Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Merlin or anything affiliated with it
Elyan nervously kept his brown eyes on the staircase, certain that Arthur would come down any moment to find Elyan paying pint after pint for Gwaine because the drunken knight "accidentally" forgot his coin purse in his saddlebag upstairs. "Gwaine, I really think-"
"No, no, no," Gwaine cut him off as he shook a finger at him, "That's your problem. You think too much." He shifted his unfocused eyes over Elyan's shoulders and his famous smirk graced his bearded face, "Watch this."
Elyan turned his head to follow Gwaine's gaze and saw a barmaid walking their way with an empty tray in hand. The woman passed Elyan without a second glance and when she neared Gwaine, he shot out a hand to touch her shoulder but the sudden movement caught him off balance and instead he gripped her shirt sleeve tightly. The sleeve ripped easily, but Gwaine took no notice. "What's a lovely flower like you serving mead?" Elyan was slightly impressed. He thought Gwaine's question was fairly smooth and commendable while under the influence of all the alcohol he had. However, ripping her dress tarnished the overall effect.
The girl looked down at her ripped dress, her only one no doubt, and raised her head to reveal that her blue eyes were icy. "You ripped my dress!"
"Did I?" Gwaine rubbed his thumb against the tear and smoothly flipped the cloth above his thumb so he could rub her shoulder. "I'm terribly sorry, my lady."
"Not as sorry as you're going to be!" The barmaid stepped away from Gwaine's touch and raised her tray above her head before smacking it down on his head. She watched with satisfaction as Gwaine suffered and quickly took off.
Gwaine gingerly rubbed his head and looked up at Elyan with a grimace of a smile, "The next one will go over better, I promise."
"Gwaine, we should be getting back. You've drunk too much mead as it is and I'm almost out of money."
"Just one more, all right?" Gwaine punched Elyan's shoulder in a friendly gesture but his swing missed and Gwaine, caught off balance once more, fell backwards off his barstool and landed with a crash on the floor.
"Gwaine?" Elyan jumped off his stool and knelt down to find the knight was knocked out cold. "You're kidding."
Gwaine was heavier than he looked. It took Elyan five minutes to carry him from the bar and up the stairs where he kicked off Gwaine's saddle to unceremoniously dump the knight on his bed. Gwaine hit his head on the wall during the fall but he made no indication that he felt it. Normally, Elyan would be worried that Gwaine didn't even mumble when his head was smacked hard for the second time in a matter of minutes, but today he wasn't.
It just meant he was going to get a good night's rest after all.