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“Ladies and gentlemen, and now onto the most anticipated part of today’s event where we can glimpse into the couple’s lives: The Shoe Game!”
The crowd cheered, prompting Daniel Sanders, Tom Blake’s landlord, to chuckle to himself. Sitting at the edge of the crowd and nursing his drink, Sanders allowed a small smile to play on his lips. Thomas Blake and William Schofield sure did take ages just to admit to themselves they were in love with each other, frustrating the poor old landlord who had been trying to knock some sense into the the boys’ head, but looking at the couple’s happy faces, blindingly bright with joy, he could almost say it was worth it.
It was a small wedding, not too crowded, with only the couple’s most dearest people invited. Though Sanders only knew a handful of the guests there—Tom’s mother and brother, Will’s mother and sisters, Will’s landlady, and a bunch of Tom’s friends from uni and work who would come to pick him up for drinks on Saturday nights—it was unmistakable that the couple were loved by those closest to them.
The venue was quite simple, not overly decorative or extravagant, but it was visible that Tom and Will’s personality bled into every inch of the place. The walls were decorated in white linen sprinkled with warm fairy lights here and there, giving the whole place a sense of warmth and welcome and the feeling of being home—Will’s idea, no doubt there—but at the edges, adorning lamp holders, snaking around pillars, and blooming in the middle of every table, were plants and vines and bouquets of cherry blossoms—Tom’s side. The whole event, including the way that Tom was dressed in a light grey suit and Will in sharp black, was a beautiful display of the contrasting natures of the two.
Two chairs had been placed in the middle of the front space, facing away from each other, and on each of them was a bouquet of cherry blossoms and a plain white handkerchief. Sanders didn’t even need any explanation to tell which one was whose.
It was quite funny to see the two of them sitting with their backs on each other, with Tom grinning widely at the crowd and Will looking quite calm himself, as though acting like each other’s antithesis.
“Okay, I should think this one needs no explanation for you two, but I’ll explain it nonetheless,” the host, a tall handsome man with an Indian look, who Sanders had gathered to be one of Tom’s friends too, said. “I’ll read out a few questions and if you think the answer is Tom, you can raise the cherry bouquet, if it’s Will you can raise the handkerchief.”
Sanders and a few of the guests let out a soft laugh as the host turned to the crowd to say, “yeah, he’s modest that way.”
“Alright, let’s give it a go shall we? Who does the dishes more often? ”
Tom and Will brought up their handkerchiefs in an almost mirroring movement it was almost comical, as though without any doubt.
The host smiled, laughing in a low voice over the mic. “That was a test—we all know Will does all the dishes, but good to know you’re getting the hang of the game!”
At this Sanders let out a hearty laugh along with the rest of the guests. True—even in his own flat he had caught the younger man letting Will do the dishes when Sanders passed by his door, and on more than one occasion no less.
Tom was visibly turning quite red on his rosy cheeks, a trait which Sanders had always found adorable because it gave away the younger man’s emotional state the way a ten years old boy couldn’t hide his feelings, but he was laughing nonetheless, accepting defeat. Will, on the other hand, smiled and began chuckling, a sign that the host had successfully broken the ice.
“Question number two: who has the bigger wardrobe? ”
This time, as sure as the first question, the couple raised their cherry bouquets in unison—Will with a comical expression of defeat on his face and Tom with a rather smug smile on his lips, taking pride in his sense of fashion. No surprise there—the idea of having the grooms dressed in contrasting suits were probably entirely Tom’s idea.
“Who is more likely to cry during a sad movie? ”
One of Will’s little sisters said, “Will? ” but then covered her exploding giggling when the couple brought up their cherry bouquets.
The host joined the guests in laughter, turning to face her to acknowledge her earlier comment. “So much for thinking Will is the sentimental one, right?”
Sitting beside her, Sanders could see a man, who Sanders recognized as Tom’s brother Joe, shooting back a reminder, “give him dog movies!”
A low buzz of chuckling spread around the small crowd—apparently everyone was familiar with Tom’s love for dogs. Sanders himself had to deny the young man his request to get a dog in the flat at least a dozen times, reminding him that he worked almost all day long and wouldn’t be there to actually take care of it.
On the front, Tom feigned defeat. “No! Not dog movies!”
The host gave a good-natured laugh, before carrying on, “who's more likely to say something embarrassing —”
Tom shot up his cherry bouquet, a confident expression written on his face as though accepting that particular side of his nature, prompting Sanders and the rest of the crowd to burst out laughing. Even the host had to double over to hold himself from laughing too loud into the mic.
He gathered that the host hadn’t finished his question, but that was fair enough. Even as a landlord, Sanders had witnessed how Tom’s carefree and honest and uninhibited personality had contributed to some embarrassing remarks said by the young man.
The host walked up to pat Tom on the shoulder. “I was going to say ‘in their sleep,’ but I think we’re quite convinced now.”
At the finished question, Will brought up his handkerchief, saving Tom and bringing the crowd to another round of laughter.
“I’m sure we’re all tempted to ask what, but that’s got to be for another time,” the host said. “Next question: who takes longer in the shower? ”
There was a unanimous shout of “Tom! ” coming from Tom’s friends, all clustered together on one corner of the crowd, and at Will’s approving wave of his cherry bouquet, Tom brought up his own bouquet in confirmation. True—sometimes even Sanders had been left with the job to entertain the boys who had come to pick Tom up because the man took forever in the shower.
“No surprise there,” the host said, smiling as he peeked into his question list. “Who is the better kisser? ”
When Tom and Will visibly took their time thinking and smiling to themselves, the crowd began cheering and the boys actually wolf-whistled. Sanders could barely hold himself from covering his face in his palms at the way the grooms slowly brought up the other’s attribute slowly, as though they were bashful twenty years old lads again, completely in love and aching for each other, driving the poor landlord insane, and not a couple getting married today.
The guests went mad.
One of the boys actually cried out, “oh my god, get a room!”
He was answered with a playful remark from another boy in the group, “shut up, Cooke!”
“It’s okay Cooke, they’ll get a lot of that in the following days,” the host interrupted, taking it as his cue, although he was still laughing. “Moving on: who is a bigger baby when they're sick? ”
Again, there was a unanimous vote of “Tom!” from the boys, rivaled only by Will quickly shooting up his bouquet.
No surprise there either for Sanders, considering how many times Will had knocked on Tom’s door, bringing hot foods and basically taking care of him like a husband even before they were together.
In front of the hall, Tom smiled bashfully as he brought up his bouquet in admittance.
“Who will kill the spiders in the house? ”
Tom quickly shot up his handkerchief, waving it as though they were in the bathroom and it was a cry for help to kill the spider under the sink. On the other side, Will didn’t bring anything up for quite a time, laughing to himself.
The host turned to Will. “No one? Will, you’ve got to turn around, he’s basically crying out SOS .”
Will turned around and Tom waved his handkerchief at him, raising his eyebrows and prompting the older groom to laugh.
“I guess that would be me,” Will admitted, bringing up his own handkerchief.
“Well, someone’s always got to kill the spiders, even if they don’t like it,” the host concluded. “Who is the better driver? ”
This prompted the guests to giggle because Tom and Will brought up their own attribute for this.
They each turned around, an expression of surprise etched to their faces as they found out they both took the credit.
“You can’t even find the nearest chemist!” Tom gave a jesting argument.
Will replied something in return, but it died amidst the laughing guests.
“Will said Tom can’t parallel park, which is true,” the host chimed in, earning a playful smack from the younger man. Sanders had to agree with the host though, it always baffled the landlord how Tom could get his driving license when he always parallel parked his car in such a mortifying angle in front of the flat.
“Next question: who is the better cook? ”
Unequivocal vote of “Will!” from the boys, to which Sanders agreed. Tom shot up his handkerchief while Will took his time raising his own handkerchief, as though not quite certain of his cooking skills. Sanders smiled to himself—the man was being too modest, everyone was a chef compared to Tom.
“Who is in control of the remote? ”
Both brought up their bouquet, which did not surprise Sanders.
“Who will be most likely to wake up grumpy? ”
There was a divided vote for each groom from the guests, but ultimately both Tom and Will brought up their handkerchief.
“When you first met, who made the first move? ”
Tom shot up his bouquet quickly, looking quite smug, while Will only laughed before he brought up his bouquet in agreement.
“Who said I love you first? ”
With more confidence, the couple raised their handkerchief in unison as the crowd cooed in soft “ aww .”
“Who proposed? ”
This drew a round of cheering and clapping from the guests, as Tom and Will both raised their handkerchief and bouquet. Sanders himself had his jaw dropped. He remembered that particular day because Tom was both too excited and nervous and bubbly that morning, and far too jittery than what he could face later that night, but he didn’t know this was what happened. It was almost comical to see that they didn’t even need to turn around to know that the other was raising both of their attributes.
The host was visibly surprised, barely containing his own laughter. “What? How did it happen?”
“I was planning to propose,” Will said. “but it didn’t quite turn out the way it was supposed to, but apparently Tom’s also planned to propose on the same day. It was crazy.”
“We both had our rings that day,” Tom chimed in. “We end up wearing each other’s.”
“Oh, what wouldn’t we give for something like this, eh?” the host commented, earning a round of laughter and ‘ aww ’, especially from the ladies guests.
“Now, moving on to the last but most important question,” the host made a dramatic pause as he looked up from his question cards. “Now that you’re married, who’s more likely to say: it’s high time you start taking out the bins?”
Tom and Will brought up their handkerchief, and a nice round of applause closed the game in a nice wrapping.
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, please join me in inviting the grooms to dance their first dance as married husbands!”
Fin
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