Entry: DC06En10

Title: Your Importance

Theme and/or Prompt/s: Sugar & Spice (Arthur attempts to make Gwen a Valentine's Day card/gift)

Rating: PG

Characters/Pairings: Arthur & Gwen, minor mentions of Merlin.

Spoilers: No mentions of events in the current season.

Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to Shine and the BBC.

Summary: It’s Valentine's Day in Camelot and Arthur wants to do something special for Gwen.

Author’s notes: This is for little Elisabeth and the person who suggested the prompt. Thanks to <lj user="mystizan"> for BETA'ing.

Arthur was preparing for his routine fighting practice. He quickly noticed Gwen, carrying a basket of Morgana’s clothing that needed to be washed. Arthur smiled to himself, but she didn’t acknowledge him.

Her mind seemed to be somewhere else. He looked over the fence, to see Gwen turn her head to look at the courtyard. His eyes followed hers, which were fixated on a group of smiling and giddy female servants who were holding various flowers which had been picked from the royal gardens.

Merlin had come scurrying out of his room, carrying armor that was too big and heavy for his body to carry. Arthur quickly picked up the pieces of metal but his mind was suddenly somewhere else.

His eyebrows scrunched together in thought as he looked over at Gwen and the giddy female servants. “Is today something special?” he asked. Arthur and his father rarely celebrated the same holidays as the commoners in the kingdom.

It was so rare to see servants in his father’s employ so congenial, so infectiously happy. But, Gwen stops, her eyes are lingering on the scene, of happy females.

“Today is Valentine’s Day,” Merlin says with a smile, looking over at the servants, “They probably had some admirers…”

She looks over at him with a sad smile that Arthur had become accustomed to seeing from her. He wondered why something that was making everyone else seem so happy could possibly make Guinevere seem so sad. 

“You don’t know what Valentine’s Day is… do you?” Merlin asks with a small amount of amusement.  Arthur shakes his head. Only Arthur could be so ignorant about the mundane, common things.

Merlin laughs quietly to himself. But Arthur has no time to be embarrassed by his question.

His eyes were focused on Gwen and he noticed the look in her eyes betray that she so desperately wanted to be one of those girls.

Merlin followed the focus of Arthur’s gaze and sympathetically, said “ It’s a day to show someone special to you that you care, that they are important to you… you usually give a token of your affections.”

Arthur leans his hands across the railing of the open balcony to get a closer look at the courtyard, “What kind of token?” Merlin looked over at Arthur’s anxious face. “Depends on the man, I suppose… but ladies love flowers, or sweets.” Flowers. Sweets. It all just seemed so insignificant to Arthur but it clearly meant something to Gwen.

Merlin looked over at Arthur’s somber gaze. “Is something wrong?” Merlin asked. Arthur shook his head no as he began to put his armor on. But Merlin noticed something was clearly wrong.

He swallowed, readjusting the armor he carried that Arthur was too lost in thought to put on, and answered the question he knew Arthur wanted to ask but couldn’t “No one gave Gwen anything.”

Arthur nodded. He looked down at Gwen and quickly stood up straight, unfastening his armor. “What is it?”

“I just… I have to do something,” Arthur said handing his armor back to Merlin.

---

Guinevere had gotten through the day, and was relieved that night had finally fallen and she could get to rest. She hadn’t seen Arthur at all that day… she didn’t understand why that bothered her so much.

As she closed the door to her home, she smelled something burning. And then, she noticed the state of her kitchen. Food was splattered was everywhere, and a thick soup was resting over an open fire. She quickly removed her shawl, shocked by the scene. The door suddenly opened, and she whirled turning around to see Arthur standing looking dumbstruck as he held a small bouquet of red roses in his lowered hand.

Arthur looked at the mess, and then back at Gwen’s horrified expression. “I’m sorry… I was going to clean it up.” Arthur went over and quietly put the roses on the table.

“You did this?” she asked, disbelief evident in her tone. “I just wanted to surprise you… ” He said, going to take the soup off the fire. “You don’t like it…I mean… I can’t cook. I can hunt… but I- I thought you’d like me to try to--.“

He had remembered that Gwen had once seen a similar gesture as in genuine, when he had fetched their evening meal from the palace kitchens. Arthur was searching for the right words, scratching his head he nervously said, “It’s just… Merlin told me its Valentine’s Day…”

Arthur swallowed, “And you shouldn’t have to question your importance to me…you should never question your importance to me…”

He was clearly embarrassed by his attempt to demonstrate his feelings towards her. Gwen smiled looking over at the small bouquet he had brought.

Her fingers gently touched their petals, as she bit her lower lip. “I’m an idiot…I’ve made you upset.” he said remorsefully looking at the ground.

Gwen looked thoughtfully at Arthur for a moment, as she often did when she was trying to suppress how important Arthur was to her; and how much she stood to lose in the future.

He had gone through the trouble to give her a proper Valentine’s Day, so she wanted to give him one in return; she rationalized. She gently kissed his lips. Her lips slowly moving over his, on instinct…

Arthur looked lost for a moment, his closed eyes lingering for a moment; it had been too long since he had last kissed her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day…” Gwen said, focusing on the ground. “Thank you” he said, holding her in an embrace. Before he quickly went to move a chair for Gwen to sit in, as he brought over two bowls of very thick soup. He looked doubtfully at the bowl for a minute soup wasn’t supposed to burn like that.

He watched as Gwen tentatively took the first sip. She smiled as convincingly said, “Its wonderful.” Arthur bashfully smiled. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Guinevere.”