Chapter Text
I know this is an unusual request, but this is a private matter, so I hope you will agree to a personal meeting. I will be waiting in front of the Institute today at 11 AM.
Alec Lightwood
In the days since he last saw Alexander Magnus stopped resisting the feelings that rushed through him every time he thought about gorgeous Shadowhunter.
Which was... quite often.
His magic was well-behaved, excluding occasional joyful laughter, satisfied purring and appearance of flowers throughout the loft.
Green, white and red hellebore flowers adorned every table, some could be found climbing bookshelves or twining around mirrors and paintings.
Single black one was placed on the bedside table in Magnus's bedroom.
Symbolism was not lost on him.
And then the fire message came.
Arriving in front of the Institute Magnus remembered the first time he saw Alexander, standing strong and confident. Picture of the perfect Shadowhunter.
This time he was pacing back and forth, nervously glancing around. Until his eyes fell on Magnus. Then, taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling, he noticeably relaxed with a hint of a smile on his lips.
"Mag... High Warlock Bane thank you for coming. "Some things have happened lately that I would like to discuss with you."
"What kind of things?" Magnus asked, hoping the slowly growing anxiety wasn't evident in his voice.
This doesn't mean that it's about you. Get yourself together!
"Is it possible for us to go somewhere private? The front of the Institute doesn't seem like a good place for this."
"Also Jace and Izzy are hiding in the bushes trying to eavesdrop on our conversation", Alexander continued, as his slightly raised voice carried through the area.
Out of nowhere a gust of wind blew through the nearby bushes, revealing two Shadowhunters crouching behind it.
Magnus chuckled. He had to admit, his magic sometimes had good ideas, watching them hastily retreat to the Institute. Occasionally assisted by a few magical bumps on their behinds.
A questioning purr. "Yes, sometimes", he whispered to the magic.
"I can portal us somewhere, if you're willing", Magnus hesitantly addressed to the remaining Shadowhunter.
The resolute yes, that came from Alexander, was not what Magnus expected.
"You trust me enough to go somewhere with me?"
"Of course I trust you, you never gave me a reason not to."
Magnus blinked a few times as he processed what he had just heard.
"Well, there is a small caf.." The rest of the sentence was cut off by a portal opening in front of them.
Without a shred of hesitation Alec held out his hand patiently waiting for Magnus.
"Where are we going?" he inquired.
"I'd like to know too", Magnus muttered under his breath, placing his palm in Alexander's and walking them to the portal, allowing the magic to lead them through, "don't let us get stuck in limbo."
Magic did not deign to answer.
The sun warming Magnus's skin, gentle breeze carrying the smell of salt and aromatic herbs, as well as the sound of crickets and waves crashing on the shore and rocky ground beneath his feet, revealed that they found themselves somewhere on the Mediterranean coast.
Alec stood still with closed eyes basking in the sun, still holding Magnus's hand.
"It's so peaceful here", he quietly said. "I feel like I can finally fully breathe, the Institute can be suffocating at times."
Magnus didn't move, didn't make a sound, wanting to stay in this bubble of serenity they found themselves in as long as he could.
But they came here for a reason.
"Ale.. Head Lightwood... "
"Please, you can call me Alec."
"Yes, right, and you can call me Magnus. High Warlock Bane sounds too pompous anyway."
A brief smile crossed Alexander's face, but amusement lingered in his eyes.
If Magnus didn't know better, he would have thought they were on a date.
For Edom sake, they were still holding hands!
Better to get this over with as soon as possible. And then he could go back to pining from a safe distance.
"You said something happened that you wanted to talk about?" he reminded, slowly withdrawing the hand that was nestled in Alec's until now.
"Yeah, something happened. Is there somewhere we could sit? I think I saw a bench over there. I need to sit down for this conversation. Will you join me?"
Ugh! He was trying to keep his distance, but the pout on Alec's face when he withdrew his hand and the adorable rambling that came after didn't make it any easier.
So now they were sitting on a bench.
With a reasonable distance between them.
And there was that pout again as Alec observed the gap as if it offended him.
"In the past months," Alexander started, staring at the waves caressing the shore, "I have received some things, gifts actually, from an unknown source."
"Oh, so you have a secret an admirer, there's nothing unusual about that, I'm sure you are swarmed by ladies from all over", Magnus replied, going for casual and missing by a mile.
Shit, shit, shit, it is about him!
"Ladies, right", Alec muttered with a grimace of disgust crossing his features.
"What is unusual is not that we haven't been able to find out from whom the gifts came, but how did they get into the Institute in the first place. There is no evidence of how they were delivered, they just seem to.... magically appear", he said, glancing towards Magnus.
Did he see the flicker of hope in his eyes?! No, impossible! Stick to what's important! He didn't miss Alec's emphasis on the word magically.
If he plays this right, he could still get away with it.
"We? Who is we? Wait, you know who the gifts are from?" He was not, in fact, playing it right.
"I have my suspicions." Alec replied, moving his hand as if he wanted to hold Magnus's again, instead he ran it through his hair while leaning on the back of the bench with a sigh. "Izzy and Jace know. The first gift, I thought it was meant for her. And of course what Izzy knows, Jace knows too. I love them, but they wouldn't recognize what personal space is if it slapped them in the face. Besides, you saw what happened in front of the Institute."
"Yes, I saw, it was hard to miss", Magnus snickered, fiddling with the earring in his ear.
"I really liked the gift, I still do, all the gifts", Alec whispered, breaking the silence that settled around them. "I'd just like to know for sure who they came from. The flowers are still as fresh as the first day I received them. And the mattress is very comfortable, I can't remember the last time I slept as well as in the past few days. If ever."
"What do you mean, the mattress is comfortable? What kind of mattress? There was no mattress! Flowers, chocolates and cleaning from icho...", Magnus abruptly stopped.
And here it was, the moment that Magnus dreaded, not only because of the possible heartbreak but also for discovering how little control he had over his magic right now.
And he had only himself to blame for that.
"Errr... can we pretend you didn't hear what I just said?"
"No, we can't, and I don't want to."
What was Alec saying, why was he looking at him like that, as if all his wishes had come true. And why were they suddenly so close together, their shoulders and knees almost touching.
Laughter echoed through the air.
How did he manage to forget about his magic!
Apparently as he and Alec talked, the magic slowly shrunk the bench down until they were almost pressed together.
"This is so embarrassing", Magnus groaned, hiding his face in the palms of his hands.
"Hey, hey, don't do that, talk to me. You have nothing to be ashamed of. I really, really, like the gifts." Alec quickly reassured him while gently placing his hands on Magnus's shoulders. "Although the mattress did took me by surprise a little."
Oh, Lilith! The mattress. Magnus groaned again.
That's enough, no more hiding.
If his long life has taught him anything, it's that change was inevitable. And not all changes were for the worse, as it sometimes seemed at first. The only thing holding him back, at the moment, was fear. Fear of heartbreak and broken pride, but fear nonetheless.
And Magnus was many things, but a coward was not one of them.
Dropping his hands from his face and taking one of Alec's hands in his, he began to speak.
"From the first moment we met, I felt a strong connection with you. Something that has never happened to me before with anyone. And that surprised and scared me, especially since you're a Shadowhunter and a Lightwood. I don't know if you know this, but your family and I didn't have the best of relations."
"That's one way to describe it", Alec interrupted with a snort.
"Yes, well", Magnus smiled and took a deep breath, "my magic decided to act upon that connection without my knowledge."
"You mean?"
"Every gift you received was designed, made and delivered solely by my magic alone, I had nothing to do with it. I only discovered what it was doing during our last meeting at the Institute, when I saw its remains dripping all over you. I told it to stop but apparently it didn't listen. That's why I knew about all the other gifts except..."
"The mattress."
"Yes, Alexander, the mattress. Why, of all things, you got stuck on that?" Magnus said rolling his eyes.
"I don't know, it's kind of funny."
"There is nothing funny about all of this, my magic has become unpredictable, it could hurt someone, it could hurt you. I'm so sorry for dragging you into my mess."
"But it didn't. And it won't."
"You can't know that!" Magnus said exasperatedly. "You got your answers. We should go."
"Magnus, listen", Alec calmed him down, interlacing the fingers of the hands they were already holding and placing the other hand over them. Gently caressing Magnus's hand.
"I'm not a warlock and I don't know how magic works, but as far as I can see it's part of you. And your magic did nothing wrong. Yes, it behaved according to its own plan but it reacted to the connection you felt first." Alec took a deep breath as if preparing for something. "And I'm so glad it did because I was slowly running out of excuses to see you." he mumbled, looking at their joined hands.
"What?"
He raised his head and looked Magnus in the eyes. "I felt the same connection when we first met. When the snowdrop bouquet came and it turned out that it wasn't for Izzy, I hoped it was from you."
"But every time we saw each other you held yourself all high and mighty and I didn't know what to do. The gifts kept coming and with each one hope grew a little bit more. And there are only a small number of meetings that the Head of the Institute can hold with the High Warlock."
"Head of the Institute, huh? Who's all high and mighty now?" Magnus mocked, bumping his shoulder into Alec's.
Alexander's unbridled laughter rolled off the rocks.
"You said you had suspicions. What gave me away?"
"Do you remember when you were recalibrating the wards? I was watching you and saw a flash of gold from your eyes. I was mesmerized, I had never seen anything more beautiful than those eyes."
"And each cat drawing had bright golden eyes." Magnus confirmed, running his fingers over Alec's palm.
The chirping of crickets and the occasional squawking of seagulls filled the air surrounding the couple enjoying the blue, green and white dance of the sea.
"You know, I really like your magic. It sure has some very good ideas." Alec said, nestling his head on Magnus's shoulder.
"Oh yeah, like this last one."
"Which last one?"
“I can't believe you didn't notice it made the bench smaller!"
"In my defense I had to calm down an upset warlock."
"I'll give you an upset warlock", he grumbled.
"Maybe I should stick to your magic?", Alec teased, "It doesn't grumble."
"Hey!"
The early afternoon sun painted the surroundings in a warm yellow color.
"I have just one very important qestion to ask you." Magnus spoke after a pleasant silence, snuggling up against Alec's cheekbone.
"Oh?"
"Soo, how much softer is the mattress now?"
"Wouldn't you like to know", Alec whispered, gently pressing his lips against Magnus's.
The bubble of laughter that burst out of Magnus echoed through the air, interrupting their first kiss. Magnus didn't care, this time, he was sure, this time his heart was safe, protected in Alexander's hands.
And magic?
It purred contentedly, playing with small silver bouquets with soft yellow flowers on top, Immortelle flowers, which grew around the bench.
Magic did know best...