Day: 2
Title: snow angel
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Rating: PG13 for some boy kissing
Word count: approx. 2700
Warnings/Spoilers: uhm… heavy load of fluff? No real spoilers, I think.
Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing than my dirty imagination and also, no one is paying me any money for this.
Summary: The boys have a snowball fight and Merlin shows Arthur what a snow angel is.
AN: English is not my mother tongue and I have no beta, so all mistakes and awkward vocabulary are mine.
Phew, my first fanfiction in this fandom so I'm a little bit nervous. I just started to write fanfiction again after a long time of abstinence and I'm a little bit afraid of my English skills, so please be kind and tell how I can improve.
"Merlin? Are you here?"
Without knocking Arthur opened the door to his servant's chambers and entered. When he saw Merlin putting on his boots and his thick woollen winter coat he frowned. "Where are you going?"
Merlin looked up as he closed the buttons of his coat.
"Gaius told me to go out to the woods to fetch a special flower that only blossoms during the day when the first snow has fallen." He stood up and slung his bag around his shoulder.
"Do you want anything special from me? Or can it wait until I'm back?"
Arthur shook his head and scratched his head.
"No, nothing special. I was just wondering if you would join me on a ride through the snow but since you're going out anyway, would you mind if I come with you?" He watched Merlin and when the young warlock smiled and shook his head Arthur felt a warm tingle in his stomach.
"Of course I won't mind!" Merlin answered and grinned from one ear to the other.
"Let me guess, the old smelly castle is getting on your nerves, sire?"
Arthur groaned a little as they left Merlin's quarters to get the prince's winter clothes.
"You have no idea. I've been stuck inside these walls for nearly a whole week thanks to my father's yuletide planning for which he suddenly needs the opinion of his heir" Arthur sighed.
"I don't understand why he isn't asking Morgana. I mean, after all she is a girl, isn't she? She's supposed to know all this… girly stuff about yuletide decorations and Christmas trees, not me!"
When Merlin saw Arthur's slightly annoyed face, he decided not to mention how Gwen had told him that last year Morgana had decorated the castle in the most awful patterns and colours possible on purpose so that Uther would never again ask her to do this task. Instead Merlin just laughed and then dodged a swat direct to the back of his head.
"Don't laugh, this is not funny!"
When they finally stepped outside the walls of Camelot, Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He enjoyed the cold air burning in his lungs and biting his cheeks.
"Well, then, Merlin, how deep inside the woods is this flower?"
Merlin puffed warm breath in his hands and stuffed them deeper in the pockets of his coat.
"Gaius said it isn't that far away. We just have to follow the rivulet at the edge of the forest until we come to a bigger clearing with an old oak tree. That is where the flower grows."
They started to walk in silence, enjoying the peaceful surroundings but soon Merlin couldn't hold his joy about the first snow of the year back anymore. So he slowed down his pace a little bit to grab some snow from the ground, formed a nice soft snowball, aimed and threw it directly at the well exposed back of Arthur's head. When the snowball hit the royal head Arthur let out a surprised yelp and stumbled forward a little bit. He turned around and his gaze fell on a laughing manservant, holding his stomach and trying hard not to fall on his butt. He narrowed his eyes and glared at Merlin.
"Did you just throw a snowball at me?" Arthur asked with a low growl and slowly closed in on his servant. Merlin's laughter gradually died and he cleared his throat.
"Well, uhm.. I…"
"I'm asking again. Did you just throw a snowball at your prince?"
Arthur pushed Merlin at his chest and the servant fell backwards into a snowdrift.
"I'm sorry, I just … I thought…"
When Arthur knelt down and grabbed his collar Merlin shut his eyes in expectation of a hit. But instead he could only feel Arthur's warm breath in his face when the prince lowly said: "I hope you do realise that this is a declaration of war, Merlin!"
And then Arthur grabbed a handful of snow and shoved it in his manservant's face. When the cold mush hit his nose and cheeks Merlin opened his eyes in shock and started to wriggle himself out of Arthur's hold screaming.
"Stop it! It's unfair! You're cheating!!" Merlin finally freed himself and got up on his feet again. His hair was damp and ruffled and he was breathing hard. Now he could see the mischievous glint in Arthur's eyes.
"I'm cheating? You were the one who attacked cowardly from behind" Arthur grinned and formed another snowball in his hand. Merlin crossed his arms in front of his chest and huffed in annoyance.
"I am not a coward!" he insisted and glared at Arthur. Then his facial expression slowly changed and he started to grin.
"Well then, I hope you won't regret what you started" he said and quickly reached down to throw an armful of loose powder snow at Arthur.
"I challenge you to a snowball fight, Arthur Pendragon of Camelot!!"
Merlin yelled as he tried to dodge another throw from Arthur.
"Challenge accepted!" Arthur shouted back and laughed as he started to hunt Merlin down throwing snowball after snowball at his servant.
Eventually they entered the forest and Arthur was just stuffing tons of cold snow into Merlin's shirt down his back when they broke through the branches and landed on the clearing Gaius had described. But neither of them really cared for Merlin was yelping and wriggling and trying to get out of Arthur's strong grip around his waist while the prince tried to hold fast to Merlin. The snow was cold and wet on Merlin's skin and made him shiver but when he tried to free himself his foot got caught under a tree root hidden under the snow and both, he and the prince, stumbled and fell to the ground. Arthur grabbed Merlin's coat just in time to turn him around so that he landed directly on top of Merlin's chest.
Merlin coughed as the weight of the prince pressed the air out of his lungs.
"Get off, you're heavy!" he winced and shoved Arthur's shoulder.
"Sorry", the prince mumbled and lifted himself up on his elbows. As he looked down he stared directly in his manservant's face, framed by tousled black hair, his crystal blue eyes standing a contrast to his flushed cheeks, heated by their snowball fight. A few seconds long the prince of Camelot forgot how to breathe, too fascinated by the red lips that were only inches away from his. Without really knowing what he was doing Arthur lifted his right hand and placed his fingers on Merlin's cheek, his gloves lying forgotten somewhere on the snow-capped ground of the forest. Merlin shivered lightly at the soft touch.
"You're cold", Arthur whispered and his thumb slowly touched Merlin's lower lip. This weird feeling in his stomach returned that lately happened to arise every time Merlin smiled at him or touched him or just laughed at something stupid Arthur had said.
When Arthur's finger touched his cheek Merlin swallowed and nodded curtly.
"A… a little bit" he answered and leaned his face into the warm palm. He could hear his blood rushing in his ears and his stomach felt like he had swallowed a bunch of little fairies.
"Then maybe... we should…" Arthur whispered and drew slowly closer to Merlin's lips.
"Yeah, maybe we… really…" Merlin answered huskily but the sentence was left unfinished as the prince closed the tiny gap and gently and little bit clumsily pressed his lips on his manservant's. They felt rough due to the cold they where exposed to and nothing like Arthur had ever felt before but at the same time Merlin's lips were the sweetest thing the prince had ever tasted. Arthur closed his eyes and started to explore Merlin's mouth, first a little bit insecure but with more and more confidence as he felt how the black haired boy completely relaxed in his touch and eagerly responded. The warm tingle in Arthur's stomach started to spread through his whole body until it reached the tip of his toes and ears.
When the warm lips of the prince touched him everything around Merlin seemed to vanish into a blurry haze. He didn't care for his cold, wet clothes anymore and even the unpleasant pressure from Arthur's belt buckle into his hipbone was forgotten. Instead Merlin tightened his grip on Arthur's coat and tried to press further into the warm, solid body. His left hand wandered from Arthur's chest to his neck and he wove his fingers into the soft blond hair at the nape to caress the prince gently.
Encouraged by Merlin's movement Arthur tilted his head a little bit to get a better angle to deepen the kiss. His lips were moving rhythmically against the manservant's and his tongue almost lazily explored the warm cave of Merlin's mouth tasting every spot and angle never to forget this unique taste again. Arthur didn't even realize how he instinctively had wriggled his leg between Merlin's and was now rubbing his hips against the dark haired boy's hip in the same rhythm with his kiss.
'SogoodSogoodSogood!!' was all that Arthur could think and gasped shortly when Merlin wrapped his leg round Arthur's waist.
"Arthur… "
Merlin groaned and broke the kiss to get some fresh air. When the prince heard his name spoken so full of love and lust his eyes widened and suddenly reality came crushing back and hit him like a fist in his stomach. What the hell was he doing here? Why was he lying out here in the snow kissing Merlin, kissing his manservant? He was the crown prince, he wasn't supposed doing something like this! Arthur jerked back like he had just touched a burning stove. When he hastily scrambled back to his feet a confused and hurt expression appeared on Merlin's face. He slowly put himself in a sitting position and watched his clearly upset master.
"Arthur, what…"
"Don't!" the prince interrupted with more harshness then actually intended which he immediately regretted when he saw form the corner of his eyes how Merlin pressed his lips together to a tight white line. Not able to deal with Merlin's feelings when his own were confusing and upsetting enough he just barked: "go and fetch that damn flower! And hurry or else I will walk back to Camelot alone!"
Then he turned around and stared at the forest waiting until Merlin had silently finished his task.
The walk back was not at all as joyful and carefree as it had been before. Arthur was walking a few steps ahead and was stubbornly looking at the ground in front of him. He already regretted how he had treated the black haired boy who was trotting behind him. After all he was the one who started the whole kissing thing and yet he was totally freaking out. How bad must it be for Merlin who has been totally taken by surprise and just reacted to the stupid feelings of his master and now said prince wasn't even talking to him.
But Arthur just couldn't bring himself to apologize, still too confused about what just had happened. He knew that secretly he had always wanted to know how it would be to kiss Merlin since the time he saw Gwen giving Merlin a tiny peck on his lips. And he also had wondered whether the other one would kiss him back or just punch him in the face. But these thoughts were always just fantasies! He wasn't prepared at all how to handle a situation in which kissing Merlin actually had happened! And even less a situation where Merlin had kissed him back! So Arthur kept silent, his shoulders slumped and his hands burrowed deep inside the pockets of his coat.
Merlin silently sighed and glared at Arthur's back. When the prince had kissed him Merlin was delirious with joy, the little voice inside his head shouting 'finallyfinallyfinally!!' But then Arthur had suddenly acted like he had done something terribly wrong and although Merlin could sense that Arthur was just very confused he was hurt by the way his master was treating him. He should be the one pouting and ignoring not the other way around. Merlin lightly touched his lips with his fingers and sighed again. He couldn't stand this awkward silence any longer and so he stopped and put his hands on his hips.
"Now this would be an awesome place for a snow angel, don't you think, sire?" he asked casually and looked at the white meadow on the left site of the road. Arthur stopped and slowly turned.
"What do you mean, a snow angel?" he asked but didn't really dare to look Merlin in the eyes. Instead he fixated a far away point above Merlin's left shoulder.
"Wait, don't tell me you don't know what a snow angel is!" Merlin stared at Arthur as if the prince had grown another head. Arthur blushed and frowned.
"So what? I don't think princes and future kings need to things like that!" he said and tried vainly not to sound like a petulant child. Merlin laughed and shook his head in disbelieve.
"No, not princes and kings but children should know! And I'm very sure that you have been one yourself some time ago."
Arthur snorted but couldn't hide the curious glimmer in his eyes.
"Well then, show me what a snow angel is!" he ordered and watched Merlin expectantly.
"As you wish, mylord" Merlin said and grabbed Arthur's shoulders to place him in front of the meadow with his back facing the snow-capped ground. Then he positioned himself two arm lengths away, grabbed Arthur's hand so that they stood with out stretched arms and let himself fall backwards into the snow tugging the prince with him. When Arthur fell as well he gasped in surprise as he hit the cold ground. He was just about to shout at Merlin when the manservant said: "Now lay down, stretch your arms and legs and start moving them up and down like this." Merlin immediately started with this task and after Arthur had watched a little bit, the prince started to do the same.
After a while the boys stopped and got back to their feet.
"I hope all this was worth it" Arthur grumbled and patted the snow off his clothes. Then he turned around and stared at the two figures in the snow. He clearly could see why Merlin had called them snow angels. They really looked like two angels with long robes and spread wings. When Arthur realized that the wings of his and Merlin's angel were touching his face became a deep shade of crimson.
"Well, what do you think? It's fun, isn't it?" Merlin asked and stood close to Arthur.
"Yeah, well… it's quite nice" Arthur answered and coughed a little bit. Then he slowly reached for Merlin's hand and squeezed it gently, grateful that Merlin once again had managed to lighten up his mood.
A wide grin spread over Merlin's face and the bunch of tiny fairies inside his stomach returned, tickling and fluttering even more then before. He smiled at Arthur and chastely placed a kiss on lips of the prince. Arthur blinked and then smiled at his manservant whose cheeks were now as red as his. Only then he noticed the slight shivering of Merlin's body and remembered their snowball fight and how he had bathed the dark haired boy in cold, white mush.
"Well, I think no matter what fun all this snow is we should head back now. I don't want you to catch a cold."
Arthur cleared his throat and started walking again, pulling the grinning manservant with him.
"My my, are you concerned about me? That is so sweet of you!" Merlin teased and nudged Arthur's shoulder playfully, not letting go of his hand.
"Oh, shut up, Merlin!" Arthur just answered and swatted Merlin lightly at the back of his head, a soft and caring expression in his eyes, showing so much love and concern he would never, ever admit loudly. But Merlin didn't really care since he now knew how his prince really felt. And that alone was important to him.