That shocks him, too, and it shows on his face. Daniel really didn't expect to be missed. He understands why Louis left with such immediacy and never looked back, and doesn't hold it against him: Daniel blew his life up. It was the truth, it freed him, but it was still destructive. The kind of thing therapists would probably urge a slow introduction to. Instead, Daniel set an unpinned grenade on the table in front of him.

So it makes sense for Louis to have bailed, and it would have made sense to not care at all about Daniel after. He said his goodbyes, he lit his fucking laptop on fire (the guy who doesn't have a TV doesn't know about cloud storage), he maybe wired him some money. The end. Hearing him say he called, he missed him, makes red swim in Daniel's vision.

Red?

Christ.

"Disoriented. I don't know."

It's a lot. Daniel squeezes Louis' forearm where he's holding onto him, like a lifeline.

"Is this." Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. His voice cracks with emotion. "Is this really happening."