((open if you feel like it))

In a place not here nor there but perhaps everywhere.

The fire roared in front of him. He didn't create this fire with magic, but instead the mundane way, with flint, steel and wood. People probably didn't know he could do that. He could do a lot of things that didn't require his powers. He was just lazy most of the time. Sometimes though, magic hindered things and they needed to be done by hand. The wood gathered, scratching at his palms, the tinder set and the inevitable battle with the flint and steel to catch that one perfect spark to set it all ablaze.

Flames dancing in front of him, he crouched down to watch the wood burn, poking at it with a stick. He remembered the last time he had built a fire this big. That had ended in disaster. A desperate move that ended in tears. That seemed so long ago. Ages and ages ago.

He had changed a lot. His life and history had changed. Funny how that went. An enemy had turned out to be a genuine lover among other things. Alec's fingers slipped up his neck to the chain he wore. A compromise with Jono over the collar. A man in Alec's position couldn't be seen wearing a collar, no matter how much Jono liked him in it.

A smile twitched onto his lips as he thought of Jono. He felt happy. Something that he hadn't in a long time. A good thing, he thought. Yes.

A good thing.