“Well? Did you find him?”
“Now, don’t freak out, Leon…”
“I have every right to freak out. I know for a fact that Gwaine got up early this morning and yet he can still manage to be late for practice! How is that even possible? Anyway, I’m not freaking out.”
“Don’t worry,” Galehaut said. “In about ten minutes he’ll come around that corner with a bottle of some liver-pickling agent and ask what we were all waiting for.”
And in a few minutes Gwaine did, with K at his side. There was no bottle to be seen but as they approached Leon distinctly smelled some kind of sour alcohol…
“Morning, everyone!” K said with a grin. “Having a late start, eh, Léon?” It seriously bugged Leon that K was one of the few people to pronounce his name correctly, but he tried to ignore it. “No matter—Arthur wanted you to introduce me today, anyway.”
“Men, this is Sir Killhwch of Cornwall,” Leon said, making sure to give the name the correct inflection, which made more than one of the knights snicker. But Leon didn’t want to give K any more time for chit-chat, so that was all the introduction he was going to get. “Everyone form partners, we will be sparring with sword and shield today.”
The knights moved off and Leon started to follow them when K took him by the shoulder. “I hope you’re going to give your lady over there a better show than shield practice,” K said, with characteristic ease.
“What are you talking about?” Leon dropped down in front of one of the sword boxes and started to get things in order, hoping K would go away.
“Lady Elaine! Obviously!” He pointed at Elaine, who had taken up her usual spot near the front of the bleachers. “I introduced myself to her after you headed off last night. Really a sweet girl, I wouldn’t mind looking after her myself, if you know what I mean. ”
“No, I don’t,” Leon said, but as he said this K waved at her, and to Leon’s horror she actually smiled and waved back. God, did everyone like him…?
“Seriously, though,” K continued, “You’re going to give her the wrong idea about you.”
Leon tried to ignore him, pretending to be focused on getting the ties right on his scabbard.
“You shouldn’t be so uptight. She’s a woman—you’re a man. You’re supposed to rough her up. That’s what you want to do, isn’t it? Believe me, I can tell when a man is holding back.”
“Holding—what?”
“You never could do anything fun in moderation, could you? It’s alright, though—you don’t want to be pulling any punches in this department.” He turned and shouted at Elaine. “Don’t worry, my lady! He’ll soon show his teeth! Give him an inch and he’ll walk a mile!”
“Leon! Get these men organized! I want to be done in an hour!”
Leon turned at the sound of Arthur’s voice to see the young King approach and push in between him and K to get to the sword boxes. He was thankful for the excuse to get away, and stormed off through the crowd of knights as Arthur and K started chatting.
Gwaine reached out of the crowd and grabbed his arm. “Listen, Leon, I don’t think I’ll be training with shield today.”
Leon smelled more than wine on his breath. “What else have you been drinking?”
“Just something K had. Why?”
Leon looked down to see Gwaine rubbing his hand, which was quite swollen. “What happened to your hand?”
“Nothing, okay?” Gwaine said, looking angry, too. “Is there a problem?”
“Leon, you never told me where to put these extra shields,” Merlin said, appearing suddenly to tug at Leon’s elbow.
“Hold on,” Leon snapped, and turning back to Gwaine, said, “Look, if you can’t show up for training ready to, I don’t know, train…”
“I never said I wasn’t ready to train,” Gwaine said, his voice rising. “It’s nothing! I just punched a wall, that’s all! I didn’t expect a kind of Inquisition!”
Merlin’s tugging became more annoyed. “I’ve polished them once already, I’m not going to let them get dirty again—“
“Will you just stop for a second?” Leon barked.
“Well, you’re the one that’s freaking out!” Merlin snapped.
“I’M NOT FREAKING OUT--!”
“Whoa, now!” This came from, surprisingly Galehaut, who stepped forward and inserted himself in between the three of them as they turned to look. “What, what, what are you doing?”
Leon blushed, only now realizing how angry he got. Thankfully, Gwaine and Merlin looked embarrassed, too.
“We couldn’t blame that on an enchantment, could we?” Gwaine said after the awkward silence, which got a laugh from Merlin.
Galehaut just tsk-ed. “No. It’s just the typical masculine response to the introduction of new personalities into close quarters, combined with lack of sleep and a feeling of lack of appreciation.”
Leon, feeling he had better make up first, said, “Sorry.”
“Sorry.”
“Sorry.”
“Right,” Galehaut said, clapping his hands, “Who’s up for some calming stretches? Anyone?”
"Arthur might be," Merlin said, and to Leon's dismay he saw Arthur storming towards them. When he reached them he folded his arms, and cleared his throat.
"I'm sorry," Arthur said in his condescending sing-song voice as Leon looked down at his feet, "But are we having a training session with the Knights of the Round Table, who, need I remind you, I spoke very highly of last night? Because it almost looks like we're playing silly buggers!"
"Sorry, sir," Leon said quickly.
"I mean, really! I thought that I was going to have to pull you lot apart! If it wasn't for Galehaut--Galehaut, have I knighted you, yet?”
Merlin's mouth dropped open. Galehaut, for his part, turned as bright red as his hair. “Eh?”
"No, you haven't, sire," Leon said, grinning.
“Well, he deserves it. Goodness knows I wouldn't have jumped in there. Someone get my a real sword. Come on, we haven’t got all day. The hunting party will leave no later than noon!”
Leon shook his head in exasperation at Arthur's flippant manner, although Arthur had in reality given the matter a great deal of thought and was simply waiting for the right time. As Galehaut nervously kneeled before Arthur and Arthur had his fun lording it over the new knight, Leon's eyes met K’s again. He was grinning. “Aren’t you going to thank me for stirring them up for you, Hauttie?” he said as Sir Galehaut rose from the field.
Apparently K’s grin had the opposite effect on Galehaut that it did on Leon, because Galehaut only gave his characteristic laugh and walked off to the sword boxes with K, saying “You really shouldn’t rile them up so, you naughty person,” and proceeded to spar with him. But Galehaut could get on with anyone.
“Alright, Gwaine,” Leon said, putting K from his mind. “We’ll spar together. You’re ambidextrous, aren’t you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gwaine said, his manner getting hostile again.
“Nothing, just—”
“I’m joking, old man. I could beat you with both hands tied behind my back…”