"Damian."

The whisper struck every nerve in his body. Damian was frozen to the spot. He stared into the face that he had been craving for, longing for. It was smiling and bright and everything good in the world. Cameron was alive, breathing, heart pounding and veins pumping. Why wasn't Damian jumping for joy, pulling Cameron into his arms and bawling like a baby?

"Damian, say something," despite the fact that Cameron had been the one in a coma and almost died, he was still the one caring for Damian with that same worried look on his face that Damian loved so much. He tried to speak but nothing would come out. He could only stand there at the foot of Cameron's bed, his jaw to the floor. A single tear leaked out, splashing on the toe of his shoe.

"Don't cry, please, you'll make me cry. Just come here," Cameron held his hand out, reaching for Damian longingly. Like a ghost, Damian drifted to Cameron's side, still processing the fact that the one thing that had seemed so incomprehensibly impossible for all these months was happening. There was such a mix of pain and wonder and excitement that Damian felt he might explode.

Cameron took the Irish boy's hand into his own, the IV trailing into one of the many machines surrounding him. Tears swam in Cameron's tired blue eyes. Damian reached out slowly and stroked his fingers down Cameron's scar and blinked out more tears. "I'm so sorry, Cam," Damian whispered out, his hand cupped Cameron's cheek.

"Don't be sorry, this wasn't your fault. If anything it's mine."

Damian shook his head. "No, it's not. Nothing could ever be your fault," he threw himself onto Cameron's bed and pulled his best friend's torso into a tight, loving hug. Cameron started laughing and sobbing uncontrollably into Damian's lithe chest.

After a few minutes of just sitting there in a tight and emotional embrace, Cameron began the speech he had been planning over and over in his mind for the past week. He pulled Damian away so he could stare into his mesmerizing eyes. "You know, I don't remember any of the past few months. Nothing except flashes. It was always just bits of your voice, talking to me, trying to get me to wake up. I wanted to say something back, anything, but I couldn't," Damian felt a pang through his chest. "Then there was nothing for a while. Just darkness. It was agonizing. At that point I just wanted to let go. I thought you had left me, given up. Then the other night I heard you yelling. Something about me and you. It hurt so bad, Damo, it nearly killed me to hear you so upset," Damian's tears fell quicker and Cameron reached up to stroke them away. Damian held his hand in place and kept listening to his story. "But then I heard you sing. And I wanted to wake up more than I ever had. That song just brought me back to when…" Cameron didn't want to freak Damian out so he didn't tell him why the song meant so much. "Well it brought me back. You brought me back. So thank you."

Cameron slid his hand off Damian's cheek and stared at his palms, embarrassed by his heartfelt monologue about how his best friend singing him a love song brought him back from Heaven's gates. Damian chuckled and Cameron stared at him, confused. "After being in a coma, you're still embarrassed by something like that?"

"Well yeah, I am a dude."

Damian laughed again. "You're unbelievable, ya know that?"

"I've heard it a time or two."

It was as if nothing had changed. Damian was laughing and smiling with Cameron as if he had never been hit by that car. But things had changed. Everything had changed. Damian's smile faded and it was his turn to blush. What if Cameron didn't feel the same way as he did before it all happened? What if he didn't love Damian that way anymore? "Tell me what's wrong, tell me what's been happening," Cameron said quietly. He could see pain shadowing Damian's ghostly features. He was so healthy that night and now he looked like a zombie; Cameron couldn't imagine what Damian had been going through.

"Well, it's been tough, Cam. I was dealing okay until your parents banned me from seeing you," Cameron grimaced.

"Yeah I heard about that. That's why I sent them home. Tell me more."

"I really missed you. I mean, really badly. I got depressed and stopped eating. I kinda just sat around, waiting for you. Then last week, I had to see you. It was killing me. Literally. And then your parents were here and, well, they gave me this," Damian pulled the worn letter out of his pocket and handed it to Cameron.

"Oh, God," Cameron was horrified. Damian knew and now he wouldn't even want to be his friend anymore. "So that's why you wouldn't come and see me."

"No! No, Cam I thought you were dead," he held Cameron's face in his hands. "Your parents said they were gonna pull the plug and I thought they had. Nothing would ever keep me from seeing you if I knew you were alive."

"So you're not totally weirded out? I'd get it if you never wanted to see me again…" he trailed off, fearing the worst.

Damian rubbed his thumbs along Cameron's cheekbones. He didn't know how to reply. He glanced down at the letter and remembered something. "In that letter, you said you would die to kiss me," Cameron turned crimson but nodded a little. Damian scooted closer so that he could feel Cameron's breath against his face. "Well so would I."

Cameron's breath hitched as Damian moved forward so their noses were touching. "I'm in love with you," Cameron breathed out. He needed Damian to hear it, not just read it off some letter from over a year ago.

"I am so deeply and completely in love with you too," Damian replied. He closed the gap between their lips and soared. Every inch of his body felt light as a feather. His head spun and his mouth was on fire. Cameron's toes curled as he felt Damian's rough lips pressed against his own. The ache in his body disappeared, evaporating into nothingness. All he had ever wanted was for Damian to love him. And he realized at that moment, with their lips together, that this night was the night that he was truly woken up, not one week before. All he ever needed was Damian.

Damian pulled back and smiled with his forehead pressed against Cameron's. "I was nothing without you. Absolutely nothing."

"Well I'm here now."

"Yes you are," Damian kissed Cameron again. It was just a peck but it somehow solidified how they felt, like a promise for the future. "So you're gonna be okay?" Damian asked.

Cameron nodded. "Everything is going to be okay."