Work Text:
~x~
The wailing could be heard throughout the keep that day. With each passing moment, it grew louder and louder and louder.
“You must do something, my lord.”
Arthur, the High King of Albion, winced. If Leon, his right hand, the Captain of his Knights, was complaining, well... “I know, Leon,” the King sighed. “Trust me, I know. It’s just... there’s nothing I can do, is there?”
Leon scrunched his nose up at that, his beard twitching as he crossed his arms.
Uh-oh, Arthur managed to think before...
“Nothing you can do? Begging your pardon, sire, but if anyone can do anything that’d be you.” The tone of delivery for that was so dry, the King had to swallow a few times to get some saliva going in his mouth.
Another absolutely heart-wrenching wail echoed through the hall. The nobles were casting Arthur looks now.
The King fidgeted. “But if I do...”
Leon threw his hands up. “So bloody what? Just fix it! For gods’ sake, Arthur, Merlin isn’t here, is he? Were he here, believe me when I say, I’d be on a bended knee before him, just so this blasted screeching would stop already!”
At that, the King frowned. “Hey now, watch your tongue... I’ll not have you---“
“Then do something!” Leon interrupted, clearly beyond his patience at this point. “Every time, every damn time he leaves, this happens. It’s the same thing. Over and over and over, I swear, Arthur, I cannot take this for much longer!”
“Fine!” Arthur could swear he heard ‘never me, good gods, never me’ from Leon, as he stormed out the hall and straight for the castle’s kitchens.
~x~
“Are you sure this is going to work?”
“Yes. I’ve done it loads of times, trust me, it always works!”
There was giggling then. When it stopped, a deep breath was drawn in.
Another wail sounded a second later.
More giggling followed. “Yes, this always works. As long as Daddy isn’t...”
The door opened, an unamused and an even less impressed Court Sorcerer of Albion standing there, his arms crossed.
The wailing cut off abruptly. “Uh-oh...”
Merlin’s eyebrow twitched. “Thusa. Angie.”
“’lo, Daddy...” Aithusa muttered, biting her lower lip. Angelo just watched, his eyes huge and worried.
“What have I told you about teaching your sibling the Manipulation of Father, hm, Thusa?” Merlin asked, doing his damndest to sound stern. He may have failed. A little.
Aithusa, who was trying --- doing her best to be inconspicuous --- to wipe away her brother’s snot, winced. “’wasn’t, Daddy, I promise...”
Just as Merlin was opening his mouth to retort to that, the door burst open once more, a haggard looking King of entire joined nation of Albion standing there, huffing lightly.
“Here, you utter, absolute bandits, I give, have it all, you---” he stopped. Blinked. “Sweetheart. You’re… home…”
This time it was Merlin’s lips that twitched. “And you’re… Holding a plate of cookies.” He raised his eyebrow. “Given up, are we?”
Arthur scowled, first at Merlin, then at the cookies in his hands and then, finally, at their two unruly, brats of children. “It’s not my fault. It was all Leon’s idea, I’ll have you know. I wouldn’t have…”
Angelo’s lower lip wobbled, and just like that, he had a cookie in his pudgy little paw while Arthur was still blinking and trying to parse out how the f--- had that just happened.
“Riiiiiight…” Merlin could not have sounded less impressed had he tried.
Arthur shrugged a shoulder and popped a cookie into his own mouth in reply. A moment later though, his own lips twitched into a bemused smile and he offered his husband the plate. “Cookie?”
Merlin snorted. Aithusa grinned.
“Told you we’d get cookies, didn’t I, Angie?”
Merlin’s shoulders shook in amusement at his children’s and his husband’s antics. With a sigh, he waved the door closed, grabbed himself a cookie, and turned to his family. “Well then. Since I’ve been very promptly pulled from the Very Important Negotiations,” Arthur winced at that, and Merlin let his hand drop to his husband’s lower back to rub in a soothing circle, letting him know all was well, his smile widening when he felt Arthur relax under his touch, “How about we do something together, to work off all the sugar we’re about to consume, hm?”
Aithusa and Angelo screeched their joy, diving for the plate and stuffing their mouths full of delicious and still warm cookies. Arthur huffed out a laugh, turning to plant a soft kiss on his Merlin’s cheek.
“Thank you,” he whispered in his ear.
Merlin smiled. Albion at peace. Castle at peace now too. Happy citizens, happy husband, happy children. What more could a Sorcerer ever wish for?
“Hey! That’s my cookie!”
Merlin winced.
~x~