"You don't have to find out," Joel responds without thinking, though even if he'd stopped and considered, he's sure he would have said the same thing. There's nothing in this world that can make him walk away from Spencer now. After the lighthouse, he'd thought that staying away might be the best way to protect Spencer, but he's too selfish for that now. He needs to be here with him and he thinks if anything like that were to happen again, it's better that he's here. Spencer is hardly someone in need of saving, but Joel knows if anything happens, if someone like Mark ever comes back into their lives, the best place for him to be is right here. Right beside Spencer.

He doesn't know what he'd do without Spencer either. To have had this and to lose it is such a daunting thought and Joel knows himself well enough to know he wouldn't get over it. He'd lock himself in his apartment, he'd run the store, but that would be the end of it. He wouldn't be the same man ever again.

Glancing toward the shore as well, Joel can just make out the shape of the rocks on the beach, and he smiles, wishing for the same thing. If there was some way for them to stay out here, to not have to return to reality, he'd more than happily take it, but as it is, he can feel himself growing soft inside of Spencer and he carefully, slowly draws his hips back, a muffled sigh escaping him as he does. "It doesn't have to end yet," he murmurs lifting one arm out of the water, brushing his fingertips against Spencer's temple, the line of his jaw. "We can go home now. By the time we get there we'll be covered in salt and sand. We should... we'd probably need to shower."