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Brady/Aland ...BECAUSE I CAN, DAMNIT...Part 2
"Come again?"

His entire body seemed to wince. Aland turned back to glance at his seated attorney. He anxiously rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "It's just...a thing."

"Thing?" Brady echoed skeptically. "And when exactly were you planning to tell me about this thing?"

"Never," Aland mumbled, clearly feeling some shame. "My family, friends--they can't..."

"They can't what, Aland?" Brady was on his feet. "Handle you being a great bloody pouf?" the question was rhetorical and had a flick of anger.

Aland scowled. "I'm not a queer."

It was Brady's turned to cross his arms. "Oh, but you would go to Azkaban and have a your soul sucked away rather than admit the possibility," he snapped. "Yes, fine. Absolutely not a queer."

The younger wizard was rubbing his neck once more and didn't respond.

Brady sighed and relented his hands to his hips. "Name. Address. What time he arrived. What time he left. What you did. Times you've done this before."

Aland had turned away. "It doesn't matter."

Brady blinked. "You're honestly willing to go to Azkaban for this?"

There was that full-body wince again. Aland traveled to and pressed his palms flat to the stone, seemingly bracing himself. "He's dead."

"Dead? Don't tell me you killed him, too."

"I didn't kill bloody Fenwick!" Aland spat.

Brady closed his eyes and took a breath. "Fine. What happened to your...thing friend?"

Aland's forehead had found the wall as well. "I don't know. I wasn't there. They said he attacked the Auror that killed him." He let out a strained sigh. "A lot has happened in the past couple of months, you know."

"But you were with him?" Brady pried once more as he approached the lanky wizard who was practically clinging at the wall. "The night of Fenwick's murder?"

"Yes," Aland seethed through a clenched jaw and Brady noticed his furious blinking, likely to fight off tears.

Sighing, Brady moved closer and clamped a hand down on either curve of Aland's lean shoulders. "Hey," breathed quietly over the nape of the younger wizard's neck, his nose was tickled by a lock of messy hair. A shiver went through Aland's shoulders. "It's going to be okay," Brady reassured his client who had finally broken down.

Shaky hands covered Brady's and returned the squeeze. The older wizard shifted his grip to wrap the other in an embrace from behind. "I'm going to get you out of this mess, Aland," Brady whispered against the ear his lips now brushed. He planted a more deliberate kiss to the curve of Aland's neck and tightened his hold. "But the next one?" A sigh. "I know you've done evil things, Aland, but you don't pay me to be judgmental."

"We'll face them as they come."