Title: One Morning After
Show: Merlin
Characters/Pairings: Gwen/Arthur
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: 1856
Disclaimer: I obviously don't own, because if I did…It would be on whatever Brit equivalent there is of Showtime or HBO so it could have some smutty goodness, haha
Summary: Gwen has been staying the night in Arthur's bed. And there are more benefits than one.
A/N: And so I try my hand again at smut.
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Spending the night was reckless. Extremely reckless. Downright barmy. Sleeping with the prince was dangerous enough, but staying over was just inviting trouble.
Yet for some inexplicable reason, she kept risking it again and again.
Arthur had playfully suggested it one night, his arm snaked around her waist in a stubborn attempt to not let her leave. And Gwen accepted. She shouldn't have, but when she turned her head to see his affectionate expression she couldn't help but give in.
She thought she would regret it in the morning, until she woke to find Arthur spread out on his stomach, one arm reaching out over her waist and his face turned toward her. She had never seen him so vulnerable, even with each day as he became more open to her. He looked almost angelic, a word she never thought she could use to describe him, the morning light falling on his lightly tanned skin and blond locks.
When she had finally torn herself from admiring him to slide out of bed, his arm tightened around her hip and brought her even closer to him. He mumbled barely comprehensible things, his eyes still closed, before moving his head a few inches to kiss her shoulder. Gwen brushed her fingers over his fringe and kissed his cheek, this time Arthur reluctantly allowing her to leave.
Since then, Gwen had slept in his bed several times, to the point that they had figured out a routine.
Arthur had taken a few steps to accommodate so that she wouldn't have to make the commute home and back in the morning, which also allowed her to sleep in just a bit. He would have Merlin bring his dinner late (also requesting more food than usual) so that they could dine together. Arthur also kept a spare dress hidden in his room so she had clean clothes in the morning and welcomed her to use his wash bin, brush, or anything else she might need. Then for her morning meal, Gwen ate in the kitchen, which wasn't uncommon for a servant to do.
Gwen had to admit how much she liked spending the entire night next to Arthur. She slept over no more than once a week – although they sometimes made love more often. Any more frequent would only be a bigger risk. But Gwen thought it well worth it if she didn't have to worry about the hour, whether talking in hushed voices late into the night or just too exhausted to do anything but lie there and fall asleep in his arms.
---
Arthur wearily opened his eyes, finding his bed not unexpectedly empty. Just as he thought he might drift back to sleep again, he heard a quiet splash behind him.
The prince turned onto his other side, surprised to see Gwen there, since he was rarely very conscious when she got up in the morning.
The other surprise was that Gwen was naked… And washing herself.
She stood with her back to him at his wash table, running a wet cloth over her face and arms. She reached behind her to lift up her hair, wetting the back of her neck. A trickle of water ran down her back, Arthur biting his lip as his gaze followed its path. He decided that he had never spent enough time admiring at her naked back, eyes roving over her graceful shoulders and perfectly round bottom.
Gwen did not seem to notice him in the mirror, instead bending down to wash her legs. This of course displayed her rear to him even better, and he felt his stomach tighten at the sight. He even almost laughed, because if he didn't know better he'd think she was doing it on purpose.
Unable to resist, he quietly rose from the bed and came up behind her while she was still washing the tops of her feet. When she straightened, the sight of him behind her in the mirror made her jump.
"What are you doing up so early?" she asked.
Arthur smiled. "Perhaps I sensed that I was missing out on something."
He took the cloth from her hand and rewetted it in the basin, Gwen watching him curiously in the mirror. He then moved her hair over her left shoulder before running the cloth slowly over her upper back.
Arthur admired her skin, now with a thin wet sheen. He dipped the cloth in the basin again, now moving lower on her back. When he reached her bottom, he moved even slower, running over her skin numerous times, his hand a little firmer to feel her curves.
Gwen gave a small content sigh. He looked up in the mirror to see her eyes drifted close and a flush rising in her cheeks.
"I know what you're thinking," she said breathlessly. "And it's rather counterproductive to the point of me washing myself."
He only smiled, giving her bottom a quick squeeze instead and hearing her squeak. But any further word of protest from her, he did not hear.
So he stepped closer, his body now almost touching hers, to reach around the front of her. Wetting the cloth a third time, he started with her collarbones. Then he ran over her left breast, weighing it carefully in his hand. Gwen's arm went up and back to grip his shoulder, softly moaning his name. By the time he reached her other breast, its nipple had grown taut too, noticeable even through the cloth.
He moved down her stomach, feeling her muscles jump and contract under his touch, until his cloth came to a rest on her mound of curls. Gwen's left hand reached over to cover his, her hand tightening and relaxing over it. Meanwhile, she arched her back, pressing her bottom against his growing erection.
Arthur groaned, his hand tense and his mind blank as she rubbed her body more insistently against him. It was finally Gwen who took the cloth from his hand and suggestively dropped it in the water basin with a splash.
---
Gwen's action seemed to have sent him a good enough message.
Her stomach flopped with lustful excitement when Arthur nudged her legs to part a fraction and placed his hand on her back to gently guide her forward slightly over the wash table. She braced it eagerly and while she felt him widen his stance to lower his hips.
She groaned slowly as he entered her, the unfamiliar angle feeling surprisingly good. They both readjusted slightly to get more comfortable, before Arthur began his first experimental thrusts.
"There," she gasped as he hit one particular spot. She pushed her hips backwards to meet his more insistently, urging him on.
Arthur growled his response and stooped down to kiss her shoulder blade. This made Gwen shiver, her hand twisting up to grasp the hair at the back of his head, so he moved on to plant kisses everywhere he could reach: her neck, her temple, her cheekbone, her hairline, the side of her nose, the round of her shoulder, the corner of her smile, until finally tracing the curve of her ear with his tongue and nibbling on the lobe.
Gwen clutched his hair harder than she had ever done in the past, but he did not seem to mind. In fact, he turned his head to kiss the inside of her forearm before giving it a playful bite. She laughed at that, giving his hair an extra little tug.
There was a new insistence to their love-making this morning and Gwen found that she loved it. Some different kind of passion, that was lustful and needy and deliciously satisfying, had found its way in.
Gwen's other hand felt behind her to clutch his hip, encouraging him as she pushed her hips back more urgently. He groaned and slid his hand from where it held her hip to between her legs, eliciting a quiet scream and making her dig her nails into his buttock.
Arthur chuckled throatily near her ear. "I've never seen you quite like this, Guinevere."
"Well you make me this way, Arthur," she growled back, a grin creeping onto her features that was only a fraction embarrassed.
Arthur caught her eyes in the mirror and smirked. "I'm becoming an increasingly bad influence on you, I suppose."
She hissed as his fingers working between her legs sped up. "Very bad," she said breathlessly, her eyes drifting close.
Gwen moved her hips more frantically in reaction to his ministrations, mewling with each one of their mutual thrusts. Her head lolled back, her temple meeting Arthur's unshaven chin. Each of his heavy breaths breezed across her forehead, his breathing soon turning into moans.
"Guinevere," he said gruffly. She felt the skin of his chin pull tight, most likely from biting his bottom lip.
He was shaking behind her, even through his continued thrusts, until he couldn't hold back any longer and came. His last thrusts were sporadic, and then slowed to a halt. But his hand on her didn't stop.
Arthur pulled her back so she leaned against his chest. Her left hand left his hip to intertwine with his free hand, grasping it like a lifeline as the pressure inside of her mounted. She opened her eyes again to see him watching her, his gaze so transfixed that it made her moan. His blue eyes finding hers was enough that it pushed her over the edge, choking back a scream that resulted in a great gasp and convulsing against him.
Arthur withdrew his hand, encircling her waist with both his arms and resting his chin on the top of her head as her body steadied, almost unable to stay standing without his help.
"You were right, Guinevere," he said with a shaky laugh. "That was very counterproductive to you washing yourself."
Gwen covered his arms with her own, observing their sweaty, heaving bodies. "Mmhmm," she nodded with a small smile. "But I'd say it was well worth it."
Arthur laughed and bent his head down to plant lazy kisses all over the side of her face. "Well, this time I'll go into the next room when you wash again, or I'll want to delay you even further."
Gwen smiled and blushed, always surprised by his enthusiasm for her. She had never thought of herself as the type of woman to drive men wild with desire, but somehow Arthur possessed a passion for her that she had never believed she'd experience: the type only spun into love ballads and fairy tales, but never found in real life.
She looked back up at Arthur in the mirror, seeing how his face had grown sober.
"I love you," he whispered with a small smile.
Gwen turned around in his arms and got up on her toes to kiss him firmly. Her thumbs stroked his cheeks bones as she withdrew, wanting to capture the way he looked at her for the future. Because one day, she was sure, her love affair with a prince would be naught but a distant sweet memory.
"I love you, too, Arthur," she replied solemnly.