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"Merlin look at this!" Arthur says excitedly as he enters their room, phone in hand.
Merlin smiles at his husband's enthusiasm, looking at the picture Arthur is shoving in his face.
"Hold still, I can't see." Merlin mutters, grabbing Arthur's wrist to steady him.
He's found an artist on Instagram and clearly went down a rabbit hole of their work, and has stopped on a mosaic of a dragon, made of red, blue, and gold glass.
"Very cool. I like the colors, really well made!" Merlin says, unable to match Arthur's energy at the moment, it was a long shift at the hospital, but definitely doesn't want to bring down his mood.
After all, Arthur tries to match him when he gets excited about something, even if he'd been in the office all day.
"All of this artist's stuff is good! But this is special because it's for sale!"
"How much?"
"Not.. that much?" Arthur says with a nervous smile.
"Arthur, you know we're supposed to be saving up." Merlin says, though he hates to ruin Arthur's fun.
"Yes, saving up for the baby! But we could put this in the nursery!"
One of the ladies who has been coming to the hospital that Merlin works at is pregnant, but she isn't ready for a child yet, so Merlin and Arthur will be adopting the baby, and they may have gone a little overboard in preparing, and now have to be more careful with their spendings.
"Arthur, honey, don't you think this might be a little frightening for a baby?" Merlin asks gently.
"No?"
"Besides, what if they won't even like dragons?"
"Merlin, I doubt they'll have much choice. You'll have them watching How To Train Your Dragon the day we're back from the hospital."
"True. But that could make them annoyed with all things dragon."
"Even the name?"
"Maybe I should wait until at least three days home."
"Are you sure we can't get it? You love dragons!"
"Hm, isn't that lucky for you, Mr. Pendragon?"
"That's Mr. Ambrosius-Pendragon to you." Arthur says as he pulls Merlin closer.
"Isn't it that to everyone else, as well?"
"Nah, to everyone else it's Pendragon-Ambrosius."
"You're such a prat. Too bad for you, I was going to say we could get the dragon thingy if you get the deal next month and I pick up an extra shift or two, but now I don't think we can." Merlin says with a sly look.
"Noo, I always say Ambrosius first!"
"It's too late, the damage is done."
"It would make your favorite husband very happy."
"Are you saying I have another husband somewhere who's not my favorite? He can't be worse than you."
"And you call me a prat." Arthur says, narrowing his eyes.
"That's because you are."
"You're terrible."
"Then you shouldn't have given me this, now you're stuck with me." Merlin says, wiggling the fingers of the hand where his wedding band rests.
"What an awful thing I've done." Arthur says as he leans in for a kiss.
"Mm, dreadful." Merlin says just before their lips meet.
"This is your way of bribing me to get the mosaic, isn't it?" Merlin asks a few minutes later.
"Maybe." Arthur mumbles into his neck.
"I hate to say that it's working."
"The baby will love it, you'll see."
"You better hope they do."
~
A few months later, their child giggles and claps at anything dragon related, and Arthur is very smug.
Merlin doesn't mind too much though, since he continues to get bribes, and even if he wouldn't admit it, he quite likes most dragon related things too.