bunnysworldTitle: The suit
Rating: G
Pairing: Merlin/?
Warnings: none
Word count: 836
Prompt: Wrong number
Summary: Merlin needs to get a suit to attend a wedding
Author’s notes: Not beta’d. Yay! What else is new?
Merlin turned this way and that in the small badly lit cubicle. He hated clothes-shopping and usually ordered his stuff online. This was important, though, so he wanted to look good. It was the fifth suit and tie-combination that he had tried on and no matter what the sales person said, he felt like being stuffed in a costume. The man staring back at him through the mirror wasn’t him.
Sighing, Merlin fiddled his mobile out of the pocket of his jeans that he had thrown carelessly to the ground and snapped a selfie. Percy knew such things, he would know if this was outfit was at least adequate. But…what was Percy’s number? After an unfortunate accident with his old mobile he had just gotten this new one and didn’t have the time to synchronize all the data.
Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he tried to remember Percy’s number. Okay…he got it. Slowly, he typed it in, attached the photo and wrote a little message.
So unsure. Will this do?
It took a moment before his device buzzed.
I’m sure you got the wrong number, but the suit doesn’t fit. Too tight in the shoulders, too wide around you middle.
Merlin stared at his phone and paled and blushed at the same time. He had sent a total stranger a photo of himself and asked for advice! This was awkward.
Oh, wrong number, sorry for bothering you. He hoped that this would appease the person after he had stolen some time out of their day.
Don’t worry. What’s the occasion?
Blinking, Merlin still stared at the screen. Occasion? Ah! Friends’ wedding
Definitely not this one. It makes you look like a schoolboy wearing the suit of his older brother
Oy! It wasn’t THAT bad, was it? Merlin still turned in front of the mirror but then took off the jacket. Well, if the stranger wanted a fashion show, he would get his opinion on the other jackets he still had in the cubicle. How about this one?
You’re taking me on, right? It fits you around the middle, but your shoulders look like you’ve been working out too much and the suit will burst any minute
Wow, this person was blunt, but the longer Merlin looked, the more uncomfortable he felt in this jacket, so he took it off again.
That was is? You only have these two short-listed?
No, he had two more, so he put on another jacket and send a pic.
Ew, what colour is this? It doesn’t suit you at all. You need something to make your eyes pop
To make his eyes pop. Ah, whatever that meant when it came to buying a suit. But the person was right, this was a colour for an elderly gentleman who lived in his mansion with a basset hound and some horses.
How about this one? Merlin sent a pic of the last one he had in there, not very convinced that this would meet the person’s approval.
If you aim for a career as a 1970s mafia boss, get it. If you want to look good at the wedding, don’t. BTW, are you the groom?
Merlin giggled at the first part. It was what had shot through his mind when the salesman had handed him the suit. But then…him? The groom? Err…no! I’m not. What am I going to do now?
To become a groom? Find the person you want to spend your life with and…oh, you meant about the suit situation.
Now Merlin laughed.
“Is everything alright, Sir?”
Oh, Merlin had completely forgotten about the young man who had pushed all those horrible suits on him.
“Yes, thanks, I’ll need a minute.”
Yes, the ‘suit situation’
Where are you?
Taking a deep breath, Merlin stared at this question. Should he reveal his whereabouts to a total stranger? Whitby’s
Oh gosh, they’re horrible. Don’t tell me that little leech with too much eyeliner attached himself to you!
Merlin snorted. That wasn’t a very nice description of the salesman, albeit a very fitting one. Yes. Help?
As he slowly took the suit and shirt off to get back into his own clothes, Merlin hoped that his conversation partner typed in a list of places he could go look for a decent suit. They seemed to understand a bit about them and maybe he could use them to get a suit to look good in for one day that didn’t cost him an arm and a leg.
I know a few other places. Get out of there as soon as you can, wait at their cafeteria, I’m on my way!
Merlin stared at his screen. What was going on? He had accidentally typed in the wrong number and by chance found someone who wasn’t annoyed by that and who actually knew a thing or two about suits, which was surprising in itself. But now the person was on their way here and…wanted to go shopping with him?
What the hell was happening here?