AN: So this is probably never going to happen again but you are all such lovely people and I did feel bad for the cliffhanger so I put off some work to finish this. After this, chapters will be a bit farther apart (though hopefully not to far apart ^-^). Thanks again!

James watched as his glasses flew off his face and were cut in half as he just barely stopped his head from going through the same fate.

"Shit."

Rolling over and onto his feet, he used the saw to cut through the rest of his bonds and carefully massaged the feeling back into his limbs. Not having any time to contemplate what Alastair was going through, he focused on completing the mission. It had been a fairly simple misstep on James' own calculations as to how he'd gotten trapped but now that he was more aware than ever, he easily finished out the process.

After gaining the information he had come for, killing several of his former capturers, and leaving a sizable hole in the side of the building, James succeeded in getting in contact with Kingsman. After relaying the information, James slowly made his way to Switzerland where he was to arrive at one of Kingsman's discreet locations of operation. However, upon appearance, he was surprised to see another Kingsman agent there.

"Nobody told me this was a co-op mission now," James remarked.

"It's not," replied the other agent. "You're wanted back in London."

Wincing, James murmured, "Because of my little screw up?"

"Not at all. Harry's had much closer near death experiences which usually cause endless amounts of Merlin chastising him. No, something has just come up that calls for you to go back to London now. The plane is ready to leave in five minutes."

"Damn that's fast. Right, I'll be right there," James replied hurriedly as he gathered anything needed and quickly rushed out of the room.

Once getting on the plane and heading back to London, he wondered what exactly could call for his presence. The flight was short and allowed almost no time for thought as James was soon stepping off the plane. As the plane went through its regular checks, James was directed towards Merlin's room where he saw the familiar scene of Merlin working on what appeared to be a million projects at once. However, he stopped everything and turned around when he heard James enter.

"Oh thank god, you're finally here."

Raising an eyebrow at that, James asked, "What's happened? Is it a former mission? Am I needed for something that requires my specialties? What—"

"It's nothing to do with Kingsman. Well, I shouldn't say that but it's not any assignment."

"Oh, wait why are you back so early? I thought Perc was supposed to be here for the next week," James replied.

"That's actually one of the reasons why I'm here," Merlin explained carefully. Taking in a deep breath, he slowly said, "Percival had a panic attack."

James snorted but when Merlin's face didn't change, his own quickly dropped. "You're not joking."

"No, I'm not."

"Wait, he does know I'm alive, right?!"

"Yes, of course he knows that but after informing him that set off another panic attack. This is a…rather unorthodox situation but I had you called in because out of everyone I feel like he might at least respond to you," Merlin replied.

"What do you mean by respond?"

"After relaying his story of what happened he wouldn't say anything else and eventually I decided it would be best if he had a few moments by himself. I've been track—"

"You've been tracking him?" interrupted James with an incredulous tone.

"I wanted to make sure he didn't do anything stupid," Merlin supplied. "For a while, judging by the speed of his movement, he just walked around but eventually he ended up here."

Merlin quickly showed the map he had up on his tablet. "It's a pub and he hasn't moved in over an hour. Hopefully, if you can't get anything out of him you can at least save his liver."

"Alastair's a heavy drinker?"

"No but it looked like tonight he'd make an acceptation. You have twenty-four hours before I need at least one of you for an assignment," Merlin responded.

"Understood, I'll see what I can do," James said with a small sigh.

He headed out, not needing a map as he'd already memorized where the pub was compared with the tailor shop, and the entire trip took him about twenty minutes.

Heading in, it wasn't that hard to spot Alastair. He was sitting up straight and seemed fairly steady though the flush of cheeks showed that he'd probably drunk a bit to much. He started heading over but was stopped by the barman who asked, "You James?"

"Yes…" he said slowly, moving closer so he could hear the man better. "How'd you know?"

"Saw you looking at him. Figured the only one brave enough or dumb enough to approach him was the guy he was so pissed off at. I don't want no fight and even though he holds his liquor pretty well, if he pukes you're cleaning it up."

"I'll make sure neither happens," James responded as he wondered what the hell Alastair had been saying.

"You want anything yourself?"

"No thank you. Something tells me he's been drinking enough for the both of us." Turning away and making his way through the crowd, he slid in between a woman and Alastair.

Alastair's jaw was stiffly set as he only gave one small glance at James before drinking again and then growling out, "I didn't sign up for this."

"For what? Kingsman? I'm pretty sure you have to be at least willing to join before they consider you as an agent."

"Not Kingsman! Emotions," Alastair snapped.

"Well, as a human you don't really sign onto emotions. Most people are born with them," James said carefully.

In response, Alastair finished off his glass. His hand went up for another but James quickly grabbed it and pulled it back down.

"I think you've had enough."

"Have not." Alastair went to lift his hand again but as James pushed it back down, he whipped away from him and yelled out, "Stop touching me!"

"Okay I will," James slowly replied, glancing towards the barman who was glaring at them. "Let's just take this outside. Kay? Don't want to bother all these people."

"Oh, I'll bloody take it outside," hissed Alastair. He stood up, stumbled slightly, and then was grabbing James by the arm and pulling him away.

James let him and was eventually dragged into the alley next to the building which smelled of garbage and piss. Before he could say anything though, Alastair was shoving him against the wall, his face even redder than before as his hands gripped James' collar.

Knowing that he could easily stop Alastair if needed in his drunken state, James waited for whatever might happen next.

"Why do you matter?!"

"I'm not sure what you mean—"

"Of course you know what I mean! You piss me off! You make jokes! You muck things up! You throw stupid surprise parties! You created that fucking stupid nickname! You take an interest in my life! You…!"

On and on Alastair went and James let him vent, trying to understand where all of this was going. Chances were that it was just the rambling of a drunk man but it was hard to tell with someone like Alastair.

"…I hate that you care! I hate that you make me care! I hate how you make me laugh and how you run your fingers through my hair! I hate your stupid grin and those eyes and…and…"

He seemed to finally be slowing down. "And?" James asked slowly.

"And…and…I just really want to fucking kiss you."

James didn't get a chance to refuse as the grip that had slackened tightened and trapped him between a body and a rather dirty wall. He was utterly in shock causing his reaction time to be a bit slow but eventually he was able to push Alastair off of him, though somewhat gently as he certainly didn't want to hurt him.

"Hey, stop it, okay? You're more out of it than I thought and probably going to be seriously regretting this in the morning," James said as he basically held Alastair upright.

"Not regretting nothing," Alastair mumbled as he slumped forward and buried his head into the crook of James neck.

"Yeah right. I know you. You'll be freaking out like you caused the end of the world," muttered James with a small sigh though Alastair didn't seem to hear him.

Carefully, he guided Alastair towards the street and started to hail a cab. "I'm sure you'll feel better waking up in your own place so I'll take you home which is…" James looked up and down the street. "Where exactly do you live again?"

Rather impressed that Alastair could recall, James finally got a cab to stop and pushed Alastair in.

"He a puker?"

"No," responded James, not that he really knew.

"Good. What's the address?"

Retelling the address, James got himself situated just as Alastair took a nose dive into his shoulder mumbling again and again, "I hate you so much."

"I know. I know," James sighed as he carefully ran his fingers through the other's hair. "Now don't fall asleep. I'm not carrying you over my shoulder or bridal style into your own home."

Alastair just mumbled something unintelligible as after several more minutes, they finally arrived. James paid the driver and then helped Alastair out of the car.

"Please tell me you have a key."

"Pocket."

"Which pocket?"

"Pocket," he repeated irritably.

Rolling his eyes, James did a quick search of Alastair which was only made more difficult as he tried to support the man. Thankfully he got lucky and was soon pulling out the key and unlocking the door. Though he noted that the place was considerably bigger than his own place, it didn't take long until he found Alastair's bedroom and helped him get in.

"I'm leaving your key on the table, kay? Alastair, no no! Stop grabbing. Here, I'll help you off with your shoes." James went and did so, the action only made more difficult as Alastair rolled and squirmed about.

Alastair mumbled something.

"What?"

"Stay."

"I probably need to—"

"Stay."

"Fine but only because you may actually need me in the morning." Once again, Alastair tried to grab at him but this time James evaded him. "No, I'll sleep on the couch. I'd rather not be woken up by your screaming."

James closed the door behind him and once he was finally away, he contemplated leaving. Nevertheless, if he didn't confront Alastair right away about what happened, he would probably never get anything from the man. Still, he was to high strung and wide awake from his near death experience and the events of the past hour to truly sleep.

Instead, he explored a bit, at first not wanting to be to intrusive but soon found that there was nothing to intrude upon. Though nice and cleanly kept, there was really nothing that suggested an actual human lived there. There was the toy he and Roxy had gotten Alastair, and he really was surprised that it was still there, but other than that there was nothing to observe.

Once again, he thought about leaving but on the small chance that Alastair had meant what he said, he decided to stay and was thankful that there was at least a TV. Putting it on mute, he watched the pictures going by and finally succeeded in a few minutes of shut eye.