High Fructose Ceremony

[Danny Silverman]

Takes place February 14, 2014

Danny was getting married.

Danny couldn’t BELIEVE this but he was actually…getting married. He’d thought about it, of course. But at first it had seemed like it wouldn’t legally be possible. Then it had seemed like he wasn’t ever going to meet anyone. Then somehow, in some way, the stars had aligned and Danny had a fantastic and amazing man in his life, good friends, and a legal system that could allow him to commit himself to one person for the rest of his life.

Pretty awesome.

They’d gone for as traditional as they could without committing to any particular religious ceremony. Danny had wanted an outdoor wedding and had prepared all the decorations for it, but the storms had prevented it from happening, so instead they’d booked a small bed and breakfast and Danny had promptly arranged the room so it looked...

Well, okay, it looked crowded. But decorative too. A flowered arch—not real flowers—decorations on all the chairs and a general theme of cream and pale blue gave the whole thing a curiously mixed air of spring joy with winter beauty.

Or so it seemed to Danny’s mind.

Abe Milton had graciously agreed to cater the event and was currently downstairs serving wine and other drinks to the guests. That was one of the reasons the wedding was on Valentine’s day—it would’ve been the weekend, but Abe did not want to work on the Sabbath and Danny didn’t want any conflicts with church. Danny was getting dressed in the room he was sharing with Riley while the guests were downstairs. The suit was a rare occurrence for him, but he liked to think he looked okay, even if Riley’s cooking had made him look a bit rounder around the middle. He and Riley had discussed the idea of not seeing each other before the wedding, and had both dismissed it. For one, they weren’t sure they could stand the absence. And Danny, while being in love with weddings, also thought they were old enough where they made their own luck. He turned to see his soon-to-be-husband in the room, working on his tie, and grinned.

“Here. Let me help with that.”

[Riley Adams]

Even as he clasped the last button on his shirt, Riley peeked at his fiance through the mirror, still in complete disbelief that he was finally going through the day he had been thinking of ever since Michael. A small smile carved on to his lips in memory of his late fiance before it widened as his current and final fiance approached him.

He turned away from the mirror and bent down slightly so Danny could reach him better. All the while, he kept his eyes trained on the younger man, like he was an anchor with which he managed to stay grounded.

"Thank you." Riley finally trusted his voice enough to let Danny know how grateful he is. "I...I can't believe we're finally doing this." He sighed softly before reaching out to straighten Danny's tie. "I promised myself I'm not going to cry." He laughed as he stroked Danny's chin lightly with the back of his finger.

[Danny Silverman]

Danny grinned up at him. He couldn't help it. Yes, they were breaking traditions, but it was just incredible that he was getting to do this with Riley. "I can't either," he said. "But I'm glad we are. And if you cry, I can cry too, and I think that'd be good. If you don't cry, I'll just be bawling all by myself and then I'm just gonna shut up now..." He leaned in to kiss him, shutting his eyes at the contact, then sighed as he stepped back and pushed up his slightly-fogged glasses. "We're doing this," he said. "And I think that's pretty amazing. But one kiss for now as partners..." He kissed him again. "And one later for husbands. We should probably go greet the guests."

[Cobalt Weaver]

Cobalt had no idea where anyone was, what anyone was doing, and he had a ring in his pocket and that was a huge responsibility because he was Best Man for some goddamn reason. It wasn't like he wasn't extremely touched and honored that Danny asked him to be his best man, and he had of course agreed and definitely did not get emotional about it.

But still. He had to safeguard the ring, which was extremely stressful, he'd had no idea what a best man was supposed to do, which was extremely stressful, and Ben had found his neurosis very amusing. Which was not stressful but mostly irritating. He'd never been to a wedding as a bystander, let along someone sort of important.

"All we need now is something to catch fire," he muttered to himself and then immediately wished he hadn't. That sort of thing definitely would happen at this sort of thing. It was just inevitable.

[Anastasia van Drakke]

A gay wedding. Anastasia had never been to one before, and honestly thought the whole idea was blasphemous but she had 'friendships' to cultivate and a reputation to uphold and so she'd RSVPed, picked out a dress and kept her thoughts on a wedding on Valentines Day, and fake flowers private. She'd never been to a wedding with Ivan; they'd been publicity events, celebrities tying the knot and it wouldn't have worked to be seen on the arm of her body guard.

But here, they could go as a couple and once she'd ordered the suit and had it tailored perfectly it took a great deal of mental effort on her part not to just rip it off him again. She had her eye on the coat room as they came in but that could wait as she took a glass of champagne (the french stuff; colour her surprised) and looked around the room.

Fake flowers. She would have thought the gays would have done better. Wasn't wedding planning one of their things?

There was the usual mix of <excitement/envy/confusion> there was at every wedding as she let her shoulder brush Ivan's arm as she lent against him and sipped her champagne. "Do you have the gift?" she asked quietly. It was a deed to a small, cozy house; when Anastasia played at friends, she played for keeps.

[Riley Adams]

Riley couldn't help the laugh that came at Danny's ramblings, amused at how jittery the other man was. Of course, he was no different, but knowing his partner was just as excited and nervous as he was made him feel a little better.

The kiss was accepted more than happily, the smile more genuine than ever. He took off Danny's glasses and wiped them clean, letting the next kiss linger a lot longer before he pouted cutely. "Do we have to? I wanna do more of this." He rubbed his nose against Danny's before letting Danny have his glasses back.

"Alright, alright. We can do this later." Riley conceded with a small chuckle, slipping his fingers through Danny's, he led them both out of the room and down to where the reception was.

There was already a sizeable crowd at the reception area and Riley was just so giddy he could hardly contain himself. Seeing Cobalt with Ben made him squeeze Danny's hand. "There's Blue." He said as he walked over to the couple, tugging his own partner along with him.

Along the way, he saw Anastasia and waved to her, holding a finger up to indicate he would be there soon. "Thank you so much for coming, Cobalt, Ben. I will leave my future husband in your hands for just a bit and say hi to a friend." He hugged both Cobalt and Ben tightly before placing a kiss on Danny's cheek, making his way over to Anastasia, a curious cold shudder running down his spine.

"Anastasia, thank you so much for coming!" He held a hand up to Ivan with a huge grin.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean had no religious authority to perform this marriage ceremony, but he did have a letter and license from the State of Vermont granting him permission to do so. As an atheist, this was all that he needed.

At the time that Danny had asked whether he would officiate, the telepath had been flattered. He remained so, although he also believed he was a peculiar choice. He was a close friend of Danny’s and a friend of Riley’s, of course, but he also had no religious affiliation, no religious training, held no public office, and, as this wedding was on land, did not qualify as a Captain at Sea.

But if this was what he could do for his friends on the joyous occasion of their wedding, then he was happy to serve this function.

The telepath had also bought them a separate wedding present.

Sean had chosen to wear a tuxedo for the event, primarily because he wanted to pay his respects to his friend and to the position he had undertaken. As he was not a member of clergy, he had no ceremonial robes to don for the occasion, and, as it was February in Vermont (and after a massive North Easter at that), he was certainly not going to try for ceremonial tartans (not that he was Celtic enough for those anyway, not in the true sense as his family was so thoroughly Americanized and thus he didn’t have a County of origin to which he claimed any true connection).

Due to the timing of the wedding, the psychiatrist had taken off the afternoon from Hammel. After his morning sessions, he’d returned home to clean up, get dressed, and finish his prepared remarks. Then, when it was time, he and Josh and taken the sedan and driven to the location.

With his remarks in his breast pocket and the present under his arm, he approached the group surrounding Riley at the entrance to the Bed and Breakfast. He offered everyone a smile and a nod of greeting, and waited for Riley to finish his welcomes.

Then, he offered the groom another warm smile. “Tell me where you want me, and I’ll go wait there.”

[Joshua Bernstein]

A wedding.

It had been rather a long time since he had attended one of these; his siblings were both long married, as were so many of his friends back in the City. None of his younger relatives were old enough yet to marry. This wouldn't be the first wedding party he was in, either; he had been one of the groomsmen when his brother had tied the knot, although he hadn't been best man.

That was a little nervewracking, but at least he had Cobalt to be his compatriot in this. One best man for each groom, and everyone friends.

Now that was a difference between this wedding and other's he had attended in the past; everyone in both parties were friends.

He followed Sean, but while his partner engaged with Riley he went to hunt down Cobalt.

"Well here we are." He greeted his shorter friend with a smile. "Exciting, isn't it?"

[Ferris Macklin]

By dint of his previous professions, Ferris had never been to a wedding as a guest, but to several as kitchen help. For Danny and Riley he was both. He'd helped out Abe with the cooking, but was attending now as a guest unless he was needed. Ferris had made it clear he didn't do service, as he didn't have the social skills or the temperament, but anything else, he was good.

But it meant he had to buy a suit. Josh had borrowed him one for the Holiday Bash, but going in someone else's suit plus sneakers wasn't going to cut it for a wedding. Ferris had to man up and face Being Adult. There might have been whining. (There was totally whining.) Ferris had been at the complete mercy of the suit tailors. He knew nothing about fit, color, accessories, material, or even what 'double breasted' was (other than a curious term for menswear). But it looked good. Very, very good. And it was comfortable. He didn't want to admit it, but... yes. Having something tailored to death was pretty comfy. The suit was a dark navy that was almost black with a blindingly white shirt and pale blue silk tie. He had the shoes too, black and polished. He felt... grown up. And didn't know if he liked it. Geh.

Arriving right on time, he'd mingled around with the other guests after checking in with Abe. The wedding present was in his inner suit pocket. He'd taken the day off for it, and got a Coke from Abe to keep him awake. He stood a bit on the outside of the action, watching people.

[Ivan Avlang]

Ivan had grown quite fond of wearing a suit. Though one look at him, you wouldn't know that. But he enjoyed the process of suiting up. And because of Anastasia, all the suits he wore fitted him perfectly.

The wedding seemed tasteful enough, he supposed. Not too grand but not too simple either. The archway, to his more or less tasteless eye, seemed real enough.

And then the couple came down and Ivan could feel how happy they were. And it sickened him. He was given a reprieve from that when Anastasia leaned in with her own emotions seeping through him and he simply nodded. It was kept in the inside pocket of his suit.

When one half of the happy couple came over, Ivan gave him a nod of acknowledgement without moving to initiate any physical contact. And then a grimace fell upon his lips when another presence was made known. The psychiatrist. He didn't even acknowledge Anastasia or his presence. He kept quiet, keeping his Ruh at bay. They were in a frenzy to do something to the shrink.

[Danny Silverman]

Danny was still pretty much floating as he came down to join the others, and he laughed as he saw Cobalt because the man looked like he was honestly panicking and Danny found it hilarious that a lawyer would freak out over a tiny little thing like rings. He crossed over to his friend, enveloped him in one of his incredibly enthusiastic hugs, then grinned at him. “You’re gonna be fine. Ben!” He hugged Ben next, then winked at both. “Are you making sure he’s breathing, Ben? He’d never admit it but I think sometimes he forgets.”

Looked like Riley had Anastasia and Ivan covered. Danny gave them a cheerful wave and resisted the urge to blow his partner a kiss because that would be just too ridiculous, even for him, then spotted Sean and waved to him too. Seeing Ferris in the corner, he waved him over.

“Have you met Ferris?” he asked Cobalt. “Nice guy. I think you’d like him.” Ferris acted child-like enough that he might trigger the protective instincts. And then again, he might not either.

“Josh!” the other lawyer got another hug, and a beaming smile. “Thank you for coming! Have you all tried the food? I know the decorations are a bit ridiculous but I had fun and I can’t believe I’m actually going through with this…”