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Jeremiah ended up walking a bit backwards, rubbing at his face because he was so clearly being lead. At least most of the people were already gone and it was not like there was anything -

- no, ******** that thought. He was not sure what to expect once he went through the passage. A world of black, the sense of passage, and then he was falling with one umbrella hooked into his belt loop and another in his hand. Onto someone, in their bed, and he did not even have to think about who it was.

Especially with that oof noise.

"Goddamnit," he growled, trying to not crush Algie and rolled to the side onto his back only to hiss in pain. Jeremiah had no idea why he had ended up, of all places, on top of Algie in the other man's bed but it was not likely going to go as well other parties probably hoped.

He laid in the bed, next to the other, staring up at the ceiling. One umbrella digging into his back, the other clutched still in his hand.

His eye twitched.

Then, a moment later, he was toeing off his muddy shoes so they were not on the bed. He was not moving for a few minutes.

Jeremiah hissed again when Algie jabbed his arm under his body to get his umbrella. Moving was not comfortable and without the adrenaline of the situation pushing him forward he was just hurting.

Nothing was said, just a quiet breath of pain, as Algie tossed his umbrella. Jeremiah let the other umbrella - Heliodora's, now his - to the floor. Another souvenir to go with the calla lily he never watered.

He laid in silence, just blinking up at the ceiling, until his arm was punched. It was not a gentle punch (Algie was a bit of a rough nurse) and he just growled again. Accepted it because, at this point, he kind of deserved it.

There was almost a snarky comeback, something like keep it under the clothes, but this was not the place. A hand was lifted and rubbed across his face.

Jeremiah was still laying there, his eyes shut. Not that he could not feel the weight of Algie's stare on him - he always could - but there were far too many thoughts in his head. When he heard noise, the sound of keys and the phone being haphazardly put away, the silver-haired man was reaching for his own.

Not even checking the texts or the missed calls. Not yet. There was far too much he was going to have to deal with. Jeremiah had been missing on top of everything else that had gone down in other ashdown. Zac had been found, Heliodora as well, but it was all questions with few answers.

His heart still very much at stake.

He cracked open an eye, looking at Algie out of the corner of his eye. The bruises had fully blossomed at this point, his eyes a little bloodshot, and he let out a huff of breath. A hand was pressed into the bed, pushing himself up long enough that he could flip over and lay face down in the bed.

Jeremiah hissed in pain. The soft bed really was not soft enough to not hurt his face. His phone and keys joined the umbrella on the floor and then, a moment later, he was reaching out to lay an arm across Algie's waist. The man pulled himself towards the other until his side was up against the professor's and then laid there, the arm staying laid out across him. Much like he had done when they had been so much younger and things had gotten too serious for them.

Even if it pulled at his back. The detective knew there should be talking, knew a lot of things needed to be done, but at the moment he was just done.

Jeremiah's thoughts were a mess of what next, mixed with the knot that was in his chest and the solid weight in his stomach. Back in Ashdown - in Algie's bed, no less - seemed to bring back all the things he had been carefully not thinking about for the past week.

If he was the kind of person to curl into a ball he might have considered it. Instead he did what he always did and pressed. It was why he was up against Algie's side (even if some part of him was whispering run, run) because that was just another way to show he was here. The guilt of disappearing, what he had put the other through, as well as everything else ... Things had piled up.

Somewhere in the back of the mind he was still thinking about the bloody shore and Algie's body and ...

That he had done that to Algie, caused similar distress, by disappearing, by nearly getting himself killed by Pax. The other's arm across his simultaneously eased some of the weight and made it worse, especially when he started to fiddle with the sleeve. He wanted to reach out and just ...

"Alg," his voice came out hoarse, head turning to look at the other and not be hiding his face anymore. It was hard to conceal anything on his face at the moment and Jeremiah did not have a desire to do so. He was hurt and tired and there was still more to do before he could rest.

Whatever else he was going to say he couldn't get out, his throat tight. Instead he pressed his forehead to Algie's shoulder and was quiet again.

Jeremiah had a little more time on this, working through his thoughts and - ******** - feelings but Algie's statement of going to sleep diffused him. Made another knot loosen and he sunk into the bed more.

"I'm missing leg hair," he groused, eyes sliding shut with a sigh, "and my back is burnt." A blood-shot eye cracked open to look at the side of Algie's face. "On top of the black-eyes I walked myself into." Totally deserved too because spooking Alg was always going to go poorly, he knew this.

He made a noise at mentioning of Zac, his fingers curling tightly into Algie's side and holding onto him. For a moment it looked like he was going to maybe push himself up but Jeremiah just sunk back down into the bed. Face pressed to Algie's shoulder still. "A few hours, yeah?"

"I never learn," a mutter. Jeremiah never did because it was, in all honesty, a thing that he did every so often. Algie had been a boxer, still had the power in his punches, and he knew he spooked easily sometimes.

It really was his own damn fault.

He only glanced out of the corner of his eye, barely cracking it open, to see Algie fiddling with his phone to get an alarm set. Jeremiah's was on the floor now, off until he would turn it back on after getting some real.

Regardless of how much it hurt, he ended up rubbing his face against Algie's shoulder and scooted a little closer. The detective was tired and really just did not care. Comfort was being next to Algie and he wanted it (even if they were so obviously avoiding talking and they both knew it in the back of their minds).

There might have even been a bit of his head pressing into the pets, his fingers curled tightly in Algie's belt loop and holding.

"I swear, if someone says, 'you're a wizard, Jerry' to me ..." A low growl and then another sigh. "Definitely feeling too old for this s**t at the moment," he said with a grunt of his own, just pushing his face into Algie and trying to let himself drift.

Conversations were for later. When he had a few hours of sleep under his belt and actually waking up still in Ashdown properly. Even if his dreams would take him back to the other.