Shave me

"Shave me?" Arthur asks, looking up at Gwen with his big blue eyes. Big blue eyes perched above an increasingly-stubbly face.

"You trust me?" Gwen answers his question with one of his own.

"Of course. Plus, Merlin said no."

Arthur broke his right wrist in his latest escapade to right the wrongs of the kingdom, and his lack of activity as a result is making him restless and cranky.

"Now that I think about it, I don't think I'd trust him with something sharp near my throat anyway."

"Probably a good call. You've been especially beastly lately, my love, especially to him," Gwen says, lifting his razor and running it back and forth, back and forth, across the leather strop in an almost hypnotic fashion.

"Well, Gaius won't let me do anything!" he whines, throwing his left hand in the air. "I told him I'd be fine to run training, that I can use a sword with my left hand as well as with my right. But no, 'you cannot risk someone else hitting it by accident, sire,'" Arthur says, mimicking Gaius' voice.

"He's right. If you do not let that heal properly, there may be permanent damage, and where would that leave you?"

"Hmph."

"And then if you were forced to stay here all the time, not allowed to go out and run around in the forest like you do, you'd drive the entire kingdom insane in less than a month," Gwen says calmly, mixing the soap.

"Even you?" he asks quietly.

She grabs a towel now and walks over to him. "Especially me." She sets the supplies on the table and helps him with his shirt, pulling it off over his head.

"I'm not being a beast to you, am I?" he asks, his voice very small now.

"No, but I'm probably the only one," she says. She puts the towel around his shoulders now. "The problem is I'm the one receiving all the complaints about your behavior."

"Complaints?"

"Yes, Love, complaints. Lift your chin, please." She takes the brush and starts slathering the shaving soap over his face, bending over him. "Eyes front, Pendragon," she chastises, smirking.

"Well, they're right there. And it's not like I don't know what's…"

"Arthur," she sighs.

"So who's complaining?" he asks, scowling.

"Oh, I'm not telling you that," she says. "Nice try. And stop scowling."

"Have you ever done this before?" Arthur asks when she lifts the razor in her hand.

Gwen looks at the razor, turning it so the blade glints in the sunlight. She shrugs. "How hard can it be?"

Then she gives him a sweet, innocent smile and brings the blade to his neck. She sees him close his eyes and hold his breath, apparently waiting for his throat to be slit, and she clamps her mouth shut to keep from giggling. He doesn't need to know that I did this for my father when he burned his hand.

Arthur feels the blade touch and glide upward, skillfully and gracefully. He breathes again.

"You need to apologize to Merlin," she says. "Throwing that chamber pot wasn't very nice."

"It was empty," he defends himself in between sweeps of the razor.

"Small favors, then. You're still apologizing."

"Did he complain?"

"He's probably the only one who hasn't complained, Arthur."

Arthur opens his eyes. "Really?"

Gwen leans down and kisses his newly-exposed lips. "Yes. There are two people in all of Camelot who truly understand you, you know. Merlin is one of them. You need to treat him better."

"Maybe."

"Arthur, is it wise to argue with a woman who has a very sharp blade in her hand?"

"You wouldn't!"

"Not intentionally, no. But accidents happen when a person is agitated," Gwen answers, her voice almost too calm.

"Tell you what," Arthur says, his left hand snaking around her, coming to rest on her backside as she finishes shaving him. "He can have the rest of today off and tomorrow morning as well."

Gwen sets the razor down and wipes his face with the towel. She starts to turn away but he holds fast. "And I think you can cancel the council meeting this evening and order dinner in our chambers."

"You think so, hmm?" she asks.

He pulls her into his lap now, his hand running up and down her back, the right one resting on her leg. "Mmm-hmm," he nods, "I think we deserve some time to be alone."

She allows him to gently pull her lips to his, kissing her deeply but sweetly.

"I think if it'll improve your mood, the entire kingdom will leave us alone."