Open A Treasured Moment

AJ knew today was important for Lily. He didn't know the Maid of Honour (best.. maid?) could get pre-wedding jitters too, but he supposed if anyone could, it was Lily. Especially when he knew Elliot and Alice were so important to her.

Honestly, there'd be times where he'd wondered if he needed to be worried about Lily and Elliot, hearing and seeing plenty between them over the years with Lily, but he'd set that worry aside awhile ago. Elliot didn't get to see the quiet, soft sides of Lily like he did and AJ knew he was lucky to be privy to them too, smiling at the look on Lily's face throughout the ceremony.

He'd lost track of her now though, having braved the mess near the food table for something for them both to hopefully perk them up for what would likely be a long night and returned to find Lily conspicuously absent. It didn't take long to find her though, AJ used to her favourite hiding spots by now, his heart dropping at the far more trouble look on her face now.

"Hey, hey, what's wrong?" He said, setting the plates down and gathering Lily's face in his hands, thumbs brushing at the tears gathering there. "I'm guessing not happy tears? What do you need?" He said softly, resisting the urge to bundle Lily up in his suit jacket and hide her away. Today was important to her AJ knew, but he had to fight off the urge to just suggest they get out of here if it was too much for her.
@Lillian Lockwood
 
Lily jumped a little, surprised when AJ popped up out of nowhere. She stammered a little, trying to think up a convincing lie, but she melted when he took her face in his hands. She sighed, leaning into it and bringing her hands up to wrap around his wrists. She rubbed her thumbs over his wrists, shutting her eyes and pressing into the touch. She ran over the words in her head several times before just sighing softly and deciding on the simplest explanation. "I-it's just... just a l-lot," She managed to stammer out, wincing a little as she did. She hated that the stammer kept coming back, even as an adult. She peeked up at AJ through wet lashes, feeling a little calmer with him close. His warmth was always a comfort. Her own personal fire. "I'm s-sorry," She offered gently, taking a deep breath. She hesitated, looking down, before peeking back up at him again. "Could we just- just- just t-take a min-minute?" She forced out, laughing awkwardly. She just wanted to curl up against his chest for a few moments at least, let his warmth ground her again like it usually did. And they were out of the way, so no one should notice, or mind, if they just stood there for a few minutes longer? @AJ Ari
 
Adorah felt bewildered about the fact that she was attending Elliott's wedding. It seemed like only yesterday that they were in school talking about classes, and now they were full fledged adults making life decisions like marriage. The former Ravenclaw enjoyed the ceremony, even tearing up a bit, as she did at most emotional moments. It was also bringing up feelings of her own about whether or not she would ever get married. She and Noel had been together a long time, and they had talked about the future, but seeing more and more people get engaged and married was making Adorah a little worried that maybe Noel didn't want what she wanted. But did she know what she wanted, as well?

Adorah took a quick moment after the ceremony to congratulate the couple, glad to see how happy the atmosphere of the day was, before finding a quick beverage and standing by herself in a corner to people watch.
 
Elliot had maybe only been half joking about leaving, though hearing Alice laugh again had been worth it, he guessed, leaning against her so that his forehead rested against her temple for a moment.

They didn’t have long before they were swarmed by Katy and the appropriate pile of Hollands so Elliot supposed their window to escape had already closed anyway. It was nice, in the overwhelming way that seemed to follow the Hollands, to be fussed and welcomed like this. He was used to it from Katy, she’d always been like that, but now he was really started to conceptualize that he and Alice were family and he squeezed her hand tight in his where they were still joined as Claudia, James, and Lucy joined them.

He smiled at the gathered Hollands after Katy had slipped away, nodding in thanks before ducking his head as the last name conversation came up.

“Thank you, really, it uh, means a lot,” He told Claudia and James. “I don’t- I mean I wasn’t against the idea of changing my name, but I think my mother would actually disown me if I got rid of the Briar name, we’re the last ones left,” he said, taking a moment to see if he could spot her in the crowd and smiling when he saw her laughing with his aunt. His dad was a lot harder to spot and Elliot tried not to think about it. “Alice taking it was all on her though, I swear,” he added hastily. Lucy definitely wasn’t the scariest of the Holland sisters but Elliot had long since learnt it was always better to be on their good sides whenever possible.

@Claudia Holland @James Holland @Lucy Holland
 
Katy was debated the merits of trying to dance while holding a wine glass when Rose Holland appeared, serving a suitable distraction for Katy to set the question aside for now.

“Rose, hey! We’re cousins now, or something like that, weird world, huh,” she said in agreement. It was strange to see Elliot get married, in her mind he was still a kid. They were all still kids, and Katy was finding it harder and harder to avoid the rapidly growing evidence around them to the contrary. She was pretty sure she’d seen some of Elliot’s classmates walking around with babies even. Yeesh.

“Simone, perfect timing, you always know what I need,” Katy said with a happy sigh as Simone passed out shots, happily helping take one off her hands and leaning into her hold. “To the happy couple, I guess,” she said, holding up the shot in an uncoordinated toast.

@Simone Moreau-Chen @Rose Holland
 
AJ hummed in what he hoped was a reassuring way, quietly glad Lily seemed open to sticking it out, even if he had no qualms with ditching the party. They’d already done the important part. But he figured Lily would feel even worse later if they did, she was really good at that, so he was happy to hunker down in a corner for as long as she needed.

“Yeah, totally, whatever you need,” he said, moving his hand to rub soothing circles over her arms, letting her hide from the room some as he did. “I got some food too, if that might help, once you’re feeling up to it,” he offered quietly, keeping his voice low and even to hopefully help calm Lily down. “I have it on good authority that the cake was made by a real expert baker,” he said with a fond smile, squeezing her a bit tighter with the compliment.
@Lillian Lockwood
 
Miles had been anxious about this day, disproportionally so. It wasn't his son that was getting married, but he still felt antsy about the whole thing. Mostly because he wasn't sure if Elliot actually wanted him here or not. He never really seemed to have accepted him or his relationship with his dad. He also just- felt weird at a wedding event with the man he wanted to marry. He still hadn't dared to bring that up with Oscar.

Oscar left briefly and Miles was surprised to see him back so soon. He had assumed he would go talk to Elliot. "Oh," he said as Oscar explained. "Maybe we can go together? It's very crowded." He said, glancing around. "He does look happy. We should congratulate them." He said, though he also didn't really want to. He knew Oscar would regret it if he didn't, though, and if Miles could help him he'd be happy to do so.

@Oscar Brooks
 
Lily let out a defeated sound that was halfway between a sigh and a giggle, letting herself lean against AJ's chest. She shut her eyes, bringing her hands up and curling her fingers loosely in the ends of his suit jacket. It wasn't quite like gripping onto Elliot's sleeves... oddly enough, it brought a little bit more comfort than she remembered getting even from Elliot. She didn't want to admit it out loud, not wanting to read too deeply into what that meant. Instead she just buried her nose against his chest. She let his warmth wash over her, feeling it build slowly in her chest. Lily sighed as she started to relax.

She giggled as he spoke, not bothering to lean back. "I have it on good authority that damn cake w-was a massive... um, pain in the neck," She tried to joke. It had definitely been a project, that was for sure. She sighed softly. "Thank you, AJ," She rubbed her cheek against his chest. "For- well, you know... everything." She smiled shyly, and took a little courage from being hidden in his chest. "You're like my own personal fire, you know that?" @AJ Ari
 
Alice wasn't someone who got emotional quickly, but she felt herself blinking away some tears as both her parents came over to congratulate them. She wondered where Elliot's dad was, hoping for her husband's sake that he would do the same thing. She laughed shakily as Lucy flung herself at her, hugging her younger sister close. "Oh hush." She said, a little shakily, as she accused her of being a traitor. Truthfully, it was surprisingly a little difficult to give up her last name. But it had been Alice's own decision, and she did like having Elliot's name too. "We have you to keep up the honor of the Holland name." She said jokingly, brushing some of Lucy's hair behind her ear. "You look lovely, by the way." She said softly, before letting her younger sister go and reaching for Elliot's hand.

@Lucy Holland @Elliot Briar
 
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