“You OK, Freddie?” Aaron asked, pulling the salad bag open and dumping the lettuce into a bowl.
“Traffic was shit. I was worried I wouldn’t get home in time to make dinner,” Fred said. Aaron plucked the little plastic bag of dressing and shredded cheese from the bed of lettuce.
“You made good time it seems,” Aaron said. “It’s already in the oven anyway.”
“I know, I’m just… wound up now,” Fred admitted.
He tossed the dirty dishes littering the counter into the sink and started washing them. Aaron abandoned the salad for a moment and moved towards Fred. He ran one hand down his spine, then snaked his arms around his torso.
“I can think of a way to get you unwound,” Aaron murmured into his ear. Fred stilled in Aaron’s embrace.
“You can huh?” Fred asked grinning. Aaron nodded, growling quietly. He bit gently at the crook of Fred’s neck.
“Maybe later tonight huh?” Aaron squeezed him and Fred relaxed back into his chest.
“Mmmmhmmm,” Fred grumbled.
“Also,” Aaron said, loosening his grip a bit. “I thought about your Vegas idea.” Fred turned to face Aaron.
“Yeah? And?” he asked. Aaron paused, cocking his head to one side.
“I like it, Freddie,” Aaron said. Fred grinned.
“You do?” he asked.
“Yeah, I did a little research myself during Chris’ soccer practice. It’s a great idea. I think we should do it,” Aaron said. Fred’s face lit up.
“Yeah?!” he asked excitedly. Aaron nodded and Fred scooped him up and kissed him.
“What’s happening?” Jeffy asked standing in the kitchen now staring at his uncles.
“We’re getting married Jeffy!” Fred said.
“Duh Uncle Fwed. Mommy tol me that alweady,” Jeffy said. Aaron laughed and shrugged.
“We decided where we’re going to get married,” he explained.
“Oh,” Jeffy said. “Can I have a snack?” Aaron went to get a granola bar from the cupboard, but Fred stopped him.
“We’re about to have dinner,” Fred said.
“When?” Jeffy asked.
“Ten minutes, kid,” Fred said. Jeffy huffed.
“Can I have one snack?” he asked. Aaron pulled a granola bar from the cupboard.
“Baby! Come on,” Fred said to Aaron holding out his hands. Aaron shrugged.
“It’s one granola bar,” he said. Jeffy eyed the snack in Aaron’s hand. Fred crossed his arms looking between Jeffy and Aaron.
“Fine,” he said. Jeffy hopped quickly to Aaron who offered the granola bar. “But you better eat some dinner kid.”
“I will!” Jeffy said tearing into his snack and going back to the living room to comment on the way his older brothers were playing their video games.
“You, sir, are lucky you just agreed to Vegas,” Fred said. Aaron grinned innocently.
“Oh really?” Aaron asked. Fred nodded as he crossed the small kitchen to him. He wrapped his arms around Aaron and kissed him.
“We’re getting married in Vegas baby,” he said smiling. Aaron smiled back and kissed him again.
~~~~
“Freddie, did you pack an extra pair of dark socks? I was a fucking idiot and only packed white ones,” Aaron asked frantically digging through his suitcase. “God, I’m such a fucking moron.”
“Hey,” Fred said coming out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist, steam streaming out behind him. “Don’t talk about my fiancé like that.” He pulled Aaron by the arm close to him, kissing him deeply.
“I have some socks you can use,” Fred said calmly. Aaron scraped a hand through his hair.
“How can you be so calm? We need to be down to the chapel in 30 minutes,” Aaron said. He huddled close to Fred, as if he could siphon some of those calm feelings just by being close to him.
“I’m about to marry you baby, how could I be anything else but fucking serene?” Fred said pulling Aaron tighter to him. Aaron sighed and tried to relax into Fred’s chest.
They had arrived in Vegas two days before the nuptials were scheduled. Ben had a room he was sharing with his mom down the hall. Aaron’s parents were two floors below, along with Mark and Kate. Paul arrived the day before the ceremony and upon finding out his room was next door to Fred and Aaron’s opted to change it. Madison and her date had arrived the same day and took the room Paul had switched out of. A small selection of college friends and colleagues had also been invited and were staying at varying places on the strip.
Aaron had felt so calm during the planning stages of the wedding, feeling certain everything would go off without a hitch. Fred had been a ball of stress, checking and double checking all their bookings, calling multiple times to confirm, annoying the shit out of their poor event coordinator. As the date approached the two men seemed to have switched places.
Aaron started obsessively double-checking things the day before they left. He packed, then repacked, then went to Ben’s room to see if he needed help packing. Ben had to usher him out of his bedroom, his stress almost contagious. By the time they got to the airport Aaron was a ball of anxiety and Fred was as calm as anything.
“Take some deep breaths, baby,” Fred murmured to Aaron soothingly. “At the end of the day, we’re still going to be married, whether they play the right songs or not.”
“Do you think they fucked up the music?” Aaron asked, panic lacing his words. Fred sighed, huffing out a laugh.
“No, I don’t think they fucked up the music. What I’m saying is, even if they did, which they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter. Because we’re still going to be married, right? That’s what matters baby,” Fred said. He ran his hands up and down Aaron’s arms. Aaron took a deep breath.
“Yeah,” he said, trying to take a deep breath. “You’re right.”
“Now, socks,” Fred went to his suitcase and pulled out a pair of black socks for Aaron.
~~~~
The music wasn’t fucked up. Everything was just as the couple had planned; a small, intimate ceremony, followed by a small but very rowdy reception.
Aaron and Fred had talked about writing their own vows and had almost done it. Fred was the first to veto this idea as he sat down staring at an empty page and realized he couldn’t find the right words. Nothing captured what he felt correctly, no words were fierce enough to communicate to Aaron what he meant to him. He ended up cracking his phone screen when he threw it across the room in frustration.
Aaron quickly agreed to Fred’s veto. He sat down to write something to say to Fred and had a small panic attack at the attempt. At first his mind was totally blank as the empty page seemed to stare back at him. He pushed, trying to force the right words to come, but still nothing came. He had melted down wondering what kind of horrible person he was that he couldn’t think of one thing to say to Fred, this man he loved so purely and wanted to spend the rest of his life with. It had taken Fred almost all night to convince Aaron that he wasn’t the worst person ever.
In the end the men worked with their officiant to modify the ‘usual’ vows to reflect them more as a couple. It had been the right call. Working together on the vows had solidified something even more deeply for them and took the pressure off of writing the perfect words, which would never truly exist for them. Both Fred and Aaron felt words could not truly capture what they felt.