Slowly his enthusiasm over the caterpillar shifted to the being holding the creature. For a moment, he couldn't stop himself from staring at Adam. It was rude. It would make Adam feel awkward and probably force more distance between them, but Alec couldn't look away. He'd never made someone, the right type of someone, blush before. Girls had blushed over things he'd said, whether the words deserved that reaction or not. His family had been powerful and most of those girls hoped to marry into a position with high status. He'd never made a boy blush or been given a gift by one that he might like. Only Jace but they were brothers. That was different.

And no one, not even Izzy, had given him something so precious. "I do. I knew that people could go through the gate, but I didn't know that other living things could." Looking down at the gift, Alec moved his hand so he could gently touch the caterpillar. It wiggled a bit, but didn't disappear like he expected. "Thank you for the newspaper and magazine." Which he should be more interested in but the caterpillar was more rare than the written word. "Sorry. I like those too, but haven't seen anything like this in centuries."