Two stories, one day - can anyone tell that Nano isn't going so well?

Title: Merlin 2010 - A Fresh Start
Fandom: Merlin Modern AU
Characters/Pairings: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Morgana, Uther, Gaius
Rating: All
Contains: (skip) An Office, Coffee, First Day Nerves, Me Ruthlessly Ripping Off The IT Crowd, Smoking, Mistaken Identities, Fashion Advice, Soapy Water, Computer Crisis, Hiding, Tennis, Nightclubs, Unexpected Meetings, Confrontations, Breaking and Entering, A Double Edged Reward
Length: 8,500 words-ish.
Notes: Written for shikishi for The Fall Fandom Free-For-All. She requested a "Modern Day AU where Merlin is the new IT guy at Uther's multimillion dollar corporation. Arthur hates his job and Merlin confuses him for someone who works in the Caf on the first day - Arthur never bothers to correct him." Which sounded far too many types of fun for me to resist. I hope you like it.
Download Link (complete story, word file): http://www.box.net/shared/tgknmrffpz

Summary: Arthur is having a bad day at the office but things start to look up when he runs into the IT department's new employee...

“Here at Camelot Industries we know that defence is the future and our future is in defence,” Edward finished with a smile in Uther’s direction.

Arthur couldn’t believe what a low level, toadying, backboneless piece of rubbish Edward was. Obviously his father wouldn’t… his father was smiling. Arthur couldn’t remember the last time he had seen his father smile. He glowered at Edward.

Uther stood, straightening his suit imperceptibly back to perfect. “Thank you Edward, it is nice to know that there are some people here looking to the future success of the company.” He glanced at Arthur.

“Thank you, Mr. Pendragon,” Edward simpered. Another shared smile. If it was not bad enough that he had spent the day stuck in what seemed like an endless sequence of meetings.

“Very well,” Uther continued. “I’m sure you all have other business you should be attending to now that I have finished with you. Dismissed.”

Uther swept out, leaving Morgana to clear up his paperwork. The others began to filter out, but Edward paused for a moment to sort through his notes, glancing for a second in Arthur’s direction. He was probably hoping that Arthur would leave him alone with Morgana – it was a scenario that seemed to feature in most the male employees fantasies and probably some of the girls – but Arthur was damned if he was going to play along.

Instead he lounged backwards in his chair, with an insolent grin in Edward’s direction. Clearly giving up, Edward grabbed the last of his papers, juggled his cup of coffee into his other hand and edged towards the door.

Arthur had precisely seven seconds to enjoy his victory - about the length of time it took Edward to become level with his shoulder and precisely the length of time it took him to drop his mug. A slurry of cold coffee ran down the front of Arthur’s shirt.

“Whups,” Edward said, sounding thoroughly unconvincing. “Sorry Arthur.” A moment later he was out of the door.

Every muscle in Arthur’s body tightened with trembling annoyance. Morgana was watching him with an expression of carefully concealed amusement. “I did say you should bring a spare shirt today,” she told him neutrally.

Damn. At least he had a spare t-shirt in his locker.

“Tell my father I’m surveying the troops,” he said, ungritting his teeth. “I need cake.”

MERLIN
2010

A FRESH START
“Written by Lorannah”

Merlin stared apprehensively at the building in front of him. Or should that be above him? It was one of those ridiculous skyscrapers that were trying to make London look like New York. All steel grey glass and no personality. It was certainly not the sort of place Merlin had ever expected to work. But he’d already had twelve jobs in as many weeks and he was getting desperate.

Plus Gaius had managed to wrangle him the position without even an interview with only a few hours notice which was weird, if very convenient.

Still, presumably computer support couldn’t be any more difficult than the other jobs.

* * * * *

The IT department proved not to be particularly big on windows and views of the London skyline. It was sandwiched towards the back of the first floor. Just above the canteen. Well, the back of the canteen. Mostly what the department overlooked was the bins.

“Nah, it’s good,” Gareth, the department’s head, told Merlin as they surveyed the sight, nose wrinkling at the smell, “see we just prop the fire door open and we can sit on the steps and have a fag. Those lot up in the nice offices – they have to walk bloody miles to smoke.”

“Right,” Merlin said as they moved back into the office. It was oddly homely, desks cluttered with personal goods amidst scruffy old sofas, there was even a TV and a Wii console in the corner. “So what do we do, mostly?”

“Ummm… well there’s the TV and the games, oh and the internet, of course. I think Jimmy’s got a few comics in his drawer, he’s on holiday at the moment-”

“I meant what do we do for work?” Merlin interrupted him.

“Oh… well if anyone has any problems with their computers they call down and we go up to them and fix it. You’re good with computers right, they said you were?”

“Errr…. Yeah,” Merlin said. Technically he’d never owned a computer, although he had blown one up at school once. “So mostly we’re just waiting for them to call.”

“Yep. To be honest it doesn’t happen that often.”

“Really?” Merlin didn’t particularly believe in technology, but his understanding from listening to other people rant, moan and sob over it was that it went wrong all the time.

“Well half the people up there are computer experts, better at it than us – no offence-”

“None taken.”

“-We’re just called when the mundanes computers need fixing and you know computers, mostly if you turn them off and on again everything’s fine. Well, fine enough that they don’t notice the problems.”

They sank onto the couch. Sitting in slightly uncomfortable silence for a few minutes. At least Merlin found it uncomfortable, Gareth seemed accustomed to it.

“So…” Merlin asked when he could bare it no longer, “what do Camelot Industries do exactly?”

“Hah, well when they started it was training security guards I think, rumour is it might have been a bit dodgy back then, Pendragon’s Dad used to be seen out with the Kray Twin’s and everything. Anyway they went all legit back in the eighties after the old man died – defence systems for shops. A few hostile takeovers and then eight years ago they started in on the computers. Protective software, firewalls, shields... the other stuff’s ticking over but that’s what they’re focusing on now.”

“Pendragon’s a bit of an unusual name, isn’t it?” Gareth shot him a look. “My mother was a hippy,” Merlin explained, “there were lots of drugs.”

“They changed the name when they went legitimate – get it Camelot, Uther Pendragon, he even called his son Arthur and now they’ve got a Merlin.”

Merlin wasn’t going to rise to the bait. He had learnt some things at school.

“What are they like?”

“The Pendragon’s? You know – like any management... think they’re better than anyone else, rich, arrogant, haven’t got a clue what the world’s really like. And Arthur’s an absolute prat...”

* * * * * *

Arthur sighed. His favourite table was covered in plates still. He sometimes wondered why his father still left Gaius in charge of the canteen. Not that he wanted him to get rid of him exactly – he’d known him since he was a child, not to mention that he’d like to avoid having to fire anyone else on his father’s behalf for as long as possible.

Well, it’d been a shit day and he would be damned if he was going to eat at a substandard table. He put the slice of ‘comfort’ cake onto one of the offending pieces of furniture and began to pile up the dirty plates and cutlery.

Gaius was nowhere to be seen as Arthur entered the kitchen, he was probably hidden in the secret greenhouse that Arthur wasn’t supposed to know about.

Halfway across the kitchen he almost tripped over a pile of bin bags. “For crying out loud.” Talking to himself was probably a bad sign but as insanity wasn’t really a defence for the health and safety inspectors, it hardly mattered. He dropped the plates into the pot wash and grabbing the bags headed out to the bins.

He was about three steps across the yard when he realised there was somebody sat on the steps of the metal fire escape – a skinny, dark haired boy he didn’t recognise, cigarette loose in his fingers. Arthur froze. He wasn’t quite sure his father would approve of the staff finding him bringing out the rubbish.

“Errr...” he said.

The boy got to his feet hastily and stumbled down the steps with the coordination of an overenthusiastic Labrador puppy. He held out his hand, the one holding a cigarette, switched it clumsily to his other hand, burnt himself and dropped it.

A moment later he was shaking Arthur’s free hand. “Hi, I’m Merlin.”

Arthur couldn’t help it, he burst out with a sputtering laugh, still gripping Merlin’s hand and shaking them both. “Merlin?”

The boy stared at him for a moment, obviously taken aback. “Mum...” he said. “Hippy... Drugs...”

“Sorry,” Arthur said as his laughter subsided and pulling his hand free, threw the rubbish into the bin. There was an awkward pause for a second.

“Do you work in the kitchen?” Merlin asked.

“Do I...?” Arthur started and then looking down at himself realised how this must look. “Errr... Yeah, I’m Fred. I work in the pot wash.”

He wasn’t exactly sure why he lied – gut instinct, a bad day, deep buried father issues... and he had no idea why he picked the name ‘Fred’. But it was done now.

“Don’t suppose you have time to talk,” Merlin asked nervously gesturing at the steps.

Arthur considered the slice of cake still waiting for him inside. “Yeah, alright.”

The steps were not exactly comfortable, but Arthur settled himself as best as he could. Merlin squeezed onto the step beside him. Wiggling, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a very battered packet of cigarettes.

“Want one?” He asked.

“No, I don’t smoke.”

“Me neither,” Merlin said, easing a cigarette from the packet.

Arthur watched him for a moment. “You’re doing a very good impression of it.”

Merlin paused, cigarette half way to his lips. “Oh... errr... I just started today, found these in Jimmy’s drawer. I’ll replace them,” he added quickly.

“How many have you had?” Arthur asked.

“Three. I was bored. What’s the kitchen like?”

* * * * *

The next day Arthur fastened the belt of his jeans, trying to justify to himself why he was going back to speak to Merlin again. It was ridiculous and completely unsuitable and Merlin was a bit of an idiot but it was nice having someone who would actually talk to him.

At least he wouldn’t have to explain to anyone where he was going, the others had gone out for a lunch meeting. He slipped out of the door to find Morgana perched on Gwen’s desk, Gwen smiling up at her fingers on the keyboard, deep in conversation. They both looked around as they heard him enter.

Morgana raised an eyebrow at him. “What are you wearing?”

“I thought you two were at a meeting?” He replied.

“It didn’t go well,” she said brightly, “Uther sent us back to compose angry letters while he has a break.”

“Well I can see that Gwen’s doing some work.”

“I’m supervising.”

“What I don’t get,” Arthur moaned, “Is if I’m second-in-command and you’re my father’s PA - you’re the one who gets their own assistant.”

“Secretary,” Gwen corrected, starting typing again.

“Uther knows that I’m the one who here does the real work,” Morgana said with a smile. “Anyway, stop changing the subject. What’s with the clothes?”

“I’m... just going to the gym.”

“In jeans?”

“It’s a fashion choice. I can be fashionable at the gym.”

“Arthur, those jeans are never a fashion choice.”

* * * * * *

Merlin crouched under the desk listening to the odd whirring sound the computer was making. This was his first job and it didn’t sound good.

“Do you think you can fix it?” The woman asked sounding slightly panicked.

Pressing his fingers against the ailing machine, he felt the magic flowing out, fixing and mending and putting back together. It was not as difficult as he had worried. After a moment he pulled himself out from beneath the desk and climbed to his feet.

“Have you tried turning it off and on again?”

* * * * * *

“What about your father?” Arthur asked, wiping his hands on the apron and reaching for another plate.

“Don’t know really,” Merlin said and Arthur looked up at him, he didn’t look particularly upset. “It’s alright. I don’t think Mum ever knew his name – another side effect of the hippy lifestyle.”

“Sounds a bit rubbish,” Arthur suggested.

“No, I mean the hippy thing has advantages. That’s how I got the job here, Gaius is a friend of my mother from those days.”

“Yeah that makes sense,” Arthur scrubbed another plate. He had never quite understood his father and Gaius’ inexplicable friendship. “So is your mum happy you’re working here? Not very hippy-ish.”

“She’s happy if I’m happy and if I manage to keep the job for more than three days. What about your dad?”

“Oh, this is what he’s always wanted for me,” Arthur said.

“Really?” Merlin’s surprise threw Arthur for a moment and then he looked back at his hands sunk deep into soapy water.

“Errr... yeah, I was always a low achiever at school, he’s just impressed I got a job in the city,” he made up. At least it was better than the gym lie. Merlin laughed and Arthur was surprised to discover that he didn’t mind. There was something relaxing about being in the company of someone who had no expectations or notions of how he should be.

It was at that moment that Gaius wandered into the kitchen and everyone froze. Merlin seemed suddenly nervous, glancing towards the back door, while Gaius wore an air of gentle, slightly grumpy confusion which thankfully wasn’t much different from his normal demeanour. Arthur willed him to accept the pretence.

He frowned at them both for a moment. “I hope you’re not distracting my staff, Merlin? These dishes won’t clean themselves.”

“I...errr... Sorry Gaius,” Merlin said. “I’ll go.”

They both watched Merlin scurry out, as soon as he was gone Arthur turned back to Gaius. “Gaius, I... I can explain. It’s just...”

Gaius raised a hand. “I find suddenly that I do not need to know the workings of a young mind, I am only just recovered from my own experience with youth. However, the washing up really will not finish itself.”

“Thank you, Gaius. Wait. What?”

“Arthur – a part worth playing, is worth playing well. When you’ve finished there’s some herbal tea in the bag on the counter, you can take it to your father.”

* * * * * *

Uther wandered into the office with a look of consternation on his face. Both Gwen and Morgana were hunched over Gwen’s computer, everything seemed to have frozen. Arthur’s office door stood open, empty and abandoned.

“No, I have no idea where Arthur is,” Morgana snapped not looking up from the computer.

“I-” Uther started to say but Arthur interrupted him.

“Yes, we know he’s barely been here all week. Maybe he’s got a girlfriend.”

Gwen bit her lip, trying not to show her amusement as Uther’s brow furrowed and he glanced back at the empty office. A shadow almost of a smile passed Uther’s lips and then he frowned again.

“Very well,” he said sternly. “Back to your work,” and turning strode back into his office.

Gwen allowed herself to smile at last and then turned back to the computer. “I think we should probably call IT.”

Andrew ‘s head popped around the office door. “You girls having computer problems too?”

* * * * * *

“Hah!” Arthur crowed breaking into the patented Arthur Pendragon victory dance. Merlin shoved him.

“Best of three?” Merlin suggested.

“I’m telling you’re never going to beat me.” Merlin’s boss had gone off somewhere, so they’d retired to the IT department and now Arthur was thrashing him at Wii Tennis. He’d never even played before but if there had been one thing he had been good at in school it was sports. Of course it didn’t hurt that Merlin was all enthusiastic lack of skill.

It was fun.

Another thing it turned out Arthur was good at was washing dishes. Three days in and the kitchen was spotless, every piece of cutlery was shining and it was better organised than it had been in the last decade. He was also becoming increasingly convinced that the people who worked at Camelot Industries were disgusting.

Merlin started another game and suddenly everything was going wrong - inexplicably Arthur was losing. The controller slipped out of his hand, the ball seemed to jump half way across the screen and no matter where he aimed the ball when he could hit it, Merlin’s little character was suddenly there to whack it back.

At the end of the game, Arthur turned to Merlin, who grinned ridiculously at him. “Guess I was just getting into my stride.”

Which was clearly ridiculous.

“Yeah?” Arthur asked.

“You’re obviously not as ‘sporty’ as you think you are.”

“Not as sporty? It’s a computer game... I’ll show you sporty.”

Arthur leapt on Merlin and wrestled him to the ground, pinning the smaller boy underneath him. “Who’s not sporty now?” He demanded.

“Ok... ok...” Merlin laughed breathlessly. “Let me up.”

Arthur released him and sat back against the sofa, Merlin crawled into the space next it. “Fine,” he said, after straightening his shirt, “I admit it – you’re sporty...”

“Damn right I am.”

“...And a complete bully.”

Arthur was about already formulating a plan to beat Merlin into admitting he was not a bully when he heard a noise at the door behind them.

“Merlin?”

He ducked his head, hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t notice him and that Merlin would be clever enough not to say anything. He watched him from the corner of his eye. Merlin climbed back onto the sofa with an apologetic look at Arthur. “Yep?”

“Oh thank god, we’ve got a complete crisis – everything’s crashed.”

* * * * * *

The whole office had come to a standstill, each screen frozen an odd deep blue colour, occasional white meaningless text scrolling across the top. Compared to his earlier visits into the maze of offices the people seemed remarkably calm. They were standing by the coffee machine chatting or talking on their phones, one or two were even doing crosswords. It was probably, he thought as he crouched next to the nearest computer, that this disaster was a lot less personal.

Merlin’s mind was only half on what he was doing as he pressed his fingers to the side of the console, pretending to type on the keyboard – mostly he was thinking about Fred. He was not sure what to make of him, or, more particularly, of him and Fred.

It was not that the being attracted to boys thing was being particularly difficult or no more than normal. Generally speaking that had gone pretty smoothly – compared to telling people you could do magic, coming out was easy – at least people understood bisexuality.

He’d even managed to have a few boyfriends or girlfriends. Though even then the magic tended to get in the way. It was astonishing the number of weirdoes with a fetish you could attract by being a little odd. The guy with the escapology kink had been one thing, at least Merlin had always had a means of escape – but he’d been completely out of his depth with the girl who’d wanted him to pretend he was a children’s magician. He’d never even seen a children’s magician – his mum had thought it would give him ideas.

Even when he found a normal one, knowing how they’d react when they found out was impossible to guess – he felt like he’d seen every response possible from running to the hills right through to reckless dangerous abandon, not to mention his partners' sudden concern that they might wake up in the morning transformed into a frog. He’d really regretted making that joke to his last girlfriend.

No what was causing him problems today was that life had not seen fit to provide him with any sort of ‘gaydar’ and he had no idea if he was actually flirting with Fred or if this was some sort of buddies thing. He wasn’t even sure which he really wanted.

The computer sputtered back to life revealing a half downloaded picture of a topless rugby player. Well, presumably he was only topless. Looking up he saw a girl across the room turn, flush suddenly bright pink and start towards him. Fortunately Gareth reached him first.

“How the hell did you manage that?” He asked.

“Errr....” Merlin stared down at the computer and the rugby player, winking from the screen. “I’m not really sure.”

Gareth shrugged, seemingly unsurprised. “Oh well, at least you’re having more luck than me.” As he spoke, a loud bleep came from his pocket and after a brief struggle he rescued the IT pager from it’s depths. He stared at it for a few seconds in silence and then sighed. “Bloody hell.”

* * * * * *

Arthur knew before he entered the office that his father wasn’t inside – for starter’s Morgana was playing her music, loudly – he vaguely recognised the band, it began with ‘Lady’ – Ladyhawke or Lady Gaga or Ladysmith Black Mambazo or something. His lack of musical knowledge was one of the things Morgana frequently mocked him about.

He found her inside, barefoot and dancing with Gwen. She spun in graceful recklessness and spotting him leapt forward with a smile on her face. “Come on,” Morgana grabbed his hands and dragged him forward, into the dance. He went with it, relaxing into it, just because he didn’t know music didn’t mean he didn’t know how to dance to it.

After a couple of a minutes, he leant in closer so he could shout into Morgana’s ear. “Where’s my father?”

She laughed, as Gwen twisted the music down to a more manageable level. “What makes you think he’s not in his office?”

“Call it intuition. Where’s is he?”

“He’s gone out for lunch again, you know how much he hates being here when the IT guys come, he can’t stand them.”

“Yeah... wait... what? Who?”

“IT.”

“IT? They’re coming here?” This was not part of the plan.

“All the computers have gone down, where have you been for the last two hours?” Morgana asked.

Arthur ignored her. “When?”

“About as soon as they realise Uther’s demanded their presence,” she said with a shrug, “which should be any second now.”

From the end of the corridor, even over the music, Arthur heard the unmistakable sound of the lift arriving. In a moment of pure, blind panic, he grabbed Morgana’s hand, dragged her into his office, slammed the door shut and pushed her down to the floor so neither of them could be seen through the large window that took up most of the wall. If only he’d had time to shut the blinds.

He peered over the edge into the room as Gwen turned off the music with a bemused smile and Merlin walked into the room, looking terrified. “Errr... you called for IT?”

Gwen smiled at him. “None of the computers seem to be doing anything and we’re, I mean, I’m a bit lost.”

Morgana edged closer to him. “Arthur is there a reason we’re hiding from IT?”

“We’re not hiding,” he whispered.

“Arthur we’re crouched in your office, with the lights off, spying through the windows and you’re whispering...” he ignored her. “Oh my god, you have a crush on the IT guy, that’s where you’ve been all week.”

“I do not have a crush on the IT guy.

“You do.”

“I don’t even do crushes. Look he just doesn’t know who I am alright? It’s nice to have someone to talk to round here who isn’t scared of me or trying to get something.”

Morgana smiled at him – a knowing, insinuating smile that was just ridiculous. He did not have a crush on Merlin.

Outside in the main office they heard Gwen and Merlin laugh, they’d obviously already hit it off. Which was just bloody typical. It was the puppy thing, Merlin tricked everyone into liking him by pretending to be cute and harmless.

“Actually it’s a bit of a relief,” Merlin was saying. “I’ve heard they’re both absolute nightmares.”

“Oh... err... no, they’re fine,” Gwen said, sounding suddenly self conscious.

“You must know them better I guess,” Merlin sounded unconvinced. “But most people say that Arthur at least is a spoiled, arrogant brat.”

Arthur started to stand, fury raging through his veins, how dare anyone say that. How dare Merlin say that when he hadn’t even met him... sort of. Morgana grabbed his arm and dragged him back to the ground, hand over her mouth, holding in a laugh.

“There you go,” Merlin said outside, “Good as new. Should I do the computer in that office next?”

“No!” Gwen said sharply. “We should do Uther’s computer next, he could be back any moment.”

“Don’t want to frighten the Dragon?” Merlin asked.

Arthur glowered at Morgana. He was definitely going to punish Merlin one way or another for that.

* * * * * *

Arthur hammered the ball back across the net. Yesterday he had been playing tennis on the Wii with Merlin, now he was playing the real thing (which was infinitely better) with Edward (which was infinitely worse). For some inexplicable reason, Uther had invited him to their house, if it wasn’t bad enough that they were cursed with him during the week. The least Arthur could do was try to do him some permanent damage.

As Edward returned the ball, Arthur slammed it back, aiming for his forehead. It missed by inches, sailing outside the court instead.

“Bad luck,” Edward called.

Arthur took a deep breath and spun his racket for a moment, letting it settle back comfortably into place. It was a piece of nonsense tennis wise, but he’d learnt at school that it was useful for making people nervous.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Always,” Edward replied with a smile as Arthur served the ball, violently, again.

* * * * * *

Uther watched Arthur and Edward down on the tennis court beneath the patio, enjoying the obvious aggressive rivalry – he had been hoping Edward would inspire some competitiveness in Arthur, something needed to. Speaking of competitiveness...

He glanced over suspiciously at where Ratcliffe was lounging in one of his chairs. The rules demanded he be social, but his own experience suggested that unexpected visits from the competition rarely meant good things on the horizon. Not that Ratcliffe’s company offered much competition, they were rather on the puny scale.

“Why are you here, Ratcliffe?”

Ratcliffe waited before answering, taking a long drink as he watched the game. “You could call it a matter of professional courtesy,” he said at last.

“Is that what you’re calling it now? How much do you want?”

“Five thousand should cover it.”

Uther gestured Gerald over with his cheque book. Ratcliffe Ltd. may not have much to offer in terms of technology but it usually knew what was going on. “So what’s inspired this sudden discount?”

“Maybe I’m just in a generous mood, on a nice evening like this.”

Uther laughed humourlessly. “So what have you got for me?”

“Rumour’s been that you’ve completed a piece of software that will revolutionise firewall defences.”

Which was of course top secret. “What of it?”

“It seems to me that it would be unfortunate for everyone if Meridian were to get their hands on it, given that they would then have a monopoly on computer security. So it is probably less than pleasing that someone within your company has sold them the designs.”

For a long moment, as the last sunlight hit the house, the only sound was the thwack and thump of the tennis.

“What?”

* * * * * *

Merlin weaved his way through the dim light and tight bodies of the nightclub. He liked places like this, full of life and people – all of whom were much too distracted to notice any accidental outbursts of magic. The music was loud but energetic and as the crowd parted for a second he spotted Gwen across the room, dancing with an attractive dark haired woman. As the crowd ebbed and flowed around him he caught sight of her again waving him over.

He pushed through the crowd towards her. It had been a long time since he’d still had a job by the time the weekend hit and even longer since he’d been invited out by his colleagues. He’d thought about giving Fred a call and then realised he didn’t know his phone number.

“Hey,” Gwen shouted over the music. “I’m glad you made it. This is Morgana.”

The dark haired girl kissed him without warning on his cheek, a warm intimate moment. “Would you like a drink?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said between lulls in the music. “Scotch and coke thanks.”

Morgana grabbed Gwen’s hand for a second and squeezed it. “See if you can find us a booth.” And then she was gone.

Gwen grabbed his hand and squeezed through the crowd in front of them. It took a few minutes to find an unoccupied booth and slipped gratefully inside, the sound now muffled and distant.

“So,” Gwen said with a smile, “How are you finding life at Camelot Industries?”

“It’s... alright. A bit scary yesterday.”

“Everyone was impressed though, even Uther was talking about you.” The thought made Merlin a little uncomfortable, attention was not something he often desired.

“So how do you know Morgana?” He asked instead.

“Oh, I forgot she was... she was out when you came to the office. She’s Uther’s personal assistant.”

“For my sins,” Morgana said slipping onto the bench next to Gwen and depositing their drinks on the table.

Merlin was impressed. “That was fast.”

“Morgana has magic powers at bars, either that or really great breasts,” Gwen told him conspiratorially.

“It’s a combination,” Morgana replied with a smile.

“Anyway,” Gwen turned to look at her, “You love your job really.”

“Well I do enjoy the feeling of power and getting to boss Arthur around,” she said.

“Plus you get to wear fabulous tailoring and scare people.”

“It does suit me. So Merlin, are you seeing anyone? Single? Straight? Gay?”

“Morgana!” Gwen reprimanded her.

“No... no... it’s fine. Ummm – no, yes, a bit of both?” Merlin replied.

“Excellent.”

“What about you two are you...?”

They looked at each other for a second. “It’s sort of early days,” Gwen said looking back at him. “No one at work knows.”

“Okay, I guess I should be honoured. So what are Uther and Arthur really like?”

“You know, like most bosses, they never...” Morgana started and then broke off distracted. “Sorry, it’s my phone. Dammit, they need us back in the office.”

* * * * * *

Uther’s boardroom was the highest room in the building, lying above their offices. Glass windows surrounded each side, allowing him to survey the city – his kingdom. Right now it overlooked the blank, black sky and bright lights below.

To Arthur’s annoyance, Edward had come with them, now they were just waiting for Morgana and Gwen.

As it turned out, they didn’t have to wait long. Morgana stormed into the office, green silk dress twisting around her. Gwen, looking apologetic just behind her, looked beautiful in pale blue.

“You two are dressed up,” Arthur said.

“Well some of us actually have a social life,” Morgana replied, slamming her bag onto the table. “Why on earth do we have to be here?”

Uther had been stood staring out of the window silently, he turned, his expression fierce and when he spoke his voice was bleak. “We have a problem.”

Morgana sank into her seat and together they all listened. It took about fifteen minutes for Uther to outline what had happened. Five more minutes as they sat in silence letting it sink in. It was almost unimaginable what this could do to the business. It reminded him of the look on Gwen’s face the day her father died – utter blankness. Some events were just too big for the brain to comprehend.

“So,” Morgana said slowly, “We’ve got two problems – one we need to get the software back, two we need to find out who stole it in the first place, so they can’t do it again.”

“It must have happened when all the computers crashed,” Edward said quietly. “One of them must have still been working, otherwise someone would have noticed that amount of information being transferred. It would have been the perfect cover.”

“How many people in the company have the ability to orchestrate that sort of crash?” Uther asked.

Andrew shrugged. “I’m not sur-”

“There are twenty-three people that we know of with that sort of expertise,” Gwen interrupted. “Presuming they haven’t put someone in under a fake CV at a lower level.”

“At least it gives us somewhere to start.”

With Gwen there it took about ten minutes to draw up the list. They stared at it for a second.

“Don’t forget me,” Edward said, full of false humility at being a bloody computer genius, Arthur thought angrily.

“There’ll be no need for that,” Uther responded quickly, Gwen’s pen pausing over the list.

“No, Mr. Pendragon, if you’ll excuse my disagreeing with you,” Edward replied as Arthur rolled his eyes. “It’s only fair if we examine everyone. There was that boy yesterday too, the one from IT – he fixed the computers when the rest of us didn’t have a clue. Wouldn’t even explain how he was doing it. I didn’t catch his name, sorry.”

Arthur looked up sharply as Gwen shot Morgana a worried look. “Errr...” she said. “He’s called Merlin.”

“Add him to the list,” Uther said, sounding tired.

“Surely he couldn’t have done it,” Arthur interrupted. “He was running around fixing the bloody things, he wouldn’t have had time...” It was as they all turned to look at him that Arthur realised he was babbling loudly and making excuses, both of which had to look odd.

“It would be more likely that the actual espionage took place shortly prior to the crash,” Andrew replied calmly. “So he would have had time and then could have gone around looking like a hero and destroying any evidence as he went.”

Which was a load of rubbish, given that Merlin had been with Arthur as the crash had happened, not to mention two hours beforehand but he couldn’t exactly say that.

“How long has he worked here?” Uther asked.

“A week,” Gwen replied quietly. This wasn’t looking good.

“Put him at the top of the list,” Uther said. “Very well, I’ll expect you all in tomorrow, so we can start the investigation. With any luck if we find who did this, we’ll also have enough evidence to secure an injunction against Meridian using the software.

“Arthur, on Monday morning you will call everyone on this list into your office to tell them they’re temporarily suspended until this has been resolved.

“You may all go.”

This was just terrible.

* * * * * *

“The answer is still no,” Morgana told Arthur not even looking up as he walked miserably through the door on Monday morning.

“Come on,” he begged her. “I’ll tell all the others and think about everyone else I’ve fired – just do this one for me.”

“It’s not going to be any easier if I do it, we went clubbing together,” she told him again. They’d spent most of the day before having the same argument.

“But he thinks I work in the kitchen.”

“Anyway it’s not like this was ever going to last forever, he would have found out at the end of the month anyway at the Staff Meeting. I’m pretty sure he would have noticed you were the one giving the speech.”

Arthur sank onto the edge of her desk. “I was going to make up some computer crisis so he wouldn’t be there.”

Morgana looked up at him then, something distressingly close to pity in her eyes. “Oh god, you’d actually come up with a plan. I’m still not doing it.”

“Fine,” he said, storming into his office.

* * * * * *

Merlin waited nervously for the lift doors to open. In his experience being called to the managers office was never a good sign, but then Gwen had said Uther was impressed, so maybe this time would be different. It only took the sight of Gwen and Morgana’s faces, tired and sad, to tell him otherwise.

“Arthur’s in his office,” Morgana said. No good luck, no smile – definitely bad news. “He’s been waiting for you.”

He knocked once on the door and then too nervous to wait pushed the door open and stepped inside. Fred looked up at him, startled and smart in a suit. And completely, utterly out of place.

“I... errr... wait...” he stuttered, “OK I’m really lost.”

Fred stood quickly and clumsily. “Shut the door and I’ll explain everything,” he said with a note of desperation in his voice. Merlin did as he asked, closing the door quietly behind him, but he lingered in the doorway.

“What’s going on, Fred?” He asked. “They said Arthur was in here.”

“I am Arthur. Look I wasn’t trying to deceive you – I mean I was – but I didn’t mean to, not at first. You just saw me and then you thought... and it’s been a long time since...”

“So Fred wasn’t real?” Merlin felt suddenly angry, like something had been stolen from him.

“No he was, he’s me – there were just a few things I didn’t tell you,” Arthur moved round his desk towards him, looking apologetic and worried, but Merlin wanted none of it.

“Fine,” Merlin snapped at him, “I hope you had fun.”

He grabbed the door handle feeling stupid and hurt and angry still, but as he yanked it open Arthur’s hand slammed it shut again. He left it there, weight against the door, pinning Merlin in and Merlin spun to face him.

“What?”

“That’s not why I called you up here, we have bigger problems,” Arthur said, a note of annoyance in his voice.

“We? There is no ‘we’.” Merlin told him firmly.

“Alright then, you have bigger problems.”

“What?”

“Uther thinks you stole our latest software and sold it our biggest rivals during the computer crash on Friday. If he finds any evidence to prove it, he’ll make sure you’re sent to prison. And not one of the nice ones.”

Merlin’s mind went blank for a second. “But...” he tried, “But I was with you on Friday.”

“Yes, but I can’t tell him that – do you know how much trouble I would be in?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Merlin said, aware that he was slipping into slightly hysterical sarcasm. “The level of trouble where you’re being beaten to death in a maximum security prison?”

“Come on, Merlin,” Arthur sounded a mix of jovial and desperate, “If it’s maximum security they’re hardly going to let somebody beat you to death. Only minor injuries for our favourite inmates.”

Merlin shoved him hard, allowing his magic to edge the move, he was pleased to see Arthur stumble backwards, releasing him at last from the door.

“What are we going to do about it?” He asked.

“Oh I see it’s ‘we’ again now that you’re in trouble-”

“Well seeing as I’ll be telling everyone where you’ve spent the last week if...”

“Very mature, Merlin. If you’d shut up and let me finish for a second – then I could have explained that if we can find out who actually stole the software then we’d both be off the hook,” Arthur looked smug. “I even have a plan.”

* * * * * *

“I’m not sure,” Merlin hissed in his ear. “That getting caught breaking and entering is the best way to keep me out of prison.”

“Shut up, Merlin,” Arthur whispered back, though deep down he had to admit he was having serious doubts himself. Breaking into Meridian, recovering the software and finding out who had transferred it had seemed like an excellent plan right up until right about now.

They were crouched in the buildings underground car park, dressed in dark clothing with Merlin trying to hack into the companies security system and get the doors open. Arthur waited impatiently for what felt like an hour.

“Come on, Merlin. It’s typical that the only flaw in my brilliant plan is that I overestimated you.”

“It’s a bit early to say it’s the only flaw,” Merlin replied pressing a button on the panel gingerly, “Anyway I thought we were supposed to ‘shut up’.”

“Yep, well we were also supposed to be breaking into a building, but that’s not going so well either.”

Merlin paused and turned to look at Arthur. “You know I think I preferred you as Fred.”

“You can be replaced you know,” Arthur pointed out.

“Of course, I mean there must be dozens of people in the dead of night ready and dressed for a bit of espionage. Did you just hear something?”

Arthur turned quickly, eyes scanning the dark recesses and empty spaces of the car park, but he could see nothing. Behind him there was the lightest click and a sudden hiss as the door swung open.

“Must have imagined it,” Merlin said with a grin as Arthur turned back to him.

* * * * *

Thankfully Arthur had been to Meridian on more official business several times so they weren’t completely lost – just mostly. Still it was probably pure luck that they hadn’t ran into any of the security guards sooner. Now a stringy looking man was striding towards them with a torch.

“Leave this to me,” Arthur murmured, stepping up to meet the man – after all, he had done some wrestling at school.

He had to admit that it was not the most graceful of fights. For a moment they scrabbled together, trying to find a steady grip, somewhere to unsettle each other. It certainly wasn’t as easy as Arthur had hoped but it was exhilarating. His breath tight, his heart beating – you didn’t get feelings like this at the office.

The other man slipped and they fell together, Arthur landing on top of him. There was another struggle for the torch and then Arthur wrested it from his grip and whacked him over the head with it. The guard slumped against the wall, unconscious.

Arthur climbed back onto his feet and surveyed his handiwork with pride.

“Nothing I couldn’t...” He started turning back to Merlin and found the boy surrounded by the unconscious bodies of four large burly guards. Arthur found himself, for once, speechless.

“I used to be a brawler,” Merlin said slowly without much conviction. “Grew up in a really rough neighbourhood.”

* * * * * *

Merlin was exhausted, when he’d woken up that morning he hadn’t expected that sixteen hours later he would have broken through a major security system, taken down the entire CCTV network and knocked out twelve security guards whilst hiding it all from Arthur. Magic was thrumming uncomfortably through his body. But at least they had finally found the CEO’s office.

He sank into the chair in front of the computer too tired to even think about what he needed to do.

“Go on then,” Arthur said and poked him in the shoulder.

“Easy for you to say,” he muttered glaring at the screen.

“What?”

“I was just saying... what if there are other guards?”

There was a long pause.

“Well,” Arthur said after a moment, sounding annoyed, “If it’s going to stop you worrying like a girl, I’ll stand guard. Call me when you find anything.”

As soon as Arthur was out of the door, Merlin closed his eyes and pushed himself backwards in the chair. This had not really been what he was expecting when Gaius had said he’d found him a quiet office job.

He rested for a few minutes and then groaning, prised his eyes open and turned the computer on. It took him about forty minutes to work out what he was doing, not helped by the fact that Arthur kept sticking his head around the door to find out why it was taking so long.

Eventually though he had picked the contents of the computer apart bit by bit and followed the trail hidden amidst the pieces to the information he needed. He hit print and watched as the printer whirred into life.

There was a weird sort of art to technology, a magic that he couldn’t even begin to comprehend – although he had a suspicion to those that did understand it what he had just reduced the computer to was probably more of an atrocity.

The pages slipped into the tray and Merlin, hesitating just long enough to turn the computer into a very special sort of virus, grabbed the printouts. Incriminating pages clenched in his fist, he headed for the door.

* * * * * *

Arthur couldn’t help a strong feeling of satisfaction as he stood behind his father waiting for Edward to arrive.

He was ashen faced as he walked through the door, dark circles under his eyes. Obviously he’d already heard the news rapidly spreading through the media, that Meridian had opened that morning to find their whole infrastructure destroyed by a vicious computer virus. Really, Arthur thought in a generous mood, he had to give Merlin his due – he’d done a good job with that.

By all accounts Meridian this morning was filled with a great wailing and rending of clothes and Edward was bound to be getting the brunt of the suspicion.

Edward shot Arthur a nervous look, obviously surprised by his presence.

“Ah, Edward,” Uther said looking up from his paperwork, “I hope you will forgive me for insisting you come in when you are evidently so ill.”

“I... it’s alright... I took medication,” Edward stumbled across the words, exhausted.

“It was just that I needed you to take a look at these,” Uther pushed Merlin’s printouts across to him. Edward lifted them and read them slowly and carefully. His face showed no emotion, but perhaps he had no energy left for feelings.

“Where did you get these?” He asked at last.

“Arthur,” Uther said, granting him permission to speak. Edward looked up at him.

“Industrial espionage, of course,” he said doing his best to disguise his glee. “I broke into the Meridian Tower, knocked out all the guards, destroyed their computers and stumbled across these while I was at it.”

Uther shot him a sharp look and Arthur laughed. “We paid someone Edward, what else?” He continued. “Meridian are not the only ones with deep pockets, a fact you perhaps should have considered before you defected.”

Edward suddenly seemed to straighten, a hint of arrogance and pride returning, his eyes remaining fixed upon Arthur. “I felt my promotion options were unfortunately limited at Camelot. It was necessary to look for more fruitful fields.”

Arthur smiled at him and Edward turned back to Uther. “So what happens now?”

“Well,” Uther said, “Needless to say your employment here is at an end and under normal circumstances I would be seeking prosecution. In this instance I have decided to be lenient. However, should any attempt be made to link Camelot Industries or any of its employees to any event that may have occurred at Meridian over the last few days I will be forced to re-think my position. I suggest you leave before my patience wears thin.”

Edward’s face looked tight with anger, his fists clenched by his side but without another word he turned and left. Arthur watched him go with pleasure, moving round to the front of the desk so he could watch him all the way through the lobby. Gwen and Morgana had judiciously decided to be absent for the meeting.

Uther waited until he was entirely gone to speak again, still not looking around at Arthur, his eyes back on his work. “I suppose you will be wanting a reward for this, another new car perhaps.”

“Actually,” Arthur replied, “I was thinking that I could do with a personal assistant... to help with my work load.”

Uther didn’t even look away from the letter he was studying. “Very well, I shall leave you to organise the recruitment.”

“Thank you, father,” he had half pushed the door open when Uther called him back.

“Arthur.” He turned and met his father’s eyes. “It was well done.”

* * * * * *

Gwen grinned at Merlin this time as he headed for Arthur’s office, the atmosphere in the building miraculously transformed. Just like magic.

Arthur was already waiting for him as he stuck his head around the door. “Merlin, come in.” He was sounding worryingly happy and welcoming. It was unnatural.

“Look,” Merlin said as he pulled the door shut behind him, “If this is the sort of ‘I need to see you in my office’ that leads to major crimes, I’d really rather not be involved.”

“No,” a much more reassuring edge of annoyance had crept back into Arthur’s voice. “This is the sort of we need to discuss your future with the company sort of ‘I want to see you in my office’.

Merlin felt a jolt of concern, this sounded alarmingly like half a dozen other meetings he’d been called to, all of them just before a sudden termination of employment. “What about my future with the company?”

“Take a seat for god’s sake.” Merlin sat down reluctantly. “Unfortunately with James return from his holidays there is no longer a position available for you within the IT department, so-”

“I can’t believe you’re going to do this after everything we-”

“If you will let me finish,” Arthur snapped at him and Merlin shut his mouth angrily. “Instead you will be coming to work for me as my personal assistant.”

Merlin’s mind went entirely horrifyingly blank for a second. “Is this supposed to be a reward or something?”

“No, Merlin. It’s supposed to be a promotion. Now follow me, you can start work right away.”

Merlin followed Arthur back into the lobby still feeling dazed. Gwen was biting her lip, obviously trying to hide her amusement.

“We’ll set up your desk in here, opposite Gwen’s,” Arthur was saying as he crossed the room, “And we’ll need to get you some new suits, I can’t have my PA looking as if he has stumbled out of a dumpster.

Merlin hesitated as Arthur started down the corridor towards the lifts and looked with pleading eyes at Gwen. “This is going to be a nightmare.”

“Probably.” She smiled sympathetically.

“Merlin!”