A/N: Still volume-two set.
No real spoilers in this chapter. Very fictional. The game didn't gave too many details about the wedding event itself, so I'm having some fun with it.
Kind of a fluffy chapter XD Enjoy.
SELFISH
Apparently there was a special place in Mac Anu to go to for the wedding event preparations. Haseo didn't find that too odd, if not a little stupid, but the worst part about it all was the walk there.
He had never known Mac Anu could be so crowded.
"Wasn't he the leader of the Twilight Brigade? Ovan?" someone whispered loudly, and a white-faced girl shook her head in what could have been a yes or a no. There was a small relief in the fact that none of their spectators actually came forward and asked them anything, but Haseo wasn't in the mood to count his blessings when there were god knows how many eyes following his every move.
"And Haseo?"
"Are they getting the guild back together again? Seems a little pointless, I heard – "
"Well I just never see him anymore, I thought he quit – "
"Feeling popular?" Ovan whispered to him, looking smug, and Haseo shot him a don't-you-dare look that he hoped would silence him immediately. Ovan merely laughed a small yet obviously amused laugh and for a moment, Haseo thought he was going to take his hand.
How were they going to do this, anyway? If holding hands in Mac Anu was such an immense horror in his mind, how on earth were they going to get married? Or even ask to buy rings, for that matter? The rumors would spread like wild fire. Haseo opened his mouth to voice some of this to Ovan, then realized he had no real clue of how to put all of this into words and not risk anyone overhearing, so he simply shut his mouth again and looked away.
He had walked past this place in seconds before, but now the walk to the event counter seemed hours of torture.
The woman behind the counter bowed and didn't ask questions, and for that Haseo was glad. She tapped her lip a little when Ovan presented him – 'presented' as the only word that seemed to fit, Haseo thought, with Ovan grasping his shoulders gently and holding him before him like a child – and then mumbled something to herself happily and turned to enter a closet-sized door that Haseo could only assume held the items.
"We'll have to alter it slightly." she said to Ovan. "For his height." She blushed a little when an immediate answer was not presented.
"Of course."
"Well, come with me." she said to Haseo, trying to look welcoming. "I'll just edit your data temporarily and you'll be able to see the finished thing…if you don't like something we can edit it for a little extra money. Easy enough, no?"
Haseo stared at her briefly, lost for words, and turned to Ovan with a pleading expression on his face.
"You heard her." he said gently, and Haseo thought bitterly that the gunman seemed to be enjoying himself immensely.
Haseo didn't dare look down at himself after the woman finished with her work. She happily led him into a wide, oval room with a single oversized mirror with a small white stool that Haseo thought looked very normal compared to the usual out-of-place interiors of The World. He stood there for a moment, not looking in the mirror and feeling his face getting hotter and hotter as he wondered how ridiculous he looked. It seemed to take an eternity, but at last, Ovan walked in.
He smiled faintly and tipped his head to one side. "You look lovely." was all his said.
"You sound nostalgic, old man." Haseo shot back, sighing and turning around with dread to see what the woman had done to him.
He groaned aloud once, and Ovan laughed softly.
The dress itself was still The World-style; there was a veil he hadn't even felt sitting on his head – or rather – not sitting, but floating there, a few centimeters off, it's gold lined hues soft and subtle against the pure whites of the rest of the gown. It reached just to his feet, the front in a sideways curve across his chest, and dotting the horrid thing were several white roses.
Ovan had been right about one thing, at least.
"White roses, huh?" he said, smiling thinly. "Nothing's holding them there, they're going to fall out…"
"No they won't." Ovan stepped behind him, his eyes admiring.
"Looks unnatural." he muttered, turning around. He stopped, hands on his hips, then poked at the material with a look of dissatisfaction"….it's frilly." he said flatly.
"Unfortunately, they've only got one style out." Ovan smirked. "Unless you want to pay extra to take that off?"
"You've looked into this ahead of time." he growled.
"Of course. Such a good idea, this online wedding event. If only R.2 was a bit older, they'd have something more in your tastes as well."
"Something less frilly." Haseo said sharply, resisting the urge to stomp his foot since he still wasn't quite sure if the dress's glassy heels were as fragile as they looked. It wasn't as if they would need to make them durable, since it wasn't designed for battle. "I don't like this." He sighed, glanced around the room twice for something to complain to and finding only Ovan.
"Goddamn wedding dress." He sat down on the stool in front of the mirror and pulled up the front of the dress to check out the garter he felt tugging at his leg, snapping at the elastic disapprovingly. "And why are you so damn persistent? If you're so interested why not act proper about it?"
"It looks to me like all your other admirers were content to just sigh and wish and get left behind. Besides, I'm not patient." He kneeled down beside him, watching his reflection in the mirror.
"You really creep me out sometimes. I never know what you're thinking."
"Then why are you going along with it?"
"….because…" Haseo caught himself for a moment, embarrassed, then quickly shot back; "Because I don't know, alright? Just because." He reached for him, unsure of what he was intending to do, really, just wanting to do something more than sit there and look at himself, transformed into something docile in the mirror. His hand found on the bridge of Ovan's glasses and rested there half-heartedly.
"You're so goddamn selfish." Haseo muttered. "But at least you get it." he slid the glasses off his face and turned them around in his hands. Ovan watched him softly. "'Get it?'" he repeated.
"Yeah." A blush. "Cuz we're guys, right? Maybe I'm selfish too, because…crap, stop looking at me like that." he said sharply when he glanced up at Ovan's unmasked eyes. He had never really gotten a chance to see them closely before without the hue of red covering them, but now they seemed somehow out of place; twin drops of piercing blue-gray color fixed intently on him, as if nothing else around them mattered.
Ovan smiled slightly but did not look away. "Because you…?" he continued to press.
"…because I kinda like it." he admitted, still turning the glasses over in his hands. "You being all selfish like that. You keep saying you want me to remember you and all, but you're not…you're not leaning on me. I'm sick of being leaned on." It was somewhat of a relief to say so out loud, but when Ovan did comment, he continued; "You don't stand there and cry when you need help, you…you do things instead." He sighed. "Even if they're…selfish things. Things like this."
"Your hands are shaking." He let his hand rest on Haseo's knee, still half-covered by the dress he had hiked up for inspection.
"No, they're not." He glanced down at his trembling hands and didn't even try to stop them - just let them lay there on his lap with Ovan's glasses clutched between them.
He cast an unsure eye on the folds of the dress again.
"You look nice." Ovan said seriously, as if to confirm his thoughts, and he didn't smile or laugh or anything Haseo would have expected someone in his position to do. Then, still kneeling, he lay his head on the rouge's lap.
Haseo tensed a little, then reluctantly let one slightly shaking hand touch the gunman's bright hair. He had seen or felt things like this before with other people, but it was different this time. Not because it wasn't Atoli or Shino who had been scared or exhausted, like Haseo was now, and not because he was a man, because Endrance clung to him every chance he got and some of the others would even hold his hand or lean on his shoulder. It was just – different. Strange.
"Soft." Ovan muttered.
"Yeah." he whispered, dizzy with his thoughts.
"Marry me?"
"I already said yes, you idiot."
"Say it again, then. I want to hear you say it."
"Yes." Haseo repeated obediently. Then; "You're paying for the rings, you know - and the dress."
His shoulders shook a little, laughing. "I wouldn't dream of making my bride pay for his dress."
"Good." he laughed a little, too, because in that moment it seemed alright to allow himself one honest laugh, in spite of all the wreckage that seemed to be occurring in The World around them. And people fell in love in war, didn't they?
Love, Haseo thought, and looked down at Ovan's head resting in his lap and the folded red glasses sitting innocently by his hand. Defenses down. He smiled at the unlikelihood of the situation, and though it would have been easy to pull away and stand up or even demand his regular clothes back, he couldn't seem to find the will to take his hand away from Ovan's hair.