Title: Pay Back
Author:
kepp0xyRating: G, humour/mild fluff
Characters/Pairing: Arthur/Gwen
Warning: This fic is vaguely connected to the
Moment # 1: Check Up; you probably don't have to read #1 to understand this one, though.
Summary: To her delight, for once, Arthur is the one who escapes Gwen in slight embarrassment.
Author's Note: I have a series ficlets that are random A/G Moments that span from just after Le Morte to the night before Arthur rides to the battle of Camlann; since they were just sitting in my documents, I thought I'd start posting them. Because they're ficlets, they're unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine. I'll probably aim to post one every two weeks.
#1: Check Up;
# 2: Counsel;
# 3: Delay;
# 4: Tea;
# 5: Of Gifts Taken and Given;
# 6: Clever.
Comments are ♥ & concrit appreciated.
"Feeling better, Sire?" Gwen asked, an impish grin on her face as she passed him in the passageway.
Arthur pulled himself up short and turned on his heel to respond to her. The movement sent a horrible shock of pain through his skull and he winced. "What did you say?"
"Only asking after Your Highness's well being," Gwen responded, turning smoothly on the spot to face him again, the deviousness now gone from her smile, sympathy there instead. Arthur wondered for a moment if he'd imagined it. "You were not looking well by the end of last night." Even through the haze of a hangover Arthur could see the mischief dancing like candle flames in her eyes, though her face was a careful mask of concern. He had definitely had not imagined it.
"Oh," he responded, brilliantly. He raised a hand to his temple and squeezed his eyes shut. He really should just continue on to Gaius' and get his morning-after draught. Then a startling thought came to mind and his eyes flashed open, the sudden light sending another shock of pain through his skull. It was not possible that she had heard his drunken ramblings, was it?
Gwen smiled - too innocently - up at him in response to his expression. There hovered between them a moment in which Arthur was certain something was about to change. They teetered at the precipice, before Arthur cleared his throat and stepped away from the edge. "I'd best get to Gaius," he muttered.
"Yes, Sire," Gwen said, her tones almost soothing but for an underlying thread of amusement. Arthur turned and continued walking the way he had been, breathing a sigh of relief that was cut short with Gwen's final words of farewell.
"I'll be sure to continue my belief in you, Arthur," she called over her shoulder. "Since you appreciate it so." The self-satisfaction in her tones set the back of his neck burning and he sped up his stride to escape the tight corridor.