ART + FIC: I Get Knocked Down (Gwen/Morgana - 1248 - G)

[winter-mod.livejournal.com]

Title: I Get Knocked Down
Author/Artist: ???
Pairing(s): Gwen/Morgana
Prompt: Gwen works at the skating rink. Morgana comes in looking all elegant, but on the ice, she keeps falling down and she is so full of rage at that it is ridiculously cute.
Word Count/Art Medium: Words: 1248, Art: Digital
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Merlin characters are the property of Shine and BBC. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended. The instructions given in the fic for ice skating are not accurate.
Notes: Many thanks to L and S for their incredible beta work. Any remaining mistakes are all mine. Thank you mods for another wonderful year of Winterknights! I don’t know much of anything about ice skating. The few times I went ice skating, I repeatedly fell on my arse. Some of the things in the fic are from my own experience, others from a few helpful youtube videos.
Summary: It was seemingly just another day working at the ice rink for Gwen, helping skaters stay on their feet. She hadn’t bargained on being swept off her own feet.
See it on AO3: http://archiveofourown.org/works/12880644






Gwen nearly stumbled, causing Merlin to throw a concerned glance at her. Seasoned skater that she was, she hadn’t fumbled on the ice in years. Gwen just shrugged and continued making her rounds, while surreptitiously trying to look at the (breathtakingly beautiful) woman who had just walked onto the mat at the entrance to the rink.

She looked like a queen come to survey the festivities of the peasants. Gwen felt herself moving towards her as though pulled by a magnet, stray thoughts of pledging allegiance and loyalty flooding her mind.

As she watched, the (murderously gorgeous) woman took a careful step onto the ice and… promptly fell down, arms windmilling in every direction.

The guy she had entered with — Gwen hadn't even noticed him until then — just guffawed loudly and went to join the other skaters in their rounds around the rink. Gwen frowned at him for a moment before rushing over to help the (insanely bewitching and Gwen was rapidly running out of words to describe her) woman back to her feet.

The (ah, never mind, she was impossible to describe in a few words anyway) woman was already trying to push herself off the ice, with minimal luck. Gwen took her arms and pulled her upright, the momentum causing them both to stagger and finally catch their balance barely a hair’s width away from one another.

“Dammit,” the woman muttered. “I wanted to fall gracefully.”

Gwen snapped back into reality from the litany of eyesgreengorgeousforestdeeplostolyshitthatjawline her mind was throwing at her and shook her head, confused. “You… wanted to fall?”

“No,” the woman huffed. “I knew I was going to land on my arse, I just wanted to do it with some poise.”

“Well,” Gwen said, summoning her best smile onto her face, the one that Merlin said was entirely unfair with its power to make anyone turn to putty in her hands. “That’s what we are here for. Not to make you fall of course, but to help you up when you fall. I'm Gwen and I will always help you up when you fall. Not that I want you to fall. And not always always. Unless— I mean— uh—” She abruptly stopped rambling and started chewing on her lips. “I'm Gwen,” she said again, inanely.

“Hello Gwen,” the woman said, the start of a smile twitching at the corner of her lips. Which Gwen was not staring at. At all. And why were they still holding each other? “I'm Morgana,” the woman, Morgana, continued, her smile turning sly, and oh god, Gwen was so screwed. “Perhaps you'd like to help me not fall at all.”

“Oh! Umm…” Gwen said very coherently and looked around at the other staff to see if anyone would reproach her or come to her aid. The rest of the staff seemed busy, most attending to children and avoiding collisions. Merlin, inexplicably, seemed to be having an argument with the man who’d accompanied Morgana, standing over two fallen teenagers who looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there.

She shook herself and turned to look back at Morgana, who was watching her with some amusement and... something else. “Okay,” she said and nodded decisively. She moved her hold on Morgana from her biceps to her hand and more tentatively to her back. “Okay. So, umm. Bend your knees a bit. Oh no, not so much,” she added, then stopped and looked around before pulling Morgana further inside the rink, so as to not block the skaters gliding along the perimeter. Morgana wobbled dangerously and clung on to Gwen for dear life, which, she had to admit, made her feel all warm inside.

Once she was sure they were relatively out of the way, Gwen turned back to Morgana, who was watching her intensely. Trying not to blush, Gwen cleared her throat and continued, “so, yeah. Bend your knees. Lean more on the inside edges of your skates. Keep your back straight.” Gwen almost cooed at the look of intense concentration on Morgana’s face, which made her seem much younger. “Okay. Good. Now let’s see if you can stand on your own,” she said, releasing her hold on the other woman.

Almost instantly, Morgana flailed and fell back onto her arse, cursing all the way down.

Gwen tsked, trying to hide her amusement. Morgana was looking all disgruntled and glaring at the ice as though it had somehow personally failed her. “You might want to mind your language there. There are children here, you know,” Gwen said, bending to pull her up again. “Come on, you’ll get it. It just takes practice.’’

“If I can spend hours on six-inch heels, I sure as hell can take a couple of steps on a pair of knives glued to ugly boots,” Morgana muttered. Throwing a dirty look over her shoulder, she added, “And I am sure as hell not going to let my brother win.”

Gwen nodded distractedly, an idea forming in her head.

“Okay, let's try this,” she said, taking hold of Morgana’s hand again. “Knees bent, back straight. Mmm hmm. Now step forward with one leg as though you are walking on your heels. Now glide your other foot forward. No no no! Not like you are dragging it. Lean on the inside edge of the skate and glide your foot forward. There you go!” Gwen said, laughing at the look of triumph on Morgana’s face. “That is not how you skate, but were you able to feel how your leg glided?”

Morgana nodded, clearly happy with her achievement. Gwen had a sudden desire to see that look everyday, to always be the one to put that happy smile on Morgana’s face. She pushed the thought aside as determinedly as she could and guided Morgana through gliding a little bit at a time.

“All right, right foot back. Hmm-hmm, now push off the right foot and glide with your left...”





Too soon, Gwen had to leave Morgana to tend to the other skaters in the rink. Morgana’s look of disappointment caused a fragile burst of hope to bloom in her chest.

It was towards the end of the hour, when Gwen was chatting with Merlin as they kept a vigilant eye on the skaters slowly exiting the rink, that Morgana made her way over. She was still unsteady, but managed to skate a bit with the help of a man — her brother, Gwen remembered.

“Hi Gwen,” Morgana said, looking unsure for the first time that day. “When do you get off work?”

Gwen threw a look at Merlin, whose face was doing something that she really wasn’t in the mood to decipher. “Umm. Nine?” she said, not sure where this was going.

Morgana smiled blindingly. “Would you like to join me for a bite, after? Perhaps at the pub around the corner? We could— you could give me skating tips,” she said, her smile turning secretive towards the end.

Gwen’s eyes widened, and she nodded fervently, not trusting herself to form words.

“You too,” the man all but growled at Merlin, before skating off. Morgana shrugged at Gwen, smiled slyly at the both of them and followed him much more slowly, clutching at the railing.

Gwen turned dazed eyes towards Merlin. “Did I just get asked out by the most gorgeous woman on the planet?” she asked.

“You did.” Merlin nodded. “I'm not sure what just happened to me, though.”