To fresh starts and new beginnings

It was New Year's Eve, and Rebecca had decided to throw a party and invite all of her friends; she was so thankful for their support after everything she had gone through, they had made her realize they truly cared for her.

She had considered inviting Josh, but didn't feel ready to do so. However, it felt wrong in a way, and asked Heather to tell Hector to tell Josh that he was invited, but to please, avoid her as much as she could since everything was still quite recent.

Unbelievably, he took this in the best possible way and actually listened for a change; he was happy he got invited, and even if it meant leaving Rebecca alone he wanted to stay positive and think that he could fix things.

She was also uncertain on inviting WhiteJo, mostly because of Darryl. She had asked him before doing so and said he was okay with that, but it wasn't until she truly believed it that she told WhiteJo. Little did she know how okay Darryl was with it.

Darryl was one of the first ones to arrive at the party and helped Rebecca with the preparations along with Paula, Valencia and Heather. White Josh arrived with Hector and Josh later. Darryl and WhiteJo's eyes met and smiled to each other; they weren't close, but didn't approach either.

As the night progressed and everyone got more comfortable with one another, Darryl and WhiteJo finally talked.

"Hey." Josh said approaching the couch in which Darryl was sit on. "Do you mind if I sit here?" He asked with that smiled that could melt anyone.

"Hey!" Darryl said, perhaps a bit more excited than he intended to sound. "Sure, be my guess. I mean, it's not as if it were my house, or my couch but-"

"I get it Darryl, don't worry." Said Josh as he sat next to him. He was holding two beers and offered Darryl one, who accepted it with a nod.

They talked for a while about everyday stuff: their jobs, what they had been up to lately and how the party was going. It felt right for both of them, and they even lost track of time, and about 15 minutes before New Year's Darryl suggested to step outside, just to breathe some fresh air.

Josh agreed gladly, but didn't know Darryl's true intentions, although he had some questions. Darryl had been thinking about it for a while, and their talk made things clearer for him.

Once outside, Darryl began:

"So Josh, listen, I didn't ask you to come outside with me just because… I actually have something to tell you and wanted to share with you."

"Alright, I'm all ears, what is it?" Josh asked; he thought it was better not to let Darryl know he was expecting something like this.

"I believe you know, but I didn't want to break up with you. I wanted us to overcome that and stay together. It saddens me that we had to go through that for me to realize… That…" Darryl took a deep breath before continuing. "That I rather have you than a baby."

"Wow that… That was definitely-" Josh began but stopped to take a sip of his beer before formulating a longer sentence. "That was certainly something, D. Are you saying you would be fine with us not having a baby?" He asked, intrigued, since he knew how much Darryl wanted a child that was theirs.

"I don't know if that's what I'm saying. What I do know now is that, no matter how this ends up, I want to be by your side. If it means giving up the baby, at least for now, I'm willing to do so."

They stood there for a while, quiet. Minutes passed and not another word was said. Until Josh eventually broke the silence.

"I didn't want us to break up. I still don't want to have a baby, but I can't let you give up on that. I know how much you want it."

"But it doesn't equal how much I want you. Maybe it will take a couple of months to get you around with the idea, or maybe not, but however this plays out I can't imagine myself with someone else than you."

"I love you too." This caught Darryl off guard and made him blush. How had he missed the sound of those words coming out of Josh's mouth. Once Josh noticed, he smiled at him. "Does this mean we will give it another chance? To us?" He checked his phone quickly and saw 11:59pm, right on time.

"If you're okay with that, of course." It was Josh's turn to blush.

"There's no one I'd rather spend New Year's with." Josh said as fireworks appeared on the night sky, beautiful, bright colors that made them feel as if they were in a movie. They shared a glance and made their lips touch, so gently, as they hadn't in a long time.

They broke the kiss, but their foreheads kept touching.

"We should go back inside, to wish the rest a Happy New Year." Darryl suggested.

"Let's go. But before that let me kiss you one more time." Josh said as they kissed. A firework behind them and the whole world ahead of them.