“You’ll catch a cold if you stay out there too long baby.” Daniel shook his head, smiling as he watched him jump in the puddles, dance in the rain.
His partner eventually came up the walk, grinning, “You need to live life more Jonesy.”
Daniel laughed and kissed him, “Had enough?”

Darren stepped into the warmth of their new house, stripping of his raincoat and shaking his rain soaked locks, “How does a glass of wine and a bath sound?”
“Wonderful.” Daniel closed the door, wrapping his arms tightly around him, “You’re beautiful you know that?”
Darren closed his eyes, letting Daniel’s hands roam his body.

“Did I ever tell you, about a game I used to play when I was a kid?” Daniel whispered in the dark later that night.
Darren thought a moment, “Hide and Seek?”
“Yes.” Daniel nodded, “It was my favorite game.”
“I would always hide so no one could ever find me.”
“Ah- but someone did eventually...” Daniel smiled warmly.
Darren closed his eyes and sighed contentedly, “I was just waiting for the only one who could.”
“I think you let me find you.” Daniel whispered, kissing him again, pretending the stars were fireflies, and fireflies were stars.

So this is where we are, how far we’ve come.
Darren doesn’t really mind that I’m leafing through the old pages of this beat up notebook.
Looking at how much he’s changed over the years.
And seeing how much I have as well.
But he’s right, it’s time to put this to rest.

“Let me write something in it.” I stop his hand before he can dispose of it.
There’s a few empty pages left, I take a pen and scribble something on the last.
Darren smiles, writes his response, and I get a rewarding kiss for that.

The fire is ready.
I give him the notebook and watch him toss it onto the flames.
They eat away at the edges, around the pain that had been locked up in there for so long, the Life that doesn’t exist anymore.

“Maybe we should have torn out that last page before we burned it.” Darren cuddles against me, watching the dying notebook crumble away.
“Nah- we have something else that will help us remember.”
Darren nods and kisses me, letting his ring touch against mine.

This is what I wrote:

Will you marry me Darren?

And this was his reply:

Yes, Daniel. I will.

~finis~
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