The wedding! What we've all been waiting for!
Sorry this took me so long, I had to wrap things up and make decisions for the story since this is the end.
Thank you so much for reading!
Before Charlie and Steven go and get a room at a hotel near where the wedding will be, they go and visit Neil and Todd. Todd answers the door and lets them in, as Neil's mother is there too and has Neil enveloped in a tight, squeezing hug. Steven knows that Charlie is going to laugh even before he starts doing it, so he elbows him in the ribs.
"Oh, hi, Charlie, hi Steven!" Mrs. Perry says, letting go of Neil and waving at them. "Can you believe that Neil's getting married?"
"Oh, not at all." Charlie says, smirking at Neil. Steven can already tell that this isn't going to go well.
He can't exactly say that he expects it, though, when Mrs. Perry says, "It seems like just yesterday you and Neil were running around in the backyard together. Oh, Charlie, remember when our dog knocked you into the mud that one time and you cried?" Charlie's smirk vanishes, but a smirk appears on Neil's face. Steven snorts and tries to cover it up by adjusting his glasses. Todd has just now made his way to where everyone else is, and he looks upon the scene in mild confusion.
"I—I was seven!" Charlie says in an effort to justify himself, which just makes Steven laugh harder.
"We all used to make cookies together," Mrs. Perry says, unaware of Charlie's embarrassment. Steven is glad that he met Neil and Charlie in high school.
Neil looks a little embarrassed, but Todd walks by, kisses him on the cheek, and says, "I think that's sweet," and he doesn't look as embarrassed anymore. Charlie looks over to Steven as if he's expecting some sort of similar reaction, but Steven just rolls his eyes at him.
Without the daunting presence of Mrs. Anderson looming over, Mrs. Perry is quite enthusiastic about helping with the wedding as she, Neil, Todd, Steven, and Charlie sit down and talk about a few last minute details. She also usually has pretty good ideas, too, considering the fact that she's the only one in the room who has actually gotten married before. Admittedly, she does go on for a rather long time, and for once, Charlie is actually thankful when he gets a ridiculous text from Knox in the middle of a conversation.
Charlie sort of regrets his text tone for him in that moment.
The text from Knox reads, 'should I get Neil + Todd a puppy as a wedding present y/n', and Charlie feels like running a hand down his face because now he has to dodge around the fact that Knox wants to get Neil and Todd a puppy as a wedding gift even though the two of them live in an apartment. Steven reads the text over his shoulder and clicks his tongue.
Charlie texts Knox, 'NO U SHOULD NOT THEY LIVE IN AN APARTMENT' and just tells Todd, Neil, and Mrs. Perry that the text was Knox asking about a wedding detail. Charlie uses the rift in conversation to take his leave, Steven in tow.
—
Charlie and Steven regret not calling any movers to help them about twenty minutes into setting up the wedding. They have three tables set up, and Steven is over it. "This is ridiculous," he says, "let's just call some movers to help us. I don't care if it'll cost more money." Charlie laughs and leans some of his weight against one of the tables that they actually have set up.
"Tomorrow. Let's just do this by ourselves for one day." Steven huffs.
"Fine. But, we're setting a time for when we stop working because if you think that I'm gonna be out here when it's dark outside, you've got another thing coming."
"Alright, alright, just help me move this next table." They set a time for when they should quit and get back to work.
By the time that Steven and Charlie stop working on setting up the wedding, both of them very gladly lie themselves down in the grass and take a few moments to relax. Charlie slides a hand onto Steven's cheek and then starts to give him loud, smacking, over-exaggerated kisses all over his face. Steven lightly swats at him, not really making a true effort to get him to stop.
"Stop, Charlie, you're sweaty," Steven says.
"You don't usually mind when I'm sweaty."
"That's because I'm the one making you sweaty. And, also, you know, I usually have an erection or I'm post orgasmic." Charlie laughs and kisses Steven on the lips.
Eventually, they find it in themselves to get up and go back to the hotel.
—
Setting up Neil and Todd's wedding somehow becomes a Thing. Steven and Charlie call in some movers, and Mrs. Perry and Gerard tag along too. Gerard is kind of an angel, though, so after the third day of working, everything is basically done, since Gerard managed to rope a bunch of people into helping out. Charlie and Steven see all of their close friends from high school (and Richard Cameron, to which Charlie marvels at how nice Neil and Todd are) as well as some people that they don't know, which is…kind of weird but not completely. Charlie slips an arm around Steven's waist after everyone else has left and they're left looking at this place where Todd and Neil are gonna get married.
"Remember when they were just little virgins?" Charlie asks, wiping an imaginary tear from his eye with the hand that isn't around Steven's waist. Steven groans.
"You're impossible."
"Really, though, when I first saw Todd, my first thought was definitely not, 'Gee, I bet that he's gonna be the love of Neil's life'."
"If it was I'd be worried about you."
"You know what I mean, Steven," Charlie tells him, and Steven captures his lips in a kiss, two fingers placed deftly under his chin.
"I-I'm really, really nervous."
"Oh, that's natural, Todd."
Mrs. Anderson fiddles some with Todd's suit, tie, hair. "I've never seen you smile quite as much as you do when you're with Neil," Mrs. Anderson says, taking a few steps back so that she can get a better look at Todd.
"He's good for you," Jeff puts in from the side.
"You're right, Jeff," Mrs. Anderson says, "now, I wish you would find someone like that for you."
"Mom."
"This is my day," Todd puts in. His mother gives him a look that he can't quite place but doesn't pay too much attention to the comment.
"Is there anything you'd like to say before you become a married man?" Mr. Anderson asks from his place beside Jeff.
"No, I…I don't think that anything will change except for legal stuff."
"So, why are you nervous?" Jeff asks with a teasing smirk on his lips. Todd glares at him.
"Jeffrey, be nice; your brother's getting married today."
A relative comes by and starts talking to Mrs. and Mr. Anderson, and Jeff takes the opportunity to walk up to Todd and say, "Hey, Todd, everything's going to be alright. More than that: everything's going to be amazing. Neil loves you a lot; everyone can see it." Todd smiles.
"Thanks, Jeff."
—
"Mom, you can't hug me all day."
Mrs. Perry gives her son one last tight squeeze before letting him go. "I just can't believe that you're getting married."
"Is…is he going to be here?"
"Yes, Neil. I promised you he would."
"Okay."
"Neil, your father really does want the best for you."
"Mmhmm. I'm sure."
"Let's not talk about this," Mrs. Perry says quickly, "today is not the day to talk about this." Neil goes back to looking at himself in the mirror like he had been before his mother had enveloped him in a bone crushing hug.
It's not too long before there's a knock at the door, and Charlie opens it and comes in before waiting for an answer. Steven trails in after him, saying, "Charlie, the purpose of knocking is to ask for permission to come in."
"Nah, the purpose of knocking is to let people know about your presence. Are you ready for some more company, Neil?"
"Yeah, but I mean…I feel…jittery."
"Do you think you're nervous or excited?" Charlie asks.
"Both," Neil says, "isn't that strange?"
"No. I think that's…probably a very normal reaction."
Neil runs a few fingers through his hair and then starts to smile. "I'm getting married!" he pauses. "I'm getting married to Todd Anderson!"
"Yes, you are. I'll let everyone else in," Charlie says with a smile.
Gerard, Knox, and a few people that Neil knows from college congregate into the room, all eager to see Neil. He receives lots of pats on the shoulder, and Knox says, "Gerard, Steven, Charlie, and I have to hop back and forth a lot between you and Todd due to some people's planning skills and the fact that everyone is all caught up about you two not seeing each other until you're at the altar."
"Our planning skills are great, thank you very much, Knoxious. And, if you don't want to go visit Todd, you certainly don't have to," Charlie says.
"Oh, you're going to visit Todd," Neil says firmly.
"We all know that you're gonna follow the whole 'not seeing your future spouse until you get to the altar' thing when you get married, too," Steven puts in.
"That's true," Knox says.
As he, Charlie, Gerard, and Knox go to see how Todd is doing, Steven notices how Mrs. Perry is smiling at Neil and how happy Neil looks, going on about getting married and occasionally doing a spin or something of the like.
—
"How are you, Todd?" Charlie asks, sticking his head through the door without even bothering to knock this time. Steven flicks him on the back of his head, and Charlie swivels his head around to shoot him a look.
"What Charlie means," Steven says, yanking Charlie back, "is, after knocking first, can we come in?"
"Yeah, come in," Todd tells them, an amused smile on his lips.
When Charlie, Steven, Knox, and Gerard come in, Todd's friends from college are already there, and his family is still there. "Neil's doing alright; we just saw him," Knox tells Todd.
"Oh, gosh, Neil," Todd says, running his hands through his hair. Mrs. Anderson clicks her tongue and smoothes his hair back down. "I'm just…this is…nerve-racking."
"Isn't it exciting, too, though?" Gerard asks. Todd pauses, and all eyes are on him.
"Yeah," he says, a smile growing on his lips, "yeah, it really is." And then, Todd is smiling bright and wide, and everyone is certain that this wedding will be something to remember.
Everyone idles around Todd for a bit before Steven and Charlie duck out to check on various aspects of the wedding; Knox and Gerard are given free rein to travel between seeing Todd and Neil as they please, but neither Steven nor Charlie pays much attention to what they do after they leave them.
Steven and Charlie are talking about the wedding cake of all things, when they see Mr. Perry hanging around in the hallway. They both look at each other with wide eyes.
"What is he doing here?" Charlie hisses.
"He can't…he can't be here to say something, can h—"
Mrs. Perry slides out of the room that Neil is in, careful to only let the door open a minimal amount so that no one can see what's outside. She sees her husband and walks over to him. "Do you think…do you want to go see Neil?" she asks.
"Do you really think that that would be a good idea?" Mr. Perry scoffs, a sneer on his face. Steven and Charlie back around a corner to avoid being noticed but still peek out so that they can see and hear what's happening.
"…He's really happy," Mrs. Perry says softly. Mr. Perry hums in acknowledgement.
"Yes, well, I just came to check in. I'll see you at the wedding, and I'll save you a seat." Mrs. Perry nods, and then, Mr. Perry is gone. Mrs. Perry goes back to be with Neil, and Charlie and Steven are left feeling like they've seen far too much.
—
Charlie is pacing.
Which, Steven kind of resents because if Charlie wasn't, he definitely would be. And, he and Charlie are a Duo, as much as they try to dismiss it, so one of them has to look at least alright or they'll look completely Not Alright, which isn't good. Steven settles for nervously fidgeting with his sleeves in a way that he hopes isn't noticeable.
Finally, Steven catches Charlie by the arm and whispers, "You have to stop, people are arriving."
"I'll make a deal with you," Charlie says, "I can pace back and forth one more time and you can fidget with your sleeves some more, and then, we'll both stop, okay?"
"Is my sleeve-fidgeting noticeable?" Steven asks.
"No, I just notice you a lot." Charlie pecks Steven on the lips and paces back and forth one last time, while Steven fidgets with his sleeves a few last times.
Everything is set up for the wedding, and now, everyone is just waiting for everything to happen. Steven and Charlie had wanted to stay with Neil and Todd and hop along with them in their separate limos to come to the wedding once it was time, but they have the role of being the wedding planners, meaning that they had had to come to the wedding early and make sure that everything was in order. They just hate having to stand there and listen in on the conversations of the wedding guests, though.
"Someone just said that I have a punk haircut," Charlie says, now bouncing his heels instead of pacing, "honestly, I could take that as a compliment or an insult, but fuck them anyway."
"I heard someone say 'ugh, look at that ginger' just a few minutes ago." Charlie stops bouncing.
"Really? I didn't hear that. Who was it? I'll knock their teeth out."
"Easy, Charlie, Todd and Neil are getting married today, just remember that."
"You're too good for me, Steven."
The wedding officiant arrives shortly after this conversation, and Steven and Charlie talk to her about the whole plan for the wedding, even though she'd already had a rundown of it beforehand. She stands with Steven and Charlie and calmly talks with them; she's been to enough weddings to know how to calm down exactly who needs to be calmed down.
More people file in, and Charlie finds himself flickering his gaze from Mr. Perry to Richard Cameron. His eyes settle on Mr. Perry, and he mumbles, "If someone says something, I'll knock them out."
"No one's gonna say anything, Charlie," Steven tells him.
The two limousines holding Neil and Todd (separately) pull up, and suddenly, Charlie and Steven both find it very hard to breathe. Knox, Gerard, and Neil and Todd's friends from college get out of the limos first and find places near Charlie and Steven. Those sitting in the seats murmur to each other excitedly. Once everything seems to be ready, Charlie makes an exaggerated, not entirely necessary gesture to indicate to Neil and Todd that they're ready. Charlie receives several glares for it (and Steven told him that the gesture was ridiculous), but then, he sees Todd and Neil step out of their respective limos, and it doesn't matter at all.
Neil and Todd see each other and smile like they've never been any happier. They get as far as gently touching each other's arms before they remember that they're kind of getting married and link their arms together before walking down the aisle, their smiles never dimming. When they make it to the altar, they link their hands together, and it all suddenly seems so real. A few tears leak out of Charlie's eyes, and Steven looks at him as if to say, are you crying? Charlie shakes his head, the action causing the tears prickling in his eyes to run down his cheeks. Steven lets out an amused huff.
Neil and Todd have watched enough wedding shows and movies in the past months to know how this will go. They hear, "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today…" and then the words seem to tumble away; they know what is said though they don't really hear it.
No one says anything when the minister asks if anyone has an objection to the union.
Charlie's tears start to flow more freely when Neil says his vows, and he's doing his best not to make loud, gross sniffling and sobbing sounds when it's Todd's turn to say his vows (Steven has started to tear up too; how can one not? Todd has always had a way with words).
Neil and Todd exchange their rings (certainly not fancy things, but theirs), and then, they are pronounced husbands.
When Todd and Neil kiss, they get lost in it, and their friends know that, in another public circumstance, they would never kiss this deeply and passionately, but no one can really fault them. When they pull away, they definitely are giving each other bedroom eyes (and that's kind of weird to see, Charlie and Steven think), but thankfully, they're reminded of the presence of other people by the applause.
Neil and Todd hardly ever take their eyes off of each other, even as the wedding congregation moves from the altar to the other side of the field, where there are tables, food, and a 'dancefloor'.
As everyone walks over to the other side of the field and the food (Good food too, Steven thinks, that's what we used most of the money that Neil and Todd's parents chipped in on), Charlie says to Steven, "God, I hope they shove cake in each other's faces," and Steven laughs because it's so weird, but it's exactly the kind of thing Charlie would say.
While a newly married couple shoving their wedding cake in each other's faces is certainly incredibly sappy and romantic by some strange laws of the universe, Neil and Todd manage to take the act of being nauseatingly cute a step even further than this by affectionately feeding bite sized pieces of cake to each other with their forks. They make it even worse by gazing lovingly into each other's eyes as they do so, their non-dominant hands poised on their cheeks and wide grins across their lips; occasionally, they laugh just a bit, softly and gently, for reasons that others watching on can only decipher as how happy they are.
"Do they ever even fight?" Charlie asks, eating his respective slice of cake and watching the lovebirds of the hour.
"You know they do," Steven replies, "they're really fucking dramatic about it too since they don't do it very often. Remember when Neil drove all the way to our apartment and whined for a few hours about how he would 'never love again'?"
"Oh, God, don't remind me. He ate all of our fucking pie, too. We actually made that goddamn pie instead of buying it from the store for once!"
"Do you think you could slip Neil's pie thievery antics into your best man's speech somehow?" Charlie laughs.
"Today is definitely not the day to bring up the antics Todd and Neil get up to after they fight." Steven snickers and moves himself just a little bit closer to Charlie.
It's such a happy day; troubles seem far, far away.
—
The music that everyone dances to is a mixture of traditional wedding-esque songs and pop music, a fact that some of the older attendees of the wedding look a bit disgruntled over but not overly so.
Neil and Todd dance with each other through most of the evening, though they do get passed around some by various members of their family. Todd looks a little distressed when his grand aunt dances with him, and Charlie not-so-subtly laughs at him as he and Steven come twirling by.
Both Charlie and Steven were taught how to dance when they were younger, and neither of them quite remembers everything about the steps or the motions, but it doesn't matter to them and it doesn't stop them from having a good time.
Charlie has the goddamn sheet of paper out in front of him (he didn't nearly have the dedication that Todd and Neil did when they decided that they were going to memorize their beautiful, tear-jerking vows), but that doesn't stop him from feeling nervous as everyone quiets down and all eyes are on him.
Jesus, what's wrong with him? He loves attention.
Steven taps ever so lightly as his ankle with his foot, though, and well, that's one thing that he loves that isn't betraying him.
"You know," Charlie says once he manages to will himself to speak, "it took me a bit to actually figure out what to say in this speech because, well, what can you say about two people who so obviously love each other so much? That, and I was intimidated by Todd's ability to make everything he says sound poetic and beautiful," there's a bit of laughter, and now, Charlie's got it.
"Anyways, Neil and Todd met when Todd came to our high school at the beginning of our junior year. I can't exactly say that I expected this when I first met Todd," more chuckling, especially from Steven, and Charlie grins as he continues, "but I did kind of realize that Neil and Todd are totally soul mates pretty soon; well, I mean, everyone did: we took bets." Said people who qualify as 'we' groan and try to hide their faces.
"So, obviously, Neil and Todd started dating. That was all fine and dandy, but then, one day, I realized that it was really serious. You see, our English teacher at the time, Mr. Keating, made Todd create a poem on the spot in front of the entire class—which was really good—, and the way that Neil was looking at Todd was…telling, to say the least.
"But, even if I had never seen that particular moment, I could have figured out how much Neil and Todd loved each other in other ways. The way that Neil smiles whenever Todd is happy and talking and has everyone's attention, the way that Todd looks at Neil when he thinks no one's looking—or even when he thinks people are looking sometimes—, how easily they managed to have the actions of poking and tapping at each other become normal, all of those sorts of things."
Charlie talks about some of his favorite memories of Neil and Todd, from the time that they all went swimming together and Todd and Neil were in their own little world to the time that he had caught them slow dancing and hadn't quite walked away until the kisses they were giving each other started to get deeper and deeper (and, well, Charlie doesn't include that last part in the speech). Charlie had also very much wanted to include the one time that Neil and Todd came to class looking a bit too ruffled, but he had figured that there might be an adverse reaction to that particular story.
Charlie spends some time talking about Todd and Neil individually as well ("when we were ten, Neil almost broke my arm,", "Todd is the only person I know who will willingly talk with me about half of the shows on Discovery Life") before he wraps up his speech.
"Todd, Neil," Charlie says, making a grand gesture with his glass, "congratulations. I wish you the best of luck in life." People clap as Charlie sits, and Steven taps at his ankle again, smiling at him when he turns his way. Everyone does one last 'toast' (they don't even have alcohol since many of those in the grooms' parties are underage, something that Charlie finds to be hilarious and disappointing at the same time) to Neil and Todd.
—
The evening ends with Neil and Todd driving away with their abundance of wedding gifts after they've finally shaken off the endless congratulations that they've been receiving. As they drive away, Charlie whispers to Steven, "How much do you want to bet that Neil is sneaking his hand up Todd's thigh right now?" Steven laughs.
Charlie and Steven had had the intention of staying after to start 'packing away' the wedding, but they find that they're much too tired to do that. They can clean everything up the next day with the help of hired movers.
—
A few weeks later, Steven and Charlie receive a postcard from Todd and Neil. They had gone to the beach nearest to them for their honeymoon, and the postcard features a picture of the two of them lying on two beach chairs, Neil kissing Todd on the cheek while Todd takes the picture and smiles. Charlie tacks it onto their refrigerator.
"We really did it, didn't we, Steven?" Charlie says, wrapping his arms around Steven and kissing him soundly.
"Yeah. It stressed me the Hell out, though." Steven kisses Charlie back, and for a while, that's all that they do.
Later, Charlie and Steven take some time to watch T.V snuggled on their couch together, and they soon receive some texts from Todd and Neil with pictures of them on their honeymoon. The pictures range from regular selfies to pictures of the other in the ocean. Steven and Charlie never quite get tired of being sent pictures from Neil and Todd of the other with the caption 'my husband' with a heart.
—
Years in the future, Charlie and Steven hire professional wedding planners for their wedding.