Work Text:
When my friends discovered when you left me in July
"Where's Felix?" Lauren asks as she moved her bag from the seat to the floor so Naomi could sit there. "Yeah, is he meeting us there or am I gonna be the only boyfriend tonight?" Lexi's boyfriend, Jacob asked as he pulled the car back onto the road, cutting someone off but ignored the honking directed his way. "Oh, he left. He's not coming." The car ride to the bar had never been so loudly silent.
No, I didn't cry, kept the lie alive
"Naomi," Lexi whispered in the brunette's ear.
"Yeah?"
"If you want to go home and cry it out, you can. We wouldn't blame you."
"Why would I do that? There's nothing to cry about."
"You were high school sweethearts. You were supposed to get marri-"
"Getting engaged at 22 was fucking stupid."
But the church bells won't stop ringing
For an undead wedding day
Felix stared at the headset connected to this somehow running computer. The building has been abandoned for over a decade; the lights weren't on, yet a computer was on? It was weird but an old video game might just be the distraction he needed. Eyes darting to his empty ring finger. The finger that would not be so empty if he had just stayed but here he is. Par-taking in his ex-fiancé's side hobby as a way to get out of the house.
Ex-fiancé.
He didn't mean to- Let's test out this stupid, ancient videogame
And you've spent the summer drinking
Lauren watched in worry as Naomi bought herself another round of shots. Her eyes darted to Jacob, who was on his phone. Texting someone but his eyes would sometimes leave the screen to check on Naomi and then the bathroom door, where Lexi was. Lauren pulled out her own phone, debating texting Felix. They never talked one-on-one, though they did get along whenever in the same room. Deciding against it, she walked to stand next to Jacob, keeping Naomi in her eyesight. "Please tell me you are talking to Felix," she said. "He won't give me details. Just said that he wasn't ready to get married and clearly that didn't go over well." Lauren was too tipsy to try to hide her confusion. "Yeah, I don't get it either.... I went ring shopping with him and he was over the moon when she said yes." Lauren said nothing to that and instead joined Naomi in her shots. Shots weren't her thing but she didn't want Naomi to be more hungover then she already was going to be. She knew once Lexi saw them, she would pull the plug and take them all to her house.
While I spent it being erased
"Wha-What..." The violet bunny stared at the people(?) in front him, confused. "Woah, this is trippy," he mumbled. "Oh! Hello! You must be a new player, yes? I'm Ragatha." The rag doll avatar greeted, walking towards him. "Oh! That's fitting, like rag doll. I get it. I'm Jax then," Jax greeted, confused by the weird looks the others were giving him. "You remember your name?" the clown asked. "What kinda question is that? Are we not using fake names?" Jax asked, hands settling on his hips. He was tempted to just leave, clearly this was just some kind of VR Chatroom. He didn't like those, he preferred games with an end goal or at least some excitement. However just as he was about to remove the headset, he realized that it wasn't there and instead felt his new rabbit ears. That's when the suppressed panic and fear from earlier that day settled in.
And I tried to hide the feeling
Jax stared at his new cartoonish face with dread. He was in his new room because the others told him that there was no way of leaving. He didn't want to believe it but the tension in the room was telling. Besides, how do you leave a videogame with no controls? He didn't have a keyboard that he could use to force close this... game. He was stuck in a videogame.
No escape.
No leaving.
No more waking up to burnt toast on Saturdays.
No more hair ties in his shoes.
No longer will Naomi accuse him of cheating whenever he won at Mario Kart.
He can't even remember his name.
He no longer has any possibility of making up with-
knock knock
Jax snapped out of train of thought and walked to his door to find Ragatha there. She was nice and seemingly the only normal person here. The clown was okay but he tried too hard and the frog was.... Well, his mother hated frogs. "Hi Jax! I know you're new and everything but if you ever want to talk, I'm here." she said cheerfully. "Thanks... I'm just- uh-" Jax's gaze fell his hand that was holding the door open. "Adjusting, I get it. It's fine. I just thought you'd like to know that Caine sends us on adventures every day so tomorr-" Jax snapped his head back up. "Do you have any gloves?" Ragatha blinked at him in confusion. "Uh, I'm sure I can find some if you'd like."
When Ragatha returned with some white gloves, he was a little upset that they just had to white. The color most brides wear... "I can find some different ones if you don't like those," Ragatha offered once seeing his probably poorly concealed discomfort. "No, they're fine. Thank you... Just not a big fan of white," Jax admitted. Ragatha didn't say anything for a moment before announcing she has a collection of different kinds of dye. Jax smiled at her in gratitude and followed her to her room. It was nice to have at least one friend.
But it just won't go away
Let's pretend nothing happened, I agree
Jax stared dumbfounded at Ribbit, who grinned at him. "What? I thought you knew how to have fun?" he asked, grin falling off his face. "I do but... Ragatha didn't deserve to be pushed off the bridge." The frog rolled his eyes and groaned, loudly. "Ugh. You talk to Ragatha too much. It's not real! None of us are real! We are in a video game where nobody can die and our human lives don't matter." Jax felt tears well up in his eyes. Sure, he came to terms with the fact that he can't leave but his human life was what kept him sane. Did he think about his friends and wonder what they think happened to him? Obviously, but to his knowledge, they were out there and living life while he was stuck here. He loved that they weren't here with him. "You're doing it again," Ribbit sang. "Wh-What?" Jax asked. "Thinking of your human life. Just pretend it didn't happen. It won't do you any good."
But you're a much better actor than me
The day that Naomi finally broke down happened 4 months after the break up and 5 days before Felix's birthday. Miraculously, her and Felix's anniversary passed without any issue. Lexi and Lauren took her on a girl's trip to the Universal Parks during that week. She had so much fun that the day passed without her noticing. She noticed, she just kept going on roller-coasters to Not Think About It. Naomi had since stopped wearing her ring but never threw it out. She kept it in the box it was in when Felix proposed in the bedside table on his side of the bed. She woke up that morning with cramps and an urge to take a long vacation. She wasn't scheduled to work for 7 days but the dread she felt the day before a shift was there. She didn't have any plans but she always took the day before and the day of Felix's birthday off. It has been approved months ago. Naomi's eyes started to water before she even registered what day was coming up. Luckily, everyone else was working so she had all day to cry and eat all the ice cream in their freezer.
She woke up from a cry induced nap with that ring on her finger and didn't take it off until she had to leave the apartment 3 days later to shop for groceries. She stopped by a hair salon for a hair cut while she was out.
A friend of mine asked you,
"Talked to Felix recently?" Jacob asked. They were in Lauren's new apartment, helping her decorate after moving all the heavy furniture the day before. It has been about 6 months since Naomi and Felix broke off their engagement and Jacob hasn't been able to get in contact with his old roommate following the 24 hour mark. He suspects that Felix blocked him or something because he stopped reading his texts and no phone calls ever went through.
You didn't react, you said,
"I barely even fuckin' knew him," Naomi spit out. Jacob blinked at her in surprise. "Wha-"
"You spend 5 years with a guy. Talk about your future, what your shared house will be like when you can afford it. Discuss kids, decide neither of you want kids. Discuss marriage and traveling. He asks you to marry him and you believe you know the difference between his truth and lies. You think he would tell you if he changed his mind on getting married but instead he doesn't and suddenly he wants to wait. He says we are too young and should wait. What if we break up? A divorce costs way more money then a break up. There's more steaks involved when it's a divorce. He won't tell you why the sudden switch up so you fight about it and suddenly he walks out and that's it. You don't hear from him. His phone continues to ring but he's seen all my texts...." Jacob bite his bottom lip. He has also gotten left on read from Felix following their brief text conversation where Felix refused to explain why he called off the engagement. He didn't entirely buy the whole "suddenly not ready for marriage" bullshit, especially since Felix and Naomi had previously said that they wanted to wait about a year before even planning their wedding so it's not like wedding planning had got to him. "It is pretty unlike him to suddenly-"
"Stop."
Naomi took a deep breathe before turning to face Jacob again. "Felix left. I never thought he would leave without saying why. I never knew him to be such a coward. Clearly neither of us knew him at all."
But the church bells won't stop ringing
"I see you're finally letting your hair grow past your shoulders now," Lauren commented as they walked up to Lexi and Jacob's front door. "Yeah, I figured I might as well let it grow out for winter. I don't miss the maintenance though." Lauren laughed and then the door opened to Lexi's face in the widest grin they've seen since she got her doctorate. "I have newwwss!"
For an undead wedding day
"We're engaged!" Lexi and Jacob shouted almost in unison, Lexi holding up her hand so they can look at the ring. It was a gold band with an amethyst stone, perfect for her. Of course Lauren and Naomi knew this was coming, Jacob had told them he bought a ring about a month ago but they still screamed in delight for her.
During dinner, Lexi had told them that they were obviously going to be her maids of honor and that was when the rush had started to fade. Naomi tried to keep the smile on because this was not about her. One of her best friends was going to get married! This was very exciting!
A wedding that is actually going to happen.
Oh.
Lexi caught sight of Naomi quickly wiping a tear away. "I told you when it first happened and I'll tell you again. It's okay to cry." "This isn't about me, you're engaged! This is so exciting!" Naomi reminded the bride-to-be, who only frowned. "And you were supposed to be married by now." Lauren looked away, biting her lip. Jacob did too but he was in the kitchen so nobody was paying him any mind. He and Lexi talked about Felix this morning and his strange disappearance. Jacob brought up the idea that he was kidnapped or something. Lexi didn't dismiss the idea but said the timing was very convenient if that was the case. It was dropped after that but the conversation came back to Lexi's memory as she looked at Naomi. Felix left 3 years ago but it was so sudden and there was no closure. Normally she would judge someone for still being upset about a breakup for so long but if Jacob had left her the same way, she doesn't know how long she would mourn him and their relationship either.
And you've spent the summer drinking
It had been about 8 months since Ribbit abstracted.
Contrary to popular belief, Jax knew it was happening. Well, It wasn't entirely clear but he knew something was happening. Sure, Ribbit never had the best temper but he was snippy and had even mentioned wishing he could remember his human name at one point so that he could take Jax seriously when he yelled at him. The weirdest thing he said had been that Jax should try to get Ragatha to see their point of view on how to survive the Circus.
His friendship with Ragatha fell apart about a year prior because of her constant bad mouthing of Ribbit while Ribbit was the one keeping him sane. He was right, thinking of his human life wasn't worth the heartache it brought with it. He relayed this to Ragatha the day before they stopped talking but all she did was give him a confused look and say that was a dangerous way to live here. "We may be toys now but we are still human. You were the one that told me that thinking of Naomi kept you sane." Jax waited for an apology but when one didn't come, he walked away because how dare she?! He mentioned none of this to Ribbit as they didn't talk about their human lives. Only their current ones. Only the ones that mattered.
He skipped the funeral because Ribbit hated funerals. No other reason.
While I spent it being erased
Pomni stared at the door that had her jester face on it. At least the hair was the same but she found she was growing a height complex. She's never felt so short in her life. She came from a family that was blessed (or cursed) with tall genes, most of her friends and partners had been the same height or shorter then her. This was going to take a while to get used to. Was it stupid to be upset about her camera that had obviously just gotten left in that building? What was a camera to her whole life being taken away? Nobody would know where she went and she knew her friends still worried about her mental heath following her small breakdown after Lexi's engagement announcement. It had been 3 years, she felt so stupid for that. It's not like she hadn't dated since then. Well- she's tried to but it's not her fault that nobody else meets her standards.
And I tried to hide the feeling
But it just won't go away
Jax kept an eye on the new girl. The newest girl. He wondered if that building had become some sort of a museum because Pomni was the 3rd new person they had gotten in the last 2 years and he was under the assumption that new people would pop up like once every 6 years. A rarity, that's what Kinger had said but that was before he started to ignore everything that came out of his mouth. Jax hoped the jester was the last one for a while, he was getting tired of the constant song rewrites. She also irked him for some reason. Well, she irked him because her hair and the way she would yell at him reminded him of Naomi. Sure the Naomi he left behind had grown her hair out long and never cursed him out quite the way she did but it was close enough. It reminded him of the road rage she would get whenever an elderly person with cataracts would cut her off on the highway.
Just pretend it didn't happen. It won't do you any good.
Jax rolled his eyes, what Ribbit didn't know wouldn't hurt him. The guy was dead- abstracted- whatever anyway. Thinking about Naomi hasn't caused him to glitch out yet and it's not like anybody here even knows about her. Except for Ragatha.
Let's pretend nothing happened, I agree
Jax and Pomni walked side by side following the baseball adventure that ended in confusion. Jax offered to show Pomni the arcade that wasn't used much anymore. The games got repetitive after a while but Jax enjoyed it because it reminded him of his first da-
Back when Jax was forced in a maid outfit and he and Pomni were left alone. They started talking about nothing in particular. It started with Pomni telling him that he should feel flattered that everyone wanted to see him in a sexy costume and Jax saying, "yeah, thanks for not voting. Out of everyone that should be allowed to see me in a maid dress, it's none of you.... I would hope to be less purple." "Should've known you would've been a kinky human." Jax couldn't help the disbelieving laugh that escaped him. The conversation then turned back to Pomni's hobby of exploring abandoned buildings where Jax learned she was quite the gamer.
"Woah, this is amazing."
"I know right. There was this really sick arcane like 5 minutes from the apartment I shared with my-" Pomni watched Jax's face close off and missed the carefree, somewhat nice side she was just talking to but she remembered how Jax was the only person to not share any human life details during their brief bar "adventure". She wasn't entitled to details he didn't want to give and it was none of her business so she didn't acknowledge it.
But you're a much better actor than me
Jax and Pomni were on round 6 of a knockoff game of Mario Kart when the jester yelled, "JAX, YOU %$!# ING CHEATER!" after being losing for the 5th time. "How am I cheating?" Jax cackled. "I DON'T KNO- ow.... You are though." Jax stared for a moment, the fun moment being ruined by him not getting screamed at before looking back at the screen. "You want to play again?" he asked and when he didn't get an answer, he turned to look at his gaming partner to find she was already looking at him. "Do you miss being human?" she asked. Jax looked away and thought about just leaving. Maybe yelling beforehand but he actually enjoyed Pomni's company so he lied instead.
"I don't think about it."
"Oh... I do, I know we aren't dead but it kind of feels like it. Like the people we left behind have to continue their lives as if we are."
"... I never thought about it like that."
If you ever cared, well, I wouldn't know
Blame it on a bad manic episode
Pomni stared at Jax, confused. "Wha-What do you mean? Yes, we are," she protested, turning so that she could still look at him as he waved his hands around. "Delusional," Jax sang. Pomni looked at Jax and then at her gun before looking back at him. "Weren't we bonding over being chaotic evil together," she reminded him, trying to stay calm while also willing her teeth to sharpen again. Maybe he hit his head or something? But they couldn't get injured here? "I was merely entertaining you because I thought it was funny! Now, are you gonna shoot me or what?" the rabbit asked. Dread started to build in Pomni chest. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked, minding running through all their interactions today to find out if she had said something to upset him. Jax however was giving her nothing, instead insisting that they weren't a team. Memories of her first relationship following Felix leaving popped up. She was nice until [POMNI] had tried to label their relationship as anything other then platonic. She snapped out of her head, protesting against Jax. Because yes, they were a team. They may not be friends yet, but they were getting along! She heard Jax say that she wasn't committing, which is laughable considering Jax is the one that will only commit to a bit. Next thing she knew Jax was holding the gun in her hand to his head. "Do it."
When you meet a girl on some TV show
"Ugh, you remind me of my ex. Always deflecting, would never take responsibility for anything," the cartoon jester groaned. Jax paused at that. For some reason, that bothered him. Well- he knew why- he was only one person's ex and that relationship wouldn't have ended if not for-
Jax looked at Pomni, who looked back with very little opinion. It was probably the fact that her hair reminded him too much of Naomi that the indifference hurt. He thought about their fight the other day and how he thought she would turn the gun on herself; thinking about why that upset gave him a headache so he opted not to. It wouldn't hurt to have at least one friend again. Maybe. If she abstracted, it would hurt but... "Not having anyone to rely on while stuck here for the rest of time sounds like an easy way to go crazy," Zooble had said to him at one point. It was about 2 weeks after they spawned in and Ribbit had since been long gone at that point. Nobody talked about the Abstracted after the funerals so he didn't bother correcting them.
"I wish I went no contact with my parents." Pomni blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected Jax actually give her any sort of information on his human life. Especially after a single comment about her 2 week relationship that she gave a try in an attempt move on from Felix... again. "Wh-Why?"
"We never got along but... they were my parents, you know? They weren't exactly interested in my life but my mom would call and talk about nothing. She'd complain about my father and I figured. Well! I might as well listen!" Jax had that big, fake smile across his face but Pomni found it didn't bother her as much now. "Last conversation we had, she told me that they were getting a divorce and- I... I don't know- I freaked out. Hung up and then my uh... my fiancé walked in. Told her maybe we should rethink getting married so young... My parents got married at 18 and 21. I didn't want to end up like them," Pomni looked at Jax with sympathy, which he was relieved for. He didn't want or deserve pity. "I'm guessing she didn't take it well?" Jax let out a laugh.
"Of course not... We never fought like that and I left. Needed to clear my head and that's when I decided to explore the office building. Found the headset... Got stuck here."
There's a side of you that she'll never know
Pomni and Jax were running behind the rest of the group, who were running down endless corridors in a replica of the office building that trapped them all in the circus. There were a lot of computers but none of them were on. "There it is!" Kinger's voice rang out. The younger members watched him pick up the headset and put it on without hesitation. Once he did, his chess piece body glitched away, leaving behind an older, human man. "Wait-" Zooble yelled but it was too late as a Human Kinger glitched away and the computer screen that was just a white screen showed them all the room that the original computer and its headset was located, with the human Kinger inside. They all stared in shock before Zooble grabbed the headset, sat down and put it on. They soon glitched out of their toy body before glitching away. The rest of them stared and the headset and then each other. Ragatha lightly pushed Gangle towards the computer. "Go ahead." Once Gangle was gone, the three of them just stood there. "You two can go-" Ragatha started before Pomni interrupted. "No, be selfish. You go. You've been here longer than us. We will be right behind you," she said. "Promise." Jax added. Ragatha's eyes widened and nodded as a bright smile crossed her lips. "I'll see you two soon." Pomni studied Jax's face as he looked at the computer, watching the others talk. "Why so hesitant? Worried about your actions having consequences now?"
"She never knew me to be cruel... I just know she would be angry if-"
"Would you rather that she never gets any sort of closure of where you went?! As someone who was ghosted by their fiancé, it sucked and I would never wish that on anybody! So pick up the fucking headset and plan your apologetic explanation!" Jax's eyes took over his cartoonish face until his mouth was gone. It reminded Pomni of when Ragatha unintentionally brought up Ribbit's abstraction. Jax picked up the headset and looked at the jester. "Would you like to be friends? Once we are out?"
"Sure. Now hurry up"
Tell all your friends that she's the one
Felix felt inside his jeans and pulled out his phone, it was somehow not dead but maybe that was because it was on his person and not left behind in the human world. Phone dilemmas aside, decided to catch up and read the text messages he never got to read and reply to.
"So, what are you gonna do now?" Zooble asked. Felix didn't know how to respond to that. Frankly he didn't think Zooble or Gangle would spare him a second glance after all the shit he's done. "I think it's for the best that we all stay in touch... Nobody else would understand what we went through," Zooble explained, quickly glancing at Gangle. "My name is Rae by the way."
"Felix."
"So what are your plans now?" Gangle asked, walking up to them from where she was previously talking to Kinger. "My name is Yiren by the way." "Probably to find my ex... Explain why I suddenly disappeared," Felix admitted. Rae and Yiren looked surprised at that. "I- Didn't expect that," Rae said, running a hand through their hot pink hair. "I got into a fight with her before I came here... there," Felix explained. "Do you think she will believe you?"
"I-" Felix didn't know how to respond to that because he didn't know but luckily he got distracted by Ragatha's shout of "Pomni!" He looked over and watched as the brown lump of hair that was probably Pomni flipped her hair away from her face and stole the air from his lungs. "Naomi?"
Naomi looked over, confused, making eye contact with Felix. For a moment, they just stared at each other while the others watched them in equal confusion. "Did you two know each other?" Yiren asked while Ragatha gasped and pointed at Pomni. "Naomi?!" Naomi's eyes left Felix for a second to look at the human Ragatha before staring back at Felix. They both nodded. "...Are you the ex-girlfriend?" Rae asked. Naomi squinted at Felix and Rae, who stood behind him. Felix gulped and quickly (and loudly) corrected them by announcing they were engaged. "... or are.... Are we still engaged?" Naomi gave him a look as Ragatha helped her stand up. "You were gone fo- I... We can talk about that later." Hope grew in Felix's eyes and he smiled brightly before skipping over to Naomi and swinging an arm over her shoulders. "You all are invited to the wedding!" Naomi stared at him in baffled confusion but decided to move on from that in favor of grabbing her phone and camera from the desk. Her phone was dead, go figure, "You can use my phone," Felix whispered. "Please. I need to call Lexi and- I'm worried they think I died for something."
And you can say it's love
The formally entrapped Circus goers ended up cramming into Naomi's car, that was probably only there after 6 months because of the weird location she parked. "I didn't want to get towed while exploring," she explained. Kinger, who eventually told them his human name was Arthur gave instructions to his house that was 20 minutes from the abandoned office building. He and his wife owned it and since they didn't have children that it would go to after their disappearance, he said that he had hoped it would still be there. It was. The yard was overgrown and obviously none of the lights worked but it would do while the rest of them figured out their own living situations.
"I can always go back to tattooing or bar tending, though one pays better than the other," Rae mentioned off handedly while they were in Arthur's living room, cleaning away the spider webs and dust. "Good luck explaining to your ex-clients that- NAOMI! LEXI'S CALLING ME!" Felix yelled towards the kitchen. There was a loud thumping of footsteps as Naomi ran in the room with Catherine. Felix answered the call and handed it to her. "Lexi! Hi! I'm so sorry, I promise it's not- well- it's kinda my fault..." there was a loud shrieking on the other line so Naomi decided to put it on speaker.
"I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE ALIVE BUT WHY ARE YOU CALLING FROM FELIX'S PHONE!"
"Um... well- say hi? My phone is dead."
Lexi didn't say anything but there was a faint echo of Felix's name in the background before another voice joined Lexi's. "FELIX?!" the former cartoon bunny went pale. "Uh... Hi Jacob."
"I THOUGHT YOU GOT KIDNAPPED YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Rae failed at hiding their chuckles. "I mean- I kind of did."
Naomi gave him a deadpan stare, "Why would you say that?"
There were sniffles on the other line. "You two need to explain everything but I'm glad you're alive... both of you. Jacob's crying by the way." Naomi lit up and Felix was about to tease her for being happy about Jacob being emotional until he saw that glint in her eye. "Does this mean Felix gets to be in the wedding party?"
"OF COURSE HE IS!"
"YOU'RE ENGAGED?!" Felix grabbed the phone from Naomi's hand as he and Jacob started to yell over each other. Naomi gently pushed Felix and the screaming phone out of the room until they were distant background noise. She came back to Yiren asking if she can design her wedding dress. Naomi pressed her lips together and nodded. "We haven't exactly talked about that yet but when the time comes, of course you can." Catherine was leaning against a wall during all the yelling with a small smile on her face. "I can't believe I didn't clock that you were Naomi sooner, it seems to obvious now." Naomi froze. "Did he... talk about me a lot?"
"I don't know who all he told but back when we still... got along. He would talk about his fiancé quite often. Ribbit didn't... He was pretty strict on not sharing human life information in the circus because it 'didn't matter' but he would tell me about it. Said you fostered a kitten for a couple months. Talked about your love for exploring run down buildings..." Naomi absent mindedly ran a thumb over her bare ring finger. Arthur noticed but continued to sweep.
Once the house was clean enough to sit down without fear, Arthur starting calling around to get service and electricity running. The others sat around and continued their earlier conversation on what they will do now. Rae had decided to look around for tattoo shops that needed another artist and explained away the break by simply having artist block and went back to bartending for a while. The owner that accepted them in bought it and asked for some pictures of their work. Catherine told Yiren to look into working at a boutique since she had been interested in designing Naomi's future wedding dress but she seemed hesitant about it. "What about you?" Naomi asked. "Well.... I kind of hated real estate but it would get me enough money to get a place of my own," Catherine answered, looking a bit upset at the thought. Arthur walked in and heard the last part of that conversation and reassured them all that they could stay with him until they got back on their feet.
And the church bells won't stop ringing
For an delayed wedding day
2 years after their return from being stuck inside a videogame, Naomi and Felix sent out wedding invites. After receiving theirs, Lexi called to thank them for finally allowing her and Jacob to start discussing flowers. "You didn't have to wait for us to get married to start planning yours, you know," Naomi teased.
"It's the principal of it. We are correcting history by waiting."
The dress code for the guests was simply "black and white (yes, white is allowed)" while the wedding parties wore a gradient of blues and purples. It took place in Arthur's giant backyard, which had turned into garden following his decision to become an indie videogame developer and work from home. Felix wore a dark red suit with pink accents inside the jacket while Naomi got a hand-made red wedding jumpsuit with a train in the back. She ditched the vail in favor of having two small sections of her hair being braided on the top being visible. All things considered, it was a pretty small wedding. Catherine was the reason it wasn't as small as it could have been, her girlfriend had convinced her to attempt to reconnect with her brothers, who were too relieved that she was alive to question the fact that she didn't look a day over 30 and the youngest had gotten along with Felix quite well.
As a wedding gift, one of them gave Naomi and Felix a white kitten that someone had found and surrendered to the shelter he works at. They named him Caine.