Preparing a Promise

297

Hello to everyone! This story was written for angelic_ink for the "Hetalia Sunshine 2010" exchange. The prompt was the actual wedding planning of Francis and Matthew's wedding. I took four things that need to be established for a wedding and elaborated on those. I also went with an AU because the only way I can see Francis and Matthew being together is in an AU. I hope this pleases you!

With that said, here it is!

Characters: Francis, Matthew, Arthur, Alfred, Gilbert

Rating: T

Disclaimer: This took forever and a life to get done, but I'm pleased with it.

Note: I'm in no way a Franada shipper, but I actually like the way this turned out.

Preparing a Promise

Matthew Williams considered himself to be one hell of a lucky man. He had a loving mother and father; he had a protective older brother and a goofball of a younger twin brother who was too kind for his own good most of the times and the greatest asset to his luck was his wonderful fiancé whom he had chanced upon by accident one rainy April day some four years ago.

He had been driving back home from work and it had been pouring rain all day. On his way, he had happened to notice a lonely looking man with wavy blonde hair walking miserably outside with nothing but a meagre suitcase in hand and the most dejected expression Matthew had ever seen in his thirty years of life.

His heart had leapt for this man who seemed to be in dire need of a friend at the moment so he had done what any good person would have done; he had pulled over and rolled down the window of his car.

"Excuse me; can I give you a ride somewhere?" He had asked and in the back of his head, he had heard Arthur, his older brother, reprimand him for offering rides to perfect strangers, but he was just like that. Matthew liked helping the needy and right now, this man had screamed for help. On the inside, of course.

Matthew had never seen such deep azure eyes filed with such misery before then, but he had never seen a prettier face before either. The man had given him an apologetic smile and had taken a step closer to the vehicle.

"Ah… je suis désolé, je ne parle pas anglais."/ "Ah… I'm sorry, I don't speak English." He had said in fluent French with an accent that Matthew had recognized to be from France.

"Ah, c'est correct. Je voulais juste savoir si vous voudriez que je vous accompagne à quelque part."/ "Ah, it's okay. I wanted to know if you wanted me to bring you somewhere." The Frenchman had seemed surprised that the other man had actually spoken French to him.

"Au fait, je n'ai aucune place ou aller… je… je viens d'arriver et…"/"Actually, I don't have anywhere to go… I… I just got here and…" Matthew had smiled at him and opened his passenger door.

"Venez, vous pouvez rester chez moi pour un peu. Au moins, pour vous séchez et vous réchauffer. Je m'appelle Matthew, en passant, et vous?"/ "Come on, you can stay at my place for a bit. At least to dry and warm yourself up. I'm Matthew by the way and you?" The other man had seemed surprised that a perfect stranger would simply invite him to his home, like that, but the prospect of warmth and a dry place had won him over. Oh and there had also been those pretty violet eyes and that soft smile, but at that moment, neither had really known that this meeting would be the start of a relationship.

"Je me nomme Francis Bonnefoy et merci pour tout, Mathieu, c'est très gentil de votre part."/ "My name is Francis Bonnefoy and thank you for everything, Matthew, it's very kind of you."

They had talked a bit on the way to Matthew's apartment, mostly asking each other questions and exchanging little trivial facts. Matthew had been the perfect host and hadn't asked right away why it was that Francis had flown away from home and he had let Francis all the time he could possibly need to tell him the story.

Francis ended up spending one week with Matthew and had offered to cook in compensation for shelter. Matthew had agreed and had been treated to the most succulent food he had ever tasted in his life.

After that, the older of the two, Francis, had found himself a hotel to stay at even though Matthew had told him that he could stay in the guestroom while he looked for his own place. Francis had argued that he had done enough for him and in the end; Matthew had let him leave on the condition that he would call him if he needed anything.

He had never expected to get a call some three days later from Francis asking him out on a date.

There had been many outings and meetings with Matthew's family (Arthur had not gotten along with Francis, at all) and eventually, somewhere between the first kiss and the first time they had slept together, Francis had finally told him why he had looked so miserable on that day when they had met.

He had been engaged to a lovely lady whom had been his childhood friend for as long as he could remember. They had been an on again off again couple and she had seen him through his better and worse moments in life. He had had more flings with other people while he had been with her than when he had not, but she had always found it in her heart to forgive him until the day he had cleaned up his act, straightened out and proposed to her.

All had been well until he had found her in the arms of another man that he had had an affair with a few years back. Francis had packed his things quickly, taken a taxi to the airport and taken the first ticket he could buy.

During the three years that they had known each other, Francis had sworn to Matthew that he had changed for the better and the younger man had never caught him with someone else and had believed that his partner was being sincere.

At least, Francis had been sincere enough to propose to him one windy February morning. Matthew had never really given much thought to marriage and he had never really believed that Francis would want to go through it again. But apparently, his lover- no fiancé did and apparently, he was stoked on the prospect of getting married to the Frenchman.

The year leading to their summer wedding proved to be filled with many challenges and interesting discoveries. Whenever Matthew had attended a wedding in his life, everything had always looked simple and the bride and groom had always looked radiant with joy.

However, here he was downtown with Francis who was jabbering away in rapid French on his cell phone about chrysanthemums sounding more and more upset by the second while he was feeling despair creep up his spine.

For some reason, it seemed as though there was always something coming up that counter affected all of their progress. By the time Francis snapped his phone shut, Matthew could tell that something else had gone wrong and this time, it involved flowers.

"C'est pas croyable! Je ne sais pas comment une simple commande de fleurs peut être perdue!"/ "I can't believe it! I don't know how a simple order of flowers could get lost!"

"It's not the end of the world, Francis. At least we have the roses right? We don't need the chrysanthemums." Matthew told him in the hopes of calming him down.

"Non, it iz not ze point. You wanted de chrysanthemums end we will find dem! It iz your wedding az well and if you want dem, den so 'elp me God, I will get dem for you." The younger man didn't know what to say so he simply smiled. They walked about town for a few more minutes before finding another flower shop that assured them both that they would have the flowers on time. Matthew hoped for Francis' sake that they would.

Two months or so before the big day, there were still many things left to be planned. The church had been taken care of, they had found the hall, the flowers were ordered, the music aspect had been found, the bridal parties informed, the guests had been notified; they were only missing the suits, decorations and the blasted cake.

If any one would have ever told him that finding a cake would be his greatest headache ever, Matthew would have laughed in their faces. He wasn't a very picky cake eater and Francis had opened himself a bakery and a cake shop a year after they had met. Who would have thought that would have meant Francis would have been the greatest problem in the cake finding?

At first, Francis had wanted to bake the cake himself for their wedding, but Matthew had convinced him that with everything else that they would have to prepare, Francis would be too busy to create the masterpiece that he wanted to make. It had taken a lot of convincing, but eventually, the Frenchman had agreed on the condition that the baker would use one of his very own recipes and designs.

Apparently, Francis had found the time to think up of something.

Matthew had no problem with that, but finding a chef who would be "worthy enough" to bake the cake was the greatest challenge he had ever met since no one was good enough for Francis.

By now, they had sampled so many different cakes that Matthew was convinced that at this rate, only another baker from Francis' native France would be able to step up to the challenge. Unfortunately, they were living in Canada, Montreal. He was doomed.

"Remind me again, what was wrong with that cake?" Matthew asked his beau as they left their fifth cake shop of the day.

"De éponge was too 'ard. The cream was not de right consistency end you could taste de salt in de cake. Existe-t-il d'autres pâtissiers dans la ville ou vais-je devoir le faire moi-même ce gâteau?"/ "Are there any other bakers in town or am I going to have to make this cake myself?" Matthew was starting to think that Francis was doing this on purpose to make this as difficult as possible so that he would let his fiancé make the cake.

"Non, there's one or two more places left. Francis, please try to be cordial this time." Francis laughed deeply at that and put his arm around the shorter man's shoulders.

"Toujours, mon coeur."/ "Always, my love." The Canadian said nothing and the two of them made their way to the next cake shop.

The place seemed to be desolate at first and Francis was ready to start complaining about it. There wasn't a soul inside. Matthew could feel Francis smirking behind him, but the younger man wasn't paying attention to his fiancé.

They walked deeper into the bakery and while Francis looked at the display of sweets, Matthew was looking for the baker. He was just about to give up and let Francis do as he pleased when he heard a man giving out orders in rapid German and two seconds later, a tall man with spiky dishevelled silver hair, ruby red eyes, smirk ever so present and wearing an apron that had the Prussian flag on it came walking up to them. Matthew let out a breath he hadn't known he had been holding.

"Birdie! I was starting to wonder when you would come to my awesome bakery to ask me to make your awesome wedding cake." Francis watched as the stranger walked over to Matthew, his Matthew, and gave him a big hug. He wasn't of the jealous type, but he wasn't exactly sure why the stranger still had his hands around Matthew's waist. Francis did what any non-jealous man would do and cleared his throat noisily. If anything, it at least caught their attention.

"Is that your un-awesome, picky, tall shtick of a fiancé that's been giving you a hard time with desserts?" Francis felt offended, but Matthew simply laughed at the comment.

"Yes, this is le grand fouet I've been talking about and he's only been giving me a hard time because he wants everything to be perfect." Matthew stepped away from the embrace and extended his arm to Francis.

The Frenchman smirked to the stranger and walked over to Matthew. He took the offered hand and linked their fingers together. The taller of the three didn't say a word and simply looked at Francis for a moment before nodding his head twice.

"Well, whatever, I might not be a pansy Frenchman like your lover boy here, but I am way more awesome since I am Prussian. Therefore, the both of you will love my cakes and your quest will be over." Francis looked at Matthew who looked at the baker who in turn looked at them both.

"Mais c'est qui cet abruti?"/ "Who the hell is this idiot?" Francis finally said. The two other men burst out laughing and Matthew finally made the introductions.

Gilbertand Matthew had met while in high school some years ago and had struck a deep friendship. While Matthew had then gone on to study to become an architect, Gilbert had been fascinated by the world of breads and cakes.

While one had gone off to make plans for houses and buildings, the other had opened up a bakery with his brother and through it all, they had remained close friends.

Francis' dormant jealousy was put slightly at ease after the explanation and Gilbert went to get the samples that he had prepared. The food was displayed in front of them and the Frenchman took the first bite. Matthew held his breath while Francis chewed. When nothing was said, Matthew started breathing easier, but it wasn't over yet.

Both he and Gilbert observed as Francis made his way from tray to tray, stopping here and there as he sampled the miniatures. The Frenchman was ever so silent, but that was a good sign. If something was wrong, Francis would have said something by now.

"Well?" Gilbert finally asked after a few minutes had passed.

"Hmm… not bad. I ken obviously make better, but I t'ink you will be able to duplicate w'at I want." Matthew exhaled sharply as relief washed over him.

"Of course I'll be able to! I'm awesome like that! Mattie, you should have come to see me first. You would have saved yourself a lot of trouble." The other man laughed loudly at his own comment.

"I know, I just, there's a lot on my mind right now." In truth, Matthew had sort of been too busy freaking out over all the things that needed to be done to think logically that his best friend was a baker. At least, this was another problem that was taken care of.

"Well, I will return demain end de two of us will talk gâteau. Iz dat a deal, M. Gilbert?"

"It is, if you drop the formalities." Gilbert took out his hand and Francis grasped it. Matthew had a funny feeling the two would become close friends.

With that taken care of, they could move along with their plans. Time was ticking by and there were about five weeks left before the wedding. Everything was taken care of except for two remaining things; the decorations for the reception and the suits. The DJ had been found a long time ago (perhaps the only time his brother had ever come handy to him) and for that Matthew was forever thankful.

For what was of decoration, they were having a bit of difficulty over the simplicity of it. Francis wanted something lavish and wonderful that would make Matthew happy; while the younger man was fine as long as there were tablecloths and utensils. Francis had gotten upset over that one day and had told Matthew that he should affirm himself more often. Then the Canadian had agreed with everything Francis had suggested and that had only made things worse.

Over the four years that they had known each other, they had never truly argued and the decorations had been one of their first. At the start of their getting to know one another, Matthew had offered Francis room and board as long as he helped with chores, cooked twice or thrice a week and paid for half the groceries and Francis had declined time and time again under the pretext that the younger man was doing too much for him. They had "discussed" the fact time and time again until they had come to an agreement.

After a month in Canada, Francis had found a job in a bakery and by then, they had started going out already. Matthew had asked him again if he wanted the extra spare guestroom. At that time, Francis had been fed up of living in hotels and motels, since he had never been able to find a suitable apartment, so he had said yes. From there they had gone from being two people going out together sharing one roof and two rooms to lovers sharing the same roof and one room.

"So how about we put the centerpieces with the roses in the middle of the tables and the others on the side of the entertainment centre?" Matthew asked. Francis closed his eyes and tried to visualize the setting.

"Ça peut fonctionner. Bon, alors on sait ce qu'on fait des fleurs. Et des tables alors? La salle?"/ "It could work. So, we know what we're doing with the flowers. What of the tables? The room?" Matthew was an easygoing person unlike Francis who was much more sophisticated. At moments like these, it showed.

"Ch'sais pas Francis! Je t'ai dit que ça ne me dérange pas. C'est toi l'expert là-dedans. J'te fais confiance. Tout me va à ce point!"/ "I don't know, Francis! I told you it didn't bother me. You're the expert in this. I trust you. Anything will do at this point!" Francis looked at his lover/fiancé. He could see that Matthew was stressed and that if he didn't let him be, this would just turn worse.

Francis pulled Matthew close to him and wrapped his arms around the younger man's waist. He then placed his hand on Matthew's face and tilted his head upwards ever so slightly so that their lips could meet for a short kiss. When they pulled away, Francis kept his hands on either side of Matthew's face and smiled gently at him.

"C'est correct, mon cœur, prend une bonne respiration et je vais m'occuper du reste. Je suis désolé."/ "It's alright, love, take a deep breath and I'll take care of the rest. I'm sorry." Matthew gave him a soft smile as Francis kissed him once more. This time Matthew responded with kind and the Frenchman knew that he had done the right thing.

In the end, with the help of the manager of the place, they were finally able to finish off with the decorations and that only left them with one last thing to cross off their list before getting married; the infamous tuxedos.

Francis had made appointments for the two of them and anyone else who was part of the "bridal party" to go for a fitting at this well renowned place downtown. Of the people who were concerned, there was Arthur and Alfred who had to go for a fitting as well. The others had either already gone or already had a suit. The older brother was already at the store while Matthew's younger brother, Alfred, was giving him a ride since Francis had used the car to run some errands earlier in the morning.

"Are you nervous yet?" Alfred asked Matthew as he turned left to get onto the highway.

"By moments. I mean, it's not that I don't want to marry Francis; far from it, but it's the mental and physical exhaustion from everything else that gets to you. They make it look so simple on TV, but there's more to saying "yes" and eating too much food in one evening." Alfred looked at his brother for a moment.

"Remind me then, not to get married, ever." The younger twin chuckled to himself.

"That's not it, Al, it's a wonderful thing really. When you think of it, you're promising yourself to spend the rest of your life with this one person you truly love. It's incredibly sweet, but there's a lot of preparation to it. It also depends how lavish of a big white wedding you want." The two said nothing for a while and the only sound in the car was that of the soft music playing in the back.

"Are you happy?" In his thirty years of life, Matthew would have never thought he would have had this conversation with Alfred, no less. Matthew didn't even have to think of his answer and his smile spoke nothing but truth.

"I'm the happiest I've ever been. Francis is an incredible man; I'm more than thrilled that he wants to marry me." Alfred nodded and left it at that as he entered the parking lot and found a spot for his car. They walked to the door and when they stepped inside, they found Arthur and Francis bickering together.

"Those two act like an old married couple." Alfred commented casually.

"And to think I'm marrying one of them." They watched a second longer before sighing at the same time and walking up to them.

"Alright, alright, break it up you two; the best man and the other groom are here. Your lives can go back to normal again." Alfred said. His comment caused the two older men to quit arguing and turn around to greet both he and Matthew.

Once every one had calmed down, they were each ushered to different fitting rooms where suits had already been placed. Francis and Matthew had already picked a model, but now it was a question of finding the right size and also of seeing if what they had seen in the catalogue was truly what they both wanted. One thing was for sure, however and that was that the suits would be white no matter what.

As Matthew was busy buckling his belt and making sure that the dress shirt was properly tucked in, he recalled an early conversation with his brother that had taken place in their parents' living room a year or so ago when he had told them of his engagement with Francis.

Alfred being Alfred had seized on the chance and had asked whom between the two of them would be the one wearing the dress. Matthew had restrained himself from hitting him and had explained to his brother that neither he nor Francis would and that they were gay; not transgendered. Therefore, they would both wear tuxedos. Alfred hadn't mentioned the dress ever since.

Matthew was too occupied in his own thoughts that he didn't hear the soft parting of the curtains that served as a door being pulled open. He was only aware of someone being in the room with him when he felt two arms wrap around his waist and a chin with stubble tickling his cheek as a silky French voice whispered close to his ear.

"Tu es si beau habillé comme ça."/ "You're so lovely dressed like this." Matthew shivered as Francis nibbled on his earlobe for a second or two before he started kissing the crook of his neck.

"Fr-Francis, what are you doing here? Aren't you-aren't you supposed to be in your own dressing room?" Matthew wanted to tell Francis to stop, that they were in public, that Arthur was really close by, but when Francis' hands had started doing those things and when the Frenchman had managed to un-tuck his shirt; half of his mind was already urging the other half to let Francis do as he pleased.

"Oui, mais je me suis dit que tu devrais être absolument resplendissant dans ton habit et je voulais voir avant les autres; j'avais tort. Tu es simplement époustouflant."/ "Yes, but I told myself that you would look dashing in your suit so I wanted to see before the others; I was wrong. You look magnificent." Matthew had enough of listening to Francis ramble on and instead, he turned around and kissed him deeply. The action was a bit of a surprise for Francis, but he was never one to turn down an advance from Matthew so he simply pulled the blonde closer to him and moulded their lips together once more.

At some point or other, the Frenchman decided that simply kissing wasn't enough so he put his hands to good use. They quickly found the Canadian's belt buckle and successfully managed to undo it. Matthew, for response, hitched his leg around Francis's thighs and drew their bodies even closer, getting more of that friction going which felt absolutely blissful. But when the shorter man heard his pants fall to the ground and when Francis' hand started stroking him through his underwear and when he heard Arthur say something to his brother outside of the cabin, he quickly pushed his fiancé away.

"Francis stop! This, we ca-ah yes, just there-no, I mean, Francis, weren't you the one who, who said that we should re-remain- should abstain ourselves from being in-intimate together?" With Francis touching him, feeling him and using his mouth to do other things than talk, Matthew could only arch his back upwards and try his best not to let out those moans that would let the entire building know what they were doing.

"Mais je m'en fiche royalement en ce moment. Surtout quand tu es si beau et ça fait trop longtemps."/ "But I don't give a damn at this moment. Espescially when you are so beautiful and it's been such a long time." The Frenchman stopped momentarily to tell him that before returning to his ministrations. Matthew wanted to argue some more, but then Francis grazed him with his teeth on his sensitive flesh and the shorter man didn't care anymore. He could be quiet, no, he would be quiet and he could have more of this blessed sensation coursing through him. Oh yes, that was a lovely plan.

"M. Williams, est-ce que tout va bien?"/ "Mr. Williams, is everything alright?" Matthew's head snapped up as he remembered yet again that he was in a fitting room, that Francis was doing things to him that were reserved for night time only and for the private eyes and that he was now only wearing the dress shirt. Nothing else.

"Ou-ouiii."/ "Ye-yesss." He hadn't meant to let out that moan, but Francis had him exactly where he wanted to and in those instances, if Matthew was to remain silent, it was best if he kept his mouth shut.

"Êtes-vous sur?"/ "Are you sure?" The man asked again.

"Oui, ça v-ça va."/ "Yes, I'm o-okay." He was going to make Francis pay later on.

"Voulez-vous que je rentre?"/ "Would you like me to come in?" The short answer to that would have been no, but Francis being the clever man that he was shifted just so and made sure that a certain spot inside of Matthew was brushed and it took all of the Canadian's will not to do more.

"Yesss! I mean, no, non, c'est correct, j'arrive."/ "…no, it's okay, I'm on my way."

"D'accord…"/ "Alright…" The man let them be and once Matthew was sure that he was away, he glared at Francis who only smirked up at him. However, this had gone too far and Matthew was slightly embarrassed by all of this indecent exposure. He strung the last of his willpower together and used all of his inner strength to push Francis away, who fell to the floor with a soft "oomph".

With as much dignity as he could muster, Matthew dressed quickly before going out of the cabin and letting know which of the suits he had picked leaving Francis inside. Arthur and Alfred were disappointed that they didn't get to see him in the tuxedo, but Matthew was quick with his words and told them that he wanted to keep everything a surprise.

Once the suit was out of his hands, he returned to his cabin to find that, luckily, Francis had dressed himself and had made himself look presentable. The older man gave him a wolfish grin which made him sigh.

"You're lucky I love you. Don't think I'm letting you off the hook. You're finishing what you started when we get home." Matthew smirked at him and Francis could only laugh.

"Avec plaisir."/ "With pleasure." Now that everything was taken care of, they could both enjoy these next few days before the rest of their life took off.

OWARI

I… I can't believe I finished this! I mean, it took me so long to get started and it turned out really long! The fact that I was able to type it all in one day amazes me. Well, I hope that you like it, angelic_ink. I can only hope that it pleases you and that I included everything you wanted to. As for the rest of you lot, I hope you liked it as well.

This was a real challenge for me since I don't ship this pairing, at all. But it was a nice exercise!

Reviews, no matter how short, even if they are anonymous, mean a lot to me and let me know that my writing brings emotions to you readers out there. I see you, the ones who only favourite, the ones who add me to alert, don't think I don't. Even if it's just an exclamation point, it warms my heart.

Started writing: July 17th 2010, 1:43pm

Finished writing: August 8th 2010, 12:01am

Started typing: August 8th 2010, 12:07am

Finished typing: August 8th 2010, 7:29pm