Kell
“You sure you don’t want me and Dad to come up there, Kelly? It’ll only take a half an hour,” Vaughan said, trying to calm him down.
“No. You can’t. Your trial starts in a couple hours,” Kell said, breathing heavily. “Besides I’m already here.”
“You’re an hour early?” Vaughan scoffed. “Didn’t I tell you to be fashionably late?”
“You’re crazy if you think I’d be late. You’re even crazier if you think I’d make him wait.” Kell played with the gold cufflinks he’d borrowed from his sensei.
“Where are you? You didn’t take the bus to get married, did you?” Vaughan growled. “I know you didn’t get on the MARTA in that twelve-hundred dollar suit I picked out.”
“No.” Kell chuckled, needing Vaughan’s silliness to keep him from sweating through the gray and blue Ralph Lauren pinstriped suit he was wearing. “I’m still in my Lyft. The driver is being nice enough to let me have my meltdown in his backseat.”
“Oh babe, calm down. You can do this. Just repeat whatever the judge says and smile. You and Ty are practically married already. This is just a formality. Look at it like that. It’s the same man you already love. You don’t need to be scared.”
“I want to be a good husband,” Kell whispered, his eyes watering again. “Ty deserves that.”
“And so do you. You will be a good husband, Kell,” Vaughan said. He understood Kell’s fears about turning into his father and failing as a family man like he had. “Now get off this phone and go get your man. Maybe all this soulmate and marriage talk you two are doing will rub off on these big bad hunters that have yet to pop any questions.”
Kell smiled at that thought. Their spontaneous marriage probably was going to rile things up. Good.
“Okay. I’m going.” Kell took a deep breath. “Thank you, Vaughan. I love you. You’ve always treated me like a brot—”
“Because you are my brother,” Vaughan cut him off sharply. “I love you too, Kelly. I’m proud of you. You’ve overcome so damn much. You’ve gotten up every time you went down and then you still fought for others. I know I told you all this yesterday, but it was good having you around all the time. I wasn’t a lonely, only child anymore. You were a classic little brother from the moment I met you at the dojo.”
Kell laughed, “I was what, eight?”
“Yep. Eight and annoying.”
Kell could hear the affection in Vaughan’s voice.
“Kelly you’re gonna be great at this, just like you are with everything you do. You’ll master it. Now… ” Vaughan paused dramatically. “Goodbye, Kellam Knight.”
Kell tucked his phone into his pocket. He gripped the soft lapels of his new cashmere coat that Vaughan said was a must have for the suit. He hadn’t had nearly enough to pay for everything, but Vaughan insisted on paying for all of it as a wedding gift. Kell closed his eyes and counted backwards from twenty. All this felt like a dream, and at any moment he was going to wake up and be back in his drafty apartment two months prior, alone.
He gave the driver a ten-dollar tip and thanked him again for his patience. The man wished him luck as he grabbed his overnight bag Ty had told him to bring.
“Thanks,” Kell murmured and started up the sidewalk.
He was almost to the courthouse steps when he remembered he didn’t know where he was supposed to meet Ty. He was forty-five minutes early, having scheduled his Lyft far enough in advance to allow for incidentals. He wasn’t sure if he should wait in the front, at the information desk inside, or should he go in and ask for Judge Jackson’s chambers? Shoot, shoot, shoot. It was pretty chilly to be standing outside. The wind whipped his hair. He was fully exposed. He wanted Ty to see all of him, just like he’d asked when they first met. He was just about to pull out his cell when he looked up and saw Ty standing with Brian at the top of the stairs.
He had to pause and grip the railing for a moment. Ty still had the sexy coat on from last night, only now he had on a sharp gray suit underneath. It was a darker, heather gray that matched the chinchilla fur. His dress shirt was black, and he’d chosen no tie and a splayed collar, just as Kell had. He climbed the stairs carefully. The closer he got to his fiancé the more he took his breath away. When he was almost to him, Kell saw the diamonds shining against Ty’s cinnamon-colored throat. Oh heavens. He leaned a little on the railing, but he finally made it to the top.
Ty took Kell’s bag from his shoulder and passed it back to Brian, who quickly stepped away. He turned and wrapped Kell in his arms as if he hadn’t seen him less than ten hours ago. Ty laid his cheek on top of his head and squeezed him, releasing a long sigh as if he’d been nervous Kell wouldn’t show. The thought was preposterous. It’d take an alien invasion to stop him from being there. Kell had his arms inside the coat, stroking the fine material of Ty’s suit across his back.
“I’m always stunned looking at you. You’re so fine,” Kell murmured against Ty’s throat.
“I’m squeezing you because I’m speechless. I have no words for how you looked coming up those stairs.” Ty smoothed Kell’s hair down and lifted his face to his. They stared at each other for a long time. Ty slowly bent and took Kell’s mouth in a soft, soul-reaching kiss. Kell moaned and tilted his head, angling for more when he heard a deep throat clear in the background.
Kell turned and saw Brian holding the door open for them.
“That comes after, Prince.” He smirked, shaking his head at Ty.
Ty
If it hadn’t been for Brian holding him steady, Ty probably would’ve careened down all five hundred of those stairs when Kell had appeared at the bottom in a finely tailored gray suit. The lighter golden streaks in his hair reflected the sun’s rays as he walked. Ty was dizzy watching him. He’d never seen Kell in formal wear, and before now he’d never had a desire to, favoring the sexy ninja he worked with every day. Kell may never be a man who cared about clothes like Ty did, but when he did step out clean… it was a style he rocked like a master.
The three judges had the ceremony appointments scheduled back-to-back. There were at least twenty couples standing around the large lobby. Young, old and all in between. Some were in tight embraces, some stared longingly into each other’s eyes, some played Candy Crush on their phones. A few had people with them to witness their union and some didn’t. It made for an interesting room.
There were many young faces with hope and excitement glittering in their eyes. There was a serviceman there in his Navy BDUs with his extremely pregnant girlfriend in her Taco Bell uniform. He and Ty were the only gay couple, but luckily there was someone else there far more interesting to gawk at than them. Even Ty tried not to stare at the woman in a massive wedding gown, and two-foot tall head dress, complete with a train that had to keep getting gathered by three of her friends and moved out of the way.
Ty and Kell filled out their forms for their marriage license and paid the fee. The clerk told them to wait for their names to be called. He was so glad they had the first appointment, because he was not in the mood to be around all these people. He just wanted to be alone with Kell. He stood with him tucked into his chest, by the window. Held him warmly, as more people filed in.
At twenty minutes after twelve, the clerk called their names. Kell smiled up at him. The gray in his suit made the light blue in his eyes stand out. His shy smile said, “this is it”. Kell’s love was a visible energy cloaking his body and framing his entire face.
Ty pecked his mouth slowly and walked toward the woman holding the door open to a long, narrow hall. Brian followed quietly.
Her voice was nasally when she spoke. “Last door on the right is Judge Jackson.”
“Thank you.” Ty told her.
The Judge’s chamber was dark, with burgundy-colored furniture and a deep oak desk and wall-to-wall bookshelves. He had the heavy drapes pulled back to let in the daylight. He greeted them pleasantly enough, but he wasted no time standing behind his podium in the middle of the room and gesturing them forward. Ty wasn’t expecting a counseling session, not with all those people waiting in the lobby.
The judge didn’t look any older than fifty as he pulled a pair of reading glasses from his crisp, white dress shirt and placed them on his nose, quickly reading over their names.
He told them in a low, gentle voice, “Repeat after me”.