'Fuck.'
Hot piping coffee spilt down Arthur.
Gwen hopped to the rescue: 'Let me just remake that for you! Take a seat and I'll be right over.'
The customer scratched the back of his head and grinned. 'No worries'.
The liquid was dripping off the counter and onto the floor. Arthur grabbed a yellow cloth, etched with the Pendragon logo and wiped the area down.
Coffee might be the family business, but Arthur was no barista.
By the time he'd turned around, Gwen had a fresh white Americano. The milk was like a painting, white against deep chocolate, shaped like caser's leaf.
'Want to try again?'
Arthur smirked, took the cup off Gwen and went to where that customer was sitting. It was by a frosty window. Christmas lights lit off the guy's skin, turning it to shades of blue and red. The table hadn't left much room for coffee. There was a laptop, a bunch of scrawled notes titled 'Property of Merlin' and highlighters everywhere.
'How is Merlin even a name?'
The customer took the cup and looked up, well fuck. There were those eyes that had made Arthur spill the first coffee everywhere: crystal blue, glittering in the light with specs of gold, against the palest skin and blackest hair.