alec (𝘩𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘶𝘥𝘦) brennan⚡ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
striketwice) wrote2022-10-02 07:47 pm
striketwice) wrote2022-10-02 07:47 pm
You liar.
[ So fond.
They're both like a pair of contented cats, lazing about and ready to doze. ]
[ So fond.
They're both like a pair of contented cats, lazing about and ready to doze. ]
I never lie.
[Says the lying liar.
But it’s said with the kind of lazy non-conviction of a man that really is comfortable enough to doze off at any moment. And this time—in a few minutes more, at least—Henry will be the first one to be taken in by sleep, feeling secure next to the man that so much of his life now revolves around.]
[Says the lying liar.
But it’s said with the kind of lazy non-conviction of a man that really is comfortable enough to doze off at any moment. And this time—in a few minutes more, at least—Henry will be the first one to be taken in by sleep, feeling secure next to the man that so much of his life now revolves around.]
[ Alec rolls his eyes, as if to say, "Yeah, right" but he stays quiet anyway. The sleepy, contented atmosphere is catching, and he's happy to just watch as Henry drifts off. Now it's his turn to see the way sleep softens the other man, to watch him slip into a state of vulnerability. It feels like he's witnessing a precious secret.
He's not far behind, letting sleep claim him, one arm still loose around Henry. Weird to think they'll both still be there in the morning, and even weirder to realize that he's more than okay with that. Looking forward to it, even.
This prison is truly a strange place. ]
He's not far behind, letting sleep claim him, one arm still loose around Henry. Weird to think they'll both still be there in the morning, and even weirder to realize that he's more than okay with that. Looking forward to it, even.
This prison is truly a strange place. ]
[He has never gone from shattered to motivated in such record time. From feeling lost and alone to once more clinging to that blasted shred of hope that something could change. That the power of bonds—something he had scoffed at for so long, an idea that used to disgust him—might be his saving grace today.
Might be Alec’s saving grace.
He’s weary, and sore. Dried blood has long crusted beneath a nostril, his hair is a mess, his eyes are strained and bloodshot. No, he’s not a very pleasant sight as he hunts down Alec across the cemetery grounds, but he finds himself bolstered by renewed determination, and when he does find him, his breath hitches for just a moment. He hurts again for just a moment.
And then he closes that distance between them, quick and purposeful.]
Alec.
Might be Alec’s saving grace.
He’s weary, and sore. Dried blood has long crusted beneath a nostril, his hair is a mess, his eyes are strained and bloodshot. No, he’s not a very pleasant sight as he hunts down Alec across the cemetery grounds, but he finds himself bolstered by renewed determination, and when he does find him, his breath hitches for just a moment. He hurts again for just a moment.
And then he closes that distance between them, quick and purposeful.]
Alec.
[ Alec is much the way Henry remembers him, just sort of wandering though the graveyard with no real path or destination. All the commotion before, the pulsing of the tarot card in his pocket are just part of the drone of background noise.
He does here his name, if not the sound of Henry's approach, and he turns that lightless, lifeless gaze on him. ]
What?
[ He ain't even annoyed. ]
He does here his name, if not the sound of Henry's approach, and he turns that lightless, lifeless gaze on him. ]
What?
[ He ain't even annoyed. ]
[That lifeless expression had so easily crushed him before. The way he looked at him, like he couldn't be bothered to even care about... anything.
But now? It provides him with a burst of resolve that cannot even compare to the pulsating strength he had felt from his tarot card. It drives him forward, gives him a bolt of energy where he had only been drained prior.
He walks right up to him.]
I'm not giving up on you.
[You have all discovered your spirit of rebellion, right? Of course. How could he have ever thought otherwise; since when did he ever think he could never change things as they are?]
You're coming back to me one way or another. I'm not letting our future slip away.
But now? It provides him with a burst of resolve that cannot even compare to the pulsating strength he had felt from his tarot card. It drives him forward, gives him a bolt of energy where he had only been drained prior.
He walks right up to him.]
I'm not giving up on you.
[You have all discovered your spirit of rebellion, right? Of course. How could he have ever thought otherwise; since when did he ever think he could never change things as they are?]
You're coming back to me one way or another. I'm not letting our future slip away.
[ He tilts his head at Henry, like he's some curiosity that Alec is observing from behind glass. ]
I'm not sure what it is you think you can do.
[ And yet... maybe it's the sudden shift in the atmosphere, the weird power thrumming through the prison that makes something in him, some long-darkened little spark say Please, I don't want to stay like this. ]
I'm not sure what it is you think you can do.
[ And yet... maybe it's the sudden shift in the atmosphere, the weird power thrumming through the prison that makes something in him, some long-darkened little spark say Please, I don't want to stay like this. ]
[And maybe he can sense that, not only because he’s psychic, but because he cannot imagine Alec would ever wish to be this way — instead, he would want Henry to fight tooth and claw to do all in his power to return him to normal. To return his heart to him, someday, somehow.
He reaches out, a hand slotting behind neck, his touch firm.]
All that I can to remind you of why you should come back to me. I hate all this talk of bonds — but I know ours isn’t so weak to have fallen apart just because of one idiotic game.
[And he’s here to prove it. It has to work. Desperation and determination feel the same, now; and so he doesn’t wallow in either. He leans in and presses a hard, messy, impatiently imploring kiss against Alec’s lips.
Work. It must work. If one thing in his life should go right, let it be this one, or he’ll tear the universe apart.]
He reaches out, a hand slotting behind neck, his touch firm.]
All that I can to remind you of why you should come back to me. I hate all this talk of bonds — but I know ours isn’t so weak to have fallen apart just because of one idiotic game.
[And he’s here to prove it. It has to work. Desperation and determination feel the same, now; and so he doesn’t wallow in either. He leans in and presses a hard, messy, impatiently imploring kiss against Alec’s lips.
Work. It must work. If one thing in his life should go right, let it be this one, or he’ll tear the universe apart.]
[ At first, nothing happens. Much like before, when Henry clung onto Alec's arms and he just let it happen, he just stands there, impassive, letting Henry kiss him.
And then, by slow degrees, the yawning void in him begins to fill. The darkness comes first. All of the anger, all of the hate, all of the grief and the loathing. A storm the color of pitch now caught again in the cage of his ribs after having it pulled out of him. He promised Henry, didn't he? Promised him he would always stay angry, and he'd lost that. Lost it.
The rest follows. The delicate, shimmering glass of his true self, his true desires. The inexplicable love and the companionship and the acceptance. The need to always do right by a father long dead, and the rigid set of personal rules that keep him on that path.
Coming back to himself feels like rising out of a dream and plunging into frigid water all at once, and the breath is robbed from his lungs. He gasps, suddenly, against the insistence of Henry's lips, and the stark reality of the last few hours hit him hard. If he'd been forced to be that thing for any longer than that... fuck. No he doesn't want to think about it.
And how can he? When Henry is here, holding onto him, trying so hard to bring him back? Fuck, he almost lost this too, didn't he?
After what feels like a small eternity but has surely lasted no more than a mere moment, Alec's hands come up suddenly to curl tightly into the fabric of Henry's shirt, to pull him close and keep him there while he leans in to fervently, desperately, kiss him back. ]
And then, by slow degrees, the yawning void in him begins to fill. The darkness comes first. All of the anger, all of the hate, all of the grief and the loathing. A storm the color of pitch now caught again in the cage of his ribs after having it pulled out of him. He promised Henry, didn't he? Promised him he would always stay angry, and he'd lost that. Lost it.
The rest follows. The delicate, shimmering glass of his true self, his true desires. The inexplicable love and the companionship and the acceptance. The need to always do right by a father long dead, and the rigid set of personal rules that keep him on that path.
Coming back to himself feels like rising out of a dream and plunging into frigid water all at once, and the breath is robbed from his lungs. He gasps, suddenly, against the insistence of Henry's lips, and the stark reality of the last few hours hit him hard. If he'd been forced to be that thing for any longer than that... fuck. No he doesn't want to think about it.
And how can he? When Henry is here, holding onto him, trying so hard to bring him back? Fuck, he almost lost this too, didn't he?
After what feels like a small eternity but has surely lasted no more than a mere moment, Alec's hands come up suddenly to curl tightly into the fabric of Henry's shirt, to pull him close and keep him there while he leans in to fervently, desperately, kiss him back. ]
[It does feel like an eternity, that moment where Alec doesn’t seem to respond. But even then, Henry cannot accept that as the reality. He won’t. His kiss is persistent, and unflagging, and yes, nearly desperate. His heart thrums so hard in his chest that he hears it drumming in his ears, and every muscle in his body is tight, working in-tandem to keep him upright and not ruin what feels like his one chance at making this right.
And then Alec gasps against his kiss, and Henry can’t know if it’s working, but something is working, and there it is again: hope, a thing that never settles comfortably in a man like him, but he clings to it all the same today.
He almost says something. But he doesn’t need to. Alec fingers are curling into his shirt, pulling him closer if such a thing were possible, and he’s kissing him back.
(Relief pounds at the walls of his mind, eager to overcome him. But he bars its entry for now — he can’t let it in, not just yet, not before he needs to ask:)]
Do you still— [Messy, low utterances against the other’s lips. If he sounds pitiable, for once, he doesn’t care.] Do you still want me, Alec?
And then Alec gasps against his kiss, and Henry can’t know if it’s working, but something is working, and there it is again: hope, a thing that never settles comfortably in a man like him, but he clings to it all the same today.
He almost says something. But he doesn’t need to. Alec fingers are curling into his shirt, pulling him closer if such a thing were possible, and he’s kissing him back.
(Relief pounds at the walls of his mind, eager to overcome him. But he bars its entry for now — he can’t let it in, not just yet, not before he needs to ask:)]
Do you still— [Messy, low utterances against the other’s lips. If he sounds pitiable, for once, he doesn’t care.] Do you still want me, Alec?
[ Do you still want me? Oh, how he hates having to hear that question. How he hates having been the one to bring it out of Henry. Even if it was all terribly beyond his control.
His hands leave Henry's shirt if only so he can put them on either side of his face instead. ]
Of course I do. There's no one else in this whole shitty multiverse that I could ever want.
His hands leave Henry's shirt if only so he can put them on either side of his face instead. ]
Of course I do. There's no one else in this whole shitty multiverse that I could ever want.
[That's all he needs to hear. That's all he wants to set the universe right again, and Henry raises his eyes to meet Alec's, once more showing an expression that is so, so rarely on display for anyone else. It's the look of a man wrung-dry, vulnerable, and who had been seeking something lost, and...
It's relief. Finally.
One hand drops to Alec's shoulder to anchor himself there. The other fists into the front of his shirt in kind. His head feels clearer now, the pain swept away, but the last mote of stubborn strength he possessed, pushing him forward, feels as though it dissipates in a single breath.
Henry is practically clinging.]
You're back. I thought you were gone. I thought I was...
[Left alone again. Robbed of a future, a promise.]
It's relief. Finally.
One hand drops to Alec's shoulder to anchor himself there. The other fists into the front of his shirt in kind. His head feels clearer now, the pain swept away, but the last mote of stubborn strength he possessed, pushing him forward, feels as though it dissipates in a single breath.
Henry is practically clinging.]
You're back. I thought you were gone. I thought I was...
[Left alone again. Robbed of a future, a promise.]
[ Oh. He can just feel all the stubborn fight go out of Henry like a last gasp, and he reaches around his waist to keep him steady. Let him cling, he earned it. ]
C'mon, Henry. I'm harder to get rid of than that. Especially when I've got your stubborn ass here to pull me back.
C'mon, Henry. I'm harder to get rid of than that. Especially when I've got your stubborn ass here to pull me back.
[Yes, he's clinging. Leaning. But he never wants to let go for reasons altogether unrelated to bone-deep exhaustion.]
You were so empty.
[Lowers his head to rest his forehead on Alec's shoulder, eyes closing.]
You can't ever do that again. I can't- [Fingers clenching tighter.] If you ever leave, I don't have anything left.
You were so empty.
[Lowers his head to rest his forehead on Alec's shoulder, eyes closing.]
You can't ever do that again. I can't- [Fingers clenching tighter.] If you ever leave, I don't have anything left.
I know.
[ The feeling, or the lack of them rather, haunts him. It was only for a few hours that he was left to wander as a husk of himself, but that was enough. He's never going to forget that godawful feeling. ]
I'm not going anywhere Henry. Never again.
[ The feeling, or the lack of them rather, haunts him. It was only for a few hours that he was left to wander as a husk of himself, but that was enough. He's never going to forget that godawful feeling. ]
I'm not going anywhere Henry. Never again.
[ Yeah, he knows that's not something he can promise with any certainty, but... well. That doesn't really matter much right now. He could never deny Henry anything, even the impossible. ]
I promise.
I promise.
[You had better keep that promise, Alec Brennan. He will obliterate any unkind world that steals you away from him.
He’s quiet for a moment, before Henry just… pulls him into a hug. It’s as tight as he can manage in his state. And he lets out a shuddering breath, something finally uncoiling inside.]
He’s quiet for a moment, before Henry just… pulls him into a hug. It’s as tight as he can manage in his state. And he lets out a shuddering breath, something finally uncoiling inside.]
[ A tight a hug as Henry can manage in this state is probably not very tight at all, Mr. Noodle Arms. Still, Alec returns it tenfold, gripping him tight. ]
I've got you.
[ And when Henry looses that breath, something seems to unwind in them both, because Alec's quiet for a beat more, and then: ]
You look like shit, you know that?
I've got you.
[ And when Henry looses that breath, something seems to unwind in them both, because Alec's quiet for a beat more, and then: ]
You look like shit, you know that?
[ He lets out an exhale that might be distant relatives with a laugh. ]
Sure. Let's get me to the dorm.
[ For a small mercy, they're near enough to one of his portals that he can just open the thing up from here and guide Henry through, straight to his room. ]
Sure. Let's get me to the dorm.
[ For a small mercy, they're near enough to one of his portals that he can just open the thing up from here and guide Henry through, straight to his room. ]
[Straight through the portal, and into his room.
And Alec’s bed looks very tempting now that he’s here, but he doesn’t immediately cross over to it.]
Do you need anything? Now that you’re back.
[Yes, he’s going to tend to Alec — or at least he thinks he’s going to. The rest of the team is probably fine. He has a vague notion of them recovering during his anger-addled gaze, he supposes it must be rooted in truth somehow.]
And Alec’s bed looks very tempting now that he’s here, but he doesn’t immediately cross over to it.]
Do you need anything? Now that you’re back.
[Yes, he’s going to tend to Alec — or at least he thinks he’s going to. The rest of the team is probably fine. He has a vague notion of them recovering during his anger-addled gaze, he supposes it must be rooted in truth somehow.]
Edited 2023-02-22 06:08 (UTC)
[ Alec has some recollection of a gunshot before he got poofed the fuck out of their stupid conference room, so who knows what happened there. Also, like, regardless of anything, Komaeda is still missing a leg. ]
I need you to sit down and let me get you cleaned up. And then, I'm gonna need you to get some fucking rest, okay?
I need you to sit down and let me get you cleaned up. And then, I'm gonna need you to get some fucking rest, okay?
[ Alec gives Henry a level look. The light of his possession has already come back into his eyes, and now it wavers a little. Flickering minutely. ]
It's what I need. So, please. Sit down.
It's what I need. So, please. Sit down.
Page 33 of 35