The others saw to reason, and agreed that it was all for the better if they went to bed. Peter was only too happy to be the first up the stairs, making sure that Bayani was close behind. He wanted to be away from ears that wanted too much to hear what they were saying, things too foreign for them to understand, and possibly suspicion-rousing. He was exhausted, and as excited as she acted about being there, Cerys looked worn out as well. At the top of the stairs, they bade one another good night, and then retired to their rooms.

In his room, Peter pulled off his shirt as soon as he had the door locked. Bayani looked over at him, brown raised when he saw him digging through his pack.

“What are you looking for?”

Peter glanced at him, and went back to digging through the leather bag, reaching down to the bottom of it, until he pulled out a black t-shirt. Then he went back in and dug out a grey one, which he tossed to Bayani.

The Filipino boy held the t-shirt out in front of him; it was the one that he had been wearing when they had first started playing their campaign, and when the magic crystal had transported them to Summerlay.

“I can’t wear this here,” Bayani protested.

“Why not?” Peter ask, boldly pulling his Type O Negative shirt on and pulling it down over his bruised torso. The edges were yellowing, a reminder that it would be a long healing process. “I cannot keep wearing than tunic. Medieval is fun to play for a day, but the sooner I get home the better.”

Bayani sighed. Looked into his boyfriend’s eyes, and then changed into his own t-shirt. He had gotten it from one of the many nerdy websites that the Westminsters had introduced him to, and it felt strange wearing something from the internet in a place that did not have electricity, let alone computers. The design looked like a dragon was clinging to his shirt; newly-hatched one, but a dragon nonetheless. Peter only half understood his attraction to the site, but it did not bother him, and he had no reason to keep him from wearing what he liked.

“Do you think they’ll find it strange that Himeko didn’t come back to my room?” he asked after a minute. “After that show she put on about me being s hers earlier…”

Peter shrugged and slid onto the bed next to Bayani. He pulled his knees up to his chest and said, “Nobody saw us once we got upstairs, so I’m not worried.”

“Oh, I guess you’re right.” Bayani sighed and laid back against his pillow. “How much time do you think has passed on Earth since we’ve been here?”

Again he shrugged. “This is what, our third night here? If time passed the same in both world, my mom would be getting pretty worried by now.”

“What if it’s not the way time passes that’s different? What if the act of traveling between worlds causes a flux in time?”

Peter peered down at Bayani. “Flux?”

“Yeah,” Bayani said, nodding, a wide grin on his face.

“We’re in some kind of fantasy world, and you want to bring up a science-fiction term? Do you even know what that word means?”

“Do you?” Bayani asked him with a wink.

“Just how much sci-fi have you been watching lately?”

“Plenty! But really, listen, even if the word is used in science-fiction, can’t the phenomenon still happen even in a place like this?”