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"Eito Aotsuki, y-you have made me the happiest man in the universe."
The mass of flesh that is Takumi is kneeling in front of him, outstretched hands holding what looks like a little box.
Eito takes a step back, pupils so blown his eyes look black.
Takumi's arms are shaking as he opens the box, revealing a simple iron ring.
"I know you are not one to care for tradition but," Takumi's vision goes blurry with tears. He blinks quickly to clear it. "Fuck, Eito, we have been through so much. Fifteen years together, we've made it so far! And I know it may not mean anything to you but to me it does."
Eito feels his body freeze as a terror stronger than any he has known in battle seizes his muscles. He is rigid where he stands, entirely too close to the edge of the pier. Behind him, the sun sets on calm waters. Strong winds pull his soft, silver hair out of its tie. The sun's golden rays tint it with warmth.
"Darling," Takumi starts again, feeling like his heart will burst from pure emotion. "I would like to call you my husband."
"Takumi I-" Finally able to move, Eito takes a step back. "Do you even know what you are asking of me?" Another step back. The corner of his mouth twitches. "The war is not over - a distraction, now of all times? It's irresponsible!"
One more step back and his foot swings through the air. He barely has time to hold his breath before the splash of cold water shocks his system.
Faintly he can hear Takumi screaming his name, then just as Eito resurfaces a blunt object falls right on his head, pushing him back below the waves with a sharp crack and a rush of pain.
Then comes darkness.
Eito comes back to consciousness with a sharp pain in his neck, a stiff rod shoved against the knobs of his spine, and surrounded by a bunch of monsters he recognizes very well. His least favourite monster, Takumi, is sitting by the left side of his bed and clutching Eito’s hand with an iron grip. Stupid tears are leaking from his multiple eyes.
"I can't believe you broke his neck with your flat ass." The shrill voice he recognizes as Gaku taunts from the other side of his bed.
"My ass is not flat!" Takumi cries back.
"One would think you would break his neck doing other activities." Yugamu laughs.
"If anything my neck would be broken", Takumi mutters with a frown.
Eito wishes they would shut up already. The water wasn't even deep enough that he needed saving. And he has no idea what Takumi even means by all that, Eito is always well behaved when they are together!
"What were you doing at the pier anyway?" asks Hiruko, clearly annoyed at having to see everyone's ugly faces so soon after their last strategy meeting ended.
"Wait, Takumi!" Tsubasa's many eyes open, lashes thick like spider legs. "Is it about the-?"
Next to Eito, Takumi practically starts oozing happiness. "He said yes!" he announces, lifting Eito's left hand and oh - is that a ring on his finger?
Several things happen at once.
"So you had to knock him out for him to say yes?!" Ima howls with laughter. He isn't entirely wrong.
Gaku falls to his knees in despair, clutching his wallet to his chest.
Tsubasa scowls. "We are happy for you guys, really!" Then she adds under her breath, "would it have killed you to wait a month more??"
"A wedding would be great for troop morale." Weirdly, Hiruko seems pleased. "I'll inform Kamyuhn personally so we can start preparations."
She leaves in a hurry. Eito's brows twitch, how can they all be okay with this? They are behaving like excited schoolchildren, not reasonable adults in their mid thirties!
Around him multiple monsters slide the tallest one - Takemaru - a couple wads of cash each.
Even fifteen years after meeting them, the cacophony is still too much. Eito can feel a headache brewing. Takumi notices immediately, as he always does. He asks everyone to reconvene in the morning and, tired and broke as most of them are (except for Takemaru, the only winner in this situation), they are quick to agree.
Eito should be pissed. He has every right to be mad at Takumi for the stunt he just pulled. How a man so impulsive can be in charge of the future of a nation - it truly baffles the mind!
He doesn't need to say anything, Takumi's monstrous form is waving with anxiety where he stands next to the infirmary bed.
He shouldn't feel this fond, Eito thinks. It should not feel endearing that even despite so much pain and loss, Takumi still manages to be spontaneous and even romantic.
His thumb presses against the band circling his ring finger. It feels solid, warm from their combined body heat. Eito had passed out when Takumi slid it on, silly man. Part of him wishes he had been awake to remember the moment. Not that it matters, personal matters are irrelevant until humanity is annihilated.
Takumi sighs, deflated.
"I know what you're going to say… It's okay. If you really don't want to marry me, you don't have to. I won't be mad, okay?"
The corners of Eito's mouth tighten. Maybe it's for the better. They can't afford to waste time on frivolity, no matter what anyone thinks.
But Takumi looks so sad. His body looks goopier than usual, wilted as he is.
Eito's neck fucking hurts, and maybe his heart also hurts a little.
He needs time to think.
Eito rolls his eyes and pats the side of the bed, and it's all the invitation his sweet, stupid General needs to slide right into his bed like a scolded preschooler.
It's dark in the infirmary.
Eito must have fallen asleep at some point.
Takumi's head is resting on his chest, his breathing is so slow one might think he's asleep. Eito knows better.
“Takumi?” Eito calls for him.
Takumi answers with a hum, in that infinitely attractive rough tone just like in the mornings when they wake up together.
Maybe Eito is growing softer with age.
“Are you really sure we can’t wait until the war is over to do this?” Eito asks in a softer voice.
And Takumi says no, that there have been entirely too many close calls. That he hates being confined to HQ, and he would never be able to forgive himself if he loses Eito before marrying him with all that a wedding entails.
Eito can understand that pain all too well.
It’s silly, but if Takumi really wants to…and everyone else agrees it’s safe… Eito might be getting strong armed into a ceremony, but if he is to be true to himself he does not have any qualms about spending the rest of his life with this asshole. That's what marriage means anyway, right? He does not need a party or a document to know his heart belongs to Takumi.
When he agrees Takumi kisses him and it hurts, because his neck is fucking broken, but also because as sweet as this promise is, nothing guarantees them a forever together.
Kamyuhn cries when she visits them the next morning. She is kind enough to not comment on how General Sumino is clinging onto his Lieutenant General like a newborn baby koala. Instead she immediately starts regaling them with stories of Futuran customs and that they must absolutely start deciding on an auspicious date and, honestly, it is very sweet of her. She even brought along a book for him to read while he recovers from his neck fracture (thanks, Takumi).
When Eito voices his concern about planning, Kamyuhn informs them Hiruko will take charge of planning, and to please talk with her if they need to change any details.
Eito barely manages to hold back his scoff. As if he had any free time to waste! Hiruko planning this entire affair would ease his worries a lot, he was sure.
Thanks to cryptoglobin, it takes Eito a little over two weeks to heal his neck and regain full range of motion. Every time Takumi visits him the piles and piles of illustrated books next to his bedstand grow taller and taller.
"I see Kamyuhn has been visiting you," Takumi made the mistake of teasing Eito once and got a faceful of bridal magazines for his insolence.
He doesn't even think Eito realizes what he's doing, and in all honesty it is one of Takumi's favourite parts of Eito. How he will devote himself fully to a task once he has set his mind to it.
It gets worse when Eito gets discharged from Yugamu's care, and is set loose to cause chaos.
First it was the date. Hiruko had wanted a year to plan. Eito wanted two months. Kamyuhn had suggested the first day of spring as particularly inspiring, as it would bring forth new beginnings. Eito took this as law. He argued that if they are doing this ceremony to motivate the troops and maybe further their negotiations with the humans, then they better do it right. And if that meant straining meager supplies to throw together a half functioning display, then so be it.
After all, at this time negotiations seemed to be going well. Their last meeting with the human dignitaries had not ended with either party storming out in anger. As much as Eito hated having to cater to those fuckers, Kamyuhn was right that a wedding might have those monsters on their best behaviour. Who even knew what would happen if they waited a year to do this. Kamyuhn had suggested that an opportunity like this might be a door that, once closed, would never open again. And that was that, everyone agreed to the tighter deadline.
Two months left
Then came the flowers. They would need to start gathering primordial roses, weaving the stems into ornate flower arrangements to place around the chapel. The thorns had to remain on the stems, Kamyuhn had said. Blood would make the union stronger, and feed the roses long enough to prevent them from wilting.
Hiruko had refused to braid them, so Eito had asked two sergeants to do it.
It wasn't good enough. Eito burned them.
Takumi found him late at night fiddling with the stems, blood splattered all over his mahogany desk, surrounded by the sweet scent of burning petals.
One month left
Hiruko corners Takumi one evening, spitting mad with anger.
"You," she all but shoves Takumi against a wall, the tip of her pointy finger against his sternum hurts a little. "You need to keep your dog on a leash."
Takumi wonders what happened now. He pushes her off with an apology, and hurries off to find his fiance.
It is all too easy considering he can hear his voice echoing down the halls.
"In what world is this white?"
"Do you make it a habit to ignore simple instructions?"
"Do I need to review your performance if you cannot fulfill a simple request to bring me a WHITE altar cloth?"
Takumi walks faster.
When he arrives at the chapel, he finds his beloved terrorizing a small group of soldiers. The offending cloth in his hands is very much white, in Takumi's humble opinion.
The soldiers stand taller when they notice Takumi, but he can still see their reddened noses and the tears in their eyes. He exchanges a glance with Eito, and when Eito looks away Takumi dismisses the soldiers (who march out of the room as fast as they can while keeping the shreds of their dignity intact).
White tablecloth, huh?
"I thought Futuran customs had sage green and light rose for altar colours?" Takumi asks with a raised brow.
Eito grits his teeth.
"Kamyuhn said that humans were very particular about the colour white for weddings." His hands scrunch up the offending fabric. "That it symbolized purity."
Takumi laughs in what he hopes is a kind way.
"Eito, you are the least pure being in this entire planet".
That, at least, has a slight smile breaking across his beloved's face.
"Whatever," Eito balls up the fabric and throws it at Takumi, who catches it easily.
It feels rough on his fingertips, it was probably the best they could do at this short of a notice.
"It looks white enough to me," he says cautiously.
Eito narrows his eyes at him. He is sulking.
"This is eggshell."
Takumi throws the bundle back at Eito.
"I didn't think you would care this much about human traditions-"
Eito lets it fall.
"Care? Who says I care? Human traditions mean nothing to me! Did you know some human cultures have the groom kidnap the bride and force her to marry him? Who even cares about humans, rotten species that they are that-"
Takumi holds Eito close until he stops.
It hits Takumi in the dead of night. None of the magazines and books that had been on the infirmary side table were about human wedding traditions. There was a possibility that Hiruko had informed Eito, or maybe another one of the SDU members had done it. Or maybe Eito had looked into that information by himself, maybe even before Takumi had even proposed to him.
Two weeks left.
When Takumi gets fitted for his wedding attire, Eito insists on being there, right by his side.
No matter how many people try to drag him away insisting it's against all customs, he stubbornly remains right at his side.
Takumi tried to go with Eito to his own fitting and was immediately denied. It's bad luck, Eito explained. Kamyuhn, the traitor, had fiercely agreed that he under no circumstances be allowed to see Eito prior to the ceremony, so that was that.
Takumi thinks the suit looks beautiful.
It is similar to his usual military garb, but much finer. The tailor has truly outdone himself. Takumi offers a quick mental prayer for the poor man, who is currently breaking into a cold sweat beneath his dear fiance’s analytical gaze.
But then the tailor's hand slips and he accidentally pokes Takumi and Takumi bleeds. He barely has time to push Eito away before his scythe connects with the man's neck. And Eito is almost taking his infuser out when Takumi calms him. Takumi has to end up asking him to leave because he is making the tailor panic.
Four days left.
It's late at night and Eito is poring over the seating chart.
"You don't understand!" he growls as he grips hard on his long silver hair, and Takumi holds his hands as gentle as he can while still preventing him from tearing his hair off. "It has to be perfect! This wedding will reflect on Futurum as a nation! How can we promise the people prosperity if we cannot even arrange a fucking wedding?!"
Takumi doesn't know what to say. It feels like everything has gone from bad to worse. He should have known the second Eito frowned at his proposal that it would not go right. He wishes it would not be causing him this much stress, in the very least.
Eito's hands relax minutely and he lets Takumi guide them down, over the desk.
His thumbs rub slow circles over gloved hands until Eito's breath returns to normal.
"I don't like that Kamyuhn invited them to our wedding, Takumi," Eito's voice is barely audible over the crackling of the fireplace in his office.
Takumi moves to massage Eito's wrists, and Eito lets him.
"She asked you if it was okay."
Eito growls low in his throat. "Yes, but she thought it would help negotiations. Everyone agreed. We already mobilized troops for security, we have no excuse. We can't say no."
When Takumi pulls on Eito's arms, he lets him. Eito stands on shaky legs, as if they had been asleep.
"Did you ever think about getting married?"
One of Takumi's arms wraps around the back of Eito's waist, pulling them together. He gently starts swaying them to music only he can hear.
Eito lets himself be led as they dance lazy circles over the carpet.
"When I was little I used to read fairytales," Eito starts, and his cheeks colour when Takumi smiles.
"It's not like that!" He is quick to defend himself. "It's not like it even happened, they are all fake memories. I didn't give it all much thought I just, I guess if I ever imagined it, that it would have been like that…"
"What, a big ceremony at some impressive cathedral, with your Prince Charming?" Takumi tilts Eito back and Eito allows himself to be dipped. He may be taller than Takumi, but Takumi has grown strong in his own right. He has no problem manhandling him to his will these days, although Eito would rather die than admit it.
"I'm not a princess, stupid Takumi!" This close, Eito can see the firelight glint off every single one of Takumi's eyes. The disgustingly fond expression on his monstrous face.
Takumi gives him a big wet kiss on his blushy cheek before pulling him back on his feet, and Eito is quick to break off from his hold so he can wipe the slobber off his heatened skin.
"I know you're not a princess. You're a big, strong man that drives me absolutely crazy."
Takumi's arms wrap around Eito from behind.
They do not get any sleep that night.
One day left.
Eito hoped that whoever decided bachelor parties were a thing suffered a gruesome, painful death.
He had no hand in planning this, he did not even know this was expected until he woke up the day before the wedding and Takumi informed him they would not be sleeping in their bedroom that night.
Originally Eito thought it had to do with the tradition of not seeing each other prior to the wedding, but no, it could never be that easy when it came to them.
Hiruko handed him a suitcase full of necessities - she insisted having worn gloves to handle his clothing and Eito hoped the gloves were thick because he did not need her stench polluting his underwear.
The day continued as usual, only that after lunch they were herded into the old refurbished bus and taken to the SDU.
They hadn’t had much chance to celebrate since the war began, but Eito had to admit Gaku knew how to throw a proper party. His taste in alcohol didn’t disappoint either.
He didn't know what was in those drinks, but after throwing back a couple of them he started seeing double. At some point he thinks he saw Takumi delivering a particularly inspiring speech about new beginnings. And at another point Moko chased Takemaru into the refreshments table, somehow toppling a candle and setting the decorations on fire. Eito thinks he saw Gaku running at them and setting himself on fire, but maybe he imagined that part. He probably also imagined Hiruko stepping on him to put out the fire. And Yugamu trimming a hedge bush into what looked like an anatomically correct heart.
Eight hours left.
All the remaining members of the SDU are slumped on the derelict academy grounds, hair resting on the mud, in varying states of passed out and shitfaced drunk. Eito is curled around a snoring Takumi. Maybe if he nuzzles into his neck enough, the pounding in his head will stop. He tightens his legs around the unconscious man's hips. His head does not stop hurting.
Six hours left.
Hiruko and a few other sober ones managed to shove everyone back into the bus and into the complex. Eito thinks he threw up on Gaku, or was it Shouma? It was one of the short ones that had tried to help him up the first time around. He felt slightly bad about that, but it was their own fault for subjecting his poor innocent nose to their stench. It was nothing short of a miracle that they all made it home in one piece. He and Takumi stumbled down the halls hand in hand, barely making it to the meeting room before collapsing onto the rug.
Four hours left.
Hiruko storms into the meeting room with what seems like a small army of stylists. They shake Eito awake and drag him away from his cozy spot on the dirty carpet and into the showers. Eito manages to convince them to let him shower himself, but these stylists are pushy! They do not even cower under his best death glare, and they seem to fear no one except Hiruko. Once he is clean and free of crusty remains of last night's dinner, he gets held down while the fleshy monsters comb and style his hair into a braid he could have honestly done himself. His face is powdered and gloss is smeared on his lips, only for him to throw up all over himself forcing them to back off. In the end, they leave him to his own devices.
Eito's poor nose feels fried. It had taken him fifteen years to somehow tolerate the SDU's stench, and these strangers were too much for his senses. Part of him hopes he had been allowed to dress up with Takumi, maybe even to wake up together at their own pace on their own wedding day.
No matter, they are tight on schedule.
He slaps away as many hands as he can as he takes a second shower, dries his own hair, braids the pins and small roses that had been given to him exactly as the stylists had intended. He allows Hiruko to help him dress as the attire is complicated, but nothing else.
Fifteen minutes left.
Eito can barely see through the thick veil covering his face. Hiruko walks next to him, leading him by the arm down the hall. It's just them in the halls, he can't smell anyone else.
Her heels echo on the stony tiles with finality.
Eito can feel his heart stuck on his throat.
"Why are you so nervous?" Hiruko scoffs with a barely restrained sneer. "Do you not want to get married?"
Eito does not know how to reply.
Something feels wrong, like they rushed into this, or something is missing.
His hands feel clammy under his white gloves.
His suit is whiter than a soul like his deserves.
They arrive at the doors, but Hiruko does not press him for an answer. She asks him to wait for her to return, and then she will lead him down the aisle.
Eito thinks he would like someone else by his side, but by then it is too late.
One minute left.
The doors open. The music starts.
Hiruko takes his arm and pulls him along, far too gently for a woman he’d spent the past two months at odds with.
The thick veil only lets him see the white carpet littered with pink and ivory petals.
There's so many scents, so many horrific noises. He thinks he smells human, the rotting smell clinging stubborn to the very back of his throat. His hands clench as he breathes as little as he can, unsure if the lightheadedness is due to the stench or the nerves or the fact that the tablecloth is still eggshell or the roses have started wilting or that soon he will sign away his soul to Takumi and maybe it would have been better if Takumi had just kidnapped him and forced him into his bed like a degenerate human-
They stop.
Eito recognizes the polished black shoes in front of his own white ones. He polished them himself just last week.
Takumi.
He doesn't even register when Hiruko leaves his sight. A fleshy appendage covered by a white glove lifts up the veil, and Takumi has never looked more beautiful. His very own beloved monster, the only one he wants to wake up next to for the rest of his life. The only one he wants to be loved by. He can feel his eyes filling with tears, and he is quick to look away before they fall. How embarassing.
On the altar stands Kamyuhn, looking far more radiant than she has ever seen her.
She motions for them to stand before her, and just as she addresses the crowd it happens.
The first explosion collapses the ceiling.
It feels like time has stopped.
In a split second, Eito rushes towards Kamyuhn while whipping out his infuser from the strap on his thigh.
Takumi already stands in front of her, sword out and ready. Steel clashes against falling stone as he shields her as best as he can from the debris. Eito snaps into a familiar position, back to back against Takumi.
Tsubasa rushes in and pulls Kamyuhn into her car and to a safe location. All the other members of the SDU are now in their class armour, but Eito knows Takumi was first. He reacted the fastest. Eito's cheeks heat up. This kind of competence was something he had always liked about him.
The civilian guests are scrambling to escape. Their own troops rush in, ready to defend.
From the shadows figures appear - humans in their fancy robotic suits.
How rotten, to fall this low and ruin their wedding.
But Eito finds he doesn't feel rage anymore. All his anxiety has melted away. He may not be good with love, but violence is a language he speaks very well.
Eito laughs in delight as he slices someone in half, and their rotten blood stains the white carpet.
It looks so much prettier in red.
Someone sets the altar cloth on fire
Behind him, Takumi thrusts his sword into someone and throws them off to the side. He shakes the gore off the metal with a quick slice and adds to the mess.
The humans must be desperate, to send their worst with only the advantage of an ambush in their favour.
A human tries to attack from the side, only to be met with a faceful of scythe. On the other side, Takumi makes quick work of two attackers. They are moving like a single unit, like a single being.
Eito has an idea.
"Hiruko!" he calls out to the woman whose axe is currently buried in someone's brain.
"What do you want?" she growls as she tears it off with a vicious yank, only to chop someone else clean in half.
"Marry us!" he slams his scythe on the ground and lightning falls on two humans, who fall to their knees. Takumi quickly finishes them off.
"I'm a little busy!" Hiruko holds her axe defensively in front of her face as a human tries to rush her. Someone - Kako - snipes it from a distance.
"Just marry us Hiruko!" Takumi adds, in a no-nonsense tone that makes Eito’s cheeks flush.
Hiruko groans, barely managing to dodge as Moko sends some human flying through the air only to get impaled into Takumi's sword.
"Do you Takumi -" Hiruko parries off a human sword with handle of her axe "- take Eito to be your lawfully wedded husband-" she decapitates the human for good measure "-to love and to hold-"
Eito clenches his teeth. This feels far more real than any planning they did before. Far more them.
"-from this day forward-"
Takumi slices clean through someone with such force that the tip of his sword clangs against Eito's own axe.
"-for better or worse-"
Another rush of humans quickly dispatched.
"-for richer, for poorer-"
Takumi's back feels solid against his. Reliable. His.
"-in sickness and in health-"
There is nowhere he'd rather be. No one he'd rather be with.
"-to love and to cherish-"
Every mountain feels surmountable with Takumi by his side.
"till death do you part?"
Takumi screams "I do!", their friends cheer, Eito's eyes sting.
When Hiruko asks him, he replies with the same amount of enthusiasm.
"Kiss, kiss!" someone chants, joined by many other voices. All of them are familiar.
"Then by the authority given to me by Queen Kamyuhn I pronounce you husband and husband!" Eito can feel the triumphant smile in Hiruko's voice as she kicks away a mutilated corpse. "You may now-"
Takumi pulls Eito around to face him and he looks so beautiful, so much better covered in blood and filth than he ever looked all gussied up and prim and proper.
Eito wants to push him onto the altar and climb on top of him.
Instead, their lips meet in the middle, tasting blood and spit and love, so much love.
Around them the battle rages, steel meets steel, gunfire echoes along the stone walls. Flames crawl from the altar to the walls, feasting on Eito's handmade decorations.
It's all perfect
If Takumi were to ask him again what type of wedding he would imagine for them, it would be this.
Not some ball at an unknown castle, being held by some Prince Charming.
Not some pristine, prissy affair following tradition.
Instead he gets the man he loves cradled so dearly in his arms, with their friends all around them, and maimed human corpses littered everywhere.
It was all he could ever ask for.