Song: "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" by Sarah Brightman
Category: Canon
Characters/Pairings: Percival/Gwaine, Leon
Ratings/Warnings: K+
Word Count: 327
Taking Care
Percival didn't like to talk of his feelings. He was the kind of person to lock everything he felt inside and throw away the key. He was the tough, macho guy who never cried and never let anybody realise any different. There was one man that could see right through him and that was Leon.
"How are you doing?" Leon asked, sitting on a bench in front of Percival in the stables. He was busy feeding a horse. After a silence, Leon continued. "You know, I didn't expect to find you here. I know the new stable boy could use some work, but honestly, he's not that bad."
There was another pregnant pause. "Percival, I understand you must be feeling upset about Gwaine's death, and Arthur's too. We all are-"
"You didn't know Gwaine like I did." Percival snapped, petting the horse's silky black mane. "You... you never noticed how he was always trying to exceed everyone's expectations. You didn't notice that he was trying to be the best just because he felt like the worst. He thought of himself as a scoundrel, you know? Gwaine never thought he was quite good enough. He figured he was trying to rise to everyone else's expectations, but he was actually trying to live up to his own. And to his dying moment, Gwaine..." Percival's voice cracked with emotion and Leon stiffened uncomfortably. He had never seen Percival like this. "Gwaine's last words were, 'I failed'. Don't you see, Leon? He never even realised how worthy he was, how much he meant to Camelot, how much he meant to me." A single tear streaked down his cheek, followed by another.
It was then Leon understood. He realised Percival had been taking care of Gwaine's horse every day since. "Percival, you've been taking care of Gwaine's horse this whole time? That's where you've been disappearing?"
"I miss him." the knight whispered, his hand resting on the horse's neck. "I miss him."