ajsrandomTitle: The Go-Between
Rating: G
Pairing/s: none?
Character/s: Merlin, Arthur, Leon, Uther
Summary: Merlin receives a call from an unknown person, which sparks a great conversation.
Warnings: A little homophobia
Word Count: 543
Prompt: 449, Wrong Number
Author's Notes: So this weird little thing popped into my head . . .
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“Arthur Pendragon! Don’t you dare hang up on me! We are definitely NOT finished on this so-called ‘coming out’ matter. I will call back once I have calmed down.”
The man hung up on Merlin before he could get a word in. Who was he and who was Arthur Pendragon? At least he had a full name he could search for. He opened the browser on his phone and typed in “Arthur Pendragon.”
Whoa. According to his phone, Arthur Pendragon was COO of Camelot, Inc., one of the biggest tech companies in Britain. And he was only a couple of years older than Merlin. Wow. He saw a work phone number listed but didn’t know if he should call that or start at the bottom.
He decided to chance it and called the number. “Camelot, Inc., office of the COO. This is Leon, how may I help you?”
“Um, hi. My name is Merlin, and someone mistakenly called me instead of your boss. It sounded personal. Could I talk to him or should I talk to you about it?”
He heard a sigh at the other end. “The old man did it again huh? Mr. Pendragon is currently out of the office, but I can give you his personal mobile number if you’d like to relay the message yourself.”
“Yes, I think I would. Thank you,” Merlin replied.
Leon relayed a number that was one digit different than Merlin’s. Ah, that’s why he’d said the old man had done it again. Was the “old man” his father and CEO of Camelot, Inc., Uther Pendragon?
After Merlin hung up with Leon, he took a deep breath and dialed Arthur’s number. “This is Arthur,” he answered.
“Hello, Arthur. My name is Merlin. We haven’t met, but I intercepted a phone call meant for you,” Merlin said.
He heard Arthur sigh. “Let me guess. My phone number is one digit off from yours.”
“Yes.”
“Great,” he replied in an unenthused tone. “What did the old man have to say for himself?”
“Okay. And I’m sorry I had to answer such a personal call. He said, ‘Arthur Pendragon! Don’t you dare hang up on me! We are definitely NOT finished on this so-called “coming out” matter. I will call back once I have calmed down.’”
“Oh damn. I’m sorry about that. That was my father. We’d just had an argument about my coming out and I did indeed hang up on him,” Arthur replied.
“So you came out to him and he turned out to be a major homophobe?”
“Yes.”
“Arthur, I volunteer for an outreach center for LGBTQ+ people of all ages who have been rejected by their loved ones. Would you like to meet for coffee, and we can discuss what I do?”
“I didn’t know there was an outreach like that.”
“Not many people do,” Merlin said.
“I’d love to meet for coffee and talk about this. I’ll consult my schedule and call you back.”
“Great! I’ll talk to you soon.” Merlin rang off and smiled. That had gone very well, much better than he’d expected. Arthur Pendragon was a good man, and his father . . . well, he just had to hope that Uther Pendragon never got his particular digit wrong again.