Camelot Loves Haiti: Fic for Robinmarian
Title: Heatwave
Author: _autumncolours
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Merlin, Morgana.
Spoilers: 2x02
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Written for robinmarian's prompt for the Help Haiti Thing-A-Thon. Prompt: Arthur teaches Gwen to swim.
I'm sorry,robinmarian, this...probably isn't what you had in mind at all! And nothing really happens. BUT I hope you enjoy it nonetheless :D
Arthur couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a lazy day. The current heatwave had left everyone irritable and tired, and neither he nor Morgana could face another day stuck inside Camelot. Morgana, in a moment of sheer genius, had somehow persuaded Uther to give them a rare day of freedom. She was refusing to give details, but Arthur had seen her walk away from the hall with a satisfied smirk on her face. It was too hot to train his knights, anyway: he'd attempted to yesterday, but had been forced to give up pretty quickly when he realised that even Sir Leon had been making only half-hearted attempts.
Instead, the four of them lay sprawled next to an idyllic lake, an hour’s gentle ride from the castle walls. The shade offered little relief, and they’d all opted to spread out next to the lake rather than perch on uncomfortable logs in the forest. The heat of the sun was almost unbearable, but the waterfall cascading into the far end of the lake at least sounded cooling. Arthur was always hesitant to leave Camelot without a good reason - vaguely guilty for having a day off when the rest of the kingdom received no such reprise - but he had to admit that Morgana’s suggestion was perfect. After the recent disruptions to the kingdom, and Morgana’s newfound distance from them all, today was proving a welcome relief.
The peace was too good to last though, and was soon broken by a loud groan from Morgana that would have shocked her admirers in court. She rolled over onto her stomach, pulling a face as she attempted to keep her hair out of her face. “It’s too hot!”
Arthur rolled his eyes, although the effect was somewhat lost with his jacket shielding his face from the sun. “They’re not calling it a heatwave because it’s snowing, Morgana.”
“Hey, just be happy you’re not spending the day inside, polishing Arthur’s sword or cleaning Arthur’s boots or fixing Arthur’s chain-" Merlin spluttered as Arthur’s jacket hit him in the face.
“To be fair, Merlin, neither are you,” Gwen pointed out lazily from the other side of Morgana.
“I was yesterday. And the day before that, and the day before tha-“
“Merlin.”
“Sire?”
“Shut up. I was quite enjoying the peace and quiet until about thirty seconds ago.”
Morgana put an abrupt end to their bickering as she sat up. “This is ridiculous - I’m going for a swim.”
Arthur raised one eyebrow, “Father won’t be impressed if you ruin your dress.”
Morgana let out a snort that could definitely not be classed as ladylike. “I hardly think Uther will care. It’s not as if I’ve got a shortage of dresses. Anyway, I wasn’t planning on ruining my dress: unlike you, I don’t enjoy giving my servant extra work to do.”
Gwen hid a smile at Arthur’s unimpressed frown and Merlin’s triumphant nod. The two of them were impossible, really. She was fairly sure that Arthur's irritation was a mask for his increasing respect for his manservant, although she couldn't understand how either of them had the energy to argue in this heat. She turned her face to the side, resting it on her folded arms and smiling at the sight of Arthur sprawled haphazardly on the grass, limbs stretching out in all directions. She'd initially been reluctant to join them today: it sounded delightful, but it seemed to take her so much longer to do everything in the heat and as a result she was hopelessly behind on her washing and mending. But Morgana had been insistent, and pointed out that, if nothing else, Gwen couldn’t leave her to deal with Arthur and Merlin by herself all day. Gwen couldn’t think of any good argument to that, so laughingly agreed that it would probably be good fun.
Morgana had disappeared off into the trees and now emerged in her slip, having apparently discarded her dress somewhere. Gwen glanced at Merlin and Arthur out of the corner of her eye, and caught Arthur rolling his eyes again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, but she supposed it was an improvement on his usual barrage of cutting retorts. Merlin glanced from Morgana to the lake and back again, risked a quick look at Arthur, then jumped up and ran to the lake, apparently before Arthur could stop him.
Gwen grinned and shifted slightly in the grass, enjoying the rare chance to relax and absorb the sunlight. Arthur, however, didn't appear content to laze around for much longer.
“Aren’t you tempted to join them?”
“Me? Oh, no, I ... I’d really just rather lie here for a bit longer.”
Arthur frowned. “That’s ridiculous.” He was already pulling his boots off as Gwen shrugged and shut her eyes again.
“Gwen. Gwen.”
She opened them to see Arthur standing above her, hands on hips, looking incredibly disconcerted. Really, she thought, it was only a quick swim and she saw no reason why she could not lie here for a little longer if she wanted to.
“If you’re not willing to walk down there yourself, I’ll have to pick you up, and throw you in,” he pointed to a large rock that Morgana was swimming next to, “from there.”
Gwen hesitated. “I can’t swim.”
“What?” A look of sheer confusion crossed Arthur’s face. He seemed to register her discomfort and sat back down next to her, arms braced casually over his knees. “Not at all?”
Gwen shook her head, fiddling with a loose strand on her dress. She would need to mend it once they were back in Camelot. “When would I have learned to swim? I mean, Merlin went all the time with his friends back in Ealdor, and obviously Uther made sure you and Morgana learned ... but it wasn't ever necessary for me to.”
“Oh.” Arthus twisted a few pieces of grass between his fingers, a slight frown creasing his forehead.
Gwen couldn't help but reassure him. "It's fine, Arthur. I'm perfectly happy lying in the sun for a bit longer - you go have fun with Merlin and Morgana. Merlin is looking far too dry, really." It was true: whilst Morgana had jumped straight in and was now happily floating around on her back, Merlin had merely rolled up his trousers and was dangling his feet from his perch on a large rock, eyes closed, apparently entirely content with the world.
Arthur snorted, "I'll go push him in in a minute." He eyed her, gaze lingering on her downturned eyes. Then he nodded decisively, and stood up, extending a hand towards her. "Come on. I'll teach you ... if you don't mind me pushing Merlin in first."
Gwen raised an eyebrow. “Hopefully it’ll be more successful than my attempts to teach you to cook.” After Arthur had resorted to passing one of the court dinners off as his own, Gwen had decided that, really, he should be capable of at least cooking something by himself. Her efforts at teaching him had been a spectacular failure, leaving her two best pans ruined and her house smelling of burning for the next two days. Arthur, apologetic, had pointed out that he had at least been justified in giving her one of the court dinners rather than burning her house down. She quickly decided that any future dinners they shared would be cooked by her, and had discovered two brand new (and really far better quality than the previous) pans outside her door the next morning.
Arthur grinned at her, “At least it can’t be worse.”
*
Twenty minutes later Merlin was drenched, dark hair curling into his eyes and shirt clinging to his body. Morgana pointed out that as he was already wet, he might as well make the most of it and dragged him off to explore the waterfall. Arthur - who had at least had the foresight to take his shirt off (which was nice, Gwen thought, trying - and failing - to keep her eyes fixed on his face) - was standing waist-deep in water a couple of metres away from her, arms crossed, watching her shocking attempt at doggy-paddle.
She could see him desperately trying to restrain a grin, and it was contagious - a laugh escaped her and she lost her focus, slipping back under the surface of the water as her feet scrabbled for firm ground. Before she could right herself, large hands grabbed her waist and pulled her back up to the surface. She emerged, spluttering, to find herself standing slightly too close to Arthur, his arms encircling her waist and his gaze concerned.
Gwen bit back a smile, “Arthur, I’m fine. Swimming is just obviously not something I’m particularly gifted at.”
Arthur frowned, raising one hand to move a dark curl behind her ear. “I’m not convinced you’re making much progress at this.”
She laughed, amused by his reluctance to admit that she has, if anything, actually got worse at staying afloat. “I’m sorry, my lord, but I think you might be better at teaching your knights to swing swords than at teaching swimming.”
Arthur’s arms dropped from her waist as he took a step back, “My knights do considerably more than ‘swing swords’. But if you’d rather Merlin taught you...”
“I think it might be best for all concerned if no one taught me.”
His eyes softened into a slight smirk as Gwen reached forward and laced her fingers through his.
She lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug, “I’m still better than you at cooking, and cleaning, and making swords - even if I can’t use one - so I’ll probably manage without knowing how to swim.”
Arthur laughed, pulled her close for a quick kiss, kept his hand resting firmly on the small of her back as she stepped back. She pressed her lips, fleetingly, to his shoulder and decided that the dopey grin he was currently giving her made not being able to swim quite worthwhile.
Thank you for reading; comments and concrit are appreciated muchly :)
Author: _autumncolours
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Gwen, Merlin, Morgana.
Spoilers: 2x02
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Summary: Written for robinmarian's prompt for the Help Haiti Thing-A-Thon. Prompt: Arthur teaches Gwen to swim.
I'm sorry,robinmarian, this...probably isn't what you had in mind at all! And nothing really happens. BUT I hope you enjoy it nonetheless :D
Arthur couldn’t remember the last time he’d had such a lazy day. The current heatwave had left everyone irritable and tired, and neither he nor Morgana could face another day stuck inside Camelot. Morgana, in a moment of sheer genius, had somehow persuaded Uther to give them a rare day of freedom. She was refusing to give details, but Arthur had seen her walk away from the hall with a satisfied smirk on her face. It was too hot to train his knights, anyway: he'd attempted to yesterday, but had been forced to give up pretty quickly when he realised that even Sir Leon had been making only half-hearted attempts.
Instead, the four of them lay sprawled next to an idyllic lake, an hour’s gentle ride from the castle walls. The shade offered little relief, and they’d all opted to spread out next to the lake rather than perch on uncomfortable logs in the forest. The heat of the sun was almost unbearable, but the waterfall cascading into the far end of the lake at least sounded cooling. Arthur was always hesitant to leave Camelot without a good reason - vaguely guilty for having a day off when the rest of the kingdom received no such reprise - but he had to admit that Morgana’s suggestion was perfect. After the recent disruptions to the kingdom, and Morgana’s newfound distance from them all, today was proving a welcome relief.
The peace was too good to last though, and was soon broken by a loud groan from Morgana that would have shocked her admirers in court. She rolled over onto her stomach, pulling a face as she attempted to keep her hair out of her face. “It’s too hot!”
Arthur rolled his eyes, although the effect was somewhat lost with his jacket shielding his face from the sun. “They’re not calling it a heatwave because it’s snowing, Morgana.”
“Hey, just be happy you’re not spending the day inside, polishing Arthur’s sword or cleaning Arthur’s boots or fixing Arthur’s chain-" Merlin spluttered as Arthur’s jacket hit him in the face.
“To be fair, Merlin, neither are you,” Gwen pointed out lazily from the other side of Morgana.
“I was yesterday. And the day before that, and the day before tha-“
“Merlin.”
“Sire?”
“Shut up. I was quite enjoying the peace and quiet until about thirty seconds ago.”
Morgana put an abrupt end to their bickering as she sat up. “This is ridiculous - I’m going for a swim.”
Arthur raised one eyebrow, “Father won’t be impressed if you ruin your dress.”
Morgana let out a snort that could definitely not be classed as ladylike. “I hardly think Uther will care. It’s not as if I’ve got a shortage of dresses. Anyway, I wasn’t planning on ruining my dress: unlike you, I don’t enjoy giving my servant extra work to do.”
Gwen hid a smile at Arthur’s unimpressed frown and Merlin’s triumphant nod. The two of them were impossible, really. She was fairly sure that Arthur's irritation was a mask for his increasing respect for his manservant, although she couldn't understand how either of them had the energy to argue in this heat. She turned her face to the side, resting it on her folded arms and smiling at the sight of Arthur sprawled haphazardly on the grass, limbs stretching out in all directions. She'd initially been reluctant to join them today: it sounded delightful, but it seemed to take her so much longer to do everything in the heat and as a result she was hopelessly behind on her washing and mending. But Morgana had been insistent, and pointed out that, if nothing else, Gwen couldn’t leave her to deal with Arthur and Merlin by herself all day. Gwen couldn’t think of any good argument to that, so laughingly agreed that it would probably be good fun.
Morgana had disappeared off into the trees and now emerged in her slip, having apparently discarded her dress somewhere. Gwen glanced at Merlin and Arthur out of the corner of her eye, and caught Arthur rolling his eyes again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, but she supposed it was an improvement on his usual barrage of cutting retorts. Merlin glanced from Morgana to the lake and back again, risked a quick look at Arthur, then jumped up and ran to the lake, apparently before Arthur could stop him.
Gwen grinned and shifted slightly in the grass, enjoying the rare chance to relax and absorb the sunlight. Arthur, however, didn't appear content to laze around for much longer.
“Aren’t you tempted to join them?”
“Me? Oh, no, I ... I’d really just rather lie here for a bit longer.”
Arthur frowned. “That’s ridiculous.” He was already pulling his boots off as Gwen shrugged and shut her eyes again.
“Gwen. Gwen.”
She opened them to see Arthur standing above her, hands on hips, looking incredibly disconcerted. Really, she thought, it was only a quick swim and she saw no reason why she could not lie here for a little longer if she wanted to.
“If you’re not willing to walk down there yourself, I’ll have to pick you up, and throw you in,” he pointed to a large rock that Morgana was swimming next to, “from there.”
Gwen hesitated. “I can’t swim.”
“What?” A look of sheer confusion crossed Arthur’s face. He seemed to register her discomfort and sat back down next to her, arms braced casually over his knees. “Not at all?”
Gwen shook her head, fiddling with a loose strand on her dress. She would need to mend it once they were back in Camelot. “When would I have learned to swim? I mean, Merlin went all the time with his friends back in Ealdor, and obviously Uther made sure you and Morgana learned ... but it wasn't ever necessary for me to.”
“Oh.” Arthus twisted a few pieces of grass between his fingers, a slight frown creasing his forehead.
Gwen couldn't help but reassure him. "It's fine, Arthur. I'm perfectly happy lying in the sun for a bit longer - you go have fun with Merlin and Morgana. Merlin is looking far too dry, really." It was true: whilst Morgana had jumped straight in and was now happily floating around on her back, Merlin had merely rolled up his trousers and was dangling his feet from his perch on a large rock, eyes closed, apparently entirely content with the world.
Arthur snorted, "I'll go push him in in a minute." He eyed her, gaze lingering on her downturned eyes. Then he nodded decisively, and stood up, extending a hand towards her. "Come on. I'll teach you ... if you don't mind me pushing Merlin in first."
Gwen raised an eyebrow. “Hopefully it’ll be more successful than my attempts to teach you to cook.” After Arthur had resorted to passing one of the court dinners off as his own, Gwen had decided that, really, he should be capable of at least cooking something by himself. Her efforts at teaching him had been a spectacular failure, leaving her two best pans ruined and her house smelling of burning for the next two days. Arthur, apologetic, had pointed out that he had at least been justified in giving her one of the court dinners rather than burning her house down. She quickly decided that any future dinners they shared would be cooked by her, and had discovered two brand new (and really far better quality than the previous) pans outside her door the next morning.
Arthur grinned at her, “At least it can’t be worse.”
*
Twenty minutes later Merlin was drenched, dark hair curling into his eyes and shirt clinging to his body. Morgana pointed out that as he was already wet, he might as well make the most of it and dragged him off to explore the waterfall. Arthur - who had at least had the foresight to take his shirt off (which was nice, Gwen thought, trying - and failing - to keep her eyes fixed on his face) - was standing waist-deep in water a couple of metres away from her, arms crossed, watching her shocking attempt at doggy-paddle.
She could see him desperately trying to restrain a grin, and it was contagious - a laugh escaped her and she lost her focus, slipping back under the surface of the water as her feet scrabbled for firm ground. Before she could right herself, large hands grabbed her waist and pulled her back up to the surface. She emerged, spluttering, to find herself standing slightly too close to Arthur, his arms encircling her waist and his gaze concerned.
Gwen bit back a smile, “Arthur, I’m fine. Swimming is just obviously not something I’m particularly gifted at.”
Arthur frowned, raising one hand to move a dark curl behind her ear. “I’m not convinced you’re making much progress at this.”
She laughed, amused by his reluctance to admit that she has, if anything, actually got worse at staying afloat. “I’m sorry, my lord, but I think you might be better at teaching your knights to swing swords than at teaching swimming.”
Arthur’s arms dropped from her waist as he took a step back, “My knights do considerably more than ‘swing swords’. But if you’d rather Merlin taught you...”
“I think it might be best for all concerned if no one taught me.”
His eyes softened into a slight smirk as Gwen reached forward and laced her fingers through his.
She lifted one shoulder in a careless shrug, “I’m still better than you at cooking, and cleaning, and making swords - even if I can’t use one - so I’ll probably manage without knowing how to swim.”
Arthur laughed, pulled her close for a quick kiss, kept his hand resting firmly on the small of her back as she stepped back. She pressed her lips, fleetingly, to his shoulder and decided that the dopey grin he was currently giving her made not being able to swim quite worthwhile.
Thank you for reading; comments and concrit are appreciated muchly :)