#they get married on a farm and the wedding reception is in a barn

[lost-in-fandoms]

if this was their engagement announcement it would be less gay btw

[melanieph321]

Ruben Dias - Lost in Sardinia Part 8/8

This story will have an epilogue ❤️

*Warning smut

18+

Summary - Ruben is on a getaway in Sardinia. There he meets a girl named Fiorella. She starts to wonder why Ruben won't tell her what exactly he is getting away from, or even what his real name is.

Enjoy!

Fiorella stood at the altar, her eyes brimming with tears of joy as she watched, Chiara exchange vows with the love of her life. The sun bathed the farm wedding in a warm golden light, adding an ethereal glow to the already beautiful scenery. As Fiorella stood beside the radiant bride, she couldn't help but feel a tinge of sadness in her heart. Ruben, was unable to attend the ceremony due to an important meeting with his lawyers. Fiorella understood the demands that was on him during this hectic time, but she couldn't shake off the disappointment of not having him there.

Despite her longing, Fiorella gracefully fulfilled her bridesmaid duties, managing to put on a smile every time the camera captured her. She laughed along with the other bridesmaids, enthusiastically arranging Chiara's dress and making sure every detail was perfect. But deep down, her heart ached for Ruben's absence.

"I need a bottle of wine." Sophia sighed. She had also cleaned up her act and done her best to fulfill her bridesmaids duties at Chiara's wedding.

"Sis, you joining me?"

"No you go ahead." Fiorella said. Although the offer was tempting they still had a whole reception to get through.

The ceremony concluded, and the newlyweds greeted their guests with cheerful smiles. Fiorella moved through the reception, mingling with relatives and friends, pretending everything was alright. But her eyes searched for Ruben, secretly hoping he would appear, even though he had promised to arrive only after his meeting.

As the night progressed, laughter and music filled the barn where the reception was held. Fiorella joined the guests on the dance floor, twirling and swaying to the rhythm, momentarily forgetting her sadness. The joyous atmosphere enveloped her, momentarily lifting her spirits. Suddenly, a familiar voice whispered in her ear, "Mind if I cut in?" Fiorella turned around, surprised to see Ruben standing there, a mischievous smile lighting up his face. Her heart leaped with joy as she found herself wrapped in his arms.

"I'm sorry I'm late. The meeting went on the whole day. " Ruben confessed, his voice filled with tenderness. "Hopefully my gift to your sister and her husband will make up for my absences."

Fiorella smiled, coming up and out from Ruben's embrace. "If it's not season tickets to your football games next season, I don't think their easily that forgiving."

Ruben's eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Ruben?" Fiorella gasped. "You didn't?"

He leaned in and whispered, "But I did."

Fiorella returned to hug him, wrapping her arms around his large stem. She was aware that their days together were counted, that Ruben would have to return to England, perhaps sooner than later.

"You look so beautiful." He spoke against her hair.

Fiorella clung to him, feeling a renewed surge of happiness. Forgotten were the moments of longing and sadness as they danced the night away, their bodies moving effortlessly in perfect unison. They laughed, whispered sweet nothings, and reveled in the simple joy of being together. There was alot of attention surrounding them, Nonna did not hesitate to fill in anyone who wished to know who her granddaughter's mystery man was.

"They're getting married next June." She said. "I am already planning the whole thing."

Time lost all meaning as Fiorella and Ruben laughed and danced the night away. It didn't matter that Ruben hadn't been there for the ceremony because now, in this moment, they were together, celebrating love and happiness. The night ended with Ruben having to help carry Dino to bed. He had clung onto Ruben's leg on the dancfloor, trying to get him away from his big sister so that the two of them could dance instead.

"There." Ruben said, dropping Dino of his shoulder and onto his bed.

Fiorella tucked him in. "He really likes you, I can tell. My whole family likes you."

Ruben smiled and offered Fiorella his hand. They returned downstairs where the wedding ceremony had officially ended. Nonna who had been clearing tables walked towards them. She was followed by Pluto,  who eagerly ran ahead,  jumping towards Fiorella.

"He's still got some spunk in him. Won't you and Ruben take him for a walk? Ware him out."

"Sure Nonna, we can do that."

They walked along the country road. The sun was down but it's heat still lingered in the air.

"Tell me somthing?" Fiorella said. She and Ruben were walking hand in hand, with Pluto waving his tale as he walked ahead of them.

"Tell you what?"

She shrugged. "Somthing you haven't told anyone before."

Ruben's eyebrows furrowed... "Like a secret?"

"Could be?"

Ruben looked to ponder the question, thoughts going through his mind. "I used to believed in the tooth fairy."

Fiorella chuckled at his lame confession. "Everyone used to believe in the tooth fairy Ruben."

He shook his head. "Not like me. I used to believe, believe. "

"Oh."

"I even wrote him a letter once."

"Him?" She frowned. "Ruben the tooth fairy is not a guy."

"I know that...now." He laughed. "But when I was young my parents told me that the tooth fairy was a guy that came from Brazil, donating childrens teeth to the mouths of famous football players."

"Um...what?"

"It gets worse. I even wrote him a letter once."

"The tooth fairy, man, guy?"

Ruben nodded. "I put a stamp on it and everything and told my parents to post it for me. Surely they didn't, they probably laughed at how faithful I was to my beliefs. The very next day after I'd lost a tooth, an envelope with money would be under my pillow, the attaching letter signed with a thank you note from the football player who had received my tooth."

Silence lingered as Fiorella tried to process everything that had been said. She had not expected Ruben to tell her something that absurd, but it was wonderful, imagining Ruben to have been such a sweet and naive child.

"What about you?" He squeezed her hand. "Tell me somthing not many people know about you."

"Well..." She looked ahead of them, to where Pluto was moving in the distance. "I once tried to sell my dog for a bag of chips."

"You what?" Ruben's eyes widened in suprise, however, after his confession, he had no right to judge her.

"I was a child and had just gotten Pluto who was a handful as a puppy. You can judge me all you want but I really wanted a bag of chips that day."

There was silence followed by laughter,  heartwarming laughter from the two of them. They laughed all the way to the docks. It's where Pluto had led them, down to the water not too far from Ruben's boat.

"He wants to go for a swim." Fiorella stepped out of her shoes. She untied the ribbon around her waist, followed by draping her dress down her shoulders.

"Fiorella?" Ruben stopped, not approaching her any further. He watched Fiorella step out of her dress, wearing only her lingerie.

"Come." She offered him her hand. "I know it's late but the water is at best at this hour."

He looked skeptical, still he undid his tie with one hand, stretching for Fiorella with the other. She waited for him to undress. The two then waded into the lukewarm water, with Pluto swimming ahead of them.

"See, it's nice." Fiorella said, hearing Ruben let out a satisfied groan as he soaked his body in the shallow water. He pulled Fiorella towards her, hooking an arm around her waist. She ended up wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Ruben carried her further out into the water, where only he could stand.

"If you let go you'll drown." He joked.

Fiorella looked deep into his eyes. "Than I won't let go."

He leand in to brush his lips against hers, but only to brush. He was indicating that he wanted to kiss her, but what happened next was up to her.

Fiorella's lips parted. A very inviting gesture for Ruben to complete his desires. He kissed her softly, his tounge caressing her gently.

"Take it off." She moaned against his skin.

Ruben's fingers were getting tangled up in the straps of Fiorella's bra.

"You know, there's a better place to do this." He said, feeling how his growing erection put pressure against her stomach.

Fiorella pulled away from their kiss, her gaze conflicted.

"What?" Ruben worried.

She shook her head. "I'm not going back to your boat."

"Fiorella I wasn't..." His grip around her loosened as it dawned on him, what she was implying. "I wasn't gonna ask you to." His said, with a very cautious expression

"No?"

He shook his head. "Like I said, I don't live there. I have an apartment."

Ruben's apartments was bigger than Fiorella's, Sophia's and Dino's room combined. It must have cost him a fortune, she thought. A fortune he could afford of course.

"My room is this way." He said leading her through the dark apartment. Soft snores could be heard in the distance. It was probably Ruben's friend that he had staying with him. Ruben and Fiorella moved in silence, trying not to wake him.

"I can lend you a shirt if you need anything to wear." Ruben went through his closet.

"It's okay." Fiorella undid the ribbon to her dress again, draping the laces over her shoulder, letting the fabric drop to the floor.

Ruben stopped and stared as she stood before him, half naked. "Fiorella, we don't have to do anything, we could just sleep, we should just sleep." He went around the bed, undoing the covers.

"I know Ruben. I know that whatever I say goes. I trust you."

Ruben raised his head, his expression attentive. "Fiorella, are you sure?"

She nodded.  "I've never been more sure."

He was skeptical but Fiorella was already inviting him to lay down with her on the bed. Ruben surrendered, joining her under the covers.

Wet kisses and groping hands, Fiorella was surley leading the way as far as she could. Ruben only took over when she began tugging at the hem of his boxers, wanting for them to come off.

"You sure?" Ruben had her pinned to the matress.

"I'm ready Ruben, I'm so wet for you."

"Fiorella I..."

"I'm sure Ruben,  I want you inside me, now."

He shifted to lay between her legs, spreading her thighs between his hands. Although she claimed to be ready for him Ruben took his time with her, making sure she was tender and pliant for him.

"Fuck." She gasped as Ruben dipped his face between her thighs, licking across where it ached the most. He made sure to lick her clean, not stopping until her back arched with her orgasmic release.

"Oh, Ruben." She sighed . Stretching for him to lay on top of her. He did so, bringing his cock out of his boxers, adjusting to slide it  in between her folds.

Fiorella gasped with the first thrusts, but quickly adjusted, the sensation becoming more soothing with every stroke of Ruben's size. Her arms cradled around his neck, clinging onto to Ruben, trapping him to stay inside of her.

"Fiorella I'm gonna..."

His final strokes were hard but sloppy. There was no need to pull out, he was protected, allowing his orgasm to rise and fall whilst his cock still resting inside of her. Once his erection dawned Ruben shifted to lay beside Fiorella, the two of them catching their breaths.

"Tell me somthing more." He said.

"More?" She turned to face him, pulling the covers to her chin.

"Tell me somthing else that no one knows about you....."

Fiorella and Ruben would go on all night,  sharing things about themselves that nobody knew. There would kisses and groping hands in between, followed by more deep talks about themselves.

Eventually night became day and days became weeks. Fiorella had the right to believe that her and Ruben's days were counted, because it was sooner rather than later that he returned to England, leaving Fiorella behind.

Ruben would go on winning his case against his club, allowing him to participate in training again just ahead of the new season. As for Fiorella, she decided to give nursing school a second chance. Most of the tourist had left Sardinia so it was back to normal labor for the majority of the population. Chiara was right, nursing school was a perfect opportunity for Fiorella not to get stuck on the family farm with Nonna and all the sheep. It was also the only thing that could distract Fiorella from her loss. School took up so much of her time that she almost forgot that her heart belonged elsewhere.

Lost in Sardinia was the perfect way to describe it. For the first time in her young life Fiorella felt an ache in her heart, a painful unease. Home is where your heart is, she had never understood that expression until now, she had never understood that expression until her home left to play football in England, leaving her behind.

The End

Tagslist:

@christianpulisic10

[microwave-core]

If I asked you to give me some wedding Leon headcanons, would you? Pretty please 🥺

This is from July 4th I'm so sorry anon. Leon wedding headcanons be upon ye.

Jesus I wrote this in my drafts and hit save and it didn't immediately update and I just thought I lost it and would have to rewrite it

Alright, first things first. Leon wants a small, private wedding. More than half of his life has been spent in the spotlight. Privacy is a rare commodity for him, and he'll fight tooth and nail to keep the most important day of his life hidden from the public eye. It's about him and you, baby, not about the paparazzi or tabloids.

The guest list will be small, just family and friends. Probably in a small place in the countryside, away from the public's prying eyes. He's a farm boy at his core, reconnecting with his roots.

Despite his desire for privacy, it's only a matter of time before pictures get out. The public already knew about your engagement, and are incredibly disappointed that they won't be privy to, what they describe as, the wedding of the century. Thankfully for them, a certain social media addict is in attendance-

Yeah, Raihan ends up leaking photos from your wedding. It's not on purpose, prommy. It's expected, and as much as Leon wants his privacy for just one day, he loves Raihan too much to cut him from the invite list. Thankfully, the only photos that get out look good.

Honestly, Leon doesn't care that much about the décor. He knows his sense of style isn't... the best. He doesn't mind that fact, it's just how he is. He cares about getting married to you, that's all. He'll give his opinion when prompted, but he's more than happy to let you pick whatever you want. You could pick the gaudiest color scheme, the most abysmal floral arrangements, and the worst venue known to man, and he'd think it's perfect because it was all hand picked by you. Man is down bad.

Again, his only real input is having the ceremony at a small venue. Somewhere outdoors in the country side, or maybe in a barn. The specifics don't matter to him.

Raihan would definitely be his best man, followed by Sonia, his childhood bestie, and Charizard, because it's Leon what else do you expect. They hype him up, especially during the leadup to the actual ceremony. He won't admit it to you, but he was sweating bullets when waiting. He knows you love him dearly, but can't help but worry, you know?

In terms of attire, he dresses rather normally. Just a simple white suit, likely with a yellow tie. I saw someone headcanon yellow as his favorite color once, and it stuck with me. He even ditches his hat for the day, his hair instead braided elegantly.

You could literally wear a trash bag for your attire and he'd love you all the same. It doesn't matter how you're dressed-whether you wear a dress or suit, traditional or out there-he'll find you breathtaking all the same. He tries his best to hold back his tears when you walk down the aisle, only letting a few fall. He's so unbelievably lucky to have you.

The reception doesn't particularly matter to him, either. He does enjoy himself, being surrounded by the people that matter the most to him, around his loved one's without putting up a face for once. It's liberating for him, actually, but his eyes always find their way back to you, as if trying to sear your image into his mind.

Perhaps the best part of the whole event, aside from getting married to you, obviously, is the fact that none of his friends make fun of him for how hopelessly in love he is. On any other day, they would poke fun at him, teasing him gently for the warmth in his eyes and stupid grin that comes onto his face when he spots you, but his wedding day is different. He's more than allowed to think of nothing except for how much he absolutely positively adored you, on lookers be damned.

He's got two left feet when it comes to dancing. He's bad at it. Laughably so. And no amount of practice can truly fix that fact. He'll stumble, step on your toes a few times, forget the next steps more than once, but he can't be bothered to feel embarrassed about it. Slow dancing with you is a dream for him, makes it feel like there's no one else in the world but the pair of you. He might cry again, holding you in his arms, having officially tied the knot. Wipe away his tears with a gentle touch, and he might somehow fall for you even harder.

In general, Leon would pretty much let you do whatever you want for your wedding, both ceremony and reception. He doesn't care, tailor it to your preferences, it's already going to be the best day of his life, knowing you're happy with everything just makes everything so much better.

Your ring can be whatever you want it to be. Leon doesn't have a budget, no amount of money is too much for him, not when it comes to you. I imagine his ring would be pretty plain, a simple gold band. If he's still champion, he ends up taking it off fairly frequently, not wanting it to get dirty and smudged during battles. In his chairman era, it's on 24-7.

Make no mistake, though, he will let the public know how much he loves being your husband. If he had the choice, he would talk about you in every single interview, simply gushing with praise. No force on Earth could ever make him feel ashamed for loving you.

Similarly, the honeymoon can happen wherever you want. As long as he's with you, he's happy. He is restricted by time, however, he can't be gone for too long, unfortunately. You can stay in Galar, or go to any other region, to do any activity your pretty mind could dream of. (Although, if you asked him where he wanted to go, he'd probably say Alola.)

I can't promise he won't get into battles on the actual trip. I can actually almost guarantee that he will. He can't help it, battling is his passion in life. He does spend most of the time glued to your side, though, wanting to spend as much time with you as humanly possible before having to go back to the regular grind of life.

I do think Leon and Cynthia are a bit similar, hence why I think their weddings would be similar, with the shedding of tears at the altar and whatnot. That is to say, on your wedding night, you will be getting dicked down. Lovingly. Leon just wants to show you how much he loves you, and, after a long day surrounded by other's, professing his love directly to your face, the best way to do that is with his action. Specifically, action involving his dick-

[banannabethchase]

A Few Little Love Affairs - also on A03

~

Mox is overwhelmed: he's the best man in Seth and Roman's wedding with a chaotic toddler. He's due to blow off some steam.

~

In honor of the anniversary of my first posted wrestling fic, here have a HangMox! It's an outtake from the Mamma Mia AU of something that happened with Mox when Wheeler was a tiny munchkin. It also fills my second to last bingo square, O2! Title from Lay All Your Love On Me by Abba, of course.

~

Mox is getting ready to check on Seth after a frantic text when he hears the patter of familiar feet running down the hallway of the little apartment he’s rented with Eddie since he was pregnant with Wheeler.

“Daddy, where’s Uncle Seffie?”

Mox turns to see Wheeler peering up at him, brown eyes giant and curious. Eddie, at the very least, got Wheeler out of his pajamas and into clothes presentable enough for the rehearsal dinner in an hour. “Oh, hey, Potato.” He picks Wheeler up and settles him on his hip. “What are you doing out here?”

“Uncle Eddie says he’s having a…” Wheeler pauses and frowns. Mox kisses him on the cheek. “Daddy, what’s a hissy fit?”

Mox rolls his eyes. “Don’t listen to anything Uncle Eddie says,” he tells Wheeler and kisses him on the nose. “And, uh. Well, everything Uncle Sethy does is a hissy fit, basically.”

“It’s being big mad?” Wheeler asks. He snuggles his face into Mox’s shoulder.

“Yeah, exactly,” Mox says, pulling Wheeler in close. He’s glad he’s been working arms lately – the kid is tall for a three year old. “It’s being big mad and extra annoying about it.”

Wheeler sighs, wiggling so Mox is forced to hold him in front of himself.

“Tater tot, I need to go take care of some stuff for Uncle Sethy before dinner,” he says. “You wanna come with or hang out with Eddie?”

“With you,” Wheeler says.

“Please take him with you,” Eddie yells. “I gotta get my ass in a shower.”

Wheeler swings himself to the side. “I go with Daddy,” he says firmly, sounding surprisingly confident for a child who is upside down.

“I can’t carry you like this,” Mox says, laughing. “You want up on my shoulders?”

“Yes, peas!”

“Please,” Mox says. “Add that l in there, kiddo. It’s part of your name.”

“Different l,” Wheeler says as Mox swings him around to sit on his shoulders. “Wheeler l stays, peas l not for Wheelers.”

“I – okay.” Mox chuckles. “Toddler logic is weird.”

“You’re weird.”

“I hate that Eddie taught you that response, but okay.”

They make their way to the elevator, Mox adjusting Wheeler so he doesn’t manage to hit his head on the elevator frame and Wheeler giggles as he points to Mox’s face in the metal reflection, putting his hands over Mox’s eyes and moving them.

“You playing peek-a-boo with yourself?” Mox asks.

“No, Daddy. I playing with you, duh.”

Mox frowns. “Saying ‘duh’ isn’t very nice, Wheels.”

Wheeler goes all big eyed and cute, then drops his head down and hugs Mox’s head, meeting his eyes in the reflection. “Sorry, Dad.”

Mox’s heart does a weird little twist – Wheeler’s called him Dad a few times, and every time it feels more grown up, more adult. “No problem, little man,” he says.

He swings Wheeler down for a moment as they walk through the elevator and toward the door. Wheeler starts playing the drums on his legs as Mox tries to get him into his seatbelt.

“Calm down, Tater,” Mox says. “I don’t want to pinch you.”

Wheeler pauses, his hands in the air. “Daddy, you’re killing my beat.”

Mox snorts. “Eddie teach you to say that?”

Wheeler shakes his head. “Uncle Seth.”

“Course he did.”

When they make their way to the venue, after ten minutes of Wheeler playing the drums to every song that pops up on the radio, and Wheeler decides he wants to be on Mox’s shoulders to walk into the venue. It’s a beautiful farm, with trees lining the area, a barn for the receptions, a small office building and a building that has to be for ceremonies.

“Your Daddy’s never getting married, Tater tot,” Mox says, patting Wheeler’s leg. “Too much work.”

“Okay,” Wheeler says, completing missing the conversation. “Look! Cows!”

When they walk into the barn and through to get to the outside part where the ceremony will be held, Seth is pacing frantically.

“Oh, thank – um.” He pauses, frowning. “Wheeler?”

“He wanted to come with,” Mox says. He reaches up and swings Wheeler down. “Apparently Eddie wasn’t able to keep him under control and take a shower at the same time.”

Wheeler takes that moment to swing upside down and grab Mox’s leg, biting.

“Ow!” Mox says. “Stop that!”

Wheeler giggles and swings back up like it’s nothing.

“You’re still biting, sweet potato?” Seth asks, poking Wheeler in the ribs until he giggles. “I thought you promised you’d stop.”

Wheeler presses his smile into Mox’s chest. “Wasn’t a real bite,” he mutters. “A funny bite! No teeth.”

“Felt like teeth,” Mox mutters. “Anyway. What do you need?”

Seth’s smile immediately drops. “Um.”

“Cold feet?” Mox asks, swinging Wheeler around to his back. “Your mom acting weird? Ro’s mom acting weird?”

“No,” Seth says, pacing. “Yes. I don’t know.” He looks up at Mox. “I should have eloped.”

“Yeah,” Mox says. Wheeler’s begun to climb around him like a little gymnast, and he’s doing his best to stay on his feet without wobbling. “But you want to show off how much you and Roman love each other, right?”

Seth nods. “I do.”

“And,” Mox says, grabbing Wheeler around the waist and holding him up so Seth can see his face, “if you eloped, this tiny maniac wouldn’t be your ring bearer.”

“That’s me!” Wheeler says.

Seth relaxes, beaming and reaching out for Wheeler, letting him snuggle into his shoulder. His hair’s done in a half up bun with the curls perfectly draped down his back, but the rest of him isn’t dressed yet for the rehearsal dinner, so Mox decides it’s safe to let Wheeler hang for a minute.

“You’ll help Uncle Seth if he needs it, right little man?” Seth says, kissing Wheeler’s temple.

“Yeah,” Wheeler says. “Snuggle time? Movie?”

Mox snorts. “Uncle Seth’s a little busy right now, baby.” Wheeler levels him with a giant pout. “Don’t give me that. I’m not saying no because I’m mean, I’m saying no because Seth’s gotta get ready for his special rehearsal dinner.”

Wheeler sighs. “Okay. I guess.” He slides down Seth and then stands on Mox’s feet, dropping his head against Mox’s thigh.

“Are all kids weird or is it just mine?” Mox mutters.

“Oh!” Seth says. “Speaking of weird, the owner of the venue wants you to meet the day of coordinator, Anna,” Seth says. “He’ll be here all night, obviously, but he wants you and Anna to meet before things get started to make sure you know who to talk to.”

Mox fights the urge to make a face. Wheeler grabs at his arm and crawls up his body, clinging to his back.

“Aw, don’t look like that, buddy.” Seth smacks him on the arm. “You and Adam can stay civil for my wedding, or I’ll kill both of you. Simple as that.”

Mox groans. “The fact that you decided to get married in our hometown, on his farm, will never stop being annoying.”

Seth walks Mox from the outdoor reception area to the small office building in the front.

“Hey, Seth, is everything –” Adam’s voice cuts off when he sees Mox. “Oh. Damn.”

“Hi!” Wheeler says, grinning. “I’m Wheeler.”

“Hey, little man,” Adam says, immediately warming. “Are you our ring bearer?”

Wheeler nods and scrambles down Mox’s body. He takes his little legs and walks over to Adam. “I’m Wheeler.”

Adam smiles. “You said that.” He kneels in front of Wheeler and looks up at Mox. “I didn’t know you had a kid.”

Mox shrugs. “You don’t know a lot.”

“You’re lucky your kid is here so I can’t say what I want to say.” He stands, and is about as shocked as Mox is when Wheeler takes his hand. “Rehearsal’s not until another hour. Everything okay?” He looks at Seth. “I didn’t know you were bringing more people here. I would have prepared.”

“I asked him here to help,” Seth says. “I was – nervous.”

“Oh!” Adam says. “Oh, certainly. You let me know what I can do to help.”

Thus begins the longest three hours of Mox’s life. He’s wrangling Wheeler. He’s wrangling Seth. He’s trying not to kill Adam Page, who seems to be giving him death glares at any opportunity. He’s running interference between Seth and his mother, who seems to be insistent on making the wedding her day.

By the time the rehearsal and the dinner is over, Mox is exhausted and Wheeler is whiny and tantruming in his arms.

“I’m sorry, guys,” he says to Roman and Seth. “But we really gotta get back to the house. Wheels is about to go nuclear.”

“This isn’t nuclear?” Seth asks.

“Nuclear is that time we went to the zoo and you dropped his ice cream,” Mox says. Wheeler is weeping into his shoulder. “Be lucky that he didn’t r-u-n off this time.”

Seth winces. “Okay. Fair.” He steps a little closer. “Want a hug?”

“No!” Wheeler yells, tiny fists rubbing at his eyes. Then he bursts into tears again, flailing backward so hard he almost flies out of Mox’s arms.

“And we’re nuclear,” Mox sighs. “Later, guys,” and he takes Wheeler back to the house in the car. Wheeler sobs the whole ten minute ride, incomprehensible but still insistent.

“Please help your nephew calm down,” Mox begs as Wheeler wails his fists on Mox shoulders and pleads for…something. Mox can’t even figure out what he’s asking for at this point.

Eddie stands. “Get over here, tiny man. Stop beating up your father.”

Wheeler stops crying and levels Eddie with a glare. Mox chuckles.

“No,” Wheeler says through a face full of tears, voice shaky. “Want cake.”

“That’s what you’ve been saying!” Mox says. “Oh, my god. Okay. Give me, like, two minutes.” Mox digs through his bags and pulls out the mini cake he’d carefully wrapped when Wheeler had said he didn’t want it at the dinner. “This one, Tater?”

Wheeler’s entire expression changes. “Cake?”

Mox nods. “If you want your cake, you can have it now. And then we’re going to bed.”

Wheeler takes the cake suspiciously, eyeing Mox until he takes a bite. “My cake,” he says.

“Correct,” Eddie says. “Mox, you go to bed. I’ll put the little hellion to bed.”

“Hell a bad word,” Wheeler says through a mouthful of cake. “That’s what Miss Kris says at school.”

Mox sighs. “Well, yes, but hellion means – whatever. Love you, little man.” Mox leans down and kisses Wheeler on the forehead and nose, like every night. “Goodnight. I love you this much.” He reaches his arms out as far and wide as he can.

Wheeler shoves the rest of the cake in his mouth. “I love you this much!” He reaches his arms out as far and wide as he can.

He dives in and hugs Mox, and Mox hugs back.

“Dad’s gotta shower, Potato,” Mox says, kissing the top of Wheeler’s head. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

~

Mox moves through the next morning in a whirl, getting himself and Wheeler ready while Eddie throws whatever bits and bobs he’s forgotten at them.

“Did you check if he’s wearing socks?” Eddie asks, before Mox heads out the door. “Your kid smells like corn chips if you don’t shove socks on those feet.”

“You are such a douche about the kid you threatened to kill an aunt of mine over,” Mox muses. “Ah. Shit.”

“Bad word, Daddy,” Wheeler says, shaking his head. “No socks. Need socks.”

“Yeah, you do.” Before he can ask Eddie to grab some, he’s pelted in the head. “Thanks, dude.”

“Thanks, Uncle Eddie!”

Eddie comes over and kisses Wheeler all over the face while Mox gets socks and shoes back on tiny feet.

“Alright,” Mox says, pedaling Wheeler’s legs a little. “You ready, short stack?”

Wheeler nods. “Ready, Daddy.”

“I can’t believe you’re putting me on toddler duty for the whole wedding,” Eddie says, taking Wheeler and scooping him into his arms. “Feels unfair since I’m not technically his father.”

“Yeah, well, I’m on Seth duty,” Mox replies, checking his pockets and bags for everything he and Wheeler could possibly need. “I don’t know who’s bound to do more crying.”

They get to the venue around 1pm, but it already feels late. They have a good four hours before things get started, but there’s so much to do that it goes by in seconds. The venue has a small room set aside for the typical bride, but Seth and Roman had arranged it to be storage with a small cot-like thing for Wheeler to take a nap in at 2:00. Like always.

“Thanks for that, man,” Mox says, clapping Seth on the shoulder. He’s watching Wheeler sleep, bunny in his arms and thumb in his mouth. “I – I’m really…” He trails off, the words catching in his mouth. If he lets them out, then the tears will join them.

“Mox,” Seth says gently. “Hey.” He pulls him into a hug, cushy white groom’s robe feeling like a blanket. “You good?”

“Yeah,” Mox says. “Just – long day. The fact that you thought of my little guy in the midst of your own crazy.” He exhales slowly. “Never thought I’d have people like you to take care of me.”

Seth presses his forehead to Mox’s. “Always.”

It’s gone unsaid but known for years that Seth and Roman put off their wedding date, unofficial but discussed, when Mox found out he was pregnant with Wheeler nearly four years before. Mox never knew how to tell them how much it means that they were willing to share that day with him and his kid, let alone put it off to make it work for him.

“Always,” Mox says. “Alright. Don’t make me cry, you douche. I’m not supposed to do that until the actual wedding starts.”

With the human chaos machine napping in the quietest part of the venue, things are easier.

“Hey,” Mox says, running into Adam. “You got any extra blankets? Flower girl found out my kid’s napping and wants some rest time too.”

“Course I do,” Adam says, and he ducks into a little room and comes out with a pair of sleeping bags. “She a Power Puff Girls or Hot Wheels kind of gal?”

“Hot Wheels,” Mox decides, grabbing it. He stares. “This shit clean?”

Adam, to his credit, looks offended. “I wash them after every use. Obviously. What kind of business do you think I’m running here.”

“Just checking,” Mox says, stepping back with his free hand raised. “I don’t know what kind of shit goes down in here.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “And y’all think Seth’s downpayment was ten thousand for bad service?”

Mox trips over a box and falls flat on his ass. “Sorry, what?”

Adam comes over and hauls Mox up with arms that are unfairly strong. “I run a good venue, Moxley,” he says, and his hand is still in Mox’s. “I don’t come cheap.”

He – the fucker winks and walks away. “I gotta take care of some place setting fuck ups, but I’ll be around. Find me if you need…anything.”

Mox nods, and dazedly brings the sleeping bag to the flower girl’s mother.

~

They’re all getting ready – Wheeler’s hair is a disaster after a nap, always, but it’s even harder to get slicked down in the little way that Seth was hoping for all the wedding party with short hair to have – when someone calls, “Half an hour!”

“Fuck,” Mox grumbles. “Come here, Tater. We’ll see if Uncle Seth’s got some of that hair gel in his pocket or something.”

The floorboards, while beautiful, are in a farmhouse built in the late 1800’s, and he’s not used to the rough terrain. He trips on a rogue board and things start to move in slow motion as he plans how to turn to keep Wheeler safe. And then he feels somebody’s hand around his waist, pulling him back to standing before he and Wheeler can fall. Then the hand dips low enough to pull off a graze of his ass. Mox turns.

Adam Page is standing there, grinning. “Sorry, man,” he says, and god, he looks good in that fucking suit. “Couldn’t let the best man and ring bearer fall on their asses.

Mox licks his lips before he can stop himself. “Yeah. Uh. Thanks.”

“I heard you were having some issues with the hair,” Adam says, and he pulls something out of his pocket. “Hair spray. Can I try?”

“Uh.”

“I actually was asking Wheeler, first,” Adam says. Wheeler giggles as Adam zooms the canister around like an airplane. “Are you okay with me fixing your hair?”

“Yeah,” Wheeler says, nodding. “Daddy, yes?”

“Sure,” Mox says. He’s used to his kid being weirdly easy around people, but not going into their arms and letting them mess with his hair without a second thought. Adam works quickly and efficiently, and suddenly Wheeler’s hair looks exactly like the photo Seth sent.

“And back to your dad,” Adam says, shifting Wheeler back into Mox’s arms like he weighed nothing.

“Wow,” Mox says. “Looks great, dude.”

“Yeah, it’s almost like I’m in the wedding industry.” Adam winks, and brushes Mox’s ass again as he leaves behind him.

“Just trying to get by,” he singsongs as he leaves.

Mox wonders if he feels up all the customers, or only the ones who clearly like it.

~

It’s not the only time it happens.

Mox and Wheeler, when they’re getting ready to walk down the aisle before Roman and Seth make their way down together, are in the middle of a discussion about goldfish for god knows what reason, when Mox realizes the pillow with the fake ring on it is gone.

“Wheels,” he says carefully. “Where’s the – ”

He feels a hand graze his lower back, then from behind him comes the pillow.

“Thought you might be looking for this.”

Adam. Fucking. Page.

~

The ceremony goes well. Wheeler is cute as hell as he toddles next to Mox down the aisle and the vows are beautiful, but, to be fair, he misses a lot the first few hours. Wheeler’s demanding Mox take him around to meet all the people in the venue, and it’s wearing on him. By the start of the reception, he’s burnt out.

“Eddie,” he says, somewhere around 7:30, “I’m so tired.”

“You ready to call it a night?” He yawns, stretching.

Mox shakes his head. “Dadding,” he says. “Like, I would do anything to keep Wheels, but everybody else is fucking around and having fun and, well.” He looks down, where Wheeler had just barreled into his shins after the brief respite of him playing with the flower girl and her sisters as they danced to some pop song. “Hey, buddy!”

Wheeler yawns, huge, the frosting stain on his tiny suit jacket almost hidden when he reaches his arms up into the air. “Home, Dad.” He slams his head into Mox’s thighs. “Book.”

“What if I take him?” Eddie asks. “Uncle Eddie and Potato Head time, yeah?”

“Really?” Mox asks. “You – that’s cool?”

“Mox, you haven’t had a night to fu-mess around since one of the nights this little monster popped into our life.” He kneels down and swings Wheeler on his back. “I’ll take your car and you can take mine back.”

“You sure?” Mox asks. He feels guilty, somehow.

“Have fun,” Eddie says, clapping Mox on the shoulder. “Spend time with your friends. Wheels and I will be there when you get home.”

It’s an internal fight, briefly, but then Mox nods. “Yeah. Yeah, Wheels, buddy, you’re gonna head out with Uncle Eddie, okay?”

“Eddie Day!” Wheeler says. He throws himself down to Mox, who curses himself a little bit for how much wrestling and daredevil genes must be in this tiny lunatic of a child. Mox kisses his forehead and nose.

“Love you, little man,” he says, grinning as Wheeler pulls back.

“Love you, Daddy!”

Mox puts his keys into Eddie’s hand and then Eddie’s into his pocket. “Love you, man.”

“Yeah, stop being sappy.” Eddie yanks him in and kisses his forehead. “Love you, too.”

He relaxes, finally, for the first time in nearly four years. He has a lingering cloud of worrying about Wheeler, but that’s par for the course these days.

Things, shift, just a little, when he catches Adam on the phone, looking frustrated, right as the music cue gets messed up. Mox knows for damned sure he was supposed to tell the DJ to shift to Seth’s high school throwbacks at 9:30, but he’s definitely hearing Pour Some Sugar On Me. He goes to speak to the DJ himself, then stalks over to Adam.

“Why are you on the phone during the wedding?” Mox asks over the music. “Aren’t you supposed to be making sure the DJ hits his cues or something?”

“I’m – don’t worry about it,” Adam yells back at him. “It’s fine.”

They’ve been dancing around each other all night, sometimes quite literally, but Mox had always had a toddler at his ankles. He needs to know what the hell this guy is doing – Mox knows he’s with Matt Jackson, has been since they were all in high school together. And if Adam Page is a cheater, Mox is going to tattle.

“Like hell it is,” Mox says. “Was that your boyfriend?”

Adam frowns. “What?”

Mox rolls his eyes. “Whatever.”

“I need to go take care of – something,” Adam says, frown deepening. He walks past, but, rather blatantly, he touches Mox’s waist, just a little bit, as he passes.

“Oh, hell no.” Mox grabs Adam by the lapels of his stupid navy blue suit and throws him into the first room. It’s the kitchen, but it’s empty.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Adam asks, spinning on Mox as he glares.

“What was that?” Mox hisses.

“I – what was what?” Adam asks. But he’s pink in the cheeks. Mox knows he knows what he did.

“You grabbed me around the waist,” Mox says. He walks Adam backward so Adam’s backed against the countertop, so he’s got a leg between Adam’s. “The fuck was that about?”

Adam’s eyes flicker down to Mox’s lips, for just a moment. “Get out.”

“Oh,” Mox says, stepping back. “Oh, I get it. This a thing you do? Cheat on your little boyfriend with groomsmen?”

“We broke up,” Adam says. Mox freezes. “Yeah, hope that feels good. Matt and I haven’t been together for a few months.” He glares at Mox, fire in his eyes. “I was texting his brother to make sure Matt wasn’t off getting himself killed while he fucks his way through half the country.”

Mox pauses. “Fuck.”

“Yeah,” Adam says. “I – sorry. I shouldn’t have touched you.”

Mox is notorious for impulsive decisions. One of his favorite runs of impulsive decisions gave him his son, which is, quite possibly, the best part of his life.

“Why?”

Adam tilts his head to the side, reminding Mox of the golden retriever puppy at the petting zoo he took Wheeler to for his birthday. “Why what?”

“Why are you sorry you touched me?” Mox slides his hands on Adam’s waist, grins at the way Adam’s breathing hitches. “You wanna blow off some steam?”

Adam licks his lips then looks up to meet Mox’s eyes. “Fuck it.” He leans in and crushes his lips to Mox’s, tongue insistent, and Mox grins.

“Knew it,” Mox says. “You handsy little shit. Bet you wish you’d done this back on Debate team.”

“Shut the fuck up,” Adam growls. He presses his lips back, shoving down the sleeves of Mox’s dress shirt. He pauses to grip at Mox’s biceps. “I fucking hate how big your arms are. Fuck you.”

“Yeah?” Mox says. He flexes and Adam rolls his eyes. “Bulked up since high school.”

“I can see that,” Adam says, and he reaches behind to get two handfuls of Mox’s ass. “Like it. Looks good on you.” He leans in and bites at Mox’s neck.

“Course you’re a fucking biter,” Mox snipes. “Jesus.” He shoves at the front of Adam’s jacket, debating ripping it open, but he figures that would be a bit obvious to everybody at the party.

“You can unbutton it,” Adam says.

“Yeah,” Mox says. He works as quickly as his excited and shaky hands can move. He hadn’t hooked up with anybody since – well, since Bryan. After that it was all too complicated.

This, though, as he reaches down to grab Adam’s cock through his dress pants. This feels perfectly simple.

Adam chuckles, shoving Mox against the counter again and gets a leg between Mox’s.

“Uh,” Mox says. “About that. I mean, in case you forgot.”

“That your trans?” Adam asks. “No, I know that. That’s no, like, issue.”

“Rad,” Mox says. “You ever eaten pussy before?” He grins. “I know you’ve been gay since day one.”

“No,” Adam chuckles, “but there’s a first time for everything, right?” He winks.

“Prick,” Mox says, grinning. Adam unbuttons his dress pants with the expertise of a man often donning formal clothing.

“Actually,” Adam says, mouthing along the waistband of Mox’s boxers. “I’ve never fucked anybody but Matt.”

“First time for everything,” Mox echoes, but he quickly loses the ability to speak when Adam drops to his knees and pulls his boxers down.

“What do you like?” Adam asks, looking up at him from the floor. Mox has to force himself to breathe to keep from losing his balance.

“Anything that won’t get me pregnant,” he jokes. “But, uh. Go nuts, newbie. I’ll tell you when you’re fucking up.”

Adam rolls his eyes. “You issuing a challenge or something?”

Mox shrugs. “You could call it that.”

Enthusiastic, is Mox’s word for it. Adam’s inexperience is obvious, but he’s clearly willing to learn. His tongue does most of the work, circling and sucking Mox’s clit with impressive speed. Probably from the fact that the dude never shuts up, he’d guess.

“You can add fingers, you know,” Mox says, gripping the counter with white knuckles. “Like – in – god damn, exactly.”

Adam pulls away for a second with a self-satisfied grin. “The fingers part I’m pretty good at.”

It takes longer than it has in the past, probably because Mox’s experiences lately have been with more mechanical dates, but he feels it building in his belly soon enough.

“Jesus,” Mox mumbles, rolling his hips a little against Adam’s face. “I – okay, it’s different than with dicks, because if you stop doing that I won’t – shit, fuck.”

It slams into him, insistent and stark white and so fucking good it’s almost annoying. He has to shove at Adam with his knee to get him to stop, because he’s oversensitive as fuck and Adam doesn’t seem to know when to quit.

“Good?” Adam asks. He grabs at a clean towel hanging on one of the stoves and wipes his face. “Seemed like it was.”

“Yeah,” Mox says. “Gimme a sec I – it’s been a while and I forgot…” He trails off. “Look, I’m gonna blow you. I just need a second.”

“Hell yeah,” Adam says. He leans back on the stove and yelps. “Fuck! How long’s that been on?” He shakes out his hand.

Mox grabs his hand and sucks a finger into his mouth. He can taste himself on Adam’s fingers, and he drops to his knees before a second thought.

“Before you act like a bitch about anything,” he says, hands undoing Adam’s pants, “it’s been, like, four years since I’ve sucked a dick, so cut me some slack.”

Adam laughs and looks down at him with burning eyes. “It’s been months for me, dude. It’ll be hard to get me to complain.”

Mox snickers. “Yeah. Looks pretty hard to me.”

Sucking a dick, Mox discovers, is like riding a bike. If the bike was built like a brick shithouse and had fingers that grabbed at his jaw and a slightly southern twang from a childhood in Virginia that spews enough filth that Mox feels himself getting wet again.

“Fuckin’ hell, knew that mouth was better for more than just arguing,” Adam grunts. “Should’a done this earlier. Maybe would’a stopped being such assholes to each other.”

Mox looks up at Adam and pulls off his dick enough to flip him off and say, “Nah, pretty sure I’d still think you’re a dick.” And he sinks his mouth back around Adam’s cock and sucks, paying attention to the head.

He likes blow jobs. He’d forgotten he likes this part of it, drawing words and swears out of his partner until they’ve lost the ability to do much but moan.

“Dude,” Adam says, patting at Mox’s neck. “I’m gonna – ”

Mox pulls off. “What, you think you’re gonna come on my face or something? We’re at a wedding, dude. Come in my mouth. God. Have some class.”

Adam laughs when Mox takes him back into his mouth and comes with a shudder that Mox can feel in Adam’s thighs where his fingertips have dug in. To get him back he keeps sucking at Adam’s cock, a little longer than he might if he were being nice, until Adam gets him by the scruff of the neck and pulls him off.

“Wait,” Adam says, panting. Mox is still on his knees.

“You already regretting it?”

“No!” Adam yells. “Just – I think I can do better.” He pulls his pants back up and turns them, shoving Mox against the counter. “We’re even. I can out fuck you.”

“What? How is that you out fucking me?”

Adam grins. “Sit on the counter. I’m getting you off at least one more time so you don’t rank me last on your list of one night stands.”

Mox wouldn’t have said it, but that is where Adam stands right now. Probably, if he ranks it, Bryan, then Regal, then Chuck, Suzuki because he left that giant bite mark on his arm, and then Adam. “Alright. Go for it.”

The enthusiasm, he notes, is key. He’s never fucked anybody bored about it, per se, but he’s fucked people hesitant and people who relied more on their dick than other parts, people so focused on getting in him that he got himself off.

Adam, though. He must have learned how to hold his breath in the past, because there’s no coming up for air. The first time he was hesitant, almost cute about it, but this time he’s insistent and greedy. He slides two fingers into Mox and pumps them with the pace his mouth and lips work, like he’s determined to draw an orgasm from Mox if it kills him.

“Fucking Christ,” Mox pants, gripping the first thing he can grab. His best guess is the water faucet. “Where was this energy last time?”

Adam responds by his mouth moving faster, stronger, and then it hits. Before Mox can do anything, he’s shouting and clenching around Adam’s fingers, bucking against Adam’s face.

“Holy shit,” he says, shivering as he notices Adam’s beard wet and shining. “That was different than the other – holy shit.”

Adam grins. “I ain’t done yet, Moxley.”

He loses count. Mox loses fucking count how many times Adam makes him come, his mouth and hand working together so effectively that Mox is straight up shaking at one point.

“Okay, I’m tapping,” Mox pants, slamming his hand on the counter. “I – nope. I can’t do anymore.”

“Shit,” Adam says, laughing. “Alright, if you’re telling me enough.”

Mox nods. “I literally don’t think I can come anymore,” he gasps. “I think I’m all fucked out.”

“Good.” Adam washes his hands casually. “Messier than with dicks, but more fun, I think.”

Mox laughs. “Yeah?” He exhales and hops off the counter, pulling his boxers and pants back up. They’ll have to bleach the area. “You had a fuckin’ blast, man. Different than the first round.”

With a paper towel he wipes up his beard. He grins as he continues wiping his mouth. “What can I say? I have a steep learning curve. And I like men with pretty eyes and bitchy attitudes.”

“I’m not bitchy,” Mox says, folding his arms across his chest. “Also, fuck you for saying that right after you gave me, like, a thousand orgasms in a row so you know I don’t have a good comeback.”

Adam licks his lips. “There’s a come jokes I could make, but I think we’ve exhausted that line of thought.” He winks. “And you were bitchy. You yelled at me a couple hours ago because the tables were a few inches in the wrong direction.”

“That was on behalf of the groom,” Mox says.

“You still said it like a bitch.”

Mox rolls his eyes as he grabs a paper towel and soap and wipes down the counter. “Well, the groom’s a bitch, so I earned it. Also, you weren’t this confident in high school. Or this…in charge. What happened to you?”

Adam scoffs as he goes to the fridge and pulls out a pitcher of water. Mox takes another towel and dries the counter. “Fuck. Matt Jackson happened to me.” Mox watches as Adam chugs. It should be weird that Adam can look sexy drinking water, but here Mox is. “Was gonna propose to him, you know? Was thinking of making his hotel and my barn a thing, but no.” He shakes his head, a grim little smile on his lips.

“I figured something was wrong in paradise,” Mox says, hopping back up onto the counter. He takes a glass offered by Adam and drinks. “This like senior year?”

Adam rolls his eyes. “No, he hasn’t been that dramatic.” He takes another sip and leans against the stove, avoiding the burner knobs this time. “He’s scared he doesn’t have an identity outside our relationship.” Adam shrugs and meets Mox’s eyes. “I’ve told him if he needs to figure himself out to go and do it, but I’m gonna do the same.” He raises the glass to Mox and sips.

“Oh, that’s what this was?” Mox asks, grinning. “You catch up with one of your high school rivals, fuck him, and use that to decide if you and pretty boy are meant to be?”

“Or I’ve thought you were hot since we were fifteen and you cut your hair and started with that ‘fuck everybody’ attitude,” Adam says.

Mox blinks. “You’re that gay that you could tell I was a dude before I even came out?”

Adam shrugs. “Had a minor sexuality crisis before you told everybody you’re a guy, which John and Alex had to help me out with, but yeah. Once you came out, it made sense. I think I knew…” He offers a smile. “You know?”

“We queers find each other, don’t we,” Mox chuckles, kicking his ankles against the cabinets.

“Yeah, and then you tackled me in gym class later that year because you were mad I beat you at that practice debate and knocked me out.” Adam flicks water in Mox’s face. “If it wasn’t for that, I don’t think Matt would have asked me out.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “So, really, it’s your fault we got together in the first place.”

Mox sits in that for a minute. “Yeah,” he says. “Maybe I can be the reason you two idiots finally suck it up and get married.”

“Hope so,” Adam says quietly. “You’re weirdly chill about this being a one time thing, by the way.”

Mox shrugs. “I’ve had more than one one night stand in my life. At least this one won’t give me a kid.”

Adam laughs, and he’s really pretty when he does. “Yeah. Your kid’s cute, by the way. He at home?"

Mox nods. “I had Eddie pick him up. He was starting to get tired and when he gets tired he gets a little screamy.”

He doesn’t know how much time passes while they catch up. They were never friends in high school – being rivals for the best on the debate team will keep that from happening – but they tolerated each other, and, as adults, Mox is realizing they don’t hate each other as much as he thought they would.

“Shit,” Adam says, pulling out his phone. “That’s the 15 minute alarm.” He nods to the door. “I gotta go let Seth and Roman know they need to start winding down.” He frowns. “I left everybody out there with Anna. Fuck.”

Mox chuckles. “Yeah, she’s a personality. She told Seth’s mom to go fuck herself when she tried to change the ceremony chair arrangements.” Mox sighs. “I think I’m a little in love with her, actually. She single?”

“Yeah, but she’s only into women.” Adam makes his way to the door. “You should see the way she hits on bridesmaids.”

Mox is slammed with some chaotic pop song he’s heard a thousand times but still doesn’t know the name of, and looks around for Seth and Roman.

“They’re over there,” he says, and he points with a hand on Adam’s waist.

“Smooth,” Adam laughs in his face. “Thanks, though.”

Mox watches Adam walk away, eyes locked on his ass in the excessively well-tailored suit pants, and goes to the bar to get a Coke. He sips slowly.

“Hey,” says Anna, coming over to him. “Where have you been?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re the best man, right?” She plants her hands on her hips. “You were supposed to give me an assist with the shitty family members. Seth’s mom started getting bitchy and I couldn’t find Adam, so I went looking for –” She cuts off, eyes narrowing. “Oh, you absolutely didn’t.”

“Didn’t what?” Mox asks, trying to feign ignorance. “What do you mean?”

“Don’t you dare hurt him,” Anna says, waggling a finger in his face. “You hear me? He’s a nice man who deserves kindness. Don’t be a douchebag.”

Mox holds his hands up in front of him. “Jesus, you’re scary. I promise, I’ll let him take the lead.” He smiles at her. “Also, please don’t tell anyone.”

She sighs. “Deal. If you fuck with him, though, I will tell everyone.” She whips out her phone. “Remember I have the email of everyone in this building.”

Mox exhales slowly. She’s his type of woman, but alas. Plus, he’d already gotten laid twice that night, sort of, and doesn’t think he could handle it even if the option were on the table. It’d been since before Wheeler was born than he’d gotten any action at all, and he’s starting to feel the good kind of sore about it.

“I know,” he says. “We’re good.”

He’s in the middle of a conversation with Becky, Seth’s maid of honor, when the grooms stomp over to him. Well, Seth stomps. Roman casually strides.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Seth hisses.

“Did something go wrong?” Mox asks, looking around. “What happened?”

“Roman started dancing,” Seth whines. “Becky told him to go out there and shake his ass and he did.”

Mox shrugs. “It’s his wedding, too. He can dance if he wants to. He can leave his –”

Seth rolls his eyes. “I hate how often you quote that song. God. Fine.”

Mox dances with his friends as the final songs of the night play. Songs from his and Seth’s high school years, from the past year, and ending with the song that he and Seth screamed at the barricade when they saw the band live together, on the evening of Mox’s 22nd birthday.

He’d had no idea what that year would bring him. He’d had no idea that that year would give him the best gift of his life.

Missing Wheeler isn’t something he’s unfamiliar with, but it’s more intense right now than it’s been for a while.

When the lights turn on, he runs at Seth and Roman and grabs them in a hug.

“Holy shit,” he laughs. He steps back. “You two are married.”

Seth beams, wiggling his hand. The engagement and wedding rings gleam. “Hell yeah we are.”

“Someone has forgotten they got into a screaming fight with their mother six hours ago.”

Seth shrugs and smiles and Roman pulls him in and kisses his forehead. “And? It’s my wedding. I can bitch if I want to or however the song goes.”

Mox snorts. “Alright, send me on best man duties. What do I gotta do?”

“You,” Roman says, resting a big hand on Mox’s shoulder, “have done more than enough. Go home and hang with your little dude.” His smile quirks. “Maybe on your wedding day we’ll take him home for you.”

Mox scoffs. “I’m never getting married.”

“Sure you won’t,” Seth says. “Go home. We’ll take it from here.”

Mox steps outside where it’s quieter, out the back door where the other guests couldn’t go, and breathes. The chilly fall air mists around him.

“Hey.”

He turns to see Adam Page at the door to what must be the kitchen. “Hey.”

Adam smiles a little. “Live well, man, okay?” He sighs. “And make it easy.” He rolls his phone in his hand. “You deserve some easy.”

Mox’s first impulse is to shoot back that Adam was easy enough for him, but he settles. “Thanks, man. I hope you and Matt figure out what you need from each other.”

Adam nods.

Mox gets into the car, and thinks he may keep this one to himself.

~

“Potato!”

“Shh!” Eddie hisses, hand on Wheeler’s back. “Wheels is asleep. Don’t wake him up.”

“Gonna,” Mox says. “Hey, baby.”

Wheeler blinks his eyes open. “Daddy?” he murmurs. “Daddy hi!”

Mox picks him up and holds him close as Wheeler wraps skinny little arms around his neck and immediately begins snoring again.

“See?” Mox says in a hushed tone to Eddie. “He always falls back asleep once he sees me.”

“That says you’ve ever been away from him for more than a couple’a hours,” Eddie says, but he pats the couch next to him. “Come on. Let’s watch the game.”

They keep the volume low, just in case Wheeler’s snuggled up sleep is more fragile than Mox knows it is, until Eddie shuffles.

“Thirsty,” he says. “Gonna grab a Coke. Want anything?”

“Water,” Mox says.

Eddie pats his thigh, then pauses. “Mox,” he says. “Mox, did you fuck somebody tonight?”

“What?” Mox is frozen. “What? No. Wait, screw denial. How the fuck did you figure that out?”

“Your pockets are all crumpled inside your pants,” Eddie says. “Only way you’d let that happen is if you’d had to pull ‘em up quick.” He stares at Mox. “Who was it?”

“Oh, my god. Leave me alone, Mom.”

“I ain’t your mother,” Eddie says. “I’m much worse. Who’d you fuck?”

“Nobody!” Mox hisses. “And would you please stop saying fuck when my son is literally right here?”

“He’s heard worse,” Eddie says, rolling his eyes. “He’s your kid. Who was it?”

Mox groans and drops his head back against the couch. “Eddie…”

“Did you use protection?” Eddie asks. “Because T ain’t birth control and you know that.”

“Fuckin’ Christ, Eddie,” Mox mutters. “Hold on. If you’re gonna force me to have this conversation, I’m putting Wheeler to bed.”

Wheels wiggles and fusses a little as he’s lowered into his little toddler bed, but he settles when Mox puts his favorite stuffed bunny in his arms. Mox watches for a minute and sees Wheeler’s whole life flash before his eyes, landing on this perfect moment.

“Every mistake,” Mox murmurs, “brought me you, Tater Tot. I’d do it all again.”

Before he can reminisce further, though, there’s a hand on the collar of his suit jacket and he’s being yanked backwards.

“Jesus fucking – Eddie!” Mox says, barely catching himself before he fell over. “Let me have a moment with my kid!”

“Do I need to go get you plan B?” Eddie says. He’s running his hand over his head, eyes panicked. “Fuck, how’s that even work with T? Is that gonna with your top surgery? I gotta do some research –”

“Eddie,” Mox says, putting his hands on Eddie’s shoulder. “We didn’t – he went down on me and I blew him. I don’t think it’s possible for me to get pregnant.” He fights a smile. “I mean, unless coming in my mouth’ll knock me up.”

Eddie slaps him away, looking disgusted. “Jesus Christ, Moxie. I asked if you were gonna need medication, not if you were gonna need a tooth brush.” He frowns. “You’re disgusting.”

“Yeah, and you still love me.”

Eddie sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. “Yeah. Why the fuck do I do that, by the way?”

Mox shrugs and pulls off his shirt, making his way to the bedroom he shares with Wheeler, chucking the shirt in the laundry. “Because you know, deep down, we’re platonic soulmates.”

“Oh, go fuck yourself.” But Eddie smiles at him, and Mox feels warm. He curls up in bed, reaching out a hand to rest on Wheeler’s leg, and falls asleep with a smile.

[theinternetisfulloftrash]

Story time request: your wedding night? How did hubs make you his in a manner of speaking. 🤭

Well then...

We got married about 6 years ago on our 7th anniversary. We had our ceremony and reception at this farm we rented for a weekend. So we were staying in the farmhouse with most of the wedding party (like an Air BnB type situation). So, we did the whole 'do you and do you' thing and then danced our asses off (I'm a terrible dancer and it's factual). We laughed and drank a little too much before people slowly headed home, back to hotels, or to the farmhouse and we kinda trickled in there last after getting the outbuildings all locked up.

We tried to be quiet getting upstairs because there were like 6 other people staying in the house. We got to the master and I was standing in front of the mirror looking at my reflection. It was weird seeing myself in a big white dress. I was frowning at all the dust and dirt that had collected around the hem where it was brushing the floor all night. I was holding it up looking at it when I noticed him step behind me. I remember looking at him in the mirror, his lips pressed to my neck when he started unlacing it. *sigh*

I don't remember all the details, because it's been a while and we weren't entirely sober, but... yeah... I do remember getting hushed a lot (again, we unfortunately weren't alone... a mistake in hindsight)... but it was good. It was this new stage of our time together, so it was special. I don't know how else to describe it.

The night AFTER the wedding (because we had the place rented until he Monday) was even better. We'd spent the day cleaning up and packing everything. We put music on a phone and danced in the barn and it was honestly something that felt more special and intimate than our first dance. We made a pizza together and watched some stupid thing on cable (we don't have it and the rental did). No one else was there that night. SO... there was no hushing, I'll say that ;)

[mouthfulloftoothpasterry]

Can we get a cowboy!Harry and Y/N wedding + smut? I would love to read! Thanks!!

Okay I definitely think their wedding would be a backyard wedding at Harry’s big farm style house (I’d think they would officially move in together after they got engaged so I’d say their farm house)

Like backyard wedding, reception in the barn, let’s say the colors are like yellow and navy blue

Seems like their kind of colors

Yellow flowers everywhere

The cutest dress

Boho farm style dress

Like this!!!! With cowboy boots under it oh my god so cute

Omg and Harry would refuse to take his cowboy hat off for the wedding

But y/n loves it so she doesn’t care

Stop and Harry would cry as soon as she started walking down the isle

Big tears while he tired to cover his face and he’s so embarrassed but he’s just sobbing and once she got to the end of the isle he’d be like “oh my goodness. Y’look so fuckin’ beautiful, darlin’.”

I think they’d have a family friend officiate the wedding so I’d be filled with story’s of them, lots of laughs and crying

And Harry would be so gross with the kiss, pulling her in and giving her the sloppiest, wettest kiss in front of everyone but he doesn’t even care because he has a fucking wife now

And he couldn’t be happier

And they would definitely have people throw like wild flower seeds instead of rice or blow bubbles like they do lots of weddings

The wedding would be sooo cute :( antique china instead of like fancy white plates or something

Big sunflowers in the middle, pompous grass, then a pretty candle in the middle sitting on a wood slab as a center piece

Y/n and Harry would spend the whole night dancing with everyone

And instead of doing the dollar dance (if you don’t know what the dollar dance is basically you can just say the bride and groom however much money you want and you get to dance with them for a little!) they would do a dollar shot or dollar beer (plz this is so country of them) and they would do a shot or chug a beer with whoever payed them

I feel like they are the type to go on a tiny honeymoon, like go to a random country and stay for like three days or soemthing

WAIT THE GARTER DANCEE

Plz

Harry would not even care that he’s shoving his head up her dress in front of both of their families

He would push her dress up to reveal her cowboy boots and he would bite off her garter in the matter of seconds and tear it down her leg

Lacy little white garter with a blue flower attached to it

Stop they would not even wait for people to leave the reception they would just be like “goin’ on up to the house. You can see yourselves out! 🤠”

And they would both run up to the bedroom as quick as possible, harry trying to unzip her dress and get it down

Cowboy boots stays on during sex ✅

Cowboy hat stays on during sex ✅

It would be the filthiest, sloppiest, best sex they’ve ever had

Going at it all night until they both though they wee going to pass out and they were seeing stars

This is honestly, probably how Eddy got conceived

And they would wake up the next morning with wedding gifts scattered around the house, dragging sheets with them or just letting it all hang out like

“Oh fuck what happened last night”

And quickly they would be like “oh my god wait we are married?!” And start to remember the night again

Try to answer everyone’s messages while also going at it all day long before running off to catch their flight

[leabethchase]

My headcanons for the kinds of weddings our four main couples would have!

(For some reason Tumblr makes my photos blurry. If you click on them they'll clear up)

Portwell

When it comes to Gina I thing she'd want a mix between elegant and rustic/floral. So the sunflower/rose mix I thought was perfect for her! And in a way the two flowers kind of represent the two. EJ is like a sunflower, bright, constantly growing, and demanding attention, while Gina is like a rose, elegant and beautiful, full of love, but if not handled correctly can prick you. And EJ in a red tux? PERFECTION. But he thinks Gina is absolute perfect when he sees her in her dress looking high-class and exquisite. And you can bet your ass that boy practically sobbed at the sight of her. They'd have both the ceremony and reception outside, probably the reception in a tent decorated with beautiful fairy lights. Gina's mom would walk her down the aisle, Ashlyn would be Gina's Maid of Honor and Mr. Mazzara would be EJ's best man. EJ plans a huge dance number with Ricky, Carlos, Seb, and Howie that blows Gina away, especially because she can tell the her hubby who has two left feet has been practicing really hard to make it perfect but fun. And you bet that they'd be serving risotto at the reception dinner.

Redlyn

I know people would probably think that Ashlyn and Big Red would have a red themed wedding, but honestly I think that's too predictable. I think Ashlyn would want something softer and natural, which is why she'd go super floral with soft pinks, oranges, and reds. They'd have their ceremony outside in a feild and the reception in a barn. EJ would walk Ashlyn down the aisle because he's the family member she loves the most, Gina would be her maid of honor, and Ricky would be Big Red's best man. Big Red and Ashlyn would do a rendition of 'Red is Love' for the guests. For their wedding favors Ashlyn hand made candles, and for their wedding photos Big Red made a light up sign.

Seblos

Carlos and Seb DEFINITELY bump heads trying to plan their wedding. They both have totally different ideas. Whereas Carlos wants big and grand with homeage to his latino heritage, Seb imagined something small and in nature, preferably at his farm. Eventually Gina and Kourtney, Carlos and Seb's maids of honors, decide to take the wedding decorating into their own hands and come up with an elegant way to combine the two. They hold the wedding at Seb's barn and do it up with colorful flowers and decor that plays homage to Carlos’ heritage. The set up is elegant enough to please Carlos, but not so elegant that it makes Seb uncomfortable. An equal balance between the two, and both grooms are pleased. Both of their outfits are handmade by Kourtney herself, Carlos in an tasteful suits embroidered with a colorful flower design and Seb in a charming suit/dress, both wearing matching flower crowns. The cermony is beautiful and the reception is fun with lots of booze, spanish dishes, and latin dancing. And the guests go home with little pots of plants that were Carlos' idea, so that they could all have something that could grow with them.

Kowie

We know Kourtney is anything but subtle or ordinary, so she'd for sure go big for her wedding. She's a Queen and this is her day to be treated like royalty. Of course she created her dress herself, and it's definitely not a typical wedding dress. Its luxurious and all a shiny gold, with a gold and red crown to top it off. She definitely drew a lot of gasps from the crowd when she appeared on the aisle, and a few tears from Howie when he saw her in all of her glory. She gets married at her church because God has always been most important to her. Though she loves her mom, she walks herself down the aisle because she'd be damned if she followed some old misogynistic tradition. Nini of course is her maid of honor, and Howie's is his oldest brother. The reception is held at a venue next door and is just as royal and elegant as she wanted. And at the end of the night, everyone leaves the room so that the couple can share a dance alone with Howie softly singing "If I Can't Love Her" in her ear

(I didn't include Nini or Ricky since they're free agents right now, and I don't like them together so I didn't do one for them together.)

[cocosstories]

Sebastian Stan One Shot

Hello! I’ve been on a Seb Stan binge recently and read through almost all of your stuff (going to finish it all in a sec!) I was wondering if you were able to write something sweet and fluffy where you’re getting married at your family farm and while you take a moment to yourselves after the ceremony, you let him know that you’re pregnant? And just fluff it all up! Thank you so much xxx

With the sun setting just behind the big barn on your family's farm, shades of pink, orange and purple mix with the stringed mason jar lights that hung in the trees making it the backdrop of your dream wedding absolutely perfect.

The ceremony took place in the field where you spent most of your childhood playing and once it was over, your guests headed into the barn that had been transformed into a beautiful reception hall.

As you and your new husband Sebastian walked in, it took your breath away, the lights, linens, even the small accents that no one but you would notice were exactly what you had seen in your head when you had planned it out. 

"Would everyone please join me in welcoming for the first time, the new Mrs. and Mr. Y/N and Sebastian!"

The band leader called out as your guests stood and cheered for you and Seb. 

You were led to the dancefloor and the band begins to play 'I Promise To Love Her' by Blane Howard as your first dance as husband and wife begins. 

"We're married."

Sebastian says happily, holding you close as you sway in his arms. 

"We are. Finally."

You reply, pure happiness radiating off of you.

"Seb?"

"Yes, sotia mea?"

"I'm pregnant."

Sebastian doesn't say anything or even look at you and you begin to worry that your news wasn't as exciting for him as it was for you. 

"Sebastian?"

You say his name again, hoping he will even just look at you. 

"A baby? We're having a baby?"

He finally asks.

"Yes, we're having a baby."

You confirm, feeling tears begin to well up in your eyes as you see his are about to spill over.

"Are you happy?"

"Oh, Iubirea mea, this is the happiest I have ever been in my entire life. I just married the love of my life and I am going to be a father. How could I be anything but happy?"

He wipes a tear from your cheek with the pad of his thumb. 

"God, I love you."

You say, pulling him in for a kiss while the guests around you tap their glasses, none of them knowing that they hadn't just witnessed a wedding but the beginning of a family.

sotia mea- my wife

Iubirea mea- my love

[honeystwiggypeach]

Wedlock!

Chapter sixteen:

Today

Ukai x reader

Wedlock! Master-List

⚠️Tw⚠️: Contractions, chaos, description of the beginning of labor(as in water breaking and contractions), cursing, unplanned labor???

Today was the day you and Keishin were going to get married, around a week away from your due date which was way closer then both you and Keishin would have liked. Your dress hid the now dropped baby bump well and you looked amazing, you even were able to get ready by yourself making you pretty proud of how you were managing to hide your pregnancy even for your wedding. You eventually find yourself standing with your arm looped with your fathers as he stares you down and you can almost feel yourself sweating as he looks at you while he squints trying to get a better look at the details of your dress. “Is that a b-“ you cut him off figuring he’d say bump. “Oh dear I think they’re going to open the door soon come on” you mumble dragging him foreword as he mumbles about beading of the dress and you let out a silent sigh of relief realizing he didn’t notice. After some time you find your self standing in front of an alter hand in hand with Keishin in a barn, on a farm just like Keishin joked about as you mumble about how stupid it was when you feel a slight contraction which you brush off as the same type you’ve been having the past few days. You listen half heartedly to Keishin’s vows as you contain the urge to wiggle around due to how bad the contractions were getting. At this point you kind of feel bad for not listening to his vows cause your pretty sure they’re very good and before you know it the two of you are sharing a kiss right before you feel a gush of liquid going down your leg managing to get onto the skirt of your dress. You look toward Keishin with widened eyes before both of you look to the bottom of your skirt. “…well they’ll be born in wedlock…” he mumbles quietly as your breathing quickens. You subconsciously register Keishin as placing his hand on your back and guiding you away from the small little arch away from the officiator and outside of the barn into the small reception area in the grass as you have a death grip on his arm. “Call an ambulance…” you breath out tightening your grip on his arm as he nods quickly fumbling around with his phone before calling the ambulance when your guests begin to come out of the small barn attempting to congratulate you as you manage to contort your face into some sort of smile. “What do we do?” Keishin asks you a concerned as he sees the ambulance pull behind the barn. Your mother walks over to the two of you grabbing onto your arm as she rubs your arm soothingly and all you do is simply remove your arm from his pulling your dress against your belly before stating, “I’m in labor” loud enough for your guests to hear. With this your father is chasing Keishin around as he shouts that their shouldn’t be a problem the baby is going to be born in wedlock. Tanaka and Nishinoya are at your side telling you to breath in and out making the noises they had heard of women in labor on TV before Tanaka is behind Noya telling him to push while you lay yourself in the gourney of the ambulance watching as Keishin and your dad run around the barn. “Keishin!” You yell “get your ass in here now!” And before you know it he’s crawling into the ambulance.

Tags: @angelicalcutefairy

[merrybrides]

How To Plan A Summer Wedding

The Skinny on Summer Weather

Slap on that sunblock, because in nearly all parts of the country you can usually count on temps in the 70s (or higher!)—especially in the dog days of summer, like late July and August.

While sweet summertime means blue skies and balmy breezes most of the time, there are still some weather concerns to be aware of. For example, many east coast areas can experience torrential rain in the form of thunderstorms—soooo not ideal for an outdoor wedding! Then there's the south and southwest, where the thermometer can get up to 100 degrees fahrenheit or higher. An outdoor ceremony in this heat gives new meaning to the phrase, sweating for the wedding.

And, while less likely, there's the potential for natural disasters that can occur in the summer months. On the west coast, drought conditions frequently cause large-scale wildfires that bring hazy skies, poor air quality, and even evacuations. The opposite side of the country comes with the nasty Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1 and peaks in late August.

So…to play it safe, know what weather is forecasted for your wedding day, make sure to give your out-of-town guests whatever wardrobe tips they need to be prepared, and always—we repeat, ALWAYS—have a bad-weather backup plan. Just. in. case.

Summer Holidays

Besides fabulous weather, summer seems to be the least limiting in terms of holidays and other potential hiccups. While you won't have to compete with many major holidays, the months of June through July are some of the most popular times to get married AND go on vacation. You'll want to keep your guests' wallets in mind by giving them plenty of time to book flights and plan travel. Trust us, they'll thank you.

Here are a few dates to keep in mind:

Memorial Day – Always a Monday in May (Technically this is a spring holiday, but widely considered the unofficial start of summer)

Father's Day – Always a Sunday in June

Independence Day – Always July 4th, but days off can vary

Labor Day – Always a Monday in September

Hint: Save-the-dates for destination weddings typically get sent out 8–12 months in advance, while save-the-dates for local weddings can be sent out closer to 4 months in advance.

Summer Wedding Pros & Cons

There are so many advantages to getting married in the summer:

Typically gorgeous weather. Break out those sunnies!

There are fewer holidays to work around. Plus, it's widely considered PC to have an Independence Day or Labor Day weekend wedding.

The "Yes" RSVPs are more likely to roll in. Guests are often more willing and excited to take time off work and travel to a summer wedding!

Your outdoor venue and location choices are wide-open. Think barns, mountaintops and, of course, toes-in-the-sand beach weddings. The choices are endless!

However, there are a fair number of disadvantages to be aware of:

Summer is the most popular season to tie the knot. Venues and vendors often up their prices during this time, especially on weekends. Keep an eye out for peak-season rates when planning your wedding budget.

Destination wedding and honeymoon prices are also hitting their peak as most Americans book their vacation during the summer months.

Your favorite venues and vendors could be booked up months to years in advance for popular summer wedding dates.

Summer Color Palette

Unlike other times of the year and their seasonal hues, the sunshine-filled days of summer complement nearly any wedding color palette. While you'll typically see bright colors at summer weddings, there's no need to shy away from deep blues, rich grays, or even black. Don't be afraid to think outside the box when it comes to putting together your own colors!

Bridesmaids and Groomsmen

When it comes to dressing your bridal party, comfort needs to be at the top of the list. If you're tying the knot in the Deep South in late July, chances are your 'maids and groomsmen won't appreciate being buried under layers of fabric and accessories. Consider shorter dresses or lighter fabrics, like organza or charmeuse.

For groomsmen, you'll want to be extra certain you won't be causing sweat overload before the ceremony has even started! Stick with lighter suit jackets and vests—or ditch the jackets altogether. Look into a variety of different hot-weather-friendly looks like khaki, rolled sleeves, suspenders, or even shorts and flip-flops!

Working With What's In Season

When you buy what's in season, you get food and flowers at the peak of their supply when costs are normally lower. Plus, when they're locally grown they don't need to be shipped halfway around the globe. So not only do you save money, but you also reduce your carbon footprint. Win-win.

—Summer Wedding Food—

Much like spring, summer is peak harvesting season for fruits and vegetables. Summer's sunshine means there's no excuse to serve food that doesn't include a little color! As for veggies, the sky's the limit as to what's in season: green beans, cucumbers, eggplant, peas, and corn—just to name a few.

While fruit harvests are bountiful during this time of year, the weather can affect when they're ripest. Be on the lookout for melons, peaches, plums, raspberries, and blackberries because all of these are at their juiciest in the summer months. Fortunately, the abundance of produce in the summer can lead to lower prices, which is especially great if you're planning a farm-to-table wedding!

—Summer Wedding Flowers—

No matter where you are in the country, it seems that beautiful blooms are popping up all over the place. There are literally hundreds of options, but here are a few of our favorite summertime flowers:

Sunflowers. This classic is the poster child of summer, but we love how they add a pop of bright yellow to any bouquet.

Hydrangeas. These fluffy blossoms are summer staples that come in a wide variety of pretty colors.

Calla Lilies make a statement when bundled in a bouquet, and add a classy accent to any summer arrangement.

Amaranthus. From deep reds to fresh greens, this rope-like accent flower is perfect for boho or beach weddings, or even a more elegant affair!

Cacti. Use succulents like aloe and you can't go wrong.

Eucalyptus is a floral trend we're seeing year-round, and we're not complaining!

Pro Tip: Since some flowers are more prone to wilting in the summer heat than others, be sure to double-check with your florist before committing to any one flower or greenery.

Summer Catering Trends

With a cornucopia of fresh fruits and veggies to choose from, you may have already started your search for the perfect hand-lettered sign to direct your guests to the salad bar. Not so fast! There are oh-so-many ways to pay homage to the tastes of the season, not all of which involve plants. If your personal faves include poultry, beef, and seafood, they can easily be incorporated into lighter versions of classics. Or, consider fun, non-traditional alternatives like tapas (Spanish small plates), a festive taco bar, or even good old-fashioned barbecue!

Your reception wouldn't be complete without a summer-inspired dessert! How about wine-flavored sorbet, yummy ice cream, or other frozen treats like snow cones, granita, or gelato to cool your guests down on those warm summer days! Or, what about a classic summer staple like cobbler or pie? There are so many options to choose from, so go wild!

Summer Wedding Cake Trends

Play with light and refreshing flavors like lemon, raspberry, and coconut instead of rich, fudgy chocolate—unless that's your thing, of course! If you're not into the "naked" cake trend, ice your cake with summery frostings that showcase coconut, cherry, or Tahitian vanilla. Dress it up with sprigs of lavender or rosemary, some gold leaf, or a pretty ombré pattern. The latest trend we're partial to? Colorful brush strokes paired with bright blooms. You could even ask if your baker is willing to collab with your florist to match your cake to your bouquet! Your wedding cake—assuming you even have one—should be as unique as you are!

Summer-Inspired Wedding Favors

Your guests will no doubt appreciate customized hand fans to keep cool or neon-colored sunnies to block summer's harsh rays. Or, hit up Old Navy's $1 Flip-Flop Sale to stock up on cheap sandals for tired feet to change into. You can also pick up miniature bottles of rosé, tiny potted succulents, homemade jam, and even travel-sized bottles of sunscreen with a custom sticker slapped on. And if you're really on a budget, how about some fresh seasonal fruit for your guests to enjoy?

Summer Signature Cocktails

If you're serving cocktails on your big day, there's no better time to get creative than during the summer! Sparkling wines, champagne spritzers, and fruity cocktails are just the tip of the iceberg. Hit up your bartender (or just the drink-maker at your fave hangout spot!) for custom cocktails inspired by you and your fiancé. Refreshing berry mojitos, vodka-infused Arnold Palmers, boozy sangria, and mango bellinis—oh, yes! Just be sure to have water available for your guests at all times to keep them hydrated. Drink up!

[gongju-juice]

3. Once Upon a Southern Night

Something Old, Something New

Warnings: Some racial tension. . .also might be some language but I can’t remember tbh

The thing about change is that it’s just that—change. You can change something, twist it, mold it, or turn it into whatever you wish for it to look like, but you cannot ever get rid of its original identity. 

Living in Forks was no short of that. Life was a blessing, and your days were filled with laughter and excitement. Beginning your senior year—Jasper had graduated—but the two of you were dating and closer than you’d ever been. He took you on dates to see the stars and bought you flowers and little trinkets to brighten your day. You read books in his lap and went on double dates with Amelia and her boyfriend, Stuart. 

You knew something was strange about your family—so much so that your mother’s weirdness no longer seemed so personalized. Maybe it was the fact they never ate around you, or maybe it’s the account of their golden eyes. And like your mother (and everyone else, frankly), your boyfriend was so inhumanly cold, like a Roman statue left in an icy museum.

But what did you look like asking such crazy questions? After all, what else could it be but coincidence? As for your mom and Carlisle, they were siblings—it was normal for them to share the same traits. But as for the others—Rosalie and Jasper were twins—and although they were different personality wise, they both had the same pale skin and bronze colored eyes. Maybe the old saying is true: living together with someone really does make you look alike.

One day while your family all hung out at the Cullen house, you received a letter in the mail. It was a bright, shimmering white envelope with fancy lace trimming. You opened it carefully—sure not to cut yourself so as to not to trigger Jasper’s weird paranoia around blood. 

“Oh my god!” you shouted, running into the living room. You looked at your mom. “Ivy and Dale are getting hitched!”

“Wow, Ivy?” she said. “I remember the two of you growing up like it was yesterday. When’s the date?”

“March 5. It’s going to take place on Dale’s parents’ farm. The reception’s going to be in the big barn house!”

You whirled in excitement, only to dizzy yourself into Jasper’s arms when you realized you’d fallen. He brushed a stray curl from your face.

“A wedding?” he said. “I thought Ivy was only seventeen.”

“You can get married in Alabama at sixteen with parental consent. I’m sure the Lauderdales were thrilled to hear of the good news. Dale has been hanging ‘round since we were six.”

You popped back onto the floor. “I’ve gotta find a dress and everything! Oh wait—I should call and see if we’re doing matching dresses or if we’re all gonna be wearing different ones.”

You picked up your phone and raced to the kitchen where you could find some privacy and feel free to freak out some more. She picked up on the third ring.

“Lucille!” you cried, “I can’t believe it’s finally happening! Please send me a picture of the ring ASAP, okay?”

She giggled. “It’s not a big deal, Y/N. We’ve been engaged since we were twelve. It’s just that now we’ve got that ice and permission to prove it.”

The phone buzzed and you looked at the image of the triple diamond ring which had a band of diamonds all around. You recognized that ring. It was Dale’s grandmother’s sacred family heirloom, the one that’s been locked up tight in their security safe. He only let you and her see it once when you were both thirteen and his parents were out in the field.

“I’m so excited for the bachelorette party!” you gushed. “We’re going to have so much fun! We should go to Pensacola and go to one of them spa places and then we can—”

“Y/N,” she said quietly, cutting you off entirely. “You’re not on the bridesmaids list.”

You were quiet, your flailing arms caught in mid air. “I’m not. . .but you said—”

“I’m sorry, girl, but Mama already chose who's going to be in my wedding. There’s 

Charlotte, Mary, Clarabelle, and Lydia. . .the ones I grew up with.”

“But. . .what about me? Didn’t. . .didn’t we grow up together?”

“Yeah, but. . .it’s just not the same, you know? Those people are family. You can still come to the wedding, of course. That’s why I sent the invitation.”

You’d be lying if you said you didn’t feel hurt. Here was your best friend telling you that you couldn’t be in the wedding. Mrs. Lauderdale. . .you thought she really liked you. Was it because you moved up north?”

“Oh, alright then. I was just—just calling to confirm the date. March 5, right?”

“Yeah, March 5.”

You hung up the phone and sighed at the counter, your head hung down. Just then, Jasper came walking in. He came up behind you and held you in place, his head resting on your shoulder. Suddenly, your mood improved instantly. But that was the thing about Jasper—he was always brightening your day when you felt down. It was part of the reason you adored him.

“You okay?” he whispered. “You know you don’t got to go to that wedding?”

You shook your head. “Of course I do. It’s my best friend’s wedding. How could I miss her big day? Besides. . .how did you even know I was sad?”

He stiffened. “I. . .uh. . .heard the conversation in the hallway.”

“Oh, well I guess that makes sense.”

He held you for a while against the hard granite. 

“Jasper?”

“Yes, darlin’?”

“Will you be my date to the wedding?”

“Absolutely.”

Rosalie was the one officially in charge in helping you pick your dress. Alice had a vengeful streak and wanted you to wear a big, white gown that would take all the attention away from Ivy.

“It’s wayyyy too hot in the south for that,” you pleaded, “and I ain’t trying to cause no trouble! It’s her Mama who did it, not Ivy.”

“She should’ve overridden that stupid decision then,” Alice continued, braiding your hair. It was still funny to know that the tiny pixie girl knew how to do a full-set of box braids. “If it was my wedding—”

“But it isn’t your wedding,” Rosalie insisted. “And Ivy isn’t your friend. Now like I was saying, Y/N, this little yellow sundress would look so cute with your skin tone. . .”

They even hooked up Jasper. They got him a nice cornflower blue dress shirt and a cream colored suit. Emmett even put on a whole show of picking his hairstyle, and even though they went through all that progress and hard work, you kindly reminded them that a heat wave was coming the weekend of the wedding and that it was best just to leave his curls the way they were. Jasper did not take kindly to his brother after that.

“Why don’t you come with us?” you asked your mom as she helped you pack the last of your luggage. “It’s gonna be so lonely with just me and Jasper. And besides, I’m sure everybody wants to see you!”

“No, no, I can’t. I’m scheduled for a surgery the day of the wedding. I can’t cancel it either. It’s a cancerous tumor that needs to be removed.”

You sighed, sitting up on your bed. “I can’t believe it’s here. She’s getting married, mom. We’re all going to be adults and pretty soon, if things go to according to plan, me and—” You cut yourself off as the overwhelming thought engulfed you.

“That’s right. You and Jasper will have your own wedding someday. . .speaking of which. . .we need to talk about the future.”

“The future?”

“Yes,” she sat on your bed. “There are some things you need to know before you set your eyes on your own big day. We’ll talk about that all soon, I promise. But as for now, go and enjoy yourself with Jasper. You’ll have him all to yourself. . .”

“Mom!” you shouted. “Jasper—he’s too sweet for that. He’s a real gentleman! It hasn’t even been that long ago since we had our first kiss, and he was scared to even do that!”

She raised her brows. “Hmmm, maybe that’s what he wanted you to think. But guys are never shy when it comes to that subject.”

The next day, your family wished you off at the airport. Jasper bought you first class tickets—a feat you deemed both extravagant and unnecessary—and you slept on his shoulder for most of the way. 

Immediately, touching down in your home state, everything felt so different. It was humid and hot; the type of sticky that makes your hair stick to the back of your neck, and people were so much more cordial then they were back at Forks. Some gave Jasper strange looks as he wound his fingers with yours, but again, nobody was unpleasant.

You would be staying at a hotel about thirty miles out from the country. There were, thankfully, two queen sized beds parallel to one another in the tiny room. But Jasper insisted sleeping in the living room part where a half wall separated the two of you.

On the big day, your boyfriend pulled out an authentic cowboy hat (the likes you’d never seen before), and the two of you headed down Ivy’s long dirt road. 

Fields of cotton and peas lined either side of the road, and for long stretches, there were no houses except the occasional large country home with animals and plots of cultivated land. The ditches teemed with life: jumping frogs, tadpoles, crawfish, and lillies. 

“Gosh, it’s been so long since I’ve been in the country,” he said. “This place isn’t much different from home.”

“Home? In Forks?”

“Rose and I—before we were adopted—used to live in Texas.”

“Really? That explains your accent! I just thought you watched too many western flicks. Oh, but why doesn’t Rosalie have one?”

“Well, she just hides it, I guess.”

You arrived at the house. There was a trail of cars already parked in the grassy yard, and people made their way in their finest Sunday’s best to the row of chairs arranged in front of the big oak tree where the minister stood.

“Y/N!” one of your old childhood friends exclaimed when she saw you. She was dressed in a teal dress, and at her side was some unknown boy you hadn’t met. “It’s so good to see you!” She looked at your boyfriend. “And who’s this?”

“Jasper Hale, ma’am, I’m her date for the evening,” he answered, tipping his hat. The row of women waiting to greet you gushed at his manners, and dare you say, they checked him out so openly. You hugged his bicep tighter.

“Just for the evening or indefinitely?” she cooed.

“Indefinitely.”

You sat down in one of the middle rows, and watched in awe as the wedding processional came down the aisle. Ivy was dressed in a glittery dress and carried the largest bouquet of white roses you’d ever seen. Dale had tears in his eyes as he looked up at his bride. They were so perfect, so in love, it made your insides melt.

After the beautiful ceremony, the party moved the barn. The rafters were draped in lights and white ribbons and flower petals covered the ground. You chose a table nearest to one of the wooden walls and curled into Jasper’s side.

“You look so gorgeous,” he said, tucking a dandelion behind your ear. “You out-shined the bride, and you didn’t even have to wear that ridiculous dress Alice was trying to shove you in.”

“All of my girlfriends keep whispering about you. You’re the real star tonight. The best looking man in both Washington and Alabama.”

Just then, Mrs. Lauderdale approached your table.

“Y/N, how are you honey?” she asked as you hugged her plump form. As the mother of the bride, she was dressed in a simple white dress and rocked a crown of flowers in her hair.

“I’m wonderful. Have you met my boyfriend?” You allowed her to inspect Jasper as he offered a hand.

“My, my. What a fine young man,” she cried. “Who knew you could get such a catch?”

She pulled you off to the side, and although Jasper tried to follow, you insisted he stay behind.

“I hope you aren’t upset about the whole bridesmaid situation,” she said, patting your shoulder. “We wanted a small processional anyway—makes it so we can get to the food faster.”

You shook your head. “‘Course not. It was such a beautiful ceremony. And Ivy—she’s stunning,” you said as you admired her twirling form with her new husband.

“Well anyway, John and the guys want to see you. John?”

Mr. Lauderdale greeted you with a nod. “How’s it going?”

“All good here,” you answered enthusiastically. In all honesty, John and his friends intimidated you with their skeptical expressions and hawk-like eyes. It was obvious the men of the family didn’t like you as much as the girls did—and that was fine. You were here for Ivy, not them.

“You got yourself a white boy?” Vernon, Ivy’s brother, asked. “A Yankee?”

“Actually, Jasper’s a Texan. And yes, he’s white. But it isn’t weird or anything.”

Like he was in on the conversation, he smoothly slid in beside you, his cold hand wrapping around your waist.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said as he addressed the men. “I’m a Houston native, by the way. I was raised on a farm myself—had a chocolate brown mare named Buttercup and a field full of bulls.”

“Ah, really? That makes me even more surprised to see you here.”

“Pardon me?”

Vernon smirked. “Y’all go and enjoy yourselves.”

Jasper pulled you away from the barn with a little more determination than you thought was needed. He hadn’t looked nor spoken until the two of you were completely alone by the fence where the ponies ran.

“Are you okay?” you asked softly. “You seem upset.”

“It’s nothing. I didn’t like the way those boys were talking. Had to get outside and clear my mind.” He pulled you closer to his body, and his cool skin felt good in the heat of the night.

“Holding you like this makes me get so sentimental,” he admitted. “It makes me want to take you to the nearest courtyard and get official. It makes me want to buy you a hundred acres and a big, nice house by a river. It makes me want to give you a bunch of kids to keep us company, so we can grow old together and live happily ever after.”

“I like when you get sentimental,” you breathed.

“But,” he stopped, “that last part might not be able to happen. There’s something you should know about me—about our family before you decide to give your heart away.”

“What do you mean? What could possibly be so earth-shattering that it’d make me stop loving you?”

He ran his thumb over your bottom lip, staring deeply into your eyes. His brows were creased, forehead wrinkled in thought. 

“Y/N, I wanted to wait to tell you, but I can’t stand lies. Most importantly, I don’t like to lie to you.”

“Just say it, baby.”

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the darkness. 

It was a tall man, about the same height and build as Jasper, with bright crimson eyes and long dark hair tied back in a ponytail. He stared at you intensely before casting his burning gaze to Jasper.

“It’s been a long time, old friend,” he said darkly before inhaling deeply. “And it’s been even longer, Camille.”

And here the real story begins. Also I like cowboy Jasper playing with ponies maybe I’ll do a drabble on that.

Part One    Part Two   Part Four

[mylifeiskara]

nemori question of the day (NQOTD): if they got arrange married, what would their big day be like? plus, what was the proposal like (if applicable lol).

Okay, well since we’re gonna actually get a whole fic about their arranged marriage (thanks to @nakey-cats-take-bathsss for being my Nemori enabler!) I have taken the time to think about a modern AU for Nelson and Emori’s marriage story 🥰

So as I previously stated, I think Nelson and Emori have a cute little cabin either in the woods or the mountains for getaway weekends, so Nelson plans his proposal for one of the weekends that they’re there. They’re on a hike and it’s scenic and beautiful, and that’s where he pops the question. Of course Emori says yes.

For the actual big day, I think it would take place on a nice little farm in late spring/early summer. It’d be one with a refurbished and rustic looking barn for the reception. It’s a pretty small affair, nothing too flashy. I think Nelson and Emori would just want to celebrate with their favorite people.

Madi is the flower girl because Emori is like the cool aunt of all her friends’ children. And of course Raven is the maid of honor. Bellamy officiates the wedding, and he says very heartfelt and beautiful things. Did I decide this because I want more Bellamy and Emori friendship? Yes, and what about it?  Also Murphy makes the wedding cake and it’s beautiful and also delicious. I’ve noticed wedding cakes look pretty but don’t always taste good? Murphy would have none of that, he would make sure his cake is perfect.

Basically, it’s just a very nice day that’s a lot of fun and everyone gets to celebrate Nelson and Emori’s love. 

[katetheworm]

may i request wedding headcanons + rex pretty please!

Oh my god, yes!!! For some reason this prompt really resonates with me so this if kinda long and detailed lol (especially the happy one cuz it makes me happy). Hope you like em!

(I'm gonna do a happy au version were the Republic wins the war and anidala is all good (and Fives is alive), and a sad canon version that is actually what happens cuz I like angst and fluff lol)

rex x f reader wedding hcs

Happy Version:

You and Rex had been "secretly together" for some time before the war ended. I say "secretly" bc everyone knew.

You both always had the thought of marriage in the back of your mind, but you never really acted on it as you wanted a real, full wedding where you could invite all your close family and friends.

Once the war ended and there was victory for the Republic, most of the clones didn't know what to do. Key word "most", as one clone knew exactly what he was going to do.

Rex retired from the Grand Army of the Republic, as did many other clones (let's just say the senate agreed that there was no need for all of them and therefore they should be given free choice to do what they wanted), and he took you to an Outer Rim world where you could both settle down.

(for some reason I cannot get out of my head the idea of Rex settling down on a farming world, away from the Republic, much akin to what Cut did)

You spent only a few weeks on your little farmhouse, really only chatting with Anakin, Ahsoka, Fives, and a few other clones, when Rex finally proposed.

You had made it inside after harvesting some of your crops and was just doing your normal things; washing the produce, putting things away, etc.

You don't hear Rex walk into the kitchen behind you, but when you do, you greet him and fall short when you turn only to see him on one knee, holding a simple yet elegant ring.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a while, cyar’ika... but will you marry me?”

He sounds scared that you’ll reject him, but through tears you nod your head, smiling brightly

“Yes, yes, yes!”

You jump into his arms as soon as he stands up and he spins you around, a wide smile on his face as well.

Soon after you tell your friends and they all basically say “it’s about time”

You, Rex, and Padme begin the preparations and planning for the wedding, though you and Padme did most of the work since Rex had no idea what he was doing.

The wedding was going to be fairly small, just on the field outside of your house and with a very specific guest list (Rex wanted to invite the entire 501st, but you managed to talk him down to his closest brothers).

It would take place probably in the fall when the leaves were a wonderful plethora of colors that matched perfectly with the blue of the decorations. 

The ceremony would be outside, close to dusk while the reception would be in the barn out back, which you spent hours cleaning and decorating. 

You and Rex wanted to make all the food yourselves, though at some points you regretted that decision as it took hours to finish. 

Ahsoka or Padme would be your maid of honor (unless you have a sister), and our other close friends would be your bridesmaids. Rex would have either Anakin or Cody as his best man, Echo, Jesse, Fives, etc. as his groomsmen.

Your dress would probably be fairly simple, something akin to a sundress (though you can of course change that based on the dress you prefer), while Rex would wear his military formals or a white suit with a blue undershirt (there’s this fanart of Rex and Ahsoka where Rex is wearing a really nice suit, but I can’t find it).

Your bridesmaids would wear light blue sundresses and the groomsmen would wear black suits with a blue undershirt.

Overall, it would be very sweet and cute and once you two were married, you be even more happy than you already were. (and you probably would have kids tbh)

Sad Version:

You both would soon realize that the war wasn’t going to end anytime soon, and even if it did, it wasn’t going to end well.

One night, when you had called Rex while he was on one of the ships, he asked you to marry him.

It was completely out of the blue, you had been talking -- quietly since he wasn’t exactly allowed to be with someone -- and he had just blurted it out.

“We should get married.”

You, of course, agreed, but you knew that it wasn’t going to be the dream wedding you had always hoped for. There was no time for one.

Rex asked Anakin about it and he said he would figure something out. 

The next time Rex came back to Coruscant, he called you to meet him at an apartment close to the Senate building.

It was Padme’s apartment.

You put on a simple white dress and Rex was still in his armor as he had just gotten back. 

Padme and Anakin were there, along with a customs droid to officiate you two. 

It wasn’t glamorous or anything you had eve thought your wedding to be like, but it was still your wedding, you still were able to marry the man you loved. 

After you got married, Padme brought out some trays of food she had made, you thanked her a billion times. 

You had a very small reception, but the fact Padme had even thought of doing one brought tears to your eyes.

Soon after, Rex was sent out again. 

You tried to talk as much as possible, but you both knew that a marriage like this was going to be tough. 

You powered through it, though. Together.

Once the war had ended and everything was turned upside down, you set out to find your husband, you would not give up on him.

Although, after years of searching and coming up empty, you soon gave up hope.

You joined the rebellion as you thought that that was what Rex would have done.

Many years passed before you saw him again.

He came to the base on Yavin 4 with a ragtag group of other rebels.

Tears welled in your eyes when you saw him.

You stayed together ever since.

[popculturebuffet]

Jake Reviews Stuff: Steven Universe: The Answer

Happy pride everyone and naturally, it just wouldn’t feel like a celebration of pride in animation without one of the frontrunners of LBGTQ represintation in Children’s television, as well as quality in storytelling in general: Steven Universe.  Since your seeing this you probably know the gist but as my idol peter parker would say let’s do this one last time:  The story of Steven, a 14 year old, though he dosen’t look it, boy with a boundless amount of love, compassion and empathy,  lives in beach city with his borderline homeless dad , surrogate moms and surrogate until we find out they actually are kinda related sister: Garnet, a fusion of two gems in love and thus the sum total of both them and their feelings, Peal, an emotional but loving gem who grew from a servant to Rose’s right hand, sometimes lover, and confidant, and Amythest, a gem born long after the war that brought everyone else here who acts like a 20 something or teenager half the time. Steven soon finds himself fighting alongside themt o protect earth both from the monsters caused by the final battle of the war his mother fought to save earth from distruction and let her army live life how they choose, and the gem homeworld as it starts to take an intrest in earth again. And as the fight goes on Steven also starts to see just how flawed his family is and how much they haven’t moved on from his moms death and finds himself forced to help them past it while grappling with his mom’s terrible and complicated legacy, everyone expecitng him to basically be her, and what it means to be a  being that’s truly one of a kind.  I absolutley love the show: it’s not without flaws; Characters tend to be ingnored for seasons or episodes at a time,some arcs are really weirdly paced and the slice of life episodes can be jammed in the weirdest places. But the show’s strength: a devotion to having emotional resolution be even more important, and sometimes just as powerful animated and framed, than fighting, though the show’s fight scene’s are incredible, incredibly deep characters with fully fleshed out arcs and growth, and a love for tackling deep, heavy subjects through metaphor or even directly, taking on things such as gender identity, societal conformity, ptsd, grief, gender identity and many many more with grace and weight and helping kids with them in the process.  The show is also the frontrunner for LBGTQ+ representation in cartoons in the 2010′s. While other shows had bits nad pieces, series creator Rebecca Sugar was the one responsible for making Marcline and Princess Bubblegum ex-lovers and making it obvious as possible without saying it because standards were bullshit, Steven Unvierse decided to say fuck subtley and thus had PLENTY OF gay content: Garnet is a fusion of two women and the embodiment of their love and relationship, and when the two show up their very affectionate with one another to the point of bullcrap censorship in less tolerant countries such as india and russia, while Pearl out and out had a CENTURIES LONG romantic relationship with Steven’s mother who was explictly pansexual, and that’s just the main cast!  But I genuinely believe that it’s thanks to Steven Universe that children’s animation is as LBGTQ+ positive as it is now. SU wasn’t the first to have gay leads but it was one of the few kids shows with the balls and, at least in the us, network support to explictily have gay characters as some of the main cast, and I feel the show’s success softend execs at CN and other companies to let more representation too. Since SU”s airing, most CN shows have had gay content great and small, Nick has had gay parents and a bisexual lead, not to mention the korra ending kicking it all off, and Netflix has said hold my beer, having not only multiple gay main characters, but having the finale of she ra be built on a decleration of love between two women saving the universe and being the climax of the entire series.  Not that those crews likely still didn’t have to FIGHT for most of that, i’m not bilind and NOelle Stevenson has outright admitted she had to be sneaky about catradora for season 1 as to not get it shut down, but I feel SU”s sucess and Rebecca and crew’s own likely fights put the various studio goon’s reflector shields down and got more representation into children’s media. And that’s a wonderful thing.  So naturally the show was a lock for this month and for coverage here.. i’ts just given the show’s heavily seralized nature and the fact it dosen’t really have any long romantic story arcs. Sure ther’es plenty of romance, but it’s mostly either in the past or between an already married couple that’s also a person. The show’s arcs were more focused on worldbuilding and character building, which I do prefer and will be doing one in July.  But it did make it tricky to find an episode to spotlight the character I wanted to spotlight: Garnet Garnet is easily my faviorite character, with pearl a very close second: she has a great dynamic, is a decent if flawed mother and leader, and is also damn funny with her deadpanned reactions to things being utterly divine. As well as whatever the hell this is. 

The problem is I also wanted to spotlight the parts making up her: Ruby and Sapphire, their relationship etc as they themselves are fantastic and i’m 100% convinced were the inspriation for one mr mc skat kat and one paula abdul’s magnum opus in steven’s unvierse

The problem is most rupphire episodes are tangled in bigger arcs. They debuted at the end of the invasion arc, they had the baseball episdoe together shortly after another arc, and their wedding is tied up in the reveal rose was pink diamond and the reception is crashed by the climactic battle with Yellow and Blue that sets up the final arc of the whole series. But thankfully season two gave us The Answer to my problem.. ironically named the Answer, basically Garnet Year One as Garnet tells steven how she came to be, a story so beauitful they made a storybook out of it.. and it’s my honor to present it here after the cut. 

We open at the Barn... as a refresher at this point the Gems and Steven have been staying at Greg’s old family farm in order to have the  space and suplies to build a drill to stop the cluster from hatching and destroying earth, with Peridot reluctantly working with them. So as such Steven’s sleeping there when Garnet wakes her.. and in a notable departure for her it’s san’s shade, which shows her adorable excitment as she wakes Steven. Turns out it’s his birthday! And.. I don’t really begrudge the show for takin ga break for two episodes to celebrate it: besides being the only time steven went up a year, on screen, it was a nice break from the peridot/cluster storyline for a second, and this and the following episode are pretty great and both add a lot to the world as a whole. It’s why i don’t MIND when SU takes a break from the plot, as long as they do it for good reason. 

IN a great callback steven asks if garent’s going to tell him she’s a fusion, as Jailbreak revealed the reason she hadn’t yet is she was saving it for his birthday, which is a good joke and a great callback. Garnet cheerfully tells him know but has clearly found a backup: While steven knows she’s a fusion now.. she never told him how she came to be and how ruby and sapphire met after all.  So we journey back about 5000 years to, as we’d learn much later with the pink diamond reveal, the start of the gem war. Earth was to be the next great colony, as we’d learn next season for pink diamond, but something was in the way: The rebel rose quartz and her brutal right hand pearl were causing tons of distruption, so the rest of the diamonds had come to snuff out the rebellion personally.  So that’s where Ruby and Sapphire came in. Sapphire is a higher class gem, and befiting her caste is a precog, with Sapphires brought in to tell the diamonds the future so they can either make sure it happens or change it’s course. Garnet neaturally has this ablility too but vastly improved to see multiple timelines. She’s proper and distant.  Ruby meanwhile is a shy, if more intellgent then her peers grunt soldier. Rubies as we learned here are basically made in groups to fuse. To homeworld, Fusion is simply a tactic to create a slightly stronger gem out of three other gems, and basically creates one giant person. In Contrast up to this point the series has shown fusion as something important to the crystal gems and requriing more work: It requires all parties to be in sync to even happen much less stay together, and requires an emotional connection; Freindship, romance, kinship... whatever it is it’s needed to hold the fusion together. It’s part of what MAKES garnet so impressive: Garnet is a permafusion, only unfusing either when her two halves are needed. or when thier personal conflict is so great they CAN’T stay fused. It also means due to said emotional resonance and combining the best traits of two gems rather than creating just one big gem, that the crystal fusions we’ve seen are vastly more powerful and versitale.. evne if they dont’ speak much because Rebecca made the mistake of getting big artist to do the role and apparently refused to just you know.. recast? It’s something that always baffled me. There’s no shortage of talented poc performers who can sing out there.  Anyways, that’s part of what makes this intresting: up till now, we’d only seen one form of fusion.. we hadn’t seen what homeworld thought of it and used it for, and to the show’s credit it was hinted back during the return arc when Jasper called fusion a “tactic for making weak gems stronger”, since as far as homeworld used it, that’s what it was and it’s a stark contrast to the crystal gems harder to maintain but much more intresting and unique fusions. 

We’ll get more into this later. The two front rubies argue about whose going to punch people whie our ruby just points out the obvious: Their just going to fuse into a really big ruby and punch together. This gets her shoved into sapphire, which despite not being her fault gets gasps and monocle pops from the gems around them. And it’s about time I dug into the episodes unique animation style: instead of the usual, only a handful of characters, the rubies, sapphire, and later rose and pearl, are animated normally and even then, at least for the first half, are brightly lit in their primary colors, while the rest of the gems present are just barely animated sytlistic shadows. It’s a really intresting choice and a clever way to save on budget, while still looking gorgeous. 

Sapphire, while refusing Ruby’s help getting up, is understanding if monotone, but as w’eve seen in the present, tha’ts mostly just a side effect from seeing where everything’s going, and likely the reason garnet’s own emotional process is much like that; Stoic but willing to emote when necessary. Sapphire however has a reason for brushing her ruby off: the reason she was called here.. Blue Diamond.  This is intresting as it’s not only the first time we HEARD of blue, as before this we only heard of Yellow, who’d make her proper debut at the end of this season, but the first time we saw a diamond in any way shape of form. Sure we had murals and such, but given the lack of info about the diamonds this early on it was impossible to tell whow as who and the only giveway there was more than was diamond was the symbols: the era 1 symbols in temples and at the arena showing all 4, hinting at pink, and the modern one shown in jailbreak that was a triforce. We do only see Blue in a hood, covered by her palquin and her voice done by Garnet, but it’s still the first tiem we’d see any of the diamonds in any onscreen form. The Garnet voice is also notcable as every other voice in the flashabck, including characters who aren’t either part of garnet or the same gem type as part of her, is normal.. it’s only blue Garnet does a voice for.. and a clever way of covering for the fact they likely hadn’t cast her voice actress yet. It’s also notable for the introduction of Blue Pearl, who silently stands by her Diamond teh whole time.. it’s weird thinking back to the fact that this was the first time we’d really SEEN other versions of our main cast: other rubies and another pearl. Sure we knew they were all part of one type or another with the obvious exception of garnet.. but this episode is notable, and weird to think about giiven how many variants we see as the series goes on, for being the FIRST time we see this on screen. 

Sapphire reveals that while she, and two of her rubies, will poof the rebllion will end here, and Blue is releaved to here this, thanks sapphire and dismisses her. As Garnet explains, Sapphire had no issue with this as she simply saw her life as one straight line: No choice no, option: Fate would just come as it may. Sapphire also muses to Our Ruby on the fact that she finds this planet a wonderful place for a colony.. and that she wishes she could’ve seen more of it. While Our Ruby says theirs more time, Sapphire, while appricating the sentiment gently shoots it down.  This little moment is interuptted however as Rose shouts out, signaling her and Pearl’s arrival. The battle has begun. And I do like the clever use of storytelling here.. not in presetnation but in what we’d learn muchhhh later with the big reveal: To a first time watcher, we just thought that it was only rose and pearl for story purposes or it was a small attack. After all the rest of the characters we’d seen were just shadows, so I, and I presume many others just assumed the rest were off screen or failing that this was just a small strike. As we’d learn once we got the full story of Pink Diamond becoming rose.. it was indeed JUST them, and only them at the time. it’s probably why in the future sapphire saw the rebellion ended her: Pink while powerful had to reign it in as not to be found out and pearl, while as we see her is already utterly badass and an ace with a sword as she mows down Quartz soldiers, is still one gem going up against a literal army.  Another noticable thing, that hints at when this takes place is the fact that when Rose takes down the fused rubies, poofing two of them and leaving ours to flump to the ground.. she uses her fists. At this point her iconic sword is well established and it’s assumed it was just left out for artistic purpose.. but since we meet who made it next season with Bismuth, it’s another clever hint this is before there was a proper army. Bismuth wasn’t a gem yet so Rose/Pink just had her natural strength and shield to protect her, which wasn’t nothing, but the sword probably made it far easier to hold back. 

And thus we come to the moment of truth: Pearl has come back and is about to mow down sapphire.. when Ruby realizes just waht Sapphire meant and waht she’s about to do and thus.. the future changed. Ruby tackles her out of the way. And Garnet is born. 

I absolutley love Garnet’s cotton candy design, both as a sensible evolution, as this is a garnet formed in a moment of passion and accidently versus the one we see in the present or even in flashbacks: a person formed by choice and love and thus having a more stable form. Naturally, Rose and Pearl are baffled by this.. and it’s even more understandable.. as the above mentioned pink diamond origin episode explained.. they had never SEEN this kind of fusion before. While i’m sure this isn’t the first time this happend in gem history, any others were likely killed as soon as it were over or went into hiding as we saw with the off colors. And Pink being sheltered and Pearl being created for her, probalby simply never thought of something like this existing. But they also realize this never before seen to them miracle is their cue to skidoo and book it out of there.  Naturally Blue is pissed and the court are disgusted as the two defuse and both have about the same reacation. 

Before Blue can murder Ruby for you know, doing her fucking job, Sapphire ttakes her by the hand and books it off the sky arena and the two plummet to earth  while ruby screams no a lot. The foundation of any good relationship. 

They float down to earth.. because she’s Mary Poppins Ya’ll. Ruby reveals why she’s upset: Because as she sees it, there’s dozens of her. She’s not WORTH this. Sapphire has no reaction because for the first time, she has no idea what the future brings, what it means and the future she saw was just shattered. She’s frozen. 

Jokes aside I really love that pun. Ruby worries and quickly scoops her up bridal carry style and quickly finds the two a cave. In the cave the two light that flame get that and Ruby continues to freak out over what happened,  upset with her self that she’s supposed to save sapphire.. with Sapphire gently reassuring her “you already did.”  It’s also intresting as it shows even garnet, or at least half of her, had to go through what peridot did.. it went down a bit easier since exile happened right away, but Ruby still had to shake off the homeworld conceived notion that she was WRONG for saving sapphire simply because it lost them the fight and got them fused and all that. It’s also a nice metaphor for someone whose been told, for a nightmarish rainbow assortment of bullshit resaons, that being gay is wrong only to discover they are and having to realize there’s nothing wrong with who they are. 

After a breif flash the two finally talk about their fusion, with Sapphire being suprised considering she figured fusion wasn’t anything like they experinced.. only for Ruby to chime in that sh’es RIGHT: Their fusion wasn’t anything like Ruby’s normal “me but bigger’ fusion.. they lost htemselves.. and both clearly enjoyed it, expressing it through having a third eye for ruby and more than one for sapphi 

We then get the utterly adorable musical number: “Something Entirely New”Which takes the so far mildly subtle “This is like two people who had sex with the oppsite gender for the first time “ metaphor.. and just makes it texual as the song basically screams of two people talking over an unfamiliar sexual experince, but in a cute, well done, and intentionally awkward way that’s still approraite for the kids. it’s a real beautiful song and also shows the burgoning couple bond on earth. This is important as a previous episode had garent and out and out say that love takes time and work, accurate and that love at first sight simply dosen’t exist.. and we also see she practices waht she preaches as the montage does show some time past and even before that the two genuiely bonded. Sure they FUSED on the spur of the moment.. but actually loving each other took time and bonding. 

As the song ends, the two dance romantically,deciding to be Garnet for good as we get some nice callbacks to jailbreak: the two hum the tune to stronger than you, now revealed to be their song and spin similarilty to the way they have when they’ve fused, a nice callback that also add’s weight to those previous moments.. and thus two become one and Garnet is reborn. 

Garnet narrates as her past self gets used to her strange new form.. and just as she does she falls down a ditch. Eh could’ve been worse. 

Garnet finds herself face to sword with Pearl. Pearl backs off a bit once she realizes who their dealing with, and Garnet panickedly offers to unfuse.. only for Rose to enter. Garnet narrates them as Rose Quartz and her terrifying renegade pearl. 

Truly a force to be reckoned with. Rose dosen’t care about her own feelings though “What you feel is bound to be more intresting” It’s a good moment both because Garnet , up to this point hasn’t had to think about what they are or how they feel.. but more notably... no one but the two gems makingthem up ever cared, not before they were garnet and after all the homeworld gems wanted was to kill her. We also get a great line from garnet: “Why am I sure that i’d rather be this than anything else and that i’d rather do this than anything else i’m supposed to do? “  Rose’s response.. to give a giant grin while saying welcome to earth. As Garnet continues to question things, Rose tells her to never question this, never question what you are... which is a damn good message for a kids show to give out. The metaphor is crystal clear: no matter where you are on that beautiful lbgtq+ rainbow: NEVER be ashamed of who you are, never question it.. just enjoy it. Be who your meant to be and love that person. It’s a damn good message and one badly needed in a medium that for way too fucking long was SCARED to tell messages like this: Of sponsors, of foreign markets, and of idiots like one million moms. it took people like rebecca and her crew to say “fuck that”, to say that queer kids NEED these kinds of stories to know they aren’t alone, they are beautiful how they are. They shoudln’t have to wait to find out what they are.. is okay. And that’s beautiful. 

As Rose Tells Garnet that she is the answer, and as we cut back to the present, Steven asks what the answer is. Garnet simply answers: Love. And we close on one great exchange Steven: I knew it Garnet; (wistfully) So did I. 

Final Thoughts: While I remembered the episode being good, hence part of the reason I choose it I forgot just HOW great this episode was, especially post reveal. The art direction is goregous, shot like a fairy tail and rightfully so since this episode is told as one, the story is heartwarming and erica and charlene really act their hearts out as ruby and sapphire while Estelle kills it as both present garnet narrating and past garnet, a garnet ENTIRELY diffrent from what we’ve seen but acted beautifully. It’s espcially noticable since unlike the other two lead gems, we obviously wouldn’t see more garnets like we would amythests and pearls, so unlike her contepraries estelle really didn’t get to flex her vocal range as much playing alternate versions as the seasons went on, with this being the closest she got.  The episode is beautiful, has a wonderful message, and is just utterly charming and is agian why I DON’T mind that every su episode dosen’t advance the plot: Sometimes it dosen’t need to. And even so this one ended up being WAY more important than I remembered, introducing blue diamond and turning out to be MASSIVELY important once the reveal kicked it: For it was Garnet, and the love dthat forged her that changed Pink’s direction. Before the rebellion was simply a way to stop the occupation of earth and would’ve been snuffed out if not for ruby’s actions.. but seeing garnet, seeing how earth and being free from homeworld’s restraints could positvely impact someone.. it changed rose. Besides bringing her and Pearl together, it also made her realize just what her rebellion could bring to people and what a gem could be and even more how precious her future home was. By forming in an act of Love, garnet changed the entire future of gemkind. By staying that way she did so once more. And that’s beautifully. overall an underated, even by me, little masterwork with once again a damn fine message.  We’ll get back to SU soon enough, as I plan to cover the series first full arc as we meet peridot, and see into the souls of our heroines. But first Pride isn’t over yet, and I have one last card on the table as we todd it up a bit with my first look at bojack horseman. Like this if you enjoyed it, comments subscirbe etc etc and don’t be afraid to comission a review for 3 bucks, and until we meet agian, later days. 

[omgjasminesimone]

Barefoot and Pregnant

Sawyer x MC (Morgan)

Author’s Note: Writing for a new book! Let me know if you want to be on my Big Sky Country tag list in case I write more.

Word Count: 1800

Sawyer loves it when Morgan is pregnant. He’s not sure exactly what it is, but the sight of her, with belly full of baby, rounded out hips, fuller breasts, it just does something to him.

They’ve been married a little under ten years now, and she’s currently pregnant with baby number five. A boy, to join his four older brothers.

They married young. He was 25, and she was 23. They both wanted Cliff to be around for the wedding, otherwise they might have waited. (But deep down, Sawyer had known that he would marry Morgan from the moment he came upon her in that broken down car. He thanks God for bringing her to him every day.)

The wedding was beautiful. They did the ceremony in the renovated barn, had the reception outside on a beautiful Montana night with fairy lights twinkling. It was like something out of a fairy tale. And he’d never seen his dad so happy. For just that night, it was easy to forget how sick he was.

But a month later Cliff passed. That was hard. The house felt so empty without his father’s big presence. Duke and Brooklynne moved out after the funeral, headed back to the city. Sawyer hated the new lifeless feel to the house.

It was a month later that they found out Morgan was pregnant. It was just the change they needed. Life and laughter brought back into the house. Sawyer loved rubbing her belly, massaging her swollen feet after a day of farm chores, playing country music on his iPod and placing the headphones over Morgan’s growing belly. As beautiful as she always looked to him, pregnant she was like a glowing goddess. He didn’t even mind that once she was heavily pregnant, he had no one to help with all the chores.

They named their first son Cliff Joseph, after both his grandfathers.

Now that their boys are 8, 6, 4, and 2, all but the youngest, help around the farm. The extra hands are nice, and it enables the farm to grow. They do pumpkin season now, with hayride tours, a petting zoo, and a hedge maze. The farm is more profitable than ever before, and Sawyer likes to think his father would have been proud, although no doubt he would have hated all the tourists converging on his farmland.

...

..

“That a boy Cliff!” Sawyer praises, watching his eldest practice for the upcoming rodeo on the bucking pony. “Keep your grip tight, don’t let her throw you!”

Cliff’s brow furrows in concentration, moving his body with the horse to avoid being thrown.

“When do I get to try?” Daniel, who they always call Danny, complains.

“When you turn 8.” Sawyer responds, ruffling his son’s dusty blonde hair fondly.

“But that’s two whole more years!” Danny cries, pouting as he watches his older brother hoot in joy as the pony gives a particular vicious buck.

“Sorry kiddo, I promised your mom no bucking ponies until 8.”

Danny looks up at his father, kicking at the dirt with his cowboy boots. “I won’t tell mama if you don’t.”

Sawyer laughs, adjusting 4 year old Garrett more securely on his broad shoulders. “I’ve never lied to your mother, and I’m not going to start now.”

The one minute timer goes off, and Cliff pats the pony to signal for her to stop. He hops off, feeding her a carrot and brushing her mane to praise a job well done.

“Good job Cliff. Let’s finish the last few chores boys, and then let’s get cleaned up for dinner.” Sawyer instructs.

...

..

An hour later, Sawyer and the boys return to the house after finishing up the last of the farm chores. The boys immediately run inside, rushing to get to their bathroom first. 

“I better not hear dirty boots on my clean carpet!” Morgan yells from the kitchen, and the boys immediately stop in their tracks to remove their boots and place them by the door. Sawyer takes off his own boots as the boys race upstairs. 

He approaches Trent, their two year old, in his playpen. Sawyer steps over the small fence, taking a seat on the floor beside the toddler. He places a kiss to the boy’s dirty blonde hair. “Hey buddy, what are we playing?”

“Fire truck!” Trent shouts jubilantly, driving the small model truck along the carpet, between blocks and legos. 

Sawyer picks up a model train. “Oh no Trent, the train flipped over! It’s on fire!” Sawyer adds sounds effects as he drives the train on the carpet, flipping it onto its side. 

“Fire truck to the rescue!” Trent cries out, driving his firetruck towards the scene of the accident. Sawyer smiles fondly, ruffling the boy’s hair before standing up. 

“Start putting your toys into the bin buddy, we’re having dinner soon.” Sawyer instructs as he steps out of the play pin, heading to the kitchen and his very pregnant wife. 

Morgan feels her husband’s arm wrap around her from behind, resting under her bump as he places kisses down the back of her neck. 

“Aren’t you going to clean up for dinner? You’re all sweaty.” Morgan complains, but she leans back into his embrace anyway as she flips the turkey burger on the stove. 

“I wanted to take advantage of having a minute alone with my baby girl.” Sawyer replies, taking the spatula from her and flipping another burger before turning her around and capturing her lips. 

Morgan pulls her husband as close as she can with her enlarged belly between them. “Hmm...just you, me, and Carter.” Morgan replies, looking down at her belly. 

Sawyer rests a hand on her belly as Carter kicks. “Can’t wait to meet you in a few days buddy.” Sawyer murmurs, rubbing comfortingly. 

“Me either. I’m so done being pregnant.” Morgan replies as she turns back to the stove to remove some garlic bread from the oven when it beeps. 

“Mmm...I love you being pregnant.” Sawyer reveals, resting his head on top of her’s as he hugs her from behind. 

“I know. That’s why you keep knocking me up. Which reminds me, you should get a vasectomy.” Morgan says nonchalantly, seasoning the turkey burger. 

Sawyer reflexively takes a step back, hands resting over his nether regions protectively. “Pretty sure it takes two to make a baby darlin’.” Sawyer insists. 

“We both know I’m never going to remember to take my birth control though, so you should just get the vasectomy.” Morgan returns. 

Sawyer draws his wife back into his arms. “You don’t mean that baby girl.”

“I definitely do. I figure I have another good ten reproductive years, and going at our current pace that’s like ten or eleven kids. Probably all boys. Not doing that.” Morgan retorts. 

Sawyer places more kisses down her neck, and Morgan shivers despite herself. “I’m not getting a vasectomy. I know you want a girl.”

Morgan scoffs. “You don’t know how to make girls.” 

Sawyer grins, turning her back around to face him when she finishes with the food. “We could make a girl, we just can’t leave it up to chance. There are things we can do though. Like make love two days before you’re ovulating, in the missionary position. Or with you on top. And we both need to eat lots of veggies. And chocolate for you.”

Morgan loops her arms over his shoulders, cocking her brow. “How do you know all this stuff?”

Sawyer presses a quick kiss to her delectable lips, holding her close. “I’ve been doing some research. I want a baby girl.”

“I thought I was your baby girl.” Morgan retorts jokingly, raising up on her tiptoes to kiss him again. 

“You are darlin’. But I want us to have a little girl. Whose hair you can braid. And who can help you bake my mom’s bourbon apple pie.” 

“You say that like our boys don’t help me bake. That’s kind of sexist. What, do you think women belong in the kitchen?” Morgan looks down at herself. “Preferably barefoot and pregnant?” She teases. 

Sawyer rolls his eyes. “You know I don’t think like that. I’m also going to teach her how to ride a bucking pony.”

“Not until she’s 10.” Morgan insists. 

“But for the boys it’s 8? Wow baby, that’s so sexist.” Sawyer teases, laughing as Morgan rolls her eyes at him. 

She pulls away from him, starting to set the table. Sawyer immediately starts to help, grabbing the food to bring to the table. 

“Why are you even thinking about another baby when I’m pregnant right now? Why don’t you focus on Carter?” Morgan complains. 

“Because, if we do what we usually do, you’ll have the baby, work really hard to get back to pre-baby weight, and then when you’re finally almost there in a year, I’ll get you pregnant again and then you’ll be mad at me for the first few weeks. If you think about it, it makes much more sense to get pregnant again right away. They could be Irish twins.” Sawyer explains. 

“Then we’d have three under three. You’re insane.” Morgan retorts. 

“And three 5 and up to help us. Cliff is great with diapers.” Sawyer insists.

“Nope. I like my vasectomy plan better.” Morgan replies, smirking as his face falls. 

“Don’t be like that baby. Maybe she’d even look like you.” Sawyer continues to make his case for baby number 6.

“Liar. You know she’ll look like you with pigtails. Just like all our boys look like you.” Morgan emphasizes that last you with a playful jab at his chest.

Sawyer takes her hand, raising it to his lips to place an adoring kiss. “I thought Carter kind of looked like you in the ultrasound.” Sawyer responds. 

Morgan laughs. “Yeah right. Did you see those Oakley lips? He’s going to be all you.”

“I can’t help it that the Oakleys have strong genes.” Sawyer finally acquiesces. 

Morgan loops her arms around his waist, pulling him flush against her. “You’re lucky I happen to like the way you look.” She whispers seductively.

Sawyer grins, tangling his fingers into her long brown hair to bring her in for an open mouthed kiss. “Just one more chance for a girl. Then I’ll get the vasectomy if that’s what you really want.” Sawyer speaks against her lips. 

Morgan looks into her husband’s earnest face, thinking on it. “Fine Sawyer. One more baby.” She agrees. 

Sawyer grins widely, kissing her and then dropping into a crouch to kiss her belly. “You hear that Carter? You’re going to be a big brother soon!” Sawyer says joyfully.

“Nah ah mister. I did not say soon. You try being pregnant 5 times in 9 years. I’m taking at least a two year break. Now go get cleaned up for dinner. And I’ll schedule your vasectomy for 2022.” Morgan retorts.

 taglist: @desiree-0816 @cora-nova @choicesgremlin

[suitofvibraniumarmor]

Yours Truly [Epilogue: Sadie]

Summary: Sadie and Chris begin their life together. Pairing: Chris Pratt x OFC, Chris Evans x OFC Word Count: 1905 Warnings: None? A/N: This fic was previously posted on my multi-fandom account; in honor of OC Appreciation Day, I figured I would queue it all up for your reading pleasure throughout the day! This was a collab with @captain-s-rogers , and I will link her chapters at the end of all of my posts! Some GIFs were difficult to find again, so if there’s no credit, they’re from Google Image Search or from the original post. 

The weather was unseasonably warm for mid-to-late November in Kansas, and Sadie couldn’t have been more grateful.

The barn had been converted into a wedding venue over the last few months, and was now set up with lighting, as well as heaters for when the evening cooled. Sunflowers and ribbons decorated the whole place in an understated way, and her bridesmaids, save for Caroline, were setting up the rest of the decor at that very moment.

“Can I put my dress on now?” Layla asked, sighing as she waited as patiently as she could for Sadie to finish curling her hair.

“No ma’am. I told you that you have to wait until the photographer gets here, right before the ceremony.”

Layla sighed. “Okay, fine. Adie?”

“Yes?”

“After the wedding, do you get to be my mama right away?”

Sadie smiled to herself. After Emily had given up her parental rights, Chris and Sadie talked at length about what to do about Layla. Sadie was going to be the mother-figure in her life, of course, so they decided there was no reason not to make the whole thing official. Once Chris and Sadie were married, the legal proceedings of the adoption would move forward.

“The judge has to make it all one-hundred-percent,” Sadie answered, using a term that she and Chris had agreed would make the most sense to the young girl, “but you can think of me as your mama whenever you’re ready, sunshine. There’s no rush.”

Layla blushed. “You’ve always been my mama, Adie.”

Sadie smiled as she finished with Layla’s hair. She didn’t know it at the time, but that would be the last time Layla called her ‘Adie’, choosing instead to call her ‘Mama’ from that moment forward.

When three sleek, black SUVs pulled up to the rented farmhouse, Sadie rushed out to the front. Surely there were even more Secret Service agents at the Pratt farm, but she didn’t care – her maid of honor had finally arrived.

“You’re here!” Sadie squealed, bursting through the front door and making a mad rush for Caroline.

“I’m here!” Caroline exclaimed, hugging Sadie tightly. “Sorry about all of this, by the way. Chris tried to get them to stay in D.C,. but apparently that’s not an option.”

Sadie waved her off. “I don’t care, as long as you’re here. I’m starting to get nervous. Like, good nervous, but still nervous. Also, is this a horrible idea? I mean, I’ve known him for like five months. And now we’re getting married. This is a horrible idea. Oh gosh, what am I doing?”

Caroline couldn’t help but chuckle. She put her hands on Sadies shoulders and smiled. “Take a deep breath. This is far from a horrible idea. The two of you – you’re madly in love. If that’s not a reason to get married, I don’t know what is. So what if it’s only been five months. It could have been five years and the outcome would still be the same. You belong together, Sade, don’t let anything change your mind about that.”

“You’re right,” Sadie said, letting out a deep breath. “Okay, I think that’s my panic for the day. Thanks for handling it. C’mon, you’ve got to meet Layla!”

The two women dashed inside; Sadie wasn’t sure who was more excited to meet the other, Caroline or Layla. She was ecstatic that everything was working out so well, and could only hope that Caroline would get along with Chris just as well when she met him later.

“Sadie,” Chris started, “I promise to give you the best of me. To be your best friend, and to support you in everything that you do. I promise to lead our family with both strength and gentleness, and to always be the thing that you need to get through the day. I promise to laugh with you, to cry with you, and to never, ever make you feel like you are anything less than the most important thing in my life. I love you.”

Choking back tears, Sadie replied with her vows. “Chris, I promise to give you the best of me. I promise to do all that I can to take care of you and Layla at all times, and to be a good role model for her. I promise to be your best friend, to listen when you need to talk, and to never walk away when things get hard. I promise to always fight for you. I love you.”

There was a reading and another short bit from the preacher, and then the older man was announcing them husband and wife. Chris cradled Sadie’s face in his hands and kissed her sweetly.

The guests clapped and cheered as the newlyweds made their way back down the aisle. After the ceremony, while a few tables were moved around, the wedding party and family took the time for more pictures. Sadie had been adamant that Chris not see her in her lacy white dress before the ceremony, so there were still some shots to take – which meant that it was time for Caroline to officially meet Chris.

“Chris, this is my best friend Caroline. Caroline, this is Chris. My new husband,” Sadie beamed.

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Chris,” Caroline smiled, hugging him tightly. “I know you’re already married but what I’m about to say still stands: you hurt my best friend, you have to answer to me and just know that I do not mess around.”

Chris chuckled, then dropped the smile when he saw how serious Caroline was. “Uh, you got it. You do have some pretty insane resources, I suppose. CIA and all that.”

Sadie couldn’t help her laughter. She squeezed Chris’s hand and winked at Caroline; her best friend and her husband were getting on exactly how she had hoped they would.

The reception was buzzing when the couple walked in amidst cheers and smiles from their family and friends. Caroline announced that the new couple would have their first dance to a song of the groom’s choice; a few moments later, the favorite song of Sadie’s that she was always humming began to play.

Sadie looked to Chris with surprise as they began to move across the open area of the barn floor. “It’s my song!”

Chris nodded. “I remembered that I owed you a dance to this one. Figured our wedding is as good a time as any.”

Sadie paused the dance long enough to kiss him, then waved her bridesmaids and the groomsmen onto the dance floor with them to finish out the song.

Once the first dance was done, supper was set out, and more dancing ensued. After a couple of hours, the guests began to clear out; Sadie and Chris prepared to take their leave as well, and head to a hotel in town. Kathleen and Daniel would stay on the farm with Layla.

“I don’t know that we’ll get right to, um, celebrating,” Sadie blushed after pulling Caroline aside. “I think you guys are in the same hotel. Can you meet us for drinks in the hotel bar? Or maybe in one of the rooms? Whatever the guys in the black suits will allow.”

Caroline looked over at Chris who nodded. “I don’t see why a few drinks at the bar would be a problem. And if it is a problem, well they can deal with me – which means it won’t be a problem.”

Sadie shook her head. “I never worry about things getting done when you’re around, that’s for sure. Okay, we’ll head that way now and get settled in the room, and you just let us know when you’re ready.” Feeling emotional again, she leaned over and hugged Caroline. “I’m really glad you got to be here today. I don’t think I would have survived my panic – and there’s no way I can even imagine my wedding day without you in it.”

Caroline hugged her back, and the couples parted ways. An hour later they were enjoying drinks together, getting to know each other’s significant others, and winding down from a busy day.

“Well, guys, it’s been really great, but I think I’m ready to take my bride upstairs,” Chris said, winking at Sadie. “We’ll see you at least once more before you head back to D.C.”

There was a brief argument over who was picking up the check, which was settled by Evans just handing over his debit card. They finished off their drinks, then forced themselves out of the booth.

Caroline pulled a small card from her clutch and handed over to Sadie. “I didn’t want to leave this in the pile of gifts at the reception and risk it getting lost. Read it whenever you get a minute.”

Sadie nodded. “I will. Thank you again, for everything.”

“Of course,” Caroline smiled, fighting back tears as she hugged her friend tightly. “I’m so happy for you, Sadie.”

All Sadie could do to stop herself from crying was to hug Caroline again then take Chris’s hand and follow him up to their room.

Before finagling out of her dress and pulling out the millions of pins it seemed were securing her half-up hairstyle in place, Sadie took out the card Caroline had given her, reading it in the privacy of the bathroom before changing into her wedding night attire.

November 19

Sadie,

Today is your wedding day, and I couldn’t be happier for you. I’m writing this as I’m seated on a plane next to Chris, who is snoring ridiculously loud by the way, and surrounded by Secret Service. It’s surreal.

I know you won’t be reading this until long after you’ve said your vows and have officially become Mrs. Pratt, but I just want you to know that this was something I always wished for you. I always knew you would find your Prince Charming, your knight in shining armor. Did I think he would come in the form of a sunflower farmer? No, but that’s neither here nor there. All that matters is that you’re happy, Sade. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted for you.

You deserve a lifetime of love and happiness, and I know for a fact that Chris will be the one that will give that to you. I know it was a bit of a rough road, but I’m glad you never gave up on love, especially not the great love of your life.

I know today is going to be absolutely wonderful and it’s going to be everything you’ve ever dreamed of. I’m so glad I get to share it with you. But I want you to promise me one thing. Take a second to slow down. Capture every moment. Remember every little detail. Live in the moment, this is a day you’ll never want to forget.

I love you, Mrs. Pratt. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had and don’t you forget it! I hope you have the most amazing day.

Yours Truly,

Caroline

There was no stopping the tears she had been fighting all day. Tucking the note safely away, Sadie changed her clothes, then went back out to the main room. Chris was waiting there to take her into his arms. Sadie was going to do exactly as Caroline had told her: embrace the great love of her life and not let a second of her life with Chris go forgotten.

Epilogue: Caroline