Invincible

epilogue

GUYS!! We are finally finally finally at the very end. Im so sorry for the wait, I got carried away and wrote more than I'd planned (this epilogue is possibly the most self-indulgent thing ive ever written, it's mostly just tooth-rotting fluff so sorry about that xD).

Shout out to all my wonderful readers who've stuck with this and written me lovely and frequently hilarious comments- it's such a great honour to have people actually invested in my story. Also, it would've been a completely different story without your comments- in my original plan, Isaac did in fact die (I'd actually even written the scene in which this happened :o even just thinking about this makes my heart shrivel) and **wait for it* he and jared were always 'just friends' (lol as if, what was I thinking). Joseph was a girl, Cosmo was a boring normal guy and not the beautifully cosmo-ish cosmo that he is, Arthur was a much bigger character (in contrast to his actual 1-chap cameo appearance) and willa (who was originally called Emily) and jared ended up back together (wHAT). While it was in part writing the characters & their relationships that ended in me changing these things, the changes were also heavily affected by your ideas and opinions and thoughts on the earlier chapters so THANK YOU SO MUCH. You've saved us from the sacrilege of that first-draft plot.

So yeah, I hope you guys enjoy the epilogue!!! It's been an absolute pleasure to go through the rollercoaster of this story with you all. Xxx

ps. if i haven't answered your comment yet, i will soon! i am trying to get up to date with everything sorry xD

***

It was Easter and the sun was out, blossom on the trees and three-for-two eggs in all the shops. Jared was walking into the library at Leeds, two hours early thanks to a last minute decision to stuff his morning lecture (because, priorities) and get an earlier train instead.

Mum was getting married again to her boyfriend Rick, something which had come as quite a surprise to all of them. Mum wasn't really one for fairytales or hope, not since Jared's dad. She'd introduced the idea sheepishly, thought he and Cosmo might be mad. Instead Cosmo immediately started clapping and Jared said,

"You do what makes you happy, Mum. You deserve it."

(That may or may not have made her cry).

That had been four months ago and now it was the weekend of the wedding. Jared and Cosmo were both travelling to be there, of course, and Jared was doing the speech for their mum because both of her parents were dead and Cosmo had an uncharacteristic fear of public speaking. Dad was (thankfully) not invited.

The wedding was in Liverpool, Rick's hometown and a one and a half hour drive away from here, but Jared had arranged to arrive the day before so he and Isaac could spend the night together before leaving for the wedding in the morning. Thanks to a geography field trip to Iceland it had been almost a month since he'd last seen Isaac in person and his whole body was thrumming with the promise of it, of hearing Isaac's voice not through a phone or his laptop, of seeing Isaac's face not on a screen, of being finally close to him again.

It took his eyes only about ten seconds to locate Isaac in the library, cross-legged and chewing on a highlighter, one hand tugging absent-mindedly through his hair. He was adorable, lovely, beautiful. Jared had forgotten how fucking beautiful he was. He walked over and sat down opposite him, smiling slightly at Isaac's determined concentration. He seemed pretty oblivious to anything that wasn't a book.

"Hey you," said Jared eventually, smile coming through into his voice. Isaac's head snapped up and then he was smiling, beaming like a flash of sunlight.

"J!" he whisper-shouted, joy all over his face. Jared loved that; how open Isaac was with his feelings around him, all those unguarded emotions playing across his features like a cinema reel. "You're early!"