Chapter Text
The rest of the dinner passed by in a blur. There was a speech—there might have been, anyways. Either by Dmitri’s father or an unfamiliar family member (likely from Raphael’s side) that drank to good health and a happy union.
Viktor found he’d been drained of energy to give it much thought and attention. He at least kept the effort of smiling, nodding, and laughing alongside others at appropriate times.
“Viktor?”
Not that it could fool Jayce.
They were stuck in traffic. Their driver had rolled up the divider between their compartments. The thrum of an electric guitar floated through the speakers from a classic rock station. Viktor just wanted to put his head down and rest his eyes for a moment.
But Jayce was facing him, looking worried. “Are you okay? Was it something she said to you—”
Jayce was worried a lot these days. “I’m all right, Jayce.” The weariness in his voice said otherwise. “Madame Takiapolis just...” He wrinkled his nose. “I guess, approved that myself and Dmitri went our separate ways.”
Jayce blinked. “I mean...” And proceeded to waffle on what to say next. “Good! I think?”
A fine mix of cautious optimism and uncertain affront—exactly what Viktor had been feeling. He was sure Jayce had pieced together the rather tumultuous acquaintanceship he and Madame Takiapolis—Andria—had over the years and why that experience had been nothing short of jarring and slightly insulting,
And just why her words rattled in his head exasperatingly.
Viktor leaned back, resting his head on the car seat and tipping his head towards the grey of the car roof. I’m glad you see that now. And what was Viktor seeing, exactly? Himself, the same he’s always been? With the same doomed affections for a straight man? For his best friend who saw him as only a brother?
He bit back a bitter smile. For all of Andria’s grandstanding over her infinite wisdom regarding the characters of men her son had been romantically involved with, she seemed awfully convinced by his and Jayce’s performance, at least. She’d even been approving—though Viktor figured that had more to do with the fact that Viktor had clung to another man and not her naïve son with his pending inheritance and trust left to him.
Maybe it was even Viktor’s own feelings that made this charade so believable—embellishing the act with a touch of authenticity so pathetically real because every heartstring of his played that same tired old tune.
“Penny for your thoughts?”
Viktor opened his mouth and hesitated. The car inched forward. A car honked its horn off in the distance. Snow started to stick on the car windows, obscuring the lights and distorting the world outside.
And he was stuck here, in this quiet moment, heater on full blast in the back seat of a taxi, with a man he loved so much it destroyed him inside and out.
Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. “We’re pretty good actors, aren’t we?”
Jayce seemed surprised for a moment. “A—…Actors.” His voice grew quieter. “Ah. Yeah.” He gave a chuckle. It sounded soft. Unsure. “I mean, we have a lot of natural chemistry, don’t we?”
Viktor nodded. “Of course.” Natural chemistry. Viktor’s memorized Jayce and carved his every word, his every touch, and painstakingly burned every moment they shared to the walls of his heart. “Best friends for almost a decade.”
And to Jayce, it was all natural chemistry. The byproduct of happenstance and shared ambitions. The culmination of sharing the same major in university and finishing each other’s formulas. Of years of platonic affection and brotherly loyalty.
And that’s why Viktor knew they could do this. No true risk. No true stake. For all Viktor’s doubts and fears that he’d pushed Jayce too far, everything would return to status quo the moment the wedding was over. They could survive this. Their friendship could survive this. Viktor knew how important he was to Jayce. And Jayce had his entire wretched heart in the palm of his hand without even knowing.
“Jayce, I just…want to say thank you.” Viktor turned to him and he felt that same cruel adoration snake its tendrils around the cage of his ribs. “For everything. For being here.”
And watched as Jayce nodded along, ready to reassure and brave whatever insanity his best friend forced him to. “Of—of course, Viktor,” he said. A beat of silence. Just short enough to be measured with between the pulse in his heart. “I’d do anything for you, you know that.”
Except love me. Viktor rolled his eyes, gave him a smile. Practiced and knowing. “Of course I do.” Love me in the way I’ve been so stupidly desperate for—
But Viktor could never ask that of Jayce.
God forbid the man actually took him seriously and decided to give him his pity in consolation. And just the thought of it made Viktor sick to his stomach. Jayce would mistake something like that as kindness. Would think that giving Viktor hope, something to anchor himself to, would be a necessary sacrifice to endure until Jayce gently let him down with the softest, sweetest rejections.
And even Viktor wouldn’t do that to himself. “You’re my best friend, Jayce.”
The car started again. The flow of traffic eased to a rolling start. Snow continued to fall in quiet flurries, drifting across the restless cityscape.
And Viktor breathed, clearing his head and holding on to a consistency that held him together and broke him into pieces. “And nothing will ever change that.”
Double-edged and bittersweet.
Jayce had been so sure—had been so sure—
He paced back and forth. Today was the day. The wedding. The big finale.
He’d been ready to tell Viktor. To use this scheme as an opportunity to sweep him off his feet. To show Viktor that Jayce was here. Had been here all this time. That he could love him right and treat him how he deserved—
You’re my best friend, Jayce.
The finality of it. The resolution—
(Or was it resignation?)
And nothing will ever change that.
The reassurance—
(Or was it reticence?)
The words echoed in his head the whole night. Even when Viktor had rolled over and sought his warmth. Even when Jayce held him until the sunlight hours and Viktor inevitably drew away, sleepily studied his face while Jayce held his breath, held his heart—
“Ready?”
“Of course,” Jayce murmured, voice soft with sleep. Even then, he still wanted to hold on to Viktor for just a bit longer. Wanted to take this moment and memorize it, watch Viktor through the quiet hours, the sunrise beside the bedroom window, the golden glow of an everyday wonder that Jayce held in his arms for even just one moment,
In case it slipped through his fingers.
It was their last day. They’ll survive the events of the wedding, slog through hours of pretending and playing nice with nosy guests, and then after that—
After that—
Jayce didn’t know what came after that. He had such a clear plan going into this that just…
Jayce sighed. He sat at the edge of the bed, already changed into his suit, and stared at the most expensive pair of shoes he owned as Viktor readied himself in the bathroom.
Was he being too selfish? Was Viktor over Dmitri? Was he risking everything, including his closest, most meaningful relationship—
—on a leap of faith? On the desperate plea that Viktor might love him back? That he might be ready to love him back? That one weekend pretending to be a couple might convince him that Jayce is the one?
Maybe…maybe he should hold off. Maybe it was better to come home, shed the masks, and be themselves for a while longer before Jayce made sure that Viktor had the time to find steady ground and move on. To make sure that Viktor was steadfast in this decision. To make sure that Jayce could openly communicate his feelings, curb his deterministic impulses, and tell Viktor just how much he—
“Just how much you…what?”
Jayce felt heat creep up from his neck to the tips of his ears. Jayce had been ready to laugh it off, turn to Viktor and dismiss it with a wave or brush it aside and refocused their plan that day to walk in, arm-in-arm, to give Viktor’s ex hell for the shit he pulled—
The words died in his throat immediately. A switch flipped off. A short-circuit as his eyes drank in the sight of his partner, dressed to the nines for this event, to break hearts and quite possibly break every train of thought that ran through Jayce’s head.
“Just…how gorgeous you look,” he managed to croak out.
Fuck that. Jayce was confessing tonight.
Jayce gave an appreciative sweep down the lines of Viktor’s body. Slim, elegant, holding himself high with a confidence and poise he’d seen in rare glimpses—usually reserved for in-person demonstrations of prototypes, and definitely not in social events. Jayce nodded along, calming the frantic beating of his heart and the gunshot instinct to beg on his knees.
One chance, Viktor—
Just one chance! “Red’s always looked good on you.”
Viktor rolled his eyes, looking painfully perfect in the tux he’d paid extra to expedite the tailoring. “You only say that because it’s your favorite color.”
Worth every penny, if Jayce was honest. “I’m not disagreeing.” Jayce grinned. “You realize what that color means to wear to a wedding, right?”
A scandalous choice.
“In some cultures, it symbolizes luck,” Viktor sniffed, turning up his nose at the very insinuation that he was planning something so untoward. But not fast enough to hide the grin he wore that accessorized beautifully with his ensemble. “I’m simply wishing Dmitri the happiest day.”
A double-entendre.
Viktor really was pulling out all the stops. “Well, it’ll certainly be memorable.” That meant Jayce should contribute his efforts too.
The weight in his pocket served as a reminder to that promise.
Viktor was well aware people were staring.
He was fairly sure Dmitri’s father choked when he walked through the doors. Somewhere across the room, Andria let out a cackle. Whispers erupted. Someone had their phone out to record.
Any other time, Viktor would have turned tail and likely vomited all over Jayce’s shoes. Any other time, he would have allowed the performance anxiety to get the better of him. He would have felt his very heart thunder and crash at the murmurs, the pointing, the judgment, and crumbled beneath the weight of whispers and glares.
But Viktor knew exactly what he was. And he knew exactly what he was doing.
No, everyone was quite correct in their assumptions.
He was here to make Dmitri’s (and Raphael’s) wedding memorable.
And, sure, Viktor had an inkling that he’d taken things a bit too far…especially when a sea of people parted as he and Jayce made their way to their designated seats towards the back—just a scarlet eyesore in a sea of furtive glances and low voices.
Oh well.
In for a penny,
In for a pound.
It helped that Jayce was by his side. The red accents to his white and gold tux helped sell the match made in heaven motif that Viktor had been going for. The Talis family colors aided with a casual but honest response against wearing red for the overtly blatant implications of having slept with one of the grooms.
It was a beautiful ensemble. And cost a small fortune to expedite at the tailor’s. But it certainly gave the reactions they were looking for.
The wedding coordinator was less than thrilled, however, stalking over to the pair in stiletto heels and straining a smile. “Sirs…what an…interesting choice of dress you both have chosen!”
Jayce smiled, placing an arm around Viktor’s waist as they greeted her with polite smiles. “Thank you, ma’am! Viktor looks gorgeous in my family colors, doesn’t he?”
Viktor ducked his head demurely. “Oh, stop it…red looks good on nearly anyone.”
“Especially you,” Jayce purred. “Especially in this…”
She cleared her throat. “Right, well…red can sometimes be inappropriate for—wedding occasions. Do you have something…else to change into?”
Viktor glanced over to Jayce and sent him a confused look. Practiced to perfection. “Oh, is that right? Well, I’m sure Dmitri would understand. After all, we’ve mentioned your family colors to him before.”
Viktor wasn’t completely lying. It must have crossed conversation at some point in the past three years of dating Dmitri and being entangled in Jayce. Probably mentioned how it clashed distastefully to his inclination towards cooler tones.
“No, no—I can assure you that there’s no need to bother Mister Takiapolis and future-Mister Takiapolis over this. Now, is there—another tux you could possibly wear—”
“What seems to be the problem here?”
Andria gave a smile, eyes sparkling with amusement. “Oh Viktor, you look absolutely stunning my darling!”
“Madame Takiapolis,” the wedding coordinator breathed. “We were simply discussing the…inappropriate suit—”
“Oh, don’t kick up a fuss about that,” she waved. “Viktor and my Dmitri have known each other for years! He was especially invited here by my son, after all!” She placed a finely manicured hand over the coordinator’s shoulder. “I’m sure a nice splash of color here is exactly what this event needs!”
The wedding coordinator glanced between the two, emotions flitting across the square frames of her sharp glasses before nodding. “Very well. My apologies for the intrusion.”
“Yes, yes, why don’t you make sure the live band isn’t missing a cellist.”
The wedding coordinator took one last glance at them before giving a short nod, taking her leave towards the onlooking crowd.
Andria turned, pinning Viktor with an even look. “That, my dear, is utterly diabolical.”
Viktor let out a chuckle. “Your words wound me, Andria. Red is the color of passion, no? And the color of Jayce’s family, his heritage—and a color of good fortune.”
She scoffed. “And the exact shade of an exhibitionist.” Jayce choked on his laugh as Andria shook her head. “And where was this gall when you were dating my Dmitri?”
“Undoubtedly, you’d ensure the body would never be found,” Viktor sighed.
“You really are too smart for your own good.” Her smile softened. “For what it’s worth, Viktor dearest?” Andria huffed out a laugh. “This is the best I’ve ever seen you. And the happiest, too.”
Viktor cleared his throat. “Yes, I—” And really, what was he to say to something like that? To the kindest and likely the last conversation he’d ever have with the very woman that tormented his relationship with Dmitri for the entirety of their three years together. “Thank you.”
She departed with little more than a huff and a flick of her hair, perfectly coiffed as it bounced with every clack of her heels.
Jayce chuckled, squeezing Viktor’s hip. “Well, it’s a good thing your ex didn’t inherit his mother’s tastes…”
Viktor sent Jayce a look of sheer horror. “Don’t even joke.”
“You’re right,” Jayce nodded solemnly. “If my mamá knew you were charming up another woman, she’d be heartbroken.”
Viktor let out a gasp. “Shush, I would never do such a thing to your mamá.” He wasn’t even joking about that either.
Jayce chuckled. “Then why don’t you come over more often? You know she loves seeing you.”
“Am I hearing right?” Viktor exaggerated a shocked expression. “Is mamá’s-boy-of-the-year Jayce Talis giving me permission to stay in the running for favorite son?”
Jayce snorted and pressed an affectionate kiss to his temple. “Not a chance!” If things went along as planned,
Viktor could always be his mamá’s favorite son-in-law.
Viktor took stock of the atmosphere, the theming. The wintry flowers and the shades of silver and hues of wintry blue. A whole gallery of custom prints and photos dotted the hall, showcasing the happy couple through the lens of perfectly curated and manicured photoshoots, displayed in grandiose (and borderline gaudy) fashion that Viktor was sure had been Dmitri’s sole artistic vision: a piece of work trying to emulate a work of art.
Still, Viktor could admit there was an earnest charm in it. To glimpse upon his relationship with shared happiness, a beaming brightness that he wanted exhibited to the world.
“It’s a bit much,” Viktor murmured. “But I expected no different.”
“Hm? What was that?” Jayce asked, back after a beat of silence.
Viktor chuckled, feeling his cheeks color. Jayce wasn’t exactly hiding his blatant attempts at appearing enchanted with his change in appearance. “The…décor.” He was really selling the act.
“Oh.” Jayce swept his gaze through the walls. He made a face. “Eugh. I hadn’t noticed.” Viktor had to cover his mouth and bite down a bark of laughter. “I was occupied with a…much better view.”
Viktor would give him the highest commendations in any acting guild, should Jayce abandon pursuits of science for a cast in the limelight. “Such a flirt.”
“Just showing my honest appreciation!”
More eyes on them. Viktor leaned against Jayce’s side. If they were going to point and stare, they might as well get their best angles.
The music started and the chorus began to swell.
A part of Viktor was surprised things went on as they did. Then again, Viktor himself was no stranger to keeping more…unsavory secrets under wraps. Maybe it was ego. Maybe it was communication. Maybe it was proving a point.
Or maybe it was love.
“We could do one better,” Jayce murmured, holding Viktor’s hand. Viktor barely turned, holding this memory, this moment, somewhere he knew he should never open again. He couldn’t even meet Jayce’s eyes. He was too afraid of what he’d see if he did.
So, he turned to the aisle,
Meeting the burning stare and the incredulous double-take from his ex with grace and calm as Dmitri walked together, arm-in-arm, with Raphael. It took everything in Viktor not to give him a smug little wave as he settled against Jayce’s chest. And while Viktor never found himself a vindictive man until he was provoked to this degree,
He had to admit that seeing his ex and knowing that a part of his happiest day included seeing Viktor with Jayce wrapped around him, dripping in colors of scarlet while nary a soul did a thing about it, brought a schadenfreude to his heart that bordered on obscenity.
Despite that, the ceremony had been a lovely affair. Raphael had glowered at them, but apart from that, gave no other indication that their performance was even on his radar as he wedded the man he loved.
Viktor admitted that he handled the situation with far more grace than Viktor deserved. At the very least, he and Jayce did bring wedding gifts listed from their registry.
(Sure, they bought it in the colors of Talis reds and whites, but it was the thought that counted.)
The officiant began and the rest of the guests looked cautiously in Viktor’s direction through the duration of the ceremony. Which was—a shame. Because the vows were heartfelt and Dmitri delivered his speech with the expected dramatic flair and emotional costuming, while maintaining an undercurrent of earnest devotion that made Viktor almost fall in love with him three years ago.
Viktor just wished a part of him didn’t recognize all those familiar pie-crust promises he made as union oaths to his husband.
For a moment, he envisioned if things had been different—if he’d been different—that he’d be standing there at the altar with Dmitri. He’d have been in a suit of matching silvers and blues in a winter wedding if he’d shown Dmitri that he did love him, that he did choose him, that Dmitri had been his priority—
(But it would have all been a lie.)
“Should anyone object to this union…” the officiant cleared his throat and avoided Viktor’s direction entirely. “Speak now or forever hold your peace.”
Viktor didn’t open his mouth. Everyone glanced over to him and expected that much. The bravado. The circus. The performance.
But Viktor was ready to let go. Had been ready to let go.
In fact, he wasn’t really sure he held on to begin with.
“Getting misty-eyed, there?” Jayce asked. He pressed a kiss to his temple and Viktor quietly reminded himself that he was just playing along, playing his part—
(Even if no one else was looking at them.)
“Weddings usually do,” Viktor sniffled as they exchanged rings.
Missed chances usually do.
Some guests regarded them with relief.
Others, disappointment.
Likely waiting on some melodramatic disruption to the ceremony, to burst through the silence and bated breaths to deliver some bawdy confession, or an outraged narrative of how the man in red at the wedding had been cheated, conned, and falsely incriminated in such as targeted and tasteless (but utterly undeniable) accusations—
But no.
Viktor let the silence and eyes upon him speak for itself. Let the unease, tension, and gossip occupy the cheers and congratulations instead.
Sure, Viktor was going a bit off-script from their intended ploys, but at the end of the day—
He’d grown tired.
Jayce maintained his neutral expression for the most part. Viktor thought they were rather well-behaved for a pair of interlopers looking to stir trouble during an ex’s wedding. All throughout the beginning of the reception, all through the dinner, even through the toast and speeches the happily wedded pair gave to celebrate the joyous union, they remained quietly and politely engaged, chuckling and murmuring and playing up their lovey-dovey roles amongst themselves.
Viktor even stopped Jayce from interrupting during some very direct jabs Dmitri made in an impassioned accusation regarding a certain ghost from his past.
Viktor allowed it. He knew no matter how much Dmitri paid videographers, no matter how many wedding photos he edited and photoshopped to remove the twin red stains on his most opulent and perfect wedding day,
The damage was done.
A part of Dmitri and Raphael will remember Viktor there, with Jayce on his arm, and knowing that three years together had meant just as much to Viktor as it did to Dmitri:
Ample ammunition to aim directly at each other’s throats.
Because while love didn’t keep them together, Viktor carried Dmitri’s secrets and the prices he paid after crossing the line.
So yes, Viktor said nothing. Suffocated the drama from the atmosphere as he sat happily in the back row, holding Jayce’s hand and cuddling into his side. Let Dmitri remember just who Viktor chose in the end. And let Dmitri see that having Jayce by his side here wasn’t just a choice meant to twist the knife in deeper,
It was an inevitability that their stint in romance only delayed.
Viktor had been happy to leave it at that. To keep Dmitri deprived of the drama he so adored. To show up with the man he was most insecure of and simply depart because Viktor had made his point clear.
But Jayce was a man who knew how to hold a proper grudge. “Some speech that was,” he muttered.
Viktor nodded. “You can tell he really put his heart and soul into it.” Dmitri was always quite good at improvisation. “About finding the one after all the time he’s wasted,” Viktor listed, unable to keep the amusement from his voice as he and Jayce swayed together on the dance floor. “How he finally found his heart after losing it in a bed of thorns—”
Jayce was practically snarling against his ear. “He’s a fucking idiot.”
Viktor shrugged. “And so was I.” Jayce opened his mouth immediately to protest, but Viktor simply pressed a finger to the seam of Jayce’s lips. “Come now, Jayce…you can’t deny that.”
Jayce grumbled, somehow still keeping time with the lazy cadence, even while supporting almost all of Viktor’s weight as they waltzed almost entirely in closed position. Advantageous, especially when it came to private conversation. “Everyone makes mistakes.”
His heart ached pathetically at that. Viktor couldn’t imagine anyone more perfect. “You really are too sweet, Jayce.” Couldn’t imagine anyone more perfectly out of reach for him. Viktor laid his head on Jayce’s shoulder and sighed. Fond. Forlorn. “You’re going to make someone the luckiest person alive one day.”
The hand in Viktor’s gave a tight squeeze. Jayce took in a breath. “You said red was a lucky color, right?”
Viktor furrowed his brow. “Yes?”
Viktor raised his head from his very comfortable position on Jayce’s shoulder to a gentle kiss pressed to his forehead. “Well… Is it working?”
“Huh—oh!”
The world tilted on its axis. Viktor felt the breath knocked out of him. And he was slightly dizzy. Above him, Jayce grinned.
“Jayce!”
Handsome and so infuriatingly romantic when he didn’t need to be.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry—I wouldn’t let you fall.” Viktor gave a helpless laugh at that. God, if Jayce only knew. “Good thing you were holding on to me.”
He was all Viktor knew to hold on to. Whether it was for the best or not. “People are staring,” Viktor whispered.
“Good. Let them look.” Jayce chuckled, leaning in close, a kiss ghosting over Viktor’s lips. “Let them know you’re all mine.”
The hunger hadn’t simply echoed in his voice. It scorched every touch to Viktor’s skin, seared the lines of Viktor’s body with possessive fervor, and stole the breath from his very lips as Jayce covered his mouth with his own.
Someone gasped. Another wolf-whistled.
Something slipped and shattered behind them.
But all Viktor could hear was his own pulse through his ears. Nothing else mattered Jayce’s mouth on his own, the way Jayce pressed his body to Viktor’s, and the way his hands roamed across in burning want.
A good actor.
Perfect at playing pretend.
But even those words were weak excuses against the hazy, darkened heat in Jayce’s eyes after he pulled away.
Viktor shuddered, helpless in every way he’s ever wanted as Jayce leaned in again, finding his mouth again, then the angle of his jaw, the curve of his neck—
Viktor bit back a whine as the line of Jayce’s teeth found his pulse. “Jayce…”
It wasn’t in protest either. Viktor was well aware that Jayce knew this from the smile pressed against his neck. “Viktor—” Jayce pressed another kiss there. Then to the corner of his mouth. The mole, right above his lip.
Goodness.
Goodness.
Jayce really knew how to sell the illusion as he trailed his lips to his cheek, the mole beneath his eye—
“You’re perfect Viktor.”
Jayce’s voice was soft, his words quiet and small despite the weight it carried, despite the blow it inflicted to the very center of Viktor’s chest. Enough to nearly break his ribs wide open. A useless endeavor. There was nothing there to free.
Jayce had his heart from the very beginning.
Even then, Viktor could feel it stop as Jayce pulled away, pulled a small black box from his pocket,
And dropped to one knee—
“A bit tacky to do that at someone else’s wedding, isn’t it?” Dmitri held out Viktor’s crutch. From the corner of his eye, he could see Jayce’s jaw tighten, eyes narrowed to a glare. “Not to mention the red. This entire affair is, if I’m to be honest.”
Viktor took back his crutch, accepting it with a slight nod. He had a feeling they overstayed his welcome long ago. “But isn’t it a nice color? Jayce said it was a good shade on me…reds and golds—the Talis family colors,” Viktor laughed lightly. “Don’t you remember?”
Still,
It was nice seeing just where that line was drawn in the sand.
Viktor’s line started at the very first sentence of the invitation he received in the mail.
Dmitri rolled his eyes. “Yes. All too well.” He fully turned to Viktor. His mouth was set in a firm line before the first seam was ripped loose. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”
Jayce stepped between them. “Anything you say to Viktor, you can say in front of me.”
Dmitri made a show of scoffing, waving off the looming figure right in front of him. “Oh please, you can let your guard dog off his leash for a second, can’t you.”
“Excuse me?” Jayce hissed. “Shouldn’t you be tending to your husband instead of harassing the guests you invited yourself?”
Dmitri pinched the bridge of his nose. He opened his mouth to retort but wisely kept it shut. There were eyes watching them intently from all sides of the room. Dmitri took in a breath. “Viktor.” He grit his teeth before relenting with a desperate, “Please.”
Viktor considered just walking away at that very moment. To deny Dmitri the opportunity to get the final say in. To leave him with an exit wound just as he did with Viktor six months ago.
“I’ll just be right there.” But Viktor admitted:
Curiosity got the better of him.
Jayce didn’t look surprised. Instead, his eyes softened as he placed a gentle hand on the small of Viktor’s back. “If you need me, call for me, okay?”
“Of course, Jayce.” Dmitri was always more like his father, anyways. “I’ll be fine.” He wouldn’t know how to hide a body and get away with it.
The hall had been mostly vacated, though Viktor was certain there were a number of necks craning to get a better view, a crowd of ears trained on their conversation as Dmitri paced back and forth. Viktor leaned against the wall, crutch keeping him balanced and giving the illusion of calm.
“You know, I really have to applaud you.” Dmitri sounded hysterical now. “It really is quite impressive! The lengths you’d go to ruin my wedding day!”
Viktor wrinkled his nose. “I did no such thing.” Sure, the argument could be made that Viktor did exactly what he knew would cause Dmitri to start spiraling: especially if he knew that doing nothing would absolutely drive him mad. “Like I said. I simply wanted to give you well wishes and celebrate your special occasion.” And Viktor still doesn’t know how Dmitri had the gall to act as though he’d been a mere victim, rather than an instigator. “You just didn’t expect me to move on in the same way. And look, you’re a happily married man now, aren’t you?” Certainly, Viktor did nothing to prevent that from happening. Certainly, Viktor didn’t want things to turn out any other way. “Why is it that when I show up with my happiness, I’m suddenly the villain?”
He hadn’t wanted to ruin Dmitri’s relationship with Raphael.
He hadn’t wanted to take the failed, ruined thing they had and parade it as something that Viktor was willing to fight for.
At the end of the day, Viktor had merely wanted Dmitri to feel what he felt when he saw that invitation in the mail.
“Viktor.” Dmitri stepped forward. Then shrunk back. “I…” He sighed. Frustrated. Resigned. “This was exactly why I knew it would never work out between us.”
Viktor rolled his eyes. This again. “Yes. You’ve made it abundantly clear—”
“Your …relationship with Jayce Talis really left no room for anyone else in your heart.”
Viktor froze. He expected an accusation.
He hadn’t expected acceptance. He hadn’t expected the way Dmitri’s words to strain and creak beneath the weight of three years of disappointments and excuses and half-hearted attempts and half-baked apologies.
Because there it was: beneath the veneer of incongruent goals and incompatible temperaments and disagreements on core values.
Viktor had always known.
“...you were never mine.” Dmitri admitted quietly. “It broke my heart every second. It only took me three years to finally accept it.” Dmitri gave a bitter laugh. It splattered messily on the designer carpet beneath their feet. “Yet… even after all of this.” He hastily swiped his eyes. “It still hurt to see.”
“We decided this, didn’t we? That I didn’t give enough. And that you decided you didn’t want to give anymore,” Viktor said quietly.
Reciprocal and reciprocated surrender. “Three years of realizing that it wasn’t that I hadn’t given my all, or that I wasn’t good enough, or—even that we weren’t good together! The conclusion to all this? That no matter what…” Dmitri’s face crumpled. Even then, he nodded along to the bitter truth: “You’d always choose him. It’s written into you. It’s part of your nature.” And Viktor couldn’t contest that. Couldn’t refute that. “And I had to accept that and move on.” He gave a bitter smile. Barked a hollow laugh. “You know, you never fought for it. Not once.”
To that, Viktor had nothing to say.
It was all true.
“You know, I almost didn’t get married today.”
Viktor felt cold. A creeping guilt that rose in a quiet, violent wave that crashed over him.
“I...I almost made the same mistakes I watched you make for three years.” Viktor supposed he should have felt a sting at the accusation. At the insult. Instead, he felt…understanding. “Then, I talked to my Raphael. I told him that seeing you made all those—all those awful moments come back. Relived in real time.” He shook his head. “I thought—there was no way he’d want me now! Not after seeing what I’ve become, seeing an ex walk into our spotlight, our wedding day!” Dmitri’s voice cracked, strained and swollen with shame, with fear. “He’ll think me still attached! Still vying for a heart that was never mine!”
Viktor nodded. Of course. He knew that feeling all too well.
“But then, I remembered.” Dmitri gave him a smile. Broken, patient. The same smile he gave Viktor the night he ended a three year charade. “I’m not you. I’m not my deplorable insecurities. I’m not the caricature of some reviled thing that only exists in my head, not allowed to love and not allowed to be happy because I couldn’t open my damn mouth and just be vulnerable and honest.”
“And?” Viktor asked. Quiet. Curious. Feeling his insides twist with an unnamed emotion.
“So I talked to him. I talked to him for hours and up until the start of the ceremony. And now I am married. And I am married to someone who loves me for—my faults. And forgave me for moments of confusion, chaos, and even weakness.” Dmitri gave a wet laugh. He dabbed at his eyes with the sleeve of his expensive, custom tux. “I know, six months. It’s too soon. I have no idea who he really is. He has no idea who I really am. But…last night?” He shook his head, eyes filled with more love, affection, and happiness than Viktor had ever seen. “That was the most honest I’ve ever been with anyone. And that counts for everything.”
“I understand that.” Viktor really did. It was more than Viktor ever gave him. It was what Dmitri deserved.
“Do you? I’m not the one who's been lying to myself for ten years.” Viktor snorted. He did listen.
He just never really applied it.
“It’s been three years and I’m not sure if anything I’ve said ever got through to you.” He shook his head. Dmitri opened the door back to the reception hall. A sea of silence greeted them. “Congratulations. To you and Talis. You two truly deserve one another.” He held the door open for Viktor, ever the gentleman despite some deplorable behavior every now and then. Viktor stepped through the threshold and found Jayce’s eyes immediately, already departing from Raphael with a relieved expression.
“For tainting what should have been the happiest day of my life and reminding me exactly what I deserve,” Dmitri said, voice steady, and head held high. “Now get the hell out of my wedding.”
Viktor nodded as Dmitri returned to Raphael’s side. Right where he belonged. Right where he was happiest.
Even in the aftermath of all Viktor’s done. “Thank you for the invitation.” Dmitri paused but didn’t look back. Good.
Viktor was happy for him. “Despite it all, I’m glad we finally had this talk.”
“You know, you two could stand to be a little less obvious.”
Jayce just watched Dmitri walk off with the love of his life one too many times. He wasn’t exactly in the mood to talk. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He turned to Raphael and gave a lukewarm: “And congratulations, by the way.”
His mama would have his head for being impolite to the host, after all.
Raphael snorted. “You don’t mean that. You’ve hated every second being here.”
“No, not really.” There were some definite perks being here. Namely Viktor. But the context of why he was even recruited in the first place, Jayce could do without. “I just don’t know what anyone sees in that guy.” Jayce spent the better part of three years waiting for the relationship to collapse, if he had to be honest. Not because he didn’t want his best friend happy—of course Viktor deserved to be happy.
(Jayce was obviously biased, but Jayce also knew that no one would make him happier than Jayce himself.)
But with every year that passed, with every call and text that went unanswered for days at a time,
Jayce admitted that he started losing hope.
Then Dmitri just fucks right off and leaves Jayce with the best thing he could possibly ask for. And Jayce just doesn’t get it.
Jayce shrugged. “But he’s your problem now.”
Raphael scoffed. “Hm…so are you pretending to be with my husband’s ex for sport?” Jayce wishes he could be surprised. But it wasn’t difficult to make the connection. The assumption. “Or was this a personal vendetta?” Raphael asked, narrowing his eyes.
The answer was, naturally, a bit of both. But both those choices didn’t encapsulate the entirety of why Jayce was here, why Jayce laid everything on the line, and why Jayce held his breath and held his heart for whenever Viktor came back to him.
“Neither,” he said. “I’m doing this for the man I love.”
Jayce looked relieved to see him. “Viktor—”
“I believe…” His eyes met Raphael’s. They were impassive as he left with Dmitri. But he gave him a small nod. No, not forgiveness. Just a mutual understanding. “We’ve overstayed our welcome, Jayce.”
They were done. He made his point. He should leave.
Jayce plucked two flutes of champagne from a tray balanced by a passing staff member. “One more? For the road?”
Viktor laughed, heading back towards the exit, a line of whispers and steely glares shadowing their every move. “Sure.”
“A toast, then—” Jayce held out his drink, tilting the rim towards Viktor by the thin, delicate stem, the gold and bubbles floating and fizzing merrily despite it all. “To making mistakes and realizing we could do better.”
Despite the circumstances. It was still a celebration. “To making mistakes,” Viktor agreed, laughing with sweetness on his tongue and a bitter burn down his throat, Dmitri’s words echoing in his head. “And realizing we could do so much better.”
Clarity hit him all at once as they exited the venue. The weight of the performance was suddenly ripped from his body, leaving Viktor feeling naked and cold. Jayce placed a well-meaning arm around him and Viktor reminded himself that Jayce was done pretending too.
The taxi ride was quiet. Jayce pressed his arm against Viktor’s but said nothing else as they watched the lights and gentle snow from the window. Meanwhile, a weight had settled into Viktor’s chest in place of the warmth that grew there despite Viktor’s desperate attempts to smother it since Jayce agreed to his schemes.
The walk from the hotel to the elevator and to their room held a growing tension, the weight crushing his lungs and forcing the words out of his throat before Jayce could walk back to the bedroom and remove the suit, remove all traces of this night, and remove himself from the mess Viktor started and dragged him into—
Viktor looked at the door. They forgot to call maintenance about it. He hadn’t fixed it either.
Somehow, that had been the final straw.
“I…I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Jayce paused and looked back. Viktor never did learn how to let go. “You showed up after he tried to humiliate you,” Jayce gently reminded him, guiding Viktor to the chaise, and guiding Viktors’ gaze to remain focused on him. “He’s just mad because he thought you wouldn’t fight back.”
“True…” Viktor nodded, suddenly drained of his energy, his spirits. Without spite fueling this scheme and keeping him aloft, Viktor felt like he’d suddenly taken a spiraling nosedive. “But I don’t feel better for it,” he murmured. He bit his lip. Tasted iron on his tongue. “I feel worse for it, actually.”
“You’re too nice, Viktor.” Jayce knelt down to his level. “All we did was show up—”
“And pretended to be a couple,” Viktor pointed out. “All to drive my ex insane.” God, saying it out loud, hearing it in his own voice, and processing it after all was said and done, it really did sound pathetic. “And driving myself insane in the process,” he confessed.
It was a net-zero endeavor.
And Viktor felt like a worse person because of it. “We have a lot of explaining to do when we get back.” Viktor could already imagine Sky’s berating. Could already imagine Caitlyn’s and Vi’s odd looks.
Maybe he should take a break, after explaining themselves. That no, they hadn’t lost their minds—well, maybe briefly—but reassure that things would remain status quo. And maybe Viktor should consider taking a break, something…more long-term. Not immediately. That wouldn’t be fair to Jayce. Not after all he’s done for Viktor. But quietly detangling where they’d been suffocating one another,
Jayce with his kindness and readiness to support his best friend,
And Viktor, with his selfish desire to be loved by a man who thought of him as a brother.
Viktor’s sure Jayce would be sick of him by now. After everything. Maybe he was even sick of him now. Jayce certainly didn’t look happy at the end of all this. And that was just Viktor being selfish again. Jayce worked hard and went above and beyond to fool Dmitri and here Viktor was, whining about how he felt awful for it.
If he felt awful for even just wanting this, then Viktor could only imagine how Jayce felt being forced into this position.
“Why…” Jayce started.
Viktor wanted to laugh. Laugh and sob in the same breath. Why indeed? Why did Jayce have to go through all the trouble when Viktor was just going to change his mind and tell him it was all for nothing because the guilt finally caught up to him in slow, lumbering steps.
“Why did it bother him so much?”
Viktor paused.
It certainly wasn’t the question Viktor was expecting. “Us being friends. Us being close,” Jayce elaborated after nothing but silence greeted him.
Why indeed. “You’re my closest friend. My best friend. You said it yourself: we’re like brothers.” The words feel like glass in Viktor’s mouth. “And you never really liked him. I think it bruised his ego quite a bit.”
It was the most surface-level response Viktor could give. Nothing that Jayce didn’t already know. Nothing that Viktor hadn’t alluded to before.
Jayce shrugged. “True. I didn’t. I never did. I never thought he was good enough for you. That’s why I never bothered to warm up to him.” Viktor could roll his eyes, but his next question stopped Viktor in his tracks. “Was he jealous of us?”
The exact conversation played out just a day ago. Yet the slightest adjustment in Jayce’s choice words altered the meaning entirely.
Of us.
What us? Their chronic and terminal friendship? The insinuations and assumptions people made when they were together (but not like that) in public? The many times that Viktor had to correct others and reiterate that Oh no, we’re not dating—
We’re just friends.
“What, like he was worried you’d steal me away?” Viktor snorted. Really, Dmitri was probably fearing Viktor would have thrown himself at Jayce at the first presented opportunity. He grimaced when he realized that, yes, Viktor would have had to think for a second about that. And rolled his eyes when he realized Jayce was staring at him. “Yes, Jayce,” Viktor admitted, running his tongue over his wounded lip. “He thought there was something else going on. We’ve been over this. He was jealous.”
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Viktor was an awful partner.
Especially to Dmitri.
Especially to Jayce.
“Of what?” Jayce leaned in closer, crowding Viktor’s space as he quietly demanded, begged: “Specifically, of what?”
Because he knew that when it came down to it—
I would choose you. Every single time. “Jealous because he felt like I always placed you first,” Viktor said. He felt like—as if Dmitri hadn’t kept a running list of every instance where Viktor thoughtlessly prioritized his best friend over the man that he was supposed to be in a relationship with. The man that loved him and the man that Viktor told through his teeth that he loved too.
“And is that true?” Jayce asked, with the softest, most devastating blow he could deliver.
“…Yes.” Of course it was true. Jayce was the one his entire being gravitated to. No one else could even come close.
“Viktor…”
Viktor shook his head. He couldn’t bear to look at him. “It’s not your fault, Jayce.” Not at his pity. Not at his condolences. Not at the awkward look Jayce gave when he wanted to be anywhere but where he’d been cornered. “We had…lots of problems.” Mostly centered around Viktor. Around promises he half-heartedly made and the connections he had neither strength nor desire to sever. “Problems we ignored for years because we thought we could work through them.”
“You never seemed really happy with him,” Jayce offered. A pearl of wisdom cast before a foolish swine. “You two just never—seemed to fit together.”
Viktor nodded along, scoffing as he took his crutch to stand. “Yes. Thank you for your invaluable insight—”
Jayce caught his hand. Eased him back down to his seat. “I didn’t mean that as an insult.” He didn’t let go. Kept rubbing circles to the back of Viktor’s palm. “I didn’t mean that as a bad thing, either.” Jayce shrugged. “It just is.”
“Yes.” Viktor sighed. “It just is.”
“I know that you said you weren’t jealous. I believe you. But…” He gave a helpless laugh. “You had tears in your eyes at the ceremony, you—did you wish that it was you up there?” Jayce’s voice almost broke. “Walking down the aisle with him?” Jayce asked. He gave Viktor a gentle squeeze. “Did you wish you were the one getting married to Dmitri?”
“No,” Viktor said. He felt wretched for the next words coming out of his mouth.
But in for a penny,
In for a pound.
“I just wished I knew what it was like.” And that was the most damning thing. He didn’t miss Dmitri. He missed what he could have had. “To know. To be known. To love and be loved that deeply.” And Viktor felt like he’d just lost his only chance. “To feel like I had been worth the effort.”
Jayce gathered him in his arms as Viktor felt like it was the only thing keeping him together. “Viktor you always were.”
Viktor clung back, clung to the only affection he’d ever wanted. “You’re very kind, Jayce.” And cruel, even in ways that Jayce didn’t realize.
“No, I’m really not.” Jayce was stroking his hair now, his lips just barely grazing the shell of his ear. “I think I’ve been pretty selfish.”
A laughable statement. “You came out here with me, all this way, all because I asked you—” Viktor sucked in a breath. Buried a sob into Jayce’s shoulder. “Spent all this time and money pretending to—” The sentence broke off into tiny fragments. “To…” Words, whittled down to grief and shame. “All because we’re friends,” he said quietly. “That’s not being selfish. What’s selfish was me asking, knowing you wouldn’t say no.”
“Viktor…” Jayce gave a sad, broken laugh. He drew away, just enough to cup Viktor’s cheek and tilt his head to meet his gaze. “Do you hear yourself?” Jayce leaned down, forehead pressed to Viktor’s as he took a deep, bone-weary sigh. “Do you really think any sane person would do this for just a friend?”
I would.
“I would,” Viktor confessed, and in that same vein, didn’t understand what Jayce was insinuating. “I would do it for you.”
What Jayce was implying as Jayce demanded and pleaded: “Am I really just a friend to you, Viktor?”
Ice cold panic flooded Viktor’s veins. He attempted to draw away, to stammer out a proper response, something that would divert, deflect—“Jayce—”
But Jayce kept him there. Undeterred. Unwilling to look away. Even when Viktor averted his eyes, closed them out of humiliation. “You know it. Dmitri knows it.” Jayce’s voice was gentle. But Viktor knew he wouldn’t let it go. That for all Viktor’s stupidity, he never once thought that Jayce would demand honesty from him. “I just need to hear you say it.”
“Why?” Not when ignorance was far easier to swallow than a decade of buried truths and unsaid words. “You already know. Why does it matter?”
“Because I’ve waited.” Viktor held his breath. The words flooded with raw, brutal honesty. “I hoped.” Viktor’s eyes widened. “Three years. Six months,” Jayce murmured. “I waited and watched you give yourself to someone else, choose someone else.”
It—
It didn’t make any sense.
What—what was Jayce saying—
“Lie to yourself for someone else.” Viktor flinched as Jayce continued, voice tight and straining to the point of breaking. “For three years, you told me that you loved this man. And I’ve been here. All along.” Jayce sucked in a breath. “So why—”
This…this had to be a mistake. He must have misunderstood.
A cruel joke.
“I—” Jayce would never—could never have fallen for him the same way. What did he mean? What did he want? Viktor used to hope and dream for something like this. That one day, Jayce would realize Viktor could be everything he wanted because Jayce was everything Viktor knew he could never have. “Seven years, Jayce! We had been best friends for seven years, and not once did you ever look at me like—”
Like you wanted me.
“I gave up!” His voice cracked. Even now, Viktor fought the truth every step of the way. Jayce knew it too. Knew it from the intensity in his eyes. Viktor’s resolve buckled immediately. “I…I admit it. I wanted to give up.” The truth sounded even uglier in his ears. “Thought I finally saved myself from…pining for the rest of my life if I gave someone else a chance.”
Vulnerability,
Honesty—
Two things Viktor always held at arm’s length. For himself. For everyone.
“Oh…” Jayce breathed and Viktor should have left it at that. Should have gotten up, walked past him now that Jayce heard it all himself.
But Viktor’s body refused to cooperate, staying rooted where he was and dragging out every conversation that he never wanted to have in the light of day. Least of all, with Jayce Talis: “But even then, I couldn’t let go,” Viktor confessed. “How could I?” Viktor shook his head. His voice trembled. His heart laid in tatters, somewhere in Jayce’s forgotten possession. “I love you.” Quiet. Wretched. The same way Viktor’s pined for him for a decade. “I haven’t stopped.”
“Say it again.”
Viktor swallowed past the lump in his throat. His body felt numb despite the burning humiliation he felt crawl up to his cheeks. “Jayce—”
But Jayce cradled his face with his warmth. His head felt feverish. His skin felt scorched where Jayce had touched. “Viktor,” Jayce begged. “Viktor, please—”
“I love you.” The words were torn out of his very throat. “I love you.” Viktor felt the wetness from his cheeks wiped away by a thumb. “I love you,” he whispered, a decade of longing, of shame, of perilous hoping and innocent disappointment, and wretched, selfish, and quiet love, wrung out from deep within his chest, broken free from the cage of his ribs. “What more do you want from me?” Viktor begged.
“Don’t give up on me.” Jayce leaned down, pressing his lips to Viktor’s. Insistent. Desperate. Even with no one watching. Even when he no longer had to pretend. “Not now. Not ever,” he murmured against Viktor’s lips before kissing him again. “I love you.”
Viktor could do little more than cling pathetically to Jayce. He didn’t know if it was relief. If he’d frozen, surrendered and sullied, passion-shattered, even without excuses, even without schemes, even without the melodrama of jealousy and mires of missed chances,
Viktor found himself pinned to that chaise, his heart in the warmth of Jayce’s hands, caught in the endless act of being loved. “I couldn’t, even when I tried.”
“Good.” Jayce chuckled before kissing him again. And again. Viktor’s lips chasing his. Or his chasing Jayce’s. “Because I’m not letting you go.” Gravitating towards each other. Binary star systems. “I love you, Viktor.” A match made in heaven. “I love you.”
A laugh bubbled out from Viktor’s lips. Fizzy and golden from the stem of his throat as Jayce busied his mouth on the pale skin of his collar. “It only took me dating another man for you to see that?”
Jayce made a wounded noise. He bit down, leaving his mark. “Don’t remind me.” Right where anyone might see. “You should have told me.”
Against himself, Viktor shuddered. “I thought you were straight.”
“Really?” Jayce tugged his jacket off. Threw the tie somewhere behind him. They’ll pick it up in the morning. “All this time?” All Jayce seemed to concentrate on was unwrapping Viktor with spectacular impatience. “Even here?” He laughed, lips trailing lower. “We’ve made out at least twice.”
Viktor bit back a whine. “I-I thought you just really wanted to help—” The excuse sounded weak, even in Viktor’s ears. “And that you really hated Dmitri.”
“All three can be true.” Jayce pulled away, meeting Viktor’s eyes as he sat there, between Viktor’s legs, the buttons of Viktor’s shirt undone as Jayce held him close. “I wasn’t pretending.” His eyes burned with something deeper than desire. “Not for one second.”
Viktor swallowed. “Jayce…”
“I thought I could convince you—” He chuckled. “Show you,” he whispered, his eyes so warm with affection that it melted Viktor on sight. “That I could give you what that bastard couldn’t.” Jayce surged forward. Viktor couldn’t stifle his moan that time. Jayce seemed pleased with the result. “That I’d treat you better than he ever did. Love you better than he ever did.”
The corner of Viktor’s lips lifted to a smirk. “Competitive,” he declared. “Jealous,” he accused.
Competitive.
Jealous.
All while Viktor looked at him like that: the gold of his eyes half-lidded, his collar bitten and bruised, and his shirt undone as he leaned into Jayce’s touch with longing, with desperation.
Jayce wanted to ruin him. “You have no idea.” Wanted to carry him back from his pretty perch and into the bed he really wished they utilized more during this trip.
Viktor laughed, either reading Jayce’s mind or not understanding that Jayce was dead serious. “We weren’t even dating yet—”
That’ll change soon. “And I clearly remember someone wanting a summer wedding.” Jayce cleared his throat. He already had a few places in mind. “Sounds like someone should get on that.”
Viktor’s face burned redder than possible somehow. “T-That wasn’t a proposal—”
“Yeah, no thanks to your ex,” Jayce scoffed, plucking the ring box from his pocket. Watched as Viktor’s eyes rounded in shock. “Maybe doing this at the reception was taking it too far…”
“Jayce!”
It started out as a ruse. Another ploy. Something that would shock Viktor and entice a crowd if Jayce thought Dmitri was getting far too comfortable for hurting Viktor and believing there would be no long-term consequences. “And I thought about it! Did I really want our engagement with fucking Dmitri in it?” Jayce pocketed the box. Something heavy jostled inside with the movement and Viktor’s mouth fell open. “But then, I guess if you said yes, I would have been over the moon no matter what.” He shot Viktor a grin. “And we’d have one hell of a story to tell our friends back home.”
“Jayce—”
“Mamá will be pissed though,” Jayce sighed.
“Did you—” Viktor stammered. “Are you—” Viktor eyed where Jayce had placed the ring box in his pocket. “Is there—”
Come on now Viktor,
Are you really accusing me of taking your ring measurements when you were asleep,
Customizing an engagement ring,
Only to beg for your hand at your ex’s wedding?
Sometimes, Jayce was a very impatient man, and there wasn’t really any answer that Jayce could give that would make him look sane. “We’ll take it slow,” he reassured. As long as he had Viktor with him. “As slow as you need, I promise.”
Viktor bit his lip, red-kissed and swollen from where Viktor had bitten. He looked up at Jayce. “Do we have to?”
“You’re so fucking perfect.” Jayce let out a laugh, kissing Viktor again. And again. And again. “And all mine.”
6 months later
Raphael ran into the room the moment he heard Dmitri’s world-ending, ear-shattering, dead-deafening shriek.
Heart pounding and fearing the worst, Raphael let out a sigh at the sight of his husband pacing, waving about a (half-torn) letter in the mail. “Of—of course, can you believe this?!” He waved the offending parchment about. “Unbelievable!”
It was six months into their marriage, so of course Raphael immediately knew what Dmitri deemed so offensive. “Oh? Is it from your ex?” Dmitri looked at him, wide-eyed and utterly tortured. Raphael sighed. “Did you really expect anything less?”
“A summer wedding!” he cried. “A summer wedding!” Dmitri let out an aggrieved exhale, trying to gather his calm. “The invitation was for the both of us. To The Family Takiapolis.” Raphael was surprised. Though, he supposed, in hindsight, that for a pair of saboteurs, they were also incredibly polite. “I hope the cake is eaten alive by those blasted flies.”
“We could always decline,” Raphael said, taking the invitation from his husband’s hand. Ah. Two weeks’ notice to book flights, accommodations, and find a gift.
What comes around, and all that.
“And what? Show weakness?!” Dmitri shook his head, a fire in his eyes, and his phone fished out of his pocket to make the necessary arrangements. “No, my love, this is war!”
Raphael chuckled. “A war that you started.” But knowing he chose this dramatic man as his one and only, he was well aware that his chiding meant nothing. “But very well. Now that we’re in the midst of battle once more…” Not when they could get even instead. “We could always announce the adoption of our little girl at the reception. Not even your mother could resist.”
Dmitri’s eyes lit up with delight, affection, and immediate adoration. “You know, my love, I knew you were the one for me—the moment I laid eyes on you.”
Raphael chuckled. “Save the speech for a toast at their reception.”
“Don’t you think the announcement, on top of the wedding, would be a bit…too much?”
Jayce looked up from where he’d pillowed his head on Viktor’s shoulder. The bulging wedding binder sat open beside them, flipped to the page of the day’s itinerary. The speeches and who was giving them.
Caitlyn’s and Vi’s names written there gave Jayce a sense of pride and a sense of dread, knowing Vi would encourage Cait not to pull back any punches.
Not after they came back from Viktor’s ex’s wedding with plans of moving in together and a ring box in Jayce’s back pocket.
Underneath that, was Sky’s speech that Viktor had looked forward to with the enthusiasm of being sentenced to death by firing squad. And beneath that, written in pencil, was a short addition, just annotated as ANNOUNCEMENT.
“We don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable,” Jayce reassured.
“I just—” Viktor’s cheeks flushed the prettiest shade of pink. “We did this all rather fast, didn’t we?”
Jayce snorted, pressing a kiss to his neck. “I waited years to call you mine.”
“I waited longer,” Viktor muttered back, kissing Jayce’s temple.
“I guess I’m impatient,” Jayce chuckled. “Impatient to marry you.” He pressed a kiss to Viktor’s lips. “To call you my husband.” And another to the ring he placed on Viktor’s finger when he thought he could finally surprise him. “To start our family—”
Viktor averted his gaze, his hand reaching to his belly. A tiny bump, barely visible against where Viktor’s stomach usually laid flat, cradled by his fiancé’s hand. “Well, we’ve already started, haven’t we?”
Jayce felt a cherished adulation bloom and blossom beneath his ribs, a heart he’d surrendered to Viktor in turn given to him to worship and hold. It fluttered in delight, in ecstasy, a devotion that ran so deeply and purely into the act of loving the man in front of him and the tiny life budding in his body. “And impatient to meet our little one.”
“What a story we’ll have to tell them,” Viktor murmured, watching as Jayce pressed a kiss to the small bump. “Pretending to date to get back at a bitter ex and ruin their wedding.” Jayce entwined their fingers, as Viktor could only laugh at the irony: “Only to get married six months later.”
Jayce chuckled. “I don’t know about you, but I meant every word.” He squeezed Viktor’s hand tight. The ring glittered in the soft lampglow of their bedroom, a single glittering drop as precious as starlight against the glare of a restless cityscape. “Neither of us were really pretending, were we?”
And Viktor laughed. Curling against him, Seeking his warmth. A secure connection, a fated pull, helpless gravity to his perfect match, an ordinary, everyday wonder. “No…no we weren’t.”