"Hey Merton," Lori strolled into the Gothic Fantasy Guild and set her bag down on Merton's desk, digging through it she glanced upwards at her friend, "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Lori," Merton seemed to be frozen in the middle of a rather wild gesticulation, "We are in the middle of a meeting."
"You are?" Peering round Lori found two other people in the room, the freshman girl with the braces who followed Merton around was staring up at him with a dreamy look on her face and a guy she didn't recognize had his eyes shut, a pair of headphones on and was miming to whatever song was currently playing.
"Yes, so if you don't mind," Merton waved his hands in a shooing gesture towards the door.
"I have an essay for English class. I'm supposed to write about romance," Lori pointedly ignored Merton and found her notebook from within her bag, pulling out a pen she turned to a clean page, "It's you or my mom's collection of romantic comedy videos and you're the lesser of two evils."
Merton sighed at the determined look on the girl's face and redirected his attention to the members of his guild, "That's all for today."
As the two members filed out Merton set about reopening the room's blinds, once they were exposed to the sun again he extinguished the candle on his desk and settled back down into his seat, "So, what do you want to ask?"
"Well... weddings are romantic right?" Lori asked.
"Yes, also: the sky is blue, flowers are pretty..."
"Punches are painful," Lori's voice was dripping with venom. Picking up on the hint Merton wisely shut up, "If you and Tommy were going to get married what would you want the wedding to be like?"
"Well firstly, it would have to be a Civil Union..."
"Which is why the question is hypothetical," Lori butted in.
"...But I'd want a church wedding. In fact, church graveyard at midnight in December. A full moon would be nice, but there'd be the wolf to consider so new moon would be the next best," Lori had been taking notes at first but as the goth continued her scribblings tapered off, "...and then the ritual sacrifice; of course it'd have to be an albino goat..."
"Merton!" Lori shouted in frustration, "If you're not gonna take this seriously I'll go watch Sense and Sensibility with my mom until I throw up."
Merton smiled apologetically, "I don't mean to make fun; it's just that I don't have a 'perfect' wedding plan. Tommy could propose on the back of a monster truck using a Gummi ring. The ceremony could be six hours of football games and cheerleading routines directed by an Elvis impersonator at a 24 chapel in Las Vegas and the honeymoon could be to a box factory in Chicago and it'd still be the happiest day of my life just because I'd be marrying him."
"Awww," Lori looked genuinely moved and close to tears, "That's so beautiful."
"Did you just go 'Awww'?" Merton asked worriedly.
Lori coughed, rubbed her eyes briefly and suddenly she was the same girl who could break his arm without breaking a sweat, ""No."
"Fair enough."
*
"Hey Merton," Tommy pushed the door to the Lair open and walked in the same way he did almost every day.
"Hey Tommy," Merton poked his head up from where it'd been buried in the glass-fronted cabinet where he kept his video and DVD collection, "Zombies or vampires?"
"Zombies," Tommy responded automatically.
"Right," Merton grabbed a video and threw it across the room to Tommy, "You put that on and I'll go grab popcorn," The goth had made it as far as standing up and turning towards the door when he felt Tommy's hand on his arm holding him back.
"I have to talk to you first," Tommy's arm circled his waist and pulled Merton so the goth's back was pressed against him.
"Oh really, what about?" Merton smiled as he felt Tommy's nose nuzzling the tips of his spikes and sparks danced about in his stomach just from being so close to the boy he loved.
In response to Merton's question Tommy turned his friend round so they were facing one another, his hand went briefly to his jeans pocket to retrieve something and then Tommy was bending on one knee in front of his lover, "We'll have to wait until Senior year ends and I really don't want it to be at a 24 hour chapel in Las Vegas but, Merton Dingle will you marry me?" Tommy gave Merton one of his 10,000 watt grins and held out a Gummi ring.
"Yes," Merton stated simply, leaning down to kiss Tommy, "Oh, and remind me to kill Lori next time I see her," Merton added once they'd pulled away. Tommy chuckled and leaned forward to kiss Merton again, the goth allowed it for a few moments before pushing Tommy away, "Popcorn and zombie films," He stated simply.
"Okay," Tommy pouted and kissed his fiancée once more before heading to put the video on.
Author's Notes: Should I write more? I could probably write a chapter where they plan the wedding with Lori's help and then one of the actual ceremony and round it off with some hot honeymoon sex. What d'ya think?