Chapter 4
As Soon as Stephen was dismissed for the day he opened a portal. Usually he would stay a little longer to grab a book from the library but today he just wanted to get home.
He plopped down through the portal and sighed when his body hit the soft couch.
"You know, it would be great if there was a little warning before you crash into me." Tony told him as he adjusted himself and Stephen to be more comfortable with Stephen's head on his lap.
Stephen wriggled around a bit to see where the sound was coming from.
"What are we watching?"
"Merlin picked it." Tony defended immediately. Stephen just looked up at him, unimpressed.
"So Merlin picked a romantic Christmas movie."
"Obviously."
"Well where is my son anyway? He never misses me coming home through a portal." Stephen asked as he settled deeper against Tony to watch the movie.
"He's doing homework in his room." Tony explained matter of factly but suddenly they looked at each other. Merlin never did homework in his room. They jumped up and sprinted into Merlin's room.
"Merlin!" They opened the door hastily but came to a halt at the scene in front Of them.
Merlin looked at them wide eyed and quickly threw a blanket over the mess next to him and smiled innocently at his father and Tony.
"Merlin!" The lump under the blanket squeaked and Merlin elbowed them.
"Yes dad?" Merlin asked, his smile only brightening.
The older men kept their gazes on Merlin as they moved further into the room. Merlin shifted to shield the blanket behind him.
Stephen tried to rip the blanket off but Merlin kept holding it tight.
Tony used his chance and started to tickle the young boy, giving Stephen the chance to reveal what Merlin was hiding.
"Arthur!" He didn't quite know why it was even a surprise to him.
"That's not Arthur!" Merlin insisted. "It's just a really huge puppet. Looking like Arthur." He added and elbowed the other boy in the rips.
Stephen sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Arthur, how did you come here? Is your father with you?" They were after all at the other end of the world. Still he wouldn't put it past Uther to take his son with him on a business trip. Maybe someone brought him here but he would have to have the address for that. Stephen knew for a fact that Merlin didn't know their current address. And they would have had to get past Tony.
"Um no. Merlin b-" Merlin slapped his hand over Arthur's mouth before he could tell them the truth
"Arthur's family was in town for a vacation." Merlin tried to explain but Arthur looked at him confused.
"Is that so, Arthur?" Stephen and Tony asked. Merlin shoved him again.
"Yes, yes. What he said." Arthur affirmed with a nod of his head.
"Oh, great. Then we can have dinner together with your father and sister. I haven't seen them in a while."
"No!" The boys screamed immediately.
"I mean Mr Pendragon is a very busy man." Merlin explained and Arthur nodded along.
Stephen and Tony looked at each other and sighed. They turned their attention back to boys, mainly focusing on Arthur.
"I can't do this anymore." The boy whispered to himself.
"Merlin made magic and there were sparks and then I was here." Arthur rushed, leaving the older men gasping.
"Arthur!" Merlin hissed.
"I can't lie to your dad merlin!" He defended himself and crossed his arms.
"You did magic?" Stephen interrupted them.
Merlin glanced away and rubbed his neck.
"Only a tiny portal."
"How is this possible?" Tony asked. He saw Stephen doing it but no matter how much he tried himself he couldn't do it.
"I don't know. We were talking on the phone and Arthur told me how he hated to listen to his sister's dreams about purple aliens and I told him I missed him too and he was here."
Tony and Stephen shared a concerned look.
"Arthur, I'm sure your dad is already worried. Let me get you back." Stephen offered much to the boys' dismay.
"You can still talk to each other and maybe we can arrange a meeting for next week." He added and their pouts lessened.
"Okay, come on." He held his hand out for Arthur but Merlin grabbed the back of Arthur's shirt before he could go. They hugged briefly and promised to meet soon.
Stephen looked back pointedly at Tony to make sure he would make sure he would keep an eye on his son.
After he came back and saw his son looking at his hands trying to let them spark he thought he should take Merlin to Kamar-Taj tomorrow. Somehow he had the feeling the young boy would be more than delighted.