This is it, the end of the line. Normally I don't say anything before a chapter, but I have to take a moment to thank everyone who has read this far. It's been a long journey, writing this fic. I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I have.

The day had finally come, the day that every public school student waits for from day one, graduation. The weather forecast, to be blunt, was brutal. Not a cloud in the sky, which meant temperatures were going to be ridiculous. Usually, weather allowing, graduation was held on the school's football field, and this year's would be no exception. Given that it was the day of, the faculty in charge wanted to make sure that everything would go off without a hitch, which meant every senior was expected to attend the rehearsal that morning. The process was tedious, the sun was already bathing the earth in heat, and everyone just wished it was tonight, so they could walk across the stage and make it official. Granted, seniors, impatient ones at that, had a tendency to goof off, there was a serious air about the whole thing. No one, not even the usually show-offs, wanted to be "That Guy" today. Aside from the stifling, almost suffocating heat, the practice had gone by with relative ease, and eventually everyone was allowed to leave for the afternoon.

"I don't know how you do it, Sam." Tucker began a seemingly unprompted tangent.

"Do what?" The goth responded.

"Wear all black on days like this."

"You build up a tolerance to heat."

"Whining works as a coping mechanism, at least in Tucker's case." Danny threw out with a chuckle. The victim of his joke frowned while his girlfriend joined his best friend in a laughing fit. Wiping a tear from his eye, Danny waved to his friends and turned to go meet up with Dash, who had agreed to walk home with him. The two made their way to the parking lot, where a surprise was waiting.

"DASH, HONEY, OVER HERE!" The sound of his mother's voice could be heard over the roar of a V8 engine.

"M-mom?"

Danny took it upon himself to drag his bewildered boyfriend over to the red Mustang that Denise was currently revving the engine of.

"Mom, when did you buy this?"

"Remember last week when I had Kwan's mom take me shopping?"

"Yeah."

"I picked it up this morning."

Dash was about to ask another question when his mother got a devilish grin. She slammed her foot on the gas pedal again, the Ford roaring in response. The muffled sound of a girl screaming could also be just barely made out. When the engine noise had subsided, the girl screamed again.

"My latte!" The voice, who upon further examination belonged to Paulina, shouted. Startled by the sudden booming of the car's engine, the girl had spilt her flavoured beverage all over her new top, and she was not happy about it. She shrieked and threw the remnants on the ground, storming off the other way. Danny tried, and failed, miserably at that, to restrain his laughter, leaning in through the passenger window to high-five Dash's mom. Dash smirked, but still felt kinda of bad. After trying to recollect himself, however, he couldn't help but laugh as well.

"So, why the sudden purchase?" Dash finally asked his mother as the laughter subsided.

"Well, you are graduating today."

"So you bought yourself a car?" Dash tried to wrap his mind around the idea. Denise shot her son a look, before looking at Danny, who actually understood what she meant.

"No, ya dingus, she bought it for you." Danny finally clarified.

"R-really?"

"Yes, honey. You've done so well these past few years that I thought it was about time you had something nice for yourself."

"Aside from me." Danny joked.

"Yes, of course." Denise chuckled. She stepped out from behind the driver's seat and tossed the keys to her son, who was more than happy to accept them.

"But wait, how are you gonna get home?"

"These things have back seats, Dash."

"Yeah but my mom's not gonna wanna squeeze back there."

"Don't worry boys; my ride should be here momentarily."

Almost as if on cue, the low rumble of bass speakers could be heard. Danny could make out words, but he couldn't understand them.

Dash scratched at the back of his head, "Is that…Korean?"

"It's my mom." Kwan, who had appeared out of thin air, told them.

The blaring sound of K-pop music blanketed the parking lot as Kwan's mom rolled up in her Lexus, the one that they had used to go to the beach the previous week.

"SUE!" Denise shouted, waving sporadically.

"HEY DENISE!" Sue screamed back, equally energetically. The SUV rolled to a stop and Dash's mother climbed into the passenger seat. She threw on her seatbelt and both women started belting out horribly inaccurate and out of tune words that they thought fit the lyrics. Sue put the pedal to the medal and the luxury car peeled out of the school parking lot.

"I'm glad I decided to walk home today." Kwan sighed.

The red muscle car pulled into the driveway outside of Dash's house. He tried to drive it a bit more modestly, as to startle the neighbours, but he couldn't help but indulge the gearhead inside him, revving the engine a few times before killing it. He looked over to the passenger seat, where Danny had made himself comfortable. Danny inhaled softly, the combination of Dash's cologne and the scent of new car and leather filled his nostrils.

"Hey, don't fall asleep on me." Dash nudged him.

"I'm not, it's just, relaxing."

"Can't believe my mom bought me a car."

"A BRAND NED car at that."

"Yeah."

"You gonna bring it to school with you?"

"Possibly."

"Well it'll nice if we have transportation, right?"

"Y-yeah."

Danny and Dash had both agreed to go away for college, and had even settled on a college they could both get into without any trouble. Naturally they wanted to be together, at least at this point, but the thought of living together was a bit overwhelming. Danny really felt uncomfortable with the idea of sharing a room with a complete stranger, especially so far away from home, but Dash had no problem meeting new people, and relished the idea of getting to room with someone he could start from scratch with. But Dash knew he'd have a million chances to make new friends, and but his relationship with Danny was the most important thing to him, so he reassured his boyfriend that they would find a way to room together, even if it meant renting an apartment off campus. Dash's train of thought was thrown off by the sound of muffled rap music playing off in the distance, probably from a car that had driven by them.

"What the hell is a 'twerk'?" He heard Danny muffle under his breath.

"What?"

"The car that just drove by, I believe it was a Prius, but that's not important, it was playing a song about something called twerking. What the fuck is twerking?"

"I don't…know?" Dash was at a loss for words.

"I'll look it up later; anyway, what do we do about living somewhere?"

"Why don't we look for apartments?"

"Can we afford that?"

"Well," Dash paused. At this point they couldn't, but his mom would volunteer to pay no matter how much he protested. His mother spoiled him, so she would have to regrets, but at the same time, "We could always get jobs."

"I guess."

"We can go during the summer and look at apartments for rent around school."

"I-I guess we could." Danny pondered. It wasn't that he had second thoughts, but he was just hoping it would all work out.

The two had essentially sat in that car for a couple hours, despite the heat. Dash drove Danny home so they could get ready. Dash's mom had showed up prior to Dash's return, and was already bawling her eyes out before Dash even left, taking a ton of pictures.

Danny's parents, and Jazz, who had arrived earlier in the day, were ready and took their own pictures, although not to the extent that Denise had of Dash.

The senior class was divided alphabetically and placed in rooms where they were to wait for the signal to start proceeding. The anticipation and anxiousness was asphyxiating.

The speeches were less than entertaining, gaining a cheap laugh here and there, but otherwise uninteresting. The first few groups of kids to go up were the so called "gifted" students, not that it mattered at this point. The principal droned out names, kids shifting in their seats, nervous they would miss the cue to go up or that they would trip over their own feet.

Dash waited, he was next. The heat was making him dizzy, he could've sworn that he was wearing a wetsuit filled with Jell-O, and was concerned he hadn't put on enough deodorant. Then he heard his name, and he had to scream at himself mentally not to freeze on stage. He made the small climb, which felt like ascending a mountain, and stopped. He accepted the diploma and turned to look at the other kids graduating with him. So many faces, most of them he didn't know or didn't recognize. Then there were the ones he recognized but wished he didn't, and of course there were those kids who he was glad to have gotten to know. And then, there was Danny. The kid who had started out as his personal punching bag, now the one he couldn't imagine life without. That's when it hit him. He made his way off stage and to his seat.

Danny, being blessed with a letter early in the alphabet, didn't have to do much waiting, not as much as say Sam or Tucker. He made his way onto the stage and looked out over the crowd, their eyes either trained on him, or, as was the case with most of the students, off looking at who knows what, struggling to stay conscious. He looked at Sam, then at Tucker and finally at Kwan, the three people he had come to call friends. His eyes swept the crowd, finally coming to a rest on Dash, who smiled at him. This one person, who just a few years ago had made his life a living hell, had come to represent the good in the world. Danny chuckled inwardly at the irony of this whole situation, making his way off of the stage.

The rest of the ceremony went over with little trouble. Some girl almost tripped in her 6 inch heels, but managed to catch herself before her face hit the top step. The principal gave a few closing words and then the hats soared in the air, cheers propelling them. The field slowly resembled a department store on Black Friday, a herd of people, all talking as loud as they could, trying to navigate through one another. Danny clawed his way out of the crowd and straight his family, who were standing with Dash's mom, who they had apparently gotten to know better during the graduation. They were laughing and talking like long lost best friends.

"Danny, why didn't you tell us that Denise was an absolute joy?" Maddie questioned her son.

"I was too busy trying to get you two to accept her son as my boyfriend for it to come up, I guess."

"Danny, your parents are a riot. I can see where you get your personality."

"Thaaaanks, I think."

Finally an out of breath Dash rounded out the group.

"Man those old ladies are vicious. I think one of them tried to steal my wallet." He gasped out.

"Dash, the Fentons have invited us over this weekend, and I already said we'd be more than glad to join them."

"Yeah, that sounds great, hey, uh, Danny, can-can I talk to you, i-in private?"

"Yeah, sure Dash."

The couple put some distance between their families and Dash looked around to make sure there were no eavesdroppers.

"What's up, Dash?"

"Danny, this past year was the best thing that I could have ever asked for. I never realized what my life was missing until you became a part of it, and now I can't imagine life without you."

"Dash."

"Danny, whatever hard times come in the future, I want us to face them together."

"What are you?"

"Danny, I want us to be together, not just during college. I want you to marry me, not right now, down the road."

"Dash, I…"

"What do you say, Danny, once we've graduated college, will you marry me?"