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Merlin shivered in his sleep. Why was it so cold? The temperature was enough to pull him from the haze of dreamland into reality. The air was cold, that was it. He had goosebumps. Opening his eyes, Merlin could see the sun just starting to peek through the window, casting a glow on his king.
“Arthur, whachu up for?” Merlin groaned, rolling over to face him. “Come back to bed, it’s early.”
“I thought we’d have early training this morning!” Arthur said, spinning on his heels to bustle around the room. “With that fall frost in the air, I’m sure it will wake up all the knights, get them to focus.” Arthur was now standing at the foot of the bed, staring at Merlin expectantly.
“Well?”
“Well what?” Merlin bit out through his teeth.
“Can’t lay in bed all day, get your lazy backside up and dress me.”
Turning his head to look Arthur dead in the eye, Merlin spat out,“I swear, call me lazy one more time and I will-”
“No time to complain Merlin! Jump to it, come on,” Arthur cut him off, moving around to tug Merlin’s arm repeatedly.
“Gods, you’re such a child,” Merlin said, yanking his arm back to stand up on his own. He shivered again, he hadn’t slept with any tunic on. He supposed Arthur was right, the nip in the air was waking him up. But that didn’t mean that Merlin had to like it.
“Well you’re such a clotpole.”
Pointedly ignoring Arthur, Merlin made a big show of shuffling round the room, muttering curses under his breath. He could practically hear Arthur rolling his eyes as shoved a pair of trousers and a tunic into his arms.
“I asked you to dress me.”
“Not my job anymore.”
“Merlin-”
“I said, it’s not my job anymore.” Merlin made sure to enunciate every word. “Did you hit your head in the night? You’re hearing must’ve gone bad.”
The corner of Arthur’s mouth was twitching upwards, failing magnificently to conceal a grin.
“Oh, come on, you love it,” he said, playfully punching Merlin’s shoulder.
“Do not.”
“Do too! See, you’ve already started.”
Merlin blinked and looked down to see that he had indeed already pulled the tunic over Arthur’s head and did up the laces.
“Habit,” he said, trying to sound annoyed but he couldn’t really muster it.
The two fell in silence as Merlin dressed Arthur, the sun continuing to rise, further bathing the room in gold. It was still rather chilly, though.
All Merlin’s mind could focus on was that chill. He was only going through the motions of dressing Arthur, he just knew it so well. He couldn’t help but shiver again as a
sharp breeze billowed through the window.
Arthur then pulled him closer, looping his arms around Merlin’s back to pull him to his chest. Instantly, Merlin’s skin flooded with warmth.
“You’re cozy,” he said, his voice muffled by his bear of a king. A chuckle responded.
“And you’re cold. Go on, go back to bed, I’ll be back in time for breakfast.” Arthur pulled away just enough to let Merlin look up before he leaned in, but Merlin pushed away, his eyebrows raised.
“What, so you woke me up for nothing?” Merlin said, but let the man kiss him, lazily kissing back, before Arthur pulled away, letting Merlin sit down on the bed.
“Thanks for dressing me.” Arthur bent down to give Merlin one more sweet kiss before pulling away to grab his sword and left their chambers.
Following Arthur’s earlier idea, Merlin laid back, pulling the fluffy covers over him once more. The sun was shining directly into his eyes by now, but Merlin simply tugged the covers over his head and allowed himself to fall asleep. Relatively easy when Merlin felt cozy and loved.
Once more, Merlin was being forced awake before he knew it, but this time, it was just a gentle shake. That didn’t make it less bothersome.
“Go away,” Merlin groaned, pulling the blankets tighter around him. “S’ still too early.” He heard Arthur laugh before another wave of cold hit.
Merlin opened his eyes to see Arthur sitting on the edge of the bed, already out of his armor and grinning with the blanket in his hand.
“Come on, Arthur, give it.”
“Fine, but I’m coming with it, package deal.” Arthur flopped down next to Merlin with a big bounce before pulling the blanket over and down so hard that it caught air, floating down like a cloud to rest over the two of them.
Merlin finally gave in and turned over on his belly to smile at Arthur.
“I take it training went well?”
Arthur snorted. “No, it was miserable, actually… you don’t need to look so damned pleased about it!”
“Well that’s what you get”, Merlin said, wiggling closer, “For forcing people awake at this ungodly hour.”
Arthur stuck his tongue out at him. Merlin snorted.
“Absolute child.”
“Alright, enough of that, come here!” Arthur slipped his hands around Merlin’s waist, dragging him across the bed so that he could wrap around Merlin like a snake from behind.
“Oh, so now you’re tired?”
“Shut up, Merlin.” Arthur’s voice was muffled in Merlin’s hair. Merlin could feel Arthur burying his head into the crook of Merlin’s neck, pressing a light kiss there. Merlin shivered, and Arthur chuckled, his laugh vibrating through Merlin’s body.”
“So sensitive.”
“Shut up.”
“Are you giving me an order, Merlin?”
“Yes!” Merlin rolled over in Arthur’s arms to jab a finger to the man’s chest. “Let. Me. Sleep.”
“Have it your way,” Arthur said with a smile, pulling Merlin in closer to him. Merlin let him, tucking his head under Arthur’s and wrapping his arms and legs around him tight. The birds were beginning to sing as the castle slowly started to wake. Arthur kept running his hands through Merlin’s hair, humming some unknown tune to himself.
As the two men dozed, the sun continued to rise. The windows were thrown open, and a cool breeze had the drapes fluttering. The first frost of the season looked gorgeous in the morning light, but was still biting cold. Yet Merlin could no longer bring himself to be annoyed by the chilly weather anymore. How could he, when the love of his life held him close like this?
It was all a very intoxicating combination indeed, and Merlin couldn’t help the smile on his face as he dozed off once more.