That reaction still surprises him on some level, quicksilver and light. Lark has earned his trust over and over again, painstakingly, painfully, but like the eye closes at bright light, Alec learned young and intrinsically to brace for a very specific consequence to being a disappointment, as much as not to ever flinch when he does.

Answering is harder, and he as reflexively digs into the instinct he trained into himself of anger to make it happen anyway. He doesn't need to direct it. It just is.

"It's always felt like the one thing that might threaten what we have. What I am to you." Not who. What.