The sudden shock of detachment is jarring, jolts Louis in a full body shiver as if doused in ice water.

What had flowed between them? So many things. Assortments of memory, of deep affection, deep regret. All of it accessible to Daniel, beyond even the boundaries of what Daniel had wrung free of Louis in Dubai. All the rest, all that Louis did not speak of, it flows into Daniel's jaws.

And then stops. They stop.

Daniel holds him so tightly that Louis can do nothing but wrap arms around him in return. The wound is still bloody, a ring of teeth marks sunk in to the flesh of his wrist. It doesn't matter.

"I'm here," Louis promises, voice gone thick. "I won't leave you."

Doesn't occur that Daniel is seeking a promise beyond their immediate circumstances.