Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Arakawa-sensei, duh.
Finally
It was a quiet ceremony.
All who attended said the bride looked beautiful and the groom as exotically handsome as ever. The few surviving family members were more emotional than usual on the slightly misty, balmy summer evening. When the bride took her walk down the aisle she wore a dress of the palest gold, hair let down for once to caress her covered shoulders. The groom's dark eyes were transfixed, for out of all the many ways he had seen his lover look—young, dreary, erotic, unkempt, ill, as blank as a slate—she looked the most wonderful in that moment: a hesitant smile curving her lips, as though surprised she had the chance to achieve such happiness. His grin mirrored her own: his trademark smirk was absent, replaced by a gentler, calmer expression (his smirk would return later of course, when it came time to finally kiss her in front of everyone).
The magic wasn't broken when the blonde, one month pregnant bridesmaid dashed off suddenly to empty the contents of her stomach, a disgruntled groomsman looking worriedly after her (they would be married within the month, and as far as most were concerned the baby came early). In fact the groom didn't even notice, and the bride didn't think to inquire about the incident until much later. When the bridesmaid shuffled back into place in time to catch the vows it was only the still disgruntled groomsman who noticed, only to pale and sway as she gave him a significant look. (The taller and nearly identical groomsman on his left elbowed him to straighten up).
Nobody paid any mind to the Maid of Honor and Best Man who spent the entire ceremony glaring daggers at each other over the heads of the soon-to-be newlyweds, only to end up drunkenly kissing on the dance floor and stumbling out to his car (their wedding was not for another year, as it took them most of it to admit their relationship to the public).
But everybody felt the absence of the man who would have most loved to see this day.
They saw it as his blossoming young daughter tossed petals in the air.
They heard it in the quiet click of a professional photographer.
They cried when the single tear fell from the groom's eye as he spoke his name in his vows (I vow to be as good a husband and someday a father…).
They cheered for the couple as they were finally wed as loud as they could, because they could not hear him with them.
But the couple was happy, for they knew at last that they had found their peace. In speaking their vows to one another (Even into hell…) they achieved far more than they had ever dreamed of, but just as much as they had quietly hoped for.
Their wedding was full of new love, new life, and of old love and long life.
And the couple was happy, because they knew that one man in particular was still with them, snapping a photo for himself of the moment when his best friend finally kissed the bride.
A/N: Hello, everyone! This little (I guess we'll call it a drabble?) drabble popped into my head the other day, so there you have it. I seem to be on a Royai kick lately...Please review! I'd love to hear from you!
