Javi felt overwhelmed.

This. This right here.

This was the highlight of his life. He didn't want anything else. Ever. He didn't need anything else.

He looked at the little piece of paper in his hand, and opened it once, his eyes scanning the words written on it, and he smiled, feeling a blush rushing up to his cheeks, and crumbled the paper up in his hands, and shoved it into his pocket, and turned around to flash the biggest, most genuine smile he possibly could, at his to-be wife, who was being walked to the aisle, to be next to him, by her grandfather. He didn't need a pre-written speech to say, he'd forget anything he'd prepared earlier anyway. He knew that, just by looking at her in her wedding gown.

"Take my hand, take my whole life too"

The music played from the band, and Javi couldn't think of a moment more perfect, for his eyes to fall on the love of his life, as she came into his view, and he felt his eyes fill with tears.

He'd never seen her looking as beautiful as she did in that moment. She had always looked incredible to him, but in that moment, with her eyes meeting his halfway, as she walked towards him with the most beautiful smile in the universe, a bouquet of flowers in her hand, Javi Garcia knew he wouldn't want anything in the universe to take that moment away from him.

He could hear some chatter among his three best men, and could catch some words like 'lovesick' and 'music' and it didn't take a genius to figure out the matter of conversation had been Javi himself, and he wondered just how lovesick he looked to others, when he looked at Amelia. He was the only one who actually knew what he was feeling, how his heart was doing cartwheels inside his ribcage, as he waited for her to walk down the aisle. The distance was so short, but it felt like an eternity to him. Finally, though, he found her standing right in front of him, and then he realised he couldn't face her.

A blush creeping up his cheeks, he felt scared, he felt like he would disappoint her, looking downwards at his shoes feeling his ears flaring up as well, his head spinning as he waited for his bride to approach him, his heart almost beating itself out off is chest. He was sure everyone in the hall could hear the sound of his racing heart. Javi gulped, swallowing his tears, and raised his head to look at her, and welcome the rest of his life with her, the entire world around him fading away, blurring out of vision, as Javi feeling like nothing except him, and her, existed in the universe.

Pop Pop dropped her off, and moved to the side, Javi didn't notice, the priest said some words, Javi didn't notice. He was absolutely lost in the beauty of her eyes, her smile, her everything.

"Cuz I can't help, Falling in Love, with You"

It wasn't until Ollie poked him with a finger, that he realised that was his cue, his turn to say the vows.

He knew this was going to be cheeky as shit, but like he'd told Fern only a few hours ago, everything that came out of his lips in this moment, was going to be the truth.

"I—" he fumbled, not knowing what to say, just as he'd predicted, all the practice he'd had in front of the mirror washed away, "Amelia" he gasped, his fingers playing around with the edge of his tuxedo, "I don't know if what I say will be able to do justice to what I feel about you" he mumbled, but then, coughed, trying to clear his throat, and looked straight into her eyes, "I don't know how, or why, or when, I fell in love with you, but I do remember when I had the realisation. And that moment, was probably one of the most beautiful and painful moments of my life. You were injured, and I had a concert pending, and I had to write a song, because someone had stolen my original one. While writing it, Amelia, I realised it was impossible, because at that moment I realised the one I had wanted to write, had been written for you. And with you injured, I couldn't write another one, my mind kept wandering back to you, and only you. That was when I realised I had fallen, deep. I'll spare everyone around the details that followed, but it took oh so long for me to actually be able to call you mine" his voice choked up, "And I—"

She gave him an encouraging smile, a small nod, and that somehow, boosted his confidence, "And I can't believe I get to call you mine. Forever." He took a deep breath, and then leaned closer towards her, "mine, not in the way that 'you belong to me', but more like 'you belong with me', and I never want to let you go,"

Amelia's face lit up, "I love you, Amelia Jones. I love you, always and forever"

He watched her eyes fill with tears, and at that moment he knew she was going to outdo him. Not like it was a competition— but Javi wasn't sure he would be able to hold the waterworks.

"Javi, you're my best friend." She started, and then tilted her head to smile at him, watching him blush, "and maybe a little more than that. You're the one person who knows me better than anyone else. You make me a better person— you inspire me to do that on my own, to try and be better. You, you're someone who carries on forever, with me. You knew me, and you accepted me, and you believed in me before anyone else. And when no one else did. And I know this, no matter what happens, Javi, I'll always be in love with you. Nothing can ever change that. And I'm so, so happy I get to spend the rest of my life with you."

Javi felt like his heart would explode. This girl, this sweet angel, she was going to be his wife. Oh god, oh my fucking god. Javi bit his tongue to hold back the tears, and found himself lost in her eyes, lost in her words, lost in the moment, as if it was going to be his forever, and the world seemed to fade into a blur once again. Now it was only him, and Amelia.

And suddenly, he heard the words, "you may now kiss the bride" and maybe on queue, he and Amelia leaned towards each other, to make their lips meet in a soft, wholesome kiss, as the entire hall burst into cheers. Javi wrapped his arms around her waist, and she cupped his cheeks with hers, and his brain stopped swimming, stopped fuzzing around, he felt like this was it. He didn't want anything else, he didn't need anything else.

Javi Garcia was... happy.

XXX

"You look so beautiful, baby girl," her mother almost had tears in her eyes, when she looked at her daughter in her wedding dress, "I can't believe this is real" she put her palms in front of her mouth, sobbing slightly, "you look so, so beautiful"

"Oh mom! Are you crying?" Amelia asked, hugging Santaura, "MOM!"

"I'm not crying" Santaura said, clearly crying, wiping her eyes, "Oh my little baby girl is so big she's getting MARRIED! Oh!"

"DAD—" Amelia joked, but then sat her mother down, "when did you get married? And how were weddings on Rafkon?"

She knew that would distract Santaura, and it did, as she started narrating about her own wedding, back on Rafkon. Amelia did feel bad, sometimes, that they hadn't gone for a traditional Rafkonian wedding, with her own style, but after much contemplation, and thought, and advice from Javi, among many other people she had decided that since Pop Pop had raised her, and that she somehow felt more acquainted with Earth's culture than that of Rafkon, they'd have an Earth style wedding, and not a Rafkonian one. When she'd told Javi of the decision, and asked him if her parents might feel bad about this, he had replied, almost humorously, "well then, when we have a re-wedding, fifty years later, we can have a Rafkonian wedding. I bet by then you'd known Rafkonian culture inside out" he'd winked.

She was glad to know that her parents didn't mind, and Pop Pop— and Javi's parents, after finding out that their future daughter-in-law was an alien— were very happy about it. Zayto and Aiyon made a little fuss about it, especially Aiyon, but they too gave in, especially when Ollie explained to them, they could wear Rafkonian clothes instead of human ones, if they wanted.

Ollie and Aiyon's wedding had been half Rafkonian, and they all remembered it, and they all remembered the godawful food which no human could actually enjoy, they remembered the binding ceremonies, where sacred soulmate marks were made on each other's skin, in a ritualistic manner, glowing in each other's colour, like a permanent tattoo that said 'I'd love you always and forever', in symbols that made sense only to Rafkonians.

And Javi was kinda jealous that he wasn't getting one of those soulmate marks with Amelia, so she had promised him that they'd get ones when they visit Rafkon the next time. The soulmate marks were a sort of... sign of the love in the relationship. If the marks faded, it meant the love was fading, and the couple could either choose to try and fix it, or let it fade till it was nothing, and that would mean they were not soulmates anymore. It was a strange custom, and Javi had somewhat fallen in love with it, so he did insist that sometime in their lives, they get the soulmate tattoos.

"I want you to know how deeply I can love you. And how my love for you will never fade away"

Of course, no one had explained to Amelia, or to Javi, or to Ollie or Aiyon, what happened when the mark faded away from one, as did the love, while the other tried to hold on.

But that wasn't a conversation they wanted to have yet.

Amelia was pulled out of her thoughts by a small request by Izzy, who had pulled her to the side.

"Amelia, listen. You know I'm mad at you for ditching the wedding, right?" She'd asked, almost threateningly, and Amelia had gulped, "I mean, yeah. But I said I'm sorry—"

"Sorry doesn't cut it. I want you to do something for me."

Amelia melted at that, "aw, Izzy, you do know you don't need to blackmail me into doing something for you! I'm literally marrying your brother today!! And you're one of my best friends!"

"Yeah, yeah" Izzy said, looking left, then right, as if checking if no one was around, and then dipped a hand into her pocket, and pulled out something in a little box.

"Listen... all these weddings. All of this stuff that's been going on. I know, I know I'm young. Too young, maybe. But I've been with Fern for longer than you and Javi have been. Heck even longer than Ollie and Aiyon, and they got married two years ago! So... I was thinking..."

Amelia could swear it was the first time she was seeing Izzy so nervous, and blushing so hard, and it melted her heart. She placed both her hands around Izzy's shoulders, "oh my god. Izzy you're going to ask Fern to marry you?!"

Izzy didn't reply, just got a little more flustered, and Amelia flashed her the biggest smile she had ever seen, and then engulfed the green ranger in her arms, "sure, Izzy. Tell me what you need me to do?"

XXX

Amelia wondered if Javi knew about Izzy's plans.

She also wondered if Javi knew anything at all, about everything that had been happening around him the entire evening. Once they had made it back to the hotel, and met with her parents, Pop Pop, and a few other people who counselled her better, she had agreed to the wedding— there wasn't a lot of time for her to get ready, so they'd all just worked lightening fast,  getting her makeup done, getting her ready, getting her into her beautiful pink wedding gown, and all the other trivialities.

Dancing with Javi, with sweet music playing, feeling a little too wedding-y, she felt overwhelmed with emotions. Every time she looked at Javi she saw him looking at her with so much love. It was the kind of gaze that one saw in cheesy romantic movies, like Five Feet Apart, where the lovers were separated by unfortunate events, and would do anything to make the other happy. Looking at him, dancing with him, in the dim lights, among the red roses, the white ones, the candles and the twinkling fairy lights, with their cake, which the two of them had only had a couple of bites of, which Aiyon had finished off before half of the guests could even reach the table, with all their loved ones around them, smiling, playing, laughing, dancing, being... happy.

Amelia and Javi hadn't talked a lot all evening. She didn't know what she'd say to him. Yes, she had been adamant that she wanted an explanation from him about him letting go of that tour, but she also didn't want to spoil his night by telling him she'd run away from their wedding.

All the photoshoots, all the drama with the food and the cake and the guests and meeting and greeting everyone was starting to take a toll too, and Amelia rested her weight on Javi, as they swayed in each other's arms to the tunes of Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream', covered by the orchestra Warden Garcia had hired. They moved in step to the music, spinning, and turning slowly. He wrapped her even closer to himself, his hands finding the slope of her hips, her arms wrapping around his neck. He could feel her breathing, and let her rest her weight on him, tired, and finding solace within him, and he could feel her heart beating in rhythm with his; a small spin, and Javi leaned in, tucking her hair out of her face, behind her ear, and then slowly leaned down to kiss her softly on her lips.

He thought someone would interrupt them, someone would say something and distract them, or she'd pull away, but no one did. They took their time, and then they rested their foreheads against each other, as songs changed from one romantic one to another, and then yet another, and Javi smiled at her, "Amelia, are you really here?"

He asked, all of a sudden, and she was snapped back into the reality, looking into his eyes, "yes, yes Javi, of course I am. Where would I ever go?" She gave him a mellow smile, and his grip around her waist tightened.

"I don't know... sometimes things feel so... unreal... almost like this is a dream."

She looked down at her feet, unable to meet his eye. He was so happy. She knew she couldn't start their new life together by hiding things right from their wedding day! It wouldn't be fair to him.

"Javi... I ran away"

Shel looked up to meet his eyes, but all she saw was confusion, "ran away?"

"I ditched the wedding. I ran away. Our friends found me and brought me back" she confessed, and then laid her head against his chest, wrapping her arms around him tightly, "I'm sorry"

She felt his grasp loosen, but then she felt the arms wrapping around her more firmly, a soft kiss on her forehead and a gentle voice asked, "did you get cold feet?"

"No" she looked up at him, earnestly, wanting him to believe what she said, "I found out you were sacrificing your career to make this wedding happen. I didn't want that to happen."

She didn't know how, or why, but that elicited a laugh from him, "what?"

"That lady. The one on the phone. She asked you to reconsider the offer..."

"And I'd already told her I'd reconsidered her offer a million times and that she needs to stop calling me" he sighed, "these show business people"

"Why did you forego this amazing opportunity?"

"Because I can't imagine my life without you"

"What's in this that's 'without me'?" She asked, "I mean, I can wait for you, Javi, I'd wait forever if I had to..."

"They wanted me to pretend I'm single and 'ready to mingle' with fangirls, so my albums sell better. I can't betray you like this, Amelia" he stated, quite simply, "I didn't even need a minute to think about this before rejecting the offer. If I get launched, I'd do it on my own, and WITH YOU. There's no other way I'd have it. And I don't want you to feel guilty about it, okay? No sorry, no thank you."

"Javi..." she leaned forward, and gave him a soft kiss on his cheek, "I love you so, so much. Do you know that?"

He laughed, "I do. Otherwise you wouldn't be dancing here, in a wedding gown, with me, baby"

———
A/N: One more chapter left!! And then one for an art dump~

OH BTW next chapter Fizzy something 🤭