Hello. I apologise for the long wait between updates but I had a thesis to write and I'm sure you all understand that it has to come first.
Thank you for the reviews and and to all of you who continue to read.
All mistakes are mine but I hope you enjoy it anyway. :)
Gwaine
Elyan set the bottle in motion as it began to spin at a fast pace. Collected breaths were held as the bottle finally came to a stop opposite Merlin.
Merlin groaned inwardly but he also knew he could never reveal his biggest secret but he didn't want to lie either. If he was going to have to tell the truth and do a dare he'd rather get the truth out of the way first.
'Truth,' he stated as he turned to the man next to him. 'I choose Lancelot.'
'Figures,' Gwaine muttered under his breath.
Lancelot knew why Merlin had chosen him for the truth. Lancelot alone knew about Merlin's magic and knew that Merlin wouldn't want to lie so judged the wording of his question carefully.
'Tell us what happened when you first arrived in Camelot,' Lancelot grinned towards his friend.
Merlin knew exactly what Lancelot was getting at. He had told Lancelot what had happened when Lancelot revealed his ambitions to be a knight. However, Merlin wanted to see what he could get away with.
'As you all know, I saved Arthur's life and ended up as his servant. The end,' Merlin looked directly at Lancelot while he could hear the other knights' laughing. Lancelot's grin told Merlin that the knight wasn't about to accept that answer.
'No, Merlin. I meant what happened when you first met Arthur,' Lancelot's eyes were now sparkling with mischief and he was sporting a very knowing grin.
'Oooh, what happened?' Elayn leaned forward looking eager to hear Merlin's explanation. Merlin groaned as he looked around the room. Percival was quietly smiling, as was Leon.
'Come on. 'Fess up,' came Gwaine's amused voice.
'I hate you,' Merlin said mockingly staring straight at Lancelot who lifted his drink in acknowledgement.
'Can I leave it at, Arthur and I didn't exactly hit it off?' Merlin asked but all the looks he received in return were grins and shakes of the head from all of the knights.
Merlin creased his face up and rubbed his forehead with his hand. The knights waited patiently for him to begin.
'As you all know, Arthur is somewhat of a spoilt and arrogant brat,' he started, drawing laughter from everyone in the room. 'But when I first knew him, he was even more so,' Merlin made sure to put the emphasis on 'more'.
'He must have been insufferable then!' Gwaine exclaimed as he laughed and sputtered slightly, as he almost choked on his drink. That brought more raucous laughter to the room.
'Go on, Merlin,' Percival smiled once the laughter died down.
'Well let's just say I had just arrived so I had no idea who anybody was and made a slight error in judgement,' Merlin continued.
'You didn't recognise him, did you?' Leon guessed correctly.
'No, I didn't,' Merlin replied.
'You didn't recognise Prince Arthur?' Elyan asked in disbelief.
'Hey come on!' Merlin stretched his arms out wide. 'I come from Ealdor. Not exactly running into prince's every other day!'
Cue more laughter.
'True. I only knew it was Arthur when Merlin pointed him out,' Lancelot backed up his friend.
'Anyway. I walked past the training ground and saw a noble idiot abusing his servant,' Merlin was glad to see the eyebrows of everyone but Lancelot raise at his statement. 'Arthur's current servant had put the target for throwing daggers at in a position where the sun would be in Arthur's eyes. Arthur told his servant to move it and started throwing daggers at the moving target.'
'Really?' Percival sounded disbelieving as he had only known Arthur since they had foiled Morgana's takeover of Camelot. Merlin nodded. 'He's changed then,' the big man muttered under his breath, but everyone heard him.
'I wish I could say it was because he listens to me...' Merlin said plainly.
'He listens to you more than you know,' Leon's voice surprised Merlin and he looked up to see the honesty in the blonde knight's voice. 'You must remember that Uther has always taught Arthur that servants are beneath him. He can't publicly acknowledge that he listens to you but he does,' Leon said seriously with warmth in his voice as the other men nodded in agreement.
'Of course, ignoring you annoys you as well and Arthur rather enjoys your resulting moods,' Gwaine quipped happily drawing laughter from the room and from Merlin himself.
'Back to the story,' said Lancelot as Merlin quietly cursed his friend.
'Well, being me. I told Arthur, not knowing he was Arthur, that he should stop as he had had his fun. Being Arthur he didn't take it too well. I may have called him an ass...' Merlin looked up when he heard a thud as Gwaine was now writhing on the floor in fits of hysterical laughter.
'Only...you...Merlin,' he managed to say between the laughter.
'Yep,' Merlin chimed. 'I tried to punch him and then he revealed who he was and I spent the night in the cells.' At this point Gwaine was now red in the face and struggling to breathe while the other knights too were struggling to stop their laughter. 'Thanks to Gaius I ended up in the stocks rather than being banished,' Merlin's last comment sent everyone over the edge and all the knights, bar Lancelot, were lying on the floor laughing so hard that breathing was becoming difficult.
'I knew this would be a good story,' Lancelot said quietly to Merlin.
'Thanks for not asking something that I would have to lie about,' Merlin smiled back at his friend.
'Anytime,' the knight replied. 'Come on,' Lancelot said loudly addressing the others, 'this story isn't finished yet!'
'There's more!' Elyan choked out. Merlin nodded.
'Well once I was finally out of the stocks, that's where I met your sister by the way,' Merlin added to Elyan.
'Gwen was in the stocks?' Elyan asked confused.
'No, she took pity on the idiot in the stocks. I saw Arthur again in the lower town and he started making fun of me. I tried to ignore him but he was being a right prat. So I told him so,' Merlin grinned at his explanation.
'You can't address him like that!' Leon exclaimed in amusement.
'He does now,' Percival quipped.
'He said that,' Merlin said directing his reply to Leon. 'And he's used to it now,' he said to Percival. 'In response I think I said something along the lines of, 'How long of you been training to be a prat, my lord'. That got his attention,' Merlin grinned.
'That would,' Lancelot laughed.
'We had a bit of a fight around the market. Destroyed a lot of things actually. I had the upper hand for a while,' Merlin saw disbelief in the knights' eyes but Lancelot looked smug as he knew why Merlin had had the upper hand. 'Honestly, I did! Then I saw Gaius looking thunderous and, well, Arthur beat me. Thankfully he stopped the guards arresting me' Merlin sighed.
'I'm surprised you didn't end up back the cells and then banished Merlin,' Leon stated.
'So was I. For some reason Arthur spared me and I don't know why,' Merlin stated. 'Not sure he knows himself,' he shrugged. Of course Merlin knew it was because their destinies were entwined but he wasn't about to admit to that. 'Of course when Lady Helen of Mora was killed and her appearance was taken on by a witch, I managed to save Arthur's life and here I am,' he finished with a flourish of his arms and a shrug of his shoulders.
A pause was followed by clapping from all of the knights.
'Only you Merlin,' Gwaine said placing a hand on Merlin's shoulder. 'Only you can get away with calling Arthur names and live to tell the tale. Although I did call him a princess once.'
Merlin picked up the bottle and let it spin. It stopped opposite Gwaine.
'Finally!' the knight beamed as he sized up his options. 'Percival. You got a dare for me?'
Percival smiled back. 'Well, I have an idea.'
'Go on,' Gwaine leaned forward eager to hear what the big knight had to say.
'Gaius always gives me a lecture when I get hurt. He's lovely and everything but I want you to play a prank on Gaius,' Percival grinned.
'Surely Merlin would be better to do that?' Gwaine replied.
'Oh no,' Merlin waved his hands in front of him in a stay away gesture. 'The man would suss me straight away! I love him to pieces but he's quite funny when he's angry,' Merlin flashed a wicked smile.
'OK,' Gwaine flashed a smile. 'I've got a few ideas that could work.'
Merlin saw Gaius the next morning and saw that the physician appeared to be in good spirits.
'Were you up late again, Merlin?' the old physician teased.
'I blame Lancelot,' Merlin quipped back.
'Only Lancelot?' Gaius raised an eyebrow in question.
'All right. All of them. They're a bad influence,' Merlin flashed a cheeky grin. 'Anyway gotta go. I'm sure Arthur's found something to shout at me about in his dreams.'
Merlin left Gaius alone as he wandered over to Arthur's chambers to wake the sleeping prince. He wasn't watching where he was going and bumped into Gwaine.
'Gwaine?' What are you doing up so early?' Merlin asked.
'Oh you know,' Gwaine shrugged. 'Trying to get rid of my hangover, stealing food from the kitchens,' he raised the piece of cheese to his mouth in answer, 'stalking prey...'
'You're going to watch Gaius, aren't you,' Merlin grinned knowingly.
'Well I do need him out of his chambers to set my pranks in motion,' Gwaine popped the rest of the cheese into his mouth with a grin and started walking away.
Merlin turned, 'Did you say pranks? As in in plural?' he questioned but Gwaine just waved his hand behind him in dismissal.
Gwaine watched as Gaius moved around his chambers making potions and drafts and pausing to read instructions from certain books. The knight was wondering how to lure the older man out of his chambers when Gaius stood up and walked out of the door.
Gwaine snuck into the physician's chambers and immediately saw that his first idea could work. Gaius' reading glasses were perched on a book and pocketed them straight away and left quietly.
Gwaine was startled when Percival appeared at his side as he wandered through the corridors.
'Arthur wants us,' was all the big man said and Gwaine followed him into the council chambers.
All the other knights and Lord Agravaine were present and Arthur was holding a letter in his hands.
'Ah, Gaius,' the prince said as he Gaius ambled into the chambers with Merlin at his side. 'This letter is from a physician in the outlying villages who suspects a common fever has spread through some of the villages. He is asking for your advice.'
'I'm afraid that might be difficult, sire. I would need to examine the patients myself,' the old physician replied.
'No need. He has listed a comprehensive list of symptoms and has already put a quarantine in place. He just wants to know if you agree,' Arthur stated handing the parchment out to the physician.
Gaius took the parchment and pocketed it.
'Aren't going to read it here?' Arthur asked as everyone looked enquiringly at Gaius.
'My apologies, sire. I seem to have misplaced my glasses and will need to return to chambers to read it,' Gaius said with a tinge of embarrassment.
Gwaine was struggling to keep the internal smile from creeping onto his face but became aware rather quickly that he was under the gaze of all of the knights and Merlin.
'I shall inform you when I have reviewed the letter and the symptoms,' Gaius announced as he left the chambers.
The knights were all struggling to contain their emotions now and Arthur had noticed.
'Something has amused you all. Please share it,' Arthur looked between the men but none of them were forthcoming. Arthur stared harder and finally settled on Percival.
'Percival?' he enquired.
'Sorry Arthur,' the big knight responded. 'It's just rather funny that Gaius' has lost his glasses.'
'It happens more often than you think,' Merlin piped up and now no-one could contain their laughter and even Arthur had a smirk on his face but Agravaine looked unamused.
'Get out,' Arthur said exasperated while Agravaine rolled his eyes. 'Not you Merlin,' he called to his servant who stayed behind.
The knights left the council chambers quickly and found a deserted corridor.
'Tell me this is you,' Elyan said quietly and amusement shining in his eyes.
Gwaine produced Gaius' glasses from his pocket in gleeful celebration.
'I'd say that worked rather well,' he announced as the others nodded.
'You do know you're going to have to put them back?' Leon questioned. 'We can't have our physician unable to see.'
'Always the serious one aren't you Leon?' Gwaine teased. 'Of course I'm going to put them back.'
Gaius finally managed to decipher the list of symptoms in the letter with his reading glass and soon set-off to find Arthur to tell the prince that he believed that it was a common fever and no threat to the kingdom.
Gwaine was waiting outside and pounced as soon as Gaius left. He was about to return the glasses when he was reminded of his previous thought of another prank that he could play on Gaius. He could see the potions and drafts up on the shelf and knew how the physician liked them to be arranged. All vials were labelled so Gwaine decided to mix things up a bit. He knew that if the vials weren't labelled it would be a dangerous trick and he would never have done it but the opportunity was too good.
Suddenly he heard footsteps and knew he needed a place to hide. He quickly hid in the large cupboard by the door as Gaius re-entered the room. Gaius absent-mindedly wandered over to his potions as Gwaine looked through the cracks in the door.
As Gaius reached up for a potion he checked what it was with his reading glass and Gwaine smiled gleefully at the physician's confusion. Gaius then looked at all of his potions to find that they weren't in the order that he normally left them.
'Damn,' he muttered as he realised that somebody had rearranged them.
The door to Gaius' chambers opened as Merlin dashed in, grabbed an apple off the table and turned to leave before noticing the strange expression on Gaius' face.
'Gaius?' the young warlock questioned.
'My drafts are all in the wrong order,' Gaius slumped into his chair. 'Someone has rearranged them. If I find out who it was I think I might poison them.'
Gwiane was struggling not to laugh as Gaius looked rather annoyed. Merlin's thoughts turned quickly to Gwaine and he tried to conceal his smile.
'Why don't you go and have walk outside? It's a nice day and it might make you feel batter,' Merlin suggested and Gaius grumbled an agreement Gwaine couldn't hear.
Merlin and Gaius left and Gwaine sneaked out of the cupboard. He was about to replace the glasses when another thought occurred to him. He quickly dashed off to the library to find the right book.
Geoffrey was engrossed in a book as Gwaine entered the library. Having been the one's to sort out the library after Leon's prank Gwaine knew exactly where the book he wanted was. He quickly retrieved the book and left without Geoffrey noticing anything.
Gwaine knew Gaius could return from his walk at any time and quickly placed 'How to Engage the Female Sex' open at one of Gwaine's favourite pages. The page included instructions of how to attract the attention of a woman. Gwaine generally had no problem with that and thought that some of the ideas in the book were ridiculous which was why he liked the page. He placed Gaius' glasses on top of the open book and turned to leave but dashed towards the cupboard when he heard Gaius returning.
Through the gap in the cupboard door Gwaine watched Gaius' reaction to finding his glasses and the book they was settled on. To Gwaine's surprise Gaius shook his head knowingly and his eyes widened in surprise at the book. Gaius picked up the book smiled broadly.
'Very funny,' the old man commented and chuckled as he started to flick through the book.
After a while the door opened and Merlin entered.
'Was this you?' Gaius lifted the book up to indicate what he was talking about.
Merlin moved over and laughed, remembering that this was the book Gwaine had read out-loud in the library.
'No,' Merlin said defiantly. 'You found your glasses then.'
'Yes,' mused Gaius. 'On top of this book. Someone's been playing silly beggars.'
Gwaine stumbled in the cupboard slightly and knocked over a broom. Merlin investigated and opened the door but not enough for Gaius to see. Merlin had to control his emotions when he saw Gwaine grinning sheepishly at him. Merlin leant into the cupboard pretending to replace the fallen broom.
'Broom fell over,' he announced in a well-controlled voice that showed no hint of amusement and he shut the cupboard in Gwaine's face.
Gwaine waited patiently for Gaius to leave again but the old physician stubbornly remained in his chambers. Gwaine was starting curse as he desperately needed to pee and hadn't eaten anything since lunch when he had grabbed some chicken from the kitchens. He was sure his rumbling stomach would give him away. Merlin kept looking over to the cupboard in amusement as he knew Gwaine couldn't have left.
Merlin left saying he was meeting the knights and Gwaine realised he would be missing for quite a while. Gaius finally prepared for bed but Gwaine had to wait until he could hear Gaius snoring to leave the cupboard.
He made his way up to his room and could hear that everyone else was already there. Slightly irritated he opened the door to find everyone sitting on the floor and a plate stacked with food in his empty place. He quickly made his excuses to use his chamber pot which garnered a high level of laughter before sitting and starting to stuff his face with food.
'I tried to get him to leave you know?' Merlin chuckled.
'Yeah, I heard. Do you reckon he knew?' Gwaine responded.
'Gaius knows everything,' was Merlin's reply.
When Gwaine had finally stopped eating and recalling his pranks and how bored he was stuck in cupboard all day, he picked up the bottle and spun it, waiting for the next person to be chosen.
TBC
A/N: I hope you enjoyed it! :)