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"Why on earth did you agree to this?“ Gwaine threw Arthur a look. “You’ve got all the money in the world, why this?”
Arthur leaned back. “Because Merlin always argues that I can’t handle money.”
Gwaine blinked. “You…you can’t handle money…”
“Yeah.” Arthur grinned. “It’s not like I juggle the finances of Pendragon Inc.”
“I don’t get it.”
Taking a sip of his beer, Arthur shrugged. “He thinks that because I grew up with anything I ever wanted, I won’t be able to keep to a tight budget.”
“And you really signed the contract?”
“I did.”
“Man, you got it bad.” Gwaine grinned as he flicked his hair back and reached for his beer.
Smiling sappily, Arthur nodded. “I do.”
Slapping Arthur’s shoulder, Gwaine shook his head with a laugh. “Save that for later. First things first.”
“And that would be?”
“How much have you got?”
“Fifteen.”
“Fifteen thousand for a wedding?” Gwaine blinked. “What did you plan? Diamonds for everyone?”
“Due to my fantastic negotiation skills, I’ve got a budget of 15k. Merlin wanted to limit it at 7.”
“But…what are you planning? I thought you both wanted a small thing in the back yard?”
Sighing, Arthur pulled his iPad out. “I already added all the people we wanted to be there and this is not going to be a small thing. So, are you in?”
“Hey, I’m your best man, of course I’m in. What do we have to do first?”
Arthur checked his list. “Find a location.”
+++
“What did I get myself into, Leon?” Merlin sighed and dropped down on the couch at his best friend’s house.
“Come on,” Leon handed Merlin a cup of tea. “You wanted it this way.”
“I know. I wanted to show him that not everybody can do the huge thing, that it’s not about money. It should be about us only. And now I can’t be there to do it together.”
Leon sat down next to Merlin, wrapped his arm around his shoulder, pulled him close and put a little smooch on his hair. “He’ll do fine.”
“Without me.” Merlin bit his lower lip. This had all been a huge mistake. It had started with a tiny little thing, when Arthur had spent a ridiculous amount of money on some groceries and Merlin had argued that he could have gotten all those things a lot cheaper and that Arthur just didn’t know what it felt like to not be born with a silver spoon in your mouth. And all of a sudden, the topic of their wedding came up and Merlin insisted they didn’t spend too much money on it.
“He’ll do fine.”
“He always had tons of people to organize everything for him. He’s never done anything like this on his own.”
“Have a little faith in him.”
Merlin sighed. “It’s not that I want anything fancy, just…I mean, Gwaine’s his best man.”
“I hear you.” Leon smiled into Merlin’s hair.
+++
“This is fucking fantastic!”
Arthur and Gwaine stood on holy soil, the sideline of their favorite soccer club.
“And we can do the wedding here?” Arthur beamed widely.
“Yeah. We’ve had weddings here before. You can take photos in front of the goal and the photos with the family can be done over here, at the benches. The ceremony can be held over there.” The lady of the club explained and gestured.
“And the party will take place up in the VIP area?” Arthur was giddy. Getting two of his most favorite things together on one day, that would be so perfect!
“If you’d follow me, we’ve already set up an example table, so you can get an idea of what it will look like.”
“Will it be in the team’s colors?” Gwaine trailed after them.
The lady nodded. “It harmonizes a bit better with the seats in the background. But it’s totally up to you.”
“Oh, it’s not our wedding,” Gwaine laughed, “I’m just the best man.”
“Of course.”
They entered the VIP area and looked at the table.
Arthur nodded. “Wonderful.”
+++
“Did you get a date out of him?” Merlin was nervous. He wasn’t a control freak, but not being able to be part of the preparations of his own wedding left him restless.
Gwen laughed. “He will be able to provide a date when he has a location.”
“He doesn’t even have a location yet?????” Taking a deep breath, Merlin tried not to think about it. They had a time limit of three weeks, that was part of their contract, and half a week was already over.
“Merlin, it’ll be alright.” Gwen wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him with a smile. “And now you’ll tell me what you would do if you were in charge.”
“I hope he’ll find a location soon. And that it’s nothing tacky.”
“We’re talking about Arthur here, Merlin. Have you ever seen him do anything tacky?”
Sighing, Merlin put his chin on Gwen’s head and squeezed her. “You know how he can be when he is out for football with Gwaine. Oh my God, Gwen!” He pulled back, his face a mask of horror. “Don’t tell me he’s going to hire the stadium!”
“What if?” Gwen grinned. “He’ll get two things he loves in one big party. You and his team.”
“He’s so not going to get me if he does that! He knows I hate football!”
“But you’d look good in red and white.”
“Red and white?” Merlin’s eyes widened even more. “What do you know about the suits?”
“Nothing, Merlin. I know absolutely nothing. He wouldn’t tell me!”
“It’s not that I don’t like red, but…Gwen, please, don’t let it be red shirts under white suits! I don’t want to get married in a soccer uniform!”
+++
“We can still go back to the stadium.” Gwaine drove them.
“That would be the end of it, Gwaine, and you know it. He hates footie. But…wow.” Arthur stared open-mouthed as the castle came in sight. “This is it!”
“It’s beautiful.” Gwaine parked the car and they got out. “Let’s wait until we’ve seen everything and heard the price.”
It was the fifth location they visited. Two had been a no-go, one far outside their financial limit and the one before was booked out until Christmas next year. Slowly, Arthur got nervous.
But the nervousness dissolved in the next hours after they looked at the courtyard, the big hall and the rooms, tried the food and discussed the tight time-line they had.
Beaming, Arthur got back into the car. “He’ll love it!”
“Are you sure you don’t want a medieval wedding? You in chainmail, Merlin in…I don’t know a princess dress in light pink?” Gwaine grinned.
“Idiot. But that’ll be the next thing on the list, the suits.”
“At your service.” Gwaine punched the address of the first shop they had on their list into the GPS and started the engine. “Call Gwen, she needs to be there, for the brides maids’ dresses. Err…is it grooms maids in your case?”
“I have no idea, but you’re right.” Arthur reached for his mobile to call Gwen.
+++
“You’ve got to be kidding!” Elena brought it to the point.
Leon threw her a look and tried to bite back a grin while Gwen plucked at her dress unhappily.
“But the dresses are nice,” Arthur tried weakly. He’d really thought they were nice but the girls seemed to hate them. “What’s there not to like?”
“Where do I start?” Morgana breezed in. “The color is horrible!”
“It’s a nice light blue. Merlin likes blue.”
Gwaine laughed. “You, my dear friend, are color blind. Even I see that this is not light blue.”
“Turquoise, that’s what it’s called.”
“What is turquoise?” Arthur wasn’t sure he’d ever even heard of a color called that as he sank into a chair.
“This horrible color, dear brother.” Morgana started to pluck at Elena’s and Gwen’s dresses and shook her head. “And you know that you have to coordinate the color scheme with the dresses. You don’t want this as your color, Arthur.”
“I don’t?”
“No,” Leon patted his shoulder, “trust me, if the girls hate it, you don’t.”
+++
Merlin rushed to the door when the envelope dropped inside. “The invite!” He couldn’t help but being nervous. He really needed to see what Arthur made of their big day.
With trembling fingers, he admired the envelope that was a fine shimmery off-white. Not bad for starters. His face fell when he pulled the card out, though. It had a brightly red ribbon down the front of it and in the middle was the crest of Arthur’s football team glued to it.
“He’s doesn’t mean that,” he whispered in horror as he opened the card. It was written with a cheap ballpen.
“What does it say?” Percy came over and looked over Merlin’s shoulder.
“The big finale,” Merlin read, “next Saturday. Kick-off at 2.” Swallowing hard, Merlin let the card sink.
“Oh, come on! He doesn’t mean that!” Percy laughed.
Grumbling, Merlin shook Percy’s hand off his shoulder. “Not funny.” He couldn’t help the tears welling up.
Percy followed Merlin into the living room and wrapped his arms around him. “Stop that. You know how he is.”
“This is so not funny.” Merlin sniffled against Percy’s shoulder. “He knows how much I hate football. And now he sends people this crappy invite and I’ll end up getting married in that bloody stadium!”
“I’m sure it’s a joke.”
Merlin pushed Percy back. “So it’s all a big joke for him? Three years of being together and the prospect of the rest of our lives? A joke? He really wants to throw it all away for a laugh?” He couldn’t help the tears rolling down his face now. He knew he was the more emotional one of them, but he usually didn’t cry like that. He didn’t want to be a diva.
“Sssh.” Percy wrapped his arms around him again. “It’ll all work out.”
“I’m not going to marry him if he thinks this is just a bit of stupid fun and pranks.”
“He doesn’t think that.”
Leaning into Percy for a while, Merlin tried to get himself back under control. “I miss him so much. I want to talk to him, want to see him, touch him.”
“I know.”
“It’s so hard that I’ll only see him on the big day. I want to be part of this, want to make decisions with him, want it to be good for both of us.”
Percy nodded and just let Merlin ramble. “Only one more week, sweets. You’ll see him next Saturday and everything will be fantastic, I promise.”
“How can you? What do you know?”
Shaking his head, Percy pulled back and smiled. “You won’t get anything out of me. But they expect you at the fitting for the suit. I’m sure you’ll feel better once you’ve seen it.”
+++
Arthur was on the phone for what felt like hours. He’d phoned about every band and DJ that he could find online, but of course, most of them were booked out since the big day was only a few days away.
He was totally stressed out. This whole wedding thing was a lot more exhausting than he had thought in the beginning. With the help of a list in a wedding magazine, he found out about the tons of tiny things to think of, starting from the ribbons for the invites, the cars, the decoration of the room, the dresses and suits for everyone to the flight for Merlin’s mom.
Making sure she had her flight tickets and knew where to find the taxi at the airport and then checked that off his list.
Before Gwaine came over, he needed to make sure the florist had the right color of roses and made that call.
“Let’s go, they’re already waiting.”
“Where are we going? Who is waiting? Gwaine, I don’t have time for this. I still need to…”
“The band, they’re waiting. They are friends of a friend and they are really good.”
Arthur threw Gwaine a sceptic look. Friends of a friend. “Have you ever heard them?”
“Yes, I have. They usually don’t do weddings, but for you, they will make an exception.”
“That doesn’t sound good.” Arthur got up anyway. Maybe this was his only chance.
Two hours later, he was relieved. The band was really good and they would show up for a reasonable price, too. And they brought a DJ, too, so there wouldn’t be long breaks.
But as they got back to the car, Arthur paled. “Gwaine?”
“What?”
“We forgot the rings!”
+++
After Merlin had seen the suit, he relaxed a bit. Either Arthur had help from one of the girls or maybe the sales person was really good, but he looked great in the suit and Merlin’s excitement grew. Just a few more days and he’d see Arthur again. He missed him so much it almost hurt. Since they got together, they had never been separated for such a long time. Arthur had to go on business trips once in a while but at least they could text, phone or even skype when he was away.
The longer they were apart, the less important did decorations, colors and locations get. Merlin wouldn’t have minded to get married in their living room in their old sweatpants and barefoot.
As the big day arrived, Leon had to tell him what to do, starting from having some tea – forcing some toast into him, too – to the shower, the shaving, the hair. And then there was nothing to do but wait.
When Percy arrived with the big clothes bag, Merlin drew a shuddered breath. He had seen the suit before. It was beautiful, he knew, but would it still fit?
“Calm down, everything will be fine.” Percy helped him into the shirt as Leon polished his shoes once again.
“Do you think he thought of rings?”
“No,” Leon chuckled, “but there will be soda cans. We can rip the rings of those.” He handed Merlin the shoes and shrugged into his jacket.
“Will we have a photographer?” Merlin only faintly registered that the flowers on the lapels of the guys’ jackets weren’t red and that nobody wore football jerseys while Percy did his hair. So maybe Arthur had thought of someone to take official photos, too?
“There you go, gorgeous. Now stop fretting, be yourself and marry the man of your dreams who ripped himself a new one to make this a wonderful day.”
Leon laughed. “Eloquent, Percival, very eloquent.”
Ignoring his friends’ banter, Merlin got up and inspected his hair in the mirror. He nodded. “I will.” No matter what horrible things Arthur would dish up, he wanted to be with him.
“Your transport is here, my lord.” With a huge gesture, Leon opened the door.
Last night, Merlin had woken up from the nightmare of being picked up in a taxi, so he stared when he saw the off-white limousine that was decorated with flowers and ribbons.
“Mam!” He beamed widely when he saw his mother waiting in the back seat. There had been moments where he worried if Arthur had even thought of getting his mam from Wales at all. So he climbed into the car.
She took his hand and smiled. “I’m so proud of you.”
Merlin threw her an uncertain look. “Do you think that he thought of everything?”
Squeezing his fingers, she patted his hand. “Don’t worry. Just look beautiful and let him do the rest.”
What did that mean now? Merlin had a sinking feeling when he noticed where the car was taking them. “He…he didn’t! Mam, he didn’t! I’ll never forgive him if he really did,” he whispered when the stadium came in sight and the driver turned for the parking lot.
He let out a shuddering breath. Arthur ruined it all. Did he really expect him to get married in the stands of some run-down stadium?
When his mam giggled, he opened his eyes again and noticed that the driver steered the car towards the exit of the parking lot, a small smirk on his face.
“Oh, I’m so going to kill him! He’s going to pay for this!”
“Calm down, honey. You know his kind of humor. He sent you that horrible invite and this was part of the banter.”
“This isn’t banter, this is torture!”
“Banter, honey. And I know you will pay him back, that’s how you two work. So now relax and enjoy your day.”
Merlin couldn’t help but grin. This was so Arthur and he was so going to pay for it. But where would the driver take them now?
With wide eyes, he looked at the castle that appeared at the horizon as soon as they let the outskirts of the city behind. “Is this it? Is this where we’re going? Am I going to get married in a castle?”
Hunith wouldn’t tell him anything, she just smiled.
The castle was a dream and Merlin felt as if this wasn’t him walking through the huge gates. As soon as he came into the courtyard, he saw the chairs and the carpet and the brides…grooms maids and best men lined up in front.
Arthur beamed when he saw Merlin entering. He had hoped that Merlin would look good in the suit he picked, but was totally overwhelmed now. Blinking a tear away, he stepped up to him. “You look great.”
“So do you,” Merlin swallowed hard. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to hug Arthur already and kiss him before the ceremony. But his whole body screamed out for him.
“Ready?”
Merlin nodded. Arthur had remembered that Merlin never wanted to be waited for at the altar. They were in this together and so he smiled when Arthur took his hand and they walked down the isle together. He didn’t really register the faces of everyone turned their way, he didn’t care that the salmon-colored dresses of Gwen, Elena and Morgana matched Gwaine’s, Percy’s and Leon’s bowties as well as the flowers and ribbons that seemed to be everywhere. All that counted was Arthur and that they would do this now.
His breath caught when he noticed that the registrar not only declared them husband and husband in English, but in Welsh, too, and he threw Arthur a watery look. Damn, he loved this man so much. So after they spoke their vows, he kissed Arthur probably a bit more enthusiastically than was appropriate.
Later, he didn’t know how he got through the congratulations, the photos and the speeches. He couldn’t tell if the band was good or not or if the games had been entertaining for all. He just knew he couldn’t have organized this day any better than it already was.
They cut a fantastic cake together and danced until it was late.
“It’s time.” Arthur whispered.
Merlin pulled back a bit. “We can’t leave yet, while the party is in full swing.”
“Come, just outside.”
Frowning, Merlin followed. What had Arthur planned now? He seemed to be the only one not in the know since all the guests flocked out towards the terrace and gardens, too.
“What…”
Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin from behind just as the fireworks started.
“I love fireworks,” Merlin whispered in awe.
Arthur nuzzled into his neck. “I know.”
“This is the best day of my life.” Merlin leaned back into Arthur.
“So you liked what I’ve done?”
“It’s wonderful. I love it.”
“I love you.”