FIC: Christmas Town (Merlin/Arthur - 4385 - G)

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Title: Christmas Town
Author/Artist: bunnysworld
Pairing(s): Merlin/Arthur
Prompt: my own prompt
Word Count/Art Medium: 4385
Rating: G
Contains (Highlight to view): *Fluff, lots of fluff.*
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Sorry for the late entry. You know my year didn't go as planned, but now I'm done for the rest of the year and can finally dive into fiction again.
Summary Arthur is not in the mood for Christmas but a commercial might be able to help with that





Arthur didn't feel like Christmas at all. Part of it was because it had been a really busy year with things thrown at him he hoped he'd never have to face again. The other part was that shops started puttinh up Christmas decorations in October. October! That was way too early. By the time, Christmas came around, Arthur usually had had enough of carols, sweets, mulled wine and holiday cards. Why couldn't it just start at the end of November and lead up the four weeks towards Christmas, so you could enjoy everything to the fullest and be happy when it was over after boxing day?

If he had to listen to 'Let it snow' one more time over the speaker system of a shop while it was still 20 degrees outside, the sun brightly shining and people around him in T-shirts, he would scream. The only winter weather this city ever got was cold and rainy. Arthur tried to remember the last time he had seen snow aside from the ski vacations he had taken as a child. These days it woud be too warm to wear a coat one day, the next it would be cold, wet and miserable.

It was only a week until the holidays and Arthur still hadn't come up with an idea on how he could avoid it all. Not that he had much on his schedule, but even sitting about at home, with nothing on TV but the endless happily-ever-after movies, didn't seem too appealing.

The gym was only open for half the day on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas and Boxing Day. The cinemas were all showing sappy films and Arthur knew that running into all those couples doing coupl-y things for the holidays would only make him more irritated and grumpy.

He had checked all the holiday vacation options but even though he could have afforded it, it only made him angry that the rates for a single traveller were as high as what two people paid for the same trip, including two flights, not just one. And what good would it do to sit about all alone at a holiday destination anyway? He could as well sit about all alone at home and spend the money on something else.

After he'd changed out of his work clothes into sweatpants and an old, worn hoodie and was on his way to his favourite armchair, he switched on the TV. He looked through the mail, not paying the TV screen much attention. At least he had accidentally found one of those pesky shopping channels that didn't show Christmas decorations.

"Hey you!"

Arthur frowned. This wasn't the way the guys at this shopping channel usually adressed people . He looked around, happy that nobody else had noticed that he actually knew how they spoke to their potential customers. Maybe he was finally going crazy.

"Holidays coming around and you have nothing to do?"

"What? Me? None of your business." Now he even answered to the television! This had to end!

"Come, join us. We're a little community up north, no couply things, no couples allowed, no match-making. Just some people who would otherwise be sitting in their armchairs dressed in old sports clothes for days on end. That's a waste of time! Check us out!"

Arthur frowned. How did they know that he was wearing his old sports clothes and was sitting in an armchair? He couldn't take his eyes off the screen, though. They showed a very nice area with enough wood around and a wonderful view. There were little log cabins and it looked like everybody was having a good time.

Of course they were. It was a commercial, they had to look like they had a good time. Arthur was sure that they were all paid actors. The tall blond one over there couldn't be real! Or that other one with the longish dark hair? Ridiculous, those weren't normal people, they definitely were actors. Or look at him, all blue crinkley twinkling eyes and a wide smile that reached his adorably sticking out ears. Nope, people like them didn't go to sad places were the left-overs and losers met up to pretend to not feel lonely for Christmas. Arthur was sure they all went home after the take and snuggled up to their loved ones.

Two days later, Arthur stepped off the shuttle bus in his brand-new winter gear, thick boots, down jacket and all. He would forever deny that he had checked out the offer of that wierd commercial that he had never seen before and couldn't find anywhere on TV since and had booked the holidays in this little place. He was sure it would be crappy and not at all what they had advertised and that he would be leaving again very soon, but that hadn't kept him from stocking up in the clothes department after finding out that he had nothing but work clothes and old sweat pants.

Suspiciously, he looked around. To his utter surprise, the little village square looked exactly like in the commercial. They even had some snow on the ground. This was too good to be real. There had to be a catch.

"Arthur? You're Arthur, right?"

This couldn't be! This was the guy from the commercial. The one with the longish dark hair and the nose that was a bit on the big side.

"Errr...yeah, hi."

"Hi! I'm Gwaine and I'll show you around. Welcome to Christmas Town! Leave your luggage here, they will bring it to your cabin."

Christmas Town. Why hadn't he noticed that before? This was...weird. The other man was telling him this and that as he showed him the little shops and the introduced him to the vendors who sold roasted chestnuts and mulled wine. Everybody was friendly and it felt as if Arthur had known them all for ages.

"Not too much in a Christmassy mood, are you?" Gwaine teased him a bit but there was nothing false in his eyes, so Arthur shrugged.

"Not really, no. Is there anything else here to do but eat almonds and burst out into song?"

Gwaine chuckled. "Of course. We have a gym, the lake is frozen, so you can play hockey, we have daily contests, both physical and appealing to the mind, you can go to the pub or get a massage over there. The list of all things to do is in your cabin and will be exchanged on a daily basis, so you can do whatever tickles your fancy."

"Sounds good. Show me the way, the trip here was a bit exhausting."

Gwaine nodded and walked on and led them to the outskirts of the little village where the log cabins stood and it didn't take them long before they stood in Arthur's. "This is yours for the time being. I hope you like it."

"I'll just take a nap and then..."

Gwaine, who stood in the doorway already, turned around. The smile made way for a serious expression. "I would really like to see you at the pub tonight."

"Pub...good idea. Let me get unpacked first." Arthur had had no intention to spend the evening in the pub, but there was something in Gwaine's look that really made him want to go.

It had gotten dark and Arthur felt like curling up on the bed, watching some TV and then just falling asleep, but no, Gwaine said to meet him at the pub and he hadn't paid all that money to sleep anyways. So he sprayed on some more of his cologne, changed into a clean shirt, pulled the winter boots and thick coat on again and wandered into town.

All the cabins had wintery decoration and everthing looked really homely. It looked as if there wasn't a single cabin not occupied and for a moment Arthur wondered about all the lonely people who would have spent Christmas on their own if they hadn't decided to come here.

Smiling, he pushed the door to the pub open. Wow. This was...it was like a pub in the commercials. Loud, colourful and full of people who were all having fun. He was greeted by a few people and everyone seemed to know his name, even though he couldn't remember if they had met before.

"You made it!" Gwaine appeared at his side. "Come, have a drink."

A bottle of beer materialized in his hand and Arthur threw looks around. How could he have missed that Gwaine handed him the bottle.

"So, what do we do here? I don't know anyone."

"You know me!" Gwaine grinned. "And I'm sure you know Percy and Lance and Elyan, too. Oh, and this is Merlin."

The tall guy, the one with the dark eyes and the shorter, dark-skinned one seemed quite familiar. Had they all been in the commercial? It didn't matter, though, when Arthur laid eyes on Merlin. His heart skipped a beat when the man turned around and smiled widely at him. His eyes crinkled up and the corners of his mouth almost met with his sticking-out ears.

"Hi!"

Arthur couldn't utter a word, he just stared.

"Welcome to Christmas Town, did you just arrive?"

Blinking, Arthur stuttered. "Err...yeah..."

"It's good to have you here. Have you seen the activities already? Have you decided on something to do yet?"

"Err...not really. What are you going to do?"

Merlin threw him a mischeivous grin. "That's probably up to you."

Arthur blinked a few times. Was Merlin flirting with him? Wasn't that something that they didn't allow here? And he was an employee here, wasn't he? Employees usually weren't allowed to flirt with guests. Not that Arthur minded. He hadn't been flirted with in so long that he forgot how it worked.

"Me?"

Merlin laughed. "I think I'll try to ice skating tomorrow morning, if it's not too cold, but it's never too cold here in Christmas Town. And then...who knows. Maybe a hot chocolate by the lake? There's a little café that has a beautiful view or maybe grab a bite to eat at the burger place or the Italian?"

"Sounds good." Arthur noticed that he was still staring at Merlin and if Merlin had suggested to go skinny dipping and then run a marathon through the forest, naked, chased by bears, he would have found that appealing, too.

"So I see you there tomorrow?"

Arthur nodded. "Is this...this isn't a date, is it?"

Merlin laughed. "No, we don't do stuff like that here. As it said in the commercial 'No couply things'. There is nothing more depressing than seeing couples around the holiday season while being alone, so we don't do that here. You're here to have fun. And ice skating is fun, isn't it?"

"I have no idea, I haven't done it in years." Arthur laughed. By tomorrow, this time, he might end up in the town's hospital, if there was one.

"That's the spirit! Try new things, keep busy." Merlin raised his own beer bottle and clinked it with Arthur's. "To new friends and fun times!"

+++

When Arthur reached the frozen lake the next morning, he didn't really remember what happened last night. They had all been at the pub, but then memory went a bit fuzzy. Weirdly, he didn't have a hangover and felt the urge to do something physically, so he went through with Merlin's plan to skate. He had been on skates a few times ages ago and how hard could it be?

Well, very hard, as he found out a while later. He was busier trying to fall in a way that didn't hurt too much and scrambling up again than he was actually skating. His face was red and he had worked up a bit of sweat already.

"Here you are!" Merlin skated by and then came back to stop. "Are you having fun?"

Arthur made a face. "I will have some fun with the bruises tomorrow."

"Oh, don't worry, you won't bruise. Should we go for a lap and then have a hot drink to warm up again?"

Before Arthur could react, Merlin had already taken his hand and started off again. It was a lot easier to skate while holding Merlin's hand, it somehow steadied him and Arthur laughed in delight when they had made the big lap and he hadn't fallen once. Only when they had stepped off the ice and went to find their shoes, Merlin let go of his hand.

"See, everything is a bit easier with the help of friends, isn't it?"

Arthur smiled and worried his lower lip with his teeth. He wasn't known for letting people in and from a very early age on, he had been trained to do everything on his own, never relying on others. So he shrugged.

Merlin let it go and babbled on as he changed back into his winter boots. "Hot chocolate? Latte? Tea? Or rather a soup?"

"A simple coffee would do." Arthur smiled and it felt good to be back in his boots. "Want to stay here or go into town?"

"I kind of like the little café here, but if you'd rather try something else...?"

Usually, Arthur liked being in charge, he decided what to do and where to go, but looking into Merlin's eyes, he noticed he didn't mind, as long as he could spend some time with the other man. "Let's stay here, then."

Arthur didn't even notice how time flew. They were talking about a lot of things and laughed a lot and he enjoyed every minute of it. It had gotten dark and he had heard Merlin's stomach grumble.

"Hey...listen...they only serve cakes and soups here...how about we go into town for a decent dinner?"

Merlin's face lit up. "How about we go to the other pub? They have great food and there's quizz competition later?"

This wasn't exactly as Arthur had hoped the rest of the day would go, but if Merlin wanted to go to quizz night, he would come along. He had no idea what it was about Merlin, but he wanted to spend time with him.

+++

On his second morning in Christmas Town, Arthur walked down the sidewalk, greeting everyone with a huge smile. Quizz night at the pub had been a blast and even though they hadn't won, it was amazing what a good time he'd had trying to find all the answers to the questions.

He stopped at one of the carts and admired the decorations they were selling. At home, he had banned everything that looked remotely like Christmas, but he found he didn't mind here. Some of the things were really pretty and he could appreciate good craftsmanship if he saw it.

Arthur had no idea what was happening, but something was happening with him and it had been the best decission of his life to book this little time-off in this wonderfully kitschy little place.

He waved at Percy and Gwaine who just made their way to one of the shops on the other side of the town square and entered the coffee shop only to find Lance already standing in line. At home, Arthur would have been furious to only find Christmas-themed hot drinks in his favorite coffee shop, but here he almost couldn't decide, they all sounded so delicious!

"Arthur!" Lance motioned for him to sit at his table when he got his drink and Arthur wandered over.

"You know...when I saw the commercial, I wasn't convinced, but I really like it here." He smiled at Lance. "Have you seen Merlin today?"

"We've always managed to put everyone in Christmas mood." Lance grinned. "You would have been the exception. And no, I haven't seen Merlin. He is probably busy with some newcomers or the Christmas tree."

Newcomers. Merlin wasn't supposed to greet newcomers, he was supposed to spend time with him! Arthur frowned.

"Hey, you wanted time away from all the couples at home." Lance nodded understandingly. "So why don't you help with the big tree?"

"The tree? There are trees everywhere!"

"The big one is still missing. Haven't you noticed that the town square seems kind of empty?" Lance looked outside the window and only then Arthur realized what he meant. The little patch of grass in the middle was the only place that wasn't stuffed with anything Christmas-related.

"Now that you mention it. What do I have to do?"

Lance leaned over. "Each year, we need to go out into the black woods. Dangerous territory, but the trees there are the nicest. And the more people we are, the less likely an attack by Dark Santa is."

Arthur blinked, convinced that Lance would burst out laughing any moment now. "Dark...Santa..."

"Dark Santa. Nefarious Nick. Whatever you want to call him." Lance nodded and didn't even smile.

"You're telling me that there is a 'baddie' living out there that tries to keep you from stealing his trees?" Arthur emphasized the 'baddie' by making quotation marks with his fingers in the air. "Why don't you just pay the man?"

"It's not that easy. It's a century-old feud. He once was one of us, but he turned his back on Christmas Town and now can't be reasoned with."

Arthur couldn't quite hold in a chuckle. Lance would laugh now any second, right? But the other man stayed serious.

"We need everyone. The more we are, the bigger are the chances of having a nice tree in the town square."

Blinking, Arthur sipped his coffee that tasted like cinnamon and something orangey. "I...if it is that important, sure..."

+++

The next night, Arthur followed the big sleigh with the most enormous Christmas tree he had ever seen as he stumbled out of the woods back to the town. He only had a vague memory of them storming into the forest, armed with axes, a saw and said sleigh. Someone had found just the right tree and some of them had taken it while others - like him - had kept cave.

After the first few hundred meters were behind them and the forest got lighter, they had started giggling and laughing. They had done it! Once more they had managed to get a tree without Dark Santa finding them!

Arthur was tired and sweaty and dirty, but he couldn't wait for the tree to be put up and lit.

"Well done!" Merlin came over and hugged him. "You fit in like an old pro! You need to get the tree with us every year!"

Shaking his head, Arthur grinned. "I'm actually not that big on Christmas trees, but this was fun."

"See you for the lighting ceremony and some mulled wine?" Merlin's eyes were twinkling and Arthur could only nod.

Damn, he wanted that man. For years, he hadn't really been with someone. Nobody had been really interesting. And now, that he was on a singles-vacation in a special town where such things were frowned upon to not spoil the fun of others, he had a crush on someone. Arthur knew that he would have been the first to frown if he arrived here with all those promises of no lovey-dovey things and then run into a couple doing exactly that.

There was something about Merlin, though, that just pulled him towards him. He had never gone for tall, almost skinny guys and if someone ever told him that he would find sticking out ears endearing, he would have laughed. The twinkle in Merlin's eyes, the way he smiled, the weird accent, the way he moved...everything screamed out to Arthur. Maybe he could at least let Merlin know tonight, at the lighting ceremony? He would try.

Merlin had already turned to someone else, so Arthur checked if the other guys needed some help errecting the tree and when he found out that they had it covered, he went back to his cabin to take a shower and get ready for the ceremony.

+++

It was a wonderful evening. Just as they had all gathered in the town square, everyone had a hot drink in their hands, it had started snowing lightly. A large Santa, Arthur suspected it was Percy, made his way to the overly huge light switch.

Arthur didn't really listen to what was said but ooh-ed and aah-ed with the others when the tree was illuminated. It gave the town square a very homely feeling. Something that Arthur hadn't felt in a while. Where he came from, Christmas was a rather un-personal thing. You had to show up for dinner and then stay long enough to not be impolite before you made your exit again. There hadn't been carols or laughter, the huge tree in the corner wasn't to be touched.

Here, everyone had a smile for you and Arthur couldn't help smiling back. He talked to people he hadn't seen before and the 'Happy Holidays!' or 'Merry Christmas!' that had felt shallow for years suddenly meant something. He really wanted people to have happy holidays, they all deserved it.

As he made his rounds, always trying to not lose track of Merlin and to close the distance between them, Percy-Santa stepped in his way.

"Arthur!"

"Hi Percy." Arthur smiled.

"I'm Santa." Percy winked at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry ,of course. Santa." Laughing, Arthur sipped his mulled wine.

Percy rummaged in the big sack he had along and finally pulled a little box and a card out, which he handed to Arthur. "Merry Christmas, Arthur."
When he turned to the next person, Arthur set the mug with the cooling mulled wine down and like all the others in the square, he lifted the lid of the box. Before he'd arrived here, he would have frowned at the little heart-shaped glass ornament, but now it put a smile on his face.
Carefully, he pulled the card out of the envelope.
"May you always carry a little piece of us in your heart and work on tearing the walls around it down. Just hang on to what you are feeling now."
+++

Arthur woke up in the armchair he'd been sitting in when he had seen the weird commercial. He blinked and yawned and tried to get rid of that crick in his neck.

A dream. It had just been a dream.

He couldn't help the disappointment that ran through him. Of course it had just been a dream, the people in it had been too perfect to be real. Sighing, Arthur got up.

Pondering what he should do with his Saturday, he waited for the fancy coffee machine to fix him a cup. He could go to the park to see if some of the fellas there were up for some footie, but no. This close to Christmas they were all busy with other things.

On his way to the bathroom, Arthur stopped and looked at his living room. It felt oddly empty. Everything that needed to be there, was there and even the book shelf was filled with things, but something was missing. What if he just went to buy a Christmas tree to put up in that corner over there?

When he left the house after googling for a tree sale place near him, he noticed that the temperatures had cooled down noticably, which was good. 20 degrees Celcius wasn't a December temperature anyway.

Coming back, Arthur was in a good mood. He had found a wonderful tree, even though the hunt for it felt strangely like in his dream, and he had also thought to get one of those tree holder thingies - he'd forgotten the word already that the salesboy used - and he would set the tree up and it would be great.

To get the overly large tree off his car wasn't great to begin with. There had been three people putting the tree up there and he was on his own.

Tugging and pulling and swearing a lot in the process, Arthur tried to get the task managed alone. He was sure that the tree had left scratches on his car and that made his good mood vanish even faster.

"Hey!"

A large guy came running from across the street.

"Here, let me give you a hand."

Arthur could just stand and stare. This bloke looked exactly like... "Percy?"

"Yup, that's my name!" The man wiped his hand on his jeans and held it out to Arthur. "I'm new here, we've just moved in."

"We?" Arthur belatedly shook the offered hand. "I'm Arthur."

"Yes, we. There's Gwaine and Leon and Elyan and Lance. Oh, and Merlin."

Arthur continued to stare open-mouthed. Those were the guys from his dream. Could it be that he had heard the names and seen the men when they moved in? He hadn't paid much attention to his neighbourhood lately, going to work early, coming back late.

"Hey, guys, come on, give us a hand!" Percy yelled and it didn't take long for Leon and Gwaine to appear.

Together, they managed to get the tree inside and put up.

"Alright," Leon smiled widely. "What a tree! Let's get out the ornaments, we'll help you decorate, too."

Arthur, who was just on the way back from the kitchen to get drinks for everyone, stopped in his tracks. "Ornaments..."

Percy laughed. "You bought the king of all Christmas trees and you don't have any ornaments?"

"Let's give Merlin some business." Gwaine grinned and pulled out his mobile.

"Huh?"

"Merlin," Gwaine said into the device. "Come on over. We have a new neighbour who has the most beautiful tree but no ornaments yet."

It only took a few moments before the doorbell rang.

When Arthur opened, to the knowing smiles of all the others, he was faced with the same Merlin he was so smitten with in his dream.

"You're Arthur? Hi! My name is Merlin and I have a shop that sells Christmas."

"Sells Christmas?" Arthur echoed, still too busy to look at the man.

"Yup, everything you might need for decorations."

"But you're closed now, it's Saturday late afternoon." Arthur could have kicked himself for saying that.

"For you, I'm willing to open it again and give you a private tour."

Merlin smiled and Arthur was already reaching for his coat. "Let's go."