Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to the BBC, not to me I'm not making money out of them.
"They might see."
"They'll see."
"They know about us anyway, why does it matter now?"
"Because," began Arthur, still glancing around nervously, 'Your brother's here!' he sounded very pleased with himself, almost triumphant at his reasoning.
'Elyan likes you! Well, as a leader and a swordsman but he's getting used to the idea of you as his…' Gwen stopped at this point as she felt Arthur's hand squeeze hers and hastily corrected, 'well he's getting used to us.'
'But don't you see? That's why I can't, we can't do this, especially here. I don't want to lose his respect. Any of their respect.' Arthur was close to pleading with Guinevere now, as he continued to look around at the people surrounding them.
All his knights were there, as were Merlin and Gaius and scores of people whom he didn't recognize but who had been greeting Gwen warmly all evening. One elderly lady had even taken him to one side earlier and told him that "our young Gwennie's got a heart of gold." Moreover, that if he ever hurt "our young Gwennie" his people would never forgive him "Prince or no prince young man!" After reassuring her that he had no intentions of ever hurting Guinevere and that yes, he did realize that she was far too good for him, he received a pinch on the cheek and was left looking and feeling bemused.
Which is how Gwen found him and made her –frankly outrageous- request.
'But why on Earth would they lose any respect for you? Don't you think you're overreacting a little?' Gwen was genuinely confused at this point, Arthur almost looked…shy.
Arthur pinched his nose tightly before he began to explain why it was impossible for them to do that in public. 'The thing is Guinevere, a Knight is supposed to be nimble and graceful almost and well…the thing is…what I mean is Icantactuamumblemumble.'
'Sorry I didn't catch that, what can't you do?'
'Dance! I can't dance alright!' He looked around d quickly to see if anyone had heard him, but everyone was too busy celebrating to pay them any attention.
Gwen looked at Arthur disbelievingly, 'Of course you can dance! I've seen you, you've done it hundreds of times at banquets.'
'That's different! Those are courtly dances, just a few practiced steps. This is just…well I just couldn't make my body do that.' He gestured over to where Gwaine and a woman he recognized from the Tavern did some very interesting shimmying moves, 'Or that!' This time he pointed out Percival who was proving to be surprisingly nimble for a man of his size.
'Arthur, do you that woman over there?' Gwen directed his gaze over to one of the kitchen maids who was doing something with her hips that had half a dozen squires and stable boys mesmerized.
'Uh huh' replied Arthur, already half hypnotized by the girl's hips.
'Well I can do that much better than her, but you'll never see it if you don't dance with me now!'
Arthur looked down at Gwen so quickly he felt his neck snap, 'You can do…' he tailed off.
'Right come on, show me how to do this dancing thing then, if Merlin can do it I can do it.'