The yellow candles reeked of cheap wax and were set in tin buckets—the sort of cheap ones you bought real fast before checking out at the grocery because you knew you'd be outside sometime that week, and hey, they were on sale three for ten.

All three of them were spread haphazardly over the surface of the glass patio table, spilling circles of equally yellow light to ward off mosquitoes. The glass winked in a friendly nighttime sort of way under the fickle light of the candles. There was a light breeze and it was a warm summer night.

The citronella in the candles warded off the bugs well enough for Dom to take the plastic wrap off the bowl of fruit in his left hand. The house loomed dark and empty behind him and Billy was busily untangling a lawn chair from the several chairs they kept stacked for use. He carefully set the bowl next to the wineglasses. Through with that, he ruffled a thoughtful hand through his hair and went over to help Billy with the chairs.

But Billy had already secured one. So he turned back, snagged a cushion from under the awning of the house and put it carefully into place on the lounge chair just next to the table.

He flopped down on it, giving a long, contented sigh. Closed his eyes for just a moment, inhaling the scent of grass, wax, and Billy's cologne. The night was somehow much more massive than the day for him and he found himself preferring it, especially when he could share it with Billy. Opened his eyes.

Candlelight liked Billy, there was no mistaking that; he was a soft brown under its shade, blonde-streaked tan hair on fire with it, liquid green eyes struck entirely translucent by it, pretty shadows played against the dramatically boyish cut of his mouth. Dom smiled, eyes soft as he watched Billy fuss around the table, shifting the bowl of fruit closer to the lounge chair.

"Oi. I think it'll be fine without you switching it round every eight seconds," Dom said, still smiling, his tone full of light affection. He lay back, fixing those eyes on Billy, and held out a hand.

Giving in, Billy came over, capturing the offered hand and tangling his fingers with Dom's before he sat down in front of Dom, nestled carefully between Dom's legs. Humming low in his throat, Dom wrapped his arms around Billy, pulling him snugly back against his chest and burying his nose against Billy's hair.

"Mmm."

Billy shifted around, shoulder blades nudging Dom's chest until he got comfortable. He snagged Dom's other hand, twined their fingers there, too, and went still finally, fully wrapped up and content.

Closing his eyes again, Dom rubbed his cheek up into Billy's hair, which he could compare to a child's for all its softness, aside from the fact that there was nothing otherwise childish about Billy.

Billy's fingers flexed in Dom's, a little sweaty from the clasping, and drew away to settle on his stomach. Dom shifted his free hands down Billy's shirt, pinning him up in a full embrace again, inhaling the smell of his skin.

"Clouds are shrouding us in moments unforgettable..." Dom sang softly against Billy's ear, quoting a favorite of theirs with a playful twist to his smile as he squeezed them together. "You twist to fit the mold that I am in..."

"Our road is long... Your hold is strong," Billy sang-replied, grinning up towards the inky vastness of the sky above.

Dom poked his side gently. "You changed songs on me."

"Did I?"

"Yeah, that was from Secret."

"Which were you doing?"

"Sunday Morning."

"Ooh," Billy said, working deeper into Dom's arms, his eyes flicking to the bright glow of the candles, letting them fill his gaze.

"We're not very sappy, are we then?"

"Mm?"

"You know. As far as those really croonin', tear-jerking love songs go."

Dom took a big breath and started singing again. "I loooove yooou. I honestly loooove yooouuu..." He spliced the vowels into a thousand octaves and Billy laughed, elbowing him in the stomach.

He grinned, lifted a hand and stroked his fingertips back through Billy's hair.

"Don't need songs to be sappy."

"Yeah? Yeah. Got a point, there," Billy agreed, tilting his head back into Dom's fingertips going over his scalp. "Mmm."

Dom spared a hand and snagged the cool metal edge of the fruit bowl, dragging it over and coming up with a handful of cherries by their stems. He laid the pile in Billy's lap and selected a single one, dangling it in front of Billy's nose.

"Billy want a cherry?"

Billy leaned up and snagged the cherry right off the stem with his front teeth. Chewing, he settled back against Dom, getting all the fruit from around the pit before spitting it into his hand and putting it on the napkin that Dom offered up. Dom leaned over and kissed the corner of his mouth, licking the tart cherry flavor.

Billy sat back a little, moved in to kiss Dom again, and smiled after the fact, forcing himself to look right into Dom's wide open eyes as they kissed again—and that was very odd, watching someone's gaze as you kissed them. They drifted apart but Billy kept staring, Dom's fingers gently rubbing his belly.

"Songs don't do it justice, anyway." He closed his eyes finally, brushing his nose alongside Dom's and sighed. "God I love you."

Dom's left hand came up and pressed to the side of Billy's face, nudging their lips together again. "Love you, too, William."

And it all came together in the only way it could—as a story, splashed boldly in fragments of diamond, written in stars just like the ones above their heads.

When there's the tiny jointed workings of human life seeming to stretch on in a forever kind of way; wine in reach, candles a flutter, heartbeats deep and thoughtful; held precious and simple in two pairs of cupped hands.

When it reaches this point, this place where dreams etched by the hand of the night sky become true, when the song lyrics can be applied in full regalia, when you can stare open-eyed into a kiss; you've reached the end of a road that reveals itself as the stuff of beginnings.

"And the road goes on," Billy breathed, smiling. And when Dom shook his head quizzically, Billy just kept on smiling. "Nothin', Dom." He settled his face into Dom's shoulder and closed his eyes against the night. "Nothin'."