We'll Get Married on the Moon Like Astronauts
Chapter Three
March 6, 2015
Twelve years later, Tucker nervously cleared his throat and tapped his knife against his champagne glass. The clang echoed through the giant tent over the soft buzz of conversation, which immediately began to decrescendo. Tucker stood, wiped his sweaty palms on his pants, and heaved a deep breath. Someone passed him a microphone, which he gripped as tightly as he could. "Uh, hi," he said, and his voice was far too loud in the speakers beside him. But no one was wincing, they were all smiling at him, which was a good sign. "I'm Tucker, in case you don't know me." He glanced down, and back up again. The lights were so bright in his eyes. "I met Danny twenty-one years ago on the small playground outside of Mist Mountain Elementary School," he started, the words flowing through his mind like well-practiced song lyrics. "He helped me with the see-saw, and when I fell off, I told him that we were best friends." He paused as a quiet laughter rippled through the crowd. "That was Valentine's Day. When we came back inside, we sat next to each other, and our teacher wrote a question on the board and told us that we had to answer it before we could have our party. The question was, 'When will you fall in love?'"
Tucker fished through his pocket and found the soft, frayed edges of the papers he'd shoved there hours earlier. He pulled them out with a flourish, grinning at the low groan from beside him. He glanced down at Danny, dressed in a sharp black tux, one arm draped around Sam's shoulders, face currently hidden behind his free hand. "Shut up, Danny," Tucker muttered into the mic, and the crowd laughed a bit louder. "I'd like to read Danny's response to that question. We were six years old, just so you know." He cleared his throat, straightened his glasses, and adjusted the papers. "He wrote, and I quote, 'I will fall in love when I am a grown up and I meet a pretty girl who likes to cook peanut butter and jelly sandwiches but not toast! And I will be a astronaut and we will get married on the moon.'" The crowd was really laughing now, so Tucker lowered the microphone and grinned smugly at a red-faced Danny. Danny was shaking his head, his arm tight around Sam's shoulders, and he mouthed 'I'm gonna kill you' to Tucker.
"First of all," Tucker said when the laughter died down, "I distinctly remember you telling me on that day that you wouldn't be a grown up until you were fifty. What happened?" He paused again. "Secondly, this is definitely not the moon." Another pause, and this time he couldn't help but to chuckle. "And lastly, most importantly…you were actually right about the girl."
The crowd 'aw'-ed and Sam smiled. She pulled at the neckline of her stunning sleeveless white gown and leaned into Danny, who turned his head toward her to plant a kiss on top of her head. "Not only is she pretty, but she actually does cook peanut butter and jelly sandwiches." Sam laughed and buried her face in the crook of Danny's neck to hide her reddening cheeks. "She's scary as hell, but only on the surface. You found someone who is kind and funny and protective and fiercely loyal, which is all any of us want out of life, anyways. And I really, honestly, could not be happier that you guys are finally getting hitched because you've both been so annoying through this whole engagement thing." They both laughed appreciatively, and even through their misty eyes, he could see both of their parents nodding in agreement. "Here's to you both being annoying as hell together for the rest of your lives."
He gulped down his champagne and collapsed in his seat, turning and smiling tiredly at Valerie when she squeezed his hand beneath the table. "You did really well," she whispered as she pressed a light kiss on his cheek.
Danny landed a light punch on Tucker's thigh, grinning from ear to ear. "I can't believe you remember that," he muttered, glancing at his first grade Valentine's Day paper.
Tucker snorted. "It's one of my favorite memories of us," he said truthfully.
Sam leaned across Danny's lap and swatted Tucker's leg a few times. "Go dance with Val," she said, jerking her head toward the empty dance floor."
"Why?"
"Jazz needs a few more minutes to finish her speech, so you should go buy her some time. C'mon, what's more romantic than dancing at a wedding?"
"Literally anything else in the entire world," Valerie said, but she was smiling, so Tucker helped her out of her seat and ushered her onto the dance floor. It only took a few moments of swaying with her in his arms before a few more couples joined them. Every now and then he would catch sight of the front table, where Danny and Sam were always either in conversation with Jazz or in conversation with each other, their foreheads pressed together and their noses brushing.
"It is kind of romantic, isn't it?" Valerie murmured halfway through the second song. Tucker smiled, praying she wouldn't notice the small, hard circle in his pocket pressing against her hip. She was just smiling at him serenely, so he guessed she didn't. His heart lurched in his chest when he remembered what he was planning on doing back at their hotel room after the reception, that their bed was at that very moment covered with a shower of blood red rose petals, or that the bellhop would be putting a bottle of champagne on ice in just a few minutes. He sighed and drew Valerie a little closer, burying his face in her hair and closing his eyes. "There's nothing quite as romantic as a wedding."
"Yeah," he said hoarsely. "But ours will be better."
She snorted. "Oh, yeah. Ours will be perfect."
"Sh," he breathed. The Fentons spun by, Maddie laughing excitedly when Jack dipped her low to the ground. "We don't want them to know that our wedding will destroy this one."
Valerie laughed, pulled back, and kissed him solidly on the mouth. "I love you," she said softly when she pulled away.
"I love you, too," Tucker murmured back. Her head fell to his chest, which left him a clear view of the front table. Danny and Sam were both watching him, and he smiled, flashing back to that Valentine's Day party in the sixth grade when he thought he'd fallen in love with Sam. Danny's hand drifted up and down her arm absently, and even though they were all grown adults, Tucker could still see them all so clearly as children. How little he'd known back then.
"Yeah," he sighed, "there's really nothing more romantic than dancing at a wedding."
Haha yeah I don't exactly love the ending...eh, oh well.
Thanks for reading!
I don't own Danny Phantom...and some of you might have recognized their sixth grade teacher's name...I may or may not still be mourning the ending of Parks and Recreation. I don't own that, either (because if I did it would DEFINITELY still be on the air).
- Tori