The next day, a day after every member of the round table and most of the Knights had seen Merlin have an obviously horrible nightmare, had seen Gwaine take off after Merlin, when they noticed the subtle differences in Gwaine and Merlin's behavior.

Merlin was acting his usual, clumsy, adorable, idiotic, lovable self, he was currently walking around the training field with a smile on his lips, talking to the Knights he passed as he went, 'hello' and the occasional 'how are you doing?' walking around, sharpening an occasional dagger or sword per request from a knight.

The more noticeable of the two, was Gwaine's behavior. Gwaine was off his game for the day, keeping his eyes and focus completely and totally on Merlin. Gwaine was watching as Merlin walked, kept the servant in his sight at all times, the only wore to describe it as protective.

Arthur had been watching Gwaine for the last 15 minutes or so, watching the way the Knight was watching his manservant with an incredibly and almost overly protective watch, the blondes curiosity quickly peaked and he smashed his sword into Gwaine's, drawing the Knights attention quickly. Gwaine snapped his head to the side for a moment, yelling angrily,
"What?!" Arthur didn't say anything, just watched Gwaine for several seconds, cataloging his reaction.
Gwaine sighed and immediately turned his head back around, his eyes setting to and immediately finding Merlin, who was talking to Leon and Percival, obviously telling a joke. Leon and Percival almost immediately hunched over slightly, their bodies shaking with laughter. Leon had his hand on Percival's' shoulder, Percival holding his ribs and sides in an attempt to contain his laughter that threatened to erupt out into the air, Merlin was grinning like a cat that had just grabbed its creme.

Gwaine had his eyes on Merlin, watching everything. Arthur looked at Gwaine, before he brought his eyes to Merlin, whom was still telling jokes to Leon and Percival, Elyan had appeared and had joined in on the laughs.

"Sir Gwaine!" Gwaine turned back to Arthur quickly, seeming to know that Merlin would be in the company of three other Knights. Arthur lifted his sword slightly, the blade pointing in the direction of the Kings manservant, the king asked,

"Why do you think it's alright to interrupt training in an obvious attempt to, what looks like, keep an eye on my servant. Why, pre-tell, are you watching my servant in the first place?" Gwaine narrowed his slightly, stepping forward he said, his teeth clenched,

"Why do you care?" Arthur tilted his head, confused. Why did he care about one of his most loyal Knights and his best friend? Was that what Gwaine was asking?

Before he could answer, however, Gwaine set its sword back in its sheath and set it aside and scuffled forward, grabbing Merlin by the upper arms. Tightly, but not harshly, Merlin turned his gaze to the knight, an eyebrow raised. Gwaine raised an eyebrow of his own and leaned forward, whispering something in Merlin's ear. When the two put some space between them, Merlin smiled like no one had ever seen before, his smile wasn't goofy or the after affect of a joke, his smile wasn't forced and it wasn't in anyway pressured.

His smile, the smile no one has ever seen and had never had directed at them, as an easy and calm smile, a smile filled to the brim with love and happiness, genuine happiness and caring, and so many other positive emotions pulled into it. Everyone seemed startled at the smile, having never seen it, they are watched as Merlin smiled and rested his hand on Gwaine's armored shoulder. He said something, no one was close enough to hear, and to everyone's surprise, Gwaine looked startled, shocked, to say the least. His eyes widened and his jaw fell slack slightly, gawking to say the least.

Merlin then laughed, not in his usual way of laughing, his usual way being that he could scrunch his eyes together, his shoulders would hunch and he'd lean over slightly, he would curl in on himself slightly, his body would be shaking with the laughter that bubbled from his throat.
No.This time, Merlin laughed in a more open and interesting way, instead of curling in on himself to laugh, instead of bringing his hand to his mouth in an odd and subconscious way of trying to stifle the laughter that rolled off of his tongue and out of his throat. This time, his shoulders straightened and he threw his head back, his eyes still scrunched in a way that everyone found adoring and interesting, his entire body shook with the laughter that bubbled from his throat again. This time, his laugh was close to, almost identical to Merlin's usual laugh but at the same time, there was a hidden grace beneath the cheerful sound that echoed throughout the field.

Everyone on the training field watched as Merlin laughed the newer way he was currently and they watched as Gwaine became flustered of all things, his cheeks heating up quickly. The knight quickly grabbed Merlin's shoulder and upper arm with one hand, startling the servant from his laughter. The knight began to drag the servant through the quickly growing maze of confused but interested Knights and nobles, the only parts of the conversation anyone could solidly hear was snipers along the lines of,

"-Gwaine, you're overreacting-"
"-everything's fine, I'm fine, you're fine, everyone's fine-"
"-I don't know why I even told you about that, I should have known you'd react like this-" until the knight and servant left compete earshot.

The events from the day before, Merlin's nightmare and unusual behavior was enough to make everyone curious and worried, yes, but this.. this just pushed their curiosity and worry over the edge and everyone silently agreed, confirmed with a few nods, they would find out what was going on if it was the last thing they'd do.

More to come guys! 😄