"Oh no! No no, this can't be happening!" Ridley shouted, frantically pacing in circles around her kitchen.

It was early morning on October 31'st. The group and their parents had all slept over at Umbramoor Manor to get a prompt jump for preparations on Alex's birthday. The adults were all out of their beds by 6 a.m., and in the kitchen by 6:15 stirring up a breakfast big enough for giants, all while chatting up game plans for the day. By 6:50, the doorbell rang twice and Martin happened to be passing by when it did, so he answered it after putting on his best 'Good morning' face.

It was the wedding planners Ridley had hired to organize her and Grayson's big day, and they were here a day too early.

"Ridley, you know freaking out doesn't get anything solved," Kaia told her. She scooped up the last of the chocolate chip waffles sizzling on the frying pan and let them flop onto the rest of the waiting lofty pile.

"Yes, so please try to calm down," Aoife encouraged. She removed the shrieking kettle from the stove and poured hot green tea into a black porcelain teacup before trying to hand it to Ridley.

"How can I be calm?" Ridley yelled. She refused the cup and continued her pacing. "They aren't allowing me a refund, and they won't let me change the date to tomorrow! How could I have done something like this?"

Her frantic strides were impeded when Grayson embraced her from behind. He used one arm to wrap around her waist and tightly lock her against him, then latched onto her head with his free hand to stop her frenzied head-shaking.

He put his lips to the edge of her ear and spoke as softly as he could. "Mistakes happen. Just calm down and we can figure this out."

But Grayson was anything but calm himself, in fact he was freaking out just as much as Ridley was. He'd been sitting right next to her when she had first called the wedding planners last month and scheduled the date. How could he have done something like this? Now Alex's birthday celebration was in jeopardy, and his and Ridley's wedding day was up in the air. If either of his parents were still alive, they'd certainly call him a hammer-head.

"Couldn't you just slap 'em with the law?" Emilio suggested through a mouth full of scrambled eggs. He glanced over at Martin, who was busy squirting ketchup over his own plate of eggs. "Surely there's something in the book of rights about consumer errors."

"Unfortunately, not for companies like this," Martin answered, finally setting down the bottle of ketchup after nearly drowning his eggs in the blood-red sauce. "They only have a ten-day cancellation policy of all their services when first purchased. After that there's no refunds whatsoever. Once a day is set, there's no going back. Sorry kids," he said to Ridley and Grayson.

Ridley grabbed Grayson's hand from her head and slid it down to cover much of her face so she could mewl with some privacy. Meanwhile Grayson rested his chin atop of Ridley's now vacant head, and sighed so loud that his former employees of Prior's Hardware Priorities had probably heard him from New Orleans.

"Hey, why didn't you guys wake us?" Tate suddenly asked, dawdling into the kitchen. The rest of the group wasn't far behind, each strolling in looking like well-rested zombies that had just risen from their graves. "Whatever happened to 'families that get up early and plan for a special event together, stay together'?"

"Are those chocolate chip waffles?" Alex asked, not hearing a word Tate had said. He drifted past the group and headed straight for the table where the pile of waffles waited to be devoured, but he was stopped just as he reached his hand out to snag one.

"Oh Alex, this is all my fault! I'm so sorry!" Ridley lamented, throwing herself over to him for a hug.

"I'm sorry too, Lex. The blames' on me as well," Grayson said, as he too ambushed Alex for a hug. He and Ridley had him cornered and squished, and unable to reach any further for the waffles.

"Sorry for what?" Alex struggled to say while trapped.

"I accidentally booked the wedding for today and now the wedding planners are here to set everything up," Ridley explained.

"You mis-booked?" Carsyn probed. "But, couldn't you just ask to reschedule?"

"They won't accept refunds after ten days of securing a date and making a deposit," Silas informed.

"So dates are set in stone," Iker added.

"Not really a problem," Alex wheezed out.

"Of course it is, today is your special day alone, Alex," Ridley insisted.

"But I don't mind sharing it with you guys. Being the flower boy at your dad's wedding sounds like a pretty amazing thing to do on your birthday."

"And you know, maybe you could have the wedding this morning, then later tonight we can celebrate Alexy's birthday," Six suggested.

"Yeah, that works too," Alex agreed.

"Having a wedding and a huge birthday party on the same day? That just can't be possible," Aoife said incredulously.

"Pigs growing their own wings and taking off for flight on their first try — now that is what just can't be possible," Jeremi argued.

"While things are getting set-up for the wedding outside, we'll head to Riviam Point and set-up a bit ourselves for the party," Ziro proposed.

"Mghmm," Arthur grumbled after taking a sip from his cup of sweetened coffee. "There's a lot to do so you'll need all hands on deck. After we've all had breakfast, we can get to it."

"Wait," Ridley said, gawking back and forth at everyone. "What's happening right now?"

Grayson peered down at his son, stunned by his unsurprising behaviour. "Lex...are you sure?"

Alex stiffly nodded. "This is probably just destiny getting in the way. Go, be happy."

A glorious smile flourished on both Grayson and Ridley's lips as they craned their heads back to meet each other's eyes over Alex's head.

"Then...I guess we better tell the planners that we're going through with everything," Grayson said, particularly to Ridley who's only response was another bout of frenzied head-nods in agreement.

"Where are the planners?" Lev asked. He had grabbed a plate from the table and was already loading it with a few waffles.

"Probably still outside on the front lawn. Ridley told them to wait there then slammed the door in their faces," Kaia said, trying to hide her snicker while she placed batter-soaked bowls into the sink.

"Oh boy. Kay, I'll let 'em know they can get started," Evan declared. She turned and started down the hall towards the front door, getting her own best 'Good morning' face ready.

Grayson and Ridley finally released Alex and tended to each other while still trying to grasp what everyone was saying. Lev was immediately at Alex's side, offering him the plate of waffles he's stacked while caressing the top of his head. Alex shook himself free of the leftover feelings of constriction before focusing his sights on the waffles.

Ridley clung onto Grayson's forearms as she stared hard and befuddled at his chest. "A-are...are we really doing this? Today?"

Grayson pulled Ridley in closer, compelling her to finally look him in the eyes. "Ridley... 결혼합시다 (Gyeol-hon Hab-shida).

There was less than twenty minutes until the wedding finally commenced. The entire front yard of Umbramoor Manor was buzzing with all of Moonhaven's residents, and flamboyantly decorated from head-to-toe.

Strung up all around the trees were strings of blue lilies, lavender hydrangeas, and long snow white drapes. Occupying much of the lawn were two blocks of steel lavender chairs with ten rows on each side. At the forefront of the seating was a wooden archway neatly knotted with vines and more lavender hydrangeas. And standing behind the archway, by a lavender carpeted pedestal, was a tall ceramic hammer on the right side, and on the left stood ceramic paint brush of the same height. Somewhere off to the side between two trees, a DJ was stationed playing a timely, romantic tune with salient and funky undertones.

Alex stood near the front door dressed in a nicely pressed black suit and lavender bow tie, twiddling with the assortment of flower petals in his brown basket. Their arresting colours and rumpled features reminded him of tiny seashells, although he also thought it funny since he had never seen real seashells in-person before. He made a mental note to recommend a trip to the beach for next summer.

The petals were so entrancing that he didn't hear it when Lev stepped out through the front door and inched towards him.

"Hey," he said softly, still managing to startle Alex. He too, wore the same coloured suit and tie.

"Hey," Alex said back, quickly checking around his feet to see if he had dropped any petals.

"So..." Lev's gaze had also drifted to Alex's feet, his voice continuing to abide the soft volume.

"So?" Alex repeated, a little thrown off by Lev's subdued tone.

Things had promptly returned to normal between them since Ziro and Nick's fight two weeks ago. Alex had initially thought that it was too good to be true, but he hadn't wanted to end up unconsciously sabotaging things like Molly Mable from Relationship Roulette, so he buried all the uncertainty he had.

"Let's talk," Lev continued at last, "about what happened at that soccer game...that guy you met?"

"Oh! Oh yeah...but, I thought you didn't want to know."

Lev sighed. "Sorry about that. I thought I could forget about it, but it wouldn't leave my head. This whole 'being in a relationship' thing took its time to set in. Truth is, I thought you were late because you were actually upset about me kissing Nick."

"What?" Alex said, more incredulously than he thought was possible of himself. "I thought I told you that I wasn't mad at you about that." He flicked Lev on his forehead, and Lev had to stifle his laugh over how flimsy the strike was.

"Yeah, eventually I realized how paranoid I was...sorry, again." Alex huffed, not especially chagrined, as he reached a hand over to rub Lev's forehead. "And then when you mentioned this guy you ran into, I guess...I was kinda jealous, I guess."

Alex huffed again, but this time he took a step closer to Lev, his hand still slowly rubbing circles on the other's forehead. If Lev was enjoying the feeling, Alex couldn't tell; his poker face was as good as Ziro's whenever the group played poker.

"All we did was talk about soccer. I saw him do this cool move during the game and I wanted to let him know what I thought. I don't normally go out of my way to talk to people — not since meeting you guys — and I was excited about doing it. Don't think it was enough to get me back into soccer, but it was kinda nice talking about it with someone who does play. Now that I'm remembering, I totally forgot to ask what his name was."

Lev huffed now, letting his shoulders go slack at the warm touch of Alex's thumb. "Anyways," Alex went on, "I gave him the best directions I could for where the nearest washroom was, then my phone alarm went off, reminding me that I really had to go and meet you guys, and then we parted ways. If it helps, the guy's kind of adorable, in a way that's a lot like Skel."

Lev shuddered, repulsed at the thought. That did help. Though he loved the salamander, Skelkin was more of a hot mess with an obsessive licking problem, than adorable to Lev. Alex's hand fell from Lev's forehead as he laughed up a storm.

"Oh, hey, where is Skel?" he asked once the laughing fit settled.

Lev tapped the lower left pocket of his suit's jacket. "The rude little bastard's asleep or something."

Alex reached into the pocket and scooped out the salamander, who indeed appeared to have dozed off at one point, his eyes blinking open and his body uncurling from a fetal position. At once, Skelkin started licking away at Alex's fingers, ignoring Lev's irked stare at him. While Alex lovingly giggled at the creature, Lev shifted his gaze to lovingly ogle Alex.

"I love you..." he whispered, making Alex freeze, but having no effect on Skelkin who continued to vigorously lick.

Lev hadn't planned on saying the 'L' word out loud to Alex for some time, but after secretly watching a few clips of the movie Pre-Love online late yesterday night, all his feelings have been bubbling up inside of him since.

Surprise and warmth met his lips when Alex pecked him and whispered back, "I love you too." Skelkin had briefly stopped licking when Alex had moved in for the kiss, but resumed at a steadier pace at the proclamation of his love.

For a moment, neither boy spoke again, instead silently resorting to hot-blooded gazes at each other. Lev had suddenly had enough of the silence and the distance, so he took hold of Alex's neck and pulled him back in for a more fervid kiss.

Alex stumbled a bit and reached for the collar of Lev's jacket, but otherwise didn't fight the gesture. He did worry for a second that Skelkin might be getting squished between them, but he didn't want to break away from the kiss to check. All his thoughts were suddenly wiped when Lev's fingers dug into the spot on his neck where his tattoo was, and his tongue fought for entry into his mouth. Again, Alex didn't fight it.

Then unexpectedly, the music changed, and the classic 'Here comes the Bride' instrumental tune hummed throughout the yard. It startled both Alex and Lev so much that they parted from each other's lips, finally allowing Skelkin to breath.

"Ahem. Listen everyone," Arthur spoke through a microphone by the DJ's station. Alex and Lev looked over, still fuzzy from the kiss. "If you would all get to your seats, we can begin."

Ridley – like Kaia, Silas, Martin, Arthur, Iker, Emilo and Aoife — wasn't close with her parents, so they never made an effort to attend any of her momentous milestones, and she never let it bother her every time she invited them and they failed to show up.

Before they had passed away, Grayson hadn't been close with his parents either. They hadn't attended his first wedding with Julia, but he still would've tried asking them to take part in this wedding, even though he suspected they would likely decline the invite as well.

Iker did the honours as ring bearer, and Ziro gave his mother away down the aisle. No one saw it coming, but Alex did a graceful job as the flower boy.

Kaia, Aoife, Emilio and Ziro stood on the left steps of the pedestal, while Silas, Martin, Iker and Alex stood on the right. Carsyn, Lev and Jeremi occupied three seats on the right side of the first row, while Tate, Evan and Six occupied three on the left.

At the head of the pedestal stood Ridley on the left, dressed in a strapless and pale lavender dress with a dark purple tail that reached a few steps down the pedestal. Grayson stood on the right, outfitted in a lavender tuxedo with a dark purple tie and white shirt. Just a step away from them in the center stood Arthur, wearing a long-sleeved, black tab collar clergy shirt, ready to ordain the two.

The sun hung high in the sky without a cloud in sight, but the weather maintained a pleasant disposition. Somewhere in the distance, the lavender moon made a faded appearance, and still managed a pale glow despite the sun's radiant rays.

Arthur cleared his throat and opened a small black journal. "We are gathered here today..."