Chapter Text
The location was beautiful. It was in their most favorite place in the world. The garden not too far from their house. They had a few tents and canopies. The tents were where Avery and Derek changed. (In separate tents of course.) The canopies had food in them.
Avery stood nervously under the floral arch. He wasn't nervous of the people. Not at all. In fact there were very few. A mix of mostly his friends and a few of Derek's. What was chewing into his mind was Derek. He was scared of Derek. What if Derek were to change his mind about marrying him? What if Derek never walks out of the small tent. What if-
The music starts playing. Which was a cue that Derek was coming. The second his eyes laid on Derek he swore under his breath. Fuck he's beautiful. Derek looked back at him. The knight's silver armour somehow glistened in the sun despite the cloudy weather. Maybe it was Avery's imagination. The way his white suit flows on his body. The long cape cascades behind him. He was holding a bouquet of forget me not flowers and sunflowers Avery made himself. Derek winks at him and Avery's face becomes flushed with a slight teal hue. If he wasn't nervous before he sure is now. He's practically melting.
Avery tried to focus on breathing. In. Out. In. Out. But it became difficult when Derek was walking toward him like something ripped straight out of Avery's dreams. The soft grass bent under Derek’s boots as he approached the arch. The song eventually came to its end and Derek was standing face to face with Avery. Avery wondered when was Derek so tall? Oh he's wearing boots with heels. Avery was practically staring into the man's soul.
"Hi handsome. You're staring." Derek whispered with a light chuckle.
"How could I not?" Avery responded sheepishly while glancing away.
Derek takes Avery's hands into his and they stare at each other like they're the only ones in this universe. Cough. The marriage commissioner, Derek's friend, looks at the two of them.
"Sorry to interrupt but may we start?"
The two of them chuckled while saying yes.
"Today we are here..."
Avery heard absolutely none of it. Not because he didn’t care. God, he cared so much it physically hurt. But every time he looked at Derek his brain seemed to short-circuit. Derek’s thumbs brushed against the back of his hands in slow comforting circles, grounding him whenever his thoughts drifted too far away
A breeze passed through the garden. The flowers hanging from the arch swayed gently above them while distant chatter and birdsong blended together into a soft blur. Somewhere off to the side, Avery could hear one of his friends quietly sniffling already.
"We haven't even started the vows and yet people have already started crying." Derek whispered.
"We may now start the vows."
Right, the vows! Avery has this in the bag! Until he didn't. He completely forgot the vows even after practicing hundreds and thousands of times. Shit.
"Ahem ah.."
Everyone's eyes peered into him and he swallowed thickly. Think fast Avery!
Avery cleared his throat once.
Then twice.
“Oh god,” he muttered. “Okay. Um. Hi.”
A few people laughed quietly.
"Derek when I first found out about you it was through a book."
More quiet laughs echoed throughout the garden. One of Avery's friends who was his best man, well, woman, looked visibly confused. She blinked at him a couple times and he blinked at her too. His gaze shifted back to Derek.
"I thought you were some creep. But it turns out you were my savior.
"A creep? Really?"
"Shush." Avery said as he rolled his eyes. "You didn't know me. I was practically a stranger and you saved me. Well that was until I wanted to search for you. And thank goodness I did. Because of my curious ass I formally got to meet you. There was the evil king but hey I saved you with a kiss didn't I!"
"Pfft.. that you did."
"When I first met you. Like actually did in that library I fell in love with you. That's corny as hell I know. But I really did. You looked enchanting. You were all I ever wanted in life. When we got out of that shit hole and started living together I was so happy. I found parts of me I never knew were there. You helped me."
Avery takes a brief pause before continuing. “You listened to every stupid ramble. Every theory. Every fear.” Avery laughed weakly. “You even listened when I talked for forty minutes straight about something completely meaningless.”
“It mattered because you cared about it.”
Avery looked genuinely affected by the interruption.
“See?!” he said emotionally. “You keep doing that!”
Doing what?” Derek asked softly.
“Making me feel important.”
Derek’s expression softened as he looked at the adorable slime.
"Derek, you're amazing, intelligent, beautiful, smart, funny. Fuck you're perfect. I can't even describe you in words." Avery basically rambles all of this out.
"You always made me feel like I was in the center of your universe. Like I was the only one for you. There were so many moments where the world felt unstable,” Avery continued. “Like everything around us could disappear if I blinked wrong.”
His eyes watered slightly. “But every time I looked at you, you were still there.”
His voice cracked a little on the last word.
"So I promise to keep choosing you. On the easy days and the impossible ones. I promise to stand beside you even when things get messy. I promise to love every version of you the way you loved every version of me.”
His eyes shined brightly now.
“And if the world ends someday,” Avery whispered, “then I hope the last thing I see is you looking back at me.”
Avery starts tearing up as he looked at Derek. He was quite sensitive. Several people in the audience were openly crying. Especially Avery's friend. Including the commissioner.
“Jesus Christ,” the man mumbled while wiping his eyes. “Okay. Derek, your turn before I actually start crying.”
"My dear prince." Derek started, bringing Avery's hands to his lips to kiss it gently. Avery's cheeks flushed even more.
"When I first opened that gate all of the universe's knowledge flew into my mind. Past, present, future. All of it. And through all of that knowledge only one thing stood out to me. You. I witnessed all of your experiences. I knew you inside out."
"Inside out you say.." Avery said with a grin.
"Shut it." Derek said, his cheeks emitting a slight glow. "I saw every aspect of you. The brave you, the kind you, the smart you, the quiet you. I fell in love with just the thought of you. When I knew you were going to the gate I had to stop it. I didn't want you to suffer like I did. In every possibility you heed my warning and walked away. But for some reason here, you didn't. It was strange. At least I got to meet you in person."
"Good thing I didn’t listen right?"
"Yes aves. When you saved me from the king I couldn't believe it. With all the outcomes I saw that I was going to die. There's another universe somewhere where I would be dead." Derek moves his free hand to Avery's face. "I don't know how but you changed all those outcomes. It shows how stubborn you are huh."
Avery sticks his tongue out at the knight. Derek rolls his eyes with a stupid grin.
"Avery, you make my world louder,” he admitted softly. “Brighter. Warmer.”
He retracted his hand from Avery's face. He wrapped both of them around Avery's and squeezed his hands.
“Before you, I thought peace meant being alone. Then you came into my life talking nonstop and dragging me into chaos.” A pause. “And somehow it became the happiest I’ve ever been. You're so caring to everyone especially me. You made me become healthier. You made me become a better person and I thank you deeply for that."
"Avery I swear no matter what I'll try as hard as you to make sure we stay together. Despite all of the other hundreds of universes we will always stay together in this one."
The audience starts sobbing now. Derek's friend starts crying quietly.
"Beautiful, that was beautiful!" Avery's best woman cries out.
The wedding commissioner coughs out. "Okay then. Avery Flores, do you take Derek Hutchins to be your husband."
"Yes yes yes yes yes yes-"
The wedding commissioner cuts him off. "Okay. Derek Hutchins, do you take Avery Flores to be your husband."
"I do."
"Okay, with the power within me I pronounce you slime and knight."
The two of them look at each other deep in the eyes before leaning in to kiss each other. Derek's hands land on the slime's lower back while Avery's arms wrap around Derek's neck. The two were so deeply in love. And will be in love for the rest of their days.