Merlin gulped, sitting in the passenger side of Elyan's car, this was it. It was here. There was no going back now. He was in a suit, blue bowtie around his neck, for reasons he would rather not explain. It was the day of the marriage, Merlin didn't say wedding because it didn't feel like a wedding. There was no happiness bubbling inside him and they sat in front of office buildings. It felt more like they were going to sign a contract...which, in reality, that's all they were really doing.
"Give me the word," said Elyan, before he had even shut off the car, they were just sitting there instead. "Give me the word and I will put this car in reverse and drive like hell." Merlin looked over at him, lips probably bluer than his bowtie. From lack of oxygen, as he had not been breathing for the last several seconds. "Just tell me, I won't ask questions, I won't. I won't ask if you loved him...because I don't think you do."
"I..." Merlin started, but had no idea how to finish it. He couldn't back out now, even if he wanted to, which he did. Gwen was counting on him, he loved his sister more than he valued his own happiness. That was the bottom line, it was too late. "I do love him. I...I want to get married."
Elayn let out a very long breath. "Alright, Mate...I don't believe you, but alright."
Elyan shut off the car then and Merlin paused for a second or two longer, thinking of reconsidering but he didn't. Instead he pulled courage from somewhere deep within himself and pushed open the car door, stepping out into the late May sun. This was going to be a long day, he thought, a long life. A long sentence. Walking inside, he felt numb. He couldn't feel his fingers and although he heard the click of the pair of his father's old dress shoes on the ground, they must have had a mind of their own, because Merlin didn't remember moving his feet. The elevator ride was silent, Elyan kept looking over at Merlin every so often, with a pained expression on his face, but didn't say anything else. He wasn't going to, he had given Merlin his chance already. Merlin had chosen not to take it.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing a large room of several paired chairs and then a counter. Merlin's family was standing around the counter, every single one of them. There was his mum and dad, both looking stressed. There was Tom and Jen huddled together, Gwen was sitting further away from everyone else and next to her was Arthur...so that wasn't suspicious at all.
Arthur looked worried and a little bit like he was going to throw up, Merlin could relate to that. He hadn't seen Arthur in two days, Gwen had forced him to go stay somewhere else, as it was 'bad luck' to see each other before the wedding day, but as this was a fake wedding and that was stupid, Merlin thought more than anything else, that Gwen just wanted a few more days alone with Arthur while he was still relatively single. As Merlin got deeper into the room, both his mother and father walked over to him and all but scooped him away from Elyan, who went and stood with his own parents.
"Your father has something he wants to say," said Hunith and then she nudged Balinor in the arm, who cleared his throat and huffed.
"I've paid for your flat for another year," he said, in a bit of a rush. As if he was just word vomiting everywhere. "Before you say anything, I am not saying your marriage will fail. I only am keeping it as an...in case."
"Nothing is going to happen," said Merlin, feeling both offended and thankful and a little bit foolish all at the same time. He felt foolish because he was putting his family through such hell for nothing but a piece of paper so some prat could stay in this country. It didn't really seem worth it. "But thank you, I think..."
"We only want you to be protected in case something may come up..." said Hunith, and Merlin could tell she was really searching for words that didn't make it seem like she didn't believe this marriage would last. Little did she know that as soon as it was even remotely possible, it wouldn't. "Just be careful, Merlin. That's all we want, and for you to be happy."
"I am happy," Merlin lied. They both frowned and stepped away from him at the same time. He stepped forward and Arthur stood up. Merlin's stomach turned as he got closer to him.
"Ready?" asked Arthur. Apparently, Merlin had been a little late and they had all been waiting for him. At least that's what the woman in the tight, blue dress made it seem like, as she snapped her gum and glared at him through half-rimmed glasses.
"Right this way," she said in a posh voice and Merlin didn't even have time to answer Arthur, before Arthur asked the question again. But instead of asking with his mouth, he just offered his hand this time. Merlin gulped hard and took it. The woman walked from behind the counter, where she had been leaning lazily before, and in through a door. There was another counter in there, with papers on it and an arch that was decorated with white lace. Merlin felt his chest get tight and his body get limp, as Arthur all but dragged him inside. "First," the woman said. "We will fill out the paperwork, your family can take seats there!" she said, pointing to the chairs around the room. Two of them were facing the arch, the rest of them were just spewed around the room. Everyone just went and sat in clusters, Elyan with his parents by the wall on the other side of the room and Hunith and Balinor by the arch. Gwen still stood with Merlin and Arthur however, watching them. The woman carried on, even though she did look at Gwen a bit oddly. "You two will fill out the marriage certificate and the name changing paper...if you plan on changing one of your names or hyphening a name."
"Take his name," whispered Gwen in Merlin's ear all of a sudden, and then she walked away. Dabbing her eyes as if she were just so happy for them. Merlin watched her go and then looked back at Arthur, in worry. Arthur shook his head, meaning he didn't have to take his name, he didn't have to do this at all, and Merlin didn't want to and he didn't want to take his name, but did he really have a choice anymore?
"Fill this paper out," said the woman in the blue dress and handed Arthur a paper. "After you sign this and I stamp it, you will be technically married. But we will still have a bit of a ceremony for your family." She handed Arthur another paper and two pens. "If you have any questions, let me know."
Arthur nodded and pulled the papers close to himself and Merlin, he offered them both to Merlin. One was the marriage certificate and the other was the name changing paper. "You don't have to do this," Arthur whispered to him then, as the woman in blue stepped away for a second, to open a cupboard and pull out a rather large, old looking book. Arthur touched his shoulder then, making Merlin look back at him. "Merlin, I'm serious, you really don't...just say no, we can leave right now."
"I can't," said Merlin simply, because he didn't think he could stomach saying any more. But the confused look Arthur gave him then made him purge on. "I can't let Gwen down, she's my best friend. I love her...she's my sister. She's already been hurt so much...I can't let her be hurt more, losing you will hurt her too much. I'll be okay."
Arthur frowned and shook his head, as if he were offended by his answer. Merlin supposed he understood how Arthur must feel, but would he really rather have to leave England? Instead of saying anything else Arthur clicked open one of the pens and signed his name and checked a few boxes, and then handed it to Merlin. Merlin looked it over. The boxes were basic questions like are you sure you are in love? No. Are you getting married for any other financial or situational reason? Yes. Have you ever been married before? No, and so on...
Merlin checked the right answers on the boxes, instead of the truthful ones, and then he signed his name at the bottom, without giving it much thought. Because these thoughts made his stomach hurt. The blue dress woman came back over then to take the paper and Merlin hesitated handing it to her, because once she stamped it, they were married. She looked it over first and while she did that Merlin signed the paper for his name to be changed to Pendragon, which was a pretty cool last name, so at least that was alright. Better than Anderson, at the very least. Arthur tutted as Merlin signed it, but stayed quiet as Merlin handed that paper to the woman as well, and she took it a bit rough. Slapping it onto the counter, as if it didn't matter. Merlin wished she was nicer, he wished he actually knew her name. He thought he deserved to know, as she was currently ruining his life. But this was her job every day, so he supposed all of this wasn't very special to her.
She snapped her gum as she pulled a stamp from the cubby under the counter and Merlin watched her, with bated breath, as she popped the lip of the link, slapped the stamper into it and then pressed it to the paper. All in the matter of three seconds, and that was it...it was over. They were married.
(A/N: I sort of wish there was a chapter in between this one and the last one. But again, this was my Nanowrimo story. So, my goal was just to get it done within the month of November. The second one is much more focused on smaller details and let's there be more time to really focus on them. All and all though, I really do enjoy this chapter, the whole rest of the story is just focused on the wedding day. I wanted to spend a lot of time on it. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!)