Merlin unfolded his paper snowflake and chucked it into the pile on the kitchen counter. Lancelot passed him another glass of eggnog, pulling a face at the snowflakes. Merlin let out a laugh. Gwen turned around, snatched another paper snowflake and tried to decide where to put it.
"Where's your Christmas spirit, you two?" She asked, deciding to place this snowflake onto the window.
"It's right here." Lancelot said, pointing to his glass of eggnog.
Morgana rolled her eyes and turned the lights on. Tiny flashing lights appeared across their tree, highlighting parts of the golden tinsel, she stepped back to admire her work.
"What do you think?" She asked, holding her arms out towards the tree.
"Beautiful." Gwen said.
"It's a bit..." Lancelot trailed off.
"Big." Merlin finished.
"It's not big! It's perfect." Morgana said indignantly.
Merlin was tempted to continue arguing but thought it best to just let it go. The tree dominated the tiny lounge, it blocked the TV and the branches hung out, covering the leather black chairs completely.
That wasn't even the worst part of the Christmas decorations. Gwen had been forcing Lancelot and Merlin to make paper snowflakes all morning, they now adorned every piece of furniture and hung from the ceiling. They were cellotaped to each bedroom door and window.
Not only had Gwen and Morgana gone completely overboard on decorations, they had bought four ugly Christmas jumpers for them to wear. Morgana's was green and had hideous gingerbread men all over it. Gwen's was red and had a garish looking teddy bear on it. Merlin's was blue (to match his eyes) and had two kissing snowmen on it, with glittery eyes. Lancelot's was black and had strips of tinsel dangling from it, it was by far the ugliest and had been bought specifically for him, because he considered himself too cool for Christmas cheer.
Merlin sipped his eggnog and cringed slightly, there was far too much rum in it. He could see Lancelot's smirk out of the corner of his eye.
Morgana and Gwen dropped down onto the couch, finally done decorating every inch of their flat. Merlin and Lancelot looked at each other briefly, before racing off towards the only remaining seat. Merlin got there seconds before Lancelot did and sat down. Lancelot grumbled to himself and sat down on the floor, staring sadly at the hidden chairs. He regretted not moving the chairs before bringing the tree in.
"So where's everyone going for Christmas?" Merlin asked, trying to distract Lancelot before he jumped up and forcefully took his seat.
"I'm going back home tonight, Elyan's coming to pick me up." Gwen said, sipping her hot chocolate.
She grimaced and glared at Lancelot, "Is there rum in this?"
Lancelot shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips. He had been spiking everyone's drinks ever since December first.
"You are never allowed to make drinks again." She said, placing her cup back down.
"I'll be here until Wednesday so I'll only have the hideous snowflakes for company. And that tree... I might get into a fight with that tree." Lancelot said, glaring.
"Hey!" Gwen protested.
"Merlin's coming to my house for Christmas. An idea he'll soon regret." Morgana said.
"You and Arthur are going to his house?" Gwen asked Merlin.
"Yeah, my dad and I make a yearly trip to the Bahamas every Christmas, so I figured this year I'd spend Christmas in the snow." Merlin paused, "I thought you and Lancelot would meet each other's families."
"Oh yeah, as if I want my parents to meet him." Gwen mocked.
Lancelot pulled a face at her, "She did want me to come. I can't, I'm going home to Venezuela."
"I didn't want you to come. You'd probably spike my parent's drinks."
Lancelot shrugged in a yeah-I-totally-would way and sipped his eggnog.
Elyan had arrived and picked up Gwen an hour ago, leaving Lancelot to mope around the flat. He stomped around and complained about walking into the dangling snowflakes a lot more. Morgana and Merlin tried very hard to stay out of his way, and when Arthur appeared, Merlin was very glad to be leaving. He called his goodbye to Lancelot from the door.
Merlin was terrified of meeting Uther, Arthur's father, after hearing the stories Morgana had told him. Especially since Arthur's father had liked Arthur's psycho old girlfriend...
"Ready?" Arthur asked, interlocking his finger's with Merlin's and walking towards his car.
The carpark was covered in snow, barring a few tire tracks. Merlin shivered when his foot crunched into the snow, and blew out a puff of white foggy air. Arthur's nose was tinted pink and he pulled his blue scarf up over his mouth. Morgana walked ahead of them.
They got into the frosty car and Arthur turned the keys, turning the heating all the way up. Before setting off, he turned back to Merlin and smiled.
"I like your jumper." He laughed, "Is that one me?"
He pointed towards one of the kissing snowmen and laughed.
"Oh God, are you two going to be flirting all the way there?" Morgana complained.
Arthur turned back to face her and winked, before driving out towards the main road. Apprehension bubbled inside Merlin as the Sat Nav announced two and half hours left of their journey. Morgana put her headphones on and shut her eyes, Merlin chewed his cheek nervously.