💖 Don't forget to vote/comment! 💖

***Sebastian's POV***

"Everybody here is aware that I have been best friends with Mark for far longer than I care to admit. What you may not know is that I would choose no other aside from him. Mark is my best friend, my sounding board, my biggest pain in the ass. Mark is my biggest supporter and the one reason why I met the love of my life. Mark Royals is a man among boys and a blessing sent in a world where we often face more than we can handle alone. Thank God that I never felt alone. Mark has been beside me since we were so very small. I could not imagine what my life would have been without him to help me along the way." Grey begins his toast by making my eyes sweat. I covertly run my cloth napkin below my weeping orbs. I'm going to have bags beneath my eyes by morning.

"Now, let me be honest, I never would have thought that my bestfriend batted for my team. It would not have changed anything if I had. Sorry, Mark, you just aren't my type." Grey winks at my husband. I chuckle as Mark feigns disappointment. I will deal with that later.

"In an effort to be transparent, Mark made it seem as though he worshipped women. I mean how could I have known?" Grey shrugs his shoulders. I expected a little ribbing with these two as best men. I am just sending a small prayer up above to let this be good.

"I don't believe the gods above saw this one coming. If they did, they did one hell of a job delivering a massive surprise. Thank God that he did. Sebastian Royals, you are a magician." The mention of my name has my suspicions alerted. I sit up straighter, tightening my hand around Mark's as his fingers attempt to find and close any open space in our grip.

"You walked into a small bar and blew this man away. It was instant, intense and most importantly you made your imprint on Mark's heart seemingly without effort." Grey takes a breath. I am not going to lie, I did not intend to take Mark's heart at the moment that I saw him. I just felt this pull and suddenly, I couldn't stop my feet from moving. I couldn't let that man walk out of that establishment without hearing my name grace his perfect lips. I was completely entranced. I still am. The thought makes my body feel warm. I lift our hands to my lips as I press my mouth to his skin. Gods above, I am the luckiest person alive.

"In a moment of complete awe, I watched as Mark melted into your arms. It has been the most heartbreaking, heartwarming and romantic thing I have witnessed. Every moment with the two of you has been a journey I would take over and over. This day makes me just as happy as the one I spent intertwining my future with Mak. To the two grooms, Mark and Sebastian, I wish you a life filled with long nights, intimate mornings and grace for the in-between. May this life finally hand both of you every wonderful thing you deserve. It has been a wild ride. It is only the beginning. We will be here every step of the way." With a final raise of Grey's champagne glass, our best friend sends a cheers in our direction. I watch from my peripheral as Mark presses his palm over his heart. I gently swipe my finger below his eye to catch the escaping emotion. Grey did good. He did very good.

"That was sweet." Alex rolls his eyes playfully while pulling the attention to him. I know Alex; he most definitely does not want to come off as emotional. Alex doesn't play sweet. Well, for Gavin, Alex would play a flying monkey. I am not Gavin though.

"Sebastian, hmm, let's see. Remember the time you just knew that your soulmate was Roger Jefferson. If not, let me remind you. Roger was a curly redhead, soul less motherfucker. God, he was anything but attractive. Annoying, that is the word for this 14-year old creature. Nothing about him screamed forever, except maybe his nasal drip. That kid would not give you a moment of his time, let alone a date for the future. Watching you pine away for Roger was the bane of my existence." I listen as Alex brings up my mulligan. Let me explain, I was 12. I have grown since then.

"When Roger moved across the country, I thought you would stow away on a plane to go with him. To my surprise and utter relief, you managed to stay put. That didn't stop you from going full emo on me. That summer was one of the most painful memories in our friendship. I just knew you would never get over your 'one true love'. You managed. Moving on was hard. It took you an entire season to finally open those beautiful blue eyes. When you did, you found yourself staring at the captain of the basketball team." I do not know where Alex is going with this walk down memory lane. Wherever it is, he better make it good. The faster we get through this cringe-fest, the better. I give Mark a worried smile. I imagine that my husband is absolutely ecstatic to listen to all of my past love interests. I surely know that I am not.

"So the pattern began. You would fall head-over-heels, only for life to throw a curve-ball your way. Fate didn't disappoint as we got older either. Time and again, I watched as your heart broke for every man that you gave a chance. It began to take it's toll on you. I was suffering along side of you. Then it happened. One late night we walked into a bar that we generally wouldn't frequent. I saw your head turn. My first instinct was to stop you. I couldn't. I watched as you confidently stepped up to this hot brown hair, blue eyed demi-god. The smile on your face told me to let you at least try. Thank God that I did not interfere. That day lead us here." Alex turns to smile at my husband. I can't help but, be thankful that Alex is finished. That was embarrassing.

"But, fate stepped in." Alex alerts me that he is in fact not finished. I groan loudly. Jesus, what more can he do to make me blush.

"When we found out you had cancer, I knew you would attempt to beat it. I was so fucking scared. What would this world be to me without you in it, Sebastian?" Alex takes a large gulp of air. My chest tightens. The tears filling my best-friend's eyes are mirrored in my own. "That night, I prayed so hard. I don't know that I have ever fully believed in the power of prayer. All that I did know is, I had to do something. I wasn't going to let you go without the biggest fight of my life. If there was no you and me, I don't know who I would be. Thank God, I never had to find out. Fate found mercy in the dark hours where prayers broke through. Your mama and I did spiritual warfare on your behalf, after you finally told her about the diagnosis. All the while, I watched another war going on inside of you. I knew that even if we beat cancer, you would not survive the loss of Mark Fletcher. You tried so hard. I wanted to hug you, hold you and slap the ever living shit out of you. Fuck, you can be a stubborn bastard. Then it happened, you gave me the green light I had been waiting for. Mak and I got in touch, the rest is history. Here we are. I could not be happier for you two. Mark, you are an amazing man. You are Sebastian's better half. Thank you for coming in like a knight to rescue my best friend. I owe you the world. Let this life bring you joy in every moment possible. I hope you remember the journey that it took to get here today, do not take that for granted. You two have faced incredible giants, yet you won. Nothing can tear down a love that has already been through so much. I look forward to being a large group of painfully inappropriate old men with you guys. I love you both. Congratulations." Alex takes his seat, pulling Gavin closer as he places a kiss on his boy's head. I nod my head towards Alex. He wrapped that up wonderfully. Now I see why he went into my love faux paus. He was obviously trying to buffer the feelings he was about to unleash.

"I love you." Mark whispers softly across my cheek. His lips softly press into my flesh. I let my hand slide to the side of his face as I cradle his jaw. While we silently speak to one another through our intense stare, our trance is broken by the light of a camera. I know this night will end at some point, I am thankful that someone is busy trying to capture every memory. I pull Mark back for another sweet kiss as the photographer runs over to take a professional shot of our intimate moment.

It seems to last forever, the speeches. One-by-one people stand to take jabs, congratulate and most importantly say blessings over our union. The intimate moments between me and my husband are the most sacred. I relish in the thought that every day is now one where I can walk in the security of knowing this man has chosen me for eternity. I spin Mark around the dance floor letting my breaths break free every time that he let's one of his killer smiles illuminate his handsome face.

"Are you ready to call this a night?" Mark breaks from my hold as he sits down in an empty chair. A huff leaves his pouty lips. I smile with a shake of my head. Honestly, it is a Catch 22. I want to be alone with my love. However, I also do not want to put a close on the best night of my life. Some days, you want to last as long as possible.

Knowing that Mark has made his wishes clear, I decide that it is indeed time to part from our party. We make our way around the room, saying goodbye as well as offer our genuine appreciation for everything that was done to make our day amazing. Mark slowly trudges beside me. His voice tapers off into an exhausted whisper as we finally exit the large room where people have begun to wind up. We both know that Martin has made arrangements for everything to be cleaned, packaged and sent back to our home in town.

Mark doesn't say much. His head leans on my shoulder while we ride the elevator to our suite. We have an early morning flight to start our honeymoon. I open the door to our suite, letting out a chuckle while Mark slides into the bed fully clothed. It has definitely been a long day.

After taking the time to carefully remove both of our clothes, I scoot into bed with my husband. His hand finds mine as he lets out a deep sigh. Tucking my chin into his neck, my knees settle behind Mark's. Closing my eyes, I think about that moment when I saw Mark at our ceremony. A thousand thoughts had run through my head in that moment. The one that stands out the most is 'I am so fucking lucky'. 

This love story took us down some dark roads in our early days. Life promised to give me exactly what I wanted just as it threatened to take it all away. Great friends, the love of my life and a new family helped to bring all of my dreams to fruition. Long gone are the days of broken hearts and summer flings. With a pull this strong, I can not predict a single day of sadness with Mark Royals at my side.