To Have And To Hold

25 - Declarations and Dancing

Joey flicked through TV channels while Lauren was cooking, until his phone lit up with a notification. He picked the device up, clicking on the instagram alert. He burst out with a laugh when he saw the picture Lauren had tagged him in, a photo from their wedding day of them high fiving, their fingers interlocked and overjoyed smiles on both their faces. She had captioned it 'I'm a wife now bishessssss!!', and Joey wouldn't have expected anything less from her. 

Lauren must have heard his laugh because she came in from the kitchen smiling. Joey held an arm out for her to sit down next to him, and he hugged her into his side, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. Then he pulled back, suddenly serious. 

"I thought you didn't want people to know?" he said quietly, looking at her searchingly.

She shrugged, then looked up into his eyes. "I'm tired of trying to pretend I'm not completely in love with you."

A soft look came over Joey's face. It didn't matter how many times he heard those words, they had the same effect on him every time. He leaned forward to kiss her, every soft curve of her lips familiar to him, yet he'd still never take it for granted. He pulled away for a second, a dazed smile on his face as he gazed at his wife. His eyes barely focused on the warm brown of Lauren's before he watched her eyelids flutter closed as he kissed her again.

"Does this mean I can post something sappy now?" he asked when he finally drew away from her.

She stood up and started going back into the kitchen. "Absolutely not," she told him over her shoulder. But when she paused in the doorway to look back and smile at him, Joey's heart lit up, knowing she didn't mean it.

He immediately grabbed his phone to start typing out a post. His mind was filled with the hundreds of things he'd longed to say about Lauren over the years, and his fingers danced over the keyboard as he attempted the impossible task of articulating his feelings for her in one short paragraph. He was halfway through when Lauren returned, looping her arms around his neck from behind and attempting to read the caption over his shoulder. Joey covered the screen with his hand, swivelling around to face her with a grin.

"You can't see it yet." 

She tried to pull his hand away but he held the phone out of her reach. She tipped her head back with a groan, standing up straight. "You're gonna hit the caption limit at this rate JoJo," she said.

"That's okay, I'll just carry it on in the comments," he said offhandedly, still typing. Lauren's mouth dropped open, and she retreated into the kitchen, at a loss for words.

Many proof reads and revisions later, Joey wiped away the tears that had escaped down his cheeks and then hit post, tapping his fingers anxiously on the back of the couch as he waited for Lauren to read it. He heard a muffled gasp, and his heart rate picked up a little bit.

Joey looked down at his post again, and the accompanying photos from their wedding day; one of them at the altar looking into each other's eyes like there was no one else in the room, and one of them kissing, holding each other tightly. He was already beginning to regret how cheesy his caption was, talking of how happy he was to get to marry the love of his life and his best friend, but every word of it came from the heart. He'd waited long enough to tell everyone exactly how much Lauren meant to him, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity now.

He heard the kitchen door open and turned around apprehensively. Lauren appeared in the doorway, tears filling her eyes. "I'm so happy I got to marry my best friend too," she said, her voice cracking. Joey felt tears forming again in his own eyes and sprang up from the couch.

"Cm'here," he said, wrapping her in a tight embrace. She clutched at him and he ran his hand comfortingly up and down her back, inhaling her scent. When her grip loosened slightly, he leaned her back in his arms, reaching one hand up to wipe the tears from her cheeks. She gave him a watery smile, and he leaned down to kiss her. Then he took her hand and led her over to sit down on the couch with him, both his arms around her as she half curled into his lap.

"That was beautiful JoJo," she said, her voice still thick with emotion. 

"Not too much?" he asked anxiously. She pulled a face, and Joey laughed.

"Maybe a little. But it was still perfect," she said, taking one of his hands in both of hers. They looked into each other's eyes, Joey absorbed in how much he loved her.

"I forgot to tell you earlier," he said suddenly. "Our wedding video got sent through." He started to bring it up on the TV.

Lauren choked out a laugh. "Sounds like the perfect thing to watch right now," she said, still trying to blink away tears.

Joey hugged her to his side, kissing her temple. "We can save it for another time."

"No," she breathed. "Let's watch it now."

He had been worried about how Lauren would fare emotionally, but it was Joey's turn to cry when the footage started and he began to relive one of the best days of his life all over again. Lauren wrapped her arms tightly around his middle, her head on his shoulder. Joey was impressed with her for not even complaining about having to watch herself on screen, and it warmed his heart because he knew she was doing it for him. They watched themselves walk down the aisle hand in hand, share their first kiss as husband and wife. Joey couldn't help beaming with pride for the second time when Lauren made her speech, even though she buried her face in his chest and made him talk through it so she wouldn't have to see it.

Their first dance came on, the music filtering from the speakers and bringing on a wave of emotion for both of them, holding onto each other even more tightly. Without hesitation Joey got up, pulling Lauren up by the hands with him. 

"Joey," she whined, but she smiled at him and didn't resist, placing one arm around him and keeping hold of his hand with the other. He looped his free arm around her waist, his hand pressing her securely against him. In that moment it was just the two of them in the world, and Joey's heart was full.

And they stood there dancing in a slow circle to the music, holding each other the way they would for the rest of their lives.

A/N And we're done! Thank you guys for all of your support and for all your votes and comments, it truly means a lot to me, and it helps motivate me so much to write the next thing!!

But this fic wouldn't be complete without thanking one of the most important people to me in the world. Sophie, I am so incredibly grateful that you exist and we became best friends. It's not an exaggeration to say that you've changed my life just as much as Starkid themselves, and I truly don't know what I'd do without you. I could never find words to thank you enough but I hope you know how amazing you are and how much I love you. Also I so appreciate you being willing to torture yourself with me at all times, and for being an unending source of inspiration for fics. But more importantly for being a constant source of love and support in my life and for letting me sleep over and watch Starkid and for always making my day so much better. You're the absolute best!!

On another note (little life update here you can just skip this if you like), the fic idea I'm "working on" right now, which is primarily because of Sophie, is not going to be ready to publish any time in the near future (even though I split up these chapters with the aim of getting more of it written 🙄) because I've been way too busy with school stuff. So my multichapters are most likely done with until July when I can start writing properly again (wow, exams seem so close but not publishing until then feels unbearably long). HOWEVER there's no way I can go without publishing anything in that time, so I'll try and upload oneshots in the meantime. Right now I have no ideas for any though so if anyone has any ideas/requests/headcanons that I can turn into fics, please send them my way!!! (You can comment here, or send me an ask/message on tumblr @ lauren-lopez-fangirl or @ just-best-friends. You can message me on here too but I almost never check this inbox so it might take me a few days to get back to you). I can't promise how quickly I'll be able to get them done or whether I'll even be able to come up with a fic but I'll do my best!