#one is a second chapter for Distance which is the fic where tenten and neji are long distance

[needdl]

Marriage In Style

“Neji and Tenten adjust to the newlywed life.”

do not ask me how long this has been up on FFN or AO3 if you want to feel unignored. (sorry yall)

Part One     Part Two

Neji and Tenten didn’t get around to watching their wedding footage for almost three months. They’d had more interesting things to do- each other, mostly, but Tenten’s classes were kicking up and she was still settling into how she wanted to balance getting her doctorate with her job and home life.

They finally had a weekend when they were both home and felt like watching the footage, and so Tenten sat down and wrote out the last few thank-yous for wedding gifts while she waited for Neji to bring out their dessert- usually, Tenten would cook the meal and Neji would make dessert, then they’d do the dishes together. She didn’t know what he was making tonight, only that it was complex and scientific and she’d been banished from the kitchen in the meantime.

She signed a thank-you note to a distant aunt of Neji’s- she’d gotten them the high-quality printer from their online registry, which had prompted Tenten to ask Neji how he’d charmed his aunt so thoroughly. (“My family is wealthy and likes to flaunt it in pretentious, meaningless ways,” was his only comment, to which Tenten shrugged and said, “Fine with me, we got a great printer out of it.”) The printer now sat in their shared office, ready for use.

Tenten picked up the next thank-you note, glanced at her watch, and frowned. “Babe, are you almost done? I wanna get started!”

“I’ll finish when I finish, Tenten,” came the terse reply. She rolled her eyes, then started jotting out a generic message to Choji’s parents.

She’d just completed stuffing it into an envelope when Neji came out of the kitchen, walking slowly and carrying two small bowls in his hands.

He set one down in front of her carefully, and she gaped at it. “Is this- is this an actual soufflé? Did you make soufflé?”

Neji nodded, looking very satisfied.

“How do you know how to make it?”

He raised his brows, somewhat condescendingly. “It was a recipe, Tenten. Perhaps you’ve heard of them-”

She smacked his shoulder and rolled her eyes. “Okay, you dick.”

She grabbed her spoon and dug it into her soufflé, then brought it to her mouth. It was warm and chocolatey, and she let a small happy noise and took another bite. “Oh my god, Neji, this is so good.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Neji took his own bite of his soufflé and looked pensive. “It’s perhaps a little sweeter than I intended, and I think I could have gotten more rise out of it-”

Tenten hooked her chin over his shoulder. “If you don’t like it, give it to meeee.”

He yanked his soufflé out of her reach. “Get out of here.”

“Booooooo.”

They started the wedding footage and settled in, eating their soufflé with the sides of their legs pressed together. At the start of her vows, Tenten let out a little groan and covered her head with a decorative pillow.

Neji chuckled. “You really can’t stand to watch yourself profess you love for me?”

“Shut up!”

“Fine, don’t watch. I, however, have a vested interest in this section.”

“Great. Congrats.” She kept the pillow over her eyes until her on-screen counterpart had finished, then peeked over the top to watch as Neji began his own vows. She let out a tiny smile as on-screen Neji declared her his “fate”, and turned her head to look at her husband.

He wasn’t watching the footage at all. Instead, he had turned to look at her and take in her reaction. He met her eyes and gave her such a soft look she felt her insides actually melt.

“I meant it,” he murmured. She mustered her will and held his gaze, even though every part of her wanted to hide away the soft mush she was becoming. “I know,” she whispered. She quickly turned her gaze back to the television to watch the kiss and raucous cheers that followed (three-hit combo of Lee, Naruto, and Kiba as part of the groomsmen, though Sakura and Ino in the bridal party were by no means quiet either), blushing under Neji’s lingering gaze.

The camera followed the two of them back down the aisle, fingers entwined, before fading into their reception. Tenten jerked out her reverie and asked incredulously, “Shino seriously did this? I had no idea he was so good at video editing!” She turned back to look at Neji. “We paid him for this, right?”

“Yes, but he gave us a friends and family discount, then cut back even more as part of his wedding present.”

“We should pay him more.”

“Yes, I gave him extra already.”

“Oh, good.”

They watched as the footage showed their guests settling into seats and Lee’s best man toast (he was wonderfully poetic and romantic, and only mentioned youth four times), followed by the dinner. After the first course, Ino and Sakura stood up for a joint speech that had on-screen Tenten hiding her face away in Neji’s shoulder.

Watching the speech again from the comfort of her own home, Tenten could appreciate it a little more- it was fairly funny, after all.

She stood up and grabbed their empty souffle dishes, then headed to the kitchen with them. “You want any wine?” She called over her shoulder.

“Yes, thank you.”

She grabbed an opened bottle from a few days earlier, plus a new one, and two wine glasses. Tenten settled back down next to Neji on the couch and poured them both a glass, sliding Neji’s to him.

She grinned at him. “Cheers.” They clinked their glasses together.

Neji ducked his head and kissed her. “To our marriage.”

“Cheeseball.” She kissed him again. “So far it’s been pretty damn good.”

“Good,” he echoed, kissing her again. They stopped and lingered in each other’s space for a little bit, before a voice from the the television caught their attention.

“What I like about them, or like why I think they’re a good couple?” Ino was squinting into the camera, a half-consumed glass of champagne in her hand. Judging by the slight sloppiness of her hair, it was towards the end of the reception, when some of the guests were a little tipsy. (Ino. Ino was a little tipsy).

Shino must have answered the question behind the camera because Ino sat back in her chair and made loud, thoughtful noises. “I like that… well, hm. Look, I’m drunk, don’t expect poetry. Hm.”

Sakura slid into the seat next to Ino, clutching an appletini. “Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii,” she said. Whether she was addressing Ino, the camera, or Shino was unclear.

“Forehead, what do we like about Neji and Tenten as a couple.”

“PIG.”

“Ohhhhh, you’re druuuuunk.”

“So what? I'll kick your ass!”

Tenten turned thoughtfully to Neji. “How did we not notice that most of the bridal party was drunk?”

“We were rather… occupied.” Neji smirked.

Tenten paused to remember some furtive, uh, kissing that had happened in a side room towards the end of their reception. “Oh. That’s right.”

Onscreen, Ino slapped her hand down on the table. “I like that Neji thinks Tenten is one of the funniest people on the planet, even though her sense of humor is horrible and almost exclusively shitty puns or history jokes.”

Sakura, who was snuggled into Ino's shoulder with her eyes closed, grinned. “Yeah! History…”

“Like, Tenten will be having a conversation with someone, and then be like… ‘Hurr durr, Hashirama Senju something something-’”

Tenten took a sip of her wine. “She could at least tell a decent joke.”

“-and like, it’ll be some obscure reference that no normal person will understand-”

“What!” Tenten scowled at the screen. “Hashirama frickin’ Senju is not obscure.”

“-but Neji will always laugh. Every time. I mean, I always kind of laugh, just because she thinks she’s funny-” Tenten huffed indignantly. “But not only does Nej understand the reference, he thinks it’s funny.”

“Yeah, because I’m funny.” Tenten told the television loudly. “NOT MY FAULT YOU NEVER TOOK A HISTORY CLASS AFTER FRESHMAN YEAR, YAMANAKA.”

Neji watched her ranting at Ino (who, of course, was not actually there) and grinned. He did think Tenten was funny, but she was most humorous to him when it was unintentional- when she blustered away at his affections, or when she let her emotions overwhelm her common sense (as she was doing now).

He continued to drink from his wine and watched as Tenten cussed out her (still absent) friend. After a minute or two, she sat back with a harrumph and took a gulp of her wine. She turned to Neji and gave him a sulky look. “I’m funny.”

Neji shrugged and indicated the television, where the footage had cut away to show the pair of them watching Hinata’s short but heartfelt speech. “I think so, but apparently my opinion is not to be trusted.”

“Well, it’s the one the matters most to me, so Ino can suck it.”

“Matters most, hm?”

“It’s why I married you,” Tenten leaned over to kiss him. “Good opinions.”

“Thank you. I practiced.”

Tenten snorted and turned back to the television, keeping herself tucked against his side. He pressed his lips against her temple and lingered, before resting his head against hers and giving the footage his attention.

The final shot was the two of them slowly dancing together, silhouetted against the setting sun.