There are days when Marcus is aware of just how much he'd given up for God. How much time he'd lost in service to the Church, all the things in life he'd let himself overlook, knowing if he experienced them at all he might miss them too much to really give them up. How foolish he had been, thinking God and the Church were the same, when the God Marcus knows has only ever wanted to protect His children.

He may be a bastard sometimes, but He isn't cruel. And He wouldn't want Marcus to have gone without.

Without love, most specifically. And Marcus feels that every single day with Dan, but he feels it again here. It's different. Not stronger, but different. Dan is taking care of him, taking care with him, and all Marcus can do is hold on and gasp at the feel of Dan's fingers and his cock.