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They had agreed to keep it small so as not to deal with the hustle and bustle of the higher ups or even his own clan interfering, but once news of a cursed speech user marrying one of the strongest special grade sorcerers alive got out, Toge knew their wedding would be anything but simple.
He’s sitting in his assigned room, leg bouncing as he goes over his appearance in the mirror. His hands are clammy where they’re gripped tightly in his lap.
“Would you please stop that, you’ll wrinkle your pants,” Nobara bats his hands away from his thighs and he huffs, affronted.
“Says the one who had to redo her makeup because someone couldn’t keep it in their pants for one day,” he bites back, hands only slightly shaking.
Nobara gasps at this and turns to Maki who is perched on the bed, phone in hand and a small frown on her features. “Do you see this babe? He’s being hypocritical!”
Maki merely responds with a half-hearted grunt and continues to tap away on her phone, focus unwavering.
Toge rolls his eyes and kicks at Nobara’s calf with a socked foot. His shoes are somewhere near the door, waiting to be used, but he is perfectly content with not moving from this spot for the rest of the day if it meant not having to face both the Tokyo and Kyoto students at his wedding ceremony.
Which- it isn’t much, but when Toge was picturing their wedding, he had hoped it would be small, intimate, so he didn’t have to embarrass himself in front of just acquaintances by saying ingredients rather than vows.
He huffs and turns back to face the mirror.
His seals are on full display, a stark contrast to all the white he is wearing. His hair falls loosely, but tamed, and one side is neatly tucked behind his ear. Nobara even went as far as to hand him mascara because as she so kindly put it, “No one should be out-lashed by Fushiguro on their wedding day.”
Toge’s eyes flit over the way the suit rests on his shoulders and disappears down past the vanity desk in the reflection. It was a comfortable fit, and he won’t lie, he looks good, but there’s an uncomfortable itch that has settled somewhere deep in his bones ever since he woke up that morning and had to say goodbye to Yuuta so they could both start getting ready.
He hadn’t wanted to let go, he would have rathered they stayed in the cocoon of warmth together, wrapped in blankets and each other's arms. Hell, Toge even suggested they just get married while in bed so they didn’t have to leave but Yuuta laughed it off and simply kissed his forehead.
And when a pounding started at their door followed by a “Rise and shine lovebirds, today’s the big day!” Yuuta had untangled their limbs and left with a quick peck and whispered, “Good luck, I love you. Always.”
Toge smiles softly at the memory, anxieties temporarily quelled. He looks past himself in the mirror to watch as Nobara stands between Maki’s legs to adjust the jacket she wears, lips quirked in a fond smile.
Nobara had been in charge of coordinating everyone’s outfits and she went above and beyond. She even helped pick out Toge and Yuuta’s respectively when they went out to shop for suits.
Maki is wearing a slim cut black suit with a beautiful emerald-lace bustier underneath the jacket draped across her shoulders. The pleated pants were high waisted and matched her jacket, pulling together the whole outfit.
Her hair was pulled back from her face with two braids that started at her temple and ended wrapped around her usual ponytail. A rose is even tucked into the braids where they meet the hair tie. She also seems to be wearing a little bit of lipstick (if the smeared mark by her lips was anything to go by.)
His gaze shifts to her counterpart.
Nobara herself wears a matching rose behind one ear, short hair slightly curled. Her dress is that of deep red, crossing over her chest and slipping off of her shoulders. A simple rose pattern runs down the side of it and stops at the hem, which falls right below her knees. Her feet are clad with black heels, strapped delicately around her ankles.
He’ll give her credit, they both look stunning. And he knows Yuuta undoubtedly looks just as good.
He’s fidgeting with his tie when he hears a groan from the other side of the room. Toge watches from the corner of his eye as Maki stands from where she was perched on the edge of the bed, forcing Nobara to take a step back.
“You can’t be serious? I thought he said he would handle it.” Nobara crosses her arms as Maki makes her way towards the door, pocketing her phone.
“Yeah well, apparently he can’t.”
She turns towards Toge just as she’s about to reach the door. “You’re doing great and I love you, but you just had to go and choose that one?”
Toge snorts, “I’m assuming Fushiguro needs help?”
Maki sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. “I should’ve known leaving him alone to handle your fiancé wouldn’t have been enough.” Her hand drops as she looks between Toge and her girlfriend. “You guys got this, text me if you need anything, and for the love of god Toge, please stop messing with your tie. Nobara-”
“On it,” she replies, briskly walking over to where Toge sits. He’s frightened for a split second by the determination on her face but her hands go to his collar to adjust how it rests.
There's another sigh from Maki’s direction and Toge has to tilt his head to look past Nobara to see the other girl. Her expression is pinched, so he brings his hands around (ignoring Nobara’s protests) to sign, “Go. I’m fine. Fushiguro probably needs all the help he can get.”
At this, Maki laughs, shoulders gradually relaxing. “I’ll see you both out there, just-” She looks like she wants to say more, but decides against it. “Nevermind. Nobara, text me when you get seated.”
Her girlfriend simply nods, still fixated on adjusting Toge’s appearance.
Before Maki turns to leave, Toge signs to her, “Tell Yuuta I love him, okay?”
She makes a gagging noise and Toge glares at her. But as her hand closes around the door handle she replies, “Yeah yeah, we wouldn’t be here today if you didn’t. Good luck.”
And with that, she slips out the frame, the door snicking shut softly behind her.
As Toge tilts back to look up at Nobara he says, “Mentaiko.” I lied.
She frowns. “Do you want me to call off the wedding?”
He wacks her with his hands and she jumps back with a small shout.
“Well what did you think I’d assume!”
Toge just rolls his eyes and brings his hands up to sign, “I’m not ‘fine.’ ”
Nobara’s frown only deepens, confusion lining her features.
“Okaka.” It’s stupid.
She nudges his foot to get him to scoot over on the bench. When he moves, she plops down in the vacant spot. “It’s obviously not ‘stupid’ if it’s bothering you, dummy.”
He shrugs, hands falling to rest between his knees.
She watches him for a moment before pulling out her phone. He looks over as she unlocks it and opens up the photos app.
“So I was technically not supposed to show you this until during the reception but-” She clicks into a hidden album labeled today’s date and Toge’s brow pinches. “Maybe this’ll cheer you up.”
She tilts the phone so that he can see the photos on the screen and when he does, his breath catches in his throat.
These are all pictures of him.
Him and Yuuta.
Toge looks between Nobara and the phone for a second before she wiggles it in her hand, signaling for him to take it. When he grabs it, she starts to fidget with her hands, unsure.
“We all wanted to come up with some sort of group gift that we could give you both,” she explains. “Itadori suggested a beach vacation, which, I’ll give him credit, was a great idea, but with Yuuta and your schedule being reliant upon missions, we didn’t want to book anything that you guys would have to cancel. Then Panda suggested we get you both a matching set of pj’s, and you see that his idea didn’t go through, but after some digging, we all realized that we had a shit ton of photos on our phones of you two being so stupidly in love that we thought it might be cute to do a memory book as a gift? There’s even a hard copy that we were going to give you at the reception, so for my sake, I’d appreciate it if you were still surprised.” She finishes her rambling with a laugh.
Toge looks up from where he was absentmindedly scrolling through the album to find her already looking at him, biting her lip. His gaze goes back to the phone as he takes in what she says.
There’s pictures in here from his first year, from even before he knew he started to like Yuuta.
Ones from them in the school garden together, Yuuta gazing at Toge with a look of wonder.
He keeps scrolling and lands on one from the beach trip after Yuuta came back from Africa. He had begged them all to go after seeing pictures of them together from their last trip, and they caved, taking a weekend to go to the coast and spend some much needed time together.
The picture is of him and Yuuta, moments before Toge had tackled him into the freezing water. He’s posed, ready to pounce and Yuuta is none the wiser, pointing towards something he saw in the water. It makes Toge smile and he swipes to see the next photo which is of them resurfacing, with a grin on both their faces.
He continues his scrolling, ending up on a photo of them fast asleep on the couch together, Toge’s head resting on Yuuta’s chest and their hands intertwined in their laps.
The next one is a picture of them walking down to the training field--or, correction, Yuuta walking down with himself half-asleep on the boy’s back. He snorts, remembering that day. He had a rough solo mission the night before and had gotten to bed late, but that never exempted him from Maki’s early morning sessions.
After that, he finds one of them shortly after they got engaged and they had thrown a party to celebrate. In the picture, Toge is showing an enthusiastic Nobara the ring and Yuuta is standing slightly behind him, flashing a sheepish thumbs up to whoever is behind the camera.
“Can you believe this was all supposed to be blackmail material too?” Nobara softly laughs. And Toge finally looks up, tears stinging in his eyes.
He sniffs and hands her back the phone so he can free up his hands. “I- Thank you.”
She leans into his side and reaches for one of his hands, giving it a squeeze. “You both brought so much light to the dorms, I don’t think you guys even realize it.”
He looks down at their clasped hands and she continues on. “And god it was so sickening at times, but you make each other so happy and we are just so glad we got to be a part of your journey. Even if there were moments where Maki wanted to throttle you both.”
Toge chokes on a wet laugh, leaning his head on Nobara’s shoulder. “Tuna mayo.” Thank you.
“Yeah yeah, don’t mention it,” she gives his hand another squeeze. “And I mean it, you better act the same way when you see the gift later, we had a betting pool to see who’d spoil it and I was definitely not the first choice.”
His body shakes with silent laughter and he sniffs. “Takana?” Who was?
“It was a tie between Itadori and Panda.”
He nods in agreement, a smile smushed into Nobara’s shoulder.
She squeezes his hand one more time before pulling away to look him in the eye.
“Good god Maki is going to kill me,” she squawks as she takes in his disheveled appearance. “Your LASHES!”
He watches as she hurriedly stands up and turns him so he’s back to facing the mirror and he flinches because, yeah, the redness is not a good look.
“Alright, don’t move.” With that, she’s fleeing to the bathroom to grab her makeup bag.
He regards himself in the mirror for a moment and takes a deep breath.
He’s been on countless missions before this, how hard can a wedding be?
--
Very hard.
After Nobara had finished fixing him up, she left to go find her and Maki’s seating for the ceremony and told Toge that Gojo would stop by to come get him once everyone was seated.
He’s been pacing the room for--he glances at the alarm clock beside the bed--thirty minutes now with no end in sight.
Toge received no texts from Maki or Fushiguro so he assumes that everything is fine with Yuuta by now, but he’s still worried. His stomach churns with nerves and it's suddenly all hitting him that he’s actually getting married, like today, that hour.
Before he knows it, he’s reaching for where his phone was hastily discarded on top of the vanity earlier. There’s a few notifications from separate group chats but he disregards them, instead opting to open up his messages with Yuuta.
The last one sent was from Yuuta when he left that morning. It was a simple ‘I love you,’ but nonetheless it still makes him smile.
Toge bites his lip as his fingers fly across the keyboard, hitting send before he can change his mind.
He tosses his phone on the bed and continues wearing a hole in the carpet.
He’s on his fifth new turn when his door bursts open, a disheveled Yuuta standing in the frame of it. It’s quite the sight, his tie is thrown over the shoulder of his white dress shirt and his hair is now a tousled mess. Frantic eyes scan the room before landing on Toge.
“I got your text, is everything alright? Are you okay?” The words rush out of him and Toge has to hold up his hands to get him to slow down.
“Woah there, I’m fine, Yuuta. What’s wrong?” He signs in confusion.
The other boy stares at him, mouth agape and tie slipping before he shakes his head. “I thought- you literally sent me a text that read ‘SOS,’ Toge. What was I supposed to think?”
Toge cringes. He definitely could’ve worded that better.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that, I just…” he trails off, wringing his hands together.
Yuuta’s face softens to that of understanding and he makes his way towards Toge. “Hey- hey, what’s wrong?”
Toge sniffs and looks down, unwilling to meet Yuuta’s eyes. “I don’t know. It’s just…there's so much going on and everyone out there is probably expecting this big event, and I don’t want to let them down, but I know I will. I will because I can’t say our vows and or even ‘I love you’ in front of them. And its stupid, its so stupid, but you deserve that and so much more. I want them to know how much I love you. I want you to know.”
Toge finishes his rambling with another sniff and lets his hands drop, loudly thumping against his thighs in the quiet of the room.
He’s barely holding back frustrated tears when he feels hands gently cup his cheeks, tilting his face back up so that he can look at Yuuta.
There’s a slight pinch to his brow as he gingerly swipes his thumbs over the crest of Toge’s cheeks. “It’s not stupid, especially if it’s something that is making you upset.”
Toge bites his lip and watches as the furrow between Yuuta’s brow softens. “But you never need to prove to me or anyone else anything, especially this.” His thumbs continue their ministrations. “I already know how much you love me, that’s something I’ve never doubted, Toge. You are so kind and beautiful and caring and I am and will always be grateful that I get to spend the rest of my life with you, however long that may be.”
Toge lets out a choked breath as the tears finally spill over, catching on the tips of Yuuta’s thumbs.
“Hey,” Yuuta whispers tenderly. “It’s gonna be alright. When have we ever come across something we couldn’t handle, together?”
The smaller boy snorts, eyebrow raising slightly. “Sujiko?” Really?
Yuuta huffs. “Okay smartass, but we’re still here. I’ve got your back no matter what.”
Toge nods in agreement, letting the other boy know that the sentiment is shared.
Yuuta’s eyes search his for a moment before his lips crack a small smile. “I don’t think I’ve told you yet today, but you look so beautiful.”
Toge feels his ears heat up and he brings his hands up to wrap around Yuuta’s wrists. “Takana.” You’re a dork.
The taller boy ducks his head so that their foreheads are resting together. “I mean it, I was already out of breath from running here, but seeing you is just- wow.”
Toge laughs at that, tears slowing to a stop. They stay like that for a couple of seconds, breathing in each other’s air before he pulls back to look at Yuuta, hands dropping from his wrists to sign. “This is bad luck y’know. Nobara’s going to have a fit.”
“Yeah well,” Yuuta puffs out in a breath. “I won’t tell her if you don’t.”
He mimes zipping his lips and the other boy chuckles, hands dropping from their home on Toge’s face.
“I should probably get back out there,” he suggests. “I don’t need Fushiguro getting any more gray hairs from today.”
Toge’s shoulders shake with laughter as he signs, “He knew what he was getting into when he volunteered to help you.”
Yuuta simply throws his hands up in mock offense. “It’s not my fault that Nobara monopolized her girlfriend away from me! I think we can all agree that Maki is a better ‘best woman.’”
“For what it’s worth, he did a good job. You look amazing.”
The taller boy flushes, hand coming up to scratch at his cheek. “There was a lot of damage control on Maki’s part.”
They share a laugh before slipping into a comfortable silence. It’s then that Toge realizes Yuuta was right--they’ll be fine, they’ve come a long way since a timid Yuuta first stepped foot in that classroom, and if their friends can see how much they love each other, then they can face anything, so long as they’re together.
Toge’s heart thumps heavily in his chest as he looks at the boy in front of him. “I can’t wait to marry you.”
He watches as Yuuta’s chest stutters with his next inhale, hand reaching to tuck a strand of Toge’s hair behind his ear. “Then I’d better get back, hmm?”
The shorter boy reluctantly nods, taking a step back to shoo Yuuta away with his hands, backing away with a smile dancing on his lips.
“I love you. I’ll see you at the altar.”
He pauses at the door to give Toge one last look over but the blond just rolls his eyes and gestures for him to get going. He gets a cheeky smile in return before his fiancé slips out of sight.
Toge is left standing there, heart still beating wildly in his chest. He takes a deep breath and shakes his arms out. There is still a little self-doubt teasing the edges of his mind, but it's easily dimmed by the image of Yuuta’s blinding smile.
He stops in front of the mirror one last time and runs his hands down his shirt in an attempt to smooth out the wrinkles.
I’m about to marry the love of my life, he thinks to himself. I can do this.
Not even a minute later, he's jarred out of his thoughts when Gojo raps his knuckle along the doorframe with a knowing smile on his lips.
“Ready kid?”
Toge nods once, squaring his shoulders and together they leave the room--making their way towards his future.
--
Toge stares at the man in front of him with watery eyes as he fumbles through his vows.
He had at first pulled out sheets of paper that were covered front to back with his familiar chicken scratch, and Toge’s mouth had dropped open. But after tearing up halfway through the first page he huffed and pocketed the letter, opting to meet Toge’s eyes with a sheepish smile and continuing on.
“-nd you never looked at me like I was a threat or burden or flawed, you always looked at me with open and kind eyes,” Yuuta says, sniffling through his next line. “Even before I freed Rika you were a steady force, and after, you helped me heal at my own pace, but never left me to drown. You understood that she will always be a part of who I am, and never backed away from that.”
Toge’s heart strains against his chest and he can feel tears starting to build up in his own eyes as he reaches out to gently wipe away Yuuta’s own.
“You saw what my love could do, but you accepted me anyway,” he smiles, bringing a hand up to intertwine with Toge’s. “You trusted me to love you, and I will continue to do so, for as long as you’ll let me.”
Somewhere in the crowd he thinks he hears a nose being blown followed by hasty shushing. Toge laughs wetly, giving the other boy his most reassuring smile.
“I love you, Toge,” Yuuta says with so much certainty. “And I can’t wait to see what this next chapter has for us moving forward.”
Toge mouths ‘I love you too’ before lowering his hand from Yuuta’s cheek. He wipes his palms on his pants and swears Nobara ‘tch’s’ from behind him but he shrugs it off, shakily raising his hands back up.
“Yuuta,” he says, hands starting their trembling movement. “You say I helped you, saw you, but it was you who also understood me and treated me as more than a weapon. You took my silence and ran with it, deciphering ingredients and learning how to sign late at night or over patchy facetime calls.”
Yuuta sends him a soft smile and he plows forward. “And you showed me I wasn’t alone in my fear--you understood the burden of hurting others without meaning to, but you taught me that it was okay to want to be heard, to be seen as someone worthy of love.”
Toge takes a wobbly inhale, attempting to calm the rapid beating of his heart.
“I’ve loved you since the moment you stepped towards Geto in our first year, completely disregarding the command to run. I loved you when you came up to me after everything to ask if I was okay. I loved you when you volunteered to help me with the school’s garden, even though you are absolutely terrible at taking care of plants,” they both share a laugh, tears leaving tracks down each of their cheeks. “I loved you when you left for Africa but promised to facetime every night. I loved you when you first confessed, when we shared our first kiss, and even when we got into petty fights over your stupid morning alarms.”
There’s a few dispersed laughs from the crowd and Toge smiles, feeling confident.
“I will never stop loving you, and I am so lucky to be the one you spend forever with.”
He lowers his hands, watching as Yuuta tries and fails to wipe away tears.
“You were always better with words,” he jokes.
“Takana?” Really? Toge emphasizes with a raised eyebrow and the boy across from him chokes on a laugh.
“Oh hush it.”
Everyone chuckles at that and Toge reaches out to take Yuuta’s hands, giving them a light squeeze.
The ceremony continues on with a few more (dramatic) words from Gojo, but Toge is too caught up in staring into Yuuta’s eyes.
He snaps out of it when he hears their former teacher say, “Do you, Okkotsu Yuuta, take Inumaki Toge to be your husband? To love and to hold and all that jazz?”
Toge snorts, rolling his eyes at Gojo’s antics.
“I do.”
Toge slips the ring he chose for Yuuta on his finger, so that it is stacked neatly on top of Rika’s. Yuuta’s eyes shine with so much conviction and love that Toge’s next inhale catches in his throat.
Gojo clears his throat. “Good, alright.” Before he continues on, he looks out to everyone sitting in the audience and taps his ear twice.
Toge frowns, a little confused at first, but when he feels a steady rise in cursed energy throughout the room his eyes widen. He looks from the crowd to Gojo and then finally to Yuuta who’s smiling sheepishly.
“I may or may not have encouraged them to learn a simple reinforcement trick,” he says, giving their hands a little squeeze. “It’s not as long lasting, but I thought it might be nice to-”
He’s cut off by Toge’s enthusiastic nodding, eyes still a little wide. He would have kissed Yuuta then and there if he didn’t think it’d ruin the whole ceremony.
Toge nods again but this time at Gojo to let him know he can continue on.
“And do you, Inumaki Toge, take Okkotsu Yuuta to be your husband? To love, to honor and-”
He’s cut off again with a breathless, “I do.”
A smile stretches across Yuuta’s face slowly and Toge continues to repeat it.
“I do. I do. I do!”
His cheeks crease with his smile and Yuuta laughs airily as he slides the matching ring onto Toge’s finger. The weight of it is new and exciting.
Gojo clears his throat. “Then by the power vested in me, by me, I now declare you husband and husband. You may now kiss-”
Toge doesn’t wait for him to finish the sentence, instead he flings his arms around Yuuta’s neck and draws him down for a kiss.
The other boy’s hands find his waist as he steadies them, leaning down into it.
They’ve shared many kisses before, but Toge will always count this one as his favorite.
Yuuta’s lips are familiarly chapped against his own, but they slide together in a soft caress. He tilts his head to get a better angle and presses up on his toes to gain more pressure.
They break apart and come together a few more times, but have to pull away when both of their smiles are too big to kiss again.
He whispers a soft “I love you” against Yuuta’s lips before opening his eyes.
And when Toge does, he's met with those of deep blue, shining with untamed awe. He ducks his head and finally picks up on the cheers of their friends behind them.
They both laugh, pulling away to face the crowd with wide smiles. There’s a couple of whoops and hollers from the Tokyo side and even a couple of whistles from Kyoto’s side.
And as Toge looks over to the boy next to him--his husband --he knows that their lives will never be simple, but they can conquer anything that comes their way, as long as they're together.