Summary: Oneshot - Gwaine is quiet at the campfire. Nobody knows why, not even Merlin! Bonding time occurs between the knights as they try to get Gwaine to open up with limited luck. They end up learning much more than they expected. No slashes, just friendship!

This takes place before Lancelot…well…ya know…dies. *tear slowly slides down cheek* Dang I loved that knight! Arthur is king btw…that might be important.

….~…..

Something was wrong. The campfire was never quiet.

Arthur poked his head out of the tent and looked around the campfire. On the routine patrol he had brought only his closest (though he would never admit it-favorite) knights. Leon, Percival, Elyan, Lancelot, and Merlin were sitting around the campfire. Their stares never left the flames.

Who's missing...? Gwaine! That's it! He's always loud…where is he?

Arthur left his tent and sat down beside Merlin at the campfire. None looked up. "Where's Gwaine?"

Merlin jumped and let out a cry of surprise, and he wasn't alone. Every knight had jumped and was settling back down.

Leon asked with his face in his palm, "When'd you get here?"

Arthur looked bewildered at his men. They never acted like this. "I walked from the tent…to here…and sat down." He noticed everyone's tired expressions. "What is wrong with you guys?"

Elyan sighed. "Gwaine."

"What's wrong with Gwaine?"

Merlin shook his head. "No idea. He wouldn't talk to any of us and then went to bed early…without a drink!"

"What?"

Lancelot continued, "We tried to get him to talk laugh or tell a story or something but nothing worked!"

Percival said, "Merlin even told a story about you drunk but Gwaine didn't even smile!"

"Merlin!" Arthur's gaze swerved to Merlin. "You did what?"

Merlin smiled sheepishly. "Well, do you remember the time when Princess Violetta of Refertia visited Camelot and you told me to get you weak wine?"

Arthur's eyes widened. "You didn't."

"I did." Merlin grinned. "I got the strongest wine that the kitchen had and you drank it. A lot of it."

Arthur groaned. "That's why I can't remember anything about Princess Violetta."

"She'll remember you."

"I don't want to know what I did."

"It was perfect. You hit on her, completely drunk by the way, and she rejected you. In front of everyone. Oh my god, it was hilarious."

Arthur hid his red cheeks in his hands. "Princess Violetta and her father left the castle the next day and I never knew why."

All the knights were laughing by now.

Leon inserted, "Princess Violetta said she never wanted to come back. Her father, King Griffin, signed a treaty between Camelot and Refertia just so they could leave!"

Everyone laughed even harder. Tears were flowing out of Merlin and Leon's eyes. Elyan had the occasional snort enter his laugh and that made Percival and Lancelot laugh all the harder.

At first, Arthur was embarrassed but soon started to laugh. Hearing what he had done while drunk had been very…informative. He already had five ways to get Merlin back.

"Can you guys wrap it up out there?" a gruff voice called from a sleeping bag.

"Gwaine, what's wrong?" Merlin asked. All traces of laughter had left very abruptly.

Leon, Percival, Elyan, and Lancelot looked concernedly at their brother-in-arms. Something was clearly wrong.

"Just leave me alone."

Merlin stood up and moved to his lump of a friend. "Get out here and tell us what's wrong!"

The lump of cloth shifted and said, "Leave me alone."

Merlin kicked Gwaine softly. Gwaine shouted, "Oi! What was that?"

Merlin knelt down and said in a voice soft enough for only Gwaine to hear, "Get out here Gwaine or I will tell them how you can be nice and actually care."

"Coming! I'm coming!" Gwaine stood quickly and struggled to get out of his sleeping bag.

The knights were taken aback about how easily Merlin could get Gwaine up and moving.

Leon asked, still in shock, "How on Earth did you do that?"

Merlin grinned, "Practice."

Gwaine stumbled over to the campfire and sat apart from everyone else. Merlin returned to his seat beside Arthur. Arthur eyed his knight before asking, "What's wrong Gwaine?"

"Nothing. Can I go to sleep now?" Gwaine asked dismissing the question.

"No! Answer the question and then you can sleep for all eternity!"

Gwaine scowled and sat silent.

Leon asked seriously, "Did a serving girl turn you down?"

Lancelot tried, "Did you lose a sword fight?"

Elyan asked, "Did your tavern run out of mead?"

"No! God don't you people shut up!?"

Merlin stood and moved to Gwaine. "Tell us what's wrong and we'll leave alone to your thoughts."

Gwaine sighed and said, "It's just…today."

"What about today?"

Gwaine dropped his face to his hands. "Merlin, you are my best and only friend in the entire world, but…I don't want to tell you. Can't you just respect that?"

Merlin sighed and said, "If you put it that way, I guess we can put this off until breakfast."

"I'll take what I can get." Gwaine stumbled over to his sleeping bag and crawled in.

The remaining knights around the campfire glanced to Merlin. Merlin shrugged. "I have no idea."

Arthur clapped his hands. "Well, we'll be up early to return to Camelot tomorrow morning. Time to turn in."

Merlin groaned; he knew what followed. "Merlin, make sure the horses are fed and watered. Also, check to make sure we have plenty of firewood. I don't want to go looking in the middle of the night for firewood."

"Even if we did run out, I'd be the one getting more."

"So true." Arthur opened his tent and sealed the flap shut. Arthur sighed and flopped on his makeshift bed in the corner. Within seconds of his head hitting the pillow, Arthur was asleep and snoring contently.

Outside the tent, Elyan shook his head. "I'll go collect some more firewood for you Merlin."

"Thank you Elyan."

Percival drew his sword from the ground. "I'll go with you."

Elyan looked offended. "I don't need a body guard."

"So then you can carry all the firewood and a sword?"

Elyan's shoulders sagged. "Come on." Percival and Elyan walked into the woods.

Leon looked at Merlin. "I'll water the horses."

"You don't need to." Merlin advised. Leon had been born a noble and was clearly not used to helping servants.

"I want to Merlin." Leon's face showed no sign of lying.

Merlin nodded. "Have at it then."

…~…..

The next morning at breakfast was just as quiet as the campfire the night before.

"Gwaine! What the hell is wrong with you?" Arthur near shouted.

"Nothing," Gwaine replied and took another bite of his porridge.

"Bullcrap," Elyan taunted.

Gwaine scowled but said nothing.

Leon and Percival motioned for Merlin to do something. Merlin sighed and mouthed, Why do I have to?

Leon shrugged and pointed to Gwaine. Merlin sighed and sat next to Gwaine. "Are you ready to tell me yet?"

Gwaine glowered at Merlin before replying, "No. Now leave me alone." Gwaine finished off his porridge and asked, "Shouldn't we be going soon?"

Arthur nodded and handed his empty bowl to Merlin. "Yes I guess we should. Unless Gwaine has something to share…" Arthur glanced at Gwaine expectantly. At Gwaine's furious glare, Arthur continued, "I guess not. So pack up and we move out in ten minutes."

Merlin took the empty bowls from the knights and packed them in a rough sack. The knights started to disperse and pack their own bags. Merlin strapped the sack to his horse and went to pack Arthur's things. Arthur stopped him and whispered, "I've got this. You go check on Gwaine. Take him for a walk or something..."

Merlin looked skeptically at his prince. "Are you sure you can pack by yourself?"

Arthur took a deep breath and staunched his anger. "I can ask the knights if I need help. Now go find out what's wrong with Gwaine!"

Merlin nodded at Arthur and headed off towards Gwaine. He had never seen Arthur so worried about someone other than himself. This was cause for concern.

Gwaine was kneeling on the ground packing his bag when Merlin approached. Merlin muttered, "Arthur says I'm to go for a walk with you and find out what's wrong."

Gwaine snorted. "Since when does Princess care?"

Merlin frowned. "He always has Gwaine. He may not show it but he does."

"You're acting like a girl, Merlin. Stop it."

"Just come for a walk Gwaine. What could it hurt?"

Gwaine smirked. "Now you're asking me to go for a walk. When did you become such a girl?"

"Come on!" Merlin tugged on Gwaine's arm and Gwaine got up, rather reluctantly.

"Fine, but I'm not saying anything."

Merlin sighed. "Just listen then." Merlin and Gwaine walked out of the campsite avoiding the other knights' questioning glances. Once in the comfort of the dark woods, Merlin continued, "Everyone is really worried Gwaine. You're quiet, and you are never quiet. Then you go and give us a hint last night and then today you refuse to give us anymore information?" When Gwaine didn't reply, Merlin added, "You should at least trust me."

Gwaine stared at his friend. "I just…I'm…I don't know." Gwaine sighed and sat down at the stump of an old oak tree.

Merlin joined Gwaine and asked, "Well, you should know Arthur is really worried. I can see it in his eyes. Believe it or not, he actually cares about his knights."

"That's the problem!" Gwaine roared, unable to contain his outburst.

"How is that a problem?" Merlin asked confused. "Isn't that a good thing?" When Gwaine didn't respond, Merlin thought harder. Suddenly, he made a connection. Merlin asked quietly, "This has to do with your father, doesn't it?"

Gwaine stood up hastily and said, "I'll tell everyone when I'm ready and not a moment before." Without giving Merlin a chance to reply, he strode off in the direction of their camp. Merlin had no choice but to follow.

When he reached the clearing, he saw Gwaine had went straight back to packing his bag. By now, all the other knights had finished packing and they were all waiting on Gwaine and him. The knights were huddled around their horses. Arthur gestured for Merlin to join them. "What did you find?"

"I don't think it's my place to tell…" Merlin started.

"Not your place to tell! I'm bloody worried about my knight and I'd like to know what's wrong with him!" Arthur shouted loud enough for Gwaine to hear. Merlin turned to see Gwaine's reaction. Gwaine hadn't moved from his position of packing supplies.

"Keep your voice down. He said he would tell us when he was ready and that's all I can get out of him."

"You mean that's all you want to get out of him," Percival accused.

"Yes. If he isn't ready to tell us, then he's not ready."

"You have a better idea than that…" Elyan started.

Merlin interrupted, "Isn't it time to go now?"

Gwaine stood up with his freshly packed bag. "Yes. Let's go."

Merlin and Gwaine mounted their horses and took off towards Camelot. The lingering knights shrugged to each other and followed after them.

…..~…

After an hour's ride, Arthur announced they still had an hour to go.

"But my butt's sore!" Merlin whined.

"Stop complaining Merlin!" Arthur scolded.

"You're one to talk. This armor isn't polished enough. That sword is too dull. My boot has a spot on it Merlin. You should lick it off," Merlin mimicked.

"Speaking of that, maybe you should lick my boots clean from now on."

"After all that you step in…no way," Merlin settled.

Silence followed their party after that. Ten minutes later, Gwaine spoke up. "Do you guys really want to know?"

"Yes!" everyone chorused.

"This is painful, watching you act so…depressed," Leon admitted.

Elyan nodded. "It is quite the turn around."

Gwaine took a deep breath and asked, "My father died fighting in a war for a king that didn't know what he was doing. The king sent him to die and my father rode to his death."

A brief moment of silence followed before Arthur said, "I'm sorry Gwaine."

Gwaine shrugged off the apology. "It wasn't you Arthur; it's fine. It's just…I used to hate royals because I thought they all wasted their followers' lives."

"I hope you know I would never do that with you Gwaine."

Gwaine sighed. "I know. That's why it's so hard. My idea of royalty is so completely wrong and stereotyped…I just don't know what to do."

Elyan mentioned, "That still doesn't explain why it happened today."

Gwaine bowed his head. "Today is the anniversary of my father's death."

Merlin flinched. "I'm sorry Gwaine."

"I didn't know him long, so it wasn't that hard to grow up without a father." Gwaine glanced around the trees. "I hate acting so much like a girl with all this feelings and crap. Bleh!"

"Tell me about it," Arthur sighed. "Just think about what I have to go through with Merlin here. You know, he wanted to hug me once?"

Lancelot laughed. "Merlin? You never told me you were a hugger!"

Merlin grinned sheepishly. "What can I say, I went in for the hug and it was the wrong time!"

Gwaine laughed along with his friends. He felt warmth spread through his limbs. Gwaine took a moment to register what he was feeling before he realized it was happiness.

The friends rode in silence before Arthur said, "Gwaine, I am very sorry for your loss and there is nothing I can do. But I hope you know I never take the lives' of my men as a light thing."

Gwaine sighed. "I know, Princess. I know."

…..~…

Review maybe?