AN: You have to love the random little one shots you get whenever you're wasting your Saturday night working instead of procrastinating online.
Arthur Pendragon was seven years old when he met the girl he knew he was going to marry.
Arthur, his father, stepmother and stepsisters had just moved to Camelot from London and while Uther and Vivienne were helping the removal men and Morgause and Morgana were bickering over bedrooms; Arthur took the opportunity to slip down the street towards the small playground he had spotted from the car not ten minutes wasn't much of a park; a slide, a seesaw, a roundabout a toddler slide and two swing sets. One for babies and one for older children, each set had two swings. Despite it being a warm July afternoon the park was empty save for a girl who was on one of the swings kicking her legs back and forward to propel herself higher. Despite his young age; Arthur was struck at how pretty the girl was. She had dark skin and long curly hair which was pulled into two pigtails which swung back and forth with her. She was wearing shorts and a lilac t-shirt. Whenever she seen Arthur, the girl used her sandals to stop the swing, the gravel crunching under her sandals as the swing came to a half and she studied the strange boy in front of her.
"Hi what's your name?" the girl asked.
"Arthur, what's yours?" Arthur asked.
"Guinevere but everybody calls me Gwen. How old are you?" Gwen asked.
"Seven," Arthur boasted, he had turned seven only last week.
"I'm seven in August." Gwen replied and grinned at him, revealing that she was missing her two front teeth. "I bet I can swing higher than you!"
"No you can't!" Arthur replied and leapt onto the free swing. Both of them stood back and counted down from three before starting to swing. They continued playing for around half an hour. After they bored of the swing they played on the roundabout and see-saw before heading for the slide. Naturally as children there was only way to go up the slide and it wasn't by using the steps.
"I'm the king of the castle and you're the dirty rascal!" Arthur boasted as he staggered to the top of the slide while Gwen's sandals forced her to slip down.
"No you're not because I'm the famous warrior queen Gwen and I'm taking your castle!" Gwen retorted as she climbed the steps of the slide. However before the game could continue, Uther appeared in the park.
"Arthur!" he called. Arthur frowned at Gwen who nodded, understanding that Arthur clearly hadn't gotten his father's permission to come and play. Arthur pushed himself down the slide and waved a goodbye to Gwen who stood at the top of the slide and gave an imitation of a regal wave.
"It's my castle now!" Gwen called. Arthur stuck out his tongue at her while Uther ranted about how worried Arthur had made him and Vivienne by assuming he had run away. Arthur nodded and murmured apologies in the right places as they returned to their new home. All Arthur could think about as he unpacked his toys and clothes was Gwen. He liked her. She was pretty and nice and was fun to play with. Arthur knew that at the age of seven girls were supposed to be gross and they were; eight year old Morgana and thirteen year old Morgause certainly were. But Gwen wasn't. That was when Arthur knew that someday whenever they were bigger, he and Gwen would be married.
Arthur Pendragon was thirteen years old when he and Gwen first kissed.
After spending that first summer together; to their greats surprise in September, not only were Arthur and Gwen attending the same school but they were in the same class. Throughout primary school they remained the best of friends; spending break time together; helping one another with homework; being told off for talking and of course; playing in their playground after school. After primary school there was only one option for their secondary school. Camelot only had two secondary schools; one was an all-girls school which Morgana attended and Morgause had just finished her A Levels at. The other was the all-boys school which Uther was the principal of. While at secondary school; they branched out and befriended different people; Arthur and Gwen remained as close as ever. It was halfway through Year Eight, when they were thirteen they were the other's first kiss.
Arthur and Gwen had met in the park as they usually did. They texted each other every evening to ensure whether or not they could meet in the park. They were sitting on the inside of the roundabout talking whenever Arthur dared ask the question.
"So Guinevere, have you ever kissed anyone?" Arthur asked. Gwen looked at Arthur and shook her head.
"No, not yet. Apparently this is some sort of big deal. I'm thirteen and haven't kissed a boy yet; I don't see the big deal in swapping spit with some random guy." Gwen replied.
"Same," Arthur shrugged.
"You haven't kissed a girl?" Gwen asked.
"You're my best friend; I would have told you." Arthur replied. He meant it' neither of them had secrets from one another.
"I knew it. Vivian is such a liar!" Gwen exclaimed. "Vivian McKnight in my class is going around telling everyone you guys kissed last week." Arthur looked at Gwen like she was mad.
"I wouldn't kiss her," Arthur replied honestly. They sat in silence for a moment before Arthur looked at Gwen. He decided to just swallow his pride and go for it. Before he could stop himself; Arthur leaned over and pressed his lips to Gwen's for a minute before pulling back; aware of the temper his best friend had. However Gwen seemed frozen for a moment before she seemed to collect herself.
"I have to go home." Gwen replied, climbing off the roundabout and running across the playground. Arthur watched her go feeling both confused and upset. Was he that bad a kisser?
Arthur was sixteen years old when Gwen broke his heart.
Arthur walked back home from the football field. As he passed Gwen's street on the way home, Arthur decided he would drop in on his friend. However as he walked down the street towards her house, Arthur saw that Gwen was standing on her doorstep and she wasn't alone. Her arms were wrapped around a tall boy with dark hair and her mouth was pressed against his. Arthur didn't need to see his face to know who it was.
His so-called friend Lancelot DuLac.
Part of Arthur wanted to pull Lancelot away from Gwen and beat him black and blue. Instead he pulled the hood on his hoodie over his head and kept walking. The next day he didn't answer any of Gwen's texts and in PE when they we replaying rugby, he tackled Lancelot so hard the other boy was taken to the matron with a suspected concussion.
Arthur was seventeen when Gwen had her heart broken.
After Gwen started dating Lancelot, Arthur decided to do the same and dated a few girls who went to Gwen's school. There was Vivian McKnight; Mithian Cross; Sophia Jones and a few others. However none of the relationships lasted long. The girls were alright, they just weren't Gwen. Despite her wonderful love life and Arthur's disastrous one; the two of them remained good friends and still frequently texted one another and met up in the park. One night however, Arthur was in the middle of a history essay on the Russian revolution when his phone buzzed with a text.
Meet me in the park now. Need you.
Arthur abandoned his books and pulled on his jacket as he headed down the stairs. Uther and Vivienne were so used to Arthur heading out like this that they needn't ask where he was going. They knew he would be at the park. Once he was out the door, Arthur ran down the road to the park as fast as he could. As he pushed open the gate, he could see Gwen sitting on the swing. She was sitting still and staring at the ground. Arthur sat on the swing next to her.
"Hey," Arthur said. Gwen barely acknowledged his presence but Arthur knew to be patient. He waited and after a few minutes Gwen began crying.
"Lancelot dumped me," Gwen admitted through her tears.
"Why?" Arthur asked, rage beginning to build. He obviously hadn't liked Lancelot since he had been dating Gwen but there had to be something seriously wrong with him. It looked like Arthur was going to have to help him see sense.
"He didn't like how close we are. The fact that we're always texting and meeting in the park. I explained to him a million times that we're just friends but he'd had enough. He basically said to me; 'Gwen, it's me or Arthur. Take your pick' and I couldn't answer him. I could never have chosen between either of you. So he dumped me." Gwen explained as she wiped her eyes.
"You know what; it's his loss. If he had any brains at all he'd realise that he just threw away the best thing that ever happened to him. But when he does do that; tell him to stuff it. He had his chance and you could do so much better than Lance-Prat DuLac." Arthur reassured. Gwen giggled at the nickname and looked at Arthur.
"Do you think so?" Gwen asked.
"I know so," Arthur replied with a sincere smile as he reached for her hand. As they held hands, Gwen finally understood what Arthur was telling her. What he had been trying to tell her whenever they had kissed in this very park four years ago and possibly even before that. Neither of them broke the silence. They just sat on the swings under the night sky holding hands. The words didn't have to be said.
Arthur was twenty three when he asked the most important question of his life.
"Where are we going?" Gwen asked. Arthur laughed at his girlfriend as he covered her eyes and walked her down the street.
"How can you not know?" he asked as they moved down the street; ignorant to the strange looks they were getting. Gwen because her eyes were covered and Arthur because he was too nervous at what he was about to do. After a few minutes they arrived at the park and Arthur removed his hands from Gwen's eyes. Gwen laughed as she looked around the park. Over the years the park had hardly changed. Naturally the play equipment had been updated over the years but it was still the same park she and Arthur had grown up in. Arthur took her by the hand and sat Gwen down on one of the swings.
"Remember the day we met? I moved to Camelot and met you in the park. We had a swinging contest and played on the roundabout and seesaw and I could climb the slide but you couldn't." Arthur recalled.
"Then Uther came and you had to go home and I was queen of the castle." Gwen finished with a smile. How could she forget the day she met Arthur; her best friend and her soul mate.
"I learnt something that day. I hadn't just made a friend that day; I found so much more." Arthur said and he took a deep breath. It was now or never. As he removed the small box from his pocket; he got down on one knee, keeping a hold on Gwen's hand. Gwen's eyes widened as she realised what Arthur was going to do.
"Guinevere, will you marry me?" Arthur asked as he opened the box to reveal a glittering silver ring embedded with diamonds and amethysts.
"Of course I will!" Gwen replied. Arthur placed the ring onto her finger and they kissed.
When they were seven they met in the park. Little did those two small children know that their lives had changed forever that day. They had found a playmate; a best friend; a soul mate and know; their future husband and wife.