Elyan was walking through the halls of the castle, trying to find his sister, as he had to inform her about a mission he was going. As he didn't know where she was, he was looking around to see if any of her other servant friends were nearby and if they knew where she was.

The dark skinned knight then spots Merlin down the hall with a pile of- presumably- Arthur's clothes to clean. He smiles and speeds up slightly to catch up with the Prince's manservant.

Before he could get very close, Arthur had approached the brunet. He quickly asks, "Jennifer?"

Merlin sighs and quickly replies with a 'no' to his master, before continuing to walk, leaving a slightly annoyed prince behind.

As Arthur walks past Elyan, he smiles at him, switching from annoyed to glad. Arthur pats him on the shoulder as he walked past, saying a quick, "Good luck on the quest. Gwen's in the dining room, by the way."

Elyan blinks a few times, watching Merlin walk off, into the kitchens, then turns to watch Arthur walk away. Although he was rather confused, he walks towards where his sister was.

~~~~

Percival was in the armoury taking off his armour, as he had just finished training with the other knights, and it took him longer to take it all off, as he was larger than the others.

As he was about to get up, he heard the door open and someone sit on the bench in the middle of the room. He then hears a clanging of metal on stone, and the distinctive voice of merlin muttering to himself.

Before Percival had time to go say hello to his friend, the door opens the door, and the Prince's voice calls inside, "Anna?" 

"No," Merlin replies in a monotone voice, as if he was busy doing something else- which Percival guessed he was, as the poor boy was always busy.

Arthur huffs and then leaves, the door closing behind him. Percival was left standing, confused, before he walked out, replying to Merlin's cheerful 'bye, Percy' with a 'bye'. He walks away, his mind racing from the interaction he had heard.

~~~~

Leon was sat at the Prince's side, drinking the ale out of his goblet. He was attending the feast which was held in honour of a neighbouring royal family's visit to Camelot. He didn't much like these feasts, but as they had happened so many times, he was used to it by now and knew how to hide his boredom.

Leon's eyes were searching the room when they spotted the familiar blue neckerchief of a certain manservant. Either side stood two female servants who were both pointing people out to a steadily flushing warlock. 

Due to Leon being so far away, he was unable to see who they were pointing at. Even as they pointed to someone next to him- which he presumed was the Lady Morgana- he still couldn't quite tell who exactly it was.

It seemed that Merlin had had enough of the two and started to walk away, causing the girls to giggle.

Merlin walked up to Arthur- who was sat next to the Knight- and started pouring him some wine. Arthur then turned to look at his servant and asked, "Either Branwyn or Cotovatre."

"No sire," Merlin sighs, moving back towards the wall, as he had finished pouring the prince his wine.

Even more confused, Leon stared ahead of him, trying to figure out what had just happened.

~~~~

Gwaine was at the tavern (surprise, surprise) again, regaling some of his stories in his drunken state to the group that had gathered around him- much like usual. And like usual, Merlin walked into the tavern, walking straight up to the drunkard, to pick him up.

Merlin sighs and shakes his head, when he realises the man was halfway through a story, and therefore would not stop until he had finished- he had found this out previously, the hard way.

Although the drunkard was telling the tale, he was keeping an eye on his serving friend, as he seemed to attract trouble wherever he went.

As he was watching the ravenet, he saw the prince walk up to him. Due to many hungover mornings, the knight had picked up on lipreading, so he was able to decipher Arthur asking Merlin what seemed to be a name, beginning to with 'L'. 

Merlin then responded with the shake of the head, which made Arthur huff and walk away, causing Merlin to roll his eyes as his master- once again.

Confused on what he had just watched, the drunkard hadn't even realised he had stopped talking, until Merlin grabbed his arm and said something about taking him back home.

~~~~

Lancelot was almost always seen around Merlin, so it wasn't a surprise to the Kitchen staff when they saw the two men walk in, side by side, talking to each other in whispers. the two always seemed to be talking about something serious if they were talking quietly, so those were the times when the staff left them be.

Although, most of them were unable to not look at the pair as they walked through, due to the older man's arm around the younger's waist. It wasn't that it happened before, it was that it was rather rare, and when this happened, it usually meant something bad was about to happen.

The two were just about to leave the kitchens- after picking up a pie, much to the cook's distaste- the door they had entered through opens. The Prince's head pops around the side of it, looking around the now quiet room.

As soon as he spots his manservant, he asks, "Acheflow?" [A/N: Yes, that's a real Arthurian feminine name]

The brunet sighs and shakes his head, saying, "No, you prat." Arthur shrugs before disappearing and closing the door. 

Everyone looks at the two, but they simply left the room as if nothing had happened, even if Lancelot was as confused as the staff- but he was used to this sort of stuff due to being friends with Merlin.

~~~~

Mordred and Merlin hadn't gotten on well when the druid had first become a knight- due to the prophesy.  But, gradually, the warlock looked past it, and saw the good in the young sorcerer.

The older had started to secretly teach him how to do certain spells he wouldn't have learnt in druid camps, and Mordred even started to teach Merlin some fighting tricks.

The druid was currently on his break, sat on the training field, reading one of the (non-magical) books he had brought from his camp. He was around halfway through when he spotted someone quickly walking towards the forest in the corner of his eye. He was going to ignore it, but then he saw what looked like someone chasing them.

Looking up from his book, he realised who the two were, and let his guard down. Although, he was still rather curious, so he strained to be able to listen to the Prince and his manservant.

The Prince goes to say something but the younger cuts him off saying, "Shut up."

"C'mon Merlin," the blonde whines. "I didn't even say anything. And where are you even rushing off to?"

"Trying to get away from a prat," Merlin grumbles, causing the royal to scoff.

"Margret?"

"Seriously?"

"What! She's alright."

"I mean, seriously, you're still asking me?"

"Just answer, Merlin!"

"No, not Margret! Now leave me alone."

The blonde rolls his eyes, but walks back towards the castle. Confused, Mordred watches his friend walk into the forest, quietly grumbling to himself.

~~~~

The Knights were all on a hunting trip, it seemed like they always were now. Well, that's what Merlin thought as he was sulking at the back of the group, on his annoyingly slow horse.

The men were all laughing together, causing Merlin to sigh and try and get his horse to speed up to catch up. He gives a small chuckle when the creature does as the warlock was telling him to do.

As soon as he had caught up to them, he had to abruptly stop, as to not crash into them. Arthur was jumping off his horse, while saying, "Alright, we'll set up camp here for tonight. We'll start the hunt tomorrow."

The knights make noises of approval and all start to climb off. Merlin groans and starts to complain under his breath, before getting off and grabbing all of the equipment off the horses and starting to set up camp.

However, like usual, the knights aided him in his work. they didn't feel it was right for Merlin- or any servant- to do all the work, especially for them. Merlin always tried to insist he was fine, but would eventually give in from Gwaine's constant badgering and purposefully making it harder for the boy to work.

After the beds were rolled out and the fire was alight, the knights and Merlin were all sat on logs around the fire. Merlin was sat between Leon and Lancelot, his head on the confidant's shoulder with said man's arm around his waist, rubbing circles on his side.

The atmosphere was calming, no talking, just everyone basking in the presence of the others. Until it was broken, and surprisingly, it wasn't Gwaine.

"Janise?" Arthur quietly asks.

"Seriously?" Merlin deadpans, sending a glare to the prince.

"Yes, seriously."

"No, not Janise. You know nothing of your staff do you?"

"What's that supposed to-?" Arthur starts, getting irritated, before he gets cut off by Gwaine.

"Alright you two, out with it. What's all this nonsense?" 

Merlin tenses and curls in on himself more, avoiding eye contact with anyone, making Leon especially cautious, as he had never seen his friend act like this before. He always walked into situations with his head held high, seemingly without any fear or worry.

Leon places a gentle hand on the boy's thigh, trying to calm him, but instead makes him jump slightly, before relaxing.

"Are you going to explain then, Princess?" Gwaine questions, becoming impatient.

The prince rolls his eyes at the nickname, before answering, "Merlin here has been acting all lovey-dovey recently. So, I've been asking him all of the castle staff lady's names, to see who it was."

All the men look to Merlin, the drunkard with a smirk on his face. Merlin did not like that look, not for this situation. He really didn't want them to know. He just wanted to be left alone for once, to have some privacy for once. To have one secret that nobody knew, apart from him.

"So~" Gwaine starts, his smirk looking devil-like in the eyes of Merlin, the shadows from the fire not helping the image.

Merlin untangles himself from the knights either side of him as he stands up, trying to ignore the other's protests.

"Come on Merlin," Mordred says, trying to convince his friend it was okay. "I'm sure she's a lovely girl."

"Stop it," Merlin replies, getting slightly angry now, as he grabs some equipment from one of the bags he hadn't emptied yet- for himself.

"Merls, we won't judge," Lancelot adds, trying to calm down the boy he had known for so many years.

"Please, just stop," the sorcerer states, starting to shake as he was finally stood up.

Arthur then teases, "When do we get to meet the lucky lady?"

"Just shut up!" Merlin explodes, the bedding he had bundled in his arms falling to the floor as he grips his hair. He shakes as tears start to form in his eyes as he continues, "I don't have a lady!"

Percival stands, and slowly walks towards his younger friend, before gently asking, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you get it?" Merlin sobs, pulling at his short hair. "I don't like girls! I-I never have!"

The statement had caused the whole group to go into shock. The friendly giant had stopped midway into going to pull Merlin into his embrace, Lancelot and Mordred were in the middle of standing up when they stopped. Arthur and Gwaine's breath caught in their throats, while Leon just looked at Merlin in pity.

If he was honest, Leon had always suspected it of the boy. His only friends seemed to be the female staff in the castle, and all of the men seemed to hate him for seemingly 'steeling all the girls', yet, he had never made a move on a single one of them.

"A-and it's not like I like j-just one!" Merlin continues, too caught up in crying that he hadn't noticed everyone's reactions. "N-no, it had to be a g-group! S-stupid luck, St-stupid destiny!"

By the time Merlin had finished, Leon had the boy in his arms, smoothing his hair and whispering calm words to him. He let the warlock cry into his chainmail, not caring that the boy's grip on him would bruise in the morning.

Once the boy had calmed down, he quickly fell asleep, making the knight have to tuck him in the bed. Leon then sat down with the rest of his friends, all eyes on him.

"You knew?" Gwaine asked, his voice strained.

"I had a hunch, and now I know I was right."

"Who are they?" Lancelot asks nervously, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"Isn't it obvious?" the long haired knight asked the group. He looked Arthur in the eyes as he said, "It's all of us."

~~~~

A/N: Holy macaroni, that took forever to write.

I've wanted to write this for so long, it's honestly ridiculous. 

[Oh, and Elyan wasn't in the final scene as he was still on the quest. However, Merlin does like him too]

Sorry I haven't updated this book in so long, but I hoped you enjoyed it!