It stings in a way, cutting right to his heart, and yet Obi's warm all over, a gentle feeling like a cascading wave. He's grateful he's here, even though he still feels that little bit of a song when he spots Shirayuki, looking gorgeous in white and blue, standing like a beacon of newfound royalty and beautiful and wonderful enough that Obi knows that she'll be fine.

Shirayuki rarely dresses up like this, but her wedding is enough of a call to do so. And besides, Obi's glad he's here, not that he savors the little bit of a sting, but he's grateful he didn't get much of a chance to back out or at the very least was invited and figured he'd keep his word. He'd want to be here even if it were just out of friendship for her.

And he remembers when Zen asked him, blue eyes wide and pleading, and also somehow apologetic. Would you be one of my groomsmen?

Master, don't you want a noble to stand up there, all fancy?

I'd rather have someone up there I can trust.

Okay, I'll be there. He had answered before thinking too much about it, just seeing the pleading in Zen's eyes, and the friendship lay before him and he chose it anyway. He and Zen both knew that it was a pain, an obstacle, and Zen felt somewhat bad about it. And yet, Obi was grateful to help.

And it wasn't like Zen hadn't given him opportunities to back out, as Zen had offered chances, and had apologized more than once about this.

But his statement of trust told Obi a couple of things, that Zen wasn't worried about Obi stopping the wedding in an attempt to win over the bride, in fact Shirayuki still didn't know how Obi felt, but that was his best kept secret besides, and that Zen valued and trusted Obi enough as a friend to stand up there.

Obi wasn't being a guard, wasn't being a messenger, he just was the friend of the groom and also the friend of the bride, someone to give a little confidence if either of them slipped into nervousness. He imagines wedding jitters find even the most confident people.

And Shirayuki wasn't confident with romantic stuff anyway, and Zen sometimes turned himself red trying. And Obi knew both things. As a guard, he was supposed to be observant, and all the years before he was one, had taught him enough anyway that he couldn't not be observant.

"Thank you." Zen whispered, and when Obi looked over, Zen may have been a little nervous and a little over the moon excited, but somehow a level of calm was still with him. And so, Obi took a deep breath.

He only shrugged in reply. He wasn't going to say this was necessarily easy, but he's so grateful that his friends have each other and so happy that they are happy. It's a level of selflessness Obi never knew he could have ever obtained. But here are two of his closest friends at their wedding, happy and nervous and so eager to not just make their vows but to keep them too.

Obi's happy for them, and in a way that he never could expect, despite the stinging, he's glad he's here and gets to see their happiness and their joy, gets to see their love shown to the kingdom and in some ways, to the world.

Being a friend is joyous despite the sacrifice.