Woohoo! Eight segment!

I do not own anything to do with Merlin, it all belongs to the BBC. I also do not own Hollister, or WH Smith, or Michael McIntyre, or Jamie Oliver's book. c:

With thanks to my friend Katy for helping me to write this part! :33

Enjoy!

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, unnecessary stress.

*****

As Arthur had stolen his Christmas present before he'd had a chance to give it to him, Merlin found himself experiencing the pain of Christmas shopping. Again.

He'd managed to convince Arthur that he was shopping for food, and he really didn't need to come with him. As he trudged through the built up snow outside the shopping centre, Merlin attempted to come up with a new hiding place, as his underwear drawer didn't seem to have worked very well.

Stepping into the embracing warmth of the shopping centre, Merlin sighed. Here we go again…

*****

What he didn't know, though, was that as soon as he had pulled off the drive, Arthur had flung himself off the sofa, run to his own car, and driven (unknowingly) to the exact same shopping centre Merlin had just walked into.

As he paused at the traffic lights Arthur plugged his Blackberry into the hands-free dock and done an Internet search for tickets to the Strictly Come Dancing tour. However, when he saw how much he was expected to pay for such a gift, he snorted and abandoned the search. Maybe not…

*****

Merlin had previously thought that it had been almost too good to be true when he had known exactly what to buy Arthur for Christmas, and now that he looked back on it, it really had been.

He stared at the large display of colourful mugs in front of him. As his eyes flicked from mug to mug, they landed on one right at the back. He stepped closer to the glass window in an attempt to get a better look at it; it was bright orange, with "Top Babe" emblazoned across it in yellow, and the inside painted a bright green. Merlin snorted – something else to fuel Arthur's ego. He stepped into the shop, pulling out his wallet.

*****

As soon as he walked into the centre, Arthur made a beeline for the Hollister ship. Although Merlin had refused to even step over the threshold, Arthur decided it was about time he got at least a little dress sense, and set to choosing a hoodie for him.

Taking Merlin's favourite colour (blue) and his own favourite colour (red) into account, Arthur narrowed down his choices to three – red, blue, and black. He considered the three hoodies with a serious expression – on the one hand, red was Arthur's favourite colour and whenever Merlin wore it, it gave Arthur a sense of pride and ownership, however, Merlin thought that red was just too bright for him. On the other hand, blue was Merlin's favourite colour, and Arthur felt that it brought out the colour of Merlin's eyes, and so insisted he wore it often; except, blue wasn't Arthur's favourite colour, so Arthur cancelled out that choice. Now, with black, Merlin could wear it with anything and not have to worry about clashing colours, but if Merlin decided to wear it with those nice, tight black jeans that he had, he ran the risk of looking like a bit of an emo. And that wasn't good. After cancelling out that choice too, it left Arthur with the red, which he had thought was the best choice all along, for you could never go wrong with red.

As for the size, Arthur had already decided that he would buy his size, just in case of emergencies when Arthur had nothing else to wear. Perfect, he thought, and pulled the chosen hoodie off the shelf. Arthur had long since worked out how to remove one item from the shelf without pulling off all the others, so he was soon on his way. He had plans to finish shopping and get home before Merlin; which gave him approximately an hour. Best get moving.

*****

After fighting through crowds of people who all seemed to be going in the opposite direction to him, Merlin headed to WH Smith, with the intention of buying some kind of DVD to go with Arthur's mug.

Smoothly avoiding the salesmen trying to sell him cheap energy, Merlin sped off to the back of the store. He already had an idea of what DVD to purchase – some kind of comedy. Michael McIntyre, maybe.

*****

Arthur hadn't been lucky enough to be able to avoid the salesmen. He wasted five minutes of his times, politely refusing the offer of "green energy", while at the same time, he was slowly edging away. The salesman seemed to get the message, and let out a very sulky sigh, before waving Arthur away.

As soon as he was free, Arthur sped off toward the book section, intending to find Merlin some kind of "cooking for idiots" manual. What he hadn't intended to do was have to suddenly leap into the nearest aisle, and duck down behind it. Peering around the corner, Arthur swore under his breath, he would recognize those ears anywhere.

"Erm, are you lost, sir?"

Arthur looked up quickly, staring at the perplexed shop assistant. She gestured to the items covering the shelves Arthur was currently stooped behind. Casting a glance at them, Arthur felt his face redden. It would seem to an onlooker that he was browsing through women's health magazines.

"I'm not… I don't-" Arthur floundered for a believable explanation. "I'm hiding. From my boyfriend. I'm Christmas shopping for him." The assistant raised an eyebrow at him. "Not that he likes women's health magazines!"

"Of course. Well, erm, Merry Christmas, sir." Horrified, Arthur simply stood and watched her go.

*****

Not everything went horribly wrong, however. Arthur managed to get home well before Merlin, and after ten minutes of searching for something at least resembling wrapping paper, he managed to wrap the two presents he had bought. After much deliberation, he had chosen Jamie Oliver's "Anyone can learn to cook in 24 hours", in the hopes that Merlin didn't take it as a joke, and actually read it. He didn't that his poor stomach could take anymore charred beans on toast.

Arthur had just stuck the present underneath the tree when Merlin came crashing into the house.

"Back so soon?" He asked, trying to make it look like he had in fact been there for the entire time.

"Er, yeah."

"I thought you said you were going food shopping? I don't recall WH Smith announcing they now sell food." Arthur gestured to the blue and white bag Merlin was clutching in his hand.

"Oh. Um, the traffic was terrible, so I didn't get food. You'll have to go in the week."

"Me? But it's your turn!" Arthur huffed. "So, what did you buy?"

"Nothing!" Merlin cried, pulling his bags out of Arthur's reach.

"It doesn't sound like nothing…" Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Go on, let me see?"

"No!" Merlin looked flustered for a moment. "I… am tired." He nodded, as if to help convince himself that he was in fact telling the truth. "I'm gonna go lie down." He quickly tuned away and ran up the stairs, leaving a very smug Arthur standing in the hallway.

"That'll be for me then."