Author: shadowspun
Title: Friendship Distilled: Glühwein
Rating: PG (for drunkenness)
Pairings: Gwen & Merlin, Gwaine/Merlin
Warnings: A bit of drunkenness, but no debauchery
Word Count: 670 (got away from me)
Prompt: 345, First Christmas
Summary: Merlin and Gwen celebrate their first Christmas as flatmates together with party. What could go wrong?
Author's Notes: Part of the inspiration for this story came from this tumblr, many of whose prompts are ridiculously easy to apply to this fandom: witterprompts.tumblr.com/

Gwen knew living with Merlin would be interesting, to say the least.  Becoming friends with him the first day of class had been one of the best things that ever happened to her, but the most accurate description of Merlin could be boiled down to one word: chaos.  He was the sweetest thing in the world. He would give the shirt off his back to help someone. He just managed to find the craziest way possible to help every time. When he finally told Gwen about his magic about a year after they met, everything became perfectly clear.

The second year of uni, they both needed new flatmates and figured it would be the best thing in the world to move in to a tiny flat off campus together.  It was still close enough that they could walk to the school, but far enough away that they both felt like actual adults doing adult things. They both had jobs to pay rent and other bills while they attended school.

Gwen knew she should have said no when Merlin said he wanted to throw a Christmas party.  They had exams to study for and party planning would cut into that time, but Merlin turned his secret weapon on her and pleaded.  No one was immune to those eyes of his, certainly not Gwen. She did put her foot down and refused to let it become too much of a Bacchanalia.  If they were going to be adults, then they were going to be adults and have alcohol such as mulled wine and cider, not vodka and tequila shots for Christmas.  It was probably the Glühwein that Gwaine brought that did the party in, though.

Knowing Gwaine, Gwen and most of the others refused to touch the stuff, but Gwaine had egged Merlin and Arthur on until the three of them managed to polish off nearly the whole thing between them.  “It’s like watching a car crash in slow motion. Are they actually doing shots of Glühwein? Why would anyone even do that?”

Gwen looked at Perce standing next to her and shook her head, “Because it’s Gwaine.  And Arthur is a competitive idiot. And Merlin is just insane enough to forget he can’t drink worth a damn because he wants to impress Gwaine.”

Perce snickered as he watched Merlin slide down the couch until his head was resting on Gwaine’s lap.  Gwaine just set his hand on Merlin’s hair and stroked it gently as he lifted the next shot of Glühwein to his lips, his eyes never leaving Arthur’s as he downed it.

Arthur shook his head slightly as he lifted his own glass.  He swallowed it down and grinned, the grin remaining in place as he slumped to the side and rested his head on the back of the couch, sound asleep.

Gwaine chuckled and put his glass down.  He smirked up at Perce and Gwen. “I won.”  He looked down at Merlin in his lap and his smirk turned into a gentle smile.  “Yeah, I won.” he said to himself quietly. Gwaine leaned back into the couch cushions and closed his own eyes.

Gwen and Perce just looked at each other and shook their heads.  “Idiots. All three of them. I’ll be right back. I’m going to get some afghans for them.”

Gwen raided the linen closet she and Merlin had stocked for when their friends ended up staying over.  She had three afghans in her arms when she stepped back into the living room and stopped dead. “Oh, well, I guess Merlin woke up, then.”

Morgana stood next to her by the doorway, staring at the man in the middle of the couch.  Merlin was laying with one arm outstretched while the other wrapped itself around his boyfriend, his eyes closed and the cherubic smile playing across his lips.  Morgana turned to Gwen, who simply shrugged when she asked, “Sorry, but can I just address the fact that there is literally a dragon in the room right now?”