His Girl, My Boy - Anderperry

Epilogue Pt. 1 (3k special chapter!)

"Alright, Neil, where are you taking me?" Being dragged along a dirt road by his lover was not Todd's idea of romantic, but he was hoping for something more than just making out in the middle of the night, so it would have to do.

Neil stopped, smiled, and perkily said, "Dearest boy, love of my life, please stop whining and let me get us to our destination." Todd gasped and kicked Neil's shin, but kept walking, however begrudgingly. Soon enough they had arrived at a small pond in the middle of a Welton field, surrounded by willow trees and lilac bushes. "I found this place in my first year here when I wanted to get away from my horrible roommate."

As breathtaking as it was, Todd had to ask "Oh? Who was that?"

With a snicker, Neil responded "Cameron." Todd fell into himself, buckling with laughter. "Hey, it's not funny! He still spat when he talked back then, and I only really knew Charlie! If you were there I'm sure I would've never found this, so shhh."

"Alright, so are we going to sit here then?" Todd pointed to a small patch of ground, a neat square between the bushes, a tree covering them from the newly sweltering heat. Neil nodded and lowered himself onto it, Todd following suit. Once they were settled, Neil brought out a small gray book, with pages yellow and browned around the edges, and handed it to Todd.

"For me?"

"Yes. Pick out your favorite." The admiration strewn across Neil's face was shown in his words as well, each syllable coming with a sweet nectar that only could be described as love.

"Oh. Okay then." Flipping to a page that was most familiar to the boy already, Todd began to speak.

"I wish I could remember that first day,
"First hour, first moment of your meeting me,
"If bright or dim the season, it might be
"Summer or Winter for aught I can say;
"So unrecorded did it slip away,
"So blind was I to see and to foresee,
"So dull to mark the budding of my tree
"That would not blossom yet for many a May.
"If only I could recollect it, such
"A day of days! I let it come and go
"As traceless as a thaw of bygone snow;
"It seemed to mean so little, meant so much;
"If only now I could recall that touch,
"First touch of hand in hand – Did one but know!"

"Todd, I know you know this, but I love you. I love you so very much. This, I think, is where I can die when I'm ready. In your arms, beneath a willow, basking in the reflection of the sun on the lake."

"Let this be the lake where two poets went to die, then?"

"Nicely put, darling. C'mere. Let's get comfortable." Neil grabbed Todd's hand and dragged it towards his own resting body. Todd fit his head in between Neil's shoulder and jaw, completing the puzzle perfectly. He gave Neil a shy peck on the cheek and started to doze off in the fractured light of the sun.

Poem by Christina Rossetti, 1881.

(Yes there is a TS reference.)