luffy! how was the wedding?? how was seeing ace again???
i was late so i missed tha ceremony part womp womp but id NEVER miss a party nd im glad i didnt cause it was SO FUN!!!!! feels like i left wano just yesterday, but it was really fun seeing everyone nd meetingnew people
my dad was thereGOL D ROGER WHAT?!?!? WAS THERE??!!!!!!!??!! didnt talk to him cause ace is more important tho
aces sitting across from me RIGHT NOWand i cant believe hes
summary: danny and colleen exchange vows in front of their friends and family. it’s a wedding, baby!
trigger warnings: the only content here is tooth rotting fluff
featuring: danny rand, colleen wing ( @dragonsdefender )
word count: 4655 (we can do short things too!)
COLLEEN: The nerves that she had felt up until this point had kept coming in waves. Marrying Danny felt like a dream, but everything else felt like a performance. And Colleen wasn't good at dressing up or putting down the katana. And she knew much of Danny was the same. It was why she had connected so easily to him. (It ran much deeper than that, she knew. But those feelings she was trying to save for when she was looking at him.)
About thirty minutes before their time to walk down the aisle, Colleen had sat with Donna and mediated. It felt like the only normal part of her day so far. Getting her hair done, getting dressed up — she had never dreamed of her life like this. Not when she first started dating and not back when she was just a girl in the Hand. But life had a funny way of pulling her out of herself and showing her a world that could welcome a woman like her, if she gave it a chance.
She was just around the corner of the trees now, calmer than she had been during any of the preparation. The nerves replaced with excitement. The rest of the wedding party was already down the aisle, the music keeping a steady pace and the wedding planner who had saved Colleen from losing her mind the last few months, was keeping the beat for her. Moving her lips to count the beat, hitting each beat with her hand waving at the same time. The time came quickly, and the planner looked at Colleen, nodding at her with earnest. “Just look at him sweetie, no one else out there matters.”
There was a smile at the corner of Colleen’s lips as she nodded her head. Just look at Danny. She could do that.
Colleen came out from her spot behind the trees, only glancing at the people in the chairs for a moment before her eyes fell on Danny. (He always looked good in a suit. Was always uncomfortable too. But if he was uncomfortable now, she didn’t see it.) The planner whispered behind her to walk, and the smile on her face hinted at laugh, but thankfully, she brought it down to a smile. Walking down the aisle to the beat of the music, stopping at Danny’s side and looking at him, and trying not to cry. (People had warned her about the tears, but she didn’t think they’d come so fast.)
“You look good in a suit,” she whispered while the music played on for a moment longer, giving them just a fraction to have a word without everyone else hearing.
DANNY: He’d spent most of the morning tugging on his tie, somewhere in between nervousness and immeasurable excitement. The day had been strangely split, half a blur and half moving at a snail’s pace as he made his way closer and closer to time to walk down that aisle. Ward and Tony had been taking turns straightening and retightening his tie, one resigned and one supportive. And Danny had been watching the clock, heart pounding in his chest as the hours ticked away.
By the time they were ready to start the ceremony, he was practically vibrating. He walked down the aisle, doing his best not to skip with excitement. He walked out first, flashing the officiant a bright grin. The man seemed endeared, returning Danny’s smile with a gentle one of his own. Ward had always said that Danny’s good moods were ‘terminally contagious.’ He hoped it would be true today. All he wanted here was for everyone to feel as happy and content as he did in this moment.
The wedding party walked out in pairs, and Danny’s heart beat faster and faster as each person took their place, knowing that soon it would be Colleen’s turn to join him in front of the officiant. He thought he’d prepared himself for it, thought he was ready, but when she stepped into view…
Danny had had the wind knocked out of him countless times throughout his life. At eight, when he fell off his skateboard and his arm snapped. At ten, when his stomach bottomed out in the moment where the plane began to lose altitude. At eleven and twelve and thirteen and fourteen and every year that followed with unforgiving blows to the stomach and harsh hits to any part of his body that was open during a fight. The feeling of all the air leaving his lungs at once was a familiar one.
But it had never felt quite like this before.
It was like all those blows with none of the pain, less like something knocked the wind out of him and more like he simply forgot how to breathe. His throat felt tight and his eyes felt wet and she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen in all his life. More gorgeous than the Himalayan mountain range, more breathtaking than the endless snowy plains of China, more awe inspiring than a hawk flying above with enough confidence to convince you it owned every inch of the blue skies. He looked at her, and he couldn’t see anyone else. He didn’t want to.
He grinned when she was close enough to speak, flushing a little as he looked down at himself. “I feel like I should be in a boardroom,” he complained good naturedly. “You look…” He struggled to find a word to accurately describe it, but everything came up short. Danny spoke four languages fluently, several more conversationally, and none of them had anything that could adequately describe the way he felt about her. “Amazing,” he whispered, even though it wasn’t enough. “And your hair, is just… Wow. You know you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever met?”
COLLEEN: A board meeting. Colleen had to hold back another laugh, for all her nerves leading up to this point, nothing had warned her about this fluttering feeling she’d have once she was up here and looking at him. She knew that all the anxiety and the butterflies would be worth it. Danny was always worth it. But it still hadn't prepared her for the giggles that had taken root in her stomach, threatening to bubble up into real, joyous laughter at the alter. It was a sign, she chose to believe, that she was exactly where she should be. Her body and mind finally agreeing that the rest of the room didn't matter. The people who gathered there to watch them exchange vows could have their attention solely on them, but it wouldn't make her nervous. Not today.
She passed over her flowers to Donna and then reached for Danny's hand, unsure if they were supposed to touch here — but not stopping herself. "Careful," she whispered. "Ward might actually plan one for right after this if he thought he could."
As if anyone would get a moment alone with Danny aside from her. Colleen had never done well with parties, never felt pulled to throw any for birthdays or holidays — she could blame it on her lack of family or the way she was raised to believe that such things were wasteful. But she was looking at him, feeling her heart thumping in her chest as she waited for the music to stop, and thought, this was worth celebrating. He was worth celebrating. And this moment between them, the life ahead of them, that was worth celebrating.
And she had never felt that before. Even when planning the party and thinking about decorations and cake flavors, she never stopped and thought that the party was for her or something to look forward to. But she understood here. Like all the pieces fell from the sky and landed perfectly in place. Just as they had when they first met and she was shown that there was a light in the darkness.
And someone who could make her feel like this.
Safe in a crowded room of people who had their eyes all on them. Warm in a city that otherwise felt cold. (She'd have to remember to tell him that, she thought.)
Danny fumbled for words for a moment and still, Colleen couldn't stop looking at him. Couldn't stop smiling. "You tell me that every day." Not with words, she knew, but the way he looked at her. Just as he was now. She moved her hand in a familiar motion, touching his chin just slightly before returning her hand to his as the music finally came to a stop. The officiant cleared their throat as the room settled. The officiant then started the start of their speech. Colleen squeezed Danny's had gently, the excitement once again mixing with nerves.
DANNY: She looked close to bursting into a giggling fit, and Danny knew it wasn’t as much to do with the joke as it was the nerves because he felt the same way. He’d spent pretty much the entire day a bundle of nerves, and now… It was all coming to a head in the absolute best way. Him and Colleen, staring into each other’s eyes surrounded by the people they loved. It didn’t get much more perfect than that.
“I think Tony has already threatened him, like, eight times,” Danny replied in a whisper, glancing behind him to the groomsmen. They wore varying expressions of amusement, no doubt guessing that Danny and Colleen were whispering to one another as the ceremony prepared to begin.
If you’d asked him a year ago, he might have said he wouldn’t want something like this. He’d never really needed a spectacle, never cared much for the performance of being a billionaire. To Danny, this life was just a life. His name was only important because it was his, because it was the one his father had carried and his mother had taken. The things that came with it? They weren’t important to him. He would have just as soon married her in a courthouse, with just the two of them. And yet…
There was something to be said for the emotional impact of declaring your love for someone in front of everyone you knew. There was something to be said for the romanticism of an audience as you promised to spend the rest of your life with them. Danny didn’t care about the spectacle of it all, but he did find himself a little excited at the prospect of making sure everyone knew how much he loved her, how excited he was to be with her forever. That part was good. That part was enough to make the whole thing perfect.
He let out a quiet huff of a laugh when she spoke, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, you’re the most beautiful person I’ve met every day.” He leaned into her touch with a soft smile and, for a moment, he forgot that there were other people in the room. It wasn’t until the officiant cleared his throat that Danny remembered where they were. He flashed the man a smile that was almost sheepish, and it was returned with a fond look.
“Are you ready?” The officiant’s words were quiet, clearly meant for Danny and Colleen and no one else. Danny glanced over to meet Colleen’s eye, smile softening.
“I’ve never been more ready for anything else in my life.”
COLLEEN: Her first experience with Danny's family hadn't been one that was worth talking about. She had a special sort of distaste for Ward and Joy, but Ward at least stuck around long enough to start making amends. And then Tony? He had been one that had shown Colleen that maybe family could be more than what she had seen. That it could come with more than what she had been given before. And that her new family, it didn't have to be limited to Danny and only him. There were good people in their lives that were here with them. Good people who held the door open to this new life they were approaching.
(Good people who wanted to be their family.)
"I'll have to thank him later," she whispered in response. There was another moment where he leaned towards her and Colleen had almost dipped in for a brief kiss, but they weren't supposed to. Not yet at least. And they were immediately reminded of it. But even with the interruption and the sheepish look on their faces, there was a sparkle of humor in the officiant's eyes too.
Are you ready? Colleen looked towards Danny, meeting his gaze and nodding her head in a small motion as he voiced their reply. (Theirs. The first time that she had ever looked at him and let him answer for the both of them — she had always been pushing forward to make sure her voice was heard too.)
The officiant cleared his throat again, offering them both a smile before starting — "Family and friends, we are gathered here on this beautiful day to witness the union of..." The start of the ceremony had Colleen wanting to fidget, it was all rehearsed lines that were said at every wedding, and this, she thought, was the easy part. The officiant spoke with confidence and clarity and then he paused. "The bride and groom have prepared their own vows."
This was the moment.
Colleen took a breath, taking the notecard she had written from the spot tucked into her flowers, and turned towards Danny. (Just look at him, no one else is here.) The officiant handed her the microphone and she took a deep breath, glancing at the people in the chairs and then back to Danny.
"I looked up how to do this," Colleen confessed into the microphone. "I told you once that I was never good with words and that hasn't changed. They said that this is where we make promises. Where we set the foundation of our relationship and what it'll look like for the rest of our lives — but we already did that. We talked about feelings over styrofoam cups, you flooded the apartment trying to play the part of a plumber and those moments sound ridiculous when next to each other—" there were a few scattered laughs, and Colleen paused, squeezing his hand gently. "But they were some of the happiest moments in my life. Only recently taking a second place to this one."
Another pause, but just enough for her to gather her remaining thoughts. "I take you, Danny, as the man you are today, knowing that life will challenge us as it always has, but knowing that I'll never have to do it without you. I promise to love you and to keep you warm and safe, just as you have kept me over the years. I give you my hand, and my heart, and the rest of my days that are to come. They're yours."
DANNY: He chuckled quietly, elated in ways he couldn’t begin to explain. The whole day seemed light and airy, as if gravity had taken the evening off and left the world to its own devices. Danny couldn’t say he’d never felt like this before, because he had. There had been plenty of moments with Colleen where things had been just as light and carefree as they were now, in spite of all the moments where the world was heavy and unkind. Things were never bad all the time. Not when you had what they had. Not when you had love.
It felt like it lasted a lifetime, the quiet conversation between the two of them, but in reality? It couldn’t have been more than a minute. The ceremony needed to move along, after all, even if he could have spoken to her until the sun went down and been utterly unaware of the crowd around them. She’d always known how to make everything else melt away for him.
Danny flashed her a grin as the officiant began the ceremony, practically bouncing through the brief speech. By the time they were ready for Colleen to recite her vows, Danny was practically vibrating with the excitement of it all. He gave her an encouraging smile and a nod, chewing at his lower lip as she began.
It was hard not to get choked up as she spoke. Neither of them were the type for big speeches, neither of them had ever been good at talking about their feelings. They were both raised on actions, not words, and… the actions they’d been raised on weren’t always the right ones. (They were rarely the right ones. Danny still remembered holding her against his chest in the rain, remembered the way she’d sobbed as her world fell apart around her, remembered we have to stop destroying everything. They’d gotten better since then, they had. But they were still learning.)
By the time she’d finished, his eyes were wet and he looked up and let his lashes flutter, trying to avoid the happy tears flooding his senses. He looked back down again with a soft smile, nodding slightly. “That was, uh… That was really good.” It was an understatement, and the thickness in his tone coupled with his reaction said as much. Danny went quiet for a moment, and the officiant cleared his throat. “Right. My turn.”
Following her lead, he pulled notecards from his pants pocket, taking a deep breath. “Uh, when I met you, I was… I don’t think it’s enough to say that I was a mess. I was worse than that. I didn’t know how to be a person, how to function, and I think it showed. But you…” He sighed, shaking his head slightly. “You were the first person who showed me any sort of kindness. You were the first person who looked me in the eye. I saw you for the first time, I spoke to you, and you gave me hope that the things I was fighting for weren’t things that were lost or impossible. You showed me how to be me. The me I wanted to be, the me I hoped I could be.”
He paused for a moment, lashes fluttering again as he let out a watery laugh. “The, uh… The Buddhist don’t believe in soulmates, in the traditional sense. What we have is called pratitya-samutpada, and it’s not… It’s not what people think of, when they think of that. But it’s close. It’s this idea that every time you’re reborn, you’re reborn with the people you love. That you find them again, in between everything else. If you love someone in one life, you’ll love them in the next, too. It’s why sometimes, you meet somebody for the first time and you feel like you’ve always known them. Always loved them.” He smiled, reaching a hand up hesitantly to move a strand of hair away from her face. “I think I love you too much for this to be the first time I’ve done it. I think I’ve known you always, loved you always. And I think I’m really, really lucky to be able to say that. And I’m really lucky that you love me back, too.”
COLLEEN: He said it was really good — but his tone was what hit her first. Colleen had made it through the speech only to feel tears at the corner of her eyes when his voice dropped to a tone that was touched. She had hoped that it would have that effect on him, but she wasn't sure if she had it in her. Colleen remembered telling him in the darkness of the shipping yard, that she wasn't good at this. And she doubted that she would ever be truly comfortable with speeches or words.
Actions had always been the most important thing to her. The one thing that she understood for most of her life. Actions, she had found, never lied. Colleen learned that people did things that they might regret — but there was something honest in what people did. And you could tell the instant after someone did something they regretted. You could see it in the light of their eyes, in the change of their stance, in the distance they put between themselves and everyone else.
But words had grown more important over the years with Danny. Like the first time he had said he loved her and when he stopped saying it regularly — Colleen had noticed. Craving for him to use words to define what he showed her every single day, because hearing it was suddenly important too. Hearing the tone of his voice give life to words that had little meaning to her in the hours before, were suddenly the sweetest words that she could hear — but only if he spoke them.
She had spent a lot of time figuring out what she wanted to say here, but she made sure every word meant something — that in all her mixed-up thoughts, that this could never be doubted. (If words made him feel like this, maybe she could keep working on them. Make the words keep meaning something.)
"Your turn," she whispered with a nod, touching just below her nose as she sniffed, trying not to mess up her makeup as she prepared herself for Danny's vows. He had never been completely comfortable with words either, but he always found the right things to say to her. The things that she needed to hear.
His speech started where they had started. She was transported back to a time where Danny was meditating in Central Park where she had given him a few dollars to buy some shoes and he had tried to give them back. Their situation had been so ridiculous, but they had started on an adventure that day that was still hard to believe. Hard to put to words in a way that the people around them would understand without the two of them looking crazy. (Because the story was crazy.)
The world had doubted him the second he stepped out as Danny Rand, and Colleen had found herself in a place where she didn't know if that was his name or not — but she knew that he deserved to have some answers. And he deserved better than what the world was giving him. He deserved to be treated better. Colleen had hoped that she had given him a safe place, had hoped that she had made a difference in his life, more than just someone who let him sleep in the corner of her dojo when he first showed up.
Always.
It kept coming back. She remembered telling him, just before he left, that chance looked a lot like fate in the taillights. That people looked for confirmation of fate and destiny in past actions to justify their beliefs, but the way he said it now — it made her wonder if it was real. She had fallen into trusting him so quickly after she had met him, and she had been so guarded from the world prior to that. But Danny? He had found a way to get in. He opened the windows and the door and he let the light in and she found herself, though somewhat reluctantly, in his corner, right away.
Maybe he was right. Maybe it was destiny. Maybe it was something greater than the two of them that refused to let them say goodbye. (At least for long.)
Colleen rubbed the corner of her eyes and tried to stop herself from crying, but there was a tear on her cheek and she let out a weak laugh. Swallowing as she nodded her head. "Always." She reached for his hand and for a moment, as brief as it was, she wasn't thinking about the eyes on them. Wasn't thinking bout where they were or what they were supposed to be doing — not until the officiant cleared his throat again and Colleen brought her hand away from Danny, looking sheepish for another moment before the official feeling fell into something warmer.
"You may now kiss the bride."
"Finally," she whispered, sure that the man had heard it, but it hardly mattered to her at this point. And he didn't seem to mind, taking a step back as Colleen cupped Danny's face with her hands gently, her fingers tracing the features on his face before she pushed herself to her toes and pressed her lips to his.
It felt like she was falling in love all over again.
DANNY: Words like this meant more coming from her than they ever could from anyone else. It wasn’t just because he loved her --- though that was undeniably true as well. It was because Danny knew, better than anyone, how difficult this was for her. They’d had conversations about it more than once, discussed the difficulty they both felt in using words to describe the way their hearts were beating or the way their minds were moving. This was something he knew she’d worked hard on, and that made it all the more touching.
There were tears reflected in her eyes when he told her as much, and he wanted to wrap her in his arms, to hold her close, to never let her go. The crowd watching the ceremony, their friends in the wedding party, the officiant looking between the two of them with a fondly bemused expression, it was all background noise. The only thing that really existed for Danny in this moment was Colleen. It was saying something, as someone who had been raised primarily to be aware of his surroundings at all times. A warrior had to know what was happening around him constantly. To lose sight of it was to accept death.
But Danny would have died for her a thousand times over anyways. So maybe it all balanced out, in the end.
He wasn’t much better with words than she was, but he’d worked on his, too. Late nights spent in the living room with a pen in his hand, tapping a notebook thoughtfully. Ward told him to type it, but there was something so much more intimate about writing it by hand. It felt so much closer to his heart that way. It had taken him ages to get the words right. There were pages upon pages of crumpled notebook paper in the garbage can in the dojo, in his office, at Stark Tower, everywhere he’d spent any significant amount of time since he’d asked her to marry him. Words crossed out, ink smudged, paper torn all in the name of getting it right. Of giving her the words she deserved from him.
The look on her face told him he’d done an okay job. He smiled as she repeated that mantra, that word that had come to define them first in the grief of his departure from New York, then in the hesitant relief of his return and then, eventually, in the bright joy of them finding their way back to one another like this, with all the love that had never once faded. Always. It was all he’d ever wanted with her. An always.
The officiant made himself known again, and Danny’s sheepish expression mirrored Colleen’s as he remembered that just because it felt like the whole world had melted away didn’t mean it actually had. They were still surrounded by people. Some smiling, some sniffling, but all were looking directly at them now. Danny flushed, just a little.
The officiant smiled before he spoke, his words echoing through the open space. You may now kiss the bride. Danny grinned, laughing quietly when Colleen whispered and leaning in close, wrapping his arms around her waist as he pressed a kiss against her lips.
The rest of their lives were starting. Danny was running to meet it.
I promised a Kam wedding, and I’m finally here to deliver!!
Last piece till October 15 - treat yo’ writers better. PLEASE.
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"Are you getting sentimental on me, Song?"
Keefe Sencen- well, Song's lanky figure snaked around his fiancé as he hummed in approval.
"It wouldn't have been much of a wedding if there weren't tears, right?"
Keefe smiled as he kissed his boyfriend's nose which was red and splotchy from tears.
"Come on, dance with me."
Keefe pulled him to the middle of the wide altar as Tam self consciously pulled back, before changing his mind and following his husband's lead, putting his hands on his shoulders as a soft smile dusted his face, growing larger as they slowly began to sway to an unseen rhythm of their wedding march.
"Do you remember how I pulled you right off the altar, barely letting the priest finish the vows before we danced?"
Keefe's eyes softened, the ice blue eyes wistfully delving deep into the memory of that day, where he stood, awfully nervous at the altar, pulling on his black tie on an unknown place in the forbidden cities, where finally, after a lot of searching they had found the LGBT friendly church of their dreams.
Red and blue angels decorated the shining halo in the grand glass in the center with colours from all shades in the rainbow from the sun streaming in, decorating the wooden pews with soft shades of red and purple, embracing the fact that yes, they were part of the spectrum.
Tam's eyes flitted around the whole length of the room, flicking to the empty table where once a white, albeit a little unprofessionally made cake stood in the corner, the icing flowers painstakingly having been done by Biana and Sophie together and to the now empty aisle, which that day had been decked out in a greyscale, garnished with blue roses thrown on the ground by Princess Purry Fins (albeit with the help of an overly enthusiastic Linh).
Tam, although having no other option - he was simply too thin wore a beautiful silk lace ball gown, his femininity and softness showing, his feelings and and happiness that radiated of him, the gloomy nature gone to the extent where even the darkest corners of the room, the place where he once used to sulk in, afraid and confused at the young flurry of butterflies that appeared every time he saw a boy seemed to sparkle with his rebellious streak and innate passion.
And as they reached the crescendo of the song, each twirling in complete unison and alike in thought, they remembered the beautiful rainbow bouquet which Tam held, blushing and softly as Keefe gaped, utterly and utterly speechless for one of the first times in his life as they recited their vows, hand in and, eyes boring into the cores of their souls, stars from the sun reflecting in the quiet of his eyes as Keefe looked at his to be husband and Tam looked at the stark nakedness and the novelty nature that had taken his breath away from day one.
And Tam dipped him low, now inches away from Keefe's crimson face as he came back to reality with a shock, filled with the urge to kiss Tam more than ever as he faced Keefe with a smirk.
"Now who's getting sentimental?"
"I-"
Tam pulled Keefe up with a breathless laugh that intoxicated him, making him giddy and smiling, the love from both of them evident on the blooming flowers on their cheeks, the spots of light that reflected of in hearts like glass shards, their slender hands which had battled and borne a lifetime of stigma just to reach other in the end, now perpetually intwined, almost afraid to let go of their lifelines.
And all at once, the composition they had set up, the twirls of their personality bursting through into the most vibrant picture of the unification of two beautiful souls, and with every pirouette around each other, the fates twisting and tying them together as they spun, flowing through them and between them, creating a bond stronger than the walls of the controversy created by the elven world.
And as Keefe left the church, light leaping back to the small house in Choralmere where they knew Linh would be patiently waiting for them alongside Marella to celebrate their anniversary with the rest of their friends, he couldn't help but press a feather like kiss to Tam's lips.
Their last dance had finally come to a close.
.
.
.
.
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// I hope y’all enjoyed!!! Kam gives me life and I couldn’t hold on longer anyway so//
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