It was one of the few times that Arthur had lied Merlin. Arthur couldn't help it, the way Merlin's face lit up when he talked about ice skating back in Ealdor. How he lived next to a lake, and every winter his mother and him would go out at dusk and skating until the moon shined down on them. Of course Arthur had to say that he could ice skate, he loved how excited Merlin would get about the things he loved. So that's how he ended up a few weeks later, lacing up ice skates while Merlin smiled brightly down at him.
"You ready?" Merlin asked bouncing on his already lacing up skates.
"Umm...yep." Arthur said as he standing up and grabbing Merlin's hand to steady himself.
Merlin smiled brightly as he walked towards that lake, the sun was coming down, and they were the only ones there. Merlin slid gracefully on to the ice, twirling on the lake, giggling to himself.
"Arthur come on!" Merlin said holding out his hand, his blue eyes gleaming and his smile could beat the stars.
Nodding his head slowly, Arthur stepped on to the ice. He lasted about 5 seconds, before he fell onto his ass, hitting his head off the ice.
"Shit." Arthur let out as he hit his head. He sat there on the freezing ice with a pounding head. He heard the sound of skates sliding and stopping, slowly blinking his eyes open he saw Merlin looking down at him with his head tilted to the right. Usually he found that adorable, but now Arthur could feel his face heat up.
"You can't ice skate. Can you?" Arthur could tell that Merlin's hopes where fading.
"No, I can't. I'm sorry, Merlin."
"Why did you lie?"
"You looked so happy, I couldn't take that from you."
Merlin just nodded and reached his hand out, " Come on let's just go." he said pulling Arthur up.
"No, we are not leaving. You are going to teach me."
"Teach you?"
"Yes, teach me how to ice skate. We are not leaving until I can do a lap around this lake without falling on my arse." Arthur said with a smile.
"Yeah, okay. Rule one: Keep your legs evenly apart." Merlin said holding Arthurs hand and dragging him out farther onto the lake.
Arthur nodded his head looking at his feet until he felt Merlin's finger tips lift his head up, "Look at me, dear."
"Ok, this isn't so hard." Arthur said smiling at Merlin.
"Rule two: turn your feet inward to stop. Like this." Merlin showed him, instantly Merlin came to a halt. Only when Arthur tried he fall backwards, taking Merlin with him. Merlin let out a yelp when he landed on Arthur.
"Ok, so we have some work to do." Merlin said standing, very carefully pulling Arthur up.
Arthur gave Merlin a sad smile, and laced their fingers. Softly and slowly Merlin started to pull Arthur along. When Merlin declared Arthur able enough to do it on his own, he let go, only to watch Arthur fall. Over and over again.
"Arthur, are you sure?" Merlin asked as Arthur got up from what seemed to be the 20th time he fell. The sun had long since set and the ice was softly light by the near by lampposts.
"Yes, one more time. I can go this." Arthur said firmly holding a wince as he stood.
Merlin nodded and took Arthur's hand, pulling him along until he felt Arthur let go. With wide eyes Arthur slide across the ice, Merlin stood there watching until Arthur returned at his side. When Arthur returned, he was beaming. Eyes twinkling as bright as the stars,
"I did it!" He shouted as he started laughing.
"I knew you could." Merlin said taking Arthur's hand.
"Good, can we please be done? I have bruises in places I didn't even know could bruise."
Merlin let out a heart felt laugh, as he started to skate towards the exit. They silently took off there skates and headed towards the car. On the way home Merlin sang cheesy Christmas songs, and had the biggest smile in the world on his face. Arthur decided that he could learn to love ice skating even with all the bruises.
-The end
I don't have a message today. Just that the last few days have probably been the worst I've had in a long time, and that your messages make it a little bit to mange each time I see one. So thanks. Really.
-Maddy
