"Merlin, will you stop that?"

Arthur didn't have to turn around to know that Merlin was probably sitting on the floor by the tree, hand frozen in midair, and mouth stuffed to bursting with mini marshmallows. Merlin thought he was being extremely sneaky but Arthur had been watching all night as Merlin slowly emptied the bowl of marshmallows into his black-hole of a stomach.

Merlin has insisted that they make decorations for their Christmas tree together—it's our first Christmas together and the first Christmas that I'm not spending at Mum's. Please, Arthur?—and in his post-coital haze, because Merlin was a complete cheat, how was Arthur supposed to argue with that?

Except that when Merlin said "we should make decorations," apparently he'd actually meant "you should make decorations while I sit here, eat all the supplies, and be generally unhelpful.

So Arthur had been struggling to string mini marshmallows onto thread for the last hour, alternating between pricking his fingers on the needle and cursing when one of the marshmallows turned to mush or split in half. He really didn't want to be doing this, would rather just buy decorations like normal people, and get to shagging his boyfriend on Christmas Eve like he wanted.

He's lucky I love his ridiculous face.

"What," Merlin asked, his tone muffled by all the marshmallows jammed in his mouth. Turning around, Arthur leveled his best unimpressed glare at his boyfriend, trying not to slip and smile when Merlin just grinned up at him, his face sticky.

"Merlin," Arthur said, unable to keep fondness from creeping into his tone, "we'll never finish if you keep eating the decorations!"

"I know but they're so good. I can't help it," Merlin said, standing up and licking traces of sugar off of his fingers. Arthur watched with lidded eyes as Merlin walked up and stopped in front of him. Merlin's sock-clad toes were pressing against Arthur's bare ones and their lips were a hair's breadth apart.

"Taste," Merlin said softly, holding his fingers up to Arthur's mouth and Arthur parted his lips to let Merlin's fingers slip inside. Merlin's gaze was heated and didn't falter at all as Arthur sucked on his fingers. It was only when Arthur let his tongue slip between Merlin's fingers that Merlin's gaze dropped to his mouth.

Well that's promising.

Arthur let the half-made garland he was holding drop and took hold of Merlin's wrist, letting his eyes slip shut and uttering a completely gratuitous and utterly pornographic moan. Merlin's answering whimper was beyond satisfying and Arthur had to fight his smirk as he stepped back slowly and let Merlin's finger slipped from his lips.

"We have to finish the tree," he said, picking up the garland and turning around quickly to hide his grin at Merlin's incredulous expression.

"Fuck decorations," Merlin said sharply, grabbing Arthur by the back of his shirt and dragging him towards the bedroom.

Arthur laughed the entire way.