I know I said that the last chapter would be the last of the filler festive arc, but I missed writing about it, so thanks to Gingerwolf96 who gave me the idea for this story, all credits to Gingerwolf96 ^_^
The 25th had been perfect, but it had left Arthur, Merlin and Leola knackered. Instead of sleeping in their usual places, the group had fallen asleep in front of the TV whilst season 2 of new who (1) had been playing. A pile of wrapping paper was squished into the recycling bin, and Arthur's soft snores filled the apartment. The soft chirping of birds in a quiet urban area was a scene frOm a movie. Sadly it was England, and the weather was so changeable.
O
Lela's eyes flung open, the icy magic within her was calling.
Snow.
She pushed off from the beanbag she was lying (well her head was laying) on and ran to the window. Indeed it was snowing, which added to the already stupid amounts that had settled two days before. Leola pressed her nose against the window, it looked like she was trying to melt through the glass and go outside into the snow. Sadly she brought her face away, leaving a little smudge where her button nose had been.
She turned round and came face to face with a mug of tea. She smiled up at the holder and took it graciously.
"Thanks Arthur."
"Merlin told me how you like it, is it okay?"
After a sip Leola frowned for a second, "As an expert tea drinker, I would say, next time you should leave the bag to brew for a bit longer and never put milk in before the water. Otherwise it was pretty good."
"You can tell I put milk in first?!"
"Well, I am British."
O
Huddled around the TV, whilst watching 'Arthur Christmas, that Leola had recorded yesterday, the group of friends drank their tea whilst carefully dipping various biscuits into their hot beverages. After a while Arthur spoke, "You know, there's a party again down at the Uni again tonight, do you want to come?"
There was an icy look from Leola, who hated almost every single second of the party on the 24th. Merlin could still feel the pounding hangover that existed in his very essence of life.
"Sure."
O
Leola was regretting her and Merlin's decision. It was too loud, she hated every tiny section of this party, and there were just too many people. Arthur and Merlin were trying to coax her to drink something. She just shook her head.
"I don't drink."
"It's just lemonade, I asked."
Leola sighed and gave in, testing it. It really was just lemonade.
O
It had been a few hours since the Boxing Day party had started. Leola was too hot, Merlin and Arthur were dancing next to her and heat was radiating off of everyone in the room. She was shattered, the problems with being an early bird and she just wanted to get back to the flat and go to bed, without the radiator on.
Arthur looked at Leola and grabbed a drink from the bartender. He had to shout over the pounding of the music and the chatter of the drunk.
"Here! This should cool you down Leo!"
She nodded gratefully and took the cup, downing the drink in one go. He shook her head.
"That was crap orange juice." (Arthur worked out what she was saying by being a master in lip reading)
"Sorry I'll give you lemonade next time!"
"I'm thirsty."
He handed her another cup, which she swallowed even faster than the orange juice.
"Merlin, could you look after Leo, my mates are over there, I want to say hi!"
"Sure!"
Merlin looked down at the short girl in front of him.
"Leo, do you need anything?"
"I'm thirsty."
He passed her another cup of lemonade. After she gulped that cup down, she started to giggle.
"Hey, Leo, are you drunk?"
She looked up at him, wide-eyed and innocent.
"I don't drink."
Her cheeks were flushed and her words slurred. Merlin looked down at her and smiled a tipsy smile. Leola looked back at him with a childish expression on her face.
"I'm so warm Merlin. It's too hot in here." She started to pull at her clothing, in a vain effort to take it off. The rational part of Merlin's mind reacted much faster than a drunk's should.
"No, Leo, let's go outside. Don't take your clothes off."
Leola's voice was whiny.
"But I'm too hot."
Merlin stared at her and made his drunken decision; he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her through the river of people, through the doors and into the night.
"It's snowing again Merlin."
"Yeah."
Though Leola was looking up at the sky, watching the snowflakes fall, Merlin just looked at Leola. She was framed by the streetlights, the snow glistening on her dark, blue dress, melted snow on her arms looked like crystals and her inquisitive, blue eyes looked like they were cut from the summer sky itself. The snow settled around her jet, black boots, and her rosy cheeks showed off her high cheekbones. Her tongue was small as she caught the snowflakes that drifted down from the sky. Her cute, childish giggles could defrost even the most frozen of icicles. The wind blew her hair to the left of her body, her fringe and bangs followed but stayed in front of her slightly masculine shoulders. The dress she wore brought attention to her high collar bones, that though usually faint, were very visible under the lighting that the pair stood under.
Merlin was awoken from his daze by a drunken couple, who he vaguely recognised as classmates Emily and Alex, who pushed past him and knocked him into Leola.
Merlin stared deep into Leola's eyes. Due to his instincts, he had put two hands out, to stop him from falling. They had landed against a wall and both of his hands were next to Lela's face. A deep blush had formed along her cheekbones. Her hands were by her sides, just touching the wall and Merlin was positioned with one leg between Leo's. They stared at one another, both of them drunk, both of them blushing.
"Umm, Leo, you have an eyelash."
Merlin pulled his left hand from the wall and lightly brushed his thumb along her cheekbone to get rid of the eyelash, but instead of withdrawing his hand, he rested it against her cheek. The pairs' breathing became deeper and it was perfectly synchronised. With his little finger, Merlin tilted Leola's head, so her long bangs fell behind her shoulders. The pair paused, and were just staring at each other. Leola reached out her right hand and grabbed Merlin's tie. Closing her eyes, she leant her head to the right and pulled Merlin towards her. Her left hand went under his arm and she cupped the back of his neck and her fingers entwined in his black hair. His eyes were shut and with their lips parted ever so slightly their mouths touched, and the wind picked up once more.
O
(1) If you don't watch Doctor Who, after the 8th Doctor there was a 16 year gap when in 2005, the 9th Doctor came back in Rose. To separate the two, classic who is from the 1st Doctor to the 8th Doctor and new who is from the (technically the war Doctor, but don't worry) 9th Doctor and forwards.
I'm doing a contest! Yay! To celebrate new year, I want some fan art of this story to use as its cover. I have been using online stuff, which is great and all, but I want to know what you guys see as the characters. ^_^
I want you to include at least one of the characters (preferably Leola, Merlin, Arthur, Morgana or Gwen) but feel free to add in more :) Please don't make them festive, because it will be the cover for THE REST OF TIME. I don't care if you don't think you can draw, because I assure you it's better than mine. Send your entries to my e-mail (to get it please PM me) and the closing date is the 1st January 2015. Good luck.
If you want any extra details, just PM me ^_^.