MATCHABLOSSOM WEEK'22 (ENG)

I want you by my side.

Ever since they started dating at the age of seventeen, Kojiro had the habit that when he fell off his skateboard, he would afterwards automatically drop to one knee and jokingly ask Kaoru to marry him.

Until many years later, one day he did it and it wasn't a joke at all. He knelt down in front of Kaoru, and although he knew what Kojiro was going to do and say, he didn't expect his boyfriend to pull out of his pocket a small box containing a precious engagement ring.

Kaoru was speechless, but his tears of joy were more than enough at first for Kojiro to know that those tears were a 'yes', until Kaoru managed to answer him by actually saying yes over and over again.

What for years had become a recurring joke between them both, it had become a reality; Kaoru and Kojiro really were going to get married.

**********

Kojiro never thought that organizing a wedding was so stressful; or expensive. Luckily he and Kaoru both wanted a small, intimate wedding with their closest friends and families.

After debating for weeks when it was best to hold the wedding, they finally decided to do it in the spring. Not only because the place where they would celebrate the ceremony would be beautiful, full of cherry trees in bloom; but because spring was when they met in kindergarten as well.

Kojiro wasn't sure if soulmates and destiny really existed, but when it came to his relationship with Kaoru, he believed in it firmly. Who was going to tell him that that bossy child who insisted on following him until he managed to win his friendship would become his best friend; that years later he would become his boyfriend, and that now, in a matter of hours, he would become his husband.

Whether by chance or fate, Kojiro felt infinitely lucky to be the person Kaoru wanted to spend the rest of his life with. And that was something he planned to show him until the last of his days.

The night before their wedding day he spent it with Shadow and Oka. It was still weird to hear someone call Shadow by his real name, but he was very happy to see the lovely couple that pair made. The three of them had stayed at Kojiro and Kaoru's home, while Kaoru had preferred to stay at his parents' house. Although Kojiro didn't care a lot about traditions, Kaoru was excited that they wouldn't see each other until the time of the ceremony to surprise each other with their kimonos. So, as much as Kojiro wanted to see Kaoru, he had to patiently wait until the next day; but oh, how much he wanted the hours to fly by so he could marry him as soon as possible.

He and Kaoru had opted for traditional kimonos, fully customized with their personal style. He still didn't know what Kaoru's was like, and he was dying to see it. Kojiro's was black and white with green details, adorned with embroidered suns.

Shadow for his part had been in charge of preparing all the flowers and bouquets for the wedding; and though he knew how good he was at his job, Kojiro was sometimes surprised that someone who looked like Shadow was such a skilled and passionate florist. Although well, as they say, looks can be deceiving.

"Are you nervous?" Oka asked him, smiling softly.

Kojiro smiled too, sighing.

"I would like to say no, because I think I've been prepared to marry Kaoru all my life... but the truth is that yes, I'm quite nervous." Kojiro acknowledged with a sheepish smile.

"I'm sure everything will turn out great and you'll have a beautiful wedding, right, Hiromi?" Oka asked, looking for the validation from his boyfriend.

"Yeah, of course. Besides, you've been like a married couple ever since I met you, you don't have nothing to worry about." Shadow explained while laughing.