#so i figured i'd run with it

[sweaterkittensahoy]

CleganMarge Wedding Stuff

The night before the wedding, there's a party at the house Buck and Marge will share after they're married. Buck's been living there since he got back and Marge picked it out. She comes over every day to put up wallpaper and place furniture and laugh at Buck's attempts to paint a straight line.

John looks around the house and sees them both all over it. A blue he knows Marge prefers because she has dresses that color. A living room set in a masculine tan but with overlarge cushions so Buck can nap to his heart's content. Books everywhere, all propped up by little wooden bookends that Buck made himself in the little shed in the yard.

The dining room sparkles from the fancy lighting fixture to the floor, and John grins at the fixture as he takes his seat at the table. He'd helped Buck wire it in yesterday evening when he'd arrived, Marge supervising for a few minutes before running to her mother's house to put the parachute silk John had brought to its intended use.

"You absolutely sweet man!" Marge had crowed when she'd unwrapped the tissue paper from the bundle.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get it here before now," John had replied, feeling Buck's happy, warm gaze on his profile like the sun. "But the only way I could get it brand new was to take it just before I left."

"Oh, this is beautiful," Marge's mother had said. She'd been there when John showed up, helping Marge finish centerpieces. "Honey, I can make you a dress lickety split, but I'll need my sewing machine. Yours is packed up."

Marge had looked at Buck, blushing in excitement. "Do you think you and John can handle the light fixture, Gale?" she'd asked. "I really do want it up before the dinner tomorrow."

"We can figure it out," Buck had said, then leaned down to kiss Marge, touching her cheek lightly as he did so. She'd murmured something in his ear, and he'd beamed at her.

Marge had turned and stood on her toes, pulling John down by his tie to kiss his cheek. "You are truly the best man," she'd said, and John and Buck had laughed while Marge's mother had looked mildly shocked by indulgent.

The moment they'd left, Buck had put the lighting fixture on the table, taken John's face in his hands, and kissed him within an inch of his life. "That's from me," Buck had said.

"You got one from Marge ready to go, too?" John had asked. And that kiss pushed him against the nearest wall as Buck got both hands on his hips. "Well, damn, I think she outdid you," John had gasped when he could breathe again.

Buck had grinned and nuzzled John's neck. "She said to make sure I gave you a little extra to thank you for the silk."

"Shit, Buck. If that's all it takes, I'll raid the shed at base when I get back."

And now here he sits, the night before their wedding, at Buck's left hand. The fixture they'd asked him to choose lighting up the room as he looks around the table and finally to the end, where Marge sits beautiful and smiling in her spot as hostess.

She catches his eye and touches a finger to her chin. A little signal she has to tell him she loves him.

John rubs his thumbnail along his moustache, sending his own signal back.

Under the table, Buck's foot touches John's, and above the table, John lifts his glass to make the first toast to the happy couple.

"I was surprised when anyone caught Buck's eye," Bucky says when everyone's paying attention. "Hell, I had to give him most of my name for him to even talk to me, and we were co-pilots in training."

It gets the laugh Bucky wants. He catches the gleam in Marge's eyes that calls him a danger and a treasure. "But, then I met Marge, and well, it was easy to see how it had happened. She's smart. She's beautiful. She's funny. And she puts up with me."

And this time, it's Buck's eyes that have the look, except he's calling John exasperating and ridiculous.

"I can say I've never seen a happier couple, and I am truly pleased to be able to be here to watch them tie the knot. You are two of my dearest friends, and I couldn't want more for you than each other."

There's a cheer, and a smattering of applause, and John sits down. Marge's maid of honor stands to say a few words, but John doesn't hear them. He's feeling Bucky's hand brush his on the table as he shifts his water glass, and he's seeing the tiny edge of a private smile in the corner on Marge's mouth.

When Marge leaves that night to stay with her maid of honor, Marge makes the excuse she forgot her hat and ducks back into the house. She kisses them both and holds John's face for an extra second.

"You know this wouldn't be right without you here, right?" she asks. "You know we'd marry you tomorrow too, if they'd let us?"

John picks her up by the waist and brings her level so he can kiss her again. He pulls Buck in and kisses him, too. "You let me pick the fixtures. I know where I'm wanted."

Marge and Buck both laugh, and Marge hurries out the door.

Buck and John sleep together alone for the last time, and it's nice, but John misses Marge along his back.

"How lucky are we?" Buck asks.

"We're damn lucky," John replies.

The next day, John opens his best man gift. It's a signet ring, his initials done in a lovely monogram on the face. On the inside of the band, there's a heart, and on either side, "M" and "B."

"B?" he asks Buck even as he blinks back tears.

"That's who I am to you," Buck says. "That's who I want to be to you."

John has to dab his eyes. "You son of a bitch," he says. "I never cry at weddings."

Buck laughs and slips the ring onto his left pinky. "Yeah, Marge says that, too."