Arthur's return

A drunken king

It was the next day, Arthur woke up still basked in his confusion but came more to terms with that fact that he might not only be attracted to women.
Arthur walked downstairs and was greeted by a sight that caused Arthur's heart to stop, Merlin had just gotten out of the shower and was only wearing a pair of grey joggers and was dancing around the kitchen making breakfast, Arthur caught himself staring at merlin for longer than he had expected, he couldn't resist but stare at his body, the last time Arthur saw merlin shirtless he was a little distracted by the fact he was just beaten up but now he can clearly see how toned merlin is, he was also skinny but Arthur has never assumed that merlin also had some muscle. Merlin had clear abs that ran along down his abdomen and his arms were also surprisingly toned, Arthur now thinking merlin was still a lot stronger than he always thought.
Arthur didn't only stare at merlins body however, he also couldn't help but stare in awe at merlins hair, the raven coloured birds nest was still a little damp, causing the hairs at the front to curl, merlins hair was longer now than it was back in Camelot and Arthur liked it much better, it was never curly in Camelot, maybe the odd wave every now an again when merlin forgot to brush his hair.
Merlin was making breakfast for the both of them when he noticed Arthur in a trance next to him "um Arthur are you ok?" Arthur suddenly blinked himself out of his trance "what? Oh um yes I'm perfectly fine merlin"
After they were sat down Arthur was watching Merlin zone out staring at his coffee "merlin?" Merlin jumped slightly and lightly laughed when he realised he zoned out "what do you want dollophead?" "I was wondering if taverns still exist? I feel like we deserve to relax a little bit, you know coming back from the dead and you living for thousands of years and all" Arthur laughed out "yeh there's taverns still.. sort of, they have changed a bit and they are called pubs or bars now, and instead of drinking mead it's beer and a bunch of other alcohol, do you wanna go tonight?" Arthur now excited to going to the 'pub' "yeh! It will be like the good old days"
Later on-
"MERRLLINN!!" Arthur screamed from his room "WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU IDIOT?! IM TRYING TO GET READY" "WHAT DO PEOPLE WEAR TO A PUB" merlin sighed and grumbled a response before walking up to dress the idiot himself.
When they got to the pub Arthur stood there in shock, it all looked so.. modern. It wasn't the towns tavern with shabby wooden tables and barrels of mead anymore. He thought back to the joy filled nights in Camelot where no matter your class you had fun, connecting over games and mead. He still missed his old home but it had become a sort of nostalgia, a good memory to look back on, besides he had his best friend still with him, what more could a king ask for?(or ex king as merlin likes to constantly remind him)
Merlins thoughts however weren't so joyful, much like Arthur he thought back to Camelot but that only reminded him of his losses, especially gwaine In this particular setting. He also thought back to the decades he spent sat at a bar alone drinking his sorrows away..
But now, now he had Arthur, his best friend, he had no reason to think back to the bad days.

Merlin walked further into the pub and checked behind him to make sure arthur was following. He sat down on one of the bar stools and patted the one next to him inviting him to sit down, "I'm not going to order any fancy drinks as of right now considering your only used to mead so I will get us some beer ok?" "Oh um yeh sure" Arthur replied despite still being in a slight shock at how different everything was.
When merlin passed the Beer to Arthur he took a swig of his own, Arthur looked down at the bottle suspiciously but took a sip of it anyways, after swallowing the beer he was pleasantly surprised, it didn't taste much different to mead.. maybe a bit stronger. Merlin chuckled lightly at Arthur's reaction "do you like it?" "Yes actually, it's very similar to mead" "I wonder how your alcohol tolerance is to it, I don't want you getting to drunk and throwing up all over my house" "come on merlin do you really think so little of me?" Arthur teased "yes" merlin chuckled back.

More than a few drinks later-
'MERLLLInnn' Arthur shouted as he stumbled over to merlin who was still sat at the bar 'I think you may have had a little too much to drink dollophead' merlin chuckled taking another sip of his beer, "HOW DARE YOY I AM KING OF CAMMELOTT" Arthur teasing with a Exaggerated look on his face "ex king of Camelot, dont let your kingly ego get to your head" merlin smirked "YYOOUR AN idIOT YOU KNooww?" "Yes Arthur and your a prat, nothing has changed and here was I thinking a thousand years under water you would have done some character development" merlin teased back "Oi i DONT NEEDS CHARACHTER DOGVELOPMENT" "sure you don't, come on let's get you home before the town put you in a mental hospital for claiming your the king of Camelot"

Merlins pov-
The walk back home in theory was 5 minutes but no thanks to Arthur constantly stumbling and putting all of his weight on me and me having to forcefully drag Arthur away from a duck pond where he was "going to be the duck king instead" it took over half an hour to get home. Despite how high maintenance Arthur can be I wouldn't trade this relationship I have with him for anything else in the world, we have both saved each other so many times, wether that be by a sacrifice or gone unnoticed by the other.

Omg can you believe your eyes, I posted?!?? Sorry it took so long, this chapter was originally going to be longer but I felt bad so I cut it a little bit short and the next chapter will have the rest of this in it. Hope you like it thanks for waiting :))