Twenty–two years later

•~*~•

Guinevere POV:

I sat at my work table, hemming the skirt of one of the dresses for one of the women at the brothel and listened to Geralt's obnoxious whistling.

"Ger, I swear on everything that is good and holy that I will have Grey Wind rip your vocal chords out, if you don't stop that fucking whistling." I warned my brother as I gave him a menacing glare.

"But you love my music, dear sister!" My twin joked with a wide grin.

"That high pitched screeching is not music!" I scoffed, giving him a pointed look. "It's a new and especially cruel form of torture that the king designed for prisoners of war."

Our bickering was brought to a halt as the door of the shop opened and a familiar face walked in.

"Good morning, Arthur." I greeted the man that I'd come to call one of my best friends. "Are you here to pick up Mary and Phoebe's dresses?"

"That I am, Gwen." The blonde man stated with a charming grin. "Good morning to you, Gwen. George."

"Morning, mate." Geralt greeted as he entered the back room to grab his shoe making supplies.

"Well, It's going to be a few more minutes, Art." I explained to the man that was currently sitting on the edge of my work table and watching me stitch up the dress. "If you want you can come back later and get them in about twenty minutes."

"I think I'd rather stay here and keep you company, beautiful." Arthur told me with a grin and a wink.

I simply rolled my eyes and chuckled at the man's antics. "You're cheeky today."

"Only for you, Love." The blue eyed man laughed, sliding off of my work table and giving me a tight hug from behind.

"Don't you have work to do, Arthur?" I laughed, whacking his shoulder scoldingly.

Arthur looked down amusedly at the spot where I'd hit him, raising an eyebrow with a smirk. "The bloody hell was that, Gwen? A love tap?"

"Oh, fuck off, you prick!" I chuckled, rolling my eyes as I continued to finish the last few stitchings of the dress.

"My, my, a lady cursing? What would people think?" He gasped in mock horror, even going as far as to place a dramatic hand over his heart. He ruffled my dark locks teasingly, before sitting back on the edge of my table.

"That it's a Tuesday morning starting off like it always does with Gwen cursing like a Viking." Geralt joked, making me throw a spool of ribbon at his head.

"Pardon me, but I'd like to think that I'm nothing like those perverted little bastards!" I chuckled as I tied the last bit of thread so that the skirt would stay secure. "Alright, here we are! Two good–as–new, freshly mended dresses!"

"Thank you, Gwen! You absolutely brilliant little beauty!" Arthur exclaimed happily and set the money owed on my table.

I folded the dresses neatly and gently put them into a spare box, before handing it to the blonde man.

"You'll drop by later for a chat, yeah?" He asked me with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah, I'll drop by after closing." I told my friend with a sympathetic smile, knowing that he wanted to talk about another nightmare he'd had.

"Thank you again, Love! I'll see you later then!" The blonde stated, before placing a quick peck on my cheek and heading out the door.

"He's a character, that one." I chuckled to no one in particular as I watched Arthur's figure disappear into the crowd.

"Yeah, a character that is completely in love with you." Geralt teased while wiggling his eyebrows.

"Shove off!" I groaned, tired of my brother's constant joking about this subject since we first met Arthur, when we were eight.

"Just admit it, Guinnie! It'll make you feel better!" My twin said, patting my shoulder in a patronizing manner.

"Never going to happen, little brother!" I scoffed, beginning to embroider the handkerchief that Ms. Fredericks had ordered.

"We're twins, you need to stop telling people I'm your younger brother." Geralt told me with a stern expression.

"But I am older than you."

"By ten minutes!"

•~*~•

•~*~•

Around seven o'clock, I had closed up shop and began making my way to the brothel to meet with Arthur.

I had just passed the bakery and was walking by one of the alleyways, when I was suddenly grabbed and pulled into the alley.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist as I struggled to break free of my captor's grip. I squirmed and threw punches as an attempt at creating an opportunity to get away, but to no avail. I continued to fight against the man as he gently, but firmly pinned me against the side of a building and turned me around to face him.

I looked up at my captor and immediately stopped fighting as I made eye contact with the man. I rolled my eyes as he let out a hearty laugh, his grip on my sides being the only thing that's keeping him upright.

"You just could not help yourself, could you?" I scoffed at the familiar man before me.

"My deepest apologies, Love." A red faced Arthur said, barely managing not to burst into laughter. "But your reaction was just to good!"

"You're a right foul prick, Arthur! I thought I was going to be killed right then!"

"I'm sorry, Gwen, but I really couldn't help myself." The blonde man told me with a grin as he took my hand and playfully spun me around.

I let go of his hand with a roll of my eyes and sauntered off ahead of him, already knowing that my little act would mess with him enough for Arthur to have learned his lesson.

"Oh, come on, Love! Don't be mad!" Arthur groaned in defeat as he caught up with me. The blonde man then took both of my hands in his, pulling us to a stop.

I rose my eyebrows questioningly as his large hands slid up my arms and rested on my cheeks. "I offer you my sincerest apologies, Love. Could you ever forgive me?"

"Eventually." I joked, allowing the teasing smile to form on my lips. He laughed heartily, before placing a big kiss on my jaw.

"Come on, gorgeous. Let's head inside."

•~*~•

"So, this.... demon is still popping up in your dreams and killing this mystery man?" I ask, looking at Arthur with a furrowed brow as we lounged on top of his bed.

"Yeah, and it's always the same." The blue eyed man sighed, running a hand over his face.

"And you're sure that you didn't witness anything traumatic during your childhood that your mind would block out?" I asked, laying my head on my best friend's shoulder.

"If by traumatic, you mean George's singing or a beautiful woman like yourself who constantly curses? Then yes, I've witnessed plenty of traumatizing things in my life." Arthur laughed, wrapping an arm around my waist and resting his head on top of mine.

"I resent that! I don't curse that much!" I argued as I played with the strings of his shirt, wrapping the thin pieces of fabric around my index finger and then letting them unwind quickly.

Arthur chuckled with a smirk as he gave me a pointed look. I rolled my brown eyes and applied a hard flick to the blonde's temple.

"Fuck off!" I scoffed, causing the man beside me to let out a gasp of feigned horror.

"Oh god! I don't know if my fragile heart can withstand much more of this horrendous torture!" My best friend gasped dramatically, placing his free hand above his heart. "I doubt that I'll even make it through the night!"

"Oh, dear! Whatever shall we do?" I joked with a snicker.

"My dear Gwen, there might be one way to spare my fragile heart from breaking!" He exclaimed with a mischievous glint in his bright blue eyes.

"Please, tell me this miracle remedy to your frail heart!" I replied sarcastically through my uncontrollable giggles.

"A simple kiss from yourself, my fair maiden, shall prevent me from dying of a broken heart." Arthur answered in a ridiculous posh accent.

"Well, then I'm afraid you're going to parish, dear sir! For that is something that isn't going to happen!" I told him in a just as fake posh accent, letting out a hearty laugh.

"Damn, I really thought we had a strong connection between us, Love." The blonde man told me in his normal gruff accent, a teasing grin on his lips.

"Well, you were wrong there, handsome." I teased as a string of laughter escaped my vocal chords.

"Not even if it were to save the life of the poor, heartbroken man that you couldn't live without?" He asked with a mock pout, his blue eyes staring straight into my brown ones.

"Not even in your dreams, Arthur." I chuckled, patting his right cheek tauntingly.

"Argh! I can feel it breaking faster!" The man gasped, dramatically clutching his chest again.

"No, it's not." I chuckled, giving my best friend an amused look.

"Yes, it is. It happens whenever you're around, Love." Arthur joked with a flirtatious wink, causing me to laugh loudly. I smiled warmly, shaking my head and rolling my eyes at the blonde. "Gwen, we both know that I won't stop, until you find a way to shut me up."

I returned his flirty smirk, inching my face closer to his. At the last second, I grabbed a pillow and whacked Arthur over the head with it.

He lay beside me in shock as I laughed my ass off, my chocolate brown eyes beginning to water from laughing so hard.

"Now that was cruel, Gwen." The blue eyed man playfully scolded me. "Now you must recompense your wrongdoing or pay the consequences."

I rolled my eyes at Arthur's dramatics, seeing him lift the other pillow 'threateningly' above my head. However, before the pillow could even fall, I decided to shut my best friend up.

I leaned towards Arthur's grinning face and placed a gentle kiss on the corner of his mouth. I smirked victoriously as the blonde froze in shock at my actions.

"Goodnight, Arthur." I whispered to the man beside me in a cheeky tone, a mischievous smirk adorning my face. Without another word, I turned on the bed so that my back was facing Arthur.

I barely heard him quietly sigh as I blew out the lamp on the side table. "Goodnight, Gwen."

•••••••••••••••••••••••~*~••••••••••••••••••••••••

A/N:

Hiya, you guys!
It's the first chapter and I'm already loving Guinevere and Arthur's dynamic. Also I would gladly die for both of the twins.

I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as I am while writing it!

That's all for now folks!

~Ally❤️