Rory’s entire body reacted to the thought, the idea of Arthur’s muscles hemming him in, his hand on Rory’s throat to hold him steady as he slid a straight razor blade over his skin.

Yeah, yeah, let’s do that, Rory tried to say, but all that came out was an embarrassing squeak.

Arthur smiled like he’d known exactly what reaction Rory was going to have. “Fun for another day,” he said lightly. He kissed the skin just under Rory’s ear as he pressed the kit into his hand, the leather butter soft against his palm. “I’ll see you later. Be safe.”

“Hngh,” Rory said, and hopefully Arthur knew that meant you too.

He cleaned up best he could before heading down the hall to Gwen and Ellis’s room. With trepidation curling in his stomach, he knocked on the door.

Only Ellis was in the room. Before Rory could back away, he found himself pulled into a space almost identical to the one he had with Arthur but with a light blue dresser instead of a writing desk.

“Finally I get you alone,” said Ellis. “We haven’t had The Talk.”

“What talk?” Rory said churlishly.

“The talk about Arthur.” Ellis crouched so they were face to face as Rory furrowed his eyebrows. “Just want to make sure you don’t have bad intentions.”

“I’m not the one who chained him to the Wonder Wheel,” Rory said darkly. “You got a lot of nerve asking me about my intentions when you could’ve killed him.”

“Think what you like about me.” Ellis gestured to the dagger on his belt. “Maybe magic loosened the screws in my head, I can admit it. But Ace was my commanding officer and he was a good one. And now he likes you more than I’ve ever seen him like anyone else, and you could hurt him.”

Rory scoffed. “I would never.”

“He doesn’t have magic,” Ellis snapped. “Except for yours, because you thought you had the right to sink your psychometry into his aura without so much as asking him first. You could hurt him. A lot more than you know.”

Rory clenched his jaw. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just be careful with him,” Ellis said, which didn’t answer the question. “He’s got lots of family, but none of them know he likes men, so if you’re not good to him, you’re gonna answer to me and Gwen.”

Rory frowned, but how mad could he get about Ellis wanting Arthur safe? Rory wanted the same thing. “Yeah, I’m gonna be good to him. I’m crazy about him, all right?”

“You gonna stay crazy for him? Or you gonna bail for the next pretty face with deep pockets, run away and take your magic with you?”