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Arthur groaned and pulled the duvet up over his head. No, this was not happening. This was so not happening. He was not woken up on his first day off in months by his boyfriend clanking around in the kitchen, while also singing bloody Christmas songs at the top of his voice. This was not real, this was just some sort of weird nightmare. Yep, that was it, he would just continue to sleep and dream about something nice instead…
“… All I want for Christmas is yooooouuuu…”
“Merlin!” It felt to Arthur as if the false notes pierced his skull and they effectively chased away all of what little hope for more sleep that he still harboured. “Would it bloody kill you to keep it down?” Merlin appeared in the door, looking contrite.
“I’m sorry, Arthur” he said, shuffling his feet. “I didn’t want to wake you up, I just got a little carried away.”
“I didn’t come from work until the middle of the bloody night, is it too much to ask for you to be quiet in the morning?” Arthur snapped.
“I’m so sor…” Merlin started to say but was interrupted.
“At least close the damn door, will you!” Arthur was fuming at this point and he was mad enough about his lost sleep to ignore the hurt look that appeared on Merlin’s face.
“For your information, you stumbled and woke me up last night” Merlin retorted coldly when Arthur had stopped shouting. “Over your own dirty laundry that you left on the floor I might add. I made French toast with cinnamon for breakfast but I guess you rather stay in here and sleep.” And with that Merlin turned on his heel, stomped out of the bedroom and slammed the door behind him. Arthur glared angrily at the now closed door and then yanked the duvet back over his head. He’d better take advantage of the peace and quiet while it lasted.
Arthur tossed and turned but couldn’t get comfortable enough to get back to sleep. The duvet was to warm all of a sudden and his pillow had lumps in it that seemingly had appeared out of nowhere. The ticking from the alarm clock boomed like thunder in his ears and every time a car passed outside he jumped. After an hour he gave up altogether and decided that he might as well get up and see if there was still some of that French toast left. It would be a shame to let any of it go to waste and it was Arthur’s favourite breakfast after all. Which was probably why Merlin had made it today, Arthur realized. He’d done it for him. Because he’d been working too much lately and been relay tired and Merlin wanted to do something nice for him now that his holidays began. Arthur felt a twinge of guilt but then he remembered that he was still angry with Merlin for dropping pans and knocking over glasses and being so bloody Christmas cheery that he’d wake Arthur up singing these god-awful Christmas songs. Any feeling of guilt had now been firmly and thoroughly squished and Arthur continued to the kitchen.
“Merlin?” Arthur got no answer and a quick look around the flat confirmed that Merlin wasn’t there. Well, if Merlin wanted to go over to Gwen’s and sulk about Arthur being mean because he got angry when woken up in the crack of dawn he was very welcome to do so, Arthur thought. Hell, he and Gwen could sit all day and berate him for not being a morning person, as well as a grumpy, Christmas hating, Grinch if that’s what they wanted to do, Arthur couldn’t care less. As long as not a single reindeer statue or holly leaf entered the flat, they could call him whatever they wanted. But he was a bit miffed that Merlin apparently had taken all of the French toast with him and grumpily had to settle for cereal instead.
As the hours wore on and Merlin didn’t come back Arthur started to get slightly worried. It wasn’t like his boyfriend to just disappear for hours on end and they’d had worse rows than this before. He paced around the apartment for a while, thoughts spinning, before he did the only thing a man could do in an emergency like this. He called his mother-in-law.
As soon as he got off the phone with Hunith he threw himself face down on the bed. He'd really messed up this time. Not only had he been a terrible boyfriend when Merlin tried to be kind, but he'd also forced him, the Christmas fan number one, to go through the better half of December without as much a sniff of a Christmas tree. Arthur groaned and put his head in his hands. He'd have to find a way to make this up to Merlin somehow.
When Merlin tiredly trudged through the door another couple of hours later he was greeted by an unfamiliar sight. On top the bureau sat a polar bear plushie, sporting a bright red Santa’s hat and holding a small gift box with his name on it.
"Arthur?" he called out as he unwrapped his scarf and shrugged out of his coat, all while eyeing the gift. No answer and Merlin's curiosity got the better of him. He quickly undid the bow and took the lid off. Inside was a single, deliciously smelling ginger toffee and a small note that read: “Eat me and go to the kitchen”. Merlin smiled, popped the candy into his mouth and walked into the kitchen. On the table was a large bowl of oranges, a plate of heart shaped ginger bread cookies and another small present. This one contained some candied popcorn and another note: “Eat me and go to the living room”.
The living room took Merlin' breath away. The white sofa had been upgraded with some soft looking blankets and plush, comfy pillows, all in crimson red. A fire sparkled and there were candles on the table. In the corner was a huge Christmas tree. It was magnificent but completely without any ornaments, save a small candy cane that hung from a branch and was a big box wrapped in red and gold that stood on the floor underneath it.
The small note accompanying the candy cane read: “Eat me and unwrap the gift.” Merlin, now grinning widely, put the candy cane in his mouth and opened the large box to find all sorts of baubles, garlands and tinsels and a note that read: “I thought perhaps we could decorate the tree together? Go to the bedroom.” Merlin hastened towards the bedroom, eager to see what Arthur had done in there but when he reached the threshold he froze in surprise.
Arthur was laying on the bed, wearing tight red boxers that left nothing to the imagination and little else. In fact, the only other piece of clothing that he had on was a Santa’s hat. Merlin swallowed as he walked forward to take the note that Arthur held out. It read: “I'm really sorry for this morning. Unwrap my package and eat me out?” Merlin blinked when he realized the magnitude of it all. Not only had Arthur, the grumpiest Grinch of them all, decorated their flat for Christmas, he also offered himself completely to Merlin. Arthur never bottomed. Never ever. Merlin looked up and saw his boyfriend looking back at him, trying to appear confident but his nervousness shone through. Merlin smiled and let his hand slide slowly from Arthur’s calf all the way up to rest on his thigh, teasingly close to his crotch.
“Oh, I’m going to take so good care of you, darling” he promised, all but purring, and Arthur shivered in anticipation.