Chapter Text
Parrot couldn’t believe what was happening.
Today’s the day.
The day of his wedding with his beloved, Wemmbu.
His hands were soaked with nervous sweat, trembling slightly as he stood beneath the warm glow of the chapel lights. The crowd blurred before him, their faces dissolving into a haze of color and sound. Yet through all of it, he could see only one person.
Wemmbu.
The moment their eyes met, the panic inside Parrot softened into something gentler—something familiar. Like the first chord of a song he’d played a thousand times before.
Wemmbu walked slowly towards the altar.
He looks breathtaking enough to silence every whisper in the room. By the end of the aisle, he stood like a living piece of moonlight. A beautiful goddess gracing Parrot with his presence.
His wedding dress flowed around him in cascading layers of ivory white and soft lilac silk, the fabric shimmering whenever it was caught in the light. It was as if the stars had been stitched directly into the seams. The gown was embroidered with intricate silver symbols that spiraled across the sleeves and bodice—tiny celestial markings, musical notes, and ancient end runes that told the story of Parrot and Wemmbu’s love.
Perhaps the most mesmerizing part of him was his hair.
Wemmbu’s long purple hair spilled down his back in rich waves of violet and amethyst, impossibly soft, glowing beneath the golden candles like twilight made tangible. Fine chains of gold jewelry were woven carefully throughout the strands, draping elegantly like constellations across the night sky.
Tiny gemstones dangled between the braids—sapphires, pearls, and crystal charms that chimed softly whenever he moved.
At the crown of his head rested an ornate hairpiece gifted by Parrot: a delicate arrangement of silver branches and crystal feathers that curved around his temples like a celestial halo.
Everything about Wemmbu looked ethereal, timeless.
The avian had spent his entire life with music. He had written melodies for crowded rooms and lonely nights, for heartbreaks, for victories, for feelings too difficult to explain with ordinary words.
But no audience, no stage, and no standing ovation had ever made him feel as accomplished and proud the way Wemmbu did simply by existing.
Their eyes finally met.
And suddenly, the panic inside Parrot softened into something warm.
Something familiar.
Like the first chord of a beloved song he had played a thousand times before.
Wemmbu smiled at him gently as he reached the altar, though tears already shimmered within his violet eyes. Parrot laughed shakily beneath his breath at the sight. Even now, after everything they had survived together, Wemmbu could still reduce him into nothing more than a hopelessly enamored man.
The ceremony continued in a beautiful blur.
And then finally—It was time.
Time for his vows.
Parrot inhaled slowly, trying desperately to steady the trembling in his chest. The paper in his hands shook slightly, though he quickly realized he did not need it anymore.
Because every word he wished to say had already carved itself permanently into his heart.
He looked up at Wemmbu and smiled softly.
“Wemmbu,” he began quietly, his voice rough with emotion, “today, as we stand together before the people we love and before God, I want you to know that every road I have taken in life somehow led me to you.”
The chapel fell completely silent.
“Of all the faces I have seen, all the voices I have heard, all the fleeting moments that came and went…” His fingers tightened carefully around Wemmbu’s hands. “You are the one my soul chose to keep.”
Wemmbu’s breath hitched.
“You are my greatest coincidence,” Parrot whispered, tears beginning to gather in his own eyes now, “and my most certain destiny.”
The words came easier after that.
Like music finally remembering its melody.
“From the moment you entered my life, everything became softer, warmer, brighter. You became the peace I look for after every difficult day. The laughter hidden in ordinary moments. The home I never knew I was searching for.” He laughed weakly through the tightness in his throat.
“Loving you did not feel like learning something new—it felt like remembering something my heart had always known.”
By now, tears had already begun slipping down Wemmbu’s cheeks.
Parrot’s expression softened further.
“And as we stand together at this altar, I hope I’ve made it abundantly clear that you are the love of my life.” A faint teasing smile touched his lips. “Even when your jealousy appears—which, I admit, can still be incredibly attractive—you will always remain the origin of my poems, the sound of my strings, and the melody behind every song I will ever write. You will always be a beautiful symphony to me.”
Soft laughter spread gently throughout the chapel.
Wemmbu covered his mouth, laughing tearfully through his sobs.
“Every love song I create will carry traces of you.” Parrot continued. “Every beautiful thing I learn about love will begin and end with your name.”
Emotion thickened his voice.
“My voice may fade someday. Time may steal the strength from my hands and the color from my hair. But your beauty…” His gaze never once left Wemmbu’s face. “The beauty of your soul, your kindness, your laughter, the way you love so fiercely and sincerely… will remain eternal to me.”
“And if the day ever comes when your eyes can no longer remember my face,” Parrot whispered, “when age takes away our memories little by little… don’t be afraid.”
He lifted Wemmbu’s trembling hands gently to his lips.
“My heart will remember enough for the both of us.”
Wemmbu broke completely at that. A sob escaped him as tears spilled endlessly down his face.
Parrot nearly lost composure seeing him cry like that, but he continued anyway, voice shaking with devotion.
“I will remember the way your smile calms me. The way your hand fits perfectly in mine. The way you look at me when I speak about my dreams. The way loving you made me become a better man.”
The cathedral had become utterly silent except for quiet crying.
“If I were given the chance to turn back time,” Parrot said softly, “I would still return to the very first moment I saw you. I would choose you in every lifetime, in every version of our world. I would pursue your heart over and over again until you fell in love with me once more, just so I could relive the miracle of being loved by someone as extraordinary as you.”
A trembling smile crossed his lips.
“An angel, perhaps,” he murmured. Then softer:
“Or my favorite little demon.”
Wemmbu laughed through his tears while the guests chuckled warmly around them.
“And when the years have passed,” Parrot continued, “when my mind can no longer compose melodies to make you blush, when my memory begins to fade and words become difficult to find, destiny itself will testify to how deeply enchanted I was by you.”
His voice steadied then with certainty.
“Because loving you is not simply a feeling to me.”
He pressed Wemmbu’s hands carefully against his chest.
“It is faith. It is destiny. It is the greatest privilege my life has ever known.”
Wemmbu was openly sobbing now.
Parrot smiled at him with such tenderness it nearly hurt to witness.
“My favorite prayer has always been simple,” he whispered. “To grow old beside you.”
Another tear slipped down his cheek.
“To wake up next to you on ordinary mornings. To laugh with you over small things. To hold your hand through every hardship life gives us. To build a family filled with warmth, honesty, and love. To choose each other even on difficult days. To continue falling in love with you long after today.”
His voice cracked completely.
“And now… that prayer has finally been answered.”
Parrot took a shaky breath before continuing.
“Today, I do not only give you my heart. I give you my loyalty, my patience, my honesty, my gentleness, my future, and every imperfect piece of who I am.”
He brushed his thumb carefully across Wemmbu’s knuckles.
“I vow to protect your heart as carefully as you have protected mine. I vow to listen when life becomes heavy. I vow to celebrate your victories as if they were my own. I vow to stand beside you not only when life is beautiful, but also when it becomes difficult and uncertain.”
By now, Parrot himself was crying openly.
“I promise that no matter how much time passes, I will never stop courting you. I will never stop learning from you. I will never stop finding new reasons to fall in love with you.”
The chapel lights shimmered against tears filling both their eyes.
“In Sonnet 18, Shakespeare writes about preserving beauty through words so that it may live forever.” His voice softened into something almost sacred. “That is what I wish to do with my life and with my love for you.”
He stepped closer.
“I want to love you so deeply, so truthfully, and so completely that even time itself cannot erase it.”
Wemmbu’s hands trembled against his.
“So long after our voices are gone… long after our hands have aged… long after this very moment becomes a distant memory…”
Parrot smiled through tears.
“The love we built together will still remain.”
Neither of them could stop crying anymore.
And as Parrot rested his forehead gently against Wemmbu’s beneath the warm candlelight of the chapel, his final words emerged barely above a whisper.
“And when the end finally comes for me, when my body is nothing more than dust and silence…” His eyes closed softly. “I hope the world remembers at least this.”
He held Wemmbu’s hands tighter.
“That once in my life…”
His voice broke entirely.
“I loved you with everything I had.”
For several long seconds after Parrot finished speaking, the entire chapel seemed to forget how to breathe.
Wemmbu stood before him completely undone.
His shoulders shook beneath the delicate layers of ivory and lilac silk, violet tears spilling endlessly down his cheeks. The gemstones woven into his long purple hair shimmered whenever he trembled, tiny stars caught in moonlight.
Parrot’s hands still held his gently. Carefully.
As if he were holding something sacred. As if he was holding his most precious treasure.
Wemmbu tried to speak once.
Failed.
A soft laugh escaped the guests through their tears as he covered his mouth, utterly overwhelmed. Even the officiant seemed emotional now, discreetly wiping at his eyes.
Parrot smiled shakily.
“There’s no rush, love,” he whispered.
That only made Wemmbu cry harder.
“Oh gods,” Wemmbu laughed weakly between sobs, his voice beautiful even while breaking apart. “You—you absolutely cheated.”
Soft laughter rippled warmly through the chapel.
“You spent your entire life writing songs,” Wemmbu continued tearfully, shaking his head. “How was I ever supposed to compete with that?”
Parrot’s eyes softened with helpless affection.
Wemmbu looked at him then. He looked at the man standing before him at the altar, eyes red, hands trembling, and his heart so honest it felt unbearable to witness.
But the nervousness inside Wemmbu dissolved.
Because this was Parrot.
His Parrot.
Wemmbu inhaled shakily before finally beginning.
“Parrot…”
His voice cracked immediately.
The guests laughed softly again through their tears, and Wemmbu hid his face for a moment while Parrot squeezed his hands reassuringly.
“You see?” Wemmbu muttered emotionally. “I practiced this a hundred times, and now I sound like I’m dying.”
“You sound perfect,” Parrot whispered.
Wemmbu’s expression crumbled all over again.
“Oh, I hate you.” he laughed tearfully.
“You love me.”
“…Unfortunately, yes.”
The chapel erupted into gentle laughter.
Then slowly, carefully, Wemmbu gathered himself.
And when he spoke again, his voice carried something soft and endless within it.
“Parrot,” he begins softly.
A pause. He exhales.
“There was a time when loving someone felt impossible for me. Not because I didn’t know how to love, but because I never believed I could truly be chosen.”
He swallows, voice steady but quiet.
“I spent so much of my life standing quietly at the edges of things, convincing myself that people like me were meant to admire from a distance — never to be held close.”
He looks down for a second, then back up.
“And then there was you.”
A faint shift in his expression—something softer.
“You walked into my life so gently that I didn’t even realize you were changing it at first.”
A breath.
“Suddenly, every love song sounded different. Every quiet night carried your name somewhere inside it.”
He shakes his head slightly, almost in disbelief at his own words.
“Loving you felt like looking up at the sky for the first time and realizing the moon had always been there — distant, beautiful, constant — waiting for someone brave enough to stop and stare.”
A pause lingers.
“I used to think love was something loud and certain.”
He exhales slowly.
“But with you, I learned that love can also be soft. It can live in the silence between conversations, in the way you laugh without trying, in the way your presence alone can make the world feel less heavy.”
He steps slightly closer.
“You never made me feel small.”
A beat.
“If anything, you made me want to become someone kinder to myself.”
His voice tightens slightly with emotion.
“Because loving you taught me that maybe I deserve to take up space too. Maybe I deserve warmth. Maybe I deserve a forever.”
He pauses again, longer this time.
“And today, standing here before you, I realize this is all I have ever wanted: to be the person waiting for you at the end of every long day, the hand you reach for without thinking, the home your heart returns to.”
He breathes in slowly.
“I cannot promise a perfect life. There will be nights when we are tired, moments when love feels more like patience than poetry.”
A small nod.
“But I promise you this — I will choose you through all of it. Through every quiet morning, every uncertain season, every version of who we become.”
His voice steadies.
“I will love you loudly when the world is beautiful, and even more gently when it is not.”
A pause. The room feels still.
“Like the boy in every love song who waits at the aisle with tears in his eyes, I stand here knowing one truth with absolute certainty: you are the one.”
He looks directly at Parrot now.
“So if you will let me, give me your forever.”
A final breath.
“And I will spend every day of mine proving that my heart has always belonged beside yours.”
Then, almost barely audible:
“I love you, Parrot. Now and Forever”
For a moment, neither of them moved.
The world held its breath with them.
Then Parrot stepped forward, just enough to close the space that was never really distance at all.
Wemmbu lifted his free hand to Parrot’s face, thumb brushing his tear-streaked cheek with overwhelming tenderness.
And this time, when they kissed, it wasn’t just love spoken wi
thout words.
It was a vow finally answered.
Not loud. Not rushed
Just completely, irrevocably certain.
The chapel erupted softly around them—crying, laughing, relief spilling into applause—but inside that moment, there was only warmth.
Only Parrot.
Only Wemmbu.
Only forever, finally choosing itself back.