It happened, and it wasn't a dream. Louis kisses him and feels it like an echo. Kisses him and feels how Daniel makes the recollection sharper, stronger. Real. A real thing that happened, that they started and weren't permitted to finish.

(Armand's claws pricking at his jaw, the expression on his face like ice, anger so cold it sliced, it cut.)

"I didn't know."

No denial that Louis had been in his head, touching his thoughts. Fascinating still, always, endlessly. Distracting. But not with enough depth to know. Or maybe Louis simply hadn't been allowed to look at what it was Daniel felt for him.

Louis, a monster. Louis, who had bitten him. Almost killed him. Louis hadn't known there was anything else. Daniel, wanting him like this. Different than the kind of attraction Louis had cultivated like a jump scare, like an elbow to the ribs that Daniel would always, always return in kind.

Speaking so close their noses bump, their lips brush, telling him, "I am. Serious."

Corrects himself, "I was serious. I'm still serious now."

Knows this even with only parts and pieces, with only the sense of Daniel's expression looking up at him.