Current Date: June 17, 2024
Character: Aidan Krón
Race: Human
Age: 36
Current residence: Lake Charles, Louisiana
A few weeks ago, I was at a wedding as Cody’s plus one. It was for the friend of a friend that I personally had never met, and that he hadn’t seen in some years, but he’d been invited, and it was just one city over, so we went. I didn’t really know what to expect, even after Cody had given me a bit of a shortened story on the couple getting married.
The dress code was black-tie. Something that had never really been a thing for either one of us and required being fitted. It seemed as though the bride and groom both were adamant about that. The idea of going to such a formal wedding sat strangely in the pit of my stomach but I did my best to not let it show. I let Cody do most of the leading on that front and things turned out fine.
Mostly fine? I don’t really know. It’s not that things turned out badly, but there was a misunderstanding of sorts once we made it there and I was nearly not able to go in with him.
I think the misunderstanding stemmed from the fact that the couple and their families were very old-fashioned, and we were the only couple that didn’t fit within the heteronormative views of, well, everyone else present. We didn’t argue the point, we didn’t fuss, we simply introduced ourselves as childhood friends to not draw extra attention to ourselves though we still wore our rings.
After the wedding had concluded and things had settled into the reception itself, we were approached by the groom—the friend of a friend. He smiled at Cody, an amused smile that turned my stomach just slightly and asked him when he had started needing a bodyguard and stated that he was rather curious to know why he needed one as well. I’m fairly certain that the man in question knew very well that we were in more than just a work relationship, but Cody handled it just perfectly well and I let him.
Never you mind that I wanted to deck the guy because I felt as though he was making light of a situation that did not deserve it, but it wasn’t my place, we were just guests at this wedding, and I technically was just that plus-one. We didn’t stay for the meal, I was uncomfortable around so many people looking our way curiously and I was going out of my way to keep my hands to myself. I wanted to hold his hand in a bad way.
I’m not one usually for public displays of affection, but when I’m unsettled in some way, which I found myself fairly so on that front, I seek closeness to him, and that closeness usually comes in the shape of my holding onto his hand until we’re home. Then we settle somewhere, and I can seek the closeness I crave.
It never fails to make him smile a little, even if that smile is often tinged with a little bit of sadness. All of our lives, I’ve always been the one that people saw as the white knight. The one to turn to when they needed help with something. I don’t know that people ever stopped to think that yeah, sure, I have my vulnerabilities too, though I hide those better than Cody wishes I even would. He sees through me most of the time anymore, though. He knows that while I can act tough more often than not, there are things that do unsettle me and things that bother me in ways I can’t begin to explain, and, well, during those times, he’s the one I turn to.
I don’t think it’s weak of me to not want to open up my emotions to anyone other than him. At least, those emotions. He’s the one who managed to get me to open up that first time, just some years ago, and I trust him with that part of me in ways I know I can’t really trust anyone else.
We stopped on the way home for fast food. Though I don’t know that pizza counts as fast food. Normally we would have gone for burgers, but considering the dress code that had been required for the wedding and how expensive the tuxes we both wore were, we didn’t want to chance anything. We got the pizzas, we placed those in our thermal bags, got home, pizzas in the oven. We got changed and before long, we both were just boneless in the living room, flopped on the couch, carefully chowing down on pizza.
It’s rare that we eat in the living room, but when we’re both just a little on edge or emotionally drained, we go that route, we set up a movie or a show we probably already know by heart and we eat whatever it was that we got on the way in and we more or less vegetate for a few hours until we feel better.
In a way, I don’t really regret going to that wedding, it was beautiful to watch as it happened, but I think we would have likely been fine with not going either. The more I think about it, the more I’m trying to see the positive to the whole thing. If the guy wanted to think of me as a bodyguard, I’ll take it.
Works of JD Beckett 