Greetings fellow Merlin fans! It is wonderful to finally join you in the ranks of "writers". Seeing as this is my first fanfic, I can only hope that I will live up to this title and that this will be fun to read (and write). Please, criticism is appreciated and needed.

Just so y'all know, this takes place after the season 3 finale.

Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin. :[ Though it would be awesome, I really enjoy watching it more and I can't wait for the fourth season to come out in October (but you didn't hear that from me).

Gwaine and Merlin have always been BFFs ("mates" as Gwaine would say); actually it had only been 2 years since they first met, but that was besides the point. Merlin had become Gwaine's first true friend while he, in turn, brought out the more mischievous side of Merlin. Together, they were a force to be reckoned with. Even when they found themselves in the worst possible situation (most of the time involving a certain alcoholic beverage), they always found a way to get themselves out of it. Most importantly, both warlock and knight would do anything for each other, even at the risk of their own well being.

Which leads to the following events...

It all started when Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table (a name "bestowed" upon them by Sir Gwaine himself), and Merlin were coming back from Tolemac, a large town skimming the borders of Uther and Cenred's kingdom. Word had reached Camelot that Morgana and her band of fellow sorcerers were currently residing in this town. Just to be sure, Arthur had set out with his most trusted knights... and Merlin. However, since there were no signs of her or her followers after searching the entire city (Merlin made sure about that), they started to make their way back to Camelot that very same day.

On their way home, the sun had already began to set and the group was getting tired. More importantly, Merlin, because of his sore arse, started complaining out loud (mainly to get Arthur's attention). By continuously annoying the prince, he eventually would have to cave in. Fed up with Merlin annoying prattle, Arthur grudgingly had everyone stop so they could set up camp for the night.

"Merlin, why do you have to be such a girl's petticoat?" Arthur said, more as an observation than a question.

"I am NOT!" Merlin replied. "If you weren't being such a stubborn prat as usual, you would notice that the sun's setting."

"Your point?"

"My point is that we should stop now instead of trying to make it all the way to Camelot in one shot. That's just stupid, anyone could see that, even a clot-pole like yourself!" Merlin retorted. He paused briefly as Arthur him shot daggers. Trying to sound remotely respectful, he continued, "Look, we've been riding for hours non-stop since we left early this morning and for most of the day, we searched high and low for Morgana in Tolemac. I think we all need to stop and rest. Besides, rest would do us and the horses all good, seeing as we've been travelling all day with no break whatsoever."

No matter what, the knights could not disagree with Merlin's reasoning. He did make a good point. Everyone was tired, even if no-one wanted to admit it. Even Arthur couldn't fault his logic...or so you would think. After that outburst, Arthur continued to give Merlin his "shut-up-Merlin" glare. That's when Gwaine interjected. "He does have a point Princess; if you just listened to reason for once, tiring out the horses won't do us any good."

Even though Arthur knew this to be true, he was still annoyed, now at Gwaine for taking Merlin's side in their argument. This, in turn, caused Arthur to also glare at Gwaine. Of course, this didn't really bother the knight since he could care less whether or not Arthur was angry at him.

"Fine, we'll set up camp for the night." Arthur said, giving in to their "sound" reasoning, even though he would not admit it. "However, since both of you share the same feelings towards the situation, both of you can share the responsibility of gathering the fire wood tonight" Arthur commanded rather triumphantly. At this, Merlin and Gwaine began to protest, which was like preaching to the choir.

It was safe to say that both men were on wood-collecting duty.

So Merlin and Gwaine made their way to the inner part of the forest to gather some wood.

"Princess thinks he can boss us around." Gwaine grumbled.

"Well, he is the crown prince" Merlin said observantly.

"...cess, Merlin, Prin...cess" Gwaine stated as he enunciated each syllable of the word. "If you're going to talk about Arthur, at least do it correctly." At this, Merlin chuckled to himself.

As they began gathering the wood, Merlin doing most of the work, Gwaine pulled out his spare emergency keg of mead.

"Can you not drink or think about drinking for one moment?" Merlin said, somewhat annoyed that he was doing most of the grunt work.

"Not if I can help it" Gwaine said as he began chugging away, spilling some of the keg's contents over his clothes.

"Of course" Merlin said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"It seems like forever since I've had a swig."

"Forever? You drank last night and this morning before we even left Camelot!"

"Yeah, that's a long time. For a Knight of the Round Table, that's about a months- worth of no mead" Gwaine said innocently.

"Ah...but...you...I can't do this with you right now" Merlin said in resignation as he threw his arms in the air. He then looked at the pile of wood in his hands. "Well, if you're not going to help, then I'm not going to break my back getting all of this wood." At that, the young warlock's eyes flashed gold as he used his magic to gather and neatly stack all of the wood. It was a good thing that Arthur and the other Knights of the Round Table knew of his magic or collecting the wood in front of Gwaine would've have been a rather cumbersome task (even though Gaius would still disprove of this "reckless" use of magic).

"Always using magic Merlin, even for the little things" Gwaine said accusingly, even though it was meant to be a joke.

"Like you should be talking. Really Gwaine, every time I look at you, if you're not fighting on the battlefield, you have a drink in your hand. Even now you're drinking!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Yeah, well I can stop if I wanted to". Merlin looked at him incredulously. "If I stop visiting the taverns, they would all go penniless, seeing as I'm their major consumer (in more ways than one). Besides, I also have to think 'bout the ladies whose hearts would be broken if I stopped visiting."

Merlin rolled his eyes. "That's just an excuse to not stop visiting the taverns. You couldn't last 3 weeks without mead, or any drink for that matter" Merlin declared.

"Nor you without your magic" Gwaine retorted. Gods, they were bickering like little children (in other words, like what Arthur and Merlin always do).

"I could last longer than you" said Merlin.

"You wanna make that a bet?" Gwaine said, a hint of competitiveness in his voice.

"Oh, it's on Gwaine. Let's say...a month!"

"A month?" Gwaine questioned. "That's seems rather long".

"Unless...you know you can't win" Merlin suggested, a bit of triumph in his voice for shutting up his friend.

"NO! It sounds like fun...a month it is then" Gwaine stated.

There was a long, awkward pause (as both either stared at the ground below or at the horizon partly hidden by the trees).

"So...do we start now or wait 'til tomorrow when we get back to Camelot?" Merlin asked, he still using his magic to collect the wood and Gwaine, still chugging down his spare bottle of mead.

"You know, tomorrow doesn't sound bad at all. We both seem a little 'preoccupied' at the moment". At this, Merlin nodded in agreement. So making their way back to the others, both warlock and knight agreed that tomorrow, after arriving in Camelot, would be the start to their secret month-long bet.

Well, I'm excited to see where this goes. No, but seriously, things can only get funnier from here. I would appreciate reviews and like to see what all of you think.

Also, I want to see if anyone notices anything familiar about the town they went to in search of Morgana.

To give credit to where credit's due, the "I can't do this with you right now" part is from the television series Psych (if any of you actually noticed).

I will try to update as frequently as I can, but I can't make any promises since college is starting up soon. Until later.

STL13