The lights swirled, the music vibrated the very air, and Apollo looked at Starbuck.

"What? What are you staring at?" Starbuck smiled, but he was clearly off balance.

"You, of course," Apollo replied. Starbuck looked absolutely stunning in his dress uniform, and Apollo had noticed more than a few eyes following his best friend around the dance floor tonight.

"Well, I can see that," Starbuck replied, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "The question is, why are you staring at me?"

"Just thinking, is all," Apollo smiled.

"Out with it, already! What are you thinking?"

"That it really sucks that we can't get out there and dance like everyone else is doing. It's the last dance..."

Starbuck hunched his shoulders and looked around in an immediate defensive response. "Not so loud, Pol! You want everyone to hear you?"

"What's it matter, anyways?" Apollo sighed, although the dreamy smile he wore never wavered. "What are they going to do, pull back our diplomas?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure they'd come up with something." Starbuck tapped moodily on the rim of his glass. "It's hardly fair, though- only reason they'd bitch is because of who we are. Anyone else could get away with it- probably."

"I know." The dreamy look vanished, to be replaced by decisiveness. "Come on, Star- let's go dance." He rose to his feet, pulling the startled but unresisting Starbuck along with him. Out on the dance floor, he wrapped his arms around his lover and began to move with the slow romantic music. He gazed into those intensely blue eyes so close to his own, and said, "Tonight is our night, Starbuck, and I'm not going to let them ruin it completely for us. We will at least have this one song together."

"Yes," Starbuck agreed, helpless as ever to resist Apollo. The world narrowed down to nothing but the two of them, the music, the way their bodies moved together... Neither of them was aware of the effect they were having on the crowd.

When people noticed the two young men dancing together, totally oblivious to the outside world, they began to stare. An empty space formed around the dancers, comprised of graduates, instructors, and their dates. Quiet murmurs of disbelief raced through the watchers.

As the music was drawing to a close, Starbuck raised his head from Apollo's shoulder and smiled into his eyes. Apollo returned the smile, and their lips met in a tender kiss.

The crowd gasped as one. The two young men remained locked together for a long moment, then broke apart. Only then, when the music trailed off and was replaced by silence, did they notice the watchers.

Apollo looked at the crowd, then looked at Starbuck. He smiled mischievously and returned his gaze to the crowd. "Thank you all for a wonderful evening! Goodbye!"

Amid startled gasps and semi-coherent protests, Apollo and Starbuck walked straight out the double doors of the ballroom and into the night.

 

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