"These gowns look so stupid."

"Hush, Gilbert, and hold still. You need to keep your cap level." Matthew flitted his hands over Gilbert's graduation attire, trying to press out the wrinkles and snags as best he could. "Did you remember your cords?"

"Right here," Gilbert said, slipping the long satin rope from a plastic bag and tossing it over his shoulders.

"And you remember what order you're standing in, right?" The last thing they needed was for Gilbert to be in the wrong place when he was called up.

"Yeah, yeah, behind Barnet and in front of Braginsky." Gilbert grinned and caught Matthew's hands when he tried to straighten the cords. "Stop worrying. Everything is going to be fine. You need to get to your spot in line before they start the procession."

Matthew huffed and yanked his hands away. "I have a right to be worried! This is the final public school event you'll be attending and I don't need you making a joke out of yourself!"

Gilbert grinned and chuckled and leaned forward to press a kiss on Matthew's cheek, knocking their caps off-balance in the process. "Don't worry. I won't do anything stupid. I just want to let you know that I am so ridiculously proud of you."

"Look who's talking, mister Beta Club member," Matthew said with a smile as he fingered the tassels at the end of Gilbert's honors cords.

"Hey, Beta Club is nothing compared to Honors Society."

A teacher walked into the backstage area and called for everyone to get in places. The ceremony would be starting soon.

"Williams! Get to the back of the line with the W's; we have a graduation to run! Beilschmidt, to your place!"

Matthew jumped in surprise, and before he could say goodbye to Gilbert he ran to his spot in line. Some sort of ceremonial song started playing over the loudspeaker. The line of graduates moved forward.

The seating of all the graduates took long enough, that was for sure. The little folding chairs didn't fill up quickly enough, and Matthew almost wished that this whole thing would be over with. At the same time, however, he knew that this was one of the most important moments of his life. He looked out over the crowd and searched for Gilbert, but couldn't find him in the sea of caps.

The principal made a speech. Then the vice principal made a speech. Then the valedictorian made a speech. Matthew thought there were too many damn speeches and decided that he did in fact just want to get this over with as soon as possible. He wondered how Gilbert was holding up sitting next to Braginsky and hoped that he hadn't caused any sort of disturbance.

At last, somebody said something along the lines of "I am proud to announce the graduating class of 2013!" but Matthew wasn't really paying attention. All he knew was that the graduates were standing up one row at a time and walking up to the stage to receive their diplomas. Matthew heard Gilbert's name called, and he craned his neck so that he could look over the stupidly tall guy in front of him (whoever set up the chairs hadn't bothered to stagger them, apparently) and catch a glimpse of his boyfriend. He thought he saw Gilbert looking down at the him and waving, so he beamed and waved back before clapping loudly along with the rest of the crowd.

The ceremony droned on, and Matthew zoned out for a little while until he noticed that it was his row's turn to stand up. He milled along with the rest of the graduates, feeling bored and anxious at the same time. He felt his palms start to sweat and his stomach twist in knots as he got ever closer to the stage even though he knew that there wasn't any rational reason to be afraid. It wasn't until he passed the row of B's and finally got a good look at Gilbert sitting there looking like he'd just won the lottery that he felt a sudden burst of confidence.

The principal called out Matthew's name, and Matthew put one foot in front of the other with such concentration and purpose that it was impossible for him to trip up the few steps leading up to the stage. There were people clapping, and Matthew could have sworn that he could pick out the loudest claps and whoops coming from the first few rows of graduates. He crossed the stage without incident, shook the principal's hand, and left the stage in time for the next graduate to be called. Despite the song playing, he didn't feel very pompous, and the circumstance he found himself in wasn't exactly remarkable if the ocean of other kids who had just gotten nearly identical diplomas made different only by the names scribbled on a blank line was anything to go by.

He made it back to his seat and stood stiffly as he waited for the rest of the ceremony to be over. There were certain perks to having a last name starting with W, the fact that he didn't have to stand for long after getting his diploma being one of them. However, all of that nervousness probably could have been avoided if his last name came earlier in the alphabet.

At last the final kid was called up (Matthew pitied the poor guy with a last name like Zwingli) and all of the graduates stood in front of their seats. Somebody gave a signal, and all at the same time, the mass of graduates turned the tassels on their caps from the left to the right.

"Ladies and gentlemen; this year's graduating class!"

The auditorium erupted in cheers and yelling as the graduates threw off their caps. As Matthew looked around he saw hugging and crying and jumping up and down. Seeing as how the ceremony was over, he pushed through the crowd in search of Gilbert, but it was slow progress with everybody so tightly packed together. Soon he realized that he wouldn't have to go further, because over the screaming of "congratulations!" and "it's finally over!" Matthew heard Gilbert calling his name and soon saw a head of white hair peeking through the crowd. Matthew walked forward to meet him and threw his arms around his torso in a hug so tight that he thought that Gilbert might have actually been choking. He loosened his hold a little so his boyfriend could breathe.

"We did it!" Gilbert cried out. "After four years it's finally over!"

Matthew could only grin and pat Gilbert on the back with the hand not holding his diploma. Of course, he felt rudely reminded that this was the end of the easy classes of high school, the end of free and public education, the end of similar classes with Gilbert. Yes, they had coordinated so that they would be attending the same college, but with Gilbert wanting to go into engineering and Matthew majoring in English and literature studies, the classes they would have together would be greatly reduced.

It wasn't just the end of high school—it was the end of life as he knew it. For so long he'd been set up on training wheels, prompted to work hard and do the right thing and get good grades, but the passage from high school to college would change everything. No more could he depend on his parents for every little thing; no more could he be so lenient with his spending; no more could he simply put off work until the last minute and expect to get away with it.

This was the end of high school, and the world out there beyond college was scary. But Matthew also told himself that even though this was the end, it was also a new beginning. All he had to do was stand up and be brave against anything that pushed him down, and he told himself that he would be with Gilbert the whole way.

"It's finally over," Matthew echoed, and suddenly he wished he had more time.

A/N: End Introduction AU.

I want to thank everybody who had reviewed, favored, and subscribed to this challenge of mine. I am proud to say that it is finally complete, and like Matthew, I kind of wish I had more of this challenge to work on. It's been almost ten months since I first started this project, and after all that time I feel like I've really improved, both as a writer and as a person. It's been a great ride, and I couldn't have done it without your support throughout the whole thing.

Oh, and don't you dare think that this is the end of me writing fanfiction. This might be the end of the 100 Theme Challenge, but it's not the end of Jel as an author, so please stay tuned for other stories that I write, okay?

It was a long way, but now it's finally finished, and I feel accomplished.

Thank you,

~Jel