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slapping him on the back with a vigorous, “See you tomorrow, then, Hugo. We’re back off to Alistair’s set for a game of bridge. I know that pastime bores you rigid,” and then leaving the man, still dumbstruck, alongside Edward.
    “Is that a yes then?” It seemed like the wine and candlelight had made Edward bolder.
    Hugo, tortured on the rack of his own indecision, merely shook his head, looked at his friend with an entirely hopeless expression, turned and made his way out into the dark quad.
    “Hugo!” Edward’s deep voice split the still sharp air of the April evening. Hugo didn’t turn, nor was he steering a course for his own rooms. Edward kept up a pursuit, eventually abandoning words and grabbing his friend’s arm. “I only asked you to come and take a glass with me. Can’t we do that, like any two civilised human beings?”
    Hugo turned, hot tears welling in his eyes. “But we’re not civilised human beings, are we? I told you before that a lost legion of temptations lies in your room and I haven’t the armour to fight any of them. Don’t tempt me, Edward. Please.”
    Edward looked stunned. “I never meant to tempt you. I...”
    Hugo laid a hand on his friend’s arm, equally quickly removing it. “I know, you’re innocence itself, honestly. But can’t you see that I’m burning?”
    “But your letters... I thought that you were perhaps warming to the thought of being close friends . There was so very much affection in each line. Or so I thought. Perhaps I simply imagined it all — wishful thinking on my part again.” Edward turned away, gulping as though swallowed pride had stuck in his craw.
    “Letters were safe, Edward. It was easy to pour myself into them, and like a fool I succumbed to the temptation to do so. I could kiss your letters and not be tainted. Having the same feelings while being so close to you is agony.” He reached out again, merely brushed the wool of his friend’s jacket and shook his head sadly.
    “Will you meet me tomorrow, then?” Edward’s voice was full of defeat and sadness. “Not in my room if you can’t bear it. At a café or in the bar. Anywhere. I need to talk to you.” He raised his hand, let it stop within a hair’s breadth of Hugo’s face. “I’ve missed you so much.”
    Hugo nodded. He didn’t dare say anything—his treacherous tongue would betray him. He gently grazed his own hand along Edward’s, resisting clasping the fingers.
    “At The Bath Bun, then? At eleven?” It was unlike Edward to be so forceful. Even with such a close friend.
    Hugo nodded again, shook Edward’s hand and made off for his rooms, mind whirring and confused.
    ~
    Edward half expected that Hugo wouldn’t come. He’d been having second thoughts himself, tossing and turning in his bed, mind full of guilt—not for his feelings for Hugo, he believed they were above reproach—but for the obvious strains their affection was putting on his friend. He’d gone though in his mind every conversation they’d ever had but the more he analyzed, the more he was puzzled; this wasn’t some compound that would give up its secrets to solvent or litmus paper. All he could really make out was that Hugo felt shame at being attracted to another man, that was understood, but there was something else, something deeper and more painful that he couldn’t even guess at. Something that was eating into Hugo’s heart like a worm in an apple and making the centre rotten.
    But Hugo did come to The Bath Bun that next morning. On the dot of eleven he appeared at the café door, gave Edward a sheepish smile and made his way to the table where he ordered coffee and cakes.
    “I was afraid...”
    “That I wouldn’t come?” Hugo grinned, obviously not fully at ease. “I couldn’t be so rude. Again.” He looked Edward in the eye for the first time since before the Warden had started speaking the night before. “I’m sorry about last evening. I feel you deserve a full explanation, and