A/N: last chapter… very bittersweet moment for me. Long A/N at the end. Hope you all like it :D

Chapter Twenty Four

"Mommy, I don't wanna go!" James whined, burying his face in his mother's thigh. Currently the little boy was being dropped off to his new school for his first day of Pre-K and, while at first he was excited, now he didn't want to be here. As soon as they walked inside the school, he wrapped his arms around her leg and latched himself onto her.

"It's ok honey, you'll like school." Brooke Diamond said, patting James on the head. James just mumbled something incoherently. "Trust me, you'll have lots of fun here."

"Well, who do we have here?" the teacher, Mrs. Jones, walked over to James and Mrs. Diamond.

"This is James." Brooke mused her son's hair. "He's a little nervous."

Mrs. Jones knelt down to James's level. "You don't have anything to be nervous about James. You're going to have a lot of fun here, and you're going to make lots of new friends." James still looked doubtful at the lady's words but he turned his head in the direction of a boy playing with match box cars, making loud sound effects as he pushed them around the colored rug.

"Cars!" James cried and immediately ran over to the boy. He plopped himself down onto the mat next to the blonde boy. "Hi. I'm James."

The boy looked up at James through his messy bangs and smiled. "I'm Kendall. Wanna play cars?"

"Yeah! Can I be the puahple one?" James asked, already reaching for the small toy.

"Yeah cuz I wanna be the gween one." Kendall said. The two boys played with their cars for almost ten minutes before James noticed that his mom had left. Tears filling up his big, brown eyes, he stopped playing with the cars and balled his hands into fists, rubbing at his eyes. "Hey, what's-a matter?" Kendall asked, noticing his new friend's tears.

"My mommy left!" James whined. "I miss my mommy." he snuffled and Kendall crawled over to him.

"It's otay. She'll be back soon." Kendall said, reassuringly.

James sniffled and wiped his eyes. "You pwomise?"

Kendall bobbed his head up and down. "I would lie to my fwiend!"

James beamed. "We're fwiends now?"

"Bestest fwiends!"

"YAY!" James tackled Kendall with a hug. "I wuv you bestest fwiend!" he said, squeezing the blonde tightly.

Kendall laughed. "I wuv you two bestest fwiend."

. . .

James shot up in bed, turning his head in Kendall's direction. "What did you just say?" he asked softly.

Kendall took a deep breath and sat up as well. "I said…" he reached for James's hand and the brunette boy paled. Kendall's blue irises longed to meet his lover's hazel ones and when James raised his head to complete the eye contact, he felt something clench inside of his chest. Maybe this was what it felt like when they said your heart skips a beat. "Will you marry me?" he asked softly.

James's mouth went dry and his jaw just hung open as he tried to say something. "I- I um- wow." James stuttered out lamely. Kendall chuckled nervously and bit his lip. "Wow." James repeated.

"I- I know it's probably not the way you'd imagine a proposal," Kendall started, feeling more nervous than when he had initially asked him. "B-but I'm gonna get a ring and- and it's gonna be pretty, just like you." Kendall felt a blush creeping to his cheeks. Why did he have to stutter and stumble over his words so much? Especially right now! "And, uh, and…" he took a deep breath and started speaking faster. "Jamie, I'm really nervous right now and these words are coming out all mixed up but the point is that I love you and I wanna spend the rest of my life with you." he exhaled and looked at James through the fringe of his hair. "So what do you say?"

James blinked a few times and ran his fingers through his hair. "Kendall… you can't be serious." he said softly.

"But I am." Kendall insisted.

James shook his head. "Kendall you're crazy. We can't get married, we're only sixteen."

"Then we'll wait a few years." Kendall shrugged. "As long as you want to."

"Kendall-" James sighed but the blonde cut him off.

"And we can get married in LA, away from here and all this, and once we're old enough, we'll find a place to settle down together. I'll become a pro hockey player and you'll be a pop star. We'll have crazy hours and I know there'll be a few kinks to work out, but we'll make it work. At the end of the day, we're going to get into bed together and talk about our day. We're going to hold each other and kiss each other good night. We're going to fall asleep in each other's arms. And we'll wake up the next day and do it all again. And maybe one day we'll start a family. But that doesn't mean we have to have any kids. 'Cause we don't. But, we can, I just didn't want you to think that I was laying down some kind of a mandate. I mean, kids. It's plural, so it sounds like a lot. But we can just have one kid, one's fine, or more if you want more, or we don't have to have any kids. We could just get a plant. Or a dog. You like dogs."

"I like dogs." James whispered.

"So do I." Kendall smiled. "And whether or not we start a family and have a kid-slash-dog-slash-plant, it won't matter because we'll be together. Nothing even matters but you and I… and I totally didn't mean to plug one of our songs into that but it makes sense. Some days we may fight, we might even say some things that we don't mean, but it'll be ok because, like our song says: We don't even need to fight, everything will be alright. And at the end of the day we'll still love each other. Just like we love each other now. Jamie, I want to marry you."

"Stop saying that." James whispered.

"Why?" Kendall asked. "Can't you see that we're meant to be together!"

"Kendall-"

"Jamie, I knew that we were meant to be together since we were thirteen." Kendal interrupted and then lowered his tone. "I remember this clearly. We'd just lost the Duluth East game 27 to 14. You were standing on the northeast corner of the ice at the end of the game waiting for Logan and Carlos to come out of the locker room. You had on a grey hooded sweatshirt and you were listening to your iPod." James let out a breath, feeling his eyes well up with tears. "Now if that isn't proof we're meant to be together, then I don't know what is." Kendall continued.

James sighed and wiped his eyes. "Kendall, I love you but-"

"But what Jamie?" Kendall asked and James sighed, growing tired of Kendall not letting him finish a thought. "I mean, you love me, I love you, what buts could there be? I mean, if this road trip's proven anything it's that we were meant to be together!"

"For now!" James snapped. Kendall froze, his mouth slightly agape and James instantly felt bad. "I didn't mean for that to come out sounding so harsh." James apologized.

Kendall sucked in a deep breath. "What do you mean for now?" he asked quietly.

James closed his eyes. "Last time we were in Minnesota, we were in love and it was beautiful. But… when it came time to leave for California all of that ended. And we were heartbroken and I hated it. And now we come back to Minnesota and all of a sudden we're together again." James swallowed, feeling himself getting emotional. "And I'm afraid that it's going to end between us again." for the second time this evening, James felt his eyes fill up with tears. "I mean, I thought there was a better chance of all four of the Beatles getting back together than you ever calming down long enough to get your act together and be with me again. And now that you are with me I'm scared to death that I'm gonna lose you again."

"Jamie." Kendall sighed, cupping the brunette's cheek. "You're not gonna lose me, this is forever, you and me."

"But I'm still scared Kendall." James insisted. "We just got this thing between us good again and now you want to marry me? Kendall table-for-one Knight and James I'm-sorry-can-I-get-an-industrial-forklift-for-my-emotional-baggage Diamond getting married? It just doesn't sound right."

"It sounds right to me." Kendall said, his voice cracking slightly. "Kendall Knight and James Diamond. Nothing roles off the tongue easier than that."

James sniffled and blinked rapidly, hoping the tears wouldn't fall. "I don't want you to change your mind." he whispered. "I don't want you to leave me once you realize how hard it's gonna be. I mean, you remember those boys in the park- they called us fags Kendall. LA's going to be ten times as brutal."

Kendall sighed and went silent a moment. "James, do you remember that night you came back to the apartment drunk?"

James shook his head. "I was pretty smashed that night. I barely remember anything."

"Well I remember it." Kendall said. "And you said something to me that's making a lot of sense right now…"

. . .

"James, what on earth were you thinking?" Kendall groaned, James's entire body weight pressing against him right now. The two of them were walking around the Palm Woods park currently in the dead of night.

"I wasn't thinking, I was drinking." James slurred and then burst out laughing. Kendall rolled his eyes and dropped James's drunk self down onto a bench. The blond ran his fingers through his hair going through what had happened in the past couple of hours; first James had left the apartment to a location of pure mystery and when he returned at almost midnight, Kendall awoke to find him stumbling to the bathroom, is breath reeking of vodka. Fearing that he would wake up his mother, Kendall grabbed a hold of James and dragged him out of the apartment, hence the reason the two of them were in the park right now. The blonde boy groaned; whatever was going on in James's mind where he had to get himself was drunk was beyond him.

James's head snapped up upon hearing Kendall groaning. "Are you mad at me?" he asked and then forced himself up onto his shaky legs. He put a hand on Kendall's shoulder for support. "Please don't be mad at me." he said, his eyes suddenly wide with fear. "Please, I'm really sorry."

"James, it's ok." Kendall said, not understanding where the sudden fear was coming from. He placed his hands on James's forearms. "It's fine, just promise me you won't get drunk anymore. At least not without me with you."

James's expression changed immediately and he was grinning stupidly again. "Otay." he threw his arms around Kendall, hugging the blonde boy tightly. "I love you Kendall." James said.

Kendall patted James's back awkwardly. "I love you too buddy."

James pulled away from Kendall and then placed his hands on either side of Kendall's face, pulling him into a forceful kiss. The blonde's eyes widened and he made an attempt to pull away, but James had too tight a grip on him. "James!" Kendall managed to choke out. "Jamie!"

The drunken boy finally released Kendall and giggled. "Sorry." he said.

"You don't seem very sorry." Kendall mumbled, not meeting James's eyes. "C'mon, let's get you home."

"Can we get pie?" James asked, stumbling as he and Kendall walked out of the park. He looped his arm around Kendall's waist and failed to notice the blonde turning a bright red color.

"I don't think they sell pie at two in the morning." Kendall replied.

"Awh!" James pouted and Kendall couldn't help but to laugh.

"You're so lucky you're cute Jamie." Kendall said and then almost fell to the floor when James pressed all of his weight against his back. "What the-"

"Piggy back ride!" James cried gleefully.

Kendall rolled his eyes and hoisted James up on his back. "Really lucky." he mumbled to himself.

"I am lucky Kenny." James said, resting his head against Kendall's, the blonde's soft hair nuzzling against his skin. "I'm lucky cuz I have you."

"What do you mean?" Kendall asked.

"Just that I have you and you have me and together, we can make it through anything." James told him. "That makes us both lucky."

Kendall couldn't help but to smile. "You're right James." he said. "We are lucky." he paused. "I love you James." he said, even though he knew that once the boy woke up the next day with his hangover that he wouldn't remember any of this.

"I love you too Kenny." James smiled. "And you know what I just thought of?"

"Enlighten me."

"That story bout the scorpion and the frog." James explained. "The scorpion says to the frog, "Hey, frog. Give me a lift to the other side of the pond." Frog says, "No way. You'll sting me and I'll die." Scorpion says, "Will not! 'Cause then we'll both drown." Frog says, "Cool." So the scorpion gets on the frog's back and frog makes it to the middle of the pond and scorpion stings him. As the frog is going down he says, "Why would you do that? Now we'll both drown." Scorpion say,: "Sorry, it's just my nature."."

Kendall ceased his walking. "What made you think of that?" he asked.

James took that as his cue to climb down off of Kendall's back. "Well," he started. "Sometimes, you're like the scorpion. You sting me and I sink. But don't feel bad because sometimes, I'm like the scorpion and I sting you, and you sink. But it doesn't matter who scorpions who because we both know that it's worth sinking over."

Kendall smiled again. "Who knew that when you're drunk you're really insightful."

James chuckled. "Must be something in that vodka." a moment passed and his smiled wavered. "Wait a second… maybe it was a turtle."

Kendall chuckled. "Regardless of the amphibian, I get the point."

James leapt forward and threw his arms around Kendall's middle, hugging him tightly. The blonde boy wrapped his arms around him without ease this time and rested his head on James's shoulder. "You're my best friend Kenny." James mumbled. "I love you. But sometimes, I don't want to love you as a best friend."

Kendall froze, knowing where this conversation was heading. "C'mon Jamie, let's get back to the Palm Woods and go to sleep."

"M'kay." James yawned and the two started walking. James looped his arm around Kendall's waist and rested his head on his shoulder. And even though Kendall knew he shouldn't be enjoying these little acts, because they didn't mean as much to James as they did to him, he couldn't fight the smile working its way onto his lips. "Kenny, one day, will you marry me?" James asked.

"Yes." Kendall replied without hesitating.

James tilted his head to look up at him. "Well you don't have to answer so-"

"Yes." Kendall said again.

"You can take a moment to-"

"No."

James smiled widely and snuggled against Kendall as the two of them walked back to the Palm Woods. Kendall was thankful it was still dark so James wouldn't see the tears slipping down his cheeks. He wished that this evening would mean as much to James as it meant to him.

. . .

"Kenny, I was smashed." James groaned. " I was talking out of my ass and I sounded like an idiot."

"But you made sense." Kendall insisted. "Where would you like me to start? Why we're both so lucky? Because "I have you and you have me and together, we can make it through anything". Or what about the frog and scorpion story? Where "Sometimes, you're like the scorpion. You sting me and I sink. But don't feel bad because sometimes, I'm like the scorpion and I sting you, and you sink. But it doesn't matter who scorpions who because we both know that it's worth sinking over"."

James sighed. "What about that proposal?" he asked. "What does that tell you?"

"It tells me that even though you're scared, you want to be with me for the rest of your life." he replied softly.

James bit his lip and adverted his gaze. "You're right." James whispered. "You're so right."

Kendall managed a small smile. "James, you can trust me- I want nothing more than for you to be happy. And this road trip made me realize that you're happiest when you're with me. So naturally, I'm not going to do anything to mess that up. I love you. I have always loved you. I'm in love with you, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record, I want to be with you for the rest of my life. I want to grow old and gray with you-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" James interrupted. "But as long as L'Oréal is making hair dye, there won't be a gray hair on this head."

Kendall chuckled. "Fair enough." he said. "But seriously Jamie, this isn't about what I want, it's about what we want. This is our relationship and we're going to fly this plane together."

"What plane?" James asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Kendall rolled his eyes. "It's just an expression."

"Who made that expression?" James scoffed.

"I don't know, a pilot!" Kendall exclaimed and then laughed. "The point is, I want what you want. Whatever makes you happy, makes me happy."

James smiled shyly at him. "You make me happy. I want you." he said.

Kendall smiled and leaned in for a kiss. He got one, a sweet chaste kiss, and then he wrapped his arms around James. "I'm not going to hurt you anymore Jamie." he murmured. "Scorpions die after their stingers fall off you know."

"Uh, that's bees." James said, stifling a laugh.

Kendall let out a huff of breath, pulling away from James. "Well it's near three in the morning and I'm a jumbled mess of nerves here. Sorry my science isn't all that correct."

James laughed. "I love you so much Kenny." he said.

"So," Kendall smiled shyly at his boyfriend. "What do you say?"

James bit his lip, grinning widely, as he took Kendall's hands in his. "I say yes." he whispered. "I say yes."

. . .

Five Years Later

"Ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh," Kendall muttered under his breath as he paced back and forth in the back room of the church. "I'm so nervous!"

"Don't be nervous." Logan said to him. "Today is going to be the best day of your entire life."

Kendall groaned softly. "What if we're making a mistake? I mean, we're only twenty-one. Wh-what if we're too young to be married?"

"Kendall, you and James have been together since you were thirteen. Trust me, it's meant to be." Logan said soothingly. "Besides, I'm your best man. What could go wrong?"

Kendall let out a breath and relaxed. "You're right." he said.

"When aren't I?" Logan asked with a smirk. "Now get out there, it's time to get you married!" the raven haired boy shoved Kendall through the doors and followed him out.

Before he knew it, the wedding was starting.

Kendall took his place at the alter. He gave a nervous smile as his and James's best men, Carlos and Logan, and grooms-maids, Jo and Camille, (they weren't really sure what to call them because normally girls were brides' maids and there clearly wasn't a bride at this wedding) walked down the aisle. Jo and Camille wore matching purple dresses and held bouquets of red roses while Logan and Carlos donned black tuxedos. Then Katie- who agreed to be the flower girl upon being paid twenty bucks from both Kendall and James- and Tyler- the ring bearer because Katie made him- walked down the aisle. Unlike Jo and Camille, Katie's dress was pink but she threw red rose petals onto the floor of the church, and Tyler stood by her side, holding a pillow with two rings on it. Guitar Dude stood at the alter, behind Kendall and the minister, playing soft, romantic music on his guitar.

Then the wedding march music started and everyone stood up and turned towards the back of the church as James, with Mrs. Knight, as his escort, glided down the aisle. Kendall swore his heart was going to burst out of his chest; it was pounding so hard it was the only thing he could hear. He was smiling so wide, his cheeks started to hurt. He fought the urge to wipe his sweaty palms on his pants as Mrs. Knight and James stopped in front of him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and took her seat in the first pew.

"Who gives this man to be married?" The priest asked.

"I do." Mrs. Knight said.

"I do too." Katie added.

"And so do we." Logan and Carlos said in unison, earning a laugh from the congregation.

"We are here to bring these two young people together in hold matrimony, whoever has a reason that they shouldn't get together, please speak now or forever hole your peace."

They were met with silence and both the boys' smiles grew.

"May I have the rings?" the priest asked Tyler, who handed the rings to Kendall and James.

. . .

"Why do I always have to wear the dwess?" five-year-old James whined as Kendall pulled the white brides' dress over his head.

"Because you're the pwetty one!" Kendall said, exasperated. "Now hush!" James groaned but silenced himself as the dress was put onto him. Kendall handed him a bouquet of fake flowers and wrapped his dad's tie around his neck. "Okay, now it's time to be marwied.

"How do we be marwied?" James asked.

"I have to give you a wring," Kendall explained. "Then you have to give me a wring, and then we kiss and then we're marwied and you have to make me dinners for when I come home from work."

"Sounds easy." James shrugged. Kendall reached inside his pocket and pulled out two ring pops, still in their wrappers- blue for James and green for himself- and handed one to James. The brunette boy unwrapped his ring pop and took Kendall's hand. "Kenny, I now 'nounce you my husband." he said, sliding the ring on Kendall's finger.

Kendall took James's hand. "And Jamie, I now n'nounce you my wife."

James took his hand away before Kendall could put the ring on. "I'm a boy!" he cried. "I'm not a wife!"

Kendall sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine!" he grabbed James's hand again. "Jamie, I now n'nouce you my husband too, also."

"Yay now we're marwied!" James cheered.

"Not yet." Kendall said. "We still haf to kiss."

James eyed him warily. "But doesn't kissing give you cooties?"

"Only if you kiss girls." Kendall explained. "Logie told me that. Boys don't haf cooties."

"Oh. Okay then, let's kiss!" the two boys leaned forward until their puckered lips touched.

"I like being marwied." James said shyly.

"Me too." Kendall giggled.

. . .

"Um, if you don't mind," Kendall said, taking the silver ring from Tyler. "I have a different kind of ring I would like to use." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue ring pop. "Don't worry, I'll give you the real ring later." he whispered to James as he unwrapped the candy.

James smiled and reached into his pocket, halting Kendall momentarily. "Great minds think alike." he whispered, pulling out a green ring pop.

"Now," the priest said. "Do you, Kendall Donald Knight, take James to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Kendall whispered.

"Now place the ring on James's finger and say, 'with this ring, I thee wed'." the priest instructed. Kendall did as he said and the priest placed his attention on James. "And do you-"

"I do." James said quickly, causing another laugh from the congregation.

"Not yet." the priest chuckled. "Do you, James David Diamond, take Kendal to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, for better or for worse, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." James said, beaming at Kendall and slid the ring pop onto Kendall's finger.

"By the power invested in me and by the law of Southern California, I now pronounce you husband and husband." the priest said. "You may now kiss your husband." Kendall beamed and leaned forward to plant his lips on James's to the cheers of their family and friends. "It is with great pleasure I now pronounce for the first time, Mr. and Mr. Kendall Knight." the priest said.

. . .

The wedding reception was held at the Palm Woods, out by the pool. When everybody was there, Logan and Carlos requested that everyone raised their glasses for a toast.

"You know," Logan started. "Nobody knew more about Kendall and James's love than Carlos and I."

"And that's because we've been dealing with it for eight years." Carlos cut in, earning a laugh for everyone.

"Dealing with may not be a good term." Logan chuckled. "But yeah, for eight years Kendall and James have been together… and not together… and together again. And once they got together again, it was clear to us and everyone around them that they were so in love."

"A love like that is hard to find." Carlos said. "But they found it and we're so happy that they did. So a toast, to Kendall and James. May your lives be filled with love, happiness, and corndogs."

"To Kendall and James." everyone echoed, raising their glasses up in the air.

"And now, I would like to say something." Jo said, stepping forward. "Now as many as you know Kendall was my boyfriend for a little while and I couldn't think of any guy I'd be happier to break up with." everyone laughed. "I mean that in a good way." Jo chuckled. "I knew Kendall was in love with James and I wanted them to be together. And now that it's happened, I'm really, really happy for you two." Kendall and James both beamed at Jo. "The rest of my speech wasn't really a speech; it was a song. When I hear this song it makes me think of Kendall and James because this song really speaks the story of their love. And without further ado, I'd like to dedicate this song to the two of them." she turned to her left. "Guitar Dude?" he nodded and started to strum his guitar. Logan handed Jo a microphone and she started to sing.

"I remember what you wore on the first day you came into my life and I thought 'hey you know, this could be something'." Jo smiled at the new couple, and both boys started blushing faintly. "'Cause everything you do and words you say, you know that it all takes my breath away and now I'm left with nothing.

"So maybe it's true that I can't live without you, and maybe two is better than one. But there's so much time to figure out the rest of my life, and you've already got me coming undone. And I'm thinking two is better than one." Kendall took James's hand in his and pulled him out of the crowd to dance with him. Everyone backed up to give them some space, loving smiles on their faces. "I remember every look upon your face, the way you roll your eyes, the way you taste. You make it hard for breathing.

"'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away, I think of you and everything's okay. I'm finally now believing.

"That maybe it's true that I can't live without you, and maybe two is better than one. But there's so much time to figure out the rest of my life, and you've already got me coming undone. And I'm thinking two is better than one

"Yeah, yeah, I remember what you wore on the first day you came into my life and I thought, 'hey…'

"Maybe it's true that I can't live without you and maybe two is better than one. There's so much time to figure out the rest of my life and you've already got me coming undone

"And I'm thinking, ooh, I can't live without you 'cause, baby, two is better than one. There's so much time to figure out the rest of my life but I figured out with all that's said and done. Two is better than one, two is better than one."

The song ended and James and Kendall concluded it with a kiss, which was greeted with everyone around them clapping. "Thanks Jo, that was beautiful." Kendall told her.

"Anything for you guys." Jo gave them both a hug.

"Boys, anything you'd like to say?" Mrs. Knight asked.

James and Kendal smiled at each other. "It all started with a road trip." James said.

A/N: I started this story on December 18th, 2010 while watching The Hangover… now it's June 5th 2011 and I just completed the last chapter. I can honestly say that I love this story so much and it's been quite a trip writing this; I've never been so dedicated to a fanfic before. I would stay up late typing chapters, I'd write stuff in my notebook while my history teacher gave us notes, I'd type chapter on my cell phone when I wasn't home, I'd get input and ideas from my bestfriend... well you get the point lol. Music also really inspired this story; songs like "Fall To Pieces" by Avril Lavigne, "In My Veins" by Andrew Belle, "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler, "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade, "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, "Marry You" by Bruno Mars… those are just a few of the songs that really helped shape this story. But I'm really digressing right now :p The point I'm trying to make is that I'm so proud of this story. I never thought that it would get the feedback it got and I can honestly say that I'm so grateful for it. I mean, 200+ reviews? I didnt think that was possible :') you have no idea how much it means to me. Before I end this super lengthy A/N, I want to give a shout-out to my Kames loving twinny, The Savage Soul. She's been by my side the whole time I was writing this, leaving me the most amazing reviews, and it was her support and kindness that inspired so much of this story. Savage, this is dedicated to you (not that you didn't see this coming lol) and I just want to thank you for being the best twinny in the world. I love you (: and to the rest of my readers: thank you all so much and I love you all so much. You've all been by my side from the beginning of this story, leaving me the kind of reviews and feedback I only dreamed of getting. I'm just so thankful for all of you. And to keep this A/N from getting any longer, I'm gonna end this by saying thanks for everything (: