Title: Wasteland
Pairings: Merlin/Arthur
Summary:AU. Arthur Pendragon finds a devilishly handsome Irish man in the wastelands of London. Arthur blames destiny but Merlin blames the alcohol.
The clock ticked loudly as Arthur typed away at his computer. It was getting late and he was the only one working at the moment in the office of his father's large company and he rubbed his eyes tiredly before gently sighing and sitting back in his chair, his hands behind his head and his feet propped up on the desk.
Arthur Pendragon worked at an office building in Canary Wharf. He'll admit this, it wasn't the most exciting job in the world but at least he got paid a generous amount of money. Maybe it was because he was the son of the owner or he was just extremely good at what he was doing. He knew it was the first reason though.
He felt someone prodding his shoulder and he turned to look up only to see his work colleague Gwen was smiling down at him.
"Yes?" Arthur asked impatiently, raising an eyebrow. Gwen gave a slight chuckle before folding her arms across her chest.
"That's no way to greet your work colleague."
"Sorry, just been a long day." He replied, scratching the back of his neck. He's been working non-stop every since he got in at noon. He hated working shifts.
"Eh, tell me about it. Anyway, your father told me that you can take the night off. You look completely exhausted."
Arthur saw the reflection of himself in the window. Gwen was right. He did look exhausted. The bags around his eyes were growing bigger by the day and he felt dead on his feet.
Maybe he should stop drinking too much coffee.
Gwen tapped the back of his chair lightly with her fingernails. "Come on, I'll take over for you tonight. Though it's just this one time I'm doing this for you." She pointed her finger at him jokingly.
Arthur smiled and collected his belongings from underneath the desk and put the bag over his shoulder. "Thanks Gwen, I owe you one."
Gwen smiled cheekily. "You better! Me and Lancelot have been wanting to go out on a holiday for ages so keep that in mind."
"Then that's all on me." He gave her a mocking salute and a bow before he sauntered out of the building, hearing his friend Gwen laugh in the background.
Arthur liked to walk home. It gave him time to think about many things and it gave him a chance to clear his head and get some fresh air. It sometimes sucked for Arthur to be stuck in an office building day after day and it got rather tiresome to be staring at the same computer screen.
But Arthur was a man who wanted to please his father. He loved his father dearly and would do anything to please him or to make him happy. His father was the only living relative of his family left and Arthur swore to himself that he won't lose him. Not when he's already lost so much all ready.
His thoughts were interrupted by a loud and painful groan and Arthur stopped in his tracks suddenly and looked around at his surroundings. He was walking on the edge of one of London's wastelands, a route that Arthur had to take every day to get to his flat and he'll admit this, the wasteland wasn't exactly a tourist site.
He heard the groan again and he walked a bit further when he saw a figure hunched against the wall, grabbing his head as though in pain.
"Hello?" Arthur asked, looking concerned and stopped before the figure, unsure whether to get closer to him or if he should stay away. The groan reminded him of something out of a zombie movie and that he and his friends used to watch when they were younger. "Are you hurt?"
The figure gave a deep chuckle and Arthur found that he had a pleasant one. One that he wouldn't mind listening to again if he had the chance. "Would it matter to you if I was in pain or not?" The voice replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice and Arthur realized he was Irish. His accent wasn't as thick but you could just about tell that he was Irish.
"I suppose not, but if you are in pain shouldn't you be going to a hospital?"
"Shouldn't you be minding your own business?" The man snapped and turned to face him and Arthur looked at the man in front of him properly for the first time.
He was smaller than him and had very pale skin but his cheeks were red and Arthur could tell that he had been drinking heavily. He had raven black hair that laid a mess on top of his head and he wore a navy jumper with a red scarf and brown pants and Arthur couldn't help but notice he was extremely attractive.
It was no surprise when Arthur told his father that he was gay. Apparently, Uther all ready knew that Arthur was gay when he was six years old when he kissed another boy named Gwaine at a birthday party. His father reluctantly accepted Arthur's sexuality but he admitted so long what made his son happy, made him happy too.
"Are you going to stand there and gawk all night or are you going to be on your way?" The Irish man asked before he let out another groan of pain and lent against the wall to steady himself.
Arthur knew he couldn't walk away from this man because if he did, who knew what would happen to him? The wastelands of London weren't exactly the safest places to visit in the dark of the night and with a young and clearly drunk man in front of him, Arthur wasn't about to let this young man go head-first straight into danger.
Arthur walked up to the man and slung the man's arm around his shoulders, helping him up and the man before him yelped in surprise.
"What the hell is going on?" The man demanded as Arthur helped him slowly walk out of the wastelands and towards his apartment.
"I'm not letting you walk home like this with a sore head. Who even let you out anyway?"
"I got kicked out of the Camelot's Inn. Lost my job the other week and my boyfriend dumped me so I thought I'll drown out my sorrows with alcohol."
Arthur winced. He knew what it was like to be dumped by someone you loved. "I'm sorry."
The man before him snorted. "Don't be. He was a jerk anyway." They walked the rest of the way home in silence, the man groaning in pain every now and then and once Arthur reached home the young man looked at it with appreciation and some sort of longing but did not say anything.
Arthur led him to the spare guest bedroom and laid him down gently on the bed before getting the stranger a glass of cold water and placing it on the bed stand.
"I don't even know you're name." Arthur admitted as he closed the curtains to give the young man some privacy.
The stranger blinked rapidly and looked up from the bed. "My name's Merlin."
Merlin. Arthur found himself thinking he rather liked that name.
"Nice to meet you Merlin the dollop-head. I'm Arthur."
Merlin chuckled before he closed his eyes and drifted off into slumber. Arthur watched him for a few minutes, knowing that Merlin was going to have a killer of a headache by tomorrow morning before he left the room, closing the door behind him quietly.
He poured himself a cup of coffee and switched on the television in the other room, sending glances every so often towards the room that Merlin slept in.
He was blaming destiny for getting him into this mess but Arthur knew he had to blame the alcohol.