The Flaws of Fate

Pairings: Merlin/Arthur, Merlin/Morgana, Gwen/Lancelot
Summary: Merlin had a good life, and he was always thankful; he would not have given it back for the world. But, the good life was beginning to get a bit boring, and he needed something new, something shiny and brilliant. Yet, when this new gem steps into his life, he didn't intend to get the million dollar price, and the baggage the lottery gave with it.
Warnings: Scenes and references of abuse, drug use, Modern AU, small depression states, and a bit of fluff. No magic, well, magical powers. Also, this story is from the point of views of Arthur, Merlin, and Morgana.

Chapter One: Easy To Please

"Merlin?" a rough voice asked from behind him in the dark room. The early sunlight was shining through the crack in the curtain, but only just enough so that Merlin could see out to the streets below without waking the sleeping beauty. It was only just light outside, too early for anyone but Merlin to be up, and he liked it just like that. The quiet before the storm, the nice time to reflect the world through his eyes without having to hide something. It was the only time he had to himself, with his hectic life, or so he thought.

"Merlin?" the voice said again, a bit more clear this time around. Merlin turned his head quickly to the source and looked at the man struggling to sit up in bed. His blonde hair was sticking up at the top, and a few pieces going every which way. His eyes shone brilliantly blue, but slightly clouded over from just waking up. Merlin could see his defined abs as Arthur never slept with a shirt on. He had told Merlin once when he asked that the feeling of being wrapped in something so close to him in his sleep made him feel like being suffocated, but Merlin didn't fully believe that.

"Yes?" Merlin asked softly, returning his gaze at the small amount of people roaming the streets. They were always up this early, running their days worth or preparing the streets for the late wakers. It was one of the normal activities Merlin had learned to appreciate from the people in the big city.

"Are you always up this early, staring out the window?" Arthur asked rubbing his eyes. Merlin thought it was almost to a point where it seemed as if he would make himself blind.

"Yes, Arthur," Merlin said with a small hidden smile.

"Why the hell would you do that?"

Merlin thought for a moment. He knew exactly why he did it, but putting his thoughts and feeling into words was something he was never good at.

"It is a peaceful moment I enjoy," he decided.

"Well, okay then. Is coffee ready?"

"Yes."

"Great," Arthur said, moving out of the bed and stretching his muscles. He extended his arms above his head and bend backwards, stretching his back and his legs. He made a weird humming noise, almost a growl, while he did so and that always made Merlin laugh.

"What is so funny, Merlin?"

"Nothing," Merlin said getting up quickly and placing a gentle kiss on Arthur's forehead before retreating into the bathroom.

"Nothing my arse," Arthur retorted moving into the closet to choose his attire for the day.

It was nearly a half hour later when both men were dapper and had to-go mugs in their hands, Arthur with coffee and Merlin with tea. It was how it went every morning.

"Ready?" Arthur asked, opening the door.

"Yep," Merlin said as he walking through the door, kissing Arthur with a goodbye.

"Good morning Mr. Emrys. You have four messages-"

"And they can wait till later, right?" Merlin asked Rosa.

Rosa was only 19, choosing not to finish all of her schooling. It wasn't something Merlin usually did, but she was different from the rest; he just couldn't figure out why. Not that different was a bad thing, or something he had loads of time to think about.

"Yes, sir."

Merlin watched as she walked back to the front desk of the store. The desk was circular and large in the middle of the front. It was made of dark wood polished so no splinters or cuts happened to the workers or the customers. There were two cash registers on either side of the circle, giving enough room to greet and help the people searching for the next adventure of their imaginative life.

This was what Merlin wanted. To have the next great adventure in his life. It was part of the reason he opened a book store; to get some kind of adventure.

The place was lined wall to wall, ceiling to floor, with books. Most of them were rarely found in the grand city, so if someone was searching for a book not seen in decades anywhere, they were likely to come here. It was something Merlin was good at, finding those rare books and putting them in places people could find, along with many other adventures they could journey into.

The phone rang at the front desk as Merlin made his way to the back of the store where his office was.

"Hello, this is Rosa. Thank you for calling New Adventures. How may I help you?" Merlin heard Rosa say in a very professional yet inviting manner. There were reasons he hired her, and that was part of it.

Merlin's office was small, but comfortable and managable. When you walked through the wooden door, you saw the desk, neat and proper. To the right and left were windows, large enough to see a view of many different sights. There were curtains, of course, because no one knew who would show up in his office at the late hours he worked on occasion. There was not much else to the room except a few book cases of his personal books and a fridge to keep a variety of things, not all edible. As plain as it was, it was perfect for Merlin, because he knew that if there was anything different about the office, it wouldn't be his office.

Merlin had not yet been settled in his office doing paper work for thirty minutes when there was a sharp knock on his door.

"Come in," Merlin said and looked under his eyelashes at Rosa coming through the door.

"I have come to give you the messages from the weekend, Mr. Emrys," she said politely, laying down the papers she kept the messages on.

"Thank you, Rosa," Merlin said as Rosa turned to walk out the office. "Oh, and Rosa?"

"Yes?"

"You don't have to call me Mr. Emrys. I really prefer Merlin, if you please."

"Of course, I'm sorry, Mr. Em- Merlin," she said shyly before scurring back onto the main floor greeting the customers that walked through with a cheery sentence he could not quite hear.

Merlin sighed and looked at the papers the young woman had placed on his desk. He knew they were important, but he couldn't find it in him to go through them right now, so he gathered them up and set them to the side to look through later.

He sighed once again before looking over their budget and other bills that had to paid; the most annoying, time consuming, and tiresome task anyone could think to do.

Arthur was tired of doing the same thing for an hour, but he supposed it came with being on a semi-professional footy team.

"Arthur! Think before you kick! But, you are looking better at there!"

He didn't know why he was looking 'better' at something he just did wrong, but he didn't question it. It was not the best idea to question a coach on a bad day. That was something universally known, and was greatly frowned upon.

"Arthur?" he heard a voice say from the sidelines, incredibly quiet, but heard. He couldn't turn to see who had called him, but he had a guess it was Merlin getting him for lunch. Only Merlin could speak that low and be so clear on a giant field.

"Five more minutes gentlemen! Keep up the good work!" the coach yelled from the opposite sideline of Merlin. His shout echoed through the area, giving the illusion that it did not need to be shouted.

The five minutes passed quickly for Arthur, who was kept busy by his teammates and the ball. He figured it was a little more dragged out for Merlin, who only had a book and his music to pass the time. Merlin always said he was wrong; that time passed quicker for Merlin with his book, but Arthur believed that the physical activity he put up with was a far better use of his time and made time go by quicker than watching a squirrel chase after a nut. But, he rarely brought it up because he could tell it made Merlin mad. A pissed off Merlin was almost as bad as a pissed off coach.

"See you tomorrow, gentlemen. Get lots of rest for we only have two more practices before the next game!" the coach yelled before making his way to his office across the hall from the locker room. Before Arthur made his way over to the locker rooms, he walked over to Merlin, sitting on the ground with his legs crossed, earbuds in his ears and a book open in his hands.

"Merlin?" Arthur said, looking down at the man so engrossed in his new 'adventure.'

"Merlin?" he tried again a bit louder and kicking the bottom of his shoe. Merlin looked up and smiled before turning his music off and marking his spot in the book.

"Hey," Merlin said as he stood up besides Arthur. "Ready?"

"You really don't pay attention to anything when you read do you?" Arthur asked with a smile as they started to walk across the field in the direction of the locker room.

"No, only to the adventure I have been drawn to."

"Very funny. No, practice just ended. I have to go change, and then I will be ready. Gonna wait outside of the rooms?"

"Yeah. I will be reading till you get out."

"I don't think it will take me long enough for you start reading again," Arthur said before Merlin gave him a look that said 'nothing is crazier than that statement'. "Right, read on. I'll be back."

Arthur gave Merlin a quick kiss on Merlin's cheek before dashing off to get ready for lunch. Before he walked through the door, he looked back at Merlin and saw him sitting against the wall, the book already open. Arthur sighed and walked through with a smile. His Merlin was quite predictable when it came to reading.

"Hey Arthur?" he heard a voice from behind him. It was the one teammate whom he hardly ever talked to off the field, but he was a friendly enough bloke, so he guessed.

"Yeah?" Arthur responded as he moved to his locker and began to get ready.

"What are you doing for lunch? Some of the guys are going to that new place a few blocks away and we were hoping you could join us," he said, leaning with one side against an empty locker.

Arthur would love to go to the new place, but he always had lunch with Merlin. It was their thing, and he quite enjoyed it.

"I would love to go and all but-"

"You have a date with that dude," he said shaking his head and standing up right. "You know where we will be if you decide to ditch the bookworm and have some fun."

"Who is to say I don't have fun with Merlin?" Arthur asked, quite fed up with the otherwise nice man.

"He just doesn't seem like an outgoing person, and I know personally that you are very outgoing, or so you seem. But, it isn't for me to judge."

"Then why did you judge my relationship? You don't know me, I hardly even know you! You had no right to bring that up!" Arthur yelled quietly back to the disappearing man.

"I only said what was on everybody's mind, Arthur. Have a nice afternoon."

And with that, the man was gone and Arthur was fuming. It took him a good minute or so to collect his emotions and calm his nerves before he finished gathering his belongings and made his way back to Merlin.

"Ready Merlin?"

Merlin quickly got up and tucked his book away before a smile and a nod.

"Where do you want to go today?" Arthur asked roughly grapping Merlin's hand, pulling him along until he was in sync with Arthur's step. Arthur ignored the puzzled look on Merlin's face as the lights through out the hall went out and they could only see the brilliant one on either end.

"I was thinking maybe that new place a few blocks from here, if you want to?"

"Maybe tomorrow. I was thinking our usual for today."

"Alright, sounds like a plan to me," Merlin said, a huge grin across his face.

Merlin was incredibly happy today. He was currently walking to their usual lunch spot hand in hand with Arthur. Even though it was incredibly awkward at first, Merlin realized that it was possible this would never happen again, so he enjoyed it.

Though they have been together for four years now, Arthur was never quite up for the public display of affection. Merlin tried to get Arthur to talk about why he didn't want to be seen as a man who loved another man, but all he would get was it was too uncomfortable in the public eye. He quickly declared that as bullshit. Merlin had many thoughts about it, such as he was a footy player, and it wasn't proper to be gay, or that his manliness came out at odd times of the day and Arthur just fought with it. He didn't really know, but he knew Arthur was not uncomfortable about their situation at all; that was just painfully known.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Arthur look over and turn back to the sidewalk with a smile.

"What is with that smile?" Merlin asked cheekily.

"Your smile is very contagious," Arthur said like all he ever did was smile. "Why are you smiling like that?"

"You-," he started. As soon as he said it, Arthur would notice and then stop and it would never happen again. "It's nothing."

"A smile like that isn't nothing, Merlin," he said with a light bump, shoulder to shoulder.

"It's nothing, really."

"Merlin," Arthur pressed on.

"Yes?"

"Tell me before I make you tell me," he threatened, eyebrows moving up and down like a worm.

"Oh look, we're here!" Merlin said as he let go of Arthur's hand and failed to notice that Arthur looked down at where Merlin's hand was intertwined with his own before he followed the jumpy man.

"Hello Merlin, Arthur! Would you like your usual?" Meredith said from behind the counter. She was a rather old lady who owned the little restaurant, and for the past few years that the two had been coming there for lunch, it would have been sad if she didn't know their names.

"Usual?" Merlin asked Arthur as he slid into their usual booth on his usual side and watched Arthur slide into his own side.

"Yep."

"The usual Mere!" Merlin yelled then fixiated his eyes back on Arthur who was looking at him with a smile, something he still wasn't quite used to seeing.

"What?" Merlin asked looking slightly offended.

"I know why you were smiling that dorky smile of yours."

"And why is that?"

"I never hold your hand, at least not all the way here."

"Such the observant little person you are, Arthur," Merlin said with a failing smirk.

"I am right, though, and you know it."

"You are never wrong in your eyes Arthur, even when you aren't right."

"Talking in riddles like always, are we Merlin?" Meredith announced her arrival with the food.

"It is never ending it seems like," Arthur agreed.

"Very funny. Thank you Mere."

"Such the little sore sport you are, Merlin," Arthur retorted before giving his own thanks to Meredith.

"I can't help it that you aren't smart enough to understand the wording of my sentences I choice to speak in," Merlin said behind his hand as he chewed a bit of his food.

"It isn't that I don't understand it. It is that we both know you talk in riddles, and they would be very well in a book rather than coming out of your mouth," Arthur stated behind a bite of his own food.

"Who's to say they aren't from a book?"

"Because you always say which ones they are from if they are."

"He's right, you know!" Merlin heard Meredith yell from behind the counter.

"See? Meredith agrees with me! Why can't you?"

"We have been over this before Arthur. Putting my adventures and dreams into a book isn't going to sell. I would rather keep mine in my head and read other people's."

"I think it would sell if you let it," Arthur whispered to himself more than to anyone letting the topic drop, because Merlin always gave the same response.

Merlin made quick glances at Arthur throughout their rather quiet lunch. It was always quiet after they got their food with little comments here and there. It was one of the many things Merlin had gotten a bit too used to. He loved it, without a doubt, but it was something he wished would change a bit. Change was always good, and Merlin liked change here and there. But, lately things had been...too steady and everything was just set.

"You are thinking too much," Arthur concluded and brought Merlin out of his thoughts.

"Why would you say that?"

"You only ever glance at me while we eat. But, when you are in deep moments of thought, you stare."

Merlin smiled widely inside his mind, but only let out a small one.

"Yes, I was thinking. How is it you know me so well?"

"I am an observant little person, as you say I am."

"So I was right!"

"You are never wrong, but you are not always right," Arthur said with a big smile before he got up to pay for the meal.

Merlin smiled to himself and finished the last bite on his plate before grapping Arthur's stuff onto his shoulders and walking towards the door to wait on Arthur. That was when a young lady and boy walked in.

"Excuse me," the lady said in the sweetest voice he had ever heard. She had black hair that was tied back into a low bun, and was only a few inches shorter than he. She had a pale skin tone, but against the black hair it worked quite beautifully; tragically beautiful. The boy was only about ten or so, but he looked the same, if not a bit darker. Their eyes were both brilliant, but the lady had blue eyes while the boy had dark brown as far as Merlin could see. He wasn't sure how old the lady was, but she could not have been over 25. She was an angel.

"Of course, sorry," Merlin said, gathering his composure.

"It is quite alright," she pronounced before making her way to the table that was behind the one he had been at. That was when Arthur made his way back to Merlin, practically dragging him out the door.

"Who was that?" Arthur asked, taking Merlin's hand.

"I don't know," Merlin truthfully whispered.

"Well, do you have the rest of the day off?" Arthur asked.

"No, I really should be going back."

"Great. Call Rosa and tell her that you are taking the rest of the day off and to lock up when she leaves."

"Arthur, I just said-"

"Nope. You are taking the rest of the day off. Come on," Arthur practically screamed at Merlin, dragging him in the direction of the "fun" shops and places to visit.

"Oh, alright."

Merlin usually gave in quite easily, but right now there was something that told him he should get back to work. He reluctantly let it go and allowed Arthur to drag him where ever he was going, ignoring the nagging voice in his head to go back to work.