"Where in the world is Merlin now, Gaius?!" Arthur shrieks as he enters the physician's home.

The old man carefully places a vial down onto the table in front of him and nervously looks up at the prince.

Arthur taps his foot impatiently and growls, "Well?!"

To be completely honest, Gaius had no idea where the young man was. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "T-the Tavern, sire."

The tall blonde prince frowns and angrily locks eyes with the physician, searching for any hidden information in his wise, old eyes. "It's rather odd how you almost always say that he's there, Gaius. Yet, every time I go there, he isn't anywhere to be seen!"

Gaius shrugs. "That boy is a mystery, sire. He could be trying to escape right now, for all you know." And so the old man casually continues where he left off and searches the room for an ingredient for a potion.

Prince Arthur scoffs and struggles to find words for a cocky come-back. He gives up and stomps outside and to the local Tavern.

"Drink! Drink! DRINK!" shouts enthusiastic Gwaine as he thumps the rickety wooden table. Merlin immediately downs another drink and slams the empty jug down. Gwaine pounds his fist into the other and screams "YEEES!" at the top of his lungs. Merlin laughs and licks his beer-covered lips. The two men high-five and do a silly, little dance of celebration.

"Go for it, Gwaine!" Merlin chuckles and pushes him towards the counter to order another round.

Just as the devilishly-handsome troublemaker asks for more drinks, Arthur opens the door to the Tavern, looking terribly frustrated, red-faced with rage. It doesn't even take two seconds for the room to quiet down, and Merlin steers his head around to see what the big deal was. Arthur Pendragon's gaze meets his manservant's and his face immediately drops in utter disbelief. He never really thought Merlin would actually...

"Got the good stuff!" Gwaine yells, laughing to himself and swaying over to where Merlin is sitting down. He's completely oblivious to the fact that practically the entire Tavern is surprised at seeing the prince of Camelot show his dainty face.

Merlin nervously yanks the drinks from his friend's hands and puts them onto the table. "Gwaine... Prince Arthur is here..." he whispers.

The man's face brightens up even more so, and he contently whips around to announce, "We would be delighted if you joined us to have a beer or two, Arthur!"

Merlin hopelessly groans as the prince's face scrunches up into an ugly grimace. He makes his way through the people in the Tavern and holds the locking of eyes between himself and Merlin. As much us the poor boy would love to escape, there wasn't enough time to run. "Merlin, Merlin, Merlin..." the prince mutters in aggravation. He raises an intimidating eyebrow and proceeds with the scolding. "The Tavern?! And Gwaine?!" He points at the gleeful man beside them who seems to be incredibly interested in a fly, which can't stop tweedling around on the table. His nostrils flare and his eyes show pure rage. "You really have some nerve to think that leaving your tasks to do this is-"

"Arthur, give the kid a chance!" Gwaine interrupts, now taking hold of a pint and swirling it around to make the beer jiggle. "Remember, he saved your life back in the day. Don't you think about taking that for granted."

Arthur looks Merlin up and down and says, "Well then? Why do you think the Tavern is more important than tending to my needs?"

Following a loud chuckle, Gwaine mutters, "You don't need to have Merlin spring clean every day. It's called spring cleaning for a reason."

Right as Arthur opens his mouth to snap back about giving him some respect, considering he's the future king of Camelot, Gwaine shouts, "AHA!", and slams both hands on the table, making Merlin jump. "A challenge, my friends."

Arthur looks totally confused. "A challenge...?" Then he lets out a snicker and adds, "If it includes throwing down a gauntlet, I feel it'd be unfair for this poor chap."

Merlin's head perks up at this and he retorts, "I'm a lot stronger than you'd think, you dollop-head!"

This sass coming from his manservant plucked the wrong cords in Arthur, and there was no way he'd let this disrespect pass. "Merlin, I have complete authority to throw you into prison for what you just called me! Now I'm giving you one last chance to listen and get back to the castle!"

Gwaine hangs on Merlin's shoulder and mumbles, "He isn't going back without completing the challenge."

Arthur rolls his eyes and takes a seat on the bench. "What's the challenge, Gwaine? Keep in mind, I'm only doing this to prove this oaf wrong."

Merlin glances over at Prince Arthur with disdain and thinks to himself, There's no way I'm going to let Arthur make a fool of me here.

"You two," Gwaine hiccups. "Will need to compete in drinking the most pints here. One sitting."

The expressions on both Merlin and Arthur's face said "Of course", and then Merlin remembered. "Hey, I've already had more than him, and he hasn't had a single thing to drink yet! How is that fair?"

Gwaine smiles. "We get him to catch up, Merlin."

This causes the edge of Merlin's lip to curl up in amusement, while Arthur just grunts his approval. Gwaine pushes several pints in front of the prince and anticipates what the future holds. Arthur gives the drinks wary looks, and he cautiously grabs hold of one of the jugs. He raises it to his mouth and downs most of it in one go. Merlin gawks while Gwaine only giggles. The next few smoothly run down Arthur's throat, and when he's done drinking the final pint to catch up, he confidently slams the jug onto the table. The prince of Camelot chuckles and responds, "Beat that, Merlin."

Gwaine smiles and excitedly rubs his hands together, pushing more beer in front of the two men.

Merlin meets Arthur's eyes, and then he grips the handle of the pint and tips it down to let it rush down his throat. He lets out a heavy breath and grins. "You now, Prince Arthur."

Arthur is quick to grab the pint and he immediately chugs the next serving of beer. Gwaine energetically hollers, "More beer!", and shoves another two pints towards them.

Arthur grasps the beer as soon as it reaches him and then vigorously gulps it down. Merlin chuckles and does the same. Gwaine brings even more to them, enjoying everything way too much. And once again, Arthur consumes the beer in a heartbeat.

Gwaine leans over to whisper into Merlin's ear. "This is where you stop drinking and let him go on. He won't even remember what happened here afterwards."

However, Merlin shoves his friend away and yearns for more beer. Arthur and Merlin scramble to get one pint more than the other. Soon enough, the alcohol has gotten to both men's heads, and poor little Gwaine stands there, hopeless and shaking his head. "What was I thinking."