[DRP] i will follow you into the dark (book 'em)

[azuredreams]

changes in work

It came up the next morning because while Jeremiah was not going into the department, he was working from home. His laptop had been moved to the bedroom, the table in there covered in files now. Certainly it was weird for a man who left work at work if he could help it, so when Algie gave him a look with a raised eyebrow, Jeremiah shook his head.

"You're now married to the Ashdown's Chief of Police."

iloveyouDI3

 

[azuredreams]

changes in sleeping habits

It seemed that both of them had issues with sleeping, though Algie was not heavy-handed about making him go back to sleep. Jeremiah was still not quite sure how long he had truly been part of Ezra's household but the schedule he had been on was still ingrained and he hadn't broken it.

This night, despite the hour, he was making something for both of them to have. The hour was not even looked at, Jeremiah intently making hot cocoa and contemplating what else they want to snack on to go with it. It was one hundred percent warm comforting things for them both.

His arm reached for the other as he padded by him, lips pressing to Algie's temple and fixing his slightly crooked glasses. Sleep mussed Algie was a favorite right after fatcat Algie.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

changes in work

Algie didn't mind when work made it home, though files in the bedroom was a bit much. Still, he was in no place to argue, nor did he have it in him to truly care very much if Jeremiah was working. Especially after all that happened.

"Congratulations?" Alg's brows lifted, sliding close and rubbing a hand across his husband's shoulders, "I think. I guess you'll have more reason to stay at a desk now..." Which Algie liked, if he were honest.

"Also.. how? I thought they elected those."  

[iloveyouDIE]

changes in sleeping habits

Algie's schedule had not been as grueling as Jeremiah's but he was prone to waking up at the slightest sound or motion from his husband. Mare had woken him up, sometimes multiple times a night, enough so that he couldn't sleep through the other stirring and when Jeremiah began to move at ungodly hours of the night, he did too.

He wasn't even as sleepy as he would have preferred, instead he'd talk, or hope that Jeremiah would let him talk... because he was used to it.

And when it was late, and quiet and they had comfortable things and each other, it was easier to share their experiences away... easier to process.

azuredreams

 

[iloveyouDIE]

ghost writer

Alg had a chore of going through his emails and text messages. Finding messages sent by him that he'd never say, looking for triggers in the language for others to know it wasn't him or to find things he'd say to be odd, but worse that he couldn't.

The fetch had been good at being him.

Worse to find his book, 3/4 finished when he'd disappeared, was now finished. It was finished and roughly edited and ready to be sent in at the proper deadline. It made him sick to see his work done for him, to see his words so well laid out. They were his words. Compiled and parsed from his notebook, set down in his own style, and horribly efficient and well written.

Perhaps it had been better at his life than he had.  

[azuredreams]

changes in work

Jeremiah tilted his face towards Algie's arm, his cheek rubbing against it briefly because it was Algie and he was warm, present, and there once more. He had not realized how much he preferred the gentle reminder of the other's affection until it was no longer there.

"Considering everything that is going on, I suppose I should be grateful that I'm over seeing it all ..." He sighed, glancing down to another report of lights being seen in the water at night. Another that detailed that, no, they still could not conclusively prove what was turning the local waters the color that it was.

"Ah, well. It's not elected here." Which was to say that other places it was elected but not within Ashdown, and not within Massachusetts that he knew. "It's appointed. George retired and Lois approved me as his successor." The amount of signatures he had gone through. His smile was there and Jeremiah seemed pleased with it. Two months ago he might have bucked this, he might have not wanted it, but now he was enjoying it. "... but I suspect you are happier that I'm behind a desk and not out running about, hm?"

iloveyouDI3

 

[azuredreams]

changes in sleeping habits

"Eventually," he said as he pressed a kiss to Algie's temple, "I'll get back on a regular sleep schedule." It was just that something kept waking him up, kept him feeling like he was idling when he wasn't, and at least-

Well, he wasn't worrying about warm hands pressing into his skin and putting him back to sleep because he needed it.

A cup was offered out to the other to drink and Jeremiah inclined his head towards his husband because he could always talk, he could always speak his mind. Jeremiah still had trouble with his but it'd come with time.

iloveyouDIE

 

[azuredreams]

the ghost of you

The hurt had lessened but it was still there. The Jeremiah that had not been Jeremiah had lived his life better than he had. The fetch had been able to navigate both other ashdown, Ashdown, and the department with an ease that Jeremiah might have envied if he had not gone through what he had.

If he was not now capable of the same.

Still-

It hurt. The people that had fallen for it, the ones that would never know it wasn't him, the fact that he had been charming and it was effortless. The fetch had given of himself, spread himself and did not weaken for it.

Jeremiah hated the fetch but at the same time he admired it and he was glad that it was dead so that it could not take anymore from him.  

[azuredreams]

truth of his heart

Classes were over for the day, the college students coming out of the woodwork (classrooms) to escape and do whatever it was that they wanted to do. Jeremiah got a few quick furtive glances mostly because it was common knowledge now that he was Chief of Police (who was most definitely married to a certain Professor) but they were ignored in favor of watching Algie.

He watched as his husband was tucking away books into his satchel. Jeremiah simply leaned against the door, feet crossed at the ankle, and watched him. This? This was a luxury and it was one he appreciated all that much more for not having it for too long.

iloveyouDIE

 

[iloveyouDIE]

changes in work

He was honestly surprised Jeremiah had been chosen, not on account of merit, but because he was effective at his current job. In the same vein he'd missed so much time before the fetch, from injury and otherwise..

"Yes I'm glad to have you at a desk.. Does this mean you have to wear a uniform again?" Alg's expression was amused and maaaybe a bit hopeful. Jeremiah looked good in a police uniform.

azuredreams

 

[iloveyouDIE]

changes in sleeping habits

"My sleep wasn't so regimented but-" His fingers curled around the mug and hold it, "Sometimes I didn't sleep. I wasn't allowed until I'd.. passed. A puzzle or a lesson or.."

Alg sipped his drink, "Or sometimes Mare just wanted the end of a story and she'd wake me up."

Of course he still had to get up in the morning, still had to train, no matter how much sleep he'd had the night before.

azuredreams

 

[iloveyouDIE]

truth of his heart

Alg glanced, feeling eyes on his back, and smiled despite himself to find his husband waiting. Books were tucked away, essays filed in a folder and packed for grading, and his clothes given a pat to make sure he didn't forget anything.

The last of the students, even of those who mingled to speak with him (always at least that one kid who was a fan) eventually drifted away and Alg joined his husband.

"Hello love," The green eyed man lifted on his toes to kiss his husband, an arm settling on the other's waist, "This is a surprise."

azuredreams

 

[iloveyouDIE]

books

He'd learned to operate without them.

But he wasn't under someone's imposed schedule and rules anymore. His journals were more than a memory tool for him, more than a safety net, they were now an indulgence. He didn't view them as a weakness now that he had been without.

To Algie books were valuable tools. Things to be taken care of and kept safe.

He never, ever, didn't have a book on him anymore. He even carried at least his journal room to room with him. He would pause mid-action to make sure he retrieved the book to tuck away on his person somewhere.

If it had always simply been an assumption, it was now a solid and confirmed thing.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

changes in work

Jeremiah had, or his fetch had, proven that he could handle his job as well as the work load that George had handed to him when he had offered. It had turned out that Jeremiah could as well but he had found that out under Ezra's guidance.

His lips twitched, fingers going to Algie's wrist and tugging at him until the shorter man was forced to sit in his lap.

"I just got fitted for a new one earlier in the week." Mostly because he might just be a little aware that Algie definitely liked him in uniform.  

[azuredreams]

changes in sleeping habits

Jeremiah was thinking popcorn. Maybe drizzled in something. He was not sure but he was looking through the cabinets and briefly making a face that things had been reorganized. Whether it had been Algie's fetch or his own was up in the air because it was done in a way he would have preferred it to be but had never gotten around to.

"2100 to 0400 was the time for sleep," and it was usually uninterrupted but Jeremiah just had trouble adjusting back, "and then immediately into a run or some kind of exercise. I wasn't-" He paused for a moment, looking over to Algie and stepping towards him to wrap an arm around him briefly.

"The moment I got used to it or adapted it was changed. I couldn't be stagnant or coast, Fa-" The taller man caught himself, blue-green eyes looking away. "Ezra had none of that."