Prompt: Lost in a foreign city AU

He was not lost. Definitely not lost. Nope, not at all.

Staring down at his phone, he tried to make sense of the net of streets Google Maps was showing him, not that it would change anything. He'd never been good at reading maps, but since he was a man he never admitted openly to it. It was just not done. As a man you had to know your way, you had to have a great sense of direction. And you never, really never asked someone for directions. You had to save your pride after all.

His phone almost slipped from his fingers when it suddenly started ringing and jumping in his hand and he let out a groan when his eyes fell on the caller ID. Great, just great. As if he needed his big brother to make fun of him right now. For a moment he contemplated letting it go to voicemail, but he knew Liam would just keep calling. With another sigh he swiped his thumb over the screen and lifted the phone to his ear.

"I'm still alive," he said without any greeting, after all Liam was definitely calling to check up on him.

"How is my little brother faring on the other side of the pond?"

"Peachy," Killian replied to his brother's question, entering the next Starbucks to get a much needed coffee before he'd lose his nerves completely.

A deep chuckle came through the phone and he sighed inwardly knowing what his brother would say before the words were actually spoken. "You're lost."

"No, I'm not," he insisted, hoping his voice sounded more confident than he was feeling. He pulled the phone away from his mouth to order an Americano before adding, "I just stopped to get a cup of coffee from the Starbucks just around the corner of my hotel."

"Aye, right. As if there isn't a Starbucks at every corner in New York," Liam said and he could imagine the smile his brother was wearing on his face right now as he added, "Admit it, Killian. You're so lost."

"Am not," he shot back, knowing bloody well that he sounded like a petulant child, but not caring one bit.

"You wanna play that game? I can go for hours if I need to."

"Bloody git," he grumbled, grabbing the coffee that appeared in his line of sight with his name on it.

"Can I help you?" a female voice asked, and he looked up at the barista who had put the coffee in front of him.

"I … ahem … I think … I'm not sure … I don't ..." he stammered, his tongue currently tied up into several knots, a normal occurrence for him when a beautiful woman was standing in front of him.

"Ah, you're obviously talking to a beautiful lass right now, or trying to," Liam's voice spoke into his ear. "I'm letting you get to that now without continuing to distract you. God knows, you're hardly able to form a coherent sentence when a beautiful woman tries to talk to you. I want a full report afterwards, little brother."

"I've overheard your conversation," the woman told him when he lowered his arm, sending him a smile that he felt down to his toes. "Problems with finding your way?"

No, I'm exactly where I want to be.

He almost blurted that completely inappropriate statement out since his heart was thumping in his throat as he stared at the vision in front of him, and he wondered for a brief second if an angel actually had dropped from the sky to land right in front of his feet. And wasn't that the most clichéd pick-up line of all times. Thankfully, he was able to keep his mouth shut and not tell her about his insane thoughts.

"Hello?" she asked, waving a hand in front of his face, probably to check if he wasn't having a mental breakdown right here in the middle of Starbucks.

"I ..." He gulped hard as she kept eye contact with him, her mouth tilted up into a soft smile that made it really hard for him to concentrate on the words he wanted to say. "Aye, I'm lost. Kind of."

"Where do you need to go?"

"Darlington Hotel."

"That's on the other side of the city."

"Oh," he breathed, not able to say anything else to that, feeling a blush rise up in his cheeks. Of course he would make a complete fool of himself in front of her.

"Let me show you."

She grabbed his hand and tilted it her way, typing on his phone until Google Maps popped up, but no matter how hard he tried to concentrate and understand the directions she was giving him after only a few seconds he was completely lost. Though he didn't blame only his poor sense of direction for it, it was more the smell of her hair that brushed against his arm and the tone of her voice that warmed him from the inside out. He could listen to her for hours without ever getting tired of her voice.

"Did you get any of this?" she interrupted his distracted thoughts and he let out an embarrassed chuckle, raising his hand to scratch behind his ear, a nervous tick he couldn't get rid off.

"Sorry, love. I'm afraid that won't help at all."

But instead of rolling her eyes – something he'd expected – she just grinned at him and pulled his arm over the counter and his shirt up to reveal his forearm. With a sharpie she started to write on his skin, putting down the exact instructions for the subway to get him to his destination and his skin still prickled as she let go of his hand and pointed at the scribbled words. "That should work."

"Thank you."

"By the way, my name is Emma," she told him, tapping at the tag pinned to her shirt.

"Killian."

"I'm working part time here. Why don't you come by tomorrow and we'll have a coffee together after my shift. Six o'clock okay for you?"

"Aye, that's perfect," he replied, actually stunned that he got that out without stuttering. His brain had apparently not caught up to the fact yet that a beautiful woman had just asked him out on a coffee date. Otherwise he'd have ruined everything by being a complete idiot.

He turned around a little dazed, wondering if this had really happened or if he was just having a very vivid dream but then her voice stopped him half way to the door, "And don't get lost tomorrow."

He looked back over his shoulder and met her gaze, grinning from ear to ear as he replied, "I won't."

By some not so small miracle he actually found his way to this Starbucks the next day, but maybe it was all destiny. Because a year later Emma and he moved in together and his poor sense of direction had stopped bothering him the moment he met her.

After all it had led him to the love of his life. To the woman he was meant to be with.