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It was meant to be perfect.
His dearest Ivy, even more of a vision than she normally was, gliding down the aisle in her favorite dress at her favorite cozy, intimate venue, surrounded by all her favorite people as she prepared to make lifelong vows to what was hopefully her favorite person.
(Hopefully. He understands if her younger sister ranked above him; there was no one who would love you more than family, after all.)
And the ceremony? That was perfect as perfect gets. Even now he can’t wipe the grin off his face when he thinks back to it.
The union between a history professor and a surgical resident, two completely separate lives that intersected on one chance day. Bonding over family, the crushing expectations of parents, and their favorite philosophical theories. All of it, leading to this beautiful day—to the smile of his bride, to the sunlight filtering into the chapel, casting her in such a heavenly glow.
The tears in both their eyes as they exchanged vows he knew they both spent countless nights pouring over: his constant eyebags and her drowsy, morning beelines for the coffee maker telling a story all its own.
But what made it all worthwhile was the gift of calling her his partner—his wife .
“Oh, my! Amber? I don’t believe you should be dancing ther—HEY!”
Even the perfect wedding can be followed by a reception full of hiccups, it seemed.
The shift in Panette’s tone hits like a sledgehammer to the serenity of Diamant’s blissful high, and once he comes back down to earth, he’s met with the sight of an especially clumsy Amber tripping over his own feet, stumbling dangerously toward the champagne fountain before Panette roughly tugs his arm to stop his fall.
Diamant lets out a sigh of relief. He didn’t know her all that well—one of Ivy’s friends from university, he thinks. Apparently had a lot of interest in spirits and the occult. She’d gotten her brother, an ordained priest (though with all his hooting and howling, Diamant suspected he was just a party boy with an online certificate) to officiate. Despite only meeting hours ago, it seemed she and Amber had surprisingly gotten on well as friends; the man always did like tall tales and mysteries.
One disaster averted, goes to survey the rest of the venue. There had already been a bit of an issue with the flowers for the bouquet earlier, but Ivy only brushed it off. He couldn’t let that happen again. This was her special day, and everything else had to be in smooth, running order—
“Oh, Merrin? Couldn’t make it. Went out of town with Chloé on some big romantic ‘eat, live, laugh’ trip. No… wait. Was it ‘eat, pray…’ oh, Di! Heeeeey, Di!”
Diamant stops as Timerra turns away from the two she had been nursing flutes of champagne with: his cousin Citrinne, and Alfred. Alfred was a spirited, nature-loving man, and was the son of a prominent philanthropist in Somniel City… which made their meeting lifting weights at the gym all the more surreal. But the man had proven to be good company, and quickly blossomed into a lifelong friend. From behind Timerra, he and Citrinne offer Diamant a wave, as Timerra herself goes on to reveal her big news.
“So! I know about that singer you paid big bucks for, yeah? Citrinne told me about it. Ivy’s favorite new songstress from Broadway? And I also know that those plans fell through and she couldn’t make it ‘cause of the rain, soooo…” She grins and leans closer, nudging him in the arm, “How about I step in? I sing, I dance, I entertain. I do it all! And, bonus—I come free, too.”
Diamant smiles tightly. The reminder stung a bit. He’d paid so much money for that singer, and on a history professor’s salary, at that. A sacrifice to his bank account, but one that was more than worth it if it meant he got to glimpse even a moment of Ivy’s beautiful smile.
Still, Timerra was an angel, she was, but her singing… it was. It—
…
…He’d settle with an acquired taste.
But there was no way Diamant could say No to that million-watt smile. “Sure. I’m sure Ivy would be touched to have her friend commemorate such a special day…”
“Awesome! Your first dance is soon, right? Lemme go get prepped!” And with that she bounds off to God-knows-where, Citrinne offering Diamant a sympathetic smile before returning to her conversation with Alfred. Something about planning a fundraising event, it seemed.
He turns and heads over to check on the refreshments. This was fine. It would be fine. Ivy loved Timerra, and she would see the thoughtful sentiment behind her singing. They’d all have a good time. Maybe not a perfect one, with a few shot eardrums, but—
“A duel! I challenge you!”
Holding back a sigh, Diamant turns to the sound of Kagetsu’s voice, a mutual friend shared between him and Ivy, loudly proclaiming Amber as his next ‘opponent’. Amber, gung-ho fun lover that he was, is unsurprisingly quick to accept. Jade and Zelkov stand nearby, conversing quietly between themselves while occasionally casting glances the duo’s way, as if they were waiting for some sort of chaos to erupt.
On the other side of the room, he hears Hortensia’s voice—carrying a long distance despite her small stature—prodding Fogado, Timerra’s brother and their DJ, about his choice in playlists. Her sister deserved only the best, after all, and she wouldn’t stand for anything weird. In that, Diamant wholeheartedly agreed.
“Diamant! Congratulations on the wedding. It was a beautiful ceremony.”
He turns at the new, yet warmly familiar voice, a smile naturally stretching across his face as his younger brother approaches. Alcryst had always been a bit shy, so parties like these were never really his scene, but he seemed to be doing well enough for himself. Maybe it was that he had gotten older—a university student now, Diamant could hardly believe it—or it was simply that the guest list had been people he mostly knew.
Close friends. Family, even.
“Alcryst! Come here,” Diamant wraps a loving arm around his brother’s shoulders, chuckling, “How are you holding up? Hortensia hasn’t been running you ragged with party planning, has she? I didn’t realize she could be quite so… particular about things.”
Alcryst laughs. As the younger siblings of the bride and groom, as well as future family, it seems they’ve formed something of a planning alliance. “It isn’t that bad. She’s got a good eye, and high expectations. The two of you are more alike than you realize…” He smiles, “Even down to the two-toned hair dye.”
“Hah! Very funny.” Diamant laughs the tease off. “Speaking of Hortensia… you wouldn’t happen to have seen her lovely sister anywhere, would you? You might know her. The most beautiful soul here, wearing a stunning white gown…”
Alcryst scoffs, head shaking. “By the refreshments, Romeo. I think she wanted to take a look at the cake…? Great job on that, by the way.”
“It was all Ivy’s idea, and her favorite. I’m just the man who aims to please.”
“Well I’m sure your wife would be more than pleased to see you. Go on, have fun.” Alcryst smiles warmly, “I can keep a watch on things.”
Diamant gives him a fond clap on the shoulder, “Heh, thanks. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
He’d already been a bit on edge throughout the reception, but nothing quite got his heart racing the way Ivy did—the moment he lays eyes on her, Diamant can feel the euphoric high from their wedding flooding back. His palms tingle, his mouth goes dry; it was as if everything around them had frozen, and they’d gone back in time: to that moment when he willed himself to ask her out to that museum exhibit.
(He worried she would think he was boring. A little too square for her tastes. To this day, she still calls it her favorite date.)
“Oh, love.” She turns as he approaches, her smile subtle, yet radiant as ever. “Have you seen the wedding cake? Apple spice was a unique flavor to go with, but it came out beautifully… the white lilies accent it well.”
“It is beautiful,” He wraps his arms around her waist from behind, head dipping slightly as he buries his nose in her hair. “But not quite as stunning as a certain doctor, I’m afraid.”
“Oh, stop.” She scoffs, hands resting on his forearms, “I’d say that flattery will get you nowhere… but I’ll allow it, just the once. Not that you’ve ever been one to flatter.” Ivy cranes her head back to look up at him, voice settling into a gentle coo. “If there’s one thing I adore, it’s that you always mean what you say.”
“Am I really so easy to read?”
She leans up for a brief kiss, humming, “An open book, sweetheart.”
He smiles contentedly, happy to savor her warmth as he hugs her tighter, only for that serenity to be promptly broken by—
“You guys, careful—!”
Panette’s voice shatters his trance once again (she seemed to be developing a habit for this), pulling Diamant’s gaze away from Ivy, and to Amber the second time that evening… this time, with an added Kagetsu. It seems the duel they settled on had been an arm wrestling match at a nearby dining table, and when Amber slams Kagetsu’s arm down in victory, the other man draws his hand back with a surprised yelp—
…which then knocks into a passing server…
Who then stumbles right into the wedding cake.
“Ivy!” Diamant is quick to pull her out of the path of the falling pastry, putting himself between her and the cake as a rain of frosting, cinnamon, and batter collapses onto him. In the aftermath, he stands with cake matted in his hair, and frosting smattered all over his face and black suit. The entire party seems to come to a halt, all eyes turning on him in varying levels of shock and surprise.
And then—
♪ My anaconda DON’T, my anaconda DON’T,
My anaconda don’t want none unless you got buns—! ♪
“FOGADO!” Hortensia shrieks.
“My bad, my bad! I think I… oooh, yep.” He scrambles to cut the track, hissing. “Mixed up the wedding playlist with my club mix… sorry, folks.”
Hortensia groans, silence falls again, and then… Ivy laughs.
Not one of her usual laughs, often hidden behind a coy smile or delicate cover of the hand. It’s bright and free, bursting from the chest, and almost what one would call hearty. Not long after, Amber follows, joined by a howling Pandreo, with Alcryst, Citrinne, and all the others.
Diamant, of course, joins in with the loudest laugh of all.
It’s a bit later that he takes to the floor with Ivy for their first dance, and while Fogado’s joyful music and Timerra’s singing weren’t nearly as elegant as either of them had envisioned, it was light and sentimental—fun, and straight from the heart.
“Didn’t quite go according to plan, did it?” Ivy muses, smiling as they sway along the dance floor.
“Not at all…” He snorts, “So you saw that too, huh? How I was trying to keep everything together.”
She hums, “It was hard not to. You’ve been tense since all this planning started. You get that—what does Hortensia call it? That... ‘really constipated look’ on your face when you’re thinking about something too hard.”
“I just—”
“I know,” She shushes him, “You wanted it to be perfect. For me. For us . But Diamant, you must already know…”
Her head rests on his shoulder, and she pulls herself flush against him, Diamant instinctively wrapping his arms about her waist to hold her close. “Our friends, family, you … being surrounded by all this joy and love? That’s perfect enough for me.”
He takes a moment to think of how ridiculous he’s been, how he worried himself so much over so little. She was right. Who needed perfection, when it was blessing enough to be surrounded by the people you loved?
“Yeah…” He laughs, a warm rumble through his chest, “But hey, careful. I’m still covered in frosting, you know. Wouldn’t want to ruin that pretty dress of yours.”
“It’s fine,” She trills, “Clothing certainly won’t be an issue in a few hours.”
“Oh?” He smirks.
“Mm-hm… I hear the baths at Goldmary’s inn are to die for. I can’t wait to soak in one. I'll have to thank Hortensia for the recommendation.”
“Right. After how chaotic today was? I could use the relaxation.” There’s a lull in the song then, and Diamant slows their sway, his voice much softer when he speaks next. Low enough for only Ivy to hear, and rife with an affection reserved only for her. “I love you, Ivy.”
She lifts her head off his shoulder, and he doesn’t think he’s seen anything more beautiful than the smile that greets him. “And I love you, Diamant. Now and forever.”
Once again, their vows are sealed with a kiss, and really, what could be more perfect than that?