Took the Wrong Coffee AU- Methur

Arthur Pendragon was a man of routine, he had a pattern he would follow everyday. There were just things that he simply did every single day that it would make him itch if he missed them. The random changes of the day to day never really threw him, he was always ready for a challenge, but there were small things that he just had to do or his day would not be even nearly as productive.

His mood would go south if he didn't get to stare into space for at least half an hour every morning after he's woken up. Arthur always had to wake up that extra half hour, but it was worth it to wake up properly. All the while sipping his coffee with just the right amount of creamer and maybe some music playing on the radio in the back ground. The quiet never really did his mind any good.

He always had to keep a list of what he needed to do, other than the obvious; pick up some milk, send that thank you card to Morgana or she would give him the stink eye for at least a month and if he had time pick up his suit from the dry cleaners. He really should get a personal assiant, but they were all such annoyingly boring people and never lasted long. With every task he wrote down and completed, he got to cross it out and it gave him an odd feeling of satisfaction.

There was one thing that he simply had to make time for during his lunch break and that was going to the local coffee shop around the corner from his office. It wasn't a national chain and was so close to being a ma and pa shop that it had that homey atmosphere that Arthur wasn't used to. His childhood home was cold, closed off and fake. It looked like a modern decor magazine spread more than a home where people would actually live in. So it gave Arthur great comfort as he relaxed from trying to run the business his father would one day hand over to him.

Every day, half past one o'clock, Arthur Pendragon would walk into the rich aroma filled shop, he would pause a moment to breath in the delicious smells coming from behind the counter. He briefly glanced around to find himself a spot to relax after he gathered his order, he couldn't control getting the same table every time. He wasn't god.

Not yet.

Arthur chuckled to himself as he walked up to the counter, a charming smile at the ready as he saw the familiar Batista working today, as she usually did on his lunch breaks. The dark skinned girl returned the smile, she was well aware of Arthur's little habit with keeping to routine and teased him about it constantly.

"Arthur, two whole minutes late, what on earth could have happened? I thought you must be dead." She couldn't help but grin at her most loyal customer as he gave her the usual 'don't be ridiculous look' he gave when she was being very dramatic.

"Very funny, Guinevere." Arthur rolled his eyes as he she began to laugh, he was really the only one that used her full name so often.

"Let me guess, you'll have the mocha macchiato iced and a maple pecan scone?" Gwen rose an eyebrow, she knew that was exactly what he was going to order, but it was simple teasing revenge for Arthur catching her kissing her boyfriend Lance the last time he stopped in. He teased her about how it was probably not very sanitary to make out against the cappuccino machine. Which they were NOT! Just…next to it…very close.

"Yes, if you would be so kind." Arthur replied, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. "I was thinking of getting a cappuccino today, it was getting cold but…the last time I saw the state of the machine…" He trailed off, laughing as he had to back up to avoid a swat.

Unfortunately, there happened to be someone in line behind him and he ran right into them. The man behind him stumbled back, nearly crashing into a stand displaying ground coffee bags and coffee cups that could given as gifts. Arthur's sharp reflexes kicked into action and had caught the dark haired man right before disaster stuck, he wouldn't have enjoyed paying for all those broken mugs.

"Sorry, mate, I didn't see you there." Arthur breathed in relief that nothing completely terrible happened.

"'Slright, that was some fast movin'." And the blond man was blinded by a bright grin, the man ruffled his own hair as he was checking himself for some kind of damage out of habit. "Um..you can let go now, if you like."

"Huh?" Arthur blinked, looking down seeing he still had a grip on the man's arm still. "Oh, right, yea." He manged speech at least as he let go, he was thrown off by the other man's smile, it was like being slapped in the face with cheer.

A throat clear brought Arthur's attention back to the counter, Gwen looking far more amused than she should by what just happened. "Here's your scone." She said, handing the blond a bag with his pastry.

"Oh, right." He handed over the correct amount of money, adding most of his change into the tip jar as he usually did before he went to find a quiet table to sit at so he could shamelessly scroll through his social media sites on his phone and rinse is brain of the monotony that had been his day in the office.

Gwen was by a while later with a tray filled with different kinds of drinks in plastic cups, thermoses and classic coffee shop mugs. She sent him a smiles in thanks for her tip, as she always did, setting down his drink and telling him to stay out of trouble. He never did, but she liked to think he was the trouble getting into type. She was right of course, but now that he was out of school he couldn't really stray from the line like he once did and had to toe that line or surely his father would burst a blood vessel.

Arthur was casually scrolling through his facebook, checking up on what Morgana was doing, that girl would never stop bemoaning little things in her status updates and really it was amusing. He laughed over something she said about Uther's last office party, good thing the old man couldn't use the computer to save his life. He was just about to take a drink of his sweet coffee when he noticed the name written in neat feminine handwriting.

Merlin

"Very funny." Arthur muttered, looking at the counter where Gwen had returned to taking customer orders. He had on one occasion mentioned to her how much he used to love the Arthurian legends when he was a kid and watching all the movies. It was part of the reason he liked to use her full name and tease her that her boyfriend Lance was betraying him by stealing his queen from him. She loved it and played along most days, telling Lance all about it, he didn't mind but seemed a bit uncomfortable for someone who hardly even knew Arthur.

He picked up the drink, walking over to the counter when there was no more signs of patrons coming in. Arthur placed the drink down and rose a brow at Gwen. She looked at the drink, then back up at Arthur, finally confusion coming to her features as he said nothing.

"What?" She finally asked. "Is something wrong with it? It doesn't even look like you drank any."

"Oh come on, Guinevere. You know what." Arthur laughed under his breath as she continued to stare at him confused. "The name."

Gwen gave him another puzzled look before turning the cup to see the name. "oh."

"Yes, 'oh'." Arthur smirked lightly. "Very funny, that's definitely a new one."

Gwen didn't look like she just pulled joke on him, she more looked like she was tad embarrassed if anything. She quickly went around the counter, Arthur watched her confused as she went up to that dark haired man from earlier's table. She spoke to him quietly, pointing at his cup.

The man looked at her unsure what she was talking about, pulling out his head phones and Gwen had to explain again. This time the man looked at the cup he'd be casually sipping from while reading his book and turned it and laughed.

"Very funny, Gwen." It was starting to catch on that response. "Has my king finally appeared in a coffee shop ready to lead the army?" He laughed, it was pleasant sound, filled with innocent mirth.

Arthur decided to join them, seeing as Gwen had just abandoned him at the counter. The man looked up at him surprised, his eyes a dark blue, like the sea during a storm. His face was very open and all his expressions as plain as day painted over his features. Now that Arthur had a moment to notice, he wasn't half bad to look at. High cheek bones that anyone would envy, pale skin stretch over them and he couldn't see from his baggy clothes, but Arthur was sure he was skinny all over if those long slender fingers were anything to go by.

Arthur cleared his throat awkwardly, accidentally staring and turned to Gwen who looked like she had just heard the best joke in the whole world and was about to tell it.

"Gwen? Any reason you just dashed off? Did you do something else to my coffee I should know about?" He asked, not that he thought she had.

"No, no, I was just making sure Merlin had gotten your coffee after all. I didn't even notice you both got the same thing." She giggled.

"Merlin?" Arthur questioned, had that joke not died already?

"Yes mate, can I help you?" The dark haired man, claiming to be Merlin, asked him, quirking up a dark brow. Something in his eyes twinkled with mischief.

Arthur just stared at him a bit more, not sure what to make of that.

"Arthur." Gwen looked close to bursting into a fit of laughter. "This is Merlin, Merlin, my regular, Arthur." She let a suppressed laugh pass her lips making a odd noise.

"You are kidding me." Both men accidentally said in unison.

"This is faith….Destiny!" Gwen clapped her hands together, as if she was excited she got to be part of this. "Oh shoot, I have to go back." She cursed, Gwen fetched Arthur's coffee from the counter and returned it to him, nudging him towards Merlin's table's empty seat. "Get to know each other at least!" She encouraged before dashing back to her station to tend to the costumers that just came in.

"Do you, er, mind?" Arthur awkwardly gestured to the empty seat. Merlin pushed it out with his foot under the table, a clear sign of permission.

"Of course not." Merlin's lips quirked up into a small smirk. "Sire."

"Sassy for a mage." Arthur laughed, taking the seat across from him. He noticed that Merlin hadn't bothered to check the name on his own cup, having drank a good amount of it already. So the blond decided he would do the same with his own.

The sweet cold taste slid across his tongue and down his throat, there was just something about that particular sensation that he loved and couldn't find at any other coffee place. He focused on his lingering sip as he saw Merlin studying him from across the table, his eyes looked like there was so much going on behind them. Maybe if Arthur knew him better he could guess, but it was just so hard to read and the growing smirk was a little unsettling.

"So, my lord," Merlin said, rather sarcastically. "What brings you out to our humble little cafe`?" The dark haired man asked, starting basic conversation.

"Hmm, yes, what on earth could I want inside a coffee shop?" Arthur fake pondered a moment. "Obviously I wanted some fish and was sadly disappointed." Merlin wasn't the only one fluent in sarcasm.

The man across him grinned widely, taking no heat from his words, he seemed to actually enjoy that Arthur shot back without missing a beat. He laughed softy under his breath, nodding along.

"Obviously." He murmured. "It's not everyday that you meet someone who's name matches your parents obsession."

"Ah, your too then? Well I mean, it's not like that's surprising." Merlin's brows rose. "My father's name is Uther and my sister's name is Morgana." He clarified, grinning as Merlin's expression brightened even more.

"You are kidding, that is just not true. You and Gwen are just taking the piss." He was trying to hold back laughter just like Gwen had before, but was not doing nearly as well as her.
"I speak the truth."

"This is just too much, this may be the best day I've had all year." Merlin laughed, leaning back into his seat. "If you haven't pretended to be a knight as a kid or made a crown out of something we simply cannot be friends."

"I guess friends it is, because I was a knight in plastic armor for so many Halloweens." Arthur grinned. "If you've worn the pointy hat I will lose respect for you."

"God no!" Merlin cried a little too loudly, leaning back into table, resting his arms tucked in against his chest as he moved forward. "I never liked that version of him, I have worn the long robes and tried to learn magic tricks though." He grinned, as if that was something to be impressed by.

"Were you any good?"

"Completely rubbish."

That was the start of a beautiful friendship. They spent the next few hours talking about Arthurian things this and that, finding that each had friends that could so pass a knight of the round table if you squint. The conversation moved from one topic to another, the questions you end up asking any time you meet a new person. Merlin was a great story teller, with such vivid and honest expressions and flailing his long arms around, it was quite a show to watch as he described stories from his childhood.

It wasn't until Arthur noticed his pocket vibrating out of control that he realized his phone was ringing and finally checked the time.

"Oh my god…" He shut his eyes with a small groan, pulling out his phone and answering. "I know, I'll be right there." He hung up and he was very tempted to slam his face into the table.

"What's happened?" Merlin asked curiously, tilting his head.

"I may have…accidentally taken a three hour lunch break." He smiled sheepishly, watching Merlin's eyes widen and fill with guilt.

"Oh, Arthur! I am so sorry! I hadn't meant to keep you! I had no idea!" Arthur held up a had to stop his ramble.

"Don't be, I should have watched the time better. I'm usually better at being aware of when it's time to go." He thought that it was odd, even when he spoke to Gwen on her breaks or anyone he ran into, he could feel when the time was up. He was usually able to know right when it was five minutes before it was time to go and when he was talking to Merlin, he had even forgotten they were in a coffee shop meeting for the first time.

"Better go before they fire your arse." Merlin joked, but it sounded strained like he hoped that wouldn't actually happen.

"Hard to fire the son of the owner of the company." Arthur laughed, enjoying the shocked look on Merlin's face. "But I ought to go either way." He stood awkwardly, he didn't really feel like going back to the office. The good coffee and conversation had left him sedated and relaxed, work sounded like it would ruin that great feeling.

"Right." Merlin rose also, sticking his hand out to shake. "It was great meeting, maybe we'll ruin into each other again."

Arthur shook the offered hand, surprised Merlin's grip was so firm and sure. The dark haired man was probably stronger than he looked, the blond thought vaguely.

A sudden thought occurred to him, though he didn't know why. "Merlin, what did you say that you did?"

"Uh." Merlin blinked confused, not sure he had mentioned it at all. "I work a few shifts here, actually, but the owners can't give me many." He shrugged.

"How are your typing skills?" Arthur rose a brow as a brilliant idea came to him.

"Fabulous, why?" Merlin was really starting to get curious where this was going, besides, wasn't Arthur supposed to be leaving?

Arthur finally let go of the other man's hand, completely forgetting he was holding it. It felt far too natural in his own he thought it had always been there. He pulled out his wallet, slipping a business card out of it's slot and giving it to Merlin who took it with nothing but questions written all over his face.

"Come by my offices around five, I think I can get you a better job, the pay is good and the company is even better." Arthur grinned, Merlin starting to see where this was starting to go.

"Are you serious?"

"I was just thinking about it before I got in and look at that, you would do great." Arthur shrugged, he wasn't exactly sure about that, but he wouldn't be bored if Merlin was the one helping him out in the office. He may have only known him for a few hours, but he could sense it. Anyone able to throw him off schedule without making him want to go crazy must be good for him.

"Well…no harm in coming in." Merlin nodded, as if deciding. "Yea, alright, I'll come by." He grinned brightly.

Arthur smiled, he was really going to have get used to that blinding smile that came with that mop of unruly black hair, that gorgeous pale skin and that very sassy attitude. He had no doubt he wouldn't, but he wouldn't might.

"I'll see you then, I guess." Arthur said, heading to the door, pausing just before he went out, he turned back to Merlin, still holding the card with both hands looking back at him. Their eyes met and something in the air just sparked, Arthur could feel it. "It really must have been destiny." And with that he left, back to his offices, but he knew he wouldn't be so bored in the future.