Needle and Thread

20

Harry doesn't ask Mina to go to prom, but she asks him. He says no, of course, but he still goes alone.

So does Jj.

They meet by the refreshment table, sipping on plastic cups of alcohol free punch, and they let their shoulders brush.

"Well, this is nice," Jj jokes. He looks good, better than usual, dressed in a grey suit and a white shirt, the collar of which folds open just wide enough for a hint of his prominent collarbones to peek through.

Harry hides his smile behind the edge of his cup.
"I couldn't agree more."

They watch the dancefloor from the side lines, silently judging their classmates dance skills all the while refusing to dance themselves. Luke, Alex and Brandon have formed something akin to a mosh pit near the DJ -who's music choice is questionable at best- laughing boisterously, and perhaps a little drunkenly too, depending on the contents of the flask Alex has been attempting to discreetly pass around between the three of them. Harry just hopes for their sake that it's not Mr Cane's beer.

They try to beckon Harry over, even gesturing to Jj, attempting to grow their embarrassing display of flailing limbs and stomping feet by several bodies. Unfortunately, they don't manage to succeed, attracting the attention of their teachers more than anyone else, and eventually finding themselves being escorted off of the dance floor by Mr Freigh, the PE teacher and football team coach.

Their last game took place only a week before, bagging the team their final win before half of them head off to university and jobs alike. Luke and Alex are sticking around the St Mary's area for various apprenticeships, whilst Brandon is planning on attending university to study chemical engineering. Harry doubts he'll ever see them again, but it's just a fact of life, he supposes.

"Hey, do you want to get out of here?" Jj asks once the crowd has grown rowdier and the glares from Mina and her friends have become unbearable.

Relief washes over Harry like a crashing wave.
"I thought you'd never ask."

***

Making out in a car is not something Harry has ever considered putting on his bucket list, but he wonders if perhaps he should, just so that he can tick it off.

The summer heat infiltrates their space, thickening the air until the windows of Jj's car fog up and their skin melts together, sticky like a sweet that has been left out in the sun. Harry's mouth feels numb and his legs are cramping up, but in his eighteen years of life, nothing has ever felt this good. Jj sits in the driver's seat with Harry in his lap, with knees bracketing his hips and Harry's hands under the hem of his shirt. Their rented suit jackets have been long abandoned, thrown carelessly onto the backseats only seconds after their lips had met.

They kiss the way boys do. Messy and rushed and a little more than eager. Jj's hands tangle in Harry's hair, and Harry's fingers dance along the crevices of Jj's abdomen, drawing shudders and gasps with each  and every touch.

Harry has never done this before, but he feels incredibly safe with Jj. They were each other's first friend, first sleepover, first secret keeper. It only makes sense that they'd share this together too.

Jj breathes a shaky exhale when Harry's fingers begin to undo the top buttons of his shirt, revealing inch after inch of beautiful dark skin.

Constellations dot Harry's face and neck, tiny freckles blooming in Jj's favourite places to kiss, and his eyes look like they've captured all of the stars in the night sky, glinting in the dark, like the culmination of all of Jj's wishes.

"Are you sure?" Jj asks, his hands trembling, heart thundering, and head spinning.

There are a lot of things Harry is unsure about. His future. His family. His friendships. He doesn't know what awaits him now that school is nothing but a memory. He doesn't know if his dad still loves him or how much longer his grandmother will be here for. He doesn't know if he'll stay in touch with Luke and Alex and Brandon, or if they'll drift apart like pieces of a shipwreck in the middle of a dying ocean.

There are a lot of things Harry is unsure about, but he's certain of one thing, and one thing alone:
He loves Jj.

In the most terrifying, all consuming kind of way, Harry loves Jj, and he thinks that Jj might even love him too.

Harry has always likened Jj to the sun in his head, when the day is bright and the world is awash with golden light, or even the moon, when all is dark and shadows crack with the glow of moonlight. Now, however, Harry thinks Jj looks like a star on the verge of supernova. Bright and beautiful and ready and waiting to explode.

"Yeah, I'm sure," He whispers, brushing a bead of sweat from Jj's temple.

When they kiss then, in that moment, Harry's chest bursts with blindingly bright starlight.

This, he thinks, is the most beautiful he has ever felt.

——
The End.