Deb's raid find glowed brightly against the night. Two solar powered lanterns cast imposter moonlight. Beams of soft white lit the diner.

It was the white Brian saw first. A filtered peek through his cracked eyelids. The world looked sketched by an amateur artist, smudged and misshapen. Harsh lines drew the things around him; and then they came into focus.

All of the senses he didn't at first understand, reacted at once. Sensations found their way back to him. He blinked.

A group of letters flashed in his mind. X. S. E. Slowly, they rearranged themselves. S. E. X. Sex…sex…sex. His first word.

Justin's waiting gray eyes were burning in to him. Though it was tough to look away, Brian allowed a glance around the restaurant. Despite now being overrun with a horrific group of undead, things were clear…crisp…bright.

He shifted to sit up, his muscles twitching, awakened and uncontrolled. He'd been dead less than an hour and was already uncomfortable with the changes to his body.

Looking again, Justin's eyes seemed to hold a hint of blue, paint in water. The more he focused the more Brian saw colors becoming more vibrant by the second.

The darkness for which he'd been ill prepared to face hadn't even come. It seemed lighter here. The eerie gray world transformed to color like the land of Oz. Brian could almost believe it was because Justin was here, shining his smile on everything.

He looked to the blond now and slid close to him, shoulders touched. Neither could decipher who in their family had gone where in the chaos, but they still had each other. Brian pulled Justin by the shoulders who tucked his head beneath his chin. (Like he was used to.)

The blond still felt warm and soft under his touch and Brian relished the familiarity. He focused then on the sounds around them; past the moans and clatter, below the groaning and gasps.

A tune didn't play.

'I Will Survive' no longer sang to the ironic world. In it's place was a voice. Strong, masculine, relieved. The announcer spoke.

"…Please, if anyone listening can understand this message, there is an end. There is possibility. Remain calm. The east coast has set up base camps for those living and turned. If this broadcast has reached you, proceed to Baltimore, Philadelphia, or D.C. for testing. The CDC is working on an antidote. Infected that are aware, there is hope for you. Theorists suggest violence may have triggered the outbreak. A hate virus. Could love really conquer this folks? Reports from around the globe are saying yes. Those who have died with love in their hearts have been returning…different. The effects of this epidemic appear to have lessened. Memories are thought to remain, desires remain, life remains. Maybe, just maybe dear listeners we can re-build a world that will no longer tolerate intolerance."

The radio's message went on to repeat as the un-dead couple looked at one another.

Justin's reanimated mind went to the redhead and his boyfriend at the Bakery, thought too of the surveillance tape; patient zero. The stabbing of that man seemingly triggered a reckoning, a purge of the hate filled, lost souls that wander earth teaching prejudice and spreading it like an airborne pathogen.

There were more out there, like them, recovering from the bite. Re-emerging in a world that would give a second chance for some semblance of a life. A chance to use their hearts a little longer.

Scientists and men of faith alike were searching for answers.

Justin smiled, a small upturn of his lips. It seemed there were still some heroes left after all. Brian's eyes echoed the thought without voice.

They would head to Philly soon, in search of the miracle both men had almost given up on. For now, they just wanted to feel one another's kiss. Their journey could wait, it was only time. They wrapped up this morbid moment and it called it a world, the two of them against it.

He brushed his finger slowly (as everything lately was done) across Brian's lips. Dry and pale. "I love you." He rasped. His smile was a slow thing too.

"Yeah?" Brian struggled to press their foreheads together. Fumbling mouths tried to remember how they melded. Like a shared secret neither could recall.

With blood on their lips from the taste of their kiss, they decided to stay whole from the start. Always forever they would remain together…until they fell apart.

Come dawn they would walk into the setting sun, with love in their hearts and brains on their tongues.

"…The end." Justin told Brian and their bedroom. His arms gesturing a sweep of finality. Nestled against the brunet's chest, he both heard and felt a deep chuckle vibrate within. He couldn't see but knew hazel eyes had rolled.

"No laughing Kinney, that was spooky stuff." He smiled, swatting Brian's bare chest. This was nice. He always liked having the man's full attention for something other than sex. He almost couldn't believe Brian had listened to his entire tale without interruption. (Save a few scoffs and huffs, hints of laughter.)

After returning from Babylon's Halloween Bash they'd come back home. The trick for each other's treats.

Justin decided to tell his partner a bedtime story; since neither wanted to leave said bed.

"Terrifying." Brian spoke. Simple, serious.

Justin pulled himself up to straddle him. His knees pressed on either side of Brian's waist. He quirked an eyebrow which Brian mirrored.

"You think I'd be affected by a love virus? Terrifying." He explained.

"Mmm hmm." Justin replied then began to place a flurry of kisses against Brian's throat. "Absolutely. You would." He started in between kisses. "You love me, you sooo care about me."

Brian shivered a little when Justin's mouth began to suck at the base of his ear. He wanted to deny the blond's claims but he couldn't really think too clearly with that tongue where his brain should be.

Horrifying indeed. Every time Justin used that fucking 'L' word. He'd said it himself exactly twice. Two times he was afraid. It was absolutely every bit as scary as the movies Mikey made him watch on Halloween.

He felt Justin's teeth nip his earlobe. Evidently the blond's little tale O' terror had given him a case of the munchies…for flesh. In one fell swoop he turned the boy over. They lay now facing one another; with him on top, where he belonged.

He felt satin under his fingertips as his hands found their way to brush back Justin's hair (Like they were used to.) "Yeah?" He asked Justin, parroting the dialogue the man had written for him.

Justin just nodded and smirked. 'The little shit.' "Justin," Brian whispered low, slow and walking on the edge of sincerity.

The blond swallowed and held his breath. Brian's eyes bore into him and for a flicker of a fantasy he imagined this was it. The man was finally going to tell him again, the words he hadn't heard in too damn long. The three words for a third time. Just a flicker.

"…Let's fuck like it's the end of the world." Brian commanded instead.

Justin broke open then, his smile on it's brightest setting. "Brriiiann." He groaned in his best zombie impression. He crashed his smile to Brian's.

Hotly heated mouths attempted to devour on another.

The End…again.

A love as deep as theirs just can't stay buried.