You’re not nervous- you already went through pretty much all the emotions you’re supposed to go through before a wedding the night before and now you’re in a limbo of weird bliss and happiness; it feels like your heart is going to explode.
(Your hands don’t know that though. You have the nervous habit of running them through your hair and you’ve messed it up and had to restyle it four times already)
Mainly what you’ve been doing to stop that is spin the ring on your finger- the engagement ring that you guess is going to replaced by a wedding ring in just a few hours.
You know you’re smiling like an idiot. You don’t even care.
Mostly you’re left alone, because, apparently, Orem still isn’t over the nervousness part of all this like you are.
You’ve already gotten the talk from Kammis, anyways. About how if you ruin this day for her brother she’ll have your head, and so on. You promised her at least three times that you absolutely wont.
(She told you about how he’d started crying and saying how he loved you so much, and how she still can’t really believe that that’s true but as long as you’re making her brother happy, then she guesses you’re alright)
Then it’s just an hour before the ceremony and you’re adjusting the fanciest robe you’ve ever been shoved into and Randus comes in, looking kind of concerned.
He says he’s mostly looking for some quiet. He says that they just got a message that Orem’s parents arecoming after all and that everyone is rightfully concerned about it.
You say, “Oh.”
And you feel your nerves come back just a bit because just from Randus’s face you can pretty much tell how upset everyone must be.
(He did send them an invitation. The most passive aggressive invitation the two of you could muster; they had said that they couldn’t come. Which you expected! Except now they are going to be here and you can feel your heart sinking as you think of what his face must have looked like when he’d heard)
But before you can think of anything to do to help it’s time to go. And now your bliss is mixed with dread and nervousness again, too, because it’s time.
And you walk out of your room and around the building to the little pavilion outside that’s covered in chairs and flowers.
(You and Orem had mostly let Kammis and Trelle take charge. Neither of you know the first thing about how weddings go,you just knew that you’d wanted one)
You focus on the guy who’s standing up at the front, next to Torq. With his hair in a fancy braid that’s over his shoulder. He does look like he’s been crying, but he looks really happy, too.
He kind of half turns to face you. His face breaks out in a grin and you feel yours, too.
You thought you were over the nervousness,but you feel your heart start to do that stupid fluttery thing it does when you realize just how much you’re in love with him.
So, you’re marched up to the altar to stand in front of Torq. You very nearly have to stop yourself from mouthing the words along with him because you’ve heard him practice this very near a hundred times
(He wanted to make sure he got it right, for his friends)
“Dearly Beloved-” he starts. And pronounces it right, too.
Orem is standing stock still, even after all this time you can’t pinpoint exactly where he’s looking, although you guess it’s at you or Torq. You, on the other hand, cant stop shifting from foot to foot and it’s only the fact that this is actuallyhappening, right now that keeps you from running your hands through your hair again.
So you observe the crowd, through the corner of your eye. There in the back are Orem’s parents, sitting with poker faces that could rival your own.
As for the other guests…
Well you’re pretty sure that in the middle, on the left The Raven Queen herself just said something to Corellon.And the best part is that it’s not even enough to dampen your spirits.
You don’t do vows, because both of you had separately spent months working on them and weren’t happy because neither of you could quite figure out how to express what you wanted to say. And, hey, you had said, isn’t the point of a wedding ceremony that you’re making a vow to stay together for the rest of your lives, anyways?
What you do instead is just quietly swap “I love you’s”
Then, soon enough it’s time for the rings, because neither you nor Torq have the patience for a long drawn out ceremony.
So, Gai comes waddling up with a pillow in his mouth.
Ranuds- who’s the collective best man between the two of you starts to lean down to pick him up but Gai just climbs up your leg onto your shoulder and drops the rings into your hand.
He says “Ech. This is probably the worst thing you’ve ever had me do”
and you shoot back in supernal, “There’s gonna be mummified bird feet at the reception”
So he says “Mm” and jumps off you to make his way back to the seat that he has all to himself.
(You’d actually argued against Gai being the ring-bearer, but according to Trelle, not putting him in a bow tie would have been a waste of everyone’s time. You know of a bunch of bite marks on her hands that say otherwise.)
Your ring is kind of slick with, what you guess is spit, so you wipe that off.
Then you put the rings on each other’s fingers.
So he puts the silver band on your finger and you put it on his and you both look at Torq, who , after a moment blinks and says that you’re married, now, and that you should kiss.
So, you lean down and kiss him like you’ve done a thousand times before, and he kisses you back, except this time it’s really, really important. Probably you’re giving the most important person in your life the most important kiss you’ll ever share. And Trelle is wolf whistling in the background.
When you pull back you realize the two of you are wrapped up in yards of flower garlands. It doesn’t matter because Orem is right next to you, still smiling- and crying again, too. You go to wipe away the tears and he just puts his hand over yours and in a shaky voice that’s half crying and half a laugh and says, “I’m really happy” and you pull him back into a hug and say, ‘I am, too”
And you are, you really are. For all your gambling, you never much considered yourself a lucky man. Until today.
(And then there’s the part that happens after the ceremony, where you find a quiet room and hold him close and sing to him, quietly, an old elven song. And he shakes and says he didn’t think his parents would come and you tell him it doesn’t matter now, because they can’t do anything to the rings on your fingers)
Yeah. Yeah you’re nervous.
You feel like you’re about to cry and you can’t stop smiling and shaking all at once. To be honest today kind of took you by surprise.
You knew today was coming but now that it’s actually here.
Well, you can’ believe it.
Mostly you just sit with your hands clasped together, people move around you, pushing you from room to room, asking how you want things and telling you to get ready and put on this and would you focus?
And you’re trying, you really are but you’ve been lightheaded since you woke up and realized.
You’re getting married today.
At some point you’re led in front of a mirror and told to put on a tie and get yourself ready. As your fumbling with it you say, “Is- is he doing alright? Smith?”
Out of the corner of your eye you see Trelle scrunch her eyebrows and share a look with Orem. You’re not even really sure when they got here.
Trelle says, “He’s… He’s fine. Are you alright?”
And you nod a few times.
“Nervous, but- but I’m alright”
You got your bow tie crooked and you just stand their as Orem grumbles and fixes it for you. And then tilts his head and looks at you and says,”It’s almost time, you know”
And you nod again and he leads you- mostly pushes you- out of the room.
And then, before you know it you’re standing outside of the door to a place that’s not even really a proper temple, just a small wooden building with some chairs set up inside; then there’s Orem again, doing the same to Smith as he did to you except Smith looks like he’s complaining about something and has his hand over his face.
Orem parks Smith in front of you and he takes his hand down from his face. You see his take a deep breath and his eyes widen. You feel yourself doing the same.
Then he gives you that lopsided grin that you’ve come to love so much.
That you’re about to marry.
(It looks like they made him bathe- his hair actually has a semblance of style for once and there’s no dirt under his nails)
He licks his lips, looks down at the ground then back up at you.
Says, “You ready?”
You can’t stop looking at him.
You say, “Y-yeah”
And someone opens the door and you find yourself gripping for dear life onto Smith’s hand and you walk by everyone up the aisle.
(There’s your family, and his and the party and Thony and they’re all smiling at you)
Torq is at the front, trying his hardest to look serious but also squinting his eyes at the book he’s supposed to be reading and he pulling at the edge of the tabard he put over his armor.
You get up to the front and he shuts the book and starts talking and you really can’t focus on anything he’s saying at all. To you it’s just Smith, and the feeling as he’s holding onto your hands.
You watch him look around, to Torq, and then to the crowd and then up at you and he’s red in the face but he’s smiling.
And you are too, your ears are burning and there’s tears in your eyes and a grin on your face.
You guess whatever Torq is saying is nice because you can hear someone who sounds suspiciously like your mother blowing their nose. But you don’t hear a word of it. You just feel your heart squeeze.
(But it squeezes in the most pleasant breathtaking way you can think of)
And then there’s your assistant, it’s gone past you to tap on Torqs foot and he picks it up and holds it between you. It raises two claws and in each one is a ring.
(You were with him when he made them. Two perfect rings of cold iron with just a faint etching inside that says ‘Duthane-Tsarkol’)
Now that you’re holding it like this and trying to slide it onto his finger you’re shaking so bad you can’t get it on him. You hear him say to you, quietly, “Breath” but his voice is shaking, too.
(You had decided not to say vows for exactly this reason- because you’d be a stuttering mess and he probably would be too and you are, you are and he is too and you love him for it)
But he manages to steady your hand enough for you to get the ring onto him and he does them same to you.
Then he looks over at Torq and then back to you and it dawns on you that you’re supposed to kiss him now.
And it’s not like you haven’t before but this time it’s different.
This time it’s even worse than the first time you kissed him and your heart is beating out of your chest for some reason.
(Not for some reason. You know the reason. It’s because it’s him and because now it’ll always be him and you’re so ecstatic about it you think you’re going to pass out)
He looks nervous too but he’s smiling and he sort of bends down and you meet him halfway and find that his hands are in your hair and one of yours in his and the other hand is on his chest.
The sound comes exploding in- there’s clapping and someone whistles and behind you Torq tries to say the word ‘pronounce’ but just ends up saying that you’re married, now.
(You kiss each other a solid four more times before actually turning to face everyone)
Then Smith’s hand on yours kind of brings you back down to being able to think again and you’re walking out and having to use your other hand to wipe your eyes. Smith is wiping his too but he’s smiling away.
And it might be kind of selfish for you to think this way, you know, but it’s your smile now, for as long as you both shall live.