The next day Arthur woke early to go and find some more firewood, he probably should have done this before it snowed and soaked all of the wood, but that was beside the point. He'd had more important things to worry about at the time.

Now however they were almost all out of firewood, which is completely unacceptable in Arthur's book. Merlin might have been healing fast, not as fast as Arthur heals now, still faster than normal, but Merlin would still need to be kept warm in order to ward off illness.

So that's where Arthur was when Merlin found him when he woke up.

"Do you realize how cold it is out here?" Merlin asked as he shuffled along in the snow. He stayed back a safe distance away from Arthur and the swinging ax without even having to be told.

"Do you realize that if I don't do this, it'll be the same temperature in there?" Arthur asked. He finally looked at Merlin better; noticing that he was still wearing the cape Arthur had lent him. It looked good on him, in Arthur's opinion.

"The firewood can wait for a minute while you warm up," Merlin said, offering him a steaming drink with both hands. His gloved fingers twitched underneath the warmth of the cup, the cracked and torn leather doing little to protect from the heat.

Arthur placed the ax down and waded through the piles of snow to finally reach Merlin. The cup was as hot as the steam suggested, scalding Arthur's fingers, even though he refused to let go of it. Just to show his thanks to Merlin, he took a sip, burning his tongue in the process.

Merlin, with his hands now free, walked over and picked up some of the pieces of wood. He gathered all of the pieces he could handle and headed back up to the manor. Arthur wanted to protest, to tell Merlin that he didn't need to do that, but he didn't. He knew his words would not be well received and that Merlin would end up doing what he wanted in the end anyways. Plus, Arthur didn't want to have to carry all of the wood back into the manor by himself.

He placed his cup down on the cutting stump and gathered up some of the wood. Merlin was several paces ahead of Arthur, forcing him to jog through the knee deep snow to catch up with him. Once he reached him he couldn't help but eye the young man.

Despite being beaten only a few nights before, Merlin was healing rather well. Arthur couldn't help but envy how fast the young man was healing. Injuries like those usually took him, a trained warrior, quite a bit longer to get over. Granted Merlin was sore and the cuts and bruises still visible, they were well on their way to disappearing.

There was certainly something odd about his accelerated healing, but Arthur paid it no real mind. Merlin was always with him, it's not as if there was anything secret going on. Not that Merlin would ever be able to keep a secret; he was too much of a fool for that.

"I think that's enough wood for now, right?" Merlin asked as he set down the wood in the store room. Merlin cast a look over Arthur and nodded his head. "Besides you look like you could warm up."

Arthur wasn't too cold, but he had to admit the thought of Merlin warming him up was quite a pleasant idea. Even though he knew Merlin didn't mean it that way.

Merlin led him back into the kitchen, the place where they seemed to be spending all of their time lately, unless it was being spent in the library. A small fire was going, not large enough to burn for more than an hour, just long enough to warm up Arthur's cold muscles.

Both of the young men sat down and enjoyed a light breakfast until the fire burned out and died. Arthur was just about to ask what Merlin planned to do today when he spoke up.

"Have you ever been sledding? I know you said you've never really played in the snow, but sledding doesn't really have to be playing, although it would be for us and it's a lot more fun when you do…" Merlin trailed off, trying to catch his breath in order to start a whole other winded conversation. Arthur, who was more than slightly worried Merlin might manage to knock himself out from lack of air, decided it would be best to cut him off.

"No. I've never been sledding either. Why, what brings this up?" Arthur asked. Merlin gave him one of his, what Arthur was beginning to think of as 'signature smiles', which was a mixture of mischievous and innocence that Arthur found to be unique purely to Merlin.

"Well I was just thinking," Merlin said while letting his eyes roam around the room, obviously trying to play completely cool. This was almost enough to make Arthur laugh out loud, but he managed to suppress it into a small smile.

"I didn't know you were capable of such a thing. Doesn't that usually require a brain?"

Merlin merely snapped his fingers at Arthur while smiling and continued. "Yes, but I'm special. Anyways, I was just thinking that maybe we could actually go sledding. Real and proper sledding," Merlin said.

Arthur wasn't exactly opposed to the thought of sledding. He could remember when he and Morgana used to be children and loved to watch other children race with their sleds to wherever it was they went sledding in Camelot. They weren't able to sled themselves, but through the years they had learned to accept it and at least watch all the other people do it, even if they were slightly envious of them.

While he wasn't opposed to the idea of sledding, he was opposed to Merlin potentially hurting or aggravating his old wounds. It would be so easy for him to somehow get hurt again while they were sledding.

Yet Arthur didn't want to seem like he actually was concerned, so he tried to play it off. "What would we use to go sledding? And where would we go?" he asked. Merlin leaned down underneath the table and used his foot to kick something out from underneath the table they were both sitting at. Arthur leaned over and glanced at whatever it was.

A rickety, old wooden sled was sitting next to his foot, the metal "legs" on the bottom scrapping the floor and causing a horrible grating sound every time it moved. It didn't look safe enough to hold half of Merlin's weight, much less any of Arthur's.

"Where did you find this? " Arthur asked, refusing to even acknowledge that it was a sled at all.

"I found it in one of the rooms this morning while I was looking around. I figured that we could take it out if you've never been sledding before," Merlin said. "As for where we'd go, I figured that we could just go out to the forest and find a place. There are plenty of hills out there."

"And this thing is supposed to keep together while we ride around down hills?" Arthur asked. The metal on the sled was so badly rusted that it looked like flaky, dried blood and the wood was so splintered that it was a miracle that Merlin hadn't cut himself just moving it.

Merlin noticed Arthur's raised brow, as it was, and his doubtful tone, and took it all in stride. "Believe me, this looks great compared to some of the ones I've rode on before. It'll be fine, see?" he asked as he walked around the side of the table and dragged it out with his foot. One more motion to make sure that Arthur was watching and Merlin jumped onto the sled.

"Hey!" Arthur called out as the sled rocked back and forth, making horrible grinding and squeaking sounds. Despite all the noise and rocking it did, it held together rather well.

"See?" Merlin said, smiling. "Nothing wrong with it. But, you might want to wear your gloves to prevent splinters."

'And what exactly is supposed to protect our asses?' Arthur thought, but he didn't say anything. He didn't quite feel like bursting Merlin's happy little bubble he was floating on. Not over something as stupid as a few pieces of wood anyways.

Arthur let out a long, suffering sigh as if it was a big and huge hassle to go sledding with Merlin. Well, technically, it was a big thing after all, this was going to be the first time he'd left the house without having to rush off towards Merlin or go further than a few feet into the backyard. He was sure his father would disapprove of this; he was supposed to be in hiding and all that, even if he was doing a rather bad job of it by allowing Merlin to stay there. He would especially disapprove of it being for such a stupid reason as going sledding with a servant.

"Fine, let's go find a hill," Arthur said with a good-natured eye roll. The sooner they got done sledding the sooner they could return to the safety of the manor, and the sooner Arthur could stop feeling like he was somehow betraying his father.

Merlin gave him a quick smile as he stooped low and grabbed a hold of the rope that hung limply on the side of the sled. "I knew you'd come around eventually."

XXXX

As Arthur had assumed, it didn't take long for them to find a suitable hill. There was a thick layer of snow covering it, protecting them from any and all of the sharp rocks and hard ground, and not a single tree was in sight for them to run into. Merlin had promptly claimed it was the perfect hill to sled down and raced up, dragging the battered sled behind him.

Despite Merlin's earlier test of the sled, Arthur still doubted its sturdiness. There was no way the sled was going to last for more than a few runs, if that many.

Not that Arthur was disappointed by this fact. In fact the less time they spent out here in the open the better. With all the snow covering the ground it was highly unlikely that anyone else would be roaming the woods, but Arthur was still on guard.

"Come on, Edward!" Merlin called, already halfway there. Arthur couldn't help but at least be amused with Merlin. This was certainly going to an… interesting experience.

By the time Arthur reached the top of the hill Merlin had already settled down onto the small and rickety sled. He raised an eyebrow at Arthur and patted at the small empty space behind him. Arthur gave his own questioning look at that.

"What are you waiting for? I thought you wanted to go sledding?" Merlin asked with a strange tone in his voice. It was almost worried, but Arthur couldn't figure out a reason for his worry.

"Come on. You've got to be kidding me," Arthur said haughtily crossing his arms.

Merlin's confusion intensified, leaving him looking around and patting the ground as if he was hoping to find something. "What? What's wrong?"He looked up at Arthur and an understanding look came to his face. "Oh, I get it. You want the front. Well, alright, it gives you less sled for your legs to be on, and you'll have to steer, but I'm sure we'll be fine," he said. He quickly scooted back into the spot he had previously patted for Arthur. "There you go. Hop on."

Arthur had to fight a blush at Merlin's innocent words. The young man's words had been innocent enough, but when his legs were spread and he was implying that Arthur get in between them, well, Arthur's mind could come up with some less than innocent scenarios.

"That's, uh, that's not what I meant," Arthur said while clearing his throat. A small look of confusion settled back onto Merlin's face, but Arthur continued on. "I meant that the thing barely looks like its holding you up, much less both of us. And have you seen the size of that thing? It's a wonder your bottom can fit on it."

Merlin smirked at Arthur's words. "Well sorry, milord, that we can't all have as padded of bottoms as yours. Though, I believe in this case that's a good thing," Merlin said.

Arthur was completely taken off guard. Was Merlin flirting with him? And not just flirting with him, he was flirting with him while talking about his bum. That had to be worth something more than their usual style, right?

Merlin gave a quick pat to the spot in front of him again, along with a certain smile that, if Merlin wasn't such a gangly and awkward young man, then maybe it could have been described as…. flirtatious? Before Arthur was completely aware of what he was doing, he was stepping up and over one of Merlin's legs and settling down in between them.

Merlin shifted a bit, almost like he was wiggling behind Arthur and trying to find a more comfortable position. Arthur couldn't help it; he leaned back, just slightly, against Merlin, smugly noting the way Merlin froze against him. It wasn't the freeze of the scared; it was the freeze of the surprised. Arthur could feel Merlin's legs tremble next to him on the sled, causing Arthur to smirk more. He instantly decided that Merlin hadn't planned this out very well.

"O-okay, yeah," Merlin stuttered. "Just like that I suppose. Now, just lift your legs up onto the sled all the way," Merlin said. He paused again when Arthur lifted his legs and managed to scoot back even more, so that he was right up against Merlin. Arthur didn't need his super hearing to hear Merlin's breath falter or speed up. "Now you just need to take this rope and try to keep us as straight as possible. Or, you know, just don't flip us over," Merlin said.

Arthur nodded and Merlin counted down. His breath tickled Arthur's ears and neck and Arthur was more than happy he was in front now. When Merlin reached the end of his countdown he lifted his feet from the ground completely, essentially wrapping his legs around Arthur and pulling them closer together. Gravity itself was doing a pretty good job at that by itself though. It forced Arthur to lean back into Merlin, thus warming his back completely while leaving his face to the biting cold.

Behind him Merlin whopped and hollered, just one more sound to add the noise of the rushing wind around him. Arthur decided in that moment that if people could fly, this is what it would feel like.

Wind was blowing all over him freezing his bald head that he hadn't considered covering before going out. The wind drowned out almost all the other sounds, Merlin hollering, the sound of the snow crunching underneath the sled, the chirping of birds. None of it beat out the wind. It was also cold, much colder than any horse ride Arthur had ever been on. The feel of Merlin at the back of him, however, made it much better than any horse ride.

They came to a stop at the bottom, which ended Merlin's whooping. The young man quickly hopped off the back of the sled and bounced on his heels in excitement. He sprang in front of Arthur, who was trying to stagger to his feet, and was in his face in three seconds.

"See, wasn't that amazing? I can't believe you've never been sledding before. Well come on, we got to go again," Merlin said and hauled Arthur up completely from the sled and back up the hill.

Despite the rather worrisome part of being out in the open, Arthur could feel himself getting into the spirit of things. The adrenaline rush he was getting was similar to the ones caused by fighting, except this one was less violent, but still just as competitive.

He raced up behind Merlin, almost managing to tangle his legs and feet on the sled. He reached out and gently pulled on Merlin's long cloak; just barely enough to slow him down and allow Arthur to pass him.

"That… was cheating!" Merlin puffed when he reached the top. His hands were collapsed on his knees as he took in great gulps of air.

The short sprint up the hill had barely winded Arthur at all. "Was not. I was merely using my resources," he said.

Merlin used one hand to shake the rope tied to the sled and the other to gesture to the cloak secured around his neck. "No, that was cheating. I was pulling the sled and you made me wear the cloak that you pulled on," Merlin said. Any of the other royals Arthur had had to socialize with as a child would have been throwing a tantrum by now, Arthur sadly included, yet Merlin was smiling and laughing between breaths. "Just for that, I get to ride up front."

Arthur nodded his head to signal that he found this to be a fair trade, even though Merlin was already climbing on a positioning the sled in the direction he wanted.

From the top Arthur could see the place their sled had cut through the snow, both times going up and the one time going down. He could see that their path had been rather straight when Arthur had led them down, a fact in which Arthur was rather pathetically proud of. Merlin had told him to keep it straight and he certainly had.

Arthur crawled on behind Merlin and placed his legs on either side of him. There was more room on the back, but it sadly lacked the warmth.

That problem was soon fixed by Merlin leaning back against him. The same warmth from before was now in front of him, making him feel comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time this was a confusing, yet not wholly unpleasant, feeling.

"Ready?" Merlin asked. Arthur wondered if he should push off, like Merlin had done before or do something else. Before he could ask however, Merlin pushed off with his hands and they flew.

They seemed to be going faster than the first time, which was saying something. Arthur didn't know how fast sleds normally went, but he felt that they were going faster than usual. He had had no idea Merlin had had that much strength in his scrawny arms.

The speed at which the sled was traveling forced Merlin against Arthur. The force also pushed Arthur back, causing him to lean back too. He hadn't realized how hard it was to stay sitting up, as well, as Merlin had made it seem so easy.

Suddenly the sled veered to the left, almost flinging Arthur off the side. He gripped Merlin around the waist to prevent falling off the back or sides.

Arthur wondered how on Earth Merlin was doing it when he noticed the young man shift his weight to the side, barely noticeable but apparently enough to pull the sled in that direction.

They were weaving down the hill like a snake, Arthur realized, and Arthur decided that he much preferred Merlin steering over him steering any time.

They went past the spot where they had previously stopped, just now beginning to slow. Part of Arthur was worried about what might lay further on down, as they hadn't scouted much further down the hill after all, and for all they knew they could be headed straight into some trees.

Merlin wasn't concerned, however, which went a long way in helping Arthur relax. Instead, the young man was weaving down the mountain as if he had done this a thousand times, avoiding mounds of snow and small holes, essentially anything that could cause them to wreck.

That is until Arthur shifted.

It was such a small shift, merely moving his hand around on Merlin's waist to get a better grip and leaning forward so he wouldn't fall off. That small movement must have thrown Merlin's entire concentration off, though, because he gasped slightly and let the ropes slide through his hands.

Arthur saw what was coming before apparently Merlin did, as the young man still say frozen on the sled, while it was weaving, without hanging on. Arthur knew that they were going to fall off and he did what he could.

His arms were already around Merlin so he just pulled him closer and let gravity do the rest. Both prince and servant were yanked from the wooden sled and thrown to the soft snow.

Both of them let out a puff of air, unable to help it, and rolled and bounced to a stop. Snow covered every inch of their bodies and hair, sticking on their clothes and soaking them to the bone.

Arthur laid next to Merlin in the snow, staring up at the sky in confusion in shock. Beside him Merlin was hysterically laughing his head off now and playfully swatting at Arthur's arm.

"Those are some great reflexes you've got there," Merlin said, still barely containing his laughter. Arthur wasn't quite sure what was just so funny about them ending up covered in snow with the sled Gods only knows where down the mountain. The hysterical laughter was more than a little bit contagious however, and he couldn't help but join in on the ridiculousness.

Soon Merlin was waving his arm and his leg that was farthest away from Arthur in the snow. Arthur began to wonder if the servant was having a fit until Merlin explained.

"Snow angels. Although there's only half of one, as you are crushing the other half."

Arthur stood up and noticed how one part of the wavings did sort of look like an angel. The other half was crushed with the imprint of Arthur's bottom.

Merlin stood up beside him, leaving half an angel with hand and feet prints where he had previously been sitting. Merlin squinted at the snow angel curiously before snapping his gloved fingers and walking away to a clear and pristine patch of snow, which he promptly plopped back into. He waved his arms and legs again, only this time he was making a full angel.

Arthur stood by his feet, careful to keep clear of the edge of the design. When Merlin was satisfied he held his hands out in Arthur's direction, silently asking for help up. Arthur was confused, but pulled Merlin straight up out of the snow angel none the less.

"When someone helps you up, you don't mess the design up," Merlin explained. "Now you try." He shoved Arthur down into the snow with surprising strength for someone of his stature, especially considering the fact that "beastly" Arthur was quite a bit heavier than he usually was and a slight bit taller than usual, giving him a couple of inches on Merlin. It was strange, but Arthur found himself hoping that the height stuck if… when he was changed back, if only so he'd have bragging rights over that.

The snow felt colder now than it had before, perhaps because the adrenaline flooding his veins from before was gone or maybe because he just hadn't had enough time to think about it before.

He felt a bit ridiculous having to spread his arms and legs around in the snow, doubting he looked as peaceful as Merlin had a few minutes ago. Thankfully Merlin was kind enough to not say anything about the awkward glide of his arms or legs or the expression he was wearing in reaction to the snow.

Once Merlin decided Arthur's angel was done he stuck a hand out to Arthur, offering to pull him up. Arthur had already acknowledged Merlin's surprising strength but still he was shocked when it took no more than a couple of grunts and a few feet shuffling to have Arthur back on his feet.

The shuffling had ruffled the bottom of the angel, but aside from that it looked almost just like Merlin's. Arthur couldn't help but wondering who had ever started such a ridiculous tradition of spreading their arms to make an angel. It honestly made no sense, but it made Merlin happy which in turn made Arthur happy.

Arthur couldn't help but notice that their snow angels were almost touching, their wings barely brushing each other. He wanted to point this out to Merlin, although what he would say about it, or what he even thought about it was a mystery to him, but before he could, Merlin walked off.

Arthur turned and watched the young man walk away and down the hill, seeming intent on finding their lost sled. A little ways down, further than Arthur would've thought possible for it to go after throwing them, he found it half buried in snow.

"Oh, no," Merlin said, holding up the broken remains of the once ancient sled. Apparently Arthur had been right about it not holding out for much longer. Seeing the sad look on Merlin's face prevented him from pointing this out.

He did roll his eyes and walk over to Merlin, though, and once he was close enough he slung an arm around his shoulders and led him back towards the manor. "Come on, you idiot, let's go inside. Maybe if you're good Gaius'll bring us a sled when he comes back."

Perhaps he'd bring an even smaller one for them to ride on.


Hey so, I'm not dead!

My laptop though, is sort of another story. Way back in May I had to constantly keep my laptop plugged in to do anything on it. Then it got to the point where it wouldn't connect to the internet because my battery was dead (like, all of the juice had run out for eternity). So I've been without internet on my laptop since about May.

Now it's September and I'm now living in the dorms at NSU and trying to make it through my classes. I know that this chapter wasn't much, especially considering my like four months absence, but the rest of the story is actually almost finished in my note books, so now that my laptop is working I might be able to actually write some. No promises though!

And seriously, thank you guys so much for following and reviewing this story, even after all this time. You are freaking amazing!

Til' Later!