Written for day 1 of Yuridetta week! The prompt I chose for today was 'Fashion', and what better way to show off Bernadetta's sowing skills than by having her prep a wedding dress!
After four hours of walking, dozens of market stalls, and at least a thousand different types and shades of fabric, Yuri finally plopped himself and a mountain of purple tulle onto the foyer's velvet sofa. "How in the world did I let myself get talked into this?" He asked out loud.
"Because," said Hapi as she sat down next to him, nearly hidden under her own heap of tulle. "Coco showed Bernie-bear her wedding dress, they both agreed it was awful, and then they realized that they could use us as pack mules to bring them everything they needed to fix it."
"And why did we agree?"
"Because we're suckers for them and they know it."
Yuri leaned his head back and stared up at the ceiling of the new House Nuvelle. Ever since Constance has claimed her new title and land, the house had been bustling with servants and workers toiling day and night as they arranged and rearranged everything at Constance's request. The ceiling had been painted a swirl of blues and reds, potted plants lined the length of the foyer, and dozens of Noa fruit trees had been planted on the estate's gardens. Yet ever since the wedding had been announced, it seemed that every detail was far from enough.
As a gift to her future wife, Hapi had given Constance free rein of decorating the vast house and foyer for the upcoming ceremony. Servants hustled in and out with stacks of shimmering chairs, maids scurried with trays upon trays of fine silverware, and even a half dozen cooks had come out to demand that Balthus go out and buy them another sack of flour. And Hapi did not regret the gift at all, since it meant that she could watch as everyone in House Nuvelle got to boss Balthus around.
Speaking of which.
"This is preposterous! I simply cannot allow this to stand." Constance's voice echoed off of the tall foyer walls as she gracefully stepped around the many people milling in and out of the grand room. The new Count Nuvelle stalked her way over to Balthus, who was setting down a vase filled with flowers as tall as Constance herself.
"Constance, relax. It's just a flower arrangement." Balthus reached a hand up and wiped a bead of sweat that was falling down the side of his neck. Yuri had to admit, despite Balthus being the strongest of the Ashes Wolves, carrying a marble vase filled with orange roses did not seem like the easiest task.
Constance was much less impressed. "A flower arrangement that completely clashes with the colors and form of my dress!"
But Balthus was not one to back down to the high and mighty Lady Nuvelle."Well, maybe if you let me see your dress, I'd know what flowers to get!"
"No!" A high-pitched voice cut through the argument. "No one can see the dress yet. It's top secret!"
Coming through the same door Constance had crossed, Bernadetta sprinted over to the pair. She was in the same outfit as always, but her hair was less combed than it usually was these days, and Yuri spied a small sowing pouch hanging off of Bernadetta's waist.
"No one can see the dress except Constance and me! She asked me to make a one-of-a-kind secret dress, and that's what I'm gonna do!" She stuck her arms out to the side in a way Yuri knew meant that she was irritated, and despite how tiny she seemed compared to the towering King of Grappling, she stared him down with all the force she could muster.
Constance beamed. "You see, Bernadetta understands the nature of the occasion."
"Of course!" Bernadetta said. "The dress is important. It needs to be a surprise for the wedding or else we could get bad luck! Or ghosts!"
"And no bad luck shall ruin my wedding day!"
"And I refuse to let any ghosts come in. This wedding is gonna be so magical, but I don't want it to be magical because we have ghosts ruining everything."
Constance turned to Yuri and Hapi (who were still recovering on the couch) and smiled. "Really, Yuri, you should've brought your wonderful Bernadetta sooner. Don't you think so, Hapi?"
"If you say so, Coco." Hapi smiled at her wife-to-be. "I'm just glad you're happy."
"I'm just happy to help," Bernadetta said, rubbing the back of her head with a hand. When her eyes landed on the mountains of fabric, she gasped and did a little jump of joy. "You brought the tulle!"
"Can't imagine what you would need this much for." Yuri stood up and gathered the bunches of fabric in his arms. "But I brought some extra, just in case."
"This is perfect. Thanks!" Bernadetta took the entire stack of tulle from him, and Yuri knew better than to argue otherwise. Every time he and Hapi had offered to help bring things to the drawing-room that had turned into Bernadetta's sowing parlor, they had been firmly denied entry by their respective partners. They were just one sneak attempt away from Bernadetta stabbing them with a spear while Constance fried them with a Bolting spell. "Oh no. We can't have those flowers! They don't work at all!"
With a pout on her face and her body completely obscured by the colorful fabric, Bernadetta once again marched up to an exhausted Balthus. After roughly repeating the same comment Constance had made, she and Constance departed once more to the sowing parlor, leaving Balthus to figure out what the hell kind of flowers Constance actually wanted.
Hapi drew in a long breath but caught herself before she could sigh. Yuri looked over at Hapi to see her stare after her future wife. "I don't know how people stand it," she said. "Waiting to know what she'll look like."
"Cold feet?" Yuri asked.
"Not at all." She tore her eyes away from the doorway to look at Yuri. "Thanks for bringing Bernie-bear. She's been helping Coco a lot these past few days."
"Yeah!" Balthus stomped over to them and plopped himself between the two of them, wrapping a large arm around each of their shoulders. "She and Constance just vibe on the whole decorating thing. Without her, Constance would just be yelling non-stop about how my flowers still aren't right! I mean, come on! I got the big roses and everything!"
"We picked good people for ourselves, Yuri-bird." Hapi said.
Now it was Yuri who stared at the empty doorway, wishing for the hundredth time that he could see the wondrous dress Bernadetta was sure to create. He could almost imagine her now, bent over layers and layers of tulle, her graceful fingers carefully weaving the thread down and over the fabric, humming softly to herself as the dress came to life.
Yuri smiled. "That we did."
Gardenias. That was the flower that finally convinced Constance to stop sending Balthus out on scouting missions for the perfect floral arrangement. They only had a week to scramble together over three hundred of them in time for the wedding, but they managed it, and now it was time.
"I'm so nervous." Bernadetta wrung her hands together, and Yuri was certain that if she hadn't been wearing gloves, her skin would have already turned red from the friction she was applying.
"I'm not," Yuri said. They stood together at the end of the foyer, waiting patiently on Constance's side of the aisle as her man of honor and esteemed dressmaker, respectively. Balthus stood on the side reserved for Hapi's man of honor, smiling contentedly to himself as he surveyed the rows of gardenias that he had painstakingly arranged under Constance's sharp eye. He was wearing a long, grey jacket with white cuffs, but what shocked every single guest more than anything else was that he was actually was a shirt. A shirt that was buttoned up all the way to the top.
As for Hapi herself, she fidgeted on the middle of the elevated platform in the center of it all. She was a long green dress that hugged the curves of her body. It was simple but expertly cut, with a low back and long sleeves that made her look like a princess of the woodland village she heralded from. Her hair had been brushed yet left loose, and was only held back by the golden circlet she wore during the war. Behind her was the officiant, dressed in a long white dress emblazoned with golden symbols. Byleth said something to Hapi, though it was too low for Yuri to eavesdrop. Professor, war commander, and now wedding officiant. Was there anything that woman couldn't do?
"I'm terrified." Bernadetta squeaked, tapping the floor with her dark red heels. She wore a matching colored dress with golden accents woven into the waist and neckline, and she had painted her lips the same color to match. It was the same shade of red that accented Yuri's own suit, albeit one that was a light grey color that bordered on silver. Bernadetta looked up at Yuri and bit her lip. "What if it doesn't look good? What if something falls off as she's walking? Oh no. What if—"
A single snap of someone's fingers resounded across the whole foyer, making every turn to the entrance.
The double doors opened, and Constance walked in.
The dress fanned out in a sea of blues and purples. Layers upon layers of fine tulle bounced as Constance walked down the aisles, creating a shimmering, mesmerizing wave around the bride. The tulle was cut in such a way that the skirt looked more like a blooming flower rather than a dress. The shorter layers had been curled somehow, creating petal-like shapes that danced around her. The tulle extended upwards, weaving itself into a fitted bodice wrapped around Constance's torso. The fabric was gently twisted around Constance's forearms, creating two delicate sleeves that hung off of her arms and ever-so-slightly flitted across the skirt. Every part of the dress shimmered, and if Yuri was not seeing it with his own eyes, he might have thought he was looking at a painting.
It was a long time before Yuri could take his eyes off the dress. When he finally looked up, he saw Constance's bright face that shined brightly in the hall's candlelight. Her hair was in a knot that spilled out at the nape of her neck, letting her natural curls hang loose, and was tied together with even a purple ribbon. To one side of Constance's head was a great gardenia made out of a swirling pattern of blue and purple tulle, each petal meticulously pulled and sown together in an effort that must have taken hours. And bringing it all together was the bouquet of bright, blooming gardenias being cradled in Constance's hands.
Yuri looked over at Bernadetta, who had her own hands clasped together at her chest. Yuri gently took her hands in one of his own, and when she turned to him with a look of worry, all he said was: "Look over at Hapi."
As Constance ascended the small step to her future wife, Hapi could only stare with a look of awe. Her eyes looked over the dress from head to toe, following the layers of tulle, the curves of the bodice, and the delicate flower woven with painstaking detail. She finally settled on Constance's beaming grin and did something Yuri had never thought he'd have the privilege to see.
Hapi's face burst into the widest smile anyone had ever seen on her.
Constance tilted her head back and barked a loud laugh filled with joy. "My dearest Hapi, I never thought I'd see the day you'd smile like that in public."
"Well, enjoy it while it lasts." Hapi let her face falls back into its small, familiar smile, but the awe in her eyes remained. "You beautiful, Coco."
Yuri leaned down to whisper in Bernadetta's ear. "It's one of your dresses, Bernadetta. I knew it'd be beautiful no matter what."
Bernadetta's smile was bright enough to light up the whole foyer.
As Byleth began the ceremony, going through the traditional speeches and customs of a Fódlan wedding, Yuri gently tugged Bernadetta closer to him. His eyes drifted away from two of his dearest friends in the world to Bernadetta, who still had the look of absolute happiness spread across her face.
"You are incredible," he whispered. Her head whipped around to face him, and she immediately turned a shade of bright red.
Yuri couldn't help it. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to Bernadetta's cheek, making her jump and turn even redder.
"Yuri!" She protested. She ducked her head and scanned the room with the eyes of a scout.
"No one's looking at us, anyway," he said, and it was true. All eyes were on Hapi and her bride. Well, it was more like all eyes were on Hapi and her bride's dress.
With one last glance around the room, Bernadetta let out a puff of air she'd been holding. "Ok. But do it quick!"
And right then and there, surrounded by hundreds of blossoming gardenias, Yuri leaned down once more. His lips met hers, and it was nothing short of bliss.