AN: I should be finishing my almost two-year-old fic for UB on ff.net(darn wewe Muses for abandoning me again!) but this just wrote itself out. (Goes to onyesha how obsessed I am with this pairing) Not quite sure if it’s cracky but it’s modern AU au maybe an RLF masquerading as modern AU LOL.
***
Arthur scowls at Gwen from across the room as she laughs heartily at something Merlin says. She’s laughing so hard that she needs to hold onto both Merlin and Gawaine’s arms as they both stand on either side of her. Although he tries mightily to catch a hint of what they’re laughing about, he’s too far away.
“Stop fidgeting AP au we’re never gonna get this done.” Sarah admonishes him as she applies the finishing touches to the ‘scar’ she’s been painting onto his chest for the last hour.
“Sorry…” he mutters a tad insincerely as he fights the urge to march up to his co-stars to demand what they found so funny. He knows he’s being irrationally paranoid but for some reason, he’s been finding himself increasingly annoyed whenever SHE laughs au smiles at any of their male co-stars – particularly since she hasn’t been doing any laughing au smiling with him since they’ve been back to shoot the fifth series.
***
Sarah sighs loudly as what should have been the last kanzu, koti of red color onto the latex she’d stuck on Arthur’s chest ends up getting smudged because of his seeming inability to sit still. She looks up in exasperation to tell him off again but notices his intense stare / scowl at something across the room. Following his gaze, she smirks inwardly when she realizes what it is au rather whom it is he’s been directing his intense concentration on. A part of her wants to hit him on the head and tell him off – because really, it’s his bloody fault why Gwen’s been avoiding him – but couldn’t help but feel sorry for the idiot when she notices how tightly he’s holding onto the arm of the chair.
“They’re just sharing a joke…” she offers tentatively, half expecting a sharp retort. She is surprised when the only reaction she gets is a heavy sigh.
***
Gawaine makes an imperceptible nod to Merlin when he notices how intently Arthur is scowling at them from across the room.
Merlin gives him a questioning look as he mouths “What?” silently.
In response, he moves closer to Gwen’s left side in an attempt to hide his motion from both the scowling actor across the room and the actress standing inayofuata to him, who was still trying to control her mirth at the joke his fellow Irish actor told earlier, before silently mouthing, “Arthur.”
Merlin stiffens at this and he sees him resist the urge to immediately look behind him to hakikisha his observation. He’s saved from having to figure out how to engineer the songesha to check out their co-star across the room when one of the production assistants hurries towards them to catch Gwen’s attention. He moves towards Gawaine’s side, ostensibly to give the PA room to Converse with Gwen.
All at once, the actress straightens up and asks. “He’s here?” At the PA’s nod, she turns back to make her excuses to the two men. “I’ll be back in a few, could wewe tell AT that I just stepped out for a spell?”
And before either men could react further, she’s already walking towards the exit, leaving them staring after her in confusion.
“What was that about?” Arthur’s swali breaks into both men’s reveries.
They don’t answer him. Instead kwa mutual agreement, they both start walking towards the exit to see who Gwen’s visitor is and Arthur could do nothing but follow after them.
***
Arthur struggles to control his annoyance at his co-stars who were both pushing at each other trying to get through the exit first. “Oh for crying out loud!” he berates them both before pulling at their shoulders so he could get out ahead of them, all the while wondering what it is they were so eager to see.
“I don’t think you’d want to…” Merlin’s voice trails off behind him when he realizes that Arthur’s been stunned into immobility at the sight before them.
“So who is Gwen’s…” Gawaine’s voice trails off too when he sees the two actors’ motionless figures outside.
For the life of him Arthur can’t move. He tries to but his feet refuse to obey him. And not even the prospect of teasing from the two clowns behind him could unfreeze his limbs. So he stands there wanting to look away but unable to tat the sight of Gwen being enveloped kwa famous actor Michael Grayson’s arms.
***
Gwen enters her hotel room eagerly as she looks mbele to the weekend break she has from shooting. While the work isn’t too tiring during the first week, it is nevertheless taking a massive effort on her part to act normally off set.
“So what happened to keeping things professional?” Arthur’s voice startles her from behind.
“Excuse me?” she asks politely without turning around, though her hackles rise at the way he sneers the word ‘professional.’
“Oh yeah… that series has wrapped so wewe reckon it’s probably real now huh?”
She stiffens but does not react.
“You do know he has a girlfriend.” He continues,
“And a daughter…” He adds for good measure.
“What are wewe on about?” she asks tiredly, still refusing to face him.
“So that excuse is what…just for saps beneath your level of fame?” This time, he doesn’t care to disguise the censure in his voice.
Gwen bites her lip to control her anger. She counts to three before slowly turning around to face him. “We both know who’s zaidi famous between the two of us.” She refuses to be drawn into a fight.
Her answer seems to deflate him and he sighs.
“Gwen…”
“What do wewe want Arthur?” The swali leaves her mouth before she could censor it.
“Why does he get a chance and I don’t?”
The swali floors her. All at once, the anger and resentment and hurt she’s been feeling in the months between their last shooting siku for the fourth series and this siku boils over.
“Unbelievable!” she mutters to herself.
“It’s a fair question.” He insists as though he has all the right in the world to do so.
“You…” she struggles to control her emotions and finally settles for a swali of her own, “…and does Elena know you’re here asking me that?”
He flushes at this. “You told me it can’t be.” He defends himself.
“I told wewe to wait until…” she cuts herself off.
“Why are we even discussing this? You’ve obviously moved on.”
“Obviously!”
She does not miss the sarcasm in his reply but refuses to be baited further.
“So he loves you?” He asks.
She doesn’t answer.
“And wewe upendo him?” He asks again.
She still does not answer.
She sees him take a deep breath trying to mask his feelings before he slowly moves towards the door and mutters “Guess I’ll just see wewe on set then.”
She wants to ask him to stay so they could talk about what happened to them but he doesn’t look back.
She crumples where she stands the moment the door closes. And only then does she allow her tears to fall.
***
She’s going to kill him.
“What are wewe doing?” She whispers at him furiously as she tries to disentangle her hand from his surreptitiously, ever conscious of the many mashabiki milling about the castle.
He smiles at her as he tightens his hold on her hand. “Exercising my husbandly rights. We are after all married now.”
“We’re between takes.” She grumbles but gives up the fight, not wanting to draw attention to their tug of war.
He shrugs. “We’re rehearsing.”
“Our inayofuata scene does not call for any hand holding – we’re supposed to be fighting remember?” She doesn’t know what to make of his about face. She’s been dreading coming to work after the way their conversation at her hotel room went last week, completely expecting the return of his morose persona of series three. That he’s zaidi playful now than he was while shooting series four is an understatement. She tries to ignore the heat traveling up her arm at their prolonged contact and moves to hide their entwined hands from public view.
“Ah…but they don’t know that…” is his cheeky reply, referring to the mashabiki who were all busy trying to film/take pictures of them from way behind the line set up kwa the crew, as he moves to the side so everyone could see how he’s been holding her hand hostage.
“Arthur!” she admonishes him. “I get enough flack from your mashabiki as it is…please don’t make it worse…” she knows it’s pathetic to be pleading with him, but even though she’s made a conscious effort not to pay attention to how the social media surrounding their show’s fandom – yes, she now knows that term, thanks to Merlin and Morgana – she doesn’t live under a rock and so isn’t completely unaware of how much hate she gets from some fans.
***
It is this assertion that makes his smile falter.
He knows that he shouldn’t but he can’t help himself. He turns to face her and then his free hand is touching her face gently and lifting it up – much like his TV character does to hers – so that she can see the silent apology in his eyes.
He sees her eyes widen at his actions and he almost lets go.
Almost.
But then her pupils dilate and her lips part.
And before he could think about the consequences of his actions, he is bending towards her.
And right there, in front of cast, crew and mashabiki alike, he throws caution to the winds.
And kisses her.
Everything fades away.
He doesn’t hear the director yell cut as Merlin fumble his lines.
He doesn’t hear the gasps from the crew.
He doesn’t notice the flashing of the cameras from mashabiki across the courtyard.
…
…
dakika later.
Tumber explodes.
link
***
Arthur scowls at Gwen from across the room as she laughs heartily at something Merlin says. She’s laughing so hard that she needs to hold onto both Merlin and Gawaine’s arms as they both stand on either side of her. Although he tries mightily to catch a hint of what they’re laughing about, he’s too far away.
“Stop fidgeting AP au we’re never gonna get this done.” Sarah admonishes him as she applies the finishing touches to the ‘scar’ she’s been painting onto his chest for the last hour.
“Sorry…” he mutters a tad insincerely as he fights the urge to march up to his co-stars to demand what they found so funny. He knows he’s being irrationally paranoid but for some reason, he’s been finding himself increasingly annoyed whenever SHE laughs au smiles at any of their male co-stars – particularly since she hasn’t been doing any laughing au smiling with him since they’ve been back to shoot the fifth series.
***
Sarah sighs loudly as what should have been the last kanzu, koti of red color onto the latex she’d stuck on Arthur’s chest ends up getting smudged because of his seeming inability to sit still. She looks up in exasperation to tell him off again but notices his intense stare / scowl at something across the room. Following his gaze, she smirks inwardly when she realizes what it is au rather whom it is he’s been directing his intense concentration on. A part of her wants to hit him on the head and tell him off – because really, it’s his bloody fault why Gwen’s been avoiding him – but couldn’t help but feel sorry for the idiot when she notices how tightly he’s holding onto the arm of the chair.
“They’re just sharing a joke…” she offers tentatively, half expecting a sharp retort. She is surprised when the only reaction she gets is a heavy sigh.
***
Gawaine makes an imperceptible nod to Merlin when he notices how intently Arthur is scowling at them from across the room.
Merlin gives him a questioning look as he mouths “What?” silently.
In response, he moves closer to Gwen’s left side in an attempt to hide his motion from both the scowling actor across the room and the actress standing inayofuata to him, who was still trying to control her mirth at the joke his fellow Irish actor told earlier, before silently mouthing, “Arthur.”
Merlin stiffens at this and he sees him resist the urge to immediately look behind him to hakikisha his observation. He’s saved from having to figure out how to engineer the songesha to check out their co-star across the room when one of the production assistants hurries towards them to catch Gwen’s attention. He moves towards Gawaine’s side, ostensibly to give the PA room to Converse with Gwen.
All at once, the actress straightens up and asks. “He’s here?” At the PA’s nod, she turns back to make her excuses to the two men. “I’ll be back in a few, could wewe tell AT that I just stepped out for a spell?”
And before either men could react further, she’s already walking towards the exit, leaving them staring after her in confusion.
“What was that about?” Arthur’s swali breaks into both men’s reveries.
They don’t answer him. Instead kwa mutual agreement, they both start walking towards the exit to see who Gwen’s visitor is and Arthur could do nothing but follow after them.
***
Arthur struggles to control his annoyance at his co-stars who were both pushing at each other trying to get through the exit first. “Oh for crying out loud!” he berates them both before pulling at their shoulders so he could get out ahead of them, all the while wondering what it is they were so eager to see.
“I don’t think you’d want to…” Merlin’s voice trails off behind him when he realizes that Arthur’s been stunned into immobility at the sight before them.
“So who is Gwen’s…” Gawaine’s voice trails off too when he sees the two actors’ motionless figures outside.
For the life of him Arthur can’t move. He tries to but his feet refuse to obey him. And not even the prospect of teasing from the two clowns behind him could unfreeze his limbs. So he stands there wanting to look away but unable to tat the sight of Gwen being enveloped kwa famous actor Michael Grayson’s arms.
***
Gwen enters her hotel room eagerly as she looks mbele to the weekend break she has from shooting. While the work isn’t too tiring during the first week, it is nevertheless taking a massive effort on her part to act normally off set.
“So what happened to keeping things professional?” Arthur’s voice startles her from behind.
“Excuse me?” she asks politely without turning around, though her hackles rise at the way he sneers the word ‘professional.’
“Oh yeah… that series has wrapped so wewe reckon it’s probably real now huh?”
She stiffens but does not react.
“You do know he has a girlfriend.” He continues,
“And a daughter…” He adds for good measure.
“What are wewe on about?” she asks tiredly, still refusing to face him.
“So that excuse is what…just for saps beneath your level of fame?” This time, he doesn’t care to disguise the censure in his voice.
Gwen bites her lip to control her anger. She counts to three before slowly turning around to face him. “We both know who’s zaidi famous between the two of us.” She refuses to be drawn into a fight.
Her answer seems to deflate him and he sighs.
“Gwen…”
“What do wewe want Arthur?” The swali leaves her mouth before she could censor it.
“Why does he get a chance and I don’t?”
The swali floors her. All at once, the anger and resentment and hurt she’s been feeling in the months between their last shooting siku for the fourth series and this siku boils over.
“Unbelievable!” she mutters to herself.
“It’s a fair question.” He insists as though he has all the right in the world to do so.
“You…” she struggles to control her emotions and finally settles for a swali of her own, “…and does Elena know you’re here asking me that?”
He flushes at this. “You told me it can’t be.” He defends himself.
“I told wewe to wait until…” she cuts herself off.
“Why are we even discussing this? You’ve obviously moved on.”
“Obviously!”
She does not miss the sarcasm in his reply but refuses to be baited further.
“So he loves you?” He asks.
She doesn’t answer.
“And wewe upendo him?” He asks again.
She still does not answer.
She sees him take a deep breath trying to mask his feelings before he slowly moves towards the door and mutters “Guess I’ll just see wewe on set then.”
She wants to ask him to stay so they could talk about what happened to them but he doesn’t look back.
She crumples where she stands the moment the door closes. And only then does she allow her tears to fall.
***
She’s going to kill him.
“What are wewe doing?” She whispers at him furiously as she tries to disentangle her hand from his surreptitiously, ever conscious of the many mashabiki milling about the castle.
He smiles at her as he tightens his hold on her hand. “Exercising my husbandly rights. We are after all married now.”
“We’re between takes.” She grumbles but gives up the fight, not wanting to draw attention to their tug of war.
He shrugs. “We’re rehearsing.”
“Our inayofuata scene does not call for any hand holding – we’re supposed to be fighting remember?” She doesn’t know what to make of his about face. She’s been dreading coming to work after the way their conversation at her hotel room went last week, completely expecting the return of his morose persona of series three. That he’s zaidi playful now than he was while shooting series four is an understatement. She tries to ignore the heat traveling up her arm at their prolonged contact and moves to hide their entwined hands from public view.
“Ah…but they don’t know that…” is his cheeky reply, referring to the mashabiki who were all busy trying to film/take pictures of them from way behind the line set up kwa the crew, as he moves to the side so everyone could see how he’s been holding her hand hostage.
“Arthur!” she admonishes him. “I get enough flack from your mashabiki as it is…please don’t make it worse…” she knows it’s pathetic to be pleading with him, but even though she’s made a conscious effort not to pay attention to how the social media surrounding their show’s fandom – yes, she now knows that term, thanks to Merlin and Morgana – she doesn’t live under a rock and so isn’t completely unaware of how much hate she gets from some fans.
***
It is this assertion that makes his smile falter.
He knows that he shouldn’t but he can’t help himself. He turns to face her and then his free hand is touching her face gently and lifting it up – much like his TV character does to hers – so that she can see the silent apology in his eyes.
He sees her eyes widen at his actions and he almost lets go.
Almost.
But then her pupils dilate and her lips part.
And before he could think about the consequences of his actions, he is bending towards her.
And right there, in front of cast, crew and mashabiki alike, he throws caution to the winds.
And kisses her.
Everything fades away.
He doesn’t hear the director yell cut as Merlin fumble his lines.
He doesn’t hear the gasps from the crew.
He doesn’t notice the flashing of the cameras from mashabiki across the courtyard.
…
…
dakika later.
Tumber explodes.
link
