Winter Solstice 2024 will be Saturday, December 21, at 09:31 UTC.
And because the Winter Solstice always makes me think of Merthur, and specifically this scene from Ever onward, through magic, through love, (pt 4 of the We Begin Again series), I figured I’d re-share this bit of fluff and feels here.
Happy Winter Solstice everyone!
They spend the Winter Solstice in a small house Arthur found for them on the internet. It’s upon the western shore of one of the larger, more popular islands, but it has its own private beach, surrounded by palm trees and thick-leaved shrubs.
After they finish a swim, Merlin spreads out a blanket upon the warm sand, and Arthur lays down upon it, arm beneath his head so he can watch the sun descend into the ocean, from a sky already aflame with brilliant oranges and reds.
“Now that is a sunset,” Arthur says.
Merlin lays at his side, propped up on his elbow to appreciate how Arthur’s skin shines golden with the softening light, how his chest rises and falls with his breaths, how his legs are still muscled and strong beneath his soaking swim trunks. Arthur is beautiful, breathtakingly so, and somehow growing more so ever day, in this new life they’re sharing together.
Merlin finds he can’t help but stare. But then, he’s allowed to do that now, isn’t he. So he goes ahead and keeps on doing it.
“You’re missing the sunset,” Arthur laughs, and pokes at his ribs.
What’s a sunset, Merlin wants to say, compared to you? But his throat is too tight, and he can’t get out the words. So he looks at the setting sun instead. Watches the view go blurry. Tries not to blink, to let Arthur see what he’s feeling.
He can’t help it though. Moments like this, with Arthur warm and alive at his side, and the sun setting so beautifully into the tropic water, and their long lives stretching out before them, together, gods, always together-
“Come here,” Arthur says, rough, and pulls him close.
Merlin wraps himself around Arthur’s body, and kisses him, and kisses him.
The waves lap at the beach, and the leaves whisper in the humid wind, and the sky shifts from reds to oranges to violets as the sun dips below where ocean meets sky.
Merlin lifts his head, half drunk on Arthur’s kisses, and on his touches, and on love. Arthur looks the same, a crooked smile upon his face as he lays beneath him, hands running up and down Merlin’s sides.
“I think we missed the sunset,” Arthur says, unconcerned.
“Happy Winter Solstice, then.”
“Feels more like a Summer Solstice, doesn’t it.”
“Too peaceful to be a Summer Solstice,” Merlin says, meaning Arthur’s return from the dead, and the battle they’d waged.
Arthur must think he means the festival, though, because he quirks his head to the side, as he brushes hair from Merlin’s eyes. “Do they have a festival in Avalon on the Winter Solstice as well?”
“People gather near the standing stones. That’s about it, though.”
“You don’t throw a big party?”
“Just like you to avoid being out in the cold.”
“Well if I’d had a decent coat, or fur lined boots, like a certain royal prat I know-“
Merlin shoves himself up to an elbow. Peers narrow eyed down at Arthur. Then lifts a hand over Arthur’s chest, and wiggles his fingers.
Arthur’s yelp at the freezing sleet that follows is music to Merlin’s ears, for a few seconds anyway, until Arthur picks Merlin up and carries him, laughing and shouting out half-hearted protests, into the ocean.
Merlin’s protest silence completely, when Arthur embraces him in the warm, warm water, mouth finding his own as the foam hisses around them, salt and heat delicious as yuletide sweets upon Merlin’s lips.
“Royal bully,” Merlin breathes between kisses, fingers winding into Arthur’s dripping hair.
“Insolent sorcerer,” Arthur murmurs back, and moves his hands lower, turning Merlin’s reply into soft gasps, and then groans, and finally, over and over again, simply “Arthur”.
