How Lorenz and Nyx had found him, what they had offered him, how they had changed him and how deeply he felt for the both of them.

How Saturn amused him and enticed him and taught him the parts about what true friendship was that Nyx and Lorenz had not.

And how he had fallen in love with Faunus. His beauty. His strength. His loyalty. His humor. His affection. His protectiveness.

“I did,” Faunus answered “It was found as we searched for you. Upon perusing, it was clear it was yours. I wondered if it would give us clues as to where you might be—”

“That isn’t why you read it,” Teddy accused.

Faunus shrugged. “Perhaps not the only reason, but it is one of them.”

“Faunus, those are my most private thoughts.”

His brows shot up. “Do you think your love for me should be private?”

“My feelings for you should be mine to share when I want to share them,” Teddy retorted.

“And when would that be?”

“I don’t know.” Teddy threw up both of his hands. “Whenever I decided.”

“To be a Trusted, I have to take the cock of every Trusted,” he declared. “And I have to fuck them in return. Even Lorenz. This is why I am not yet a Trusted, Teddy. The invitation was extended. But until I go through the rituals, that being one of them, I will not get the mantle with the red and green.”

“And?” Teddy asked.

“And?” Faunus parroted dangerously.

“Outside Lorenz’s position, that is the highest rank a Firenz warrior can have,” he told him something he already knew. “The Trusted Ones are revered in Firenze. Hell, they’re revered everywhere.”

“Yes, and the man I love, who loves me, and owns my cock, not incidentally, indeed, who owns my entire body, will not be invited to these rituals. Thus, it would be an infidelity unless you give me permission. And I will tell you right now, unless I am watching someone play with you, Teddy, or participating along with it, it will not happen.”

Teddy was stunned.

“You…you want my…permission to be a Trusted?”

Faunus shook his head. “I don’t want it. I must have it for you are mine and I am yours and that is the way of the Firenz.”

It was?

He didn’t ask that.

He asked, “And if I say no, you would not do it?”

“If you said no, I could not do it.”

Teddy was no less stunned.

“And you would…that would…you would be all right with that?”