A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss)
Title: A Snowflake Fell (And It Felt Like a Kiss)
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Word Count: 1,600 Words
Rating: PG
Summary: American high school AU, Merlin is confused about Arthur, Arthur tries to clear things up for him with presents.
Notes: This is a holiday gift for 4ury for the Stocking Swap. Merry Christmas! ♥
On the last day of school before Christmas break Merlin stood at his locker, awkwardly rummaging around inside as though he was looking for something important, when in reality he was watching Arthur talking with his friends on the other side of the hallway. Whatever they were talking about must have been hilarious because Arthur kept throwing his head back and doing those full body laughs that made Merlin’s heart skip in his chest. Merlin peered out around his locker door, trying not stare too obviously, but probably failing. Mid-laugh Arthur looked over towards Merlin and their eyes met for a moment. Arthur stopped laughing and a completely different kind of smile crept onto his face, it was kind of shy and a little hesitant, but it made Merlin’s heart beat too fast and his head feel heavy and he had to put a hand out to brace himself against the row of lockers. Arthur gave Merlin the tiniest nod of his head, so small that if Merlin hadn’t been long ago started over analyzing everything Arthur said and did he would have completely missed it. The bell sounded, snapping Merlin out of his reverie and he jolted a little and dropped the book he was pulling out of his locker. Arthur, whose friends had dispersed, took a couple steps towards Merlin and bent down to sweep the book up off the ground. As he handed it to Merlin he leaned in close, his breath warm on Merlin’s ear. Merlin shivered.
“Meet me outside after class.”
And before Merlin could answer Arthur was halfway down the hallway off to his next class. Merlin stood by his locker, momentarily unable to move, staring after Arthur, watching his blond hair bounce gently as he moved. He wiped his now sweaty palms on his jeans, shoved the book back into his locker and headed off towards his biology class.
Arthur confused Merlin. Merlin had had a huge, embarrassing, all-consuming crush on Arthur Pendragon since about the 3rd grade when Arthur had let him borrow a pencil after Merlin’s had broken. But after that fateful day, they had barely spoken, until, that is, about four months ago. Arthur had randomly started talking to Merlin one day in class, they had been seated next to each other in math and on the first day of school Arthur had greeted Merlin with a seemingly genuine, very enthusiastic ‘hello’. Merlin, blushed and stammered out a ‘hi’ and gave an awkward wave and then become very busy organizing his notebooks and pens to avoid further embarrassing conversation. But Arthur had continued chatting to him, asking him about his summer, if he’d gone anywhere, what he’d heard about the teacher. Merlin had tried to answer his questions coherently even though his entire brain was screaming, “ARTHUR PENDRAGON IS TALKING TO YOU ARTHUR PENDRAGON WHO YOU HAVE BEEN FANTASIZING ABOUT SINCE YOU WERE TEN IS TALKING TO YOU.” Merlin had thought it might have just been a one off thing, maybe Arthur was just in a particularly chatty mood that day, and Merlin had also noticed that none of his usual crowd was in their math class, so maybe he was just bored. But after that class, Arthur had not only continued talking to Merlin in math but he seemed to keep popping up when Merlin wasn’t expecting it. He would turn up at the end of the day and walk part of the way home with Merlin, he would be waiting at Merlin’s locker in the morning, he would send him texts during class complaining about how boring the teacher was. Merlin really wasn’t sure what to make of it all, it was as if without his realizing it, they had suddenly become friends, although they had somehow skipped over the actual becoming friends part.
Merlin had talked to Gwen about all this and she was convinced that Arthur was flirting. But Merlin vehemently disagreed.
‘He’s straight Gwen, super straight. The straightest.”
“He brought you coffee three days in a row last week!”
“Did you see that girl he dated last year? Her boobs could not have been real.”
This usually continued until one of them gave up, usually Merlin, who had long ago learned that it was impossible to win arguments with Gwen.
Something else that confused Merlin about Arthur was that, even though they spent more and more time together, it always seemed to be just the two of them. When Arthur was with his friends he barely acknowledged Merlin. He didn’t completely ignore him, he would smile or wave or something, but they never ate lunch together or hung out on weekends or were partners for group projects or anything like that. Sometimes Merlin felt like Arthur was hiding their friendship. What Merlin didn’t understand was why. If they were only friends, if that was it, why did Arthur care if his friends knew? Merlin kept meaning to ask Arthur about this, but never seemed to work up the courage to actually go through with it. As he watched Arthur walk away, he decided that today was the day he was going to say something, if they were going to be friends, then they should be real friends, not only sometimes friends, not-hide-it-from-Arthur’s-other-friends friends, but proper friends.
And this was what Merlin was thinking as he walked outside to meet Arthur after class. He ran what he was going to say over and over in his head. But as he stepped through the door, Merlin saw Arthur standing there on the sidewalk in his perfectly fitted black wool coat, collar popped, scarf knotted at his neck, snowflakes catching on his eyelashes and the tips of his hair, and Merlin completely forgot everything he meant to say. When Arthur’s eyes fell on Merlin he grinned and reached out an arm to drag Merlin the rest of the way towards him.
“Hey.”
Merlin fiddled with his coat and pulled his beanie down further over his ears, suddenly feeling very self-conscious next to Arthur’s model-esque ensemble. “Hi.”
“So winter break starts tomorrow, got any plans?”
Merlin was certain he had something planned for the next two weeks, but at that moment he could not recall a single thing. He blamed it on Arthur’s eyes. No one’s eyes should be that blindingly blue. He still wasn’t entirely convinced that they weren’t contacts.
“Um, no?”
Arthur looked pleased with that answer and his grin widened.
“Well good, because we’re going to be hanging out and I’d hate for you to have to cancel on anyone.”
Merlin shook his head, confused, “We are?”
Arthur just smiled, as if he found Merlin’s confusion simply adorable, and continued.
“Here, I got you something.”
Merlin looked down at Arthur’s hands, which were holding a small wrapped present out like an offering.
“You got me a present? But - but I didn’t know we were doing this. I didn’t get you anything. I - I didn’t realize - ” Merlin’s voice was getting higher and more shrill as he went on, but thankfully, Arthur cut him off.
“Merlin its fine, it’s not a big deal I swear, just open it.”
Merlin sighed, then reached out and took the present out of Arthur’s hands. He unwrapped it and found a cd with a little sheet of paper tucked into the case. Arthur had made him a mix. Merlin scanned the list of songs, he’d heard of some of them, but most of them were new to him.
“You’re always acting all superior about your amazing taste in music and going on about bands no one else has ever heard of, so I thought I’d make you a CD of some of the music us lowly normal people are listening to.” Arthur was smiling, but Merlin thought he detected a hint of nervousness in his voice and a very slight blush tinting his cheeks. Arthur had made him a mix. Maybe Gwen was right.
“Thank you Arthur, this is great!” At Merlin’s smile all traces of anxiety vanished from Arthur’s face and all of a sudden Arthur was very close to Merlin. He had taken another couple steps forward and was standing so close that Merlin could feel Arthur’s breath on his face and could see the pattern of snowflakes dusting the tops of his shoulders. Arthur’s eyes darted down to Merlin’s lips and then bounced back up to catch Merlin’s eyes, as if asking permission. Merlin, whose palms were starting to sweat again, held his breath and gave the slightest of nods. And then Arthur was kissing him. Kissing him. Outside of the school, with students walking by in every direction and teachers just inside. But Merlin didn’t care, and apparently neither did Arthur because he was pulling Merlin in closer to him and bringing a hand up to cup the back of Merlin’s neck.
By the time they parted they were both breathless and flushed, and not only from the cold. A couple students had stopped just outside the door and were staring at the two of them with bemused expressions on their faces. Merlin nodded towards them and Arthur turned around to look, but he turned back with a smile on his face.
“Let them watch, I don’t care.” He leaned forward and gave Merlin another peck on the lips. Then he leaned in close again, mouth almost touching Merlin’s ear and whispered.
“Merry Christmas Merlin.”
Before Merlin could even say Merry Christmas back, Arthur had turned and was walking towards the parking lot. Merlin stood in the middle of the sidewalk, hands still clutching the cd and wrapping paper. And this time, even though he was still as confused by Arthur as always, as he watched him walk away, Merlin smiled.
The End
Pairing: Merlin/Arthur
Word Count: 1,600 Words
Rating: PG
Summary: American high school AU, Merlin is confused about Arthur, Arthur tries to clear things up for him with presents.
Notes: This is a holiday gift for 4ury for the Stocking Swap. Merry Christmas! ♥
On the last day of school before Christmas break Merlin stood at his locker, awkwardly rummaging around inside as though he was looking for something important, when in reality he was watching Arthur talking with his friends on the other side of the hallway. Whatever they were talking about must have been hilarious because Arthur kept throwing his head back and doing those full body laughs that made Merlin’s heart skip in his chest. Merlin peered out around his locker door, trying not stare too obviously, but probably failing. Mid-laugh Arthur looked over towards Merlin and their eyes met for a moment. Arthur stopped laughing and a completely different kind of smile crept onto his face, it was kind of shy and a little hesitant, but it made Merlin’s heart beat too fast and his head feel heavy and he had to put a hand out to brace himself against the row of lockers. Arthur gave Merlin the tiniest nod of his head, so small that if Merlin hadn’t been long ago started over analyzing everything Arthur said and did he would have completely missed it. The bell sounded, snapping Merlin out of his reverie and he jolted a little and dropped the book he was pulling out of his locker. Arthur, whose friends had dispersed, took a couple steps towards Merlin and bent down to sweep the book up off the ground. As he handed it to Merlin he leaned in close, his breath warm on Merlin’s ear. Merlin shivered.
“Meet me outside after class.”
And before Merlin could answer Arthur was halfway down the hallway off to his next class. Merlin stood by his locker, momentarily unable to move, staring after Arthur, watching his blond hair bounce gently as he moved. He wiped his now sweaty palms on his jeans, shoved the book back into his locker and headed off towards his biology class.
Arthur confused Merlin. Merlin had had a huge, embarrassing, all-consuming crush on Arthur Pendragon since about the 3rd grade when Arthur had let him borrow a pencil after Merlin’s had broken. But after that fateful day, they had barely spoken, until, that is, about four months ago. Arthur had randomly started talking to Merlin one day in class, they had been seated next to each other in math and on the first day of school Arthur had greeted Merlin with a seemingly genuine, very enthusiastic ‘hello’. Merlin, blushed and stammered out a ‘hi’ and gave an awkward wave and then become very busy organizing his notebooks and pens to avoid further embarrassing conversation. But Arthur had continued chatting to him, asking him about his summer, if he’d gone anywhere, what he’d heard about the teacher. Merlin had tried to answer his questions coherently even though his entire brain was screaming, “ARTHUR PENDRAGON IS TALKING TO YOU ARTHUR PENDRAGON WHO YOU HAVE BEEN FANTASIZING ABOUT SINCE YOU WERE TEN IS TALKING TO YOU.” Merlin had thought it might have just been a one off thing, maybe Arthur was just in a particularly chatty mood that day, and Merlin had also noticed that none of his usual crowd was in their math class, so maybe he was just bored. But after that class, Arthur had not only continued talking to Merlin in math but he seemed to keep popping up when Merlin wasn’t expecting it. He would turn up at the end of the day and walk part of the way home with Merlin, he would be waiting at Merlin’s locker in the morning, he would send him texts during class complaining about how boring the teacher was. Merlin really wasn’t sure what to make of it all, it was as if without his realizing it, they had suddenly become friends, although they had somehow skipped over the actual becoming friends part.
Merlin had talked to Gwen about all this and she was convinced that Arthur was flirting. But Merlin vehemently disagreed.
‘He’s straight Gwen, super straight. The straightest.”
“He brought you coffee three days in a row last week!”
“Did you see that girl he dated last year? Her boobs could not have been real.”
This usually continued until one of them gave up, usually Merlin, who had long ago learned that it was impossible to win arguments with Gwen.
Something else that confused Merlin about Arthur was that, even though they spent more and more time together, it always seemed to be just the two of them. When Arthur was with his friends he barely acknowledged Merlin. He didn’t completely ignore him, he would smile or wave or something, but they never ate lunch together or hung out on weekends or were partners for group projects or anything like that. Sometimes Merlin felt like Arthur was hiding their friendship. What Merlin didn’t understand was why. If they were only friends, if that was it, why did Arthur care if his friends knew? Merlin kept meaning to ask Arthur about this, but never seemed to work up the courage to actually go through with it. As he watched Arthur walk away, he decided that today was the day he was going to say something, if they were going to be friends, then they should be real friends, not only sometimes friends, not-hide-it-from-Arthur’s-other-friends friends, but proper friends.
And this was what Merlin was thinking as he walked outside to meet Arthur after class. He ran what he was going to say over and over in his head. But as he stepped through the door, Merlin saw Arthur standing there on the sidewalk in his perfectly fitted black wool coat, collar popped, scarf knotted at his neck, snowflakes catching on his eyelashes and the tips of his hair, and Merlin completely forgot everything he meant to say. When Arthur’s eyes fell on Merlin he grinned and reached out an arm to drag Merlin the rest of the way towards him.
“Hey.”
Merlin fiddled with his coat and pulled his beanie down further over his ears, suddenly feeling very self-conscious next to Arthur’s model-esque ensemble. “Hi.”
“So winter break starts tomorrow, got any plans?”
Merlin was certain he had something planned for the next two weeks, but at that moment he could not recall a single thing. He blamed it on Arthur’s eyes. No one’s eyes should be that blindingly blue. He still wasn’t entirely convinced that they weren’t contacts.
“Um, no?”
Arthur looked pleased with that answer and his grin widened.
“Well good, because we’re going to be hanging out and I’d hate for you to have to cancel on anyone.”
Merlin shook his head, confused, “We are?”
Arthur just smiled, as if he found Merlin’s confusion simply adorable, and continued.
“Here, I got you something.”
Merlin looked down at Arthur’s hands, which were holding a small wrapped present out like an offering.
“You got me a present? But - but I didn’t know we were doing this. I didn’t get you anything. I - I didn’t realize - ” Merlin’s voice was getting higher and more shrill as he went on, but thankfully, Arthur cut him off.
“Merlin its fine, it’s not a big deal I swear, just open it.”
Merlin sighed, then reached out and took the present out of Arthur’s hands. He unwrapped it and found a cd with a little sheet of paper tucked into the case. Arthur had made him a mix. Merlin scanned the list of songs, he’d heard of some of them, but most of them were new to him.
“You’re always acting all superior about your amazing taste in music and going on about bands no one else has ever heard of, so I thought I’d make you a CD of some of the music us lowly normal people are listening to.” Arthur was smiling, but Merlin thought he detected a hint of nervousness in his voice and a very slight blush tinting his cheeks. Arthur had made him a mix. Maybe Gwen was right.
“Thank you Arthur, this is great!” At Merlin’s smile all traces of anxiety vanished from Arthur’s face and all of a sudden Arthur was very close to Merlin. He had taken another couple steps forward and was standing so close that Merlin could feel Arthur’s breath on his face and could see the pattern of snowflakes dusting the tops of his shoulders. Arthur’s eyes darted down to Merlin’s lips and then bounced back up to catch Merlin’s eyes, as if asking permission. Merlin, whose palms were starting to sweat again, held his breath and gave the slightest of nods. And then Arthur was kissing him. Kissing him. Outside of the school, with students walking by in every direction and teachers just inside. But Merlin didn’t care, and apparently neither did Arthur because he was pulling Merlin in closer to him and bringing a hand up to cup the back of Merlin’s neck.
By the time they parted they were both breathless and flushed, and not only from the cold. A couple students had stopped just outside the door and were staring at the two of them with bemused expressions on their faces. Merlin nodded towards them and Arthur turned around to look, but he turned back with a smile on his face.
“Let them watch, I don’t care.” He leaned forward and gave Merlin another peck on the lips. Then he leaned in close again, mouth almost touching Merlin’s ear and whispered.
“Merry Christmas Merlin.”
Before Merlin could even say Merry Christmas back, Arthur had turned and was walking towards the parking lot. Merlin stood in the middle of the sidewalk, hands still clutching the cd and wrapping paper. And this time, even though he was still as confused by Arthur as always, as he watched him walk away, Merlin smiled.
The End