If, in the future, someone ever sat down and recorded his life story, Arthur desired for it to be made crystal clear that he never wanted to move to Albion in the first place. In fact, he protested against it, but his father's mind was set and there was nothing that Arthur could possibly do to change it.
A man that had just graduated from university should not be reliant on his father to find him work. He should not. Unfortunately, Uther loved meddling in Arthur's personal affairs, and when he heard that Arthur was having trouble finding a job with his worthless degree – journalism was not worthless, thank you very much, it was a dying profession, but it's worth was still plentiful – anyway, Uther had given a call to his old friend, Gaius, who apparently ran a newspaper in a small town no one had ever heard of…and, well, here Arthur was.
Stuck in a small town. With a shitty job with even shittier pay.
Like he said, he didn't want to be there.
He glanced around the miniscule office, messy and cluttered with papers, the opposite of Arthur's need for immaculateness. Gaius smiled at him from the doorway; Arthur had only spent a few minutes in his presence, a wringing of his hand and the short walk through a narrow hallway in one of the smallest buildings in town, but he seemed a decent enough type.
Which was just as well, if he was going to be Arthur's boss until he could find another job, he had better well learn to appreciate him at least slightly.
"It's not much," Arthur tuned into Gaius's crackly, wizened voice. "And my last employee was a bit of a slob, but I'm sure you'll be able to fix it up to your liking."
Arthur tried to keep his expression schooled; just because he had gotten everything he ever asked for in all his life didn't mean that he couldn't handle rejection and less than adequate workspaces like a perfect gentlemen. "I'm sure. Thank you very much."
"Not a problem, my boy," Gaius said. Arthur shifted a bit uncomfortably as he set his briefcase down next to the desk. "How about I introduce you to Guinevere and Leon? Gwen's our only other writer; Leon's our photographer."
The thought that Arthur was working at such a tiny place was almost suffocating. He should be working in London, goddammit, or at least someplace semi inhabitable! He had sent in an application to Camelot Times, which would have been perfect – but he doubted he could get even an internship there. His answer was still pending, though.
In the meantime, it looked like he was to be stuck here. In the middle of nowhere.
It was going to be miserable, he was certain.
But he forced himself to smile, and hoped his voice didn't contain too much bitterness. "Sure, I'd love to meet them."
Gaius led him out of the room and down the other side of the hall, opening the door labeled with "Staff Room." Arthur, trying to contain a sigh, headed inside to confront his new coworkers.
Gwen, or Guinevere Grace, it turned out, was a beaming, bubbly young girl of no older than twenty-one. She hardly looked professional in her blue tank top and cutoff jeans, and Arthur, with his button down shirt, suddenly felt very out of place.
Leon Cartwright was no better; a very tall man with wild ginger hair and a beard to match, he was dressed similarly to Gwen in a white t-shirt, blue jeans, and beat up trainers. He greeted Arthur with a smile and a shake of his hand, welcoming him warmly. "It's great to meet you, Arthur. It's been quite lonely around the office sent Val quit."
"Val was a bastard, Leon, we don't miss him in the slightest," Gwen laughed, swatting Leon's arm. "It is lovely to have you here, Arthur. I know we'll be the best of friends."
Arthur itched to correct her, saying that he was only here for as short a time span as he could muster, and that friendship wasn't exactly going to be his first priority, but that would have been rude. Instead, he just smiled tightly. "I'm sure."
"Gaius," Gwen suddenly said, as if struck by an idea. "Why don't I take Arthur on a tour of the town? If he's to be out on assignments, he should at least know where he's going."
"I have a map!" Arthur felt the need to protest. He had used said map to navigate himself from his London flat to the tiny cottage about a mile outside of town that he had found while researching cheap homes online; it was decent enough, but it looked like it hadn't been lived in since the late eighteen hundreds; he hadn't even unpacked his things yet, as he had only arrived the night before, and this morning, he headed immediately into the small, picturesque, lakeside town and to this tiny building just off the main street.
"Trust me, you need a proper tour," Gwen said, Leon nodding in affirmation.
"She's right," he said. "It'll be much more useful in the long run."
"That should be fine," Gaius said from next to the coffee machine on the far side of the room, where he had just started to brew a cup. "I wasn't going to give him an assignment until tomorrow, anyway, just let him familiarize himself with the place."
"Perfect!" Gwen's grin was near blinding, and Arthur had to blink a few times to shield himself from the frankly frightening effect. "We can leave right now."
Arthur found himself being gestured out of the door, and he begrudgingly followed his new coworkers out into the bright morning sunshine.
The town was full and bustling; it was summertime, and this was the definition of a tourist trap. There was only one main street, with many shops running up and down its sides, nooks and crannies galore. A small square lay just off of the street, and from there, the town tapered off into a few housing areas until it eventually faded into nothingness.
At least, that's what Arthur saw when he looked at it. Judging by both Gwen and Leon's fond smiles as they surveyed the area, their view was quite different.
"C'mon," Leon said as he started heading down one side of the crowded street. "We'll go to Freya's."
Arthur was tempted to ask who Freya was, but Leon and Gwen were already heading off down the street, Gwen throwing a hand out behind her to wave Arthur along. Sighing, he fell into step behind them.
Gwen kept up a running chatter as they passed each store, which was slightly annoying, but also a bit endearing. "Over there, that's Aithusa, the boutique, although I doubt you'll have too much interest in that, and next to it is Dragon's Den, your regular tourist crap trap, then you've got Monmouth Books and Mercia Café, which we don't like because it's a competitor with Freya's…Freya is one of our best friends, by the way, she owns the greatest little coffee place."
"Alright," Arthur replied, a bit bemused as he listened to the ramblings as they continued on. Gwen gesticulated wildly at each building they passed; most of them seemed to be junky tourist places he had expected, but there was a seedy looking bar called The Fallen Kings that he had a feeling would be a frequently visited place and two different motels that looked like they'd seen better days.
"And here we are," Leon interrupted Gwen, but with a fondness in his tone. Arthur wondered vaguely if they were together, for they certainly functioned like a couple. Arthur glanced to the building on his right; it wasn't unlike any other on the street, the brick building with a colorful sign proclaiming it simply as "Freya's".
"Come on in, we'll introduce you to everyone," Gwen said as Leon pulled upon the door for her. Arthur followed, letting Leon pass through before him. He didn't necessarily want to be forced through introductions, but nothing in his life was overly fair right now.
Like with the Borg, resistance was futile.
The indoors of the coffee shop was airy and light, the walls painted in light colors, windows positioned just so to let sunlight stream in. There were a few tables scattered across the linoleum floor, customers seated at a couple of them, with a long counter against the back wall. The girl behind it was short and slight, dark hair put up in a messy bun. Her face split into a smile as she saw her visitors.
"Gwen, Leon!" Her cheery voice rang out. "Shouldn't you be at work?"
"We're on the clock," Leon greeted her as he strode across the room to lean against the counter next to a shelf of pastries that looked absolutely mouth-watering. "Giving Gaius's newest hire a tour. This is Arthur."
"Hi, Arthur, I'm Freya!" Arthur reached across Leon to shake her hand. She had a surprisingly strong grip, and she dimpled up at him. "So you're new to town?"
"Yeah, I just got here yesterday, actually –" Arthur began, but was caught off by a figure strolling out of a door behind the counter.
"What's going on, Frey?" Arthur's eyes snapped up to the man's as he leaned against the corner parallel to Leon on the other side. He was tall and slim, with scruffy dark hair and light stubble, a small smile on his face as he surveyed the group. His electric eyes fell on Arthur's with a mixture of curiosity and also a touch of wariness.
"This is Arthur," she said, pointing to him. Arthur lifted a hand in greeting. "Gaius just hired him to fill Val's old spot."
"Excellent, I was going to come by this afternoon to meet you," the man said, voice low and melodic. Apparently Arthur looked confused, for he clarified himself. "Gaius is my godfather. I'm staying with him for the summer. I'm Merlin, by the way."
"Nice to meet you," Arthur replied and was surprised to find he meant it. "Looks like I'll be seeing a lot of you."
"Not as much as you'll be seeing Leon," Merlin nodded in the ginger man's direction. "He'll take turns following you and Gwen around and snapping photographs of anything he finds even remotely interesting. Even if it's a bug in a tree. Especially if it's a bug in a tree."
"Oi!" Leon laughed, swiping his hand toward Merlin, who ducked out of the way with a grin toward Arthur that he returned with a thrum of something moving within his veins, an unknown entity. "Just because you've been gone for the past year doesn't mean that I will now change my ways and enjoy your compulsive need to insult me."
"Admit it, you missed my insults like crazy," Merlin's grinned, but Arthur was focused on the comment about Merlin's absence. Had he been at university? He looked about Arthur's age, but Arthur had only just graduated the previous spring, so he could have easily been away at school. Still, there was something off about him, something that made him think that wasn't quite the answer.
And since Arthur had never been a tactile person, his bluntness got the best of him. "Where were you?"
Merlin's grin became rather fixed. "Military. I'm on leave right now. I'm back on duty in September."
Arthur's eyes widened and he suddenly took in Merlin in a whole new light. The frayed jeans and faded grey t-shirt could have belonged to anyone, but the previously unnoticed circular dog tags hanging from his neck decidedly could not. There was also hardness to his features that Arthur had only just taken into account; it was an unnamable thing, but an obvious one. He was someone who had seen things.
Arthur didn't quite know how to reply. "…So how long have you been back in Albion, then?"
Merlin shrugged. "A week or so. It looks like we're both the new kids around here."
"You've never been a new kid!" Freya shoved him lightly with her hip. "Now get in back, I need my damn coffee maker working within the next five minutes."
"Yes, m'lady," was the cheeky response. As he backed into the door, Merlin said "Leon, bring Arthur down to the pub later tonight. We must induct him into our league of superheroes."
"Superheroes?" Arthur turned to Leon.
"A childhood joke," Leon said with a chuckle as Merlin slid out of their view and into what Arthur presumed was the back room without so much as a goodbye. "I'm not allowed to explain it alone. Don't feel pressured to come if you don't want to, by the way. Merlin just likes adopting everyone he comes across as one of his own."
"Oh, c'mon, Leon, don't make Arthur feel like he's one of the masses," Gwen said, leaning into Leon's side, only furthering Arthur's belief that they were together. "He likes people, but he has to see a certain spark in them if he's going to induct them into his league. It's nice to see that he hasn't changed too much."
Her tone dropped from a cheerful one to something a little more bittersweet, and Arthur almost felt like he was intruding on something private, which was ridiculous, of course.
"I'll come, sounds like a good time," Arthur said, surprising himself slightly. He definitely hadn't planned on making friends with his coworkers and their league of superheroes, whatever that meant, but there was a part of him that was scrambling for an opportunity to be a part of something, of this right here.
He didn't know what the part was, what it was doing there, or why he was listening to it; he just knew that the feeling was new, different, and could not be ignored.
This he would soon refer to as mistake number one.