(no subject)
Title Crown of Flowers
Fandom Merlin
Rating G
Summary Morgana and Gwen go on a picnic. Arthur and Merlin hijack it a little.
Originally, only Gwen and Morgana had been going on the picnic. Morgana had been remembering times where she’d go and eat outside with her parents and Gwen had suggested they did the same on a nice, sunny day. That was one of the wonderful things about Gwen. She was always so practical but she thought too. She liked to make people happy in easy, little ways like this. Of course, Morgana had said yes to the idea. What could be nicer?
Gwen had been off fetching the food when Arthur had merrily bashed his way into Morgana’s chamber, informed her that it was far too dangerous for them to go alone and it was only right that Arthur and Merlin came too to keep them safe. Morgana had gritted her teeth and hadn’t bothered to argue. There was clearly no point. Arthur had decided to invade and that was all there was to it.
To her slight surprise, it hadn’t been that bad. Merlin had been bubbling with glee at the excursion, thanked her profusely for letting them come along (“She didn’t let me do anything,” Arthur had mumbled) and he and Gwen had chattered about how nice it was to have a holiday out of Camelot. Arthur had then started ranting about how Merlin was a useless, lazy servant who didn’t deserve any time off. This continued until Merlin and Gwen unpacked all the food they’d bought and Merlin had somehow managed to wrangle all of Arthur’s favourites out of the cooks. Arthur didn’t exactly say anything but he sort of patted Merlin’s shoulder when he thought Morgana wasn’t looking. Morgana caught Gwen’s eye and they tried not to laugh. Typical Arthur.
The food was good and the sun hot and Morgana found herself enjoying it more than she’d expected. Sometimes, Arthur could almost be fun to be around. Especially when he wasn’t surrounded by knights and was feeling relaxed. He made jokes and seemed to enjoy himself throughally.
The picnic finished, Morgana let Gwen lead her off to a glade that was filled with wildflowers, leaving Arthur and Merlin to squabble peacefully together.
“We should pick some for your room, my lady,” Gwen said. “Wild flowers always look best. Do you think the prince would like some too?”
Morgana laughed.
“He likes pretty things,” she said conspiratorially and got the laugh she’d hoped for. They began to pick the brightly coloured flowers. When Morgana had what she felt was a suitable armful, she returned to the rug that they’d laid out. To her great amusement, she saw that Arthur was sitting regally by the rug, his legs crossed. Merlin was curled up, his head resting on Arthur’s lap, clearly fast asleep.
“You know, I don’t know if you got the message, Arthur,” she said, sitting down gracefully. “But I believe that as the master, you’re supposed to sleep in your servant’s lap.”
“Try telling that to Merlin,” Arthur said dryly. “He’s always been a completely useless servant.”
His fingers were resting ever so lightly on Merlin’s head, fingertips just moving back and forth the littlest bit. When he saw Morgana looking, he snatched his hand away and put it on the grass, glaring.
“Where’s Guinevere?”
“Picking more of these flowers,” Morgana said. Absently, she began to link the flowers together to form a chain. She hadn’t done this for years. It was amusing and gave her something to do while she talked to Arthur.
“So,” she said. “Why did you really want to come out here?”
“To protect you!” Arthur said indignantly. Morgana didn’t even bother to reply and after a moment, Arthur’s face abruptly softened.
“You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t,” she said.
“All right then. Two reasons. Merlin wanted to come. He said he’d heard Gwen and it sounded like fun and I could just say I wanted to go and it would be fun.”
Morgana managed to hide her expression by bending her head over her flower chain. She bit back a retort about Merlin leading Arthur astray and waiting for the second thing. When it didn’t come, she looked up. Arthur was staring off into the distance, looking sad and distracted, his hand coming up to hold his shoulder.
“The second thing?” she prompted gently.
“I wanted to get out,” came the frank response. “I wanted … I’m sick of being treated like glass.”
“You nearly died,” Morgana said, trying to push the awful memories from her mind.
“And probably will again,” Arthur said. “I’m the prince, that’s my job. I just … wanted to go out.”
He seemed to have run out of words. Morgana didn’t try to pull any more out of him. She could see all the unspoken words burning under his skin. Fear and doubt and a desire to live. She couldn’t blame him.
“Here,” she said and threw her flower chain around his neck. “Suits you!”
“What? Morgana, take it off!”
“No,” she said. “You look sweet.”
“The Crown Prince of Camelot does not look sweet, Morgana!”
A bustle of movement and Gwen had dropped down beside them, her arms bursting with flowers. She had clearly done some chaining of her own and she reached out and draped a delicately woven crown on Morgana’s hair.
“There you go, my lady!”
“Thank you, Gwen.”
“A crown?” Arthur said with mock-severity. “And where’s my crown, may I ask? I’m sure this is a form of treason.”
Gwen began to stammer apologises but Morgana stopped her.
“It’s Arthur’s only way of having fun,” she said. “But if he insists … ”
Reaching out, she reclaimed her flower chain. With a few quick twists, she had made it into a crown.
“There you go, Prince Arthur.”
Arthur rolled his eyes but accepted the crown with an almost dignified nod. The flowers Gwen had picked were mostly blue and pink and actually suited him rather well. Morgana picked up a few more of the flowers and tucked them behind Merlin’s ear. He made a grumpy noise and snuggled deeper into Arthur’s lap.
“He looks sweet,” Gwen said fondly.
“He looks useless,” Arthur said firmly. “With silly flowers in his hair.”
Morgana covered her mouth to hide her amusement and continued braiding flowers together.
“So, if you both have crowns, does that make you king and queen of this meadow?” Gwen asked.
“Of course!” Arthur said promptly. “I’m king of everything, obviously, and Morgana can be my consort.”
“And if I don’t want to be your consort?” Morgana asked with a mock-indignant tone.
“You can marry Merlin then!” Arthur said, not missing a beat. “Merlin, do you want to marry Lady Morgana?”
He prodded Merlin, who made a grumbling noise and tried to burrow further down. When Arthur prodded him again, Merlin mumbled “Only if she wants to marry me.”
“See?” Morgana said triumphantly. “Merlin is a good man who wants to make sure I’m interested!”
“Pfft,” Arthur waved this concern away. “So, now you’re married to Merlin. Congratulations. I wish you hundreds of big-eared children.”
“Arthur,” Merlin said, opening sleepy eyes. “You’re an idiot. With … pretty flowers.”
“Shut up,” Arthur ordered.
Merlin was grinning. He sat up and readjusted Arthur’s flower-crown, straightening it around his ears. Arthur rolled his eyes.
“And yet when I ask him to fetch me something, can he remember where it is?”
“I can!” Merlin protested.
“Sure you can, Merlin. Did you ever find out that hat that I wanted?”
Merlin flushed and mumbled something about needing to clear up the remains of the picnic now. Morgana covered her mouth. Gwen had told her what had happened to that hat. Arthur really didn’t want it back. Poor Merlin.
“I suppose we should make a move,” she agreed, standing up and gathering the flowers she wanted. “Come along, Gwen.”
They packed up in friendly silence, listening while Arthur merrily told Merlin everything he was doing wrong. Merlin took it all with a bright smile, hardly talking back which was unusual for him. Morgana knew what he was doing however. She shook her head when Gwen opened her mouth and smiled sweetly, making sure they both rode slightly behind Arthur and Merlin. Consequently, it was only when Arthur reached his room that he realised that he had forgotten to remove his crown of flowers which was why so many people had been smiling in such a isn't-he-sweet kind of way.
“I hate you all,” he grumbled to Morgana when he next saw her. Morgana just smiled.
Title Presents
Fandom Lewis
Rating G
Summary Lewis and Hathaway have exchanged presents for Christmas.
“Lewis,” Innocent said, her voice weary. “Could you please tell me why it is that Hathaway, instead of doing the very important paperwork that I set him, is in fact reading Harry Potter and used some terribly unprofessional language at me when I tried to interrupt?”
“Oh that,” Lewis said sheepishly. “That’s my fault.”
Innocent raised her eyebrows, clearly waiting for an explanation. Lewis sighed.
“Well, we decided that for Christmas, we’d exchange presents,” he said. “And since we’d been arguing about different tastes, we … well, Hathaway gave me a boxset of this Christian Jazz-Rock things that he said I’d enjoy and I gave him the boxset of the Harry Potter books. Which he always insisted he wouldn’t like.”
Innocent was trying very hard not to smile.
“Did you enjoy the CDs?” she enquired.
“They were okay,” Lewis said, sounding just a bit defensive. Innocent walked away, smirking to herself as she heard Lewis humming a snatch of something that sounded very like it could be “Christian Jazz-Rock” music.
Title Chaos
Fandom Getbackers
Rating G
Summary Paul watches the clients at the Honky Tonk
The Honky Tonk was noisy again. Ban and Ginji were there, having managed to buy some meat from somewhere (“Ban-chan, I want that bit, I want that bit, BAN-CHAAAAAAAN!”) Natsumi and Rena were trying to serve Kazuki, Juubei and Toshiki but being distracted as Juubei and Toshiki appeared to be having a squabble over something to do with Kazuki’s hair. Shido was there with Madoka, looking most put out at the noises and fighting and trying to calm down Mozart, who was barking at it.
It was chaos. Pure and total chaos.
And you love it, don’t you Paul?
Paul smiled. Yes. Yes, he did.
Title Why?
Fandom Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating G
Summary Clyde, Maria and Luke watch a movie together.
“Could someone tell me,” Clyde asked grumpily. “why, on a Friday night, when I could be out partying, meeting beautiful girls who would like nothing better than to be dating the Clyde-master, I am sitting indoors, eating really bad micro-wave popcorn and watching Love Actually which may actually be the stupidest movie ever made in the whole world, with you people?”
“Because we’re friends,” Maria said matter-of-factly.
“And because you like Love Actually,” Luke said helpfully. “You told me that you find it oddly moving.”
“Shut up, Luke,” Clyde said, burrowing down into the sofa, putting his feet on Luke’s lap and his head on Maria’s and grabbing the popcorn bowl again. “You people are just useless.”
“Yes, Clyde,” Luke and Maria chorused together and then exchanged grins. Clyde just sniffed.
Title Talking Too Much
Fandom Ayatsuri Sakon
Rating G
Summary Sakon doesn't think of himself as quirky ...
Sakon had friends in “real life.” Of course he did. It wasn’t that he didn’t like people. He liked plenty of people. Apparently, plenty of people liked him too. They said he was sweet and quirky.
Sakon didn’t think he was very quirky. It was just that his best friend happened to be a puppet.
“Well, duh,” Ukon said, when challenged on this. “Of course I’m his best friend! I’m the only person who tells him half of the things he needs to know! Everyone else just messes around. What would he do without me? Nothing, that’s what! So therefore, I am his best friend!”
Sakon just smiled when people looked at him after Ukon said things like that. Let them think whatever they wanted. Ukon always talked too much anyway.
Title Generation Gap
Fandom Detective Academy Q
Rating G
Summary Nanami and Hongou watch Q-Class play.
“They’re really rather sweet, aren’t they?”
To Nanami’s total glee, Hongou jumped. Nanami was the only person in the world who could sneak up on Hongou, except maybe Dan-sensei, who never tried.
“What are you blathering about?” Hongou asked sourly.
“Pluto,” Nanami said sarcastically. “Q Class, idiot. The people that you’re staring at.”
Hongou scowled and looked back out of the window where Q-class were frolicking around. Kinta appeared to be trying to teach Kyuu and Kazuma how to do some stupidly enthusiastic sports move while Megu and Ryu watched the sidelines. Megu was wearing her “Boys!” look. Ryu was wearing his considering look which Nanami was pretty sure meant he was about to show them all that he could do it better.
“They are not sweet, they are idiots,” Hongou said grumpily.
“You always looked like Megu,” Nanami informed him. “Remember, when it was you and me and Katagiri? She was usually teaching me how to wear a bra or something and you were trying to escape.”
“I wonder why?” Hongou growled.
“Hey, it was very useful, being taught how to wear a bra! Never forgotten it!”
“Shut up about wearing bras, you bloody idiot!”
Nanami patted his arm in a patronising way. Hongou glowered and swatted his hand. Nanami gloated happily over how light the tap was. He relished all the little things that reminded him that despite their fights, disagreements and squabbles, they were friends.
Not that Hongou could ever admit that. Hongou appeared to find the word “friend” a word that should only be uttered in the direst circumstances. You were someone’s friend if you were. You just knew it and you didn’t have to say it. That was how friendship worked.
Outside, Ryu had finally grown bored and was now showing Kinta how to do the move. Kinta was pouting sulkily, Kazuma was looking bored and Kyuu was looking as though Ryu was the coolest person on the planet. Business as usual, really.
“It’s nice to see them so close,” Nanami said. “You can’t be a good detective without close bonds.”
“Humph,” was all Hongou said to that. Nanami took it as agreement.
Title More Than Enough
Fandom Harry Potter
Rating G
Summary Neville always wanted a best friend.
Neville had never had a best friend. He had dreams of getting one at Hogwarts long before he went. Someone who would like him, wouldn’t laugh at him, who would like being with him more than with everyone else.
He abandoned that dream pretty quickly. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley made friends on the train before they even got there. Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas made friends within days. Neville was the one on his own again. He pretended not to mind. He pretended for so long that in the end, it became true. Neville didn’t really mind not having a best friend. He had friends. Harry and Ron and Hermione were always nice to him, always real, proper friends. Seamus and Dean let him hang out with them all the time, seemingly happy to have his company. He wasn’t special but he realised that he was liked by many and that was more than enough.
Title Something Special
Fandom Doctor Who
Rating G
Summary Polly and Ben never lose touch.
She and Ben never lost touch.
He went back to sea of course, she to her normal life. It was surprising how easy it was to slip back into routine, to half-forget the horrors and joys of time and space travel. No one else even knew that she’d been away. She had just been out for a few hours, that was all. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that really. It was … complicated.
But Ben knew. When he came back from sea, he showed up on her doorstep, grinning that same old grin, head to one side saying “Any chance of a cup of tea, Duchess?”
“I might he busy,” she said archly.
“Aw, don’t be like that, Duchess! I’ve brought you a present and everything!”
She laughed and let him in. It turned out she remembered exactly how he took his tea and Ben appeared surprisingly flattered by this.
“Well, I did make a lot of tea for you all on the TARDIS,” she pointed out. It was the first time she’d said that word in a long time and Ben smiled.
“Seems so far away, doesn’t it?” he said. “I think of them sometimes. Do you reckon he’s still up there? Still with Jamie, knocking about?”
“Yes,” she said instantly. “I know they are.”
He smiled and they settled down together to discuss old times, old friends and old enemies. Polly realised as they talked that she had really missed him. Ben was something special. She might miss the strange other world she’d been in but Ben was still there and he was part of this world too.
“Let’s stay in contact better this time?” she ordered as he left.
“If you want to, Duchess,” he said with a smile. “If you want to.”
And they did.
Title Old Friends
Fandom Death Note
Rating G
Summary The Taskforce stay friends despite the bad memories.
For a while, Mogi thought that all their bonds with each other would shatter after Kira was defeated. It was just too hard to see each other and remember everything they’d been through together, everything that they’d suffered.
It got better though. Slowly. He found that he and Aizawa grew closer, able to talk to each other again. They hardly touched on Kira, preferring to talk about Aizawa’s family and what his daughters were doing. He found out that Matsuda and Ide had managed to hold onto the close bond that they had struck up whilst working so closely together which was relief to him (if possibly not to Aizawa who grumpily commented that if Ide had to, he could do better. Mogi chose not to remark on this)
They all met up eventually, outside of work, in a café. Matsuda ordered all their coffee without asking and got every order correct which made Aizawa laugh and ask why he couldn’t have done that while they were working together. Matsuda stuck his nose in the air and loftily ignored the question which made Mogi laugh in turn. He asked Ide what he’d been doing lately. Ide started telling him about a film he and Matsuda had been to see together and Aizawa criticised their terrible taste.
A comfortable meeting of old friends. Mogi smiled.
Title Better Than Friendship
Fandom Firefly
Rating G
Summary Simon muses on what's happened since he joined Serenity.
Simon had never really been one for friends when he’d been younger. Never really been someone who’d made bonds easily or connected well with people. He’d never had much time anyway. Mostly, he’d been working and spending time with River. He didn’t really need anything else.
Serenity changed all that. Suddenly, he had people. Companions at first but the bonds soon deepened. In their own different ways, they were all more than friends - even, in a particularly bizarre and unnerving way, Jayne. The bonds between them were not just mere friendship - bonds created by danger, by necessity, by knowledge that in space, they were everything to each other.
Simon thought that might be better than friendship.
Title Bonds
Fandom Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating G
Summary Dawn was always a bit jealous of Buffy's friendship with Willow and Xander.
Dawn had always been secretly jealous of Buffy, Willow and Xander.
It wasn’t that she didn’t have close friends of her own since coming to Sunnydale. She and Janice had hit it off straight away and they were very close. She had plenty of other people that she talked to and unlike Buffy, some of her old friends from LA still spoke to her (when she was particularly cross with Buffy, she mentioned this once. Buffy stormed out without a word and it was only years later that Dawn realised what an awful thing it really was to have said)
But Buffy, Xander and Willow were clearly so tight together in a way Dawn didn’t think she had with any of her friends. They were always together, always seemed to know everything. Buffy was always saying things like “Xander would know.” or “Oh, Willow would find that so cute!” She just seemed to know about them and they knew about her. Dawn was almost jealous. She and Buffy had always been close, right from when she was little and Willow and Xander seemed to have replaced her completely.
Years later, she realised why this was. When Buffy had met Willow and Xander, she did not exist. She was only a ball of green energy, floating in the world, unmade, unreal. She had only been slotted into Buffy, Willow and Xander’s word, like a spare card in a hand of poker. No wonder their bond had frayed. It wasn’t real at all.
She never lost that thought. But her feelings about it changed over time. One time, it made her bitter. Now it pleased her. Because it meant that the bond that they had now was stronger and more real than anything else it could ever have been.
Title Best Friends
Fandom Black Books
Rating PG
Summary Manny tries to tell Bernard how much he means to him. Bernard isn't having any of it.
“You know what, Bernard?” Manny announced as he locked the door of the shop.
“I don’t care,” Bernard said promptly, concentrating on the bottle of wine he was trying to open..
“You’re my best friend in the whole world,” Manny said, in the tone of one expecting some sort of praise for such a magnificent statement.
“Ah, yes, I knew I didn’t care,” Bernard said, giving up on the corkscrew and attempting the smash the bottle’s neck open instead. It didn’t quite work and to his annoyance, he got red wine all over his trousers. An attempt to lick them didn’t quite work without serious leg contortion and Bernard’s attempt to do this got wine all over the floor. He looked up and saw that Manny was staring at him, totally bewildered.
“Um, Bernard? What are you doing?”
“Shut up, Manny! Why do you always have to ask questions!?! Stupid questions! You’re just an idiot! An idiot! Who bought this bottle opener? You? And it’s rubbish!”
Manny listened to this tirade for a while, then went and fetched another bottle of wine which he opened successfully with the bottle opener and had a large glass. Bernard sulked.
Fandom Merlin
Rating G
Summary Morgana and Gwen go on a picnic. Arthur and Merlin hijack it a little.
Originally, only Gwen and Morgana had been going on the picnic. Morgana had been remembering times where she’d go and eat outside with her parents and Gwen had suggested they did the same on a nice, sunny day. That was one of the wonderful things about Gwen. She was always so practical but she thought too. She liked to make people happy in easy, little ways like this. Of course, Morgana had said yes to the idea. What could be nicer?
Gwen had been off fetching the food when Arthur had merrily bashed his way into Morgana’s chamber, informed her that it was far too dangerous for them to go alone and it was only right that Arthur and Merlin came too to keep them safe. Morgana had gritted her teeth and hadn’t bothered to argue. There was clearly no point. Arthur had decided to invade and that was all there was to it.
To her slight surprise, it hadn’t been that bad. Merlin had been bubbling with glee at the excursion, thanked her profusely for letting them come along (“She didn’t let me do anything,” Arthur had mumbled) and he and Gwen had chattered about how nice it was to have a holiday out of Camelot. Arthur had then started ranting about how Merlin was a useless, lazy servant who didn’t deserve any time off. This continued until Merlin and Gwen unpacked all the food they’d bought and Merlin had somehow managed to wrangle all of Arthur’s favourites out of the cooks. Arthur didn’t exactly say anything but he sort of patted Merlin’s shoulder when he thought Morgana wasn’t looking. Morgana caught Gwen’s eye and they tried not to laugh. Typical Arthur.
The food was good and the sun hot and Morgana found herself enjoying it more than she’d expected. Sometimes, Arthur could almost be fun to be around. Especially when he wasn’t surrounded by knights and was feeling relaxed. He made jokes and seemed to enjoy himself throughally.
The picnic finished, Morgana let Gwen lead her off to a glade that was filled with wildflowers, leaving Arthur and Merlin to squabble peacefully together.
“We should pick some for your room, my lady,” Gwen said. “Wild flowers always look best. Do you think the prince would like some too?”
Morgana laughed.
“He likes pretty things,” she said conspiratorially and got the laugh she’d hoped for. They began to pick the brightly coloured flowers. When Morgana had what she felt was a suitable armful, she returned to the rug that they’d laid out. To her great amusement, she saw that Arthur was sitting regally by the rug, his legs crossed. Merlin was curled up, his head resting on Arthur’s lap, clearly fast asleep.
“You know, I don’t know if you got the message, Arthur,” she said, sitting down gracefully. “But I believe that as the master, you’re supposed to sleep in your servant’s lap.”
“Try telling that to Merlin,” Arthur said dryly. “He’s always been a completely useless servant.”
His fingers were resting ever so lightly on Merlin’s head, fingertips just moving back and forth the littlest bit. When he saw Morgana looking, he snatched his hand away and put it on the grass, glaring.
“Where’s Guinevere?”
“Picking more of these flowers,” Morgana said. Absently, she began to link the flowers together to form a chain. She hadn’t done this for years. It was amusing and gave her something to do while she talked to Arthur.
“So,” she said. “Why did you really want to come out here?”
“To protect you!” Arthur said indignantly. Morgana didn’t even bother to reply and after a moment, Arthur’s face abruptly softened.
“You really want to know?”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t,” she said.
“All right then. Two reasons. Merlin wanted to come. He said he’d heard Gwen and it sounded like fun and I could just say I wanted to go and it would be fun.”
Morgana managed to hide her expression by bending her head over her flower chain. She bit back a retort about Merlin leading Arthur astray and waiting for the second thing. When it didn’t come, she looked up. Arthur was staring off into the distance, looking sad and distracted, his hand coming up to hold his shoulder.
“The second thing?” she prompted gently.
“I wanted to get out,” came the frank response. “I wanted … I’m sick of being treated like glass.”
“You nearly died,” Morgana said, trying to push the awful memories from her mind.
“And probably will again,” Arthur said. “I’m the prince, that’s my job. I just … wanted to go out.”
He seemed to have run out of words. Morgana didn’t try to pull any more out of him. She could see all the unspoken words burning under his skin. Fear and doubt and a desire to live. She couldn’t blame him.
“Here,” she said and threw her flower chain around his neck. “Suits you!”
“What? Morgana, take it off!”
“No,” she said. “You look sweet.”
“The Crown Prince of Camelot does not look sweet, Morgana!”
A bustle of movement and Gwen had dropped down beside them, her arms bursting with flowers. She had clearly done some chaining of her own and she reached out and draped a delicately woven crown on Morgana’s hair.
“There you go, my lady!”
“Thank you, Gwen.”
“A crown?” Arthur said with mock-severity. “And where’s my crown, may I ask? I’m sure this is a form of treason.”
Gwen began to stammer apologises but Morgana stopped her.
“It’s Arthur’s only way of having fun,” she said. “But if he insists … ”
Reaching out, she reclaimed her flower chain. With a few quick twists, she had made it into a crown.
“There you go, Prince Arthur.”
Arthur rolled his eyes but accepted the crown with an almost dignified nod. The flowers Gwen had picked were mostly blue and pink and actually suited him rather well. Morgana picked up a few more of the flowers and tucked them behind Merlin’s ear. He made a grumpy noise and snuggled deeper into Arthur’s lap.
“He looks sweet,” Gwen said fondly.
“He looks useless,” Arthur said firmly. “With silly flowers in his hair.”
Morgana covered her mouth to hide her amusement and continued braiding flowers together.
“So, if you both have crowns, does that make you king and queen of this meadow?” Gwen asked.
“Of course!” Arthur said promptly. “I’m king of everything, obviously, and Morgana can be my consort.”
“And if I don’t want to be your consort?” Morgana asked with a mock-indignant tone.
“You can marry Merlin then!” Arthur said, not missing a beat. “Merlin, do you want to marry Lady Morgana?”
He prodded Merlin, who made a grumbling noise and tried to burrow further down. When Arthur prodded him again, Merlin mumbled “Only if she wants to marry me.”
“See?” Morgana said triumphantly. “Merlin is a good man who wants to make sure I’m interested!”
“Pfft,” Arthur waved this concern away. “So, now you’re married to Merlin. Congratulations. I wish you hundreds of big-eared children.”
“Arthur,” Merlin said, opening sleepy eyes. “You’re an idiot. With … pretty flowers.”
“Shut up,” Arthur ordered.
Merlin was grinning. He sat up and readjusted Arthur’s flower-crown, straightening it around his ears. Arthur rolled his eyes.
“And yet when I ask him to fetch me something, can he remember where it is?”
“I can!” Merlin protested.
“Sure you can, Merlin. Did you ever find out that hat that I wanted?”
Merlin flushed and mumbled something about needing to clear up the remains of the picnic now. Morgana covered her mouth. Gwen had told her what had happened to that hat. Arthur really didn’t want it back. Poor Merlin.
“I suppose we should make a move,” she agreed, standing up and gathering the flowers she wanted. “Come along, Gwen.”
They packed up in friendly silence, listening while Arthur merrily told Merlin everything he was doing wrong. Merlin took it all with a bright smile, hardly talking back which was unusual for him. Morgana knew what he was doing however. She shook her head when Gwen opened her mouth and smiled sweetly, making sure they both rode slightly behind Arthur and Merlin. Consequently, it was only when Arthur reached his room that he realised that he had forgotten to remove his crown of flowers which was why so many people had been smiling in such a isn't-he-sweet kind of way.
“I hate you all,” he grumbled to Morgana when he next saw her. Morgana just smiled.
Title Presents
Fandom Lewis
Rating G
Summary Lewis and Hathaway have exchanged presents for Christmas.
“Lewis,” Innocent said, her voice weary. “Could you please tell me why it is that Hathaway, instead of doing the very important paperwork that I set him, is in fact reading Harry Potter and used some terribly unprofessional language at me when I tried to interrupt?”
“Oh that,” Lewis said sheepishly. “That’s my fault.”
Innocent raised her eyebrows, clearly waiting for an explanation. Lewis sighed.
“Well, we decided that for Christmas, we’d exchange presents,” he said. “And since we’d been arguing about different tastes, we … well, Hathaway gave me a boxset of this Christian Jazz-Rock things that he said I’d enjoy and I gave him the boxset of the Harry Potter books. Which he always insisted he wouldn’t like.”
Innocent was trying very hard not to smile.
“Did you enjoy the CDs?” she enquired.
“They were okay,” Lewis said, sounding just a bit defensive. Innocent walked away, smirking to herself as she heard Lewis humming a snatch of something that sounded very like it could be “Christian Jazz-Rock” music.
Title Chaos
Fandom Getbackers
Rating G
Summary Paul watches the clients at the Honky Tonk
The Honky Tonk was noisy again. Ban and Ginji were there, having managed to buy some meat from somewhere (“Ban-chan, I want that bit, I want that bit, BAN-CHAAAAAAAN!”) Natsumi and Rena were trying to serve Kazuki, Juubei and Toshiki but being distracted as Juubei and Toshiki appeared to be having a squabble over something to do with Kazuki’s hair. Shido was there with Madoka, looking most put out at the noises and fighting and trying to calm down Mozart, who was barking at it.
It was chaos. Pure and total chaos.
And you love it, don’t you Paul?
Paul smiled. Yes. Yes, he did.
Title Why?
Fandom Sarah Jane Adventures
Rating G
Summary Clyde, Maria and Luke watch a movie together.
“Could someone tell me,” Clyde asked grumpily. “why, on a Friday night, when I could be out partying, meeting beautiful girls who would like nothing better than to be dating the Clyde-master, I am sitting indoors, eating really bad micro-wave popcorn and watching Love Actually which may actually be the stupidest movie ever made in the whole world, with you people?”
“Because we’re friends,” Maria said matter-of-factly.
“And because you like Love Actually,” Luke said helpfully. “You told me that you find it oddly moving.”
“Shut up, Luke,” Clyde said, burrowing down into the sofa, putting his feet on Luke’s lap and his head on Maria’s and grabbing the popcorn bowl again. “You people are just useless.”
“Yes, Clyde,” Luke and Maria chorused together and then exchanged grins. Clyde just sniffed.
Title Talking Too Much
Fandom Ayatsuri Sakon
Rating G
Summary Sakon doesn't think of himself as quirky ...
Sakon had friends in “real life.” Of course he did. It wasn’t that he didn’t like people. He liked plenty of people. Apparently, plenty of people liked him too. They said he was sweet and quirky.
Sakon didn’t think he was very quirky. It was just that his best friend happened to be a puppet.
“Well, duh,” Ukon said, when challenged on this. “Of course I’m his best friend! I’m the only person who tells him half of the things he needs to know! Everyone else just messes around. What would he do without me? Nothing, that’s what! So therefore, I am his best friend!”
Sakon just smiled when people looked at him after Ukon said things like that. Let them think whatever they wanted. Ukon always talked too much anyway.
Title Generation Gap
Fandom Detective Academy Q
Rating G
Summary Nanami and Hongou watch Q-Class play.
“They’re really rather sweet, aren’t they?”
To Nanami’s total glee, Hongou jumped. Nanami was the only person in the world who could sneak up on Hongou, except maybe Dan-sensei, who never tried.
“What are you blathering about?” Hongou asked sourly.
“Pluto,” Nanami said sarcastically. “Q Class, idiot. The people that you’re staring at.”
Hongou scowled and looked back out of the window where Q-class were frolicking around. Kinta appeared to be trying to teach Kyuu and Kazuma how to do some stupidly enthusiastic sports move while Megu and Ryu watched the sidelines. Megu was wearing her “Boys!” look. Ryu was wearing his considering look which Nanami was pretty sure meant he was about to show them all that he could do it better.
“They are not sweet, they are idiots,” Hongou said grumpily.
“You always looked like Megu,” Nanami informed him. “Remember, when it was you and me and Katagiri? She was usually teaching me how to wear a bra or something and you were trying to escape.”
“I wonder why?” Hongou growled.
“Hey, it was very useful, being taught how to wear a bra! Never forgotten it!”
“Shut up about wearing bras, you bloody idiot!”
Nanami patted his arm in a patronising way. Hongou glowered and swatted his hand. Nanami gloated happily over how light the tap was. He relished all the little things that reminded him that despite their fights, disagreements and squabbles, they were friends.
Not that Hongou could ever admit that. Hongou appeared to find the word “friend” a word that should only be uttered in the direst circumstances. You were someone’s friend if you were. You just knew it and you didn’t have to say it. That was how friendship worked.
Outside, Ryu had finally grown bored and was now showing Kinta how to do the move. Kinta was pouting sulkily, Kazuma was looking bored and Kyuu was looking as though Ryu was the coolest person on the planet. Business as usual, really.
“It’s nice to see them so close,” Nanami said. “You can’t be a good detective without close bonds.”
“Humph,” was all Hongou said to that. Nanami took it as agreement.
Title More Than Enough
Fandom Harry Potter
Rating G
Summary Neville always wanted a best friend.
Neville had never had a best friend. He had dreams of getting one at Hogwarts long before he went. Someone who would like him, wouldn’t laugh at him, who would like being with him more than with everyone else.
He abandoned that dream pretty quickly. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley made friends on the train before they even got there. Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas made friends within days. Neville was the one on his own again. He pretended not to mind. He pretended for so long that in the end, it became true. Neville didn’t really mind not having a best friend. He had friends. Harry and Ron and Hermione were always nice to him, always real, proper friends. Seamus and Dean let him hang out with them all the time, seemingly happy to have his company. He wasn’t special but he realised that he was liked by many and that was more than enough.
Title Something Special
Fandom Doctor Who
Rating G
Summary Polly and Ben never lose touch.
She and Ben never lost touch.
He went back to sea of course, she to her normal life. It was surprising how easy it was to slip back into routine, to half-forget the horrors and joys of time and space travel. No one else even knew that she’d been away. She had just been out for a few hours, that was all. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that really. It was … complicated.
But Ben knew. When he came back from sea, he showed up on her doorstep, grinning that same old grin, head to one side saying “Any chance of a cup of tea, Duchess?”
“I might he busy,” she said archly.
“Aw, don’t be like that, Duchess! I’ve brought you a present and everything!”
She laughed and let him in. It turned out she remembered exactly how he took his tea and Ben appeared surprisingly flattered by this.
“Well, I did make a lot of tea for you all on the TARDIS,” she pointed out. It was the first time she’d said that word in a long time and Ben smiled.
“Seems so far away, doesn’t it?” he said. “I think of them sometimes. Do you reckon he’s still up there? Still with Jamie, knocking about?”
“Yes,” she said instantly. “I know they are.”
He smiled and they settled down together to discuss old times, old friends and old enemies. Polly realised as they talked that she had really missed him. Ben was something special. She might miss the strange other world she’d been in but Ben was still there and he was part of this world too.
“Let’s stay in contact better this time?” she ordered as he left.
“If you want to, Duchess,” he said with a smile. “If you want to.”
And they did.
Title Old Friends
Fandom Death Note
Rating G
Summary The Taskforce stay friends despite the bad memories.
For a while, Mogi thought that all their bonds with each other would shatter after Kira was defeated. It was just too hard to see each other and remember everything they’d been through together, everything that they’d suffered.
It got better though. Slowly. He found that he and Aizawa grew closer, able to talk to each other again. They hardly touched on Kira, preferring to talk about Aizawa’s family and what his daughters were doing. He found out that Matsuda and Ide had managed to hold onto the close bond that they had struck up whilst working so closely together which was relief to him (if possibly not to Aizawa who grumpily commented that if Ide had to, he could do better. Mogi chose not to remark on this)
They all met up eventually, outside of work, in a café. Matsuda ordered all their coffee without asking and got every order correct which made Aizawa laugh and ask why he couldn’t have done that while they were working together. Matsuda stuck his nose in the air and loftily ignored the question which made Mogi laugh in turn. He asked Ide what he’d been doing lately. Ide started telling him about a film he and Matsuda had been to see together and Aizawa criticised their terrible taste.
A comfortable meeting of old friends. Mogi smiled.
Title Better Than Friendship
Fandom Firefly
Rating G
Summary Simon muses on what's happened since he joined Serenity.
Simon had never really been one for friends when he’d been younger. Never really been someone who’d made bonds easily or connected well with people. He’d never had much time anyway. Mostly, he’d been working and spending time with River. He didn’t really need anything else.
Serenity changed all that. Suddenly, he had people. Companions at first but the bonds soon deepened. In their own different ways, they were all more than friends - even, in a particularly bizarre and unnerving way, Jayne. The bonds between them were not just mere friendship - bonds created by danger, by necessity, by knowledge that in space, they were everything to each other.
Simon thought that might be better than friendship.
Title Bonds
Fandom Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating G
Summary Dawn was always a bit jealous of Buffy's friendship with Willow and Xander.
Dawn had always been secretly jealous of Buffy, Willow and Xander.
It wasn’t that she didn’t have close friends of her own since coming to Sunnydale. She and Janice had hit it off straight away and they were very close. She had plenty of other people that she talked to and unlike Buffy, some of her old friends from LA still spoke to her (when she was particularly cross with Buffy, she mentioned this once. Buffy stormed out without a word and it was only years later that Dawn realised what an awful thing it really was to have said)
But Buffy, Xander and Willow were clearly so tight together in a way Dawn didn’t think she had with any of her friends. They were always together, always seemed to know everything. Buffy was always saying things like “Xander would know.” or “Oh, Willow would find that so cute!” She just seemed to know about them and they knew about her. Dawn was almost jealous. She and Buffy had always been close, right from when she was little and Willow and Xander seemed to have replaced her completely.
Years later, she realised why this was. When Buffy had met Willow and Xander, she did not exist. She was only a ball of green energy, floating in the world, unmade, unreal. She had only been slotted into Buffy, Willow and Xander’s word, like a spare card in a hand of poker. No wonder their bond had frayed. It wasn’t real at all.
She never lost that thought. But her feelings about it changed over time. One time, it made her bitter. Now it pleased her. Because it meant that the bond that they had now was stronger and more real than anything else it could ever have been.
Title Best Friends
Fandom Black Books
Rating PG
Summary Manny tries to tell Bernard how much he means to him. Bernard isn't having any of it.
“You know what, Bernard?” Manny announced as he locked the door of the shop.
“I don’t care,” Bernard said promptly, concentrating on the bottle of wine he was trying to open..
“You’re my best friend in the whole world,” Manny said, in the tone of one expecting some sort of praise for such a magnificent statement.
“Ah, yes, I knew I didn’t care,” Bernard said, giving up on the corkscrew and attempting the smash the bottle’s neck open instead. It didn’t quite work and to his annoyance, he got red wine all over his trousers. An attempt to lick them didn’t quite work without serious leg contortion and Bernard’s attempt to do this got wine all over the floor. He looked up and saw that Manny was staring at him, totally bewildered.
“Um, Bernard? What are you doing?”
“Shut up, Manny! Why do you always have to ask questions!?! Stupid questions! You’re just an idiot! An idiot! Who bought this bottle opener? You? And it’s rubbish!”
Manny listened to this tirade for a while, then went and fetched another bottle of wine which he opened successfully with the bottle opener and had a large glass. Bernard sulked.