you’ll never see the end of the road while you’re travelling with me [fflur]

Charlie smiled -- or something close enough -- and Fflur nodded a couple more times, offering her “Yeah”s after his. He didn’t ask for clarification; she didn’t bother offering any. “Right, well,” she searched his face for a few more seconds, making sure she had gone as close to being serious as she really needed to be. There was plenty more she could say, she supposed, but they were also probably things she should tell Robin first. Instead, Fflur returned the squeeze of his hand, still looking at him even though he had looked away.

It was probably time to go soon, though they couldn’t very well start without him. In theory, they could sit here for a while; she could keep sitting here and wondering if he was really ready to do this, congratulating herself for not asking if he was sure. She was choosing to believe he was.

She couldn’t imagine they’d get to this sort of moment again any time soon, and not just because they wouldn’t be experiencing the last few minutes before Charlie got married for a second time. She hesitated for a second or two before dropping his hand and pulling him into a hug, a proper tight-armed, probably-hadn’t-had-such-prolonged-contact-since-that-golfing-incident kind of hug, but it seemed more fitting for the situation than any other words she could come up with, anyway.

“We should probably go.” She didn’t make any effort to head that way, didn’t loosen her grip on the hug. She had been consciously aware of being less physical with Charlie the past several months -- that one exception aside -- and was fully prepared to continue that new tradition after the moment had passed them by. This was her weirdest motivational speech to date, that was for sure.

Fflur caught movement out the corner of her eye, shifting just enough to glance at the door and Liam’s head poking in. She dropped one arm from the hug to grab one of the small, more decorative pillows close at hand, and chucked it at him, with a, “Fuck off, we’re havin’ a moment.” He was gone before she could form any more words and she completed the full hug once more, but that moment she thought they’d been having was gone.

She relaxed, patting her friend on the back a couple times before pulling back a bit more. The hug, the moment, the almost discussing her feelings needed to stay behind in this room. Liam being witness to small parts of it were bad enough, never mind that she was planning to be actually sort of charming about Charlie in her speech in front of many more people in a couple hours. She stood up, taking a few seconds before taking a few steps toward the wardrobe and easing Charlie’s suit jacket off its hanger. “Should probably go,” she said again, though she didn’t make any move to make that happen.

Fflur’s arms were around him before Charlie had any chance to object – not that he would have, anyway. He automatically returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her just as tightly as hers were around him. It felt nice, good even. Familiar. They’d not been this close since February, and he’d rather not remember that – or the time immediately previous, around three years ago. Christ, he'd known her a long time, hadn't he? He inhaled slowly, holding his breath in for a moment. “Yeah,” he replied – though like Fflur, he also made no effort to move.

Charlie only loosened his hold on Fflur when she shifted slightly, causing him to open his eyes and realise that Liam was in the doorway; he hadn’t been caught – it was a hug, nothing more, but the tiniest bubble of worry appeared in his gut at the thought of Liam scarpering off with that image as the last one before Charlie was due at the altar. He'd seen worse, he supposed. We’re havin’ a moment. They were, weren’t they? Or had been. It was gone now. Fflur committed back to their hug, but the feeling had gone. The atmosphere was different. Part of Charlie thought ’Fuck Liam’, but the other part was thanking him.

He nodded for no reason in particular and pulled back as he felt her do the same, avoiding her gaze in a tell-tale way. “Yeah.” This time he actually moved, getting to his feet slowly and smoothing his shirt down to busy himself. Charlie lifted his gaze and met hers, smiling lopsidedly – if a little sadly, for some reason – at the sight of her; in a dress, bathrobe hanging open like some yesteryear starlet might wear a fur coat, holding out his suit jacket for him. “Ta,” he smirked, with effort, as he took it from her, their hands touching briefly.

Charlie spun around and with his back to her shrugged his way into his jacket, careful not to damage the buttonhole. He ran his hands around the collar, checking that it was flat and that his shirt collar wasn’t interfering. He turned back to face Fflur slowly. “Look alright?” he asked as he looked down at her.

“You better ditch this before we head downstairs,” he smirked, a little more confidently, taking hold of a handful of her fluffy dressing gown.

She reached out after a moment, suit jacket in hand, and returned Charlie’s sort of smile as he took it from her. She didn’t move much as he finished dressing, didn’t have any more half encouraging words to offer. He turned around for whatever reason she didn’t bother investigating — it was probably too late for him to be self conscious — and she raised her eyebrows as he turned back to her. “Alright,” she said with a shrug, though he looked more than alright, so nicely put together and clearly in love with his almost wife if he was willing to lose his whole look for her.

“Ah,” Fflur followed his hand with her gaze, looking at her dressing gown and considering if she really did need to lose it. Would Kate really stop mid ceremony to ensure that Fflur was dressed properly? Probably. “S’pose I should.” She grimaced for a second before shrugging it off — with much less flair this time — and tossing it onto the bed. She didn’t return the question, wondering if she looked alright, not wanting an answer one way or the other. Rolling her eyes, Fflur smoothed down the fabric of her dress, firmly reiterating the most important thing: “You owe me.”

Fflur poked at her hair and hairpins one more time, quickly scanning for the ring box and finding it in its discarded spot from earlier. “Guess I’ll be needing these now,” she wondered aloud, picking up the box with her free hand, dropping her other hand from her head to open the box. “Where the fuck am I supposed to put these?” She pat the place where her pockets should have been had she been allowed to wear trousered before catching Charlie’s eye and smirking again. Hesitating just a touch, Fflur plucked the rings from the cushions and slipped them onto the fingers of her right hand, Kate’s on her pinky and Charlie’s on her middle. “It’s this or my bra,” she reasoned, offering her excuse whether or not Charlie really wanted an explanation.

She glanced over him one more time, her smirk softening into a slightly more genuine smile. “Shall we?” It was better to get going than try to have another moment, or have another moment even unintentionally. She nodded toward the door before taking a step toward it, at least having the forethought that they shouldn’t exit the room hand in hand.

[[ out ]]

Alright. That was as close as he was going to get to a real compliment, wasn’t it? He’d take it. Wouldn’t ask for more – not today, anyway.

He gave Fflur another once over when she shed the dressing gown for a second time. There was a part of Charlie that genuinely felt bad about ‘forcing’ Fflur to wear a dress – though he would maintain that he hadn’t had to resort to enlisting the help of the Duenas cousins to literally hold her down kicking and screaming to get her into it. She’d resigned herself to her fate rather gracefully – or, with as much grace as Fflur Blevins could lend to anything. The other part of Charlie was silently congratulating himself for achieving something he’d been told would be impossible – it had only come at a small price, in the end.

Charlie waved her away, “I know, I know,” he rolled his eyes, “I’m sure you won’t let me forget it either.” He had the feeling that Fflur would actually hold him to his end of the bargain: to wear a dress to her wedding, when she got married. He’d been joking when he’d suggested it as a bargaining chip, but apparently, she’d taken it as a solemn oath. He’d have to cross that bridge when they came to it, he supposed.

He followed her gaze to the ring box on the bed and nodded, “Yeah.” He frowned, then his eyes widened in mild panic. Shit. He hadn’t thought about the lack of pockets. She couldn’t just hold the box. Couldn’t ask Sam to keep in his pocket without starting that discussion up again. Charlie looked from the rings to Fflur; the way she smirked at him was, unsurprisingly, not reassuring.  Charlie watched, as though mesmerised, as she slipped the rings onto her own fingers. He opened his mouth to protest, but shut it again upon coming to the same realisation: there really was nowhere else to put them.

He scratched at the corner of his mouth awkwardly. Would Kate flip out? Would she even notice? She wouldn’t notice, he decided. He wet his lips habitually. “Just don’t let Robin see you with them on, he might think you’re getting ideas,” he smirked, trying not to look too concerned at the way his ring was loosely hanging off of her middle finger, or the way Kate’s was jammed onto Fflur’s pinky.

“Yeah,” he swallowed with a nod. Charlie moved to take her hand in his, subconsciously seeking comfort, but Fflur had already made for the door. He turned the movement into a grab at the doorframe and followed her out without a backwards glance at the empty bedroom.