"Brody! Get your butt out here, we're all waiting for you - again!" Ashley yelled.

Adrian came into Brody's room and saw that he was still getting dressed. "You know for a New Year's Eve party, we're meant to arrive before the ball drops, and not after..."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Brody replied deadpanned as he put his jeans on. "Will you pick out a shirt for me?"

Adrian walked to Brody's wardrobe and lingered over all the items of clothing. After his gaze lasted longer on one particular shirt, he picked it out and handed it to Brody.

"To go with your eyes." Adrian told him.

When Adrian passed him the shirt, Brody pulled Adrian's body closer to sneak in a quick kiss. "Thanks."

With the shirt placed onto Brody's body, Adrian helped Brody by slowly doing the buttons up for him. "Anytime."

Brody noticed the little smirk from Adrian, and he couldn't help but smile back at him. "I feel like it's a tradition now, for us to make out for 10 minutes before we actually leave to go out together. What do you say we continue our new-old tradition?"

"I like that very much." Adrian whispered with a grin on his face.

However they were quickly interrupted as Ashley barged through the door, stopping them kissing before it got out of hand. "Keep it in your pants guys, we can't pretend like we don't know what's going on in here. Now let's go."

"Spoil sport."

Adrian laughed when he witness Brody sulk. Knowing that Ashley was right, Adrian pushed Brody towards the door. "Time to party."

But before they left, Adrian unbuttoned Brody's shirt slightly to reveal the silver locket he proudly wore on his chest. "Okay, now we're ready."

With one more thankful kiss, Adrian and Brody quickly chased after their friends.

~~~~~~~~~~~

The party was run by the local council. It was a street party in the middle of night, with hundred and hundreds of people at different ages celebrating together.

Free drinks, free food, and free music, everyone got to carelessly enjoy themselves and celebrate together as a community.

The group of friends quickly separated as they joined their little cliques they were a part of since the school started.

Adrian and Adam joined the rest of the Ravens as they gathered together for a celebratory drink.

"Here's to the New Years!" Callum shouted as they all clinked their glasses together.

With a round of cheers, the group drank down their shot glasses and roared with more excitement. As Adam refilled their glasses, Adrian's eyes twinkled as he passed one to Coach Taylor.

"Come on Coach! We get to finally see you let your hair down!" Adrian laughed as he ushered the older gentleman to join them.

Taking it like a champ, Coach Taylor downed the shot before everyone else even had their drink. "Enjoy the party lads."

"Where you going, Coach?" Adrian asked.

"I can't stay for long, the wife is waiting for me back home, and the baby is making her have a craving for ice cream. I just wanted to see my team before the year ends." Coach explained.

"Here's to Coach and baby number 2!" Adrian immediately cheered as they all drank together.

Coach Taylor appreciated the gesture as all of the team celebrated his baby miracle. He pulled Adrian aside for a moment to talk to him privately. "Take it easy champ, I don't want my superstar's liver taking a beating

"Coach..." Adrian pretended to be modest at the compliment, "You're making me shy."

With an affection pat on the shoulder, Coach Taylor showed that he really cared for all of his players. "I know you've had a weird start to the school year and everything, but I'm proud of how you overcame it all. You really are a star in the making, son."

The kind words from the older, male mentor figure caused Adrian to hug his Coach. Parts of it was influenced by the introduction of alcohol, but Adrian was glad that Coach Taylor had his back.

"I won't let you down Coach."

Coach Taylor laughed it off as he waved goodbye. "You never do, kid."

~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours in and Adrian went back to clinging to Brody's sides.

"You okay there babe?" Brody asked as he sipped his beer.

Adrian nodded his head and grinned. "Yep. Everything's just great right now."

Kissing his boyfriend on the top of his head. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."

"Spoke to soon..." Adrian muttered as Caden approached them both.

Standing nervously on the spot, Caden handed them both a bottle of beer that he was holding in his hands.

Slowly accepting them, Brody took them from Caden. "What's this?"

"I wanted to make amendments, for everything I did to the both of you - in particular Jones." Caden confessed.

Adrian has been played too many times before, so he listened to Caden's words with caution. "Huh? What's changed?"

"I've been doing a lot of self-reflecting lately, and with the new year I wanted to put some stuff right - starting with the both of you."

Adrian didn't know how to take this side of Caden's honesty. He was speechless because he assumed pigs would fly before he finally apologised for the hell Caden put him through.

"I really am sorry for everything I did to you, Adrian. All of the bullying and tormenting was out of line, and that was pretty lousy of me. And then everything I said to you Brody after Adrian was stabbed, that was all too far. We're meant to be teammates, and I should have been acting like that instead of dragging you down to my level."

Brody thought that Caden did seem genuine at the moment. Whilst there was still a rift between him and his team, he did notice how Caden was the first one to try and rebuild their bridges.

"That's pretty big of you Caden." Brody said as he stretched his hand out to shake Caden's hand.

"I just want to be a better person, and that starts with you guys accepting my apology?" Caden asked hopefully.

Adrian looked back at Brody to see a warm smile and a small assuring nod. If Brody seemed to think this was the real deal, then Adrian trusted it.

"Apology accepted, I guess." Adrian told him as he gave Caden a weak high five instead.

Nodding at the appreciative gesture, Caden waved goodbye to them. "Enjoy the rest of your night guys, and happy 2021."

As they watched him walk away, Adrian turned back to Brody - looking shocked still. "Wow... I can't believe that was real. Pinch me to see if this is a dream or not."

Brody laughed it off as he pulled Adrian in for a quick kiss instead. "It shows character that you accepted his apology. I mean, he did seem less like a dick after you came out of the hospital, maybe he really has changed?"

Only time could tell if Caden became a better person after everything happened. No longer dwelling on the possibilities that could be Caden, Adrian and Brody continued celebrating the rest of the night together.

~~~~~~~~~~

"Brody! Brody Brody Brody!"

Brody stopped pouring his drink and turned to the voice that was chanting his name like they were hyping up an MMA fight.

"Sally?"

Brody quickly caught Sally from falling, who was drunkenly stumbling towards him. "You alright there?" He laughed.

"Of course I am sweetie!" Sally wrapped her arm around Brody and pulled him closer so she could kiss his cheek. "I just wanted to speak to you before I get too drunk and forget."

"You want to go somewhere and talk?" Brody suggested as he pointed towards an empty park bench.

Sally nodded as Brody followed her from behind. As they sat down together, Sally grabbed his hand and patted the back of it. "Look sweetie, I just wanted to personally thank you again for everything you've done for Adrian."

Brody thought that tonight had become really weird. Everyone was acting and behaving differently, with out of the blue apologies and forgivenesses, as well as people talking to him like they weren't ever going to see each other again.

"You've really helped Adrian grow in a way that I couldn't teach him. My baby has become such a fantastic young man, and that all came into fruition when he met you."

Brody's heart became more warm and giddy as he listened to his boyfriend's mother. "Sally... I-"

"I'm just glad he met someone he loves so much." Sally spoke candidly.

Sally then pulled Brody in closer by whispering to him. "But if you ever break his heart, I swear to god that I will cut every limb of yours and feed it to you through a straw..."

Sally's switch in personality quite frankly scared Brody a little bit. He just simply laughed it off nervously, since he never had the 'protective mama bear' chat with her before. "On my life, I swear that I won't do anything to hurt Adrian."

"I know you won't." With an affectionate pat against Brody's cheek, Sally kissed the spot she hit. "You bring the best bits out of Adrian, and no matter what happens next, I'm glad both of your paths crossed."

Satisfied with the talk she had with her son's boyfriend, Sally spot at the bench was soon taken by Ashley, who passed Brody another drink into his hands.

Crowds were starting to gather near the town hall as there wasn't long till the clock struck midnight. They both looked at the happy group of people who were celebrating in their community together.

"This year's really been unexpected, hasn't it?" Ashley said out loud.

"Tell me about it..." Brody laughed.

The start of 2020 sucked for Brody and Ashley. Health scares, eviction notices, bad relationships, and loneliness were all a big factor. Both of them were also a fraction away from not getting into Stonebrook Academy. If they didn't go there, then their whole lives would have been different - for the worst.

They both sat solemnly as they thought about the life they used to have.

"We had so many years of feeling unwanted - not needed. So many people just seemed to ignore us when we were young, and we had to fend for ourselves. Things were looking so bad for us this year..." Ashley mentioned in a highly emotional state.

Brody put her arm around Ashley and hugged her close. Kissing the side of her head, "Don't think about it like that, what's happening now and what comes next is more important."

"We have a promising career ahead of us, where we can be anything we want to be." Brody then pointed towards their boyfriends, who were hugging each other from afar. "And look at what else we have, 2 amazing boyfriends who would do anything for us and vice versa. There's no love we would have got back then that compares to what we have now."

Brody spoke with complete honesty as he thought about the kind of love he cherished with Adrian. There wasn't anything that Brody wanted to exchange for it, because Adrian was helping him become the man he always wanted to be. Adrian became Brody's rock throughout everything, and he couldn't be happier to wake up to the same face over and over again.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A slightly drunk Adam was hugging Adrian, who was laughing as a response to the friendly intimacy. "I really love you man."

"Love you too buddy." Adrian replied as he bumped his shoulder against Adam.

"Look at how far we've both come to get to this point." Adam commented.

Memories flashed through Adrian's mind that happened throughout the year. He managed to find his way and work towards the career he always wanted. His future was promising as he felt destined to become the next star on the ice.

And this year Adrian met the person he loves the most during a time of confusion and misunderstandings. The loving boyfriend helped ground Adrian, and mould him into the man his dad could be proud of.

Adrian looked at Brody from afar, and his heart was finally full with everything that was perfect in his life right now.

Punching him to get his attention, Adam pointed towards the massive crowd in the middle of the town. "Looks like we're starting."

~~~~~~~~~~~

With a minute to go before the clock hit midnight, Adrian found his way besides Brody and stood in front him.

"So, looking forward to the year 2021?" Brody asked.

Adrian smiled as he rocked their bodies side to side. "I don't know. So much drama has happened this year, I don't know how we could top it."

Swaying to their own music that was playing in Brody's mind, "With whatever the future holds, the future is looking bright as long as you're besides me."

Sneaking a quick kiss before it hit midnight, "Ditto."

"Dork." Brody grinned. "You're meant to say sappy words back to me."

Laughing it off, they both tuned in to the mayor count down with the crowd.

"5, 4, 3, 2..."

Adrian didn't wait any longer and pulled Brody into a loving kiss.

"1... Happy New Year!" The crowd shouted.

Brody wrapped his arms around Adrian's neck to pull him closer, deepening their kiss as they celebrated the special occasion together.

With everyone still loudly cheering with the crowd, Adrian took the opportunity to seek out another passionate kiss from Brody, making their fingertips tingle with electricity that flowed through their bodies.

Pulling back from each other, Adrian smiled softly as he looked back into Brody's eyes. "Happy New Years."

"Happy New Years." Brody whispered back.

Fireworks were going off in the background as everyone admired the view. Loud banging noises could be heard in the sky, and people cheering together livened up the atmosphere.

Adrian wanted to capture this moment forever. Looking into Brody's eyes, he saw the same amount of love he was sharing for the man in front of him. And Adrian knew that deep down, everything was going to be just as brilliant from now on.

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Author's Note: There's only 1 more chapter left to go and then the story is officially completed! It's been a super long journey to create this story and see it unfold - about 6 months I think.

Are there any stand out or favourite moments you all liked/enjoyed the most?

To all my readers that stuck through it and made it this far, thank you so much for going through this journey with me. It was nerve wracking making this story, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.

With that being said, I hope you all enjoyed it too. See you in the next update!

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