Something about embossed wedding programmes had always appealed to Tristan. The aesthetics of it? Maybe. He had never totally figured it out, even with them having been part of his job for so long. Weddings were his thing, and everything, every detail right down to the embossing, was something that Tristan saw as making all the difference to the overall impact of the big day.

However, having handed as many out to the guests as they arrived as he had on this occasion was changing that for him.

He shot Zoe a look across the garden venue, where she was politely asking guests to keep the first rows clear when his directions had failed, looking for some kind of ushering solidarity. They were under no illusion that ushering was an important thing, but if that was the way Zig and Maya were getting them involved in their wedding then so be it. They were both happy to help wherever they could and it was nice to have been thought of.

Zoe finally looked his way, and her eyes widened. She nodded at him, indicating for him to pay attention to whatever was happening. He knew her nonverbal cues well enough now, but it still didn't explain what she wanted him to be cautious about and-

Oh.

Striding towards Tristan with all the confidence in the world, was Miles Hollingsworth III.

Two seconds was not long enough to mentally prepare himself for this moment, with or without Zoe's indication.

"Hey, Tris," Miles greeted, with a friendly pat on the shoulder. Obviously that was exactly the kind of reaction he wanted his ex to have towards him. "Long time no see."

"Uh, yeah," Tristan replied, extending a programme to him, "nice to see you. It's been good to catch up with… well, everyone." Miles hummed in agreement, his eyes lingering their contact just a little too long to be totally casual. Winston shuffled up behind Miles, and Tristan offered a programme to him too.

"We'd better get to our seats," Winston said.

"No plus ones?" Tristan asked.

"Not this time. But there's always the next one, right?" Winston said, before moving around Miles to lead the way.

"We'll catch up later," Miles promised before he followed. Tristan watched the pair go, Miles striding behind Winston's shuffling.

Tristan knew everyone in their sort of extended high school friend group had been invited, but he hadn't quite adjusted himself to being prepared to see everyone. Unlike Tristan and Zoe, Miles and Winston weren't friends with Maya and Zig to the extent that they would be asked to participate in the wedding, even if they were friendly enough to be there. After all, Miles had managed to rebuild relationships with them both past high school, something that had healed with proper maturity, to a point where he was invited to their wedding.

Tristan noticed Grace walking over to him, dressed in a simple black cocktail dress like all the bridesmaids, almost certainly with a passed-on message from the wedding party. "How are things going?" he asked.

"Maya's ready to go, Zig's ready to go. I think everyone important has got here and we need to get going to keep to schedule," Grace advised Tristan in proper maid of honour fashion. "You and Zoe can sit up the front, but we're about to get started. Leave programmes on our seats?"

"Can do. Go wow us."

Zoe had beaten him to the punch and laid programmes out on the seats in the front rows, ready for the wedding party to use them. It saved the wedding video getting messy with people not looking the way everyone wanted them to look as they walked down the aisle, had they all been carrying the programmes (as lovely as they were).

"Why is he here?" Tristan whispered to Zoe as they slid into their seats, "shouldn't he be in London?"

"What, the man can't come home for his friends' wedding?" Tristan glared at her. "Okay, friend is a stretch, you're right. Now shut up, it's about to start." They turned around to watch as the wedding party walked in. Zig and Tiny waited at the front with the officiant as the music began to play. It wasn't anything that Tristan recognised, almost certainly a song from some indie band that Maya had discovered and fallen in love with.

After the rest of the wedding party entered, Maya was escorted down the aisle by both of her parents. She looked stunning- not that anyone could imagine her looking any other way. Brides always looked beautiful, and Maya was no exception. She was glowing.

"He's still making eyes at you," Zoe said to Tristan with a nudge. Tristan looked over to the table where Miles was sitting, sipping a glass of champagne. All of Zig and Maya's friends from high school had been lumped together at one table, and with some careful planning Miles had been put down the other end of the table from Tristan and Zoe. Whoever had done the seating plan had tried to split up all the people who had dated before- which, admittedly, was difficult, but it had made it easier to get through the formalities when his seat neighbours were Zoe and Goldi.

Now, post-dinner, Zoe and Tristan were tearing up the dancefloor, and Miles was still spending, as far as Tristan could tell, all of his time looking at him.

Tristan locked eyes with Miles. Zoe whacked him in the arm. "Don't tell me you're thinking about it," she hissed.

"There's no harm in talking."

"Talking is how it always starts. But I know you two. You won't just be talking." She was right, of course. Tristan's gaze still hadn't left Miles.

"I'll see you later."

Tristan ignored Zoe as he walked over to Miles. He knew she was fuming behind him, but she also didn't follow, which was as close to an endorsement as he was going to get. He shot her one last look over his shoulder as he approached his ex.

"Want to take a walk?" he offered. Miles grinned. He picked two fresh glasses of champagne up from a waiter walking by and nodded in the direction of the expansive garden. Tristan led the way.

"I told you we'd catch up," Miles said, handing one of the champagne flutes to Tristan. The two walked in time with each other. Tristan could feel Miles' heat next to him, standing just slightly too close. Even the way he was walking was flirtatious.

"So you did. How's London?"

"It's incredible, Tris. I know I was a little hesitant to go, but I have no regrets about staying."

"You know you could have kept messaging me." The thought hung between them like a loose thread. Miles hummed in agreement after a moment.

"I didn't want you to feel like I was holding you back." Miles turned to face Tristan, stopping entirely to do so. "Did I mess up?"

"No, no," Tristan assured him, but even he could hear his emphasis wasn't quite right. "We broke up for a reason… I broke up with you for a reason. That reason. Don't play a victim card here." Miles started to walk again.

"I shouldn't have ghosted you though."

"You're right, you shouldn't have. I liked hearing from you. Being friends," Tristan agreed, "so now we've done that, can we talk about something else?" Had the first thing that he wanted to talk about been their break up? Not really. The air was much heavier than their earlier flirtation had been and they had barely left the reception marquee.

"Have I mentioned lately how much I admire you? You pulled through a lot. Like, a lot," Miles said. Tristan smiled at him. There it was.

"Did you come all this way to do anything other than flirt with me?"

"Hmm… yeah, I mean, I was thinking I might kiss you."

Tristan glared at him. "You wish," he said. I wish, he meant. They didn't have the closure that they needed with the way that they broke up. They had been best friends before they started dating the first time, and that was why they had kept in touch. There had only been a few short spells in the time they had known each other where they hadn't the other as someone to lean on. The two of them had messaged each other practically nonstop when Miles first moved to London, keeping each other up to date on everything- school, dates, family, friends- until Miles had just stopped responding entirely.

"Now's not the right time, though. You'll know when it's the right time." Miles nudged Tristan with his shoulder playfully. "What do you want to know about London?" he said, trying to loop back.

"What made you want to stay after the writer's academy?"

"I guess I just had my life there. It didn't make sense to move back to Canada when I had a job and friends and a life outside of my parents' house. Like yeah, the twins are here and I love them, but Hunter is doing much better now and he hasn't needed me around to be hypocritical." Tristan knew what Miles was like with his family- if something had happened, with Hunter, Frankie, his mom, anyone- he would have been back in a heartbeat. Just like everyone else, the twins had some age on their sides, had had enough time to mature and lessen the amount of drama that the Hollingsworths seemed to generate. "So what have you been up to?"

Tristan gestured around him vaguely. "This, mostly," he said, "not this exactly, but a lot of weddings. We do other kinds of events too, but it turns out a lot of people want event management for their big day." It had been a good fit for Tristan. It took all of his best qualities in his creativity, managing people, and organisation and put them into one job that fitted him well. It also helped that it was something he had come up the ranks of rather than pursuing any kind of formal qualification which had been off the table in his early days of recovery. His GED had been the first matter of importance, and from there he had slowly built everything up until he could work full time.

"Any big romances?"

Tristan rolled his eyes. "Trust you to ask about my sex life."

"Oh, come on, we used to talk about this stuff all the time. I told you about Lucas-"

"Right, the tortured artist," Tristan recalled.

"-and about Erin."

"The girl who left you for her ex-girlfriend. I remember."

"See? We talk about this, it's not weird. So?" Miles smiled like he had just stolen the last cookie.

"I came alone, didn't I?"

"What was that guy's name? The one you dated for a couple of months." Miles steered them towards a bench and sat down, pulling Tristan down beside him.

"Finn? Yeah, that didn't end so well."

"Worse than him breaking up with you for his ex?" Miles said jokingly with a little nudge. It was clear that he was hardly upset by Tristan's romantic failures.

"I really liked him, but he didn't have the patience for me recovering. Everything was a hassle to him. I just gave up after that, thought it was too early," Tristan admitted.

"Do you think you'll start looking again?" Miles asked.

"Maybe. I think I want something serious but I also need to sort other stuff in my life out before I try to find something like that. I'm still getting used to living on my own and working full time and I shouldn't put a boy in the way of my success."

"You know what kind of boy can't get in the way? One in London," Miles teased.

"You're the worst."

"Of the boys in London? Probably. I don't even have the accent." They sat in silence for a moment, the escalated implication of what Miles was offering hanging between them. While they both were expecting the evening to go in a certain direction, it wasn't going to end with them getting back together, surely. So why would Miles tease it?

"We should probably be getting back," Tristan said, standing from the bench and straightening his suit. He offered his hand out to Miles to help him up, which he accepted- and pulled Tristan back down.

"One more thing-" Miles said, before closing the space between them and kissing Tristan. Tristan relaxed into it; he had been taken by surprise, but that didn't mean he wasn't enjoying it.

After a few moments they broke apart. Tristan could see that Miles was supressing a smile as he leaned back towards him again. Tristan placed a hand on Miles' chest to slow him. "Zoe's going to wonder what we're doing," he said.

"Let her wonder. She'll probably be right."

Tristan kissed Miles delicately. "Later," he said, and it certainly felt like a promise. He linked his hand with Miles' again and led him back to the marquee.