Querencia

Querencia (n.) 1. A place where one feels safe, at home. 2. (Spanish:) to want, to desire, and to love.

Charlie has to learn so many things anew. A faithful night in Vienna teaches him gratitude. Sadly, it also teaches him trust, trust for a boy.

He should know better.

In a span of twenty-four hours, after all, all of Charlie's senses become him, the stranger he met on the train. He sees him, sees the outlines of his face and body in the moonlight. He feels him, feels the heat of his presence. He hears him, hears him breathe as his breath shallows and evens. He believes he can taste that breath. And he smells him. The most powerful sense, the scent. It is entirely encompassed by this tantalising boy and it shapes a memory in his head, the memory of this stranger being there where he was most alone, of him giving Charlie a piece of his mind, a chance at new beginnings, of the stranger giving him a presence beside him.

He should know better.

He's in love. He can't know better.