"Congratulations, you two." The Saints formally congratulated us, everyone with a glass of wine in hand.
"Thank you." We nodded.
"Congratsh, guysh!" Issei shouted with a wide grin and flushed face, "Y'guys're the besht, y'knoe dat?"
"I'm so sorry about him!" Othelia struggled to barely keep him standing on both his feet, "I swear, this is the last time I let him touch alcohol. He always says he'll be fine, but he's such a lightweight it's genuinely baffling..."
"It hasn't even been half an hour since the ceremony ended, though?" Cecily was more interested in the notion of someone getting so wasted so quickly than angry, "Did Issei eat anything this morning?"
"He had a hearty breakfast." Othelia sighed, "And he ate all the cheese in the venue. By the way, you might wanna restock the tables..."
"Why just the cheese...?" I pondered to myself as he piped up.
"Cheez's gud!" He yelled as he flailed his arms everywhere, "It helpsh with thuh drinks! C'mon, Loon, yer' the only one without a glass!"
"No, sorry. I don't drink." I replied with an awkward yet smirky chuckle, "Last time that happened, Adam and I caused quite the scene..."
"Someone called my name?" Adam showed up with his wife, both of them looking just as shiny and glamorous as you'd expect them to, "It seems our foreign friend here is having quite the hard time. Would you like me to take him to the bathroom, milady?"
"That would probably be for the best, thank you." Othelia watched in astonishment as Adam easily lifted her wasted boyfriend like he weighed less than a feather, "A-Ah..."
"Uughhh...!" Issei was all but ready to hurl from the motions, "Dammit, lemme gough, bruh... I gotta pish..."
"Just how much did he drink?" Elaine asked.
"Right? When Lune and I got drunk, the world was just so bright and cheerful, but for him I think the only thing he feels is a nausea in his stomach."
"You two got drunk together?" Cecily smirked at me, "When was that?"
"A-Ah, uhm... G-Got to go!" Adam realized how difficult of a situation he'd put me in after the glare I dished out before bolting from the scene to take Issei to the bathroom, "Sorry, Lune!"
"That bastard..." I groaned before realizing the girls staring at me, "A-Ah, ha-ha... Elaine, mind helping out here?"
"I was certainly present at the time, but I think Cecily would appreciate it more if you were the one to spit it out." She said something responsible for once before taking Othelia with her, "In other news, miss Othelia, I just so happened to have seen his absolutely WONDERFUL drink at the bar. Care to join me? Ah, what am I saying? Of course you're interested, come on now!"
"O-Oh...?!" Othelia got dragged away forcefully, "A-Actually, I would rather-! H-Hey, you're grabbing my wrist too tightly!"
And so, I was once again left alone with Cecily. This is bad, thanks to Adam and that big mouth of his, I now have to ruin the happy mood of the party because I'll mention my previous wedding with Marina! It's been years since she passed, so I doubt Cecily would be jealous if it was just a funny little story from such a long time ago, but thanks to the previous story, she'll find out that I'm still respecting Marina's wishes to stop drinking! If I know Cecily, then she'll probably think nothing of it, but what if she does? If I told a White lie right now or changed the subject, would she see through my feeble attempts to keep it hidden? Is she gonna let it go, or not? God, if only Aru was here to tell me in advance so I knew what the right choice to make was...!
"A-hem!" Aru the savior must've heard my pleas, as she somehow popped up right in between us, with Cene following closely behind her as if they're tied together by a tight rope, "First of all, congratulations, mortals. Weddings and other such celebrations in one's life are nothing but a triviality for an immortal being such as myself, but I know how much it means for you humans."
"Oh." Cecily stood there a tad surprised as she lifted Cene into her arms, "Thank you, Aru. And you, Cene, what's got you so sad?"
"S-Sniffle... A-Awoo's gonna leave... without me..." He cried in his mother's embrace, "I don't want hew to go! Bwaaahhh!"
"Aw geez, give him here. Don't wanna get your dress all snotty." I had Cecily hand him over to me as I put on my best helpful dad advice face, "Now now, come on, men don't cry."
"U-Uncle Ed said that only weal men cwy..." He parroted Ed's words of wisdom.
"Eh? I just wanted to say something to calm you down, b-but... Isn't that way of thinking kind of advanced?" I asked, "Anyways! That they do, son, so make sure to let it all out, okay?"
"Sob... H-Huh?"
"Yeah!" I smiled, "That way you can see Aru off with a smile!"
"Bwaaaahhhh!" He bawled his Eyes out even more now, "Don't go, Awoo!"
Well, that didn't go well. Now everyone's sort of awkwardly looking at us, granted all the music and chatter is masking this situation quite well, but it's still noticeable enough to have people feel the need to look away. I get he's a kid, but even he should realize with Cecily's upbringing that there are some things that you just have to say goodbye to, so I figured my advice was sound enough. Unfortunately, it was not, but thankfully a way better father figure was nearby and heard his cries before running on over to help us out.
"Cene." Edward approached us with a serious tone before booping him on the nose, "You're being a nuisance to Aru, y'know?"
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"N-Noo...sense?" Cene was unfamiliar with the term.
"Yeah, think about how Aru feels when she sees you crying like this." He went for the 'put yourself in her shoes' tactic, "She's leaving, and the sweet kid she's been teaching all sorts of fun things is being a crybaby about it, telling her to stay."
"B-But why can't she stay?" He asked through tears, "Mom and dad don't mind, we have a bed fow hew... She can stay!"
"Sigh, alright then, let's put it this way." Ed smiled, "If you wanted to go after her when you grow up a bit, but just before you leave, some whiny brat kept telling you to not go, what would you do?"
"I'd punch the kid!" He said without hesitation, "No one stands in between me and Awoo!"
"There you have it." Ed went in for a playful little punch to his cheek, slow enough to barely even make contact before leaving us be, "Don't be that brat, Cene. Instead, be like Aru and go after the ones you love. Gods know you have plenty of time to do so whenever you please."
And with a carefree wave of the hand, he left our speechless group just like that to return to his dear Anna and continue the festivities. This guy, why in the world would he ever think he wasn't ready to be a dad yet!? What the hell is his standard for dads, his old man's a piece of crap! I'm feeling my Cene Affection Points deplete with him around, but I'll admit that I am both extremely happy and extremely jealous of his future kid's upbringing.
"I wish uncle Edwawd was my dad." Cene slumped in my arms.
"There it is..." I deflated on the spot.
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***
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After that, Cecily was kidnapped by Eleanor, Elaine and Othelia, presumably to avoid any further issues to pop up between us and make the mood all bad again. Leaving me stranded at my own wedding party, a painfully nauseous looking Issei approached me, carried by Adam like a backpack.
"Uuuugh..." Issei could barely creak open his Eyes to ask me, "What'd I miss?"
"Pain, and agony." I replied with an empty smile.
"Apologies once again for putting you in such a situation." Adam shook his head, "I didn't know you weren't yet ready to tell her about the vow of abstinence Marina had you undergo."
"Ehh? She made you promise not to have sex?!" Issei blurted out.
"Abstinence from alcohol." I corrected him, "Not sex. That'd just be depressing."
"Ohhh..." Issei nodded along.
"But thankfully Aru saved me from having to tell Cecily that." I explained, "She's definitely climbing up my character tierlist. She was mid B rank, but now she's definitely upper A."
"And I'm S rank, right?" Issei smirked.
"............"
"I-I'm S rank..." His face drooped down, "Right?"
"Ranks aside!" I continued the conversation flawlessly, "How are you feeling right now, Issei? Want me to call a wagon over and take you home?"
"Nah, I'm good. Just a bit woozy for now, but thanks to Adam here I mostly got all of the sickness out of my system." He explained, "I'm just resting for now, so as long as I don't have to move around too much I'll..."
"Ladies n' gentlemen! Please gather 'round the dance floor!" Nat enthusiastically smiled with a microphone in hand, "That means you too, hubby! Get on over here, yer' wifey's waitin' for the first dance!"
"Looks like it's your time to shine, Lune." Adam patted me on the back hard enough to put me into a semi running start, "Go on, show everyone those moves!"
Running up to the dance floor in the center of the venue, with everyone standing around Cecily and I expecting a great display of dignified and slow waltzing, I felt that just didn't suit me at all.
"J-Just like we practiced." Cecily looked unsure of our earlier weeks of training prior to this, "S-Sorry, was it left foot first, then right, then...?"
"Both!" I lifted her hand up as I spun her around, surprising everyone in the venue, "Dancing is the one time in life when all your bones just go with the flow! Don't think about it and just enjoy the moment, dear!"
At the very apex of the jazzy trumpets, I had us use and abuse each and every square of the dance floor, casually inviting more and more of our esteemed guests as I made sure everyone was having fun. Neither Cecily nor me were very good at trying to match the slowed down pace of a standard waltz no matter how hard we tried, but when it comes to nimble footwork, you could make the argument that our combat training kept us afloat. Our dance wasn't elegant, nor could it be considered classy in the slightest, but it had character, and more importantly, it made dancing in front of a crowd enjoyable, just as much for her as it was for me. With a wide natural smile on her face, she stared into my Eyes as we spun out into a flashy ending, when I happily tossed her up before catching her in my arms, rounding things off as everyone in the room clapped and laughed.
"Nice work." I praised her.
"Thanks, you too." Adam's voice was, surprisingly, the one that replied instead of hers, "We did good out there, champ. Too bad we couldn't be dance partners this time too, but I made due with the men I had on hand."
"Men you had on hand?" I looked behind his bulky frame, spotting the worn down Ed and Issei, lying on the ground dead tired after seemingly being manhandled by the yoked king, "Heh, I'm sure you guys were stunning."
With a giggle, Cecily took my hand before leaning in and giving me a peck on the cheek. A wedding... is way more fun with lots of friends around.