Chapter Text
“Come on Arthur, you were a king!” Maybe he was just shivering from the cold, he wasn’t scared. Of course not. He is the epitome of courage! The clothes were very soft and Adam seemed nice enough. Arthur placed his hand on the door and steeled himself. Head held high he walked back to where he came in, assuming that is where they would be.
“Hey, glad to see you made it back without dying on us, which actually almost happened once. I forgot to ask your name. Come have a seat, I made you tea.” Adam definitely reminded Arthur of Merlin in a way. The way Merlin used to try and talk his way out of things, filling silence with nonsense.
Familiar dark hair, longer and messier than the last time he saw it, topped the slumped figure in a chair facing away from him. There was no turning back now, there never really was. “Thanks, I’m uh-”
“Arthur!”
Tea forgotten and spilled on the floor, Arthur was suddenly wrapped in a death grip. And suddenly he was so happy he could almost cry. So long Arthur had waited to reunite with his friend. And then he heard the saddest sniffles. Unsure what to do, Arthur just held Merlin, being stared at by Adam and wondering how the hell he was still breathing.
Merlin seemed to remember himself then, pulling away and looking sheepish. “Hey Adam, do you mind?” And the craziest thing happened. Suddenly instead of Adam there was a fluffy red dog in the chair.
“Sire, uh, Arthur, is it really-”
“Merlin, did you turn that boy into a dog?!” And it was like that they both knew, they were still friends after all this time. And this made Merlin smile. For the first time in a long time Merlin smiled, reaching his eyes and his dimples.
“I didn’t, but I may have turned the dog into a boy”
Adam, the dog who Merlin turned into a boy when he realized he needed help looking after the house, looked over from his dog bed, not understanding a word. But he felt the happiness in the room and saw the happiest smile he had ever seen on Merlin’s face.
Smiling at Merlin, Arthur asked “What kind of clotpole names a dog Adam?”