A/N: Here you go :)) Review :))

Arthur woke to the sound of a guitar. He pushed himself up on his elbows and rubbed sleepily at his eyes. For a second, he forgot where he was. The room was foreign, too large, too clean, to be Arthur's.

But then he heard a voice singing in the living room, the same voice he had been longing to hear for months and he remembered.

He stood up, grabbing his shirt as he went and pulling it over his head. He pushed the door open and walked barefoot over to the kitchen.

Merlin was sitting at the island with a notebook opened in front of him and a guitar propped up on his lap. On the stove, something Arthur had never seen before was cooking. Merlin was plucking absentmindedly at the strings, his brow furrowed in confusion and his teeth worrying his bottom-lip.

He wrote something down on a piece of paper where Arthur could clearly say his name etched on the top of it and then set the pen down, struck the strings and sang, "If my red eyes can't see you anymore and I can't hear you through the white noise, just send your heartbeat out, I'll go to the blue ocean floor".

"Is that about me?" He asked casually.

Merlin jumped about six feet and slammed the notebook shut, "Fuck, Arthur! Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry." Arthur said and walked over to the stove to peer over the strange substance boiling in the pan, "What is this?"

"Pancakes. You never had any?"

Arthur shook his head.

"They're my favorite," Merlin stood up and stretched. He was wearing long, black shorts and a plain white t-shirt that seemed to outline every single one of his newly acquired muscles. He walked over to stand by Arthur, grabbing a spatula and flipping over the strange, flat substance, "I'm making chocolate chip ones."

"Nice." He whispered because he didn't know what else to say, "So that song, is it about me?"

"Why would you think that?" Merlin muttered, seemingly annoyed.

"I saw my name," He said simply and when Merlin didn't say anything, he nudged him, "Come on, Merlin, don't be shy."

"I'm not shy. Look, yeah, it's a song I'm working on for my new album," He said quickly and then sprinkled chocolate chips onto the pan.

"So exactly how famous are you?"

"I was voted People's Sexiest Man three times now."

"You?"

"Why do you always gotta do that? Merlin's a sorcerer. Merlin!? Or He's the most powerful sorcerer to ever walk the earth. Merlin!? There's no way Merlin is a sorcerer." He flipped the pancake again.

Arthur shut up for a second and then just because he was a horrible human being, "I just always thought you were shabby looking."

"Good to know all these years hasn't changed you," Merlin smirked and reached to turn the stove off. He grabbed two plates out of the cabinets and placed two pancakes onto each plate. He handed one to Arthur and then went to sit down at the bar again, "Eat up, we have an early flight."

"It's changed you," Arthur says almost to himself, but either Merlin doesn't hear him or chooses to ignore him. But then something Merlin said catches up with him and he pauses mid-bite, "I'm sorry, did you say flight?"

Merlin just smiles.

Arthur learns three things very quickly.

One, he hates how famous Merlin is. It makes traveling obnoxious. There's a herd of funny men with cameras standing outside the hotel and they snap about fifty photos each of him and Merlin climbing into the van. When they get there, they have airport security escort them to check in.

Arthur blushed as he noticed several people stopping to look at what the commotion was and a few pointing in their direction, gasping. He pulled the hood of his shirt up, keeping his face down, because for once, Arthur didn't feel like he was the one that should be in the spotlight.

Merlin looked back at him, furrowing his eyebrows before mouthing Almost over.

When they reached the check-in, Arthur stood beside Merlin, facing the desk and refusing to turn back around. Merlin checked their bags, thanking the young girl behind the desk and seeming completely oblivious to the group behind him.

Arthur watched as two girls suddenly broke out of that group, walking towards Merlin. One was completely in tears, making Arthur shrink back even farther away. Because really, what's worse than a crying girl? The other was carrying her cellphone, almost bouncing to where Merlin stood.

"Colin?" She asked timidly, while her friend desperately wiped away tears.

Merlin turned around, offering that million-dollar smile that even people in Camelot had fallen for.

"My friend is like your biggest fan. Can she please get a picture with you?" She gestured to the crying girl, who was blushing and looking at Merlin as if she might grab him in a crushing hug.

"Absolutely!" He motioned for the girl to come towards him, smiling gently at her, "What's your name?"

"Sarah." She whispered, her eyes welling with tears again.

"Nice to meet you, Sarah." He said as he wrapped an arm around her, squeezing her arm with his hand as he smiled towards the camera. After the picture was taken, he turned to envelop her in a full hug to which she responded by breaking down crying again.

Arthur stared at the whole event like it was the oddest thing he'd ever seen. Cause it was. Merlin signed his name on a photo of himself that the girl had, gave her and her friend one last hug before he nodded for Arthur to follow him towards their terminal.

And really all this was just obnoxious.

Second, apparently this world had changed in more ways than one.

While they were going through security (which was another incredibly strange moment for Arthur, what with their searching for something called bombs and Merlin wouldn't even explain what they were in anything but a whisper that Arthur couldn't hear), Arthur happened to glance over at the other line mid-taking off his shoe.

He froze.

Because over in the other line were two men, kissing, hands wrapped tight in each other's hand. Immediately, his mind flashed back to the pyre where men had been purged of their sin, of their improper lust.

He elbowed Merlin hard in the rib, who had been patiently waiting in line, staring ahead. Merlin jumped back, rubbing his side, "What the hell?"

Arthur widened his eyes and nodded his head towards the couple. Merlin followed his line of gaze and furrowed his eyebrow, "What?"

"Shouldn't someone tell them to stop? They're gonna get caught."

Merlin didn't seem to be functioning what he was saying and then suddenly it dawned on him. He laughed, throwing his head back, and then shook his head, "It's okay, it's legal now."

"What?"

"Gay marriage is legal in a lot of places, including here."

Arthur stared, shocked, at the couple as they moved through security and passed Merlin and him. One of them, the shorter one, stopped at the sight of Merlin and pointed to him. His partner smiled and tugged him along, but the boy stood still and waited for Merlin to pass through security.

"Hey, can we take a picture with you?" He asked once Merlin had put his shoes back on.

The airport security stood between the couple and Merlin, but Merlin nodded and stood. He went to stand between them, throwing his arms around their shoulders and smiling for the picture as if they were two normal people and not two people that would have been stoned back in the day.

Three, Arthur really, really hated flying.

When they were walking past the window, Merlin stopped and pointed out the window to a strange metal tube with two frighteningly unstable wings attached to the side of it. The tube was pulling away from the building, turning towards the runway.

"What is that?" He whispered over Merlin's ear.

"That's a plane. That's what we're getting on."

Arthur watched as the plane plummeted down the airway and then lifted into the sky like a damn bird.

He decided right then there was no way in hell he was going. He backed up, grabbing his suitcase, "Hell no. Merlin, you're insane."

"Colin," Merlin whispered harshly and reached to grab his arm, "Let's go."

"I'm not going on that."

"Yes, you are."

"No, Colin, I swear I'm not. I'm staying here."

"Come on, they're completely safe," Arthur gave him a incredulous look at that and Merlin quickly shook his head, "I swear! You have a bigger chance of getting in a car accident than a plane crash."

"At least you can survive a car crash. If that thing goes down then you're dead."

"People have survived plane crashes, Bradley."

"So they have crashed? I'm not going."

Merlin rolled his eyes, and then stepped forward, straight into Arthur's personal space. Their guard gave them a strange look, but otherwise kept his eyes toward the passing travelers. Merlin leaned down, mouth almost against Arthur's ear, "Please trust me, Arthur, I swear I won't let us crash. You know I won't let us."

Arthur stepped back, looking up at Merlin, "You can stop us? If you needed to?"

Merlin nodded.

Arthur thought it over for a second. He supposes if he was going to get on a giant death trap, his best bet was to get on it with an immortal, powerful sorcerer.

"Fine, but I'm not happy about it."

Merlin rolled his eyes, "What's new."

"Shut up."

That got him laughing.

And that's how Arthur ended up strapped inside a giant, metal Tylenol with wings. Of course, they were given a nice, private section of the plane so that Merlin wouldn't be disturbed by obsessive fans. His hands where clenched white around the arm rests while Merlin hummed along happily to himself and stared out the window.

He was too damn happy about this if you asked Arthur.

The engine revved, and Arthur clenched hard, his heart dropping to his stomach. Merlin laughed merrily and plugged his headphones in.

"Fuck you." Arthur mumbled to him because really couldn't Merlin see that he was having a crisis? No wait, of course he didn't, he was an insolent idiot.

"Sorry," Merlin smiled, pulling his headphones out and setting them aside, "We're about to take off."

"How long is this gonna take?'

"Few hours."

"A few hours!? How long is a few hours!?"

"Eleven hours."

"Eleven hours!?"

That's when the plane decided to lurch forward down the runway. Arthur reached over and grabbed Merlin's leg. Merlin looked down at his leg and then over at Arthur, raised an eyebrow, but Arthur's eyes were screwed shut, "Shut up, Merlin."

"Colin. And are you scared?"

"No."

"Then why are you holding onto me?"

Arthur chose to ignore him and kept his eyes shut. He felt the plane lift, felt his stomach fly to his throat and fear struck him at the very core. Suddenly, he felt a hand slip over his and looked over to see Merlin mumbling something under his breath.

He felt a wave of warmth rush up his arm, and then spread down his side like wildfire. He glanced over at Merlin and raised an eyebrow.

"It'll help you," Merlin said and squeezed his hand.

Arthur felt the warmth rush over him, spreading straight to his head and his eyes drooped. He tilted his head to tell Merlin to be more careful, or maybe to even say thank you, but he had lost the energy to do so.

The last thing he was aware of was Merlin slipping his hand into his as if this was something they had always done, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. And in a way, it was.

So it turns out Merlin's magic, despite the thousand of years of practice, wasn't perfected because Arthur woke up about half way through the flight.

It wasn't like a gradual wake up either, where you blink your eyes open, try to focus, stretch lazily and yawn. No, it was more of a snap your eyes open and realize you're over a thousand miles up in the air.

Arthur sat straight up, feeling panicked all over again. Merlin was leaning against the side of the plane, his eyes closed, his headphones in, and seemed to be sleeping. And the idiot had left the window shade pulled up so Arthur could see that they were now flying over the clouds, the sky dark and basically, in his mind, about five minutes from death itself.

He elbowed Merlin hard in the side and Merlin hissed, blinking his eyes open and yanking his headphones out, "Good morning to you too."

"Put me back to sleep," Arthur hissed.

Merlin glanced down at his IPhone, reading the time, "We've only got forty or so minutes left. If I put you to sleep right now, you wouldn't be awake for the drive home."

"I don't care. Put me to sleep."

"I'm not carrying you through the airport," He wrapped his headphones around his IPhone and shoved both into his pocket, "You'll be fine, I promise."

Arthur huffed, falling back into his seat and refusing to look out the window.

"When they first invented planes, everyone was terrified of them. Including myself," Merlin whispered, "but over time, they've actually become the safest way to travel. And with my job and everything, I have to fly literally all the time."

Arthur didn't say anything.

"You know, whenever I got on a plane, I always wondered what you would think of them. Would you be scared, would you laugh, would you think it was incredible? And what about Gwen? What would she do?"

Arthur hummed in response, his wife's name breaking his heart.

"But anyways…"

"Do you have new friends now?" Arthur said slowly. It wasn't a very serious question, of course he did, but Arthur needed to hear it, to know Merlin wasn't completely alone.

"Yeah, yeah, I do. I actually have a girlfriend too."

Arthur twisted his head, glanced over to see Merlin looking at him. Arthur arched an eyebrow, "A girlfriend?"

"Yes," Merlin laughed. He unlocked his phone, clicking on a few apps and handing Arthur his phone.

Arthur peered down at the picture of the beautiful brunette. She was holding the ugliest dog Arthur had ever seen, her hair pulled into a braid on the side of her face and her too-white teeth visible as her lips pulled into a smile. It was the same brunette that Arthur had seen Merlin holding hands with in the pictures on the internet.

"Her name is Ashley, and that's my dog, Merlin."

Arthur handed his phone back and scrunched his eyebrows again, "You named a dog after yourself?"

"Is there a problem with that? Besides, Merlin is a common enough name now."

Arthur shook his head, leaning back to close his eyes, "How long have you two been dating?"

"A year," Merlin whispered.

"Does she know?"

Merlin laughed, but it wasn't a happy laugh, instead it was heartbreaking, "No one knows."

The pilot came on over the loud speaker, causing Arthur to have a heart attack in the middle of the damn airplane, and announced that they were preparing for landing.

"Anyway, I have a few spare bedrooms at my house so you should be okay staying with me."

"You own a house?"

"Arthur," he whispered, leaning down so no one could hear him, "I have literally a thousand years worth of savings. Of course, I have money."

"Oh."

"And we'll work on getting you new clothes and a car and all that. I'm at the studio most days, but there's plenty to do around the house. And I have three dogs so they can always entertain you."

"I'm not a damn child. I don't need babysat."

Merlin laughed, "Touché. Hey, look, you'll enjoy this."

He pointed out the window as they breached the clouds, the sun was finally starting to rise again, and suddenly, Arthur could see the whole land stretched out below him. Everything looked so tiny, almost like toys. There were mountains and trees, but mostly just lots of buildings. Arthur watched, fear temporarily forgotten, in amazement as the toy cars grew larger and larger as they landed.

About thirty minutes later, they finally did land and that was somehow ten times less terrifying than taking off. Arthur had never been so glad to see ground. Merlin was pulling them off the plane, his hood back up.

They waited by baggage claim, Arthur watching it in fascination while Merlin chatted with someone on his phone.

When they finally had their luggage, Merlin tugged him towards the double sliding doors, ignoring the sudden mass of paparazzi surrounding them.

"Who's your friend!? He's cute!" They were screaming at him, Merlin ignored them and faced forward, "Sir, what's your name? Tell us who you are!"

Merlin's guard was standing in front of him, yelling at them to back up. Arthur kept his face down, his fingers twisted into the back of Merlin's jacket. The flashes were almost blinding him, the usual headache already in place. Merlin stopped at the curb, and there was a car in front of him that Arthur had just now noticed.

Arthur didn't really know what it was, but it was a slick silver, low to the ground and kinda loud.

"It's a Ferrari," Merlin yelled, like that was supposed to help him.

He yanked the door open, shoving Arthur into the backseat and himself into the passenger seat. He closed the door, the window tints doing very little to keep the flashing from blinding them.

There in the driver's seat was that brunette, Ashley. She was even more stunning in person, wearing dark, ripped jeans and a white v-neck with a gray vest, her hair wavy and falling behind her back. She turned to smile over at Merlin, who leaned in to kiss her, whispering "I missed you again", against her lips.

Arthur looked away.

When Merlin pulled away, she cast a look into the backseat, smiled and then gave Merlin a questioning look.

"This is Bradley. He's a childhood friend of mine. I haven't seen him in years, but he surprised me at my concert."

She stuck her hand back awkwardly, "Nice to meet you. I'm Ashley."

He wasn't sure if he was supposed to kiss it or grab it, but decided on the latter because it was Merlin's girlfriend and he didn't want to disrespect him. He grabbed her forearm, shaking it a little. She smiled a little awkwardly and turned back around.

They had to wait for the paparazzi to clear out, but once they did, Ashley took off down the street.

"How you been?" Merlin said after a minute of checking his phone.

"Good, actually! I had that magazine shoot yesterday!"

"It went well?"

"I think so. How was the concert?"

"I'll let Bradley answer that."

And suddenly Ashley was looking in the rearview mirror at him. He was just sitting in the back, his bag in his lap with his hands folded over it, staring out the window, "I'm sorry, what?"

"How was the concert?"

"Oh, uh, good. Very good."

She smiled at that answer, pleased, and turned back to the road. Arthur breathed a sigh of relief of being left alone once again and turned back to stare out the window. Merlin and Ashley were chatting about the dogs and their schedules and other nonsense, but Arthur mostly tuned them out.

It wasn't until they pulled up to the front gates of Merlin's house that Arthur tuned into what was happening. The driveway was absolutely ridiculous, it winded up into the hills, leading to a large, white house with a black roof, and a large fountain in front of it. Arthur gazed up at it in wonder. It wasn't the size of his castle, but it was large, much bigger than any house than any noble in Camelot could have afforded.

Ashley pulled up in front of the steps, two large pillars framed the house. Merlin stepped out, just as a younger woman opened up the front door and let out two dogs. One was that ugly fuck, the other two were huge ass dogs that came pounding down the steps and leaping into Merlin's arms.

Merlin was on his knees, his face being mauled by the two large dogs, while the small one circled at his knees.

"I missed you guys, yes I did!" Merlin laughed, pressing kisses to the side of each of their faces. "Here, Bradley, I'll introduce you."

"No, that's fine. I'm okay."

"Shut up. Here, this," he pointed to the tiny ugly one, "is Merlin. He's a pug and only about a year old. That one," he pointed to the large black one, "is Rocky, he's a Dutch Shepard. And this big one here," he pointed to the horse of a dog, "is Zeus. He's a mastiff."

The dogs had accumulated at Arthur's feet, sniffing at his ankles and licking him in random places.

"Come on, I'll show you around. Then we can have dinner on Sunset Strip!" And with that, the immortal sorcerer bounded inside.

Also disclaimer, I don't hate pugs or think they're ugly. I actually have one haha. So don't be offended!