Arthur's Note:

OK, so this story is an AU, modern fic where Merlin is a music student, a pianist that is struggling for money and food. He works all day and night, either at school or at work, and when a certain blonde musician walks into him (literally) Merlin's life is changed.

Rated M for language and talk about sex, but nothing graphic.

No spoilers for any episodes, but there will be slash so, if you don't like that, sorry.

I don't own Merlin, or anything you recognise.

Please, read and review, let me know what you think.

Chapter 1

A heavy sigh passed through his lips, ruffling through the music sheets laid out in front of him on his mattress, flipping the page to a different one. Springs groaned as he shifted his weight off of both elbows to move one long, lanky arm to flip the page back. He continued staring at the black notes, until they blurred into a black mess in front of him. Dropping his head onto the mattress, his long, thin fingers rubbed at his tired eyes as he buried his face into the old, squeaky, lumpy mattress lying on the floor.

He must've fallen asleep because the next thing he knew was the shrill ringing of an old, battered mobile waking him up. Rolling over onto his back and consequently off of the single mattress, he landed on the floor with a thump and groan of pain. Finally pulling the phone out of his pocket, he glanced at the phone to see who was calling at 5 in the morning. Gwen.

"Hello?"

"Merlin, this is your wake-up call. Get up; you need to be at the café in 30 minutes." Gwen told him kindly, her voice tired as well. She was doing an internship at the nearby hospital, and she had taken the night shift, as no-one else wanted to. Every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, she woke Merlin up for his job.

"Thanks Gwen, see you later for lunch?"

"Yeah, night."

"Morning." Merlin's lips twitched in an attempt at a smile at their usual goodbyes, since she wouldn't be awake until 4 and Merlin wouldn't be out of class until 3:30, they had a late lunch together. Merlin locked the phone and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the half finished work on his bed (a mattress on the floor with a woollen blanket and a doona) and groaned. Stumbling over to his flimsy excuse for a closet (a box on the floor) he shifted through them for clean clothes. Pulling three different shirts on, he slipped the one he had on off, and the café work shirt on. Shoving the other two into his bag at the door, he then slipped out of his blue (old, worn) jeans and put his skinny black ones that were presentable enough for work. He shoved the blue jeans into the bag and then quickly gathered up his books and shoved them into the bag as well, before putting his (empty) wallet, keys and phone in as well. Shutting it, he turned to check his two-roomed flat (the bathroom and then the-everything-room) to make sure he had everything. Sighing, he picked his bag up, slung it over his shoulders, slipped his scuffed and worn black and white converse on and then left the flat, locking the door behind him.

"Merlin!" Will called, smiling and waving at the boy as he entered the café. Will was the barrister, while Merlin was the cashier.

"Hey Will, how are you?" Merlin asked, once his had finished yawning.

"Better than you, what time did you get to sleep last night?"

"Ah, an hour ago."

"Merlin! Seriously mate, you need to look after yourself better, here, I'll buy you some breakfast."

"Nah, you don't need to Will, I'm not hungry."

"Nonsense. You won't eat til lunch with Gwen. Here." Will popped some money into the register and pulled a toasted cheese sandwich out of the toaster.

"Thanks Will, I'll pay you back on Friday."

"It's OK; I know Wednesdays are a bad day for you." Will grinned at him.

"Hi, welcome to Dragon Grove. What would you like?" Merlin recited, holding a grin on his face as he served his next customer.

The blonde-haired male beauty raised an eyebrow at his grin and smirked at him, "Tall black, one sugar no milk or cream, a Cappuccino, two sugars with cream and sprinkles, and two chocolate muffins."

"That'll be $10.75." Merlin told him, plugging the order into the cash register and wincing slightly as the high-pitched ding made his headache throb harder.

"Here you go." The man handed him a $15 note. "Keep the change."

"Thanks, name for the order?"

"Arthur."

Merlin watched as the man walked away to the other end of the counter. Merlin regretfully tore his gaze away to serve his next customer. "Cute, hey?" Will muttered to him, frothing a pot of milk for the orders.

"Like you care, you've got eyes for a different type." Merlin scoffed. "Hi, welcome to Dragon Grove, how can I help you?"

The boys stopped discussing the blonde as Merlin served the female and Will brewed coffee. In a lull of customers, Will leaned towards merlin and muttered, "He's your type, thought ain't he?" Merlin grinned at him. Will pointed over at the table near the window where the blonde was sitting with a dark-haired beautiful girl. Arthur was leaving, kissing the girl's cheek goodbye. "Sorry mate, he isn't yours."

"Oh well, I still got to see his cute ass."

"Merlin, you're lucky the professor's late." Nim hissed, as Merlin slid into his seat, dumping his bag at his feet and pulling his books out and wincing slightly at the crumpled papers.

"I know, I know, thanks for saving me a seat."

"Of course." Nim smiled at her friend. She pulled a muesli bar out of her bag and passed it to him. "From Freya."

"How is she?" Merlin asked, taking the bar, tearing it open and scoffing it down. He knew refusing to take it would make Nimeuh tell Freya who would be crushed.

"She's as annoying as any little sister. She still has a crush on you, despite me telling her you bat for the other team."

"Say hi for me, and thanks." Merlin whispered as the professor walked in. or more like, he shuffled in. Professor Gaius was an old man, with shoulder length white hair and was extremely old-fashioned, except for the fact he understand everything modern, he just preferred to stick to the olden day methods.

"Good morning class."

Three hours later, Merlin lagged behind in the room as every other student left the lecture hall. "Hi Professor!" Merlin smiled at the old man, who glanced up at him. Taking in his messed up hair and black circles under his eyes, Gaius sighed, "You know Merlin, you can't continue on little sleep and little food."

"I've got to get money somehow."

"You have three jobs and school work."

"I need to pay for school and rent and bills."

"And food."

"And food, I'm fine Gaius, really. Will and Gwen have both said that if I get low in money they can lend me some and I can pay them back when I can, not when they demand it. I'm fine. Can you tell mother that, she doesn't believe me when I tell her?" Merlin begged.

"I will tell her the truth." Gaius warned.

"And the truth is?"

"That you are keeping up with your school work and working hard. Now come on boy, the music room's free for the next hour, then there's a class booked."

"Thanks Gaius, you know you're my favourite uncle."

"I'm your only uncle."

"Exactly why you're my favourite." Merlin grinned cheekily.

"Cheeky boy." Gaius shuffled out of the room.

Gaius let the Music student into the room and told him, "Remember, one hour. Use it wisely."

"Thanks Gaius, I just need to work on my piece for a bit." Merlin moved straight to the piano and sat down, dumping his bag at his feet. He ran his fingers gently over the ivory keys, pressing down on the A key. The note vibrated through the instrument and then the air. Merlin let a small, genuine smile grow on his face as he felt the vibrations and heard the key, the sound flittering through his eras and his mind. He gently ran through a simple scale, listening to the notes and the way they dropped from the piano like honey dripping off of a spoon, sweetly and smoothly. He pulled his book out and placed it on the stand in front of him, but didn't bother about opening it, just jumped straight into his piece, eyes shut as he let the sound run over him.

He played what he had composed a few times, before losing interest and turning to pieces composed by Beethoven. Frowning slightly as the work played off of his fingertips robotically, structured and planned. He soon changed the notes, improvising and adding in twists and loops in the boring work that was a masterpiece, but was factory-like.

"Why the hell are you butchering Beethoven?" a loud voice cut through Merlin's mind, music and place. His fingers froze on the last note, his eyes jerking open and his mind coming back from its trip.

"What?" Merlin asked, turning in his seat to see the blonde from the café leaning against the door.

"You were butchering a classic. Why the hell would you do that?"

"It was boring." Merlin shrugged, ignoring the sharp, rude tone in the blonde's voice.

"Do I know you?"

"I served you this morning, Arthur." Merlin explained, turning back to the keys, running his fingers over the keys again, but not pressing down, being polite to the man behind him.

"Only an idiot would call a classic by Beethoven boring. His work is inspirational and pure genius –"

"And boring. It's the same every time; structured, expected, known and boring. People recite it and yeah, they're reciting it so it has to be the same. I was alone in the room, practicing, I'm allowed to do what I want, I wanted to explore. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and it doesn't mean that I butchered his work." Merlin explained, his voice not containing a hint of anger, just politeness.

"You can't just go off track like that. There's a reason the notes are recorded."

"But it's good to explore the sounds and everything, music is about expressing yourself honestly, not about repeating notes and entertaining people. What's the point of playing if you don't enjoy it and make it your own work? If you think that was butchering music then you obviously can't be very good."

Arthur was speechless. "How dare you! You're a fool and talentless." Arthur snapped, causing Merlin to stand up angrily, grab his bag and glared at the blonde.

"You're a prat who can't see past your ego to recognise that other people have different styles and to realise that there is such a thing as experimenting and testing something." Merlin stormed off.

Arthur glared after him and moved to the piano, wanting to play his own pieces. He noticed Merlin's book still on the stand and sighed. He grabbed it and put it with his bag, planning on taking it and keeping it to give the boy a shock at the loss of his work.

"This will show him to insult me." Arthur growled.

TBC – Please review!