Meryl is NOT the first person Vash visited and Wolfwood has had enough embarrassment for the day
and unofficially wife-d up with paper rings (congratulations!)
Vash holding Wolfwood's hands, realising that it's not as calloused, no, in fact, it's soft. Unharmed. Safe. And he's holding it. Both of his hands are holding it. And those hands are exchanging something as fragile as a paper ring, far off from what they're usually accustomed of holding in the past...
(He's holding Wolfwood's hand, he thinks again. It's soft. He wonders if he deserves to hold them.)
Except it's no longer the past, Vash knows that, and now they're here, the flimsy rings weighing heavy with the promise of tomorrows he could never hope or dream of having before. It's so comical to the point of bringing tears to his eyes.
If anyone had seen him crying that day he's blaming it on the damned ring.
(a.k.a. the college/reincarnation au, "we deserve a soft epilogue" ending I desperately need)
(clip taken from Pearl’s stream on 06/03/2024, transcript below!)
Pearl: —that’s true, I don’t know.
Gem: Where’s yours, Pearl?
Pearl: Up here! I didn’t have— I didn’t have enough room to put armour stands in, otherwise I wouldn’t have put them up there. Trust me, it’s not a vain thing, I just didn’t have enough room.
Gem: Riiiight… Right, right.
Pearl: It’s true!
Gem: Mhm.
Pearl: I had to put the Mail Co. at the top, like c’mon…
Gem: Mhm.
Pearl: There wasn’t enough room— Look, how would I have fit them in, c’mon, c’mon, give me that solution, Gem. Let’s hear it.
Gem: There.
Pearl: But then I— There’s no barrel underneath for that.
Gem: …okay.
Pearl: *laughs*
Gem: I’ll let you have it.
Pearl: Yeah, yeah, thank you, thank you—
Gem: Y’know what, Pearl? You’re— You’re allowed to be vain.
Pearl: I’m—
Gem: Look at you up there.
Pearl: That—
Gem: You’re a-door-able.
Pearl: Ow!
Gem: Perfect.
Pearl: Wait, did you just use my own pun against me?
Gem: Yes, but you don’t have any door— Oh, here you do.