1. Sniffles

The walls vibrated as yet another vibration rocked the cave. With a torch Merlin carefully made his way along the tunnel before entering into the main cave to see what was causing the trouble.

"Dragon?"

The giant dragon was the one causing the vibrations – he was, unbelievably, sneezing. So the cave wasn't about to undergo some sort of internal avalanche after all.

"My nose…"

"Dragon, are you alright?" Merlin edged forwards cautiously.

"It appears…" He sniffed again. "…That I've caught a cold."

"Oh dear!"

"Oh dear?! How dare you! I'll have you know this is a disaster! I can't…" He looked down, ashamed.

"What?"

"… breathe fire," he finished after a pause.

"Oh no!" That was definitely not good. Merlin had been planning a sort of interesting marshmallow toasting session to celebrate Christmas, and a main part of it involved the dragon breathing fire. Now it didn't seem that plan wasn't going to work. He sighed at the thought of having to use an ordinary bonfire. How boring.

"Oh no?! Will you stop being so pathetic? Fix it!"

"I, er… well… I don't know how."

The dragon snorted, but the snort was cut off midway as it turned into a sneeze, covering Merlin in dragon snot.

"Yuck."

"Can't help it."

Merlin hesitated for a while. "Hope you haven't got a chesty cough as well."

"Why's that?"

"I don't think I could deal with that amount of phlegm."

Dragon swiped at him, offended, flinging him off his platform into the abyss. A significant amount of snot followed shortly afterwards.

A few minutes later he was salvaged, though Dragon refused to speak to him as he dumped him harshly back on the platform. Merlin staggered, wiping mucus from his face, and slimed his way back up the tunnels. He really, really needed a shower and change of clothes. He was so glad Arthur couldn't see him now. He was halfway to his rooms when a familiar voice came from behind him.

"Merlin? Bloody hell, what happened to you?" Arthur. This obviously wasn't Merlin's lucky day.

"Erm…"

"Got caught in some sort of public riot involving gunge throwing?"

"Something like that…"

"You need a hand getting it off?"

Images flashed in Merlin's head. Was Arthur finally going to admit that…

"I suppose we could use some sort of knife to scrape it off your clothes. That stuff sticks like glue, I'm telling you, you need to get it off quick." Ah. So not quite what Merlin had been hoping for… he turned his head to hide a blush.

"Um, yeah, sure."

"Gimme your top then, that'll split the job half-half. Oh, and is that marshmallow thing still on?"

"Erm…" Yes, the marshmallow-toasting-to-celebrate-Christmas. He'd almost forgotten about that. Oh dear… how was he going to explain the Dragon had a cold? "Yes, I just need to erm…" Somehow get the Dragon breathing fire again which may involve a hell of a lot of cough and cold syrup and extremely large tissues. "…get some marshmallows."

"Honestly Merlin. A marshmallow party and you forgot the marshmallows? What did you expect us to do at a marshmallow party without marshmallows?"

Well…there was always…

"I got some anyway, so don't you worry. What would you do without me?" Arthur smiled and Merlin's heart jumped. Oh Arthur, I don't know what I'd do, but I might spend less time being so damn h–

"See you later, yes? At the pub, like you said."

"Yes." God, he'd forgotten about that as well. He began to walk away.

"Oh, and Merlin?" Merlin spun around. Arthur paused for a long moment. Merlin's heart rate tripled within a second. Yes, yes? For god's sake speak before I ex–

"You really smell."

Merlin smiled apologetically. Damn it, he really needed to stop thinking that Arthur might say… He sighed.

Back in his room he examined his appearance in front of the mirror. This would be one of the few times he had been somewhere with just Arthur, in a not-trying-to-save-anybody/the world way. Kind of like a…date. Not that Arthur thought it was a date, he never did, maybe never would… Yes, the blue worked, brought out his eyes. And, green trousers? And a red tunic. Hmmm. He twisted from side to side. What about his hair? Flat, combed down and serious, or tousled and sexy? Could he even do sexy? Arthur had never really shown his feelings about Merlin… not in the way Merlin was looking for… what if he didn't like him that way? No, that was a reality too horrible to contemplate. He sighed. Well there was no harm in trying. He ran his hands through his hair, ruffling it up. Was that how it was done? Oh dear, he felt like such a prat. A self-conscious one at that. Never mind. He needed a shower. He'd decide on his hair later.