I’ve just spent a few months cycle touring and very regularly this story kept creeping up at the forefront of my mind. So now that I’m back, I’m getting down to business and it’s now all about the planning.
Let’s get this thing ready for NaNoWriMo (but quite possibly earlier).
So the thing is, I don’t know how to end anything so this has a bad ending, and also it was getting long. Here’s a thanksgiving post two days late lmao
“Where are we going?” Leroy asked, he was being guided to the car, and wrapped his arms around himself at the cold air.
“Daliah is having some friends over for dinner, and she invited us, said that you were allowed to come, but please be on your best behavior, I don’t want to have to punish you tonight”
“Of course Master” Leroy said, and he heard the car door open, he obediently climbed inside the car, reaching behind him for the buckle, Master grabbed it and handed it to him so he could click it in place.
“Can I ask why she’s having people over for dinner, what’s the occasion?” Master never took him to places unless there was going to be a lot of people that he could hide easily, or it was some occasion, or everyone involved knew Leroy.
“It’s Thanksgiving darling” Master said and ruffled his hair quickly, before the car door slammed shut, Leroy pulled his knees up to himself, pulling the hood over his head and turning away from the window, as he’d been taught.
A second later he heard Master get into the driver’s seat next to him. His master touched his arm reassuringly before starting the car and starting to back out from the driveway.
The music was just loud enough to be soothing and the rocking of the car was gentle, and Leroy probably would have fallen asleep if it hadn’t been for the air conditioning blowing directly on him, and it was cold. He wrapped his arms tighter around himself, glad he at least had a jacket on for some warmth, although it wasn’t helping much.
“Darling are you alright?” Master asked, Leroy knew his Master preferred the cold to the heat, and he’d long since gotten used to the temperature of the house, but this was different and he didn’t want to inconvenience him.
“I’m fine” he muttered, half turning his body away from the air.
“Are you cold?” he asked, and touched Leroy’s face as if in doing so would show him something.
Leroy shivered under his touch, but didn’t pull his face away, “just a little” he said.
“Alright, I’ll turn the AC off, forgot you get cold”Master said, the last part was mostly to himself than to Leroy. Leroy wanted to ask for the heater, as outside had been cold, but he figured that wasn’t going to happen and he should just be grateful with what he was given.
It was another fifteen minutes or so before they got to Daliah’s house, and the car pulled to a stop. Leroy let himself out of the car, wrapping his arms around himself and walking to the front of the car, where Master grabbed onto his elbow.
“Up” he said quickly, indicated the curb Leroy was to step up onto.
Master guided him to the front door where it opened up before Master had a chance to knock.
“Gare! I’m so glad you could make it, and you too” She said and touched Leroy’s shoulder, he jumped, not expected her to touch him.
“Come on darling, keep your face hidden for me” Master said, guiding him into the house.
The sound of people talking grew louder as they got closer, this room was warmer which was nice, probably meant there were people at this party, Leroy didn’t think Master or Daliah really had that many human friends
A chair was pulled back and Leroy was indicated to sit down in it, he obeyed, sitting down and grabbing at the table with his hand, staring down and scratching at the wood, making sure his face was hidden from others.
His master patted the back of his neck and then Leroy heard him walk away. He listened to the people’s conversations at the table, they hadn’t really seen him come in, or if they had they just weren’t paying attention as they continued to talk aimlessly about their lives and what had been going on earlier in the day.
“Here, and don’t mess up her wood” Master said a few minutes later, grabbing Leroy’s hand which he immediately dropped from the table and to his lap.
“Eat, the plates in front of you,” he said and then a fork was pressed into his hand and Master sat down beside him.
“Thank you” Leroy said, grabbing the plate and pulling it closer to him before taking a hesitant bite. His Master had started talking with the other people, and it sounded like he had known them for a while.
After dinner, everyone had left the table to help clean up, and they were talking excitedly in the kitchen or in the living room, Leroy had been told to stay at the table, as offering to help in the kitchen would likely accidentally show his face. He was bored though, and antsy, he didn’t like sitting still for this long.
Leroy got up out of the chair, backing away from the table, he’d been in her house enough times to know where the kitchen was, but still kept his hand on the wall to guide him as he walked.
“Your name is Leroy right? You’re a friend of Gareth’s?” he hadn’t heard the person come up in front of him and jumped, instinctively lowering his head more, although they had shown no indication of seeing his face.
“Yes”
“Are you alright?” they asked, putting their hand on his shoulder, Leroy flinched away, not expecting the touch from them.
“I’m blind, you just scared me is all” Leroy said flatly, hoping this person would walk away.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry, I’m Sam by the way. Are you looking for Gareth?”
“Not really, just wanted to be closer to all the action”
“Alright well come on, people are playing games and some of them are watching football,” Sam said, grabbing Leroy’s wrist and dragging him into the kitchen. Leroy pulled his arm away from them in the kitchen, he hated getting pulled around like that, it made him uncomfortable.
“Leroy!’ It was Master’s voice and Leroy shrunk into himself.
“I was just talking with Leroy here, he lives with you yeah? Is that so you can help him?” The question this time was directed to Master.
“Yes, he lives with me because I help him” Master said and then his hand was on Leroy’s shoulder, holding him in place.
Sam must’ve walked off because Master started speaking to him directly, his voice low,
“I thought I told you to stay”
“You did, and I-I’m sorry, it just felt weird sitting alone at the table, won’t people find that suspicious”
“Still you’re supposed to listen, I taught you to listen” Master was gripping him with both arms now, and Leroy could feel his gaze on him, and he shifted uncomfortably, he knew he wouldn’t be punished here, in front of everyone, but he’d likely get some punishment for not listening when they got home.
“I’m sorry” Leroy said again, unsure of what else he was supposed to say.
“Did Sam see your face?”
“No, of course not” Leroy shook his head quickly, he’d never show anyone his face, he didn’t want to deal with those repercussions.
“What am I going to do with you Darling, you’re smart, but you need to listen, now come on, it’s about time we went home anyway, let me just say bye to Daliah, then we’ll head out” Master said, Leroy nodded grabbing onto his shirt sleeve and trailing behind him, while he went to go find Daliah.
Here is something literally Zero people asked for but I got bored in math class and wrote it anyway. Close to when Gareth(Master) firs kidnaps Leroy from his POV
“I can’t believe you kidnapped someone Gare,” Luke snapped once the two of them were outside, away from the basement.
“It’s for everyone’s sake, I won’t lose control again and he won’t die, problem solved” Gareth said.
“He was dying?”
“Well he won’t remember, he was too drugged up for that, but yeah.” Gareth paused looking around quickly, “he’s from one of the facilities, they drugged him and dragged him outside. One of them had a gun to his head. He’s labeled as dead, with a death certificate and everything”
“Oh my god Gare, do you even know how illegal this is!” Luke said, stepping back and away from Gareth.
“I’m doing it for both of us, I’ll teach him how to stay under the radar and how to behave. He won’t ever get caught and killed”
“You have to turn him in, and report it”
“They’re not going to believe me, and it’s not like he can testify to it, look it was a rash decision I know, but I thought about it. It helps both of us”
“I-I can’t deal with this Gare. My job is too important right now, you know this. Turn him in or don’t call me. I can’t be mixed up in this. I’m sorry” Luke said and then climbed into his car, giving Gareth one last look and driving away. Gareth stood in the driveway for several seconds, debating on calling Luke back, was the kid in his basement really worth all this. But he was, Luke should understand, Gareth couldn’t risk losing control again, it wasn’t worth it. Wasn’t worth the paperwork, and the money, and all the guilt that came along with it. This way he was completely responsible, couldn’t lose control or the kid would die, and he didn’t want a death on his hands.
Gareth had gone back into the basement, which was where he was now, watching the captive sleep. He was curled up on the floor, whimpering in his sleep, clearly having some sort of nightmare. Gareth grabbed his shoulder, intending on stilling him, this isn’t what happened as the captive jerked awake, scrambling backwards, away from Gareth. His eyes were wide as he studied Gareth, before looking quickly around the room, falling back on Gareth.
Gareth had to take a step back in surprise. The captive looked like he was completely aware of what was happening and of his surroundings, he looked like he was processing the information. The captive looked around the basement once more, drawing his knees up to himself and wrapping his arms around them, looking like he wanted to say something but was unsure of what words to say. Gareth didn’t understand, he’d thought that once they were admitted to a facility it was because they could no longer think on their own, and he knew that what he was going to do would not help in any way, but he wanted answers.
He leaned down to the boys level, grabbing his shoulder again, the captive flinched, lowering his gaze to the ground.
“Can you talk to me calmly” Gareth said, layering his voice. The power was something Gareth had not used often, as it was basically illegal, and his voice was rough sounding, enough so that even the captive looked up at him in surprise, clearly not used to the sound of misuse, but he nodded slowly.
“What’s your name kid?” Gareth asked, no longer layering his voice, and thankful that he didn’t have to.
“Leroy,” the boy said quietly, drawing his knees in closer to himself, his eyes still searching everything in the room, never quite making direct eye contact with Gareth.
“Yeah, and how old are you?”
“Nineteen”
“You were in the facility right?” Gareth asked, Leroy shut his eyes, seeming to flinch from the memory, but he nodded.
“Are you-I mean-What’s it like?” Gareth finally settled on, he had no idea how to phrase the question he wanted to ask. Leroy tilted his head to the side confused.
“I don’t understand” he said flatly, after several seconds.
“Exactly, you can understand, can process what I’m saying, so why are you in the facility?”
Leroy still didn’t look like he understood what was wanted from him, and his brows knitted together in confusion before he finally answered, “I was put in the facility because my step father used his power too much and now I’m broken,” Gareth sighed loudly at the obvious response that had been programmed into him at the facility.
“How’s your memory?” he asked instead. Leroy half shrugged in response, his eyes still tracking the room around him, they finally landed on a spot just behind Gareth, where the door was. So he understood the fact that this was not where he was supposed to be well enough.
“Look you can’t leave. Everyone thinks your dead, the facility was supposed to kill you”
“But they didn’t kill me, and you know that I’m alive, can’t you help me?” Leroy asked, confusion was written across his face at the prospect of being dead.
“I am going to help you, and you’re going to help me. I’ll help you get better, but you can’t leave, because then the police will find you, and they’ll return you to the facility, and then you’ll die” Leroy visibly shuddered at the word, pushing himself as far back into the corner as possible, his eyes losing focus.
Gareth squeezed his shoulder and Leroy shook his head, clasping his hands firmly together, starting to bring the world around him into focus again.
“Sorry-I’m sorry, what did you ask?” Leroy questioned, looking up at Gareth.
“What did they do to you at the facility?” Gareth asked in response, Leroy looked down to the ground, trying to come up with an answer for him. Gareth looked away from his face and down to his hands, still clasped together firmly, the muscles in his arm were tensed. Gareth grabbed his hands pulling them apart.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, Leroy’s hand was bleeding from how deep he was digging his fingernails into his hand.
“It helps me to think, to-to focus” Leroy said, pulling his hands away from Gareth and wiping the blood off onto his leg. Gareth sighed, the boy really was something else.
“Sleep and forget this conversation” Gareth layered his voice again, Leroy fell forward, completely limp, not even trying to resist what Gareth said. Usually when people were being used like this they could resist it for some time, Gareth had seen it, but he didn’t, he’d probably been used so much he couldn’t even if he wanted to.
Gareth picked him up somewhat awkwardly, Leroy’s limbs hanging lifelessly as Gareth walked him over and placed his arms in the shackles, maybe in doing so he would help the boy be better, Gareth needed him, but he wanted the boy aware and able to understand. He didn’t want him to be some lifeless shell of a person, he would do what he could to get Leroy’s mind as normal as it could be in this situation.
thinking about galavant again. like madalena and gareth really should’ve realized that the feeling they were feeling was friendship in the end because i really don’t think either of them had had a friendship before let alone a m/f friendship
like madalena’s relationships are all about what she can get out of people. she hasn’t had anything given to her solely out of the kindness of friendship before. one of her early attempts at friendship lands with her being the butt of a joke so i doubt she approached anything honestly after that. and then her relationship with galavant is fueled mostly by lust so she doesn’t and wouldn’t interpret anything from him as being given out of kindness because that doesn’t fit with her worldview. so it’s understandable that she would mistake the feeling of friendship with the feeling of romantic love
i think her negative reaction to all of the stuff surrounding the wedding and then ultimately choosing power in the end highlights the fact that it isn’t romantic love for her. all of madalena’s choices are fueled by a want of power and status and hedonism. marrying gareth would’ve further secured her power with the throne and his loyalty to her which would’ve increased her power as well. it would’ve also made her status better as being a married queen. but she doesn’t chose that and she has to be convinced that it’s the thing to do. she likes gareth but in the end there is a big piece of the puzzle missing and its that she’s not attracted to him
now on gareth’s side of things, from a young age he’s put at a higher status above his peers by being assigned as richard’s bodyguard. this means that since he was ten to those outside the castle he’s richard’s enforcer. to any of his peers inside the castle he has a higher status than them, which given how young the social classes get enforced, means he’s going to be given some distance or mocked mercilessly behind his back. which would be stopped soon after it got back to gareth given gareth’s penchant for violence. so he only has richard for any sort of normal socialization. and even then that’s going to be all tied up in his duty and loyalty to richard. he doesn’t have any friendships that aren’t wrapped up in something else. he doesnt have any frame of reference so sid has to point out that their friends now and even then he doesn’t know how to act in a friendship despite being decades old
gareth lives his life by rules. he’s richard’s bodyguard so he’s loyal to him. he’s a man so he’s supposed to fuck women. he’s a fighter so he’s supposed to fight. his cut song manlyology highlights this by how aware of all the rules of masculinity gareth is. when gareth kills kingsley he has sid check the rules. gareth is king now. the king is supposed to married to the queen. so in his mind he should be married to madalena. gareth has been trained since he was ten (younger honestly since knight training is supposed to start at age 5) that he’s supposed to protect and be loyal to the throne, and more specifically richard. well richard’s not here, but his ex wife is. that’s the closest thing he’s got. so when he sees madalena hurt he does what he’d do for richard. he maims the people who hurt her and gives her their ears and earrings as a gift. this is gareth’s attempt at making things back to normal in his book. how things are supposed to go
i just think that everything on gareth’s end is him trying to make things make sense again after he had to go against everything he was taught and everything he stood for in the season one finale. and by projecting his loyalty for richard onto madalena he’s transferred some other feelings he has towards richard onto madalena. because gareth does love richard in some capacity. i would argue that it is romantic but even if you don’t feel that way you cannot deny that him choosing to save richard in the end was an act of love. also gareth’s whole “i like em really skinny. like unhealthy skinny” or liking women really really fat seems like either a fetish he’s talked himself or something that gives him plausible deniability when it comes to why he didnt take home a woman who was into him. he can always say she’s not skinny enough or not fat enough. and let’s be really madalena did not lose or gain a lot of weight
tldr; all of madalena’s relationships are wrapped up in her lust or lust for power so she doesn’t recognize the feelings of friendship. she also doesn’t see gareth as an outlet for lust or a desirable opportunity of power. gareth hasn’t had a friendship that isn’t warped by his loyalty to richard including what is between him and madalena and he projects his feelings of care and loyalty towards richard onto her. sid had to point out that they were friends. madalena doesn’t fit gareth’s description of an attractive woman. so both parties mistook friendship for love
Thomas Mallory’s crusty old ghost appeared and with little evidence told me to inform everyone, that Gareth, our beloved kitchen knight, was a transwoman.
