Yeah, he's going to have to rearrange that padding after Thace is off him. Too bad it's so damn cold and too damn busy that they can't use the excuse of a fake fight to rip each other's clothes off.

(He's reminded of being thirteen and reading his first book with a gay protagonist in it and how the boy and his secret boyfriend had staged a fake brawl on a muddy day to keep everyone else at the palace from realizing they were in love.)

"I'll explain later," he promises. "And-- yeah, I suspect you would. Make it good, okay? If I'm going to give up our secret to a superhero, it better be worth it."