Prompt: Ring ting tingling too!
Together with you – G – Romance/Humor – No Warnings
Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
Ring-ting-tingling, too.
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride
Together with you.
Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling, "Yoo-hoo!"
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride
Together with you.
"Yoo-hoo, Gwen! Come out and play with us! The new snow is going to be awesome for sledding," called Merlin.
Finals had just ended that morning, and this would be the last chance they would get to play together before heading back to their homes for the winter break.
Gwen called down from her college dormitory window, "Merlin! The last time I went sledding with you, I was black and blue all over for a week!"
"Awwwh! If you don't, then Arthur-the-Prat and his gang of trust-fund hockey buddies are going to try and take over the hill again," Lancelot piped up.
"And how would I prevent said hill from being taken?"
"Beause Arthur always pays attention to you, Gwen. If you tell him to be nice, then he will. And if he is, then his friends will be."
"I think you're mixing me up with Morgana, Merlin. Arthur barely pays attention to me, and he's said point-blank that Morgana is beautiful."
Gwen knew better than to believe her biased friend: Arthur was so handsome, athletic, and rich. Any time he was around, he had women and men of his own kind fawning all over him. Gwen and her friends were mostly merit scholars – the two groups just did not mix socially. The only reason she had even met him was because her roommate Morgana was his kind – beautiful, athletic, and rich.
Merlin gave Gwen a disgusted look, "You're so shy around Arthur most of the time, Gwen. How can you even see what he notices?"
"Morgana may be beautiful, Gwen, and she may catch the eye faster, but for Arthur – you're the one he heeds," Lancelot added, not mentioning that it was Gwen he thought beautiful.
Gwen capitulated, "Fine, I'll come out sledding. But, I better be intact by the end of it!"
Giddy-yap, giddy-yap, giddy-yap, let's go,
Let's look at the show
We're riding in a wonderland of snow.
Giddy-yap, giddy-yap, giddy-yap, it's grand,
Just holding your hand.
As it turned out, only their friend Gwaine was at the big hill when they trudged up. Pretty soon he and Lancelot were racing each other on discs, trying to play bumper cars on the way down, and sprinting back up the hill. That left Gwen and Merlin in their two person sled to work on packing down an icy rut for greater speed and distance.
Gwen shrieked in wild delight as she and Merlin flew down the slope on the thin sheet of blue plastic. As they passed the tall stand of trees three-quarters of the way down, a gust of wind blew snow into their faces. Blinded, Merlin panicked and tried to slow them. Instead they drifted right over the edge of their run and onto the roots of one of the trees. Catching air, Gwen and Merlin both lost contact with the sled and tumbled down the rest of the slope independently.
Gwen lost track of Merlin in her uncontrolled roll. She finally managed to get her hands out to the side to start skidding down the hill, trying to dig her elbows into the packed icy trail to no avail. She came to an abrupt rest against a pair of legs in high-end black GoreTex snow pants.
"Gwen! Are you all right?" Arthur bent down to help her up.
Despite the twinge in her side where his shins had impacted her ribs, Gwen started giggling and could not stop. She was dizzy from all of the rolling and kept listing to the side. Arthur held her up by main force and began to chuckle with her.
Sometime during the tumble, she had lost her hat, so he took off his gloves and began combing the snow out of her loose, curly hair. When he let go of her, Gwen had to grasp thick handfuls of his red parka to keep herself upright.
She looked up into his face, too dizzy to feel self-conscious, "I think we made it fast enough. Want to try?"
"Hmmm? Try what?" His blue eyes settled on her brown ones, spearing through her blurry view of his blond handsomeness so close above her.
"Our sledding run. Merlin and I set up a fast one." Suddenly, Gwen realized who she was talking to and her usual shyness in his presence hit her like a freight train. "I mean, umm, if you are sledding. You, ummm, don't have to…"
Arthur grinned down at her, "I would love to." He didn't let her reply, but took her mittened hand in his own ungloved one and started hauling her up the slope towards where Merlin was still sprawled face up next to the upside down sled.
We're gliding along with a song of a wintery fairyland.
Our cheeks are nice and rosy and comfy-cozy are we.
We're snuggled up together
Like two birds of a feather would be.
Let's take that road before us and sing a chorus or two.
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride
Together with you.
At the top of the hill, Arthur settled himself on the sled and helped Gwen sit down in front of him. He was so much bigger than Merlin that she felt surrounded by him and warm, so warm.
Out of the corner of her eye, Gwen saw one of Arthur's cronies shove Gwaine from behind. Lancelot gave the perpetrator a face full of snow and was about to be tackled. Gwen turned to Arthur sharply, "Arthur, tell your friends to play nice."
Arthur followed her gaze and called out, "Oy! Mates! Play nice! The enemy is the mountain!" He watched until his friends gave him waves of acknowledgement, before turning back to the woman in his arms.
"Sorry, I know there's some bad blood there. Should've said something earlier," Arthur acknowledged ruefully.
Gwen turned sideways in his arms to look at him, "You're a nice person, Arthur. I know you'll figure out how to spread that goodwill."
His face was so close to hers, noses almost touching, the deep blue of his eyes so much darker than the icy bright blue of the skies surrounding them. "You're the only one who thinks so, Gwen."
The moment stretched until Arthur shook himself a little and gave her a cocky smile. "So let's see if this run is as fast as you say."
Gwen turned to face forward, leaning back into his broad chest. Arthur tightened his arms around her and said, "Hang on!"
There's a birthday party at the home of Farmer Gray.
It'll be the perfect ending of a perfect day.
We'll be singing the songs we love to sing
Without a single stop,
At the fireplace while we watch the chestnuts pop.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Three perfect runs later, they met Merlin at the bottom of the slope. Gwen told him excitedly from her sledding position in Arthur's arms, "I think the run is even faster with Arthur!"
"Then you'd better slow down on the Christmas cookies, Prat!" Merlin, feeling safe in Gwen's presence, grinned widely as Arthur growled his reply.
"Merlin! Arthur's body is perfect!" Gwen protested without thinking. There was a pregnant pause, where what she said seemed to echo in the brilliant sunny day. As soon as what she had just said hit her, Gwen gasped and sat bolt upright, trying to distance herself from the perfect body behind her.
Arthur gave a huge shout of laughter, not allowing her to wallow in embarrassment. Letting go of the sled rope, he pulled her backwards with an arm across her chest. Then putting his other arm underneath her thighs, he pulled her onto his lap sideways. Thankfully this removed the mirthfully doubled-up Merlin from her view.
"Thank you, Guinevere!" He tilted her chin up so she could see his delighted smile. "Would you like to go to a caroling party with me tonight?"
Gwen gaped up at Arthur, "What?"
"Come to a caroling party with me tonight. I know you have a beautiful voice, Gwen. Your friends can come too."
"Umm, all right." Gwen was having a hard time believing the invitation, but Merlin had side-stepped back into her view and was nodding vigorously.
"Great! It's at Vivian Olafsdottir's at 7." He smiled down at her. "We can meet at your place at 6:45 and walk over together."
There's a happy feeling nothing in the world can buy,
When they pass around the coffee and the pumpkin pie.
It'll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives.
These wonderful things are the things we remember
All through our lives!
Sometime close to midnight, Arthur walked Gwen up to her door. A ways behind them, Morgana and Merlin had stopped to have some sort of weird salsa dance-off in the middle of the street. He bent and kissed her chastely on the cheek, "Thank you for coming with me tonight."
She smiled shyly up at him. "I had fun. Thank you for inviting us."
Arthur laughed down at her, "I invited you, Gwen. I just didn't think that you would come, if I didn't invite your friends too."
"Oh." Gwen realized that he had been right. She probably would have turned his invitation down, due to sheer discomfort with her attraction.
Their friends had mixed surprisingly well, once Arthur had made it clear to a couple of people that bigoted comments and actions would not be tolerated. After that, only Vivian's jealousy had colored the rosiness of the evening. The hostess had clearly invited Arthur with herself in mind. He in turn had made it clear that Gwen was his date by staying by her side and holding her hand whenever possible.
Plus the singing had been fun. The party had walked around a couple of nearby neighborhoods. Bundled up in caps and gloves, holding caroling books, they had been the epitome of holiday spirit.
"Would you like to get together sometime after we return from the break?" Arthur looked uncharacteristically nervous.
Gwen shrugged, trying to act casual, "Sure. That would be fun. I'll be back on the 7th. Why don't you give me a call when you arrive back in town." She pulled out her phone to punch in his number.
Arthur told her his number which she promptly called so he had hers. Once he had saved her contact information, he visibly brightened, "OK, I'll call you. Umm, thanks again."
Gwen smiled bemusedly, "No, thank you. And good night."
Gwen stood there, looking up at him, waiting for him to leave so she could enter her dorm room, when he bent down to kiss her. His lips touched hers; she could feel the sizzle down to the tips of her fingers. She did not ever want to stop, slightly embarrassed as she realized he was pulling away.
Her shocked eyes looked up into his dazed ones. Arthur swallowed and looked away, then back at her. "I must go."
Gwen was still standing at the door, gazing at the far wall unseeing, when Merlin and Morgana stumbled up to her.
Just hear those sleigh bells jingling,
Ring-ting-tingling, too.
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride
Together with you.
Outside the snow is falling
And friends are calling, "Yoo-hoo!"
Come on, it's lovely weather for a sleigh ride
Together with you.
Three years later, amidst the detritus of the caroling party they had just hosted, Gwen and Arthur opened their present from Merlin. When they saw what it was, they both started laughing helplessly. Merlin grinned from ear to ear, happy that they understood immediately.
Morgana plucked the Christmas ornament from Gwen's unresisting hands. Hung from a gold cord was a red bow and small bit of greenery above a four-inch long arc of blue plastic.
"What is it?" asked a completely confused Morgana.
Merlin mysteriously answered, "Just a sled - a thin, pathetic piece of plastic keeping one's butt scant millimeters off the snow."
Arthur frowned warningly at him, "Merlin! No insulting the reason Gwen and I got together."
Gwen corrected him teasingly, "No, love. That's the catalyst for getting us together. The reason we got together is because you're perfect."
Morgana was no less confused, but Arthur laughed lovingly down at his wife. "Guinevere, perfect is you."
Leaning against the base of the couch, legs outstretched, Arthur pulled Gwen's back against his chest in a tight hug, and kissed the nape of her neck.
A/N: Lyrics from the dot-com site lyricsfreak: d/debbie+gibson/sleigh+ride... And yes, the #*&% song is still stuck in my #*&$*& head!