Faolan spoke without thinking as Lucien finished speaking, the words just dropped from his mouth, [color=a36209]"Your feelings for me."[/color]

It had been building in him for a while, this confusion about Lucien and their relationship. He had always said that Faolan was his dearest, his closest friend, and that he owed him so much for letting him come along, that he valued their time together and worried when he was away during the full moon. Had this all been just the talk of friendship, or did Lucien feel something more for Faolan? The Irishman had never looked directly at this thought, never consciously entertained it, but now it was at the forefront of his mind. These past several hours, ever since they had left the bakery, had been driven by these thoughts and he was only now realizing it. Lucien's friendship, his companionship meant more to him than anything else in the world, but he had not seen that until this moment, until they were fighting with one another. This realization filled him with guilt and sadness, it defeated him. His shoulders slumped slightly, and the frown he had been holding dropped into a neutral expression. As he looked down at Lucien, whose eyes were glassy, whose breath was coming out in puffs on the cold night air, whose chest heaved and hands shook...he wanted nothing more than to comfort him, to show him how sorry he was for causing this upset. He wanted to fold him in his arms and tell him everything.

But he couldn't. It wasn't right, and he didn't need to expose himself to Lucien like this. It wouldn't be fair of him, and the risk of losing him was too high. Faolan couldn't take that chance.

[color=a36209]"I don't...want to talk about this any more."[/color] He said quietly, finally fully deflated. [color=a36209]"Let's just go, it's over."[/color] Even though it hurt to tear his eyes from Lucien's face, he turned away and started to head back to their lodging.