The title for this chapter is a line from the song We Are Young by Fun.

Scientific Soul Mates

Chapter 5:
I need to get my story straight

*.*.*.*.*

Telling Morgana he would have a husband by the end of next weekend hadn't been… well, it had been exactly what he'd expected, actually—name calling and chastising, eye-rolling and sighing—but, by the time Arthur left her office just after lunch… he saw—hoped, anyway—that she was beginning to understand, just a little bit, that he was doing this, end of story, no matter how much she seemed to hate the idea.

He decided, however, that he would wait to tell his friends, wait to tell his father until the last possible moment—after all the details were in place, after he'd been fitted for his suit, after everything else was decided and settled; he figured by then there would be no chance of him being talked out of it by any of them.

And oh, it all flew by so quickly that he really didn't have much time to come up with a plan for how he was going to do it; there was so little time between deciding when he would tell them and actually telling them that… Well, he didn't have a plan. While he was being fitted for his suit, going over details with the specialists, getting an address and giving a handful of details they asked for concerning the big day, he was turning the whole situation over and over and over in his head—and of course, there was still work, on top of it all—still in disbelief in the oddest and most wonderful of ways that. Honestly, even if he'd had the time to think about what he was going to tell his father and friends, he didn't have the space in his head for it.

So the Monday before his wedding when he called a few of his friends to ask them to meet him at a bar after work… he still didn't know what he was going to say or how he was going to say it, but he figured he could wing it—he was marrying someone he'd never met before, why not wing breaking the news to his friends while he was at it?

When they all arrived there, everyone thought that everything was fine, that it was a normal night out. But when Arthur paid for everything the entire night over, when he kept mostly to himself, heart thudding, throat dry no matter how many sips of beer he downed, hands fidgeting, crumpling napkins and tapping on the table in a way that made them raise their eyebrows at him curiously...

They probably picked up on the fact that something was going on long before Leon—his oldest and best friend in the world—finally gave him a long, gauging sort of look and asked what was going on with him; they were much smarter than that, after all.

He let out a sigh, and turned his gaze from Leon to Gwen—who also happened to be an ex, but whom he'd stayed friends with, one of his few relationships that had actually ended, well, civilly—to Elyan, Gwen's brother, and shook his head. He had a plethora of other… people he conversed with on a daily or weekly enough basis, but, the three he had called to this bar, on a weeknight, were the only ones he would be inclined to consider his closest friends, they were the only people he was willing to tell in person like this about the experiment. They were a few of the only people whose opinions and thoughts on his upcoming nuptials he valued and would be likely to take into consideration—not that his mind could be changed on the subject, however, but that wasn't exactly his point at the moment, because what they thought still mattered.

"I… am getting married. This Saturday. To a man I've never met. Whose name I don't even know yet. And I won't be meeting him or actually learning his name until we meet at the altar. And I would like the three of you to be there for me," he said, looking around once more at the widening of their eyes, dropping of their jaws, all struck dumb, the silence that hung between them uneasy and uncertain.

Was he joking, he could see the question written in their eyes, in the way they looked at one another, the way their eyes darted back over to him. Swallowing, he tightened his grip around his beer, shifted slightly in his seat; maybe he should have made Morgana come along with him to help break the news. She had agreed to help him tell their father, to be there for him then, but her presence also would have been greatly appreciated here as well, would have been useful in soothing the prickle of anxiety that suddenly crept up. She was his sister, and sure they argued sometimes—all the time—and maybe she didn't exactly agree with what he was doing, but she would have seen the look in his eyes, would have picked up on the signs and turned to their friends and helped him explain the situation, what he hoped to accomplish with this arranged marriage with this complete stranger. He had come to depend on her in that way, having grown up with her instead of a proper mother, he did value her and how she could read him and help diffuse most situations.

Maybe that was why her assistance was best left for breaking it all to their father, he mused to himself after a moment, recognizing that he was babbling to himself now and there really was no reason for such a thing, as the silence that was left the stretch between the lot of them did nothing to help with his case or the situation.

"You're getting married," Gwen repeated after a moment, eyes trailing over to Arthur, eyebrow on her forehead soft and wondering and nowhere near as judging as the look he had received from his own sister when he'd first told her of the experiment. "To a complete stranger," she added, pressing her lips into a straight line as she considered the look on Arthur's face, eyes as piercing and searching and welcoming as they had always been.

"Yes. That's the plan," Arthur nodded in response.

"Right. We're... going to need you to start from the beginning," Leon said then, shaking his head and taking a sip of his beer.

"And another round," Elyan added, nodding at his now empty beer glass.

Arthur nodded in response, and went about ordering another round for them, telling the waitress to bring a pitcher as well and leave it. Because they were silent—if shocked—for the moment, but they were not likely to stay that way for long. Sooner or later, they would all want to put their two cents in; sooner or later, they would all tell him exactly what they thought of what he was doing—and it would all come just as soon as their shock wore off.

Hopefully, with the added beer, he would have enough time to explain everything to them before they started in on him. Hopefully, they would be easier on him than Morgana had been.

And hopefully, they would all be there for him that Saturday. Because damn if he wouldn't need them.

*.*.*.*.*