[PRP] underground dawn (aleksy & jeremiah)

[shibrogane]

"The day you arrested me," said Aleksy. He put the scissors away. "In high school. I enjoy celebrating it by punching things at the gym. You come with me, and we get breakfast after." His tone softened as he finished up putting the register together. "If you had forgotten, I would have had to kill you."

He still sounded hurt about it.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

"That's-" Jeremiah's expression shifted to something a little wondering before he continued speak. That Aleksy sounded hurt did not set well with him.

"Well, I suppose your nose looks the same as I remember it but ... Did I happen to set your nose that day? Threaten some 'school police' to behave?" There were dates that had been committed to memory and honored, milestones they had shared-

That wasn't one of them.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Yes," said Aleksy. He touched his nose self-consciously. "It was broken. I had to get it... fixed. Later." His father was very specific about that, unfortunately. "But there was not one school resource officer who would bother me after this."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah cracked a small smile, thinking back on what he had done with the ones who had been holding Aleksy. "That was the entire point, though if anyone had continued to bother you ..." He shook his head.

"I still remember the look one of them had when you elbowed him in the gut before punching him." They had touched Aleksy, called him sweetheart. "You have a mean left hook." He started to move again, finishing what he was doing.

"... so," he said quietly, slowly as he glanced back over to Aleksy, "that is at least one thing that is the same but I suppose I am still stupid for forgetting the date."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"That's why I haven't kicked you out," he said. "I almost broke Finn's nose when he started screaming about my tits." Aleksy pulled his collar up self-consciously. They had gotten along much better after that, apparently. "You're close enough to the Jeremiah I knew." And he would miss Jeremiah in his life. He'd take what he could get.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah let out a breath, a near chuckle. "Yes, well- It was likely startling considering they've been gone since ..." His head tilted upwards as he remembered dates. "Last May."

It was not a planned procedure either.

He was silent again, watching Aleksy and knowing that this was not the Aleksy he knew. This was one who had an entirely different life with Jeremiah around. It was a little mind-boggling but after all the other changes it was easy enough to adapt. "Did you ... celebrate the day you got your house? Dark chocolate cupcake with buttercream icing."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy grinned, sudden and bright. "Yes," he said, "On the roof. On my birthday we sit on the roof and watch fireworks. You have a standing order with me for flowers for Algernon. I bring you kholotz when I make them."

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

That got another small smile, Jeremiah glad that it was something else the same. "That's good to know when I want to get him flowers ..."

His lips twitched upwards in wry amusement. "I don't suppose he had the same kind of apology method? For the moments where stupidity wins: a bottle of Tovaritch! because it's the only vodka worth drinking."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"Mm. No. I had a problem with vodka when I was smaller. So I drink it only rarely." Aleksy seemed ashamed by that. "It interferes with my medications, anyway." He sighed. "You do bring me kvass sometimes when you have been very, very stupid. The apple kind." Kvass was basically juice anyway.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

It was probably better- Vodka had always been- Jeremiah remembered wellness checks and Aleksy being far, far too deep into a bottle.

"That does explain some of the books on fermentation I found," as he had not actually been interested enough in brewing before, "but also another similarity." Gifts to get his foot in the door when he did something stupid, even if it was small (and didn't really require something to apologize with).

"... what day did we usually have lunch on?" he asked, genuinely curious. To perhaps rectify it, to ... learn this Aleksy that was similar but different. Their interactions had to be vastly different.

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

"I was going to kill myself once when I was drunk," said Aleksy. Matter-of-fact. "You wouldn't let me. That's when I bit you. You had to get seventeen stitches. Algernon still doesn't talk to me."

He said, "Thursday, usually at two. There's a Chinese place, Ashdown Jade. We usually eat there."

He'd been thinking of it like having an amnesiac boyfriend with Finn. Maybe it had to be the same way with Jeremiah. That was depressing, but he could handle it.

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

Jeremiah looked down at his hand, the one Aleksy had looked at earlier, and rubbed it as if he could make the scarring appear (or that it suddenly would). "That- I found you," the other Aleksy, the one who was not this one, "at the bottom of a bottle before - wellness checks - but not ... that."

His eyes focused on Aleksy a moment later, studying his black eyes. "Consider it re-established then because I'm not going to miss that again." Then, after a pause and a breath. This had him stepping closer, concern reflecting for a moment. "How long since the mirror house?"

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy tried not to think about his time in the mirror house. ******** the mirror house. The mirror house was a hellhole. It was Jeremiah, some form of him anyway, so Aleksy thought back and then said, "Eight months? Almost nine?" He flexed his gloved hands before him. "I already ate today, if you're going to offer. This Finn apparently enjoys my differences, rather than trying to stifle them."

Different people reacted differently to being fed on. That made sense. But Finn seemed to relish it now, which was... weird. And enjoyable! Mostly weird, though...

azuredreams

 

[azuredreams]

While it was obvious that Aleksy had gone through the same- Had he found him? Was that why the scars? The gloves made his stomach churn, Jeremiah thinking back to what the fetch had said to him. "Stifle?" A momentary distraction. That wasn't what he expected to hear, not from Finn. "I'm glad that's different then. You don't need to be stifled."

His head tilted, studying the differences and then taking a step forward before stopping. He was finished with what he was doing anyway, in helping the store to be ready. Jeremiah's fingers twitched, a sure sign if there ever was that he wanted to touch but was not.

"It's ridiculous," he said finally, "but if you're alright with it, I would like to give you a hug."

shibrogane

 

[shibrogane]

Aleksy laughed. "Sure I do. I'm evidently very loud in bed." He said this like he didn't think Jeremiah knew that. "Yes, that's fine. You may even have a muffin, if you like."

azuredreams

so kind. so magnanimous.