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Jaxon yells from downstairs, "Damian Eric Silva, you will not be the reason we are late to pick up our dates! So get your butt down here!" I slip on my tux jacket, look at myself once more in the mirror, Then I half run- half walk down the stairs.

Outside my house, is the limo and the chauffeur waiting. As I slide in after Jaxon I'm greeted with Alec, Chad and their dates. I recognise the faces of Kara- Alec's once ex- and Anisha Chad's on again off again girlfriend. It's weird having them here. I just starting to fix the ground between the guys and I. Not intentionally, but both of these girls played a part in the rift that formed between my friends and I. Though I smile warmly at them and acknowledge how wonderful everyone looks.

Chad instructs the driver to Kate's house next and then we are off. "Lexi's not coming with us?" I ask Jaxon in an attempt to erase the tension in the car.

"Nope, she's meeting her mystery date than going with him separately." Jaxon says as he pops the 'p'. I can see how anxious he is, by the fact he can't stop bobbing his right leg. For who knows how long, he has had a thing for Kate. This is finally his chance. He would never have dated her until Lexi gave her blessing. It was Noah who removed the angst between them. The thought of Noah terrifies me- this is the big moment to fix everything between us- I can't screw up tonight.

"You're going with Noah right?" Chad's date asks me. Breaking the silence that has again fallen on us. I nod, too scared to voice my words. "So you're gay?" she states matter of factly.

Without hesitation, I reply, "Yes, I am." I see both Jaxon and Chad give me proud smiles at that. I'm not going to hide and be afraid anymore. I am who I am and everyone else needs to shut up about it.

"Wow, " Kara says as she lets out a sigh of recollection. "Never would have seen that coming" She laughs. I can tell she's trying to make an effort. Trying to pretend that she didn't break one of my best friend's hearts. Trying to pretend that all is well between us. For Alec's sake, I play along.

"To be honest, I didn't see it coming either. However, Noah is an incredible guy and I am so lucky that he's my boyfriend." I try to ignore the fact I can see Alec visibly flinch at that. I try to ignore the fact that Kara takes his hand as if claiming he's hers. But most of all I try to ignore the massive swarm of butterflies that rage in my stomach as we enter Kate's street. Jaxon came to my house to get ready since he didn't want to be across the street, from Kate, if he had a nervous breakdown. It was fun goofing around with the guy.

We had been brothers all of our lives. He used to come to my house since his parents weren't around. He was equally as shaken when my dad died. Since he always treated Jaxon like his own. However, as I drifted into my own sense of depression I put up walls. When we needed each other most. I was the one pushing us away from each other. Now, I'm just grateful he doesn't hold that against me and instead still wants to fix this relationship. I missed him more than I care to admit. I smile as I pat him on the back as he takes a shaky breath of air.

The chauffeur opens the door for us and the six of us climb out. After ringing the doorbell it seems like an eternity when finally Kate's mum opens the door. She ushers us in and we all follow suit. She excitedly takes all of us in, exclaiming how beautiful the girls all look and how handsome us guys look in our tuxes.

Once inside, she calls down Kate and Noah. Another eternity elapses by the time they decide to descend down the stairs. Kate is looking stunning in her teal dress, but what took my breath away was the man on her arm assisting her down the stairs. He wore a classic black tux, his unruly brown hair was gelled back. His features were as sharp as ever, the defined jaw, the sparkling eyes, those soft, plump lips. His carefree smile was on as he whispered something into Kate's ear as he tries to help her not trip. They are both laughing and although I know it's completely platonic I can't help but feel jealous. That was my man, in all his glory and I should be the only one on his arm.

It's as if they don't notice us until Jaxon comes running halfway up the stairs to assist Kate. He takes her by the arm as she smiles warmly at him. Noah takes a step back, letting the couple have their moment. Then his eyes catch mine, the look on his face is all I need. I can tell he likes what he sees as he licks his lips as he saunters down the stairs.

Kate's parents are taking in their daughter and how well she looks. Then they notice Noah and me, Kate's mother gasps. "You two look incredible together," she exclaims. "Oh, how the charcoal colour of your tux brings out your eyes," she says appraising my tux. "Noah you did well with this one". She laughs and I blush at that.

"I know Mrs Casas, I am very lucky with this one" Noah smiles politely at her. She smiles and pecks him on the cheek. Noah told me how they have somewhat acted as second parents to him, giving him a home and food, they even offered for him to move back in. However, Noah felt uncomfortable accepting all of their generosity, so decided to reject the offer.

After an excessive photo shoot, thanks to Kate's mum's request, we are finally off. Noah appraises all the girls and Kate makes some comment about him being at it again. Whatever that means. Either way, the girls are blushing the entire ride. We take a half hour joy ride in the limo before parking outside our school.

There is a banner welcoming everyone into the gym, and balloons decorating everything. It's a winter wonderland theme and as we enter we can see everyone did a great job with the decorations. Although not as big as prom this formal is right up there with homecoming.

I heard the gasps before I could see the shocked faces of my student body. It doesn't take a genius to realise what they are looking at. As we entered the gym, I took Noah's hand in mine. I don't know whether it was for me or him or just both. Yet the action seemed to erase tension in both of us.

With that, I took the fateful step inside. This was the moment I solidified my fate. I could see girls gaping at us and people whispering yet no one approached us. We followed our friends to a table, where we sat and tried to ignore the weird looks.

We sit and talk for a while just trying to pretend everyone isn't staring. Then suddenly everyone goes quiet and there is a collective gasp. I turn to the entrance and see Lexi entering with-

"Ash!" Jaxon practically screams as he sees Lexi, who looks amazing on the arm of Ash. Her red dress swishing as she confidently walks in with him. She smiles at everyone as he strides in wearing a suit jacket over a white t-shirt and black skinnies. More formal than I have ever seen him. Like always he has everyone at awe, demanding respect as if he deserves it.

"What is this?" Jaxon stammers as the couple comes towards us.

"Jaxon this is Ash, my date," Lexi says slowly in a 'duh' tone to her brother who is still gaping. Alec pats him on the back sympathetically. We all can see why Jaxon is crazed right now. Ash doesn't date, he does, girls, guys, anything that walks and is hot. But he doesn't date. To see him at an event like this is a miracle. But to know what Lexi must have done to get him here is what Jaxon is freaking out about.

"Where were you?" Jaxon demands.

"What?" Lexi asks confused.

"Where were you before you came here? You two met somewhere else and are like an hour late. Why?" I can see Jaxon's head spinning as the worst conclusions come to mind. I offer him a reassuring smile.

"Oh, we went to Ash's race. He said he had some big one tonight and that was why he couldn't come with me. So I told him I'd meet him there, he'd compete then we'd come here." Lexi replies nonchalantly. "He won of course." She smiles proudly up to her date whilst he just smirks at the sputtering Jaxon. Kate has to come and pat him gently to comfort him. The thought of his sister and Ash are not sitting well.

"Oh, I forgot you take Lexi to the tracks. Next race though dude, I'm coming with. I miss the racing guys and I love watching you blow up the tracks" Noah says happily, oblivious to Jaxon being on the verge of a panic attack. Ash and Noah exchange some sort of handshake as they talk and laugh about something. I forget that those two are so close sometimes.

Jaxon finally comes around to the idea as Kate distracts him. She's whispering something in his ear and I have a feeling I don't want to know what it is.

After a while, I decide to go get us some drinks. Thinking it was finally safe to leave Noah alone. I was gone maximum five minutes. However, as I return, punch in hand, I see that some of my fangirls are crowding Noah. So I run, terrified about what they might say or do to him. He'd never hit a girl, I knew that, so instead he'd take the beating. As I come closer I notice that instead of hating on him they were laughing and smiling with him. Noah's loveable personality seeming to have won them over. I could see some of the girls holding onto his arm and some even treating him as if he was one of their own. The relief running through me is insane as my heartbeat begins to steady. No one could hate Noah, it was physically impossible to do so.

Whilst I have been afraid of people's reactions to us, I forgot that everyone already knew he was gay. He came out ages ago, very vocal about it.

I come up to him to hear the end of the conversation. "So, how did you turn the golden boy gay? I mean he's the captain of the basketball team! That's an achievement." Noah laughs at that, seemingly comfortable with all the attention.

"Damian was always gay. You don't turn it. He just hadn't realised it until I came along." That was so true, I hadn't realised my emotions or my sexuality until Noah was in the picture. Then everything fell into place and everything finally made sense.

I come and take Noah by the arm, "Ladies, if you could excuse me, I'd like to have a dance with my date." They all just swoon as I lead Noah to the dancefloor. Just as we reach the floor the song changes to a slow song. I hadn't ever slow danced with a guy before, so Noah took the lead. The lyrics of the song fit the mood perfectly.

What the privilege of being yours would do

It's then that I notice that people are watching us curiously. I don't care, I can see some of the homophobic members of my team scowling. I don't care. I then see Jaxon lead Kate out followed by Chad's date leading him. Then surprisingly Alec asks Kara to dance. But the big shocker is that Lexi, a party animal, convinces Ash to slow dance. Before long the entire floor is filled with couples, all centred around us. Yet my main focus is Noah as I begin to sing along with the words. He notices and watches me as I watch him.

What I've been living for

We twirl, we spin. We enjoy each other's company. It's perfect just the two of us. I can feel every emotion I feel for him heightened. I was finally happy. After years of being depressed and upset. I was happy. Noah had made me happy. Just by being there, by letting me see how everyone in my life was there for me. Allowing me to understand that I didn't need my parents around to make me feel whole again- that was all up to me. But most of all for being patient with me. He let me come to terms with everything at my own pace, he gave me space when I needed it and gave me him when I needed it. Neither of us was perfect but we were perfect for each other.

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After dancing till our feet hurt and we were exhausted we had refreshments. However, Noah wanted some fresh air and that was why I had led him to the field. We sat on the bleachers looking down at the football field. It was peaceful here, so we sat in silence. It was perfect, though, I didn't need more than just him.

After a while Noah broke the silence, "I have something for you" He tells me as he pulls out a single folded piece of paper from the inside of his jacket. Instead of handing it to me he opens it and coughs to clear his throat.

"I wrote you that poem I said I would. Truthfully, I have been working on it for a while. However when you told me what my Breathe poem meant to you, this kind of clicked into place." He says awfully shyly.

"I bet it's amazing" and I do. I'm going to love anything Noah does. So I wait patiently till he is ready to read it to me.

"It hurts, like a punch to the gut

To lose something that should never been gone

It takes everything to stand tall

Even when your heart aches for it all

But sometimes light comes in swirl

A swirl of fear and hope and good and bad

Like love and hate mixed into one

Though darkness isn't kind for none

Our days seem lost and broken

Our hearts shattered, frayed from the seams

We forge relations out of necessity not want

We make enemies out of those we should not

Sometimes to remember to breathe is the hardest

We forget that without air we don't exist

Yet sometimes we find air in others

We find air in lovers

Love isn't a cure

It's the air we breathe

The lucky ones get to breathe it a lot

Yet for some of us,

all we need is to breathe a little"

I closed my eyes for a part of it, I watched him for the rest. I don't know what he intended it to mean, yet I know what it meant to me. He was saying that sometimes it's hard to move on when everything is gone, yet there is hope sometimes in the dark. There is hope in love even it's only a small love between people. That love can be strong enough to repair you, I may only have Noah but I know that is enough for me. It may seem wrong to love Noah, for countless reasons, however, if he is the thing that helps me to breathe; then I don't care. Not anymore.

I pull him into my arms and he reciprocates. There are so many things we need to talk about. So many things we need to say to each other and to explain. But nothing is a necessity. If we leave it for tomorrow it won't matter, for we have a tomorrow. It's almost an unspoken promise we share, as we hang onto each other. There will be a tomorrow.

I don't know how long we hang onto each other, but all I know is I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Here with Noah, is where I belong. It may sound dumb and cliche, but it's true. Noah is singlehandedly the only person who understands me and can comfort me without doing anything at all. The knowledge that he is mine definitely makes me the happiest I have ever been. I wish he could meet my dad, but I need to stop looking into the past. Noah's my future and that's enough for me.

We stay like that, from time to time, making small talk. But there is no need to speak, we are comfortable just like that. That's the beauty in our relationship. It is simple, we don't need anything other than ourselves. Was it selfish that I want Noah always? I would always protect him and try my best to never hurt him again. That was the silent promise I made to myself.

After a while I finally speak. "Noah, you know I have several guest bedrooms. You are always welcome." I say broaching a thought that's been playing at my mind for a while. Although I don't want Noah to actually take up sleeping in one of these bedroom's I don't want to make him feel pressured into anything.

"Sorry?" He asks confused.

"I'm just saying, I hate being alone. It's one of the reasons I used to throw those extravagant parties. Now that they have stopped, the house is too big for my comfort. So why not move in, you can have whichever room you please? It's nothing, you know money's not an issue for me and if anything you'd be doing me a favour." It's true, I do hate the solitude. However, I hate knowing he's living with his abusive dad more.

"I don't know" He says, as I can see his calculative brain weighing up the options.

"You don't have to answer me now. The offer is always open. Move in whenever you want or don't if that makes you uncomfortable." I give him the way out just so I don't scare him. As I just hold his body closer to myself. Truthfully I hate the thought of him rejecting me. Yet, I don't want to jeopardise our relationship as it's just getting started.

"Okay" He says

"Okay?" I repeat confused at this answer.

"Okay, i'll move in, but I can't promise I'll stay in my bed." He says coyly.

"I wouldn't ask for it any other way." I say and with that he kisses me. It's the sort of kiss that just takes your breathe away. It still surprises me how well we fit together. However, I'm not going to even bother trying to explain how this kiss felt- it is beyond words.

I don't know how long later we finally pull apart; from that incredible kiss. I rest my forehead against his. No one else matters, as I look at those all too familiar swirl of green and hazel that are his eyes. Without even thinking I breathe out the words that have sat, on the top of my tongue, for months now.

"I love you". I hold my breath to gauge his response. Yet all he does is smile at me.

"I love you too, Silver" he replies and I have to remind myself to breath a little.