"Why are you not terrified?" Thor said, squinting at his brother. "All grooms are terrified, or so I have been told."
Loki rolled his eyes at him and straightened the last fold of his formal suit, checking the mirror critically, and, finding nothing amiss, smirking. He knew he looked delectable. He was dressed in a jacket and leggings of perfectly tailored black leather with green silk insets in the sleeves and across his chest, just over his heart. Golden piping along the seams completed the effect, and he had expertly draped a black cloak lined in emerald over one shoulder, adding a gold pin in the shape of a snake to hold it in place, a wedding gift Anthony had made for him at his forge.
"Then most grooms are fools," he said, scrutinizing the effect from the front and back and minutely adjusting the gold crown he wore that was the twin of the one he had given his husband-to-be. "My only fear was that this day would not come, not that it would."
Thor quirked an eyebrow at him, but his eyes showed nothing but happiness. The replacement for the eye he had lost was indistinguishable from the original. Anthony had designed it not only to match his old one, but Thor could now also see with absolute clarity to a distance of several miles as well as perfectly in the dark. For his part, Loki had made certain that magic locked it firmly into the socket; he was convinced Thor would lose his own head if it weren't attached, and he had no intention of testing whether that would also be true of his eye.
For the last several months, ever since their reunion, Anthony and Loki had never spent a night outside of one another's company, the one before their wedding making the only exception. As his brother's best man, Thor had insisted a night of excessive drinking and merrymaking was crucial to bring luck to their marriage. Loki had indulged him, but in truth he would rather have been with Anthony. The ridiculous custom of not seeing one's spouse the night before the wedding had never made any sense to him.
Anthony, on the other hand, had been feted at Rhodey and Pepper's tavern. While Loki was blissfully unaware of the exact nature of what had happened, he did know Anthony had sent a messenger to his room shortly before dawn, begging for a hangover potion. Loki had, of course, brewed two in advance, and he sent one to his betrothed before downing the other one himself.
Thor, who had insisted he was immune to any ill effects of their night of frivolity, was still looking a bit bleary, but he was otherwise in high spirits.
"I am truly glad for you," Thor said, slapping Loki so hard on the back that he wobbled dangerously in his heeled boots. "Both of you deserve happiness today and all the days ahead. You waited long for your beloved, and he is a good man."
"Yes, he is," Loki agreed.
"I do regret Father's absence, though," Thor said, his face darkening.
"I do not," Loki said, straightening Thor's jacket for him. "He is your father, not mine, brother. That is his choice, and my choice is not to speak of him on this day."
Thor sighed, but he still smiled.
"Mother is a better officiant in any case," Thor said.
"She is," Loki said, smiling.
Frigga had wept with happiness when he told her that he and Anthony were engaged, and the tears had only multiplied when they had both asked her to preside over the ceremony. It was to be small, at least by Asgardian royal standards, but Loki was not the crown prince and had no obligation to invite dignitaries from every realm to his nuptials.
"I believe it is time," Thor said.
Loki gave the mirror one last glance.
"Do you have the ring?" he asked.
Thor patted the pocket of his jacket where a bulge showed he had not forgotten
"Then at last I can keep my promise," Loki said, his smile soft.
"Are you ready?" Thor asked, slinging an arm around Loki's shoulders.
"I have been ready for a good many years, brother."
The celebration took place in a garden behind the palace. Frigga, dressed in gold, beamed as both grooms walked towards her down the aisle. Thor strode behind Loki, and Peter, looking rather awkward and overwhelmed, was behind Anthony. Rhodey and Pepper, who couldn't stop dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief, sat together in the first row.
Oddly, Loki had very little memory of the ceremony. He knew his mother spoke the traditional words, he could recall the feel of the heavy golden cord that wrapped his hand to his beloved's, but mostly what he remembered was looking into Anthony's eyes and seeing them filled with so much love that they seemed likely to become stars. When their fingers touched as he slipped the ring upon his lover's finger, claiming him as his own before all Asgard, his heart nearly burst with happiness, leaving him breathless. His dreams had come true.
"Darlings," Frigga said, clearing her throat. "I said, 'you may now pledge your union with a kiss.'"
"Three times!" Rhodey yelled, immediately elbowed by a mortified Pepper.
With a smile, Anthony whispered, "Happy birthday, my love," then gave him a kiss.