Only five days 'till christmas! Woohoo! Here's the next segment for you all. c:

I still do not own anything to do with the Merlin series, as it still belongs to the BBC. This segment assumes that Lancelot and Gwen are a couple. (:

Enjoy!

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, hopelessly cheesy nativities.

*****

Merlin knew that Lancelot practically ran the village community centre, organised charity events, and spent most of his free time coaching the local dancing team. What he didn't know about Lancelot was that he also ran the yearly nativity that the village primary school put on before the end of the Christmas term. What he also didn't know was that Lancelot had signed both Merlin and Arthur up for helping out backstage.

He only discovered this fact when Lancelot turned up at their front door one evening. Arthur was spending a ridiculously long amount of time in the shower, so Merlin had no choice but to abandon his present wrapping and answer the persistent ringing of the doorbell.

"Alright, I'm coming! Sheesh." Merlin's anger quickly disappeared when he saw who was stood outside. "Lancelot! You never said you were dropping by! Come on in!"

"Thanks, Merlin." Lancelot quickly stepped inside, grateful to be out of the persistent snow. "I can't stay long, mind, got to get back to the performance."

"Ah, yes. How's that going, by the way? Gwen tells me you're doing your final dress rehearsal tomorrow?"

"Brilliantly, thanks! Yes, about that," Lancelot paused, as if searching for the right words. "I promised the other volunteers that you and Arthur would help out backstage. Arthur with the lights, and you with the props." Lancelot tensed his shoulders, as if waiting to be shouted at.

"Oh. Alright then. What time do you want us there tomorrow?"

Lancelot's face brightened instantly. "You're willing to help out?" At Merlin's nod, he let out a sigh of relief. "I honestly thought you'd be angry. Thank God for that..."

*****

After only half an hour of trying to persuade a group of boys that the Shepherd's crooks were not swords, and were in fact for walking with, not for knocking each other out with, Merlin came to the conclusion that helping out hadn't been such a good idea and that he harboured a strong dislike for the community's children. Children, he decided, were far too exhausting, and when they had been fed large amounts of sugar, they were near uncontrollable.

Arthur however, was having a much better time than Merlin, as Lancelot had allocated him the role of lead light co-ordinator. Which basically meant that he didn't do much except tell other people what to do. And for Arthur's job, there were absolutely no children involved whatsoever.

As Lancelot called for a break, Merlin let out what started as a sigh of relief, but finished as a sigh of frustration. As they'd been summoned for more sugar, all the children had simply dropped whatever they had been holding and left Merlin to tidy everything up. Arthur watched in amusement as Merlin muttered angrily under his breath and began to pick up stuffed sheep, shepherd crooks and a doll which he assumed was meant to be baby Jesus.

"Having fun, Merlin?"

"No, I am not." He spat out as the shepherd crooks he had just carefully lined up all toppled over again. "Does it really look like I'm having fun?" He gestured angrily at the once organised stage.

"Well, you were the one who agreed to it." Arthur pointed out, bending down to put Baby Jesus' crib back on its feet.

"I couldn't exactly say no, could I? He looked so desperate!"

Arthur shrugged. "At least it'll all be over tonight."

"There is that." After running a hand through his hair, Merlin surveyed his handiwork. The stage now at least resembled a barn. As it was the final dress rehearsal, the performance was that evening. Almost as soon as Merlin had stepped off the stage to retrieve a cup of tea from a smiling Gwen, Lancelot announced that the break was over, and the crowd of children ran screaming onto the stage, grabbing their props from before. Merlin sighed, taking a gulp of tea. Here we go again...

*****

"Alright guys, give yourselves a great big pat on the back, because today's rehearsal was excellent! Before you come back in later, make sure you've all eaten something, 'cause there'll be no breaks in between, okay?" Lancelot stood in front of the stage, beaming wildly at the group of children. "Leave your props with Merlin, and try not to get your costumes dirty on the way home!" As he clapped his hands together, all the children attempted to leave the stage at the same time, all trying to give Merlin their props.

"One at a time, guys, one at a time!" He cried desperately, as a small sheep got flung at his face. At this, the children merely dropped their props at his side and ran off outside, squealing about the snow. As Merlin began to tidy away the props again, Lancelot appeared at his side.

"I just wanted to thank you, Merlin. You've helped me out a lot here. I know they can be a handful, but it's definitely worth it when you see the finished thing, trust me." He clapped him on the shoulder briefly, before going to join Gwen and help to set up the raffle. Merlin snorted in disbelief.

"You don't believe him?" Arthur asked, before handing Merlin a much-earned cup of tea. Scowling, Merlin nursed it between his hands.

"I highly doubt that rabble of kids can contain themselves long enough to actually belt out a line in the right place." He paused to take a sip of his drink. "If they can, I will eat my hat." He gestured at the beanie he had put on earlier in an attempt to fight off the cold of backstage.

"I'll hold you to that."

*****

Later that night, as Merlin finally plonked himself down onto a seat in the kitchen, he stretched out his shoulders. Strangely, Arthur had offered to make dinner that night, and feeling too tired to be suspicious, Merlin had stupidly accepted. He had forgotten completely about the conversation he had had with Arthur earlier.

"The performance was good, wasn't it?" Arthur asked innocently, bustling about in the fridge.

"Mm." Merlin had been extremely shocked to find that during the actual performance, the children had managed to hold themselves back and put on an extremely professional-looking play. Lancelot had been ecstatic at how well it had gone, and Arthur had looked oddly smug. He watched as Arthur rummaged in the cupboard for two plates, cursing as he bashed the back of his head on the lip of the counter as he straightened up.

"It's not much, I'm afraid," Arthur face was innocently straight as he placed a knife and forward in front of Merlin. "It was the best I could do at short notice."

"I'm sure it's fine, whatever it is." Merlin frowned as Arthur snorted. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing." He turned away again, grabbing the two plates off the counter and placing one in front of Merlin. As if nothing were wrong, Arthur began to spear pasta onto his fork and chew at it slowly. Merlin picked up his fork, and was about to stab at his own pasta, when he noticed that there was in fact, no pasta on his plate. In its place, lay his beanie hat, carefully placed on a bed of lettuce. Arthur grinned widely at him, barely holding back his laughter.

Merlin groaned, letting his face fall into his palm. "I hate you, you know?"

Arthur pushed the plate toward him. "I'm sure you do. Now, eat up, that took me ages to make."