"I always read that to get married, you need a white dress?" Petra teased, her smile stretching ear to ear. Rivaille scoffed and shrugged.
"You have a ring, don't you?" he asked, glancing at her from the corner of his eye. "Besides, how many wedding have you seen that were like the books?"
"None…but since I found the best man alive, I figured we could be the exception." she replied, blushing as she looked down at the simple gold band that wrapped itself snugly against her finger.
When he tossed it to her, she was confused out of her mind. In her cupped hands it sat for moments as she could only gape at it.
'Lets get married.' He had said, perfectly serious, almost monotone in his command. She had to look from the ring to him for a good minute and a half before she wordlessly nodded.
She didn't think it would be here. Out in a field, in a plain white tunic and the only skirt she owned, brown and to her knees. She didn't think it would be without her father, or the rest of her teammates. She didn't think it would be against a tree, with no priest and no certificate.
But she also never thought it would happen, so she couldn't help but be grateful.
"Are we….going to exchange vows?" she asked, playing with the band. He looked down at her and raised an eyebrow.
"Did you prepare any?"
Blushing and half nervous, she nodded.
He let out a single chuckle as he looked at her in amusement. "Well then…let me hear it." he said. Her head whipped up, bright pink evident on her cheeks.
"But…there's no priest…and, and my father-"
"Write to your father and as soon as we get back, he can know. We'll do it properly as soon as we have the chance." he said, his finger against her lips. She breathed in nodded, watching as he lowered his hand.
Gently, she removed the ring and grabbed the lowering arm. He looked down and frowned, thinking that she had given up on it, or that she wanted to wait. Instead, when he looked back up, she was grinning, and tried to slip the ring onto his finger. Despite the fact that it didn't fit, she simply continued to grin.
"I, Petra Rall, accept you, Rivaille as my wedded husband. To have and to hold…to love and cherish. You…you were…are, my corporal. And when I have strength, I will always give it to you. I would give you….give you the stars and the moon, and the trees, and peace. For bad or for good and better or for worse, I will always be with you, so long as I will live. And I'll always be there to make coffee for you." she said, chuckling before she laid her hands on his shoulders, facing him and titling her head up.
"I promise….to be there when you have nightmares. To cook when you're too lazy, to complain about your cleaning. To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, so long as we two may live." she finished, and he looked into her eyes before he swallowed. Gently, they moved forward, leaning into each other, and when they were only a hairsbreadth away, she smirked cheekily, whispering, almost against his lips.
"You may now kiss the bride."
And it may not have been anything fancy, and legally, she was unwed, and without a husband, with no change in name and nothing to indicate that she had undergone a marriage. But the ring he would inevitably place back upon her fingers that she would wear on a chain beneath her shirt, and the feeling of his lips against hers, and their silhouette shadowing the ground, two people joined together-
that was her proof.
And it would always be more than enough.
Done as a fill for an anonymous request on Tumblr. :3 Also done for anyone in the Rivetra ship who needs a break from my depressing and sad angsty fics. Haha!