I spent the entire evening trying to write something for today's prompt and every single idea either sucked, or would have to be way longer for which I didn't have time, or both, and then I suddenly got this awesome idea at like 1:30am? Why so late? But regardless, it's 3am now and the fanfic is here!

SUMMARY: Merlin's really late for work and he accidentally bumps a parked car in his hurry. He doesn't have time to do anything about it, so he just leaves a short message with his phone number behind the windscreen wiper and runs away. A few hours later, a very lonely and now also angry Arthur Pendragon finds the message, and he believes that Merlin and he have a lot to talk about. (Over dinner.)

DAY FIVE
December 22nd

BEFORE & AFTER / AU / CHANGE THE SCENE

...

Oh my god he was going to be so late! Merlin couldn't believe that out of all the days of this week, he had to oversleep today, when he was already supposed to be at the meeting!

He quickly glanced at the time as he sped up the car. Twenty minutes late was too much already, he couldn't waste time with the speed limit.

But every action had its consequences.

Not five minutes later, while he was attempting to park the car as quickly as possible, he heard a loud crash.

"Oh no, no no no no, please no," he started pleading as he finished parking and got out of the car. "No," he exclaimed as he noticed he destroyed bumper of the car next to his. He wished he could take it back, but the damage was already done.

What was he going to do now? He couldn't just run and not take responsibility, but he also really needed to get to the meeting or he'd lose his job!

He just stood on the spot, frozen, for several seconds, before he finally made a frantic decision. And probably another stupid one judging by the pressure he was under. But he couldn't waste any more time. He quickly opened the door of his car, found a pen in the glove compartment and a piece of paper that he tore off from one of the papers he'd prepared for the meeting (thank god he'd brought a few blank papers as well), and he wrote a little message there.

I accidentally bumped your bumper. I'm really in a hurry,
so please call or text me and we'll sort it out later.

Merlin Emrys
020x xxxx

With that done, Merlin put the paper behind the windscreen wiper of the car he just hit, and then shoved the pen into his pocket.

He couldn't wait any longer and started running towards the building where the meeting was taking place.

xoXÖXox

Arthur was just on his way from a very unsuccessful and disappointing date with a guy who had claimed to be at least ten years younger than he really was, when he spotted his car. At first he didn't notice the damage. Instead, he sighed and realized that there was only one possible explanation for his unlucky love life.

He was cursed. Yes, that was it.

When he finally went to his car and fished out the car keys from his pocket, he finally noticed a little piece of paper stuck behind one of the windsreen wipers.

He frowned. What was that?

He took the paper and read the message. "Oh my god, are you serious?" he exclaimed as he rounded the car and saw the totally destroyed bumper.

That was it! He was definitely cursed. And this was the proof.

He grabbed his phone and immediately dialled the number. How could this person just accidentally hit his car? Was whoever did this blind?

When the person picked up, Arthur didn't wait and started yelling. "You hit my car? What were you thinking? Do you even know how much is this going to cost?-"

"I'm so sorry, I can't talk right now, I'll call you later, okay? I'm really sorry!" And he ended the call.

Arthur stood there for a few seconds, angry at that Merlin. Who the hell did he think he was?

Once Arthur got home that evening, he did the first thing that anyone would do. He sat down in front of his computer and searched for a person called Merlin Emrys who lived in the same city.

And a little while later, he finally found him.

Oh no, he's hot.

Merlin Emrys, a fashion designer and an author. His bestselling novel – We All Matter and Here's Why You Do Too.

Arthur swallowed. Yes, he was the son of one of the most famous and richest person in the entire city and pretty much everyone knew who he was, but compared to this Merlin, he felt like nobody important... look at all that Merlin's already accomplished! And he was like 24 or something.

Huh. Maybe he should read his book.

With a sigh and after a hot cup of tea, Arthur finally picked up his phone and dialled the number again. Before he managed to start the call though, Merlin was already calling him.

The word destiny came to Arthur's mind, but soon he dismissed it and answered the call.

"Urgh, finally. You hit my car!" he started with a complaint.

"I know, I'm so sorry! I was really late for this meeting, and I wasn't looking, it's entirely my fault."

Arthur nodded to himself as he clicked on another photo of Merlin on the internet. How could this guy be so cute and hot at the same time? Oh, and he had Twitter, too!

"Do you have any idea how much this will cost?" Arthur asked him.

"Not really?"

He could hear an awkward laugh from Merlin and his anger almost disappeared.

"That'd be about 700 pounds."

The awkward laugh was quickly replaced by a loud swallow. Yes, it was a very expensive car. The damage wasn't that serious though.

"Uh . . ."

"I could lower the price for you, if you want," Arthur suggested before he could stop himself. Yes, he was desperately alone, but that didn't mean he had to jump at every stupid chance to get a date because very obviously, this was a bad idea. On the other hand, he was clearly cursed, so this most likely wouldn't work.

For a few seconds, there was silence, and just when Arthur wanted to say it was a joke, Merlin spoke.

"Okay. What do you have in mind?"

Arthur raised his eyebrows. What was the chance that Merlin was even attracted to men in the first place? He'd never met the guy!

He swallowed. "A date?"

"A date?"

Arthur nodded and confirmed, "a date."

Again, for a few seconds there was silence. And then, "what's your name then?"

Was Merlin seriously considering this? Was he that desperate? Or poor?

"Arthur Pendragon."

A sharp intake of breath. "The Arthur Pendragon?"

Arthur nodded. "Most likely, yeah."

"I hit the car of the Arthur Pendragon?"

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"I'm so sorry Mr Pendragon-"

"You can just call me Arthur."

"I'm so sorry Arthur! I should have looked where the car was going, I shouldn't have tried to park in a hurry, I-"

"Would you please calm down?" Arthur had to stand up to get a drink after he said that. "It's just a car, you didn't actually hurt anyone."

"Sorry."

"And stop apologizing."

". . . Sorry."

Arthur rolled his eyes again. So far, Merlin seemed likeable. And if he was really okay to go on a date, Arthur would do everything to make it the best date ever. Or it didn't even really have to be a date. Arthur had been very lonely lately, so he'd be fine with someone, anyone, keeping him company for a few hours. Someone who wasn't a jerk and a liar like his last date.

"So is that a deal?" Merlin asked after a while. "The date?"

Arthur's heart started beating a little bit faster.

"Yes," he said. "It's a deal."

"Great," he heard Merlin say. He could hear him smiling.

Was this actually happening? Did he just plan another date with a guy he'd never even met or heard of until a few minutes ago?

Was his curse broken?

"I'll pick you up, say, this Friday around six?"

He heard another soft laugh. "Perfect. I'll text you the address."

Surprisingly, Arthur found himself smiling as well.

The call ended and Arthur had to sit down again. His anger had turned into excitement, and another chance at love.

Maybe this date would end in a disaster and he'd regret everything later. Or it might turn out that this Merlin guy was actually really awesome, and that the damaged car was the best thing that could have ever happened to him.

A new tweet by Merlin appeared on the screen: Omg I'm going on a date! *heart eyes emoji*

Arthur smiled. He had a feeling that it would be the latter.

*THE END*

Fun fact, this is actually based on a real story. My mom once told me that this famous lady either from the Czech Republic or Slovakia, I can't remember, met her husband when he accidentally bumped her car in a hurry and left a little message behind the windscreen wiper with his phone number. Long story short, they got married. I thought it was a funny story and decided to write about Merlin and Arthur meeting like this :D I hope you liked it!

Also posted on AO3, where I named the fanfic "Lucky Disasters" because naming it after the prompt was weird this time.