The Magic of Christmas for Chaosgenes
Title: The Magic of Christmas
Recipient:chaosgenes
Author: bunnysworld
Rating: PG13
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur
Summary: Arthur has a crush on Merlin. Will this afternoon of pre-Christmas ice skating give him the opportunity to let Merlin know about his feelings?
Warnings: Fluff?
Word Count: 2980
Author's Notes: It was so much fun writing this! Thank you for giving me so much leeway with your prompt(s). I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with everything you like and more!
Thanks to my beta readers inspired_being and Terry. Thanks, ladies, for making my boys speak English. Sometimes I’m just stubborn enough to ignore the native speakers. So, everything you still find in there is totally my fault.
Disclaimer:Merlin is owned by the BBC and Shine. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made. Don't send us to the dungeons.
Arthur’s cheeks were glowing. Not only because he was skating around the makeshift ice rink they had freed of snow on the frozen lake and definitely not because they had been here for about two hours already. But because his heart beat that little bit faster when Merlin was around. All year long he had admired Merlin from afar and the more he learned about him, the more he liked him. So far, he had not acted on it.
It was difficult. The boys were always around and he wasn’t big on expressing his feelings anyway. He had been quite eager to agree to this pre-Christmas skating afternoon as it held another chance for showing off a bit and hopefully impressing Merlin.
Which he had not really managed all afternoon. Merlin was a disaster when it came to skating, which wasn’t too surprising as he claimed he had never skated before, so he had been focused on his own skating and totally missed the elegance and speed with which Arthur knew he skated. Merlin was in a pair of Gwaine’s spare skates as they had approximately the same shoe size and was staggering his way around the rink. More often than not, Merlin was down on the ice.
Like now. Again. After not doing much about it the entire time, Arthur decided to skate over now. This tumble had looked particularly bad. He kneeled down next to Merlin.
“Are you alright?”
Merlin chuckled. “I’m going to be one big walking bruise tomorrow, but yeah…” He looked at his arms and legs. “Everything still attached, so…” He held his hand out.
Arthur took it immediately and helped Merlin up. Merlin blushed a little and then pulled back. Maybe he held his hands in his a moment too long?
“I’m freezing. I’m going home,” Percy announced.
That seemed to be the sign everybody had been waiting for.
“Yeah, it’s slowly getting dark. Time to leave.” Gwaine did an elegant turn on the ice and headed towards where his shoes were standing.
Elyan skated over as well, followed by Lance.
“Wasn’t that better than a Christmas party?” Lance looked at them eagerly.
“Are you saying I will not get any eggnog now?” Gwaine mock-glared at him.
“You will get one at the Christmas market tomorrow.” Percy sat down on the huge fallen tree where they had dropped their things and untied his skated.
Gwaine sat very close to him, doing the same. “Okay, let’s go home.”
Arthur had waited for Merlin to follow and when he noticed that the other man had a bit of difficulty, he held out his hand and pulled him along gently.
“So, Merlin, how was your first experience on the ice? Are we going to make a hockey player out of you some time soon?”
Merlin sat down on the tree heavily and laughed. “I am pretty certain my talents lie somewhere else.” He pulled off his mittens and tried to untangle the wet laces of his skates with cold fingers.
“Here, let me help you.” Arthur was already back in his winter boots, which were quite cold. Quickly, he untied Merlin’s skates and handed him his sneakers. “Not really the appropriate footwear for this time of year, is it?”
Merlin shrugged. “When you said ‘skating’ I figured we’d be on a civilized ice rink with a roof over our heads, with benches around and a stand that sells hot chocolate.”
Arthur smiled. “This is much better. But…” He swallowed hard. “You’re quite wet from all the time you spent connected with the ice. Wanna…I don’t know…come to my place to warm up?”
Gwaine was about to say something but Percy elbowed him hard, so he closed his mouth again. Elyan didn’t manage to stifle a grin and Lance nodded. Oy, he guessed he had been pining for Merlin for too long and quite obviously.
Merlin clumsily tied his sneakers and then rubbed his hands together. “Your place is a lot closer than mine and the prospect to being wet on the bus home isn’t too appealing either.”
“Can’t you just say ‘yes’?” Gwaine laughed.
Arthur hated this. He didn’t want to be so public when he wasn’t sure that Merlin saw more than a friend in him. He glanced back at Merlin and then beamed widely when he nodded.
“Alright, but I’m frozen solid. So be prepared for water puddles in your place when I start thawing.”
They all got up, grabbed their things and said their good-byes, promising they’d all meet again at the Christmas market in town the next day.
As they walked back to Arthur’s car, Merlin pulled his mittens back on and made a face.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re wet. Wet and cold.” Merlin looked at them with disgust, obviously pondering which was worse - wearing wet and cold mittens or not wearing mittens at all.
Without thinking about it, Arthur reached over and rubbed Merlin’s hands between his. This time, he didn’t let go and just stuffed their combined hands into the pocket of his jacket.
Merlin looked at him, a bit uncertain for a moment, and then started to laugh. “Hey, I’ve got two hands!” He let go for a moment, stepped behind Arthur and stuck both of his hands into the pockets of Arthur’s jacket from behind.
It felt so good feeling Merlin laughing into his neck. But…”How are we supposed to get to the car now?”
“Like this…one.”
Arthur felt Merlin’s knee against the back of his and moved his leg a step forward.
“And two.”
The other side followed.
Arthur laughed. “This way, we might still be here tomorrow.” He turned, which made Merlin’s hands slip out of his pockets. “How about…you warm one hand in my pocket, we make it to the car and there I’ll turn the heating up all the way?”
Merlin pretended to ponder, knowing that his funny suggestion wouldn’t take them anywhere. “Alright. But then it’s your fault if my other hand falls off.”
“We’ll find ways to warm it up.” Arthur paused for a moment, glad that the others weren’t with them anymore as they had parked in a different direction. He was sure that Gwaine would have had some good ideas on what to do to keep Merlin’s hand warm and that might have destroyed…well…what they had just shared.
They made it back to the car and Arthur even turned on the seat heating, even though he usually claimed that a real man didn’t need that luxury.
Merlin snuggled into the seat.
They made it to Arthur’s place in no time. Arthur went around and turned the heater up.
Merlin toed off his sneakers and hung up his jacket before he went over to lean against one of the heaters.
“You’re still cold. If you’d like to take a shower, you know where the bathroom is. There’s towels on the shelf.”
“Yes, I know where your bathroom is, I’ve used it before.” Merlin grinned widely at Arthur’s explanation that sounded as if he had never been here before.
Oh, right, Merlin had been over whenever they did something as a group, like playing board games, birthday parties or even watching sport events on Arthur’s big screen. Arthur knew Merlin just came for the company, not because he was so much into sports.
“But I don’t have any fresh clothes. I’d have to walk around naked until these have dried.” Merlin was still grinning widely.
Arthur felt the little blush on his face. He so wouldn’t mind that, but maybe it was a bit too early for things like these? “I’ll get you some sweatpants and a hoodie?”
“Oh, good.” Merlin rolled his eyes with a chuckle. “Even though I do look good in nothing but a towel.”
Arthur blinked. Was Merlin flirting with him? Oh…no, maybe not. “Err…You can take the towels that are above the heating. They’re warm and cozy.”
“Okay, thanks.” Merlin went to the bathroom and Arthur could hear him rummaging around.
He went to get the promised sweatpants and hoodie and put a t-shirt on top of the stack that he’d set down on the hallway sideboard next to the bathroom door. Of course his mind was giving him lots of images of what Merlin was probably doing in there, but he cleared his throat and went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. Probably not a real hot chocolate, he wasn’t a good cook, but even he was capable of boiling some water in the kettle, ripping some pouches open and pouring the water over the powder in a mug.
As he carefully carried the mugs over to the living room, pondering where he put the cookies Morgana had brought the other day, Merlin left the bathroom. And Arthur stared.
Toweling his hair, so it stood up in every direction, Merlin looked strangely hot in the clothes that were obviously a bit too big for him. Especially the sweatpants. And even though the tops were a bit too wide around the middle, Merlin filled the shoulders nicely. When had that happened? Merlin didn’t really work out, did he?
“Ah, that feels better. Now I only need some socks on and my feet might warm up…hopefully this century.” Merlin grinned. “Mmmm, the hot chocolate smells good.”
Arthur swallowed hard. “I’ll…err…I was about to put them on the coffee table and then go find some cookies. Or would you like something else? We can order something if you’re hungry?”
“Cookies are fine. Maybe we can order something later?”
Later. Merlin intended to stay at his place for a while. Great! Arthur felt a huge smile on his face. “Sure.”
“Don’t startle when you enter your bathroom. I decorated it with all my wet clothes.”
“We could toss them into the dryer?” Why had he suggested it? The sooner Merlin’s clothes were dry, the sooner he would leave.
Merlin shook his head. “No need for that.”
“Alright, then…” He gestured towards the living room, following after Merlin and set the mugs down.
Merlin sat down, pulled the socks over his feet, wiggled his toes and then looked around, a puzzled expression on his face.
“What?” He had been here so often before. He knew the place. Why was he looking around like that?
“Where’s your Christmas decorations?”
“Why would I need Christmas decorations?” Arthur had found the cookies and poured them from the package onto a plate.
“To…I don’t know…make it homely…looking like the season…because it’s fun?”
Arthur shrugged. There was nothing fun about Christmas itself. The time leading up to Christmas, that he enjoyed. He was out with friends, doing fun stuff. But Christmas itself was usually boring as everybody was busy with family and he had no place to go. “I always thought it was a lot of work to put it up only to be more work when you have to take it down again.”
“You’re such a Grinch!” Merlin laughed and reached for a mug. He sipped the chocolate and closed his eyes. “Mmm, this is good.”
“Nothing special.” Arthur laughed nervously. “So…what do you want to do now?”
Merlin smiled. “How about…we watch a Christmas movie? One of the really kitschy ones? Where boy meets girl and we know that they will end up together but we love having our hearts broken with them?”
Arthur wasn’t too much a fan of that kind of movie but he nodded and handed Merlin the remote. “Here, your pick.”
Folding one foot underneath the other leg, Merlin laughed. “You only do that so you can blame me if it gets too bad.”
“Yup.” Grinning, Arthur watched how Merlin navigated all the streaming services he had subscriptions for.
“Too much sports.” Merlin didn’t look at him and finally found the one he wanted. He clicked through a few of the offered movies. “Oh, I’ve heard about this one!” He started the movie and then snuggled back into the couch.
Arthur wasn’t too interested in the movie, even though Merlin had picked one where - miracle of miracles - it wasn’t the typical boy and girl protagonists but two young men. He threw Merlin glances, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
Merlin exchanged the foot he was warming underneath his thigh.
“Are your feet still cold?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“How about….” Arthur swallowed. “How about you stick them under my legs? That way you can warm both of them at the same time?”
Merlin looked delighted and moved around, so he sat with his feet underneath Arthur’s leg and sighed. “That’s much better.”
“Do you need a blanket? Or should I turn the heating up a bit more?” It was almost too warm for his own taste but he didn’t want Merlin to freeze.
“Nah, that’s good.”
They watched the movie in silence, with Merlin having his hands wrapped around his mug until he finished the hot chocolate, and each of them reaching for a cookie once in a while.
“Awww, that was nice.” Merlin turned his head and beamed at him when the movie had ended.
“Oh, we knew that they would end up as a couple, didn’t we?” Arthur chuckled. “Isn’t that the whole purpose of the movie? Making us believe that Christmas can do anything and bring the loneliest souls together?”
“Are you saying it can’t?”
Shrugging, Arthur took a deep breath. “I don’t think so.”
Merlin rolled his eyes. “You just have to believe in the magic of Christmas!”
“Of course you do, don’t you?”
“Yes!” Merlin declared. “Like this afternoon…wasn’t that magical?”
“How many times you landed hard on the ice was hardly magical,” Arthur commented drily.
“No, I mean…didn’t you see where we were? That frozen lake that we could use as ice rink? The trees covered in snow all around us?...Spending time with good friends?”
“That’s…”
Merlin reached over and put his hand on Arthur’s forearm. “You don’t even see things like these anymore, do you?” He spoke lowly and with a little bit of sadness in his voice.
Arthur shrugged. “You’re right, all of that was nice…”
“But?”
Should he reveal his feelings to Merlin? Was this the moment? “What good does all of that do when you have nobody to enjoy it with?”
“Why can’t you just enjoy it on your own…and then maybe someone sees your joy and wants to join in?”
Arthur shrugged. He hadn’t meant to turn the mood so dark. “I don’t know. It’s just difficult to see how everybody goes home to someone…like…Gwaine has Percy, Elyan went home to Leon and Lance can’t wait for Gwen to come back from her business trip…”
“That just leaves us.” Merlin’s face had turned quite serious.
“Yeah, but you go out a lot and in no time, you’ll have a new boyfriend.” Something that had bothered him for quite a while now. Whenever they were out as a group, there were so many blokes flirting with Merlin.
“I don’t! You know that I’ve been single for two years now!” Merlin insisted. “I hate all the meaningless flirts. I don’t want to just fuck around anymore. It’s so... you feel good for a couple of hours and then…”
Merlin looked so sad that Arthur just wanted to wrap his arms around him. “I know what you mean. And then there’s…”
“There’s…?”
“It’s just so difficult to watch the person you like flirting with others. Even if he doesn’t leave with anyone…”
Merlin looked over. “So there is someone you like?”
Arthur’s cheeks were burning and he couldn’t look at Merlin. This was the moment, wasn’t it? The moment…he would say something stupid and Merlin would get up and leave. “Yes.”
“Oh.”
His head snapped around at the disappointed sound that came out of Merlin’s mouth. “Wha…?”
Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright…Christmas magic, do your thing…” He whispered. “There’s a reason why I haven’t left with anyone who flirted with me for a while.”
Arthur held his breath.
“There is someone I like, too. Someone I really like.” Merlin looked up. “But I’m afraid to ruin the friendship we share by telling him that.” He turned his head again and looked at Arthur.
Could it…could it be that…that Merlin was talking about him? “Errr….”
“See, that’s what I was afraid of.” Merlin tried to scramble up. “Let me get my things. I’ll be out of here as quickly as I can.”
Arthur, who still had Merlin’s feet pinned under his thigh, didn’t move. “Wait…what? Why would you leave now?” All of this was happening way too fast.
“Alright, if you really need to have it spelled out for you…I like you…have for quite a while…but I understand if you don’t feel the same, so please don’t make it even harder for me and just let me go.”
A surprised little laugh escaped Arthur. “Ha…you’re saying…”
“Yes. The person I like is you.”
“But…” A huge smile grew on Arthur’s face. “The person I like is you!”
Very slowly, Merlin’s face split with a beaming smile. “Really? Me?”
“Yes,” Arthur laughed. “And…can we get past this and just kiss now?” His heart was beating wildly. Of course he had hoped that he could steal a kiss some time and had thought out several scenarios that usually involved either parties and mistletoe or walking down an empty street with Merlin or…He didn’t get further with his thoughts as he suddenly had his arms full of Merlin and felt his warm lips on his.
When they finally pulled back to catch their breaths, Merlin laughed. “Best Christmas present ever!”
Arthur nodded. “Maybe there is something to that Christmas magic you were talking about?”
“I knew there was! And tomorrow, we’ll get you a tree and some decorations to honour the magic of Christmas!”
Merlin kissed him again and Arthur knew he wouldn’t mind the Christmas explosion that Merlin would bring to his place one bit.
Recipient:chaosgenes
Author: bunnysworld
Rating: PG13
Pairing/s: Merlin/Arthur
Summary: Arthur has a crush on Merlin. Will this afternoon of pre-Christmas ice skating give him the opportunity to let Merlin know about his feelings?
Warnings: Fluff?
Word Count: 2980
Author's Notes: It was so much fun writing this! Thank you for giving me so much leeway with your prompt(s). I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with everything you like and more!
Thanks to my beta readers inspired_being and Terry. Thanks, ladies, for making my boys speak English. Sometimes I’m just stubborn enough to ignore the native speakers. So, everything you still find in there is totally my fault.
Disclaimer:Merlin is owned by the BBC and Shine. No copyright infringement is intended and no profit is being made. Don't send us to the dungeons.
Arthur’s cheeks were glowing. Not only because he was skating around the makeshift ice rink they had freed of snow on the frozen lake and definitely not because they had been here for about two hours already. But because his heart beat that little bit faster when Merlin was around. All year long he had admired Merlin from afar and the more he learned about him, the more he liked him. So far, he had not acted on it.
It was difficult. The boys were always around and he wasn’t big on expressing his feelings anyway. He had been quite eager to agree to this pre-Christmas skating afternoon as it held another chance for showing off a bit and hopefully impressing Merlin.
Which he had not really managed all afternoon. Merlin was a disaster when it came to skating, which wasn’t too surprising as he claimed he had never skated before, so he had been focused on his own skating and totally missed the elegance and speed with which Arthur knew he skated. Merlin was in a pair of Gwaine’s spare skates as they had approximately the same shoe size and was staggering his way around the rink. More often than not, Merlin was down on the ice.
Like now. Again. After not doing much about it the entire time, Arthur decided to skate over now. This tumble had looked particularly bad. He kneeled down next to Merlin.
“Are you alright?”
Merlin chuckled. “I’m going to be one big walking bruise tomorrow, but yeah…” He looked at his arms and legs. “Everything still attached, so…” He held his hand out.
Arthur took it immediately and helped Merlin up. Merlin blushed a little and then pulled back. Maybe he held his hands in his a moment too long?
“I’m freezing. I’m going home,” Percy announced.
That seemed to be the sign everybody had been waiting for.
“Yeah, it’s slowly getting dark. Time to leave.” Gwaine did an elegant turn on the ice and headed towards where his shoes were standing.
Elyan skated over as well, followed by Lance.
“Wasn’t that better than a Christmas party?” Lance looked at them eagerly.
“Are you saying I will not get any eggnog now?” Gwaine mock-glared at him.
“You will get one at the Christmas market tomorrow.” Percy sat down on the huge fallen tree where they had dropped their things and untied his skated.
Gwaine sat very close to him, doing the same. “Okay, let’s go home.”
Arthur had waited for Merlin to follow and when he noticed that the other man had a bit of difficulty, he held out his hand and pulled him along gently.
“So, Merlin, how was your first experience on the ice? Are we going to make a hockey player out of you some time soon?”
Merlin sat down on the tree heavily and laughed. “I am pretty certain my talents lie somewhere else.” He pulled off his mittens and tried to untangle the wet laces of his skates with cold fingers.
“Here, let me help you.” Arthur was already back in his winter boots, which were quite cold. Quickly, he untied Merlin’s skates and handed him his sneakers. “Not really the appropriate footwear for this time of year, is it?”
Merlin shrugged. “When you said ‘skating’ I figured we’d be on a civilized ice rink with a roof over our heads, with benches around and a stand that sells hot chocolate.”
Arthur smiled. “This is much better. But…” He swallowed hard. “You’re quite wet from all the time you spent connected with the ice. Wanna…I don’t know…come to my place to warm up?”
Gwaine was about to say something but Percy elbowed him hard, so he closed his mouth again. Elyan didn’t manage to stifle a grin and Lance nodded. Oy, he guessed he had been pining for Merlin for too long and quite obviously.
Merlin clumsily tied his sneakers and then rubbed his hands together. “Your place is a lot closer than mine and the prospect to being wet on the bus home isn’t too appealing either.”
“Can’t you just say ‘yes’?” Gwaine laughed.
Arthur hated this. He didn’t want to be so public when he wasn’t sure that Merlin saw more than a friend in him. He glanced back at Merlin and then beamed widely when he nodded.
“Alright, but I’m frozen solid. So be prepared for water puddles in your place when I start thawing.”
They all got up, grabbed their things and said their good-byes, promising they’d all meet again at the Christmas market in town the next day.
As they walked back to Arthur’s car, Merlin pulled his mittens back on and made a face.
“What’s wrong?”
“They’re wet. Wet and cold.” Merlin looked at them with disgust, obviously pondering which was worse - wearing wet and cold mittens or not wearing mittens at all.
Without thinking about it, Arthur reached over and rubbed Merlin’s hands between his. This time, he didn’t let go and just stuffed their combined hands into the pocket of his jacket.
Merlin looked at him, a bit uncertain for a moment, and then started to laugh. “Hey, I’ve got two hands!” He let go for a moment, stepped behind Arthur and stuck both of his hands into the pockets of Arthur’s jacket from behind.
It felt so good feeling Merlin laughing into his neck. But…”How are we supposed to get to the car now?”
“Like this…one.”
Arthur felt Merlin’s knee against the back of his and moved his leg a step forward.
“And two.”
The other side followed.
Arthur laughed. “This way, we might still be here tomorrow.” He turned, which made Merlin’s hands slip out of his pockets. “How about…you warm one hand in my pocket, we make it to the car and there I’ll turn the heating up all the way?”
Merlin pretended to ponder, knowing that his funny suggestion wouldn’t take them anywhere. “Alright. But then it’s your fault if my other hand falls off.”
“We’ll find ways to warm it up.” Arthur paused for a moment, glad that the others weren’t with them anymore as they had parked in a different direction. He was sure that Gwaine would have had some good ideas on what to do to keep Merlin’s hand warm and that might have destroyed…well…what they had just shared.
They made it back to the car and Arthur even turned on the seat heating, even though he usually claimed that a real man didn’t need that luxury.
Merlin snuggled into the seat.
They made it to Arthur’s place in no time. Arthur went around and turned the heater up.
Merlin toed off his sneakers and hung up his jacket before he went over to lean against one of the heaters.
“You’re still cold. If you’d like to take a shower, you know where the bathroom is. There’s towels on the shelf.”
“Yes, I know where your bathroom is, I’ve used it before.” Merlin grinned widely at Arthur’s explanation that sounded as if he had never been here before.
Oh, right, Merlin had been over whenever they did something as a group, like playing board games, birthday parties or even watching sport events on Arthur’s big screen. Arthur knew Merlin just came for the company, not because he was so much into sports.
“But I don’t have any fresh clothes. I’d have to walk around naked until these have dried.” Merlin was still grinning widely.
Arthur felt the little blush on his face. He so wouldn’t mind that, but maybe it was a bit too early for things like these? “I’ll get you some sweatpants and a hoodie?”
“Oh, good.” Merlin rolled his eyes with a chuckle. “Even though I do look good in nothing but a towel.”
Arthur blinked. Was Merlin flirting with him? Oh…no, maybe not. “Err…You can take the towels that are above the heating. They’re warm and cozy.”
“Okay, thanks.” Merlin went to the bathroom and Arthur could hear him rummaging around.
He went to get the promised sweatpants and hoodie and put a t-shirt on top of the stack that he’d set down on the hallway sideboard next to the bathroom door. Of course his mind was giving him lots of images of what Merlin was probably doing in there, but he cleared his throat and went to the kitchen to make some hot chocolate. Probably not a real hot chocolate, he wasn’t a good cook, but even he was capable of boiling some water in the kettle, ripping some pouches open and pouring the water over the powder in a mug.
As he carefully carried the mugs over to the living room, pondering where he put the cookies Morgana had brought the other day, Merlin left the bathroom. And Arthur stared.
Toweling his hair, so it stood up in every direction, Merlin looked strangely hot in the clothes that were obviously a bit too big for him. Especially the sweatpants. And even though the tops were a bit too wide around the middle, Merlin filled the shoulders nicely. When had that happened? Merlin didn’t really work out, did he?
“Ah, that feels better. Now I only need some socks on and my feet might warm up…hopefully this century.” Merlin grinned. “Mmmm, the hot chocolate smells good.”
Arthur swallowed hard. “I’ll…err…I was about to put them on the coffee table and then go find some cookies. Or would you like something else? We can order something if you’re hungry?”
“Cookies are fine. Maybe we can order something later?”
Later. Merlin intended to stay at his place for a while. Great! Arthur felt a huge smile on his face. “Sure.”
“Don’t startle when you enter your bathroom. I decorated it with all my wet clothes.”
“We could toss them into the dryer?” Why had he suggested it? The sooner Merlin’s clothes were dry, the sooner he would leave.
Merlin shook his head. “No need for that.”
“Alright, then…” He gestured towards the living room, following after Merlin and set the mugs down.
Merlin sat down, pulled the socks over his feet, wiggled his toes and then looked around, a puzzled expression on his face.
“What?” He had been here so often before. He knew the place. Why was he looking around like that?
“Where’s your Christmas decorations?”
“Why would I need Christmas decorations?” Arthur had found the cookies and poured them from the package onto a plate.
“To…I don’t know…make it homely…looking like the season…because it’s fun?”
Arthur shrugged. There was nothing fun about Christmas itself. The time leading up to Christmas, that he enjoyed. He was out with friends, doing fun stuff. But Christmas itself was usually boring as everybody was busy with family and he had no place to go. “I always thought it was a lot of work to put it up only to be more work when you have to take it down again.”
“You’re such a Grinch!” Merlin laughed and reached for a mug. He sipped the chocolate and closed his eyes. “Mmm, this is good.”
“Nothing special.” Arthur laughed nervously. “So…what do you want to do now?”
Merlin smiled. “How about…we watch a Christmas movie? One of the really kitschy ones? Where boy meets girl and we know that they will end up together but we love having our hearts broken with them?”
Arthur wasn’t too much a fan of that kind of movie but he nodded and handed Merlin the remote. “Here, your pick.”
Folding one foot underneath the other leg, Merlin laughed. “You only do that so you can blame me if it gets too bad.”
“Yup.” Grinning, Arthur watched how Merlin navigated all the streaming services he had subscriptions for.
“Too much sports.” Merlin didn’t look at him and finally found the one he wanted. He clicked through a few of the offered movies. “Oh, I’ve heard about this one!” He started the movie and then snuggled back into the couch.
Arthur wasn’t too interested in the movie, even though Merlin had picked one where - miracle of miracles - it wasn’t the typical boy and girl protagonists but two young men. He threw Merlin glances, hoping he wouldn’t notice.
Merlin exchanged the foot he was warming underneath his thigh.
“Are your feet still cold?”
“Mmmhmm.”
“How about….” Arthur swallowed. “How about you stick them under my legs? That way you can warm both of them at the same time?”
Merlin looked delighted and moved around, so he sat with his feet underneath Arthur’s leg and sighed. “That’s much better.”
“Do you need a blanket? Or should I turn the heating up a bit more?” It was almost too warm for his own taste but he didn’t want Merlin to freeze.
“Nah, that’s good.”
They watched the movie in silence, with Merlin having his hands wrapped around his mug until he finished the hot chocolate, and each of them reaching for a cookie once in a while.
“Awww, that was nice.” Merlin turned his head and beamed at him when the movie had ended.
“Oh, we knew that they would end up as a couple, didn’t we?” Arthur chuckled. “Isn’t that the whole purpose of the movie? Making us believe that Christmas can do anything and bring the loneliest souls together?”
“Are you saying it can’t?”
Shrugging, Arthur took a deep breath. “I don’t think so.”
Merlin rolled his eyes. “You just have to believe in the magic of Christmas!”
“Of course you do, don’t you?”
“Yes!” Merlin declared. “Like this afternoon…wasn’t that magical?”
“How many times you landed hard on the ice was hardly magical,” Arthur commented drily.
“No, I mean…didn’t you see where we were? That frozen lake that we could use as ice rink? The trees covered in snow all around us?...Spending time with good friends?”
“That’s…”
Merlin reached over and put his hand on Arthur’s forearm. “You don’t even see things like these anymore, do you?” He spoke lowly and with a little bit of sadness in his voice.
Arthur shrugged. “You’re right, all of that was nice…”
“But?”
Should he reveal his feelings to Merlin? Was this the moment? “What good does all of that do when you have nobody to enjoy it with?”
“Why can’t you just enjoy it on your own…and then maybe someone sees your joy and wants to join in?”
Arthur shrugged. He hadn’t meant to turn the mood so dark. “I don’t know. It’s just difficult to see how everybody goes home to someone…like…Gwaine has Percy, Elyan went home to Leon and Lance can’t wait for Gwen to come back from her business trip…”
“That just leaves us.” Merlin’s face had turned quite serious.
“Yeah, but you go out a lot and in no time, you’ll have a new boyfriend.” Something that had bothered him for quite a while now. Whenever they were out as a group, there were so many blokes flirting with Merlin.
“I don’t! You know that I’ve been single for two years now!” Merlin insisted. “I hate all the meaningless flirts. I don’t want to just fuck around anymore. It’s so... you feel good for a couple of hours and then…”
Merlin looked so sad that Arthur just wanted to wrap his arms around him. “I know what you mean. And then there’s…”
“There’s…?”
“It’s just so difficult to watch the person you like flirting with others. Even if he doesn’t leave with anyone…”
Merlin looked over. “So there is someone you like?”
Arthur’s cheeks were burning and he couldn’t look at Merlin. This was the moment, wasn’t it? The moment…he would say something stupid and Merlin would get up and leave. “Yes.”
“Oh.”
His head snapped around at the disappointed sound that came out of Merlin’s mouth. “Wha…?”
Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Alright…Christmas magic, do your thing…” He whispered. “There’s a reason why I haven’t left with anyone who flirted with me for a while.”
Arthur held his breath.
“There is someone I like, too. Someone I really like.” Merlin looked up. “But I’m afraid to ruin the friendship we share by telling him that.” He turned his head again and looked at Arthur.
Could it…could it be that…that Merlin was talking about him? “Errr….”
“See, that’s what I was afraid of.” Merlin tried to scramble up. “Let me get my things. I’ll be out of here as quickly as I can.”
Arthur, who still had Merlin’s feet pinned under his thigh, didn’t move. “Wait…what? Why would you leave now?” All of this was happening way too fast.
“Alright, if you really need to have it spelled out for you…I like you…have for quite a while…but I understand if you don’t feel the same, so please don’t make it even harder for me and just let me go.”
A surprised little laugh escaped Arthur. “Ha…you’re saying…”
“Yes. The person I like is you.”
“But…” A huge smile grew on Arthur’s face. “The person I like is you!”
Very slowly, Merlin’s face split with a beaming smile. “Really? Me?”
“Yes,” Arthur laughed. “And…can we get past this and just kiss now?” His heart was beating wildly. Of course he had hoped that he could steal a kiss some time and had thought out several scenarios that usually involved either parties and mistletoe or walking down an empty street with Merlin or…He didn’t get further with his thoughts as he suddenly had his arms full of Merlin and felt his warm lips on his.
When they finally pulled back to catch their breaths, Merlin laughed. “Best Christmas present ever!”
Arthur nodded. “Maybe there is something to that Christmas magic you were talking about?”
“I knew there was! And tomorrow, we’ll get you a tree and some decorations to honour the magic of Christmas!”
Merlin kissed him again and Arthur knew he wouldn’t mind the Christmas explosion that Merlin would bring to his place one bit.