Title: 17 mai 2008
By: BflyW
Note: 3rd story in the 17 mai series. Previous installments can be found 17 mai and 17 mai 2007.
Beta: Jayceepat
Pairing: Nick/Greg

Warning: language! Yep, there is some cursing.


"Shit!"

 

Greg's voice is heard all the way in the living room and Nick looks up from his cooking, It isn't complicated, just scrambled eggs that he will let cool off to serve on the buffet with smoked salmon and cured ham. He has the sour cream in the fridge, the potato salad already made. The grilled chicken is cut into serving pieces and placed on a tray and the roast beef is ready to be served. Greg spent the better part of the morning chopping red onions to go with the roast beef, and making his nana's special remoulade recipe. He also had a cursing boyfriend in the bedroom.

"Fuck!"

 

He is tempted to tell Greg to tone down his language but he knows when Greg is using that kind of language, he is really upset and criticism isn't taken lightly in that mood. It's normally safe talking to Greg. He listens when Nick asks him kindly not to do something, and he adjusts, if he sees fit, otherwise he will tell Nick why he won't. This has saved them from many fights, and Nick has learned a lot from this. He has to admit that he has not always taken criticism that easily. Right now though, talking to Greg will probably just get him a shoe to his head. He's not particularly happy about hard, blunt objects to his head.

 

"I just can't fucking believe it! Helvete!!!"

 

Okay that's enough.

"Honey, what's the matter?" Nick is using a gentle tone hoping not to step into a war zone. As far as he knows he hasn't done anything wrong and the anger shouldn't be directed at him. It's better to play it safe though, you never know.

 

"The bunad doesn't fit!" Nick walks in to see Greg trying to button up his bunad jacket, but it is at least one, if not two sizes too small to fit over his torso. "I'm fat! When did I get fat?"

Greg's voice crack a bit at the end, and Nick has to force himself not to laugh.

 

"You're not fat, hon, you have developed muscles."

 

Better to focus on the positive than ask why he hadn't tried on his bunad prior to this day.

 

Greg has in fact built muscles. Beautiful muscles, Muscles that are hard to touch when he traces his hands over his skin. Muscles that flex when he lifts himself up to position himself on….

 

"Shit. I didn't want that…."

 

Right, not the time to be day dreaming!


"Sure you did G, that's what you have been trying to accomplish all along."

 

This is a discussion they've had many times already; if Greg is actually getting results from the all the gym sessions Nick has dragged him to. Greg doesn't build muscles easily, and although he definitely is getting stronger, his muscles are lean and not bulging like Nicks. His body is built for explosive power, while Greg is built for endurance. There is no doubt though that Greg has built muscles, but when looking in the mirror his stubborn boyfriend tends to see the lack of cut instead of the over all growth. Finally he has proof.

 

"Who cares about the fucking muscles, I just want my bunad to fit!"

 

Greg was pulling so hard at his bunad now that Nick was afraid he would ruin it. It is made out of solid fabric and it can resist a lot, but Greg is being very careless in his current state of frustration. He's pulling the straps as hard as he can, and yet the jacket doesn't stretch any more.

"Calm down, hon." He removes Greg's hands from the jacket.

"No you calm down!" Greg frowns at him before he pulls his hand out of Nick's and grabs his jacket again.

"Fucking bunad. Fuck, fuck!"

 

Greg is out of control now and Nick is starting to lose it as well. He know's that Greg is upset because the bunad doesn't fit but he should have tried it on when Nick told him to a couple of weeks ago instead of acting like a spoiled two year old.  But as usual, in typical Greg style; he procrastinated.  There was always time to do it later!

 

"You could have tried it on sooner you know!" Nick knows as soon as the words are out of his mouth that this is a guaranteed way to start an argument.

 

To his surprise the expected yelling does not come. Greg is silent. Too silent and with his back turned against Nick.

"Greg?"

 

No answer. Are his shoulders shaking? Is he crying? Greg crying? His boyfriend who simply does not cry!

 

He can't ever remember seeing Greg cry, if you don't count the time he sat by Nicks bed side in the hospital after the burial, but that was not for himself. Other than that, Greg does not cry, especially not over something as trivial as clothes.

 

"Greg?" He walks over to him and turns him around, and as he suspected, there is tears.

"Honey, what's wrong?"


"It doesn't fit."

"No, really, what is it. It must be something more than the bunad."

 

"No, it's the bunad alright."

 

"Greg, it's just one day. 17 mai won't cease to exist just because you can't wear your bunad this year.  Next year, we will have it altered to fit you.  You know, you are partly right; you haven't built that  much muscle mass so we won't have that much trouble getting the bunad to fit again. And by we, I mean your mom."

 

"Okay. But that's really not it."

 

"What isn't kjære?"

 

"17 mai. I wasn't concerned for 17 mai."

 

"Then what?"

"You know…"

 

"No I really don't."

 

"Our wedding. It's in two weeks, and I really wanted to wear it in our wedding. That's what you asked me, remember? When you proposed!"

 

"Oh. Sweetheart. I know. But it's all the same for me, hon. Wear whatever you like. If you want to wear this, we'll fly out a few days early to meet your mom. She said she would be in San Francisco the whole week, and if we come a few days early, she will have time to alter it for you. Or, you can wear something else. I don't care what you wear Greg, I only care that you answer the question right."

 

And what would that question be?

"Tar du, Gregory Hojem Sanders, Nicholas Aron Stokes, som ved din side står til din ektemann?"

 

"You know the words?" Greg looks at him in awe.

 

"Yes."

"Why?"

"When I hear the words in the ceremony, I want to know them. I want to understand the ceremony in my own wedding." Nick strokes his hands through Greg's hair, takes one step closern and brushes his lips over Greg's.

 

"When did you? How did you learn them?" Greg gives in to the kiss, and mumbles the last words into Nick's mouth.

 

"Your mom taught me."

 

"Are you sure you're okay with it?"

"With flying out early?"

"No, doing the Norwegian ceremony."

 

"I am sure. It feels right. It's a real wedding, a real marriage. I am just sorry we can't bring the team with us, but I think Ecklie would have exploded if the whole graveyard shift took off at the same time. And well, there's no Norwegian Church in Vegas, so San Francisco is it."

 

"So. You know the words. What am I supposed to answer again?"

 

"You're supposed to say 'ja'."

 

"Ja?"

 

"Ja, you think you can manage that?"

 

"Ja" Greg smiles as he gives Nick butterfly kisses.

 

"Well then. Let's find you something to wear today. You can borrow my sunglasses if it makes you happy."

-end.... for now. See you next year! -

A/N:
Happy 17 Mai!
GRATULERER MED DAGEN!

And congratulation to Norway who finally gets a gender-neutral law of marriage, so gay's can finally get married now, not just get a domestic partnerships.

 
Did you know that 17 May is also the international day against homophobia? A reason for us all to celebrate today!