For December in London, it was remarkably cold outside with temperatures less than 10 degrees celsius and predictions of it steadily decreasing as they neared the new year. Weather reported on the news predicted that they might end up having a white Christmas that year, something Arthur hadn't experienced since he was a kid.

The best part was that he would get to share it with his closest friends. In recent months, all of them had moved into the same vicinity and, at last, all of his closest friends had been able to gather as one group. They'd already made plans to meet at Morgana's flat over the holidays. As for the moments not shared at Morgana's, Arthur had time with Merlin to look forward to.

"I'm home!"

Arthur looked over at the door to see Merlin, or what must have been Merlin, walking in through their flat's front door. His face and form were barely distinguishable under his heavy winter coat, hat, scarf, and the hood pulled up over them.

"Merlin, I know it's been unusually cold this past week, but this is getting ridiculous." Arthur was used to his boyfriend's tendency towards being cold (most of Arthur's sweatshirts had been transferred into Merlin's things over the summer and fall so that when Arthur finally did need them, he had no idea where to look) but the amount of winter wear Merlin carried around with him seemed inconvenient enough that Arthur would rather take the cold.

Merlin pulled his hood down and took off the hat underneath. "It's not. Have you even been outside today?"

Arthur looked at a chair where his own coat lay draped over the back, keys and wallet hastily dumped on the table in front of it. "Yeah. I did have to go to work, you know."

"So you'll know," Merlin concluded, "That I am not being at all ridiculous. You can admit it: you were cold with only that flimsy jacket -"

"That's a proper winter coat, what flimsy jacket are you talking about?" Arthur protested.

Merlin snickered. "You were cold, weren't you? No gloves, no hat… it's okay, I won't mention it again." He yawned and started walking towards the bedroom.

"Hang on. Aren't you going to stay out here for a while? I cooked some food. And Gwaine said he might stop by for a movie." Arthur gestured at the kitchen, and then at the couch where he sat and the TV where a list of movies was pulled up. "You can't be that tired. It's not even," he checked the clock on his phone, "It's not even 8:00 yet!"

"You mean you ordered some food and then reheated it before putting it in a nice dish to make it look homemade," Merlin corrected. "But fine, I'll stay for a bit. I'm not really hungry, though." He sat down on the opposite side of the couch and took a moment to rearrange himself until he was comfortably curled into a corner.

With his coat still on.

Ten minutes later, Arthur had finished an entire plate of lasagna while Merlin hadn't moved from his place on the couch. His hands were wrapped in the red scarf, one Arthur recognized as the one Hunith had sent him the previous year. Arthur watched him stare at the screen as Iron man launched himself back into battle.

"Are you okay?"

Merlin turned his head to peer at Arthur over the bulk of his coat. "I think I'm just tired. I had a long week."

"At least you're on holiday now. Won't have to go back to teaching for a bit."

Merlin turned back to the movie. "Yeah. I love those kids, but I'm so glad I don't have to see any of them for a couple of weeks."

Five more minutes later and Merlin still hadn't moved except to put his hood up again. Arthur was paying more attention to the huddled form at the other end of the couch than the movie, and what he was seeing was concerning.

Arthur moved closer until Merlin's feet were pressed against his thigh and bent over to look at him.

"What?"

"You can't tell me nothing's wrong. What is it?"

"I told you, I'm tired. And it's really cold in here."

Arthur frowned. The temperature wasn't any different from normal. Arthur felt comfortable in the T-shirt and the pair of sweats he was wearing. He pressed the back of his hand to Merlin's forehead and knew immediately something was wrong. For someone claiming to be cold, Merlin's temperature was, as Arthur had guessed, unusually high.

"I don't think you're just tired," he said slowly.

Merlin pushed Arthur's arm away. "Of course I'm just tired."

"No, you're not." Arthur scrambled to remember what he was supposed to do in case of a fever, assuming he had one and Arthur wasn't just overreacting to what was actually a normal temperature. If he knew where a thermometer was, he could check, but if they had one it would be somewhere in the unpacked boxes that still lined the room. Should he give Merlin more blankets, or make him remove the coat he had on? Should he make him eat something even though he didn't want to?

These should be things Arthur knew.

"Er, alright then. First, let's get your coat off." He reached for the zipper in the front of Merlin's coat, only to have his hand slapped away.

"No way. It's freezing!"

Arthur got past Merlin's weak attempts at stopping him and unzipped the jacket anyway. "You'll be fine - I'll get you more blankets and you can go to bed. I just thought you should change out of your work clothes first."

Merlin grumbled something that included the words "clotpole," and "pushy," but sat up and pulled his arms out of the coat, revealing the warm jacket underneath, and the fact that he still looked at least a few layers of clothes larger than his normal size.

"Take that off, too."

Merlin glared, but unzipped the jacket and threw it at Arthur's head.

Arthur caught it with ease, throwing it on top of Merlin's first coat. When he turned back, he saw yet another jacket. It was a navy blue colour and covered with white cat hair. Arthur recognized it as belonging to Merlin's friend, Guinevere. Or Lancelot. Before Lancelot, Arthur was fairly certain he'd seen Percival wearing it at some point. Really, Arthur wasn't sure who it belonged to, only that it definitely wasn't Merlin's.

"Why…"

"Gwen said I could borrow it a few days ago and I haven't taken it back yet."

"All the more reason to take it off. We can wash it and take it back."

Merlin didn't move.

Arthur reached out to him, but Merlin jumped up from the couch and backed away. "It's comfortable," he whined. "I'm not taking it off."

"Yes, you are. You don't need this fever to get worse, and I'm sure you have an adequate amount of clothing on under that."

Merlin looked guiltily down at his toes.

"Merlin."

Merlin removed the dark blue jacket. And yes, he was wearing another one underneath, one that Arthur recognized.

"So, that one's mine. I'll have it back now, thanks."

Merlin handed it over without protest, although as soon as it was gone Arthur thought he could see him shiver for a second. Arthur took his hand and pulled Merlin to their bedroom where he dug out a fuzzy pair of pyjama pants and a shirt from Merlin's things.

"Here, put these on. I'll get you some water and something to eat."

"Not hungry," Merlin chattered.

Arthur walked out anyway. "I don't care. I'm bringing food."

Arthur grabbed a glass of water and some crackers and returned to Merlin. He was already underneath the blankets, the comforter pulled up to his chin.

"Thirsty?" Arthur asked.

Merlin peered at the glass of water, probably debating whether or not it was worth sitting up to drink some of it.

"Yeah, a bit," he said finally. He drank the whole glass when Arthur handed it to him but refused to eat more than one cracker before burying himself back under the covers.

"Sorry about movie night," he whispered once Arthur laid down next to him on top of the blankets.

"'S okay. I'll just have to text Gwaine -"

They both heard the sound of someone unlocking their door and knew it was too late for that. Gwaine was already there. He still had Merlin's key from when Arthur and Merlin had gone on a weekend trip and Merlin had insisted on having someone come in to feed the goldfish he had taken in.

"Baby, it's cold outside!" Gwaine sang cheerfully as he came in, probably as a warning to Arthur and Merlin that he was there.

"And inside," Merlin agreed, just quietly enough that Gwaine wouldn't be able to hear. "It's just cold. It's cold everywhere."

Arthur rolled his eyes. "I should go talk to him." Even so, Arthur didn't move.

"You started a movie, left it playing, and came here to what, cuddle instead?" Gwaine said from the doorway a few moments later, sounding unimpressed. "You could do that on the couch. Honestly, I don't know why I bother hanging out with you two."

"Merlin's sick," Arthur said in explanation. "He has a fever."

"Well then," Gwaine said sarcastically, "That explains everything." He disappeared back into the living room and Arthur heard the sounds of the movie fade away into the sounds of the remote as Gwaine searched for something else. Arthur should have known he wouldn't just leave. Gwaine didn't have a Netflix account, so of course he'd take advantage of his access to Arthur's, especially since Arthur refused to give him the password.

Arthur wrapped an arm around Merlin's waist and pulled him closer.

"Mm. Arthur? You probably should be this close to me. You might get sick."

"I don't care," Arthur said.

"Well, I do. What a brilliant present it would be if I got better only to have you get sick. Then I'd have to take care of you."

"Seems fair to me," Arthur murmured, "Seeing as I'll have to take care of you until you get better."

"I'm serious!" Merlin protested. "Go talk to Gwaine or something. On second thought, I don't want him getting sick either, make him leave."

"I'm not sure I can do that," Arthur said as he got up. "He's difficult to get rid of." Arthur leaned across the bed and kissed Merlin's forehead. It was still burning with fever. "Get some sleep."

"That's what I've been trying to do since I got home, dollophead. Now stop bothering me."

:)

Reviews are appreciated