#(Brian the Squirrel would have made a cameo of course 😉)

[glorious-blackout]

I just finished reading "I'll See You On The Dark Side of the Moon" and my h/c heart loved it so much. Can I get the director's cut for that?

Also, I saw your tags on an anon post. I am also ace! I didn't think I'd run into any other ace Milex shippers here ❤️

Awww thank you so much! 💖 That story (and the whole Milex Big Bang experience) was very special for me so it always makes my day to hear from readers who enjoyed it!

I technically do have a 'director's cut' ending for this fic 😅 Because it was written and edited over a period of months, it had plenty of time to morph from a traditional psychological horror into a story that was more concerned with Alex and Miles's relationship and Alex's desperation to return home. This meant that by the time I got around to writing the first draft of the last chapter, the ambiguous ending I'd had in mind from day one was starting to rub me the wrong way, especially after the intensity of the events leading up to it. After a lot of internal debate and some feedback from my lovely friend who read the early drafts of each chapter, I eventually settled on a more hopeful conclusion which I still feel was the right decision.

Enough time has passed though that I'm happy to share the original ending for curiosity's sake - the only major changes were in the last few paragraphs of the chapter 😊

A soft thud rudely interrupts such pleasant fantasies.  

They break apart, rosy-cheeked and breathless, casting an eye over the bed until the source of their interruption presents itself. Miles’s battered copy of ‘The Restaurant at the End of the Universe’ has slipped from its perch and is now resting precariously against the bedrails, its pages splayed open and threatening to crease beyond repair the instant they hit the floor. Alex rescues it mindlessly - just in time to spare it from slipping through the gap - and brings it closer, recognising the neon imprint of the title from his childhood. 

Without really thinking, he flicks through the yellowed pages, glancing at the dense passages for only a moment before throwing the book aside, blinking away the faint stirrings of a headache. 

“You okay, love?” Miles asks, seemingly out of the blue, until Alex realises he hasn’t said anything since their untimely separation. He looks over at Miles, basks in his beauty in the sleepy morning light, and can’t quite bring himself to believe that he’s real. That he has chosen to spend the rest of his life with Alex of all people, when he could have anyone he wanted. 

“Kiss me again?” he asks, hoping that his desperation for reassurance is not as obvious to Miles’s ears as it is to his own. 

“You’re insatiable,” Miles chuckles, but his eyes are warm and his hand cradles Alex’s cheek with a gentleness that makes him want to fall asleep, safe in Miles’s arms. A persistent beep resounds in perfect time with the pulse drumming in his ears, and Miles’s eyes glance in the direction of the snitching monitor.  

“The nurses’ll be thinking you’re in trouble.” 

‘Oh I am,’ Alex thinks, but he elects not to mention it. Truth be told, he can’t bring himself to care, especially with Miles gazing at him as though he’s just unveiled the secrets of the universe. 

It isn’t long before Miles grants his request, kissing him with so much care and love that their surroundings melt into oblivion. Alex finds that this is a rather pleasant state in which to exist, and so he ignores his creeping exhaustion and the slowly awakening aches across his body in favour of letting his mind be consumed by the man he loves more than anything in this world and beyond.   

As he loses himself in the sweet taste of Miles’s lips and the pleasant burn of stubble against his cheek, Alex finds that he’s almost capable of forgetting the way Douglas Adams’s words had danced maniacally across the page, defying all attempts at comprehension. 

Almost.