The Ladies' Room

This week was not much, lol, considering all the things going on.

Bonus Challenge was about DRINKING and of course I had to get kind of melancholy:

It's tradition. One of those traditions that started three years ago, maybe, but you really can't remember, because you're all thirty-something and those days of starting seem inexcusably long ago, even when they were just last week. And you're never really sure who started it, because they all could've, at moments in their lives, moments you were mostly there for and can see on each other's faces. And you never know who's going to start it because you can look around at all of them, all the people you call family, standing on a porch or around a kitchen counter, fags in hand on a bad day, eyes narrowed by drink and smoke and tiredness, arms slung over shoulders and around waists: huge Perce next to tiny Gwen, Gwaine's slightly sweaty hair and Arthur's drink-slack jaw, Leon's benevolent smiles and Elyan's protective eye, and you see them all swaying to the inescapable one-two-three, and you find you are, too. And then you will raise your glass with them, and bellow it out: 'THEY'RE SHARING A DRINK THEY CALL LONELINESS / BUT IT'S BETTER THAN DRINKING ALONE.'

Because it is.

'Piano Man' by Billy Joel

The actual challenge was a toughie. It was canon-era, with one 'tweak' allowed. I... am a hardnose bitch about canon, so I wrote Arthur/Gwen, which has been an OTP of mine since I was ten. It fulfilled a need I've had for a while. And I know at least one person voted for it, and I am content with that.

In Memoriam
In which Queen Gwen dreams of her late husband.
R for sexual situations and generally being depressing.
530 words