Somewhere That's Green (Arthur)

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((Yes I know the title sounds gay XD))

Robin loved their little house, he really did, but he'd spent so long living in the forests of Nottingham that he'd grown quite attached to the serenity that nature sometimes brought, it made it easier for him to think, and to relax, and made him feel quite at home - not to say that he didn't feel at home in their little house, because, really, as long as Marian was there he would feel at home anywhere. It just meant that, sometimes, he liked to be in the woods again.

It was also a better place to practice his archery, as their house only had a small garden and it just wasn't long enough. Besides, he got in trouble for shooting up the rose beds.
Instead he'd found himself a quiet corner of the park, a place he could almost believe was back in Nottingham, and he was aiming for smaller and smaller targets in the trees and bushes around him - keeping a careful eye out for any passers-by. It was excellent practice, actually, both for his actual aim and for staying alert, hitting somebody by accident simply wouldn't do.

So it meant that when he heard someone coming, he gently released the tension in his bow and lowered it from his latest target, looking around to see where the approaching noises were coming from.

[Arthur]

A golden retriever puppy bounded out of the bushes and towards the archer, wagging its tail and panting as it was quickly followed by a rather out of breathe and laughing Arthur. After his talk with Della he had realised that enough was enough and he was just going to have to buy one. He missed his dogs back home but he couldn’t bring them here, it would be too much of a change for them, so instead he had taken the girls advice went to the pet shop and bought this one. He didn’t know how he was going to choose out of all of them when she had jumped right out of the little makeshift pen they had them in and bounded towards him, having the good sense to pick up a ball on the way and drop it in front of him. He’d had her two days and already he felt much happier.
 
The puppy began jumping up and down in front of Robin seeing the sticks in his hands. Arthur waved at Robin as the puppy, getting bored of Robin ran back to Arthur who scooped her up into his arms where she proceeded to try and lick his face.
 
“Ah! Sookie, no!” he said still laughing as he tried to move out the way of the tongue.
 
He placed her back down on the ground and threw the ball, she cheerfully sprinted away for it. Turning his attention to Robin he said, “So you managed to escape the ball and chain for a of bit have you? Has she got you housetrained yet?”

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Robin replaced the arrow into his quiver and slung the bow over his shoulder to keep it away from the dog, crouching down to give it some attention - just as it decided to run back to its owner.
Robin straightened up, surprised to see that said owner was someone he recognised. He laughed cheerfully at Arthur's quip, shaking his head.

"Wait until you find love for yourself, my friend, and there will be no speak of balls and chains." he told the other man. Serious, but with mirth dancing in his eyes.

Looking at Arthur, he felt older somehow, despite the two of them being so close in age. Robin's battle was done, now, his 'happy ever after' was here, but Arthur's... Arthur's battle had barely even started. He didn't voice the thought, of course, not wanting to patronise, not when Arthur had, like him, already seen too much for the age that they were.

[Arthur]

Arthur, in too good a mood to let the idea of him getting married bother him so much, since that was very close to the truth right now, simply laughed at his friends comments. Sookie the golden retriever puppy quickly returned with the caught ball and dropped it at Arthur’s feet, lowering herself to the ground to get ready to run again. Bending down to pick up the now covered in dog spit ball he said, “Oh I don’t know, you married for love,” he said and threw the ball, “I’ll have to marry for country. Lie back and think of Albion as they say.”

The little puppy charged off after the ball as Arthur turned back to his friend. He was joking, but it was amazing how true it was as well. He cared for Gwen, he really did and he supposed it could be taken as a kind of love. But not the kind of love he wanted…but he didn’t want that either. Nope. Bad, bad love, no love, yes, no, love.

Ugh.

Now he sounded like Meg.

“So in all seriousness, how is married life?” he asked folding his arms.

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"True enough." Robin agreed, with a teasing smile - he actually had high hopes that Arthur would find someone both suitable and lovely. After all, Marian was of appropriate station, they were perfectly suited to each politically as well as utterly in love, it was not completely unheard of. "Unless you give it all up and run away with a servant or something." he added with a grin.
He didn't expect Arthur to do any such thing, of course, no matter what the circumstances he didn't think the other man would ever abandon his country.

"Married life is wonderful, as I always knew it would be." He added, smile growing less teasing and more blissful "The house is very cosy, and we have done a lot of decorating ourselves, it turned out to be surprisingly enjoyable."

[Arthur]

Arthur laughed nervously, “Run off with a servant, HA! As if. That’s a good one Rob, ha. Give up the life of a Prince to go on the run with someone who would just as soon as run off with the next charming outlaw. No thank you, I’ll keep my arranged marriage and leave the running off with servants to some other idiot.”
 
He was still laughing but just as before it was cutting a little close to the truth. Run off with a servant...to do such a thing he would have to have feelings for a servant, care for them so much to abandon everything and…well…maybe not… “and who is to say they would be such a foolish servant as to want to run off. Surely the smart servant would see that I could do so much more as a Prince and one day a King, for them. If they loved me and their country surely they could put everyone else’s needs before their own. Now that is the kind of servant I would love.”

Too close, too close, too close to the bad subject!
 
“So she’s got you well whipped in to shape then?” he said patting his friends back as Sookie dropped the ball back at Arthur’s feet but got bored and went to sniff Robin’s legs instead, “decorating? Enjoyable? Will Dimitri ever manage to take you out for drinks and cheeseburgers ever again? Or is that it? Our trio down to two?”

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Robin could actually be quite perceptive at times, so he could tell there was more to Arthur's nervous rambling than appeared on the surface, though he wasn't sure if it had something to do with perhaps a common girl that Arthur had met, or that whole situation with Merlin being in love with him. He didn't quite suspect the truth, and didn't intend to get to the bottom of it. If Arthur didn't want to talk, Robin wasn't about to make him, and he mentally made note that jokes about princes and servants were apparently off the table.

"Whipped?" Robin raised an eyebrow and laughed somewhat derisively - far more so than he would if Marian were actually here, so perhaps there was some small truth in Arthur words "Hardly. Decorating was enjoyable for... a few reasons..." he smirked a little, stopping just short of winking at Arthur but the insinuation was still very much there.

"Drinks and cheeseburgers are most definitely on the menu, just say the word."

[Arthur]

Arthur laughed as Sookie raced around his legs, dropping and picking up the ball before Arthur could reach for it. “A few reasons eh?” he said and Arthur did wink, “well it seems that married life isn’t all bad then.”

It really didn’t, well for Robin at least, for him it sounded like a nightmare, but maybe…maybe he could make it work. Robin was happy, of course he loved Marian but in a way he did love Gwen, sort of, really not in the same way. “Well,” he said, deciding that if anyone could help him out it was someone who was already married, “Any advice?”

He nodded at the cheeseburgers though, “The we better do it soon, I haven’t heard from Madonna in a while but I hear Anya is back. I thought I saw her as well, working in a Café of all places. So, I’m sure he would be up for some cheeseburgers.”

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"Of course it isn't all bad." Robin smiled, and not just because he had to say that. He was the kind of unashamedly twee person who would talk about being the happiest man in the world because he was married to such a wonderful, wonderful woman.
You couldn't mock him for it, he was Robin Hood.

"Advice?" He repeated, wondering why Arthur might need it, but not questioning him right away. "Pick your battles, don't try and win everything. Pay attention... it's really the usual sort of advice when dealing with women, you just have to keep doing it and everything will be fine."
He wondered if that was why some marriages failed, because people became complacent and forgot that they still had to work to keep the relationship going.

He nodded in return at further talk of cheeseburgers, not saying anything but his expression suggesting he was definitely on board with the idea.

[Arthur]

“Don’t try and win everything?” said Arthur and raised an eyebrow, “that sounds like a slippery slope to me my friend. I mean, you let the other one win a few and then suddenly they’re winning all the battles and then you’re giving up cheeseburgers because it‘s not good for you, you’re giving up archery because it’s dangerous you could take someone’s eyes out, see where I’m going with this.”

Sookie pawed at his legs and he reached down and picked her up, holding the retriever puppy in his arms. The excited puppy began to lick his face and laughing he tried to hold her away from him, dropping her back down onto the ground gently, “Oh that’s nice, thanks Sookie.”

He picked up the ball and threw it for the puppy who chased after it before turning back to Robin, “I suppose I could live with a compromise so long as it was heavily weighted in my favour. Truth is I would rather have someone who challenges me, all the time. It would keep it interesting, keep me on my toes.”

As Sookie came bounding back he said, “So, will there be any little Robin’s any time soon? I have to be the Godfather you know.”

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Robin just shook his head slightly. It was almost obvious that Arthur wasn't in love... well, no, that wasn't quite it, it was obvious that he wasn't in a relationship. Compromise was a very big part of it, especially if it was someone who challenged you a lot - challenging each other was fine (after all, he and Marian certainly did that), but you had to give in sometimes as well, or you'd just end up hating each other.

"Can you really see Marian asking me to give up archery?" Robin raised an eyebrow. He supposed Arthur didn't actually know that Marian had taken just as drastic steps as he had, so he probably didn't realise that it would be quite hypocritical of her to ask that of him, but he did know Robin, and archery was practically who he was, Robin couldn't imagine anybody, least of all somebody who loved him, asking him to give that up.

"Challenging each other is fine, as long as it doesn't turn into a big competition. That could get very volatile very fast." he said eventually, finding it the best way to voice his thoughts on the idea, and hoping he didn't sound too preachy.

"Little robins?" He repeated, startled. "Well... we haven't really thought about it yet... and... wait, godfather? Are you even Christian?"

[Arthur]

Thinking about it the other guy had a point, Archery just was Robin he couldn’t imagine the man not using the weapon. He supposed it would be a bit like Gwen telling him he had to give up muffins, it just wasn’t going to happen, they were a part of who he was. It would be a travesty if anyone ever did make Robin give up archery, the man was a genius with a bow. Not to mention that he had met Marian and she seemed nice, nice enough to know that it would terrible if she ever asked Robin to give up archery.

Arthur laughed and said, “No, I’m not, although I am entirely intrigued by the idea. I have read your holy book and found it absolutely fascinating, the first half was a bit fire and brimstone, but the second one had some good ideas. Regardless of faith though, I have a vested interest in this child’s future. And from my reading and television watching I understand that being a god father is a very important role. I mean what if you and Marian are in some horrible accident because of some evil dark lord and there's no one to look after your precious little boy?”

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Robin just stared at Arthur for a long moment. The way he talked about the bible was strange enough - he might not go on about it a lot, but Robin was a Christian, everybody in his time was, they went to war for it. Granted, Robin went because he was following his king, but it was still a religious war. It was the rest that threw him off. He'd picked up some strange habits since coming here, admittedly, but the idea that there might be some evil force ready to...

...actually, it wasn't so ridiculous after all, was it? Not with the kind of people they'd met here, and it wasn't like they hadn't made their enemies.
Still, all that aside, it was still sort of a bizarre offer to make. Instead of calling Arthur out on it, he just shook his head a little, unable to keep the smile from his face at both the kind thought and the oddness of it.

"I'll keep that in mind should any children come along, you'll be first on my list, honestly." He promised with a grin.

[Arthur]

“I better be, I’m really your best choice,” he said grinning, “I mean you wouldn’t ask Dimitri would you? No one in their right mind would ever trust him with a child. He would probably sell it to the first Robin Hood fan club that came along, just to get money for cheeseburgers. Where as I am much more responsible.”
In all honesty, Dimitri probably would be the better choice. From what he knew of the man he had basically taken care of himself his entire life, which by some logic, would make him excellent at looking after someone else.
 
Sookie came back and lay down at his feet, dropping the ball and panting. He crouched down to pat her and said, “besides, I come with my own manservant that’ll be able to take care of all the boring stuff, and of course I’ll have my wife by then.   Gwen will always make sure he or she is dressed impeccably.”

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"Of course." Robin nodded agreeably, trying to hold back the laughter that threatened to overtake him at the idea. Honestly, he was pretty sure that if any of the three of them was actually obsessed with cheeseburgers, it would be Arthur.

He opened his mouth to make a joke in response when Arthur continued, and he shut it rather abruptly, simply staring at the other man for a moment, before eventually finding the words.

"Your wife?" He finally got out "Gwen!? ....What does she think of this arrangement?" He asked hesitantly. Gwen was, after all, an incredibly headstrong young woman, and judging by Arthur's earlier comments it was almost certainly an arranged betrothal. Gwen didn't seem the type to stand for that sort of thing, unless it was her idea of course. "..No wonder you were asking questions about marriage."