Chapter 14

"Yo, Merlin!"

Merlin groaned and attempted to ignore the annoying voice in his ear. He put the trays on the trolley to take up to a room. He picked up the bucket of ice and wine and set it on the trolley. He steered the trolley to the door, only to have a body block his way. He glared at it.

"Move, Mordred," he said.

"Why do you have to be so mean, Merlin?" asked Mordred leaning against the door. "I'm just saying hello. The least you could do is acknowledge it."

"Okay. Good-bye." He attempted to push the trolley past the man, but Mordred still wouldn't budge. "Mordred, move."

"I just want to talk," asked Mordred, sneeringly.

"And I want to earn a paycheck," said Merlin.

"Why do you have to be so rude? I'm actually in a good mood."

Merlin could see that, and it crept him out. Mordred had been in an unusually bright mood for a week. He annoyed Merlin less, but still gave him a look that made Merlin feel like a horse up for auction. The change in attitude with the other dark haired man made Merlin even more cautious.

"I'm glad that you're in a good day, Mordred, but I have to get this tray upstairs before it gets cold," said Merlin.

"Mordred, move your behind out of Merlin's way or I'll make you," said May, the head cook, waving her spoon in his direction. Merlin knew that Mordred had more than a few whacks with him due to his antics and the dark haired man wasn't too keen on repeats.

"Yes, May," said Mordred and moved out of Merlin's way. Merlin pushed the trolley through the doorway, and past Mordred's sneering gaze. He tried to shake it off, but for some reason it stayed with him.

Pushing the trolley to the service elevator, he pressed the button for the floor he needed to go to. Unlike the guest elevators, the service elevators didn't have soft lounge music to distract the distance between floors so Merlin had to listening to the silence of the lift as it went up. Finally he came to his floor and knocked on the room door.

"Who is it," called a man's voice.

"Room service," said Merlin. The door opened and a man in his late forties opened the door. "Here you go, senator."

"Thank you, my boy," said the senator. "Wait there and I'll get you a tip."

The senator moved to grab his wallet from his jacket on the coat rack and Merlin caught sight of Sophia sitting on the bed wearing nothing but a t-shirt two sizes too big for her. She turned to the door to glare at him in warning before the senator blocked Merlin's view again.

"Here you are," said the senator handing him a ten.

"Thank you, senator," said Merlin, slipping the bill in his pocket and walked down the hall. "Now I need to burn my eyes out."

He hurried to the service elevator and took the ride back down to the kitchen, trying to bleach his mind of the image he had seen. He hurried to think of something to think of anything other than Sophia in a one piece. George Clooney? No, too old. Robert Patterson. Hated the Twilight series. Hugh Jackman, first X-Men movie. Shirtless. Yeah, that'll do it.

The rest of the morning was luckily uneventful, and since it was Saturday, he could look forward to playing at his uncle's bar.

It was nearing afternoon when Alan came up to him with a scared expression. Merlin looked at him curiously as he loaded a trolley of food.

"Merlin, Mr. Pendragon wants to talk to you," he said.

"What for?" asked Merlin.

"He didn't say. Better hurry. He didn't look happy."

"He never is," said Merlin turning to May. "Can you get Marvin to take this?"

"Of course, Merlin," she said. "Be good."

"I always am," he said smiling at her reassuringly, but inside he was shaking with fear. Everyone at Camelot knew that a summons to Uther's office was never a good thing.

Walking to the elevators, he pressed for the top floor and waited as it went up thirty stories to the office area. When the doors opened, Uther's secretary looked up and gave him a grim expression as he approached.

"He's waiting for you," she said.

"Thanks," he said.

Walking up to the door, he lightly knocked on the door politely.

"Enter," came Uther's voice on the other side.

Merlin walked nervously into the office. Behind a red oak desk sat Merlin's boss, Uther Pendragon. Arthur's father. Merlin knew he should be scared of the man but for some reason, Merlin never was. He barely saw the man outside of functions he holds at his hotel and even then he completely ignored the staff and instead made conversations with the guests. The only thing he was really scared of when it came to Uther was Uther firing him.

He looked in surprise when he saw Sophia sitting in one of the posh chairs. She looked back at Merlin with a sneer before turning to Uther with a devastated look. Uther barely looked at her and instead kept his eyes trained on Merlin.

"You wanted to see me, sir," said Merlin unsure on how he should feel on Sophie in the same room with Uther.

"I just got some very disturbing news from Ms. Cooper," said Uther. "She said you sexually harassed her."

Merlin looked at Uther and then at Sophia in shock. The little bitch. This was how she was going to get back at him for refusing to cheat for Arthur. To get him fired! Well, he wasn't going down without a fight.

"It's a lie, sir," he said. "I would never touch her, even if I wanted to."

Sophia gasped.

"Mr. Pendragon, he just insulted me!"

Merlin scoffed.

"Please, you find insult in a hangnail," he said. Sophia gaped at him.

"That's enough, Mr. Emrys," said Uther in a snapping tone. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

"I didn't do it," said Merlin. "I never touched her."

"Liar," said Sophia. She almost sounded convincing to Merlin if he didn't know he was telling the truth.

"Mr. Pendragon, I would never touch a woman like that."

Sophia scoffed.

"Yes, because you're such a good boy," she said in a lofty tone.

"No," said Merlin looking pointing at her. "Because I'm gay."

That took them both aback. Obviously Uther had no idea that Merlin was gay. Through Merlin was proud of his sexual preferences, he didn't advertise it everywhere he went. Most of the co-workers already knew that Merlin was gay and so did a few of the students at the school, but he had only spoken to Uther twice and each time was at a business function at the hotel. It was cheaper to use your own staff than to hire waiters or chefs from outside businesses.

Uther glared at Merlin.

"Merlin, I'm afraid you're fired," he said. Merlin looked at him in shock.

"What? But I never even touched her," he yelled.

"I'm afraid I have no choice. You'll clean out your locker and leave the hotel at once."

"But, Mr. Pendragon, I need this job."

"You should have thought about that before you started harassing the guests. Now leave."

Merlin was at a loss on what to do. He knew that the real reason he was fired was because he was gay and somehow Sophia knew and knew about Uther's hatred of homosexuals. With a nod he walked out and left the office, but he waited at the elevator for Sophia to arrive twenty minutes later, suspiciously smelling of strong flowery perfume and Uther's Old Spice.

"Nice play, that," he said. "Get me out of the way so you can get back with Arthur, and all the while cozying up with Uther."

"I don't have to explain myself to a disgusting faggot like you," she said.

Merlin smirked. "Yeah? Well, this disgusting faggot knows all your secrets. You didn't think we don't know who you invite into the room you rent once a week every Saturday, or the personal video you accidently left in the room two months ago with a guy who was not Arthur, or that you got Mordred as your little boy-toy, or are you his little slut?"

Sophia's face turned red, in either anger or ashamed Merlin couldn't tell.

"Hotel staff knows a lot of secrets about their guests," said Merlin looking at Sophia straight in the eye. "And it's their job to keep the secrets of the guests, but I'm not a member of staff anymore, Sophia, and I know all your dirty little secrets."

"What do you want?" asked Sophia. This queer was going to ruin all her plans! She did not spend all those months playing up to Arthur and Uther to ruin everything now.

"I want you to stay away from Arthur," said Merlin. "If not, some of your secrets will leak out to the media. The Pendragons are well known people in the business world. Their faces have been on the news, including yours. What will they say when they find out that Arthur's ex-girlfriend has been sleeping around with several men and his father on the side while they were dating?"

"You wouldn't dare!" said Sophia furiously.

"Would I? Test me and see." He gives her a smile. "Have a nice day and please come again."

The elevator doors dinged opened and Merlin walked in. Sophia was too much in shock to follow.

XXXXXX

Arthur had just stepped into the lobby of Camelot when he saw Merlin walk out of the employee's door, a bag over his shoulder and a furious look on his face. Pushing through the crowd, he hurried to the other man before he lost sight of him.

"Merlin, what happened?" he asked. "Why are you leaving early?"

"I got fired," he said angrily, looking away from Arthur, who was looking at him in shock.

"Fired? Why?"

"Apparently, not only because I sexually harassed Sophia, but also because I denied it by stating I'm gay, though I think he fired be because of that too," he said.

"But you are gay," said Arthur.

"Tell Uther that."

"Why did Sophia say you harassed her to get you fired?" asked Arthur, trying to find out the story. Merlin looked away, reluctant to answer. "Please, Merlin."

"I think it's so that she can get back with you," said Merlin. "You've been spending time with me and I guess she didn't like me getting in between her and the Pendragon fortune."

This infuriated Arthur. Every person in his life was trying to control him. His father, Sophia; He was tired and infuriated by it. The only person who hasn't attempted to control him was Merlin.

"Who I spend time with is no business of hers or my fathers," he said. "He shouldn't even have fired you because you're gay. It's against the workers union."

"That's why it's going down as sexual harassment instead," said Merlin angrily. "I hate bigots like him. They think that because their "normal" it means they get to say and do whatever they what. Who says they're normal? What if "normal" was to walk around with a stork on your head? Then everyone would be doing it."

"Merlin!" said Arthur laughing. He couldn't believe Merlin had just said that. Merlin smiled but held back from laughing to continue talking.

"We can't change who we are. It's as normal to us as breathing. I'm proud to be myself and I wouldn't change a thing."

"Really?" asked Arthur. "You really wouldn't change who you are?"

"Of course. I am who I am. I'm not going to change myself to please anybody. If they don't love me for who I am, then they're not important to me." Realizing what he said, he turned to Arthur apologetically. "God, Arthur, I'm sorry. I should have…"

Arthur shook his head.

"No, you're right. I'm hiding myself. My father is who he is, and if he can't love me for who I am, then screw him. Morgana wanted to take over the business anyway. I just want to write."

With that in mind, he went over to the elevators.

"Wait, Arthur, what are you going to do?" asked Merlin, worried. Arthur turned back to him with a smile.

"Talk to my father," he said.

The door closed before Merlin could protest. The ride seemed long, but Arthur was finally driven to stand up to his father. For years, Arthur wanted to come out on his sexuality, but knew it would disappoint his father and like any little boy, he wanted to please his father by being the perfect son. Arthur was a man now. He was tired of hiding, dodging photographers every time he went out with a man. He wanted to be himself and if Uther didn't want anything to do with the real Arthur, then Arthur would leave. He was done pretending.

The doors opened and Arthur walked in. Uther's secretary looked up at him in surprise.

"Arthur, this is a surprise," she said.

"Hello, Amy," he said. "I'll see my father."

Amy made a sound of protest as Arthur opened the doors.

And revealed Sophia sitting on Uther's desk, topless, kissing Uther. Arthur didn't need to guess why their hips were moving. Both immediately stopped when Arthur walked in.

"Arthur!" yelled Uther at the sight of his son. Sophia immediately covered her chest and turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Amy, I said no visitors!"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Pendragon. He walked in," said Amy, looking anywhere but at her boss and the stripped girl.

"Leave!" he roared at Amy before turning to Arthur. "Son, I can explain…"

"Save it," said Arthur. "I knew since high school you were sleeping around and I knew since before college that it was Sophia. Did you think I was going to touch the same person who have, who's also a slut? It's disgusting."

"Why are you here," asked Uther as he straightened his shirt and as Sophia but her blouse on.

"I heard you fired Merlin," said Arthur. "You know it's illegal to fire someone because of their sexual preferences."

"Doesn't matter the reason," said Uther. "The file will say that he sexually harassed someone, and with the connections I have he won't be able to work anywhere in this city again."

If Arthur had a mirror, he would see how red his face was from anger.

"That's lying," he said.

"He's a faggot, Arthur," said Uther. "People like him shouldn't be around respectable people. They should be thrown out and left to rot in the streets where they belong."

"And if one of those respectable people was a faggot?" asked Arthur.

"Then he should be thrown out. People like that are diseased, Arthur. They should be kept away from God fearing people that do good work."

"Nice to know where you stand, Dad," he said. "Guess I should start packing."

Arthur turned to leave as Uther looked at him in shock.

"What?! Arthur, what the hell's gotten into you?" he said.

"You want it in plain English? I'm gay, Dad. I love cock! Bump swords and all that jazz."

Uther's face went from shock, to furious.

"That's not funny, Arthur," he said.

"I'm dead serious, Dad, and before you blame Gwaine or Percival or Merlin, I knew I was gay since I was fifteen. I just never said anything because of you."

"Stop this nonsense right now," said Uther. "I won't accept this…"

"Oh, so you can accept fucking a seventeen year old girl but you can't accept you son's a faggot? Awesome logical there, Dad." He turned back to the door. "I'll leave my key at the house."

"Arthur, if you don't stop this foolishness, you won't get a cent of your inheritance!"

Arthur turned back around.

"Good!" he said. "I don't want it. I want to make my own money, in my own way. I'm dropping my Business major. I'm going to become a writer. That's what I want to do."

He turned and walked out. He rode the elevator backed own to the lobby and was pleased to find Merlin still waiting for him.

"What did you do?" asked Merlin, worried.

"I told my father I was gay, after I found him screwing Sophia."

Merlin made a face of disgust.

"Ew! Bad mental image! I need bleach or something to get it out of my head!"

"Robert Downing Junior in Sherlock Holmes," said Arthur, throwing in the first thing that helped him in his father's office.

"Loved him in that," said Merlin in relief before turning to Arthur. "Now what will you do?"

"I have enough money in my mother's trust fund to last me a while. I used it to pay for my apartment and my literature classes. Even if my father pulled me out of my business classes, I can still go to school, and do what I want."

Merlin smiled at him.

"I'm proud of you, Arthur. I'm sorry about your father, though."

"I'm not. I knew for years he didn't really love me. He needed an heir to the family business, and Morgana being illegitimate was out of the question in his book. So he knocked Mom up and had me. No love lost." He smiles at Merlin and put an arm around the other man's shoulders. "So, how about we call up the gang and celebrate?"

Merlin laughs. He knows Arthur's only covering up the hurt of losing his father, so he couldn't exactly say no to the suffering man.

"Okay," he said.

TBC