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"I'm sure it was somber, not depressing." Jeremiah shot Algie a look. It sounded like him, to be honest, if only because he knew how he could get when he started to think too much.

When his thoughts went too far down the rabbit hole. He had a sneaking suspicion why he was handling it better this time. Part of it was that his mind was still fresh from coming back. He knew there had likely been conversations and the like but he could not remember them. He had been prepared to be read the riot act.

Instead Algie was sitting next to him - next to him! - and that certainly waylaid his thoughts. One cup of tea was drank, another poured, and this one he just drank slowly. "You did mention something about looking at my back earlier." Algie was given a look. "You always have had magic hands."

Not the first time he had said it, not the last time he would either. Algie had learned enough tricks from his father that Jeremiah enjoyed the benefit of them on the occasion.

"You know me, Alg, I have a great memory. The fact that I'm missing a week's worth of memories is bothering me." He rubbed a hand across his forehead. "More than I care to admit to but ... I also did this to myself." Jeremiah had had that feeling weighing down upon him.

Don't turn around.

Don't look.

He let his anger get the better of him.

"It's bothering me a lot but I suppose in light of other things, I'm taking it better than I could." A hand was raked through his hair, blue-green eyes cutting to Algie. Other things implied them. "You should be mad at me, Algie, or ... I mean. You are but for different reasons. The last solid bit of memory I have beside everything with the fliers is ..." HIs hand fell back to the teacup, fingers curled around it. "Talking with Heliodora and leaving."

Jeremiah had the decency to look chastised but only because it was Algie. "Yes, well.You've been saying for years my sense of self-preservation is busted ..."

The detective did think that it was not so much anymore. Not with the feeling he had gotten when he had dealt with the smokey other ashdown version of his father. Still he had faced the danger head on and look where that had gotten him.

Days of memory gone.

He raised a hand up and pressed it to Algie's jaw to smooth along it. "... and I think I'm going to listen to that now." His hand slipped down to Algie's neck and fingers rested against his pulse point. "Or just let you drag me around by my belt loops like you've done."

"Alright," he replied, fingers squeezing and then tugging at the other's hand so that he could press a kiss to it. Another silent sorry, another silent promise to look out for himself more.

They still needed to discuss the possibilities of the favor he had but for now ...

"I would assume stretching out on the bed? The couch isn't really big enough." He really needed to get a newer one.

It was only the guest bedrooms on the first floor, they would move up to the second floor for the master bedroom and his bedroom. They went passed Zac's room which he only briefly lingered by because he was processing some of the stuff that was not there.

By the time Algie was joining him with alcohol, he was unbuttoning his jacket. There was place he found for the calla lily on his dresser and he set the flower there. "Ah, it ..." His fingers paused in their movement, stopping at his vest for the moment.

"It's a different kind of pain." He rubbed at his neck, shifting uncomfortably. It was conflicting in his brain, especially when saw the last bits of bruising on his face that was nearly gone. "Like cold fire along my skin." Jeremiah started again with his vest to get it off. "It burns but not like my mind thinks it should."

The bottle was telling but Jeremiah couldn't remember it. Pushing at his memory just lead to a feeling of pain behind his eyes.

When Algie closed the distance, his hands helping making his pulse fluttered rapidly. His eyes flicked to Algie and then the sweater chair with the new addition. The other man finding things that were telling would always make his heart twist.

At least it was eased by the other man's presence and the fact that there was another sweater there.

"Later." He didn't doubt it but for the moment he was getting his shirt off, then his undershirt, and this was way more layers than he remembered wearing. Except once they were off, he shivered. "I'll see it eventually."

He reached a hand out to grab Algie’s. "Beside you are supposed to tell me about your day." As he had suspicions about the other man's day. "... and you can tell me if it's any worse." His back.

Jeremiah was not saying a word about the fact that Algie ended up on other ashdown, though he did get a look at saying otherworld. "Remind me to broaden your knowledge about video games and you'll learn why I'm adverse to otherworld." It was the same kind of face when he had heard Finn say it.

The notebook was taken, fingers sliding across the familiar handwriting and the notes but not reading. The taller man paused a moment, shoulders rolling underneath Algie's warm hands. It was not the normal warmth, it couldn't be ...

... but Algie was urging him to the bed and so he eventually went to it and stretched out with a groan. He glanced over his shoulder at the other man with a small smirk before he flipped open the notebook to read.

There were even a few things in there from the past week about things they had discussed. Things he had forgotten. "I'm going to have to pick up a separate one that isn't work related." Jeremiah never wrote down things that were related to other ashdown in his own notebooks. "Not that I don't like seeing things together but I should keep my own notes ..."

Especially in light of memory loss. His attention turned back to the notebook to read, snorting at the note to bring Heliodora books. Sunny already had a set, now Heliodora?

Jeremiah raised a hand over his shoulder, a two-fingered salute, as he settled onto the bed with the notebook. "Cats have one foot in, one foot out, Alg. You should know that." Snark back for snark, all things considered with the things Algie wrote in his books.

Words got lost the moment Algie was straddling his hips. A ruddy red slowly colored his face and he buried it behind the notebook as he read. Jeremiah was not quite sure how to feel about a lot of what he read. Some thoughts, some fears he had already had echoed in the notes. He let out a huff of breath, a near chuckle at the mention of the books. "Just building up that fanbase, aren't you?"

He was prepared for the warmth after he heard that noise, another quick retort on his tongue, but it disappeared into a low wordless groan. Jeremiah practically sunk into the bed, the notebook slipping from his hands, and let his head fall to rest on a pillow. This was not quite what he remembered those hands to feel like. It should have just been warmth but this ...

This was more than that.