“Everything okay?” Alex asked.

“Um,” Rohan said, “just, be careful with Leah today.”

“What’s up?”

Rohan gestured at his tiny phone screen but angled it away when Alex tried to look at it. “There’s this news article. Rohan said.

“What kind of news article.”

“Uh,” Rohan stuttered over the words, “a study linking werewolf violence to full moons?”

“Shit. Leah’s going to be pissed.”

“Yeah.”

“And now there's bunches of drug companies that are trying to sell their brand of suppressors I bet.”

“I mean, maybe. I don’t know because it just came out and uh…” Rohan trailed off. He started grabbing at the pieces of his uniform that still littered the floor. He pressed his thumb at the worst wrinkles. They disappeared to wherever magically erased wrinkles went. Rohan said, “Looks like I should head out in the next ten to catch the bus.”

“I’ll walk you out. And, Rohan?”

Rohan made a noise to show he heard.

“You don’t have to pretend. I get that don’t want to talk about stuff like this to me. I’m not going to question it and I’m not going to push it. That’s literally one of the only reasons why the two of can coexist like we are doing right now.”

Rohan nodded and then started stripping off his pajamas. There really wasn’t anywhere to hide in the room, so Rohan just pulled his shirt where he stood. There was that cute, little pudgy belly, but then years of being that football jock had gone and made Rohan’s arms literally wicked.

Seriously. Alex would commit murder for them no questions asked.

That was probably not something Rohan would like to hear right now, though, so Alex said, “Can I just say I have a pretty good deal? You get to watch a horror show and then repay me with a strip tease.”

Rohan’s voice still came out a bit stilted when he said, “Next time I’m sick, I’ll call you over for a lap dance.” Rohan slipped on the uniform with a strange amount of efficiency.

And Alex couldn’t help it. He whistled long and low. “Look at you all in uniform.”

Because Rohan really did look good in it. Black, pressed button up rolled up to the elbows with ironed slacks? Classic on anyone. But the actual quality of it all showed. Clearly, with the recent public push back, PEN amped up their game as if good clothes could hide that their agency actively attracted paraphobic, racists to work for them.

Rohan gave one of his soft smiles before he clasped his hands together. At first, it looked like he was praying, but then he locked a few fingers together and pulled his hands apart. His wrists twisted, locked together still by those fingers, and, with one more jerky movement that Alex couldn’t follow, the room buzzed, cracked, and then settled with a burst of nothing.

Seriously nothing. It took a second to realize that nothing entirely changed because it wasn’t that things were added—they left. The room felt cleaner than it ever had—no weird smells, no possible mildew stain in the corner, nothing.

It would be nice to know this bit of magic, but Alex was never good with more direct magic like this. Sure, ask him for a rituals, maybe some incantations, and he could do that. But this combination of tutting and mudras? No ways. Even watching it made him feel drained.

Rohan’s entire body settled deeper into the floor as the last bits of magic coursed through him. spun one of the charmed rings on his fingers a few times. With a few words, Alex felt the cloak of silence fall. The faint buzz of the little mini fridge was completely covered by the general sound of life outside.

And that was the end of their conversation really. Making too much noise would have been too dangerous, seeing as most of the other residences had super hearing. Even outside, it felt too dangerous. Alex still got a soft make out session in the empty bus shelter for braving the hell-scape that was St. Paul in the dead of winter.

Rohan whispered as the bus pulled into the stop, “Make sure to get out today.”

“I already am.”

“Again. Please.”

“Don’t make me call you mom.”

Rohan smiled at him before giving another tiny kiss. Then his hands trailed out of Alex’s and he was gone.

The wind battered snow into Alex’s face all the way back, but it didn’t stop that little happy lump in his throat. He threw himself onto the bed. The blankets felt blessedly warm or maybe he was just way too cold.

But, whatever spell Rohan cast, cleared out his presence from the room too. Alex searched for it until he drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, Alex's phone yelled at him for oversleeping, so Alex dragged himself out of his room.