There was literally no preparation for the wedding beyond Darcy picking out a beautiful, and beautifully cheap, ivory satin wedding dress. Not that it had to be cheap. Loki was apparently quite rich and had said that she shouldn't worry about that kind of thing. But old habits died hard, and she didn't really want to start off married life by using his money. It was their money now, he argued, but she was adamant.
Jane and Darcy had been hanging out quite a lot lately. Ever since Easter, and with Jane being new in the city- not that Darcy had been there that long either, but she knew a lot more than Jane- they'd started going out for girls' nights. Or if one of them had to go shopping and the other one was free, they'd generally tag along. It was nice. And Jane was very different from what Darcy remembered. She didn't know if it was Jane who'd changed, or herself, or a combination of the two, but being with Jane was easy. Darcy felt like she could be herself, which was a rare thing, because people tended to look at her strangely sometimes when she wasn't paying attention to how much herself she was being. But Jane would just smile and roll her eyes to show that Darcy was being weird but that Jane liked it.
From hanging out with Jane, it came up that she was apparently going out with Thor, which both amused and delighted Darcy. She fancied herself to be a bit of a matchmaker after that, and delighted Jane to no end with the elaborate imagined future love-affairs of two people they'd seen in the park or at the supermarket.
Naturally, Darcy and Loki asked Thor and Jane to be the witnesses necessary for when they got married. The two accepted.
Loki had found a small chapel nearby, and looked into booking them, which was fine with Darcy. She had never really been one of those girls who dreams about getting married as a child, and so has it all figured out the way she wants her wedding to be. She'd been off getting into trouble with Katie and Katie's brothers- playing pirates, or big games of tag with the neighborhood kids. Or else she'd been holed up in her room reading, or watching movies. Boys just hadn't really concerned her for a while, and by the time they did, she had few illusions about the typical men her age.
They had toyed with the idea of inviting Darcy's parents up for the wedding, but they were- ridiculously!- off on another cruise, so it was decided that Loki would take a few vacation days and they would go down to visit them at the end of September- about two weeks from then. Darcy was quite looking forward to it. She missed them, no matter how long she was away for, and she was eager to hear any advice her mother might have on childbirth.
Loki had outright refused to call his parents at all. Darcy was astounded by this, but he was adamant. He just didn't want them in his life at this point, he said. That he'd think about it later, but wasn't ready yet. Reconnecting with Thor would be just the first step at reconnecting with his family, Darcy had thought, but apparently not so. She tried to change his mind, but couldn't. So she had, reluctantly, let it be.
Despite that, Darcy was rather more excited for her wedding than she would have thought she'd be. Although, that could be in part because on the rare occasion she'd thought of what it would be like to get married, she hadn't been able to picture that she'd be marrying a man like Loki. The closer it got to the wedding, the more excited she got- so that on the morning of it she was practically vibrating with energy, which amused Loki to no end. He called her a pretty little squirrel on caffeine, and she made a face at him and kicked him out of the house to get ready at Thor's so she and Jane could have the house. They were arriving at the chapel seperatly, to preserve a little of the old tradition of not seeing the bride until she was coming down the aisle. Thor had actually agreed, somewhat bemusedly, to play the role of father and walk her down.
"Are you nervous?" Jane asked as they stood in front of the bathroom mirrors doing their make-up. Darcy didn't usually do much, but thought that for a special occasion like this, she's put in a bit more effort than usual. Nothing too dramatic- just a bit of eyeliner and lipstick. Still, she was pleased with the effect.
"Nervous?" Darcy repeated, examining her lips and then adjusting the line of the lipstick. "Not really nervous. Mostly just excited, and happy. I can't wait to start my life with him! I feel like everything's going to feel different when we're married. In a good kind of way."
Jane smiled, applying a subtle touch of eyeshadow expertly. "It's funny you would say that," she said. "Because I would have thought that you'd just go on as you'd been doing before." She shrugged. "But maybe that was just me."
Darcy looked at her, confused. "Wait. What? What do you mean 'maybe that was just me'?"
Jane fiddled uncomfortably with her make-up bag. "Oh, well. You know. When I was married, I mean."
Darcy was shocked, to say the least. Her mouth dropped and her eyebrows rose. "Dude!" she said, her eyes wide. "We've been friends for months and you don't tell me you're married? Wait." Her brows furrowed. "Were married? Because I'm confused. You're dating Thor."
Jane smiled faintly. "I'm divorced now," she said. "It didn't last long. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you. It's just not the kind of thing that comes into the conversation very frequently. It wasn't purposely held back. I just wasn't really thinking about it." She smiled brightly then and stopped fiddling with the make-up bag. "But this is your day! " She clapped her hands together. "And just look at you! You look stunning, of course."
Darcy rolled her eyes but smiled, pleased. Jane was very liberal with her compliments, and yet she always meant them. It had become something of a joke between them, when Jane said something incredibly positive and inane and then caught herself. One time she'd been practically rhapsodizing about Darcy's choice of breakfast, and it had just hit them both how ridiculous and funny it was. They'd busted out laughing and it had been a while before they'd calmed.
"But of course," Darcy said waggling her eyebrows in a provocative manner. Jane shook her head at her, and Darcy laughed. "I know modesty is supposed to be becoming, but I can't help it! I don't know though, I kind of think my confidence is darling."
Jane looked at her with amusement. "Darling? Really? That's the word you're going to use?"
Darcy shrugged. "Hey man, if the potato tastes good then eat it."
Jane shook her head. "You should really be writing this stuff down. In a hundred years from now scholars are going to wonder what proverbs we had in our time, and they'll be missing some classic Darcy Wisdom."
"Hmm," Darcy said thoughtfully. "Maybe you're right. But I think a lot of my smartness comes from this dress. It's like my superhero costume- I put it on and all of a sudden I go from meek, mild-mannered Darcy to Super Mega-wise Owl-woman!"
"Oh Darcy," Jane said, snickering at the image of an owlified Darcy. "Don't ever change."
"Okay, but this dress is gonna get pretty dirty. I kind of think you're going to regret telling me to do that."
Thor and Loki had gone out for their own version of a 'bachelor's night' the previous evening, which had mostly consisted of the two of them trading ideas of what the future would be like. Because the girls were both featuring very heavily in their future, talk had turned to them.
"Jane is a nice girl," Loki had said, tempting Thor into speaking about his relationship. He'd quite liked Jane when he'd worked with her, and she seemed to be a good friend to Darcy now.
"Aye," Thor had said somberly, sipping a beer as they sat beside eachother at a Thor's favorite bar. It was a quiet night, and there was only one other patron, playing pool at the back. The click of the cue against the balls punctuated their words at odd times. "She is nice. But she is more than that," he had said, struggling to find the word. "She is...right."
Loki had nodded. "I think I know what you mean. I feel the same with Darcy. I can't imagine any other woman making me feel what I do for Darcy. But it surprised me that you feel like that for Jane. Not meaning any offense to Jane," he had said quickly, seeing Thor's brow lower at that. "Just that, in the past I've never known you to be like this over a woman."
Thor had nodded, accepting this. "It's true. But this woman," he'd given Loki a look of surprised happiness that Loki was sure he had never seen on his serious, womanizing brother's face. "It's almost as if I'veknown her my whole life. She makes me want what you have. Marriage, and a baby on the way...things that I never saw myself having."
Loki had smiled at that. "I never saw myself with them either," he'd confessed. "But I couldn't be more happy about how things have turned out."
Thor had looked at him, his face serious. "You are quite the inspiration, brother," he'd said.
Loki had raised his glass at that, surprised by this declaration from his elder brother. They'd clinked glasses and drank.
A few minutes Loki had checked his watch and saw that it was eleven. "I have to go," he'd said. "Darcy'll be expecting me back soon." It had amused him how domestic already he sounded. Thor must have had the same idea, because he was smiling slightly as well. "But I thank you for this," he said. "Truly. And I am glad that you will be there for my wedding tomorrow."
"I wouldn't miss it," Thor had said, raising his glass to his brother.
The gentle clack of the man playing pool had accompanied Loki as he went outside, back into the crisp, September night air, and back to the woman he loved. His heart had been full and he'd been filled with hope and excited for the future.
Now he was at Thor's apartment, growing increasingly more frustrated.
"This bloody thing," he said, attempting to tie his bowtie for the millionth time. "It won't stay tied. And then when it does, it looks like something from a horror-shop."
Thor raised a brow sardonically. "Really, brother? I fear Darcy's madness may be catching."
"Can you help me?" Loki asked, frustrated and eying Thor's perfectly tied bowtie with jealousy. "How did you get yours so good?"
Thor shrugged, and took the strip of fabric in hand, smoothing out the wrinkled parts from Loki's attempts. Within two minutes, Loki stood, dapper in a crisp white dress shirt and navy dress pants, his black silk bowtie perfect.
Relaxing again, Loki thanked Thor. He was ready now, and he felt all his aggravation melting away to be replaced by a buzz of excitement. He was getting married in a few hours. He grinned.
The priest was old and rail-thin with bleary eyes.
"Loki Laufeyson," the priest croaked. "Do you take this woman- Darcy Lewis- to be your bride? To care for in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," Loki said, his words feeling powerful and heavy in the strange stillness of the chapel. He slipped the ring on her finger.
Darcy beamed, positively glowing as she briefly admired how the ring looked, shining merrily from her finger, before looking back at him.
"And do you, Darcy Lewis, take this man- Loki Laufeyson- to be your husband? To care for in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"
"I do," she chirped, her voice so much lighter and enthusiastic than Loki's.
Loki smiled at this example of how different they were. While he was sure Darcy took this event no less seriously than he, she approached it with enthusiasm and energy. Loki, on the other hand, felt like this was the last piece of the puzzle that he'd been working on for so long. Rather than enthusiasm, he felt a strong sense of relief and contentment. They were finally bonded together. They were having a baby. He could relax. For some reason, for as long as he could remember, he'd believed he had bad luck. A cloud had always seemed to be over his head, and he'd been haunted by the feeling that something wasn't quite right. The feeling was quieted now, though. His luck had finally turned around.
She slid the ring onto his finger, but not before Loki saw what she'd had written inside it. He smiled, touched and amused at the same time. This man is the property of Darcy Laufeyson. He got the feeling that she would have preffered there to be more room for her to write something along the lines of: if he gets lost, please return him to...
"Then I now pronounce thee, man and wife. You may kiss the bride."
Darcy grinned at him and threw herself into his arms, causing Thor and Jane to chuckle from the pews just behind them. Loki caught her easily- she was prone to doing this and so he'd had much practice- and kissed her lightly.
"Really?" Darcy asked, pouting up at him. "That's it?"
Grinning, Loki kissed her forehead. "Until later."
"Later?" Darcy asked with interest. "What happens later?"
He whispered in her ear. Her eyes grew big and her mouth formed an 'o'. She swallowed loudly.
"I think," she said, "that we need to go. Home." She bit her lip, her eyes hungry. "Now."
He agreed. She was still in his arms, so he swept off down the aisle and out to the car, calling over his shoulder a brief, but sincere thanks to his brother and Jane for being there.