The Wedding (16.3)

"—Oh, great, you're here. Uh, where's my—"

"Suit jacket?" Lumina grinned, "Right here," She handed her brother the red suit jacket with gold embroidery, "Take a deep breath, everything is going to be alright. You got this. You're getting married."

"I got this, I'm getting married," Xander parroted, before letting out a panicked sigh and covering his face, "Oh my God, A'Li, I'm getting married. To the love of my life. What the fuck. This is just…"

"Hey, look at me," Lumina grabbed his face and squished his cheeks, "You deserve this. You've been through so much shit. The least the world could do is let you get married in peace, you know?"

Xander took a deep breath, "I suppose the cake arrived, seeing as you're not having a panic attack."

"Oh, the panic attack is scheduled for after the ceremony. The cake is here but you really don't want to know how it got here," Lumina shuddered. 

Chaewon peeked at her from around Xander's head, "You know what, should we tell him? Just for fun—"

"No," Lumina glared at her.

"Please do not, I would also like to schedule the panic attack for later," Xander added.

Chaewon sighed, "Fine, fine. Also, your hair is done. By the way, when did I become everyone's impromptu hairdresser?"

"When you volunteered literally two days ago," Xander reminded her.

"Ah."

"We are truly the idiot crew," Lumina sighed as she fixed the golden tie and straightened the jacket.

Xander hummed, "Wouldn't that be Nia, Owen, Val, and Fenix?"

"No, I call them The Gremlin Besties," Lumina said seriously, "We're the Idiot Crew. Or Idiot Crew Part Two I suppose."

"Part Two?" Chaewon asked.

"Idiot Crew Part One was just me, Xander, Mina, and Kaedan. Now that you and Elliot are here, we're Idiot Crew Part Two. If we happen to string anyone else along which, let's face it, we really have no idea, we'll become Idiot Crew Part Three," Lumina explained.

Xander and Chaewon were silent for a minute before they both started cackling, "Jesus, Xander, I forgot how funny your little sister was," Chaewon wheezed, wiping a tear away from her face, "Anyways, since you're doing a fantastic job of it yourself, I'm going to leave it to you to calm his nerves. See you later, buddy, good luck," She waved to Xander before ducking out of the room.

"I'll need it," Xander sighed, shaking his head, raising his hand to run it through his hair, "Ow," He gave Lumina a withering glare as she smacked his hand down.

"She just did your hair, don't mess it up yet!" Lumina glared back. Xander sighed again and Lumina rolled her eyes, "Alright, alright. What are you even nervous about? It's not like he can run away or anything, if anything, it's you who could run away. He's getting walked down to the alter before you," Lumina joked as she opened the eyeshadow palette, "Although, if you do want to run, I don't mind making a scene so you can escape—"

Xander smacked her lightly on the head, "Don't joke, I'm having a breakdown over here. I don't even know why I'm nervous, it's like…I already proposed. He already said yes. We planned this whole wedding together. We were even talking about it together last night. Like, this wedding is going to happen and I'm happy it's going to happen. But also I'm so scared."

Lumina hummed, "Think of it this way," She said, gently dabbing gold glitter on his closed eyelids, "What's really going to change? It's just another label to the relationship. You guys have been acting married ever since you got back together. Hell, if you had announced your engagement five years ago, I wouldn't have been surprised. I also would have been very annoyed, but I wouldn't have been surprised."

"Annoyed?" Xander raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, well, it's not like this anymore but," Lumina sighed, "I kinda had a grudge against Kaedan for the smallest amount of time? I didn't really get why you hid the truth from him and why he hurt you like that. When I found out about the scar, I kinda saw red. For several weeks. It took me a while to calm down and actually think about the situation."

Xander rolled his eyes, "Well, it's nice to know I have such a protective little sister. Just so you know, your girlfriend has already given me the shovel talk."

"I know, we had an agreement. She and Owen give you the shovel talk, Chaewon and I give Kaedan the shovel talk."

"Chaewon?"

Lumina laughed, "I think she's decided that she's responsible for you now, with everything that happened and all."

Xander frowned, "I don't want her to feel that way, she really couldn't do anything. The entire situation was out of her control, and out of Leon's as well. I don't want her to feel responsible for my life."

"I don't think you could stop her," Lumina sighed, "It's like we can't convince Leon either. You know he thinks he's responsible for all of us. And you know we can't convince him otherwise. Not us. Only one person probably could, and even then, she can only probably make him believe they share the weight of that burden."

Xander sighed, "I know. I just…Don't like it."

"Déjà vu?"

"Reminds me way too much of myself back then before everything imploded. I'm scared it might be a repeat situation."

Lumina shook her head, "It won't be. We know better. Now, let's talk about something else. No serious talk on your wedding day. Hey, do you know what this reminds me of?"

"What?"

"Remember when you used to do my hair in a braid every day before you sent me off to school?" Lumina asked, smiling, "Feels like a bit of a reversal, I'm getting you ready and sending you off to…To your husband, I suppose?"

"...You're right. Didn't you cry the first few times back when you were like four or five because I kept yanking on your hair?"

"You were crying too because you didn't know how to calm down a crying four-year-old."

"Hey, I like to think I managed pretty well with you, considering I was only eight or something," Xander shoved her lightly as she laughed.

She quieted down quickly though, "You did do a good job, you know?"

"Hm?"

"With me, I mean," She looked away, "I don't think I've told you enough. You really are the best big brother I could ask for. And I know sometimes I can be really really frustrating, and I didn't listen a lot growing up, but I'm glad you stuck by me anyway. Especially with Veronica, you warned me over and over, and I…Well, I'm glad you came when I called."

"Of course I did," Xander responded softly, "That's what big brothers do. And you don't need to tell me that, A'Li. When I see the kind of person you've grown up to become, I'm glad I've had the chance to be a part of that. You're a wonderful human being, and you deserve happiness, Meimei."

"You too," Lumina said, quickly wiping at her eyes, "Shit, I'm going to ruin my makeup if we keep going like this."

Xander laughed tearily, "Might as well bring me some more eyeliner as well, the waterworks are beginning."

"No, save it for the vows," Lumina grinned, "I heard Kaedan has quite the speech prepared for you."

Xander groaned, "Oh, Dear God, I forgot I'm about to become the husband of a menace. Well, too bad he's about to become the husband of another menace. I'm definitely not letting him win his one, you know, as his husband."

"...You just like hearing yourself be called his husband and him as your husband, don't you?" Lumina asked, holding back her laugh.

"Husbands, A'Li," Xander sighed dreamily, "We're going to be married husbands."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's what being married means," Lumina tightened the tie hard enough for Xander to splutter.

He waved her hands away, "Please don't choke me to death before my wedding, I'd like to actually be legally married, thank you very much."

"See, nervousness gone, right?" Lumina said, smiling softly, "It's going to be fine. You're going to have a wonderful wedding, come hell or high water. Literally. I will fight off Hell for this wedding, do you know how much effort Owen, Mina, and I put into planning it?" 

"Yes, yes, I'm aware. I think it was pretty apparent after you started yelling about how stressed you were and didn't even realize you were doing it half in Mandarin so Kaedan only got half of the lecture that I got," Xander teased her.

Lumina rolled her eyes, "Oh, trust me, he's been around the two of us for long enough. He's definitely picked up on the language."

"My genius husband," Xander sighed.

"Gross. Leave the marital pining for when I'm not around."

"Just you wait, A'Li," Xander warned, "When you and Mina get married, Kaedan and I are going to get you back for all this."

Lumina paused for a moment, and then went back to furiously dabbing blush on his face, "...Shut up."

"Oh my God, have you two have talked about it already?!"

"No! I mean, yes! But like, not happening now! But yeah, we do—Ugh, this is your wedding, why are we talking about this? Anyway, you're done. Now, sit in here and look pretty for your husband until I come to get you!"

"Jiali Liu, this conversation isn't over yet!"