A/N: I have this modern au ideal of the Pendragon family running a business called Pendragon Industries, in which the family business is being heavily involved in business. I've haven't see any other AU concepts like this, but I love it and incorporate it into pretty much every AU interpretation of Merthur.
Below is a meta-esque one-shot on New Year's Eve where Arthur is just kind of thinking about a lot of different things in light of his father's passing and his impending initiation as the new CEO of Pendragon Industries.
Arthur sits on the edge of his twenty-story building, a smile forced onto his face. Flash, and then click. A false selfie for the followers he's amassed as the young and wealthy son of the late-CEO of Pendragon Industries. Tomorrow in the darkness of a late-night New York press conference he will be the new chief executive officer of his father's century old company. Somehow, though, all of the success feels artificial.
I never asked for it, Arthur silently monologues, And I don't think I ever would have wanted it if it weren't for the expectation. Those thoughts aren't completely true, though. Arthur always knew that he would take over the company. Each decision made in his life was on that assumption, and had he adamantly opposed it he would have done so. One of Arthur Pendragon's "schticks" was his inability to do exactly as he's told, always make the less popular decision.
For example, he opted to miss out on the conference downstairs. Many of the highest members of his father's team were somewhere on the third and fourth floors discussing their plans now that Uther has passed away. Arthur has no plans to be a part of any of it, at least not for now. All he wants is a warm cup of peppermint mocha and a moment that belongs only to him.
Growing up a Pendragon garnered it's own level of media attention, but nothing quite like what Uther went through daily. Pendragon Industries started as a small agency that negotiated contracts, but over time it became a massive agency that deals primarily in film contracts. As such, Uther has his hand in nearly every bit of entertainment known across Europe, America, and Australia. Soon, those deals will belong to Arthur.
Didn't they always, Arthur questions diligently, they were always mine, weren't they?
Arthur's phone buzzes nonstop for several minutes. He looks at the screen long enough to clear his notifications. It only takes about fifteen minutes before the hundreds of likes, shares, retweets, reblogs, and pins dissipate. For this reason, it stands out when his buzzes randomly after the flood of social media gratification passes.
This time a text message sits on his screen. The number is familiar, so much so that he knows it as well as he knows his own. A small image of a coffee cup and a peppermint next to a winking face brings a tiny bit of joy to Arthur's heart. Not a single person in the world knew the Pendragon boy quite as well as his personal assistant, Merlin Emrys.
Don't know if I could get on without him, Arthur supposes to himself, And I'm not sure I'd want to learn. In the city below, people who are drunkenly murmuring their goals for the coming year are making grandiose plans. Even people he respects were babbling on about things they want to do that are far from their reach.
Just this morning Morgana le Fay preached to her department that her goal as the new CFO is to set the standard for fair wages across all genders and ethnicities. It wasn't that Arthur had any quarrel with this change, but she'd not even reviewed the financial status of the company. As for her personal assistant Gwen, her goals are far more whimsical. She wants to track down a young man by the name of Lancelot – surely a false name provided in the shadows of a bar. She's sure she's meant to marry him someday.
His best mate, Gwaine, he aimed a bit lower; "Drink only two pints of ale each day! That's a fair enough goal!" Arthur remembers Merlin laughing a bit, whispering to him that Gwain drinks two pints of ale before he gets out of bed, most days. Of course, he has that ability being an Internet star. YouTube has a niche for everyone – and apparently a bartending love guru is something Internet absolutely adores.
Another friend of Arthur's, Leon, he was a bit more realistic than even Gwaine. Though, there really is no way to measure the success of his aspirations. This year he wants to make the people around him stronger. Leon did not specify in what ways he would strengthen his associates, nor did he include details on how he would know if he'd done his job successfully. Arthur wasn't fond of those sorts of goals.
Merlin interrupts his thoughts by nearly topping over once opening the door. For all of his talents, he was equally terrible at a variety of other things. One of those things, it seems, is walking. Arthur turns to check on his assistant only to find him using his magic to hold the drinks in the air. The sorcerer is usually more coy about his skills, but with as drunk as people are tonight they would hardly believe any of his work is real. After all, he's got the perfect guise.
Brilliantly stupid, Merlin ensures that everyone knows that he enjoys doing magic as a hobby. Fortunately, nobody has suspected his magic is real. Arthur is thankful for the things that Merlin does manage to do correctly. Of course, that's not as often as many would expect from a personal assistant. He really is quite terrible at his job compared to Gwen, who serves Morgana flawlessly each and every day.
"You'll kill yourself sitting on that ledge, Mr. Pendragon." Merlin remarks.
"Perhaps that is the point." Arthur rolls back skillfully; having invested a fair bit more of his time in parkour classes than he'd like to admit aloud. Once back on his feet he reaches up to take the cup holder from the invisible force keeping it afloat. Merlin beats him to the punch, though, and keeps Arthur's drink close to his chest.
He has to know I like him; the comment flutters through his mind and settles in his chest. For months there's been a tension building. Arthur needed to use his assistant's phone after losing his own somewhere in his room. As he was calling it a notification came across the screen. Feeling as though Merlin's life were his own, Arthur clicked the notification. It redirected him to a message with a link inside of it from a friend of Merlin's Will, which redirected him again to a comic.
This comic depicted Arthur and Merlin in a romantic relationship – a fairly explicit romantic relationship. Out of habit, Arthur called for his assistant immediately; "What is this?"
"Will thinks it is funny to send me Merthur fanart, especially at holidays when I'm stuck working for you instead of visiting my family back home. I suspected I'd be getting on of these after our Skype call this morning." Arthur then had to know more. Merlin explained what "shipping" people meant – that some people thought certain celebrities belonged together in a relationship, or that they were hiding a relationship from the public. Fan art and fanfiction apparently exists in the thousands of them all over the Internet, and somehow it never once came to Arthur's attention prior to that moment.
"Does will – eh – ship us?" Arthur stupidly asked a question that he should have kept behind his teeth.
"Very much, actually." Merlin seemed a little too enthusiastic about it. Arthur had thought perhaps there was a reason for it. He'd begun theorizing that Will 'shipped' Arthur and Merlin together because Merlin had a secret crush on the Pendragon heir. It wouldn't be the first guy to be interested, and it likely wouldn't be the last. Unfortunately, he'd never had a relationship of any sustenance with anyone for very long. Usually it was just a weekend here, a night there, each filled with fun and sensual activities – never fulfilling and structural relationship. Courtship, as it is properly called, has never crossed Arthur's mind. This is in spite of the many offers, and even attempted arrangements by his own father.
Arthur does his best to hide the breath he sucks in as he steps closer to wrap his fingers around his cup; "I think I deserve a thank you for this, Mr. Pendragon."
"You always have my gratitude," though Arthur knows the statement is a crock of shit. His personal resolution for the year is to express more appreciation for the assistance of others in his life. In particular, he hopes to tackle the feelings he's developed for Merlin. By emoting more he thinks he'll find peace with whatever is developing between them.
Well, if there's anything between them. Arthur has spent months now thinking that Merlin has a crush on him when there's no proof of such a thing. He's never asked his assistant about personal matters, beyond a few things here and there about his parents and weekend plans. For all he knows, this is a one-sided endeavor.
Merlin doesn't let go of the cup, "That's not nearly enough gratitude after working for you under the most ridiculous of conditions for, what, six years now?"
Stepping in more deliberately this time, he drops his jaw into his chest; "Merlin, thank you for all these years of saddening service at Pendragon Industries. I'll request that Morgana include your name in her renegade of fair wage changes."
Merlin flicks the cup away, carefully maneuvering it to a ledge to rest. This was not the moment for sarcasm, apparently. Merlin looks genuinely offended for a moment. Face-to-face now, Arthur silently identifies his coping mechanism rearing it's ugly head at an inappropriate time. Accepting that he's upset his assistant he pulls his gaze up respectfully and makes a second attempt to thank him.
"You are a vital part of my life, Mr. Emrys, and I am lucky to have you on my team. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication, in spite of the obvious struggles." Arthur can see a twinkling in his friend's eyes. This is more than sufficient enough for Merlin. Though, he laughs a twinge as Arthur begins walking towards his cup on the other side of the roof.
Merlin then announces once Arthur is a few feet away, "I didn't think you'd noticed, thickheaded as you are at time." Once his cup is in his hand he takes a sip, hardly having taken stock of how cold he was until that point. It is probably magic alone keeping his drink warm, too, which warms him emotionally. Merlin cares in the subtlest ways. It only makes the Internet more accurate about his quiet interest in the young man.
"I hadn't noticed what?" Arthur comments, perhaps more dramatically than is necessary. It is in mockery of his friend's proclamation. Of course he hadn't noticed, which was the point of his statement. Merlin means to reveal something that Arthur's missed somehow up until that point. Otherwise, he means to make a joke at the young man's expense. Sorcerer or not, Merlin prefers the jab with words rather than spells.
Yet another reason Arthur appreciations him so greatly.
The wind shifts until it is perfectly still around Arthur. Merlin, clearly, is the cause of the change. He's been testing his skills lately on his ability to alter the weather, though he can only manage it in isolation. Sometimes that's beneficial, but other times it is just a distraction from his real responsibilities. In the center of a controlled bubble, Arthur stands patiently as Merlin milks the pause before the punch line.
Arthur watches his assistant closely. A smile twitches his lips, and his gaze scrambles from Arthur to the ground and back again. He is clearly nervous but not in a bad way. Instead, he seems almost amused by whatever it is he's intending to say. If he is so visibly impressed wit himself then Arthur fears what it is he might be saying. What could be that funny?
Merlin steps into the controlled climate, making the small space a shared one. Arthur stands a few inches taller than his companion, and so he's looking down a bit at Merlin in the awkward silence. The joke should have been done; the pause is too long for whatever he's going to say to even be effective anymore. This is one of the things that Percival complains on and on about when people tell jokes at parties.
"Well, I do a rather good job hiding our relationship in public." Merlin finally breathes up to him.
A hearty laugh powers through Arthur's teeth. Drink still in hand, he gestures at his assistant pointedly; "We are not in a relationship. There's nothing to hide."
"Oh, we've always been in a relationship, Mr. Pendragon. The day you hired me – when I was the least qualified, the least dignified, and the least interested – you picked me when it made no sense." Arthur listens carefully, trying to pinpoint a moment in Merlin's short monologue that might tip him off. But Merlin has a point, and he finalizes it in one sentence, "You never chose me for the job."
Merlin was not wrong. Uther told Arthur to hire a personal assistant, and that if he insisted on being picky he could have each applicant shadow him for a few days. Instead, Arthur copied one of his favorite television shows and brought each qualified applicant to the conference hall. Each was going to be watched and given tasks to complete. For each task completed, it moved their name to the top of an imaginary list. Arthur was just trying to see who would bring the most personality, he supposed at the time, and found that most applicants were little more than kiss-asses that wanted an in with the biggest name in Hollywood.
Somehow, Merlin made it into that group. Word on high was that it was a joke to piss off Arthur. But after nearly three weeks of madness, Merlin was the only one showing up to work each day with a smile on his face and sarcasm to share. He was the only person willing to argue with Arthur, and he was the only one who seemed to stand out among the rest. A dozen times he should be have been removed from the pool for make some publicity nightmares out of Arthur Pendragon.
Still, Arthur insisted upon Merlin Emrys. He was the perfect fit in ways that Arthur couldn't explain. Uther never argued the point, though, and merely insisted that Arthur consider making his life a bit more private as the result of his hiring decision. This was advice that Arthur could have used anyway, so never once did Arthur think hiring Merlin was a bad choice. For years it was the only choice he could have imagined in that scenario.
"I chose you for the job…" Arthur began, eyes tilting just slightly to include Merlin's lips in his view, "…but I may not have realized that I was looking for more than a personal assistant."
"You have an odd way of finding friends." Merlin comments. The dent in the young man's lip disappears the moment he grins. It is a distinct feature about him that Arthur has come to enjoy, as has the Internet. In fact, there have been tags and pieces of art dedication specifically to Merlin's lips. For being nothing more than a personal assistant, he gets a ton of publicity.
It used to confuse him as to why people cared so much about Merlin as a person. Now it makes sense, though. He has never been seen as a staff member to Arthur Pendragon, but rather an equal. Merlin has always been an extension of himself, a part of his life, and an equal in every aspect. Arthur exists in the media only alongside his personal assistant…
Which now starts sounding far more sexual that Arthur realized previous to that moment...
"I mean for you to be more than a friend, Merlin." Arthur declares simply. Victory decorates the sorcerer's face. Magic couldn't make him more attractive than he is to Arthur in that exact moment. Thousands of people are falling in love, getting engaged, having sex, or meeting the person of their dreams for the first time – everywhere. The phenomenon of finding romantic gratification on New Year's Eve is endless and worldwide. Arthur knows that no matter how special this moment feels to him, it is as generic as stories come. Somewhere, he thinks, someone may have already written a story very much like this very real one.
Arthur takes a hand away from his cup and uses it to pull Merlin into him, hand starting at his shoulder and working its way up to his neck. Moments flicker away into the wind swirling outside of their small paradise of calm. Nothing could make more sense that this to Arthur, and so he leans cautiously into his assistant, friend, and sorcerer.
And he kisses him.
For all the magic that exists within Merlin, none of it was ever going to be required for Arthur Pendragon to fall in love with him. Simply by existing the two were destined to be together, he thinks. Nothing could be more right than Arthur and Merlin.
Nothing can be more right than Merthur, as the Internet calls it.
And Arthur is absolutely okay with that: "You do a fantastic job of keeping it secret, by the way. But I don't think that's necessary anymore."
Flash, and then click.
Another picture for the Internet to like, share, retweet, pin, reblog, and whatever else will become of the image.