WHO: Finn Campbell & Matt King-Merritt WHAT: Marrying & Waking Up In Vegas WHEN: Sunday, May 3 (Backdated) WHERE: The Demimond of Las Vegas RATING: SFW
Dragons and romantic fancies aside, Finn liked to think of herself as a rather sensible girl with her feet planted firmly on the ground. So that being said, she was pretty sure she had never felt like this before. Not even with Felix, whom she had followed across the Ocean, made her feel the way Matt did. There wasn't any following between them, only walking together. Like how it was supposed to be.
As they walked down the street together, hand in hand, Finn's gaze drifted over to the Chapel of Love and there was a sharp intake of breath. She had never been the sort of girl who dreamed of her wedding, always too busy with the here and now rather than the future, and never really gave much thought about the entire concept of matrimony. Until this very instant. "We should get married," she blurted out. "I know it'd be a lot, but I'm almost done with my fellowship and then we can explore the world like we talked about. And Snowcap is always looking for an extra set of hands somewhere."
Now that that she had said something, she felt a little dizzy with excitement and want. This was something that just felt right. More right than anything except when she'd gotten to hold a dragonlet for the very first time.
It had been a perfect night, the kind he’d never experienced before in Vegas, or anywhere else for that matter. The drinks and the lights, the crowds and the views, the buzz of excitement in the air: all of it was different with someone special by your side. Matt was no stranger to attraction (or to the actions that followed attraction), but he was much less familiar with this feeling of permanence.
His usual M.O. included “not putting labels on things” and “seeing where this goes,” but this time, he already knew. It was as if in all his travels, he’d been looking for something, but hadn’t known until he found her.
The suggestion of marriage made him stop short. “That…” he said slowly, relishing the slight tug on their connected hands, “Is the best idea I’ve heard in a long time.”
"Really?" It was something that Finn didn't know she wanted until it had come to mind and she'd said it aloud. But now it was an idea that had absolutely taken hold. She wanted to share Brightstar with him. The Highlands. Mull. Then experience new places and people with him. She wanted Matt to share places he loved with her.
She shook her head. "Don't answer that." And before either of them could lose this particular feeling or moment, Finn started towards the doors. "Because we're going to get married and there's no room for self doubt on this broomstick." Maybe she would regret doing it this so quickly in the morning, nary a relative in sight, but it couldn't be helped with it felt so right. She knew her loved ones would understand when she explained it to them.
“Really,” Matt said, answering anyway because if the answer was yes, why not say it out loud? If he knew he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, why not swear it in front of the world and God?
He stopped for a moment just outside the chapel to press a kiss to the top of her head, then led them through the doors…
Only to be greeted by a line to wait in. Well, of course they weren’t the only couple in Vegas getting married on a Saturday night. But Matt had been waiting his whole life for this girl, and he could wait a little longer.
Pulling out her phone, Finn snapped a few pictures of the two of them, debating if she should text one of her cousins so at least one family member would stand beside her as witness, but she wasn't sure if they were available or if they would try to put a stop to all of this. And that was the last thing she wanted right now.
They could always have a wedding for the family later, but she wanted something for them first.
Two by two they moved forward, picking up forms along the way. It didn't take her terribly long to fill everything out, easier than she thought considering she wasn't even a citizen of the AWC. And then they were at the front of the line and it was time to get married and really, Finn was trying not to hyperventilate. This was even more exhilarating than her final game of Quidditch in her seventh year when they were about to clinch the Quidditch Cup.
"Ready?" She beamed up to him. "You can answer this time."
“So ready,” he answered, barely able to tear his eyes away from his bride in order to look at the officiant. The chapel supplied a witness, too, which was convenient seeing as they didn’t have one. All they had was each other, but that was enough.
When asked if they’d prepared their own vows, Matt shook his head. “No, but… I can say something.” He paused for a moment to collect his thoughts.
“Finn… princess,” (he’d only learned her name as they filled out their forms, and it felt more natural to call her by the moniker), “I may have only known you for one night, but I want to know you for the rest of my life. People always treat weddings like it’s happily ever after, but that never made sense to me. This makes sense. You make sense. And that’s what I want for us: a happy beginning.”
For a few seconds Finn was pretty sure she forgot to breath, because that... that was what she was waiting to hear all her life. "No fairytale happily ever afters, but new beginnings." She agreed, grabbing Matt's hands and giving them a firm squeeze. "I cannot say what will happen in the future, but I know that I want you with me. Hand in hand, side by side as we discover all the world has to offer."
The officiant cleared her throat and then said the words that mattered most. "Finn and Matt, you have expressed your love to one another through the commitment and promises you have just made. It is with these in mind that I pronounce you husband and wife."
There was a smattering of whoops and clapping, but Finn heard none of it. Throwing herself at Matt––her husband––she gave him an enthusiastic kiss, full of promise and to their new beginning together.
* * *
Matt awoke, as he often did, when the sunlight fell upon his face. He kept his eyes closed for a few moments extra, feeling simultaneously more exhausted and more rested than usual. He felt as though he’d been asleep for no time at all, and yet he was far more comfortable than he was used to being at the campsite.
On opening his eyes, it was clear why: he wasn’t at the campsite. He was laying in a real bed, tucked up with a fluffy white comforter, feeling incredibly cozy and warm. Of course, it helped that there was a warm body next to him. As Matt looked at his companion, a beautiful brunette still sound asleep, he started to remember the night before. Meeting a princess and following her into a casino. The sound of her accent, and her laugh. Walking hand in hand through the streets. It had been a great time, the best he’d had in Vegas by far.
He sat up and ran a hand through his hair, then abruptly stopped at what he felt.
There was a ring on his left hand.
Finn rolled over into the sun warmed spot, snuggling deeper into the mound of pillow and blankets of the most luxurious bed she’d ever had the pleasure of sleeping in. It had to be expensive, she had never seen that many pillows on one bed before. As she found a particularly comfortable position she felt her hip bump into something incredibly solid and warm.
Her eyes blinked open and she took in the sight of her bed companion. “Yer not JJ,” she stated, her brogue far deeper first thing in the morning. Though clearly in a sleep-addled state, Finn realized how obvious that sounded, but what else was she supposed to say? She pushed herself up into a sitting position, feeling an unfamiliar weight on her left hand. Her ring finger to be exact.
“Oh bloody feckin' hell.” The previous night rushed back to her and while there was no heady sense of wanted and desire, she could feel a lingering sense of affection for the man in front of her. Matt. Her husband. That set off another impressive and inventive set of curse words as she took a quick peek to see her current level of undress. So many questions. So few answers.
“Who’s JJ?” Matt asked, his voice still raspy from sleep. “Please don’t tell me you have a boyfriend.” Whether it was an attempt to lighten the mood or a genuine concern, he couldn’t rightly say. All he knew was that 1) it would explain the cursing (he wasn’t that unattractive, was he?), and 2) he was really not looking forward to that confrontation.
"My roommate?" She looked over at the other bed, but didn't see the other woman. Which might be a blessing, albeit a small one, but she'd take it for now. "We were sharing a hotel room, but tha's not important now." Grabbing a pillow, she wrapped her arms around it and hugged it close to her chest.
"But we got married." The rather generic matching bands on their fingers testified to that fact. She ran a hand through her hair and thought about what her Gran would have to say about this. "And I dinna know about ye, but that's not typical behavior."
“Not typical for me either, I assure you,” Matt replied. “In fact, this would be my first.” The strange thing was that he didn’t feel particularly hungover, so he couldn’t blame it on the alcohol. And it’s not as if it were his first time in Vegas, either. With all the data he had, the most reasonable conclusion seemed to be: this girl was something special.
He took his hand out of his hair, resting it on his thigh and glancing at his ring out of the corner of his eye. “At the risk of sounding too cavalier about this whole marriage thing… we can get it annulled. We just have to prove that either one of us was too drunk to consent.” It may have been Matt’s first marriage, but he’d been in Vegas for months now, and when you meet a lot of tourists in your line of work… you learn a lot of interesting things.
"But I wasna drunk." Finn frowned. Sure, she'd been drinking, but she'd been pleasantly buzzed and it took more than a few beers to take her down. "I mean, I dinna want to blame it on alcohol. I canna explain why or how, but I wanted it. Maybe I still do?"
This wasn't how the romances she'd read in Hogwarts portrayed relationships, but they had always been after the formulaic happily ever after. As they promised one another last night, they were the types that looked for happy beginnings. "Oh, I've royally mucked this up, haven't I?" Finn once again brushed the hair out of her eyes, only for it to fall right back where it wanted to go. "I'm very surprised to see ye in me bed at the Niffler, but it's na a bad surprise. I just dinna know how to explain this?"
Something niggled at the back of her brain. Why did it latch onto the word annulment? Looking around, she spotted a white folder on the credenza under the television. A quick summoning spell had it landing neatly in her hand and she began to look through the paperwork for any mention of annulments or dissolution of marriage.
The confirmation that he wasn't a bad surprise set Matt's mind slightly more at ease. The last thing a man wanted to hear after waking up with a partner (particularly a partner legally wed) was regret and upset. Hence his immediate suggestion of an annulment.
But confusion he could handle. “Whatever is mucked up, we mucked it up together,” he said, tentatively placing his hand on top of hers to see how it felt.
His evaluations were cut short when the folder flew across the room and into her hand. Matt pulled back, eyes wide, and gaped for a long moment. “What the fuck was that?” he asked in a weak voice.
"Uh… accio?" Finn didn't give the spell much thought. It was something she'd learned when she was in her first year, one of the most basic (and useful) charms a witch or wizard could learn. "Surely ye learned it…." Her voice died off as her eyes landed on a key line of the contract they had both filled out and signed in the early hours of the morning.
Upon marriage, Finella Mairead Campbell (witch, British national) vows full responsibility of Matthew DRAGONS King-Merritt (no-maj, American citizen) to upkeep the International Statute of Secrecy for a period of eighty-six month.
"Shite. Yer a muggle." All the color drained from Finn's face. How could that have happened? He was in the Demimond. "Do ye have a magical sibling, maybe?" Her voice held a weak thread of hope. Because they were facing a giant chasm of the unknown. New beginnings indeed.