A/N: Hi! New chapter is up and it's from the POV of our favourite irish-accented knight..Gwaine! Read and review :)

WARNING: I've changed Gwaine's background quite severely in regards to his back story in Merlin canon. Don't let that put you off though! I just wanted his dislike for nobility to be a bit stronger. Un-Beta'd!

Gwaine:

To Gwaine the Tavern Club only had started off as just a way to escape the on-going drama at Camelot through the medium of alcohol. He found the secret outhouse around the time when he was caught by Jarl the Slave Trader and to his surprise he discovered it was much more than a toilet.

Since its discovery, he had secretly made visits to the tavern whenever he could escape his knightly duty. Although the tavern was filled to the brim with unlimited supply of ale and swords that never seemed dull, he began to realise the flaw in his vow of secrecy. He needed his friends.

The first couple of times he visited the enchanted bar he was still enamoured with its whimsical charm. However, after the first few months of visiting the magical tavern he realised that he would need his fellow knights with him to fully enjoy his time there.

That was the day he escorted Sir Elyan, Sir Percival and Sir Leon to the pail closet to reveal his greatest secret yet. At first the duo objected to the idea of the all of them occupying an outhouse at the same time, but once Gwaine muttered the word 'enjoy' their protests were brought to a halt. Instead their joyous laughter resonated throughout the halls as well as the clink of their swords. Now this is a club, Gwaine thought with a smile.

As time passed, the objective of the Tavern Club changed dramatically. They weren't so much interested in drinking and fighting anymore, but rather talking. During his time at the club, Gwaine had found out his friend's deepest and darkest secrets and grew a silent respect for his fellow knights. Before the club, he thought of them as his friends, but with Camelot was under threat almost every day, there wasn't any time to really get to know them. It was only until the club started when he started to think of them as brothers.

He found out the reason why Percival trains vigorously every day and Elyan's personal insecurities which have arisen out of his knighthood. Although, he hadn't yet seen it fit to inform them of his background.

The group slowly became agitated due to Gwaine's prolonged silence about his personal matters and started to pester him at any given moment to tell them about his life before his knighthood. Gwaine knew that their harassment was mostly because of the fact that they've already revealed their own secrets to him earlier on and they had nothing on him in return. It was understandable.

It wasn't until Sir Leon suggested to play a drinking game and Gwaine lost, when the truth started to pour out of the unreserved knight's mouth.

"Okay you guys. You win, I'll tell you why I've been town hopping all this time."

Just as he began to begin his anecdote, he was interrupted by Percival raising his hand.

"I would rather know why someone of noble birth would want to reject his birth-right and would rather live like a pauper rather than a knight. It seems as if the two events are linked somehow." Percival said with an inquisitive gaze set in the direction of Gwaine.

Gwaine looked at the knight with a sad smile before replying.

"Ah, you're not just made of brawn Percy my boy. You've realised that I wouldn't even be town hopping in the first place if it wasn't directly responsible for me not wanting to be a knight. I was hoping that no one would catch on, but there seems to be no fooling you."

He wiped the froth from the ale off of his lips and began to recite his tale to his friends.

"You see, when I was a young lad my only dream in life was to be a knight like my old man. I started training when I was old enough to hold a sword; it was all I ever wanted to do. "

He took another swig from his tumbler before continuing on with his tale in a lower register.

"I thought that knights were noble men, men of honour and such, but I soon became disillusioned with it all. I was 17 years of age when I saw it, when I saw the thing which kept me running all this time."

He stopped abruptly and his eyes began to gloss over whilst he gazed at a random spot on the tavern's wall. I can't tell them what happened, they will think that I was a coward, he thought with a pained look placed on his face.

Elyan, sensing that Gwaine was struggling to continue, turned to him and grasped his shoulder. He then whispered to the brunette, "You know you can tell us Gwaine. You're a Knight of Camelot now. It does not matter what happened before, we are your family now and as family we promise that we will never say a word of what you've told us to anyone outside of these walls. You can trust your brothers."

He stared at Elyan for an unknown amount of time and saw the honestly shining in his eyes before smiling back at him and finding the misplaced courage to continue on with his tale.

"As you all know, my father is Baelon of the east who was head knight for King Caerleon and his duty was to command the knights below him, making sure that they stayed lawful. Well I saw those very knights terrorising a small village on the outskirts of town. And when I say terrorising, I don't mean just mean destroying the land- they destroyed the people."

"I was taken with them on official business as a part of my training, but all the training in the world didn't prepare me for what I saw.

They beat the men to death, took the children as slaves and raped the women. My father's fellow knights did that. The first thing I did after witnessing the event was go back home and tell my father about their behaviour immediately. However, once I informed him of their 'activities' he said to me, 'what a knight does in his spare time is absolutely his own business, just as long as he's done his job'. I argued back of course and told him that I will report their crimes to the king, but it was useless. He was in cahoots with the 'good' king, so nothing could come of my complaint. Even if somehow I could've been heard, the knights would surely want revenge for what I've done."

He took his palms and held them on his face to halt any would-be tears from falling.

"So I ran. I ran away from it all. I didn't want to be associated with my father anymore so I never told anyone who I actually was. He became bankrupt soon after my departure, so he was able to lie about my whereabouts and make it seem as though I left because of money. He died soon after. I couldn't even bring myself to visit his grave."

He took a deep breath as if he was struggling with the thought of his father's death before relaunching into his story.

"Merlin was the first to find out who I was in years. It was him who changed my perspective on it all. He kept talking about how Arthur wasn't the same as the all the other noble-born folk and I saw it for myself, he's not. Meeting him restored my faith in the high-born. And he even managed to make my childhood dream come true without me losing any integrity. I'm a knight, an honourable one at that and I have a group of brothers with the same morals as I. What more could I ask for eh?" Gwaine exclaimed before clinking his goblet against his brother's glasses.

At that all of the men smiled and they had finally felt like they knew the real Gwaine which hid under the bravado.

"You're my family now."