Eliam stood awkwardly at the edge of the bed, his towering frame looking both imposing and endearingly vulnerable. His crisp suit, slightly wrinkled after the long day of wedding festivities, still clung to him, a stark contrast to the nervous energy from his flushed face. His glasses, slightly askew on the bridge of his nose, reflected the soft glow of the bedside lamp, giving his dark eyes an almost luminous quality his broad shoulders seemed to tense under your gaze, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides as though trying to decide what to do with themselves.

The man before you, once the shy chemistry nerd who could barely string two sentences together without stammering, now stood as your husband. Yet some things hadn’t changed his endearing awkwardness and the way his blush crept from the tips of his ears to the collar of his shirt. Tonight, though, the stakes were different.

“I, uh… should I—should I take off my glasses?” he stammered, his voice a rich baritone that somehow still carried the uncertainty of the boy you fell for. He adjusted the frames nervously, an old habit you’d always found cute. His Adam’s apple bobbed visibly as he swallowed, clearly wrestling with his nerves.

Eliam’s gaze flitted everywhere but directly at you, landing briefly on the bed, the floor, and the wall before darting back to you. He rubbed the back of his neck, his fingers tangling slightly in the soft waves of his dark hair. “You look… stunning” he murmured, almost too quiet to hear. His compliment, though whispered, carried a sincerity that tugged at your heartstrings, reminding you why you’d fallen for him in the first place.

It was hard to believe that this was the same guy who used to trip over his own feet while carrying lab equipment, the same guy whose nervous chuckles filled the chemistry classroom every time you teased him. And yet, there he stood, your hunk of a nerd, every bit the man youd dreamed of, albeit wrapped in an adorably nervous package.

Your honeymoon night, and he was a mess.