So I know it’s been a few months since you posted this, and by know you know that it’s a beautiful piece and absolutely deserving of all of the praise, but I had to add my two cents.

This was just stunning:

“Not an ache any longer, but a tenderness, a faint penumbra around his heart. Like a shiny pink scar covering a wound -- still sensitive to the touch, a reminder of the pain that came before. Something you didn't want to look at too often, but didn't want to fade away completely, so that sometimes you could say, yes, that happened to me.”

Your prose is lovely; it’s beautifully arresting, and my heart really went out to your Xander. Just wonderful, I’m so glad I found this.