Everyone met up in front of the aisle a few minutes before the wedding, except of course Alexander.
"Hey." You grinned, walking over to Lafayette. He turned around eyebrows raised, upon hearing your voice. His face instantly broke into a grin, which then subsided into an adoring smile.
"You look beautiful, amour."
"You don't look so bad yourself, Laf. Ready to dance later?" You raised an eyebrow.
"Non! I'll never be ready!" he whined, and you chuckled.
"You'll be fine. I'll be there." You smiled, and he sighed. "Hey, why isn't your tie tied?"
"Merde, I forgot about that. I need to find Herc to tie it." He began to turn to leave, but you placed you hand on his shoulder and he stopped, turning to you with a confused look.
"Don't bother. I can do it." You chuckled as he turned back to face you. "I can't believe you're a grown man and you can't even tie a tie."
"When my own wedding comes in going to be a mess. I can't dance, I can't the a tie, I wonder what other wedding-related activities I can't do." He huffed.
"You're seriously getting stressed about this? Laf, you're fine. I promise." He sighed, not meeting your eyes. "Hey, look at me." You placed a hand under his chin, tilting his face down. "Why are you so worked up about this? It's just one dance."
"I know, but I've been to a lot of formal events in my life, you know, coming of age parties where I was a potential suitor for girls I had never met, things like that. And there has always been dancing." A bitter look filled his face, and you sighed.
"I always forget you were raised in one of those upper class familes who attended cotillions," you chuckled.
"I know you love to tease me for being all snobby, but it's not the time."
"Right, sorry. You were saying?" You smiled lightly.
"Anyway, there was one girl, Marie Antoinette, who realized what an awful dancer I was and invited me to dance repeatedly just to humiliate me. Long story short, I fell on my face in front of all the aristocrats." He narrowed his eyes, looking off into the distance, and you slid your hands onto his shoulders.
"I promise, I'm not here to humiliate you. I want you to do well." He gave you a small smile and you stared into each other's eyes for just a second too long.
You swallowed hard, taking a small step back and breaking his gaze. "Anyway, I hope the wedding ceremony is nice."
"I'm sure it will be. You know, I never thought I would be the one to walk down the aisle, but I'll take what I can get."
You chuckled. "Yes, well, I've imagined walking down the aisle in my white dress countless times, but I've never been on your arm."
"Whose arm have you been on?" He raised an eyebrow and you smiled at the imagined scene.
"My father's. He'll walk me down the aisle and give me away to yo-" your eyes widened as you realized what you were saying, "...to my future husband."
"Do you think about this often?" he chuckled.
"All the time. When I get married, I don't think I'll even need a wedding planner, considering all the thought I've put into this." You grinned.
"Oh? So tell me about your future wedding."
"Angelica, Eliza, and Peggy are my bridal party, Peggy being the maid of honor. It's a small service in a church with only family and close friends invited, but it's nice. I'll write my own vows, get married, and then go to the after party and get wasted like there's not tomorrow." You both grinned widely at that, knowing that you were by no means exaggerating.
"Then, after the party, I'm going to go home with my new husband and, well, consummate the marriage, if you know what I mean." He rolled his eyes as you smirked.
"Do I get to be part of the service?" he asked.
You're at the end of the aisle, was the only thing you could think as you looked into his smiling face.
"Y/N?" he asked, breaking you out of your trance.
"Yes, sorry, I just spaced out for a moment there. I- of course you're invited. If you'd like, you can be my flower girl," you offered and he chuckled.
"I appreciate the offer, but Herc would be deeply hurt. I think you need to ask him first."
You slapped your forehead in mock surprise. "Of course! How could I forget him?"
"I'm not sure, amour. I think being flower girl is on his bucket list, though."
"Alright, I'll ask him." You grinned before noticing Eliza rushing over. "I think the service is starting, get ready."
Eliza rushed up to the doors, standing in front of everyone with a bouquet in hand. "Places, everybody, places!"
"You ready?" he asked you, offering his arm. You looped your hand through, resting it on the inside of his bicep.
"Let's go get them married."
✧ ✧ ✧ ✧
"Eliza! The ceremony was amazing. You're a married woman now! How does it feel?" You grinned as you hugged Eliza, holding her at arm's length as you interrogated her.
"It feels exhilarating. I'm going to be with the man I love for the rest of my life, Y/N!" she squealed.
"Hells yeah, you are. Ready to go dance with him?" you asked, walking with her into the room where the after party was being held.
"I've never been more ready for anything. You ready to dance with Lafayette?" She smirked and you rolled your eyes.
"You need to drop it. We're not going to get together. He isn't into me, no matter how much you want him to be."
"But you didn't deny that you were into him!" she exclaimed, tapping your nose.
"Whatever. The song is starting; go dance with your husband." You lightly shoved her towards the dance floor, and she walked the rest of the way to Alex. You watched them for a moment before going off to find Lafayette.
"Y/N!" you whirled around to see him running towards you, looking frazzled, "There you are. Thank god."
"Chill, I'm not abandoning you before the dance, okay?" He sighed as you gave him a small smile.
"I know, but I'm just paranoid. Bad experiences, remember?"
"You don't have to worry about that with me, okay? I'm not going to embarrass you, or for that matter, let you embarrass yourself."
"Thank you, Y/N. For everything. I don't know where I'd be without you." He gave you a small but genuine smile, and you grinned.
"Probably tripping over Angelica's feet. In which case, you really are lucky to have me," you joked.
"I really am." He stared at you with a look that was almost of adoration, and your cheeks burned as you looked away.
As if on cue, Eliza took the mic, announcing, "And now, for the second dance of the night, I'd like to invite up all the bridesmaids and groomsmen!"
"Well, Y/N, may I have this, how you say, dance?" Lafayette gave you a timid smile, offering his hand, and you took it with a grin.
"I'm not sure if you actually forgot the word for dance, or if you were just trying to be all endearing and French," you chuckled as he lead you onto the dance floor. He turned to face you and placed a hand on your waist as he clasped your hand in his other, before giving a small smirk.
"If it was the second one, is it working?"
"I'd love to say no, but I think I've just fallen for you." You pretended to swoon, and he just rolled his eyes.
"D'accord, I understand, I am unattractive."
Then it was your turn to roll your eyes. "Oh, don't even. You're only as tall as you are because your ego needed somewhere to go."
"I am deeply offended."
"Sure you are."
At that point, the music had started, and it was only then that Lafayette noticed you had began leading him in the steps of the simple dance. As he realized what had happened, his eyes bulged slightly before he began staring at his feet. You only sighed at first, assuming he would stop, but when he didn't raise his head, you knew you had to do something.
"Hey, look at me," you whispered, and he slowly raised his head. "You're doing great, I promise. Just, don't look so stiff. Is dancing with me really so bad?" You stuck out your lower lip in a pout, and he chuckled.
"Non, definitely not. I'm enjoying this-" he nodded to you and him, "-I'm just not enjoying everyone's eyes on me," he whispered back, giving you a sad smile. You absentmindedly ran your thumb up his collar and brushed his neck as you stared into his eyes.
"The only eyes you need to pay attention to are mine, okay? Don't worry about them; think about how beautiful I look," you joked, batting your eyelashes.
"Ah, but I've already spent so much of the evening thinking about that." You would have chuckled and continued dancing, taking that as a joke, only now, his tone held no trace of teasing. Contrarily, he sounded completely sincere. You cocked your head slightly to the side at that, unsure of what to make of it.
That was when his foot hooked around your ankle.
You did everything you could not to began yelling profanities as you began to fall back, and a horrified look filled Lafayette's face. Your eyes squeezed shut as you braced yourself for the hard tile floor, but the impact never came.
A sigh of relief escaped your lips, and you opened your eyes, eyebrows raised in confusion. You saw Lafayette above you, wearing a worried look, and felt his hand on the small of your back, supporting your weight. He slowly lifted you up with the hand that was still holding yours, and the two of you continued dancing.
"You think we played that off?" he asked with a grin, and you sighed.
"I almost hope everyone doesn't think that was intentional."
He quirked up an eyebrow at you. "Why?"
"I just-" You huffed, glaring at Peggy as she smirked at you. "Have you really not been on the receiving end of any of the teasing?"
"Non, not at all. You've been teased? What about?" He knit his dark brow in concern and you winced.
"It's nothing. The song's over anyway." You dropped your hand from his shoulder and began to turn away and leave, but he darted around to your other side to stop you.
"Amour, you look... unhappy-ed."
Even in the discomfort of that moment, you had to laugh. "I- Troubled, you mean?"
"Oui, troubled. What is... troubling you?"
You were painfully aware of the chills running down your body as his fingers ghosted across your shoulders and down your arms, before he took your hands in his.
"Like I said, it's nothing. There's a lot on my mind." As you finished speaking, you could feel your breath catch in your throat as he pressed his lips to your knuckles. While the action was likely meant to soothe you, it just made your heart begin pounding in your chest.
"Can you tell me what?" His forehead was creased in concern, and the worried look just made you sigh before pursing your lips and pulling away from him.
"I'm sorry, I- Laf-" you winced at yourself, running a hand through your hair, "You're just too affectionate."
"No, I am not," he protested.
"You just kissed my hands."
He considered it for a moment. "D'accord, I guess I am. But why does it matter?"
"I dunno," you sighed, "I guess, just- I mean- well, what if, per say, you liked someone? They would never know it because you act like this with everyone."
"Oui." He nodded and you just raised an eyebrow at him, expecting him to continue.
"Okay, so, you good?" you asked awkwardly. You wished you could have said what was happening in his brain as he kept his gaze down, but then, after many moments, he looked up slightly and spoke.
"Non. Why is this what was troubling you?" He cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at you, and you could feel your heart rate spike. You had thought you were in the clear.
"I, um..." You awkwardly cleared your throat, unsure of how to answer. "It just came to mind."
He pursed his lips at you, and you could see in every bit of his expression that he was trying to read you. You weren't sure how he was having such a hard time.
"How?"
"How? I- I don't know- It's just- I thought, well... I guess- you- I'm- uh-" you took a deep breath, trying to collect yourself, "I'm very observant?"
"Amour, what is on your mind?" He phrased it like a question, but you could tell from his face and his tone that it was more of a demand.
"My-my mind?Well, for starters, my mind, i-it's very complicated. You know, as m-minds are. And, well, there's a lot on my mind. Like, say, th-the new policy at my office? A-and-" you squeaked nervously, but he cut you off.
"Y/N."
"Well, you kn-know, the world. P-politics. Some p-politicians are pretty c-corrupt these days, but-"
"Y/N."
"I love you, goddamn it!" you blurted. Rambling was getting you nowhere, and once you had gone that far, you decided to just bite the bullet. "I love you, and I've never known if it was just a one-sided thing because you're so goddamn affectionate with everyone, and-"
That time when he cut you off, you couldn't have been more shocked. You couldn't have said that you were unhappy that he released your hands, no, you were absolutely elated when he dropped your hand and instead reached up to cup your cheeks with his hands, closing the little space between you as he brought his lips to yours. It would have been so easy for you to just melt into the kiss, but you couldn't let yourself. Pulling away took just about all of your willpower, but you did it.
He looked more disappointed at the action than confused, to your surprise.
"Laf, I'm sorry, are you sure you-"
And again, without fail, his warm lips came down to cover yours, to stop whatever ridiculous thing he knew you were about to say, and you didn't pull away. It was soft, delicate even, but so much more was behind it. When he pulled away, a small adoring smile sat on his lips as he looked down at you.
"Je t'aime aussi, Y/N."
"Y'know, I still don't know what that means."
"I love you too."
Your eyes widened ever so slightly at that. You couldn't believe him. "Wait, seriously? You've been telling me for months that you loved me, but because I was too lazy to google it, I just assumed it meant goodbye?"
"Oui," he chuckled.
"I hate you," you grumbled, lightly shoving his chest. He only laughed and pulled you into a hug, pressing a warm kiss to your cheek.
"Non, you love me."
And you did. More than words could say.