Author's Note: This was the first attempt I ever made at writing something in the DiR fandom. It's short, but sweet. I hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this story; they belong to the incredible Ms. Susan Cooper. I may have taken slight liberties with their personalities and/or appearances, and I mean no harm whatsoever by doing so. No copyright infringement is intended and absolutely no money is being made by my writing this.
Bliss
(by C. Adrien Cummings)
Will Stanton had never had much time to himself growing up — with eight siblings, there was just no refuge anywhere at all in the house. Ever. It made life tough on a growing boy, especially after his two visits to Wales. There were just so many memories attached to those trips . . . memories that had been erased from the other boy's mind . . . memories that Will couldn't have erased from his own mind even if he'd wanted to . . . memories that demanded his attention. He longed to give them the attention they deserved, but for years he could not.
Much to his delight, however, that changed when he went off to college. His feelings for the other boy had not changed — ohhhh no — but now he did get some time to himself, while his roommate Sean was at class . . . usually a few hours every day, Monday through Friday. And sometimes Sean would disappear for entire weekends, though other weekends he hardly left the room at all. Still, in Will's mind this situation was a vast improvement over the utter lack of privacy at home. Before he had come to Oxford, he had always tried to let his imagination run free, but his body had always made him painfully aware of the consequences of doing so with his entire family around and no possible chance for even a single moment alone. Now, however, living at school and with only one roommate, he was regularly able to give full license to his mind to elaborate on his fantasies, and his body was finally allowed the release it so badly wanted. He thought it was bliss.
Over the course of the school year, Will did a lot of thinking on the matter and he came to a very important decision: he was going back to Wales . . . he was going to see if anything was possible, and if so, just how much. When the summer finally came around after his first year at Oxford had concluded, Will packed his bags for a lengthy stay and headed north. It was the first time he had gone back since the Dark had fallen, the first time since the other boy's memory had been wiped clean, the first time in over six years. Was he concerned about what changes he might find when he arrived? Without a doubt. Did he let that concern give him even a moment's hesitation? Absolutely not. He had realized that he just couldn't go any longer without knowing what could be.
When he arrived, it was clear that the years apart had not changed anything between the two. They wandered the hills together, joked and laughed, reminisced a bit . . . nothing was even the slightest bit different from the way it had been before. Things were exactly like they'd been when he had left: comfortable, friendly, easy-going, seemingly more-than-friendly but not explicitly so . . .
Until out of the blue, Bran kissed him. And at that moment, Will knew that he had been wrong before. This was bliss.
fin
