A/N: SNOW! That's it :)

Title: Duck!

Author: FlYiNgPiGlEtS

Summary: Merlin wasn't aiming for Arthur's face when he threw that snowball. Honest.

Rating: T

Characters: Arthur, Merlin and all the knights (except Lancelot)

Pairings: implied Gwen/Arthur. I don't write slash, but if you want to read and interpret it that way that's fine with me :)

Spoilers: slight spoilers up to the end of series 4.

Disclaimer: unfortunately, I don't own Merlin; it belongs to the BBC and Shine.

Warnings: none.

III: Duck!

Merlin trudged gloomily through the snow, his aching legs protesting angrily. It was already up to his knees and he could practically sense the incoming blizzard, yet Arthur insisted they carry on hunting until they found some game good enough for the banquet later that week.

Usually, Merlin loved snow. He and Will would always play in it when they were children, sliding down hills on the plates they stole from their mothers' kitchens or chucking snowballs at the neighbours' children from behind fallen trees. It was always the one highlight of the harsh winters Ealdor faced, a welcome break for all the children to finally have some fun and worry about what the unforgiving weather meant for them later, when they returned to their concerned parents.

Now, however, Merlin decided that he hated the stuff. And it was all Arthur's fault – Arthur's fault for dragging them all the way out here simply to kill some poor, innocent animals that were probably struggling just as much as Camelot in the cold.

The King was almost as miserable as him, but for entirely different reasons. Apparently, Merlin was being a lazy and incompetent and slacking off all his duties, and it was his fault none of the knights had caught anything.

"Do I look like I care how cold you are, Merlin?" Arthur was rambling irately. "All you had to do was make sure we have enough food and water, check that our weapons are sharpened and working, polish my armor, clean my cloak, find the right boots, not these pathetic things – they look like something you would wear! – and make sure you didn't scare of every damn animal we come across. But no, you can't even do that, can you, Merlin?"

Merlin had zoned out after the first sentence, staring dejectedly down at his feet, which he was sure would fall off if they didn't get back to Camelot soon. He had stopped feeling his toes a while ago, yet Arthur was still complaining about his fur-lined boots, the prat.

Honestly, Merlin wasn't aiming for Arthur's face when he threw that snowball. It just so happened that the King had turned around at the right time after hearing Merlin had stopped walking and the big ball of snow hit him right on the nose.

Arthur stared at Merlin in shock for a very long time, as though he couldn't fathom what the servant had just done to him. Blinking slowly, as if to clear his muddled thoughts, he continued to look at Merlin with the upmost confusion, still looking utterly stunned.

Then Gwaine, who had been standing behind the pair with the rest of the knights, leaped towards Merlin with an excited screech of "Merlin, you legend!"

This snapped Arthur out of his perplexed astonishment. Spitting out the snow that had gotten into his mouth and narrowing his blue eyes into an icy glare that seemed to lower the temperature by a good few degrees, the King knelt in the snow and started gathering up his own ball.

"Right, Merlin, you're on," Arthur challenged.

And the was how King Arthur, his four most trusted knights and best friend got into the biggest snowball fight Camelot had ever witnessed. There were snow forts, snowmen and snowballs the size of the game they had completely forgotten about. The worst hunting trip ever quickly turned into the best as they ran around like children, with no cares in the world.

They returned to Camelot later that night, freezing cold and soaking wet, to a scolding Queen and a disapproving Court Physician. Still, that didn't ruin the fun they had; nothing would.

Let me know what you think. Need some prompts, if anyone has any :)