reverie⚡inbox

[striketwice]

REVERIE INBOX "THIS IS ALEC. MAKE IT QUICK." ⚡ voice . text . action ↳ OVERFLOW | REGISTRY

( code from supersuits )

Comments

[vecna]

I don't think "smug" is the right word. Grateful, I think, that I could ensnare you. [Even if Henry thinks it really is the other way around.] Even if I never planned for it.

[striketwice]

I never planned on ending up in an extradimensional prison in the first place. Let alone... this. Us.

[vecna]

[Alec's song plays to the end, and the radio gently fades to static. Henry waves a hand, and it silences itself outright, quiet and waiting.]

You can make fun of me for being technologically inept, but can you imagine what would have happened if I hadn't accidentally switched teams?

[striketwice]

[ HENRY you can't say that and not expect Alec to instantly latch onto it. ]

If you hadn't what?

[vecna]

[Listen, at least he didn't buttdial his way into Unicorn.]

Accidentally switched teams. It's easy to do on a... "touchscreen", you know. That's why I was so put-off the day we met, because I hadn't meant to change blocks.

[He says so put-off, even though he was all polite smiles that day, anyway. The usual.]

[striketwice]

Henry... oh my god.

[ There's something so unsurprising and yet so hilarious about this revelation. He's not going to tease him only because he's too busy laughing. Please hold. ]

[vecna]

[Wow. Laugh it up, Alec.

HE IS JUST GOING TO STAND HERE SERENELY AND TAKE IT-- help, this is his only defense:]

Well, it is easy to do.

[striketwice]

Sure thing, gramps.

[vecna]

I'm younger than you.

[striketwice]

Only in number. In ability to send a text message? I think I win.

[vecna]

I'm a fast learner. I've sent plenty of text messages.

[He refuses to sound petulant about this. He knows Alec is just giving him a hard time as per usual. But maybe he sounds a little petulant anyway.]

But my point is that you should be grateful that I'm not as technologically savvy as someone like you.

[striketwice]

[ He does sound a little petulant. Alec laughs again, the sound a bit lighter in contrast to his earlier outburst. He reaches up to catch Henry's arm and tug him close. ]

I am grateful. [ It's strange to imagine a Unicorn without Henry. Actually, since they're on the topic of them... ] But it's also my right as your boyfriend to give you shit over it.

[vecna]

[He tries to look unimpressed, but it's a sorry attempt, especially given how easily he's drawn close with absolutely zero resistance.

And then... boyfriend. This is far from a new revelation, given everything that they are now, but to hear the word itself is arresting. Surprising. Sends a little bit of a thrill up his spine, like it has no choice but to be real, now.

And here is Henry Creel trying to play it cool by arching a brow, even if he can feel his heart strangely pulsing in his throat.]

"Boyfriend", is it?

[striketwice]

[ Alec arches both brows in response. He's the one who said it, and it still feels strange to have it out in the open. To have a label on this thing that they are.

Yet... it feels right, too. Like the most natural thing in the world. An obvious conclusion. ]

What else would it be?

[vecna]

[That's the thing: it couldn't possibly be anything else. The most obvious conclusion. It's not like they were any less rooted in each other before the word was spoken. But to hear it captivates him in a way that Henry so rarely feels. (Though that same feeling seems to be a running theme with this man.)

He leans in a little, teasing.]

Two future roommates who are very fond of each other.

[striketwice]

[ Somewhere in the back of Alec's head, something goes, "oh my god, they were roommates." It's followed by the swift revelation that he's going to have to teach Henry so much about the internet.

He's strangely looking forward to it. ]

That's really underselling it, don't you think?

[vecna]

[I can't believe Alec is going to teach Vecna internet memes one day.

Henry pretends at consideration.]

Two future roommates who just happen to be- [utterly, egregiously in love; is that too much? Even after everything, Henry wonders how much he needs to reel in.] -deeply infatuated with one another?

[striketwice]

[ There's that arched eyebrow again. ]

I feel like you're purposefully skirting around something. What could it possibly be?

[ IS IT THE L-WORD? IS IT, HENRY? ]

[vecna]

[Fuck you, Alec Brennan. He can't believe he's fallen for this insufferable man.

FINE.]

I'm not sure I could stand the smug look on your face if I said that I was in love with you.

[striketwice]

[ Oh. He more or less figured, more or less was this close to saying it himself, but to hear it from Henry, even couched in a barb, makes him feel like that, for a second, his feet aren't on the ground anymore.

Really, how did they get here? ]

Me? Smug? Never.

[ It's undone by the fact that he doesn't actually manage to look very smug. His expression is muted and soft and terribly fond. He leans in like he means to close the space between them, but then: ]

I love you, too.

[ Somehow. For some reason. ]

[vecna]

[Alec’s words may at first be his usual type of reply, but he can see the way his remark affects him. How he leans in, so close, his expression far from smug. Henry expects what he thinks will be a kiss, until: I love you, too.

And there it is again, that sentiment Alec always gives so freely — the one that makes Henry feel like someone who’s wanted as much as he wants in turn. A void filled until it’s overflowing, except this time, it’s spilling out over the edges, pleasantly overwhelming.

He had never understood what anyone meant when they said love hurts; inane sentiment, he thought, just more performative nonsense to romanticize a relationship between two people. But now, Henry thinks he is beginning to understand its complexities — because he aches, utterly aches, thinking about how lacking he was before he met Alec. How even emptier and more purposeless his world would be without him. How he’d do anything for him, but that still doesn’t feel like enough.

He loves him, too. Really loves him. Somehow. For some reason.

There’s only one thing he can do: he closes that middling space between them and brings their lips together, almost desperate on his end.]

[striketwice]

[ Alec told Henry at one point that he was an exception to a lot of his rules, but even Alec himself didn't realize in how many ways that would prove to be true. Alec has rules for everything, a mental checklist of things he will and will not do, things he does and does not allow, from picking clients and taking jobs to his oft-neglected personal life.

Henry has barged his way past the latter before Alec was even aware it was happening. He has seen beneath the surface of Alec's persona and not shied away from it once, he has been willingly invited into his memories to bear witness to the worst day of his life. He invites sentiment and sincerity from a man who thought he'd all but forgotten what those things felt like, and he does it easily.

Neither of them are good people. But neither of them have to be. They have each other. And in a universe that feels so terribly, unfairly cruel more often than not, that's enough. Henry needed someone to understand him, and Alec didn't mind giving him that. He ended up giving him so much more, as well. Every part of him.

Henry steps in to close the distance, and Alec meets him easily. There's something desperate in the way they kiss, but something freeing as well. Like now that the words are really out there in the open, the both of them have no more reason to hold anything back.

So, is there a song on that radio now, Henry? ]

[vecna]

[There’s no real reason for the radio to play anything. Henry’s focus is so departed from it, lost within Alec instead, that it’s a wonder the illusion is bothering to hold at all. All he cares about is him — this kiss, this moment, how anchored he feels this close to him.

But maybe it was their prior discussion of music and sentimental memories that pulls forth something from his own mind, unbidden. His own subconscious, now let loose of its reins just long enough to affect their surroundings.

In this case, yes, the radio plays. As Henry raises a hand to rest at the back of Alec’s neck, as he deepens the kiss as though he’s been deprived of oxygen and the other man is providing it, it warbles such a distant, faint sound. The melody of a song, washing over the moment subtly, but eventually, as it grows louder, it becomes clearer. Slowly, slowly.

He supposes he can’t make the argument that he never liked any music, for how easily it upended his abilities. Not that he’s even thinking about that now.]

[striketwice]

[ The music is the last thing on Alec's mind, as well. His senses are filled with Henry, his scent, his taste, the sudden warmth of their bodies pressing together, and the hand at the back of his neck. He's been spoiling himself, stealing little kisses from Henry when it pleases him, but nothing quite compares to this kiss, this moment.

Eventually, the static sound of the radio smooths out, becomes something recognizable by slow degrees. It isn't distracting, really. On the contrary, it feels like it belongs here.

After a long moment, Alec pulls away, keeps his face a whisper away from Henry's as his mouth curves. ]

Now I know this one didn't come from me.

[ The song, he means. ]

[vecna]

[Maybe he doesn’t notice because it’s from his own subconscious mind, but he doesn’t even know what he's referring to, still caught in the wake of that kiss, his cognizant self trying to root himself back into an awareness that isn’t just Alec's lips.

He breathes out lightly against his mouth and blinks. What…?

Oh. The music. He knows that tune.]

That… [He trails off for a moment, finding that he can’t even bother to deny where or who it came from.] There’s not much, but there are one or two songs that I don’t mind. And maybe I wanted one, too, that was associated with…

[He looks at Alec, his gaze meaningful.]

…a good memory.