Things began to change for Gwaine after the Immortal Army 'Incident' as he and many other Camelotians called it.

Began to change after he was knighted by Arthur and after they took back control of the kingdom.

It started slowly at first, so slowly that he didn't even realize that things were changing until it just hit him randomly out of the blue one day.

Everyday training with the other knights unless there was a hunting trip or attack.

Regular hunting trips with only Merlin and other members of the round table present.

Bantering with Arthur and Elyan on the daily, and with Leon on occasion.

Pulling pranks with Lancelot, Percival, and Merlin on the other knights.

Teasing and pulling pranks on Merlin or Arthur with the round table.

Stopping to give Merlin and Gwen a hand with their chores or random punishment they were given.

Keeping an eye on Merlin when he was in the stocks and Keeping him company with Lancelot.

Flirting with everyone.

Going out drinking with the knights and trying to get Merlin to come along.

Stealing from the kitchen with Percival and occasionally Merlin.

Driving Leon and Arthur crazy.

Making everyone laugh and occasionally groan.

Making the ladies and a couple of men swoon.

Making children smile and giggle by making faces at them as they passed by.

Being greeted back by everyone he came across instead of ignored or glared at.

Swapping stories with the round table, Merlin, Gwen, and even Giaus.

He had become needed.

No.

Gwaine had become more than that.

He had become wanted.

Wanted in a way that didn't have anything to do with the countless bar fights he'd been in or with the countless nobles he'd fought with or the countless women he slept with.

Wanted in a way that he hadn't been since his mother was alive before his family had fallen apart.

Wanted in a way he thought he'd never be again.

And it felt good but nerve wracking at the exact same time.

Good because it reminded him of back home— back when he still had a home.

Good because he was happy here and his brothers-in-arms had his back.

Good because people didn't just scowl when they heard his name anymore.

Good because people liked him mostly everywhere he went now.

Nerve wracking because he was starting to like the idea of staying more and more, which would just make it hurt more when everyone got tired of him.

Nerve wracking because he was starting to catch genuine feelings for Percival.

Nerve wracking because no one here knew his story and would surely kick him out once they did. Which he wasn't sure he could survive.

All of this made Gwaine wanna withdraw and run but he couldn't.

He was already in too deep. More deep than he had ever been with anyone outside of his family. And every time he tried, someone drew him right back in before he even realized it.

Leon would teach him something.

Arthur would pick at him until he snapped back with a retort.

Percival would come out of nowhere with something he snagged from the kitchen, wanting to share it with him.

Merlin would come tripping down the stairs, needing to be caught or come stumbling down the hall—carrying more armor than he was supposed to just so he wouldn't have to make another trip—clearly needing a hand.

Gwen would ask for help with something.

Giaus would check to see how his mind was doing after being tortured by Morgana.

And Elyan would come asking if he wanted to help him test out this new thing he thought of in the forge.

And Lancelot would just ask if he was alright with this knowing look in his eyes.

And then Mordred came along, young and small and oh so shy and sneaky with a witty retort on the tip of his tongue. Needing a helping hand (like the equally as sneaky Merlin) and someone to show him the ways of being a fun knight that got shit done.

And it just changed things even more because now it seemed like just about every time he even considered leaving, some one would pop up with something that stopped him from doing so. Usually after training.

Sometimes it was Lancelot asking for help regarding cheering Merlin up.

Or Merlin himself ranting about something Arthur had done.

Others it was a newly redeemed Morgana stomping up to him and asking if he had pranked her, and refusing to leave his side until he was bantering with her on the way to training. Never with a single hair out of place.

Or Mordred, who just seemed to pop out of nowhere, nervously asking for help improving on things that he didn't need to improve on before but was suddenly attricously bad at.

Every. Single. Time. with out fail.

Almost as if one of them could read his mind.

Gwaine didn't like to think of it too much. Because if he thought about it or all the creatures that could only be killed by magic being killed by ordinary weapons that the knights wielded.. or all the tree branches that just fell on enemies or tripped them then he'd only come to one conclusion.

One very, very illegal conclusion.

One that could get his closest friend and 3 of his other friends executed if he were to reveal it. Which he would have to do in order to not betray his other friends.

It was a 'damned if he did and a damned if he didn't' situation. And Gwaine had never liked those. So he just let it happen, never thinking twice about it for too long.

And eventually, Gwaine stopped holding everyone at arms' length.

Merlin became Merls.

Arthur remained Princess but gained Artie as a bonus.

Leon became Mother Hen or Lee on rare occasions.

Elyan became 'Lyan.

Morgana became 'Gana.

Guinevere stayed Gwen but the 'my lady' and 'Ms Pendragon' jokes that got her and Arthur blushing became more and more frequent.

Giaus became 'sir yells with the door open'.

Mordred became 'dred and Curly.

Lancelot became Lance.

And Percival became Percy.

And Gwaine knew he was fucked. Majorly fucked. Because there was only two ways this could go and neither of them ended well for him. Especially since he was only gonna get more attached from here.

Because things were still changing and he wasn't leaving. Whether he wanted to or not.

And he didn't want to. Even if it he knew it was gonna kill him in the end.

He didn't want to.