"Laurent." Damen let out a long, low breath. The word had cut Laurent, deeply. It had lingered with him throughout the day. It was with honest regret that Damen bent his head closer and said, as if only for Laurent's ears. "Forgive me. I should not have spoken thus, even in anger. I - that's not how I think of you."

He was close to the huddled figure, not touching, but feeling the proximity and the distance keenly. "I hurt you, and I did not want to." Damen wished to do so much more than simply not bring continual hurt to Laurent, but the words caught in his throat and he stared at the line of Laurent's back beneath the covers, aching to curve around it and hold him.