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“Come on, Merlin. Let’s just go back to the hotel.”
“No,” Merlin refuses, making Arthur sigh for the umpteenth time. “We have bought a magnet at every place we visited, so we need to find one here as well.”
“You’ve run around this entire shop at least three times. There are no magnets here,” Arthur grumbles, though it doesn’t stop him from following Merlin around through the cramped aisles lined with shelves filled to the brim with books, mugs, hats, T-shirts, any kind of souvenir you can imagine. Well, every kind of souvenir except for magnets apparently – and that’s the one thing Merlin wants to find.
When Merlin found a magnet at the souvenir shop of the first castle they visited on their trip, and another one at their next stop, he decided he’d buy a magnet at every place they visited and that had a souvenir shop.
He’d found one in every shop, until now.
There seems to be not even one magnet in this entire shop. Though Arthur must admit, albeit begrudgingly, that it’s quite impossible to find anything in this shop. It’s so fully crammed with things, you can barely see the shelves themselves anymore.
“I found them!” Merlin’s voice drifts from behind yet another set of shelves.
When Arthur turns the corner he finds Merlin squatted down on the floor, looking through a box at the bottom shelf of one of the racks.
That’s a curious place for magnets. Most shops had them displayed on a magnetic wall near the counter.
Arthur shouldn’t be surprised this shop does it differently though. Everything about this souvenir shop is different from all the others. So, when the magnets happen to be in a box on the lowest shelf at the back of the shop, Arthur isn’t even sure why he’s surprised.
Merlin isn’t bothered though. He’s rummaging through the box, an excited smile on his face and Arthur can’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. Yes, Merlin made him run around this shop too many times, but every time Merlin smiles, Arthur feels the butterflies in his stomach return with a vengeance.
He squats down next to Merlin to take a look in the box himself. “Anything interesting?”
“Just the basic ‘here’s a picture of the castle’ magnets,” Merlin mutters.
Arthur knows Merlin will buy a magnet with a picture on it anyway – unless he finds something funnier. Arthur learned that the hard way when Merlin got really excited about a magnet of a knight on a horse at one of their previous stops. Since then, the search for magnets wasn’t just a search for magnets anymore, it was the search for a funny magnet, instead of just a picture – making their visits to souvenir shops last even longer, unfortunately.
Arthur doesn’t really expect Merlin to find anything else than a ‘basic’ magnet. He’s been rummaging through that box for several minutes already after all.
So, he stands up to get out of the uncomfortable crouch. They’ve been walking so much the last couple of days that his legs are just too tired to squat for too long. He has no idea how Merlin is keeping it up.
He lets his gaze wander over all the knickknacks while he waits for Merlin to decide which magnet he’s going to buy.
All of a sudden Merlin lets out a loud laugh. “These two!”
“Two?” Arthur turns his head to see Merlin excitedly holding up two magnets. Arthur squints to try and make out what they are. They’re persons, one has a magician’s hat on and the other a crown, but that’s all he can make of it.
“They’re Merlin and Arthur!” Merlin exclaims excitedly before putting the box back on the shelf and rising to his feet. “These are perfect! See, all the running around this shop was worth it.”
Merlin gives Arthur a quick kiss before brushing past him to head to the cash register.
Arthur isn’t so sure running around this shop was worth it though. They’ll now have a fridge full of magnets of castles and knights, and he’s pretty sure Merlin will put the King Arthur and Merlin the Magician magnets right in the middle of them all.
Arthur sighs again – though admittedly, fondly. He can’t even be mad about it when Merlin is so excited about the magnets.
He follows Merlin to the cash register and when they finally walk out of the store again, he listens to Merlin, who immediately starts rambling about their next stop, while Arthur wonders which other magnets Merlin will add to the collection.