Neither of them are affectionate people, but now Athos presses her hand in both of his, briefly but warmly, before letting the touch fall away. The more people he tells, the easier this confession becomes, and though he will likely always see his relationship with Aramis and Porthos as something private, he is beginning to shed the fear and shame that once hung over him. Bit by bit.

He wants to protest that they were not fighting, but merely dancing around the matter at hand, but perhaps that is a distinction without a difference. “Things are certainly different,” he quips instead. “And... not at all what I ever thought they would be."