"Isn't prom this weekend, Max?" questioned Howard during Thai food night in the spring of Max's junior year of high school.

The teenager nodded while finishing the bite of food he had just taken. Swallowing, he replied, "Yeah, some of my friends and I decided to all go together since none of us have real dates."

"I remember my prom," Penny chimed in.

Chuckling, Bernadette commented, "We've all heard about your prom. We've even seen your dress. I still can't believe you held onto that for as long as you have."

Max looked at the faces of the adults around him and knew there was something he was missing. "I haven't heard about your prom. What was your prom like? Did you go to prom, mom? What about you, dad?"

"I don't think you need to hear about Penny's prom. No need to give you any ideas," Amy interjected before her best friend could open her mouth. "was on the clean-up committee for the prom when I was in high school. I only prom I went to was the one we had on the roof when you were little. That was one of my favorite date nights with Sheldon up until then. Dad graduated high school when he was eleven. The prom on the roof was his first prom, as well."

"Can I come in?" Sheldon asked his seventeen-year-old son, standing in the doorway of his bedroom. Turning away from his computer, Max motioned for his father to enter his room. Sheldon stepped in and closed the door behind him. "I didn't think we needed to have this conversation, but after Penny's prom got brought up during dinner, I think it's best we do."

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?" Max probed. "I already talked to mom about my prom. She said I can take her car to drive myself and that I'm allowed to go out after the prom ends. My friends and I just want to get food, so I'll probably be home by one. Didn't mom tell you all of this already? She and I discussed it weeks ago when I said I wanted to go to prom."

Sheldon thought back to when his wife first mentioned their son going to prom a few weeks prior. "She did and I'm fine with that. There's something else I wanted to talk to you about," the physicist was growing uncomfortable. "When your mom and I went to the prom on the roof, everyone kept bringing up how it was prom night and things happen on prom night. They wanted us to be prepared for anything that might happen after the prom ended. I know you're going with friends, but I want you to be prepared, too, just in case."

"Oh, god," exclaimed the teenager. "You're trying to have the sex talk with me."

"I know you're going with friends, but I also know your group of friends includes both boys and girls. I don't want you to do anything you're not ready for. It took me a long time of dating your mom before I was ready to do anything. In fact, it wasn't until after we learned I was your dad that we did anything," reminisced Sheldon before being interrupted.

"Dad! There are some things you aren't supposed to tell your kid, and this is one of them."

Sheldon's face was turning red as he apologized. "Sorry. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned that. Back to where I was, I want you to be sure you're ready. Everyone talks about girls feeling pressured into doing something they're not ready for, but that applies to boys, too. Don't let anyone, boy or girl, pressure you into something you don't want to do."

"You can stop talking, dad. I've taken health class at school. They go over all of this there," Max reminded Sheldon. "I know that no means no, full stop. Don't bring it up again once someone says to stop. I don't see myself doing anything with any of my friends, but if I do, I'll be sure to be safe."

"Right, being safe. Even if the girl says that she's on birth control and that you don't need to, use protection every time."

By now, Sheldon was pacing next to his son's bed. Max reached forward and gave him a nudge to sit on the bed. "Don't worry about that. I've got condoms if I ever need them."

"You have?" Sheldon stammered, struggling to form a complete sentence. "What?"

"Yeah," Max opened the drawer next to his bed and pulled out a small box. "I've had 'em for about a year. Mom got them for me when we had this talk right after I got my driver's license. She wanted to know I had some so I had no excuse to not use one if I ever needed one."

Sheldon relaxed, looking at the box in his son's hands. "Mom had this conversation with you? She never told me. I should let you get back to whatever you were doing."

Standing from where he sat on the bed, Sheldon crossed to the door, but stopped when Max spoke again. "Dad? You said to not let anyone, guy or girl, pressure me into something. Do you really mean that? You'd be okay with it if it were a guy? I only like girls, but just to double check?"

"Of course, I'd be okay with it. Your mother would be, too. We love you, no matter what. Don't stay up too late, you have school in the morning. Good night."

Sheldon and Amy were getting ready for bed after checking on their youngest children one last time. "What was so urgent you wanted to talk to Max about while I was putting Katie and Leo to bed?" Amy asked, plugging her phone into the charger next to the bed.

"His prom night. I remembered what Penny and Leonard said to us before the prom and I wanted to be sure he knew he didn't have to do anything he wasn't ready for," Sheldon pulled the blankets back on the bed. "Why didn't you tell me you had the talk with him and why didn't you tell me you got him condoms last year?"

"It's not a big deal, Sheldon," shrugged the neurobiologist. "Honestly, I was surprised you hadn't attempted it before now. He had just gotten his driver's license and was starting to work at Stuart's store. He was starting to spend more time out with his friends; I just wanted to be sure he was going to be okay."

Sheldon crawled under the blankets and watched as Amy continued to change into her pajamas. "He did ask me one thing that I wasn't expecting. I don't know why I phrased it that way, but I told him to not let anyone, boy or girl, pressure him into something he wasn't ready for. As I was almost out of his room, he stopped me and asked if we'd be okay with it if it were a boy."

"What did you tell him?"

"I said that we love him no matter what and that we'd be okay with it. He then repeated that he only likes girls," shared Sheldon.

Amy joined her husband in bed and snuggled close to him. "I'm sorry for not telling you about the condoms. I know how uncomfortable you get talking about that; I thought you'd appreciate not having to talk to him. When Leo's a teenager, the conversation is all yours."