(Jack's P.O.V.)


Two weeks went by like no tomorrow, and before I know it, I'm standing in my room with Kate behind me, nervous beyond belief. 

"Holy shit, I am not ready for this." I whisper and Kate just laughs, making sure my eyes are still closed. 

"Yes you are. You'll have the time of your life tonight, I promise." She says. 

Currently she's doing the finishing touches on my suit, wanting me to look absolutely perfect. And I also want to look absolutely perfect, seeing as I'm going to prom with Mark. And dear god, I want to look my absolute best for him. He said he's gonna pick me up instead of the other way around, leaving me more room to get ready which I'm thankful for. God, I'm so fucking nervous... 

"Aaaaaaaand open." Kate says, and lets me open my eyes. I do, and I stare at myself in the mirror with wide eyes and an open mouth.

 I'm wearing a black suit, with a black vest underneath and a green button up shirt. It's adorned with a dark green tie, silver cuff links, and a very nice pair of black dress shoes. My hair is done up very nicely, and my entire body smells likes a mixture of vanilla and roses from the cologne Kate sprayed all over me. There's something missing, but I don't know what. Maybe I'm just going crazy. 

"I..." I shake my head, turning to look at my sister. "Thank you." I smile and she nods, smiling a big smile. 

"Oh god, you're so grown up." She whispers and hugs me tightly, laughing. I laugh too, and when I hear her sniff a bit I'm not surprised. We pull away from the hug and I see her crying softly but she just shrugs at me and smiles. "Mark will be here soon. Better get prepared." She chuckles and I nod, resisting the urge to run my hand through my hair. 

"Well, once he gets here I'll be ready as I can ever be." I say and she nods. 

"Just so you know..." She steps a little bit closer and speaks quieter. "Ma and I are staying over at a friends house tonight." She says it with a slightly suggestive tone. My eyes widen and I look at her. 

"Wait, what?" I ask, wanting to know I heard her correctly. She just laughs. 

"Seán I told you I'd give you privacy when you turned eighteen. And I hate to admit it but my baby brother isn't a baby anymore." She says, and hugs me once more. "Have fun." She whispers in my ear and then walks downstairs with one last smile, leaving me in my room to not only comprehend what was said, but to mentally prepare myself for the night to come. 

This night will be amazing, perfect, magical. Any and every word. And to think... I might not have lived to be here. How could I have ever thought to miss this? My thoughts are broken by a loud knocking on the door. In only a minute I hear Kate answer it, and then squeal. Then I hear a voice. I can't tell what it's saying, but I recognize it. It's Mark. He's here. Oh my god... 

Okay. Come on Seán, you can do this. I inhale deeply, exhaling slowly, before turning on my heel and walking out of the room. I breathe slowly, trying to keep calm. But as soon as I stop at the top of the stairs, my breathing halts and I swear everyone else's do as well. Standing at the door, next to Kate and Ma, is Mark. And god I don't think I've ever looked upon a hotter human being. 

He stares at me as I stare at him, with pure adoration. He is wearing a black suit as well, with a  pure black vest. His tie is purple, his shirt a reddish pink. His raven black hair is swept to the side perfectly, and I can see a simple silver locket around his neck. I walk down the stairs slowly, not missing the quiet cries from Ma as she watches me. I approach Mark and the nice scent of simply him makes me feel comfortable. 

"You look amazing." He whispers. My cheeks heat up as I smile. 

"You do too." I whisper back. He then lifts up his hand, holding up a small box that has a simple red rose inside. He opens up the box and lifts an eyebrow, silently asking "may I?" Of course I nod and he takes the rose, putting it in my jacket pocket delicately. Then I hear a squeal. 

"Oh! I can't take it! Just kiss or something! You two are too cute!" Ma says, fangirling like crazy. I just roll my eyes, bringing Mark in for a sweet, short kiss. He kisses back, smiling. And when we pull apart I am not surprised to see both of the women in front of us with cameras. 

"Prom photos!" Kate yells, and so then begins the long process of photo after photo. I have to say my favorite one we do is where Mark decides to dip me, and so we just stand there, laughing at each other while the two take pictures. And then finally, we're on our way to the best night of our lives.

***

The moment we walk into the gym we're greeted with loud ass music and couples dancing everywhere. And yet, no one looks at us with disgust or hatred. In fact, most people just ignore us. Some look at us and smile, others even come and offer us drinks that are undoubtedly spiked. Mark and I just walk hand in hand towards the refreshments table, looking at the dancing couples and listening to the music. 

We spot Bob, Wade and Ken all dancing with their girlfriends, and they spot us as well, waving. We wave back with smiles on our faces. And then Felix walks up to us with a girl I've never seen before. 

"Hey Felix!" Mark greets once he's in ear shot. 

"Hey man! Jack, Mark, this is my girlfriend, Marzia." He says, turning to the beautiful girl next to him. I smile, holding out my hand. She takes it with a smile that matches mine. 

"You look gorgeous." I compliment and she blushes. 

"Thank you. You are both very handsome." She says and I smile, nodding and saying a thank you, along with Mark. "Fe talked about you guys a lot." She laughs, her Italian accent drifting along beautifully. I look at him with a playful look and he just shrugs. 

"What can I say? I missed you guys when I was out in London." He says and I shrug back, nodding in understanding. We talk for a little longer before the two then go off to dance, leaving Mark and I along at the refreshments table. He grabs a cookie and holds it up. I smile and take a bite from it, making him laugh and take a bite as well. After that one bite though he just throws it away, shaking his head. 

"That is not good." I hear him say, and I just laugh in response. He smiles, grabbing my hand. 

"Wanna go dance?" He questions, and of course I reply with a nod. He and I walk hand in hand towards the dance floor, where we just start shaking and dancing around. We goof off, and joke around, and at one point we start doing a tango like thing when a song is playing. And then... The DJ starts talking. 

"Alright everyone... It has come to that time of night for everyone to settle down with their partner and slow dance to the next few songs." He speaks, and I look over at Mark. 

"Do you remember how to?" He asks. I chuckle, putting my hand on his shoulder, and my other hand in his hand. 

"How could I forget?" I whisper, making him smile more. The music starts playing quietly, before I can finally hear the singing. 

"The best things in life... Come with a price... The star that burned so bright, faded the fastest..." I smile more, closing my eyes as I dance around to the perfect song. It plays, we dance. We twirl and smile and hold each other close. I can't believe I almost gave this up. I can't believe I almost left this world without having this. This moment, this experience, this time. Mark. Just being here, with him. 

"You'll always feel it's right... Even when we end the fight... Welcome home, home tonight..." Mark and I start twirling more, doing a much more smooth and complex waltz than we did at the beginning of the year. And I don't miss the eyes watching us. "Singing oh, oh, welcome home tonight... Oh-oh, tonight..." Mark twirls me around before we come back together. By now, almost everyone is watching us. 

"Words they don't know how to make amends... And all they do is push you to the edge... But it's not wasted..." Mark and I pause for a second, staring at one another with love. And once the singing starts up again, we twirl around and dance without a care in the world. "It's all done for you... It's all done for you... Oh... It's all done for you... It's all done for you... Oh..." As the song ends, Mark and I dance slower and slower still, until finally the music stops and we stop in the middle of the floor. 

Everyone applauds, cheers, before the next song starts and they start dancing once more. But Mark and I don't, instead we walk over to the corner of the room. Or, more appropriately, Mark drags me to the corner of the room. He sighs then and looks at me, shaking his head slowly. 

"You're so goddamn perfect Seán." He whispers and I laugh, squeezing his hand gently. 

"You are too you doofus." I say back and he smiles, taking his hand away and bringing his hands to his neck. It's only when he takes the locket off that I remember that he even had it. 

"I got this for you." He says then and hands it to me. I stare at it with wide eyes, staring at the silver locket in the shape of a heart with beautiful engraving done on it in patterns and swirls that make it all the prettier. 

Then I open it, and I see pictures of Mark and I, two of them. One is from last year when we first started hanging out, and the other one is from this year, only two weeks ago. During the party, celebrating me coming back. I look up at Mark with teary eyes and a smile and I can see he's looking back at me with the same expression. 

"Thank you so much." I say and he chuckles, nodding, taking it back and putting it around my neck. I don't even hesitate to hug him, whispering the sentence of "I love you" over and over again. We just stand there, in each others embrace, smiling. 

And then I lean up and I give him a soft, gentle kiss. He kisses me back, holding my face in his hands. And I just smile as we give each other short, sweet little kisses. I back away then, glancing at the clock. We've already been here a few hours... I look back at Mark and I smirk, raising a brow. 

"Wanna go to my place?" I ask, and he smiles. Though he doesn't respond yet... I put my hands on his shoulders, leaning up and whispering softly, "Ma and Kate aren't home." And with that he grabs my hand and we run out of the gym with a new energy. This is surely going to be the best night of my life.