I'm gonna waste the 22 prompt on a strictly platonic friendship: Merlin and Arturia. She hates him, thats true, but he is the one most proud of her too.
"I cannot stop smiling when I look at you."
Arturia lifted her head from its perch on her palms, tilting her head to the side. There her wizard sat beside her, amongst the knights at their usual cafeteria table.
"Am I naught but an object of entertainment to you, Merlin?" she asked back quietly, observing Lancelot as he bantered with Bedivere. The Knights of the Round Table grew in number quite slowly, the latest addition to their ranks being the pesky magus beside her. Arturia was, despite her outward attitude, glad to be reunited with the incubus. It's just...
Merlin was an unsolvable puzzle, one with an infinite number of pieces that the ordinary human couldn't hope to understand.
What he'd just told her could mean a number of different things.
Maybe he thought her a joke, enough to quirk his lip. Maybe he noticed the rather stubborn lock of hair upon her head dancing to the air conditioning. Maybe he'd ingested some sort of experimental potion that made him smile uncontrollably when she was in the vicinity.
Or...well...maybe he was genuinely happy to be around his favorite little king.
Arturia snuck another glance back at her old court mage, finding his attention had already lapsed and he was currently preoccupied with one of the bustier Servants across the room.
Elbowing him hard enough to crack a rib, Arturia grumbled as she returned to overseeing her knights.
'Happy to be around her' Of course that wasn't it.
As he recovered from the pain, Merlin's purple eyes came to rest on Arturia's annoyed face. A resigned laugh left his lips. Was he never going to be able to express how he truly felt?
Merlin put his hand over his rib, still not quite believing he could exist on the same plane as his king once again. Chaldea was truly a magical place.
Maybe he couldn't express his feelings just yet.
But he could always try again.