Page 67 of Fire & Ice

“‘Bout time,” Christian scoffs when Beau and Tripp separate, despite Beau being nothing but smiles and good cheer at the arrival of his brother. Leander can almostfeelthe room drop twenty degrees just from the icy sneer in his voice, the chilling disdain in his tone. “You two are really making a habit out of being late, huh? No respect for your brother and his wife, always getting up to some bullshit together that’s more important than your commitments, aren’t you? Wonder whose turn it was this time?”

He’s openly mocking, and even Brett puts a hand on his shoulder, mumbling something under his breath that Leander can’t hear but makes Christian roll his eyes. Before things can escalate, and they’re close—Leander feels Tripp’s entire body tensing and radiating anger beside him, so it’s just a matter of time—Beau and Bri's officiant sweeps in from the sanctuary andunwittingly saves the couple’s rehearsal from devolving into a bloodbath. At least, for the time being.

“Good evening to my happy couple, welcome to all of their beloved family and friends!” The priest is an older man with gray hair and kind eyes, casually dressed in his black clerical shirt, pants, and collar. Seemingly grateful for the distraction, everyone pivots physically to hear what he has to say, budding spat forgotten.

Everyone, that is, except for Tripp, Christian, and Leander. And Mickey, actually, Leander notices—the fire chief is eyeing up Christian with a furious expression that suggests he might actually be more of a danger to the guy than Tripp is, should shit actually hit the proverbial fan. It’s only Reina’s insistent tugging at his elbow that seemingly keeps him where he is, but Leander’s fairly certain that if Christian doesn’t knock it off, they all might be attending a funeral tomorrow instead of a wedding.

Even as the priest talks, reviewing the procedures for the next day, the relevant parts of the ceremony, and what each of their roles will be, Tripp and Christian continue shooting daggers at each other with their eyes. Tripp is eventually required to let go of his hand when they pair off to walk down the aisle, but he’s escorting Ro, who touches Leander’s arm and quietly assures him that she’ll have Tripp’s back, and that she “has a knife in her boot,” a statement that Leander isn’t sure whether or not he’s supposed to be comforted by.

For his part, Leander’s paired with one of Bri's nursing friends, Avery, and the way she eyes him up is thelastthing he needs to deal with right now. Doing his best to politely blow her off, Leander genially offers his arm and then hums quiet, noncommittal acknowledgment to any comments or flirtations directed his way. The two of them are following directly behindTripp and Ro in the procession, and Leander goes through the motions of thoughtfully practicing their part, all without dragging his eyes away from his best friend.

“Really gone on him, huh?” Avery murmurs, when they’re halfway down the aisle.

Up ahead, Bri's wedding coordinator is hollering at Tripp to, “slow down, take your time, it isn’t a race!” from the front of the church.

“What? Oh,” Leander replies distractedly. “No, I—” He lifts his eyebrows and shakes his head. “Just hoping to avoid this whole thing turning into a bad tribute to aGame of Thronesepisode.” Avery laughs and leans into his side, very clearly turning on the charm. She’s conventionally attractive, and maybe in another time and place, Leander could be interested in getting to know her, but she couldn’t hold a candle to Tripp on her best day, and today isnotthat.

At the foot of the altar, he and Avery separate, and Leander takes his place beside Tripp, very intentionally keeping his back turned to the two troublemakers behind him. The rest of the rehearsal flows flawlessly. Tripp producing ring pops from his pocket in place of the real thing, which makes everyone laugh and lightens the lingering tension significantly.

Beau and Bri are adorable. They can’t stop touching each other, or smiling and laughing stupidly, the way two people who are madly in love tend to do. Their priest is charismatic and has a good sense of humor, everyone seems relaxed and confident in their roles, and by the time they’re all walking out the front door of the church, things actually seem like they might work out. Most importantly, Christian keeps his damn mouth shut.

“You’re doing fine,” Leander reassures Tripp, as they descend the steps back to his car. The group has temporarilysplit with the goal of relocating to a restaurant several streets over, and Leander’s not unhappy to have a moment alone.

“You can’t let him bait you,” he continues as they both slide into the car and Tripp turns it around. “Had we not both been through so much today, I’d suggest a bit of ‘stress relief’ in the back seat before heading inside to eat, but honestly, I think that might be tempting the Gods at this point. If it were up to me, we’d certainly be in bed together right now, but sleeping, not fucking.”

That makes Tripp laugh, loud and unexpected, and after he’s parked, he reaches out to cup the side of Leander’s head, firmly holding his gaze. “Thank you,” he says sincerely, his expression sobering. “Dunno how I’d get through this without you. Beau deserves better than me losing my cool over some douchenozzle and his badly-dealt-with internalized homophobia.”

Leander just smiles and peels Tripp’s hand from his head, threading their fingers together once they’re settled in his lap. “I hope you know that I feel the same,” he says, and then rolls his eyes. “About you, not regarding the self-hating asshole. Though, I do agree with your assessment.”

Something outside the window distracts Tripp before he can reply, catching his attention and making him growl under his breath. Unsurprisingly, it’s Christian, flipping them two middle fingers as he passes by the car on his way towards the restaurant.

“Down, Tripp,” Leander says immediately, kind but firm as Tripp bristles. He squeezes Tripp’s hand. “Be my good boy.”

Next to him, Tripp visibly struggles before relenting, relaxing slightly as Christian and Brett head inside and out ofsight. “Good boy,” Leander reiterates, and Tripp blows out a breath, nodding like he’s psyching himself up.

“Yeah,” he says, still staring at the restaurant door, and Leander can almost see his mindset shifting, watch the gears turning. Is he—really?“Alright. I can be good for you, Sir. That’s what Beau would want.”

Leander’sfloored.Tripp’s slipping into sub-mode by mere suggestion, just to get himself through a difficult moment where he feels as if hemaylose control. If the two of them hadn’t been blurring lines left and right all night, Leander might stop him, might drag him out of it, but this—this is somethingnew.This has nothing to do with sex, and it isn’t even aboutLeanderatall.It’s a risk, for sure, but it wasn’t his suggestion, and maybe it’s not his choice to make. If this is what Tripp wants, Leander can support him through it, can look out for and protect him while he works the problem.

After all, that’s what he’s meant to have been doing all along.

“Let’s go inside, Tripp. You can show me how good you can be.”

Dinner proceeds smoothly, and Leander is both surprised and impressed at Tripp’s motivated demonstration of self-control. Beau and Bri are completely wrapped up in each other, too immersed in their own vibe to be any kind of in tune with whatTrippis doing way across the table, but Tripp is fine. Great, even. He’s calm, collected, polite, charming. He lets Christian’s occasional snide comments roll over his shoulders and off of his back without giving even the slightest indication he’s heard them.

Christian hates it. In fact, by the time their salad plates are cleared away, he’s seething openly and becoming restless. Still, Tripp doesn’t react.

In fact, right before the entrees come out, Tripp actually stands up and gives a lovely, touching toast to the almost-newlyweds, one that brings his future sister-in-law to the brink of tears, and has Beau jumping out of his seat to drag him into a fierce, back-clapping hug. After that and throughout the remainder of both dinner and desert, Tripp continues to be stunning. He makes appropriate jokes, drinks sparingly, and eats politely.

He’sperfect,he’s a vision,and Leander has never been prouder.

Behind the scenes, Tripp is relying heavily on Leander to help him through every move he’s publicly executing, but there’s no shame in a submissive leaning on their Dom for support. It’s support that Leander is more than happy to provide, at that. The truth is, Tripp’s doing a lot more via his own sheer willpower than he’s likely giving himself credit for.

Every so often, though, he’ll turn to Leander, meet his gaze, and something unspoken will pass between them. In return, Leander will hold his hand beneath the table. He’ll squeeze his thigh in warning, or lean in to whisper a soft word of encouragement (or reprimand) in his ear, whatever he feels Tripp needs to hear at the time.

It works. They make it through the entire meal and all of the socializing, and the only fight that erupts is a good-natured one over the bill. In the end, Mickey and Reina emerge victorious, and the only threats exchanged are very clearly jokes between family, banter fueled by love as the driving force behind it.

For a minute, Leander thinks they’re actually going to pull this off.

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