OKAY so @michelangelinden (my beloved fiance /p /lh) sent me this post and said WILLEX! And ya know what? He's right. And thus, here we are. Enjoy!
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Alex takes in a deep breath, fumbling with the folded paper he’s had in his suit jacket pocket for the last couple of hours. He’s pretty sure today couldn’t get any better, and he knows it wouldn’t ruin it if he ripped the speech he’s been working on for months in half. However, his friends would tease him about it for decades if he messed up his vows at his own wedding.
He carefully unfolds it, his eyes darting between it and the beautiful person in front of him. “Willie Antonio Ortega-Covington,” he begins. “I don’t know what I can say to you today that I haven’t already said, but here goes.”
Willie stands barely a foot away, hands fidgeting with the gauzy blue train that fell like a cape around their shoulders, cheeks barely able to contain his smile. Alex wishes he could grab one of their hands, but with the paper in one hand and the mic in the other, that isn’t happening. Stupid vows.
“We’d be here all day if I tried to list out all the ways you’ve changed me for the better, so here’s the SparkNotes version,” Alex continues. “As my best friend, you helped me have the strength to be myself. You’re the reason I learned to paint and always check all the pockets of my jeans before we do laundry.”
Willie chuckles, biting their lip in a way that makes Alex want to skip to the end of the ceremony. But then he glances over Alex’s shoulder, a flicker of confusion in his eyes. Alex pauses and raises his eyebrows in question. If something is wrong, they’ll figure it out. Together. Behind his soon-to-be-spouse, Alex notices Julie looking around as well, a little more covertly. He tilts his head, trying to figure out what’s going on. Then Julie leans forward to whisper in Willie’s ear.
“There’s a cat,” she hisses, just loud enough for Alex to catch the words too.
“Where?” Willie responds, that flicker of mischief that Alex fell for in middle school appearing in their eyes.
Julie nods toward something past Alex and he can see the exact moment that Willie spies the feline.
“Sorry, I think we need to stop for a second,” Alex says into the mic, turning back to the guests sitting all over the massive lawn of Willie’s childhood home. Mansion. Whatever. “There’s a cat.”
That gets a peal of laughter from their assembled friends and family as Alex hands the microphone to Caleb, who gives him an amused smile. He tucks his vows back into his pocket as he turns to see a little tabby cat scampering across the grass towards them. He can’t resist letting out a little awww at the sight.
Willie had dropped into a crouch as soon as Alex stopped the wedding, so Alex joins him on the ground, attempting to not get grass stains on his light pink suit. The cat scurries closer, eyes fixed on the vines trailing all over the big, white arbor they’re now kneeling under.
“Hi baby,” Willie murmurs, holding out a hand to the cat.
“Mrow,” the cat responds, its head turning to look at Willie curiously.
Alex holds out a hand too, entranced by the little animal. Caleb steps out of the way, chuckling lightly as he joins Julie and Reggie behind Willie.
“Where did you come from?” Willie asks under his breath.
The cat pads right up to sniff at Willie’s outstretched fingers, drawing an excited giggle from them. It must decide that he’s okay, because it starts headbutting his hand until Willie flips it over to scratch the side of its head.
“I think it likes you,” Alex comments softly, watching his almost-husband stroke the feline’s black and grey fur.
Willie doesn’t turn to look at him, but they fumble around for his hand with the one that isn’t petting the cat and squeeze gently when their fingers lace together. Alex moves a little closer and moves his free hand closer to the cat. It immediately starts demanding pets from him too, giving a tiny meow of protest when Alex lifts his hand away.
“Think dad would murder me if I got cat hair on my top?” Willie asks.
“It’s your wedding,” Alex points out. “I love the guy but he can deal.”
“I heard that,” Caleb calls from a few steps behind them, clearly amused.
Willie’s cheeks darken a few shades as he lets go of Alex’s hand, first to flip his dad off over his shoulder, then to gently lift the small cat into his arms. Alex places his own hand on their elbow, helping them stand up without dropping the animal or tripping over the flowy fabric of their teal pants. Julie moves forward to adjust the train as well, but Alex is pretty sure it’s mainly an excuse to get a better look at the cat nestled in Willie’s embrace. Which-fair.
“I thought you guys were going to wait a while before looking at adopting a kid,” Luke snarks from behind Alex.
“Chill, it probably has a family around here,” Alex protests, as if he isn’t already trying to remember where the nearest pet store is to his and Willie’s apartment.
“She’ll probably run away in a few,” Willie agreed a little sadly. “But it’s our wedding, let us live, Patterson.”
Luke starts to say something but gets cut off sharply by what Alex is pretty sure is Carrie smacking him. He doesn’t bother turning around. He’s too busy with his nearly-permanent partner and the way the cat has started purring in their arms.
“She?” he asks, scratching under the feline’s chin.
“Yep, checked when I picked her up,” Willie confirms.
“Wow, you’re just going to assume the cat’s pronouns?” Alex jokes.
Willie giggles and sticks his tongue out at him. Alex retaliates by leaning in to peck him lightly on the lips.
“I love you,” Willie murmurs when Alex pulls back.
“Hey, quit cutting ahead!” Reggie hollered, making everyone laugh.
“Good thing I already did my vows,” Willie says. “Pretty sure her purring would mess with the microphone.”
Sure enough, the cat seems to have no intention of moving from her cozy spot in Willie’s arms. She keeps headbutting his bare bicep whenever he pauses in his stroking for a moment.
“Darn, I still have to get through mine without crying,” Alex replies, giving the kitty one last scritch behind the ears before reaching for the crumpled paper.
“Well you can blame it on your fake cat allergies now if you do,” Willie teases.
“Leave my gaslighting mother out of this,” Alex retorts lightly.
“Are we going to get this show back on the road or not?” Caleb interrupts as he returns to his place between them.
“Right, sorry,” Alex says, taking the microphone. He skims down the page in his hands before finding his place. “Sorry about that everyone,” he calls to the audience before continuing his vows.
The cat seems content to stay in Willie’s arms, even though both of the soon-to-be-weds cry during Alex’s vows. The stupid piece of paper is torn in a few places by the time he’s done, but Alex manages to make it all the way through. And suddenly Luke is tapping him on the shoulder and handing him a slender, titanium band.
Willie has to shift the cat a little bit to get his left hand free for Alex to slide the ring onto. Caleb reads out the first portion of the script they’d agreed on, but before Alex can echo the words, the feline is clambering out of Willie’s grasp, up his arm, and leaping across the space between them to land on Alex’s shoulder.
Alex lets out a gasp, startled by the weight, but leans forward slightly to give the cat more surface area to stand on. Among a myriad of reactions for their watching guests, the cat sits down primly, nuzzling Alex’s hair and sinking her claws into his shoulder. When Alex’s eyes return to his almost-legally-bound person’s face, he finds them grinning and holding back a laugh.
“Well, that solves that problem I guess,” Alex offers, resisting the urge to shrug.
“Only you, William,” Caleb mutters affectionately under his breath before continuing through the ring exchange.
The kitty stays on Alex’s shoulder all through the rest of the ceremony and purrs right in their ears when they kiss. Alex can’t help but laugh as he walks back down the aisle, Willie’s train rippling in the breeze behind them and their hands clasped together. Thank goodness they did all their pictures before the wedding so they get to go straight into the house for the reception.
“Think I should ditch the train for the reception?” Willie muses once they get back to his old bedroom, where they’d gotten ready that morning. “I mean it’s fun and all, but it’s gonna get tangled on something with all the tables and stuff.”
“That is entirely your call,” Alex answers, leaning in to kiss him again just because he can. “But I’ll help you either way.”
“That is both adorable and entirely unhelpful,” Willie teases, glancing at the full length mirror hanging on the back of the door.
The cat chooses that moment to launch herself off of Alex’s shoulder and onto Willie’s bed, then to the floor. She glances around, then lowers into a crouch and starts stalking toward the gauzy fabric that brushes over the floor.
“I think that’s probably a sign to take it off,” Willie decides, laughing.
Alex is pretty sure his chest is going to explode with how happy he is, but he just nods and helps Willie unhook the clasps at their shoulders and fold the cape-like garment back into the box. The cat loses interest in it after a minute and starts poking around in the closet.
When everything is straightened and put away, Willie grabs the lapels of Alex’s suit jacket and pulls him close.
“We got married,” they comment softly.
“Yep,” Alex says, the words coming out soft and breathy. “We sure-yeah-we did that.”
Willie giggles and erases the air between them to connect their mouths. Alex wraps one arm around their waist, loving how the cropped top piece of Willie’s outfit lets him run his fingers over warm brown skin, and cups the back of their head with the other. Willie hums and deepens the kiss, easing into Alex’s mouth as their hands trace up his chest to rest on his jaw. Alex lets himself fall, lose himself in kissing his person - his husband - without a spare thought for the people waiting for them on the patio.
Alex eases his fingers up into Willie’s hair, getting a pleased gasp in return. He breaks the kiss for less than a second, tilting his head to get a better angle as they reconnect like a pair of magnets. Willie lets him into his mouth happily, his tongue following Alex’s as it brushes along the line of his teeth. Alex doesn’t protest when Willie’s hands slide down his neck and under his jacket, removing his arm temporarily from around their waist so they can shove the thing off. He’s been sweating in it for over an hour anyways. Willie’s fingers undo the top buttons of his shirt to trace over the curve of Alex’s collarbones. Alex shivers and pulls Willie as close as he can, loathe to allow even a breath of space between their bodies.
“Meow,” the cat protests.
Alex laughs against Willie’s lips and pulls away just enough to see the little kitty pawing at the bedroom door. “I think she got bored of us,” he jokes.
“That’s just homophobic,” Willie returns, smirking. “And on our wedding day too.”
“We should probably go, shouldn’t we,” Alex sighs.
Willie lets out a little huff and presses one more kiss to Alex’s lips. “Yeah probably.”
“Alright, nameless cat, you win,” Alex accepts, shaking his head.
“We should get her to a vet to get checked for a chip and stuff,” Willie comments as they leave the bedroom, the kitty bounding ahead.
“If she sticks around, yeah,” Alex says. “We should ask Julie where she takes Beto.”
Willie nods in agreement as they enter the dining room area, the french doors thrown open to connect the space with the patio to accommodate everyone. Their friends and family are gathered around the area, chatting and drinking sparkling cider and soda out of Caleb’s crystal champagne flutes. Julie and Reggie spot them first and start clapping. Alex is sure his face is turning red as the applause grows and someone (probably Luke) wolf whistles.
The reception dissolves into a mess of thank yous and well wishes as Alex and Willie try to make the rounds and talk to everyone. Alex catches glimpses of the cat every now and then, ducking under tables and weaving between legs and skirts, always looking excited and curious.
By the time Alex and Willie manage to sit down to eat during the toasts, his feet are starting to ache in his dress shoes and his cheeks are sore from smiling so much. Willie smirks and leans back in his chair, throwing an arm easily around the back of Alex’s as Julie starts giving her toast. Alex scoots his seat a little closer and rests his head on their shoulder as they listen to their family, legal or otherwise, congratulate them. (And tell embarrassing stories because that’s what family is for, right?)
Between toasts, they feed each other bites of chicken and roasted potato. Willie misses one time and smears oil across Alex’s cheek and it takes nearly a minute for them both to stop laughing. While Ray is talking, Alex feels a bump against his leg. He glances down to see the cat staring up at him. He grins and leans back a bit as it jumps up onto his lap. The next bite of chicken Willie spears on their fork goes to the cat’s mouth instead of Alex’s.
The cat has deserted them once more by the time they get dragged over to cut the chocolate strawberry wedding cake Tia Victoria made for them. Alex accidentally gets his revenge on Willie for the potato and paints chocolate icing on their nose. The smirk they both get from Ray afterwards says he definitely caught that one on film.
They dance around the patio to Lover and Galaxies, twirling each other and sharing conversations too soft for anyone else to hear. Alex watches happily when Caleb steals his spouse away for a song. Then Julie drags him back onto the floor and Carrie is teasing him about losing his jacket and Reggie is teaching him square dance steps for the millionth time. And all the while, a tabby streak is darting through each soft moment, stealing bites of food and charming basically everyone.
And finally, Ray goes outside to pull the car around for them. Willie grabs Alex’s hand and people start cracking glowsticks as the sun vanishes over the horizon and they leave the wedding together.
“Wow,” Willie murmurs as Alex pulls the car out of the driveway.
“Yep,” Alex agrees, squeezing their hand.
“Meow,” says the cat from the backseat, startling them both.
Alex slams on the brakes (there’s a stop sign okay!) and they both turn to look back at the curious stowaway.
“Well…” Alex begins slowly.
“I’ll text Julie for her vet’s name,” Willie finishes, grinning.
my boy (Netflix) only breaks (cancels) his favourite toys (some of their best performing shows: lockwood and co, shadow and bone, julie and the phantoms etc)
Heyyyy anon... yes I know it's been over 2 months. I am just as sad about that as you are, should this ever find you. I swear I haven't been ignoring you, school is just a pain. But anyways, have a lil something for your patience! (I live in shame okay)
Willie laughed, hand clasped in Alex's as they ran down the pier. Technically they didn't have to worry about that guy coming after them, he was a lifer after all. But it was kind of fun to pretend.
"Slow down," Alex gasped, tugging on his hand. But Willie could see the grin on his face when they turned. "What exactly was the point of that?" the drummer asked when they came to a stop.
Willie giggled and wiggled his eyebrows without speaking, twirling a stolen straw between his fingers. They'd been working on getting Alex up to date on queer culture lately, including a certain phrase they liked to live by.
Alex sighed, dropping his chin to his chest. "Right, sorry," he chuckled.
"Good boy," Willie teased, bumping his shoulder against Alex's. "You'll get it eventually."
Alex rolled his eyes. "How does repeatedly messing with a dude's smoothie count as a crime?" he questioned.
Willie shrugged. "I mean I stole his straw," they suggested. "It's the spirit of the thing, not the letter of the law."
"So you claim," Alex retorted playfully. "I feel like I should get a second opinion on that one."
Willie clapped his free hand to his chest in mock offense. "You don't trust me, hotdog?!"
"I do," Alex responded quietly.
Willie was pretty sure he just died again at the soft openness in his eyes. If their brain was a computer, there would be an entire folder just made up of the moments when Alex looked at him like that. Like he'd follow him to the edge of the world, and then over the cliff and into the abyss. Like it didn't matter how badly Willie screwed up, Alex would be right there as long as they wanted him. Like he loved him.
One of these days, Willie would be brave enough to say the words back out loud. As it was, he hadn't gotten up the nerve yet.
"Well then no second opinion required," he stated after a beat too long, backing away from the heavy feelings in his chest. Feelings had never been their area of expertise.
Alex laughed. Mission accomplished. "Hey, isn't checking your sources just part of being responsible?" he asked, humor filling his features and chasing away all that serious stuff.
"But what if it's coming from a really good first source," Willie shot back, poking him in the chest with the straw.
"I'm pretty sure you're not the primary source for homosexual illegal activity," Alex said. "Pretty sure being gay was a crime before you were born."
"See there was this whole thing with a ghost time machine..." Willie joked.
Alex started to laugh, then stopped. He gave Willie a worried glance. "You're messing with me, right?" he checked.
Willie stared back gravely. Held Alex's stare for a long moment. Then burst out into giggles. "Yeah, I'm totally kidding," they admitted.
"Rude!" Alex exclaimed, a relieved chuckle escaping his mouth with the word. "Geez, Willie!"
"Come on, time travel?" Willie teased. "That's not a thing."
"Well I didn't think ghosts were a thing either," Alex pointed out. "But ummm..." He swung his arm through a pair of stand-up binoculars beside him to make his point.
Willie nodded slowly, still giggling. "Fair point."
Alex shook his head in exasperation, though Willie could tell it wasn't real. "Kids these days," he huffed playfully, stealing the straw from Willie's fingers.
"I still resent the fact that you think that being a month older than me when we died means you're older than me," Willie teased, trying to grab the straw back.
"Not my fault I'm right," Alex responded, stepping back and holding the straw up over his head so Willie couldn't reach it.
"No fair, you're tall," Willie complained lightly, swatting at Alex's shoulder.
"Also not my fault," Alex laughed. "You going to blame me for the weather next?"
Willie moved closer, reaching for the sleeve of Alex's hoodie to pull his arm down. "Depends, are you gonna rain on my parade some more?" they said.
"Only when you're wrong," Alex answered, stepping back in an attempt to avoid Willie's grabbing.
"So never," Willie joked, catching the pink fabric and tugging.
Alex tried to pull away, backing up again, but this time he pulled Willie with him by accident. Willie stumbled, falling into Alex's chest and pushing him backwards until he hit the railing of the pier. Willie blinked, startled to realize that they were now pressed together, Alex's body trapped between the metal guard rail and Willie's weight.
It took a moment for them to dare look up and find Alex's eyes, now only inches away. The drummer was giving them that soft, open look again. Willie was suddenly grateful that not being able to breathe wasn't a massive problem anymore.
"On the topic of queer misdemeanors," Alex murmured, his lashes fluttering as his gaze flicked between Willie's eyes and his lips, "can I kiss you?"
Willie hummed something affirmative, they couldn't remember what after, and leaned in. Alex met them halfway, his hand coming up to cup their cheek as their lips brushed. Willie tilted his head, leaning into his palm as he found a better angle to try again. Alex's other arm curled around his shoulders as Willie's hands found purchase on the drummer's waist. Alex's lips were warm and dry and soft and Willie was pretty sure he was going to be addicted to them.
They parted after a long moment. Willie didn't go far, staying close enough to feel Alex's breath against their cheek. He wanted to say it. He wanted to say it so bad. But somehow, the words still refused to form on his tongue. Even with Alex so close, eyes half closed, soft smile on his face, the words wouldn't come. Willie wanted to run.
"When I said 'be gay, do crime', this isn't exactly what I meant," they said instead.
Alex's eyes opened all the way and he stared at them for a moment, before chuckling and dropping his head onto their shoulder. "I mean, it's gay and illegal, right?" the drummer protested weakly.
"No actually, the decriminalized gay marriage and stuff back in 2015," Willie pointed out, the knot inside his mouth relaxing.
Alex's head shot back up. "Wait seriously?" he asked.
"Oh yeah," Willie said, startled. "Supreme Court case and all that. Did you not..."
"I guess it never came up?" Alex offered, shrugging as his eyes dropped to Willie's crop top, glazing over a little as he processed the information. He blinked slowly, then sighed dramatically. "I guess I'll just have to be gay and legal then."
"Well, I did say it was more about the spirit of the thing," Willie reminded him, glancing at his lips again.
Alex breathed out a laugh, meeting their eyes. "Well in that case, I guess we have to."
Willie grinned as their lips met again, melting into Alex. Maybe he couldn't make himself say the words yet. But Alex knew. And that was enough.
