The room was still in darkness as Wynn awakened from a dream whose vague imagery fled even before he had started to recall it, whilst the small amount of light remaining in the luminous hands of his watch on the bedside table informed him of the early hour, but as with the previous morning he knew that Mihhaelo was the cause of his disturbance. Even as Wynn turned to face the other boy his body shook again in accompaniment to a slight moan whose sound could never be mistaken for desire; rather it was an unwelcome memory rising unbidden to the surface and expressing itself, and not the result of any lingering discomfort from his stomach, which had not been further upset by anything consumed yesterday.

Without either asking some blunt questions or trying to lead Mihhaelo into speaking of his past by continually prompting as Wynn spoke more of himself, Wynn knew he could never know what terrors still haunted him, and as before he had to hold back a wish to just wrap his arms around Mihhaelo, but nothing like that would ever happen as the other boy would reject any advance before feeling even more betrayed by Wynn breaking his promise.

Nothing could be done other than ensure their second and final full day together would be as nice as the first, and though visiting somewhere like Sacré Cœur no longer held as great a significance as it would have done even a year ago, the journey was an easy one and the views always rewarding, especially if the weather maintained its good outlook, so knowing what the morning would be like without overly-planning everything, Wynn turned onto his back and was quickly asleep again.

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Musée Gustave Moreau