On the altar, a polar bear reflects on how he met his husband and the way their relationship developed.

A cute commission I did for  rmaster . It was nice to do a wholesome story like this! Please enjoy.

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The bridal gown was soft and comforting around Trevor’s body. The polar bear could hardly believe that he was getting married to his lifelong love… and that Ethan had consented to seeing his partner in a wedding gown on their special day. The soft veil draped over Trevor’s eyes, transmuting the world into a gauzy haze, and the bridal train brushed the floor behind his soft, white-furred paws. The soft chime of organ music from the other room played—and then it was time to walk in.

He strolled down the aisle, head held high and proud. His and Ethan’s friends and family were waiting to see their beloved union. As Trevor walked towards the aisle, his fiancée—looking handsome in an impeccably tailored suit—smiled at him. He was also a polar bear, but far larger and more muscular than his sickly partner.

As the officiant began the ceremony, readying them for their vows, Trevor couldn’t help but reflect back to the development of his and Ethan’s relationship…

---

“Are you ready, sweetie?”

The young Trevor nodded. He was 12 years old and about to go to his first day of school, having been homeschooled all his life until then. He clutched his bookbag tight to his chest, his little paws kicking in anticipation. “Y-yes.”

His mother turned and looked compassionately at him. She looked older than she was, a result of the burden of caring for a sickly child with half a foot on death’s door these past few years.

“If you’re scared, you don’t have to go, Trevor.”

He looked up, alarmed. “I, I want to go!”

It was true. He wanted to go to school, to be with other boys his age, to be normal, more than anything. He was tired of sitting by the window, watching the world leave him by. Tired of everyone feeling sorry for him.

But he didn’t deny being scared. He was scared. His whole life, he’d had a heart condition that had crippled day-to-day living. Any surprise, even the tamest fright, could give him a heart attack. That wasn’t just a hypothetical, either; it had occurred several times. His most recent hospitalization had been less than a year ago. The intensive care ward personnel had seen him enough that they knew him by sight. They knew not to give him cherry lollipops when they brought him candy, as he hated the flavor.

But he’d steadily been improving, and his family had received tentative approval for Trevor to finally fulfill his foremost, lifelong dream—to go to a normal school. His mother had reacted with trepidation, at first, but she’d acquiesced. “What’s the point of living if I don’t get to live, mom?” he’d asked her, and after some wringing of hands, she agreed.

The teachers and other staff had been notified of Trevor’s condition, but they wouldn’t tell the student body, at his request. Trevor just wanted to be a ‘normal’ kid like any others. With one last farewell to his mom, he hoisted his bookbag and stepped out into the schoolyard.

It was a raucous din of astonishingly noisy proportions—far louder than home or hospital. There were children everywhere: gazelle, ravens, monitors, raccoons, leopards, dogs, falcons, marmots. All the kids were talking loudly about schoolwork or TV shows or yesterday’s hockey match. Trevor’s eyes widened—he was overwhelmed, but also excited. So this was ‘normal’. This was what he was looking forward to!

Trevor’s class was 104A, on the second floor, and he made for the school’s entry hall. It was a loud area where the linoleum floor and spacious ceiling reverberated the students’ voices in an almost obnoxious din. Trevor’s eyes fixed on the ceiling. So far up… wow, it was even bigger than he—

Without looking where he was going, the young bear bumped into someone else and fell backwards. Rubbing his head, the 12 year old looked up to apologize. “S-sorry…”

The other student turned. He was a polar bear like Trevor, but far taller and more muscular—Trevor suspected that he was a “jock,” to borrow terminology that the movies had taught him. He was at least a full head taller than Trevor himself, with rippling muscles and a thick, powerful body. Puberty had been kind to him, it seemed—or perhaps this was just how ursine folk were supposed to develop when they didn’t have ill health holding them back.

But for being a jock, this bear didn’t seem to conform to the stereotype. There was no loutishness to his gaze; he looked as keenly intelligent as any other student, and he didn’t seem mad or even amused at being bumped into. Instead, he reached a hand down worriedly. “Hey, you alright?”

Trevor took his hand and allowed himself to be pulled up. The gesture felt almost effortless on the other bear’s part. “Y-yeah, I’m not hurt.” Thankfully, simply bumping into someone wasn’t enough of a shock to stress his heart out.

“Heh, that’s good.” The other bear tilted his head. “Hey, don’t think I’ve seen you around here. You new?”

“Um, y-yeah. I’m Trevor.”

“Well okay, Trevor! Nice to meetcha.” He pumped his hand in a vigorous handshake greeting. “I’m Ethan.”

“Thanks! Um… see you around.”

But around turned out to be sooner than anticipated. It turned out that Ethan shared the same first class as Trevor—and more than that, they were arranged to sit right next to each other. The other bear grinned and playfully chucked his shoulder. “Ey, there you are new kid! Heh, now you’re gonna get to see the big brains of the world’s smartest bear right in action.” He winked slyly. “That’s me, of course.”

Before Trevor could say anything back, the teacher chided from the front of the classroom: “Ethan, I can hear you! Quiet back there!”

Ethan rolled his eyes, but he kept smiling—and as he pulled out his notebook, Trevor found that he couldn’t stop smiling either.

They met again for lunch when Ethan loudly invited the other polar bear to his table, and proudly introduced the shy, blushing Trevor as his “new best friend” to the others. Trevor was worried he wouldn’t fit in, but Ethan’s friend group—each nearly as loud and boisterous as he was—all seemed eager to have him. As they loudly complained about homework and girls, Trevor found himself smiling. This was… good. No, better than good. It was everything that he’d hoped school would be.

That afternoon, when his mom picked him up, she beamed the smile on his face. “You have a good day, sweetie?” she asked.

“Yeah. Yeah, I did!”

As the car drove away, she met his gaze via the rear-view mirror. “What was the best part? Tell me all about it!”

“Well…” Trevor leaned back, his mind floaty. “I made a friend.”

---

A year later, they were inseparable. After being friends for a few weeks, Trevor finally worked up the courage to tell Ethan his secret and let him in on his heart condition. The young polar bear had been worried that Ethan would have considered him weird, or even worse, considered him to be like a fragile doll that he couldn’t be himself around—but those fears proved to be totally foundless. Ethan had been more than understanding and hadn’t treated his friend any differently other than being certain to avoid any sudden shocks or startles, for which Trevor was eternally grateful. The pair of them had begun hanging out after school almost every single day.

Trevor, who’d never spent that much time outside of his own house, loved going over to visit at Ethan’s. The larger bear had eagerly played some of his favorite music for his friend, loud and energetic rock songs with shredding guitar solos and powerful drum beats. Ethan’s parents had even gotten him his own drum kit, which was set up in the garage, and he played for Trevor.

The young 13 year old was more passionate than skilled, but Trevor didn’t care. He sat on the old kitchen chair set up for spectators, watching open-mouthed as his friend pummeled the drum kit. Ethan’s powerful muscles allowed him to strike the kit with the power of someone several years his senior, and the young bear would put on his favorite songs and then drum along to them, thrashing his head energetically as he snapped the drumsticks against.

“So what d’ya think?” Ethan asked, reaching over to dim the volume after one song was done. “One of these days I’m gonna end up just like the guys from Meltdown Chains or Hot Cream Corn!” He nodded as he spoke, his eyes growing starry as he brought up his favorite bands. “Pretty neat, yeah?”

As Ethan wiped his brow clean, the smaller bear somehow found himself fixated on the movement—the power of his arm, the heave of his breath, the way his sweat glistened. Trevor had never really felt this way before, but he wrote it off as him just caring a lot about his friend.

“Yeah, definitely,” Trevor responded. “You’re the best drummer I know, that’s for sure.”

Ethan puffed his chest out at that, thankfully not stopping to think of just how many drummers a sheltered kid might or might not know, and he stepped inside, motioning Trevor to follow. As the two of them rushed upstairs to Ethan’s bedroom, his mom called after them to do homework.

“Will do, mom!” he cried out, taking the stairs two at a time. Ethan’s mother just rolled her eyes, knowing her son too well to think that he was going to do anything other than play video games with his friend—but then, he was a kid. There were certainly worse things to do with his time.

The two boys did indeed pull out an old console and hook up a pair of controllers. They picked out a racing game Ethan had been playing since he was a kid, and though Ethan tried to go easy on his friend, Trevor simply didn’t have enough practice to keep up.

Especially not when he couldn’t get Ethan out of his mind. Sitting down next to him, his best friend’s body heat mingling with his own, Trevor found himself continually thinking about Ethan. His friend loomed in the corner of his eye, laughing and smiling at the screen. Trevor couldn’t help but recollect about his friend down in the garage—the energy he showed, or the passion. He was… amazing. Wasn’t he? He couldn’t stop thinking about him. Why couldn’t he stop thinking about him?

Another race ended with Ethan victorious and the polar bear playfully punched his friend’s shoulder. “Looks like that’s another one for me!” he said. Meanwhile, Trevor was smiling and trying not to give away how flighty and fluttery he felt at his friend’s touch. He was… he… he wasn’t sure why, but he loved the feeling of it.

He looked sideways at Ethan and really studied him. His strong, protective body which had only grown in the year that they’d known each other. The friendliness and light in Ethan’s eyes. His brisk polar bear fur. The smooth, honeyed texture of his voice. Trevor could imagine himself closing his eyes and just falling into Ethan’s embrace, letting the larger boy hold him tight like a stuffed animal and just relaxing in Ethan’s grip. He could be happy like that. He could live life like that. He… He wanted it.

As if struck by a thunderbolt, Trevor realized that he loved Ethan.

He’d known that there were guys into guys, and girls into girls, for a while now. He’d never considered himself to be one of them—he didn’t have anything against them, but he just had always figured he would be like the guys he read about in stories or saw on TV who blushed when they saw girls and kissed them at the end of an episode.

But there wasn’t a girl Trevor could think of that interested him the way Ethan did. Ethan was more than just a friend… he was handsome, and kind, and strong, and caring, and funny, and passionate, and… and… and…

And everything that Trevor’d never known he wanted. Was he into guys? Was he into Ethan? Perhaps so. And perhaps that was alright.

“Hey, you good, dude?”

Ethan’s gentle voice yanked Trevor out of her reverie. The polar bear blinked and then grinned at his friend. “Yeah… just zoning out, haha.”

Ethan smiled and held up the controller. “So y’wanna go again, or…?”

Trevor smiled back. “Always.”

---

The feeling only blossomed. As the two boys progressed through their teenage years, Trevor’s little puppy love feelings morphed into something deeper. His attraction towards Ethan was no mere fleeting thing; he found himself admiring everything about him, from his strong powerful build to his bright eyes to the way he laughed. Ethan was strong and sporty, but no fool. He helped Trevor with schoolwork and, perhaps more importantly, also helped ease the sheltered boy through social situations. Ethan introduced Trevor to other schoolmates, helped inundate him with social norms, and told him the unwritten rules that he hadn’t picked up during homeschooling.

With Ethan’s help, Trevor soon became like any other boy in the school. Students hailed and greeted him in the halls, teachers rolled their eyes when he chatted with friends at the back of the class instead of paying attention, and he attended dances and soccer games and parties and assemblies. His mom, despite her worry, was happy for him. For so long he’d lived on nothing but prayer, it seemed, hooked up to tubes and beeping machines while watching other boys his age go about their lives. But now he could do more than just survive day to day. He could live.

And she wasn’t worried for nothing. Trevor was indeed healthier than he’d been in his youth, but he was still of ill health. A few shocks—both at home, when a hailstorm smashed through his bedroom window, and at school, when poor wiring had caused screeching feedback during a school assembly—had left his heart tight and his breathing labored, and he’d had to spend some time at doctors’ offices. Thankfully neither incident had progressed to the point of a full heart attack, but it had scared his family and offered a chilling reminder of his own mortality.

The first time he was hospitalized after meeting Ethan, his friend came to visit him. “Hey, um, you doing okay?” the other polar bear asked. His voice was uncharacteristically quiet. Trevor had told Ethan and his other friends that he had a health condition and that surprises and scares were dangerous to him, but it seemed Ethan hadn’t really internalized just how dire things could be for Trevor.

“Yeah,” Trevor said. He leaned back in his bed. Thankfully this was a weak attack without serious risk of death, but his body still felt weary and he’d be bed-ridden for a few days.

To say that Trevor was upset about this was understating it. He just wanted to be normal. And now his friends knew how vulnerable he could be. Yes, Ethan had known he had a condition and to be careful, but not like this. He didn’t know that death was always waiting at his door.

“The doctors said that, um, you’ll be better soon.” Ethan was uncharacteristically quiet.

“Yeah,” Trevor said. “I should be fine after this.”

“Did you… almost die?”

Trevor glanced up. The emotion in Ethan’s voice surprised him—and after the smaller bear looked his friend in the eye, he saw fear there. Ethan’s voice was quiet and almost timid, like he was afraid of what came next.

“Yeah. But I didn’t.”

“I…” Ethan reached his paw over to Trevor’s and gently squeezed it. “I don’t want to lose you, Trevor. You’re my best friend.”

Trevor squeezed back. Immediately he realized that Ethan wasn’t looking down on him; that he didn’t consider him to be a fragile doll. Ethan cared about him as a person, and he was afraid of losing a good friend.

“You’re my friend too,” Trevor said. He leaned his head over to nuzzle Ethan’s forehead; the gesture made a little note of happiness flutter down in his belly. “You don’t mind that I’m like this?”

“Nah,” Ethan said. “You’re you, Trevor, I could never mind that.”

Trevor just blushed.

Later, after Ethan had left, Trevor’s mom had come in to sit with him.

“Mom?” Trevor said quietly. He’d been thinking about Ethan—the warmth of his touch, the way that he cared for him.

“What is it sweetie?”

“I know you don’t think it’s wrong for guys to like guys, right?”

His mother was no fool. Her face immediately warped in a showcase of understanding. “Oh, sweetie, I’ll always love you no matter who you like.” She smiled at him. “And Ethan seems like a very nice young man, too.”

Trevor’s blush burned all the way up to his ears.

---

A few days after he was released from the hospital, Trevor decided to make his move. He and Ethan were at the mall, his friend treating him to a nice showcase of indulgent treats: they had smoothies and pretzels and window-shopped for all sorts of things that they certainly couldn’t afford.

While the two of them sat on a bench near a fountain, others mingled around them—and then Ethan pointed across the plaza. “Oh, look, they’re so cute!”

‘They’ turned out to be a gay couple in their mid-20s, a tall and dapper-looking parrot strolling hand in hand with a slightly plump snow leopard. The leopard tugged his boyfriend down and gave him a kiss, and the parrot trilled with happiness.

“Yeah,” Trevor said. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of envy towards the couple. To be happily out in the open with someone you loved… it was everything he knew he wanted. “I’m glad you’re not one of those guys who hates gay people.”

“People who do are assholes,” Ethan spat. “Nothing wrong with liking someone. As long as you’re not hurting anybody, what does it matter who you love?”

“Yeah. I agree.” Trevor’s heart raced from apprehension—he worked desperately to quiet it. The last thing he needed was another episode so soon after he’d left the hospital. He breathed carefully: in, out. In, out.

Ethan noticed. Side-eying his friend, he asked: “Hey, you doing alright?”

“Yeah.” Trevor looked at him. “Hey, Ethan. Could you ever see yourself liking another guy?”

There was no hesitation. “Oh, definitely. I mean, it’d have to be the right guy—someone I really liked and had a connection with. But yeah, no question. What about you?”

Trevor chose his words carefully. His heart raced in his chest. He was going to do it. He was going to confess! “Yeah, I think so. I… wouldn’t have any issues being attracted to a guy either.” Ethan nodded pleasantly, and Trevor continued. “He’d… have to be strong, and kind. Reliable, even. Someone I’d feel safe around. Someone I could imagine myself spending the rest of my life with. I think I could date that person. I even think I could love him.”

“Wow.” Ethan chuckled. “This sounds like quite a catch—and he’ll be one lucky guy to have you as a boyfriend. I hope you find him one day.”

His heart was racing so fast his chest hurt. “I… already have.” Scarcely believing what he was doing, Trevor reached his paw over and pressed it on the top of Ethan’s. The other bear took a sharp intake of breath and glanced sideways at his friend. But he didn’t move his hand—and he didn’t look upset.

“E-Ethan.” Trevor’s voice wavered. “I… I, um, really… l-like…”

Ethan’s paw squeezed around Trevor’s and the young bear gasped. His heart skipped. “I really like you too, Trevor,” Ethan said. “I… I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“Aah…”

Trevor’s voice failed him. His chest hurt. He couldn’t believe it. Ethan was returning the sentiment…!

“I…” Ethan leaned in, his face drawing close to Trevor’s. Trevor’s heart skipped yet again. A kiss. Was he going to kiss Ethan? He felt so excited he could faint. “I want to try…”

“Me too.” Trevor found his voice; it was tight and scratchy from anticipation. He also leaned in, the better to kiss his friend. “I want to—I—”

His heart skipped again—but this time, it panged him. He grunted, eyes widening, and gasped. His chest hurt. He sagged against the mall bench.

“Trevor? Trevor!” Ethan’s voice was desperate. It sounded vaguely distant, almost tinny, like you heard in old movies. The roar of the fountain sounded muted. “Oh my god! Trevor, are you okay?”

Trevor tried to speak but could only wheeze. He was having a heart attack again—he’d worked himself up too much. Foolish. So foolish.

Ethan’s worried face grew watery as Trevor flirted with unconsciousness. He faded away…

And then, when he snapped to, it was to the sound of beeping.

He sighed. The familiar environs of the ICU surrounded him again, and his chest hurt like hell in the way that only came after emergency surgery. He was back in the hospital.

Well, at least he hadn’t kicked the bucket.

His mother had busied herself worrying all about her baby boy, and the doctors made sure to run all the right tests. Thankfully, they all assumed that he’d just been startled or scared at the mall, so he didn’t have to share the humiliating fact that he’d been hospitalized because he’d tried to make out with his best friend.

For god’s sake, he hadn’t even landed the kiss!

Besides his mom, others came to visit too. Most of his friends, of course, but especially Ethan. Trevor’s best friend visited almost daily, and spent some of his time looking guilty before Trevor had to remind him that A) it wasn’t his fault that Trevor had a heart condition and B) Trevor had gotten himself worked up. That seemed to mollify Ethan, who quickly ended up leaving his guilt behind to simply become a worrying busybody.

One afternoon, when the two boys were alone in Trevor’s room, Ethan tentatively reached his hand over. “Well… I guess I should be flattered that you got that excited from kissing me.”

The 15 year old just scoffed. “I didn’t even land the kiss. All this hullabaloo and nothing to show for it.”

“Well.” Ethan blushed slightly. “I could… fix that. If you wanted me to.”

Trevor breathed in. Now that he’d had time to reflect on his and Ethan’s relationship, he thought he could bear his friend’s touch and presence without getting too worked up. “I’d like that.”

Tenderly, Ethan leaned forward and pressed his lips to his friend’s. Trevor closed his eyes and mrrrphed as he engaged in his first kiss. It was a soft, gentle touch; Ethan felt warm against him. Comforting. Safe.

Trevor’s whole body felt deliciously tense. His heart didn’t hammer like it had before, in that endangering way, but it still burned with delight. He was kissing the man of his dreams. He loved it.

When the two bears parted, both were blushing. “I really want this,” Trevor whispered.

“Me too,” Ethan replied. “Um. Do you think we… we could… make this a little more permanent?

Trevor perked up. “You mean, like, date?”

“Well… yeah,” Ethan said. “I’d love to have you as, um, a partner.”

“Me too. Let’s do it.”

Ethan looked stunned but then quickly jumped up in joy. “Wahoo! Yes! Okay, you’d better get better soon, Trevor, because the moment you’re out of this hospital, I’m going on a date… with my boyfriend!”

As he took his leave, Trevor smiled after him. Despite the major hiccup along the way, he was still excited with how his life had taken him.

---

Not long after, Trevor had finally left the hospital, and was enjoying his trips with Ethan. The two of them liked going to games, or the movies, or simply kissing on park benches. Sometimes they returned to the mall, Ethan going out of his way to tease his new boyfriend.

“Careful,” he’d say, poking Trevor in the side with one fat digit, “that fountain’s gonna get you again! Watch out!”

“It’s not the fountain I’m worried about,” Trevor would reply, brushing off his boyfriend with a laugh.

They were teens without a lot of burnable income, so they did more window-shopping than anything; they would stroll past sporting goods stores, fancy brand apparel outlets, and game havens, pointing out what they would buy if only they had the money.

Trevor’s favorite store was the women’s lingerie store on the second floor near the atrium. They would often wander past it, and Trevor would linger, studying the bras and panties and tights with something like awe. Sometimes women would pass and mutter, thinking the two boys were perverts, but there was something else to it—something that Ethan couldn’t place.

One evening after such a visit, while the two boys were jamming in Ethan’s garage, the larger bear set aside his drumsticks. “Hey,” he said. “So with you focusing on lingerie. What’s with that?”

Trevor glanced aside. “Oh, you know. Just like, imagining… stuff.”

“Girls?” Ethan cocked his head. “But I thought you were gay and only into guys?”

Trevor’s cheeks burned a soft, embarrassed pink. “I… it’s…” He sighed. “Okay, so, um… I’m sickly, right?”

“I’ve suspected as such,” Ethan said flatly.

“Oh, shut up!” Trevor burned even pinker. “My health makes me small and slight. I’m not like other boys. And I, um… I think that makes me kind of… girly?”

In most normal circumstances, boys—or at least the boys Ethan knew—didn’t want to be ‘girly’. But Trevor wasn’t talking about it like it was a bad thing. He sounded almost excited—albeit in a slightly hesitant way.

“I… think you are,” Ethan said, choosing his words carefully. “And to be honest, that’s part of your appeal.”

Trevor nodded eagerly. “I’ve, um, tried on lingerie and girl’s clothes before. Skirts and stuff. They… make me feel pretty.” He looked shyly down. “I like them.”

“So when you were ‘imagining’ over at the lingerie store, it was yourself you were imagining? Like in panties and skirts and stuff?”

Trevor blushed. “Y-yeah.”

Ethan smiled. “Heh. I bet you’d look cute in those.”

The smaller bear visibly perked up. “You really think so?”

“I do.” Ethan walked out from behind the drumset and kissed his boyfriend on the nose. His face suddenly cherry red, Trevor hid it behind his paws.

“Y-you’re teasing me…”

“Maybe.” Ethan embraced his boyfriend tight. “But I mean it. You’d look super cute in girly outfits.”

Trevor embraced him back. “You really think so?”

“Oh yeah.” Ethan gently stroked the back of Trevor’s ear. “Heck, I can imagine it now. You, blushing and acting all coy and cute in a short frilly skirt. Your white-furred legs on display. Maybe even with a gauzy, clingy top that shows off your form. If you wanted, we could even do you up in makeup… put on eyeshadow or eyeliner or blush. Make you really look like the girlyboy you were always meant to be.”

Trevor tightened his embrace around Ethan. “You really wouldn’t mind me dressing up all girly?”

“How could I hate it? It’s what you want. Besides, you’d look amazing in that getup.” Ethan stepped back and grinned at Trevor. “How ‘bout we start saving up and get you some real girly outfits, huh?”

Trevor blushed. “I’d like that so much.”

---

And so they had. The two young polar bears had committed to Trevor’s girly urges and helped get him clothes to match. Seeing how pretty he looked in them made the young bear emotional, and he hugged and kissed Ethan in thanks.

As they’d aged, they’d matured, and so had their relationship. It deepened into something steadier, something even more intimate. They went steady and they each gradually realized that they never wanted to live apart. They wanted to be husbands.

And so came the marriage. When they were planning it, Trevor—who still loved dressing in girly clothes, even as an adult—had asked Ethan if he’d mind if his husband-to-be came to the ceremony in a bridal gown. Ethan had swept him into a giant hug and told him that he didn’t expect anything else. Picking out the lovely white dress had been exciting, and modeling for it even more so—and all the while Trevor could hardly believe that this was actually his life. He was really going to marry Ethan, and be in a dress while he did it.

So here they were. Both dressed up, their friends and families looking on, and the officiant was finalizing the ceremony.

“…as your lawfully wedded husband?”

Trevor blinked. He’d been so lost in memories that he’d completely zoned out. “I, uh, I do!”

Ethan chuckled at this side, doubtless knowing what he was going through, and the officiant moved on to him as well. Ethan nodded. “I do.”

“Then I hereby seal you in eternal matrimony. You may now kiss.”

Smiling, Ethan turned to Trevor and gently lifted the veil from his face. Trevor gazed back, wide-eyed, eager. His heart was racing, though he and Ethan had both practiced this, to make sure he wouldn’t overexcite himself and have a repeat of that day at the mall, so many years ago.

Leaning in, Ethan’s lips touched Trevor’s and the crowd hollered with joy. Trevor gently touched his husband’s arms and returned the kiss. This was wonderful. This was right. This was—this was—

This was everything he ever wanted.

As the kiss parted, Trevor gazed up into the eyes of his new husband. For the moment, everything was quiet. He couldn’t hear the crowd, or the organ, or even the wind outside. All that existed was Ethan.

“I love you,” he said.

“I do too,” Ethan replied, and leaned in to kiss him again.

And all was well.