-The music blared loudly through the speakers. Daphne saw an out-stretched hand from the corner of her eye, reaching towards her. She turned her head to see that the hand belonged to her best friend and prom date, Justin. Smiling, Daphne took Justin's hand and let him pull her up from her seat and over to the dance floor. The two friends started to dance, giggling uncontrollably, as if it were the silliest thing they'd ever done. It certainly was not.

Her voice filled with bubbly laughter, Daphne announced, "This song is so freaking lame!" 

Justin tipped his head back and laughed loudly. "So lame!" he agreed. And yet, this did not stop the pair from dancing for their lives. Neither of them had initially planned on attending prom at all. But since they were there, why not enjoy it? 

Song after song was played, all equally lame, and the friends still hadn't left the dance floor. Daphne glanced across the room and noticed Chris Hobbs eying the pair with hatred evident in his stare. Daphne rolled her eyes. "Urgh, Chris fucking Hobbs has been giving us the evil-eye all night!" she complained.

It was only when Justin turned his head to follow Daphne's line of vision that the nasty jock looked away from the dancing pair. He turned his head back to his friend and corrected her statement, "Me. He's been giving me the evil-eye." Daphne sighed and rolled her eyes again, giving sympathy for her friend. "So what? The fucker can glare at me all he wants, after graduation neither of us ever have to see him again."

"And what a loss that will be", Daphne remarked sarcastically, provoking another laugh from her blonde prom date.

Brian sat in his jeep, which was parked in the parking lot of the venue of the St. James Academy senior prom. He had been sitting there for 5 minutes already, trying to gather up the God damn balls to just go in to the prom to see his annoying little blonde.

What the fuck am I doing here?, he asked himself for the 50th time that night. He already knew why he was there, however. Because Justin had asked him to. Sure, he had turned him down then, but now; here he was. Nothing like a nice surprise, eh? Yeah, Brian thought, shaking his head at his own pathetic self. A great big fucking romantic surprise for the little twerp. The Liberty Avenue stud shuddered at the thought his himself doing anything...romantic. The very word was offensive. But Kinney already knew that. So why was he sitting there arguing with himself over whether he should 'pussy-out' and go home, or 'man-up' and go the fuck in.

The brunet squeezed his eye tightly shut and leaned back into his seat, his hands still firmly gripped around the steering wheel. Brian's mind was flooded with memories of his time spent with Justin over the past year. Justin getting ready for school at his loft. Justin kissing his neck while he wore nothing but the sheets from his bed. Justin drawing him, while he pretended not to notice.  Justin soaping up in his shower. Justin's beautiful, flushed face as he came, with Brian's dick inside him. Justin crying when he thought Brian was moving to New York.  Justin saving his ass from getting sued by that fucking shit wipe, Kip.

Brian slowly reached his hand down to hold the key in the ignition. He kept perfectly still for 4 more seconds, before opening his eyes, letting go of the key and slumping back in his seat, a loud sigh escaping from his lips. "Fuck!" he said to himself. Finally, deciding to get it over with and go in after all, Brian opened the car door and slid out. He slowly shut his jeep's door and leaned his head on it for a couple of short seconds, building up his confidence. There was no turning back now. Justin had already done so much for him. Without him even having to ask. Now, it was time to return the favour. He was going to give Justin the best 'farewell and fuck you', beyond anything any high school had ever dreamed of. The kids would be gawking, gaping, dumbfounded. Leaving Justin with all the glory. For once, the 'homo' would be the one laughing at them, rather than the other way around.

With that thought in his mind, Brian stepped away from his precious jeep, locked it and waltzed away, a smirk of amusement on his face. No matter how nervous he was, he couldn't wait to help Justin gain that victory. The satisfaction of letting everyone know he was queer and didn't give a fuck what anyone had to say about it.

A short number of minutes later, Brian pushed open the venue door and stepped inside. He looked around the room, seeing all the dancing and laughing teenagers that filled the place. Fuck me, he thought, gulping.

Daphne tapped Justin's shoulder and pointed to where she had spotted a very hunky looking Brian Kinney walking towards them. "Hey, look", she said excitedly as she pointed at the approaching man. Justin turned his head and immediately saw the very last person he had expected to see there that night. Sure, he had fantasized that the Brian Kinney, his Brian Kinney, would do something like this; surprise him and show up at the prom, even though he turned him down when he asked him to go. He had fantasized about that. But never in his wildest dreams, had he thought that it would actually become his reality.

Meanwhile, Daphne was having a mini, internal freak-out, herself. She thought Brian showing up was the most romantic thing she'd ever witness. He soooo loves him! she thought, excitedly.

Justin's face softened and his heart melted. Brian looked good. And he had come here looking that good just for him. He gave him one of his signature sunshine smiles when he finally reached the pair. Brian gave him a small smile in return, hoping not to seem in any way eager.

"I thought you said you wouldn't be caught dead in a room full of 18-year-olds", Justin teased. Daphne giggled to herself at the playful dig.

Brian shrugged. "I thought I'd recapture my lost youth", he said, sliding the first couple of fingers of his left hand along the inside of the collar of Justin's suit jacket. Justin looked at Brian with lust, meaning and desire. Like he was ready to tear both their clothes to shreds and have sex with him right there and then. Brian noticed Daphne pretending to be interested in something else and leaned in close to her, startling the teenager. "You look hot, Daphne", he complimented, placing a kiss on her cheek. Daphne chuckled and blushed at the compliment and kiss. But Brian wasn't finished making her blush. "I'd fuck you", he said.

"Uh, you-you too, Brian", Daphne responded, giggling.

Brian returned his gaze to Justin's, who was smiling at him again and asked Daphne, "Mind if I borrow your date?"

Daphne shrugged, giving him the permission he didn't really care whether he received or not, and gave Justin a smile, before stepping aside.

Brian took Justin's hand and led him to the middle of the dance floor as the upbeat song that was playing faded into a slower, old romantic song. All of the students stepped away, giving the pair the entire floor to themselves. The students stood, dumbfounded, in a circle around the two moving figures, who were paying absolutely no attention to anyone but each other.

The lovers swayed to the music, laughing and having the time of their lives. They stood close to each other, and moved as if their dance had been rehearsed. Brian placed his white silk scarf on Justin, and twirled him around.  Justin sensually removed Brian's jacket and threw it at Daphne, who caught it, laughing. He waggled his eyebrows at Brian and placed the silk scarf back on Brian, using it to pull him closer to him. Several twirls and a dip later, Brian pulled Justin close to him and lifted him up off of the ground. He spun him around and kissed him, drawing gasps from every single fucker in the place. Daphne began to giggle again, while Chris Hobbs was fuming, as Brian and Justin held onto each other for dear life and continued to kiss.   

Eventually, Brian broke off the kiss and both he and Justin smiled. Brian stepped away from his dance partner, still holding his hands, spun him around once more, and made a dash fro the door, pulling the blonde along with him. They burst through the doors of the venue room and laughed so hard they had to hold each other up.

Daphne had hurried after the pair and cleared her throat to get either man's attention. Both Brian and Justin whipped their heads around to look at her, and she held out Brian's jacket to him, a big smile of approval on her face. Brian smirked at the girl and took the jacket from her hands. He let go of Justin's hands to put it on and Justin leaned in to whisper to Daphne, "I'm just gonna go walk Brian to his car, then Ill be back."

The curly-haired teenager gave Justin a smile, wink and nod, before turning around to head back into the prom.

Justin turned back to Brian who was smirking at him. He returned the look with a sunshine smile of his own that made Brian's heart flutter. Brian took a hold of Justin's hands once more and pulled him towards the elevator.

Justin and Brian sang, danced and laughed in each other's arms as they made their way to Brian's jeep. Both men felt as high as the ceiling, despite the fact that neither of them had taken anything. The entire elevator ride had been spent making out and groping.

"Did you see their faces?!" Justin chuckled. Brian Pulled Justin over to stand in the space in between his jeep and the car parked next to it.

"Yeah", he said. "We gave them a prom they'll never forget." Just as he planned.

"Me neither", Justin said. Brian took the silk scarf off of himself and put in around Justin's neck again. He held on to the scarf with one hand, placing his other hand on Justin's upper arm as he turned the blonde around and plastered him to the side of the jeep. "It was the best night of my life", Justin said with a smile.

"Even if it was ridiculously romantic", Brian agreed, rather than asked. This made Justin's smile grow wider. Brian gave a quick smile back to the head-over-heels 18-year-old, before his face turned serious. He leaned in close to Justin and looked into his sparkling eyes. Justin met his gaze. Brian felt something he couldn't quite put into words. So he hopped as nice kiss would suffice. Gently, Brian leaned in even closer and placed a kiss on Justin's soft lips. Then he kissed him again, this time with a little tongue. Justin happily returned the kisses, before they pulled away to look into each other's eyes once more.

Brian stepped away, pulling on the scarf around Justin's neck to turn him around. "Later", he said in an attempt to sound like is usual casual self. His hand brushed along the end of the scarf as he stepped away.

Justin had been smiling the entire time, unable to rid the expression of joy from his face. He was obviously smitten. "Later", he said after a pause. He could hardly stop himself from acting like a love-struck teenager. It was all he could do not to jump into Brian's arms and cry and tell him he loved him.  He knew Brian would hate that, so he tried his very best to keep his cool instead.

Brian let go of the scarf and walked over to the driver's side of his jeep. Justin watched him, laughing softly. Brian hopped into his jeep and pulled the door shut. He watched Justin cheerfully walk away in his side mirror and smiled lightly.  It was that moment that Brian finally understood the nickname 'Sunshine'. He had always called him that because of his blonde hair and cheery disposition, but that night prooved to him that it was more than that. For the first time, he was seeing exactly why Debbie had adopted that nickname for Justin. It was because he caused rays of warm, bright sunshine to flood every room he walked into. And into the hearts of those who truly saw it. Perhaps that was what he had been doing all along. It had just taken this long for him to acknowledge it.

But the lightness he felt in his heart quickly washed away the second he saw another figure in the mirror. It was a boy. Holding a bat. Approaching Justin. A frown was plastered across Brian's entire face as his heart began to race. He opened his car door and stepped out as quickly as he could and called out, "Justin!", panic rising in his voice. He started to run as soon as his feet his the ground.

Justin turned around, wondering what he could expect from his surprising lover next, failing to notice the angry jock standing so very close to him. And that's when it happened.

The sound of the baseball bat hitting Justin's blonde head echoed throughout the parking lot and rang in Brian's ears. His young body hit the floor while his attacker stood over him, his heart pounding.

Brian ran and pushed Chris Hobbs hard to the ground, knocking the bat out of his shaking hands, before he could react to the older man. Chris groaned, and scrambled to his feet, starting to run away. But the fucker wasn't fast enough to get away, much to Brian's 'glee'. The older man had managed to pick up the bat and bash the footballer's knee in with it. Chris cried out in agony and fell to the ground once more. "God damnit!" he cried as Brian dropped the bat.

Forgetting the kid writhing in pain, Brian rushed over to the unconscious one, who meant the world to him. He kneeled down beside Justin and grabbed a hold of his shoulder and upper arm, checking to see if he really was out cold. The boy that always had such a lively smile on his face was now lifeless, with blood all over his head, face and neck. Brian put his head down on Justin's body, as he held onto him and chanted, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. God!"

After calling an ambulance to the scene of the crime, Brian cried and held onto Justin, rocking him in his arms. He prayed and prayed to a God he didn't believe in. Anyone who would listen. Even if there was no one listening at all. There was nothing else he could do.

He continuously chanted things like, "Nonononono", "JustinJustinJustinJustin", "Don't die on me" and, "Please, God, please." After several minutes, Brian still hadn't managed to calm himself down. The ambulance would be there soon. He could hear it in the distance. The Hobbs kid had crawled off somewhere a couple of minutes ago. Brian only wished he had been able to do more to him than simply bashing his knee in. If Justin didn't make it, he swore he would. But Justin not making it was not an option.

The ambulance siren grew louder and louder. Brian looked down at Justin's blood-covered face and caressed his hair. "You're not dying on me you little shit. You can't", he said, sniffling. He swallowed a sob before continuing on, "It's too late for that. You already got me. I fucking love you, you little shit. You can't die on me now. Not now. I love you...."

Sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chair out in the hallway, Brian cried silently. Michael had been sitting with him for about a minute now. He felt...broken. Empty. Numb. Guilty. It was all his fault. He didn't warn Justin fast enough. He didn't move fast enough. He showed up at the fucking thing in the first place.

He couldn't stop himself from thinking of all the 'if I had only....' situations. If I had only run faster. If I had only invited him to come home with me. If I had only just gone the fuck home instead. If only. But Brian knew all the 'if only's' in the world wouldn't change a damn thing. Because this was his reality. Justin had been hurt. And he hadn't been able to stop it.

Brian remembered the night he had met the little twat. He, Michael and the blonde had all raced down the very same hospital halls, tripping over each other and laughing, as they made their way to see Brian's newborn son.  It was such a joyous occasion. It was the beginning of everything. Now, this threatened to be the end. Brian did not want to consider that possibility. He couldn't. Not after what he had confessed in tears, earlier. Even though the person he was speaking to couldn't hear him. That didn't make it any less true.