Chapter 103: Happily Ever After
[Scene: Zoi looks up, it's a perfect evening. The sky is clear enough to see the moon looming full and bright above them.]
[Kunzite leads him to the rose garden then sweeps Zoi up into his arms and carries him to a bench sheltered by the shadow of a flowering cherry tree. He sits, with Zoi still cradled against his chest. Zoi notice how good the moonlight looks in his silvery hair and reaches up to touch a strand of it.]
[Kunzite shifts Zoi until Zoi is straddling him face to face, with his legs bent at his side. Kunzite caresses the back of his calf]
Zoi: Are you going to explain to me the reason for all this?
Kunzite: [admiring Zoi's legs] I should think that would be self-evident.
Zoi: I meant bringing me to the prom.
Kunzite: Oh- well…
[Kunzite reaches under Zoi's skirt to caress his backside and growls as his hand encounters about four layers of silk, garter, stays and girdling. Kunzite raises his skirt and surveys all the corsetry with a frown before dropping Zoi's skirt.]
Kunzite: Damn that Beryl. She's locked up everything tighter than Fort Knox down there.
Zoi: I think she knows us too well.
Kunzite: Then she should know better than to pull a dirty trick like this.
Zoi: Don't worry. I'll still make you happy. [winks]
Kunzite: You always make me happy. Just by existing.
[Kunzite looks up at the moon]
Kunzite: Twilight. No matter how perfect the day it always has to end…[smiles]…unless you are a Shitennou, in love with another Shitennou, and then the nighttime stretches on forever.
Zoi: [kisses Kunzite lightly and then strokes Kunzite's face] Some things never have to end.
[Kunzite and Zoi kiss and a sudden breeze sends down a flurry of petals. Zoi giggles as he brushes them from Kunzite's shoulders.]
Zoi: So what was the point of bringing me to the prom? And in a dress, of all things.
Kunzite: [grins sheepishly] Well, I had to put you in a dress, since your main objection to the prom seemed to be that you'd feel foolish dancing with me in a tuxedo.
Zoi: [jabs his shoulder] You know what I mean.
Kunzite: [sighs] I brought you to the prom, because I don't want you to miss anything. I want our lives together to be as normal as possible. Just two typical high school kids, falling in love for the first time.
Zoi: [cuddles against Kunzite with a sigh] And in what strange parallel dimension would I have ever gone to the prom of my own free will?
[Kunzite just smiles]
Zoi: You know, if you weren't a thousand times stronger than me, I would have never let you get away with this.
Kunzite: It's not so bad, you said so yourself.
Zoi: [puts his arms around Kunzite's neck]That's because I'm with you.
[They kiss for a while, then Kunzite breaks it off with a slight smile]
Kunzite: Will you tell me something?
Zoi: Don't I always?
Kunzite: [strokes Zoi's hair] Just promise you'll tell me.
Zoi: [suddenly uneasy] …fine…
Kunzite: You seemed honestly surprised I was taking you here.
Zoi: I was.
Kunzite: And you claim you're not into crossdressing.
Zoi: I'm not…[watches as Kunzite absentmindedly caresses the back of his thigh] ..though I'm starting to see it might have certain advantages…
Kunzite: Then you must have had some other reason for agreeing to get dressed up like this. [looks into Zoi's eyes] I'm curious, why DID you think Beryl was putting you in a dress?
[Zoi just blushes]
Kunzite: I mean, it's not like we sprang this dress on you at the last second and forced you into it. You were there at all stages of the fittings… Beryl claims she spent hours on your hair. She must have spent another hour on your makeup. You had plenty of time to make a fuss, but you didn't. Until you found out we were taking you to the prom…What did you think we were doing?
Zoi: [purses his lips and looks away] I don't want to tell you.
Kunzite: You promised.
Zoi: I know.
[Zoi just sits in silence, his face burning with mortification]
[Kunzite tilts Zoi's face to look him in the eye]
Kunzite: What's the problem?
Zoi: I…I don't want to scare you off.
Kunzite: You know I don't scare easily.
Zoi: This might do it.
[Kunzite grins]
Kunzite: Whatever it is, it can't be half as perverted as the thoughts I have about you, every waking minute.
Zoi: [giggles] It's not perverted. It's stupid.
Kunzite: Now I really want to know… Please?
[Zoi sighs. Kunzite waits.]
Zoi: Well…I assumed it was for some sort of occasion…but I didn't think it was for anything as lame as a human prom.
[Kunzite chuckles at Zoi's disparaging of the term 'human']
Kunzite: What sort of occasion?
[Zoi looks down at his dress and fidgets a bit with one of the straps]
[Kunzite waits]
Zoi: [beet red] Ok…I was hoping all this was just your sneaky way of fitting me for a wedding gown.
[Zoi looks away in shame]
[Kunzite's eyes light up as a dozen emotions play across his face, ending with elation.]
Kunzite: You'd… put on a wedding gown for me?
[Zoi nods and bits his lip with embarrassment]
Kunzite: Are you serious?
Zoi: Yes, I'm serious…
Kunzite: You'd be willing to be my bride?
Zoi: Ever since I can remember, I've always wanted storybook wedding. In a huge church, with my father giving me away in a beautiful gown, and a gigantic cake, millions of flowers, and a dozen beautiful bridesmaids. Of course all of that was impossible in Phoenix. I would have had trouble rounding up enough people for a civil service… but here…
[Kunzite smiles]
Zoi: Let's just say, that was one fantasy I had planned on taking with me to the grave… It sounds even more stupid when I say it out loud.
[Kunzite kisses him]
Kunzite: That's not stupid at all… There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that would bring me greater joy than what you have just described.
[Zoi smiles with relief, and Kunzite kisses Zoi with great intensity]
Kunzite: Our wedding will be Hen Tie's event of the century…people will talk about it for generations…Of course we'll have to wait until after you finish high school. I have a feeling both of your parents might keel over and have heart attacks if we announce our formal engagement before you get your driver's license.
Zoi: [giggles] That's for sure.
Kunzite: And of course we are already married. Our souls are bound for all eternity. We have everything but the piece of paper.
Zoi: Except nobody knows about it, and we don't live together, and the law doesn't acknowledge our union, and–
Kunzite: And you're really that willing? So ready for this, to tie yourself to me forever, even though you have so much going for you, and your life has barely started? So ready to enter the twilight of your life, that you're ready to give up everything.
Zoi: It's not the end, it's the beginning.
Kunzite: You have the rest of eternity to be all mine, why would you want to rush into this?
Zoi: You remember when you told me I don't see myself very clearly? You clearly have the same blindness.
Kunzite: I know what I am….Is that what you dream about? A life filled with darkness?
Zoi: Not exactly. Mostly I dream of being with you forever… I love you more than everything else in the world combined. Isn't that enough?
Kunzite: Yes, it's enough. Enough for forever.
[Kunzite lowers him onto the bench and they kiss under the cherry tree, as the moon shines down on them and cherry petals drift on the wind like snowflakes.
THE END