illuminating

            He desperately needed an escape from this dull conversation he was having ( and would rather not keep on going ); as equally dull as the event itself. The atmosphere is just dreadful and unbelievably fake. His only escape had been the liquor so far, but wait. Someone’s arrived. Someone familiar. And just like that—- boom. One voice makes it all better.

     Being around David feels like finding something to keep himself afloat after days at sea; it's relief and ease, and the knowledge that it'll be over soon, but at least he won't be struggling. Lucien doesn't often let himself think about the deeper meanings to that feeling, struck by the contradiction between his morals and his emotions, but he does consider David a friend without which he could not have survived.