Chapter Text
Under a sky full of stars and fairy lights strung between old trees, Louise raised a flute glass. The crowd joined her, toasting the happy couple.
Brian and Terry beamed where they stood together, arm in arm on the edge of the dance floor. The music started up and they took their first dance. They swayed awkwardly, Brian biting his lip until Terry burst out laughing and put his head on his husband’s shoulder. By the time the chorus repeated Brian waved his arm and Louise called for other couples to join them.
The band started up with real conviction. The dance floor filled.
Louise, released from her MC duties for the time being, retreated from centre stage.
She wore a tux covered in a swirl of red, orange, and yellow sequins. Her towering heels were pinching a little.
The wedding was at a picturesque little vineyard upstate, simply festooned with flowers and candles and mason jars and burlap trim. The sun had shone warm and golden over the rows of vines and the pond in the distance. Terry had shed some very manly tears at the sight when he first arrived. She gave him a hug.
Now starlight danced over the lake and the night was abuzz with laughter and music. The long dining tables were being cleared and those who weren’t on the dance floor were moving towards the bar and couches.
She looked around for Jason. She spotted him chatting with some of the others from the brewery. Her smile grew a little less showy, a little more soft.
They had come separately, since she volunteered to help with the venue set up and Jason spent the day wrangling their own volunteers who were helping them move into their new house. She hadn’t had the chance to sit down and relax with him yet.
She picked up a scotch for him from the bar and made her way over.
Something happened on the dance floor and heads swung around with laughter and applause.
Jason wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him while nobody was paying them any attention.
“Hello you,” she said, passing him his drink.
“Hey beautiful. Good job with the speeches, you had them eating out of your palm.”
“That joke about the duck was probably too much.”
He smirked. “I thought it was funny.”
They sat together on the couches.
“How’d the move go?” she asked.
He gave her the highlights. Dick, Duke, Damian, and Alfred reported for duty and made the transition go faster. She thought his family were making an unnecessary fuss, but Jason smiled when he mentioned Alfred declaring the new kitchen ‘perfectly acceptable’, so she let it go.
She ran her hand over his thigh as they talked.
He was repeating his black tux from the gala earlier in the year. She didn’t get a chance to tear it off of him last time and was plotting how to make up for it when they got home. He relaxed against the cushions, watching her with knowing, teasing eyes. She sensed in her soul that he too was plotting. She narrowed her eyes, trying to sniff out his secrets. He smiled.
His fingers wound around hers on his thigh. Their hands fell into the gap between them, comfortably clasped.
Marcus, standing up at the bar, stared at them. He whacked Patricia’s arm, and then there were two people staring at them. Hmm. Louise had seen them both earlier in the day and at the rehearsal dinner the night before.
Jason’s attention split for a moment, clocking their audience. Marcus took it as an invite and the two strode over.
“You two look very comfortable over here,” he said, leadingly. He was the CEO of a successful craft brewery and he still couldn’t hide an emotion to save his life. She thought he might be a little drunk.
“Yeah, what a venue, right?” Louise said, “Love your dress, Patty.”
“Thank you.” Patricia smiled innocently. Louise didn’t buy it. Patricia looked between her and Jason. “Did you guys come together?”
Jason cocked his head. “You saw me arrive.”
“Are you two together?” Marcus burst out.
“ Marcus ,” Patricia hissed.
“Put us out of our misery already, it’s been like a decade!”
Louise blinked. She shared a look with Jason, both of their faces carefully blank.
“Marcus…” he said, “We’ve been married for years. What are you talking about?”
“What?” Terry demanded from the other side of a nearby shrubbery. The two grooms emerged looking scandalised, which was rich for two guys necking in a bush at their own wedding.
“We wondered why you didn’t come,” Louise said. “Did you not get your invitations?”
Patricia narrowed her eyes. “You’re joking. Are you joking? You’re joking!”
“There’s a year’s long bed riding on this, you have to tell us!”
Louise broke first. A smile cracked across her face. “Yeah, it’s a joke. We didn’t invite any of you.”
Accusations flew and half-cocked vindication was claimed by multiple parties. Patricia didn’t believe a word of it. Marcus was insisting he won a bet, while Brian insisted actually he won. Louise cackled. Jason grinned.
He only let her hand go to turn her head towards him, and he kissed her deeply. She tipped her head back and leaned into him.
Everyone erupted.
Their laughing grins forced them to part.
“For the record, we didn’t invite anyone,” Louise said, draping an arm over Jason’s shoulder. He snuggled into her a little performatively. “We weren’t snubbing you all.”
“Yes. It was in Vegas,” he added.
“And the officiant was dressed like Legolas.”
“Elvis was busy.”
“You’re making this up!”
“We are not!”
They giggled like school kids. Jason shook against her. She collapsed against him. Nobody believed them no matter what they said.
Louise was tired and satisfied when they got home. She had her heels in her hands and her jacket tossed over one shoulder.
Jason opened the door to their brand new home.
He had carried her over the threshold into the empty townhouse on the day they got the keys. Now there were boxes stacked everywhere.
She flicked on the lights. They cast long strange shadows. She spotted her couch under a stack of archive boxes and Jason’s nice kitchen island covered in boxed plates and bowls. The house was a touch cold and dark, but it smelled like potential. She could feel it in her bones.
Jason sighed, tired and satisfied. He had pulled her to the dance floor and received deeply sceptical looks from the dissenters. Then the rest of the room fell away as the songs got slower. They swayed together, her head resting on his shoulder and his arms slung low around her waist.
She yawned. Jason freed a chair and sat to untie his shoes. She tossed her jacket over a box with ‘tech’ written on the side.
“I’m happy for Brian and Terry, but wow am I glad I never have to do that .”
“Tell me about it,” Jason said. “The judgement. The interference. The people I would be expected to invite.”
“Ugh.”
“Alfred was sore just letting me set up my kitchen how I like.”
She made a face. “And can you imagine me trying to plan a wedding?”
“What are you talking about, you’d be great at it.”
“Yeah, and I’d turn it into work in five minutes flat. Come on, someone offers me fifteen percent off linen table runners while every other vendor has them at a premium? I’d be onselling to other brides, offering discounts, building up a good rep with wedding planners and industry leaders, establishing a customer base…I could run the world’s first ever profitable wedding.”
He laughed and sat up straight, kicking his shoes away. She reached for his tie and loosened it. He tipped his head back as she worked on the little buttons.
“I’m sorry our wedding was so…”
“I’m not,” she said.
He looked up at her. She ran her hands over his collarbone and shoulders, under the shirt. He worked his hands under her shirt along her waist.
She felt a little vulnerable about it, in a way she hadn’t when they were laughing about it with friends. Conceptually it was funny. In reality it was one of her most treasured memories.
“It was ours,” she said quietly. “What more could I want?”
He stood up and pulled her closer, his arms wrapped around her waist. His look was weighty, peering intently into her eyes.
“Do you regret it?” she asked.
“No. But there is something I want.”
“What?”
He sank down to one knee. She arched an eyebrow. A smile tugged at her lips.
“It’s late, I know, but we did everything else out of order too.” He pulled a little black box from his pocket.
Her smile bloomed into something so wide her cheeks ached. He cracked the box open, revealing a diamond studded ring.
“Louise, will you be mine?”
“I’m yours, Jay. I’ve always been yours.”
He took her hand. She spread her fingers, and he slid the ring on. It was a good fit. He rose back to his feet, pulled up by her eager hands. Her lips crashed into his. They wrapped each other up in their arms.
She felt the weighty band of metal around her hand. She put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.
“I love you, Lou,” he whispered.
She blinked rapidly and found the strength to look up at him.
“I know,” she whispered. She smiled, a little shy, a little happy, a lot overwhelmed.
“Alright, Han Solo.”
“Don’t you know I love you, Jason?”
“Yeah.” He nudged her nose with his, a little smug, a lot pleased, and utterly without doubt. “I know.”