Disclaimer: I do NOT own King Arthur or his pretty knights
Title: The First Time
Author: Shibbie
Reviews: Yes, please! :)
Author's Notes: Okay, I have the weekend to study and four more exams to go so of course I could not resist writing this... Which actually turned out to be a lot more un-serious then I intended.
All his life Galahad had been waiting for this moment, saving himself for this moment. The moment when Gawain would take him into his arms, kiss him, touch him and love him...
So when it was all said and done Galahad couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. True, he had no other experience to compare it too but if he did, this moment with Gawain would not rate very highly.
Beside him, Gawain cleared his throat and just by the expression on his face, Galahad knew it didn't rank very highly with Gawain either.
It had been awkward at best, the flailing of sweaty limbs and the consistent kneeing and elbowing into sensitive areas. It was definitely not how Galahad had imagined it.
"Um..." Galahad mumbled as he tugged the blanket up to his chin.
"Hmm..." Was Gawain's reply as he propped himself up on his elbows. "That was..."
"Yeah," Galahad answered, not meeting the older knight's eyes. "That was...yeah." He then pulled the blanket up and over his face so he could hide his humiliation.
The next day, besides walking and riding a little uncomfortably, Galahad had acted like nothing had happened and Gawain, taking Galahad's lead, did the same.
Whenever they brushed past one another or whenever their eyes met, Galahad would blush furiously and either walked or looked away. Even if neither of the knights said anything, the rest of the group had figured out that at least something was going on.
After a couple more embarrassing days and strange looks from the other knights, Galahad decided to do something about it. He figured that the other knights must know what was going since he and Gawain had been avoiding each other like the plague, so he was going to take advantage of this situation...!
And ask for advice.
His first choice was Bors because, well the man had about seventy-eight children to who knows how many women. So Galahad figured he must be doing something right.
Galahad had stuttered and mumbled incoherently and only managed to splutter out his question when Bors started poking him insistently with the bone of some bird he was eating.
Bors then proceeded to laugh at Galahad – loudly, for a long time. Galahad who truly was not expecting that sort of a reaction just froze as the other knights popped their heads out from whatever they were doing to come and investigate.
Bor was wiping tears from his eyes and luckily for Galahad, he was laughing so hard he couldn't tell the other knights just what he was laughing at. So the other knights just shrugged their shoulders and went back to what they were doing before the interruption.
"Bors!" Galahad seethed between clenched teeth and grabbed the other man by his face.
The larger man just smiled. "Can't help ya, lad, never been with a man before. But thanks for that, I needed a good laugh." He then proceeded to laugh all over again just to prove his point.
Galahad decided that he hated Bors.
Choice number two was Lancelot because if that knight slept with as much woman as he did men he would have more children then Bors could ever fathom.
Galahad had gotten straight to the point with Lancelot while the older knight was fixing up his horse's saddle.
Lancelot just smirked and replied with something about it being a gift and that some had it and others didn't. Galahad got the hint and decided that he hated Lancelot too...perhaps more then Bors.
Arthur would have been Galahad's third choice. But the younger knight figured that talking outright about sex must be a sin or something according to Arthur's god, because apparently everything is a sin with Arthur's god, well all the fun things anyway. So Galahad thought that he would be the better man and save Arthur from eternal damnation by just skipping choice number three.
Now at the beginning, when Galahad had first thought up this brilliant plan he had figured that one out of his three choices would have at least given him some sort of advice to work with, anything really. He had never even comprehended the fact that all three would fail him.
So that only left Galahad with two more options. Tristan had disappeared again and Dagonet was currently skinning a rabbit. Galahad, who was kind of afraid of both of the men, found Dagonet the less threatening of the two and proceeded to approach the taller knight.
Galahad was only a few feet away from Dagonet when the sight and smell of the dead rabbit got too much and Galahad felt like he was going to gag. So he instead turned sharply and disappeared into the surrounding woods in search of his last and only hope – who was probably hunting down some innocent person to slain as this very moment, according to Galahad.
Tristan already had a hand on the hilt of the small dagger he kept to his chest before Galahad appeared.
"Why are you following me?" He said once Galahad had come into view.
"Uh..." Galahad had faltered under the older knight's intense gaze and was now staring at his feet. He briefly wondered if pleasing Gawain was worth this trouble, he instantly answered a 'yes' and slowly lifted his head.
"I have a favour to ask of you." Galahad fidgeted with his fingers.
"I know" Tristan had replied, leaning against the trunk of a nearby tree.
"You do?" Galahad asked incredulously even though he figured that if anybody knew anything it would be Tristan.
"I can't tell you how to please Gawain."
And the little, tiny, flicker of hope Galahad had was completely extinguished.
"Oh," Galahad dropped down to sit on some old rotting log. He wasn't going to cry. No of course not, why would he? He had quite possibly embarrassed himself in front of half the knights he admired and respected and knew at least two of them who would never let him forget it AND Gawain would never sleep with him again because he sucked, and not in the good way. So this was all hopeless...UTTERLY HOPELESS!
Galahad sniffled and angrily brushed away the tears that were not forming in his eyes.
This left Tristan in a very awkward position. So silently, as he always did, the older knight sat down beside Galahad and rested a hand on the back of his neck.
"I can't tell you, but I can show you."
Galahad blinked and it took him a full minute or two to realise what Tristan had meant.
Galahad's eyes widened and he let out a sort of choked gasped and for a moment the youngest knight considered the possibility that maybe Tristan was jesting him, but Tristan never jested so he immediately dismissed the idea.
So therefore, Tristan was offering to show Galahad what he wanted to know and it wasn't like the younger knight was going to decline or anything. Galahad may be a lot of things but he wasn't stupid.
Galahad had stumbled back onto the camp with his shirt half tucked and his hair filled with leaves and bits of sticks. He looked a little dazed and at this moment his brain had long abandoned him which didn't bother him at all.
Somewhere in between Galahad blinking blankly and nearly tripping over his own feet, Tristan had returned to the camp looking, well... like Tristan.
Gawain, who had grown worried when he observed Galahad nearly walk into a tree, carefully approached the younger knight like one would to a skittish animal.
Meanwhile, Lancelot who generally had a one track mind had figured out what was going. He glared angrilly at Galahad who most likely didn't even notice before glaring accusingly at Tristan who most likely did notice but chose to ignore it, before storming away in a huff to go sulk in a dark corner.
Arthur was catching up on some much needed bible study while Bors and Dagonet were discussing if Bors should give his children real names and if so, what sort of names.
"Dot?" Dagonet offered and the older man paused to consider the option.
"Galahad?" Gawain gently reached towards the dazed knight. "Are you okay?"
Galahad flailed around uselessly before Gawain got a grip of him.
"Gawain!" Galahad grinned lopsidedly. "I have something to show you...tonight" He raised his eyebrow suggestively.
The blonde knight just nodded slowly. "Sure, but maybe for now you should sit down."
Galahad could hardly contain himself on the way back to the village. He kept flashing huge smiles to all the knights, especially Tristan (because he is a God! And from this day forward Galahad shall worship him) and Gawain (because he loves him and tonight Galahad will show him exactly how much). In between all of this Galahad wondered why Lancelot was giving him such reproachful looks in return, did he have something in his teeth?
Galahad whispered to Gawain that he would meet him later in his room and though the blonde knight gave him a questioningly look, he nodded.
On his way to Gawain, Galahad heard a disturbance near Lancelot's room. At first the younger knight thought that maybe Lancelot was in trouble but as he peeked through the older knight's window he figured that maybe Lancelot would be just fine.
Lancelot had Tristan pinned to the wall and was currently attacking the silent knight with furious kisses and Galahad thought he heard words like, 'mine' and 'you bastard' between all the grunting.
Galahad figured it was time to go when his comrades started shedding their clothes.
"Gawain, you are going to love me after this." Galahad announced once he had closed the door behind him.
Gawain looked up, puzzled. "But I already love you."
"Well... you'll love me even more." Galahad emphasised with dramatic, swinging arm movements.
Galahad grinned like a mad man and it took his entire self-control to stop himself from jumping up and doing a quick jig but he didn't think Gawain or his brothers-in-arms would appreciate the sudden ruckus. So instead he propped himself up on one elbow, looking down at a flushed and out of breath, Gawain.
"Wow" the blonde knight flustered, "just...wow."
"I know"
"How did you? ...I mean...When?" Gawain's brain was still catching up.
Galahad bit back the word 'Tristan'. "A little bird taught me." He answered instead even though the bird wasn't little at all. Galahad congratulated himself for being so clever.
"Really?" Galahad flushed under Gawain's suspicious gaze, "because that thing with the tongue? Tristan does that."
A/N: I was actually trying out Gawain/Galahad but could not resist throwing Tristan in there and since Tristan was going down I figured a little of Lancelot couldn't hurt. As I said before it turned out to be a lot more... not-angsty, as I intended. It's sort-of fluffy... -hangs head in shame-