FICLET: No Good

A story prompt was issued on The Den.  The prompt was "No good can come of this, he said".   Jess wanted to come out and play and this was the results.  This is the second part of a trilogy ficlet that will end with Jess and Ken getting married.  The first is Some Such Shit.

Title: No Good
Characters: Ken/Jess
Series: Wedding Trilogy


"Oh. My. Gawd!" The falsetto voice echoed in the small room.

Jess wanted badly to wince at the voice.  But instead, he schooled his features to give nothing away as he wondered, what in the hell he was doing here.

"We have so much to work with!  We can book the perfect venue and all the flowers," The flamboyant man gushed on.

Jess was starting to regret walking into the wedding planning store.  The site he'd been working on downtown had been stalled for the afternoon while the plumbers got their permits.  Jess had decided to stop in the small shopping center for lunch at a sandwich shop to grab a sandwich on the run. But right beside the small restaurant was a storefront boasting wedding planning for all.  He had no idea what possessed him, but before Jess knew it, he was inside and talking to an overly excited planner.

"You're like a diamond in the rough," the man said as he walked around Jess eyeing him from top to toe.  "Oh. My. GAWD!  Diamonds! Have you picked out rings yet?"

"Um," Jess started.  Then stopping himself from sounding like a stuttering school boy, he cleared his throat and started again.  "No. We both work construction so jewelry is out.  Not sure what we'll do about that kind of thing."

"No way! Construction workers!  A dream come true!" The little man's voice became even higher on the word way. "Oh, there are so many things you can exchange.  You could exchange coins with your names engraved on them.  Or! You could exchanges lovely, leather arm bands. OR! You could get tattoos!!  That is it!  Not matching.  No, that would never do. But parallel tattoos!"

Jess stared at the man.  Then words he hadn't thought out burst out of his mouth.  "No good can come of this," he said.

"Of course there'll be good!  It'll be wonderful!  You just leave it all to me, while you and your sweetie build things.  Oh such wonderful butch men," the man twittered.  "Now what is your sweetheart's name?"

"Um.  Ken.  He doesn't know I'm here," Jess mumbled.

"O. M. G!  He doesn't  know?  Have you proposed yet?  We do help with proposals, as well!  We can set up a night just for the two of you!  At a lovely restaurant.  Or!  Even at your home!"

Jess held up a hand to stop the man.  Everything he said was loud and excited; Jess's head was beginning to ring.  "I've proposed.  I just wanted to know how to plan a wedding.  We don't need a fuss or anything big."

"You've come to the right place.  Oh!  Where are my manners?  I'm Lane and you just leave everything to me!  Now, I hate to be so crass, but we do need to talk budget.  What is your amount?" Lane asked.

"Um.  I don't know.  What does a wedding cost?"  Jess couldn't imagine a wedding for two men would cost very much.   He just wanted to know how to go about getting married without using the court house.  Jess wasn't much of a romantic, but he didn't want to get married in a cold sterile room that was used for traffic tickets as well as murders.

"Well, we have packages that start at a thousand and goes up from there," Lane explained.

"A thousand dollars?" This time it was Jess's voice that was so loud. "To get married?"

"At the low end.  For that we'll do the ceremony here.  We've a lovely back room with an archway.  The invitations would be generic."  Lane's nose wrinkled in distaste at the word generic.  "And simple carnations for flowers.  Your guest list would have to be limited to ten."

Jess thought for a moment.  Did they even know ten people to invite?  Jess thought of the people who he and Ken would want at their wedding. They could invite Link and Wes.  Kevin, too.  His father wouldn't show up even if he did remember he had a son.  Ken was estranged from his own family and had been for years.  At most they'd have five people.

"Look.  This was a mistake. I just didn't know how to go about getting married-" Jess started to snarl.

Lane interrupted him before he could finish.  "Oh now don't be getting your panties in a wad.  I'll bring it down to five hundred.  What good is owning a business if I can't do what I want?  Now, let's get your phone number and address written down.  OH!  And of course your name!  Then we'll set up a time that I'll come out and help you and your honey-bear plan the most magical wedding."

Jess found himself ushered to a small office and writing down his name, phone number, Ken's phone number and their address before he knew what he was doing.  Then he was stepping outside and back in the bright sunshine; promises from Lane to call him later in the week echoing in his ears.

Walking back to his truck, Jess knew he'd have to go tell Ken what he'd done.  Give him warning before Lane descended on him.  "Fuck.  No good can come of this!" He said as he got to his truck.

TBC