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“Why are we so dressed up, Arthur?” Merlin straightens Arthur’s tie.
“Why do you think?” Arthur asks, ruffling Merlin’s hair. “It’s Valentine’s Day and we’re going out.”
Merlin steps back, running a hand through his hair to fix it. Seeing Merlin looking so dashing in his tux makes Arthur’s hands sweat even more than they already are.
“And you’re taking me to a fancy restaurant?” Merlin picks Aithusa off their bed and sets her on the window sill.
“I didn’t say that.”
“You haven’t said anything at all except ‘Rent a tux.’”
Arthur’s nervous. Really, really nervous. He doesn’t want Merlin to see it, though, so he covers it in exasperation and bustles Merlin out of the flat and down the hall to the lift.
Merlin normally enjoys surprises, but he won’t leave Arthur alone about this one, which makes everything worse. Arthur wants to be dashing and self-assured—he used to rule a kingdom, after all. But like with so many things in this modern-day world, he’s out of his depth.
“Give me a hint,” Merlin says as they get into their horrid little car that Arthur despises more every day. The first thing Arthur’s going to do once they get the settlement money over Wolff’s attack—after purchasing a house, of course--is to get them another car. A bigger one.
“No.”
Merlin whines and sinks down into the driver’s seat. “How am I supposed to drive if you won’t tell me where we’re going?”
“I’ll give you directions. Now, start the car. We’ll be late.”
“For what?”
“Nice try, Merlin.”
When they pull up in front of one of the most expensive restaurants in London, Merlin turns to Arthur, mouth open.
“Arthur, we can’t…”
“I’ve been saving up for this, Merlin. Come on…close your mouth and park the car. There’s a space up there.”
“Reservations for Emrys-Pendragon,” Arthur tells the maître d’, and Merlin gives Arthur a questioning look. Before he can say anything, however, they’re led to a private room.
“I know this is a really posh place, Arthur, but tuxes?” Merlin says, looking around as they go.
Merlin stops short in the doorway when he sees Anthony, Mary, Jake Winters, Ralph and Will—now someone Merlin frequently talks to-- all standing about with big smiles on their faces. Arthur knows Merlin’s even more thrown by the sight of a modern-day Leon. When Arthur met him recently while planning this surprise, he’d been thrown, too. Evidently, Mary had found herself face-to-face with—quite literally-- the man from her dreams at the laundry mat of all places, and they’d been dating ever since. At this moment, Arthur can’t help but feel that those they cared about have come back in this lifetime to witness this most important moment.
“Arthur?” Merlin’s blue eyes are wide and round, and Arthur pulls him in close, kissing him, lips brushing over lips, breath mingling. Arthur’s heart feels near bursting.
“Remember, you did say you’d marry me,” he tells Merlin softly. “You can’t back out in front of our friends.”
“Marry you-- …Arthur,” Merlin’s voice is husky, and for one terrible moment, Arthur’s afraid Merlin doesn’t want this.
Then Merlin’s hand comes up to touch Arthur’s face and he smiles—the most beatific smile Arthur’s ever seen. “It’s our wedding day.”
Arthur nods. “Yes, it is.” And all at once, Arthur’s jitters dissolve.
Reverend Parks steps forward and introduces himself to Merlin, Mary comes forward with pink boutonnieres and tucks them into both Merlin and Arthur’s lapels, and Anthony nudges them toward an archway of flowers and hearts.
Merlin stares at Arthur throughout the short ceremony, as though his world begins and ends with Arthur’s every breath, and Arthur solemnly says his vows and listens to Merlin say his before Arthur reaches into his pocket and brings out the two platinum bands he’d bought months ago. He recalls his nuptials with Gwen---a very elaborate affair with hundreds of people present—and the wide smile Merlin had given him just after. Now that wide smile is there again, this time accompanied by happy tears. Arthur kisses them all away, and, after the reverend introduces them as Arthur and Merlin Emrys-Pendragon, and Merlin casts Arthur a look of exasperated love, the loud applause of their friends usher them into the first moments of their marriage
The lights lower and there’s a dance. Upon the first strains of the song, Merlin’s tears return. He squeezes Arthur in silent acknowledgment, and Arthur finds tears springing to his own eyes. Arthur chose this song for their wedding dance because shortly after Arthur returned, it had come on the radio and made Merlin cry. Merlin told Arthur it made him think of them. The words resonate in Arthur’s heart as well.
As he cradles the man he loves more than life in his arms, moving about the dance floor as their friends watch, many memories of their past together flash before Arthur’s eyes, and he feels with great certainty that he and Merlin are going to be fine; they’d get the money from the settlement, they’d buy their house, and they’d live happily ever after.
Somehow, some way, they’d be together, forever.
---END---
Arthur's memories...
Vid “A Thousand Years” by Miss Millsonxx