Hey guys,
So, two stories in the course of two days-I've got to be setting some of record (for myself at least). Anyways this is just a one-shot that has been sitting on my laptop for the past few days, so I hope you enjoy!
And always, if you can, please review :) Virtual hugs and chocolate cake will be sent your way if you do.
"Morgana, for the third freaking time, how long does it take to try on a dress?!"
Gwen sat slumped on a little red couch inside the dressing room of one of those ridiculous dress shops where the on-sale prices gave her mini-heart attacks, clutching her phone and coffee cup (which was now sadly empty). The club music playing in what seemed like the fifteenth store they had visited that day (she had lost count a while ago) pounded in her ears and she stifled the impulse to march over to the front desk and rip out the chords to the stereo system. Or just fall asleep right there in the middle of the dressing rooms, which is what she had wanted to do since 9:30 in the morning when she received a call from Morgana telling her that she was to get ready in the half hour for an impromptu shopping trip.
Gwen and Morgana had been close friends since they met almost seven years ago in university, where the board's president happened to be the esteemed Uther Pendragon, who amongst his long list of credentials was infamous for his uncompromising strictness, and for having a stare that could rip the unfortunate recipient's self-confidence to shreds. Despite Uther's icy demeanour and apparent emotional detachment, only a few people knew that he was a man capable of love, including his ward Morgana, who was the apple of his eye, and his son Arthur, who also happened to be Gwen's boyfriend. Much to her chagrin, Arthur's job as a high flying business executive had taken him to a conference on the other side of the world in Paris, where he would be spending two long weeks listening and discussing management ideas or whatever it was that he did. Gwen knew that the last thing he wanted to do was go to the city of love without his girlfriend (which was exactly how Gwen felt), but in the end she understood. Her job as a marine biologist often took her to far off places and they were both doing things they enjoyed. And besides, she told him, the two weeks would go so quickly they won't even notice.
Hah, good one. In the mere minutes that followed his morning flight, Gwen found herself missing him. Even in the little things, like when she accidentally made two cups of morning coffee instead of just one for herself. Or when after a particularly trying day at work, when she felt like venting all of her frustrations that had accumulated over the course of the past 24 hours, there was no one there to talk to. Or when a moth flew into the bedroom and she spent a good hour in the living room in her snuggie and slippers, huddled on the couch waiting for it to fly back out (forget snakes, Gwen was sure that moths were creatures that belonged in the depths of hell). And then there were the phone calls from Arthur who despite trying to put on a brave face and telling her funny stories about him falling asleep and almost rolling off his chair during a particularly boring speech, couldn't stop his own sense of longing from tainting his voice. Pretty soon, two weeks started to look like a pretty long time. Too long.
The sudden shing sound of a curtain opening summoned Gwen from her reverie as she looked at her stunningly tall friend stride out in an elegant black sheath dress which ended at the knee and highlighted her ivory coloured skin and lithe figure. "Whaddya think?" she asked as she struck a fake pose. "Good enough for a fancy work party?"
Gwen nodded, saying "Yeah it looks fantastic, just like the other fifty million dresses you've tried on! What exactly is going on?"
Gwen could have sworn that Morgana looked shocked, but the moment was fleeting, as her friend quickly schooled her facial expression into one of mild confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, what are we doing wondering around a shopping mall at eleven in the morning when I could have been in bed? Or better yet, eating something?"
Morgana seemed to give a sigh of relief and reached over and gave her friend's shoulder's a squeeze. "I'm sorry Gwen, I know this is probably the last thing you want to do…"
Gwen's eyebrow rose a fraction. "Ok, I know this is the last thing you want to do on a Sunday morning, but trust me, this trip will all be worth it"
"Huh, for you" Gwen said, as they made their way to the counter to pay for the item. "You will have all of your journalist friends fawning over you, not that you don't have a boyfriend that does that already."
Morgana gave a small smirk as Gwen mentioned Merlin, the former woman's boyfriend for the past few years. It had taken them a while to get together, due to Merlin's shyness and Morgana's family issues (not to mention Arthur's initial horror that his best friend wanted to hook up with his sister), but after some slight planning on Gwen and Arthur's behalf which involved a dinner date for the four of them where the pair conveniently 'forgot to turn up', they were finally brought together.
"Well let's be honest", Morgana reasoned, as she casually handed over her credit card (whilst Gwen wondered just how many yearly paychecks of hers could fit into the price of that one item of clothing), "I'm covered in dirt and sweat most of the time-"
"So it's only fair that you look amazing this one time?" Gwen finished, smiling at her friend.
Morgana just shrugged and said "Well what I was going to say was that my workmates wouldn't exactly fall at my feet if they knew that most of the time I am knee deep in mud and grass." Gwen scoffed jokingly at her friend's modesty.
Morgana happened to be working on a story in the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo on the poaching of Western Lowland gorillas, which meant that she didn't exactly have much time for washing let alone wearing fabulous clothes. But Gwen knew that despite Morgana's obvious wealth and ability to purchase the entire contents of the store if she so wished, her friend barely spent any money on herself and preferred to live life on the everyday basics. Although Morgana was not ungrateful for being born into a wealthy family (as it was her guardian who paid for her university tuition despite her pursuit of a course that differed somewhat from his plans for her to join his consultancy business like Arthur), she didn't like to flaunt it either, preferring to use her funds to donate to an endless list of philanthropic causes and purchase heartfelt gifts for friends and family. In fact, this was probably the first time she had used her credit card in months.
After the cash register banged shut and the silk dress was folded into an embossed, posh-looking bag, they walked out of the shop. "Thank god", Gwen thought to herself. Like Morgana she had never been much of a shopper, and this trip was testing her thinning patience. Morgana's phone beeped and she took it out, frowning at the contents of her text message.
"What is it Morgs?"
"Uh…we have to go to the food court"
"What, now?"
"Yes now"
"May I ask why?"
"I, uh, want a Boost"
"Since when did you like Boost? And aren't they a little overpriced?"
"Gwen, just come with me or I'm stranding you here."
Gwen huffed in exasperation as they both made their way down the escalators to the busy food court at the bottom level of the mall, where hoards of people were already sitting down at tables and browsing the numerous fast food joints that surrounded a large circular plaza area in the centre of the level.
"You know", she turned to Morgana, "You are so going to owe me one after this."
As they reached the bottom of the escalator, Morgana gave her the tiniest of smiles. "Somehow I think, you're going to owe me one". She then pointed to a space behind Gwen, who promptly turned and saw…Elyan? What the hell was he doing here? And why was he dressed in a singlet top and low slung jeans which looked embarrassingly...90's?
"Elyan, what are you doing?" she said to the lone man standing in the centre of the food court.
However before Gwen could get a reply out her brother, a loud guitar riff began playing over the speakers.
Although loneliness has always been a friend of mine
I'm leaving my life in your hands
People say I'm crazy and that I am blind
Risking it all in a glance
"OhGodOhGodOhGod what in the world is happening?" Gwen thought as her brother began to mime the words of her favourite song (a fact that she kept secret until one unfortunate day when she was twenty two and Arthur caught her singing it to herself when she mistakenly thought she was alone). The surrounding people had now backed away clearing a space for the strange man singing to a Backstreet Boys and the curly haired woman, while those at the tables ceased eating and turned to watch the serenading, causing Gwen to blush furiously and turn around to Morgana who merely beamed and gave her the thumbs up.
'Some help you are' Gwen thought bitterly as her brother continued to mime, using large theatrical hand gestures that prompted giggles from the growing audience. 'And why was she holding a camera?' Suddenly out of the middle of nowhere, another man with shoulder length brown hair and a rakish smile sauntered out next to Elyan. His get-up was similar to that of her brother's; a pair of oversized jeans held up by a belt where the clasp was fashioned into a rhinestone covered 'G', with a matching necklace hanging over an oversized white t shirt. A laugh escaped Gwen's lips as she observed the two whose outfits clearly paid homage to one of the biggest boy bands in history continue to mime the song. They sure knew how to party like it's 1999.
And how you got me blind is still a mystery
I can't get you out of my head
Don't care what is written in your history
As long as you're here with me
As Gwaine mimed the words to the verse, he walked over to her and took her hand and brought it to his lips, prompting more bubbles of laughter from the recipient and the crowd. 'He is such a heartbreaker', Gwen mused, 'or at least, he thinks he is'. Gwaine then walked back towards Elyan and to her surprise (which was saying something because she really didn't think she could get that more shocked then she already was), they began to dance and mime the words to the chorus.
I don't care who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me
Who you are
Where you're from
Don't care what you did
As long as you love me
By this time Gwen was literally crying with laughter at the sight of two of her best friends performing the choreography from the music video, fold-up chairs and all. She had absolutely no idea what was going on, but after spotting Morgana who was continuing to film, she knew that it would make for some priceless memories. A flash of blue though caused Gwen to look up to the left and she saw Merlin emerge from the crowd.
He looked absolutely ridiculous-he had on what appeared to be a white matching tracksuit pants and top that swamped his lanky frame, with a bucket hat squished on top of his head of dark brown hair. And yet, he seemed to be pulling it off effortlessly as he grinned and mimed the next words of the song.
Every little thing that you have said and done
Feels like it's deep within me
Gwaine and Elyan interjected with the ooh ooh ooh
Doesn't really matter if you're on the run
It seems like we're meant to be
Gwen could hear Morgana's peal of laughter from behind her, as the three boys repeated their choreography during the chorus. Gwen continued to giggle as well, as she saw one of the most loyal, selfless people she knew attempt to do the snake much to the amusement of the crowd which had grown to epic proportions. Even people from the upper levels were looking over the balconies, filming the event with their cameras.
A chord change signalled the arrival of Leon, Percival and Lancelot (a.k.a Arthur's childhood friend, a rugby player and recent addition to their gang, and an ex-boyfriend and friend of Gwen's). During a particularly rough spot in her's and Arthur's relationship, they decided to take a break. Gwen began to date Lancelot an artist who had had a crush on her since they met in high school, whilst Arthur had a string of short-lived flings with women including Mithian, Vivian and Elena (all of whom were strangely enough now friends of Gwen and Morgana's). However after the course of a year, they had both come to realisation that they were meant to be together. Of course it had taken the joint effort of Merlin, Morgana and rest of the gang to get them to that conclusion (it may or may have not involved locking them in a room to quote "figure their shit out" but it had paid off).
Gwen flashed them both a smile as she noted the rainbow shine of Leon's sunglasses (hey, wearing sunglasses indoors was a pretty big thing during the 90's), the cut-outs in Lancelot's jeans and the fact that Percival's white dress shirt was casually unbuttoned to show off his impressive six pack (Gwen wasn't complaining, and come to think of it, neither was his girlfriend Sefa whom she had spotted cheering in the crowd).
I tried to hide it so that no one knows
But I guess it shows when I look into your eyes
What you did and where you're coming from
I don't care
As long as you love me baby
Now, it was at this point as the three boys mimed the words to the bridge, that Gwen had a moment of lucidity and began to wonder just what the fuck was going on. I mean, this was all good fun, but why were they here? She had a vague idea-no, a pipe dream more like it, but she didn't dare to hope. There was no way he could be here…could he?
The boys began to arrange themselves into a line, Merlin in the front with the others going behind him in single file. As the guitar melody returned and Nick Carter held his note over the speakers, they began to leave the line one by one until…
There was a sudden break in song. The boys continued to leave the line, Merlin stepping to the left first, then Elyan to the right, Leon, Gwaine, Lancelot, Percival until finally a man in a pair of white cargo pants and long sleeve top who wasn't there before was left standing in the middle of the group. Gwen noted his head of blond hair and bright blue eyes which seemed to be staring at her intently as she struggled to register who the new guy was.
And then she did.
A wild grin stretched across her face as she watched Arthur, her Arthur, who for some insane reason had decided to leave France to put on an impromptu public performance for his girlfriend, dance to the remainder of the song with their best friends. Morgana was wildly cheering in the background while the crowd clapped enthusiastically to the beat. This was too good to be true, Gwen thought as this song reached it's ending. 'It can't get any better than this'.
And then it did.
It got better when Arthur walked over and from the pocket of his comical outfit pulled out a small box, in which sat a gleaming diamond ring.
It got even better when he bent down on one knee and asked whether or not she would be willing to share the rest of her life with him.
It got really good when, with tears streaming down her face Gwen replied, "Well we already share an apartment, so why not?", causing Arthur to lift her up in his strong arms and kiss her full on the mouth in front of the crowd who let out a loud cheer.
As they left the mall a little later, the group of them laughing over the proceedings, Morgana ran up to Gwen and whispered "So was the two hours spent shopping worth it?"
Gwen looked to the man next to her, the man who was now her fiance, who had an arm wrapped around her waist and a smile of contentment on his face that matched her own. "Yeah, best shopping trip ever."
Author's Note: Yes I can see a few of you shaking your heads at me at my choice of wedding proposal song, but hear me out. For some reason I really like this song (probably the combination of a catchy guitar riff, Nick Carter's cringe worthy hair cut and priceless choreography in the music video) and I thought it would be interesting if I were put it into this context. Anyways, as stated above, reviews are greatly appreciated :)