winterknights | How To (Not?) Celebrate The Holidays [Merlin/Arthur - R

Title: How To (Not?) Celebrate The Holidays
Author/Artist:

alafaye
Pairing(s): Merlin/Arthur
Prompt: 1. One of them celebrates one holiday, and one of them celebrates another. The key is learning to celebrate them together. (here by

argentsleeper)
Word Count/Art Medium: 1094
Rating: R
Contains (Highlight to view): None
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Thanks to my beta,

kitty_fic, and the mods for the extension to get the edits done.
Summary Merlin and Arthur just wanted to celebrate Yule and Christmas, together, with Hunith and Uther.

The house was deadly silent. It looked worse.

There were garland and ornaments strewn across the sitting room, spilling into the hallway. The evergreen bough that had been wrapped around the staircase was hanging by a single nail. The wreath that had been on the front door was in pieces. Pieces of it would drift further inside as the wind blew; the door, for some reason, had been left open. The chicken--which had looked good, but was a bit dry--was congealing on the platter. The soy meat substitute was in pieces on the other end of the dining room table. Mashed potatoes stuck like glue to the dining room wall.

Arthur and Merlin sat on the stairs, side by side.

They looked much like their house.

Merlin licked his lips. "That...could have gone better."

Arthur yelled something unintelligible and stood. He began pacing in front of the stairs. "Better? Better, Merlin? And how could that have gone better? Or, here's a better question, how could it have gone worse?" He waved his hand and Merlin kept his mouth shut, knowing Arthur wouldn't be done. "I mean, we should have known. I still have nightmares about our wedding! The words my father used to insult the Priestess, the way your mother kept asking why we also had a priest. As if we weren't trying to keep them both happy! As if by having both, it was as bad as if we'd chosen just one!"

Arthur stopped pacing, facing Merlin with his hands clenched. "But then you! You wanted to host Yule and Christmas with them!"

"What that's supposed to mean?" Merlin asked. "I thought it'd be a good idea."

"A good--a good idea?" Arthur snarled. "This was a disaster from the moment you planned it."

Merlin blinked. Then again. "I'm sorry. When I asked, you agreed with me. To show them that our faiths can live together happily."

Arthur pressed his lips together and opened his arms wide, taking in the whole mess of everything. Merlin narrowed his eyes and whispered a spell. He ignored Arthur's enraged howl and the twittering of their neighbors, Mrs. and Mrs. Wallace, from down the road taking a walk and instead getting a view of Arthur's (admittedly wonderfully fit) backside. He stomped up the stairs.

~~~

Hunith's text was short and to the point. It needed nothing else. She would only be polite as a favor to Arthur who, luckily, was nothing like his father.

Uther's answer reflected a similar attitude, but with a hint that this wouldn't have happened if Arthur had just married a Christian.

Well, she thought he meant someone who didn't have magic, but Merlin's and Arthur's happiness depended on her and Uther both putting aside that difference.

For now.

When the boys had children of their own, several arguments were going to be had.

(She would never admit she looked forward to it.)

~~~

Uther only raised an eyebrow at Hunith when she arrived, carrying fresh boughs. She, unlike Uther, was covered with the signs of manual labor. Uther stepped back as one of the hired men came through, carrying away the old boughs.

He and Hunith both looked away.

"Where are they?" she asked.

Uther shrugged. "Out of the way for now. I don't really know."

She nodded. "That's for the best, yes? We can let them know when we've fixed this."

Well, fixed the house for sure. He wasn't sure that much else could be fixed.

~~~

Merlin curled tighter around the pillow and Kilgharrah growled a warning, sleeping with his head on the pillow. Merlin narrowed his eyes at the cat. Arthur sighed from the door. "I found Aithusa. He was, smartly, hiding under the bed."

"He likes it under there," Merlin pointed out. "He wasn't hiding."

Arthur crossed to the bed and put Aithusa next to Merlin. He chirruped and curled around Merlin's head. Kilgharrah eyed Aithusa. "Well, maybe he was hiding. Kilgharrah doesn't like when Aithusa shares his space."

Downstairs, the front door creaked. Arthur sat behind Merlin. "My father's here."

Merlin sat up and got hissed at for upsetting the cats. "What? Why?"

"He's got a cleaning crew with him," Arthur continued. "It's an apology."

Merlin groaned and fell back on the bed. "Bugger."

Arthur moved the cats over and lay down, curling around Merlin. "I don't think we should tell your mum. She might take it as an invitation to one up him."

Merlin snorted. "You're probably right." Biting his lip, he turned and pushed Arthur until they were face to face. "I'm sorry. I should've known that this was a bad idea."

Arthur shrugged and put his hand on Merlin's hip. He rucked up Merlin's shirt and rubbed his skin with his thumb. "It was a good idea. It was. We just...well, it isn't us. We've made peace with it, haven't we? We celebrate all the holidays of our religions and it doesn't cause us any problems. So, really. It's their fault."

Merlin smiled, but it was sad. "And what happens when Mum wants us to visit her on Yule and then have to try to make it in time for Christmas Eve? I hate to think we'll be traveling overnight during one of the worst weeks to travel."

"We'll think of something," Arthur said. "Or just tell them to bugger off. We can do that. I rather liked that we were going to celebrate all week."

"You would," Merlin said, pointedly poking Arthur in his still (mostly) flat stomach.

Arthur shouted indignantly and shoved Merlin, starting a tussle that inevitably ended in more, being that they were still technically newlyweds.

~~~

"Well." Hunith cleared her throat, face bright red. Uther was frozen next to her.

"Come on. I'll show you how to make a vegetarian loaf. They'll need something to eat after all that...exercise."

Uther whimpered. "Wouldn't it be better just to go home? It doesn't look like they'll need us after all."

She sighed. "After we did all that work, I am staying and proving that we can behave as well as they can."

Uther eyed the bedroom door, now thankfully closed. "If that's what you call behaving."

She resisted the urge to hit him. Barely. Besides, she had a meal to put on the table. She wondered if Uther would eat beans mixed with other nutritious food or if she'd have to try to make something with meat. She shuddered.

Best get to it then. The boys would be hungry after all. And they all had some holidays to celebrate.