{"id":336,"date":"2005-01-02T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2005-01-02T22:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pr0nandchocolate.net\/fiction\/king-arthur-a-long-dark-night-galahadgawain-pg-13\/"},"modified":"2005-01-02T23:36:00","modified_gmt":"2005-01-02T22:36:00","slug":"a-long-dark-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/a-long-dark-night\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long Dark Night"},"content":{"rendered":"
This entry is in the series 12 Days<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

Note:<\/b> Birthday mathom for , my G\/G guru, who wished for post-Badon Hill h\/c fic\u2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n\n

Normally, Gawain would have been all over the girls that threw themselves at him, batting their eyes and milking him for hero\u2019s tales about Badon Hill. Gawain counted, and at some point there were no less than eight giggling creatures hanging onto his every word. It was probably that the number of available knights to win over had gone down drastically in the last few weeks. <\/p>\n

As a matter of fact, it was only him tonight. And that was exactly what was wrong with this the whole thing. Gawain was not supposed to be here \u2013 not alone, not at all. But drinking had seemed like a good idea, even if it was just to forget about his fallen comrades for just an hour or two and maybe find some rest afterwards, preferably unconscious.<\/p>\n

There hadn\u2019t been much sleep for Gawain since the battle. If anyone asked \u2013 not that there were a lot of people left who cared enough to do so \u2013 he told them that the spear wound in his back kept him awake. But in truth he had been watching over Galahad pretty much constantly ever since they had found each other on the battlefield and the younger knight had told him that Tristan had fallen.<\/p>\n

Galahad\u2019s usually so vibrant voice, often cursed because it was so damn loud all the time, had been dull, lifeless. Gawain had checked him for injuries, naturally, the way he always did, no matter how much Galahad resented being \u201cmothered\u201d, but didn\u2019t find anything except for some scrapes. Yet that dead look did not disappear from Galahad\u2019s eyes, and so Gawain had made it his business to keep watch over him. <\/p>\n

Luckily \u2013 or not, if Gawain stopped to think about it \u2013 Galahad didn\u2019t seem to be paying much attention to anything anymore, and as he went through the motions of everyday life he did not even once yell at Gawain to leave him alone. On the contrary, he seemed to have accepted Gawain\u2019s constant presence as something unavoidable, not even blinking when Gawain offered a lame excuse about making sure Galahad hadn\u2019t been hit on the head in order to explain why he spent the nights in a chair in Galahad\u2019s room.<\/p>\n

Even if Gawain had been able to relax, Galahad\u2019s nightmares would have kept him up anyway. Gawain had tried talking Galahad through them, had tried waking him before they got too bad or had held his hand as he thrashed and fought \u2013 but to no avail. His presence seemed to make no difference whatsoever, a fact that felt much wronger to Gawain than it had any right to be.<\/p>\n

It was this sense of helplessness that had driven him outside, to where the mead was. But even the attentions of a bunch of eager girls couldn\u2019t make him forget that he should be at Galahad\u2019s side. With a tired sigh, Gawain rose and grunted some sort of apology towards his admirers. It was time to go back where he belonged, even if it didn\u2019t matter one way or the other to Galahad.<\/p>\n

The door to Galahad\u2019s quarters felt heavy, as if it was made of iron, when Gawain pushed it open reluctantly. Everything was as he had left it \u2013 a mess, since Galahad didn\u2019t see a reason to continue holding up the military order Arthur had forced on him, now that the knights had to all purposes ceased to exist. Galahad himself was also still in the same position; he hadn\u2019t moved as far as Gawain could tell, lying on his bed staring at the ceiling.<\/p>\n

But just as Gawain wanted to slump down in his usual chair, Galahad turned his head and looked directly at Gawain. It was the first time since the battle, and Gawain could suddenly taste fresh hope on his tongue, replacing the metallic taste of smoke and despair.<\/p>\n

\u201cGawain? Where did you go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Galahad sounded impossibly young and vulnerable, reminding Gawain with a pang of what felt like homesickness of times long since past. It had been too long since Galahad had let him get close, and Gawain realized that he had missed him painfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just\u2026 went to get some ale,\u201d he answered, suddenly realizing that he was in fact still holding a mug of mead. Crossing the room impulsively, he sat down on Galahad\u2019s bed, so close that their thighs were touching.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor you,\u201d he said, offering the mug to Galahad. Their eyes met and Galahad sat up on his elbows, taking the mug from Gawain and drinking. Drinking deeply, as if he had been dying of thirst. <\/p>\n

\u201cCareful, Galahad, you\u2019ll choke!\u201d Gawain laughed, the sound vibrating between them. His first laugh in much too long \u2013 hadn\u2019t there been a time when a day hadn\u2019t passed that Gawain had laughed, most of the time with Galahad? Finally Galahad set the mug down but remained upright, still looking at Gawain with his face open. <\/p>\n

\u201cLook, I\u2019m sorry, Galahad, \u201c Gawain finally said quietly, letting his left hand come to rest on Galahad\u2019s chest, feeling the strong heartbeat under his palm. Galahad didn\u2019t shy away, didn\u2019t even tense, just kept looking at him, his face calm. But there was warmth in his eyes, subdued in comparison to his earlier fire but clearly visible for Gawain\u2019s searching gaze. Sitting on Galahad\u2019s bed, body to body, eye to eye, Gawain felt warmth spread through him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t be leaving you again, I promise,\u201d he said, voice quiet but serious. Then he smiled and added: \u201cDo you think you can live with that, Galahad?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answering smile on Galahad\u2019s face was small \u2013 but it was there, unmistakably. \u201cYes, I think I can live with that just fine, Gawain\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

To Gawain, it felt as if the sun was rising again after a long night, and without stopping to think about it he reached out and touched the back of his hand to Galahad\u2019s cheek softly. Galahad\u2019s smile got brighter, and suddenly Gawain found himself being pulled down on top of the bed \u2013 on top of Galahad \u2013 by two strong arms.<\/p>\n

The older knight returned Galahad\u2019s tight embrace, and they held onto each other fiercely, bodies already fitting together perfectly. Not for one moment did Gawain regret leaving the willing maidens at the bar behind for this\u2026
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This entry is in the series 12 Days<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"eight maids a-milking\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[128,17],"tags":[295,299],"series":[310],"class_list":["post-336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galahadgawain","category-king-arthur","tag-audience-teen","tag-genre-slash","series-12days"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shirasade.net\/fiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}