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It was supposed to be a fun night full of gambling and alcohol with equally idiotic friends.
So, when Michael wakes up the next morning with a pounding headache and an instant hatred for the infuriatingly not-hungover man shoving him awake, he's anything but surprised.
But when he's distracted from pushing Ray away by a suspicious glint on his finger? He's much more shocked.
He pauses to take a closer look at the shiny object on his left hand, furrowing his eyebrows in confusion. "The fuck is this?"
Ray backs off with a noncommittal shrug, plopping down on his own bed and fixating his attention on his phone.
Michael's too busy staring at his finger to notice. Or, more specifically, the fancy ring on it. "What the fuck is this?"
At that moment, the door to their hotel room is flung open, revealing an extremely flustered and confused Gavin. "Who the hell did I get bloody married to last night?!"
Suddenly, everything stops. Michael's mind draws a complete blank for a few seconds, completely failing to analyze the current situation. After a few more seconds, he starts to understand. He slowly turns his head to face Ray, who's already looking at him sheepishly. He flicks his gaze back over to Gavin, who still looks entirely lost, and sighs. Wordlessly, Michael holds up his left hand for all to see.
He can practically see the gears turning in Gavin's head from across the room, followed by a look of pure shock. Geoff chooses that precise moment to appear beside the Brit, processing what's unfolding in front of him.
"Are... Are you fucking kidding me? You idiots got married?" And then Geoff's laughing, all full of giggles and wheezing. "This is the greatest thing I've ever seen, holy shit."
Gavin finally clears the bewilderment from his features, replacing it with an uncomfortable smile and a downward gaze. "I may sort of remember now." He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly and looks up at Michael through his eyelashes.
Glancing down at the ring on his finger once more, Michael turns to Ray. "Yeah, well, I don't, and Ray needs to explain what the fuck is going since he's the only one that wasn't drunk off his ass."
The youngest lad looks up lazily, amusement plain on his face. "Don't know what there is to explain. You guys were - and are - dumb, you got married, that's what you missed on fucking idiots Mavin show. The end."
Michael groans in frustration, flopping back on his bed. "Explain more. What the fuck happened? How drunk were we?"
He can sense Ray's smirk without even looking. "Well, you both got really drunk, like, extremely fucking drunk, and Gavin was like 'hey Michael what if we got married?' and then you both laughed about it and somehow ended up actually doing it."
The Brit chews on his lip, considering. "How the hell did we even manage to get rings?"
Now it's Ray's turn to be a bit sheepish. "Ah, well, I may have kinda helped you get to a jewelry store. Whoops. It was really cute though, Michael got a green stone and you got a brown one. It was also really fucking gay, but duh."
Geoff's calmed down a bit by now. Sorta. "This is amazing. You guys are so fucking dumb. I love everything right now." He chuckles quietly, wiping away a tear from laughing too hard.
Michael sits up slowly, rubbing his eyes. "So, like, do we have to get a divorce? Are there other solutions here?"
"There's always the option of realizing you're both fucking head over heels for each other and sticking with it, but that's just me."
Michael sighs, frustration taking over. "Shut up Geoff, you're not helping. Seriously, how the fuck do we fix this?"
Ray flashes him a sympathetic (though still amused) look. "I think you're gonna have to get divorced, dude."
Frowning, Gavin turns to Michael. "Isn't that a load of paperwork and dumb nonsense?"
"I don't fucking know, Gavin, I've never accidentally married my best friend before. I'd say we're both pretty clueless on the subject." He takes a deep breath, trying not to take out all of his irritation on the younger lad. Despite the current circumstances, he's still his best friend.
Geoff steps forward, shrugging. "I mean, I know at least one of us who has a little bit of experience with it. And by that I mean I went through paperwork hell for five fucking months. So yes, Gavin, it is a 'load of paperwork and dumb nonsense,' just like an annoying British idiot I know." Gavin pouts slightly at the mocking accent the gent uses.
Resigned, Michael nods slowly. "Right. You know shit." Sighing yet again, he lays back against the mattress. "We're so fucked."
And so the inevitably annoying process begins.
Filing for a divorce is even more frustrating than expected. There's just so many forms to fill out, it's honestly ridiculous. It's even embarrassing, having to explain how they got into this mess.
It's just a big giant suck-fest.
Other than the obnoxious paperwork and constant jokes from the rest of the office, things are pretty normal. They still work, still hang out, are still best friends, all the important stuff.
And Gavin still goes over to Michael's place. Actually, that may be a little less normal. Sure, they did plenty of stuff before this all started, but recently Gavin's been going over there a lot - he's there almost as much as his own apartment.
"So are you going to keep fucking cartwheeling around my living room, or are you going to actually sit still for two seconds so we can play something?"
Gavin grins, returning to a vertical stance before flopping down on the couch beside Michael. "Gonna play some games with my husband?"
Michael groans in annoyance, bristling at the cheeky grin on the other lad's face and the playful elbow nudge to his side. "Shut up," he whines, shoving him away. "This whole thing is frustrating enough without you being an asshole about it."
Gavin pouts exaggeratedly, wide eyes focused on the man beside him. "What, you don't like being married to me?"
Michael scoffs, a small smile working its way onto his face. "Hell no, you're a fucking asshole. We've been over this."
Poking his shoulder sharply in response, Gavin turns away huffily. "I don't like you."
Michael's smirk is almost audible. "Yeah, that's the point, dipshit. Now, are we gonna stare at the start screen for an hour, or are you going to hit the fucking A button?"
"Oh. Right."
They play various games for a few hours, accompanied by plenty of yelling and pushing. All that arguing is pretty exhausting, and before long, Gavin is all but passed out on Michael's shoulder.
The older lad sighs in annoyance. "Come on, Gav, get off. I want sleep."
Gavin just nuzzles against him even more, shifting so that he's in a more horizontal position with his arms wrapped around Michael's midsection. "Sleep, then."
"Really?" Michael's exasperated tone only makes the Brit grin. Rolling his eyes at the idiot beside (and around) him, he lays down as well. Arguing is more effort than it's really worth.
If Michael's being honest, it's not so bad. They're really close, and it's certainly not unusual for them to be this... Entangled.
And if he sleeps better than he has in months, despite being on a couch, well... No one needs to know that, do they?
It takes a couple months for things to really change.
Gavin's been going to Michael's more than ever, mostly to play his newly discovered favorite game of "jokingly being a super domestic piece of shit and pissing off Michael."
Such as this morning, when Michael wakes up to the always welcome smell of cooking pancakes.
It's slightly less welcome once he realizes exactly which asshole must be the one making them.
Leaning forward with a stretch and a low groan, Michael reaches blindly for his phone on the nightstand. Blinking and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he forces them to focus on the bright white numbers on the screen in front of him.
This fucking idiot is making pancakes at 6 in the goddamn morning.
He sighs in frustrating before standing and padding into the kitchen. And man, who knew one British piece of shit could make such a mess?
A very flour-coated Gavin spins around to face him, a large grin spreading over his face at the sight of his sleepy friend. "Good morning Michael!" He leans quickly and pecks Michael on the side of the head, leaving him to grumble in protest and blush profusely.
The way-too-chipper-for-the-time-of-day lad returns to his cooking, humming cheerfully while he works. It's not an unpleasant sight.
Michael must have gotten a bit distracted staring at him, because the next thing he knows Gavin is shoving him towards the stove and telling him to "man the griddle" while he grabs a few fun toppings. Left with the choice to either let them burn, or suck it up and cook them, he sighs resignedly and picks up the spatula.
Michael settles into it pretty quickly, calmly flipping the pancakes and singing softly like Gavin had been before. Not much time passes before he's greeted by arms wrapped around his waist and a body pressed way closer to him than it should be. Ever. "Holy shit, Gavin, personal space."
Gavin just grins and rests his head on Michael's shoulder, watching the process. "What, like we've never been this close before?"
Shaking his head, Michael steps aside and pushes Gavin away from him. "Seriously, Gav, it's fucking weird. It's really fucking weird to be basically grinding your dick against my ass, especially with the whole bullshit marriage thing." He sighs, looking off to the side. "It's just different now, okay?"
Now Gavin's confused. "Why would it be different? It's not like we're actually dating or anything, you're my boi! You're the only one freaking out about all of this, why?"
Michael turns to him with a scoff. "That's absolute bullshit. You were freaking out more than anyone else at first! You're just... You're crossing boundaries, and just..." He shakes his head, reaching up to rub his face. "I can't fucking do this. I need... You need to leave. Please."
That's definitely not what Gavin expected to hear. "What? Why?"
That's all it takes for Michael to snap. "Because I can't fucking deal with this!"
He exhales slowly, forcing his eyes shut. "Please, Gav. Please just go." The waver in his voice is all the convincing Gavin needs.
"Okay."
Michael doesn't open his eyes until he hears the front door close. Left with only half-finished pancakes as evidence Gavin had ever been there, he buries his face in his hands.
"Fuck."
"Dude, what's up with you?"
Michael's yanked back into the real world by the concerned Ray next to him. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Ray rolls his eyes, giving him a pointed look. "Come on, you were just staring at a fucking wall for five minutes. Either you have some x-ray vision I don't know about, which would be really rude since I'm X-Ray, or something's up."
The laugh that comes out of Michael is a bit forced, and they both know it. "It's nothing, Ray, I'm fine."
"Okay, that's bullshit, and you know it. You've been out of it all day, and just... Gavin's been weird too, I don't know. Did something happen?" There's genuine worry in his voice, and Ray's just way too perceptive for Michael to try to dispute.
Sighing, he turns the youngest lad. "Yeah, sort of. Pretty much just me freaking out for no reason."
"There's obviously a reason since you're freaking the fuck out."
Facing his computer again, Michael smiles wryly. "Well... He got up ridiculously fucking early yesterday and started making pancakes, and somehow I ended up flipping them, and... I don't know, it just got so ridiculously domestic, you know? He fucking hugged me from behind and I lost my shit and kicked him out." He drops his head slightly, closing his eyes. "It was like a fucking fanfiction, Ray. And I just... Flipped."
There's a long pause. Unsure what to say, Ray looks at him hesitantly. "Huh. Something definitely happened."
Michael says nothing, wincing slightly at the other man's words, and the silence continues.
"I think you might want to see this."
Michael opens his eyes finally, gazing at Ray with a confused expression. "See what?"
Ray gestures towards his phone, or, rather, the video on it. Noting Michael's attention, he clicks play on the video, audio instantly pouring through the speakers.
"Mr. Free, do you take Mr. Jones to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
Video Gavin has a big dumb grin on his face, only getting larger as he speaks. "I do."
Present Michael inhales sharply as he realizes exactly what he's watching. "Oh."
The man standing in front of them continues the marriage speech. "And do you, Mr. Jones, take Mr. Free to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
Video Michael smirks slightly at his soon-to-be-husband, nodding slowly. "Yeah, I do."
The man smiles at them both. "Good. I now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss the groom."
Michael watches himself kiss his best friend (and husband), unable to do anything else. They pull apart after a moment, smiling, and that's when the video ends.
There's yet another pause as Michael just sits and stares at the now blank screen, eyes wide.
He's startled out of it when Ray sets his phone down, turning to face him again. "Yeah, that's a thing."
"I... How? Why the fuck haven't I seen this before?" Michael's temper flares, only increased by his confusion and uncertainty.
A sheepish look appears on Ray's face, just like before. "I didn't show it to you then. I thought it might have been a bad idea, since... Well, when you told me what happened, I thought this might help. Maybe."
"There have been a lot of fucking terrible ideas recently, Ray! Why would showing me what I don't remember because I was fucking drunk off my ass be one of them?"
Ray snorts at that. "First of all, what you just said is generally a shit plan. Secondly, did you not watch the fucking video? Or... Did you just not notice?" Ray's eyebrows furrow in consideration, and Michael's even more lost than before.
"Not notice what? That I got married? No shit, asshole, I'm pretty fucking aware of that."
Ray groans at the other lad's obliviousness. "No, idiot, how you were looking at each other. Fuck, it feels like I'm living in a fucking chick flick starring my two best friends. This is bullshit."
One part of that stands out to Michael. "How we were looking at each other? The fuck does that mean?"
Smirking, Ray pulls up the video again and puts it at a certain time. "Here - see?"
Michael leans forward to look and - wow, he was not kidding. "Oh."
"Yeah, oh is right. You two are fucking head over heels for each other, and it's especially obvious in this video, so it felt weird to show it to you when you were talking about divorce." But Michael's already gone, lost in his own thoughts and plans. Ray just shakes his head with a fond smile. "Idiot."
A while later, Michael stops Gavin in the hall on the way out of the office. "Hey... Wanna come over?"
The Brit's surprise is obvious, but he nods anyway. "Yeah, sure. I'll try not to, ah... Invade." Michael nods, a hesitant smile on his face, before heading out to his car.
Soon enough they're at his apartment, grabbing drinks from the fridge and settling onto the couch. Some random movie is put on, and for a while they just sit there, cracking jokes every now and then.
Gavin brings it up first. "So... What happened yesterday?"
Michael instantly tenses, already knowing exactly where this is going. "The whole pancake thing?" Gavin nods, and Michael hesitates for a moment before sighing. "I'm not really sure, honestly. I just fucking flipped my shit out of nowhere, and it was pretty uncalled for." He looks at the beer bottle in his lap, absent-mindedly picking at the label while he continues. "You're right - we've definitely been closer than that before, it's just... Different, I guess. Things are just kind of different, and before you get all 'but Michael, we're not actually married' - yes, I know, I'm fucking aware of that, okay? It's not new information for me, not in any way. Of course we're not actually married; why the fuck would we be? We're friends, that's not how this shit works. But... I think..." he sighs, reaching up to run a hand through his hair, "I think that may be the issue, Gav."
Gavin pauses, fixing him with a confused look. "What do you mean?"
Michael smiles humorlessly, pulling out his phone. "I should show you something." He presses play on the video he pulls up a moment later, facing it in Gavin's direction.
It's the same video Ray played for him earlier - the two of them, drunk as fuck, getting married and gazing at each other like they're the fucking sun.
Gavin just stares, eyes wide and unblinking as the video plays. When it reaches the kiss, his entire face goes bright red, and he forces himself to look away from the screen. "Where... Where did you get that?" The younger lad's voice is shaky, nervous.
Michael watches him, curious. "Ray showed it to me earlier."
Gavin nods, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down. He turns to Michael, a question on his lips. "Is that how we look at each other all the time?"
Michael looks away quickly, his heart rate being way too affected by the idiot next to him. "I don't know." Silence fills the room after that, both of them consumed by their own thoughts. Michael breaks it first. "I lied." Gavin faces him again, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "When I said I didn't like being married to you."
It takes a moment for Gavin to react in any way. When he does, it's a nearly imperceptible widening of his eyes. "Really?"
Michael lets out a long breath, unsure of how this will go. "Yeah, really. That's, uh... That's why I freaked out, before. Because it was really domestic, and some part of me realized that I hated it a lot less than I should have. So... I fucking lost it, and I'm sorry for that." He tilts his head back, gazing up at the ceiling. "I think I've just been really fucking oblivious for a long time, Gav. We've... We've never had a 'normal' friendship, you know? We were always a little closer, a little more extreme, a little more... Just, everything. And it's kinda sad that it took us literally accidentally getting fucking married for me to figure out any of that. No, fuck that, it's ridiculous, and I'm an idiot. We're both idiots."
There's yet another pause before Gavin responds. "Yeah, I guess we are, aren't we?"
They sit there for a while, neither of them saying a word. The movie's been over, but neither of them move to do anything about it. There's too much to focus on.
"So... What now?"
Michael doesn't know what to say to that. Instead, he stands up, grabbing Gavin's wrist and pulling him with him. One they're there, they just look at each other, Gavin with one eyebrow raised. The older lad smiles sheepishly. "Yeah, I didn't really plan this far. I didn't plan at all, actually." He hums softly, considering for a moment. "Fuck it. I don't want to get a divorce."
Gavin stares at him, his expression unreadable. Just when Michael starts to get a little more nervous, an alluring grin spreads across his face. "Michael Jones," he says a bit seductively, slowly stepping forward, "Are you proposing to me for real?"
Gavin pauses just inches from Michael, reaching up and tracing a single finger along his jawline. Michael's breath catches in his throat a bit, followed by a more confident smirk and another step forward. "I might be."
Their faces are closer than ever. Michael's heart speeds up, pounding in his chest and reminding him just how near the man in front of him is. The smirk drops off of his face, his eyes drifting downward to Gavin's lips. The younger lad reaches up again, this time cupping Michael's jaw and pulling him to his lips.
Michael immediately pushes into the kiss, throwing his arms around Gavin's neck. Gavin's hands travel upwards into his curls. Michael gets his thoughts together a bit and suddenly Gavin's against the wall, Michael's hands right above his shoulders. Smirking slightly, Gavin gently bites at his lip, pulling their faces closer all the time. Michael presses their lips firmly together once more before pulling away, all grins and sparkling eyes.
Gavin takes one look at his face and basically melts, because wow, he looks so happy. He returns the smile, softly moving his hand down Michael's arm. "So... What happens now?"
Michael laughs a bit at that. "Common question tonight, huh?" He scrunches his face up a bit, considering. "Well... Maybe we could give this a try? You know... Call off the divorce, see what happens?"
Gavin grins, giggling a bit. "You mean what Geoff told us to do in the first place?"
Michael smirks, nodding. "Yeah, exactly that. You in?"
The younger lad leans in quickly, pecking him on the lips, smiling smugly at the now flustered Michael. "I'm absolutely in."
And then they're just looking at each other, faces bright, and it's almost like they're living the wedding video again.
Except, you know, less drunk, and not in Las Vegas. But their expressions? Just the same.
Geoff really does have an eye for these things.
A few months later, Michael finds himself dressed in an extremely elegant suit, accompanied by Ray wearing equally fancy clothes.
"Hey, it's gonna go great, okay? You've done this before, even if you don't remember it. It'll be fine."
Michael smiles, thanking Ray for the encouraging words. His name is called from somewhere a few doors away, and then he's being shoved towards a slightly familiar large room.
It's much more decorated than the last time. Before, it was just a big plain room with some chairs, most of them empty. Now, there's a lot more people, and actual wedding decorations.
The decision to come back to Las Vegas wasn't a tough one. Why not go back to where it all started?
"If we're gonna do this, let's do it right," Gavin had said, the day they decided to redo their wedding with them both sober. Michael couldn't agree more.
And now here he is, walking down the aisle, surrounding by everyone he cares about, walking towards the one he cares about way more than he probably should.
But hey, that's love.
The same man stands at the front of the room, giving the classic wedding speech, despite Gus' protests. Everything is as it should be.
Soon enough, they're where the video began.
"Mr. Free, do you take Mr. Jones to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
Gavin's looking at him with that same enormous grin. "I do.
"And do you, Mr. Jones, take Mr. Free to be your lawful wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day on, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"
Michael's smiling right back at him, eyes shining in the way only love causes. "Absolutely, I do."
The man continues, happiness in his tone. "Then I now pronounce you husband and husband. And by all means, you may now kiss the groom."
They definitely do. It's one of their dorkier kisses, filled with smiles and laughter, but that makes it all the more perfect. With the sound of the people closest to him cheering as background noise, Michael thinks that this is the best moment that has ever existed. And he's got a whole lifetime of them ahead, with Gavin by his side every step of the way.