a/n: As I've said before, the last book made me cry in public. Thanks, Tara.
(And how do you present tense?)
Disclaimer: ha ha no.
Title: and spring comes again
Word Count: 418
Summary: In the end are two boys reaching for each other. [Post-Series]
Colton leans his head out from his seat inside the car, his brown curls tousled by the sea-salt wind. His laugh is swallowed up by the roar of the nearing ocean. There is something uncannily blue about the water as if it is reflecting more than just the sky.
Time stops in the space between heartbeats, Danny knows this in the way the fading sunlight creates a halo around Colton. How Cassie threw her arms around him the other day. Daphne finding herself a place to call home. Brandon's relief that it was all over.
Careful with his new prosthetic, Danny parks the car where the grass gives way to sand. They stop for a moment to admire everything – Colton, taking in a wholly new human memory, and Danny is in love all over again.
It's hard not to remember the pale specter with amber eyes haunting the Enfield Clocktower, the boy who so desperately wanted a heartbeat, to be flesh and blood again. Colton appearing in a blur of hazy afternoon sunlight in his cottage. Colton with the bloodied strands of time binding him to the tower. Colton being more boy than ghost the more he got to interact with Danny. And then collapsing to his feet before his spirit vanished for Danny thought to be the last time.
You gave him back his heartbeat.
Danny runs a thumb over the back of Colton's hand. He turns Colton's hand over to feel his heartbeat echo in the pulse point of his wrist.
Colton appears amused by this gesture. His blue eyes reflect the sky above them. "It's so loud," he says. He takes Danny's hand and presses it against his chest.
(How long has Danny dreamt of this moment? It feels like forever.)
Danny kisses him. Slow, open-mouthed, a little messy. Colton gasps into his mouth, solid beneath Danny's hands, no longer just aether. He touches the skin of Colton's collarbone, feels the rough texture of his curly hair at the nape of his neck. He tugs Colton close, chest to chest in the small space of the automobile. There are new details to Colton's face, the sunburst of freckles over his cheeks, the slight acne scars on his tanned skin, all signs of humanity and aging and a life—
Laughter fills the air and Colton undoes the top button of Danny's collared shirt. "That's sensitive." There's wonder in his voice.
"Is it?" Their foreheads touch and Danny smiles. "We have all the time in the world."