Spring Fling drabble fic: Tendrils (PG, Arthur/Gwen)
Title: Tendrils
Author: nurse_stiney
Prompt(s): 13). Morgana cuts Gwen's hair, Arthur is upset (but can't give a proper reason as to why).
Rating/Warnings: Totally PG and fluffy!sweet
Word Count: 993
Guinevere might claim that he never knew she existed before Merlin came to Camelot, but Arthur knows differently. He was always aware of her.
…Alright, so maybe he never noticed her beyond her name when she first started out as Morgana's handmaiden. But who could blame a 13-year-old boy who was completely besotted with sword fighting? Whenever he came up for air those first years of knight training, he only dimly acknowledged the two-headed giggling beast-known as Morganagwen to the rest of the castle-fluttering around with flowers on their matching heads of long dark hair.
Boy, did that change the year after he turned 17.
That was when he:
1.) finally started noticing Morgana, who at 19 had honed her flirting skills and relished unleashing them on any susceptible male in her vicinity (Arthur was definitely included); and
2.) began to really like the way 'Guinevere' rolled off his tongue.
~*~*~*~
The latter revelation occurred around Midsummer, which had been unusually hot that year. Even his father had started cutting down on training exercises after the eighth knight collapsed from the heat. Most of the kingdom would frequent the lakes and rivers before supper, seeking temporary relief in the water. It was one of the few times Arthur witnessed noblemen and commoners in an almost-camaraderie.
It was during one of those boiling afternoons that he, a few knights, some noblewomen and their servant girls-Morganagwen included-were cooling off by the lake closest to the castle. Arthur was the only one actually in the lake. The other knights were half-heartedly sword-fighting, and ladies were splayed out on a rock ledge with their servants, "surreptitiously" eyeing the knights and giggling.
Well, all save for Morgana, who never gave up an opportunity to "talk" with the knights. Gwen was mostly quiet, but cheered on whenever one knight managed to lazily outmaneuver another.
To this day, Arthur isn't sure what exactly happened next. He had been busy "talking" to Lady Elaine near the ledge, and had likely been underwater performing some sort of trick.
In any case, he immediately surfaced when he heard Morgana's shriek, which was quickly followed by a groan of pain. He swam/ran to shore to see all the servants huddled around someone and walking back to the castle with the noblewomen giggling behind them…and Morgana screaming like a madwoman at Leon and Owain, with the other two knights huddling behind them. The former knight looked flushed, and the latter had a bright red mark on his cheek.
Somewhere between Arthur yelling at Morgana ("YOU SLAPPED OWAIN?!!"), Morgana yelling at Arthur ("YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL I TALK TO UTHER ABOUT THIS, YOU GIANT PRAT!!!"), and Owain sputtering at Morgana ("You s-slapped me, m-milady?!"), Leon managed to provide the gist of the story:
"I knocked down Owain-you really need to work on your balance, Owain-who stumbled into Gwen, who fell and slammed her head against that tree," here he pointed at a nearby tree that was practically oozing, "and now all the women are bemoaning the sap in Gwen's hair. Well, all the handmaidens at least; the ladies seemed to find it amusing."
Morgana seemed to snap out of her rage at that point to wail, "OH GOODNESS HER HAIR!" and rushed back to the castle towards the rest of the women.
Arthur, thoroughly confused by now, only said, "But…it'll come out, right?" To his own ears, he sounded sad. "It's just…hair."
The rest of the knights could only shake their heads. Leon and Owain almost looked mournful.
~*~*~*~
The next day at breakfast he immediately saw the consequences.
Morgana looked almost near tears as she picked at her plate. His father was looking at his ward with possibly the exact same confused look he had on yesterday, and soon excused himself to see to a treaty before negotiations later that afternoon. And Gwen…was slowly walking around the table pouring water as her usual serene self.
Yet…her hair.
Now, while he never interacted with his sister's servants, he was at least aware of Gwen, and aware of how even the noblewomen had been envious of her curly hair, kept long at Morgana's insistence. Normally she kept it half up to match Morgana, letting the rest flow down to the small of her back.
But today it was all up in a neat little bun at the base of her neck.
Arthur didn't know why, but he felt weird about it. 'It's just HAIR!' he thought. But he couldn't deny that there was a difference.
And he officially didn't like it.
…At least until she bent over next to him to refill his goblet.
It was then he noticed shorter pieces of hair fell away from behind her ears to curl around her face. And he couldn't. stop. staring.
Because then he saw everything. How those tendrils of hair curved around her cheekbones, which seemed quite prominent all of a sudden. How the sun highlighted the color of that hair and brought out the gold flecks of her dark brown eyes. How one tendril in particular fell into her mouth, which looked amazingly pouty today, before she leaned back up and re-tucked all those strands behind her ears.
Huh. Gwen, at 18…was a girl.
A softly cleared throat broke Arthur from his shock at that revelation, and he looked up into Morgana's puzzled face and arched eyebrow.
Arthur hoped he wasn't blushing. "G-gwen," he squeaked before clearing his own throat, "um, Guinevere, how is your head this morning?"
She smiled softly. "Fine, sire. The fall wasn't as bad as the tree sap. Luckily Morgana knows her way around hair, and cut it before I became bald."
Soon after she left the room to go refill her pitcher. And so Arthur and Morgana were left alone to glare at each other for no reason.
"Since when do you call her Guinevere?"
"Shut up."
"Prat."
"Hussy."
…Hmm. Guinevere…Guinevere…Guinevere.
Ooh, he liked that one.
Author: nurse_stiney
Prompt(s): 13). Morgana cuts Gwen's hair, Arthur is upset (but can't give a proper reason as to why).
Rating/Warnings: Totally PG and fluffy!sweet
Word Count: 993
Guinevere might claim that he never knew she existed before Merlin came to Camelot, but Arthur knows differently. He was always aware of her.
…Alright, so maybe he never noticed her beyond her name when she first started out as Morgana's handmaiden. But who could blame a 13-year-old boy who was completely besotted with sword fighting? Whenever he came up for air those first years of knight training, he only dimly acknowledged the two-headed giggling beast-known as Morganagwen to the rest of the castle-fluttering around with flowers on their matching heads of long dark hair.
Boy, did that change the year after he turned 17.
That was when he:
1.) finally started noticing Morgana, who at 19 had honed her flirting skills and relished unleashing them on any susceptible male in her vicinity (Arthur was definitely included); and
2.) began to really like the way 'Guinevere' rolled off his tongue.
~*~*~*~
The latter revelation occurred around Midsummer, which had been unusually hot that year. Even his father had started cutting down on training exercises after the eighth knight collapsed from the heat. Most of the kingdom would frequent the lakes and rivers before supper, seeking temporary relief in the water. It was one of the few times Arthur witnessed noblemen and commoners in an almost-camaraderie.
It was during one of those boiling afternoons that he, a few knights, some noblewomen and their servant girls-Morganagwen included-were cooling off by the lake closest to the castle. Arthur was the only one actually in the lake. The other knights were half-heartedly sword-fighting, and ladies were splayed out on a rock ledge with their servants, "surreptitiously" eyeing the knights and giggling.
Well, all save for Morgana, who never gave up an opportunity to "talk" with the knights. Gwen was mostly quiet, but cheered on whenever one knight managed to lazily outmaneuver another.
To this day, Arthur isn't sure what exactly happened next. He had been busy "talking" to Lady Elaine near the ledge, and had likely been underwater performing some sort of trick.
In any case, he immediately surfaced when he heard Morgana's shriek, which was quickly followed by a groan of pain. He swam/ran to shore to see all the servants huddled around someone and walking back to the castle with the noblewomen giggling behind them…and Morgana screaming like a madwoman at Leon and Owain, with the other two knights huddling behind them. The former knight looked flushed, and the latter had a bright red mark on his cheek.
Somewhere between Arthur yelling at Morgana ("YOU SLAPPED OWAIN?!!"), Morgana yelling at Arthur ("YOU JUST WAIT UNTIL I TALK TO UTHER ABOUT THIS, YOU GIANT PRAT!!!"), and Owain sputtering at Morgana ("You s-slapped me, m-milady?!"), Leon managed to provide the gist of the story:
"I knocked down Owain-you really need to work on your balance, Owain-who stumbled into Gwen, who fell and slammed her head against that tree," here he pointed at a nearby tree that was practically oozing, "and now all the women are bemoaning the sap in Gwen's hair. Well, all the handmaidens at least; the ladies seemed to find it amusing."
Morgana seemed to snap out of her rage at that point to wail, "OH GOODNESS HER HAIR!" and rushed back to the castle towards the rest of the women.
Arthur, thoroughly confused by now, only said, "But…it'll come out, right?" To his own ears, he sounded sad. "It's just…hair."
The rest of the knights could only shake their heads. Leon and Owain almost looked mournful.
~*~*~*~
The next day at breakfast he immediately saw the consequences.
Morgana looked almost near tears as she picked at her plate. His father was looking at his ward with possibly the exact same confused look he had on yesterday, and soon excused himself to see to a treaty before negotiations later that afternoon. And Gwen…was slowly walking around the table pouring water as her usual serene self.
Yet…her hair.
Now, while he never interacted with his sister's servants, he was at least aware of Gwen, and aware of how even the noblewomen had been envious of her curly hair, kept long at Morgana's insistence. Normally she kept it half up to match Morgana, letting the rest flow down to the small of her back.
But today it was all up in a neat little bun at the base of her neck.
Arthur didn't know why, but he felt weird about it. 'It's just HAIR!' he thought. But he couldn't deny that there was a difference.
And he officially didn't like it.
…At least until she bent over next to him to refill his goblet.
It was then he noticed shorter pieces of hair fell away from behind her ears to curl around her face. And he couldn't. stop. staring.
Because then he saw everything. How those tendrils of hair curved around her cheekbones, which seemed quite prominent all of a sudden. How the sun highlighted the color of that hair and brought out the gold flecks of her dark brown eyes. How one tendril in particular fell into her mouth, which looked amazingly pouty today, before she leaned back up and re-tucked all those strands behind her ears.
Huh. Gwen, at 18…was a girl.
A softly cleared throat broke Arthur from his shock at that revelation, and he looked up into Morgana's puzzled face and arched eyebrow.
Arthur hoped he wasn't blushing. "G-gwen," he squeaked before clearing his own throat, "um, Guinevere, how is your head this morning?"
She smiled softly. "Fine, sire. The fall wasn't as bad as the tree sap. Luckily Morgana knows her way around hair, and cut it before I became bald."
Soon after she left the room to go refill her pitcher. And so Arthur and Morgana were left alone to glare at each other for no reason.
"Since when do you call her Guinevere?"
"Shut up."
"Prat."
"Hussy."
…Hmm. Guinevere…Guinevere…Guinevere.
Ooh, he liked that one.