Title: Hands
Show: Merlin
Pairing: Gwen/Arthur,
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 325
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own, because if I did…let's just say it wouldn't be a "family" show
Summary: Written in response to the prompt of "Hands" for the Comment Fic thread on the livejournal community camelot_love
Also posted on my livejournal account under the same username.
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First they had shaken hands at Ealdor. He had been wearing gloves, but even that contact had made her flush. So she had honestly been glad to have the excuse of escaping him by going to her post.
Weeks later, she had grasped his hand as he lie near death, pressing it to her mouth. As clammy as his hand had been with his fever, she could not help but notice how strong and right his hand felt in hers. But at the time, she wouldn't have dared to do so if she had thought he would remember later.
How could she have known that a few months after that, he would be grabbing her hand and pulling her into dark corners and empty rooms? Their hands were often feverish, running through hair and reaching for faces.
Soon they would guide each others' hands over their respective bodies, together discovering where and how they liked to be touched. These movements would be slow, each touch purposeful. They reveled in those caresses, soaking in the feel of the other's hands and the other's skin.
But right now is truly the first time that they have ever held hands.
She lies with her head on his chest, their fingers intertwined. They are both exhausted from their efforts in lovemaking, but fighting sleep to spend more precious moments together.
His fingers stroke the back of her hand, the only movement between the two of them besides the steady rise and fall of their chests.
She may be asleep now, but he doesn't mind. He knows that she must be up early, and that thought pains him. But one day, he knows, she will no longer have a life of servitude. He thinks of this often, but fears scaring her with the idea. Not just yet.
Instead he lives for the moments like this, lying with his lover and holding her hand… knowing one day it will be his.