Best Man

His best friend's getting married. That significant walk down the aisle, watching them with his own pair of eyes. NO, that wasn't a tear rolling down his eye. Tala never cries. [postGREV, KAI, TALA, friendship ]

apply standard disclaimer here.

"Stop fucking adjusting your tie, you look fine. " Tala prodded a finger at the bluehead's black bow tie with as much force as he could without actually causing significant human damage. He rolled his eyes, and took a step back, surveying his friend.

He had to admit, having known Kai Hiwatari since they were nearly in diapers since those dark, dingy abbey days now, this was the first time he looked quite the suave, charming man in the black tuxedo, all suited up, ready for the biggest day of his life.

It was his biggest day, today.

Kai Hiwatari was getting married.

Blue glacial eyes met hard burgundy ones. THey looked unreadable. But those years Tala had known Kai had taught him how to read between the lines, and Kai was, in all extremities, damned nervous. Tala knew how much discipline and control he had cultivated from his days as a professional beyblader to reign it all in. Still, those eyes read nervousness, and boyish uncertainty.

"Fuck, Tala," was all Kai could muster under his breath. It came out as a pathetic whisper, for a man like him in his twenties, who had known hardships in a dark, cruel orphanage, and had faced the worst battles in the professional arena of beyblading. Yet here he was, the almighty Kai Hiwatari, cowarding in the face of... marriage, in his best black and white suit, ready to start the new chapter of his llife.

Tala rolled his eyes, leaning forward abit in a nonchalant stance, so that no one watching in the church could notice the two best friends conversing in inaudible tones. "Kai, would you fucking calm down? If there's anything to comfort you, you actually look handsome for once, alright?" He let out an exasperated breath, and then making sure they had no audience, proceeded to poke his friend in the stomach. "Relax, Kai, just count sheeps in your head."

They exchanged gazes for a split second. But Tala did not miss the heartbeat of a second where the slightest smirk tilted the Hiwatari's lips. "Hey, Tal, you don't look so bad yourself."

Tala snorted, albeit softly, "I'm not your best man if I don't look nearly half as a good as you, eh, Hiwatari. Now would you just shup and wait."

"Tal," Kai finally confessed, letting a loud whoosh of breath, "I'm..fucking nervous."

And he finally let loose his curled up fingers initially wrapped in tight fists, to fall around his sides. "What if I mess up? What if she doesn't turn up? What if the ring doesn't fit? What if-ow fuck, Tal-what-"

Tala had proceed to slap Kai into silence, with a friendly, soft palm against his friend's cheek. The redhead's fingers lingered for a long second against the bluehead's skin, and their eyes met in that seeming eternity.

"Shut up, idiot." Tala hissed. "I said, you'll be fine. Now would you look? Because here she comes."

Kai's eyes adverted to the front of the church, where the sounds of doors opening silenced the entire church in the split of a second. His feet shuffled, and he forgot to breathe. His feet wobbled as the vision of a fleeting white came into view. He vaguely felt Tala's arm briefly supporting his shoulder, and his friend leaning over to whisper, "Wait till you see her," in a teasing tone.

As Kai felt the whole world disappear beneath his feet as his bride neared the distance, and every single pair of eyes in the audience were cast upon the beautiful gown she wore, and that angelic silhouette making her way down the church aisle, a single redhead's gaze never left the groom.

Tala watched as a wave of emotions materialized on his friend's face - surprise, disbelief, awe, and then joy...and love, as much as the Hiwatari descendant would allow his stoic face to betray him. Nearly three decades of knowing this man, and Tala would never tire of sensing when happiness was brimming beneath that pepertually unfazed frown. Kai would be Kai, but even in a moment like this, with the sunlight pouring through the windows of the cathedral, his face was as unfiltered as the emotional rollercoasters everyone was feeling in the room with tears rolling down incessantly on some of their cheeks.

Tala reminded himself to breathe, this time. His best friend, was getting married.

Oh my fuck. All that stupid long years stuck in the abbey together, believing they were going to perish inside and never make it out alive, much less meet other females and fall in love, all those stupid long years honing their skills as professional beybladers, never seeing the daylight if they were training eternity holed up in the dark beyblading arena, much less having time to socialise with anyone or fall in love with anything out of the beyblading world...

and then to this.

"You lucky bastard," Tala whispered, so inaudibly, he was sure no one heard him. He focused his gaze on his friend. Hell, he was sure the both of them would never make it this far in life. Not even normal lives after they retired from beyblading, not even after trying to lead normal lives by attending university in the UK together..some scars remained, forever seared in to their memories traumatized by one too many abuses.

Yet, his friend had beaten the odds. And fell in love.

And here he was.

He had seen Kai suffer, Kai hide his sadness, and sorrow, and anger, and hatred for many things, under that one poker face of his. He knew, above all, his friend deserved, more.

He deserved this.

"And may I now pronounce you husband and wife!" The voice of the priest echoed throughout the church, and everyone roused into applause.

Fuck, Kai deserved all of this.

And as Kai took his newlywed bride's hand in his, and the newlywed couple started to make their way down the aisle together, Tala didn't miss that second when the bluehead threw a glance back.

Their eyes met.

Kai fixated his gaze on his friend. In that second, those eyes spoke volumes.

And Tala had to look away to hide that (damn) smile (yes, smile, not just a smirk, damn him for losing control), on his lips that threatened to surface, as he caught Kai the words mouthed to him.

Even with the distance of the aisle separating them, Tala could not missed it for the world.

"Thank you, Tal," that was all the bluehead synced with his lips.

Tala read it all. Nearly three decades of friendship. Of course he fucking read it all. Not just the words he deciphered from Kai's lips, but those blue eyes that pierced right into his flesh. They spoke of the bond they shared since childhood, to the passion that burnt similarly in them as they embarked into adolescents and competing rivals as beybladers, to the adults they were today. Nothing stood between them now, but only the ties that bind.

In Kai's silent lingua franca, Thank you, Tal, coupled with that piercing look of his blue eyes, literally meant:

Thank you, you idiot, for standing by me all this years. I am happy.

Tala watched with the last snatch of his breath as the newly weds existed the church door. His vision was blurring...he halted in his steps. Was he..crying? Ah, fuck that. No one was watching him at this time; all eyes were on the bride and groom.

You idiot, Tala breathed, at least, mobilised into action as best man. He still had work to do for his best friend on his big wedding night.

You idiot, I am happy, too.

owari

a/n:

yes reviews are appreciated. i know i've been on hiatus forever. no, i'm not dead. just here sporadically (once in a few years ? lol not even joking) when the plot bunnies attack. this still remains my favourite fandom, even now as an old frail adult..

as always,

mysterio-san