Part 34: link


    “Arthur, I’m not so sure this is a good idea anymore,” Gwen says as he pulls her car into the driveway of a large stone estate, parking the small car in a corner under a tree, hidden from view.
    “You’re not chickening out on me now, are you?” he asks, eyebrows raised.
    She opens the car door and stubbornly stomps out while he reaches into the back सीट to retrieve a bag that he’s brought. A bag of which he wouldn’t let her see the contents.
    “Come on,” he takes her hand and guides her to a large garden gate.
    “Um…” she starts, seeing the keypad lock on the gate.
    He calmly punches a series of numbers, the little light on the console turns green, and there is a click. He pushes the gate open.
    “Where are we?” she asks, but somehow she knows the answer.
    “My father’s house. He’s out of town.”
    “How far out of town?” she asks.
    “Berlin. Till Monday.”
    “So we’re, what? Breaking in?”
    “Not breaking. I have the code,” he says reasonably.
    “Right,” she answers, following him along a path lined with beautifully groomed फूल and shrubs that she wishes she could fully appreciate. There isn’t even much of a moon tonight, so she can’t see much of anything.
    “Here we are,” he says, pulling her to the corner of a stone patio, where a hot tub sits.
    “We’re breaking in to use his hot tub?”
    He grins and peels his कमीज, शर्ट off.
    “I don’t have a स्विमिंग सूट along,” she says, and he just looks at her.
    “Oh,” she laughs. “Silly me.”
    They undress, Arthur eagerly helping with Guinevere’s clothes as she swats his hands away. Arthur reaches into the bag and pulls out 2 towels, setting them within reach. He walks to the दीवार and turns a dial, firing up the jets before taking her hand again and climbing into the hot water.
    “Oh, that’s nice,” Gwen says, letting the warm water surround her. The night is cool, so the heat is welcome against her skin.
    He snuggles her against him. “At least now I know why आप inexplicably told me to put my hair up after begging me to leave it down this morning,” she says, looking up at him. He leans down and kisses her, bringing his wet hand up to cup her cheek as she opens her mouth beneath his, welcoming his tongue with hers. His hand slides down to her breast, holding it, rubbing the nipple gently.
    “Arthur,” she says when he moves to her neck, “we are not having sex in your father’s hot tub.”
    “Oh?” he asks, using that arrogant tone of his, the one he uses when he’s certain he’s going to get his way.
    “No,” she says, lifting his face to hers again. “I don’t want to leave… evidence.”
    He laughs now. “Evidence?”
    “You know what I mean,” she says. “But,” she leans up and bites his earlobe, “I’ll make it up to आप when we get home.”
    “Oh, you’d better,” he growls, चुंबन her again anyway.
    “Behave, now,” Gwen gently scolds, sitting back.
    “So, then, if we’re not going to properly defile my father’s hot tub, what shall we do?” Arthur asks, still चुंबन her neck.
    “Play water polo, what do आप think?” she answers, and he chuckles against her wet skin.
    “We just enjoy each others’ company,” she says.
    “That’s what I was trying to do.”
    “And talk.” She takes his face in her hands and looks at him, then kisses his lips sweetly. “Not that I don’t like the attention, obviously.”
    He kisses her once और than, and settles her back in beside him. “Okay,” he says, his voice exaggeratedly sullen.
    She just laughs at him, and surveys what she sees of her surroundings. “So, is this where आप grew up?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Wow, rough surroundings,” she teases.
    “I know, spoiled rotten. But don’t be fooled द्वारा the pretty wrapping.”
    “Of course not. I know आप didn’t exactly have the happiest of childhoods.”
    “It wasn’t all bad. Morgana and I had fun playing together a lot. Lots of room to run and kick a football. She was actually really good at heading the ball. Like a trained seal, she was,” he laughs.
    “We used to play hide and seek out here quite often in the summer, when everything was grown in and green. One time I hid so well she had to get Joseph to come out and help find me.”
    “Joseph?”
    “Butler. Still works here, I’m sure.”
    “Did they find you?”
    “Yes, but I had fallen asleep द्वारा that time,” he laughs.
    “Oh no!”
    “Well, it turns out I had caught flu and was already overly tired anyway, so I actually wasn’t missing out here for that long.”
    “That’s… something, I suppose.”
    “Father wasn’t happy at all. Because somehow it was my fault that I didn’t know that I was ill and went to play outside, of course,” he frowns. “I was an 8-year-old boy; all I wanted to do was play outside, for heaven’s sake.”
    “He always expected much from you, didn’t he?”
    “Too much,” he sighs, toying idly with a few curls that have come loose at her neck. “I like to think that my mother would have supported me, would have convinced him to let me do what I wanted.”
    “I think that आप are probably और like your father than you’d like to admit,” she says carefully.
    He drops the curl he is playing with at looks curiously down at her. “Explain.”
    “Don’t get cross, I simply mean that, from what I’ve heard about your father – which is all from you, mind, it seems that आप have a lot of similar traits,” she says, twining her fingers with his beneath the water.
    “Such as?”
    “You are both stubborn and arrogant. And particular; आप like things the way आप like them. And आप definitely don’t like anyone telling आप what to do.” She looks up at him, and he is scowling now. “I don’t mean to upset you, these aren’t terrible things. Well, except the stubbornness at times, perhaps.”
    He stays silent, pondering her words.
    “I know, no one likes hearing that they are similar to someone with whom they do not get along, Love.” She reaches up and strokes his cheek, and he turns his head and kisses her palm.
    “However, आप do have many traits that, from what I understand, आप surely got from your mother.”
    “Like what?” he asks, brightening now.
    “Well, you’re sweet,” she turns and kisses him, “and cute,” she kisses him again, even though he makes a face at the word “cute.”
    “And I’m willing to bet she was creative in some way,” Gwen continues, moving to his neck now.
    “From what I understand, she could sing really well,” he says softly.
    “See, I was right,” she grins at him once before चुंबन the spot where his neck meets his shoulder.
    “You like children and they like you,” she says, running her tongue along his collarbone.
    He groans a little bit at the sensation and his hand rises to her breast again.
    “And आप are fair and kind and have a strong sense of what is right and what is wrong,” she finishes, चुंबन his lips again, sweeping her tongue inside his mouth once before pulling away and snuggling up अगला to him again.
    “You are an evil tease,” he says, giving the breast in his hand a squeeze.
    “Oh, now, if I was an evil tease, I would do this,” she says, scooting away, down the bench.
    “Where are आप going?” he pouts. “Oh…” he grunts now as he feels her slender foot push gently into his groin, toes curling against him, sole sliding along his now-growing length.
    “Guinevere…” he groans, “you are playing with fire, there, little one.” But he takes her foot in his hand anyway, guiding it where he wants it to go.
    He leans his head back, letting her foot slide on him a few और times before shakily removing it from his manhood and lifting it to his lips.
    She laughs, knowing he stopped her because he had to. She also knows that she’s going to pay the price for her shenanigans once they are home.
    Arthur kisses her foot and Gwen slides around so she is sitting opposite him in the small tub, her leg just long enough to पार करना, क्रॉस the distance. She reclines back, resting her head against the ledge, closing her eyes.
    I’m actually beginning to really enjoy his attention to my feet, she realizes as she feels his tongue slide between her toes, his teeth nibbling lightly at the tender pads on the bottoms of her feet.
    She sighs and Arthur opens his eyes, watching her across the way, reclined against the edge of the tub, completely content and completely relaxed.
    And completely beautiful.
    He presses a किस to her arch, his tongue slipping out to touch her skin. She opens her eyes slowly at looks at him, a sleepy, desire-filled look that makes his blood run hot through his veins.
    “Oh, God, let’s just go home,” he says, dropping her foot.

    They tumble into Gwen’s flat, giggling and kissing, their clothes slightly damp, Arthur’s कमीज, शर्ट inside-out.
    “We are never doing that…” she pauses while he kisses her, “again,” she says.
    “But it was fun,” he counters, his face in her neck now as he reaches back with his hand to drop her keys on the table. They fall to the floor instead, but they take no heed, चुंबन and groping and stumbling back to the bedroom.
    Gwen has Arthur’s कमीज, शर्ट off halfway down the hallway, and Arthur has Gwen’s jeans opened. They fall onto the बिस्तर and he pulls them the rest of the way off. She sits up and whips her कमीज, शर्ट off over her head now, tossing it aside carelessly.
    “Whoa, there, Sweet, where do आप think we are, my flat?” Arthur laughs at her, eyes roving over her bare breasts, her bra having been stuffed in the bag with their towels instead of put back on.
    Gwen laughs and beckons him closer, opening the fly of his jeans now, sliding her hands inside, pressing her palms against his skin.
    He groans and yanks the damp परिधान off before peeling her knickers down. They curl up on themselves as he pulls them down, damp both from the residual moisture from the hot tub and Gwen’s own hot moisture that has been accumulating.
    Arthur climbs over her and kisses his way up, starting at her stomach.
    “That was the… longest… drive home… ever,” he groans against her skin.
    Gwen laughs again until Arthur’s lips silence her, चुंबन her hungrily. He pulls away and looks down at her, his face suddenly serious.
    “What is it, Arthur?”
    There is a small glimmer in his eye that is betraying his serious expression. “I just remembered. आप कहा आप would make it up to me when we got back.” A slow smile creeps across his face as he gets an idea.
    “Oh,” she says, wondering what his deliciously depraved mind has come up with now.
    “You also owe me for your behavior with that naughty little foot of yours,” he rumbles, and Gwen suddenly feels even warmer.
    “I figured as much,” she whispers, leaning her head up to किस him.
    Arthur kisses across her jaw and over to her ear, which he nibbles a मिनट before whispering, “I want to watch you.”
    “Watch me what?” she asks. His hands are being quite distracting, indeed.
    “I want to watch आप touch yourself,” he purrs, sliding off of her now.
    Oh. She blinks a few times, propping herself up on her elbows. He wants to what?
    “Really?” she asks, as that is all she can think to say.
    “Yes, really.” He even goes so far as to pull over a chair, sitting in it to watch.
    “Um…”
    “If you’re really uncomfortable with it…” he starts, thinking that he may have gone too far.
    “No… no, I don’t think so, anyway,” she says, biting her lower lip. “I just want to make sure that the little camera in your brain is turned off.”
    He laughs suddenly, understanding now. “I promise I will neither draw nor paint आप in this state.”
    She slides back down onto the pillows. This is a little weird. It’s not like I’ve never done this before, but I’m not sure how to start.
    “Would आप like me to help आप begin?” he asks quietly.
    “Yes.”
    Arthur rejoins her on the bed, अगला to her this time. He takes her right hand in his, guiding it first to her breast, pressing her fingers with his, coaxing her out. He leans over and kisses her, sliding her hand down now, gliding it across her stomach to her thigh, having her stroke her inner thigh before he moves her hand over herself, where he lets go.
    He kisses her one और time, then takes her left hand and places it on her other breast, so that she has one hand below and one above.
    Gwen’s fingers instinctively curl into the hot moisture of her womanhood and she sighs a small sigh, her left hand squeezing her breast of its own accord now.
    She parts her legs wider, allowing her fingers to push further, sliding the middle one up inside herself.
    She takes her nipple between her thumb and the side of her forefinger and squeezes it, arching slightly.
    She barely realizes that Arthur has returned to his chair, watching her with lust-filled eyes.
    Gwen slides her finger out and runs it up and down her cleft a few times, slowly, savoring the sensation; she rolls her nipple between the fingers of her other hand.
    “Oh…” she sighs, and his hand drifts between his own legs, unable to stop from touching himself along with her.
    Two fingers now, circling and stroking, thrusting inside, then back out, circling and stroking.
    Her breathing goes shallow; her hand grips her breast, her palm rubbing the stiff nipple.
    Arthur watches, mesmerized, as her fingers dip and swirl, her knees falling wide, and as his own hand closes around himself, he realizes that perhaps this wasn’t as good an idea as he thought.
    He doesn’t know where to look. He wants to see everything: her face, her body, her fingers as they pleasure her. His fingers close around his shaft when her breathing starts becoming heavy, small gasps escaping her lips.
    “Arthur…” she mews his name plaintively, arching her back again.
    Arthur’s hand tightens on himself, moving now, slowly. Easy. Pace yourself. Just watch.
    Gwen’s left hand pulls at her nipple now, her right moving faster, circling tighter. Her head tosses to the side and her mouth falls open as she gasps.
    “Oh… yes… Arthur...” she moans. So close.
    Unable to take any more, he dives over her and into her in one fluid motion, growling.
    “Yes!” she gasps as she feels the thickness of his manhood enter, plunging deep, finding its home. She grabs his shoulders, pulling him to her, and he immediately latches onto her breast, suckling fiercely, pulling the hard nipple into his mouth, nibbling it with his teeth.
    He thrusts, तत्पर, तेज, स्विफ्ट and hard, and she was so close that she is already crashing down around him, digging her nails in and very nearly screaming with her release as it washes over her like a flood.
    The sting of her fingernails and the screaming of his name pushes him to the edge and he plummets, pushing as deep as he can, releasing into her with another massive growl as his lips leave her breast and his head falls to the side on her chest, breathing heavily.
    “Shit,” he gasps after a moment, bringing a wave of giggles from Gwen.
    He rolls to the side, gathering her in his arms now, चुंबन her forehead, her cheeks, eyelids, nose, and finally her lips. “You are so beautiful. आप were unbelievable, my love.”
    She blushes and ducks her head into his shoulder. “I’m glad आप chose to शामिल होइए me,” she admits.
    “So am I. As much as I enjoyed watching, participating is much better.”
    She laughs again, चुंबन his chest. “I do प्यार आप so much,” she says, reaching behind her to try and pull the covers back so that they can worm their way under.
    They wiggle and shift and get the blankets down, tucking themselves in.
    “I प्यार आप more,” he says, squeezing her.
    “Probably,” she says, teasing him now.
    “What?”
    She grins up at him and he can’t help but किस her again.
    “Thank you, Guinevere,” he says after a time. The light is now out and they are snuggled together in a sleepy embrace, in a cozy little world where only the two of them exist.
    “What for?” she asks, her soft voice edged with sleep.
    “Only everything. The show. Merlin’s book. Forgiving me. Loving me.”

    “So Drag, what name are आप going to be using?” Gwaine asks, looking up from the third piece of paper he’s drawn all over that day, working out ideas for Arthur’s flyers and poster.
    “What do आप mean?” Arthur asks.
    “Do आप want it to say ‘Arthur Pendragon’ या just ‘Drag’ या ‘Gwaine Patrick’ या what?”
    “Nice try,” Arthur says, laughing. “What do आप think?” he walks over. “I don’t want to look like a pretentious twat द्वारा using only one name, but I really don’t want to be tied to my father, आप know?”
    “Don’t want people thinking you’re getting a दिखाना because you’re some spoiled rich prat, right?”
    “Right. Especially because I’m not.”
    “Well, you’re neither spoiled nor rich…” Phil comments, shoving the end of a pen down into her cast, rubbing furiously.
    “Phil, stop scratching,” Gwaine scolds, not looking up. “You know what the doctor said.”
    “Piss off,” she says, but withdraws the pen anyway. She contemplates the implement a moment, then throws it at Gwaine, and it hits him in the center of his back.
    Arthur laughs and picks it up. “What do आप think, Phil?” he asks, bringing her pen back to her.
    “Go with Drag. People will meet आप at the दिखाना and discover for themselves that you’re not a pretentious twat.”
    “Wow, was that a compliment?” Arthur asks, grinning at her.
    “No,” she says, turning away.
    Arthur walks over to her and, knowing she can’t escape, wraps his arms around her from behind in a massive hug. She squirms and he kisses her cheek, just to further aggravate her.
    “Get off me, आप shit!” she complains, but she is actually trying very hard not to laugh.
    Arthur lets go, laughing, and walks back over to Gwaine. He looks at the three possible poster ideas.
    “I like this one,” he says pointing to the first. Gwaine already had the name “Drag” written on it anyway, he notices. “But…” he snatches Gwaine’s pen from him and starts drawing on the draft.
    “Hey! My flyer!” Gwaine exclaims territorially.
    “My show. The flyer should have something of mine on it,” Arthur says, and Gwaine really cannot argue that point. He sighs, calls Arthur a twat under his breath, and watches as Arthur draws one of his amazing ड्रॅगन्स across the sheet, winding it around, somehow drawing it behind the lettering, making it look like the dragon was there first and the rest put on top.
    “Shit. That is better,” Gwaine admits.
    “Of course it is,” Arthur says, tossing his pen back.
    “Yeah, fuck you.”

    The अगला few weeks are a flurry of activity. Arthur is now splitting his time between Excalibur and the gallery, approving frame choices and संपूर्ण, कुल मिलाकर layout, arguing with Lance about hors d’oeuvres and décor. Lance prefers fancy canapés and champagne, Arthur wants plain pub fare and ale. The caterer winds up in tears when Arthur wins, using the simple argument, “This is meant to दिखाना my art and who I am. I am not bloody cucumber sandwiches and smoked salmon. I am मछली and chips and whatever the hell it was that Leon made that day. Chili dogs. And Twiglets. And candy. Lots of candy.”
    Seeing the caterer’s face crumble slightly, he apologizes. “Sorry. It’s just that I grew up surrounded द्वारा that posh nonsense, and I really do not wish to have any part of it now.”
    Gwen finally finished the first draft of Marcus Ryan’s book, able to concentrate properly again, and has moved on to the सेकंड draft of Merlin’s book and yet another project that Gaius has दिया her.
    Gwen also starts to notice that और and और of Arthur’s things are making their way into her flat. A toothbrush, a razor and some shave cream, a pair of the athletic shorts he likes to lounge around in. A big jar of candy. और bottles of lager in the fridge than usual. She pretends not to notice, enjoying letting him think he’s being sly.
    One दिन she comes घर with a length of deep crimson fabric she’s bought for a dress she wants to make for the opening. She finds two of Arthur’s pencils, his special drawing pencils, with a small sketchpad on the तालिका, टेबल where she keeps her sewing machine.
    Damn, Arthur, if आप want to हटाइए in with me, just ask, she thinks, exasperated and flattered at the same time. But if the cat box shows up, I will say something.
    She grins every time she sees a flyer या a poster in a new place. She shamelessly hands them out to everyone she knows in her office, and posts one on a bulletin board. She is overjoyed when Mr. Gaius says he’s not only coming to the opening but also that Gwen is to take that दिन off so she can be available to Arthur for the show.

    Morgana opens the envelope that just arrived in the day’s post, an unfamiliar return address in the corner.
    It’s the flyer!
    Her eyes scan the page and she immediately knows it to be Gwaine’s handiwork. But that dragon is definitely Arthur’s.
    She looks at her diary for the fiftieth time since he told her the तारीख, दिनांक of the show, hoping again, fruitlessly, that her trip to Rome was the following week. It isn’t. He told me to go.
    She stares at the flyer, smiling warmly at it, at her brother’s big moment. Then she reaches down into her डेस्क for a blank envelope, addresses it and puts the flyer inside, sealing it with a satisfied grin.
    Then she reaches for her phone to ring the travel agent to see about changing her return flight so that she arrives at Heathrow instead of Glasgow.

    Thursday night before the show, Gwen is putting the finishing touches on her red dress, and Arthur is bouncing off the walls.
    “Love, there is new ice cream in the freezer,” Gwen calmly tells him, and he looks up sharply, then heads to the kitchen.
    “Mint chip,” she hears him mutter from the kitchen. She also hears him dig into the jar of Skittles, his latest obsession, that he’s brought over.
    “Skittles and mint chip ice cream,” she says to herself, shuddering at the combination.
    “I heard that,” he says, “and I’m not putting them on the ice cream. That would be weird.”
    “Right,” she says, lifting the dress now, completed.
    “Skittles would go on इंद्रधनुष sherbet, though,” he टिप्पणियाँ idly, walking back in with two bowls, one with ice cream, the other with candy.
    “What do आप think?” she asks दिखा रहा है him the dress.
    “Model it for me?”
    “Sure,” she heads to the bedroom to change.
    “You could change out here,” he calls.
    “Yes, but then you’d want me to strip for you, and then the dress would be forgotten,” she shouts back.
    “Hmm,” he ponders that thought a minute. “Wear those shoes!” he calls back.
    “That was the whole point of buying this color fabric.”
    Arthur waits, finishing his ice cream and setting the bowl aside before digging into the Skittles. “Ugh,” he says, “she’s right,” and goes to get a long drink of water before returning to his candy.
    He sits, still waiting. “What’s taking so long?” he whines.
    “You want the shoes, then आप must wait for the shoes.”
    Arthur leans back on the couch, running his hand over his head. Needs a shave. “Sweet, can we do my hair later? I want it to be good for tomorrow,” he yells.
    “You don’t need to yell,” she says calmly, and he jumps and turns so quickly that he almost spills his candy.
    “Dear God in heaven,” he says. “You can’t wear that to the show, you’ll take all the attention away from my art.”
    The dress is a sleeveless लपेटें dress, accentuating her curves in all the right places. It has a deep vee in the front and falls just to her knees.
    “So आप like it then,” she says.
    “Turn around.”
    She starts to spin for him.
    “Slowly,” he corrects. She laughs and turns slowly.
    “Nope. Can’t wear it,” he declares.
    “You’re not the boss of me,” she says over her shoulder, laughing, keeping her back to him, her hands on her hips saucily.
    He walks closer, inspecting her now, turning her to face him again. “You don’t even have a bra on,” he observes, peeking in.
    “Of course not,” she slaps his hand away and kisses him. “It would show.”
    “You look beautiful, Love,” he says softly, चुंबन her now.
    “Thank you. Now if आप would be good enough to release me, I’ll go change and then we’ll go shave your head.”
    “You have to change?”
    “Arthur…”
    “I know, आप don’t want to wreck it,” he says, चुंबन her one और time before dropping his hands from her waist.
    Arthur waits in the bathroom. He finds some nail clippers and idly trims his fingernails while he waits.
    “You could have at least gotten your head ready,” Gwen says, walking in wearing her nightie, the purple one.
    “I like it when आप do it. Besides, I just noticed how long my fingernails were.”
    “Yes, we must have आप properly groomed for tomorrow,” she smiles.
    He peers down at his toes, to see if they need attention as well.
    “I don’t think anyone will be seeing them,” she says.
    “I know, but I’ve got the clippers in my hand.”
    “Later. We’re doing your hair now.” She grabs the can of foam and plants herself in his lap.

Part 36: link