Arthur shuffles towards the bed, watching the curl of Karen's lips a she watches him sleepily. She crooks the fingers of her free hand lazily.
"Oi," Matt mumbles, lips catching on the pillow case leaving his mouth open. "Come to bed instead of staring like a creepy, staring thing."
"Yeah, you creep," Karen giggles, leaning up to grab at the tie to Arthur's robe and pulling him down, undoing the tie and Arthur's balance in the process. Matt groans when Arthur falls belly first across their bodies.
Arthur is murmuring apologies, trying to push himself up while Matt rolls over beneath him and Karen runs her fingers over Arthur's arms. Matt's fingers are worming between the folds in the robe to pull at Arthur's undershirt. He's squinty eyed and close enough for Arthur to see the hairs of his eyebrows.
"Why're you wearing this?"
"Dunno."
Matt with his blazers and bowler hats gives Arthur a look of mild frustration as he fumbles to disrobe him.
"You're even wearing a shirt and boxers beneath it!" Matt cries aghast, lips down turned in disapproval; Karen presses her cheek to Arthur's and whispers against his skin while Matt mumbles and tries to get Arthur naked.
"Are you becoming a nun on us, hmm?"
"Yes, that's what a robe means," Arthur quips. Then he shivers when Matt's slide over his stomach to rest low beneath his belly button.
"That's not rock-n-roll."
"Yes, exactly! From here on out it is forbidden for members of Karen & the Babes to wear robes!"
"Then so are capes."
Matt pouts, but at least he doesn't remove his hands from Arthur's skin. Karen's giggling again, eyes wet and shining behind her lashes. There mascara smudged under her eyes and Matt is starting to yawn; his fingers curling in the short hairs beneath his fingers to make Arthur groan.
Burrowing his nose in the available pillow space between their faces, two soft cheeks beside his five o'clock shadow, is normal. An unexpected normal.
Arthur can't help the melancholy he feels with filming for the seventh series wrapped, the Centurion cape hung up (only metaphorically, Arthur knows it's under Matt's bed at his flat because he saw him steal it from set.) Falling into bed like this was easy in Cardiff, his sleepiness on set made out by Matt to be because Arthur's a club rat.
Arthur doesn't know how it will work now, and it's terrifying. Karen and Matt are bound for stardom and neither are very good at secrecy or keeping their hands off him or each other -
"Shhhh, I can feel you thinking when you should be sleeping," Karen whispers. This close her freckles are even prettier.
"We should be the Rolling Stones instead," Arthur tells them. The hands on his run.comforting circles on his skin. "Our farewell tour could be when we're seventy and if none of us die on stage we have another one."
"What are you going on about?" Matt asks, half asleep and his lips brushing Arthur's brow because he turns to address the question to Karen.
"I think he wants Karen & the Babes to sell out." She yawns halfway through the statement, trusting them to understand her unenunciated words.
Matt makes a distressed note in his throat making Arthur want to kiss his bobbing Adam's apple. Fingers curl possesively on his hip and Arthur wiggles in closer, even though he's too warm to sleep.
He lies awake thinking of them being puzzle pieces or peas in a pod, trying to come up with a not-cliche one just for them, with Matt and Karen's limbs tangled with his. They make soft snoring noises and only shift a little bit while they're asleep.
I just discovered this, like, seven months after the fact, and it is beautiful. Your Arthur POV is so spot-on -- sort of hum-drum and loving and nostalgic and annoyed all at once. Plus Matt and Karen and their high-powered libidos are so in character. I loved this.
Thank you so much! Even seven months late, any comment like this is lovely to receive ♥ I really enjoyed writing Arthur's perspective, so much I've thought about writing a more lengthy sequel, so that you liked this is wonderful to find out.
"Oi," Matt mumbles, lips catching on the pillow case leaving his mouth open. "Come to bed instead of staring like a creepy, staring thing."
"Yeah, you creep," Karen giggles, leaning up to grab at the tie to Arthur's robe and pulling him down, undoing the tie and Arthur's balance in the process. Matt groans when Arthur falls belly first across their bodies.
Arthur is murmuring apologies, trying to push himself up while Matt rolls over beneath him and Karen runs her fingers over Arthur's arms. Matt's fingers are worming between the folds in the robe to pull at Arthur's undershirt. He's squinty eyed and close enough for Arthur to see the hairs of his eyebrows.
"Why're you wearing this?"
"Dunno."
Matt with his blazers and bowler hats gives Arthur a look of mild frustration as he fumbles to disrobe him.
"You're even wearing a shirt and boxers beneath it!" Matt cries aghast, lips down turned in disapproval; Karen presses her cheek to Arthur's and whispers against his skin while Matt mumbles and tries to get Arthur naked.
"Are you becoming a nun on us, hmm?"
"Yes, that's what a robe means," Arthur quips. Then he shivers when Matt's slide over his stomach to rest low beneath his belly button.
"That's not rock-n-roll."
"Yes, exactly! From here on out it is forbidden for members of Karen & the Babes to wear robes!"
"Then so are capes."
Matt pouts, but at least he doesn't remove his hands from Arthur's skin. Karen's giggling again, eyes wet and shining behind her lashes. There mascara smudged under her eyes and Matt is starting to yawn; his fingers curling in the short hairs beneath his fingers to make Arthur groan.
Burrowing his nose in the available pillow space between their faces, two soft cheeks beside his five o'clock shadow, is normal. An unexpected normal.
Arthur can't help the melancholy he feels with filming for the seventh series wrapped, the Centurion cape hung up (only metaphorically, Arthur knows it's under Matt's bed at his flat because he saw him steal it from set.) Falling into bed like this was easy in Cardiff, his sleepiness on set made out by Matt to be because Arthur's a club rat.
Arthur doesn't know how it will work now, and it's terrifying. Karen and Matt are bound for stardom and neither are very good at secrecy or keeping their hands off him or each other -
"Shhhh, I can feel you thinking when you should be sleeping," Karen whispers. This close her freckles are even prettier.
"We should be the Rolling Stones instead," Arthur tells them. The hands on his run.comforting circles on his skin. "Our farewell tour could be when we're seventy and if none of us die on stage we have another one."
"What are you going on about?" Matt asks, half asleep and his lips brushing Arthur's brow because he turns to address the question to Karen.
"I think he wants Karen & the Babes to sell out." She yawns halfway through the statement, trusting them to understand her unenunciated words.
Matt makes a distressed note in his throat making Arthur want to kiss his bobbing Adam's apple. Fingers curl possesively on his hip and Arthur wiggles in closer, even though he's too warm to sleep.
He lies awake thinking of them being puzzle pieces or peas in a pod, trying to come up with a not-cliche one just for them, with Matt and Karen's limbs tangled with his. They make soft snoring noises and only shift a little bit while they're asleep.
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