Daniel stood in the doorway, gazing out at Darren. "Why are you here?" He asked softly. "Just to torture me with your success?"

"Dan, you know I wouldn't be so cruel," Darren protested sadly, his longer blonde hair being pushed forward by the wind behind him. "Can I please come in? It's cold out here."

"Yeah, I guess," Dan sighed, stepping backwards. Darren walked in, taking a seat on the couch.

"So what's new?" Darren questioned.

"Nothing," Daniel answered dully. "Aneiki broke up, so... I don't really have anything to work on," he confessed. "But I still write music." After a pause he added, "What about you?"

"Yeah... I'm working on... some songs," Darren murmured.

Daniel was silent a moment longer. Then, "Okay, Darren, what did you really come here for?"

"Nothing," Darren shrugged.

"Come on, there has to be some reason. To leave me?" Daniel demanded. As soon as he uttered the words, a silent flash of pain struck his heart.

"No," Darren shook his head. "No. Never. I..."

"What?" Daniel asked, his voice softer.

Darren chewed on his lip nervously. Then he looked back at Daniel. "I... just miss you. A lot."

If we can get along as real good friends
There's no need to say goodbye
We may be better off as real good friends
To keep this love alive

Daniel tilted his head. "No kidding? You... you really...?"

Darren nodded. "I've never stopped thinking about you," he told Daniel quietly, an intense look in his cerulean eyes. "I'm sorry so much time has passed."

Staring down at the ground, Daniel thought for a moment. "I... I've missed you, too," he admitted to Darren. "More than you think you know." Silently their hands met. He hesitated, then added, "But... we can't be together. You know that."

"Yeah, I know," Darren sighed heavily. "God, do I know. I mean, you have a girlfriend now, and we're never going to see each other that much... It's like something's conspiring against us."

Daniel was still gazing at the floor, lost in thought. "I wonder..." He began.

"What?"

He looked back up at Darren. "Maybe we don't have to be conspired against," he said. "No, I don't mean let's say 'Fuck the world' and just blow everything off... but maybe... Maybe we don't have to say goodbye."

"How do you mean?" Darren questioned.

"Maybe we can just be friends," Daniel suggested. "Good friends. That way, we won't ever have to let our love die. We can just... change it a bit."

(Come on) Too much time and distance is what we were up against
And we didn't want to listen to the advice of our friends
They said this can't last too long
They were right; they were also wrong

Darren's eyes widened slightly. "Do you think it could work?" He wondered. "Do you... I mean, could it...?"

"Why not?" Daniel asked. "I can still be with Kathleen, we could still have our separate careers... Only now we won't have to have that sour feeling in the back of our minds when we think of each other. You know?..." His voice trailed off.

"It could," Darren nodded. "It really could." He smiled and leaned forward, hugging Daniel. "Dan, as usual, you are a fucking genius!"

"This coming from The Writer," Daniel replied sardonically, smiling as they parted and leaned back away from each other.

"I guess Colby was right," Darren said. "When I told her that you and I were going out, she swore that it wouldn't last, that we wouldn't stay together. She was right. I never thought I'd say it, but she was actually right..."

"But she was wrong, too," interrupted Daniel. "She was wrong... Good thing we didn't listen to her, huh?"

"I'll say."

'Cause now we're gonna be two real good friends
Even closer than before
That's the way I think it should've always been
But we just wanted more

For a long moment they quietly held each other, basking in and cherishing all the memories they'd shared together. Good ones and bad. Sweetly delicious ones and mind-numbingly awful ones, like when they had broken up so horribly, ripping away from each other.

"I'll never forget all the times we had," Daniel told Darren. "Never. I wouldn't change a thing in the world about them."

"Neither would I," Darren agreed. "No matter what." With a soft kiss they parted again.

Gazing into Darren's bright blue eyes, Daniel questioned, "What was your favorite moment?"

Darren thought for a long moment. "Just one?" He asked teasingly. "Okay. Let me think..." He gazed off into space for a while, lost in thought. Finally he said, "When we first met."

Daniel smiled. "Great minds do think alike. That's my favorite moment, too. When you auditioned to be in the band last... and when we hooked up right after everybody had gone home for the day."

"I guess we kind of jumped into a relationship too fast," Darren mused. "We had that wild relationship... and then that awful breakup. We 'crashed and burned'. We should have taken it slower, been close friends first."

"Well, we're starting over now, aren't we?"

"I guess we are."

From the first time that we made eyes we knew there was something there
And if this is the last time then let's pretend we never met
So we can start again

"Let's start from the beginning," Darren proposed. "Hi. I'm Darren Hayes. What's your name?"

"Daniel Jones," Daniel played along. They shook hands, pretending they really were meeting for the very first time. "How are you?"

"I'm okay," grinned Darren. "Why don't we be friends?"

"I'd love that," Daniel agreed. They did the half-hug-slash-handshake move, popularly called a Ghetto hug.

"I love you," Darren whispered.

"I love you, too."

"You're going to be my best friend," Darren predicted.

Daniel smiled. "Same goes for you."

We could learn how to be real good friends
Even closer than before
'Cause that's the way we knew it should've always been
And now we have it all

Darren drove home slowly, a cheesy warm feeling spreading throughout his entire being. For the first time in nearly two years, he felt he had something to actually smile about.

He was back together with Daniel again.

Humming softly under his breath, Darren stopped at a red light, gazing up at the sky absent-mindedly. Funny how he'd never noticed how beautiful this city was. Or how bright the sunset was. Or...

A loud, raucous honking behind him made him jump, and he suddenly realized the light had turned green. Shaking his head wryly, but still grinning, Darren headed home.

Ain't it better now that we're real good friends, even closer than before
We'll never have to worry how the story ends
We'll just keep on wanting more... all the time now
Never have to worry about how the story ends, oh yeah

Daniel lay down on the couch he and Darren had just spent hours talking on. He intertwined his fingers, resting his fists on his chest as he gazed up at the ceiling.

God, life was so much better now. No pain, no regret, no anger, no sadness... Everything they'd always wanted. Only without a relationship to throw in jealousies and desperate needs. Why hadn't they thought of this before? Why had they wanted to leap headfirst into tempestuous seas before thinking?

As it was now, he felt better than he ever had in months. Years.

This was going to be a good plan.