Chapter Text
Merlin knew that Arthur was good looking but honestly, this was just getting ridiculous. Arthur might be used to the attention, but surely even he could tell that something was off. Unless, of course, his overinflated ego conveniently protected him from realizing that the hordes of simpering townsfolk lingering around them as they walked through the lower town was anything but normal.
Now, Merlin wasn’t a fool. He had witnessed some of the antics that a few of Arthur’s more ardent admirers had pulled before - once, a particularly daring serving girl had spent almost half a day hiding under Arthur’s bed trying to catch a glimpse of his royal arse before Merlin had noticed and shooed her out. It was commonplace for carefully arranged bouquets of wildflowers to mysteriously show up on Arthur’s bedside table (Merlin had to keep changing the locks), for delicately penned love notes to be slipped under the door, and in general, for Arthur to be the subject of longing glances from at least one person in most rooms. Usually, Merlin tried very hard to not let that person be him.
However, something about Arthur’s ever-looming fanclub had shifted recently. Aside from that one serving girl who had hid under Arthur’s bed (Merlin almost wanted to commend her audacity), typically people left their tokens of affection and declarations of love strictly anonymous and with plenty of space for plausible deniability. Merlin wasn’t quite too sure of the specifics, but there must be some unspoken penalty for actions of such a nature - people were generally frightened enough of Uther that they wouldn’t want to be caught anywhere near Arthur in any sort of compromising position, no matter how much both parties wanted it. Arthur had pretty much told him as much once, complaining about how he was eternally doomed to get off by himself since everyone was too intimidated to ever actually do anything with him (Merlin definitely did not choke on his own spit and immediately spill whatever it had been that he was serving when this was said).
But as they traipsed through town on the way back from Arthur’s hunt, people were acting… bolder. An elderly woman dramatically swooned right in the path of their horses and clung on to Arthur’s arm for what felt like ages when he, chivalrous as always, helped her back up. As he was doing so, a young man around Merlin’s own age ogled Arthur’s backside, nervously reaching forward as if to actually touch him and only snatching his hand back at the last second.
Seriously? Merlin understood the urge, of course he of all people understood that, but at least he was subtle about his staring. Then, a middle aged shopkeeper all but dragged Arthur into his shop, twirling his mustache flirtatiously and insisting that his Highness just had to try the new sweets they had just imported from somewhere foreign and exciting. He only relented when a group of knights circled Arthur and glowered menacingly at him. Arthur, of course, shook the shopkeeper’s hand politely and assured him that he would come back to try them another time. Prat.
Even more worryingly, when Arthur clapped Sir Leon on the shoulder in thanks for the rescue and made to get past the group of knights and back to his horse, Sir Leon didn’t move from his spot. None of the knights did. Instead they all gazed at Arthur with the same peculiar look in their eyes. Only when Sir Leon blinked rapidly as if coming out of a day-dream and finally stepped aside did the rest of the knights do the same, freeing Arthur from where they had effectively cornered him against the shop entrance.
As they somehow made it out of town without any more incidents, bade the knights goodbye (most of whom seemed reluctant to part ways), and headed into the castle, Arthur didn’t seem to notice anything was amiss. In fact, he was whistling, poking fun at Merlin, and occasionally jostling his arm as they walked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Merlin, on the other hand, had some concerns.
He mentally cursed whatever was going on with everyone for preventing him from enjoying Arthur’s good mood as he hurried Arthur towards his chambers, keeping a careful eye out for any lurking admirers. When a visiting nobleman with a nasty glint in his eyes walked past them with a nod and then immediately doubled back to all but stalk them through the halls, Merlin’s eyes flashed gold and the unsuspecting nobleman was unceremoniously shoved into a suit of armour by an invisible force.
“What was that?” Arthur paused, making to turn around and look for the source of the noise.
“Ah, just a servant dropping some plates. Nothing you need to worry about sire!” Merlin dragged him around the corner before Arthur could catch a glimpse of the dazed nobleman staggering to his feet.
Arthur looked somewhat confused at the fact that he was currently being manhandled by Merlin, of all people, and jerked his arm out of Merlin’s grip. “I am perfectly capable of walking without assistance, Merlin.”
“Could’ve fooled me.”
Merlin was so distracted looking around to see if they were still being followed by anyone that he almost forgot to enjoy the affronted look on Arthur’s face as he grappled for a response.
Almost, but not quite.
Okay, maybe it had been risky of him to subtly use magic to keep any unwanted intruders out of Arthur’s chambers when Merlin had left, but he had no choice, honestly! There was a gaggle (a gaggle!) of people lingering in the hall outside his chambers, all looking at Arthur with poorly disguised lust in their eyes and sighing with disappointment when they heard the door lock shut behind him. At this point, he didn't put it past any of them to try to jimmy the lock. Merlin scowled at them (he was resolutely ignored by all) and headed back home, hoping to find Gaius and some sort of explanation for this behaviour.
When Merlin entered the room, he found Gwen seated on a bench and anxiously explaining something to Gaius, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, while he flipped through a book rapidly.
“Gwen?” Merlin entered the room cautiously, not wanting to startle her. “What’s going on?”
They both turned to face him, Gwen’s brow furrowed and her eyes darting around the room as she opened and closed her mouth several times, clearly unsure of where to start. Eventually, she spoke:
“They’ve gone mad! All the servants, they’re mad!” Her voice was high and shook slightly.
“What happened?” He knew it. He knew something was going on. Just one week, he mentally pleaded with the universe. One week without something involving Arthur going horribly wrong. The universe didn’t respond. Bastard.
“Well- well, I was in the kitchen and all the cooks, the serving boys and girls, the cleaners, everyone - they were all talking. About- um, about a dream.” She paused and blushed furiously, wringing her hands together with her eyes downcast.
“Go on, dear.” Gaius patted her shoulder comfortingly, while signaling to Merlin with his eyes that yep, something was up. And whatever it was, it was bad.
“They all had... dreams about Arthur. About, um. Being with him. In a...”
“In a sexual manner,” Gaius said promptly when words failed Gwen, causing Merlin’s eyes to widen.
“It was horrible! They were all being so - so descriptive , it was like nothing else mattered except-” she faltered and then continued after steeling herself. “Except sleeping with Arthur! They must have been enchanted, they must have, I mean - I’m not daft, the servants talk and joke about Arthur all the time because he’s, well, you know-”
I know Gwen, Merlin thought. I’ve seen him.
“But it’s never anything serious! Only yesterday, Ada—she’s a lovely girl, really—was gushing about her engagement and today she’s scheming to sneak Arthur a love potion ! Someone must have- have done something to them!” Gwen exclaimed in a rather scandalized voice.
“It’s not just the servants either,” Merlin jumped in. “I noticed earlier that the townspeople and knights have been acting funny around Arthur too.”
Gwen gnawed on her lip, looking nervous about saying whatever it was she was about to say next.
“I- I had one too. A dream.”
That changed things. If Gwen hadn’t looked so distressed, he would have teased her mercilessly about the fact that she’d had a sex dream about Arthur (as if he hadn’t been in her shoes dozens of times before).
“And I- I almost felt like I wanted to join them. It was like being in a trance…” She trailed off with a glazed look in her eyes, only continuing on when Merlin poked her arm, none too gently. “But I didn't, of course! I came to my senses and figured something wasn’t right so I came here to find Gaius!”
She looked so endearingly worried about judgment that Merlin couldn’t help but try to lighten the mood.
“Sex dream with Arthur, eh? Must have been interesting.” He shot her a cheeky smile, hoping to unravel some of the tension of her face.
She smiled hesitantly back and lightly swatted his shoulder, opening her mouth to speak. But before she did-
“It was.” Gaius spoke in a matter of fact tone, ignoring the horrified looks on Merlin and Gwen’s faces and busying himself with a stack of papers.
“Gaius… not you too?” Merlin spoke, barely suppressing what would surely be life-ruining mental images.
“Indeed.” Gaius nodded solemnly, while passing a sick looking Gwen a bucket. “I had similar feelings earlier today as well. It seems everyone is being affected by whatever this is - everyone but you, Merlin.”
A little too late there, Merlin thought, not at all bitterly. Being Arthur’s manservant seemed to have come with the added benefit of being tormented with feverish dreams of Arthur almost nightly. But now wasn’t the time to focus on that.
Merlin shook visions of Arthur (Arthur handling his sword skillfully at practices, Arthur sweating after a particularly exhausting session with the knights, Arthur smiling at him while he poured his bath water) from his head and attempted to focus on his task at hand: figuring out why all of a sudden, everybody and their mother couldn’t keep their deep-seated cravings for Arthur bloody Pendragon to themselves like he did.