Alex ducks his head into the fond gesture, something warm growing in his chest with such a significant lack of familiarity that it leaves him a little breathless when Poe pulls away, and all Alex can really do is force his smile to remain solidly in place until the man is out of sight.

And then he takes those moments alone as a chance to gather himself again. Not to analyze, he has a vague impression of where Poe lives and it isn't nearly far enough away for all of that, but enough to compartmentalize, at least. To stow it all away to study later (along with the fact that the word 'uncle' is so unwilling to pass through his teeth).

By the time Poe is shouting over to him, the smile is back with a touch more ease, Alex leaning into the good strong feelings of here and now and refusing to look past that. He nods back in response and then glances at the space around him in an exaggerated manner before shouting back, "The ground doesn't seem to have risen up to trip me in the few minutes you were gone, I think we're safe."