Work Text:
Theirs
by Pirate Turner
He gazed into his lover's eyes as he stepped up to the podium. He reached out, took his hand in his, and felt his slight trembling. No other would notice for the sharpshooter always hid his fears well, but Chris had known he was trembling before his fingers had ever locked with his. He gave him a gentle squeeze and took his eyes from his to look out to the crowd, knowing that Vin would follow his gaze.
There, just a few feet away, sat their friends, their brothers, four of the five men who had given them the family neither had ever dared hope to have again and who, they knew, would protect them with their dying breaths. Beyond them, an entire crowd of co-workers, acquaintances, rescuees, and, most of all, friends were gathered together, watching with eyes mostly bright and some teary and cheerful smiles. They were all gathered here in their honor to watch an event that they had been waiting and hoping for for what felt like an eternity, though they had never dared to actually think it would happen until just recently.
A honking sound returned Chris' calm gaze to the front row, where his best and oldest friend was crying his eyes out. A devilish grin flashed across the leader's face. Who would have thought that Bucklin would be the only one of their team to bawl at a wedding? Ezra quietly dabbed his eyes from time to time, and Chris was glad that Maude had not made it to their wedding for he knew that his card shark would never have dared to be so free with his emotions had she been there. Had one single tear dropped from Ezra's green eyes, Maude would never have let him live it down.
His gaze shifted to watch JD reassuringly touching Buck's arm, and his smile lit up his face again. {They're gonna be next! No doubt about it!}
The gentle clearing of a rumbly voice brought Chris' and Vin's attention back to the pulpit, and Chris gave his beloved's hand another gentle squeeze, silently reassuring him that it was going to be okay and they were going to make this happen. As Josiah launched into his speech about what a charming couple Chris and Vin were and how they had overcome countless obstacles to reach the point that they could claim this right that their government had only now given them, though it should have been theirs all along, Chris' smile grew ever brighter.
Vin did not have to wonder much about what his love was thinking as Chris' smile became so brilliant that even the sun could never hope to compare with its warm radiance for he could read his partner like a book and was already thinking the same thoughts. They had made it! They were going to be married! The future was bright, and it was all theirs!
The End