Spring Fling Drabbles
Title: Laundry Night
Author: dianelyn
Prompt: 002: laundry
Rating/Warnings: PG (missing scene from a much bigger Merlin/The Big Bang Theory crossover I'm working on for a different comm - but can stand alone.:D)
Word Count:552
Gwen exited Queen Penelope's rooms and sighed as she tried to get a better grasp on the basket. The visiting queen was lovely - if a bit unusual - but extra guests in the castle meant extra work, which meant extra long days.
As she half walked, half stumbled down the long corridor, Gwen cheered herself with the thought that at least she didn't have to wash the linens herself, just deliver them. Being a personal maid did have it's perks.
"Guinevere? What the devil are you doing working this time of night?"
Gwen closed her eyes and smiled a little at Arthur's familiar, if indignant voice, then opened them and turned around.
"Sire." She put the basket down and curtsied. "To make Queen Penelope and her people comfortable requires longer days. I don't mind, my lord."
The irritated prince put his hands on his hips and glared. "Well, I do. You should be home asleep not wandering around the castle lugging around baskets of laundry." Arthur paused and his eyes widened as if a terrible thought just occurred to him. Shaking his finger at her, he continued, "My cousin didn't order you to do this, did she? If so, you can rest assured that I will give Penny a stern - "
"No!" Gwen interrupted, alarmed. "No, sire. Her highness did not order me to do anything. Really."
Arthur crossed his arms, looking rather smug. "Good. Then we'll drop this off and I'll accompany you home."
Gwen smiled to herself, amused. She had planned to go home after this final chore anyway, but she couldn't resist teasing him. Managing to muster up a frowning, concerned expression, she tilted her head. "You will? Isn't that a bit improper, my lord?"
He looked confused, then if she wasn't mistaken, a bit embarrassed. "I - I meant walk you home. For safety purposes. And then leave. Of course. Nothing improper about it."
"Oh, well, in that case...I have no choice but to accept your kind and proper offer, sire."
Arthur looked smug in his triumph, but then she must have given something away, for his smirk faded and his eyes darkened as he started to stalk forward. He backed her against the wall and, bracing an arm on each side of her head, leaned toward her and spoke in a low voice.
"Guinevere...were you teasing me just now? The Crown Prince of Camelot? Your future king?"
Gwen didn't know what made her say it, but it came tumbling softly from her lips, anyway.
"No, Arthur Pendragon, I wasn't teasing The Crown Prince of Camelot and my future king. I was teasing you, the man I want to kiss so badly my lips ache."
They stared at each other, both momentarily shocked at her words.
Then shock grew into something else.
Arthur leaned down, and Gwen tilted her head up. This would be the first kiss they would share that wasn't an impulse or a means to break a spell. This kiss would be entirely mutual and entirely theirs.
Or it would have been, if it hadn't been midnight.
If a spell put in motion by a grieving father wasn't set to rewind the day at that exact moment.
And if a certain wizard and a visiting queen had been just a little bit faster.
Title: For Want of a Ribbon
Author: dianelyn
Prompt: 014: Neckerchief
Rating/Warnings: PG, none that I know of :)
Word Count: 585
As Arthur neared his chambers, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Sometimes he thought he would rather fight a hundred griffins than spend one hour listening to the nobles' grievances. As if they had reason to complain compared to most of the people of Camelot.
He entered his room, ready to spend the next half hour sprawled out on his bed in welcome obliviousness, when the sight before him halted his progress just inside the door.
Merlin and Gwen were standing by the fireplace with most of their backs toward him, Merlin close behind Gwen. His servant had taken off his neckerchief and was in the process of tying back Guinevere's hair. The scene looked intimate, a little too intimate, so Arthur cleared his throat. Loudly.
Gwen jumped and turned her head, giving him wide, startled eyes. Merlin also turned his head, but just gave him a cheery grin before gently turning Gwen's head back around so he could finish.
"Hey, Arthur! There, Gwen, all done. So, how are Camelot's nobles this fine afternoon?"
Merlin gave the top of Gwen's head a fond pat, and they both turned around to face Arthur, one looking considerably more flustered than the other. Arthur gave the couple a tight smile.
"Considerably better than you, since they won't be mucking out my stables in the next five minutes."
That wiped the cheeriness right off Merlin's face.
"But, Arthur! This is one of the hottest days Camelot has ever seen, can't it wait until tomorrow morning?"
He was about to open his mouth to say that it absolutely could not, when Guinevere interjected a quiet, "I'm sure it could. Right, my lord?"
Arthur shifted his feet. Just a little. And just because he was tired of being on them, of course. "Well, I - I suppose it could-"
"Thank you, sire!"
Merlin wasted no time rushing past Arthur and out of the room before the prince could change his mind.
Which just left Arthur and Guinevere. Alone. In Arthur's private chambers.
"Guinevere. Is there, uh, something I can do for you?"
"What? Oh, oh no, sire. I was just walking past your room when I saw Merlin through the open door and remembered something I wished to speak with him about. I'll just - I'll just be on my way, now."
Arthur smiled. Guinevere was never more adorable than when she was flustered over something.
He let her advance until she was just before him in the doorway, then he clasped her shoulders and turned her around.
He untied the neckerchief from around her hair, and threw the offending piece of cloth on the floor. Then he unlaced the string of black leather unnecessarily holding the top of his shirt closed. Arthur gathered up Gwen's hair and held it away from the back of her neck, using the bit of leather to make it stay that way. Then he placed both hands on her shoulders and leaned forward a bit to speak softly in her ear.
"No need to resort to Merlin's neckerchiefs. I keep a supply of clean, leather laces in the first drawer on the left in my wardrobe. Help yourself to them at any time."
Arthur swore he heard her swallow.
"Tha-Thank you, Arthur. I will."
She turned around and stared into his eyes a moment, before moving past him and out the door.
Smiling, Arthur began removing the laces from all of his shirts and putting them in his wardrobe. The first drawer on the left.