Soon after they arrived, another limo pulled up,
this one carrying the bridesmaids and grooms. And then the rest of the people
began to filter in shortly after that. It was dark by the time the party was in
full swing, and people were finishing their dinners when Quatre decided to pull
Hiiro aside.
“Hiiro? Do you know what you’re supposed
to do from here?”
“Go home?” The Perfect, clueless
Soldier blinked confused. Quatre grinned and chuckled.
“I meant here, at the party.”
“I have to do more?” Hiiro began to
frown. “This was never in mission
parameters.” Quatre blinked. He had thought Hiiro was past all of that.
Then he realized Hiiro was simply looking for an excuse to whine. His smile
widened, if possible.
“Yes. You need to cut the cake. It is
tradition that when you cut the cake, you feed each other the first
bites.”
“What next? A dance contest?”
“Actually…”
“No!” Hiiro paled.
“You need to have the first dance with the
bride. After that, her father will dance with her, and you can dance with
someone else. If you’re lucky, I might let you borrow Relena from me.”
“You’re so thoughtful.”
“And
after that you need to make sure that she throws the bouquet, well, you
don’t need to worry about that, and that you throw the garter.”
“Garter.” His eyes narrowed. “A
garter is a piece of women’s underwear Quatre!”
“Yes Hiiro.” Quatre laughed harder, his
face becoming bright red. “Tradition is that she throws her bouquet to
all the single women, and whomever catches it gets married next. Then you pull
the garter off her leg, some men prefer to use their… teeth… and
toss it to the single men. Whom ever catches the garter marries next.”
“Quatre. There is no way in hell I am letting
another man touch my new wife’s underwear.”
“What?” Duo asked as he passed by.
“You touched your new wife’s underwear? Already? Hiiro man!
Didn’t know you moved so fast!”
“Can it Maxwell!” Wufei smacked Duo
hard on the head. “Yui needs to meet Serena at the cake, she’s
waiting for him.”
“Do you understand Hiiro?” Quatre
asked.
“Yes. No. I want to go home.” Hiiro ran
his hand through his hair frustrated. Shaking his head, he walked away from his
friends and met Serena at the cake.
“Hiiro, we need to cut the cake, people- Mina
and Ami in particular, want the sugar rush apparently.” He watched her
eyes travel to Mina and Ami, who were laughing evilly at her. He smirked.
“Alright.” As soon as he nodded, Mina
ambushed them. Taking hold of Hiiro’s left arm and Serena’s right,
she held onto them tightly. Then she screamed over the loud talking of the
party.
“Attention! Attention everyone! The bride and
groom are going to cut their cake!”
“No one ever said that cutting the cake
involved people watching us.” Hiiro squirmed uncomfortably.
Serena’s face darkened.
“Suck it up Hiiro. I’m more than sure
you can deal with it for a few moments.” He blinked. She was mad again?
What had he done this time? He had just been a little sarcastic, and he had
expected her to laugh, or at least smile at his remark, not cut him down. It
hurt him a little. He had made a little progress in the church, and now here it
was, being undone. Life was not fair sometimes.
“Alright Serena.” He gracefully
accepted her new mood. Then he wondered. “How do we do this
exactly?”
“Just make like you’re going to cut the
cake normally. I’ll put my hand on top of yours as you do it.”
“You ready?”
“Yes.” She nodded. Hiiro picked up the
cake-cutting knife and Serena placed her hand atop his. The warmth that
radiated from her hand shocked him. She was so warm, so close… his chest
was pressed against her petite back, his arm practically wrapped around her
front. It was a very sensuous and compromising position- one that he knew he
was enjoying far too much.
His hand, slowly being pressed downwards by
Serena’s, sunk into the cake. Everyone around him was clapping as they
put the piece on a plate and each picked up a fork. Serena brought her fork to
his mouth first. How could he deny her anything? He couldn’t. Opening his
mouth, he let his lips close around the tiny morsel of cake and savored it.
Chocolate cheesecake? One of his favorites. The girl had good taste!
Remembering he still had a part to play in all of
this, Hiiro lifted his fork and held it to Serena’s mouth. She looked up
at him as her mouth opened and her lips closed over the bite of cake. Slowly,
as if she were trying to torture him, she chewed and then licked her lips innocently.
God…
“Good cake.” He sputtered. Serena
nodded, her eyes never breaking his gaze.
“Hmm.”
“Would you like to dance Serena?” He
asked suddenly. He wanted to feel close to her, to hold her, to feel her.
“Yes.” She answered. She wasn’t
quite sure what was going on, but she knew one thing. Hiiro had once again
managed to anger her, and then to startle her in a way she didn’t
understand.
As he led her onto the dance floor, she shivered
when his hand clasped hers, and the other the small of her waist. Leading her
in an old fashioned waltz, the lights around them dimmed, and they swayed
gracefully around the dance floor, blissfully ignorant to everyone around them.
But they could no longer tune everyone out when
they realized their song had ended, and that everyone else was now crowding the
dance floor, talking and laughing with each other. Serena’s father
whisked her away, and Hiiro found himself slipping into the shadows of his own
wedding. He saw Relena and Quatre dancing, Zechs and his wife Lucy, Wufei and
Sally, and Mina and Duo and Ami and Trowa, switching partners constantly. Mina
and Ami even jokingly danced a dance together, which Duo and Trowa refused to
watch because the two were so bad together.
“Everyone seems to like our wedding
Hiiro.” A calm voice echoed in the shadows. He turned his head slightly
to see Serena had joined him.
“Tired of dancing?” He smirked.
“Yes. I want to go home. But…”
“Bouquet and garter.” He cut her off.
She nodded.
“How did you know? You never knew any of this
before.”
“Quatre had the decency to pull me aside and
warn me ahead of time.”
“That was nice of him. Do remind me to thank
him for the general improvement of your manners. I’m sure he is behind it
after all.”
“Maybe. But maybe I had them all along, and
you’re only just now noticing them.”
“I have a good eye for this sort of thing
Hiiro. You’ve had not a lick of manners since day one, don’t try to
deny it.” She yawned. “Can we please just end this?”
“Very well.” *
~~~Marriage. Ahh. Need I say more? PLEASE REVIEW! Break my 450! Please! Much love, Vixen~~~