Alec ended up just eating dinner at Joshua's place. If he came late, Max would probably spend the whole time yelling at him for being lazy. It wasn't his fault that he just didn't care that much about the whole deal. He did care, just not as much as the owner of the every-one-must-be-protected-by-me mindset he was stuck with for the next unknown amount of hours. Every one, that is, except Alec he thought to himself.
He didn't know why she still seemed determined to hate him. He was a nice enough guy all things considered...well, actually he had a general idea of why she hated him so much. She still blamed him for the virus that kept her from getting too close with Logan without the poor hacking vigilante keeling over. He'd have to fix that, but not right now.
And then there was the whole 'twin of your dead brother who you cared about a lot' bit. He couldn't fix that one and it was only further proof that the universe was out to get him.
"Medium Fella going with Li'l Fella tonight?" Joshua asked.
"Yeah, Max signed me up for Logan's crusade of the night. Maybe a new transgenic in town." Alec answered. "Hey, do you know about anything that killed by paper cuts? Or just a million little stabs? Any porcupine DNA running around or something?"
Joshua shook his head.
"Great." Alec leaned back on the sofa while Joshua turned back to the canvass. "Well, whatcha painting today, Big Fella?"
"Max."
That peaked Alec's interest although he wasn't sure why. He got up to his feet to see the canvas. Smears of all colors were spread across the canvass. Joshua smiled at the attention and started pointing to the different pieces.
"Up here, lots of deeper colors. Toughness… a little further, lighter. Happy. Hope…. then here-" he gestured to a broad swipe of blueish purple. "-Worry. Worried others get hurt. Wants to protect. Look after Joshua."
Alec nodded. Joshua always dealt with abstract art for color concepts and Max clearly had a soft spot for the transhuman.
"Max worry about Alec too." Joshua added quietly.
Alec frowned. "Not so much there, buddy."
Josh tilted his head to the side and studied Alec for a moment. He was about to say something more but Max stepped into the room.
"Good, you're here." she greeted Alec, who shrugged. "Ready to go?"
"As I'll ever be."
Max smiled at Josh and Alec huffed in annoyance before moving past her out the door. "See you around, Big Fella." he told Josh.
"You coming or what?" he called once he was out front.
"Yeah, hold on." Max answered before falling into step beside him toward the motorcycle. "I thought you didn't want to come, why are you so eager now?"
Alec shrugged. "Sooner it's over with, sooner I can go home and forget about it."
Max rolled her eyes and started up the bike. She was stuck with Alec. No matter he said, it promised to be a long night for her.