The evening light was beautiful on the walls of the church. It bathed them in orange, turning them from pure white to softest gold. Outside, in the lush green grass behind the church, rows of white benches sat waiting. They all faced a lovely arch of white and flowers, blooming wonderfully in the warm breeze. There was even an elegant piano off to one side, made of pure ivory. It was all incredibly peaceful, as though the scene was waiting for people to find it again.

As the sun's rays silhouetted the towering cross of the church, people began to approach the benches, talking happily, some with joyful tears in their eyes...

...

"OHMYGODWENEEDTOTAKEASELFIE!"

Teresa dashed across the room as fast as she could in her stunning white dress, waving her phone over her head like a maniac. Her cascade of ebony hair rippled over her shoulder in waves. Crystal-blue eyes shining, she pushed her way in between a very annoyed Alby, a hyperventilating Newt, and a gloomy Thomas. They'd been in this side room of the church for a long time now, with nothing inside but a table and a few chairs. They were close to losing their minds.

"Teresaaaaa," Alby groaned in exasperation. "Why do we have to—?"

"SAY, I DO!" Teresa squealed, holding her phone out at arm's length.

All three guys deadpanned, "I do."

The camera flashed and Alby swore, blinking several times. "Oh great, now I'm blind," he said, tossing his hands up. "I'm in charge of videotaping this whole thing. How am I gonna do that blind?"

Thomas stared in despair at his socks, which was why he was depressed. He hadn't been able to find shoes before showing up at the church. "Maybe it's good that you can't see," he muttered glumly. "Then no one will know that I came in socks."

Teresa opened the picture on her phone and turned it to show them. "Awwww, LOOK at us!" she exclaimed. "We are so CUTE!"

Alby squinted at the screen and saw three guys in black tuxedoes with a very hyper or possibly high girl between them. He gave Teresa a withering look through dark-chocolate-brown eyes. "You look high," he stated. "I look pissed."

"I look stupid," Thomas grumbled.

"I look nervous," Newt fretted. His charcoal-blue eyes flitted from person to person, as though searching for help from some of them. "Do I seem that nervous? I don't think I'm that nervous. Am I that nervous? That bloody nervous?"

Alby gave him the same look he gave Teresa. "Dude, you're gonna have a stroke before you even get out of the damn church." He yelped as Teresa smacked him on the arm. "What?!"

"Don't swear in church!" she scolded. "Especially on a special occasion!"

Alby spread his hands in a gesture of innocence. "Damn is not a real swear word!"

"Stop it, yes it is!"

"No it's not!"

"Yes it is, Alby!"

"GOD says damn in the BIBLE like, five-hundred times!"

Thomas raised his hand pointedly. "Uh, guys?" he began hesitantly. "Hate to break this up, but we got trouble again."

Teresa pounced on this information. "What is it? What happened? Newt! Are you okay?!" She shouted the last part over Thomas' shoulder.

Newt was tugging at his sleeves, blonde hair falling down into his eyes. "No, not really," he called back to her, voice trembly.

Teresa rolled her eyes and frowned at Thomas. "He's fine, what's your trouble?"

Thomas pointed at the door behind her, across the room. "That," he stated.

Teresa whirled around instantly. The doorknob was rattling, beginning to turn. With an alarmed gasp, she charged at the door. She looked utterly ridiculous with her dress all folded up in her arms. She hit the door head-on, slamming it shut just as it had been opening. The bang sounded in the little room, making Alby mutter under his breath and Newt jump. "WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Teresa demanded, back pressed firmly against the door.

A confused girl's voice came from the other side. "Um, Brenda, and I'm here because Newt's getting married and he needs to have my famous wedding pep talk."

Thomas wrinkled his nose. "You have a famous wedding pep talk?" he asked disbelievingly.

Newt looked terrified. "Pep talk?" he echoed. "What pep talk? Do I really need a pep talk?"

"Yes," Brenda's voice sounded again. "Yes, you do."

Alby glanced up at the ceiling as though praying for strength. He flapped a hand at Teresa. "Aw, just let her in already," he said. "She'll break the door down anyway."

Teresa edged carefully away from the door and let it swing open. Brenda stood in the hallway, wearing a similar ivory dress. Her mahogany hair was styled in lovely curls around her face. She swept into the room and Teresa quickly shut the door behind her. Brenda strode past Thomas and Alby and halted in front of Newt like she was in the military. She gave the twitchy blonde a hard scowl. "Why are you here?" she demanded.

Newt stared at her. "What do you mean, why am I here?" he asked dumbly.

"Exactly what I said."

"Because...I'm getting married..."

"And who are you marrying?"

Newt smiled like a moron when he said the name. "Minho."

"And why're you marrying him?"

"I...I love him. I'm in love with him."

Brenda nodded. A slight smile touched her lips and she patted him on the shoulder. "You'll be fine, Newt," she said quietly. "As long as you remember that. Okay?" His grin grew wider, and a bit crooked because of how much joy was glowing in it. She suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him into a hug. "Oh, I'm so happy for you, Newt. You look absolutely stunning, Minho's gonna flip, I swear, and God, this whole thing, this whole beautiful thing..."

Newt hugged her back. "Thanks, Brenda," he said warmly. Then he shivered. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

"Well, believe it, buddy!" Teresa hollered cheerfully. She bounced up and down in excitement. "You're gonna get MARRIED, Newt, oh my goodness! I can't wait!"

Alby's mouth curved in a grudging half-smile. "It IS pretty awesome," he admitted.

"Even though I don't have shoes," Thomas added, with a joking grin.

Newt blushed under the open, bright gazes of his closest friends. He was unbelievably grateful that they were here with him, and that they would see what was to be the happiest moment of his life. "Thanks, guys," he said. "Seriously. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't here."

Teresa wiped at her eyes. "I think I'm gonna cry," she quavered.

Alby then groaned in more exaggeration and ruined the overjoyed moment. "Please, Teresa, don't cry," he pleaded. "I really don't need—"

Thomas suddenly jabbed a finger at the door. "MINHO-ALERT!"

The door was creaking open again, only this time, a figure in a black tux was stepping through. Teresa threw herself at the door again, shouting, "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

The door banged shut again. A muffled swear word came through, followed by Minho's voice. "What the shuck?"

"You know the rules, Minho," Teresa called to the door. "You can't see Newt until the actual wedding. Brings bad luck."

"He's not a bride!" Minho protested. "And I'm not a bride either! It's only bad luck if the groom sees the bride, and since there IS NO BRIDE, what's the problem here?"

"I want to be safe! You ain't coming in!"

"Oh my god, Teresa."

Alby walked up and smacked the door with his palm. "Hey, Minho," he greeted. "What's going on over with the lovely Park family?"

A loud grumble followed. "Awful. My cousins showed up and keep trying to make me wear a stupid veil."

Thomas made a choking noise. "A VEIL?"

"Uh-huh."

Brenda shrugged. "It would look cute..." She trailed off as she considered it.

"Yeah, but the hair might be a problem," Teresa pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, good point."

Minho sighed heavily. "Yes. The hair would be a problem. Which is why I'm not wearing a veil, among other obvious reasons. ...is Newt in there?"

Teresa scissored her hands around her neck, gesturing for Newt to say silent. Newt, of course, did not. "Yeah, I'm in here," he answered anxiously.

"Okay." Minho's voice sounded different then, relieved and maybe a little gentler. "Okay. Hey, Newt."

Newt smiled. "Hey, Min."

"I just wanted to say...um...yeah. Hey." Minho laughed nervously.

Brenda had her hands clasped to her chest. "This is so adorable," she breathed. "And romantic." She spun to face Newt. "Ooh, I can't wait to see you walk out there!"

Newt's eyes widened at that. "I have to...but I got a..." He flinched. "I don't want to...limp...out there in front of all those people, today. What're they going to think? I know some of them already call me..." He stopped himself.

Teresa's eyes glistened. "Oh, Newt."

"No one—" Brenda began, only to be cut off by Minho.

"Newt, come to the door. Teresa, move over so he can talk. I won't break the door down."

Teresa grimaced, but reluctantly edged away from the door. Newt crossed the room to where she'd been standing. They exchanged equally puzzled glances. "Um, I'm here," Newt said uncertainly. "What did you—?"

And the door opened far enough for Minho to seize Newt by the front of his tuxedo and haul him out into the hallway. Teresa gave a squawk of alarm and dove for the door. Minho wrenched it closed again and kept his hand around the knob. Teresa yanked at it from the other side, yelling at him.

Minho faced Newt like everything was normal about this. Then he said it. "Cripple."

Newt blanched. "W—what?" he stammered in shock.

"That's what you were going to say people call you," Minho explained. "A cripple." His tone was hard.

Newt's heart sank. He avoided Minho's gaze. "It's what I am," he muttered.

"No it's not," Minho insisted. "You have a limp, that's all. So what?"

"So I have to go out there on the most important day of my life and I'm gonna be remembered as the crippled guy who got married to YOU," Newt told him. Sadness flickered in his expression.

Minho stared at him. "Do you think I'm BETTER than you?" he asked. "You're ten times better than me. You're a hundred times better than me." He shook his head and gave a small, rueful smile. "Newt, you're the most amazing person I know. How could you think something like that? Just because you have a limp?"

"Because I never would've gotten it if I just held on longer," Newt replied brokenly. "If I had realized that you were going to be okay."

"The doctors told you they thought I'd be fine—"

"That was before you almost died one day while they were watching you." Newt closed his eyes. They never talked about this. Not since it happened. "You were in a car accident, Minho, that's all I knew. And they told me that after two weeks, you probably wouldn't wake up." He swallowed. "I thought I lost you. I thought I lost everything. And it hurt even more when you woke up after two and half weeks and saw me in the same damn hospital with a screwed-up leg."

Minho reached up with his free hand and cupped Newt's cheek. "Look at me," he said seriously. Newt met his dark eyes, trembling when Minho stroked his thumb over his cheek. "You're not a cripple. You're Newt. You're my beautiful, beautiful Newt." His expression softened. "I don't regret anything that happened to us. Nothing. It made me who I am right now, and it made you who you are. And you're an incredible, smart, sweet, gorgeous person, Newt. You're my whole world. I don't care what anyone else says about you. You're not theirs, you're mine."

Newt didn't know what to say. "Minho...I don't..." He took a shaky breath. "You're my life," he murmured.

Minho's mouth quirked up and he placed a tender kiss to Newt's forehead. "And you're my angel," he whispered, "my heart, my hero."

Newt snorted, but with a twinkle in his eyes. "Heroes fly," he reminded Minho quietly.

"Yeah?" Minho rubbed their noses together lightly, making Newt grin. "Well, flying's overrated. My hero limps. And I'm incredibly, hopelessly in love with him anyway."

Newt's heart bloomed with joy and love in his chest. He couldn't believe that he was getting married to Minho, who was so smart and kind and breathtaking. It was a dream to him, but he never wanted to wake up.

Minho let go of the doorknob and Teresa flung the door open so hard, it nearly flew off its hinges. She glowered at them, a strand of hair flopping into her face. "You people are trying to kill me, I swear."

...

It was absolutely beautiful. That was the only word for it. The sun cast its golden glow over everything and the air was warm. A hush fell over everyone, wide smiles etched on their faces. Mrs. Newton sniffled and fumbled around for a tissue, her dark blonde hair shimmering like honey. She glanced across the aisle to where Mrs. Park was trying not to cry, and telling a little boy with spiky black hair to stop talking. Then she looked over too and they both met each other's eyes. A smile passed between them. It lasted for a long moment, before the little boy began talking again and Mrs. Park turned back to scold him. Mrs. Newton chuckled.

Teresa looked as though she was about to jump with happiness, humming very softly to the piano. Brenda's brown eyes were full of tears when she heard the vows. Thomas shuffled around so that no one would notice his socks. Alby stood near the back, behind the benches, a camera held to his face. Gally had showed up right before they were to leave the church earlier, apologizing for "all the shucking traffic" and gawking stupidly at Thomas. (There were plenty of jokes about their marriage being next)

Newt couldn't stop staring at Minho. He looked so stunning; his tuxedo framed his broad shoulders and his spiked, jet-black hair was turned to cobalt-blue in this light. His sun-kissed skin was flawless and the sun sought out the pinpricks of gold in his eyes. Newt could hardly believe that Minho was his, all his. He was so lucky. So so lucky.

"You may now kiss the br—er, oops." The preacher turned bright red and good-humored laughter rippled through the crowd. Newt grinned and Minho flashed his signature smirk. "You may now kiss the groom."

Newt blushed nervously when Minho stepped forward and cradled his face in his hands. The blonde was sure everyone could hear his heart thudding when Minho brushed their lips together. They kissed softly and applause broke out around them. Newt felt Minho's mouth curve up. They drew back, but before they pulled completely away, Minho whispered, "I love you."

And Newt felt lighter than he ever had before, as though he could fly.