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[vecna]

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[striketwice]

[ Alec gives his knee an experimental flex. Oh yeah, that's going to hurt for a while. Maybe he'll call Ori and have her patch him up enough to walk.

The mattress dips beside him, and his gaze turns to Henry. His eyes travel the line of his profile while he digs around in the stuff he brought from the clinic. ]

Yeah, and that goes both ways. I don't care what kind of assistance you need, call me.

[vecna]

[The pills clack around in the bottle as he pops off the top and shakes out two. He hands them over to Alec.

I don't care what kind of assistance you need, call me. Henry's not sure he can promise that if the situation is too much, too dangerous. Too unpredictable. Alec might consider him the priority—a pleasant feeling, yes, he’ll not deny that—but why put the whole crux of his universe into danger to spare himself?

So. He just glosses right over it.]

Want a glass of water for that?

[striketwice]

I got it.

[ He just takes those pills and pops them in his mouth without water. Whatever, he's done it a million times before. Sometimes you just don't have the luxury of ducking into the kitchen. ]

You didn't answer me, Henry.

[vecna]

[He sure didn't. Maybe it was fruitless to hope Alec would just let it go.

Casually, screwing the lid back on the bottle-] If it makes sense to ask for your help, then I will. I can promise you that much.

[striketwice]

[ Henry should know by now that Alec never lets anything go. ]

And what qualifies as "making sense" in your mind, huh?

[vecna]

[The Stranger Things cast would also like to ask Henry this question, probably.

But Henry's logic, as it is for everything, is heavily biased. In this case, the bias skews towards Alec. Unsurprisingly.]

A situation where I wouldn't just be putting you in equal or more danger. That would defeat the point.

[striketwice]

Henry...

[ It comes out in a sigh. Alec tucks his good leg under him so he can turn to face the other man a bit better. ]

You know I'm not the best at this whole... teamwork thing. This is new territory for me in a lot of ways. I don't like the idea of you being in danger. I like the idea of putting you in danger even less. But I'm also smart enough to realize that the two of us together are probably a force to be reckoned with, in this place or any other.

I'm not asking you to put me in danger. I'm asking you to fucking trust me to pull you out of it.

[vecna]

[He meets his gaze again, unwavering as Alec speaks. The idea of doing anything together is foreign to Henry, too, but it isn't as though he doesn't trust Alec. It isn't about trust. He should make that clear.]

I do trust you. I trust you more than anyone I've ever met. I never doubted that we'd work well together.

[He pauses, thinking on how to explain what he feels without letting it all unspool at once in an ugly mess.]

But if you were injured, really injured for my sake? [And in a place, unlike this one, where death is the permanent sort.] Do you know what that would do to me?

[There are some weaknesses that would undo him more painfully, and more thoroughly, than even flame.]

[striketwice]

[ Their gaze catch one another's, steady and strangely intense. The stormlight in Alec's eyes flickers, pulsing with the very real ralization of just how much of himself he's already given to this man, and how much Henry has given in return. ]

The same thing it would do to me, probably, if the reverse were true. I told you, this goes both ways. And I'll be damned before I let you give me special treatment that you don't want for yourself.

[vecna]

[As always, the storm in Alec’s eyes is arresting, and in this case, it seems to underline his point. As hard as it is to parse that anyone could feel as intensely about their connection as Henry, looking at him now, it’s almost too easy to believe. This really does go both ways, not in just sentiment, but in degrees. Like they’ve exchanged the rawest parts of themselves, trusting the other not to break it in their hands.

Maybe that’s exactly what they’ve done.

He exhales, not realizing he’d been holding in a breath. It takes effort to even break away from the light in Alec’s eyes.] I'm not trying to be unfair. I just don't want anything to happen. When we're free of this place... you're all I have.

[striketwice]

[ You're all I have. Fuck, why do those words seize him like that? Like fingers curling tight around his heart so hard it threatens to stop. Most of all, why does he let it happen? He should know better. People are traps, after all, and Alec's fallen for the biggest one there is. There's a massive, Henry-sized hole in his armor and one day that's going to get the better of him.

He supposes he'll just have to find an answer for that, too. Both of them will. ]

I know. But don't forget, I've been throwing myself headlong into danger longer than you've been alive. It hasn't killed me yet.

[ Sometimes despite his best efforts. But that was then. ]

[vecna]

[If there is an answer for it. Maybe this is just what it's like, sharing so much with another person: the gaping hole in one's once-impervious armor is just part of the arrangement.]

Well. I'll take what comfort I can.

[He does not doubt Alec's capabilities. This is just a theoretical, shaped like a worst-case scenario. But it's one that would shatter so much if it ever came to pass.

So where does that leave them? Glancing back at Alec, he supposes the man's right. It leaves them with trust.]

But fine, you win this one. I'll trust you to get me out of any kind of trouble, as long as you promise you'll always do the same.

[striketwice]

I promise.

[ That's all either of them can hope to do. It's a promise that might be harder to keep here, where so much is out of their hands, but once they get home? He's going to do his level best to make sure neither of them have to worry about it. ]

Besides, if nothing else, know I'm gonna fight ten times harder than I ever have, now that I've got something worth fighting for.

[vecna]

[Oh, Alec. Be careful of the things you say. Every day, Henry does not think he cannot possibly entwine himself around this man anymore than he already has.

And every day, Alec proves him wrong. Again, that constricting feeling grips him.]

You had better. [A small, small smile.] I'll know if you're holding back. And anyone who puts us in danger doesn't deserve that.

[striketwice]

[ Consider: Alec not longer cares to be careful about the things he says to Henry. What would the point be, when so much is already out in the open? ]

Would you? You haven't even seen all of my tricks yet.

[vecna]

Really?

[alec you really are annoying to fight, aren't you]

What else could you possibly do that I haven't already seen?

[striketwice]

[ HE SURE IS. ]

Plenty of things. I don't have all these tattoos just for show, you know.

[vecna]

[Sir,]

Well, do you plan on sharing? It's not very fair since you know most of mine already.

[striketwice]

I'm getting there.

[ He slides off his jacket, tosses it aside to join his jeans on the floor. He'll have to wash and fix those later, he notes, but not right now.

With his arms now mostly exposed, it's an easy thing to indicate one tattoo at a time, listing off their function. ]

Lightning magic. Fire. Water. Ice. Air. Invisibility. Shield. Enhanced strength. Enhanced speed. Enhanced durability. That last one I have to thank for my lack of broken bones right now.

And then these two— [ his wrists ] —are designed to spring handcuffs.

[vecna]

[Eyes trail from tattoo to tattoo as Alec explains. He's doing his level best to commit it to memory, but already, this is a lot -- even if he's seen examples of almost all of them before. (At least in the dream.)

A brow arching.]

And do you find yourself in handcuffs very often?

[striketwice]

Only if I get caught. And I make it a point not to get caught.

[vecna]

[Alec seems so figuratively hard to pin down due to that magic of his, it's difficult to think of him in handcuffs at all. at least in that way]

Handy.

So as long as you have room for a tattoo, you can keep adding little shortcuts to your repertoire? Am I understanding that correctly?

[striketwice]

Within reason. These have all served me well enough over the years. I can't think of anything else I need to add.

But even if I wanted to, it'd have to wait until we got back home. [ "We." Funny how that just comes out naturally. ] The Elemental spells are my own design. The rest are commissioned.

[vecna]

[Commissioned? By those who specialize in that particular magic, he presumes.]

You do seem fairly prepared with what you have. And I have to admit, I'm a little envious.

[striketwice]

Envious?

[ He arches a brow. ]

What, hoping for some sick tattoos of your own?

[ Alec your tattoos are literally just stripes. ]