"Sir Waggles."

"Oh for God's sake."

"You said – "

"I know what I said!"

Arthur sighed. After the kennel incident last week, he'd finally decided that something needed to be done about Merlin's aversion to dogs. He'd known that Merlin convinced other servants to complete his chores when it came to the dogs, but after Merlin nearly had a meltdown the first time Arthur had sent a dog running by him while hunting, he'd decided it was perhaps best to let him off with it. But now Arthur decided he couldn't leave Merlin with such an obvious vulnerability, especially when some had already made it clear they were happy to exploit it.

So here they were, in the kennel they kept for whelping bitches, Merlin, Morgana and Lancelot kneeling next a litter of three-week-old puppies. Arthur was crouching down and Gwen standing in the doorway, watching them. This had been Morgana's idea, starting Merlin off with puppies, before moving onto larger animals. Arthur had a hold of the mother dog, who didn't seem to mind them handling her litter. This was her third one after all, so she was used to humans around her puppies, but Merlin seemed wary of her, so Arthur thought it best to keep a hold. It was completely unnecessary and Arthur knew it. She wasn't even straining against him.

Merlin hadn't been thrilled when he'd realised they were going to the kennels. But his face had lit up when Arthur told him he was going to let him name the new puppies. He didn't want to go near the dogs, but apparently, he had no problem with giving them ridiculous names.

"He's very creative, you have to admit Sire," Lancelot said, grinning, a puppy in his lap, licking his hand. The puppy in Morgana's arms was fast asleep. So far, in addition to Sir Waggles, they had Beelzepug ("He's not a pug!"), Prince of Barkness ("I'm noticing a theme, Merlin"), Baron von Floof-Tail ("Because what bitch doesn't a dog with land?") and finally –

"Bob," Merlin declared, cradling the last puppy against his chest.

"Bob?!"

"What can you possibly have against Bob?" Merlin asked, the others stifling laughter. "It's the most normal name out of all of them!"

"It doesn't exactly go with any of the rest of them though, does it?"

Merlin held up the puppy to look him in eyes. He didn't seem to mind when the puppy started licking his face, which is stark improvement to him gingerly taking the first puppy (Beelzepug) from Morgana. "He looks like a Bob."

"You said he could name them," Morgana reminded him.

"First and last time I ever do that," Arthur retorted.

Merlin cuddled Bob, burying his face into his soft fur. To think, an hour ago it had taken Lancelot putting an arm around Merlin's shoulders and pinning him to his side to get him in the kennel. "You know their last name is Pendragon, right?"

"Oh for God's sake."

"You said – "

"I know what I said!"