Coming Home
It's 6pm when Merlin comes home that night. He has had a long, tiresome day and he wants nothing more than to settle on his couch to watch crappy TV. But as always in Merlin's life, fate has decided against it, and he has not even finished closing the door that he is tackled to the ground.
"What on earth… –Arthur!" he groans, his bottom aching from the fall.
"Shush!" mutters Arthur, "they'll hear you."
Merlin rolls his eyes and tries to get free from Arthur's grip but the blonde seems quite determinate to keep him in place.
"Ok, fine" Merlin surrenders –as always. "What is it this time? Is it the microwave? The vacuum? Please, don't tell me you've crashed the phone again, you know I need it for work."
Arthur doesn't answer, still worried by a new threat in this new life. He looks around them as if they are going to be attacked at any moment. He seems genuinely convinced that something is wrong yet again and if Merlin hadn't been used to Arthur freaking out every time he discovers something modern, he could actually believe their life is at stake.
Arthur eventually lets go of Merlin and draws Excalibur from behind his back. Merlin automatically feels annoyed.
"What did I say about Excalibur?" he growls.
"It is a matter of life and death, Merlin." Arthur replies with a death glare.
"It was also a matter of life and death when you destroyed my radio last week."
"The device was being aggressive!" Arthur ripostes.
"It was just a rap song."
"I don't know what rap is, but I'm pretty sure it is not good sorcery."
"It has nothing to do with sorcery, it's music!"
Arthur gives him a thoughtful look for a minute but then he shrugs and regains his composure.
"Nah, it was a curse." He declares, stubborn. "I know what music sounds like."
"God, you drive me nuts" Merlin whines.
"That is not the point, the enemy is among us."
Arthur returns his attention back to the living-room ahead of them, Excalibur in hands.
"It's been a month, Arthur, have you not read the diary I gave you?" Merlin sighs.
Arthur suddenly looks sheepish and decides that his feet are far more interesting than Merlin's reproachful look. When it's clear that Merlin won't drop the disapproving glare, Arthur groans.
"I'm not done yet," he admits, uncomfortable. "In my defense, there are far too many pages, and you didn't even try to make it interesting" he adds with annoyance just after, because he is king Arthur –whatever Merlin says about Queen Elizabeth II– and he ought to have been given a shorter version.
"You're a lazy prat, you know that?"
"Shut up, Merlin, you may not be my servant anymore but I demand some respect."
Merlin snorts and finally gets up. He puts enough distance between him and Arthur so that the king won't be able to grab him again.
"What are you doing, you fool?" If Arthur's voice is any indication, he's on the verge of panicking. "Get down now, this is not safe!"
"I've lived here for twenty years, this apartment is completely safe. There's nowhere safer than here."
Merlin has had enough. He has worked twelve hours straight and all he wanted to do was to get some rest. It could be hilarious if Arthur didn't have this kind of panic attack twice a day, but after a month, the prat is getting on his nerves.
At first, it had been such a wonderful feeling to have Arthur around. Merlin had waited for what seemed like eternity, and that morning he had felt pulled irresistibly to Avalon would be forever etched on his memory. Arthur was home again, and so was he. Strictly speaking he had never left, but Camelot without Arthur never felt quite like home.
But now Arthur is back, apparently to prevent some kind of dark threat that is to come in the following months. It has been awkward at first, to get to know each other again. Everything is to be seen in a different light. Merlin is no longer Arthur's servant and Arthur is no longer the king –even if he insists on the fact that he is still a king. Merlin is a sorcerer and that means redefining their entire relationship for Arthur. He has accepted that Merlin is still his friend, but he can't help but reconsider their past together for a few days.
However, the heavy atmosphere was gone by the end of the first week and their easy banter was back. They had missed each other, even if they would not confess it again after the long –and awkward– hug they had shared on the shores of Avalon. After all, pretending to be annoyed with one another has always been their favorite activity.
Arthur was curious and frightened by the amount of novelty, he still is, and Merlin has given him a diary he had kept in the hope that someday, Arthur would come back. And now that he was indeed back, Arthur had to adapt.
Which was a long and painful and annoying process, or, as Merlin would call it 'a daily pain in the ass'.
"But dark magic is here," Arthur whispers, catching back Merlin's attention. "It has found a way in."
Merlin takes the bridge of his nose between two fingers, not even trying to hide his irritation.
"Just tell me what it is so I can go back to my life," he sighs, resigned.
"It's a magic trap, why are you not bothered by the threat Merlin? Do you have a death wish?" It's Arthur's turn to be annoyed. Merlin is always cool about all these strange things around them, so calm and composed in this new world, and he never seems to understand the dangers.
"Where's the magic trap?"
"Are you ignoring me?"
"No," Merlin exhales.
"You don't take it seriously, do you?"
"Arthur, you made me come home twice this week because you were afraid of the shower, why would I take it seriously today?"
Arthur opens his mouth to complain, but decides against it at the last minute and mumbles:
"Fine, the magic box is in the living-room, it has taken at least two people hostages."
Merlin stares at him for a minute, disbelieving, and then goes to the living-room to discover that the magic box is in fact the television that Arthur accidentally turned on. He is still annoyed but he switched it off without a word.
"Problem solved" he says. "Now give me Excalibur, I intend to keep my television."
Arthur seems a bit shameful but gives Excalibur in silence before he sits on the couch. Meanwhile, Merlin goes in his room to hide Excalibur again, feeling a bit more tired than he was a minute before.
When he comes back in the living-room, Arthur is reading Merlin's diary, probably looking for the definition of a television. Merlin remains silent and take a book to sit on the opposite end of the couch.
Another crisis has been overcome and silence takes its rightful place for a while.
Later, Arthur puts down the diary and throws a thoughtful look at Merlin.
"I'm really trying to adapt, you know?" he says quite timidly –which is odd, Arthur is never nervous around Merlin. "I'm sorry I need you so much, Merlin, and if that helps, that doesn't mean I still see you as my servant –because I don't."
That gets Merlin's attention and he gives Arthur a questioning look.
"I wish I could have been here with you all those years, that would have made your life easier on so many levels," Arthur continues. "I'm lost here. It looks nothing like my world and everything like yours, and it kills me."
"What are you talking about?"
"I feel like I don't belong anymore… Like we don't belong anymore. And –don't get me wrong– I'll always be glad to annoy your sorry ass, but not like this, not when it feels like I'm losing you again."
Merlin feels quite puzzled and has no idea how to answer, which leads to an awkward minute of silence until he finds his tongue again.
"I'm the one who lost you," he finally utters.
"I never slept," Arthur answers. "I could have, but I chose not to."
"Why?" Merlin has to ask, surprised.
"Years after years, I saw my family and friends join me, after some time, I understood that you would never come. And I couldn't sleep knowing you were wandering alone somewhere in the world. You're not the only one who lost a friend on the shores of Avalon, Merlin."
"Are you declaring your undying love for me?" Merlin smiles, suddenly feeling cheeky.
Arthur blushes and gives Merlin a death glare.
"I'm trying to be nice," he says in a reproachful tone.
"No, you're trying to get out of reading the book, you lazy prat."
"Am not."
Merlin gives him the look and Arthur yields.
"Fine. This book is stupid."
Merlin laughs, his mood improved by Arthur's display of his usual royal self, and he resumes to his book.
But minutes later, he realizes that Arthur is staring blankly at the wall in front of them and he feels he has to intervene.
"You shouldn't worry about losing me," he says with a gentle tone.
Arthur snaps out of his thoughts to gaze at him.
"I know I'm not really patient anymore but you have to give me some credit, I've never been patient before." At that, Arthur smiles knowingly but says nothing. "But we're in this together, as always."
Arthur nods, his smile a bit shy but sincere.
"You belong here Arthur, because as the dragon once said, we're but two sides of the same coin. That means you'll belong everywhere I am and I'll belong everywhere you go."
"Works for me," Arthur grins.
There is another strange moment when they look at each other without anything more to add, and it feels a bit embarrassing even if they can't quite put their fingers on the reason why. It could have become far more uncomfortable if Arthur didn't clear his throat after a while:
"You still have to bring me breakfast in bed though."
"Gods, I hate you," Merlin complains.
"No you don't," Arthur beams proudly.
"I do, I definitely do. You're a pain in the ass."
"Says the man who can't shut up about his boring work."
"Not my fault if my students are idiots."
"I should meet them someday, I'm quite curious to discover how someone can be more of an idiot than you."
"I'd rather be dead than to bear with you at my work place."
"That's not a very nice thing to say, professor Merlin."
"Drop it already Arthur, I'm not bringing you to my work. You'd make a mess of everything."
"You're such a girl," Arthur mocks.
"Says the man who is afraid of the shower."
"The water was aggressive!"
"And I'm the idiot."
Arthur suddenly gets tired of Merlin's quick wit because he never seems to win anymore, so he settles for hitting Merlin with one of the cushion as a mean to win the argument. They wrestle for a while but they end, tangled on the ground, in tears of laughter.
That night, Merlin is still tired, but he agrees to take Arthur out of the apartment to have dinner. There's an incident with the cab because they are evil and Arthur demands a horse. There's another incident at the fast food when Arthur insists on asking for something that isn't on the menu and the man in front of him finally loses his temper –'how dare you, I'm a king!' Arthur has said with outrage, 'And I'm a bloody princess!' has been the waiter's answer. Besides, when they're home at last, Arthur is so glad to have survived that he can't shut his mouth about everything. And Merlin really wishes he could complain and tells him to 'shut the fuck up', but he can't quite bring himself to it when Arthur looks so happy to have been a part of his world even if it was for some long and painful minutes. So he tries to explain to Arthur the purpose of a television.
Arthur decides that he is definitely fond of the thing and forces Merlin to watch it for hours. And Merlin is annoyed and tired, and really, all he desires is for Arthur to finally understand everything he has to learn of this new world. But when he feels Arthur's head collapsing on his shoulder and sees that the king has finally fallen asleep, he can't bring himself to care anymore.
Because Arthur is here, and if there's one thing certain in this appalling new world, it's that Arthur will always be home.