Bambi
"Merlin! Merlin!" Arthur whispered as loudly as he dared, trying to wake his servant without disturbing any of his knights, "Merlin!"
With great reluctance, Arthur moved his leg out from under the blankets and kicked Merlin's shin. Finally, Merlin's head rolled towards Arthur and he opened his eyes. "What?"
"It's cold."
"You're closer to the fire," Merlin whispered, "How do you think I feel?"
"It's really cold, Merlin. I'm freezing. My toes are ice, my nose hurts because it's so cold and I've been shivering for hours."
"You know, if this were me, you'd tell me to stop being a girl, shut up and deal with it."
"But it's not you, it's me.
Merlin sighed, "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Make the fire hotter."
"Arthur!" Merlin hissed, "I'm not getting up to fetch more wood. It's dark and I'll freeze!"
"I meant with magic," Arthur drawled.
"If one of the knights saw-"
"Fine. Come here, then."
"What?"
"Cuddle."
"What?"
"They're your options. If you do nothing, I'll be a frozen corpse by morning."
"And either of your other suggestions would give me reason to be executed if someone saw."
"Come off it," Arthur scoffed, "I wouldn't let that happen. Besides, think about the knights who are here. They wouldn't care."
Merlin sighed and then shuffled over so he was closer to Arthur, allowing the king to wrap his arms around him before kissing him with cold lips, "You're not that cold!" he accused, "You just wanted a cuddle."
"Actually," Arthur said, "Your lips are blue, your hair basically has frost in it and you were shaking so much, you looked like you were dancing."
"You were worried about me," Merlin cooed quietly.
"Shut up. I didn't want you to be the only dead animal we brought back from this hunting trip."
"Charming." Merlin kissed him again, "Why are you so uptight?"
"I'm not."
"Your jaw is clenched and you're being snappy. And you're in a strop like a three-year-old."
"The hunting was meant to be fun," Arthur said quietly, "But you've hated every second of it, it's the dead of winter so there are no animals around and even if there were, Percival's got himself a cold and when he sneezes, it sounds like a dragon- so much so that it nearly scares us off. Gwaine's done nothing but complain that his ale is going to freeze, nobody's telling jokes or teasing anyone. We're just sitting there, freezing our backsides off, not speaking a word. It's not a fun hunting trip, it's a cold ride through the forest. The knights are only putting up with it because I wanted to do it."
Merlin studied him for a few seconds before kissing him on the cheek, "Get some sleep. It'll be alright."
"Is that it?" Arthur looked disappointed.
"What do you want me to say?" Merlin wouldn't admit that he had a plan forming in his head already.
Arthur rolled over so he was facing away from Merlin, making both their hearts ache. "Arthur?"
"You're right. We wouldn't want anyone to see us cuddling. Goodnight."
Merlin felt slightly guilty but he rolled over too so that they were back to back.
The next morning, they woke up early while the air was still fresh and crisp. Merlin prepared everyone a quick and hot breakfast, then saddled up the horses while the others ate.
Once everything was packed up and everyone was on their horse, Merlin announced, "We're not going hunting today."
"Merlin," Arthur reminded him, "I'm the king, I make the decisions."
"Well hunting isn't fun. No one's enjoying themselves. And it's really not hunting when there's nothing to hunt anyway. We're doing something else."
"And what might that be?" Arthur demanded impatiently.
"You'll find out. Follow me."
The knights all looked to Arthur for approval and waited until he had nodded before following after Merlin. He led them to the edge of a large lake and no one could stop themselves from gasping at the beauty of the place. Tall mountains framed the background, each one topped with pure, white snow. The trees were dripping water onto the frosty grass below, each droplet falling from a glistening icicle, glinting in the sunlight before splashing onto the ground. The grass itself- where it hadn't been washed with the melting icicles, was white and glittering with dew and frost. And the water before them was completely frozen, reflecting the beautiful blue sky.
Merlin dismounted, tied up his horse to a tree, then carefully made his way out onto the ice, slipping and sliding all over the place.
"Merlin!" Arthur scolded, "Be careful."
Merlin grinned, "It's fine! Come on!"
Gwaine was the first to join Merlin, beaming like a mad man. He slipped and fell within seconds before looking up at Merlin and bursting out laughing. A combination of the ice beneath him and his laughter prevented him from finding his feet again. Eventually, Lancelot got off his horse and picked his way across the lake to help Gwaine up. But Gwaine only ended up pulling Lancelot down with him. And soon he was laughing too, tangled up with Gwaine.
Arthur watched on, completely flabbergasted, as first Elyan, then Percival and even Leon, went skidding across the ice to join the others, eventually ending up in a pile on top of each other, all trying to help someone else up but held back by their fits of giggles.
"Come on, Arthur!" Merlin gasped between his own laughs, "It's fun!"
"If I end up with a broken ankle," Arthur muttered to himself as he hopped down from his horse and left it with the others, "I'll lock you away in the Dark Tower myself."
He put one foot onto the ice and immediately, it skidded forward from underneath him and before he knew it, he was on his bum, glaring at Merlin while he stumbled his way over. Of course, Arthur's fall had only made the others laugh ten times harder and even he couldn't keep his lip from twitching a little.
Merlin held out a hand and pulled Arthur to his feet. Keeping their hands interlinked, they made their way together across to the knights when something caught Merlin's eye.
"Arthur," he said quietly, pulling the king with him as he passed the group of his friends on the floor, "Look over there."
Arthur gazed across to the other side of the lake where Merlin had pointed. A mother deer and her baby were out on the ice. The baby was sliding all over the place while the mother watched on, standing elegantly with ease. Arthur instinctively moved as if to reach for his crossbow, even though he'd left it with the horses on the shore. Despite knowing this, Merlin slapped him, "Don't. Just appreciate. Admire."
They watched the animals playing, completely entranced so not noticing how the knights had finally managed to pick themselves up until Gwaine said loudly, "You know what? Merlin hasn't fallen over yet."
The knights grinned maliciously and Merlin's eyes widened. Immediately, he started trying to get away. For a good half hour, the knights and Arthur chased Merlin around on top of the frozen lake. It was probably the most fun any of them had had in a long time. No one could keep their balance properly, resulting in them stumbling and skating around like drunkards. Their arms moving like windmills to try and keep everything else up straight. Somehow, despite being the clumsiest in the group, Merlin managed to stay upright and far enough away from the men who were trying to tackle him.
That was until the ice cracked and weakened beneath him, just where the sun was shining on it brightest, and he fell straight through with a little yelp. The knights stopped immediately and their smiles disappeared. Merlin resurfaced pretty quickly and dragged himself up onto the solid ice, before crawling towards them. Still, no one moved. Merlin looked up, and grinned. A beat later, every single one of them was rolling around in laughter once more.
In the late morning, the troupe were on their way home. Merlin was wrapped up in as many blankets as they could dig out their packs and sitting in front of Arthur on his horse. Everyone was recounting stories of their few hours on the ice, sticking very much to the thick, solid parts of the ice and away from where the sun was starting to melt it.
"Your nose is red," Arthur said to Merlin while the knights occupied themselves with giggling hysterically at the story of how Gwaine had tried to convince his horse to take him onto the ice but it had only thrown him off and sent him skidding for miles.
Merlin shrugged, "It was worth it."
"Your cheeks are red, your nose is red, your lips are blue and everything else is white. I can feel how cold you are through your blankets."
"It was worth it," Merlin repeated.
"How could that possibly be worth it? Gaius will have you in bed next to a fire for days, drinking hot tea and stew."
"Because you had a good time," Merlin said simply, "You laughed and smiled. Everyone else laughed and smiled. It'll give you something to laugh and smile about for years to come."
"You did this because of what I said last night," Arthur realised.
Merlin nodded, "Better than hunting?"
"Maybe a bit."