Hearing Evander laugh like that was both surprising and refreshing. Alfred found himself breaking out into a genuine smile as well, and — Merlin, when was the last time that had happened? Both of them genuinely happy, if even for a minute, at the same time, about the same thing? Even if that thing was a stupid joke that he'd made about his disaster of a book. It felt good to laugh with his brother. It felt, for the first time in quite a while, as though they were actually family.

"Yeah," he agreed easily. "We can definitely agree on that."