Fic: Watching Your Back, Part 1
Title: Watching Your Back, Part 1
Author: wastingyourgum
Characters/Pairings: Much/Robin,Much/Little John
Rating: 15
Words: 907
Genre: Angst
Disclaimer: BBC & TA own until 7.30 tonight when the people will rise up and take control away from them in a glorious revolution...
Spoilers: 3x12
Summary: A choose your own ending fic. Much comes to a realisation about Robin and is faced with a difficult choice.
Notes: Beta services provided by the ever-lovely darkentwisted and robinfanatic
I have not yet seen 3x13. The first scene is inspired by the preview clip - everything after is from my own little warped brain. I will post 2 alternate endings shortly and you can choose which you want (if either, post your own if you feel like it!).
Watching Your Back
Much watches as Robin and Guy slowly ride out and his stomach clenches into knots. Even Vaizey should honour a flag of truce but they all know there are no depths to which the old Sheriff will not sink - the body dumped in front of the gates is a bitter reminder of that.
Robin does not look back and as Tuck and Archer slowly swing the gates shut, cutting Robin off from Much's sight, he suddenly realises why this fight is different.
This isn't like the recent skirmishes in Sherwood, each man watching for the other, fighting as one reactive unit, using the terrain as an extra weapon. It is a full-scale battle, hundreds of men, battlements, siege weapons, tactics and strategies, like so many he remembers from the Holy Land and yet with one crucial difference - Robin is not by his side.
Robin is the general now and he will lead from the front - alone.
And that means Much also will fight alone, just one more soldier in Robin Hood's army. Robin will have no time to think of him and Much will not give him cause to do so. If anything distracts Robin from his destiny, from the chance of victory and vengeance for Allan and Marian, he will not let it be him. He will stand behind Robin, not in his way. Because he loves him, he must let him go.
Much has spent a lifetime feeling small and insignificant but feeling over-looked in a camp of six or seven people is not the same as standing on your own, in the middle of a town under siege and knowing the man you love, whose back you have watched for so many years, must put you from his mind and you must do everything you can to help him in that.
He stares at the gate as if he can somehow see through it if he tries hard enough then he feels the large, reassuring hand on his shoulder. John, as usual, does not speak and yet says everything.
Much feels a weight lifted from his heart. This battle is different - his back is also watched. He, too, is loved and protected.
>>>--------->
"John!" Much halts as John suddenly appears from out of the smoke of battle and grabs his arm. They had lost sight of each other in the chaos and he is very relieved to see his friend still standing.
They both duck as another of Vaizey's barrels explodes in the street behind them. John looks around then kicks in the door of the nearest building and drags Much inside. Much is about to tell John how pleased he is to see him but stops dead as he sees the look on John's face.
John is scared.
There's no mistaking that look despite the fact he's never, ever seen it before and Much can feel his whole world crumbling around him. If John is scared, then nothing good can happen. He feels his stomach twist and a thousand awful possibilities fly through his mind as he sees John struggling to speak.
"J-John..?" Oh, God - he can't even look at me! Please don't let it be Robin. Please...
There's another muffled explosion from the street and the building shakes to its foundations. John screws his eyes shut and Much braces himself for whatever terrible thing is about to be said.
"Much - Things... aren't going well," John forces the words out slowly, as if in pain. "And I thought you should know... I wanted to tell you... Ohhh, damn it!"
John drops his staff, grabs Much roughly by the shoulders and kisses him.
"Robin is my leader and Allan was a good friend but you... you, I love. I wanted to tell you, in case I never get to."
The terror in John's eyes is that of a man finally giving his heart without knowing if the one he gives it to will treasure it or scorn it. Much has faced that terror so many times in Robin's presence and each time shied away from it, preferring the lesser comfort of friendship to the possibility of rejection.
He knows that John knows his true feelings for Robin which also means John must know there can be no place for him in Much's heart. If John, knowing that, has found the strength to face his fear, then things must be really bad and he needs to find Robin before it is too late for him to face the same fear himself one final time.
He's already out the door and running up the street towards the castle before he stops to think. I can't just leave John without saying something. As he looks at the castle he sees two more fireballs explode against the battlements. Another explosion behind him sends him flying forward onto his knees. As he staggers to his feet and looks back, his head ringing, he sees the house he's just left collapse in on itself in a cloud of dust and noise.
John!
He turns from the castle to the collapsed house and back again. Robin - I have to tell him... but John...
Much howls with frustration. He's never been selfish - it's just not in his nature, but he's put others first his whole life and he's sick of it. Either choice could mean both joy and pain.
He starts to run...
>>>---------------------------------------------->
Choose your ending:
To the Castle...
To the House...
Author: wastingyourgum
Characters/Pairings: Much/Robin,Much/Little John
Rating: 15
Words: 907
Genre: Angst
Disclaimer: BBC & TA own until 7.30 tonight when the people will rise up and take control away from them in a glorious revolution...
Spoilers: 3x12
Summary: A choose your own ending fic. Much comes to a realisation about Robin and is faced with a difficult choice.
Notes: Beta services provided by the ever-lovely darkentwisted and robinfanatic
I have not yet seen 3x13. The first scene is inspired by the preview clip - everything after is from my own little warped brain. I will post 2 alternate endings shortly and you can choose which you want (if either, post your own if you feel like it!).
Watching Your Back
Much watches as Robin and Guy slowly ride out and his stomach clenches into knots. Even Vaizey should honour a flag of truce but they all know there are no depths to which the old Sheriff will not sink - the body dumped in front of the gates is a bitter reminder of that.
Robin does not look back and as Tuck and Archer slowly swing the gates shut, cutting Robin off from Much's sight, he suddenly realises why this fight is different.
This isn't like the recent skirmishes in Sherwood, each man watching for the other, fighting as one reactive unit, using the terrain as an extra weapon. It is a full-scale battle, hundreds of men, battlements, siege weapons, tactics and strategies, like so many he remembers from the Holy Land and yet with one crucial difference - Robin is not by his side.
Robin is the general now and he will lead from the front - alone.
And that means Much also will fight alone, just one more soldier in Robin Hood's army. Robin will have no time to think of him and Much will not give him cause to do so. If anything distracts Robin from his destiny, from the chance of victory and vengeance for Allan and Marian, he will not let it be him. He will stand behind Robin, not in his way. Because he loves him, he must let him go.
Much has spent a lifetime feeling small and insignificant but feeling over-looked in a camp of six or seven people is not the same as standing on your own, in the middle of a town under siege and knowing the man you love, whose back you have watched for so many years, must put you from his mind and you must do everything you can to help him in that.
He stares at the gate as if he can somehow see through it if he tries hard enough then he feels the large, reassuring hand on his shoulder. John, as usual, does not speak and yet says everything.
Much feels a weight lifted from his heart. This battle is different - his back is also watched. He, too, is loved and protected.
>>>--------->
"John!" Much halts as John suddenly appears from out of the smoke of battle and grabs his arm. They had lost sight of each other in the chaos and he is very relieved to see his friend still standing.
They both duck as another of Vaizey's barrels explodes in the street behind them. John looks around then kicks in the door of the nearest building and drags Much inside. Much is about to tell John how pleased he is to see him but stops dead as he sees the look on John's face.
John is scared.
There's no mistaking that look despite the fact he's never, ever seen it before and Much can feel his whole world crumbling around him. If John is scared, then nothing good can happen. He feels his stomach twist and a thousand awful possibilities fly through his mind as he sees John struggling to speak.
"J-John..?" Oh, God - he can't even look at me! Please don't let it be Robin. Please...
There's another muffled explosion from the street and the building shakes to its foundations. John screws his eyes shut and Much braces himself for whatever terrible thing is about to be said.
"Much - Things... aren't going well," John forces the words out slowly, as if in pain. "And I thought you should know... I wanted to tell you... Ohhh, damn it!"
John drops his staff, grabs Much roughly by the shoulders and kisses him.
"Robin is my leader and Allan was a good friend but you... you, I love. I wanted to tell you, in case I never get to."
The terror in John's eyes is that of a man finally giving his heart without knowing if the one he gives it to will treasure it or scorn it. Much has faced that terror so many times in Robin's presence and each time shied away from it, preferring the lesser comfort of friendship to the possibility of rejection.
He knows that John knows his true feelings for Robin which also means John must know there can be no place for him in Much's heart. If John, knowing that, has found the strength to face his fear, then things must be really bad and he needs to find Robin before it is too late for him to face the same fear himself one final time.
He's already out the door and running up the street towards the castle before he stops to think. I can't just leave John without saying something. As he looks at the castle he sees two more fireballs explode against the battlements. Another explosion behind him sends him flying forward onto his knees. As he staggers to his feet and looks back, his head ringing, he sees the house he's just left collapse in on itself in a cloud of dust and noise.
John!
He turns from the castle to the collapsed house and back again. Robin - I have to tell him... but John...
Much howls with frustration. He's never been selfish - it's just not in his nature, but he's put others first his whole life and he's sick of it. Either choice could mean both joy and pain.
He starts to run...
>>>---------------------------------------------->
Choose your ending:
To the Castle...
To the House...