Title: Here's my number
Pairing/s: Merlin and Arthur.
Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin, that belongs to the producers and the writers. I am doing this for my own fun, and not for profit in any way, shape or form.
Warning/s: AU; Coffee shop; Fully; Humour.
Chapter/s: One.
Word Count: 1 372.
Summary: Merlin get's a brilliant idea on how to find get people's phone number. He didn't think it would work so well. One-shot coffee-shop AU.
Author's Note: It seems I'm going on a posting spree. I'm also going to post a drarry similar to this one if anyone is interested. I know this is not the greatest, there are going to be mistakes in it and this is the first fanfic I have ever written on merthur but I hope you guys like it :). Reviews are welcomed!
"This is depressing, Gwen," Merlin complained as he cleaned the counter, getting ready for opening time at the coffee shop.
"What is?" Gwen asked, barely glancing at Merlin as she checked the machines to see if they were in working order.
"That my last date was a total git."
Gwen rolled her eyes, having heard all this before. "Are you sure your standards aren't a little too high?"
"He showed up 15 minutes late! And then talked with his mouth full, and had a painfully high voice that made you want to bang your head on the nearest hard surface, and he mocked my ears!"
Gwen grimaced in sympathy. Still, she was tired of Merlin whining about being single. "If you're so desperate why don't you just tell the whole world on the specials board?"
"That's a brilliant idea!" Merlin beamed at Gwen. Grabbing a piece of white chalk and a cloth, he bounced out from behind the counter and towards the black chalk board that was proudly propped up on the coffee counter for all their customers to see.
Gwen looked at Merlin in surprise, eyes widening in shock. "It was a joke," she pointed out helplessly.
"But you've got to admit it's a fantastic idea." Merlin still had a silly grin on his face as he whipped out today's specials and began writing eagerly, bits of white chalk fluttering down.
Gwen shook her head, feeling a bit lost and not even going to bother to stop Merlin, because honestly, what was the point? She watched as Merlin stepped away from the board, grinning at it proudly. Gwen, more than a little curious, came out from behind the counter and burst out laughing at what she saw.
"Merlin, you can't have that on the board!" Gwen said in between helpless giggles.
Merlin crooked his head to the side and looked at the board with narrowed eyes, a thoughtful look on his face. "You're right, Gwen." He picked up the chalk again and began to draw on the right hand side to what he wrote. The drawing took on the shape of a badly drawn person, with a shirt and trousers, stick hands, squiggles on top of his head to represent hair, two dots for eyes and a big cheesy grin to finish it off.
Merlin looked at the board again, a smirk on his face. "Perfect. Looks just like me, don't you think?"
Gwen laughed as she looked at the drawing, nodding her head and smiling at Merlin in amusement. "Yes, Merlin, just like you."
Merlin's smirk grew. "Knew it." He walked back behind the counter with a bounce in his steps. Gwen looked at the board again and burst into uncontrollable giggles once more before following Merlin.
The board stood proudly on top of the coffee counter, displaying to all the message:
TODAY YOUR BARISTA IS:
1. Hella fucking gay.
2. Desperately single.
FOR YOUR DRINK TODAY I RECOMMEND:
You give me your number.
OoOo
And to both Gwen's amazement and Merlin's delight people did give Merlin their numbers. Some of them were written on napkins and others on torn out pieces of notebooks. A few even tried to write on Merlin's hands, which he allowed for awhile but stopped when his hands were quickly covered in ink, him not able to tell when one number started and another began, starting to smudge as the day went on, which was a shame because this really cute looking guy wrote his number somewhere on his hand and Merlin couldn't find it anymore.
"Hey Merlin, which one?" Gwen asked suddenly, indicating with her head to a group of guys that just walked in, all laughing and pushing each other good naturedly.
'Which one', as the game was dubbed due to neither of them being able to come up with a better name, is one he and Gwen often played when groups of men walked in. You had to pick which one you think is hot and then proceed to imagine what they are like and what your first date would be like. They played it more often when there was a lull in work but these men were too good of an opportunity not to play 'Which one'.
Merlin looked at them, narrowing his eyes in thought. They lit up when he found one he liked. "That blond one over there." Merlin squashed the impulse to point him out to Gwen, but instead kept his eyes firmly on the handsome blond so Gwen could follow his line of sight. She nodded approvingly.
"Nice one. I would go for... That one." Merlin gave her a look that clearly read 'Which one? Because I am seeing a lot of ones so it would help if you were a bit more specific.' Gwen smiled apologetically. "Sorry, the one with the slightly short dark hair, not so tall, oh he's sitting down now."
Merlin looked at the group, nodding when he saw the one Gwen was talking about. "Not bad. Mine is better though."
"Shut up," Gwen said with a smile. "At least mine looks like he'll teach a lady right."
"Are you saying mine isn't a perfect gentleman?" Merlin gave an over exaggerated look of shock, even going further to put an ink stained hand on his chest.
"I'm saying he looks a little full of himself."
Merlin hummed in thought. "You're probably right, that doesn't change the fact that he has a nice arse."
"And that he's coming this way."
Merlin looked over quickly and true to her word, the blond was coming over. He glanced at the board and Merlin never felt embarrassed before with what was on there, briefly wishing that he never wrote it, because now the blond thinks he's desperate and pathetic and – okay, maybe he was, but there was no need for a good looking man to know that. With the other men that gave him their number, it was okay, none of them really caught Merlin's eyes like this one did, and boy was Merlin caught.
"Hello," said the blond, and didn't his voice just sound so perfect. All deep and muscular and – Merlin mentally groaned. He was doomed.
"Um, hi," Merlin replied, smiling nervously. He quickly glanced around for Gwen but found out she has made herself scarce. Traitor.
"I don't normally do this, and the others dared me to." He looked at the group of men he came in with who were all grinning and watching the blond and Merlin. "But here's my number."
Merlin's heart speeded up as the man put a napkin with a phone number on it onto the counter, but he quickly reminded himself that the blond was doing this because of a dare and not because he wanted Merlin to call him. Merlin wouldn't put it pass the man for the number not even being his.
Merlin shook his head. "I don't want it if you're only doing this because of a dare." He pushed the napkin back towards the handsome man.
The man frowned, clearly not expecting that reaction. "I do want to give you my number but how's about this, you give me yours and we'll call it even."
Merlin looked at him in interest. Not seeing a real downside to the idea, Merlin grabbed a clean napkin and a pen and began to write his number on it. He stopped for a moment and feeling a little playful he began to write more on the napkin.
He handed it to the man once he was done, a grin firmly in place. The blond looked at the napkin and gave a bark of laughter at what he saw making Merlin grin wider.
"My names Arthur, by the way," the man – Arthur – said, giving Merlin a smile and holding out his hand, which Merlin gladly took, briefly hoping no ink got on Arthur's hand.
"Merlin, pleasure to meet you."
Arthur nodded in agreement, looked at the napkin in his hand, shook his head in amusement and walked back towards his friends.
The group of men laughed as Arthur showed them the napkin, for under the number was the first four lines of the chorus of the song Call Me Maybe.