Nowaki and Hiroki turned to the crowd and waved with their free hands, still grasping each other's hands between them. The audience stood and clapped. Tomoko, of course, was bawling her eyes out as Masanori desperately worked to pacify her.
"What now?" Hiroki asked, glancing up at Nowaki.
"Now I carry you off into the sunset."
"Seriously?" Hiroki asked wryly, pursing his lips.
"Nah, we just have to get ready for the reception," Nowaki replied, continuing to wave as he and Hiroki stepped down and made their way back down the aisle towards the exit. As they passed, hands reached out to grasp their shoulders and congratulate them.
"Oh yeah, the reception," Hiroki pouted, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "I almost had the pleasure of forgetting about that."
"It'll be fun," Nowaki reassured. Hiroki snorted skeptically. He suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Hey, congratulations. We're all going to go get the reception ready. Alrik's waiting outside to take you back to the hotel so you can change," Miyagi said as he came up from behind and poked his head in between Nowaki and Hiroki.
"Alright. Hey, thanks for doing all of this," Nowaki said. Hiroki smiled and nodded.
"No need to thank us. We all would jump at the chance to see our favorite couple's happiness," Miyagi said. Nowaki and Hiroki looked over their shoulders to see the entire group walking behind them. Shinobu gave Hiroki a thumbs-up, Misaki was smiling widely, and Akihiko smirked as he saluted Nowaki. Hiroki felt a swell of respect rising in his chest at the sight of his most precious friends, and he grinned back.
"This is taking too long," Nowaki suddenly said. Before Hiroki could protest, he turned abruptly, scooped him up under the knees and back, and walked swiftly out of the double doors. Nearby witnesses whooped and whistled.
"It wasn't taking long at all, was it?" Hiroki asked exasperatedly, wrapping his arms around Nowaki's neck. Nowaki beamed.
"Of course not. I need to protect you from the attacks, though."
"What attacks?"
Nowaki burst out of the community center and into the spring air. Hiroki looked towards the side of the building, where all of the audience was bursting out of the side doors with giant bowls in their hands. They sprinted towards Hiroki and Nowaki.
"Wah! What are they doing?" Hiroki laugh-shouted, kicking up his feet to defend his face as all of the audience began reaching into their bowls and throwing rice at them. Nowaki and Hiroki laughed so hard they almost tripped, ducking their heads as they were pelted unnecessarily hard with handfuls of rice.
"TAKE IT LIKE YOU STILL LIVE IN JAPAN!" Shinobu shrieked, whipping a handful of rice so hard that it launched him a few inches off the ground. A few of the pieces smacked Hiroki in the face, stinging his skin.
"Stoppit! Stoppit!" Hiroki squealed through his laugh-induced tears, burying his face in Nowaki's jacket as his husband broke into a run. "That's not how you throw rice!"
Nowaki was breathless because he was laughing so hard, and by the time they got to Alrik's van, he was stumbling with almost every step. Alrik was waiting by the door of the backseat and opened it as Nowaki and Hiroki barreled into it. Nowaki tossed a hysterically giggling Hiroki into the seat and dove in after him. Several members of the audience tossed the rest of the rice in their bowls into the car. Nowaki managed to shoo them away and slam the door shut. Alrik jumped into the driver's seat and screeched out of the parking lot and onto the road. Nowaki and Hiroki panted, looking over their shoulders to watch as several members chased them for a few hundred feet before stopping to wave to the back of the van.
Hiroki and Nowaki turned to each other, and a few timely pieces of rice dropped out of their hair. They burst into raspy giggling, their throats already dry from laughing.
"It's going to take me forever to get all this rice out of the car," Alrik said, glancing up at the rearview mirror and grinning at the passengers of his car. Nowaki took a deep breath.
"Whew. That was fun," Nowaki said, stretching before smoothly putting an arm around Hiroki's shoulders. Hiroki smiled and leaned into him.
"Those guys are pussies. For Miyagi and Shinobu's wedding, I say we get them with water balloons instead of rice," Hiroki said evilly, punching the palm of his hand and grinning. Nowaki laughed and leaned over to press a kiss to Hiroki's temple.
"You're so devilish, Hiro-san," Nowaki purred, smiling against Hiroki's forehead. Hiroki chortled and nuzzled into Nowaki's chin.
"Mm, you know you love it."
Once they got to the hotel, Alrik told them that he'd be waiting outside. Nowaki took Hiroki's hand and they made their way up to Masanori and Tomoko's room. Nowaki opened the door for Hiroki, and once the door was closed, everything went completely silent. Hiroki turned around and grinned knowingly at Nowaki, and that was all it took. Nowaki dashed to his new husband and slammed their lips together. Hiroki responded enthusiastically, tangling his fingers in Nowaki's hair and tilting his head to deepen their kiss. They reeled around for a few moments before falling back onto one of the hotel beds.
"Tonight… tonight…" Hiroki mumbled in between kisses. He pulled away from Nowaki and reached up to hold his new husband's face away from him. "Tonight, but not now. I want our first time as a married couple to be uninterrupted."
Nowaki's lustful eyes softened.
"Understandable."
Nowaki got up off of Hiroki and took his hand to help him up. Nowaki began undressing. Hiroki, however, blushed and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Don't look, okay?" he asked shyly. Nowaki blinked as he un-tucked his white shirt from his black pants and shrugged out of it.
"Why?"
"It's embarrassing."
Nowaki raised an ebony eyebrow.
"You're really still embarrassed after everything that happened today?"
"Yes! J-Just this once, okay? I don't want you to be tempted."
Nowaki's furrowed eyebrows relaxed.
"Oh yeah, you're right."
Nowaki turned away from Hiroki and hummed as he went to the bed and retrieved a black button-up shirt that had been laid out for him. Hiroki made sure Nowaki wasn't looking before he ripped his pants off. He quickly checked his legs to make sure everything was in place, then snatched up the pair of pants that had been left out for him. He shimmied into them rapidly, staring at Nowaki's back to make sure he didn't look. Once Hiroki's black pants were in place, he sighed in relief.
"Okay, you can look."
Nowaki turned just as he was finishing buttoning up his black dress shirt. His eyelids lowered.
"Nope, still tempted."
Hiroki flushed scarlet.
"Are you still going to wear that shirt?"
Hiroki looked down at his wedding shirt.
"Yeah, but my mom gave me another bow to use," Hiroki said, reaching up to pull the blue flower out of his hair and smooth the chestnut locks down. Nowaki glanced around before going to the bed and pulling a black sash out from underneath the fold of a sheet.
"Is this it?"
"Yeah."
Hiroki reached behind his back to untie his current bow. Without prompt, Nowaki stepped forward and turned Hiroki around. He wrapped the black sash around Hiroki's waist and began tying it into a bow. Hiroki clasped his hands over his heart as Nowaki worked, shutting his eyes briefly.
"What are you thinking about?"
"Everything," Hiroki replied, his eyes slowly opening once more. "This isn't a dream, is it?"
Nowaki's hands paused at the question that Hiroki asked, recognizing it from way back when, when Hiroki couldn't believe that he was pregnant. His fingers resumed a moment later, successfully tying the sash into a pretty little bow. He took Hiroki's hand and turned him around to face him again.
"What do you think?" he asked softly, pressing his forehead against Hiroki's and gazing down at him. He took Hiroki's other hand and held it up against his chest. Hiroki gasped a little and looked down as he felt Nowaki's heart pounding erratically up against his hand.
"Definitely not a dream," Hiroki murmured, looking back up into Nowaki's eyes.
"Nope. And no matter how many times you wake up, you will always be a Kusama."
Hiroki's face contorted and his eyes welled up. Nowaki pulled away from his forehead and held his face in his hands.
"Hiro-san? What's wrong?"
"Nothing…" Hiroki sniffled, refusing to look up at Nowaki. "I'm so happy, I just… I've almost lost you so many times, but now I-…I'm just so happy and relieved, I feel like I'm going to die."
Hiroki looked back up at Nowaki, who didn't say anything. His hands traveled to Hiroki's neck to cup it. He tilted his head and paused before leaning forward to press his lips to Hiroki's. Hiroki reached up shakily to clutch his wrists.
"Nowaki…" he whispered when the kiss ended.
"That's the first time you've said my name as a Kusama," Nowaki murmured.
"You've been waiting?"
"Yeah… kinda idiotic, isn't it?"
"Of course it is."
"I want to hear it again."
"…Nowaki."
"Again."
Hiroki reached up to coil his arms around Nowaki's neck. His lips hovered just over Nowaki's.
"No… waki."
Nowaki let out a small grunt as he pulled Hiroki into him as close as possible. Tired of stooping down, he wrapped his arms tightly around Hiroki and lifted him up to eye level. Hiroki's feet dangled limply, his toes just barely brushing the floor as they kissed again.
Without warning, there was a soft rapping at the door.
"Nowaki? Kamij- Kusama? We should probably get going. Sorry if I'm interrupting anything."
Hiroki gasped as he glanced at the time.
"We've been in here for twenty minutes!" Hiroki hissed. Nowaki quickly set him down and they both flitted around the room, quickly working to freshen themselves up. Hiroki paused at the door. "One second, Alrik! We'll be right out!"
"Hiro-san, have you seen my good tie? The blue one?" Nowaki whispered, gesturing to his chest.
"Damn it, where'd you put it?" Hiroki asked, dashing to the closest hotel bed to check under the quilt.
"I just had it."
They both looked around for a few minutes.
"It's caught in your shirt collar, you idiot!"
Ruffle, ruffle.
Thwap.
"Hey!"
"You're lucky it wasn't a wet towel. C'mere, unless you want me to snap you again."
"Hehe, okay."
"There we go. I must say, you look better in a full length tie rather than a bowtie."
"I told those two!"
A moment later, Hiroki and Nowaki skidded out of the hotel room, panting a little. Alrik, who was leaning against the wall, smiled.
"Ready to go?"
