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"Working on it," he admitted quietly. Algie's arm draped across him and being tugged closer was- Jeremiah simply turned towards him. Though he was trying to ignore the fact that Algie was a bit trimmer than he remembered and the clothes-

"Haven't seen you wearing that since ..." Jeremiah chuckled a little, face tilting towards the hand on his cheek without thought. "Well, since I stole it." When he had been slowly pilfering Algie's wardrobe one piece at a time before they had actually gotten their acts together. He fell silent then because the words simply were not coming.

Jeremiah's head raised when Algie made mention of going through his things and the bag at the door. He blinked a moment, nodded as something caught in his chest once more. He settled back down into the bed as Alg's thumb brushed across his cheek.

He nearly melted underneath that touch, the warmth and the soothing feeling. It was- The feeling was far stronger than he remembered and Jeremiah had little ability to combat it after being bereft of it for so long.

"Alg," he breathed out, voice thick again. He raised his hand to cover the one on his face and turned towards it.

This was all wrong.

Jeremiah thought he could handle it, after everything else he had gone through, but Algie (even if it-) still could cut through everything and find him through it all. It was worse somehow that he was patient, that he was not pushing, because-

He did not know.

All that he had gone through and Algie still could immediately find him through it all. The places where he tried to guard and protect, to harden- they were still there for the other to reach.

The silver-haired man ducked his head down, though he did not move away from his touch, and rested his forehead against Algie's collar. "I'm-" he started and then sighed. Jeremiah raised his head and met those green eyes he loved so much. "It wasn't me these last two months, not since close to a week after the ball."

There should have been more to Algie's touch and there wasn't. The lack of it was more damning than anything else.

Not that Jeremiah slipped away because some part of him needed this and his husband's touch.

"Two months here," he said quietly, "I'm not sure ... I lost track while I was there." In the beginning he had tracked but things started to blur together and from there it had been hard to keep track.

"It was a fetch, yes. I don't know what it called itself." Jeremiah looked away then because that was- "Ezra's household, that's where I was."

It didn't matter that it wasn't directed at him, Jeremiah still flinched (as much as he would; his eyes cutting away, head resting against Algie’s collarbone).

"You weren't supposed to be able to tell, that's the point ... That what replaced me was perfect and better." As he had been weak but wasn't now.

"I-" He sighed. It hadn’t been knowingly. Jeremiah had been at a weakened point, needing guidance. Ezra had made an offer and he had taken him up not realizing what it truly meant until it was already done and he was facing a double of himself. Had he known what it meant, he would not have done it.

"No," he agreed, "there isn't but it thought that." Jeremiah knew himself that there wasn't but everything about that thing had been-

His head raised then, blue-green eyes focused on Algie. The fact he was handling this well, the fact that he was simply warm and soothing but not there-

Both seeking the same path.

"I did." His voice was soft but unlike everything else there was steel in his voice.

Something snapped then in Jeremiah but what it was could not be said or pinpointed. The reassurance, the look to those green eyes, the way that Algie was smiling ...

... and he was proud of him. That it was said.

Jeremiah slumped against Algie, everything seemingly cracking then. The way he had held himself, the carefully maintained mask (what was left of it), and it was just him.

Tired and home.

Was it so wrong to want this? Even if-