Practise Makes Perfect
Here is a light-hearted little tale which I wanted to put up, considering most of my recent chapters have been more dramatic or sad.
Disclaimer: I don't own 'Merlin'.
…..
After living with Merlin for eight years Gaius thought that there was nothing his ward could do to surprise him. But when Merlin staggered into his chambers, tripped up the stairs into his own small room and vomited into the corner before falling onto the bed and promptly passing out, Gaius was a little concerned.
When Merlin woke up it was to a pounding headache. He sat up, groaning as the pain in his head grew and he smelt the sickly stench of vomit. Gaius entered the room, allowing a grim smile when he saw his ward awake and sitting up. He walked towards Merlin's bed, and produced a small bottle of muddy brown liquid.
"Drink this", he said, handing the bottle to his ward. "It will help with the headache."
Merlin took the bottle his mentor offered and downed the liquid in one gulp, grimacing at the bitter flavour. Gaius settled himself down in the chair next to Merlin's bed, and regarded the warlock intently. Merlin looked across at him innocently.
"Merlin, what happened last night?" Gaius enquired.
"Ah." Merlin bit his lip, looking at his mentor embarrassedly. "I – was at the tavern." Gaius blinked, surprised.
"The tavern?" he asked sceptically. Merlin sighed.
"Arthur's started to go with the knights every few weeks. You know he thinks that I spend half my time in there – thanks to you! What will he think if he sees me drunk after one tankard?" Gaius raised his eyebrows quizzically.
"So you want to convey to Arthur that you are used to spending time at the tavern?" Gaius asked, still a little puzzled.
"Yes!" Merlin exclaimed, glad that his mentor had understood. "Every time I go missing you tell Arthur I'm in the tavern; I have to be convincing or he'll start to wonder where I actually go!"
"I see", the physician mused, "So you believe that by drinking more often you will improve your capability to drink more in a single evening?"
"Well…" Merlin shrugged. "Practise makes perfect, right?"
…
This story came into my head when I was thinking about how Gaius always says that Merlin is in the tavern, but considering how thin Merlin is he probably can't hold his liquor very well. That led me to wondering if Arthur would realise Merlin can't be in the tavern that often if he actually went drinking with his servant. I thought that if he believed Merlin goes to the tavern a lot, he would probably be expecting him to be able to drink a lot more than he actually can. Am I making sense?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this!