To the Aisle

by mousefeelings

Summary:

Cosmo was not who Cupid had planned for Wanda. He intended to set her up with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Juandissimo. They were cute together. Who didn’t like pink and purple? And for Cosmo, well… He would figure something out eventually.

But even Cupid messed up, sometimes.

Notes:

Hiiii. Here's another thing already. We know how Cosmo and Wanda got together, technically, but a cartoon of their era was never *that* concerned with continuity, so it's a story with some inconsistencies. So I have free reign to write my own spin on it, I should think. Although I guess that's true regardless. So anyway, it takes elements from canon but also a lot of stuff I just made up. This is a bit of an experiment for me because it's non-linear. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Prologue

Cosmo was not who Cupid had planned for Wanda. He intended to set her up with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Juandissimo. They were cute together. Who didn’t like pink and purple? And for Cosmo, well… He would figure something out eventually.

But even Cupid messed up, sometimes.

He preferred to get his lunch late in the afternoon, after the rush, even though it was frequented–and waited–by kids out of school. He didn’t mind them too much. Love made him stronger, and the intensified feelings of teen fairies experiencing their first loves were potent. Seated at the counter, he jotted notes as he sipped his cream and sugar with a splash of coffee.

Cupid could sense attraction in any living thing. Cosmo, the new waiter at Fairy World Diner, thought Wanda, a girl out with friends, was the most beautiful fairy he’d ever seen the moment she floated in. Wanda, in turn, thought he was cute, but was already in a relationship. Not Juandissimo this time. Right now, it was some boy called Teddy she would quickly get bored of and forget about as soon as she broke up with him.

They were hardly the only ones. Across the room, a girl’s heart pounded at the glimpse of a butch line cook with large arms. A boy working the counter contemplated breaking up with his girlfriend. A popular girl by the jukebox eyed her next prize. In the restroom, a fairy sobbed with jealousy. A couple seated in a booth across from one another struggled to talk about homework without getting lost in each other’s eyes. An old married couple bickered lovingly in the corner.

So, Cupid was content to leave Cosmo and Wanda’s interest there. It happened all the time.

He would have, too, had it not been for the thread Fate left for him to trip over. As he was getting ready to pay, he dropped some change. It rolled across the floor, and Cupid flew out after it, facing downward, not really paying attention… until he heard a cry of, “Oh!” And the clatter of a tray of food falling over. He grimaced, knowing exactly what happened.

His arrow had jabbed Cosmo just as he was about to hand Wanda her meal. And since he was looking right at her, he fell instantly head over heels in love.

“Oh, shoot,” Cupid muttered under his breath. He paid his bill and hurried out, hoping nobody noticed. He decided to let it go. As much as it pained him, it wouldn’t be the first time love went unrequited.

Chapter 2

Notes:

I know I said this is non-linear but it is kinda funny how this wound up being a flash forward that contains a flashback that kinda got away from me. It was originally way shorter. lol Also the title, I forgot to mention, comes from a 1957 song by the Five Satins. I felt it was thematically appropriate. I was going to give the chapters song-related titles but I can't think of one for this one. So oh well.

When Wanda's mother moved out, she left her wedding dress behind.

“I won’t need it again,” she said. “That was a one-and-done thing.”

So, on an unannounced visit to Big Daddy, Wanda carefully folded the dress and stuffed it in her bag.

Wanda was already living on her own, having convinced her father to let her live in the dormitories at the Fairy Academy. They were very secure, after all. For her second year she lied and told him she still lived at the dorms when, in actuality, she split an apartment with some other girls.

And now she was lying to Big Daddy again. She didn't need an excuse to come home, as she visited frequently anyway. But she had an ulterior motive. She was lying by omission. She had lied to her father before, both directly and by omission. But this was by far the biggest deceit of her life.

The plan had been hatched about a week before, when Cosmo and Wanda met in the park.

The two were one of many couples hidden beneath the foliage, canoodling and pretending not to notice the other couples present, also canoodling. Hidden beneath a tree, Cosmo withdrew his hands from under Wanda’s shirt and laid back while she re-hooked her bra.

She poofed a compact into her hand and wiped away her smeared lipstick with a hanky. Quite a bit of it wound up on Cosmo's face.

“Here, let me just…” she cleaned away the smudges on Cosmo, who couldn't afford to go home covered in lipstick. When she sat back, he looked up at her starry-eyed, and butterflies fluttered in her stomach.

“Hey, Wanda,” he lowered his voice to a whisper. “Wanna sneak down to earth?”

“To earth?” she replied. “I’ve never been!”

“Me neither!” Cosmo said. “Let’s go!”

“Oh… okay!” Wanda said, and they both raised their wands.

They teleported into a snowy valley at dusk. Wanda shivered.

“It’s cold!” she exclaimed. The two poofed into big coats and cozy mittens. Wanda landed on the ground and gathered some snow into her hands. “I’ve never seen snow before.”

“Me, neither,” Cosmo said, joining her on the ground. 

They rolled the snow into balls and patted it into a snow fairy. As Wanda searched for a suitable twig to use as a wand, she felt a thud against the back of her head, and a freezing, wet ball slid down the back of her coat. She shrieked and turned to see Cosmo giggling and tossing a snowball in one hand.

“Why, you!” she exclaimed, and gave chase. She tossed fistfulls of snow at him, not bothering to form them into balls. They circled back around to the snow fairy when Wanda finally caught up and pinned Cosmo to the ground. He grinned up at her.

“You’ve got snowflakes caught in your eyelashes,” he said.

“You’ve got them in your hair,” Wanda replied.

“You look so pretty like that,” he said. “It’s too bad they’ll melt.”

“Ooh!”

A coo startled them both, and they turned to see a human child watching them.

“Oh!” Cosmo and Wanda hid behind their snow fairy, and peeked out at the child. She was nearly as small as them, bundled up in furs, and looked at them with a finger in her mouth.

“She's too young to know what we are,” Wanda whispered.

“Are you lost?” Cosmo asked, and flew up higher. “Your village is over there!” He pointed to a spot in the distance.

“Cosmo, it's getting dark!” Wanda said. “What should we do?”

“Hmm…” he tapped his chin. “We'd better take her home.” He turned into a wolf and got low to the ground. “Put her on my back!”

Wanda lifted the child onto Cosmo's back and sat behind her to help hold her upright. He followed the trail with his nose. It seemed a long way for a toddler to walk, but a class at the Fairy Academy emphasized that small children can traverse surprising distances on their own. Hence, it was important to stay close. In the distance, she could hear humans calling a name.

Cosmo stopped on the outskirts of the village and laid down. Wanda helped the child off.

“Wolf!” A human guarding a fire in the center of the village shouted. Wanda changed into a wolf as well and nudged the child forward with her snout. The child glanced back at the fairies, but toddled toward the villagers emerging to chase off the oddly-colored wolves.

“Run!” Wanda exclaimed, and she and Cosmo bolted into the hilly forest. They zigzagged through the trees, and only stopped when they felt sure they had lost the humans pursuing them. They changed back and sat down at the top of a hill.

“I think we did good,” he said, and grinned at her. Wanda smiled back, and rested her head on his shoulder.

“Yeah,” she said, a little choked up. “You’re going to be such a good godfather.” Her eyes started to water.

“Is something wrong?” Cosmo asked.

“No, nothing is wrong, Cosmo,” Wanda said. “I love you!”

“Me?” Cosmo pointed to himself. “You love… me?” Wanda laughed and delicately dried her eyes with her handkerchief before they froze over.

“Yes, you!” She gave his shoulder a playful shove.

“Ahaha! She loves me! She loves meeee!” Cosmo hugged himself and rolled down the snowy hill.

“Cosmo!” Wanda cried, and rolled after him. She landed on top of him, and they both laughed as they embraced. Their cheeks were rosy from the cold.

“I love you, too, Wanda,” Cosmo said. “I’ve loved you since high school!”

They lay together for a moment in silence, watching the snow fall.

“I want to spend eternity with you,” Wanda whispered as she stroked Cosmo's cheek.

“You do?” he asked. She kissed him.

“Yes.”

“Wanda!” Cosmo grabbed both her hands. He tried to lace their fingers together, but they were still wearing mittens. “Let's get married!”

“Oh, Cosmo, yes!” Wanda said. “Here’s what we’ll do…”

And so she was stealing her mother's dress a few days before a wedding she wasn't telling her family about.

As much as she loved him, the fact was, Big Daddy wouldn't understand. He never approved of her boyfriends. Wanda knew he was talking with an associate of his, trying to set her up with his son.

Wanda wanted him there to lead her down the aisle. But she couldn't risk him telling her, “No, you can't do that.”

So, the next morning, she gave her father a kiss goodbye and waved as she headed back to the apartment he also didn’t know about, toting a stolen wedding dress, two days from a wedding she had told no one about.

Back in her room, Wanda shoved the duffel bag under her bed, locked her door, and tried to go about her routine.

She went to class and half-paid attention. Any class they shared, Wanda tried not to steal glances at Cosmo. But who could resist his sweet face? Whenever their eyes met, he would grin conspiratorially at her.

After dinner, she sat in the den with the girls watching TV. It occurred to Wanda she hadn't really thought out the living arrangements. She couldn't move in with Cosmo, as he lived with his mother. She supposed she would have to sneak him into her place and hope the landlord didn't notice, and move out once the lease was up. That would have to be it. She would look at listings until then. They’d find a place and live there their senior year. And once they graduated, they would live with their godchild. Yes, this would work out fine.

Although she wasn’t exactly looking forward to having to share a twin bed with Cosmo, however temporarily. Maybe he could sleep on the couch.

As she got ready for bed, Wanda could feel the dress in the bag beneath her bed, as though it were staring at her. She couldn't resist anymore.

She opened it up and pulled the dress out with reverence. She held it up against her chest, and a thought occurred to her: what if it didn't fit?

Wanda undid the buttons down the back and stepped into the dress, keeping her eyes off the mirror. She magiced the buttons closed and felt up and down the bodice. She reached up and out to test the sleeves. It fit fine, considering she put it on over her pajamas. She put on the veil and stood up straight.

Her heart thrummed in her chest, and Wanda turned to face the mirror.

“Oh, my,” she breathed. “Oh, my.”

The dress had a train that trailed from where she floated down to the floor. Little beads decorated the bodice, and the puff sleeves reminded her of the dress she wore the day they met.

This was how Cosmo would see her. She blushed at the thought.

“Just two more days.”

Notes:

second base is "teen and up" appropriate, right? Anyway, those two totally eloped, right? FOP you can SHOW me them having a wedding ceremony in a cathedral but I KNOW they eloped. Neither parent knew their kid was married!

Chapter 3

Notes:

hello again, thank you for all your kind comments. I like replying to comments but I am shy in the extreme so I get overwhelmed and don't know what to say. Also why I rarely comment on other people's fics even when I really enjoy them. Ack

Wanda was a girl out of reach.

Cosmo knew, vaguely, the first time he saw her, that they went to the same school. They had no classes together, and had no mutual friends. Not that Cosmo had much in the way of friends to begin with.

He checked his yearbooks and confirmed: there she was. Wanda Fairywinkle. She ran distance on the track team in spring, and played basketball in winter. She was on the yearbook committee, and perhaps because of that, she appeared fairly often. In one photo, she held a cake decorated with the phrase, “SORRY ABOUT DEAD PEOPLE.” Beneath it was captioned, “Us, too, Wanda.” (Years later, godchildren would ask what that meant, but Wanda couldn't remember.) Most of the time, she was pictured with other people.

That was a constant. He never saw her alone.

When she came into the Fairy World Diner, she was always with friends. Before classes started, she would sit and chat with them on the wall in front of the school. Between classes, she would talk to her boyfriend by his locker. Any time he caught a glimpse of the two of them, Cosmo would poof up a piece of construction paper and tear it into tiny pieces. Then he would eat them, for good measure.

One day, he chose to do something he had never tried before. He had never had reason to.

“Mama, I have work right after school today,” Cosmo said.

“You do?” Mama Cosma asked. “That's awfully last minute.”

“Haha, well,” Cosmo began to sweat. “You know how it is in food service.”

“All right. But come straight home after your shift ends,” she said, holding up a stern finger.

“Yes, mama,” he said.

After school ended for the day, Cosmo bolted to the bleachers to watch track practice. Wanda wasn't outside, and he began to grow nervous. He hadn't actually seen her all day. Was she out sick? Had he lied to his mother for nothing?

Wanda appeared on the field, and Cosmo breathed a sigh of relief. She sat down on the grass to stretch, talking with friends as she did.

Ordinarily, Wanda wore dresses that ended mid-calf. Now, she wore a tank top and tight shorts. There was something thrilling about the sight of a girl’s knees. The stretches weren't what he came to watch, but Wanda was limber, and the sight of her bending and pulling at different parts of her body made Cosmo's pulse quicken.

Wanda joined other fairies on the track in what Cosmo guessed was a warm-up. They were jogging lightly, not sprinting. He stood up and cheered when she passed by, and she glanced his way. Another fairy, presumably a friend, snickered and whispered something to Wanda.

Soon, they were at the starting places, and Cosmo could hear the coach’s “On your marks… get set… go!”

Wanda and the other runners took off, and Cosmo cheered again. They made off down the track, only to then go off the track and run a path that seemed to circumvent the school. Within minutes, he could no longer see her. He supposed that must be what the yearbook meant by “distance” running.

It was probably half an hour before he saw Wanda again. Once again, he stood up and cheered, and she waved to him. After crossing the finish line, she sat down in the grassy field encircled by the track. The friend who had run with her earlier laid down beside her.

Practice wrapped up with a cool down lap around the track, and more stretches. Afterward, Wanda flew up to the bleachers.

“Hi there,” she said. “Cosmo, right?”

“Yeah!” Cosmo said, thrilled she knew his name.

“I think you’ve been the waiter every time I’ve gone to the Fairy World Diner,” Wanda said. “But we’ve never really had a conversation.”

“Haha, yeah,” he said. “Um, sorry again about, you know…”

“Water under the bridge, Cosmo,” she said, and wiggled her hand in a motion suggesting a river.

“Ooh! I can make a bird!” Cosmo said, and mimed a bird flapping its wings with his hands. Wanda giggled.

“How did you know I run track?” she asked.

“Um, well, I saw it in the yearbook,” he replied.

“Fair enough!” she said. “It is nice to have somebody cheering for me.”

“You’re great at running,” Cosmo said. “And stretching.” Wanda giggled again, and Cosmo felt warm.

“I was going to go see one of my favorite films,” she said. “Want to come?”

“Me?” he asked. Wanda nodded.

“I was going to go by myself. But it’s one of my favorites! I need somebody to talk about this movie with!” she said.

“Uh. Uh. Uh. Yeah! Yeah, I'll go to a movie with you!” His ears turned red. Wanda’s practice only took up two hours. He still had another two before Mama Cosma would get worried. He had plenty of time.

“Ordinarily, I’d go with friends,” Wanda explained. “But they’re all busy.”

“Even your boyfriend?” Cosmo asked. Wanda waggled her hand.

“We’re kind of ‘off’ right now,” she said. Cosmo grinned.

Wanda went to the locker room to get dressed, so Cosmo got his car and parked it by the entrance to the football field. He waved when he saw her, but despite being right in front of her, Wanda seemed to case the parking lot before getting in.

“Hi, Wanda. I was right here,” he said.

“Oh, I know,” she said. “I had a ride. I asked a friend to say I got a ride with another friend of mine.”

Cosmo hummed in acknowledgement, unsure what that meant.

The film Wanda wanted to see was a noir heist film called Fifirifi. She bought a large popcorn for them to share, and paid no attention to Cosmo the whole film. Cosmo, in turn, kept stealing glances at her. She sat on the edge of her seat, leaning up against the empty seat in front of her with her hands beneath her chin.

There was one exception. In the middle of the film, during a tense scene, they both reached for popcorn, and their hands brushed. Both jerked back, and Wanda glanced at him apologetically before going back to the movie. Cosmo’s skin tingled where their hands touched.

When the lights went up, Wanda turned to him with wide eyes and a big smile.

“Wasn’t it great?” she gushed as they floated out to the lobby. “I love this movie!”

“They all died!” Cosmo said.

“Yes! That’s part of what makes it so good,” she said. 

“It does?” he asked.

“Sometimes a movie isn’t good because it ends well,” Wanda said. “Sometimes a movie is good because it shakes you to your core.”

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a movie that didn’t have a happy ending before,” Cosmo said. Wanda grabbed both of his hands and looked at him, wide-eyed.

“I have so much to show you,” she said.

Wanda launched into the value of tragedy, and of bittersweet or disappointing endings. She went off on a tangent about how the profundity of a particular scene, and how much it meant to her. She went on another tangent about the brilliant sound design and the choice to have the extensive heist scene be conducted with no score, only ambient sound.

“Sorry for rambling so much,” Wanda said, looking bashfully at her feet.

“I don’t mind,” Cosmo said.

“My friends hate it when I go on about this stuff,” she said with a laugh. “I get a little carried away.”

“You can get carried away with me,” he said. Wanda smiled.

“Next week, they’re screening another favorite of mine, The Fourth Man,” she said. “Would you like to come?”

“Would I!”

Cosmo drove her home, and checked his watch as he pulled into his own driveway. He was an hour late.

The house was dimly lit when Cosmo entered.

“Hello, mama,” he called out.

“Cosmo, dear,” Mama Cosma said, her voice measured. She did not get up from her lounge chair. “Where have you been?”

“At work, mama,” Cosmo said, breaking into a sweat again. “My–my shift ran long. Sorry for not calling you.”

“Is that so?” she said. “Because I called Mr. Presto, and he told me you weren’t scheduled today.” Cosmo’s eyes darted around the room in search of an escape route.

“Uh… uh…”

“So I’ll ask you again. Where have you been?” Mama Cosma’s hands were folded neatly in her lap.

“I–I went to a movie,” he said.

“For five hours? That’s an awfully long movie, Cosmo,” she said.

“Well, the first part–the first two hours I was cheering on a friend at track practice,” Cosmo said. “And then we went to a movie. And then we just talked for a while. I lost track of time.”

“And this ‘friend’ of yours,” Mama Cosma floated up to him. “Would they happen to be a girl?”

“N–no,” he said.

“Cosmo-lo-lo, it hurts mama’s heart when you lie to her,” she said. “I can smell her perfume. You were with a girl.”

“Only as friends, mama!” Cosmo clasped his hands together. “I swear! We were just sitting next to each other!”

“I’m terribly disappointed, Cosmo,” Mama Cosma said. “I told Mr. Presto you will not be in for a week. You’re grounded.”

“But–”

“No ‘buts,’” she said, and Cosmo giggled in spite of himself. “I’ve made you supper. Come on, then.”

Cosmo ate his supper in silence. Ordinarily he would chat about his day, but the words wouldn’t come. He told his mother goodnight and shut himself in his room. After climbing into bed, he pressed his palms against his cheeks and sighed happily. His hands still tingled from when Wanda grabbed them.

Chapter 4

Cupid’s plan did not seem to be working.

His idea was that Wanda and Juandissimo would get together seriously after high school. Indeed, they had been broken up for some time–a year and a half, the longest they had ever been apart–and gotten back together after graduation. He had even shot them with real love arrows. This wasn’t puppy love. Or at least, it wasn’t supposed to be.

Wanda pinched Juandissimo again. He gasped, sat up, and grinned at her before turning back to the screen. That was the third time she’d had to wake him up.

“What did you think of the movie?” Wanda asked as they exited the theater.

“Querida, I only have eyes for you,” Juandissimo replied with a wink.

“Oh.” Wanda looked down at her feet. “Well, I always like Fairini’s films. This one was a bit different from the others.” She looked over at Juandissimo, who watched their reflection in the store windows they passed by.

“Uh-huh,” he said.

“I thought it was one you might like, since it's more, I guess, decadent than his other films. There's, um, an interesting aesthetic contrast,” she said.

“Uh-huh.”

“My favorite part was the bit with the fountain,” she said.

“I see,” Juandissimo said.

“But I still think my favorite Fairini film is Nights with Patrizia,” Wanda continued. “It’s, uh… a really beautiful film about loneliness…”

Night in Fairy World looked different from night on earth. The sky was lit and darkened by magic, so it was never fully dark, more closely resembling twilight. The stars above were a mix of actual stars and particles of magic caught in the sky. There was no sun and no moon. In the low light, fairy dust glittered off Juandissimo's skin.

Wanda glanced into the square at a fountain pouring rainbow-colored water from its spouts. She wanted to jump in and dance in it.

“Could you take me home?” she asked Juandissimo. “I'm tired.”

---

The next day, Wanda sat at her vanity and held a photo of her and Juandissimo. 

What did she have to show for their relationship, for all the cumulative years they had been together?

Certainly, he could be sweet. And romantic. She met him at a candy store when he bought a box of chocolates just to give to her. Her favorite memories of him were times they jammed together, with him on guitar and her on piano.

Wanda loved the Magnifico family. She had made cookies with Juandissimo’s mother and played chess with his father. She quilted with his grandmother and bicycled around the city with his sister.

Juandissimo himself, though…

His primary method of expressing affection was to give her gifts, usually of candy or clothing or a clip for her hair. All of which Wanda appreciated. She enjoyed being spoiled. She liked that he drew attention to the two of them when they went out, so everyone could see how much they loved each other. She didn’t mind the suggestions he had for how to wear her hair, or her makeup, or style her outfits.

Or, she didn’t mind until the obvious slapped her in the face: Juandissimo cared most about how they looked together. She knew he liked to be seen, of course; one would have to be pretty dense to not notice he was vain. But he could see beauty in almost anything. Many words had been used to describe Wanda’s appearance–often to her face–but Juandissimo was the first to tell her she was beautiful. That, ultimately, was why she kept letting him sweet-talk her into getting back together.

She had to wonder if all the times he stared deeply into her eyes he was just gazing at his own reflection.

Wanda pulled the bobby pins from her hair and brushed it out. She opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of shears.

“I need a change,” she said aloud to herself. “A real, tangible change.”

Wanda had cut and styled her own hair for years. Still, her hands trembled as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and hacked it off. She heaved in a deep breath and continued, trimming the hair around her face. The end result was a style that, in the 1960s on earth, would be called a pixie cut, to fairy chagrin. She teased the roots with a comb and some hairspray and thought she looked pretty cute.

Wanda flew to her desk and opened a drawer. Inside was the first valentine Juandissimo ever gave her. It was heart-shaped, with patterns of flowers surrounding her face, all cut out like lace. It had no words on it; it was simply beautiful. Of all the times they were together, it was the most thoughtful gift he had ever given her. It may have been the only thoughtful gift he had ever given her.

“It’s the only way,” she said.

Wanda moved her phone closer to where she sat and dialed Juandissimo’s number. She liked watching the rotary dial spin, and realized she had dialed a number wrong. She grunted and hung up before trying again.

“Hello, Mrs. Magnifico! May I speak to Juandissimo? Hello, Juandissimo. I need to see you. Whenever you're free. All right, that sounds good. I'll see you at three.”

Wanda threw herself on her bed. She did not want to do this again.

---

Wanda waited on a bench in the park. Juandissimo appeared and struck a pose. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

“Wanda, I–” he stopped and raised his eyebrows. “What happened to your hair?”

“I cut it,” she replied.

“Oh. Well, you know. It looks nice,” he said with a shrug. He smiled and sat down beside her, putting his arm around her shoulder.

“Juandissimo, our time together has meant a lot to me,” Wanda said. “That’s why I wanted to talk about this with you in person.”

“Yes?” Juandissimo said, hearts in his eyes.

“It’s over,” she said. The hearts in his eyes shattered.

“Wanda, wait! Let us not be hasty!” Juandissimo said. “We have only been back together a month, after all. Is it because I fell asleep in the theater? I’m sorry, corazón!”

“That’s not why,” she said.

“Then why!” he cried. He fell to his knees and clutched her skirt. “What can I do to make you change your mind?”

“There’s nothing you can do because this relationship has never worked,” Wanda said. 

“¡Te llevo en el alma!” he wailed.

“I don't think that's true,” she said and untangled his fingers from her skirts. He floated back up to face her eye-to-eye. “I think your love is shallow. That’s why I’m ending it. For good, this time.”

“But–” he started.

“And to prove I mean it, I brought this,” Wanda poofed the valentine into her hands. She ripped it in two and handed it back to him. Juandissimo froze in midair with his jaw hanging open. “Goodbye.” She almost added, “Nice knowing you,” but thought better of it. She didn’t want to give him false hope of reconciliation.

Wanda poofed back into her room and sighed. She sat before her vinyl crate and pulled out her saddest records. For the first album of her pity party, she put on a Johnnie Fairay and curled up on her bed.

She didn’t regret it. It was the right choice. But the tears flowed anyway.

Notes:

Cosmo? Never heard of him.

Chapter 5

Daylight cast a warm glow over the room as Cosmo woke up in his childhood bed for the penultimate time. Tomorrow, he would wake up alone in the morning and go to sleep that night with his wife.

The thought made him lightheaded. His wife. He and Wanda were about to pledge their eternal love for each other, and be legally and magically bound together. Even though he was the one to ask, and Wanda had eagerly agreed, Cosmo still didn't quite believe it. Maybe she thought he asked her something else, and came up with a plan to meet up in secret for some other reason. Maybe he did ask her to do something else and he only thought he asked her to marry him. Maybe he asked her to dig a hole and bury him in it by mistake and she agreed because that made more sense than her agreeing to marry him.

Panic seized his heart, and he shot out of bed. He slammed into the door and remembered, lying on the floor, he needed to get dressed. He poofed into uniform. Today his schedule consisted mostly of drills.

Cosmo teleported to the phone and started to dial Wanda’s number, but dropped the phone midway through. It clattered against the floor and swung from a coiled wire that reminded Cosmo of her hair. He pushed the receiver and started again. His hands trembled as he waited for the rotary to spin back into place after each number.

“Who are you trying to call so frantically first thing in the morning, Cosmo?” Mama Cosma asked. He hadn’t seen her at the table, eating breakfast. Cosmo slammed the phone down.

“No one, mama!” he said. “I was just, um, testing the phone line.”

“You don’t need to do that, dear,” she said, and picked up her teacup. “It’s working fine.”

“Okay, well, I need to go,” Cosmo said. “I have something I need to do before school.” He still needed to come up with an excuse for why he had to leave the house tomorrow. It was Saturday, so, of course, he had the day off from school. He wasn’t scheduled to work, either.

“You’re not going anywhere without breakfast first,” Mama Cosma said, pointing to his spot at the table. “Most important meal of the day, dear.”

“Yes, mama,” he said and sat down to a breakfast of eggs, sausage, and beans on toast. And a glass of milk. He lifted the carton and weighed the contents with his hand, an idea forming in his head.

---

“Wanda! Wanda!” Cosmo called in the quad. An arm reached up out of the throng of students and waved. Wanda appeared beside him and smiled. She wore a sweater that revealed nothing yet emphasized everything, and black pedal-pushers that hugged her butt nicely. Not that Cosmo was looking.

“Hi Cosmo!” she said. He grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Wanda!” He teleported them to an empty classroom. “Wanda, we’re getting–you’re going to marry me tomorrow, right? I didn’t accidentally ask you to dig a hole and bury me in it? That’s not what I asked you to do, is it? I asked you to marry me?”

Wanda smiled and pulled Cosmo close. She pressed her lips to his, just barely at first, and then a little harder. She parted her lips for him to enter, and he sighed through his nose. Their tongues glided over one another, and Wanda ran hers along the roof of his mouth, causing him to shiver. She ran her fingers through his hair with one hand and rubbed his chest with the other. They parted, breathless, and smiled at each other.

“What was I freaking out about again?” Cosmo asked.

“You were just excited about our wedding tomorrow,” Wanda replied. She wrapped her arms over his shoulders. He put his hands on her waist.

“You’re right!” he exclaimed. He peppered kisses around her face. Wanda giggled and kicked her feet.

“I can hardly wait!” she said and rested her head on his shoulder. “Oh, Cosmo. We’ll never have to say ‘goodbye’ again. I have my dress in my room. Soon, it’ll be our room.”

“Oh, that’s right!” Cosmo said. “I need to rent a tux.”

“Do that after class today,” Wanda said. “Otherwise, you’ll have to get married in your work uniform.” They both giggled at the idea, and rubbed their noses together.

Cosmo and Wanda jumped, quickly pulling apart, as the classroom door opened and the lights turned on. The sweater-vested professor seemed just as surprised to see them as they were to see him.

“Hey! Whaddya think this is, lover’s lane?” he shook his wand at them. “Get outta here!”

In the hall, Cosmo and Wanda kissed again, more chastely, before parting ways. As she flew away, he traced the contours of her body with his eyes. He supposed if anyone had the right to look, it was him. He was her fiancé, after all.

---

Cosmo had long found running drills easier when he had something to look forward to, or semesters when he and Wanda did them at the same time. These had to be the easiest drills of his life.

A fairy tossed up a clay pigeon, and Cosmo raised his wand. Without thinking about it, it turned into a bouquet. Tomorrow is my wedding day. They tossed up another, and Cosmo fired his wand, turning it into a three-tiered cake. It fell to the ground and splattered everywhere. The next time I do this, I’ll be a married man. A third clay pigeon flew into the air, and when Cosmo’s magic struck it, it turned into a pair of white doves that took off in different directions.

“Cosmo’s in love,” he heard a fairy remark to another.

“Whatta riot,” the other fairy replied.

The Fairy Academy obstacle course had nothing on a fairy with love coursing through his veins. Cosmo crawled under barbed wire without so much as a graze on his wings. A dragon breathed fire at him and he swooped around it. He leapt out of the way of butterfly nets with the grace of a ballerina. He swung from ring to ring. All of them looked gold.

After a few rounds, a whistle blew, and the fairies lined up and stood at attention. Jorgen von Strangle walked slowly before them, barking orders of, “Shoulders back!” and “Fix that uniform!” and “No wands in formation!”

“Cosmo!” Jorgen stopped and pointed at him. “Wipe that goofy smile from your face or I will wipe the floor with you! Now, or you will pay for it with one hundred push-ups!”

“Sir, yes, sir!” Cosmo saluted. He furrowed his brow and frowned. Jorgen leaned down to get in his face. He poked him between the eyes.

“Your eyes are still smiling,” he growled.

“Sorry,” Cosmo said and opened his eyes wide. His vision lost focus, but he could tell the fairy commander continued to scowl at him.

“That is better,” Jorgen said and stood up. “Now drop and give me one hundred!”

“But I did what you asked!” Cosmo exclaimed.

“Not fast enough! Now go!” Jorgen fired a blast of magic at the ground in warning. Cosmo yelped and dropped without further protest. Love for Wanda gave him the strength of a thousand fairies, and he breezed through them. He bit his lip to keep from smiling, but not even Jorgen could stop his heart from soaring. Every beat rang in his ears as Wanda. Wanda. Wanda.

Chapter 6

When Wanda was born, her father was a mere foot soldier for the Tarassaco family. Not a made man and certainly not the boss, they lived in a row house on the wrong side of town. She could still picture the crumbling bricks and the sagging porch. One window had a board over it for a long, long time. The house two houses down was burned out; she never knew why. There was a vacant lot on their street filled with abandoned cars that the neighborhood kids liked to play on no matter how many times their mothers told them not to.

In her early childhood, Wanda shared not only her room with her sister but also her bed. The two of them often went shoeless, as they could fly; shoes were a needless expense. Wanda's earliest memories were of thinned sauce and kick-the-can.

Then her father was inducted into the gang–getting made–and started making real good money. The family moved to a nice house, then a nicer house as he moved up the ranks. He bought lacy dresses for his daughters and ribbons for their hair. They had saddle shoes for every day and patent leather Mary Janes for special occasions. Dinner was always three courses.

Oil popped in the frying pan and burned Wanda’s knuckle. She sucked on her wound and turned the burner down. In the pan were onions, fennel, and anchovies. The other burner boiled a pot of pasta. Waiting to join the pan was a bowl of raisins and saffron soaking in white wine, a bowl of pine nuts, and a plate of fresh sardines chopped into bits. Blonda was supposed to help with the primo while their aunt prepared the secondo of a roast, but, of course, instead she leaned against the counter and complained about something Wanda wasn’t paying attention to.

Instead, her mind wandered to her new friend, Cosmo. What was he having for dinner? Was he the kind of person who decried anchovies and sardines–let alone the two together–as “gross”?

Wanda only really knew two things about Cosmo: one, he was so destructively powerful upon birth that the Fairy Council ruled no more babies could be born. And two, he was descended from Fairy World’s long-defunct aristocracy. The sort of family that turned their nose up at nouveau riche like the Fairywinkles. Not Cosmo, though. He seemed unaware of their class difference.

When she went to the Fairy World Diner, he always seemed to wait on her and her friends. She wondered if he sought to be their waiter, or if it was just coincidence. Following their trip to the movies, she figured it must be the former.

She poured the wine-soaked saffron and raisins into the pan, and the wine sizzled. She leaned forward and breathed in the fragrance. Blonda made a retching sound behind her.

He had missed out on their plans to see The Fourth Man. He simply never showed, and she saw the movie with her bodyguards, who were at least taken with the film’s tense plot and Dutch angles. He hadn’t attended track practice again. He wasn’t working when she last went to the diner, for that matter.

She carefully drained the pasta, saving a portion of the water for the sauce. She moved the sardines to the pan and let them cook a minute before adding the pine nuts.

Wanda didn’t know why she was letting it bother her. He had no obligation to her, nor her to him. They weren’t dating. It wasn’t as if she even like-liked him. They were barely friends, anyway.

She plated the pasta with her magic while she mixed the water into the sauce by hand. She used magic to top the bucatini noodles with sauce, too.

“Help me serve this,” Wanda said. Blonda scoffed and rolled her eyes. Wanda brandished her wand. “I wasn’t asking.”

“Ugh! Fine,” her twin said and grabbed a couple plates. That was as many as she would bother setting, and one was surely for herself.

Big Daddy sat at the head of the table and Wanda sat beside him. The dinner table was crowded with aunts, uncles, cousins, and Blonda, and with so many people all talking over each other, a fairy could hardly hear herself think. She would confront Cosmo. He had made her a promise and broken it; the least he owed her was an explanation. That was all. Wanda was her father’s daughter, and neither one of them liked broken promises.

Everybody knew Wanda was a girl to be reckoned with. Some more than others. She had on occasion done favors for uncles or cousins. Small things, like delivering a package, or smashing someone's windshield with a tire iron. Things she was unlikely to get into too much trouble for should she get caught.

By the time the roast came out, Wanda felt secure in her decision. She ate her dessert with relish.

At school, she searched the halls for Cosmo but had limited time to do so. She hated to be late to class. She got lucky on the way to the bathroom in the middle of fifth period when she found him crawling out of his locker.

“Cosmo!” she said. He leapt nearly a foot in the air with a yelp. “I need to talk to you.” He climbed back into his locker and slammed it shut. “Hey, come on!” She knocked on the door. He opened it a crack.

“Ha ha, yes? What did you need?” Cosmo asked. Wanda forced the locker open wider and pulled him out. Droplets of sweat rolled down his face.

“You made plans with me and never showed,” she said. “What gives? It feels as if you’ve been avoiding me.” Her irritation gave way to concern.

“I’m sorry, Wanda!” he said, and cowered behind his wand. “I wanted to go! But I got grounded!”

“Why? What happened?” she asked. Cosmo hid his face in his shirt. Wanda knelt down and put a hand on his shoulder. “You can tell me, Cosmo.” He peeked up at her with pink cheeks.

“I… I lied to my mama to spend time with you. She doesn’t let me spend time with girls,” he said. “And then I was late coming home, so I got caught.”

“Oh, my,” Wanda said. “I’m sorry, Cosmo.”

“No, I’m sorry, Wanda! I’m sorry I broke my promise!” He buried his face in his hands and wept. She took his hands in hers.

“Don’t cry, it’s all right,” she said. “We can figure something out.”

“We can?” Cosmo looked up at her. She poofed a handkerchief into her hand and dried his tears.

“Of course!” Wanda said. “Let’s see. What can we do…?”

Later that day, Wanda found herself in the cramped office of Mr. Presto, the owner of the Fairy World Diner. She stood on the other side of his little desk, crowded with papers and used coffee mugs. The wall calendar behind him was crowded with notes.

“Mr. Presto, I have an unusual request for you,” she said.

“Let's hear it,” he replied.

“I'm sure you're aware of your employee, Cosmo Cosma's mother,” she said.

“Bit of a nutjob,” he said with a nod. 

“Well, he she punishes him just for having friends and trying to spend time with them. Namely, me. I would appreciate it if you wouldn't rat him out,” she said.

“That certainly is an unusual request,” Presto said and scratched his cheek. “I don’t usually get asked to help a teenager sneak around. His mother worries about him, you know. And she has good reason to. Then again, who am I to get in the way of young love?”

“Oh, that’s not–I mean, we aren’t–” Wanda stammered.

“Cosmo’s a nice kid. I like him. So be good to him, all right?” he said. Wanda hid her face behind her hand, deciding trying to argue the point wasn’t worth it.

“Yeah. Uh, sure,” she said. “Thank you, Mr. Presto.”

She went home red in the face. She started chopping vegetables for dinner while, as usual, Blonda leaned against the counter and complained instead of helping. Her twin gave her a look from the corner of her eye. She could tell Wanda was flustered. But she said nothing about it, instead grabbing a zucchini and punctuating her sentences with it.

Notes:

oh my god we're actually getting kind of close to the end. And I am still working on "I Was a Teenage Peri" but I'm kinda stuck on it. So I keep working on other stuff. Sigh

Chapter 7

Notes:

I am so close to being done with this thing! OMG!

Cosmo had never been to the Fairy World Diner as a customer. Wanda was the one to suggest it as the location for their first date, since it was where they met. Of course she would think of something so simple yet meaningful. She was so smart.

She wore a yellow dress, kitten heels, and a scarf around her neck. In the car, she tied it over her hair and wore a pair of cat eye sunglasses. Her hair was still very short, like the gamine love interest in a film she took him to see once. Regardless, she didn’t want the wind to muss it even a little.

Wanda ordered the same meal she always got–a burger and fries with a milkshake–and Cosmo had a turkey club. He ‘d always wanted the turkey club. The frilly toothpicks called to him.

After, they went to a movie, a romantic comedy Wanda chose called The Fairydelphia Story. It was funnier than Cosmo thought it would be, and midway through, she grabbed his hand. Hopefully she didn’t notice his sweaty palms. If she did, she held on anyway.

Cosmo could hardly believe he had worked up the nerve to ask her on a date, much less that she had agreed. They had grown closer over the last couple weeks, and since then, he was pretty sure she liked him, too. Maybe.

Two weeks earlier, he had been wondering where she was. He was spending his summer vacation working. Wanda hadn’t been to the Fairy World Diner, and he hadn’t seen her out with friends all week.

One evening, as he swept up the dining room, the door jingled as someone entered. Cosmo turned to see a girl with pink hair cut shorter than his. After a moment, he realized it was Wanda. She had ditched the chiffon and lace, bobby socks and saddle shoes of her high school years. Instead, she wore a yellow halter top and black pencil skirt. He kept his eyes on her face and not her curves.

“Oh! Hi, Wanda,” Cosmo said as she approached. His hands twisted around the broom he was holding. “Um, I’m actually closing up.” Wanda looked down to the floor, though not really at the floor.

“Oh,” Wanda sighed. “Okay.” She turned to leave, but Cosmo held out his hand.

“Um! Did you want something in particular?” he asked. Wanda floated near the door with her hands clasped behind her back. She turned to face him again and shrugged.

“I don’t know. Probably just a milkshake,” she said.

“I can make you one,” Cosmo offered. “It’ll be on me.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Wanda said.

“But I want to,” he replied. She smiled at him and his heart leapt.

He hopped behind the counter and pulled out the milk, ice cream, whipped cream, and cherries. Wanda sat at the counter and watched him. He avoided her gaze as he scooped the ice cream into the blender.

“So, um,” Cosmo stammered. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in a while.” He poured the milk and leaned away as he blended, disliking the noise.

“I broke things off with my boyfriend,” she said. “I’ve been holed up in my room feeling sorry for myself.” Now Cosmo was lying across the counter with his chin in his hands, kicking his feet.

“Oh?” he said, unable to hold back his smile. “Didn’t you just get back together with him?”

“Yes,” Wanda said with a roll of her eyes. “For the umpteenth time. And we’ve broken up for the last time! I’m not going to let him sweet-talk me into getting back together again!”

“Yeah! You tell ‘im!” Cosmo said, raising himself up on one hand and pointing with the other. Wanda giggled, and he climbed back over the counter to finish her milkshake.

“I guess I realized that I kept getting back with him because I was comfortable,” Wanda mused. “It was a sort of… familiar mediocrity, and that was less scary than the idea of being single.” Cosmo nodded. She was so wise.

“Being single’s not so bad,” Cosmo said. “Take it from me! I’ve never been in a relationship.” He pointed to himself with his thumb.

“Really?” she asked, sounding genuinely surprised. “A cute guy like you?”

Cosmo blushed, and waved his hand in dismissal.

“Your hair looks cute,” he said. “But I like it any way you wear it.”

“Thank you,” Wanda said, and reached up to feel her short locks. “I just needed a change. A physical change to prove that things are different this time.”

He pushed the finished milkshake toward her. Wanda carefully bunched the paper wrapper of her straw at the bottom and pulled it off. Knowing what she meant to do, he passed her a cup of water. She smiled at him, and dripped water onto the wrapper with the straw. Both of them “ Oooh ”ed as it wiggled and stretched like a caterpillar. Wanda looked up at him, and her eyes twinkled in the low light.

If I wasn’t already in love with her… Cosmo thought.

“Want to share?” Wanda asked, grabbing another straw. Cosmo pointed to himself.

“Me?”

“Yes, you!”

He hopped over the counter to the stool beside her, and she stuck the other straw in.

---

A couple dates later, Cosmo was beneath a tree in the park with his head in Wanda’s lap. She had guided him to sit that way. They had chatted idly, and at one point Wanda picked a flower and tickled Cosmo’s face with it. He plucked it from her fingers and tucked it behind her ear.

Wanda stroked his cheek, and he leaned into the touch. Then her face was all he could see, and her lips were on his, and it all happened too fast for him to register Wanda is kissing me, and she pulled away before he could close his eyes like they did in movies. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

“Oh,” he breathed. “My first kiss!”

“The first of many, I hope,” Wanda said, and cringed.

“Yeah!” Cosmo said, not noticing her embarrassment. He sat up and straddled her lap. “Many, many! As many as you can stand!”

“How about we start with kiss two?” she asked, and laced their fingers together. Cosmo grinned and nodded with vigor.

Since he was more prepared, he could kiss her back. He unlinked their fingers so his hands could travel up her arms to cradle her face. She put her hands on his chest, which made him feel manly. Her lips felt as soft on his as he’d imagined. Wanda broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his, a gesture that felt almost as intimate. Cosmo rested his hands on her waist. After a minute, Wanda pulled back and ran her fingers through his hair.

“You’re too cute for words,” she said.

“And you,” he replied. “You’re the most beautiful girl in the world.” She looked away bashfully, and her long eyelashes brushed over her rosy cheeks. He kissed her cheek, and then her other cheek, and then her lips again.

“Let’s walk,” she said, even though they really floated. They wandered to the square, and Wanda’s eyes locked onto a fountain in the center. She glanced at Cosmo, and surprised him by taking a graceful leap into the fountain. She danced in the water, even as people stared, and it only took a moment for Cosmo to join her. He grabbed her hand and spun her, flinging water everywhere.

“Wanda! Will you go steady with me?” Cosmo asked. Wanda, dripping wet, with makeup melting off her face, had never looked more beautiful.

“I thought I would have to ask you myself!” she said, and kissed him.

Chapter 8

Notes:

This isn't my most popular or my most original, and there are reasons I'm dissatisfied--I'm never satisfied with my work--but I think this is my most well-structured fic. I also made a Spotify playlist that I may never make public. If I do, you'll notice it's almost entirely of a certain era, and that's because it would feel wrong otherwise.

In the instant before Wanda confessed her love to Cosmo on a snowy hill on earth, Cupid appeared a short distance away. They couldn’t see him; Cupid was invisible when on the clock. Without him doing anything, Wanda’s feelings had grown so strong they were impossible for the god of love to ignore.

“May as well finish what I started,” he said and took aim. The arrow struck her heart, and Wanda saw her future laid out before her. If it didn’t include Cosmo, she didn’t want it.

“You’re going to be such a good godfather,” she said, and her eyes began to water.

“Is something wrong?” Cosmo asked. Cupid could sense the spike in romantic anxiety. Cosmo was still convinced Wanda was out of his league, and sooner or later she would wise up and leave him.

“No, nothing is wrong, Cosmo,” Wanda said. “I love you!” The love coming off the two of them could power Cupid’s house. Cosmo and Wanda were disgustingly cute, and that was just how Cupid liked it. They rolled downhill one after the other, and landed in a heap.

“I love you, too, Wanda,” Cosmo said. “I’ve loved you since high school!” Of course, even Cupid’s mistakes were right.

“Another perfect match,” Cupid said, and twirled an arrow in his fingers. Within minutes of Wanda confessing her love, she had professed wanting to spend eternity with him–which was true, Cupid knew–and Cosmo asked her to marry him. “Huh, that was faster than I expected.” He also knew that Cosmo had to restrain himself from asking Wanda to marry him before they were even together. He left as they made love in the snow.

A week later, Wanda woke up as the sky became lighter. She had breakfast before her housemates got up, and giggled, knowing it was the last breakfast she would ever eat alone. Tomorrow, she and Cosmo would wake up together.

Wanda did her makeup in front of her mirror, and went for a slightly more dramatic shade of pink than she usually did for her lipstick. It was her wedding day, after all. She pulled out the pins and brushed her curls lightly. She used a pincurl pattern a little more elaborate than what she usually wore.

Before leaving her room, Wanda retrieved an item from a jewelry box she also rescued from Big Daddy’s house: her mother’s wedding ring. It had also been left behind with the wedding dress. Wanda stuck it in the pocket of her day dress. She would change into the gown when she left the apartment.

“What’s the occasion?” Azzurra, one of Wanda’s housemates, asked as she headed out the door. She stopped and turned to look at her.

“What do you mean?” Wanda asked. She twirled a ringlet around her finger.

“You’re all dolled up,” Azzurra replied. 

“Oh, you know,” Wanda said and fluffed her hair. “Just wanted to look nice.”

---

Cosmo woke up feeling as though he had downed a gallon of coffee. He lay in bed and jittered for a few minutes before getting up. He needed to shower off the nervous sweat.

“I’m getting married today,” Cosmo told his lovestruck reflection.

“But what if Wanda realizes you’re an idiot and leaves you at the altar?” his reflection asked, biting his nails.

“Oh, I can’t think about that!” Cosmo said, and smacked himself over the head with a mallet. His reflection did the same. He sighed in relief, having forgotten what he was worried about, or that he was worried to begin with.

He reached into his pocket and felt the item he had snuck into his mother’s room for several days before. Cosmo talked Mama Cosma into going to the bank alone, and, having the house to himself, he went through his father’s belongings. His wedding ring was in the drawer of his bedside table. Cosmo knew its location well, having often gone through the drawer growing up.

Cosmo sat down to breakfast with Mama Cosma and poured the last of the milk into his tea. He would miss her, certainly. But he needed to leave. He needed Wanda.

---

“I'm getting married!” Wanda yelled to bystanders as she rushed down the sidewalk to Fairy Hall in her wedding gown. “Come to our wedding!” A few, with nothing better to do, shrugged their shoulders and followed behind.

On the other side of town, Cosmo did the same thing, yelling invitations to random passersby from his car as he drove to Fairy Hall. He skidded into a perfect parallel park out front. Cosmo entered Fairy Hall's chapel, dedicated to the mysterious religion worshiped only by fairies. He tapped the priest frantically on the shoulder.

“I need to get married right now,” he said, and poofed into his rented tuxedo. “My bride is on her way.” The priest looked at him with a quirked eyebrow.

“Is she, now?” he asked. He peered out the door and saw a girl in a white gown headed up the block, holding a bouquet she surely picked up from a green grocer on the way. She was followed by several other fairies who seemed unrelated to her. “Ah, I see. Looking to get married before your parents can stop you, hm?”

“Uh, er, uh,” Cosmo stammered, but the priest held up a hand placatingly.

“It’s fine. Wouldn’t be the first time,” he said. “Do you have your rings?”

“I have mine,” Cosmo said, and held it up. “I think Wanda has hers.”

“I’ll take that,” the priest said, and snatched the ring from Cosmo. “Go wait by the altar.”

Cosmo stood by the altar for a few anxious minutes, watching fairies he didn’t know file in and sit down. Light filtered in through the stained glass windows. The priest appeared behind him, and there, in the open doorway, was Wanda. Cosmo’s breath caught in his throat. The fairies, strangers all, stood as she floated down the aisle. Music wafted through the air. Wanda smiled up at him before poofing across from him at the altar, though she didn’t really need to. The fairies in the audience all sat.

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness the union of, uh…” the priest looked down at the two of them. He hadn’t asked their names.

“Wanda Venus Fairywinkle,” Wanda said.

“Cosmo Julius Cosma,” Cosmo followed her example.

The priest went on talking, but Cosmo and Wanda were lost in the moment. They could see eternity in each other's eyes. Their magic would only be separate for a few minutes more.

The rings appeared above them, and the priest's magic guided Cosmo's ring to Wanda and Wanda's ring to Cosmo.

“Cosmo, before I met you, it felt like I was living in black-and-white. You make me feel like I’m living in full color. You make me happier than anyone ever has,” Wanda said as she slid Papa Cosma’s ring onto Cosmo’s finger. “I love you.”

Cosmo was so elated listening to Wanda sing his praises that he forgot what they were doing for a moment, simply basking in the moment and the warmth of her face. She gave him a little nod, and he exclaimed, “Oh!”

“Wanda, I love you so much I don’t know how to put together the words to say it,” Cosmo said and slid Wanda’s mother’s ring onto her finger. “I love you! You complete me!” His vision became misty.

“Do you, Wanda Venus Fairywinkle, take–what was your name again?” The priest leaned down conspiratorially toward Cosmo.

“Cosmo Julius Cosma,” he said.

“–Cosmo Julius Cosma, to be your magically wedded husband?”

“I do,” Wanda said, and gave Cosmo’s hand a squeeze.

“Cosmo Julius Cosma, do you take Wanda Venus Fairywinkle to be your magically wedded wife?”

Cosmo turned around to look at a note written on his wrist.

“I do!” Cosmo said.

“Then, by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride,” the priest said.

Wanda swept Cosmo up into a big smooch, and the gathered audience of strangers applauded. They still had paperwork to do, but the magic ceremonial part was the important part. Even without a marriage license, their magic was linked now.

They held their reception in the park outside Fairy Hall. There was a table set up with a four-tiered cake and another table with trays of pastries, many of which Cosmo did not know the name of: petit fours, sfogliatelle, fruit tarts, chocolate mousse, and an assortment of cookies.

“Are these for us?” Cosmo asked. He looked over at Wanda, who clasped her hands and nodded.

“The owner of the pasticceria my family patronizes owed me a favor,” she said. She poofed a couple jars of a red sauce into each hand. “The restaurant next door gave me some jars of their homemade gravy, too.” Cosmo looked closer at the jars.

“That looks like tomato sauce to me,” he said.

“Listen,” Wanda said. “We call it gravy.”

The reception’s music was provided by some buskers who happened to be working in the park at the same time. Cosmo and Wanda danced in an un-choreographed, carefree way. They waltzed and jitterbugged and twirled and twisted.

At the end of the day, after celebrating all day in the park with the kind strangers who joined them, Cosmo and Wanda drove away in Cosmo’s car. They checked into the best motel they could afford, and marveled at the success of their slapdash wedding.

“That was better than I ever dreamed,” Wanda said as Cosmo unbuttoned the back of her dress.

“It was?” he asked. Wanda nodded with an “mm-hmm.” “I never dreamed about my own wedding because I never thought anyone would marry me.”

“Well, I’ve got good news for you,” Wanda said. She turned so she could grab his hand and kiss it. “I married you.”

“Yeah,” Cosmo said with hearts in his eyes.

“Now, are you going to finish helping me out of this dress?” Wanda fluttered her eyelashes at him.

“YES!”

At the Fairy World Diner, Cupid stirred his coffee.

“And the rest, as they say, is history,” he said, and winked.

Notes:

Hey there. The creative burst that's been carrying me for several months has slowed, for various reasons. But I suppose if I kept on at the same pace I would burn myself out and I'd prefer not to do that. Life lately has got me thinking a lot about the purpose of art, and how it can impact us. Even art that is as seemingly trivial as fanfiction for a show as silly as the Fairly OddParents. In a way fanfic is a conversation not just between the art and an individual audience member but between fanfic author and their audience, as well. We're all just out here trying to connect and art helps us do that. So make art, even if you think it isn't good. (And anyway, you can't get better at something you aren't doing.)