Welcome to Gaia! ::

They had started keeping the house locked, though that had been more Algie than Jeremiah. The veranda was still a jungle, the rest of the garden in a miserable state but clearly someone had been working at it recently with the rain having stopped. Jeremiah had actually woken up late - sleeping in because he could and it was still a luxury to have (and Algie had been a little too liberal with making sure he slept) - and made a mostly lazy day of cleaning around the house and putting out small work fires when they cropped up.

Algie had not been there when he woke, just a note tacked next to his pillow that said I’ll be back soon. Something had twisted in his stomach and he had moved from there in a daze through the day, operating mostly on autopilot.

He had just about to start dinner (it was going to be leftovers, his desire to cook not so strong) when he heard the knock at the door. Not quite sure who it could be - there were few visitors lately with the weather - he went to answer the door. Pulled it open and-

“Alg?” his voice was quiet, any louder it might have broken. Jeremiah’s fingers twitched, hand reaching towards him.

Jeremiah was leaner, more defined, but it was not necessarily as drastic as this change that was in front of him. Algie looked disheveled and rumpled and-

Something cracked the moment Algie spoke and it was a nickname. Then his husband was reaching for him, hugging him. He reacted immediately, arms going around him and holding tightly. Jeremiah hid his face against silvering brown hair and took in a shaky deep breath.

The smells weren’t quite right but it was Algie, it had to be Algie-

“You’re home,” he whispered. Jeremiah pulled back just enough that he could cradle Algie’s face in his hands - it was a more defined face - and leaned to kiss him.

Jeremiah had almost been leery about Algie’s hands on him, not quite sure what to expect because he had been dealing with the fetch who let nothing through and was far too heavy handed with laying things out.

Yet the moment that he was able to feel the emotion there he relaxed. Jeremiah laughed a little, tears pricking at the corner of his eyes without him realizing it. “So are you, precious. You’re thinner too …” His thumbs brushed the more defined face the other had. There was more muscle on Algie now, just like the other had had but this-

This was more solid.

He nuzzled the other, forehead resting against Algie’s and still chuckling as he was frisked. Just give him a moment because Algie was there and he was home and-

He was trying to fix Algie’s glasses until he realized that they were actually bent and then he stopped. Jeremiah’s face being under Algie’s hands also seemed to stop him from doing much else than press into them.

It was not that he needed to be able to feel him but there was reassurance in the slight slips as well as being able to feel the love there. “It suits you,” he told him quietly, “though we need to get your hair trimmed.”

Fingers slid up to ruffle through Algie’s hair, there was a bit of curl to it. Looking him over again, Jeremiah seemed to come to himself a bit more and realize they were standing in the doorway. “Come on,” he said softly, “let’s get inside. I just put tea on if you want that or a shower ...”

His hand covered Algie’s, fingers tangled, and he tugged him inside.

Jeremiah pushed the door shut and locked it but this was more against the rest of the world than anything else. He watched Algie a moment, as the other looked around, because he knew that feeling. Tears finally did sting and fall, Jeremiah pushing his palm at his eyes before he was walking up behind Algie and wrapping his arms around him wearing his sweater.

“I was going to warm up leftovers,” he murmured into his hair, “I’ve not-” Jeremiah still had issues with cooking dinner, still had issues with adjusting back to his life not being on a schedule. “Can I- Can we-” The words were thick on his tongue, Jeremiah not sure why he was hesitating to ask. He had not asked for much coming back, not from the fetch that had replaced Algie, because something had always been off.

It made him feel terrible.

“A shower together, precious? Then tea and dinner?” There was a little table in their bedroom by the bay window in there that was an intimate setting for two if they did not want to go further than there.

Jeremiah had been noticeably chillier than he should have been all things considered. Not that the effect of the other on him was any less, just that he was still recovering from his own stay in other ashdown. He warmed faster in Algie’s presence, it seemed, and more so with the swell of love and affection that he could feel.

He frowned briefly at the way the other trembled and the way he snatched up his books. Jeremiah tangled their fingers together again pulled him close, not quite sure he liked that reaction in his husband at all. As if he was worried they would not be there or-

The words did not come and instead he was kissing Algie’s silvering temple, raking his free hand through the longer hair, and taking them both upstairs to their bedroom, their small sanctuary against the rest of the world.

A warm shower with one another would do them both good.

Jeremiah huffed at the cats, picking them up and setting them both down with their proper meals (because if anything it turned out the fetches had been, perhaps, spoiling them). Algie wearing clothes that he had not seen in a while was reassuring, far better than the fetch that had been wearing things differently each day. He had even salvaged some things from what had already been set aside as donations that he liked of the other’s or thought Algie preferred himself.

They might have shifted over to Jeremiah’s side of the closet out of protection.

“Let’s take this back to the bedroom, alright?” he said while Algie fixed the tea, Jeremiah going to warm the food and pressing another kiss to his temple. Mostly because he wanted to be some place that was theirs and-

He had a need for it to be theirs once more and only theirs.

Once the food was warmed and the tea was prepared and they were back in the bedroom, Jeremiah was relaxing once more. Not that he really let Algie get that far away from him, fingers constantly touching some part of him.