Double Wedding

Ludwig began pacing outside of the all that had been reserved for the wedding. Though his black tuxedo fit perfectly, he still couldn't quite make himself feel at ease. He awkwardly fiddled with the flower in his lapel and straightening the various pieces of the suit. He bit his lip, trying to think of what it would be like to be married in just a few hours. He'd heard of butterflies, but never imagined tat it would feel os much like full-sized birds flapping around in his stomach.

He couldn't even ask Hendrick for help. The last time he'd had some of the other man's particular "herb," he'd managed to get incredibly paranoid, rather than relaxed. He wondered how Hendrick was handling himself at the moment. Probably better than he was.

Feliciano was bouncing around in the small room he had been assigned with on order to get ready for the ceremony. He couldn't wait for it to start, he was already almost saturated with happiness even right now.

He hummed cheerfully as he looked at himself in the mirror again, a broad smile on his face. His white suit was very pretty, he was proud of his choice, and the light blue shirt under it fit perfectly. The silk tie was nice too, but wasn't it a bit twisted? He tried to fix it, but it still didn't seem right.

Right now, he would have really needed Ludwig to get it right for him, but he knew he couldn't just run outside and search for him before the wedding... he hoped that Ludwig wouldn't mind if the tie was a bit twisted. He had put a lot of effort in being all carefully dressed and look fine for him.

The smile wasn't as confident as before, when he looked in the mirror again. Maybe he could ask Kat to help him fix it?

Hendrik frowned as he looked into the mirror as he adjusted his tie, he hated wearing formal clothes and wished that if he had to wear a suit he could wear his scarf but then thought of who he was marrying in a few hours his frown turned into a smile as he finished adjusting his tie.

Feeling satisfied with his appearance he turned and grabbed his black suit jacket and slipped it on, buttoning up his jacket he moved over to a small table and grabbed his pipe. He moved towards the door as he placed his pipe to his lips, opening the door he headed outside and into the hall. He headed down the hallway to head outside so he could smoke since he was sure people wouldn't like him smoking in the building. He raised an eyebrow when he had noticed Ludwig pacing the hallway looking quite nervous.

" ah Duitsland u ok? " he felt a little bit concerned for the out of character german.

Ludwig looked up at Hendrik and nodded. "I'm fine," he said, though he wasn't sure that it really sounded like he was telling the truth. Probably because he wasn't. He sighed in frustration with himself. "Nerves. Though it makes no sense. I've been asking Feliciano for this, or a version of it, for centuries."

He gestured to Hendrik's with his pipe. "I wish that would help me. I might ask you to borrow it for a minute or two if it didn't make me half-crazed." He slid his hands into the pockets of his suit pants and tried to regain himself. "You look ... different in your suit. Has Kat seen you in it?"

He nodded in understanding " ja I know wat u mean mijn vriend " he placed a hand on the German man's shoulder in an atempt to comfort the other man " iedereen was wondering when the both of u would finally tie the knot " he had see the relation between the two grown over the centuries and though there were times when the german and him were on bad terms he had always admired the relationship the German man had with the Italian man.

Looking down at the pipe between his lips he nodded " some het helps others..niet so much " he had seen what Ludwig was like on weed and honestly thought it was pretty amuseing to see the normally uptight German totally out of character but he knew today wasn't a day to get Ludwig paranoid. " ah I haat wearing suits dat's why i nooit wear hen often " he shook his head as he answered Ludwig's question " niet she hasn't "

He looked at the hand on his shoulder and gave a faint smile. "Danke." He was grateful for the other man's presence, and the reminder that he wasn't losing his sanity, that this was perfectly normal. If even Hendrik could understand how Ludwig was feeling when he was almost constantly in a buzzed state, it meant that maybe Ludwig was perfectly normal at that moment.

"Did you want to step outside?" He knew that there was a good possibility that Hendrik's pipe might set off alarms in the building, and though fire trucks and rescue personnel would make the day more memorable, it wasn't the kind of memorable Ludwig was looking for.

Hendrik let his hand fall from the German's shoulder and come to a rest at his side " uw onthaal mijn vriend " even he had to admit that even though he was almost always in a buzzed state he was very observant to his surroundings.

He chuckled and nodded " ja dat is were I was heading u want aan join me outside? " he figured some air might help the German relax a bit, he knew that lighting up inside might cause a bit of trouble as he was sure that no one wanted to have the fire alarms go off. Scratching at his bare neck and feeling a bit naked without his scarf he started to move towards the door, he shoved his hands into his pockets as he started to walk past Ludwig.

Ludwig followed Hendrik out as he walked out of the building. The hall that had been booked for the weddings was big enough to hold all possible friends and guests. Ludwig had even mentioned his intentions to marry Italy to his boss, though he didn't really think she'd show up to the ceremony.

He walked out of the front door and smiled at the beautiful weather that day. He was sure Feliciano would enjoy a day as nice as this one.

Shading his eyes as he walked out into the sun as the sun was slightly blinding him for a moment, he pulled his hand out of his pockets he moved over to lean against the stone railing he nodded at the guests that were early and just hanging out on the grounds. He lit his pipe and took a long drag from it, he exhaled then looked over at the German man " u invite uw bosses? " he had invited his royal family and his prime minister both who he knew had accepted, he knew his prime minister was already wandering around but his royals wouldn't be showing up until much later before the ceremony started.

Taking another drag from his pipe he crossed his arms but then waved at his own prime minister as the man stopped to congratulate the two of them before wandering off to speak to one of the other political leaders that were invited.

Gilbert woke up late—of course.

He rushed to shower quickly, but neglected to shave. He figured that no one would see his stubble anyway with the exception of perhaps Matthew. No one else would be close enough to tell with his coloring.

While he'd meant to comb back his hair like his brother seemed to prefer, he knew he also had forgotten hair gel last time he went to the store. And again, he was running late.

He assumed he was still the officiate since he'd never heard other-wise, so he had remembered to search through his packed away clothes last night and find his formal military uniform. That article was at least laying out on the small bench by his bed. It was out-dated, but he figured it was the best he could do for his brother and friend.

Gilbert felt himself pushing his hair back into place (as well as he would without some styling product) as he hopped out of his car and headed towards the front of the building where the ceremony would take place. He caught sight of the two grooms as he came closer, and he lifted his hand to wave at the two.

Ludwig gave a faint bow of his head when he saw his brother coming as they stood in front of the banquet hall. "Guten tag, bruder" he said. He still felt slightly sick to his stomach from nerves.

He wished the day were over and Feliciano was already his husband, or at the very least, he could see him, just to be reassured that everything was okay. He felt rather pathetic at the thought. He wasn't used to being unsure of anything.

Yekaterina couldn't help that she was forgetting something, but the problem was she just didn't know what she was forgetting. She had all the things she needed for the wedding but there was this nagging feeling that she didn't understand what it was. And it worried her greatly.

There was a small knock on the door and Yekaterina quickly went over to answer it, still having that nagging feeling. As the door opened Matthew stood in front of her. "Oh, Matthew maybe you can help me, I seem to have this feeling I'm forgetting something can you help?"

Something was off. And it wasn’t just the feeling that came from wearing a rather uncomfortable suit. It was more of the feeling that there was something missing. Or someone; now that he thought of it, he didn’t think that he’d seen Yekaterina anywhere.

He knew that some people considered it bad luck for the groom to see the bride on the wedding day, but he was pretty sure the tradition didn’t extend to everyone else, too. So where was Yekaterina?

In a hasty decision, Matthew felt it was his duty as Hendrik’s best man to go look for her. Maybe it was just a hunch, but even if he was wrong, he figured that he’d still have enough time to make it back. And it was a good thing he did; after he found himself knocking on Yekaterina’s door, she was there to open it.

“Well…” Matthew started, knowing right away exactly what it is that she had forgotten. “You know that the wedding’s today, right?” He laughed nervously.

There was a pause, a small pause. Yekaterina eyes widen as big as dinner plates, "To...day...what it's OH NO." Quickly running around gathering her things, "I can't belive I forgot," handing Matthew some things to carry as she began panicking not beliving that she forgot her wedding was today.

"How did this happen...I-I-," as quickly gathered everythign she needed and grabbing Matthew hurrying out the door.

"HURRY MATHEW."

Matthew really should have been expecting such a reaction. As it was, he made sure to stay out of Yekaterina’s way as she rushed back and forth to collect what she needed, holding whatever she wanted her to. And though he didn’t have much of a choice, he followed her out the door, nearly tripping over his own feet.

“We can take my car,” he offered, though it was more in self-interest than anything. Matthew didn’t think it would be the best thing to allow Yekaterina to drive in her state. The last thing they needed was for them to be pulled over. Or worse.

He put the items he was holding in the back before climbing into the driver’s seat. “Don’t worry, I’m pretty sure we can make it on time,” he said, trying to assure her.

As they put the things into his car, she glanced over at him in the driver's seat, "Are you sure I can't drive, we need to get there quick and...and..." Yekaterina was really in a panic and she just needed to calm down for a moment and think like a sane person. Taking in a deep breath and quickly exhaling she hurried into the passenger seat and placed her seat belt on. "Alright Matthew drive quickly."

She leaned against the seat placing her hands over her face worriedly. "Hopefully no one has noticed I'm not there yet."

“Hm, perhaps no one noticed. But even if they did, that’s okay, because we’re making good time.” Though perhaps he had spoken too soon. Not even ten minutes later, they were stuck in a traffic jam.

“Okay, that was unfortunate.” Not to mention extremely stressful. Matthew chuckled nervously once the traffic flow was back to normal after a long while. He thanked his lucky stars that Yekaterina wasn’t some sort of bridezilla or he probably wouldn’t have made it past minute five.

“Are you alright?” He turned toward her worriedly, hoping that she wasn’t panicking more, now. “We’re almost there, and there’s still time. Not as much as before, but…”
Matthew decided to stop talking, not wanting to make matters worse.

The moment couldn't get any worse as they got stuck in a traffic jam. Yekaterina could feel the tears comming, as soon as the traffic flow went back to normal. "Matthew...I think something is teasing me," she sighed starring out the window trying to remain calm at all times.

Glancing over at him giving him a small smile, "I'll be fine...I just hope I have time to get ready and everything else." Yekaterina quietly starred out the window again hoping things will turn out alright in the end.

Although she had smiled and said she was fine, not to long ago she had looked like she was on the verge of tears. Matthew started driving a bit faster, even though their destination wasn’t too far away.

When they finally arrived, he parked at the side of the building and retrieved all that he could carry from the back of his car before walking toward the front. Just as Matthew was about to turn the corner, he spotted Ludwig, Gilbert, and, most importantly given the situation, Hendrik. He took several steps backwards behind the building and turned to face Yekaterina.

“Hendrik’s at the front. Do you mind? Or are you more comfortable finding another entrance?” If so, there’d better be another entrance after all of that.

AS the car parked she quickly jumped out of it grabbing the things she needed following Matthew to the entrance, only to bump into his back. Yekaterina eyes widen at the mention of Hendrik was around the corner infront of the entrance. Quickly glancing around the area for any source of an entrance...only seeing a window open.

"Matthew...what about that window?"

“Window?” Matthew turned to where Yekaterina was facing, spotting the window she had mentioned. It was low enough that climbing through wasn’t impossible, yet high enough that there was no way of entering in a non-awkward way if he didn’t want to damage his suit, which he wasn’t even sure was his. It wasn’t ideal, and they weren't even quite sure where the window led to, but it was better than nothing.

Figuring that nothing he was holding for Yekaterina was too fragile, he carefully placed it on the window sill before gently letting it drop to the other side. He sighed. “Please don’t laugh.”

Matthew then hoisted himself through, landing less than gracefully on the floor of the room. Brushing himself off, he turned back around and reached out a hand to help Yekaterina through.

Gilbert patted Hendrik on the shoulder and wished him the best of luck with a present of a small flask (full, naturally). "Don't drink it before the ceremony." He winked.

Then, Gilbert did something he hadn't done since Ludwig was a child. He pulled his taller, younger brother into a bear hug. He held onto him, brushing his hands across his brother's shoulders in soothing touches.

"West, take a deep breath. You'll be fine I promise."

Feliciano was just about to go out to search for Kat (he wasn't sure he had seen her that morning already, but he had been a bit late himself, so she was probably still dressing up in her room) when he heard noises coming from the window in the back of his room. He had left it opened to enjoy the fresh air of the morning, and now... it definitely seemed like something was climbing through it.

He turned just in time to see someone landing on the floor and squeaked in terror. The moment after, he calmed down as he saw that the intruder was just Matthew.

"Matt? Ciao!" he greeted, forgetting about Kat and stepping close to the blonde with a cheerful smile.

Sure enough, that was a weird way to join the party, especially since the man was all dressed up in his suit, but Feliciano didn't mind. "Need any help?" he asked, since it looked like the other was fumbling around with something he had apparently left outside.

Looking over Hendrik seen Gilbert coming up to the hall, he lifted his hand in greeting back to the Prussian " groeten Pruisen " he accepted the flask the Prussian had given him "ah dank u Pruisen " he looked at the flask before opening it to smell what as in it " smells goed mijn vriend " he closed the flask back up then took a drag from his pipe as he watched the two brothers. He grinned at the two of them as he put the flash in his inside pocket of his jacket " I would have offered mijn pijp aan him but u know how he gets "

Ludwig couldn't hide his surprise at first when he found himself in his brother's arms as he had a few times as a teenager. Memories were still fuzzy before then, and their relationship was different when he'd been a child. Still, the hug had the effect it always had; it calmed him ... a little.

He took a deep breath and allowed a little of his resolve to break as he rested his chin on his brother's shoulder. He remembered the days he had been able to press his forehead against the man's chest, then those when he had to tilt his chin up to settle it comfortably on the albino's shoulder. "Danke," he said, partly wishing for some of the liquid courage Hendrik had been given. "You think so?"