cafuné: portuguese: (v.)
( - the act of running your fingers through your lover's hair- )
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Chapter 1: Forever
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"Where is he? Jesus, Sabina! This is outrageous! What kind of man is ten minutes late to his own wedding?!"
The union of the Pleasure/Rider lineage was an extravagant one to say the least. It was a classic backyard party – only the "backyard" being spoken of was the massive estate of Edward Pleasure Sr., Sabina's grandfather. A huge manicured lawn had been decorated with hundreds of chairs for the many guests – most of which were Sabina's friends of friends and relatives of relatives – and the large umbrella-like oaks surrounding the area had been strung up with white fairy lights and hanging paper lanterns. As the evening wore on they would be lit alongside candles at every table, which had been decorated with blooming ivory roses, dusty blue hydrangeas and baby's breath blossoms (all plucked from Edward Sr.'s personal garden just beyond the ivy-hewn archway, creating a lovely backdrop for the picturesque festivity).
Sabina fiddled with a single unruly curl poking out from her up-do. "He'll be here," she assured her mother, sounding as calm and collected as ever despite the anxiety evident in her cornflower gaze. Sabina's mother frowned, the lines framing her mouth all the more apparent beneath her expression of dissatisfaction.
"Have you called him yet?"
"I don't need to. He told me he had to run a couple errands before the wedding…"
"Make – run a few errands? You tell him that if it'd better be a life and death situation for him to be putting a few errands before my daughter's wedding!"
Sabina made a face. "Mom, it's his wedding too."
"Well then maybe he should be acting with a little more punctuality! And after everything your grandfather has done to make this possib–"
The door was suddenly shoved open by one of Sabina's bridesmaids – a woman with a stylish blonde bob in a royal blue dress.
"He's here!" she cried. Elizabeth Pleasure placed a hand over her murmuring heart, releasing a heavy sigh of relief.
"About time–" she grumbled. Sabina's angular face lit up in a blazing smile.
"Is he ready?" she asked.
"Ready as he'll ever be," the blonde returned with a quiet huff. She was one of Sabina's few friends who did not approve of Alex, deeming his dashing looks and charming personality insufficient compensation for his seemingly inexplicable flakiness.
"Right," Sabina said, gathering the folds of her ivory gown into her hands, "let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
When Sabina appeared at the end of the aisle, lock-armed with her cane-carrying father, something odd happened: all of her anxieties drained away. Usually this was the time when the butterflies were the strongest in the stomachs of first-time brides – standing before every single important person in their life, about to make the biggest personal commitment they'd ever make. It was daunting prospect in theory, but the second Sabina's eyes locked with those warm brown eyes, it was as though nobody else had ever existed but the two of them.
Alex's eyes widened the second he saw her. While he was nothing to be scoffed at himself, leveling off and six foot one and finding himself to be the subject of many a female guest's lustful stare, Sabina looked like something out of a classical painting. The dress she was wearing had a sweetheart neckline and lacey flowers woven atop thin layers of taffeta pulled tight to accentuate her modest breasts, while a ball gown bloomed outwards from below her hips with all the grandeur that the wedding reception had led its guests to expect and more. It was an off-white, almost creamy color, and in addition to leaving her shoulders bare her back was also revealed; a canvas of pale skin dotted with the occasional constellation of beauty marks or freckles.
"Holy crap," she watched Alex mouth in wonder. Her dark hair had been curled into an elegant up-do, and her make-up was applied sparingly so as not to take away from her natural assets. Sabina felt herself blush under his intense scrutiny, but sent him a cocky smirk anyway. Alex's face settled into a huge, excited grin that made all the quiet butterflies burst forth as though spooked by a sudden disturbance. She stumbled a little on her train, prompting a bubble of laughter from the groom and earning him more than a few glares from her older family members.
When she reached the podium, Alex and Sabina were finally spared a few precious seconds to quietly converse.
"Where were you!" she hissed, trying to put on a face of discontentment despite the joy that was threatening to thrust its way out from between her ribs and manifest as a lot of ill-timed jumping and dancing.
"You'd never believe it," he whispered, shaking his head in bemusement. "Four assassins. Four! At my own wedding."
"Only four?" she feigned surprise. He gifted her with a flat look and that was all the time they were gifted.
"Dearly beloved," a familiar voice began, and both bride and groom looked up to meet the true blue eyes of Tom Harris, certified justice of the peace. He'd gone about attaining his license because according to him, "best man just isn't going to cut it".
"We are gathered here today," he paused to wipe a tear that had gathered in his lashes, receiving an eye roll from Alex and a warm smile from Sabina, "to join Sabina Pleasure and Alex Rider in holy matrimony. Celebrating the unity of these two amazing people is only a confirmation of something that was decided in the innermost private corners of hearts a long time ago, something that I and all of you gathered here have had the privilege of watching grow and blossom over a length of time filled with laughter, tears, love, and screaming matches."
At this, the crowd broke out into light-hearted laughter, watching as the bride and groom shrugged helplessly at each other.
"There is honestly no two people who I can say deserve this more than Alex and Sabina, who have supported each other through the thick and thin, transcending all obstacles and difficulties placed in their way with dignity and an otherworldly grace seen sparse worldwide today. I think we can all safely attribute this to Sabina, yes?"
More laughter. Alex shot his best friend a playful scowl.
"So, on this beautiful July afternoon, the twentieth of twenty-thirteen, Alex and Sabina wish to pledge their vows to each other before us as they look toward the horizon hand-in-hand."
The vows were spoken and a good chunk of the audience was utilizing the tissue boxes placed strategically at the end of each row of seats. Even Alan Blunt and Tulip Jones could be spotted near the back, watching the ceremony play out with small smiles as two of the only guests off of Alex's short invite list. James Hale and Jerry Harris, Alex's best men alongside Tom, broke out into premature clapping before Alex had even finished his last couple words. Jack Starbright, seated front and center as per Alex's request was the first to stand up and start wailing, throwing her hands together in wild applause and cheering for Sabina to throw the bouquet her way.
It wasn't until after the ceremony, wedding pictures and dinner were over that Alex and Sabina were awarded another brief moment of privacy.
"So tell me what it's like to be Mrs. Rider?" Alex asked her, leaning back against one of the dome-like trees. Sabina raised an eyebrow.
"I can already feel the premature wrinkles setting in."
"Just my luck," Alex sighed. Sabina lightly slapped his shoulder.
"Why don't you tell me what it's like being Mr. Pleasure?"
He grinned lasciviously at her. "Oh baby, you tell me."
Another smack, a little harder this time. He caught her hand, pulling it over his shoulder and pressing her body against his own. The sky was a brilliant shade of violent and gold, caught between sunset and twilight, casting shadows all around them. As their gaze locked, Sabina wasn't sure if it was possible to be any happier than this without simply exploding.
"I love you," he whispered into her ear. She closed her eyes.
"I love you too, Alex."
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Well, well, well… hello, you shameless Alex/Sabina reader you. Fancy meeting you here. *cough*
The summary of this story depicts the very last chapter. That is to say, this story will end when Alex and Sabina have been married five years – read into that how you may. It is going to be series of whimsical one-shots wherein I blab romantic gooey stuff, among other things, and is mostly the result of my recent falling in love. As it is, I write too much friendship and angst and action and not enough romance, so rather than pollute all my other storylines with the stuff, I've just decided to publish some things I've already written with a flexible timeline and no actual running (I swear!) plot (really, I mean it this time, guys).
This pairing needs more love, anyway. If any of these chapters inspires anyone else to write their own Alex/Sabina short, please tell me about it in a review and I will speed off to feast my eyes upon your gorgeous rendition of my shameless fix. And I'll review because that's how I roll *throws on sunglasses*
So: if you do not like Alex/Sabina, I'm not going to shoo you away. I'm going to implore you to read on in hopes that you may change your mind. Their relationship always sort of interested me because I can't see Alex ever telling the truth to another girl ever again – not that he told her in the first place, she pretty much found out by accident. All the better in my opinion.
Chapters will also vary in size and depth depending on (surprise, surprise) my whims. Woop woop unpaid author creative license! Sorry I'm such a flake guys v.v.
And finally, for all of you who read my other AR fics and are now frowning at their screens in distaste that I've begun yet another story after being so slow on updates for other ones, fear not. When it comes down to it the other ones take priority simply because I've invested more time and thought into them than this one – and they're a little more interesting for me to write. This is just an outlet for my Alex/Sabina feels and my own internal love story.
If you're also in love and want to gush about it, message me and we can talk all about it because my friends are sick and tired of it and yours probably are too, I bet ;3
Long ass A/N… they won't be this long in the future, I promise.
Have yourselves a wonderful first week of August!
Maddy