Based off of the hit television show "Even Stevens ", Louis hosts a romantic night for two in the park.

A Night To Remember

They watched as the whole world erupted in color, reds oranges purples, whites lazily drifting towards the centre of the sky, towards the sun as it sank slowly beneath the horizon, a burning boat slipping into increasingly darker waters. Louis couldn't remember a happier time in his life then right then, right there on the picnic blanket in the middle of the field, the brilliant scenery serving as only a minor distraction from the shapely form sitting across from him. Beans looked back at him as if he was thinking the exact same thing, his smooth chubby face softened in the light, his eyes shining like diamonds reflecting the sun. The sincerity that he saw, the pure, honest love reflected back to him, made Louis want to kiss him right then and right there - but no, he thought, not yet . The time wasn't right. He wanted it to be perfect.

With his hands he gently guided Beans' shoulders backwards, until he was lying flat on the blanket, looking at Louis with wonder. Don't worry, we'll get to that later, he replied with a glance, a glance which was fully understood by Beans, who turned his eyes towards the sky and the stars which were just beginning their nightly vigil. Louis lay beside him, their bodies touching as they both stared in awe at the tiny pinpricks of light which shone down on them, sparkling beacons from worlds far away. They embraced the moment, made love to the silent stillness of the night and the nervous heat that passed between their two inert bodies. Finally, someone spoke, and it took Louis seconds to realise that it had been him, that the words had escaped from his lips. For the few comfortable moments as Beans contemplated his answer Louis knew that the words could have come from either of them, that the thought had been shared and Louis was only the first to vocalize it. This was the depth of the bond between them, a bond which Louis hoped to explore that night.

"I feel as if this was all meant to be, that this was the only possible thing that I could be doing this night. Beans – I think that you are my soul-mate", he had said, and slowly, beautifully, Louis thought, Beans responded.

"Yes", he said, so smoothly and purposefully that it was easy for Louis to overlook the slight hesitation in his reply; as in his answer Louis heard nothing but Truth, his words richly resonant with understanding.

Louis smiled and looked upwards, his heart bursting with emotion, his eyes joyfully jumping from star to star, ignoring them, paying more attention to the eager thoughts that danced in his head - his future, the rest of his life. Everything was in order now, everything was settled, and this moment had settled it, this perfect wonderful moment in which Beans had finally expressed what he never had before. Louis turned to him then, looked at him seriously.

"I want you to promise me that you will never leave me, Beans, never."

Beans looked back at him with a mixture of pleasure and pain, and Louis almost imagined that a single tear rolled down his face in the span that followed.

"Don't worry about that", he replied, "Let's just worry about now." Beans moved closer, attempting to divert Louis' attention by pushing his body tighter against his, but Louis shrugged him off. Something was wrong.

"What's the matter? I thought that you wanted this. Is there something that you aren't telling me? Is there someone else?". Louis was immediately sorry that he had said those last words. He knew that there was no-one, he knew that he was for Beans just as Beans was for him. It was a fact that neither of them could deny, that God himself could not refute. Still, he was angry that Beans had kept something for him, something so obviously important.

"No, no, it's nothing like that", Beans said, quickly, brushing off the comments as if they were dust on his jacket, something extraneous, accidental, a nothing that he knew that Louis had not meant. But he was nearly in full tears now, the rippling pools of water that were forming on his eyelids threatening to flood at nearly any minute

"Louis", he said, "I've been diagnosed with Cancer".

Louis blinked in surprise, shot through the heart without warning, struggling to understand the situation. It was as if someone had dropped a heavy ton of bricks on his chest, bricks which quickly lodged into his spine and began to play havoc with his insides. He didn't know what to say. All emotion drained out of him and he sat there an empty husk, contemplating nothing.

"Does that mean—are you going to die?", he finally felt himself saying somehow through the dull ache that encased his being, which weighed down his soul and made him wonder whether life was worth all of the trouble.

"No", Beans started, "I'm fine. The doctors say that I have a good chance... But I can't – I can't promise anything." Tears finally forced their way down his face, little streams of the future falling drip drop onto the cold blanket below. Every tear that fell was a knife into Louis' heart, and he wanted nothing more then to catch them with his bare hands, to put them in a safe place where they could be protected - but he knew that there was nothing that he could do, that the river was impossible to stop. He began to cry.

And there, above their tears and below their stars, they embraced.