Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Merlin or anything affiliated with it.
Alludes to season four's "The Darkest Hour, Part II"
"-So then, naturally, I winked at her but you'll never guess what she did next!" Gwaine looked around at the knights, whom have all grown quieter since Lancelot and Merlin rode back to Camelot. Merlin was Gwaine's first true friend, and while he would have liked to be as solemn as them, he knew that a foul mood wouldn't do anything to strengthen Merlin's chance of survival. Therefore, he was retelling one of his less-redeemable stories for a laugh, but no one was cooperating. "Go on, guess!"
Instead of all the knights jumping on a guess like Gwaine had expected, a buzzing noise filled the air. Gwaine's ears perked and he grinned in relief when he spotted the tree that was the source of the noise. "Can you hear that?" He glanced over his shoulder to Leon, who looked both irritated and nonplussed.
"Bees?"
"Food!" They've been riding and walking for hours without rest on stomachs that were barely content with the meager breakfast earlier. Gwaine was surprised Leon- or any of the knights for that matter- didn't realize that bees meant honey, and that honey meant food. As for him, he couldn't get his glove off fast enough.
Leon looked up from a hole in his gloves to see that Gwaine was already sticking his hand into the bees' nest. "Are you trying to get us killed?"
"We're riding to our death anyway," Gwaine replied. Leon furrowed his brows and left, leaving Gwaine to the nest. He wouldn't admit it, but he was slightly afraid of bees and as equally allergic.
The nest was farther into the rotting tree that Gwaine had first realized but finally, his fingers found a sticky comb. Just as he was grasping his fingers around it, an angry bee stung him on his hand. "Argh!" He shot his hand shot out from the tree and multiple bees followed it. Gwaine tripped backwards on a stick as he tried to move away from the nest. Despite his flailing, the bees kept assailing him and two more stung him on his hand and wrist.
Not knowing what else to do, Gwaine fled the scene as fast as he could. He overheard Percival and Elyan laughing at him as he ran for his life, no doubt he looked ridiculous: a knight of Camelot running amok in the woods because of angry bees. Gwaine narrowly missed a tree as he looked down at his hand, assuring himself that this was not in vain. He was relieved that a few drops of honey had stubbornly stuck to his fingers.