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Three-Way Stop
Finally.
From proposals come weddings, obviously.
Looking at that older piece I'm surprised at how much my style's changed for the better. Woot. :-D
Rigel Five was the lust planet, one big sunsoaked lovechild of Amsterdam and Las Vegas sprawled over a grand scale. On a planet built for partying, this particular party had taken up an entire floor in the hotel they were staying at - friends, wellwishers, family, the whole nine yards. He had no idea what time it was, though; the riot of orange-red neon outside interfered with the sunrise, and he'd left his watch somewhere.
God, he'd better not be late. Jakey and Audra would kill him.
"Daddy?"
Fabian turned from the mirror to look into a pair of eyes that were almost, but not quite, his own. "Morning, princess." He took a deep breath that turned somewhere halfway through into a nervous sigh and fidgeted on the upholstered bench. "You look nice."
"Thanks." Falda smoothed her short denim skirt, adjusting the frills of the silk poet's blouse that framed her shoulders and neck. "I wore purple for you and Jakeydaddy. I know it's your favorite."
"You're a sweetheart." He kissed her forehead. "Stop growing, you're getting taller than your poor father."
"You'll manage." She smiled mischeviously, walking around behind him to play with his hair. "Scared?"
"Terrified."
Falda picked up the hairbrush on the tiny end table and began brushing his sleek blonde hair. "I think it's cool that you guys are getting married and stuff."
"I'm glad you think so, sweetheart. I was worried about that." He peered into the mirror again, watching her over his shoulder; at thirteen she was starting to lose most of the baby fat that he remembered, her face becoming less rounded, her hands thinner, showing off a simple french-tip manicure. Seemed like only yesterday he was putting her hair up in bobble-tied ponytails and buckling her shiny white Mary Janes.
Time flies. Even for timeshifters, he mused. "Where's your brothers?"
"Still in their room, getting ready. Did you want this in a braid?"
"Sure, honey."
They fell silent for a few moments, lost in hair maintenance, until Falda spoke up again. "Mom looks great."
"Don't tell me." Fabian scolded with a chuckle. "I want to be surprised." He was silent again for a long moment. "What about Jakey?"
"I thought you wanted to be surprised?"
"Young lady, stop picking on your father." Fabian replied as severely as he could manage, and she laughed again, running a comb through his long blonde hair and weaving the ends in.
"Jakeydaddy looks great too." She snapped an elastic band on the end of the braid and selected a sparkly silver ribbon off of the table, tying it firmly. "There. And so do you."
"You don't think I look fat?" He stood up, twirling in front of the mirror and watching himself flicker by. They'd decided on quirky and simple. No ties, no suits, no long dresses and trains, no traditional wedding attire - shiny blue vinyl and his favorite jeans and boots. Although he'd cheated with the tiara, he couldn't resist it.
"Daddy, you're such a girl." Standing on her toes, Falda kissed her father on the cheek. "No. You don't look fat."
Fingering the leather collar around his neck, he took a deep breath, swallowing, fighting the urge to lick his dry lips. "Okay then. I'm gonna go get married now."
"You decided against wearing the white dress, I see."
Audra smiled, spotting in the mirror the pleased, blue-grey gaze of her best friend. "Well, I don't want people laughing at me, after all. I didn't even have the guts to wear white the first time. This time would be sheer audacity. Can you zip me up, hon?"
"Of course."
The deep bloodsilk closed around her like a lover, and she nodded approvingly, straightening the top of a black and red stocking. "There. How do I look?"
"Like the Easter dew atop a crimson-petaled rose." Anthony smiled, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels slightly. "So you're really going to do this."
"Yes."
"Some women would say you're crazy."
"I'm not some women." She replied, touching the gelled tips of her dark blue hair.
"Thank God for that. Can you satisfy a curiosity of mine?"
"Of course, darling."
"What are you going to do about a last name? Did you think about this, or did it get lost in the shuffle?"
"Oh, no, we decided on that ages ago." Wincing slightly, she poked earrings through halfused holes, admiring the heavy drape of gold against her neck. Excellent.
"Well?" Anthony accepted the choker that she handed him and looped it around her throat, buckling the clasp closed.
"We decided on Vanderschpiegle-Lennon-Donnelly."
"Any particular reason for that order of last names?"
"It's the only logical conclusion." Audra shrugged, buckling a clunky goldtoned shoe on one foot. "They like playing Audra-in-the-middle; and Fabie's the eternal submissive. So it was the only way to go."
Anthony buried his face in his hands, but he couldn't hide an amused chuckle. "I just had to ask, didn't I?"
"I don't know, did you?" Audra countered, kissing him on the cheek. "Want to walk me out? It's time to go."
"I thought I was supposed to be the one fluttering around like a confused moth." In the mirror, Jakob watched the tall, slender figure of his little sister dither around the room. "If you wear a hole in the carpet, darling, I'm not paying for it."
She sat down on an overstuffed bench, dabbing at her eyes with a ridiculously impractical lace hanky. "This is just so beautiful."
"Are you going to cry all the way through the ceremony?" he chuckled.
"Of course." Kaatje fluttered her eyelids at him coquettishly. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do at weddings? I do so want to do the right thing. I haven't been to a wedding in years, I don't remember what I'm supposed to do."
The chuckle turned into a laugh, and he eyed himself once more before turning. "Give me a hug."
She hugged him carefully, so not to crush her pink watered-silk gown, and held him at arm's length. "You look lovely. The leather pants suit you."
"I know they do."
"And I love the orange hair, it's so nice and cheery. I feel so strange though, aren't I supposed to straighten your tie or something like a good little sister? That's what they do in the movies." She inspected him for a moment. "Here, I'll just fix your puppy collar a little bit … there. Much better."
"That did absolutely nothing." He replied dryly.
"But it did make me feel better." Glancing at the clock behind him, she wrung her hands dramatically. "Let us fly, dearest sibling, for the hour of thy nuptuals approacheth."
Jakob rolled his eyes and followed her, a smile on his face. Closing the door, he caught a glimpse of his left hand. A half-dozen rings glittered back at him, but he'd never put one on that finger.
Yet.
It was a really, really good thing he hadn't eaten that morning, because if he had, Fabian decided, he'd be looking at his breakfast on the floor in front of him right now. And then Audra and Jakie would definitely kill him.
He took Audra's hand as he was directed, taking Jakob's in the other so they formed a small circle at the front of the room. Blinding white blots flickered around him. Was she sure he didn't look fat in these jeans? Maybe he should cut out the extra bowl of Hyperexploding Chocolate Frosted Marshmallow Bombs in the mornings. Ugh. Food. His stomach flipped, protesting.
Falda was right, though. They both looked great. They'd made the right decision not to wear suits. At least the pictures would be good. And he could breathe. What was it about ties that just cut off his airway? Weird. He could wear heavy leather bands around his neck with impunity, but as soon as they tied anything into a Windsor knot, he started to choke. Maybe it was the similarity to the noose? What a great idea for an art project … maybe installation? Ties formed into nooses … ow! Someone had stepped on his toe.
He snapped back to the present. Jakob was eyeing him with a raised eyebrow, a smile on the corners of his mouth.
Oh.
Right.
He swallowed, trying to wet his parched throat.
"Yes." His blue eyes flickered over the two loves of his life. "Yes. Always and forever. Yes."
The place was packed, the tiny little chapel bursting at the seams with friends and family come to wish them well - and in some cases to see if they'd actually go through with it. Audra smiled at the room triumphantly, one hand holding Jakob's long and slender one, the other linked with Fabian's nailbitten fingers as she listened to the chirpy, lyrical drone of the vows being read.
They had requested a modified earth-style ceremony, and after a little wheedling and more than a few explanations as to why they didn't want to marry nude as per Rigellian custom, and that yes, there were only three of them, the little woman overseeing the festivities agreed, surprised that they had decided to make her life so simple that day. The kids were sitting over to the side, Falda taking pictures and Piet minding three-year-old Thies. So many faces… Emily and Kaatje were both covered in tears, naturally, but what else was new?
Her turn. Audra's gaze travelled right first. Fabian was nervous, pale, and trembling; she squeezed his hand sympathetically as her eyes flickered to the left, smiling at Jakob.
He winked at her, squeezing her fingers with a smile, and she coughed. "Yes, I do."
Jakob sighed as the gold band slid on his finger, blinking back a tear as he glanced down at it. A braid, nested with three diamonds, stared up at him. To his right, a matching band gleamed pearls of light on his wife's delicate, redtipped finger; to his left, another one twinkled on the ragged-nailed hand of his husband.
Husband.
Wife.
He had a husband. And a wife. Jakob swallowed the lump in his throat, suddenly overwhelmed with a torrent of emotion and lack of sleep.
People were looking at him. He cleared his throat softly, steadying his voice.
"Yes." He replied softly, voice just barely over a whisper for a moment. He took that again at a run. "Yes. I will."
Audra smiled, wiping the lipstick off of her cheeks. "Well?"
Fabian sighed explosively, letting go of a breath he'd been holding too long. "Well what?"
"I suppose this is the part where we go whore ourselves in front of the people?" Jakob replied with a slight grin.
"And have cake." Fabian replied, fidgeting. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry, schnookiebaby." Jakob grinned, putting his arm around Fabian's shoulders.
"Not earlier I wasn't, I'm not always hungry."
Audra wormed her way between the two of them, grinning, and they exchanged glances for a moment, two sets of blue eyes and one set of green ones sparkling, rimmed in eyeliner, and not a few tears.
"Was it worth it?" Jakob murmured.
"Of course." Audra nodded.
"Hell yeah." Fabian replied, blotting a tear out of the corner of his eye.
"Well then, my little cream cheese brownies with extra cream cheese frosting," Jakob drawled, taking one of each of their hands, "let's go. We shouldn't keep the nice people waiting, after all."
From proposals come weddings, obviously.
Looking at that older piece I'm surprised at how much my style's changed for the better. Woot. :-D
Rigel Five was the lust planet, one big sunsoaked lovechild of Amsterdam and Las Vegas sprawled over a grand scale. On a planet built for partying, this particular party had taken up an entire floor in the hotel they were staying at - friends, wellwishers, family, the whole nine yards. He had no idea what time it was, though; the riot of orange-red neon outside interfered with the sunrise, and he'd left his watch somewhere.
God, he'd better not be late. Jakey and Audra would kill him.
"Daddy?"
Fabian turned from the mirror to look into a pair of eyes that were almost, but not quite, his own. "Morning, princess." He took a deep breath that turned somewhere halfway through into a nervous sigh and fidgeted on the upholstered bench. "You look nice."
"Thanks." Falda smoothed her short denim skirt, adjusting the frills of the silk poet's blouse that framed her shoulders and neck. "I wore purple for you and Jakeydaddy. I know it's your favorite."
"You're a sweetheart." He kissed her forehead. "Stop growing, you're getting taller than your poor father."
"You'll manage." She smiled mischeviously, walking around behind him to play with his hair. "Scared?"
"Terrified."
Falda picked up the hairbrush on the tiny end table and began brushing his sleek blonde hair. "I think it's cool that you guys are getting married and stuff."
"I'm glad you think so, sweetheart. I was worried about that." He peered into the mirror again, watching her over his shoulder; at thirteen she was starting to lose most of the baby fat that he remembered, her face becoming less rounded, her hands thinner, showing off a simple french-tip manicure. Seemed like only yesterday he was putting her hair up in bobble-tied ponytails and buckling her shiny white Mary Janes.
Time flies. Even for timeshifters, he mused. "Where's your brothers?"
"Still in their room, getting ready. Did you want this in a braid?"
"Sure, honey."
They fell silent for a few moments, lost in hair maintenance, until Falda spoke up again. "Mom looks great."
"Don't tell me." Fabian scolded with a chuckle. "I want to be surprised." He was silent again for a long moment. "What about Jakey?"
"I thought you wanted to be surprised?"
"Young lady, stop picking on your father." Fabian replied as severely as he could manage, and she laughed again, running a comb through his long blonde hair and weaving the ends in.
"Jakeydaddy looks great too." She snapped an elastic band on the end of the braid and selected a sparkly silver ribbon off of the table, tying it firmly. "There. And so do you."
"You don't think I look fat?" He stood up, twirling in front of the mirror and watching himself flicker by. They'd decided on quirky and simple. No ties, no suits, no long dresses and trains, no traditional wedding attire - shiny blue vinyl and his favorite jeans and boots. Although he'd cheated with the tiara, he couldn't resist it.
"Daddy, you're such a girl." Standing on her toes, Falda kissed her father on the cheek. "No. You don't look fat."
Fingering the leather collar around his neck, he took a deep breath, swallowing, fighting the urge to lick his dry lips. "Okay then. I'm gonna go get married now."
"You decided against wearing the white dress, I see."
Audra smiled, spotting in the mirror the pleased, blue-grey gaze of her best friend. "Well, I don't want people laughing at me, after all. I didn't even have the guts to wear white the first time. This time would be sheer audacity. Can you zip me up, hon?"
"Of course."
The deep bloodsilk closed around her like a lover, and she nodded approvingly, straightening the top of a black and red stocking. "There. How do I look?"
"Like the Easter dew atop a crimson-petaled rose." Anthony smiled, putting his hands in his pockets and rocking back on his heels slightly. "So you're really going to do this."
"Yes."
"Some women would say you're crazy."
"I'm not some women." She replied, touching the gelled tips of her dark blue hair.
"Thank God for that. Can you satisfy a curiosity of mine?"
"Of course, darling."
"What are you going to do about a last name? Did you think about this, or did it get lost in the shuffle?"
"Oh, no, we decided on that ages ago." Wincing slightly, she poked earrings through halfused holes, admiring the heavy drape of gold against her neck. Excellent.
"Well?" Anthony accepted the choker that she handed him and looped it around her throat, buckling the clasp closed.
"We decided on Vanderschpiegle-Lennon-Donnelly."
"Any particular reason for that order of last names?"
"It's the only logical conclusion." Audra shrugged, buckling a clunky goldtoned shoe on one foot. "They like playing Audra-in-the-middle; and Fabie's the eternal submissive. So it was the only way to go."
Anthony buried his face in his hands, but he couldn't hide an amused chuckle. "I just had to ask, didn't I?"
"I don't know, did you?" Audra countered, kissing him on the cheek. "Want to walk me out? It's time to go."
"I thought I was supposed to be the one fluttering around like a confused moth." In the mirror, Jakob watched the tall, slender figure of his little sister dither around the room. "If you wear a hole in the carpet, darling, I'm not paying for it."
She sat down on an overstuffed bench, dabbing at her eyes with a ridiculously impractical lace hanky. "This is just so beautiful."
"Are you going to cry all the way through the ceremony?" he chuckled.
"Of course." Kaatje fluttered her eyelids at him coquettishly. "Isn't that what you're supposed to do at weddings? I do so want to do the right thing. I haven't been to a wedding in years, I don't remember what I'm supposed to do."
The chuckle turned into a laugh, and he eyed himself once more before turning. "Give me a hug."
She hugged him carefully, so not to crush her pink watered-silk gown, and held him at arm's length. "You look lovely. The leather pants suit you."
"I know they do."
"And I love the orange hair, it's so nice and cheery. I feel so strange though, aren't I supposed to straighten your tie or something like a good little sister? That's what they do in the movies." She inspected him for a moment. "Here, I'll just fix your puppy collar a little bit … there. Much better."
"That did absolutely nothing." He replied dryly.
"But it did make me feel better." Glancing at the clock behind him, she wrung her hands dramatically. "Let us fly, dearest sibling, for the hour of thy nuptuals approacheth."
Jakob rolled his eyes and followed her, a smile on his face. Closing the door, he caught a glimpse of his left hand. A half-dozen rings glittered back at him, but he'd never put one on that finger.
Yet.
It was a really, really good thing he hadn't eaten that morning, because if he had, Fabian decided, he'd be looking at his breakfast on the floor in front of him right now. And then Audra and Jakie would definitely kill him.
He took Audra's hand as he was directed, taking Jakob's in the other so they formed a small circle at the front of the room. Blinding white blots flickered around him. Was she sure he didn't look fat in these jeans? Maybe he should cut out the extra bowl of Hyperexploding Chocolate Frosted Marshmallow Bombs in the mornings. Ugh. Food. His stomach flipped, protesting.
Falda was right, though. They both looked great. They'd made the right decision not to wear suits. At least the pictures would be good. And he could breathe. What was it about ties that just cut off his airway? Weird. He could wear heavy leather bands around his neck with impunity, but as soon as they tied anything into a Windsor knot, he started to choke. Maybe it was the similarity to the noose? What a great idea for an art project … maybe installation? Ties formed into nooses … ow! Someone had stepped on his toe.
He snapped back to the present. Jakob was eyeing him with a raised eyebrow, a smile on the corners of his mouth.
Oh.
Right.
He swallowed, trying to wet his parched throat.
"Yes." His blue eyes flickered over the two loves of his life. "Yes. Always and forever. Yes."
The place was packed, the tiny little chapel bursting at the seams with friends and family come to wish them well - and in some cases to see if they'd actually go through with it. Audra smiled at the room triumphantly, one hand holding Jakob's long and slender one, the other linked with Fabian's nailbitten fingers as she listened to the chirpy, lyrical drone of the vows being read.
They had requested a modified earth-style ceremony, and after a little wheedling and more than a few explanations as to why they didn't want to marry nude as per Rigellian custom, and that yes, there were only three of them, the little woman overseeing the festivities agreed, surprised that they had decided to make her life so simple that day. The kids were sitting over to the side, Falda taking pictures and Piet minding three-year-old Thies. So many faces… Emily and Kaatje were both covered in tears, naturally, but what else was new?
Her turn. Audra's gaze travelled right first. Fabian was nervous, pale, and trembling; she squeezed his hand sympathetically as her eyes flickered to the left, smiling at Jakob.
He winked at her, squeezing her fingers with a smile, and she coughed. "Yes, I do."
Jakob sighed as the gold band slid on his finger, blinking back a tear as he glanced down at it. A braid, nested with three diamonds, stared up at him. To his right, a matching band gleamed pearls of light on his wife's delicate, redtipped finger; to his left, another one twinkled on the ragged-nailed hand of his husband.
Husband.
Wife.
He had a husband. And a wife. Jakob swallowed the lump in his throat, suddenly overwhelmed with a torrent of emotion and lack of sleep.
People were looking at him. He cleared his throat softly, steadying his voice.
"Yes." He replied softly, voice just barely over a whisper for a moment. He took that again at a run. "Yes. I will."
Audra smiled, wiping the lipstick off of her cheeks. "Well?"
Fabian sighed explosively, letting go of a breath he'd been holding too long. "Well what?"
"I suppose this is the part where we go whore ourselves in front of the people?" Jakob replied with a slight grin.
"And have cake." Fabian replied, fidgeting. "I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry, schnookiebaby." Jakob grinned, putting his arm around Fabian's shoulders.
"Not earlier I wasn't, I'm not always hungry."
Audra wormed her way between the two of them, grinning, and they exchanged glances for a moment, two sets of blue eyes and one set of green ones sparkling, rimmed in eyeliner, and not a few tears.
"Was it worth it?" Jakob murmured.
"Of course." Audra nodded.
"Hell yeah." Fabian replied, blotting a tear out of the corner of his eye.
"Well then, my little cream cheese brownies with extra cream cheese frosting," Jakob drawled, taking one of each of their hands, "let's go. We shouldn't keep the nice people waiting, after all."