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Merlin doesn’t know why you always tried to hide your Christmas gift for him. He already knew what you were getting for him. But despite playing along with you every year, this time he finally understands the difficulty of hiding a gift. It was horrible.
The feeling of having to keep a secret was horrible, especially when he was so excited to give you said present. He sighed as he absent-mindedly wrapped and unwrapped the package. No matter how many times he wrapped it, it wasn’t all that great. There would be creases that would stand out, or he’d notice how things weren’t exactly perpendicular with each other. A heavy sigh escaped his lips and he muttered, “How do people do this every year for multiple presents? I can’t even manage to wrap one.”
Merlin’s first attempt ended in a disaster. Originally he was just going to use magic to deal with it, but as he attempted to weave the spell together, he found himself at a loss on where to start. He’s never actually wrapped a present himself. As easy as it may look when he watches videos on how to wrap a present - and make it look like the shape it’s supposed to be - he can’t seem to recreate it no matter how many times he attempts to.
It just doesn’t look good!
The second attempt he had asked other servants to help, or at least, that was the plan. That plan quickly went up in flames though as soon as they began being nosy about who the present was for and why it was so important to him. Judging by some of the smug smirks or the oblivious and innocent gazes, they either knew and found it amusing and as potential information that they could use against him as leverage, or they had no clue whatsoever.
In the end, Merlin didn’t learn anything about the correct way to wrap things prettily.
Now, as Merlin sits in your room watching you wrap presents for Chaldea staff and some Servants, he’s watching with the intent to learn. You were so efficient with how you cut your wrapping paper, the tape was properly hidden behind each one and somehow you managed to make the wrapping paper match and sync up. That was the knowledge that he wanted to steal from you, that was it. That was the one thing that he couldn’t do.
He finds himself sitting right beside you, encroaching on your personal space. It wasn’t like you really cared whether or not he was in your personal space after all, the bond between the two of you was strong enough for you to not care about having your personal space infringed anymore. You glanced over to him and asked, “Not like you to get so interested in me wrapping presents, what’s the occasion?”
“Nothing really, just wanting to see exactly how you do it. It’s mostly out of curiosity though really.”
“You? Curious about what I’m doing?” you laughed, “You’re joking.”
Merlin didn’t respond and instead just shrugged to your answer. There was a lazy grin on his face and you weren’t too sure what to make of it. What was that smile supposed to mean? Should you have your guard up?
Of course, you end up dismissing the strange behavior that Merlin was currently exhibiting and proceed to go back to your task at hand. At least, you were planning to until you noticed that a certain caster was stealing your wrapping paper. You tilted your head and asked, “What do you need those for?”
Merlin visibly startled and he quickly lied, “Nothing important to you!”
“I’m curious now.”
“Hey, I don’t look at the presents you’re wrapping, so you shouldn’t look at mine!”
“But that’s not fair! You already know what I bought and who I bought it for. Who’d you buy a gift for?”
Merlin refused to answer and you repeated, “Who did you buy a gift for?”
He sighed. He could hear the demanding tone in your voice, and quite frankly he should have known that he was being far too obvious. You were oblivious (at times) but you certainly weren’t dumb.
“It’s your gift, Master.”
“Oh?”
“Now, no peeking and go wrap your presents. I’ll return this to you later.”
“Awww, but Merlin!” you cutely whined, hoping he’d lower his guard and let you take a peek. But you were swiftly knocked down as he refuted, “No peeking, [Name]! You can find out on Christmas!”