Before you read this fair warning this is a Merthur fic. Sorry guys, but it was bound to happen. I ship this two so fricking hard. Oh, and it's also modern AU so... yeah

Anyway, thanks for reading, I will try to update ASAP (if y'all want me to), and please excuse some of the lingo. Sorry if I make something sound too American. I am only human

See ya!

He should have bought the alarm with the radio, but the incessant beeping one had been cheaper and he needed to pay rent, so he forgone the clearly better model for this piece of crap that sounded like a dying pickup truck backing up every time it went off.

Merlin Emrys groaned, turning over, glaring at the offending thing. Yes, it wasn't the machine's fault, it was just doing its job, but he didn't care. It was far too early to be waking him up. What sane person got up at seven anyway?

"Merlin, if you're not up in twenty minutes I'm leaving you," a familiar voice called through his bedroom door. Oh, that's right, his clearly sane Uncle Gaius. Though, sometimes Merlin wondered if his uncle really was sane. That was also his cue to get up. Gaius really would leave him, and he'd be forced to take the tube… again.

He crawled out of bed, searching around his messy room for a clean work shirt. He didn't even know why he bothered wearing the shirt. He worked in the mailroom, barely left the basement, and was definitely not going to work to impress anyone. It was a simple, nine-to-five job that kept his uncle happy and left him with a room.

He decided on a faded, blue t-shirt depicting a band that was big before he was born. If he recalled correctly, it had been his ex's shirt; serves him right for keeping it here.

After yanking on a semi-clean, holey pair of jeans, he grabbed his shoes, his messenger bag, and his mobile and headed out of his room. Gaius was standing by the door, wearing his medical coat, tapping his watch impatiently.

"You said twenty minutes," Merlin pointed out as he dug in the cabinets for something to eat. "It's only…" he checked his phone, giving his uncle a sheepish grin. He grabbed a granola bar, shut the cabinet door, and headed towards his uncle, grabbing his tattered, brown jacket on the way.

"You're wearing that to work?" Gaius asked as they walked out of their flat, Merlin struggling to put his left Converse on.

"It's the mailroom, Gaius. The only people who see me are Gwaine, Gwen, and Lance, and we're lucky if Gwaine even wears a shirt most days."

"I still don't see what you saw in him. He was a delinquent who was arrested three times."

"The charges never stuck," Merlin defended his ex as he called the lift to them. When the car doors opened, both stepped on and the younger of the two pressed the lobby button.

"Only because Freya is an excellent lawyer," Gaius pointed out slowly, raising his eyebrows.

"Semantics," Merlin muttered as the doors closed.

It was a twenty-five minute drive to the paper company he worked at, and Merlin spent the entire ride listening to Gaius complain about young people being bad drivers and wasting their youth being bad drivers.

"This reminds me of the couple that came into the ER the other day…" his uncle kept speaking, telling the same story Merlin had heard several times already, while the younger guy tuned him out.

This was not how he pictured his life. He was twenty-three, living with his uncle, working at a minimum wage job. His goal was to become a computer programmer, had even started a small business with his friend Will a few years ago, but they were inexperienced and the company went belly up. He should count himself lucky that Gaius even let him move in. He really didn't want to go back to living with his mother.

"…and I told her…"

"This is my stop," Merlin said, cutting his uncle off, gesturing to the shiny building looming over the busy streets.

"Well, you have a good day," Gaius stated and shooed him out of the car. "Hey," his uncle called, right before Merlin could shut the door. "Can you get a ride tonight? I won't be off until late."

"I'll get a ride with Gwen," Merlin responded and shut the door. He shouldered his messenger bag, tightened his jacket around him, and started towards the building.

"One word mate," a familiar, Irish lilted voice said coming up behind him, an arm wrapping around his shoulder, "absolutely hungover."

"Who?" Merlin looked over at Gwaine with a grin. At least today he was wearing a shirt. Just because they weren't together anymore didn't mean they weren't friends. "And that's two words."

"Me," Gwaine replied with a soft chuckle. "I went out last night with a couple of guys from tech support. Did you know the price of alcohol went up? It's an outrage."

"No wonder you're always broke," Merlin commented drily as the two showed their company badges to the security guy. He scanned them and gestured the two on through to the atrium. "I mean, at one point you need to ask yourself: food or booze?"

"Booze," Gwaine answered without hesitation, "definitely booze."

"And you wonder why we aren't together anymore," Merlin muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"I said nice weather today," he lied tossing Gwaine a small smile. "You think Lance and Gwen are here yet?"

"Mr. Punctuality? Oh, I'm sure he's here. And since Gwen and him…" Gwaine made a rather rude gesture, causing a few of the women from accounting to toss him disgusted looks (like he cared). "…I'm sure she's here, too."

"You're going to get us fired," Merlin hissed nudging Gwaine with his elbow.

"It's been six months, Mer. If I was going to get fired, I would have already succeeded by now," Gwaine retorted steering Merlin towards the lifts. "You worry too much, mate."

"Yeah, well, you make it rather hard not to," Merlin muttered as he and Gwaine got on the newly arrived lift. As the doors closed Gwaine glanced at Merlin and asked, "Is that my shirt?"

Merlin

"There's nothing I can do, Morgana," Arthur Pendragon said into his mobile as he clicked the alarm button on his Lexus.

"Look Arthur, I am getting married in three months. The least you can do is talk Dad into, at least, attending."

"Weren't you the one who said 'if I can't marry who I want then don't show up, Uther'? Why would you suddenly change your mind?"

"I didn't," Morgana admitted with a sigh, sounding as if it pained her to do so. "Mordred wants him there. He wants to prove to Dad that he's the right choice for me or something. Look, can you," the next word was spat out like a curse word, "please talk to him?"

"And what's in it for me?" Arthur sighed, stepping into a lift.

"I'm your sister, and I'm getting…" she sighed heavily; it sounded more like a growl, and grumbled, "What do you want?"

Arthur smirked for a moment, pressing the 34 button. His smile then fell and he said, "Stop pressuring me into bringing someone to your wedding."

She was quiet for a moment, but finally sighed again and said, "Fine, but it wouldn't hurt to…"

"Good-bye, Morgana," he snapped and hung up, stashing his phone in his pocket. He then checked himself out in the newly closed door, fixed his tie, and then leaned back into the wall, crossing his arms, his briefcase dangling from his left hand.

He knew better than to make deals with Morgana. She never stuck to her end of the bargain, and he knew, this time tomorrow, she'd be trying to set him up with her friend Vivian or her friend Leon. Neither held Arthur's interest, nor did her acquaintance Elena, or the insufferable Sophia that kept calling. The only one who he really could maybe see himself with was Morgana's old roommate Mithian, but last he checked she was engaged to a man named Cenred. He worked in sales or something; Arthur tuned out the details after his sister said 'she's engaged.'

It baffled Morgana, the fact that he batted for both teams, yet still couldn't find anyone. He actually liked it that way. Lifelong bachelor had a nice ring to it. Besides, now that Morgana was marrying Mordred, she could start having kids and Uther could stop pestering Arthur with questions about him settling down. He was twenty-six, he'd settle down when he was good and ready.

The doors opened and Arthur stepped off, heading towards his office. His path was intercepted by a hulking figure. Skidding to a halt, he looked up to see Percival beaming down at him.

"Why do I get the feeling you did something vaguely dirty?" Arthur asked carefully, eyeing the big man warily.

"I would never…" the giant's grin widened, if possible, and he relented, "Alright I did, but it's not what you think."

"He shagged Catrina," Elyan, Arthur's office mate, said coming around the corner. "Right in Uther's office."

"Perce, you didn't," Arthur groaned hanging his head. He really wasn't going to hear the end of it if his father found out. He had been the one to convince him to give Percival a chance. Plus, Catrina was his father's assistant and, Arthur suspected but could be wrong, his father harbored a secret crush on her. That went to hell in a hand basket.

"Hey, someone needs some action, and you certainly aren't getting any," Percival stated, jabbing Arthur in the chest with his index finger. "Neither are you," he grumbled at the snickering Elyan. "Besides, she's about as interested in a relationship as I am. It was a onetime shag."

"Until she rings three weeks later, demanding to know why you never rung her back," Arthur pointed out moving around his two co-workers, towards his office. "Maybe you should have thought that through, Perce," he called over his shoulder. He noticed the scowl on Percival's face, tossed him a cheeky smirk, and closed his office door behind him.

Merlin

"You're on delivery, Merlin," Gwaine stated pushing the cart towards Merlin.

"But it's your day," Merlin argued crossing his arms.

"Can't. Hungover," the shaggy haired man reminded Merlin, nudging the cart with his foot, hitting Merlin in the leg. "I'll owe you," he countered with a grin when the younger man continued to scowl at him.

"You already owe me several," Merlin pointed out impatiently.

"I'll give you a kiss," Gwaine offered puckering up.

Merlin pushed his face away, wrapped his hands around the cart, and said, "Get away from me." He then walked away, ignoring the hissed argument between Gwaine and Lance. Sometimes Lancelot was too protective for his own good; he could fight his own battles thank you very much.

He managed to get to the floor 34 in about an hour. It wasn't hard work, delivering mail, but Merlin could never shake the feeling that everyone working above him was judging him. It was stupid, and he honestly didn't care what they thought of him, but it was still a little disconcerting nonetheless. How would they feel if he judged them? And just because he did didn't mean his point was invalid.

Merlin jerked back to reality when he felt his cart slam into something. His stomach collided with the handle, knocking the air out of him. "Watch it," an unfamiliar voice snarled. Still searching for air, Merlin looked around, his eyes falling on a sneering blond man. "Did they give you a license for that cart or are they hiring any old idiot to push it?"

"I don't know, did they offer you the job first?" Merlin retorted coolly, raising his eyebrows. The blond smirked, making a point to slam his shoulder into Merlin's as he walked past him. It hurt, sure, but the dark haired man pretended it didn't. He fought the urge to say anything, but soon he heard himself remark, "My cousin hits harder than you and she's twelve."

He sensed Blondie freeze, knew he tensed, and waited for the inevitable blow. He had a habit, starting when he was three or four, of sticking his foot in his mouth. His mother told him he got it from his Uncle Gaius, and after living with the older man for the past two years, he saw what she was talking about.

Except, Blondie didn't punch him or physically hurt him in anyway; he didn't touch him at all. In fact, Merlin could hear the smirk in his voice as he said, "Better watch yourself, Mail Boy." He then walked away, his footsteps getting fainter and fainter until they vanished all together.

Rolling his eyes, he had been threatened worse by adolescent girls, Merlin continued dropping mail off. Though, a part of him had a feeling this wasn't the last he'd be seeing of Blondie McPrathead.

Merlin

"Okay, since I made such a big mistake," Percival stated, bursting into Arthur and Elyan's office, the door hitting the glass wall with a ear splitting crash. Arthur fought the urge to check the glass for any cracks, knowing it wouldn't be the first time Percival broke the window. "Let's garner a wager."

"Perce, how many times do I have to tell you, I don't gamble." Arthur gave Percival an easygoing smile before returning to his computer

"Come on, Artie, you know you want to," Percival teased using the one name Arthur could not stand. "And it won't even cost you anything big."

Arthur thought it over for a moment, but intrigue got the better of him and he asked, "What is it?"

"You make someone fall in love with you-court, shag, the whole nine yards-and I'll tell Uther what I did in his office. You can show me how a real man thinks things through." Percival flashed Arthur a challenging grin, leaning against the open entryway, crossing his arms.

"That's stupid," Arthur stated shaking his head.

"I'll put five hundred down that he doesn't do it," Elyan said with a grin, catching Arthur's attention. "What?" Elyan noticed the aghast look on his face. "I'm only looking out for you, mate. You haven't had a good shag in almost eight months."

"How do you…?" he didn't care. Shaking his head, Arthur said, "Look, we're not in uni anymore. We can't just go around making…" he trailed off, noticing the dark haired guy from earlier, a Cheshire cat smile spreading across his face.

"Fine." He looked up at Percival and Elyan. "I'll do it, but I get to pick the target."

"Alright. So, five hundred to each of us if you don't succeed, and five hundred from each of us and I tell Uther if you do," Percival responded and he crossed the room to shake Arthur's hand.

"Who is it?" Elyan asked curiously once the deals had been made official.

"Him," Arthur replied pointing at the dark haired boy. He did tell him to watch it. "It'll be the easiest thousand I've ever made."