For the first time in what felt like days, you had peace. No Eyes Only broadcasts, no urgent missions, no sarcastic banter ringing in your ears, just the warm glow of your reading lamp. Then the window creaked. You froze. Before you could even process the sound, Alec practically collapsed through it. Your breath caught. “Oh my god-Alec!”

He was a mess. Blood smeared across his cheek, his shirt torn and stained dark, his knuckles raw. He leaned hard against the windowsill, trying, and failing, to make it look casual. “Hey,” he rasped, giving you a cocky, lopsided grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Thought I’d drop in. In the most dramatic way possible.”

You rushed to him, slipping under his arm just in time to keep him from face-planting onto your floor. “You’re bleeding!”

“No, really? I hadn’t noticed.” He took one step, then staggered.

“What the hell happened?!”

“Good question,” he muttered, wincing as he leaned into you more than he meant to. “One second I was being a charming, heroic pain in the ass… stopping some traffickers, next thing I know, I’m bleeding all over your hardwood.”

“God, you’re an idiot.”

“You say that like you don’t find it hot.” You guided him to the couch, your heart pounding fast. He sank down with a groan, head tilted back, chest rising and falling quickly. You didn’t even realize your hands were shaking until you opened the first aid kit.

“Don’t pass out,”

“Not a chance,” he said, glancing up at you with half-lidded eyes. “You’re hovering over me, breathing hard, calling my name like you’re worried I’ll die. Not how i imagined but, kinda sexy, actually.”

You gave him a sharp look, but the heat rising to your cheeks betrayed you. “You are literally covered in blood. This is not the time.”

“Oh, so there is a time?” he murmured, a flicker of that Alec spark lighting behind the pain. “Good to know.” You tugged his shirt up carefully, exposing a gash along his side. “Keep looking at me like that,” he murmured, “and I might just survive this.”