for this, too."

Morgana put a hand on his arm. "We don't know this yet, but..." she took the hand back. "You're right, this can't be a mix-up."

Merlin felt utterly drained. He had really believed that Arthur would do such a thing to him. And now he stood there, right in front of him, looking as miserable as he felt and pleaded for him to listen.

Hours later, it was light already, they still sat around the camping table. Letters started swimming in front of his eyes and nothing he read made sense anymore. He wanted so badly to believe that what Arthur said was true. His whole body ached just to touch him. He was so tired and wanted to feel Arthur's arms around him. But even if this was true and it was Agravaine's doing...would Arthur want him back after he'd run like a school girl at the first bit of trouble that had occured?

Percy nuged his arm. "Go, get some sleep, Merlin. There's nothing more to discuss. We'll call Lance in the morning. Arthur's copy proves that he wanted the changes."

"If it's legit," Gwaine murmured.

"We should all get some sleep. At least an hour or two." Morgana yawned and stretched before she got up. "I'll just take my old stack of hay, alright?"

Arthur stretched, reached over and smiled when Merlin murmured sleepily. There had been a lot of red tape to officially find out that the signature on the contract was a fake, but the guys came back to Camelot. They had talked nights and Arthur understood why Merlin had just left. He didn't want to go through another disastrous break-up. They still needed to work on their relationship, but Merlin was back in his life and he loved him. Not that he had told him yet, but he intended to do so some time soon.

"What?"

"Nothing," he whispered. "Just making sure you're here."

Merlin turned to his side and smiled, not even opening his eyes. "'m here."

Arthur pulled him closer. "When do you have to leave again?"

Now, Merlin opened one eye and peeked at Arthur. "You know the schedule."

"Today?"

Merlin nodded.

"Early?"

Arthur almost felt bad that he woke Merlin up like this, but he was facing another two days in which Merlin would be dealing with the house in Ealdor, so he wanted to make the best of the time they had left.

"After breakfast." Merlin stretched a bit before he settled back. "How late is it?"

"6 am."

"You're waking me up at 6 am?"

It was fun to see how Merlin could be woken up at any time of night when it came to an emergency with any of the horses. He would open his eyes and jump out of bed immediately. But when he knew he could sleep a bit longer, it was difficult to wake him up at all.

"I thought you were awake."

"I wasn't." Merlin closed his eyes again. "And you knew, you git."

Arthur grinned. "Maybe this is an emergency?"

That woke Merlin up. "Who?" He was almost half out of bed before Arthur managed to catch his wrist and pull him back.

"Me."

"You?" Merlin laughed.

"Yes, me."

"You'll be the death of me, you're insatiable."

"That's only your fault." Arthur grinned and leaned in for a kiss. He would be without Merlin for two days, he needed him right now to make it through.

Merlin kissed back, a lot more awake now and his hand wandered down Arthur's side. "What's it gonna be?" He whispered against his lips. "A handjob? A blowjob? Or..." He wiggled his eyebrows.

Arthur groaned at any of the suggestions. However he could have Merlin was fine. "Or...I'd prefer or..."

Merlin rolled him onto his back and Arthur grunted when he felt how hard Merlin already was.

It had been a while since the real contracts had been signed and Merlin loved to spend his time at Camelot. He still hadn't given up rebuilding the house in Ealdor, so he went there when major decissions needed to be made or just to check the progress. Business had picked up quite a bit, together with Arthur's new financial advisors, they had redone their pricing system and found a way to help the horses but to earn decent money, too. He left the rest to Gwaine, who managed to charm all the callers into bringing their horses.

With what was left of his part of the income, he slowly had the house fixed. Merlin always felt a bit melancholic when he was there, feeling like he would never really live in this house again, but unable to let it go.

His mobile rang.

"How's it going?"

"Hey. You were still sleeping when I had to leave. Didn't want to wake you up." He would never tell Arthur that he had stood in front of the bed for five minutes, just watching him sleep.

"Wanted to say bye."

And he would never tell Arthur that he loved when he pouted like a child. It was just adorable.

"Sorry."

"So, what's new?"

Merlin went into a vivid explanation of what the workers had done so far. It was amazing to see how they could replace old things with new ones and still keep the character of the house.

"I've had an idea..."

It was unusual that Arthur sounded so careful. "What is it?"

"When the house is done...we could go there on the weekends?"

Merlin blinked. Even though he had been there to help when the roof first collapsed, Arthur had never given him the feeling that he appreciated the place. He had made him understand why he was so attached to it, but Arthur just seemed to tolerate that. A wide smile spread on his face. "I'd love that."

"You know...we could go on rides and watch the sun rise and you could tell me a bit more about the messes you got yourself into as a kid."

Merlin took a deep breath and he felt a wide smile spreading on his face. "I'd like that very much."

Epilogue

Arthur stood in the middle of the driveway and was excited. He watched how Percy and Leon hung up the new wooden sign over the entrance. Had it said "Camelot Estates" before, it now had a little addition. "Home of the Horse Whisperer". It made him oddly giddy and he pressed Merlin's shoulder where he had his arm around him.

"That looks great." Morgana stepped up to them. "Just like it should be."

It had been a long road to this point. There were more negotiations, an investigation by the police, Aggravaine had been arrested as this wasn't the only criminal stunt he had pulled. Lance had been assigned to draft the contract to everybody's satisfaction and now Merlin still had his own company, which was - as they had negotiated - operating out of Camelot. He had attracted new customers already and people mentioned over and over how happy they were that this place was easy to reach.

Percy was thinking about opening his own business and not only treating the horses that were there for Merlin. They were still negotiating the details.

The hardest part had been getting Merlin back. It stung a bit that Merlin had just ran, not trusting him enough to wait and talk, actually believing that he would do something like that. They had talked endless nights. And made love. Sad, angry, with passion and lots of love. Arthur knew he never wanted to let the man at his side go. He was charming, stubborn, had his own head, was a genius in his job, he was sometimes irritating but got him out of his own bubble when he was overthinking things. Merlin broadened his horizon and he had become his whole world.

Merlin had him finish the work with Qadir and the stallion was his most favorite horse ever. He was so attentive and they understood each other without many gestures. It was almost as if the horse could read his mind and it was Merlin's doing that had gotten them so far.

"It does look great, doesn't it?" Merlin beamed.

The past year had been turbulent, to say the least, with Merlin constantly communting between Ealdor and Camelot, supervising the works on the house and horse whispering. Whenever he could, Arthur watched Merlin work and learned a lot from him, but he would never admit to it or attempt the whispering business himself.

The little place in Ealdor came along nicely and even though it looked as if Merlin would never need it again as base for his business, he had the house rebuild and they had already spent a few days there. Arthur couldn't hide that he liked it very much. He was away from his own obligations and the tranquility of Ealdor was very soothing. That he and Merlin could run about the house naked without fear of getting caught by staff or friends was definitely a plus and they had made good use of it.

"Photo!" Morgana yelled and pulled him out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"We need a photo of this moment. You guys," she gestured at Leon and Percy, "Just stay where you are. Gwaine, you come over here."

Gwaine had just gotten Qadir from the meadow because he needed new shoes and they had an appointment with the farrier, brought the horse over. The pony, that was always at Qadir's side, followed. "What is it?"

"Just stay like that!" She put her mobile on the fence and arranged everyone before setting the timer and sprinting into the photo herself.

They all burst out laughing when Qadir tried to eat Arthur's hat.

The end