Work Text:
Merlin kept himself busy all afternoon in the kitchen to get everything ready for when Arthur and Gwaine came over. It all had to be perfect. Since they all had become so busy, they made sure to have a night set aside for the three of them to spend together. This week it was at Merlin's and decided they were having a Christmas movie marathon. He loved the holiday season and was glad this year he got to spend it with the two he cared most about (besides his mother of course).
Merlin popped a Christmas music CD into the player and pulled out his mum's gingerbread cookie recipe. He set out all the ingredients on the counter and decided he would need to make two batches in order to have plenty of them.
After mixing the dough and rolling it out, he took his cookie cutters and cut out little men, stars and snowman. He placed them on the baking sheets and slid them into the oven. He set the timer and started on dinner.
Once the cookies were done and cooled and dinner was cooking, he say down at the table to decorate the cookies. This was his favorite part when he was a child. His mum was better at icing them better than he was but Merlin thought hey turned out well enough. It's not like he really to impress Arthur or Gwaine anyway. When he finished, he hid them away in the kitchen so Gwaine wouldn't immediately go for them.
As he waited for dinner to finish, he pulled all of the Christmas movies he owned off the shelf and stacked them on coffee table. He grabbed an extra blanket from his room in case they needed it.
As Merlin finished setting there was a knock at his door. He ran to the door to see Arthur and Gwaine, who was wearing a Santa hat. He opened it saying, "You two arrived just in time." Arthur entered first, giving him a quick hug and kiss, and was followed Gwaine who did the same. "Nice hat, Gwaine," he added as he closed the door.
"Thank you, Merlin. I'm glad to see someone appreciate it. I have an elf one for you." Gwaine pulled the hat from his inside jacket pocket and handed it Merlin, who pulled it on. "I have reindeer antlers for Arthur but he won't put them on."
Merlin turned to Arthur, "Why won't you wear them? We'd be a complete set if you did."
"You both know I'm not that into Christmas," hr replied as he set his bag down and took off his coat and suit jacket. He looked back to see Merlin with his puppy dog eyes and Gwaine holding the antlers out to him. He sighed. "If you two really want me to wear them, I'll put them on."
Merlin cheered as Gwaine slipped them onto Arthur's head. "Let's take a picture real quick. Get together," Merlin instructed as he pulled his phone out of his pocket. He made sure they were all in frame and snapped the picture. "We look great. This is going on Facebook now."
"Food smells delicious. Is it ready?" Gwaine asked he made his way toward the kitchen.
"Yes, now sit down and I'll serve us."
After dinner, Merlin told Arthur and Gwaine to go ahead into the living room while he grabbed the cookies. He placed them on coffee table and Gwaine was quick to grab one.
"Which movie are we going to watch first?" asked Arthur.
"I was thinking we could start with Love Actually and go from there," Merlin replied. The other two agreed so Merlin popped into the DVD player. He grabbed the remote, switched off the light and sat in between them, throwing the blanket over their laps. He pushed play and grabbed a cookie before positioning himself so that he was leaning against Arthur, who wrapped his arm around his shoulders, and laid his legs across Gwaine's lap. There wasn't a place in the world Merlin would rather be than snuggling between his boyfriends.