It was the spring of 1980. Queen, Blondie, Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson, and Billy Joel were all over the radio.

The radio Grant was listening to as he worked in his room, studying for his end of year exams.

He'd not long turned fifteen, and since starting high school, he had become a grouchy, grumpy, teenager full of teen angst, hating having to do homework, bullied for his lack of social skills, and having to wear a retainer, and nobody understood his problems. In other words, he was a typical fifteen year old.

He was interrupted from his brooding thoughts by a knock at the door.

'Hey, Grant.' It was Joe. And Joe just walked in.

Grant scoffed. 'Ugh. Why did you just walk into my room like that?' he asked, his voice deeper than it was when he was a child and a pre-teen, but not as deep as either his brother or father's. He stood up from his desk, at just around an inch or so taller than his brother.

'I see you've had another growth spurt, G,' said Joe. 'Can't believe my own little brother's taller than me. Guess I can't call you my little brother anymore, can I?'

Grant rolled his eyes. 'Is that all you wanted?' he asked in that specific tone in which teenagers often speak.

'G,' said Joe. 'I-I just told Mom and Dad, but I wanted to let you know too.'

'You've got cancer. You're dying,' Grant guessed.

'I'm not dying, nor do I have cancer,' said Joe. 'I asked Hope to marry me.'

'Hope. Your girlfriend?'

'Mhm. Yes.' Joe nodded. 'We're both studying together for our PhDs, it makes sense.'

Grant raised an eyebrow. 'You're not getting married until you've got your PhDs, I'm assuming.'

'Actually, we already got married,' said Joe. 'We uh… we did it when we were out digging in Nevada. We took a day trip to Vegas. Did a bit of gambling. Won some money. Got blackout drunk and we were married by an Elvis impersonator… or maybe it was Elvis himself…'

Grant smirked. 'Sounds like you two had quite a night.'

'Yeah. And because it was so rushed, we annulled the marriage. But Hope and I are going to get married again. In front of our families.'

'Okay.'

'And I want you to be my best man.'

Grant stood, staring at his brother, trying to digest what Joe had just said. Then he shook his head. 'No. Joe. I can't. I'm only fifteen. I'm too young -'

'I know you won't be able to plan my bachelor party. Or go to it. But that doesn't matter. You just need to hold the rings, help pick suits, just be at my side, and give a speech. And I know you can do that. What do you say?'

It was the summer of 1981. Grant was sixteen. Joe had just turned twenty-seven, little more than a week ago. And he was getting married today.

'How do I look?' asked Joe. 'Seriously, G. How do I look?'

Grant shook his head. 'You look fine. Stop worrying.'

'It's the biggest day of my life, G,' said Joe. 'Until I get my PhD. Still working towards that.'

'And until you have kids,' said Grant.

'I'm not having kids,' said Joe. 'Hope and I have decided we don't want one. Having a kid will derail our careers.'

'It didn't derail Mom's career,' said Grant. 'And Helen Marsh is out there right now, pregnant herself.'

'I know Helen's pregnant,' said Joe. 'I see her every day. And today - she's invited to the wedding -'

Grant shrugged and looked at his watch. 'You still have time, don't get too agitated -'

'We have to get down to the church, Grant. And it's July, there'll be people celebrating their summer vacations. Not only that, it's a Saturday.'

'It's Saturday July 25th, not Saturday July 4th. Don't worry too much,' said Grant. 'Please. Or you'll get an aneurysm and drop dead at the altar -'

'Great,' Joe said sarcastically. 'Another thing to worry about.'

'You'll be fine, Joe,' a young black man said. He walked over to Joe and corrected his tie.

Grant didn't know this man well, but he did know him… vaguely. He was one of Joe's groomsmen, Sonny Tallboat. The other groomsmen were Lorenzo Sanchez, a Mexican guy, and the palest Floridian Grant had ever seen, Vinnie O'Brien.

'As long as you turn up and say "I do", I don't think Hope will really care,' Sonny said.

'Yeah, relax, dude,' Vinnie said. 'At least you're having a Protestant wedding. Imagine if this was a Catholic wedding -'

'I agree,' said Lorenzo. 'Catholic weddings are not - well, it's not that they're bad, it's just that they're -'

'Long,' Vinnie finished.

'Thanks. Really making me feel better,' said Joe.

Sonny checked his watch. 'Alright. Let's go to the church.'

Joe nodded. 'Y-yeah. Church. Sure.'

'Hey, why didn't you make me your best man?' Sonny asked.

'Because I wanted it to be my little brother,' Joe said. 'Sonny, you're my best friend. But Grant is my best friend and my brother.'

'I get it, man.' Sonny nodded. 'Can't compete with family.

At the church, everyone took their positions.

Joe anxiously rubbed his wet hands on his tuxedo pants.

'Relax,' Grant said.

'Easy for you to say, you aren't the one getting married,' Joe said.

'And I never will,' Grant said confidently. 'Unless it's to an iguanodon.'

Joe chuckled awkwardly. 'Yeah. Guess there's no chance of you getting married then, is there?'

Grant shrugged flippantly.

Then the Wedding March started.

Hope's young niece dumped clumps of petals as she walked, garnering "aww's" from the crowd.

Then Hope's friends walked down the aisle. Khaleila, of course. And two others Grant didn't recognise, but their names were Diana and Connie. Followed by the bride herself, Hope. And her father.

'You, uh… look good,' Joe said as Hope arrived at the altar.

'You look sweaty,' Hope replied.

'Heh. Yeah. I guess I do,' Joe said.

After the wedding, at the reception, the two families met and mingled. The Seekers and the… whatever Hope's maiden name was. The Greys? Yeah. The Greys.

Grant, as the best man, was required to give a speech. And after Joe's new father in law and Joe himself had given one, Grant stood up to give his.

'Uh, good evening, everyone. For those who don't know me, I'm Grant. And I'm Joe's little brother. So when Joe asked me to be his best man, I had no choice but to say "yes". But it's an honour being the best man for my brother. Even though he could have asked one of his peers. Of course Joe didn't have to have his little brother as his best man, but our parents would have disowned him. So my apologies go to Sonny, Vinnie, and Lorenzo.

But really, folks, it's been a great day so far. Thank you Hope, and nobody else, for planning it out.

Now, being Joe's brother, I've known Joe ever since I was born, 16 years ago. Give or take a few days. And now I get to talk about how wonderful Joe is. Something nobody's done for him since I was born. Or so he complains.

So let me tell you a bit about growing up with Joe. First of all, I didn't. If you hadn't noticed, Joe is older than me by around 11 years. He's in his late 20s and I'm a teenager. So he was basically raising me. And he didn't complain once when his childhood was upended by my arrival and his position as the only child was usurped by some weird little kid who didn't speak until age 4. By which time, Joe was already in high school and trying to take home girls, who were promptly creeped out by my longstanding obsession with iguanodons. Sorry about that. But at least you have a palaeontologist gal to call your own now.

I've known Hope ever since I was 7. She visited for Thanksgiving, birthdays, Christmases, New Years, just because, and she's babysat me. But I never learned her last name until today.

Joe and Hope are a great couple. I don't know where Joe would be without Hope. She makes him happy. Who else would he talk to about Compsognathuses, after all? Well, he wouldn't, because the plural of Compsognathus is Compsognathus.

I just want to thank the bride and groom for letting me be part of their special day. I wish Joe and Hope a very long and happy marriage with as many dinosaur fossils as they can unearth.

Please raise your glasses to the bride and groom! Congratulations to the happy couple!'

A/N: Grant is at his adult height now. I don't know how tall Wallace Langham is, and I'm not about to Google it because I find googling celebrities a bit weird (but that's me personally), but it's between 5'5" and 6 feet as he comes up shorter than Ted Danson who is 6'2", but less than a head taller than the 5'3" Elisabeth Shue. I'm gonna say he's either 5'9" or 5'10", but I might be wrong about that

July 25th was indeed a Saturday in 1981, as was July 4th.