Work Text:
Grumbling, Arthur turned over. His sleepy mind realized that something was wrong. Where a warm, softly snoring, wonderfully smelling Merlin should be, there was nothing but a thrown back duvet.
“Mrln?” He forced one of his eyes open and saw Merlin standing at the window. “Ws wrng?”
“It’s snowing, Arthur.”
Arthur just made a sound. It was December, what’s the big deal? It snowed in December, right?
“Really big flakes, enormous flakes. We can build a snowman! Or…go sledding? Or…just go for a walk?”
“Merlin,” Arthur grunted out as he blinked at the alarm clock, “it’s 4 o’clock in the morning and you get cold feet and hands just thinking about going outside in this weather. Come back to bed.”
“But it’s so pretty outside.”
Sighing, Arthur sat up and watched his boyfriend huddled at the heating by the window. He wasn’t even wearing socks and had his hands firmly tucked under his arms and his head ducked between his shoulders. “Do I need to come and get you?”
“Just look at it, Arthur.”
With another dramatic sigh, Arthur got up. The room was chilly as he padded over. He wrapped his arms around Merlin from behind and put his chin on Merlin’s shoulder. “Okay, I’ve seen it, can we go back to bed now? You’re shivering.”
Merlin turned halfways. “But…”
The rest of what he was about to say got swallowed by a soft kiss and then Arthur picked him up and carried him back to the bed.
“Bed. Warm. Now. The snow will still be there in the morning.”
Merlin snuggled close and of course pressed his cold feet against Arthur’s naked shins and tried to press his cold hands against Arthur’s chest. But Arthur held on to him anyway, snuffling into his neck, unwilling to let these last hours of the night be stolen from him.
At around 3 pm the next day, they made their way back and shed hats, gloves, scarves, boots and thick jackets in the hallway.
Arthur smiled when he saw Merlin’s face glowing red in the heat of the living room. “You know the best part of a snowball fight?”
Merlin came over, stuck his icy fingers under Arthur’s sweater and grinned at him. “Getting to warm up again?”
“You know me so well.” Grinning, Arthur leaned in for a soft kiss.