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It had been so strange to walk from other ashdown where it was no longer raining and warm to Ashdown where it was a downpour and cold. Not that Jeremiah noticed the cold, though his inability to stop the rain from falling on himself here was certainly disconcerting.

He could not say how long his stay had been. How long he had been part of Ezra's household but his phone told him that it had not quite been two months in Ashdown. It was a small reassurance but only a small one.

Something twisted in his gut as he walked up the steps to the front door, looking to the veranda that was now covered with plants that had clearly been transplanted from the garden (that was looking pruned to put it lightly). It was a mini-jungle now but he was stupidly happy to see that the orchids had been saved as well as several of the others he was quite fond of.

If this had been gone-

Jeremiah shook his head and opened the front door to step inside. He was drenched from head to toe, blue tinging his lips now that he was no longer in other ashdown and the unnatural chill truly showing.

"Alg," he called out, his chest aching, "I'm home."

If he had doubted, the lack of subtle emotion in Algie's touch confirmed it but Jeremiah still leaned into warmth of the hand. Still took a half step forward and breathed out a cold breath because this-

This was what he had not had and missed but it hurt as much as it soothed.

"I-" he started and then pushed his palm at his eyes. "I'm sorry, Alg." Except that his voice was thick with emotion he was clearly trying to keep reigned in.

He understood why he did it, he did of all people, but it did not make this any easier.

Jeremiah was more lean but there was more muscle as well, definition that had not been there previously.

His mouth opened, another false start, and he shook his head. The clothes he was in were the ones that he had been taken in, that he had worn the day Ezra had taken him in as part of his household.

Even if this was not truly Algie, Jeremiah still leaned to him and his touch. Even if his presence was not truly felt, the hands were warm and soothing and familiar. They were Algie's hands (but not).

"Bedroom?" he finally got out, tugging Alg's hands away but holding onto them all the same. Jeremiah brought them to his face. "The front hallway is not the place to be stripping down."

Jeremiah followed, easily tugged and pulled along. He had not realized how much the cold could take from him when he was no longer in other ashdown.

His steps were steady, constant and his focus on the man in front of him. "It has stopped raining over there," he said quietly, hand lifting and pressing to Algie’s cheek. The warmth was returning but it was a slower process that had everything to do with him having been cold so long.

"... but I was there," he replied. Jeremiah urged him towards the bedroom and the last few steps into it. The room was more organized than he remembered, even the chair by their bedroom Bay window not as cluttered. It was little things, just like Algie wearing things from the depths of the closet that were disconcerting.

"I'm sorry," he found himself saying again. "The chill-" It was stealing more from him than he had thought it would combined with being soaked. His hands shook but he knew from more than the cold.

Jeremiah had toed off his shoes and socks, belt taken off as well. The non-stop rain made sense if it stopped raining in other ashdown. His hands continued to shake, especially when the other returned and mentioned the other things that were going on.

Those he had no knowledge of. He had not quite been able to work the buttons of his vest and shirt, immediately knowing that without clothing, without layers- He had always been lean but this was more so and more definition to muscle than he had had before.

"Alg," he started again, fingers closing around his wrists. The warmth of the other, that power he had, was always far more effective on him than anyone else. Jeremiah wanted to curl up with it but it wasn't-

Anything else and he could just say it. Anyone else and he'd would have been out with it but all the discipline in the world meant nothing in the face of Algie.

"It wasn't-" Me.

"No, I don't mean-" Jeremiah started and stopped, his shoulders slumping as Algie clearly thought he was talking about the cage breaking. Of everything he was certain that that was because of them. That they had started the timer and it was, of all things, rapidly counting down towards a point of no return.

What that would mean, he had no idea.

Why did it even matter that he told him? It wasn't even really-

Algie's abilities had always worked well on him and it was no different now. Especially when those hot hands closed over his and he sighed. It was a relieved sound, as much as there was something hurt in it as well. Jeremiah slumped then, head falling forward and resting on Algie's shoulder.

Jeremiah shivered for an entirely different reason than the cold, arms then going tight around Algie. For this one moment he just wasn't to not-

He nodded his head from where it was tucked against Algie's shoulder, nose brushing against the other's neck. Another breath was taken, one that was shaky because he smelled right, before he was straightening up and stepping away to finish stripping down.

There was no thought now about the differences, not even to the long scar that was on his right thigh now. The one that looked as if it was something that had been cauterized but had faded over time. Instead he was focused on getting into the shower for a few minutes.

It was hard to not know that sharp gaze was on him because Jeremiah had always inherently been aware of Algie's eyes on him. Still, he said nothing as the other had said to do, and slipped into the master bathroom and the shower.

Jeremiah did not linger in the shower, just long enough to take the edge off of the cold (and he had, in all honesty, already had two showers previous). He had never thought he would have wanted to be back in other ashdown but it was a fleeting thought only because the chill was so biting here and it had not been there.

Or perhaps back with Algie's presence it was made that much more obvious as the other warmed him simply by being around.

The silver-haired man prepared himself a cup of tea and set it down on the bedside table on his side before he slipped into the bed. His fingers brushed along each cat before they found their way to Algie as he settled next to his side.