I took a deep breath, straightening my tie and flicking my fringe into place. My phone buzzed with a message from Dan.
I'm freaking out, it read.
How're you doing?
I smiled and sent,
I'm strangely calm. Don't think reality has quite sunk in yet. Lucky. I'm going mad here, wish I could be w you, but Louise has cornered me. Something about my hair. ttyl.
I set the phone down, looking myself in the mirror one last time before I took a deep breath and opened the door of my room.
I walked down to Dan's hotel room and knocked, hearing faint shouts and vaguely frightening noises emitting from the space within. The door flew open, Louise looking wild-eyed and frantic.
"Oh, no, now we'll never get anything done," she lamented. "Ugh, come in, I suppose."
I laughed, closing the door behind me. "I just couldn't be alone for another second."
PJ clapped me on the shoulder. "Phil! How're you doing, mate?"
"I don't really know. Um, I—"
I stopped then because Dan was stepping out of the bathroom, and he was beautiful, and I literally could not utter another word.
"Hey," he said, voice gravelly. "I've been trying to straighten my hair for an hour, but some people were trying to dissuade me." He shot a glare at Chris and Cat, both grinning devilishly.
"But you look so much better with it curly!" protested Cat. "Phil, you have to help us."
I shrugged. "He looks good to me either way."
Dan kissed my cheek. Gabrielle groaned. "Come on, guys, we already know you're sickeningly in love. It's pissing off all of your single friends."
I'd gotten on much better terms with Gabrielle in the past two years, as she'd confided that the ill-timed conversation with Dan had been about his feelings for me. And now that I wasn't jealous of
her, she'd become one of my close friends.
"You never know, Elle, you could hit it off with one of Phil's pals from uni," Louise remarked, now fixing her mascara, face comically elongated so as to not smudge black around her eyes.
I snorted. "Yeah, right. Good luck with future romantic conquests there, Elle."
Gabrielle laughed, swatting my shoulder. "Whatever, Lester."
"Fuck, it's almost eleven o'clock. Hurry up, guys." Chris shoved us to the door, and we filed through it, tripping over each other in our panic. Dan and I fell behind the others as we all walked downstairs.
"So," I said softly, brushing my hand against his.
"So."
I looked over at him, studying the beautiful and constantly shifting planes of his face.
Much like the night we first kissed, we didn't need words.
...
I picked at a nail, heart pounding in my chest as I waited for our cue. My dad adjusted his grip on my arm. I could see Dan's father whispering in his ear.
"Philip," said my father quietly. He was smiling, eyes crinkling at the edges. "I've only ever wanted you to be happy, and..." He gestured at Dan. "It seems you've found it; you've found your happiness"
I lay my head on his shoulder just for a moment. "I'm very happy," I said softly, something in me expanding like a balloon.
"Good." My dad squeezed my shoulder.
The music started, and right on time, my palms started to sweat.
"Here we go," I heard Dan say nervously.
Dan and his father went first, all the guests standing as the two pairs of father and son made their way down the aisle.
"Oh my god," I heard my mum say tearfully and I waved at her, eyes beginning to brim as well. I made it up without tripping, thankfully, and we turned to face each other, Dan as fumbling and tense as the day I first met him. I almost laughed, recollecting the way he blushed and stammered. What idiots we were back then! And look at us now.
Oh, God. I'd zoned out for too long. It was time for our vows. Luckily, Dan volunteered to go first.
"Phil Lester." He took a deep, nervous breath, then smiled, seeming to relax.
"I... love you. And that's not easy for me to say. When we met, God," he half-laughed, "I was a wreck. I thought I knew what I wanted, who I was, what I was going to do with my life and then I rang your bell. You... you saved me from a life of boring jobs and meaningless ties and catapulted me into one full of life, and laughter, and love. I am so grateful to you for that. And I'm not even mentioning the countless times you stayed with me when I was in a bad place and helped me out of the pit of sadness I'd dug for myself. Not counting the times we ate pancakes in the kitchen while the morning sun was streaming in and I looked at you and thought, how did I ever manage to get so lucky, and the time you gave a homeless woman money like it was no big deal and I
thought, he is a good person. I have so many moments like that, and so many stories. But, for the sake of time, I'll save them for other days. I will be yours completely and I know, that we will have our disagreements and fights for absolutely no reason, but I will never change it for the world. You make my heart feel like the summer, when the rain is pouring down. I knew when I first met you, I was never going to let you get away. For now and forever, I promise you that I will—" He paused, choking up. "I will always, always be there for you like you've been there for me. I, Daniel James Howell, will never stop loving you, Phil, as long as I live."
He put his face in his hands, clearly overcome. I stared at him, tears running down my cheeks, and managed a shaky laugh.
"How am I supposed to follow that?"
That got a laugh from the guests, most of whom were sniffling into handkerchiefs. Poor PJ was bawling into his program.
"I don't have a sappy, waffling speech like yours, Dan. My vows are quite short, actually. Um, here they are, I suppose: I will always make your favorite pancakes and try not to eat your cereal. I will let you watch anime while you're drinking tea as long as I get to watch with you. I'll never
leave you alone when you're feeling sad. I'll sit in our living room scrolling Tumblr with you for hours, never saying a word, and never feel anything but completely comfortable. And I promise, Dan, that I love you in the word's entirety, and never anything less."
He'd lost it, and I supposed I had, as well. The minister waited for us to get under control, and said the final words, "Do you, Daniel James Howell, and do you, Philip Michael Lester, take each other to be your lawfully wedded husbands?"
We took each other's hands, and in unison, said, "I do."
I couldn't hear his next words over the roaring in my ears, but I knew it was official after Dan pulled me close and kissed me, long and lingering and sweet. The room erupted in cheers and I was too stunned to cry.
"Did we—Are we—" I asked him, grinning so hard my cheeks hurt.
"I think so," he answered, gripping my hand tightly and steering me down the aisle through all the well-wishers.
"Dan! Phil!" Our parents reached us first, our siblings and cousins close behind.
"Told ya, brother," whispered Martyn, punching me playfully in the arm. I rolled my eyes, giving him a tight hug.
"Shut up," I told him.
Louise gave me a huge bear hug, crying so hard her mascara ran down her cheeks.
"I love you!" she blubbered, burying her face into my neck. I cracked up, patting her on the back.
"Oh, Lou," I said fondly. "What would I do without you?"
She pulled back and frowned at me, eyes puffy and tearstained. "Die, obviously."
Gabrielle gave me a squeeze on the arm, smiling and conveying everything she wanted to say through her eyes, which were shiny with unshed tears.
Cat kissed me on the cheek and winked at Dan, brandishing a tissue at Louise.
PJ and Chris came up next, holding hands.
"What?" screeched Louise, obviously having missed the memo. "What—when—how—"
She was saved from her sputtering when Chris filled her in on their last-month hookup.
I grinned and took Dan's hand, pulling him along through the crowd of well-wishers.
We sprinted, laughing and red-faced, to the massive room where the reception would be held soon. For now, though, it was empty, a brief calm in the beautiful storm of today.
"That was a gorgeous speech," Dan told me, tracing the lines in my palm.
I shrugged, entire body tingling. "Yours made everyone cry. Mine was... weird and not sappy."
"Oh, shut up. You loved it."
"So I did. Doesn't mean it wasn't sappy."
Dan paused in the rubbing of my hand. "Yeah. Yours was more simple and genuine."
I chose to end the Playful Discourse before it started, not really in the mood for banter.
The music was faint in the distance.
"I am... so in love with you," I said quietly, pressing a kiss to his temple. He put his head on my shoulder. "And I you."
We stood there for a moment, hearing the sounds of our friends and family getting closer.
"Want to kiss me one last time before the madness begins?"
I laughed, threading my hands around his neck and closing my eyes.
"One last time? That's not a promise I can easily make."
And I pressed my lips to his, loving him, loving us in our entirety.
-----&-----
A/N.
:')
