You hadn't looked at Katakuri since swallowing your anger and sitting by the vanity. This whole situation was getting increasingly more frustrating. Even if it was all staged, did he have to make it deliberately harder for you? Was there nothing in him that also wanted to at least make this situation tolerable?
Probably not, you convinced yourself, as he hadn't lost much in this arrangement. He was only stuck with you now, whereas your entire wellbeing and happiness depended on how well you integrated into the family.
I hate my life.
A long and dramatic sigh escaped your lips as your head sank, resting on the table of the vanity. From there, your hands proceeded to run through your hair in despair before grabbing fistfuls of it, and you couldn't be bothered by the fact that you had managed to ruin your hairstyle twice within a few hours. Whatever was left of it would have to do.
Katakuri hadn't moved from his spot on the couch as he just continued to watch your defeated form.
He had wanted to open his mouth and say something, but he already knew that you weren't going to listen to him. Instead, you were only going to destroy your hairstyle further in retaliation. Biting his tongue, the Sweet Commander remained silent.
About 10 minutes before the wedding a Homie entered your suite and led you to Zeus who had already been waiting for your arrival.
Beaming at you happily, the cloud lowered himself on the ground to allow you to get onto him more easily. Katakuri even created multiple mochi arms on Zeus to help you climb onto the Homie, but you gladly refused every single one of them as you got on Zeus yourself.
By the time the cloud had lifted himself off the ground and started soaring through the air on his way to the venue, you still hadn't turned around to look at Katakuri. On a brighter note, the way to the venue was nice. With the wind brushing through your hair and ruffling the edges of your dress, you brought a hand up to keep the few stray strands of your past hairstyle from flying into your eyes.
Lost in watching the top of the Castle approach, you suddenly noticed Katakuri sitting down next to you, his legs dangling off the side of the cloud as he pulled your figure closer to his body by your waist.
The sudden physical proximity was anything but appreciated on your part and was met with you angrily pushing his hand off before immediately walking as far away from him as possible on the little space available.
"We need to stand closer to make it believable," he stated calmly, watching you over his shoulder as he lazily rested on one of his arms which he had propped up behind him.
"Oh, so now you want to make it believable?" you jeered without turning around to face him. "Respectfully, shove your believability up your ass." With that, you sat down on the cloud with your back facing him and your legs dangling off the opposite end of the fluffy cloud.
Zeus quickly lost balance due to the uneven weight distribution, but quickly managed to steady himself again.
"If you want to make all of this more believable and accurate, you should lay me in chains," you muttered under your breath as you rested your chin on your palm.
"Peros-nii already mentioned that you had the mouth of a sailor," Katakuri noted, resulting in your eyes narrowing into an angry glare as you stared at the city that was getting increasingly smaller the higher Zeus soared.
"Excuse me?" you raised your voice. "I am a pirate and I speak however the fuck I want to." A smug smirk tugged at your lips as you emphasised a certain word.
Yes, very mature (Y/N).
"Why do you care about credibility anyway? Aren't all your marriages arranged?" you mumbled bitterly into your palm. Your face had long sunken into it further while you were sulking quietly. You weren't even sure whether you were really interested in the answer, but the words had already left your mouth before you could decide.
The silence which met your questions drew a bitter chuckle from your throat.
"Not something you consider 'worth talking about', huh?" you added as you laid back on Zeus, the clouds above you reflecting in your eyes as you stared up at the sky.
"Firstly, Big News Morgans is here." Katakuri's sudden willingness to answer your questions startled you for a moment, prompting you to tilt your head slightly to the back to catch a glimpse of him. You didn't want to pay attention to him again, but at least he was answering your questions now and had stopped being as much of a pain in the ass as he had been in the suite. "It is important to the family that the news surrounding our wedding are positive."
Mister, I don't give a shit about your family's reputation.
"Secondly, not all," you watched Katakuri's gaze trail into the distance, the next words seemingly laying heavily on his tongue. "Some of my siblings married for love."
Lucky. What lottery did they win in?
His voice was unusually soft, a buried desire hidden in it. However, you were too busy with your own thoughts to notice any of it.
Shifting your body slightly on Zeus until you were facing Katakuri's back, you gazed at the wind playing with his short hair for a moment until eventually, your mouth betrayed you and spilled your honest thoughts before you could stop them.
"So, everything needs to be believable, but you cannot force yourself to kiss me for the act?"
Why did I say that out loud?
Why?
Brain, you are supposed to be braining!
Katakuri quickly glanced at you from over his shoulder. Dark magenta eyes rested on yours and you saw something akin to honest curiosity briefly flicker in his eyes.
"Why do you care?"
Honestly, buddy, I don't even know myself.
Furrowing your brows in concentration, you glanced to the side to figure out why exactly it mattered to you.
It's not like you wanted to kiss him. You barely knew him, and you were forced into this whole arrangement. So why did it matter?
"It's just..." A long sigh, accompanied by your eyebrows knitting together in defeat, interrupted your sentence. "I have pride too, you know? It would have been nice to know that the man I am stuck with for the rest of my life didn't think I am that unattractive that he instantly breaks out a rash at the thought of kissing me."
Your eyes had fallen into your lap by the time the last word left your lips, and you were already mentally scolding yourself for the honesty in your answer and admitting to him that you had taken his rejection personally.
Katakuri's eyes almost widened as he processed your words. He hadn't expected you to answer his question with anything but a snarky comment, let alone full honesty. But here you were, sitting in front of him, a defeated look on your face and showing true vulnerability in front of someone you had just met.
Why?
Surprise quickly washed over Katakuri's body at your display of honesty, but he immediately regained his composure. There was no way he would let you know that your words drew a reaction from him.
"It's not that."
"What is it then? You ugly or what?" you laughed ironically as you rose your eyes back to get a look at his face, and you quickly noticed that it wasn't a laughing matter.
Oops.
Wait, what? No way that guy is ugly.
For the fraction of a second, Katakuri visibly stiffened at your question before he returned to his relaxed body language. His eyes, however, had left yours and were looking back on the horizon where the sky met sea, their different blues melting together in nature's most beautiful kiss.
So much for not letting you know you got under his skin.
Seeing him get uncomfortable with the question, even if it was just for a moment, made your heart sink a little. Even though he had hurt you before and the entire situation warranted you being a total bitch to anyone in the Castle for forever, you didn't want to.
You didn't want to hurt him the way he had hurt you.
Why am I like this?
You mentally groaned loudly as you decided to smooth out the situation. Scooting a little closer to his side, you positioned yourself beside him with your legs dangling off Zeus beside his. Your eyes also trailed towards the horizon before you raised your voice again.
"Trust me, I wouldn't care if it was the case." The words left your mouth in a quiet whisper, your lips curling into a sad smile as you remembered who you had gotten that belief from. "Pops took everyone in. Ugly, beautiful, weird, normal, Vista, human, non-human, whatever. To Pops, only the character mattered and nothing else. We were all a family, and I couldn't care less about superficial shit."
Still focused on the horizon, you didn't notice that Katakuri's eyes had grown large, and his body had tensed in response to your words.
Dark magenta eyes proceeded to glance down at you, and he felt an unfamiliar, almost uncomfortable, warmth invade his veins as he watched the breeze brush through your hair and the sun illuminate your face.
Would your eyes always sparkle like that when you talked about people you loved?
Tilting your head to the side, a mischievous smirk crept on your face as you stared up at Katakuri.
"You know what? It's not that it matters. I'm just a tool for your mother so it's fine. Enjoy your rash whenever you think of touching me," you laughed whilst patting his thigh before standing back up from beside him and straightening out your dress.
The tall man watched you leave his side with a deep frown on his face in response to your last comment. Still, despite his frustration with you, or rather the end of your talk, something in the conversation you had just shared drew his attention to you rather than the ocean, his eyes subtlety scanning over your figure as you smoothed out the last creases in your dress.
Resting his eyes on your face, he noticed the results of the previous torment of your hairstyle. The veil hung sloppily in your hair and your hairstyle had also seen better days.
Happy with how your dress looked, you grabbed the bouquet off the cloud, and returned your attention to the venue which was only a short ride away, when suddenly Katakuri's large hand grabbed the veil in your hair.
Your eyes shot up to meet his in shock, your hand tightening around the magenta and white bouquet.
What does he want with that?
Your face morphed into an expression of confusion as you continued to hold your gaze with Katakuri.
"Let me fix the veil, the rest is fine," he mentioned nonchalantly. Taking your empty hand in his, he swiftly turned you around to get better access to your hair. You felt him clip the veil back into your hair whilst also smoothing out a few errant locks, not a single strand of hair being tucked uncomfortably by his actions.
Glancing at him from over your shoulder, you shot him a teasing smirk.
"Careful, you'll get a rash."
"And with that, I pronounce you husband and wife," the officiant finished the ceremony and the crowd around you erupted in loud cheers as one confetti gun after another exploded.
You had done everything that was asked of you. You smiled at the guests when you entered the venue, recited your vows, exchanged the rings, not kissed the groom, and the only things that were left for you to do were to pose for a few pictures and then enjoy the party as best as possible.
In your case it meant retreating into a corner with Marco and just about ignore everyone else.
Turning around on the staircase that was on top of the altar, courtesy of Streusen so you and Katakuri could be on the same level, you were surprised when a large hand enveloped yours and stopped you in your tracks. The crowd below exploded in another round of cheers as they watched the first Sweet Commander hold hands with his newly wedded wife.
You guys are too easy to impress.
You threw a questioning glance over your shoulder. First looking at your intertwined hands, your eyes then travelled up to his face, the questioning arch of your brows rising the higher your eyes travelled.
"You are going to slip on the stairs and slide down the entire cake. Come on, sit on my arm and I'll carry you down," he stated calmly before gently pulling you towards him.
His pull was met with resistance from your side.
"I prefer to slide down the cake instead of being held like a little toy, thank you very much," you replied smugly as you took another step. However, you didn't check where your foot was going to land and so you stepped into air, causing you to lose balance and a loud shriek to escape from your lungs.
With superhuman speed, or future vision, you weren't sure whichever it was, Katakuri wrapped his arm around your waist in mid-air and successfully prevented you from making an even bigger fool out of yourself than you already had. The sudden impact knocked all the remaining air out of your lungs and you just hung in his arm, gasping at the floor like a fish on land as you felt your face heat up in embarrassment.
Very graceful, (Y/N).
Katakuri proceeded to carefully lift you up and set you on his forearm. Upon making sure that you weren't going to fall down again, he lifted his arm until you were on his eye-level, and you could just about see the 'Told you' in his pathologically bored face.
Puffing out your cheeks in a pout, you took a hold of his bicep.
"I don't want to hear a word," you threatened with a glare as you got comfortable on his arm.
Your pout was met with a roll of Katakuri's eyes.
"Stubborn woman."
"Creepy future vision mochi."
"The future vision just saved you."
"I said, and I quote, 'I don't want to hear a word'. Now, carry me down, mochi man."
The crowd beneath you continued to cheer you on, shouting praises and felicitations at the – in their point of view – adorable couple. Amidst the cheers from the crowds below and your bickering with your newly arranged wedded husband, you caught the flash of a Den Den Mushi in the corner of your eyes, causing you to turn your head around and search for the source.
Big News Morgans.
With your eyes narrowing at the pelican, you felt your throat close up. His smile was suffocating you. This position wasn't the one you had wanted to be in when the world learnt of your wedding. To anyone outside of the family, you looked happy, protected, loved – and the truth was quite far away from that.
Your train of thought was interrupted when you felt your body move – downwards – in a free fall.
Without a proper warning, Katakuri had jumped down the cake. While he looked calm and collected, you on the other hand didn't. A banshee-like scream left your lungs as you clung onto his bicep for dear life. At least he was nice enough to hold you in place with his other arm and not just rely on your grip strength.
Your body didn't even loosen up after Katakuri's feet had landed on the Castle as your fingers were still burying themselves in his arms with white knuckles. Your heart was beating in your throat and you were scared you were going to throw it up if you so much as dared to think about moving a muscle. Luckily, Oven's laugh pulled you out of your shock and immediately prompted your eyes to flick onto Katakuri's.
"YOU DID THAT ON PURPOSE!" you screamed, too exasperated to notice the snickering people around you.
"You didn't want to hear a word anyway," Katakuri stated bluntly as he set you back on your own feet.
You're a real jokester under that rough façade, aren't ya?
You felt your orbs catch on fire as you stared at Katakuri with the most furious glare you could muster. However, despite your outrage you didn't let go his bicep. Apparently, your arms hadn't clocked that they could release the death grip around his arm. Not that Katakuri felt much.
"You really are a monkey, Tiny!" Oven laughed and you turned your head to the side, directing your anger at the other man and shooting daggers at him.
Fuck you, too.
"Oof, feisty," the orange man laughed, pinching your cheek with his thumb and index.
Your face pulled into a displeased grimace upon the involuntary facial gymnastics, and you swatted his hand away.
Unbelievable. Every single one of them. Except for Smoothie.
Busy rubbing your stinging cheek and glaring at Oven, you failed to notice that several other Charlotte children had left their seats and surrounded you.
Smoothie was the first to give you a pat on your back, a small smile gracing her lips.
"You did great, (Y/N)."
You returned Smoothie's smile. However, apart from that you remained rather unenthusiastic. As much as you enjoyed Smoothie's company, right now you weren't in the mood to fake pleasantries with the remaining Charlottes. Especially not with so many of them at once. Mumbling some quiet words of gratitude under your breath, you were busy searching past the entourage of Charlottes in hopes to find your favourite Zoan user.
"Ugh, it's a disgrace that someone like her married onii-sama. How long until we can get rid of her?"
The annoying whine made your eyebrows rise. Along with your mouth falling open at the audacity of whoever had just decided to voice these words, your eyes immediately abandoned their search for Marco and settled on a small girl.
Dark hair, high ponytail, chewing a bubble gum.
"I beg your fucking pardon?" you responded, your voice laced with disbelief and offence as you stared at the little girl pouting at you.
"I see, we still didn't work on that language of yours, perorin~," a familiar baritone added. Oh, he was the last person you wanted to see right now. Your eyes trailed over to Perospero who emerged from the group to stand beside the girl; his face twisted into a sinister smile. One that you just about wanted to smack off.
Guess I found my two favourite in-laws.
Or three.
You thought as you heard Big Mom gobble down the cake in the background.
The air around you started to pick up on the tension, little sparks of anger flickering between the three of you as you started each other down in an attempt to murder the other just with looks alone.
"Peros-nii-san, Flampe, quit it," you heard Smoothie interject next to you. Her hand had moved from behind your back to in front of your chest and she was ready to push you aside any moment should a fight break out.
I love you too, Smoothie.
A smug grin spread over your face at their slightly shocked expressions.
Smoothie's eyes fixed on both siblings for a minute before she turned to you with the same freezing cold radiating off her.
"You too, (Y/N)."
Why betray me like that, Smoothie?
An offended huff escaped your lips. Deciding to comply, you crossed your arms over your chest and averted your eyes to the side to look at anything but a Charlotte, which was quite difficult considering you were surrounded by almost the entire blood-family.
Perospero just rolled his eyes at his sister's warning but decided to oblige, nevertheless. Shooting you a last glare, he turned on his heel and pushed past his siblings before he plopped back down on his seat and started digging into his cake.
Flampe, however, was a whole different story. A loud cry left her lips, followed by what could only be described as the most dramatic assortments of whines and sobs you had ever heard in your life as she pushed past you and clung to Katakuri's leg.
"ONII-SAMA! How can you let her talk to your favourite little sister like that?!" she cried, dramatically tugging on his dress pants, and burying her face in them.
You couldn't help the snort that curled your nose as you observed her childish behaviour. All eyes, including very angry and very humid ones by Flampe, suddenly fixed on you. Different emotions were plastered all over the Charlottes' faces, but one in particular – confusion.
"Favourite sister? What is that? A contest?" you laughed as your eyes drifted between different children.
"It is," Smoothie answered bluntly.
Your jaw went slack as you turned on your heel to face her.
"Wait, what?"
"It is. We have a contest every once in a while about who is the favourite brother, sister, etc." the white-haired woman shrugged casually as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
Your face hadn't changed, and you watched a silent sigh escape Smoothie's lips as she turned to Katakuri and Flampe, one hand outstretched to point at them.
"Flampe is the favourite little sister, Katakuri is the favourite older brother."
Somewhere during her explanation, you regained control over your facial muscles. Closing your mouth first, another dark chuckle escaped your lips.
"You are aware that's bullshit, aren't you?" you responded in disbelief. However, despite your confusion, you couldn't help the smile that threatened to tug on your lips as you found some humour in the obscurity of this family tradition.
Your statement was met with more silence. The only thing that indicated that the Charlottes had even heard you was the collective raise of eyebrows. Even your husband's had twitched for a second.
Bringing your fingers up to rub your temples and shutting your eyes, a long groan escaped your lips. Their confusion had stopped being entertaining the moment you realised they were serious. The fact that they didn't see anything wrong with their weird likeability hierarchy even made you feel a little sorry for them.
"Why should it matter who is everybody's favourite? You are a family. You should love each other regardless of whatever that contest is trying to prove. Stuff like this just seems like unnecessary rivalry," you stated calmly, your body slowly turning around on its own axis as you looked at all the Charlottes.
Your explanation was met with different reactions. Some scratched the back of their necks, others averted their gaze, and while a third group didn't show any changes in their body language, the last few siblings frowned at your reasoning. However, nobody decided to follow up on your comment.
Sighing in defeat, you briefly shook your head before you pushed past the Charlotte children in search for Marco, muttering a weak "Whatever, it's your family," under your breath.
Katakuri watched you push past his siblings and quickly make your way over to Marco, his eyes never leaving your figure as your words still rung in the back of his mind. Though he couldn't admit to it, your words had stirred something in him.
And it wasn't even the first time today.
Flampe on the other hand watched her older brother's eyes follow you, a furious glare darkening her face as her fingers clutched around her blowpipe.
It was late in the evening when Marco and you still sat by your table, both of you slightly tipsy and with a shot glass in hand.
"So, this is it?" you questioned, the smile falling from your face and being replaced by a sullen scowl. "Is this goodbye?" The liquid in your glass swayed slightly and your voice was nothing more than a whisper as you stared at the transparent alcohol.
Marco raised his slightly blurry vision to study your features, causing his face to morph into the same expression.
The truth was, he didn't know. And neither did you.
A low groan rumbled in his chest as he brushed his hair back and downed the liquid in his glass before he slammed it onto the table. You followed his example quickly.
"I don't know, (Y/N)," the blond spoke softly as he shifted in his seat to pull you into an awkward hug due to the positions you were in. "Just know that...whatever happens...I will always be proud of you, yoi."
Your hands travelled up Marco's chest, grabbing a fistful of the plum fabric as you buried your face in the crook of his neck.
"And whatever happens, you can always come to me."
Thank you, Marco.