merry happy camelot swap christmas (arthur/gwen, part two)
Title: Merry Happy Camelot Swap Christmas (Part 2 of 2)
Fandom: Merlin
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Morgana, Merlin, Will, Leon, various others mentioned & OCs.
Spoilers/Warning: No spoilers. Completely AU, in a modern-day setting. Beware crack and ridiculousness.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my crazy crazy mind. The title is a weird reference to Christmas episodes of Community and The Office (although I do realise that 'yankee swap' is a general thing not limited to the latter show - Wiki tells me it is also called a white elephant gift exchange - I would have never heard of it otherwise).
Summary: In which Morgana ruins secret santa (a little), Arthur has feelings ("but not really") and Gwen is confused.
Author’s notes: See Part One.
Any hope Gwen might have had that the mix-up had been limited to a few gifts was soon squelched when she visited Morgana’s cubicle a bit later in the day.
"I'm really sorry, Gwen!"
Gwen sighed. "Why didn't you just tell me? I might have been able to fix them this morning - some of them, at least."
"I don't know! - Well, last night I was pretty drunk and then this morning I didn't have much time to recover before work," Morgana admitted, causing Gwen to roll her eyes. "Look, I feel really bad about everything."
Having just returned from lunch, Will chose that moment to arrive at their cubicle area. Popping his head over the divide that separated his work space from Morgana's, he asked, "Oh, so you told her you switched your gift with Leon's?" He realised he'd said the wrong thing a second later, when Gwen's brow furrowed and Morgana positively glared at him. "I'm just...going to get back to work now," he said quickly, before simpering back down and disappearing from sight.
"I thought you said it was an accident because you knocked the gifts over?"
Morgana avoided her friend’s piercing gaze when she answered, "That is what happened...for most of the gifts."
"Morgana!"
"I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't have, but I realised Valiant was my santa and I didn't want his stupid gift and...well, vodka just took over from there."
Gwen shook her head. "You know, it is actually quite pretty."
"I'm still not keeping it."
"Morgana," she repeated, keeping her tone only just short of a whine.
"He might have done dirty things with it before he wrapped it."
Gwen shuddered at the thought, but persevered. "How else am I going to match all the gifts up? This was your fault to begin with."
"Actually it was alcohol’s fault." At Gwen's sharp look, Morgana added, "Fine, fine, I'll keep it - if you get Leon to give it to me."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Hasn't he already told you that he didn't get involved with people he worked with? Like, a million times?"
“He’ll come around, I have a plan."
“Morgana you need to stop harassing the poor guy.”
“I haven’t been harassing him!”
“Oh really? You know, I hadn’t noticed that when Madeline and Alvin put the decorations up in the office at the start of the month that they’d hung mistletoe just outside Leon’s office door, until this morning when I walked past and saw Leon walk in this weird semi-circular line as he came out of it just so he could avoid standing under it. You’ve got him scared to leave his own office!”
“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” she said, the picture of innocence.
"Oh really? And lingerie Valiant bought you fits in with this plan of yours how?"
"No, that wasn't part of the plan - that just came to me now because it'll plant the seeds of me wearing it in Leon's mind, and we can go from there."
Gwen was well used to Morgana's "plans" to seduce Leon so her reaction to this latest, ill-thought out, one was only a smile, but a loud groan sounded from the other side of the grey makeshift wall. In a moment Merlin had joined them, coming out of his work space on Morgana's right, wearing a sour look on his face. "I really need another cubicle."
"But you love hearing about my sex life, don't you Merlin?" Morgana teased.
"Don't you mean lack thereof, as of late?" he countered, his sulk turning more amused as Morgana's gasp drowned out Gwen's giggle. "You're the one who talks about it so much, so loudly, over here."
Will's head popped out from the other side of the wall again to chip his two cents in, "He's right, you know. I don't really need the details about how good Leon's bum looks," before he disappeared behind the grey divide once more.
"Firstly, it's not like I haven't been able to get any recently, I have just been more discriminating in my choices. And secondly," she raised her voice slightly higher so that Will, and probably everyone else in the vicinity, could definitely hear, "you two are just jealous that you're not as sexy as him so it impinges upon your own sense of masculinity."
Gwen laughed, but was surprised to note Merlin was nodding. "What, you agree?" she wondered.
"He is quite good-looking," Merlin agreed, a look of resignation on his face.
"Oh, Merlin! So are you sweetie!" When he simply laughed and blushed at her comment, Gwen felt for her friend. Merlin seemed to have pretty bad luck with girls, and always thought it was something wrong with him, but she hadn't met a lovelier man, or person, in her life. She'd even had a crush on him herself when he had first joined but as they became closer friends she realised she felt more for him as a friend than anything else. She moved closer to him, and cupped his face in her palm and said, "Really, you are."
"I might believe you if you weren't squeezing my cheeks like my mother."
Morgana chuckled, but any further comment was interrupted by the arrival of someone else.
"Ahem." The trio turned their heads to see Arthur looking at them curiously, especially at Gwen's hand on Merlin's face and she soon dropped it. "Working hard I see?"
"Of course, we are, Arthur. What else would we be doing?" Morgana said pointedly.
Ignoring her, he handed the folder in his hands to Merlin who was expecting it. "Oh, thanks! It shouldn't take me long."
"Don't trouble yourself if you have better things to be doing, Merlin," Arthur stated, at which Merlin scarpered back to his own cubicle. But having grown up as his older sister, Morgana wasn't intimidated by Arthur’s manner, and purposely made no attempt to even look like she was working until he left soon after.
"Really, Morgana, you know we are busy," Gwen chided lightly.
"I know, I know. And I'm going to do work." She even turned more fully to her desk when she said it, making Gwen more inclined to believe her. "You busy too?"
Gwen nodded, now at the edge of Morgana's cubicle on her way out. "Hopefully I'll have time to ask everyone about their gifts by the end of today though and start re-organising them soon."
"I'll help you with that," Morgana offered.
"Yeah, you will!"
*
Morgana didn’t help, of course, but as it was because she was actually working, Gwen didn’t particularly mind, especially when her own workload had lessened. She’d managed to ask almost everyone what they’d bought and received on Thursday itself, and had then gotten hold of most of the incorrect gifts so she was spending her Friday afternoon trying to re-match the presents.
When someone called her name, she looked up from her place on the floor, but couldn’t see anyone leaning over the reception desk. “Yes?”
“Where are you?” the voice, which she now recognised as Arthur’s, wondered.
“Behind my desk.”
She heard his footsteps on the carpet as he approached, before leaning over the desk with a smile. “What are you doing down there?”
“Organising the presents,” she stated, gesturing to the gifts scattered around here.
“I can see that, but why down there?”
She shrugged. “It’s comfy. And there’s space.”
“Any chance that fax has arrived yet?”
Gwen shook her head. “No, still not yet.”
Arthur sighed and checked his wristwatch before looking back down at her. “Need any help with those gifts?”
She laughed, thinking he was joking. “Don’t you have important business stuff to do?”
“True, but I can’t actually do any of the things I need to do until the fax arrives. Plus, Leon will just get mad at me if I try to help him with his again; he says I’m getting in the way.”
“Oh. Well, you don’t have to.”
“I don’t mind.”
As much as the idea of Arthur helping her with something liked this seemed a bit absurd, she couldn’t really refuse. “Well, sure, then, help would be nice,” she answered, and Arthur came round the side of the desk in response.
Gwen fully expected him to take a seat in her vacant chair but instead he sat down on the floor opposite her and crossed his legs. She found it a little odd, to say the least. For starters she was used to having to constantly look up at Arthur as he was about a head taller than her. Now in the little nook behind her desk he stuck out a bit, taking up a lot of space but she was grateful for the offer and the company. It felt strangely homey somehow, sitting on the floor together. Also, she’d never really noticed before just how well his fringe suited him.
Before Gwen could wonder just where that last thought had come from Arthur asked her, “So how does this work then?”
“Oh, well, as all the gifts were already opened - at least, all the ones I got anyway - I collected them and asked everyone I could what gifts they had bought and now I’m just sticking them in these gift boxes and bags and putting a new name tag on them.”
“Okay. Do you want me to do the tags, while you figure out who gets what?”
“That’d be great.” She handed him a roll of sticky name tags and a black marker, and then a small green gift bag. “Could you put Gaius’ name on that one please?”
“Sure.”
Noticing Arthur peeked into the bag before placing a white sticker on the side of it, Gwen asked, “Did you just look to see what he got?”
“Maybe.” At her slightly surprised expression, he added, “What, come on, he got a mug, it’s not particularly private.”
“Yes, but it’s still someone else’s present.”
“You know what everyone got,” he pointed out.
“Because I have to know, to fix this mess Morgana made.”
“Morgana?” he wondered.
“Yeah. It was an accident,” she made sure to add, feeling bad for outing her. And it had mostly been an accident after all.
Arthur inwardly rolled his eyes. There were probably only a few people in the office who’d be able to do something as ridiculous as mess up secret santa and get away with it, but Morgana was definitely one of them. He was curious as to how it all came about, but he knew Gwen and Morgana were close - that was how he’d first really noticed Gwen outside of work, at one of Morgana’s birthday parties - not that he meant he’d noticed her in that way, it was just the first time they’d spoken in a non-work related capacity - not that that meant anything - and she probably wouldn’t give up the details, so he didn’t press for them. “Right. Anyway, if we’d just done the reveal as we meant to, then everyone would have seen what everyone else got anyway.”
“Ah, I guess.” Gwen knew she couldn’t logically argue against that one, even though she still felt like she was in the right. “It just seems a little nosy.”
Arthur replied with a slight upturn of his lips. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was being so rude.”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Gwen quickly countered, mentally smacking herself for saying such a thing to her boss.
“Then what did you mean?” he chuckled.
“I…well…” Gwen struggled to recover, but couldn’t quite think of what to say and so decided not to put her foot any further down her mouth. “Never mind.”
“Do I at least get to find out who Leon’s gift was meant for?”
Gwen’s smile faltered as she handed over Gerry’s gift for him to label. “Umm…that was for Morgana.”
Arthur blanched, his hand stopping in mid-air as he took the gift box in his hand. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t want to know about anyone else’s gifts, it’s nosy.” Gwen laughed, but Arthur soon remembered something, “Oh, except for one?”
“Yes?”
“Who was the hat I got meant for?”
“Oh…for Merlin.”
Arthur nodded, completing Gerry’s name on the tag in his untidy scrawl, but as he moved it to sit next to Gaius’ gift something clicked in his head. “Didn’t you say that you were Merlin’s secret santa?”
“Um, yes, I was.” She flushed slightly at his intent stare, but nodded and turned her eyes back to the list as she searched for the rightful owner of the teapot in her hands.
“Ah.” Arthur couldn’t help but smile. He’d thought it had made sense when Gwen had told him he hadn’t received his intended gift, and it somehow felt even more logical that it had been from her. “It was really nice.”
She shrugged. “Hopefully Merlin thinks so.”
“I’m sure he will. You even co-ordinated it with his wardrobe,” he added in reference to its blue colour.
“Oh, yeah.” Anyone who had known Merlin for any length of time could see that his entire wardrobe consisted of blue and red, with an occasional touch of brown. Both Gwen and Morgana had tried to get him to branch out a little, in both obvious ways, such as forcing him out shopping, and more subtle ones, like giving him clothes as presents, but he couldn't be swayed from his personal “style”. “He probably wouldn’t wear it otherwise. If he even will now,” she finished, knowing how well Merlin liked to stick to a few staple items in his wardrobe, not merely the colours.
“If he doesn’t, I’d be glad to take it off his hands, even if it wouldn’t match me quite so well.”
“Well, it would probably bring out your eyes-” Gwen began and quickly cut herself off when she realised what she was saying; and out loud as well. To Arthur Pendragon.
She hoped that he hadn’t heard but when she risked a look up, through her eyelashes she could see Arthur smirking. “Why thank you, Gwen.”
“No problem,” she muttered, handing over the teapot, now in a gift box, for Arthur to label. She was so concentrated on not meeting his gaze that, unthinkingly she picked up the gift closest to her, and started scanning the list automatically. It was when her eyes were halfway down she realised this was one gift she should have known from memory: especially as only one person had been given this particular kind of gift and she’d mentally groaned when Freya had told her what she’d bought for her giftee.
Because Freya bought a tie. For Arthur.
“Is that -”
Gwen quickly shoved the offending item behind her back. “Nothing.”
Arthur looked at her quizzically. “Is that my gift?”
“N-no.”
“Then why are you hiding it?”
Gwen tried to think of a reasonable answer for her silly action. She’d always felt a little bad at previous secret santas when people got gifts that weren’t particularly great, but it seemed like Arthur never got a good one. Yes, he was the boss, and maybe not that well-known by everyone, but surely people could think of gifts that weren’t quite so boring; he rarely even wore ties. Of course, none of that justified what she was doing right now, especially as Arthur would see it was his gift when he got it.
However, she was saved from having to answer him by the sound of a phone ringing.
Arthur looked up at the desk, then back at Gwen noticing she hadn’t moved. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“It’s not the telephone; it’s the phone on the fax machine. That must be your fax arriving.”
“Oh.”
Gwen was lucky Arthur’s document was so important as he jumped up and turned to face the machine straight away, giving her a few seconds to stash the tie inside an empty gift bag before getting up to join him.
“Do we have to answer it or press something?”
Gwen shook her head. “No, we’ve got to wait and it’ll print automatically. Never used one of these before?”
“Uh, no. I’ve never had to,” he admitted. He could tell by her smile that Gwen registered this as him always having had someone to do it for him, which was the truth and nothing to feel bad about really - email meant he didn’t even have to use a fax machine that often. Still, somehow, he managed to feel odd about that and found himself saying, “I know how to photocopy.” He wanted to slap himself a second later for making it sound like a big achievement.
Gwen gave an amused giggle. “I’m aware of that.”
He looked back down at her, standing so close to him but a little shorter than usual as she was still barefoot, a sweet smile gracing her lips as she looked up at him, not unkindly. She really was very lovely to look at, he noted examining the tendril of hair that had come loose from her ponytail and fell across the side of her face. - That didn’t actually mean anything though. He didn’t possess any sort of lame desire to reach up and brush that stray curl behind her ear, and Arthur suddenly found himself looking down at where his hands rested on the machine, as if to reassure himself they weren’t about to perform that action. In doing so, he became aware that Gwen’s fingertips were millimetres away from touching his. Then, her hands moved.
“There you are,” she stated, as she picked up the papers and gave them to him, jerking Arthur back to the present.
He took them, carefully touching only the opposite edge of the sheet. “Thanks.” A moment later, he continued, “Well, I better get back to my office.”
“Sure. Thanks for your help with those gifts,” she said.
He shrugged. “I didn’t do much. Good luck with the rest of them.”
“Thanks.”
He returned her smile, but after a few moments noticed she was looking at him expectantly. He wasn’t initially sure what she was waiting for, but soon realised she was had to be waiting for him to leave, instead of just standing there like an idiot. That was what he was supposed to be doing, after all, as he had work to concentrate on. So, after that extended pause, he turned to go back to his office. Without saying anything else. Like an idiot.
Arthur couldn’t wait until the day was over and he could go home.
*
“I want to go home now.”
“Merlin!” Gwen giggled, at his pouting face. “You have work to finish.”
He leaned back in his desk chair and sighed dramatically. “But I’m tired. And my stomach hurts a little.”
“Maybe you should’ve laid off the eggnog.”
“But it’s Cathy’s special eggnog,” he argued. “Although it does taste a little different.” Every year during the season Cathy brought in her special homemade brand of eggnog, and maternity leave hadn’t stopped her from sending her husband in with some this Monday evening. Gwen was pretty sure Cathy hadn’t had as much of a hand in making it this time, but she thought the reason for the change in taste had more to do with Morgana.
“Morgana hasn’t spiked it this time. What you’re tasting is a lack of alcohol,” she explained.
Merlin’s eyes grew wide in understanding. “Of course.”
“Well, I better get going,” she said, hopping down from her perch next to the computer on Merlin’s small desk.
He pouted again. “You’re just going to leave me all by my lonesome?”
“Morgana will be back from the shop soon, and…where is Will?”
“He’s checking the football score.”
“Right. Well, he’ll be back soon too and then you’ll have both of them for company.”
“And you just get to go home.”
“Well, not straight away, I’ve got a few photocopies and things to finish before I head home.”
“Wanna switch? I’ll do your photocopies and go home, and you can sit here and do some programming for an hour?”
Gwen smiled. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
“You sure?” he said with a grin.
“Definite.” She patted him on the shoulder as she walked out of his cubicle. “See you tomorrow, Merlin.”
“See you. And thanks again for my hat,” he added, pulling the ends down so the hat was firmly down over his ears, and smiling.
“I’m very glad you like it.”
“Yeah, who knew you could actually get hats that fit over those big ears?” Will remarked from outside his cubicle. Merlin tried to flick a pencil at Will as he moved inside his workspace, but after hitting Gwen on the shoulder, the pencil fell to the ground.
Gwen shot him a look as he mumbled, “Sorry,” before leaving. She had only just left their work area when she saw Arthur standing in the corridor, looking in her direction.
“Was Merlin just trying to poke your eye out?”
“No,” she laughed. “He and Will were just being silly.” As she continued walking forward, he turned to walk alongside her. “Weren’t you going that way?” she wondered, gesturing to the direction opposite to theirs.
“No, I was looking for you actually,” Arthur admitted.
“Did you need something?”
“Not exactly. I just opened my secret santa present.” Arthur observed the side of her face carefully as he made his statement, and couldn’t see any change in her expression.
“Really? Did you like it?”
“Yes. I did. I was surprised though.”
“Oh?” Gwen still looked perfectly normal, but Arthur had felt certain that that tie she’d been holding yesterday was meant for him, so he persevered.
“I wasn’t expecting mittens.” He held up his hands, and despite the file held in one of them she could see he was wearing a pair of red mittens.
Gwen had to hold back a giggle at the sight of them, the casual mittens contrasting with his smart office attire of dark tailored trousers and crisp light blue shirt. “No? Well, I guess with secret santa you never know what to expect, do you?” she said evenly.
Arthur raised an eyebrow and smiled. “No, I suppose you don’t.”
They’d just reached the reception desk when Morgana bustled in through the main doors, two shopping bags in her hand. “Hello there! I come bearing gifts!” she chirped.
“Really?”
“No,” she stated flatly as she strode up to them. “Well, if anyone thinks this food is a gift, they should get their head-checked. No, I merely have sustenance for us late night workers. Which you are not one of,” she added, with a look at Gwen.
“Sorry,” she offered.
“Take me with you!”
Gwen spared her friend some sympathy. “You know I would if I could.”
Morgana sighed, noticing the mittens on Arthur’s hands. “Are you cold too? It’s freezing out, but it’s not that bad here. You’re just like Merlin; he wouldn’t take off that hat Gwen made him earlier, I bet he’s still wearing it.”
“Gwen made him?” Arthur repeated.
Morgana nodded. “Yeah. - When was it you started knitting?” she asked Gwen.
“Just a few months ago,” she answered quietly.
“Yeah, she’s really good. I’m getting some arm warmers for my Christmas present. - I am still, aren’t I?” Morgana checked.
“Yes, you are.”
“Awesome.”
“Well, it’s nice to know Dad and I aren’t the only people you demand presents from, Morgana.”
“I didn’t demand,” she argued. “It was actually all Gwen’s idea.”
“Yeah, she caught me knitting them one day, which is how she knows already,” Gwen affirmed and Morgana nodded.
“You see, when people have taste, I don’t have to tell them what to buy me.”
“Gee, thanks,” Arthur deadpanned.
“You’re welcome, Artie,” she sing-songed. “I’ll see you in a bit, I’ve got to dump these in the staff room.”
“Artie?” Gwen giggled after Morgana had left.
“Please, don’t ever call me that,” he pleaded.
“Does anyone?”
“No,” he said vehemently. “One of my aunts called me that when I was little, but I never liked it, but Morgana of course remembered that and brings it up every once in a while.”
“Why don’t you like it?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t like being called that. You know how sometimes you can just really dislike a shortening of your name?”
“I suppose so. Although everyone calls me the shortened form of my name.”
“Oh yeah,” Arthur recalled, “It’s…” Gwen was about to supply her full name, but he held up a hand to stop her, wanting to remember himself. “Guinevere,” he finished. “Isn’t it?”
She smiled as he had stressed the name differently, as Guinevere, rather than Guinevere, which was her actual name, but she nodded anyway. She actually rather liked the way he had said it.
“Well, Guinevere, I best be getting back to work.”
“Me too, I’ve got to finish something off before I go.”
He nodded. “See you tomorrow morning.” He waved, the red mittens still on his hands, causing her to smile.
“See you, Art-” she paused when the stressed “t” sound caused Arthur to look stern, and finished, “Arthur.”
It was only when she turned back to face her desk that she noticed that Arthur had left his file behind on the counter. Picking the item up, she scooted after him, catching up in a few steps, just outside Leon’s office door. “Arthur!” He turned back around at her call and she held up the file to explain. “You left this.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m gonna need that,” he laughed as she passed it to him. “Thanks.”
“That’s alright.”
As Leon opened his office door and he and Gerry began to step out onto the hallway, the four exchanged smiles and were about to go their separate ways when Leon stopped them by noticing, “Hey, you two are under the mistletoe.”
Arthur and Gwen looked up, and saw the truth of those words, both slightly embarrassed.
At Gerry’s amused cry of “Kiss!” Gwen glanced down, while Arthur shook his head.
“That’s not necessary.”
“Hey, the rules of mistletoe are non-negotiable,” Gerry stated. “We’ll leave you two alone though,” he added, walking around the back of Gwen so he could flash a wink at Arthur, who wanted to throttle him. Leon simply smiled sympathetically as he followed their so-called friend.
“Sorry,” Arthur stated once they were by themselves again, relatively speaking.
“You don’t have to apologise. Mistletoe is mistletoe,” she said with a shrug.
Arthur grew slightly perplexed, wondering what that meant. Perhaps Gwen wanted him to kiss her...she hadn’t exactly moved away. But they shouldn’t really, especially as they were at work. Of course, they were under mistletoe so it would be innocent enough. He didn’t know why he hadn’t gotten it taken down; he hadn’t even realised it had been up at first and by the time he had it seemed silly to do anything about it. It was away from the main part of the office so it just seemed festive, and a part of him had been amused by how much it worried Leon so he’d even made sure it had stayed up in that exact place. It was a bit awkward now that he found himself under it, with someone he thought - if he was being completely honest - that actually he maybe wouldn’t mind kissing really, in a place where anyone they worked with could easily walk past. He knew despite Gerry’s comment he was probably watching from behind a corner or something, and he kind of just wanted to turn around and take the two steps to his office door, except Gwen was still waiting. And he was pretty convinced she’d gotten him - no, made him - a pair of mittens so he didn’t have to get a lame tie as his present, and he’d always been more of a shove-his-hands-in-his-pockets kind of guy rather than opting for gloves or mittens, but as a gesture it was really sweet and nice and…well, very Gwen.
He settled on bending down to kiss her cheek. His eyes closed instinctively, but before his mouth reached her skin he felt her lips against his. Arthur opened his eyes wide in surprise at the contact, and was transfixed by Gwen’s eyelashes (he’d never noticed how full they were before), so close to his face. Her closed mouth was soft but firm against his, and when it moved slightly it suddenly revved him into action. His eyes closed once more as his lips began to part, but hers were already pulling away. He’d just half-caught her top lip between his two for a strangely wonderful moment before she moved away entirely.
Eyes wide open, Arthur stared at a wholly non-plussed Gwen now standing a completely respectable distance away from him, and was struck with the feeling that he really had no idea what just had or hadn’t happened .
“Merry Christmas,” she offered.
“Merry Christmas,” he repeated dumbly.
“See you tomorrow.”
He could only nod his response. As Gwen turned around and walked back to her desk, Arthur lifted a hand up to scratch his forehead in confusion, only to realise he was still wearing the mittens.
*
“Ahem.”
Gwen looked over her shoulder from behind the reception desk to see Morgana eyeing her suspiciously. “Hi.”
“Hello. Is that all you have to say for yourself?”
As she pulled on her coat and scarf Gwen inquired, “What do you mean?”
Morgana glanced over her shoulder before saying in a quieter tone. “I saw you! Kissing Arthur!”
“It was under the mistletoe. Mistletoe you put up, by the way.”
“Don’t remind me that you got kissed, and I still haven’t been able to catch Leon under there -”
“So you do admit it was you who put it there then?” Gwen shot back.
Morgana shook her head. “Never mind that. What about You! And Arthur.”
“Morgana, keep your voice down! I don’t want the whole office to know -”
“But what is there to know?” Morgana asked eagerly, scooting around the desk so she was standing by Gwen’s side. “And why am I only finding out now, like this?”
Gwen held up a hand to stop Morgana from getting carried away. “There is nothing to know, there is no me and Arthur. It’s Christmas and it was mistletoe, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Morgana crossed her arms over her chest, and raised a perfect brow accusingly. “That wasn’t what it looked like to me.”
“Oh really, what did it look like?”
“I don’t know, but it certainly looked like something. Certainly, if Arthur’s face was anything to go by.”
“I guess I’m just a good kisser then,” Gwen joked, with only the faintest of flushes gracing her cheeks.
“Fine, if you don’t want to tell me then-.”
“Morgana, there’s nothing to tell,” Gwen insisted. “It was just a kiss.”
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “No, she doesn’t, thank you very much. I’ve honestly never thought of him like that.” Which, perhaps wasn’t entirely honest, but not that far from the truth. Arthur was attractive, but she wasn’t really attracted to him. And it was a nice kiss, very nice actually, but it wasn’t…earth-shattering or anything. - And it was mistletoe. So, all in all, she didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Oh really, never? The guy’s like my brother and drives me mental and if he ever asked I would deny it to my grave but even I can admit he’s not horrible to look at. It’s when he opens his mouth that there’s a problem.”
Gwen smirked a little at that. “Actually, if anything, I’d say he could have opened his mouth a little more.”
“Gwen!” Morgana shrieked.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” she giggled as Morgana joined in.
“I really am a bad influence on you, aren’t I?” Morgana did her best to make her laughter subside before continuing, “But really, was it a good kiss then? - No, wait, I don’t want to know. - Well, I do, but, urgh it’s Arthur. Although I do know it has been a while for both of you so - ”
“Morgana, really, that’s never going to happen. We work with each other. No, I work for him. None of your insane little ideas or plans, please.”
“No plans. What plans?”
“I know you.”
“Aren’t I allowed to find it strange that my adopted brother and one of my closest friends kissed, and not have any ulterior motives beyond curiosity?” she said with her best innocent face.
Morgana even thought she did a good job of making Gwen believe her, and Gwen was certainly convincing in her explanation of the situation before they said their goodbyes for the day, but she was still pondering what she had seen when she returned to her cubicle.
“There you are. We thought you might have fallen in,” Will piped up when she returned.
“Huh?” she wondered, as his comment jarred her out of her thoughts.
“Fallen in to the toilet,” he stated matter-of-factly, now properly dragging his gaze away from the computer screen to stare at her.
“…because that’s where you said you were going,” Merlin finished for him, from his standing position on the other side of Will.
“Oh, right. Yeah, on my way back I…” she paused and looked around to make sure that the few cubicle spaces near them were empty, “I saw Gwen and Arthur kissing.”
“What?” Will exclaimed, while Merlin’s jaw dropped.
“Well, they were under the mistletoe,” Morgana began, but Merlin and Will regarded this as the end of the story and turned their attention back to the computer.
“Oh, is that all?”
“What do you mean ‘all’?”
“They’re not the only ones to have kissed under the mistletoe here, but it’s just mistletoe,” Will supplied, and started tapping away at the keyboard.
“I know that, I mean, even Merlin and I did, but this was -”
“Wait a second,” Will swivelled his chair around so he could look at them both at the same time. “You two? When was this?”
“Just a few days ago,” Merlin shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Why, are you jealous?” she asked.
“No, just curious.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you how Merlin kisses later,” she winked, and Merlin and Will both rolled their eyes. “But my point is, this didn’t seem like just an ordinary kiss. This was like…”
“We’re waiting,” Will stated when she trailed off.
“I don’t know! But it was something!”
“And let me guess, you’re planning to do something about it?” Will conjectured.
“I don’t think Gwen would like that,” Merlin pointed out.
“Why are all of you so suspicious? I’m not going to do anything big. Just maybe…accidentally-on-purpose make Arthur and Gwen spend a little more time together outside of work and…see what happens. You know, the holiday season can have a magical effect on people.”
“And the season is almost over,” Merlin replied.
“No, it’s not even been Christmas Day yet.”
“Yeah, but that’s pretty soon,” Will said. “It’s that kind of time where the only Christmas-y stuff going on is last minute shopping.”
Merlin nodded in agreement. “Plus, we’ve already had our office Christmas party.”
“It was earlier this year because the restaurant only had space for so many of us on that day, remember? Unless you don’t. You did get really wasted when we went out after.”
“I do remember the Christmas party, thank you for that, William. But a little something like the end of a season, isn’t going to stop us.”
“Us?”
Merlin met Will’s gaze before returning to look at Morgana. “I really don’t want to be involved in any meddling.”
“Guys, where is your sense of fun? Don’t you want to see what could happen when you put our friends together?”
“Arthur’s not my friend,” Will stated.
Merlin simply shrugged.
“Jeez! Fine, I’ll just have to meddle by myself then.”
“I guarantee you would have forgotten all about this by the end of the week.”
Morgana shook her head at Will’s comment. “And I guarantee I can find a way to push them together before the end of the season.”
“And if you can’t?”
Morgana smiled a little devilishly, and Will and Merlin both took note of the gleam in her eye. “Well…there’s always New Year’s Eve.”
Fandom: Merlin
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Morgana, Merlin, Will, Leon, various others mentioned & OCs.
Spoilers/Warning: No spoilers. Completely AU, in a modern-day setting. Beware crack and ridiculousness.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except my crazy crazy mind. The title is a weird reference to Christmas episodes of Community and The Office (although I do realise that 'yankee swap' is a general thing not limited to the latter show - Wiki tells me it is also called a white elephant gift exchange - I would have never heard of it otherwise).
Summary: In which Morgana ruins secret santa (a little), Arthur has feelings ("but not really") and Gwen is confused.
Author’s notes: See Part One.
Any hope Gwen might have had that the mix-up had been limited to a few gifts was soon squelched when she visited Morgana’s cubicle a bit later in the day.
"I'm really sorry, Gwen!"
Gwen sighed. "Why didn't you just tell me? I might have been able to fix them this morning - some of them, at least."
"I don't know! - Well, last night I was pretty drunk and then this morning I didn't have much time to recover before work," Morgana admitted, causing Gwen to roll her eyes. "Look, I feel really bad about everything."
Having just returned from lunch, Will chose that moment to arrive at their cubicle area. Popping his head over the divide that separated his work space from Morgana's, he asked, "Oh, so you told her you switched your gift with Leon's?" He realised he'd said the wrong thing a second later, when Gwen's brow furrowed and Morgana positively glared at him. "I'm just...going to get back to work now," he said quickly, before simpering back down and disappearing from sight.
"I thought you said it was an accident because you knocked the gifts over?"
Morgana avoided her friend’s piercing gaze when she answered, "That is what happened...for most of the gifts."
"Morgana!"
"I'm sorry! I know I shouldn't have, but I realised Valiant was my santa and I didn't want his stupid gift and...well, vodka just took over from there."
Gwen shook her head. "You know, it is actually quite pretty."
"I'm still not keeping it."
"Morgana," she repeated, keeping her tone only just short of a whine.
"He might have done dirty things with it before he wrapped it."
Gwen shuddered at the thought, but persevered. "How else am I going to match all the gifts up? This was your fault to begin with."
"Actually it was alcohol’s fault." At Gwen's sharp look, Morgana added, "Fine, fine, I'll keep it - if you get Leon to give it to me."
Gwen rolled her eyes. "Hasn't he already told you that he didn't get involved with people he worked with? Like, a million times?"
“He’ll come around, I have a plan."
“Morgana you need to stop harassing the poor guy.”
“I haven’t been harassing him!”
“Oh really? You know, I hadn’t noticed that when Madeline and Alvin put the decorations up in the office at the start of the month that they’d hung mistletoe just outside Leon’s office door, until this morning when I walked past and saw Leon walk in this weird semi-circular line as he came out of it just so he could avoid standing under it. You’ve got him scared to leave his own office!”
“I didn’t have anything to do with that,” she said, the picture of innocence.
"Oh really? And lingerie Valiant bought you fits in with this plan of yours how?"
"No, that wasn't part of the plan - that just came to me now because it'll plant the seeds of me wearing it in Leon's mind, and we can go from there."
Gwen was well used to Morgana's "plans" to seduce Leon so her reaction to this latest, ill-thought out, one was only a smile, but a loud groan sounded from the other side of the grey makeshift wall. In a moment Merlin had joined them, coming out of his work space on Morgana's right, wearing a sour look on his face. "I really need another cubicle."
"But you love hearing about my sex life, don't you Merlin?" Morgana teased.
"Don't you mean lack thereof, as of late?" he countered, his sulk turning more amused as Morgana's gasp drowned out Gwen's giggle. "You're the one who talks about it so much, so loudly, over here."
Will's head popped out from the other side of the wall again to chip his two cents in, "He's right, you know. I don't really need the details about how good Leon's bum looks," before he disappeared behind the grey divide once more.
"Firstly, it's not like I haven't been able to get any recently, I have just been more discriminating in my choices. And secondly," she raised her voice slightly higher so that Will, and probably everyone else in the vicinity, could definitely hear, "you two are just jealous that you're not as sexy as him so it impinges upon your own sense of masculinity."
Gwen laughed, but was surprised to note Merlin was nodding. "What, you agree?" she wondered.
"He is quite good-looking," Merlin agreed, a look of resignation on his face.
"Oh, Merlin! So are you sweetie!" When he simply laughed and blushed at her comment, Gwen felt for her friend. Merlin seemed to have pretty bad luck with girls, and always thought it was something wrong with him, but she hadn't met a lovelier man, or person, in her life. She'd even had a crush on him herself when he had first joined but as they became closer friends she realised she felt more for him as a friend than anything else. She moved closer to him, and cupped his face in her palm and said, "Really, you are."
"I might believe you if you weren't squeezing my cheeks like my mother."
Morgana chuckled, but any further comment was interrupted by the arrival of someone else.
"Ahem." The trio turned their heads to see Arthur looking at them curiously, especially at Gwen's hand on Merlin's face and she soon dropped it. "Working hard I see?"
"Of course, we are, Arthur. What else would we be doing?" Morgana said pointedly.
Ignoring her, he handed the folder in his hands to Merlin who was expecting it. "Oh, thanks! It shouldn't take me long."
"Don't trouble yourself if you have better things to be doing, Merlin," Arthur stated, at which Merlin scarpered back to his own cubicle. But having grown up as his older sister, Morgana wasn't intimidated by Arthur’s manner, and purposely made no attempt to even look like she was working until he left soon after.
"Really, Morgana, you know we are busy," Gwen chided lightly.
"I know, I know. And I'm going to do work." She even turned more fully to her desk when she said it, making Gwen more inclined to believe her. "You busy too?"
Gwen nodded, now at the edge of Morgana's cubicle on her way out. "Hopefully I'll have time to ask everyone about their gifts by the end of today though and start re-organising them soon."
"I'll help you with that," Morgana offered.
"Yeah, you will!"
*
Morgana didn’t help, of course, but as it was because she was actually working, Gwen didn’t particularly mind, especially when her own workload had lessened. She’d managed to ask almost everyone what they’d bought and received on Thursday itself, and had then gotten hold of most of the incorrect gifts so she was spending her Friday afternoon trying to re-match the presents.
When someone called her name, she looked up from her place on the floor, but couldn’t see anyone leaning over the reception desk. “Yes?”
“Where are you?” the voice, which she now recognised as Arthur’s, wondered.
“Behind my desk.”
She heard his footsteps on the carpet as he approached, before leaning over the desk with a smile. “What are you doing down there?”
“Organising the presents,” she stated, gesturing to the gifts scattered around here.
“I can see that, but why down there?”
She shrugged. “It’s comfy. And there’s space.”
“Any chance that fax has arrived yet?”
Gwen shook her head. “No, still not yet.”
Arthur sighed and checked his wristwatch before looking back down at her. “Need any help with those gifts?”
She laughed, thinking he was joking. “Don’t you have important business stuff to do?”
“True, but I can’t actually do any of the things I need to do until the fax arrives. Plus, Leon will just get mad at me if I try to help him with his again; he says I’m getting in the way.”
“Oh. Well, you don’t have to.”
“I don’t mind.”
As much as the idea of Arthur helping her with something liked this seemed a bit absurd, she couldn’t really refuse. “Well, sure, then, help would be nice,” she answered, and Arthur came round the side of the desk in response.
Gwen fully expected him to take a seat in her vacant chair but instead he sat down on the floor opposite her and crossed his legs. She found it a little odd, to say the least. For starters she was used to having to constantly look up at Arthur as he was about a head taller than her. Now in the little nook behind her desk he stuck out a bit, taking up a lot of space but she was grateful for the offer and the company. It felt strangely homey somehow, sitting on the floor together. Also, she’d never really noticed before just how well his fringe suited him.
Before Gwen could wonder just where that last thought had come from Arthur asked her, “So how does this work then?”
“Oh, well, as all the gifts were already opened - at least, all the ones I got anyway - I collected them and asked everyone I could what gifts they had bought and now I’m just sticking them in these gift boxes and bags and putting a new name tag on them.”
“Okay. Do you want me to do the tags, while you figure out who gets what?”
“That’d be great.” She handed him a roll of sticky name tags and a black marker, and then a small green gift bag. “Could you put Gaius’ name on that one please?”
“Sure.”
Noticing Arthur peeked into the bag before placing a white sticker on the side of it, Gwen asked, “Did you just look to see what he got?”
“Maybe.” At her slightly surprised expression, he added, “What, come on, he got a mug, it’s not particularly private.”
“Yes, but it’s still someone else’s present.”
“You know what everyone got,” he pointed out.
“Because I have to know, to fix this mess Morgana made.”
“Morgana?” he wondered.
“Yeah. It was an accident,” she made sure to add, feeling bad for outing her. And it had mostly been an accident after all.
Arthur inwardly rolled his eyes. There were probably only a few people in the office who’d be able to do something as ridiculous as mess up secret santa and get away with it, but Morgana was definitely one of them. He was curious as to how it all came about, but he knew Gwen and Morgana were close - that was how he’d first really noticed Gwen outside of work, at one of Morgana’s birthday parties - not that he meant he’d noticed her in that way, it was just the first time they’d spoken in a non-work related capacity - not that that meant anything - and she probably wouldn’t give up the details, so he didn’t press for them. “Right. Anyway, if we’d just done the reveal as we meant to, then everyone would have seen what everyone else got anyway.”
“Ah, I guess.” Gwen knew she couldn’t logically argue against that one, even though she still felt like she was in the right. “It just seems a little nosy.”
Arthur replied with a slight upturn of his lips. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise I was being so rude.”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that,” Gwen quickly countered, mentally smacking herself for saying such a thing to her boss.
“Then what did you mean?” he chuckled.
“I…well…” Gwen struggled to recover, but couldn’t quite think of what to say and so decided not to put her foot any further down her mouth. “Never mind.”
“Do I at least get to find out who Leon’s gift was meant for?”
Gwen’s smile faltered as she handed over Gerry’s gift for him to label. “Umm…that was for Morgana.”
Arthur blanched, his hand stopping in mid-air as he took the gift box in his hand. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t want to know about anyone else’s gifts, it’s nosy.” Gwen laughed, but Arthur soon remembered something, “Oh, except for one?”
“Yes?”
“Who was the hat I got meant for?”
“Oh…for Merlin.”
Arthur nodded, completing Gerry’s name on the tag in his untidy scrawl, but as he moved it to sit next to Gaius’ gift something clicked in his head. “Didn’t you say that you were Merlin’s secret santa?”
“Um, yes, I was.” She flushed slightly at his intent stare, but nodded and turned her eyes back to the list as she searched for the rightful owner of the teapot in her hands.
“Ah.” Arthur couldn’t help but smile. He’d thought it had made sense when Gwen had told him he hadn’t received his intended gift, and it somehow felt even more logical that it had been from her. “It was really nice.”
She shrugged. “Hopefully Merlin thinks so.”
“I’m sure he will. You even co-ordinated it with his wardrobe,” he added in reference to its blue colour.
“Oh, yeah.” Anyone who had known Merlin for any length of time could see that his entire wardrobe consisted of blue and red, with an occasional touch of brown. Both Gwen and Morgana had tried to get him to branch out a little, in both obvious ways, such as forcing him out shopping, and more subtle ones, like giving him clothes as presents, but he couldn't be swayed from his personal “style”. “He probably wouldn’t wear it otherwise. If he even will now,” she finished, knowing how well Merlin liked to stick to a few staple items in his wardrobe, not merely the colours.
“If he doesn’t, I’d be glad to take it off his hands, even if it wouldn’t match me quite so well.”
“Well, it would probably bring out your eyes-” Gwen began and quickly cut herself off when she realised what she was saying; and out loud as well. To Arthur Pendragon.
She hoped that he hadn’t heard but when she risked a look up, through her eyelashes she could see Arthur smirking. “Why thank you, Gwen.”
“No problem,” she muttered, handing over the teapot, now in a gift box, for Arthur to label. She was so concentrated on not meeting his gaze that, unthinkingly she picked up the gift closest to her, and started scanning the list automatically. It was when her eyes were halfway down she realised this was one gift she should have known from memory: especially as only one person had been given this particular kind of gift and she’d mentally groaned when Freya had told her what she’d bought for her giftee.
Because Freya bought a tie. For Arthur.
“Is that -”
Gwen quickly shoved the offending item behind her back. “Nothing.”
Arthur looked at her quizzically. “Is that my gift?”
“N-no.”
“Then why are you hiding it?”
Gwen tried to think of a reasonable answer for her silly action. She’d always felt a little bad at previous secret santas when people got gifts that weren’t particularly great, but it seemed like Arthur never got a good one. Yes, he was the boss, and maybe not that well-known by everyone, but surely people could think of gifts that weren’t quite so boring; he rarely even wore ties. Of course, none of that justified what she was doing right now, especially as Arthur would see it was his gift when he got it.
However, she was saved from having to answer him by the sound of a phone ringing.
Arthur looked up at the desk, then back at Gwen noticing she hadn’t moved. “Aren’t you going to answer it?”
“It’s not the telephone; it’s the phone on the fax machine. That must be your fax arriving.”
“Oh.”
Gwen was lucky Arthur’s document was so important as he jumped up and turned to face the machine straight away, giving her a few seconds to stash the tie inside an empty gift bag before getting up to join him.
“Do we have to answer it or press something?”
Gwen shook her head. “No, we’ve got to wait and it’ll print automatically. Never used one of these before?”
“Uh, no. I’ve never had to,” he admitted. He could tell by her smile that Gwen registered this as him always having had someone to do it for him, which was the truth and nothing to feel bad about really - email meant he didn’t even have to use a fax machine that often. Still, somehow, he managed to feel odd about that and found himself saying, “I know how to photocopy.” He wanted to slap himself a second later for making it sound like a big achievement.
Gwen gave an amused giggle. “I’m aware of that.”
He looked back down at her, standing so close to him but a little shorter than usual as she was still barefoot, a sweet smile gracing her lips as she looked up at him, not unkindly. She really was very lovely to look at, he noted examining the tendril of hair that had come loose from her ponytail and fell across the side of her face. - That didn’t actually mean anything though. He didn’t possess any sort of lame desire to reach up and brush that stray curl behind her ear, and Arthur suddenly found himself looking down at where his hands rested on the machine, as if to reassure himself they weren’t about to perform that action. In doing so, he became aware that Gwen’s fingertips were millimetres away from touching his. Then, her hands moved.
“There you are,” she stated, as she picked up the papers and gave them to him, jerking Arthur back to the present.
He took them, carefully touching only the opposite edge of the sheet. “Thanks.” A moment later, he continued, “Well, I better get back to my office.”
“Sure. Thanks for your help with those gifts,” she said.
He shrugged. “I didn’t do much. Good luck with the rest of them.”
“Thanks.”
He returned her smile, but after a few moments noticed she was looking at him expectantly. He wasn’t initially sure what she was waiting for, but soon realised she was had to be waiting for him to leave, instead of just standing there like an idiot. That was what he was supposed to be doing, after all, as he had work to concentrate on. So, after that extended pause, he turned to go back to his office. Without saying anything else. Like an idiot.
Arthur couldn’t wait until the day was over and he could go home.
*
“I want to go home now.”
“Merlin!” Gwen giggled, at his pouting face. “You have work to finish.”
He leaned back in his desk chair and sighed dramatically. “But I’m tired. And my stomach hurts a little.”
“Maybe you should’ve laid off the eggnog.”
“But it’s Cathy’s special eggnog,” he argued. “Although it does taste a little different.” Every year during the season Cathy brought in her special homemade brand of eggnog, and maternity leave hadn’t stopped her from sending her husband in with some this Monday evening. Gwen was pretty sure Cathy hadn’t had as much of a hand in making it this time, but she thought the reason for the change in taste had more to do with Morgana.
“Morgana hasn’t spiked it this time. What you’re tasting is a lack of alcohol,” she explained.
Merlin’s eyes grew wide in understanding. “Of course.”
“Well, I better get going,” she said, hopping down from her perch next to the computer on Merlin’s small desk.
He pouted again. “You’re just going to leave me all by my lonesome?”
“Morgana will be back from the shop soon, and…where is Will?”
“He’s checking the football score.”
“Right. Well, he’ll be back soon too and then you’ll have both of them for company.”
“And you just get to go home.”
“Well, not straight away, I’ve got a few photocopies and things to finish before I head home.”
“Wanna switch? I’ll do your photocopies and go home, and you can sit here and do some programming for an hour?”
Gwen smiled. “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass.”
“You sure?” he said with a grin.
“Definite.” She patted him on the shoulder as she walked out of his cubicle. “See you tomorrow, Merlin.”
“See you. And thanks again for my hat,” he added, pulling the ends down so the hat was firmly down over his ears, and smiling.
“I’m very glad you like it.”
“Yeah, who knew you could actually get hats that fit over those big ears?” Will remarked from outside his cubicle. Merlin tried to flick a pencil at Will as he moved inside his workspace, but after hitting Gwen on the shoulder, the pencil fell to the ground.
Gwen shot him a look as he mumbled, “Sorry,” before leaving. She had only just left their work area when she saw Arthur standing in the corridor, looking in her direction.
“Was Merlin just trying to poke your eye out?”
“No,” she laughed. “He and Will were just being silly.” As she continued walking forward, he turned to walk alongside her. “Weren’t you going that way?” she wondered, gesturing to the direction opposite to theirs.
“No, I was looking for you actually,” Arthur admitted.
“Did you need something?”
“Not exactly. I just opened my secret santa present.” Arthur observed the side of her face carefully as he made his statement, and couldn’t see any change in her expression.
“Really? Did you like it?”
“Yes. I did. I was surprised though.”
“Oh?” Gwen still looked perfectly normal, but Arthur had felt certain that that tie she’d been holding yesterday was meant for him, so he persevered.
“I wasn’t expecting mittens.” He held up his hands, and despite the file held in one of them she could see he was wearing a pair of red mittens.
Gwen had to hold back a giggle at the sight of them, the casual mittens contrasting with his smart office attire of dark tailored trousers and crisp light blue shirt. “No? Well, I guess with secret santa you never know what to expect, do you?” she said evenly.
Arthur raised an eyebrow and smiled. “No, I suppose you don’t.”
They’d just reached the reception desk when Morgana bustled in through the main doors, two shopping bags in her hand. “Hello there! I come bearing gifts!” she chirped.
“Really?”
“No,” she stated flatly as she strode up to them. “Well, if anyone thinks this food is a gift, they should get their head-checked. No, I merely have sustenance for us late night workers. Which you are not one of,” she added, with a look at Gwen.
“Sorry,” she offered.
“Take me with you!”
Gwen spared her friend some sympathy. “You know I would if I could.”
Morgana sighed, noticing the mittens on Arthur’s hands. “Are you cold too? It’s freezing out, but it’s not that bad here. You’re just like Merlin; he wouldn’t take off that hat Gwen made him earlier, I bet he’s still wearing it.”
“Gwen made him?” Arthur repeated.
Morgana nodded. “Yeah. - When was it you started knitting?” she asked Gwen.
“Just a few months ago,” she answered quietly.
“Yeah, she’s really good. I’m getting some arm warmers for my Christmas present. - I am still, aren’t I?” Morgana checked.
“Yes, you are.”
“Awesome.”
“Well, it’s nice to know Dad and I aren’t the only people you demand presents from, Morgana.”
“I didn’t demand,” she argued. “It was actually all Gwen’s idea.”
“Yeah, she caught me knitting them one day, which is how she knows already,” Gwen affirmed and Morgana nodded.
“You see, when people have taste, I don’t have to tell them what to buy me.”
“Gee, thanks,” Arthur deadpanned.
“You’re welcome, Artie,” she sing-songed. “I’ll see you in a bit, I’ve got to dump these in the staff room.”
“Artie?” Gwen giggled after Morgana had left.
“Please, don’t ever call me that,” he pleaded.
“Does anyone?”
“No,” he said vehemently. “One of my aunts called me that when I was little, but I never liked it, but Morgana of course remembered that and brings it up every once in a while.”
“Why don’t you like it?”
“I don’t know, I just don’t like being called that. You know how sometimes you can just really dislike a shortening of your name?”
“I suppose so. Although everyone calls me the shortened form of my name.”
“Oh yeah,” Arthur recalled, “It’s…” Gwen was about to supply her full name, but he held up a hand to stop her, wanting to remember himself. “Guinevere,” he finished. “Isn’t it?”
She smiled as he had stressed the name differently, as Guinevere, rather than Guinevere, which was her actual name, but she nodded anyway. She actually rather liked the way he had said it.
“Well, Guinevere, I best be getting back to work.”
“Me too, I’ve got to finish something off before I go.”
He nodded. “See you tomorrow morning.” He waved, the red mittens still on his hands, causing her to smile.
“See you, Art-” she paused when the stressed “t” sound caused Arthur to look stern, and finished, “Arthur.”
It was only when she turned back to face her desk that she noticed that Arthur had left his file behind on the counter. Picking the item up, she scooted after him, catching up in a few steps, just outside Leon’s office door. “Arthur!” He turned back around at her call and she held up the file to explain. “You left this.”
“Oh, yeah, I’m gonna need that,” he laughed as she passed it to him. “Thanks.”
“That’s alright.”
As Leon opened his office door and he and Gerry began to step out onto the hallway, the four exchanged smiles and were about to go their separate ways when Leon stopped them by noticing, “Hey, you two are under the mistletoe.”
Arthur and Gwen looked up, and saw the truth of those words, both slightly embarrassed.
At Gerry’s amused cry of “Kiss!” Gwen glanced down, while Arthur shook his head.
“That’s not necessary.”
“Hey, the rules of mistletoe are non-negotiable,” Gerry stated. “We’ll leave you two alone though,” he added, walking around the back of Gwen so he could flash a wink at Arthur, who wanted to throttle him. Leon simply smiled sympathetically as he followed their so-called friend.
“Sorry,” Arthur stated once they were by themselves again, relatively speaking.
“You don’t have to apologise. Mistletoe is mistletoe,” she said with a shrug.
Arthur grew slightly perplexed, wondering what that meant. Perhaps Gwen wanted him to kiss her...she hadn’t exactly moved away. But they shouldn’t really, especially as they were at work. Of course, they were under mistletoe so it would be innocent enough. He didn’t know why he hadn’t gotten it taken down; he hadn’t even realised it had been up at first and by the time he had it seemed silly to do anything about it. It was away from the main part of the office so it just seemed festive, and a part of him had been amused by how much it worried Leon so he’d even made sure it had stayed up in that exact place. It was a bit awkward now that he found himself under it, with someone he thought - if he was being completely honest - that actually he maybe wouldn’t mind kissing really, in a place where anyone they worked with could easily walk past. He knew despite Gerry’s comment he was probably watching from behind a corner or something, and he kind of just wanted to turn around and take the two steps to his office door, except Gwen was still waiting. And he was pretty convinced she’d gotten him - no, made him - a pair of mittens so he didn’t have to get a lame tie as his present, and he’d always been more of a shove-his-hands-in-his-pockets kind of guy rather than opting for gloves or mittens, but as a gesture it was really sweet and nice and…well, very Gwen.
He settled on bending down to kiss her cheek. His eyes closed instinctively, but before his mouth reached her skin he felt her lips against his. Arthur opened his eyes wide in surprise at the contact, and was transfixed by Gwen’s eyelashes (he’d never noticed how full they were before), so close to his face. Her closed mouth was soft but firm against his, and when it moved slightly it suddenly revved him into action. His eyes closed once more as his lips began to part, but hers were already pulling away. He’d just half-caught her top lip between his two for a strangely wonderful moment before she moved away entirely.
Eyes wide open, Arthur stared at a wholly non-plussed Gwen now standing a completely respectable distance away from him, and was struck with the feeling that he really had no idea what just had or hadn’t happened .
“Merry Christmas,” she offered.
“Merry Christmas,” he repeated dumbly.
“See you tomorrow.”
He could only nod his response. As Gwen turned around and walked back to her desk, Arthur lifted a hand up to scratch his forehead in confusion, only to realise he was still wearing the mittens.
*
“Ahem.”
Gwen looked over her shoulder from behind the reception desk to see Morgana eyeing her suspiciously. “Hi.”
“Hello. Is that all you have to say for yourself?”
As she pulled on her coat and scarf Gwen inquired, “What do you mean?”
Morgana glanced over her shoulder before saying in a quieter tone. “I saw you! Kissing Arthur!”
“It was under the mistletoe. Mistletoe you put up, by the way.”
“Don’t remind me that you got kissed, and I still haven’t been able to catch Leon under there -”
“So you do admit it was you who put it there then?” Gwen shot back.
Morgana shook her head. “Never mind that. What about You! And Arthur.”
“Morgana, keep your voice down! I don’t want the whole office to know -”
“But what is there to know?” Morgana asked eagerly, scooting around the desk so she was standing by Gwen’s side. “And why am I only finding out now, like this?”
Gwen held up a hand to stop Morgana from getting carried away. “There is nothing to know, there is no me and Arthur. It’s Christmas and it was mistletoe, it doesn’t mean anything.”
Morgana crossed her arms over her chest, and raised a perfect brow accusingly. “That wasn’t what it looked like to me.”
“Oh really, what did it look like?”
“I don’t know, but it certainly looked like something. Certainly, if Arthur’s face was anything to go by.”
“I guess I’m just a good kisser then,” Gwen joked, with only the faintest of flushes gracing her cheeks.
“Fine, if you don’t want to tell me then-.”
“Morgana, there’s nothing to tell,” Gwen insisted. “It was just a kiss.”
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Gwen rolled her eyes. “No, she doesn’t, thank you very much. I’ve honestly never thought of him like that.” Which, perhaps wasn’t entirely honest, but not that far from the truth. Arthur was attractive, but she wasn’t really attracted to him. And it was a nice kiss, very nice actually, but it wasn’t…earth-shattering or anything. - And it was mistletoe. So, all in all, she didn’t see what the big deal was.
“Oh really, never? The guy’s like my brother and drives me mental and if he ever asked I would deny it to my grave but even I can admit he’s not horrible to look at. It’s when he opens his mouth that there’s a problem.”
Gwen smirked a little at that. “Actually, if anything, I’d say he could have opened his mouth a little more.”
“Gwen!” Morgana shrieked.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help myself,” she giggled as Morgana joined in.
“I really am a bad influence on you, aren’t I?” Morgana did her best to make her laughter subside before continuing, “But really, was it a good kiss then? - No, wait, I don’t want to know. - Well, I do, but, urgh it’s Arthur. Although I do know it has been a while for both of you so - ”
“Morgana, really, that’s never going to happen. We work with each other. No, I work for him. None of your insane little ideas or plans, please.”
“No plans. What plans?”
“I know you.”
“Aren’t I allowed to find it strange that my adopted brother and one of my closest friends kissed, and not have any ulterior motives beyond curiosity?” she said with her best innocent face.
Morgana even thought she did a good job of making Gwen believe her, and Gwen was certainly convincing in her explanation of the situation before they said their goodbyes for the day, but she was still pondering what she had seen when she returned to her cubicle.
“There you are. We thought you might have fallen in,” Will piped up when she returned.
“Huh?” she wondered, as his comment jarred her out of her thoughts.
“Fallen in to the toilet,” he stated matter-of-factly, now properly dragging his gaze away from the computer screen to stare at her.
“…because that’s where you said you were going,” Merlin finished for him, from his standing position on the other side of Will.
“Oh, right. Yeah, on my way back I…” she paused and looked around to make sure that the few cubicle spaces near them were empty, “I saw Gwen and Arthur kissing.”
“What?” Will exclaimed, while Merlin’s jaw dropped.
“Well, they were under the mistletoe,” Morgana began, but Merlin and Will regarded this as the end of the story and turned their attention back to the computer.
“Oh, is that all?”
“What do you mean ‘all’?”
“They’re not the only ones to have kissed under the mistletoe here, but it’s just mistletoe,” Will supplied, and started tapping away at the keyboard.
“I know that, I mean, even Merlin and I did, but this was -”
“Wait a second,” Will swivelled his chair around so he could look at them both at the same time. “You two? When was this?”
“Just a few days ago,” Merlin shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed.
“Why, are you jealous?” she asked.
“No, just curious.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll tell you how Merlin kisses later,” she winked, and Merlin and Will both rolled their eyes. “But my point is, this didn’t seem like just an ordinary kiss. This was like…”
“We’re waiting,” Will stated when she trailed off.
“I don’t know! But it was something!”
“And let me guess, you’re planning to do something about it?” Will conjectured.
“I don’t think Gwen would like that,” Merlin pointed out.
“Why are all of you so suspicious? I’m not going to do anything big. Just maybe…accidentally-on-purpose make Arthur and Gwen spend a little more time together outside of work and…see what happens. You know, the holiday season can have a magical effect on people.”
“And the season is almost over,” Merlin replied.
“No, it’s not even been Christmas Day yet.”
“Yeah, but that’s pretty soon,” Will said. “It’s that kind of time where the only Christmas-y stuff going on is last minute shopping.”
Merlin nodded in agreement. “Plus, we’ve already had our office Christmas party.”
“It was earlier this year because the restaurant only had space for so many of us on that day, remember? Unless you don’t. You did get really wasted when we went out after.”
“I do remember the Christmas party, thank you for that, William. But a little something like the end of a season, isn’t going to stop us.”
“Us?”
Merlin met Will’s gaze before returning to look at Morgana. “I really don’t want to be involved in any meddling.”
“Guys, where is your sense of fun? Don’t you want to see what could happen when you put our friends together?”
“Arthur’s not my friend,” Will stated.
Merlin simply shrugged.
“Jeez! Fine, I’ll just have to meddle by myself then.”
“I guarantee you would have forgotten all about this by the end of the week.”
Morgana shook her head at Will’s comment. “And I guarantee I can find a way to push them together before the end of the season.”
“And if you can’t?”
Morgana smiled a little devilishly, and Will and Merlin both took note of the gleam in her eye. “Well…there’s always New Year’s Eve.”