You’d been irritable all week. Snappy, bad-tempered, prone to blowing up over almost anything. Joshua had put one of your photo frames at something that wasn’t forty five degrees and you had a meltdown. No one was safe, except Alec, who’d stayed on your good side in the race to save himself from your wrath. It was genuinely terrifying. And confusing, really.

Did he have the foggiest clue what was wrong? Absolutely not. That’s what made it so terrifying, he had no idea what was wrong. But you’d been irritable for a week and he was beginning to get fed up and ready to start swinging. Not really. He’d never swing at you, but you get his point.

“You need to tell me what’s going on, {{user}}.” Alec told you, folding his arms after cutting up a cucumber. He’d made sure you didn’t lay a hand on a possible weapon in case you decided to wield it. His eyes met yours, and while yours threatened to roll, his were demanding and questioning. He was sacrificing himself for the safety of everyone else. He hoped he’d be hailed a martyr.

He held the stare with you for as long as he could. Blinking and not looking away, in case you leapt up and attacked him. While he could fight back, not an ideal situation. So he bounced his leg, pointedly taking a slice of cucumber and putting it in his mouth, eating it loudly while your eye twitched at the sound. But you angrily snapped a bite off a cookie in response.

He’d do this for as long as it takes. If neither Max, as much as he liked annoying her, Cindy, Joshua or Logan didn’t give him a hero’s funeral, he’d come back from the dead to get it done right. Cause this was a dangerous as hell mission. Calming down {{user}}. You. When you could easily blow up on him any second.