You Didn't See Anything (Gaston Jr)

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

It was nearly Gaston's birthday, and being back in Tintagel meant a chance to get him a really good present. Only... she wanted it to be perfect, and also to be something he didn't already have, and trying to decide on the right thing was more difficult than she had expected. Meredith liked to think she knew Gaston better than anyone else, except maybe Gwen, and she had the advantage of also being into a lot of the same things that he was, which theoretically should make it so much easier to buy him the perfect present... and yet somehow it only made it more difficult.

She was standing in the comic shop in the mall, second guessing herself over and over, picking up things and then putting them down again, getting frustrated at herself for having such a difficult time. She had gone from thinking about picking one big thing, to lots of little things and back again. From Star Wars to Firefly to Doctor Who to all of the above to none of the above to picking out a specific stack of comics and then putting them all back invidually. The shop staff were beginning to worry about her, she'd never looked so stressed in here before.

Then she heard a familiar voice asking for his latest comics and she panicked, shoving the chewbacca plush in her hands into a pile of t-shirts and turning quickly to hide the display cabinet and its included Dr Who pocket watch behind her.

"Gaston!" she said, her voice a little too loud and a little too flustered.

[Gaston Jr]

Aw yeah, it was Thursday, and Thursday was comics day, and comics day was the best day.

He positively swaggered into the shop, it was almost the kind of swagger his dad might have been proud of if it had not been in the pursuit of something so terribly disgusting to him. He nodded to a couple of the other regulars that he spotted and waved to the three girls crowded around a Han Solo statue, who waved back and chimed a ‘Hi Gaston’ in perfect synchronicity before turning to giggle at something.

“Hello Todd,” said Gaston, leaning on the counter and holding out his subscription card, “here to pick up my bundle.”

Which is when he jumped at the sudden shout of his name and turned around, completely losing his comic cool. When he saw who it was though he could not help but smile, “hey Meredith, picking up a new T-shirt?”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Todd gave her a concerned look over the top of Gaston's head which she pointedly ignored, a tactic she also employed with the three girls glaring daggers at her. They often glared at her for having the audacity to be friends with Gaston, for getting to hang out with him and talk to him regularly and whatever else they so desperately envied her for. Gaston was always perfectly nice to them, but they never did anything more than say hello or occasionally ask a question and quite often giggle. There was so much giggling. Meredith had no idea why Gaston hadn't realised they followed him around practically everywhere, but she also didn't want to draw his attention to them, they got more annoyed that way and it was entertaining.

"Uh yea. I was just looking at... this one." she reached out and grabbed a t-shirt at random. The startled expression on Todd's face alerted her that she should probably look at it, and she glanced down. The shirt she'd pulled from the rack was bright pink, with lace edging on the sleeves and a friendly pony prancing on the front. "....I was going to get it for... Tristian...you know, because...I thought it would be funny..."

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr looked at the T-shirt. Then he looked at Meredith. Then he looked back at the Gaston Jr.

Then he smiled.

There was a synchronised sigh from nearby.

“Yeah that would be pretty funny,” conceded Gaston Jr, “Please let me be there when you had it over to him, aw his face will be a picture, brilliant! You always have the best ideas.”

He started to flick through the T-shirt rack himself, and said, “I suppose I better start looking for something for Jenny, although I doubt I’ll find anything for her in there. Although! I was thinking I might get her to watch Game of Thrones…”

He had been desperately trying to find an interest he shared with his Twin, he had heard about all these stories of twins being totally in sync, that they know what the other is thinking and can do awesome things. So far the only thing they had in common was their parents, and even then each of them seemed to have picked their ‘preferred’ one. However, he really believed Game of Thrones was the answer here, after all, it had Cersei Lannister, and he would bet his entire comic collection that that’s who Jenny would like best, she was pretty, she got everything she wanted, she liked wine, she was basically Jenny. She even had a twin!

A look of horror crossed his face, “Actually…maybe not…yeah…maybe not…”

He continued to browse the t-shirts, “so you enjoying being back? Been up to much?”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Yea, I do, don't I?" Meredith grinned, looking at the tshirt, it would actually be quite entertaining to hand it over to Tristian and pretend she had got it for him specially "It's probably a bit too expensive for a joke though." she said thoughtfully, putting it back. She was glad she'd managed to cover up the real reason she was here, and this might actually be a good thing, she could pay attention to what Gaston looked at and buy him whatever made him happiest.

"Jenny would probably love Game of Thrones, I mean it's basically a soap opera, but with fashion she might recognise from home. Maybe it would give her ideas..." ideas like poison and hiring giant bodyguards to kill anyone who got in your way. She didn't know what had made Gaston change his mind, but she had to agree with him.

"You're right, maybe not. Why don't you just buy her a voucher or something? Give her the gift of shopping..." she'd probably prefer that to anything he picked out, anyway.

"Yea it's great, mostly just been catching up on my comics, you?"

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston shook his head quickly, “No, no, I do not want Jenny getting ideas from Game of Thrones, that would be bad, that would be really, really bad.”

He was pleased when Meredith agreed with him and with that put to bed he nodded and smiled at her next suggestion, “Actually, that’s not such a bad idea. The gift of shopping. OH! Maybe I could get her one of those like day with a stylist days. You know they go around and tell you what colours suit you, help you by clothes, that sort of thing.”

Gaston Jr realised all too late that he was letting on how much he knew about this kind of thing. He quickly looked around the shop to make sure no one was in earshot. Things like that could really damage is Nerd Cred. Todd was busy looking out all of his comics and the three girls appeared to be arguing about something. All clear. He relaxed.

“Oh, nothing much,” said Gaston Jr, attempting to lean on the close rail, whilst flicking his hair, “got into a lightsabre battle, no big deal.”

His casual lean was ruined when the rail moved a bit and he just about managed to catch himself in time before he fell to the ground.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Terrible," Meredith found herself grinning a little "You could just see it though, couldn't you? Her swanning around in a long dress with a glass of wine in - oh wait, she already does that."

"They do whatnow?" she frowned "Have you actually been paying attention to Tristian for once? That sounds like the sort of thing he brings up sometimes... oh, wait, is that the personal shopper thing? I think he told me once I should get one and they might actually be able to find clothes that fit me, which is dumb because all my clothes fit me or I wouldn't be able to wear them."

Her gaze strayed over to the girls after Gaston had looked their way, wondering what they were arguing about. Probably who got to be the one to 'accidentally' fall and brush against him this week. Meredith honestly didn't know how Gaston didn't notice them, they did it constantly.

She automatically reached out to catch him, although he didn't seem to need it, and gave him a fond smile.
"Careful, you- wait, did you just say lightsabre battle? Tell me everything!"

[Gaston Jr]

“Well yes of course I can see it,” said Gaston Jr, still slightly panicky, “Jenny as Cersei Lannister written all over. I just don’t want her getting any ideas, you know? I mean I’m pretty sure she has lines she wont cross, but still…I wouldn’t want to risk it.”

He nodded when she said ‘personal shopper’ and when she suggested he had learned it from Tristian. The truth was that last year after he had come home from Tintagel early due to an ‘incident’ involving his hair, his mother had whisked him back, hired a personal shopper (although she had spent the whole time correcting them, so why she had bothered he didn’t know) and got him an entirely new wardrobe. But he wasn’t going to tell Meredith that, only a few people had noticed at the time and soon enough he had fallen back into his usual care free style.

Gaston chimed in with, “Yes that’s it. And well it’s sort of about how certain clothes are suited to certain body types and the stylish finds the style of clothes that suits your body shape best…or…so Tristian said.”

Again he did the quick look around to make sure no one was listening in, wow, he really needed to be more careful.

“Yeah a lightsabre battle!” said Gaston Jr excitedly, “I was just practicing some moves in the gym and this girl came in, Nancy, and she was like wow lightsabre and I was like I know right?! And then she turned into a bird and went home to get hers and then we fought and it was amazing. I hope we’ll do it again some time, she was pretty good.”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith suddenly clicked what particular aspect of Cersei's personality Gaston was so worried about and pulled a face, punching him lightly in the arm (to the collective horror of the girls).
"Ew. That was a mental image I didn't need, thanks."

The way he hurriedly added that bit about Tristian almost seemed like he actually knew it, rather than was just parroting, did he...no, of course not, he just wanted to make sure she didn't think he was actually into all that fashion stuff. Not that she really cared, she wouldn't judge him for whatever he wanted to be into, but she wasn't the only one in the shop, maybe he was just trying to preserve his nerd cred - and that she could definitely understand.

"That sounds amazing! So, you and this girl Nancy, huh? What was she like?" Meredith asked pointedly.

[Gaston Jr]

“You didn’t need that mental image? I didn’t need that mental image,” said Gaston Jr, and then reached forwards and dramatically took her hands in his, “Meredith you have to promise me never to introduce Jenny to Game of Thrones, you have to swear. Help me Princess Meredith…you’re my only hope.”

There was a gasp from somewhere else in the shop and Gaston jr looked around to see who it might have been, but could only see Todd, still pulling out comics for him. Where had the three girls gone? Oh well.

“Oh Nancy is great, she really loves Star Wars, like really loves it,” said Gaston Jr, smiling happily, “and she’s a shapeshifter, did I mention that already? She’s really funny too, yeah…”

He took a moment to smile at the memory and then added, “So I suggested she should ask Eddie out.”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

Meredith's returning expression was appropriately dramatic as she met Gaston's gaze, squeezing his hands in return.
"You have my word, Prince Gaston, I swear upon my kingdom that I will never show Jenny Game of Thrones." she vowed, ignoring the girls as she found was usually the easiest way to deal with them. She didn't know why they seemed to dislike her so much, couldn't they see that she and Gaston were just friends? It was apparently Nancy they needed to worry about, the grin on Gaston's face indicated that he'd really enjoyed his encounter with her, and it was encouraging to see he'd found someone who shared some of the same interests as him, maybe he...oh, apparently not.

"Eddie?" Meredith raised an eyebrow "I mean, if she likes Star Wars maybe that's a good idea, if he doesn't mess it up, but... you didn't..." she paused, smiling slightly "You know Gaston, you really are a lot like your mother sometimes."

[Gaston Jr]

Gaston Jr appreciated that Meredith rose to the drama of the situation. It was nice to have these little moments together.

However, she seemed confused as to why he had suggested Nancy should date Eddie, it made perfect sense. She liked Star Wars, Eddie liked Star Wars, she was nice and funny, Eddie was nice and funny. It just made sense.

Then he was comparing him to his mother and he couldn’t help but grin at that, “do you really think so? I mean, I’ll be honest I was a bit clumsy with it, trying to figure out if she had a boyfriend and then trying to figure out if she even wanted to date, but I got there. I really hope she does go find Eddie and asks him out…I think they would be good together.”

He genuinely believed that, however there was still a part of him that wondered if maybe she would change her mind…maybe she’d ask someone else…someone else who liked Star Wars…

“What about you? Any guys caught your eye?” asked Gaston Jr, not sure if he actually wanted to hear the answer to that particular question.

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"Definitely," Meredith confirmed "I mean, the smoother execution will come with time, remember your mum's had a lot more practice than you have, but the whole thing about wanting to set people up and see your friends happy, that's very her," there were a lot of boys who wouldn't like to be told that they were like their mothers, but Meredith knew without a doubt that every single child of Gwen would take that as a compliment, even those who were a little more like their fathers, like Jenny. Most people in Camelot would take it as a compliment, if she was honest, Gwen was well-liked and well-admired throughout the kingdom.

"Oh, no, you know me, I've got better things to do with my time than chase boys," she grinned. It was technically not a lie, she was very busy and she hadn't done any chasing, and no boys had caught her eye... if he was talking about since she came back to school, which she totally assumed he was, and not just ever in her life, because the guy that had caught her eye had caught it a long time ago and she'd been watching him from afar ever since. It was a childhood crush, but it didn't seem to be going away any time soon.

[Gaston Jr]

“It is very her, isn’t it?” said Gaston Jr, “It’s why I don’t worry so much about the future, you know? I mean, mum will make sure I end up with the right girl, she’s good at knowing who is good for each other. Although, I’m guessing that’s why she hasn’t found anyone for Tristian yet, no one is good enough for him I’ll bet, at least in mum’s eyes…and Tristian’s come to think of it.”

His mother had also not set him up with anyone although he took this to be because she just had not found anyone that wanted to go out with him, not that she didn’t think anyone was good enough for him. It did not bother him as much as it might have bothered others, the idea that one day is mother would probably pick the woman he was to marry. He knew, that if he found someone before then and made a good enough case she would probably say yes, still it was always better to defer to her better judgement on these matters.

It was how he knew that he and Meredith weren’t to be, as much as he dreamed about it. He had confided in his mother his crush and she had smiled at him rather sadly and said, ‘Oh my poor darling, not you too, don’t worry, mummy will find you someone nice’. However, it did not stop him dreaming…He wasn’t quite sure what she meant about the ‘you too’ comment, maybe she knew someone else that liked Meredith, or maybe another one of his siblings had told her about a crush that just wasn’t going to happen…still…he dreamed on.

Gaston Jr laughed when she said she had better things to do than chase boys, and was secretly pleased, “of course, I mean, who else is going to fight the rising hoards of Spiders in the big spooky forest. Speaking of which, game this weekend? Have to see if your Lion will win that duel.”

[Meredith Emrys-Pendragon]

"I don't think anybody's good enough for either of you," Meredith pointed out with a smile "She's so fond of all of her children, somebody would have to be very, very special to get her approval. Although with Tristian there's extra pressure, I mean whoever marries him has to be the next queen, so she'd have to follow your mum, I can't see her rushing into any decisions when there's that much at stake."

Her expression turned shocked when he changed the subject to their game, however, and she pressed an outraged hand against her chest.

"Excuse me, what do you mean if? Lions never lose, don't you know." but she couldn't keep the act up for long and she was quickly smiling again "This weekend sounds great. Is Eddie free? What am I talking about, of course he is, he doesn't do anything unless it's with you..." she paused thoughtfully "...Are you sure Eddie likes girls?"