Alec stretched his back a little, trying to rub away some of the tension in the muscle between his neck and shoulder. He always carried stress the most there and he was pretty sure his headache couldn't all be factored to a hangover when tension headaches weren't uncommon for him. "Yeah, it sounds dumb. But considering my current state, dumb isn't something I can judge on, love. And don't worry, I'm a psychiatrist, I understand why you feel that way and why your instinct is to try to buffer this for me because of what my family's dealing with. So, if I swear not to do that about my shit, will you swear not to do it for yours? Neither of us have ever been good at confronting vulnerability in any way so if we're going to try to be each other's exception to that, we've got to find a rhythm with it. It's not like I can plead ignorance. My teenage nephew is about a billion times better at this shit than I am. Trust me, it's not through lack of me studying how he still manages that when everything else in his life is exploding in his face all the time. Seriously, if Sparky can manage it and finally hold together a successful marriage with this lady who is clearly his soul mate, we can do it. When was your last flare? What happens and what do you need that I can give you without needing to ask when it happens? I don't want to make any assumptions. Everyone manages their illnesses in their own way." He rested his head back against the wall, offering a faint smile of apology. "The more I think about it, the more I feel like an arsehole for pretty much ghosting you after we slept together at Ava's that night. I want you to know that no matter the dumbfuck move I pulled after, having you close that night to take my mind off everything was what I needed more than anything."