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The wintery mornng light is filtering through the crack in the blinds when Merlin wakes up.
Merlin yawns, rubbing his cheek, trying to shake off drowsiness he feels. It's freezing cold outside, seeing as it's the first day of the winter holidays, and he thinks maybe, he can see some snowflakes drifting in the air outside the window. That settled it, then. He was spending the first day of his holidays curled up in blankets and with a mug of hot coco.
He yawns, swinging his feet on the floor and wincing at the freezing cold of the floorboards. It had been the wrong move to not wear socks the night before-- he was going to turn into a fucking ice block before he even reached the kitchen. He shuffles around for his fluffy dragon slippers, giving a soft "aha!" when he finds them nestled under a pile of dirty shirts- and slips them on.
Merlin casts a glance back at the lump still tucked under their fluffy covers. Still snoring.
Perfect.
-/-/-/-/-/-
The facts were these: Arthur hated waking up in the mornings. Merlin, was able to function (relatively) normally at 10 am, mostly because those were when his classes and studio hours were. Arthur, on the other hand-- you wouldn't be able to talk to before he had his giant cup of hazelnut coffee.
Not black coffee.
Arthur hated black coffee with a passion, after Morgana tricked him into drinking a cup, and he spat it out on a bunch of Very Important Homework Papers. And so, he vowed to never again drink it, while rewriting five pages of an extremely passionate essay on Richard Silken.
Merlin quietly nudged the door to his bedroom open, the tray of baked goods and hot mugs wobbling precariously on his arm. Thankfully, nothing spilled, and he made it back to the bed, unscathed. He placed it on the bedside table, carefully and crawled back into bed, next to the lump under the covers.
He pulled away the parts covering Arthur's upper body, and almost instantly, the blonde woke up, as the freezing air hit him. He spluttered, sitting up to glare at his boyfriend blearily. "Jesus Christ, Merls! What are you doin-/Mmph./" He didn't get to finish his complaint, before Merlin leaned over and kissed him. Soft, and sweet- Merlin's own brand of a good morning kiss. Arthur responded in kind, one hand resting on Merlin's jumper-clad shoulder. "Not that I'm complaining," he said, breathlessly when they pulled away, "But what was /that/ for?" He swept his thumb over the collar of Merlin's jumper, stroking it softly.
Merlin smiled a him, and crinkled his nose a little. "Nothing. I just-- I just missed waking you up like that," He mumbled, softly. A blush dusted his cheeks, and Arthur's heart did a funny flip flop. Merlin was /adorable/. "Well," Arthur answered back, fondly wrapping his arms around Merlin and pulling him even closer. "I missed waking up to that,"
He said, leaning in to kiss Merlin's cheek, and beginning to kiss lower, before Merlin poked him in the ribs, evidently stopping him from continuing. "Oi!"
"Hang on, you horny prat. You'll ruin my surprise by letting it get cold." Merlin said firmly, moving out of Arthur's hold, and slipping out of the covers briefly to reach for the tray. "Ta-da! I made you breakfast in bed, complete with a cuppa." He plonked it on the bed. There was a plate of warm scones (from Marks & Spencer's), slathered with raspberry jam, a plate of sunny side eggs and a couple of sausages.
And of course, two steaming mugs- hazelnut coffee for Arthur, and hot chocolate for Merlin.
His heart did the flip flopping thing again. "What did I do to deserve you, Merls?" Arthur asked, in wonder, eyes soft and fond as he looked at the other man.
"I can't believe you did this for me, I--" he stopped.
Merlin turned pink, and Arthur patted the space beside him, under the covers. "Come here, you,--wonderful, /ridiculous/ man." He tugged Merlin back into the covers, and into another kiss, pouring all the love he felt for Merlin in that tiny moment.
It was moments like these that made Arthur realize how stupidly in love they were. They'd graduated high school, studied at two different universities and had gone through the struggles any couple in a long-distance relationship experienced- but the love they had for each other never even wavered for a second.
He loved Merlin so much. His wonderful,-- /hopelessly lovely/ Merlin; who, was the only one who knew how to make his coffee perfectly, and who needed to stop making romantic gestures like this, because Arthur's heart was going to explode with how just much he loved him. Merlin pulled away, with a laugh, resting his head against Arthur's. "I take it you like it?"
"I love it." Arthur said, soft, but firm. "I love/you/."
"I love you too, Arthur." Merlin replied, squeezing one of Arthur's hands gently. He made a happy humming noise, and Arthur kissed the top of his head.
They ate their breakfast in comfortable silence, one of them occasionally breaking it to tell stories of stuff that happened while the other was away at their respective unis, kissing, and laughing and smiling all the while.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Later, when the scones were all gone, they curled back up in bed, Arthur's arms wrapped around Merlin's waist, his head tucked into Merlin's.
"I wish it could be like this more often," Merlin said, wistfully, one hand stroking the Arthur's face. Arthur hummed. "Just a couple more months, Merls," he hummed softly.
"We'll finish uni- /with honors/", he emphasized, ignoring Merlin's snort. "And we can finally move in together." Arthur pressed a soft kiss to the back of Merlin's neck.
"Until then.. well, we'll always have these days."
Merlin let out a soft sigh of assent, and moved even closer. "I know."
"These are the best kind of days, though." Arthur said, finally. He closed his eyes, and tightened his hold on the other man.
He could hear Merlin's answering smile, in his reply.
"Definitely."
-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Outside, the snow fell softly, and the rest of London was waking up, and there might be things they needed to do, later- but as far as the two men curled up together were concerned, it could all wait a little while. They weren't going to miss a single moment together.