YAY! second one :)

I actually came up with, mostly wrote and finished this one first.

"What's the difference between white tulips and cream ones again?" Arthur asked with a yawn, not looking up from the laptop balanced on his knees.

He was sitting cross-legged in an armchair, an empty mug of coffee wedged between his thighs and pressing up against his crotch. He knew Merlin was laying on the floor in a pair of ancient jeans and one of Arthur's old footy jerseys.

Five more minutes and then sleep, he thought to himself despite knowing that Morgana and probably Gwen would be on their cases at lunch if he and Merlin hadn't gone over everything.

It was pretty ridiculous in Arthur's opinion, this whole getting married lark. He loved Merlin, Merlin loved him; so why the hell did they have to have some crazy big ceremony and an even crazier big reception to prove it. They had been best friends since before either could remember, they had spent more nights in the same bed than not, they had never even so much as kissed anyone else (and, no, Gwaine jumping on either of them under the mistletoe or when drunk did not count).

To be honest getting married hadn't even been their idea in the first place. It had been Gwen's fault. Probably. And Morgana's. And a little bit of Leon's too.

Lance and Gwen had gotten married some years back after dating for only a few months, but that didn't really matter because it was obvious to everyone that they were made for each other. Gwaine was fond of saying that the only two people more suited to each other than Gwen and Lance were Merlin and Arthur. Gwen was now very pregnant with the first mini-Lance or mini-Gwen.

Morgana and Leon were also married. That had been more of a shock in the sense that only Arthur had seen it coming, but that was only because Leon had requested his permission before dating and then proposing to her (not that Morgana required Arthur's permission to do anything but because Leon was very proper in that way). But after the shock had worn off and all the relevant questions had been asked they had all seen how good they were together. Morgana was absolutely mad for Leon and Leon had some magical way of mellowing Morgana out.

Arthur and Merlin on the other hand, while still crazy in love after so many years, and had been living together since university and were practically married anyway, neither had done anything to move their relationship forward from, in the view of the public, to two blokes who lived together and, to the not so public, were very much in love and had mind blowing sex (although that last part was mostly Gwen, Morgana and Gwaine gossiping). All that had mattered to them was that they knew they loved each other and that their friends (who were their family) knew it. Making it official in the government's view had never been a point of interest for them.

And then the laws had changed making it possible for same-sex marriages to be allowed.

Arthur had been in the kitchen with Leon and Gwen (Merlin, Morgana and Gwaine were banned from cooking; the former two because they had burnt water in the past, Merlin making tea and Morgana boiling pasta and the latter because he had a tendency to experiment with some less palatable combinations) when Gwen had brought it up.

It was just another of their 'let's all gather in Merlin and Arthur's because they have the best apartment', (and they kind of did; it was close to where everyone else lived, everyone felt at home there because it had been Merlin and Arthur's for over a decade and because there was room enough for everyone in case they all crashed there, they all even had a spare set of clothes there).

"So when are you and Merlin getting married, Arthur?" Gwen had oh-so innocently asked, placing the first apple pie in the oven.

Arthur frowned at the stove, spatula in hand, before shrugging his shoulders. "Dunno," he said. "Never really thought about it."

"But you can now," Morgana pointed out from where she was sitting on the other side of the counter, chewing on a slice of tomato.

"I know," Arthur said and switched the spatula for a wooden rolling pin to roll out more dough.

"Merlin and I are good," he said eventually. When both Morgana and Gwen stared at him Arthur sighed. "We love each other," he explained simply. "We know that, you lot know that, anyone else who matters to us knows."

"But don't you want to be able to say you're married?" Leon asked from where he was rooting around in the fridge.

"Why?" Arthur asked, transferring a flat bread from the pan to the already large, foil covered stack on a plate. "It's just a word and a bit of paper, nothing's going to change."

"It is more than that," Morgana shrieking in horror slamming a hand onto the marble counter top to make her point, her rings clanging loudly against the marble bench top.

"It's about showing everyone how much you love the person you're marrying," Gwen said in agreement. "It's about making a commitment to stay with that person, no matter what, for the rest of your lives. It's about being able to call Merlin, the man you love," – she waved her spoon at Arthur's face – "your husband."

Arthur stared at the two with a healthy dose of apprehension. "Alright," he said slowly. "One; like I said before anyone that matters to Merlin and I already knows that Merlin and I love each other, you lot take a scary amount of pleasure in pointing it out. Two; really?" Arthur asked, making his point by counting it on his fingers for them all to see. "Merlin stayed with me even after bloody Agravaine tried to bribe and then blackmailed him into leaving me. And then I stayed with Merlin even after he broke my heart and tried to leave me for what he deludedly thought was my own good." Arthur ignored the other's winces at his cavalier reference to what was probably the worst point in both his and Merlin's lives.

"And three; it's just a word," he finished, turning back to the stove.

When he turned around again to check on the rice some minutes later both Morgana and Gwen were staring at him.

"What?" he whined.

When neither answered he turned to Leon who raised his hands in a 'you're on your own, mate' kind of way.

"Oh, for the love of…" he grumbled under his breath. Stalking across the kitchen he leaned over the counter to get a proper look in to the main room where Merlin, Gwaine, Elyan, Lance and Percy were. The latter three were sitting together and talking quietly while the former two appeared to be fighting over something or another as they rolled around on the floor.

"Merlin," he yelled to be heard over Merlin and Gwaine's ridiculous argument and the music playing in the background.

"What Arthur?" Merlin yelled back from under Gwaine, spluttering slightly as Gwaine's long hair fell in his mouth as they grappled.

"Do you wanna get married?" Arthur asked flatly.

In the kitchen Morgana and Gwen gave a weird combination of a whimper and shriek while Leon chuckled softly. Elyan, Lance and Percy all looked up in curiosity. Gwaine and Merlin stopping fighting, Gwaine straddling Merlin's waist as he restrained Merlin arms above his head by his wrists. To anyone else that particular sight would probably have been worrying, but that was just how Merlin and Gwaine had always been with each other.

Merlin blinked at Arthur in the sudden silence that had fallen.

"Yeah. Alright then, prat," he said nonchalantly before giving Arthur a massive grin, the kind that made Arthur want to melt into a puddle of goo, bounce off the walls as if he were high on coffee and shag Merlin until they were exhausted all at the same time.

Arthur smiled crookedly back at his new fiancé. Then he swore, because he had forgotten a bread on the pan and it was turning to charcoal.

A second later Gwaine shrieked because Merlin had craned his neck, lifting his head so he could lick a stripe along Gwine's face which resulted in Merlin being released, allowing him to stick his hand into Gwaine's pocket, retrieving whatever they had been fighting over. Arthur later learned it had been a crayon and they had been playing hangman.

The next day Morgana and Leon had gone with Arthur while Lance and Gwaine went with Merlin to pick out engagement rings.

Needless to say both Gwen and Morgana had been suitably horrified by how they had gotten engaged and had vowed to make sure that the wedding more than made up for it. Between their jobs and the fact that didn't really care, and never had to begin with, neither men bothered to stop them organising the whole damned thing for them. Unfortunately that hadn't stopped them from including Merlin and Arthur in it all, getting their opinions on anything and everything and making sure that they knew about everything as it happened.

Which was why Merlin was currently sprawled out on their bedroom floor looking at table arrangements while Arthur was looking at flowers at almost midnight on a Wednesday.

"Merlin?" he asked again, looking up when he realised that he had never gotten an answer to his question. He was about to ask again, and maybe throw a cushion, when he noticed that Merlin was not stretched out anymore but was sitting up, his back against the wall and knees drawn to his chest as he fiddled with the simple silver band around his finger.

"I can't do this," Merlin blurted quietly.

Arthur felt worse than he had all those years ago when Merlin had left him. Like he had been sucker punched in the gut, his chest felt completely empty save for the pounding of his heart, he was lightheaded and there was a strange ringing in his ears.

"You can't," Arthur parroted thickly, not that Merlin heard him.

"I'm sorry," Merlin muttered and Arthur could see him shaking. "I can't, I can't…"

Arthur felt sick and knew that tears were falling down his face.

"You…" he had to take a deep breathe before continuing. It was killing him to say it out loud but he had to hear it. "You don't want to marry me," he said in a strangled whisper. As much as he had denied even thinking about it to Morgana and Gwen, once the idea had gotten into his head there hadn't been anything he had ever wanted more in his life.

"What," Merlin yelped, finally looking up from his ring. His panic disappearing the instant he saw the absolute heartbreak written all over Arthur's face.

"No, no, no, nononononono…" Merlin repeated word turning into one long humming sound as he scrambled to his feet. "Shit, Arthur," he cursed.

In his haste to get to Arthur the laptop got shoved of the blonde's knees and was sent to the floor with a soft thud. The empty mug following a moment later as Merlin dropped himself unceremoniously onto Arthur's lap. Merlin's instrument roughened hands cupped Arthur's face as Merlin dropped feather light kisses on lips, on his cheeks, on his eyelids, down the tears tracks on his face, everywhere; all the while keeping up whispered stream of curses and 'no's.

"I love you," he whispered. "So much and always. I love you," Merlin was also crying, their tears mixing in salty mess. "I love you, Arthur. I do want to marry you."

The words sank in a Arthur gave relieved sob, Merlin immediately gathering him in his arms until Arthur's face was buried in Merlin's neck, Merlin's long fingers tugging almost painfully on his golden hair.

"I want to marry you," Merlin repeated once they had both calmed down, although he was still in Arthur's lap and not in any hurry to move. "I do, so much. It's just all this I can't do. I never wanted it and it's all too much and I can't… The flowers and cake choosing and food and music and seating arrangements and the colours and the suits and the…"

Arthurs could feel Merlin's panic rising rapidly and was quick to drop a kiss onto Merlin's nose, finally understanding. "It's okay," he said calmly, trying to project his own calmness onto Merlin. "I understand. It's okay, just breathe." He fumbled to grab one of Merlin's hands and press it against his own chest, just over his heart. "That's it, love," he encouraged. "Just breath with me, you're fine." He guided Merlin's head down so that their foreheads were pressed together and kept up the stream of inane murmurings. "In and out, nice and slow. I've got you."

"Thank you," Merlin whispered finally, tiredly burrowing his face into Arthur's neck.

Arthur gave a small hum in acknowledgement. "Bed," he said softly, gently manoeuvring Merlin off his lap but keeping him in his arms. It was only after they were tucked up in bed, stripped down to their boxers with Merlin half on Arthur and tucked under the blonde's chin, did he ask.

"Merlin?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper in case Merlin was already asleep.

"Hmmmm," Merlin hummed, his face pressed into Arthur's chest.

"If you didn't want any of this, why didn't you say anything?"

Merlin tilted his head up to look at Arthur. "I thought you did, that's why," he said simply in his 'you are such an oblivious idiot sometimes but I love you anyway' tone.

"But I thought you wanted it," Arthur said stupidly.

Merlin shook his head, his longish black locks tickling Arthur.

And then they were both laughing at what idiots they had been.

"Maybe we should run away and do it, yeah?" Arthur said a little while later, a hand carding through Merlin's hair. "Just find a small courthouse get it over and done with and then go to that little bed and breakfast in Germany and do nothing but shag and drink beer and eat chocolate for a week… maybe two…"

Merlin grinned, pressing a soft kiss to Arthur's neck. "Sounds perfect," he murmured, his hand stilling from where it was tracing patterns on Arthur's chest. "But Morgana and Gwen would kill us if we deprived them of the chance from planning our wedding."

Arthur made a noise at the back of his throat in agreement with a small scowl, barely noticing when Merlin suddenly flipped up so that he was straddling his waist, pinning his arms over his head.

"Doesn't mean we can't go to Germany for the honeymoon, though," he said, nipping up Arthur's neck.

Arthur moaned, tilting his head back to give Merlin better access. "God yes," he breathed, flipping them over and returning the favour.

Merlin snuffed a laugh when Arthur yawned into his neck mid-kiss. "Sleep," he commanded, tugging at Arthur, manoeuvring them back into their original position.

Once Arthur was sure that Merlin wouldn't wake up he pressed a kiss into his soft black hair and slid out from under Merlin, carefully getting up from the bed and muffling a laugh with his hand when Merlin automatically burrowed his face in Arthur's pillow. Swiping his laptop up from the floor he also made sure to grab both their phones before flopping onto their couch.

After quickly firing off two not very polite emails to Morgana and Gwen he wrote another two, less harsh, emails to Lance and Leon, politely requesting they get their wives to back the hell off because they were sending Merlin into panic attacks and driving Arthur beyond spare. He then composed another two, the first to his PA saying he wouldn't be in for the next three days and to send anything urgent to Morgana, and the second to Gaius saying pretty much the same about Merlin. He then switched both their phones off (after sending Lance a text asking him to tell the others to leave him and Merlin alone for a couple days, and if he could maybe please stock their fridge with a few basics while he got Merlin away from everything once they woke up) and stuck them in the vase that had mysteriously turned up in their flat one day.

Satisfied that they wouldn't be bothered for at least 72 hours he slipped back into bed, curling around the younger man and pressing his nose into the back of Merlin's neck before falling asleep.

Right, so there's that.

-Nita