There's insistence as he shakes his hand free. He needs both to catch properly at Archie's cheeks, to press a scattering of firm kiss against the other man's lips.

It helps keep the terror at bay. It helps give him certainty that they're still here, despite the old waves of anguish bubbling up in his mind and heart.

"I know." That sense of duty, of loyalty, had struck close to his heart then as it did now. "That doesn't make it easier."