Adam smiled at Alec's mention of their fake relationship, and his fingers curled slightly against Alec's palm, not quite holding his hand but a half-unconscious gesture toward it.

"Wide and varied," Adam said, rubbing his thumb along the side of Alec's hand until Alec got to it and then holding it still. "Tone more than topics."

Adam didn't know what the word meant, and he hadn't yet gotten far in the Codex. The gender and the familiarity of it aroused a spike of jealousy in him, but he squashed that quickly, not wanting to start another fight. "What does that mean, parabatai?"