After Dark

Epiologue

Liam looks around his room, taking it in. Not a lot has changed. It's still got all the furniture and the lifeless charm to it.

Every small personal detail to the room is gone now. There wasn't much but over the past year, a few new things were added. The picture of Liam and Ian that used to be on his night stand is gone. His small blue throw blanket that Paige got him last Christmas is gone. The little knickknacks he's gotten for presents from either Ian or his friends are no longer visible. They're all buried down in one of the four boxes sitting in his room.

As he's looking in his room, arms wrap around his waist. He smiles and leans back on Ian's chest.

"Moving day, huh?"

"Mhmm." Liam hums quietly.

"Well, it's also graduation day and you're gonna be late if you keep staring at your room." Ian says, kissing Liam's cheek. "Are you ready?"

"To graduate or move?" Liam asks with a little smile. Ian chuckles.

"Both." He answers. "Are you ready for this new step of your life?"

"Yes." Liam answers with a small nod. "I'm ready to live with you and I'm ready to head off to college in the fall."

Ian grins. "Good."

The decision to move in together wasn't recent. They decided about six months ago, agreeing that once they graduate they'd find an apartment. That's exactly what they did too.

Liam worked all last summer as an intern for a financial aid. Specifically David Martin, Ian's stepfather. They talked May of his junior year and Liam landed himself a summer job.

His father and him came to some sort of understanding. His father realized he's been pushing the lawyer thing too much, and Liam opened up about how he doesn't want to do that. His father is proud of him for doing what he wants, and Mandy is going to be taking over the firm when she's ready.

Ian worked as a life guard that summer to help save money as well. They'll both be doing those jobs again this summer before college.

Ian isn't going to school. He's going to look for a better job all during summer. Liam's dad already insisted on paying for college so the only thing they have to worry about is rent on their apartment.

"Come on baby. I wanna see you get your diploma." Ian says, pulling away. They both leave his childhood bedroom, flicking the light off.

Ian's entire family is going to be at their graduation to watch Ember, Paige, and Liam walk on the stage. Paige's mom is going to be there as well, sitting next to Ren, Clint, and Iris. As for Liam, his father, Mandy, and Mandy's fiancé are going to be sitting by David and Laura.

His mother won't be there. Unsurprisingly, her and Liam still aren't on good terms. She doesn't glare at him anymore but they've barely said a word to each other since he came out.

He's not really upset about it. Would it be nice to have both his parents watching him graduate? Yes, but he's okay with just his father and Mandy. And Ian.

They walk, their hands intertwined, down and out of the house. Liam agreed to let Ian drive them there. Drive them in his car. He let Ian drive it last year and the boy has been in love with it ever since.

Ian slides in the driver's seat and starts the car. He pulls out of the driveway with practiced ease. Liam relaxes in the passenger seat, placing his hand over Ian's which rests on his thigh.

When they pull up to the school, Ian parks and turns off the car. Before either of them get out, Ian moves so he's holding Liam's hand. Liam looks over just as his hand is brought up and Ian kisses the back of it.

"I'm proud of you, you know that?"

Liam can't help the smile that comes onto his face. He leans over and kisses Ian.

He's going to be alright. He knows now for sure. He's going to be okay.

"We're graduating!" Ember exclaims happily when the three of them meet up after getting ready. She hugs them both around the shoulders and they both hug her back. Paige is smiling widely and Liam knows his expression is similar.

"I want in on the hug!" They all break away to look over. Zander walks up with a huge grin. He's looking at Paige. "Hi."

Paige rolls her eyes. Zander has followed her around for awhile, insisting that once their done with school he's going to ask her out. He found out (she told him) which school gave her a full ride scholarship and he paid to go there. They aren't together yet but Liam's sure before their first year of college is over with, they will be.

"Am I not getting a hug?" Zander asks, slightly pouting. "Okay, damn, I'll go ask one of my other friends for one."

Paige smiles sweetly and stands up on her tippy toes to wrap her arms around Zander. He smiles widely and squeezes her waist. They release each other and Paige takes a step back, putting space between them.

"Okay, let's go people!" A worried teacher comes in clapping her hands loudly. "Come on, let's move."

They've already rehearsed a few dozen times so they fall into line easily. They're in alphabetical order by their last name so Liam, Paige, and Ember are all separated. They walks out and wait to get called up onto stage.

Their names start getting called and everyone waits. Liam goes up pretty early on since his last name is in the Cs. He can hear Mandy cheering loudly and when he looks, she's taking pictures. He smiles and walks off the stage, diploma in hand. He cheers and claps from his chair as Paige and Ember get called up.

After they have to sit through speeches but it's not so bad. It's a bunch of bullshit but not so bad.

"I'm so proud of you." Mandy races up as soon as she can and hugs him. "Oh, this is Anthony."

He's tall and lean. His hair is such a dark shade Liam isn't sure if it's black or brown but he's guessing brown. His eyes are dark and warm. He's dressed in a blue T-shirt and jeans, his hand displaying his engagement ring.

Liam shakes his hand, smiling politely. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too. Congratulations." Amthony smiles and it's kind and genuine. Liam hasn't seen enough of those smiles in his lifetime.

"You too." Liam nods a little, eyeing him and Mandy. They both laugh a little and nod.

"I'm proud of you son." Liam shakes his father's hand, they're both smiling. Even if it's a little too polite to be like family, it's nice enough.

Ian comes rushing over and makes Liam lose his balance when he wraps him up in a hug. His arms hold Liam tightly and the grin Liam wears grows so much bigger. It shines with his genuine happiness.

Ember comes bounding over, her and Ian's parents walking at a slower pace behind her. She's happily clapping and Paige comes over too. Her mom is smiling, walking over to Ren.

The three of them hug each other. As soon as it's over Liam spins around and falls back into Ian. His boyfriend chuckles, hugging him closely again.

Everything's okay. It's going to be for a long time too.

•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•○•

Wow. I just finished a book.

I love this book and writing it was such a journey. It was amazing, even with the ups and downs. I hope that if you stayed this long, you enjoyed it.

Love you ♡

- Z