Joel finishes his drink as well and sets his glass aside before he follows Spencer toward the desk. He has no idea what Spencer is talking about, but when he sees the frame extended between them, he feels his breath catch in his throat. The shells are immediately familiar to him and his mouth twitches up into a small, pleased smile, one that's as relieved as it is happy. Because he's been wondering about the shells, if they had disappeared with the spell or if they'd simply lost them in the shuffle of getting back to reality. He's been thinking of them, of how nervous he'd felt preparing himself to give Spencer the shell he had found on the beach and how good it had been to discover that Spencer had one for him, too. That hadn't been his first promise to Spencer over those two weeks, but it had felt meaningful in a way he hadn't expected. They were exchanging something, they'd given each other a token, and while it hadn't been enough to break the witch's spell on Spencer, it had felt like enough to Joel. It had felt like a promise.
"I've been wondering where these got to," he says, reaching out to touch the frame, to trace the shape of the shells over the glass. He loves the way they look under the glass, the vibrant shell Spencer had given him countered by the cool blue one he'd given Spencer in return. They look right, like they belong there with each other, and he knows that's silly, they're just shells, but that's how he feels about it all the same and if there's one person in the world who won't think it's silly, who'll never make him feel stupid for something like that, it's Spencer. It's why he'd been the one to put them in the frame in the first place. They think so much alike in so many and this, wanting to keep mementos of what's important to them is just one of the ways in which it's most obvious.
"I'll never forget," he says and it isn't that he needed a reminder at all, but having this experience does drive home just how lucky he is. They have a real life together, but the spell has only served to remind them both that maybe they really are meant to be together. Joel keeps trying to deny fate, he keeps pretending he doesn't believe in destiny, but he can't see any other explanation for this. When he looks back at his life and all the things that have happened to him, it feels like he's been slowly making his way to Spencer this whole time. There has to be some reason why they didn't meet sooner, why it was just last year instead of five years ago or ten or the very day Joel came into town with his parents and sister. There has to be a reason for all of it.
"You don't have to make it up to me," he says with a laugh. "I think my birthday this year was actually pretty incredible. I had a party thrown for me in a palace. There was fireworks. I got to spend most of it in the dark library with you. We almost had our second first kiss that night. We exchanged gifts..." He trails off and he's grinning, feeling sort of drunk on Spencer and on their proximity. "It was a good night, Spencer. The best birthday I've ever had."
Then he rolls one shoulder and says, "But if you feel like you really have to, then I'm certainly not going to stop you." If only because he rather likes the sound of big plans. "But in the meantime, where do you think we should hang this?"
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"I've been wondering where these got to," he says, reaching out to touch the frame, to trace the shape of the shells over the glass. He loves the way they look under the glass, the vibrant shell Spencer had given him countered by the cool blue one he'd given Spencer in return. They look right, like they belong there with each other, and he knows that's silly, they're just shells, but that's how he feels about it all the same and if there's one person in the world who won't think it's silly, who'll never make him feel stupid for something like that, it's Spencer. It's why he'd been the one to put them in the frame in the first place. They think so much alike in so many and this, wanting to keep mementos of what's important to them is just one of the ways in which it's most obvious.
"I'll never forget," he says and it isn't that he needed a reminder at all, but having this experience does drive home just how lucky he is. They have a real life together, but the spell has only served to remind them both that maybe they really are meant to be together. Joel keeps trying to deny fate, he keeps pretending he doesn't believe in destiny, but he can't see any other explanation for this. When he looks back at his life and all the things that have happened to him, it feels like he's been slowly making his way to Spencer this whole time. There has to be some reason why they didn't meet sooner, why it was just last year instead of five years ago or ten or the very day Joel came into town with his parents and sister. There has to be a reason for all of it.
"You don't have to make it up to me," he says with a laugh. "I think my birthday this year was actually pretty incredible. I had a party thrown for me in a palace. There was fireworks. I got to spend most of it in the dark library with you. We almost had our second first kiss that night. We exchanged gifts..." He trails off and he's grinning, feeling sort of drunk on Spencer and on their proximity. "It was a good night, Spencer. The best birthday I've ever had."
Then he rolls one shoulder and says, "But if you feel like you really have to, then I'm certainly not going to stop you." If only because he rather likes the sound of big plans. "But in the meantime, where do you think we should hang this?"