Merlin is the one in the closet and King Arthur is out and proud, got to be the first.

Well, it's the first for me, at least! And hopefully a slightly different way of writing the modern royalty, though some of the old, beloved cliches are inevitable, I guess. *g*

And I'm glad you like the Arthur as gladiator idea! No, not a Roman AU, just kind of a weird canon fic, but I'm sure Merlin would be going crazy either way! *g*