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She pulls him towards the stairs.
"You know he's going to mock us continuously now?" Alex asks her, thinking of Tom's reaction and slightly dreading what his best friend will say (or imply, or tease, or joke...) when they next talk.
But Kyra just chuckles and so Alex follows as her hand leads him up the stairs of his own home, steering him towards the bathroom.
He stands at the door as she rummages though the shelves and drawers of the bathroom cabinet until he thinks she might need help-
"- second shelf of the first cupboard, behind the toothpaste."
With a soft "ah ha!" she grabs the first aid kit, before she takes his hand again and, without a word, leads him through to his bedroom.
It's interesting being led into his own bedroom by the girl he likes. A role reversal of sorts. A very, very good one.
She pushes him into his desk chair and he's oddly grateful she chose the chair rather than the bed because the idea of being on his bed with Kyra is far, far too appealing for his tired brain and aching body to properly process.
She rummages in the first aid kit for a bit before pulling out several antiseptic wipes. He almost tells her that she doesn't need to help clean him up - that he can just shower and wash the day, and the blood, off him, but he senses that she needs to do this and he just wants her close to him and doesn't have the ability or energy to protest.
He winces slightly as she carefully wipes around the cut on his forehead, the action reminding him of cleaning up her stab wound back in Valletta - a lifetime ago.
"So, is this going to be our relationship from now on - getting hurt and helping each other out?"
They have a relationship now. Wow. Somehow in the last twenty four hours he's managed to both bring down a major criminal organisation and get a girlfriend. He can't work out which one is more surprising.
She smiles at him, wiping up the blood that has spread across his cheek before moving on to the next cut.
"Hasn't that always been our relationship?"
He laughs. So true.
"And how is the famous soup injury?" he asks, nodding towards her side.
She gives him a smirk. "I'll show you in a minute if you want."
His mouth suddenly feels very dry.
Then she presses the wipe down on the wide cut on his forehead and damn it hurts. He can't help but hiss in pain.
"Oh, did that hurt?"
Her look is far too innocent.
She's moved to the final cut now and God it stings so much.
"Kyra..."
"They need cleaning..."
She dabs more, wiping up the blood near his jaw now.
"And also. I'm cross with you."
He chokes back a laugh at that, because his face is stinging but if that is the worst punishment he's going to get for scaring her then he'll take it.
"I'm sorry."
"No, stop saying that. I told you not to say that."
She's finished, flinging the wipes into the bin now and flopping back on his bed.
He can't see her face but he can hear her next words.
"You said you were going to look after yourself... but when you phoned us... it sounded like you thought you weren't coming back. You went in knowing you could die."
"Yes... Yeah, I did."
"Didn't you think that maybe there were people who needed you to come home safely?"
Her voice is shaking a little and it makes him feel utterly terrible.
He sighs. "Of course. But I also knew that many thousands of people might die."
She sits up to face him and he sees the worry etched across her face. "I know. I just wish it didn't always have to be you to save them."
He chuckles and reaches for her hand. "Me too."
It's strange seeing Kyra look so... he searches for a word to describe the look on her face. Worried? Scared? Vulnerable?
"Hey, come here-" he stands up, their hands still linked, and pulls her to him for a hug, feeling her bury her face in the folds of this jacket. He rests his head on the top of hers, breathing in the wonderful smell of Kyra and safety.
"What happened?" he almost misses her whispered question.
"It... they..." he doesn't know if he's ready to re-live what happened. The whole day, the whole Invisible Sword experience has been so hard, so terrifying, so utterly draining and standing here, holding Kyra, he just wants to revel in this feeling of safety.
"I don't know how to..."
She pulls back to look at him. "Tell us all when you're ready."
The lump in his throat makes it difficult for him to reply but he is so bloody grateful for her response.
He nods. "Thank you."
"I think maybe I should be thanking you. You brought them down, stopped Scorpia. For your parents and my parents too."
How did he get so lucky?
"I am sorry though, sorry for scaring you all."
She doesn't berate him for apologising this time.
"It's okay. Well, it's not okay but it will be okay."
"Okay..." he grins down at her.
And then... it comes out without warning.
"I thought about you."
Abruptly her fingers stop tracing his and she gives him a shy look. God he loves those eyes.
"Me? What do you mean?"
He feels nervous all of a sudden. It's silly, they're holding hands and he knows she cares about him but suddenly the intimacy of his confession is overwhelming.
"I... well, it was all over and I just... I guess they say your life will flash before your eyes and it did but it didn't..."
"Your life flashed before you?" she's looking alarmed.
"No. I mean, sort of."
He sinks back into the chair, pulling her to him as he struggles to put into words what happened.
"It was all over by that point, I'd stopped Invisible Sword and I knew it was all going to be okay. But... well it was intense and I couldn't really move and I guess I was just relieved to have survived and so I just lay there and all these memories came to me. Tom and Jack and... well, you."
He feels stupid. He never should have mentioned it. But she's looking at him now with an intense, blazing gaze he's never seen before and it's like it could burn him right up and he wouldn't care because he'd be warm in it.
"Me?"
His terrified self wants to say no, but the intensity of her stare gives him the courage to tell the truth.
"... yeah. Yeah, I guess. It sort of, gave me hope and happiness through all the pain."
Her smile is as warming as the gaze was and he doesn't think he's ever seen her smile like that before. It's beautiful.
"Okay. I'll allow it."
He laughs. He loves, loves, loves that she can make him laugh right now.
And then she's stepping closer and gently brushing his fringe aside and it feels so good but not nearly enough and he wants so badly to just -
- her lips touch his and she's above him pressing him into the chair and it's so sexy and automatically he pulls her to him but she can't really get closer and then...
Oh...
It turns out she can get closer because then she's sitting on his lap and now this is the sexiest thing he's ever experienced because her hands are in his hair and their lips are moving in unison and he's running his fingers over her hip and down her thigh and has she always been this fucking gorgeous?
"Alex, you okay up there?" Jack's voice floats up the stairs and through the door they never closed. Why hadn't they closed the door?
He groans, feeling Kyra's lips grin in return as he pulls back to look at her.
"Hold that thought?"
She gives him a shy smile.
"Yeah, fine Jack!" he calls out, hoping he doesn't sound too distracted.
Sadly Kyra climbs off his lap then and it's all he can do not to wince at the jolting of his bruised ribs.
She apparently notices. "They hurt you more."
The look of ferocious anger in her face is both flattering and oddly soothing.
"It's okay."
"No, no it's not okay."
She pulls him to standing and careful raises the hem of his shirt, hissing when she sees the bruising underneath. He's not dared look yet but he can imagine, based on the pain he's in and the brutality of his fight with Nile, that his torso looks pretty colourful.
She's pushing off his jacket and then lifting his shirt off completely and he'd be loving the fact that she's stripping him if it wasn't for the throbbing pain around his ribs and the seriousness with which she's tracing the bruise on his side.
"No more cuts, I don't think, but this is going to look very nasty by tomorrow."
"Not going to die though?"
"Not even going to have a really cool scar."
And then she pushes his shoulder gently, "and no joking about dying."
He sees the concerned way her eyes are tracking the bruises and he nudges her chin up with his finger till he catches her eyes.
"Hey, I'm okay you know?"
Her brow furrows. "Your injuries would indicate otherwise."
He laughs at that. "I've had worse."
"And that's supposed to be comforting?"
He strokes her hair gently, curling a loose strand behind her ear, and he can see her eyes flutter shut, for just a second, at his touch.
"Right. I guess I better shower and change before Jack comes storming up here thinking I've had my wicked way with you or something."
She grins. "Surely it would be the other way around?"
That makes him laugh. She's good at doing that.
She clambers back onto his bed, curling her feet under her and his smile widens because he loves how she just has this ability to make herself at home wherever she is.
"Go shower then, I'll be waiting."
He drops a kiss on her lips and squeezes her hand. "I know. Thank you for that."
"Always."