Work Text:
Christmastime was always busy for Merlin. It was spent bustling about town trying to find the perfect gift for everyone. It often took months to find everyone a gift Merlin knew was perfect for them.
It was already 2 days until Christmas and Merlin was reasonably satisfied with the presents he had gotten everyone. He went over the list in his head as he made breakfast.
For Morgana he had gotten a stainless steel chalice with the tree of life on it (he knew she loved that new age stuff)
For Gwen he had gotten her something she had been begging Lance to get her for the longest time, a puppy. Merlin smirked as he got the cereal out, anticipating Lancelot’s glare when he gave Gwen the little golden retriever.
For Lancelot and the rest of the “knights of the round table” as they’d jokingly called themselves, Merlin had gotten them each fake swords, made exactly like the swords of the knights they had shared their names with, and had their names engraved it the hilt. Merlin smiled as he thought of the sword battle that would probably inevitably break out as he poured milk into his bowl of cereal.
And finally for Arthur he had gotten….. Merlin’s eyes widened.
Shit, he’d forgotten Arthur.
No, no how could he have forgotten Arthur? Arthur was his best friend, how could he be so dumb? Merlin swore he had made some type of plan to get Arthur a gift, something about a dragon but then he remembered that there had been some issue with the damn replica swords he had ordered and he had been so focused on that he’d forgotten. It didn’t help that he hadn’t seen the man for 2 months, both of them being busy. But dammit was he really this stupid forgetting-
Merlin was shook from his thoughts as he felt something drip on his feet.
He looked up to see the milk he was pouring had overflowed the bowl and was now dripping down the counter and pooling around his feet.
But he didn’t have time to think about that now, he had less than 48 hours to find Arthur a perfect gift.
Merlin almost ran out the door before realizing that leaving the house in only a reindeer onesie probably wasn’t a good idea. Changing quickly he scrambled out of the house.
~*~
The rest of his day was spent going from shop to shop, trying to find a gift. But everything seemed wrong. Everything from the gold plated ornaments to the cashmere sweaters seemed off.
At the end of the day he was even desperate enough to call Morgana, who instead gave him a vague response telling him that maybe it wasn’t a something Arthur wanted, but rather a someone and then sudden laughter when he had replied asking her what the hell she meant. All in all Merlin was pretty miserable.
That is until Merlin went home and thought over what Morgana had said. So, Arthur wanted someone. It was probably someone within their circle of friends then, as far as Merlin knew everyone was already well paired off except…Sophia.
Sophia was a fairly new part of their group. She was frankly gorgeous, although her personality left something to be desired. Merlin wasn’t her biggest fan which was probably why he tried the least hard on her gift of that makeup set. But he could definitely see Arthur falling for her. She was from the same background as he was, she was beautiful, and Uther would be pleased if he heard news of their relationship. Basically she was everything Merlin could never hope to be.
“No stop it” Merlin chided himself as he backtracked from his treacherously jealous thoughts. He thought he had gotten over his feelings for Arthur but yet here they were burrowing under his skin and filling his head with nonsense that would never happen. So it was then that Merlin made his decision. It would be his goal tomorrow to get Sophia and Arthur together at Gwen’s Christmas party. No matter how much he wanted it to be himself.
~*~
The next morning Merlin got all his presents together, picking up the swords and chalice from the mail station and the puppy from the shelter. In between wrapping the presents, baking cookies, and chasing the over excited puppy around his flat he barely had any time to come up with ways to get Arthur and Sophia together so he decided he would just simply shove them at each other.
He was dreading to do this but if it was what made Arthur happy then Merlin would have to move past his selfish emotions.
~*~
Merlin arrived to the party with a bag of presents, a plateful of cookies, and a squirming puppy in his arms. He almost spilt the cookies 3 times but he managed and finally made it up to Lance and Gwen’s shared flat.
When Gwen opened the door her eyes zeroed in on the mass of fur that was wriggling uncontrollably in one of Merlin’s hands.
“Oh my god, Merlin!” she squealed grabbing the puppy and snuggling it to her chest
“Thanks for the help, Gwen” Merlin replied drily as he entered the doorway and set down the presents to remove his shoes.
“Oh sorry, but just look at him he’s adorable” Gwen said holding it even closer to her.
“You better be talking about me” Lancelot entered the tiny front hallway and then suddenly looked down at the puppy in dismay.
“Merlin you didn’t”
“But look how cute he is Lance, you can’t say no to this little guy” Gwen waved the puppy’s tiny paws in Lance’s direction.
“Only for a week and then he’s going straight back” Lance tried to look cross but Gwen and Merlin both noticed the way his eyes softened when looking down at the pup. They grinned to each other. This puppy was here to stay.
“I’m naming him Koda” Gwen grinned and took the puppy to the kitchen to get it some water. Lance gave Merlin a half-hearted glare as he exited the room. Merlin picked up the presents and the cookies and took a big breath before stepping into the living room.
A huge Christmas tree stood in a corner of the room, decorated with brilliantly shining lights and ornaments. On the sofa was Elyan and Gwaine playing Mario Kart as Percival watched on in amusement as the two shouted at each other. On the love seat was Leon and Morgana, who were both engrossed by something on Morgana’s phone. And by the tree was Arthur.
Looking at the man still managed to take Merlin’s breath away every time. He had on a red sweater and jeans but he pulled them off in a way that he could have been modeling. His cerulean blue eyes scanned the room and once it reached Merlin they crinkled at the corners as he smiled at Merlin. Merlin swore that smile could light cities.
Arthur walked over to Merlin and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Well, I haven’t seen you in a while. Did you miss me?” Arthur gave Merlin a smirk and stole a cookie. Merlin shoved his arm off and muttered “prat” under his breath as he smiled to himself. Merlin dumped the bag of presents under the tree and put the cookies on the table in the kitchen.
As Merlin rounded the corner back into the living room he saw Arthur and Sophia standing a little too close as they were talking. Merlin urged the feeling of jealousy into the back of his mind and gave Percival a smile that was little too big.
~*~
Merlin spent the rest of the night finding as many ways as he could to get Sophia and Arthur together. He gave up his coveted spot next to Arthur to Sophia while they were sat around the fireplace, which caused many raised eyebrows and one look of confusion from Arthur mixed with an unidentifiable emotion which was gone as soon as it had appeared. Sophia took the opportunity and almost draped herself over Arthur. Merlin looked away thinking that maybe they didn’t really need that much pushing.
Later, while Merlin was getting snacks for everyone, Arthur came up behind him and started to help.
“You’ve been awfully quiet today, Merlin”
Merlin made a noncommittal noise and resumed his task. Arthur frowned over at him and Merlin pretended not to notice. Sophia suddenly entered the room giving Arthur an almost sickeningly sweet smile.
“Arthur I was wondering where you went” She almost purred as she totally ignored Merlin and headed straight for Arthur. Merlin took this as his cue and left the room.
Just as he was about to enter the living room a hand shot out of the nearby closet door and dragged him in. Merlin was about to protest when he saw the almost livid face of Morgana.
“Merlin, why are you letting that girl closer to Arthur, and better yet why are you helping her?” Morgana glared at him.
“I’m just doing what you told me to do!”
“What I told you to do-“ Morgana paused mid-sentence and gave a great sigh. “God there’s nothing that’s going to help you two” and promptly left the closet leaving Merlin staring at her back in confusion.
Shaking his head, Merlin went back into the kitchen to get a drink, hoping Arthur and Sophia were gone. Instead he was faced with a sight that made his heart give a great lurch.
Sophia had her arms wrapped around Arthur neck and she was kissing him. The room suddenly seemed ten times smaller and Merlin let out a quiet gasp. Arthur pushed Sophia off him, hearing the noise. His eyes widened almost comically, as he noticed Merlin.
Merlin would have laughed if he hadn’t felt like throwing up.
Merlin ran out of the room ignoring Arthur calling out his name and gave a muttered excuse to the suddenly quiet room that he wasn’t feeling well and rushed out.
~*~
Merlin didn’t really know why he was feeling this horrible. Everything had gone according to plan. Except the part where he was oh so very in love with his best friend. He burrowed even deeper into the blanket he had wrapped himself in as he stared at his living room wall.
A knock broke him out of his thoughts. A loud “Merlin” later and Merlin knew exactly who it was. He heard a key turn in the lock and stood up suddenly, cursing his decision to give Arthur a key. The door opened and Merlin ran into the closest room, which happened to be the kitchen.
“Great thinking Merlin, run yourself right into the kitchen with no door” he berated himself as he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned around face an irritated Arthur.
It was almost unfair how kissable Arthur looked at that moment. His nose was a little red from the cold, and he had put on a big brown jacket and a blue scarf that matched his eyes. God, Merlin loved him.
Before Arthur could even open his mouth, Merlin let a stream of words rush out of his mouth.
“I’m so sorry for running out, it was just that I couldn’t anymore Arthur I couldn’t. I thought that pushing Sophia and you together was what you wanted and I hated it, I wanted you for myself but I -“
“Merlin”
“- just wanted you to be happy so I tried to get over it and I saw this as a perfect gift because I forgot to get you one and I didn’t know what you wanted and nothing seemed right so-“
“Merlin”
“- I decided to give you Sophia, well not give but at least help you two together, and I’m so sorry that I ruined your Chr-“
“Oh for Christ’s sake” Suddenly Merlin had Arthur’s lips against his, which surprisingly were warm and soft considering the weather. Arthur’s hands had cupped his face and he kissed Merlin as if he were something precious. Arthur drew back before Merlin could even respond and gently lay his forehead against Merlin’s, his hand still cupping Merlin’s face.
“You idiot, all I wanted for Christmas was you”
“Oh” Merlin’s brain had basically grinded to a stop and it was the only word he could manage.
“Okay good, so now that we’ve gotten that out of the way would you care to explain why I’m standing in a puddle of milk?”