"Yes, you do," Porthos counters fondly, rubbing and itching at his knee at the tip of the cast. "You choose to ignore our attempts to stem the unhappiness, because...because you think you're a burden? I'm not sure," he admits, but feels inclined to plug onwards. "When we first got here, Aramis loathed the place. He hated electricity to the point that I think if I hadn't installed the dimmers, we would've burned down the place. I had to spend twelve hours a day in the library just to learn better English, because I felt so slow and stupid for not speaking the language they did. I spent three weeks miserable because I hadn't felt that stupid in years."

"Aramis knocked out a friend of mine, when his worry was at an all-time high. Unconscious and tied him to a chair. Slept with some woman who bewitched him and passed out at my yoga studio," he informs Athos. "It was so hard, Athos. Two months, it was so hard, and the only reason it got easier is because we were honest with each other. I told him about all the times I wanted to be with him, now and then..."

He shrugs. "He admitted the same. It's not like we were faithful at first. Same as usual, only, he and I shared a bed too. He still slept around, I still did. And then it changed," he says, voice small.