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The cafe was never really busy around this hour. It was why Merlin liked working mornings more than he liked evenings—during the week, everyone would come in for coffee and, sometimes, their breakfast too, and then go off to work. Things wouldn’t really pick up again until the lunch rush which was a nice break, and then before he knew it he would be heading home for the rest of the afternoon and evening. He knew from past shifts though, and one’s he’s covered for friends, that there never really was a break between lunch and dinner. Lunch was never around the same time for anyone, unlike people who consistently had to clock in around the same time, and people also got off of work at varying times, so the two meals often blended in together.
It’s why, when he was working as the barista after the breakfast rush during one of his shifts, that he was able to pause and take an order over to the cashier to double check it was all correct.
“Gwaine!” Merlin hissed, gesturing for him to abandon the register for a moment while there was no line so they could talk without bothering the customers too much. Hiding behind some of the fridges and drink machines wasn’t exactly privacy, but it was the best they had.
He looked up at the door to be sure no one else was coming in before taking the few steps over to Merlin with a raised eyebrow. “What’s up?”
“What the hell is this?” He shoved the printed labels over to Gwaine.
“This is… a customer’s order?” he said as he read it over, holding the paper between his thumb and index finger on both ends so it didn’t roll up. “Yeah, looks like it all printed out great.”
“This can barely be considered coffee! There’s so much shit to put in this that it takes up two stickers and almost ran onto a third! Do you see how many syrups are supposed to go in here?”
“Haha, yeah. But you know they can customize their drinks as much as they want, the register handles the math for it.”
“Yeah. And who pays fourteen dollars for a cup of coffee? Our coffee isn’t even that good, it’s only decent.”
“Only people who actually have regular money in their accounts, my friend,” he said, reaching out and patting Merlin on the shoulder. “Better get to it.”
Merlin rolled his eyes as Gwaine returned to the register, reading through the list to plan the drink out, since he couldn’t make it off the top of his head like any of the drinks on their menu. He would have to take in account the extra add-ins before he poured the coffee, for there was only limited room in the cup and he absolutely was not about to give a free drink upgrade just to fit all of this sugar into there. So, instead, he hung the order up in a clothespin, grabbed a cup and popped the sharpie lid off with his thumb, quickly scribbling ‘Arthur’ out on the side of it before dropping the sharpie back on the counter and turning to the syrups.
By the time he had figured out how to make the coffee and had gotten the lid secured on it, Gwaine already had a few more drink orders for him as a group of friends had come in. So, Merlin took it to the pick-up counter and left it there, calling out, “coffee for Arthur” before immediately turning around and beginning the next order, which was thankfully straightforward. The next time he looked at the pick-up counter, it was gone.
He thought that was the end of it.
But the next day, when it was just him and Gwaine out front again, working the same positions, Gwaine was the one to come to him with one of the orders, and from the sly grin on his face as he waited for Merlin to finish wiping down the counter, Merlin knew it was nothing good.
“Looks like the princess liked how you made the order so much yesterday that he couldn’t wait to get it again.”
Merlin scowled as he swiped the order from Gwaine’s hands amidst his laughter, and read over the same exact list of ingredients as yesterday, split over the two labels. “Seriously? Again? How do you remember all of this shit to make your coffee the same every time?”
“Guess he has taste. Or a lack thereof, depending on your opinion. I’m almost tempted to copy the order next time he does it and try it for myself, it seems like one hell of a sugar rush.” A bell rings out in the shop, and Gwaine rises onto his toes to look out over the machines. “Ah, I better get back to the register. And you better get to making that coffee, it looks like more people are coming in.”
Merlin begrudgingly made the drink again, not needing to read through the order before starting as he remembered how he did it the day before. The only thing he had to check was that he was using the right ingredients, and before he knew it, he had dropped the drink off and moved onto the next.
Later, when there were no orders waiting and there was no line, Merlin slid up to Gwaine and said, “Ask him if he even enjoys coffee next time. I feel like I can hardly fit any in there.”
Gwaine barked out a laugh. “Yeah, alright. And when my ass is on the line for saying that to a customer, you better be ready to step up.”
“You don’t think he’s going to come back, do you?”
“Merlin. He was already here two days in a row. Either he’s some fancy businessman here on a trip, and you’ll only have to deal with that order for another week, or we just got ourselves a new regular.”
He crossed his arms and pursed his lips as he eyed Gwaine. “Just wait until they decide to schedule me over here and you making drinks. Bet you won’t be so happy then.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’ll still find a way to complain about having to take the order in the first place. You know how many screens there are to click through in order to put everything into it?”
Merlin continued to deal with what he dubbed the ‘drink order from hell’ whenever he was working, as Arthur did, in fact, keep coming in. Merlin had yet to see him, but was beginning to form his own biased, unflattering images in his head for him. He asked around, and heard that he came in on the weekend too, and the staff then also had to make his order. They didn’t seem as perturbed as Merlin was, however.
There was one thing he noticed on his days off, though, that he asked Gwaine about next time they were in together, leaning against the wall in the back as Gwaine ran through the schedule on the wall with his finger, searching for his name.
“Did you get a surprising amount of money in your last check?”
“How much are we talking here?”
“Not nearly enough, unfortunately. But I want to say a good twenty five more dollars?”
“Ah, that’d probably be the tips. That princess—”
“Clotpole,” Merlin muttered.
“--gives a pretty hefty tip every time he’s in here. And you know what management does, splitting it up over everyone who worked at the time, making sure the staff in the back gets their fair share too and not just us up front, yadda yadda.” His eyes lit up as he finally found himself, and his finger began to run sideways.
“So he orders something that expensive and tips well? You’re right, he must be loaded.”
“Ah, damn,” Gwaine muttered, finally drawing Merlin’s attention to the schedule. “They’ve got me in as barista on a Friday.” His finger travels up and down, until— “Hey, you’ll be cashier that day! Want to switch?”
“And give up my one day on the register without having to run back and forth to all the machines? No thank you.”
“But I hate doing the drinks…”
“Then ask Lancelot to switch with you. I’m sure you’d love working the kitchen instead.”
“Forget I ever complained,” he muttered, and Merlin couldn’t help but chuckle.
When that day came, Gwaine did indeed keep complaining. He never asked to switch, at least, but he was sure to complain about something every break they had, whether it be a strange order deviation or a machine supposedly running wrong.
“Oh, you’re working over here today?”
Merlin looked up from the register when someone began talking, finding a tall, blonde man standing on the other side of the counter. He had broad shoulders, piercing blue eyes, and a surprisingly friendly smile for someone Merlin didn’t recognize. He tilted his head and said, “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
The man looked down with a chuckle before looking back up and rubbing the back of his neck. “No, I uh, guess you always have been too busy making drinks whenever I come in. I’m Arthur. And you are… Merlin. It’s nice to meet you.”
He had to fight to keep his eye from twitching as he smiled at Arthur. “Ah, yes, I recognize your name now. Hard to forget an order like yours.”
“Yeah, Yeah I know it can be a lot, but it’s helped me through more than one rough work meeting, and ever since my old spot closed down, I’ve been coming here for it instead. Which is great, really, you make it even better than they did.”
“Right… and do you compliment all of your cashiers like this?”
“No,” he admitted, a bit of pink dusting his cheeks. “Only the cute ones.”
“Yeah! Okay then!” Merlin said, his eyes wide as he immediately stared down at the computer instead and tried to bury his face in it, ignoring the rushing blood in his ears. “Can we get that drink started for you?”
As soon as the order was placed and paid for, Merlin raced away, running over to Gwaine with the order and immediately dropping to the floor, trying to make himself as small as possible.
Gwaine, the ever stalwart friend that he was, completely ignored him as he took the order and read it over. “Ah, I see the ‘order from hell’ is here now.”
“You have no right to complain over this one,” Merlin grumbled. “Not with as many times as I’ve had to make it.”
He raised his hands in surrender and chuckled. “I won’t say a word about it. Do you want to talk about why you’re on the floor, though?”
“Nope,” he said immediately, making himself even smaller. “Just let me know when he’s gone.”
Gwaine raised an eyebrow at that, but didn’t say anything else as he turned to begin the order. The minutes seemed to stretch on as he did, and Merlin was lucky enough that no one else came into the store or otherwise came back up to the counter to order something more. When Gwaine finally took the order over to pick-up, Merlin made sure he couldn’t be seen from there, and it was only once he heard the bell again and heard Gwaine say, “All clear,” that his shoulders finally relaxed.
Reaching out a hand, Gwaine helped him back to his feet but then immediately said, “Now are you going to tell me what that was about?”
“You didn’t tell me he was cute!” Merlin said, his voice a little higher than usual and he could tell his cheeks were flushed.
“Arthur?” Gwaine said, a wrinkle in his brow. “Really? That’s your type?”
“You have no room to judge me on that.”
“Fair point. Are you really saying you’ve never seen him before now?”
“No! I’ve been too busy with other drink orders to wait around at pick up!” He buried his face in his hands. “Oh god, Gwaine, what have I done?”
“What did you do?”
“I ran away! Some probably rich, definitely my type boy calls me cute once and I immediately change the subject like a coward and then come run and hide. What the hell was I thinking?”
“He called you cute?” The grin spreading across his face was making Merlin second guess his friendship. “Merlin, you’re such an idiot.”
“I know!”
“Next time, I’m going to be sure you get more time with him.”
“No! Please! Thank you!” he said, hands shaking. “I don’t—I don’t know how I can face him again after this.”
He hummed. “Well, don’t you have register again Monday? With Lance? You kinda have to face him again.”
Merlin groaned and looked up to the ceiling, almost about to count every single dot in the speckled ceiling tiles in order to avoid this conversation. “I’m hopelessly fucked.”
“I could talk to him when I’m back in tomorrow—”
“Don’t you say a word to him,” Merlin said, his head immediately snapping back down.
“I kinda have to in order to take his order…”
Merlin scoffed and playfully shoved at his shoulder. “You know that’s not what I meant.”
“Alright! Alright!” he said, laughing. “I’ll give you until Monday. If you don’t say anything then, I make no promises.”
Of course. Gwaine would never let this one go, not unless Merlin did finally talk to him and actually tried to put some effort into it. What was he going to do? What was he going to say?
Gwaine shoved at his shoulder, shaking him out of his thoughts. “Go get back to the register now before a Karen comes in and yells both of our ears off.”
He nodded in vague agreement before turning back over to the computer, staring wistfully out the window for the rest of his shift.
When Monday came around, he spent all morning worrying. Even the breakfast rush, going through customer after customer, order after order, did nothing to distract him from his nerves. Lancelot was kind enough not to mention it, as it didn’t stop him from doing his job, but every time they managed to be looking at each other, Merlin could see the concern in his eyes. He really needed to just—get this over with.
“Hi again, Merlin.”
Merlin looked up, startled, to see Arthur standing there to greet him with a warm smile. “You remembered my name?” What kind of stupid question was that? “I mean, uh. Yes. Hi.”
Arthur’s smile widened as he chuckled. “Yeah, I’m not likely to forget the best barista I’ve ever seen. You’ll have to tell me your secret sometime.”
“It’s magic,” Merlin said with a smile, getting another laugh out of Arthur and suddenly feeling, in the pit of his stomach, that he wishes he could keep getting that sound out of Arthur, that he could keep hearing his laughter ringing out at whatever dumb joke he had said. He never wanted it to end. He almost said something, like Gwaine wanted him to. Almost. But, when he opened his mouth, his lips were suddenly too dry to function, and it felt like his stomach flipped upside down. “Your usual, I presume?” He’ll never hear the end of this.
He raised an eyebrow, curious. “Do you really have it memorized?”
Merlin, never one to back down from a challenge, grinned. “Do you trust me?”
Arthur motioned for him to go ahead, so Merlin silently searched through the computer to input every little thing Arthur always asked for. Arthur seemed content with the price, so he paid for the drink, slipped some cash into the tip jar, and nodded to Merlin before walking away. Merlin watched him go, unable to tear his eyes away until Lancelot managed to steal his attention away.
Lancelot looked stressed, one hand on his forehead as the other held Arthur’s order. “I’m not up here nearly enough for something like this, Merlin. Where do I even start?”
“Oh, it’s simple, really,” Merlin said, earning a look from Lancelot as if that was the craziest thing he’s ever heard. “You just…” He began to point at the receipt, but as his mind worked through his usual steps to make the coffee, he realized it really was a lot to try and explain. It might just be easier if— “How about I make it, and you go watch the register for me while I do.”
His shoulders sagged in relief as he nodded. “I can do that, sure.”
When Merlin popped the cap off of the sharpie, a new surge of energy rushed through him as a new idea came to mind. He scrawled Arthur’s name across the cup as usual, but, underneath, he decided to add his phone number. Heart beating, he raced to finish the coffee as fast as he could before running it to the pick up and waiting this time as he called out for Arthur.
“Let’s see if it’s up to your usual standards,” Merlin teased as he handed the cup over, and Arthur immediately sat it down. Merlin watched with concealed horror as he dumped a sugar packet into it, adding even more sugar content to it, stirred it around, and then put the lid back on and took a sip.
“Wow, you hit the nail right on the head there.” His eyebrows were raised, as if he really was impressed. “Looks like I definitely made the right choice in coming here.”
“I told you I had it down,” Merlin said with a smirk, but it immediately fell as his cheeks grew hot and he stammered, “I, uh, need to go back to work now, so…” he tossed his hand up and pointed his thumb over his shoulder. “Bye.”
With that, he power walked back to the register in shame and relieved Lancelot, only a little upset when he found Arthur had already left.
They weren’t supposed to use their phones while working, especially if they were handling food, but Merlin couldn’t help himself. The tension and worry was building up too much. What if he didn’t see the number and tosses it? What if he did see the number but isn’t interested in Merlin anymore after the other day? What if, what if, what if. So, he pulled his phone out and hid it on a small shelf right next to the money drawer, giving him easy access to at least check his notifications when he had a chance.
There was a text in there a few hours later, and he fumbled with his phone immediately in order to unlock it. It was from an unsaved number, and all it said was, Hi. It’s Arthur :)
Merlin felt weightless the rest of the day.
The weather was getting colder and colder as the days progressed, so when Merlin found himself standing in front of the cafe one day, waiting, he pulled his shoulders in closer and hunched over, rubbing his hands back and forth through his gloves. He nodded and gave an awkward half smile to anyone who acknowledged him or at least looked his way when they passed on the street, but none of them were who he was looking for.
“You could have waited inside, you know.”
He jumped and spun around, but had a big smile on his face when he said, “Arthur! There you are.”
Arthur was frowning, looking Merlin up and down. “Your ears and nose are red. Seriously, I told you I’d be here soon, you didn’t have to wait out here. Let’s get you warmed up.” Without another word, he took a hold of one of Merlin’s hands, and Merlin immediately felt warmer even before he was pulled along inside the shop and into the line of other customers waiting to order. The heat in the shop was definitely noticeable against his cold skin, but he was now warming up from the inside too, as Arthur continued to cling to his hand all the way up to the front of the line.
“Come on,” Arthur said, letting him go but gesturing him forward. “I’m buying.”
He ignored Merlin’s protests as he stepped up to a smiling Gwaine and gave his usual, ever so complicated order. When it was Merlin’s turn to order, however, Gwaine didn’t let him. “I thought you said you’d never be caught dead in the cafe on your days off, Merlin.”
“Yeah, well, things change.”
“I can go grab my spare uniform if you really miss us that much, I’m sure Lance would love some help in the middle of this rush right now.”
“I heard my name,” Lancelot called over the sound of the blender, “and whatever Gwaine said, don’t believe him!”
He shrugged. “His loss. Anyway, Merlin, what can I get for you?”
Merlin sent Arthur to save them a table as he stood by the pick up counter, and as soon as the line at the register was finished, he wasn’t surprised to find Gwaine had slid over and was now leaning on the counter, grinning at him. “Look at you go, Mr. big shot. Snagging a Pendragon! Soon you’re going to outgrow this little old store, with all that money he has. What are we ever going to do without you?”
He didn’t answer, but instead lifted his hand in Gwaine’s direction with his middle finger up, which earned him a laugh. Gwaine had to leave almost as soon as he arrived to get back to the next customers, but Merlin was glad when he turned around with their drinks that Arthur found one of the tables you couldn’t see from the register, meaning at least he didn’t have to worry about being stared at the whole time.
“Is this spot okay?” Arthur asked as Merlin sat their drinks down, along with a handful of sugar packets he had grabbed.
“Yeah, definitely!” Merlin slid into the other chair and smiled. “So, you said your sister wants to meet me?”
“You don’t have to, honestly,” he says immediately, grimacing. “She’s been—embarrassing about it all, really. Says she doesn’t think I’ve ever been this interested in anyone before. But she’s a handful, a real extrovert all the time, and if you’re not prepared for it she can be really intimidating when you first meet her, and—”
Merlin silenced him by gently placing his hand over Arthur’s, his smile never wavering. “I’d love to meet her, Arthur. Really.”
Arthur took a breath to recompose himself before smiling back, flipping his hand and catching Merlin’s in his grasp once again. “Let’s worry about that later, shall we? I think I’d rather enjoy our date now before we begin to plan the next one.”
“I’m ready to plan as many as you want,” Merlin said quietly, resting his head on his hand. “As long as I’m with you, I don’t care what happens.”