Work Text:
Here's the link to the amazing drawing that inspired this:
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It was the first genuinely warm day after what seemed like an eternity of cold, rainy weeks in New York. And Magnus Bane intended to make the most of it.
His entire week had been extremely busy – he felt like there was hardly a downworlder in New York that had not been one of his clients over the course of the past few days. Apart from that, Maryse Lightwood had him renew the protective wards at the Institute, resulting in him constantly alternating between working at the Institute and fulfilling the requests of his other clients. He had only been at his own apartment to sleep and collect ingredients for potions and spent more time portaling between places than actually at home.
Today, however, he was going to make up for that. It was Sunday, he was done with reinforcing the wards and there was no imminent warlock work to do. At least nothing that couldn’t wait until tomorrow.
It didn’t take the warlock long to decide what he was going to do with his day off – actually, it only took him a look around his apartment. The place definitely could use a makeover. He was already way too used to its current appearance.
If Magnus loved one thing (besides Alec, of course) it was redecorating his apartment. Normally, he wouldn’t need a special occasion to give the interior of his home a new look. But if there was one, even better. And what better reason could there be than those dull winter days finally vanishing and making room for his favorite season of the year?
He started with his rooftop patio, removing the dust and dry leaves with a snap of his fingers. With a wave of his right hand, the weathered floor tiles were replaced by sandstone in a light beige that would look spectacular in the sunlight. He frowned at the sight of his outdoor furniture – suddenly, the orange padding didn’t match the floor anymore, so it had to go. Snapping his fingers once again, he replaced the orange fabric with a dark brown one that went well with the new floor tiles.
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Magnus was just about to go back downstairs and continue with his apartment when a low meow a few feet away from him made him turn back around. A soft smile ran across the warlock’s features when he turned around and noticed who dared to disturb him in his redecorating-frenzy.
“Oh hello, darling”, he said softly and crouched down. He held out one hand and rubbed his fingers together, so the cat would come closer. “You must be new. I haven’t seen you around.” When the cat came closer and rubbed its head against his hand, he concentrated for a second and ran a small ball of blue magic over its fur, just to be sure. After the fiasco that had been Max’s rune party, he would not allow any more feline intruders with dubious intentions to enter his home.
When his magic proved that the cat was really just a cat and not a warlock in disguise, he picked it up ad cuddled it to his chest. The cat immediately began to purr, the sound growing even louder when Magnus conjured a bowl of milk into the far corner of his patio. He placed a kiss onto the cat’s head and then put it back onto the ground. “You may stay, little one. But don’t you dare chewing on my new cushions”, he scowled. The cat didn’t seem too impressed by this, it just looked at him curiously before it let out another soft meow and then made its way towards the bowl.
Back inside, Magnus started with the living room. The first piece of furniture to get a little makeover was the couch, the black pillows quickly being replaced by dark blue ones. The new color looked a bit more elegant than the classic black. Also, he figured that his apartment could use some new colors now that spring was around the corner. Then he moved on to the coffee table and with a snap of his fingers, it was replaced by a new model with a nice glass surface.
And that’s how Magnus spent the rest of the afternoon – leisurely wandering around his loft, changing fabrics, patterns and colors wherever and as much as he pleased. Magnus felt himself getting more and more relaxed with each new – or restyled – item. Interior design had always been his guilty pleasure and he genuinely enjoyed the new look his apartment was getting. After a while, however, he felt the stressful week and the sleepless nights take their toll on him. His magic got weaker and his body got more and more tired. And spending hours redecorating his apartment by using a significant amount of magic was probably not the best way to deal with that.
Luckily, the fatigue didn’t really get in his way until he was almost done. That’s when he started to get really tired and couldn’t deny the fact any longer that his body was in desperate need of some sleep. With one final swirl of magic he pushed back the curtains in front of the balcony doors and let the glass doors fly open. He flopped down on his couch and breathed in deeply, letting the scent of the fresh spring air fill his lungs.
Relishing in the soft rays of sunshine, he swiftly unbuttoned his shirt and threw it over the back of one of his new armchairs – he might as well treat his skin to some sunlight when he had the chance. Magnus stretched out on the couch and made himself comfortable, laying on his side and resting his head on one of his brand new pillows. And before he could even start to worry about the wrinkles his shirt would probably get, he was already asleep.
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Unfortunately, the universe didn’t grant him too much downtime. Magnus could barely doze for an hour before the sound of keys unlocking his apartment door pulled him back into reality, followed by a dull thud and a muffled curse coming from the hallway. Magnus smiled softly when he recognized the voice. He heard Alec shuffling closer, muttering something that sounded a lot like “By the angel, why does he have to redecorate all the time?”
The warlock chuckled at the adorable frustration in his boyfriend’s voice, but apart from that didn’t move. He just shifted a bit so he could lay on his back and listened to Alec’s steps coming closer – completely aware that he was still not wearing a shirt – and also fully intent of making the most of that situation.
A few seconds later, the shadowhunter came walking through the living room door. Magnus was still casually chilling on the couch, face and shirtless upper body tainted in the soft orange glow of the sunlight, eyes closed.
“Hey Magnus, did you – uh -“ Alec stopped talking mid-sentence, his breath audibly hitching in his throat. Whatever he had wanted to say, the world would probably never find out. Not that Magnus cared about that – he was too busy trying to suppress the laugh he felt bubbling up in his chest. The fact that he had the ability to make his favorite shadowhunter speechless like that was just too amusing.
Magnus’s eyes were still closed so he couldn’t be entirely sure, but he was petty certain that Alec was blushing, which made the entire situation even more adorable. Magnus was definitely enjoying this – and, who was he kidding, he wouldn’t be Magnus if he didn’t try to play this game for a little while longer. So he kept stalling.
“Did I what, Alexander?”, he asked in the most innocent tone he could muster, his lips drawing into a sly smile. He did his best to keep the calm façade up on the outside. Internally, however, he was having serious trouble containing the butterflies that seemed to be having a party inside his chest. His shadowhunter was just too cute when he was this flustered.
“I…well…uh…never mind”, Alec stammered a few seconds later.
With a soft chuckle, Magnus decided to drop his façade and open his eyes. Alec was standing a few feet away from the door, cheeks adorably flushed, eyes bright and lips slightly parted. If Magnus had not already been totally endeared by the fact that he could charm Alec so easily, he sure would have been by now. He met his boyfriend’s gaze and smiled at him. “Well, since you’re not cooperating, I can only guess what you were going to say. And if it was whether I gave the loft a makeover – yes, I did. Do you like it?”
The direct question seemed to pull Alec out of his statuesque state. The shadowhunter tore his eyes away from him and ran his gaze over the living room. “Yeah, looks good”, he breathed and cleared his throat, his expression suddenly turning serious, “we need to talk about that wood statue in the hallway, though. I just almost broke my toe because of it. You need to put that thing somewhere else.”
Alec visibly tried to keep a stern expression, looking at the warlock with a truly adorable frown on his face. However, it was only a matter of seconds until he caved in. He just couldn’t be mad at Magnus for long, even if he was just pretending.
“Duly noted”, Magnus retorted and sat up, still a bit drowsy from his nap. He yawned and rolled his shoulders, then stretched his arms in an attempt to get some of the tension out of his upper body. This past week had been much more exhausting than he had realized. He got up and strode over to Alec to greet his shadowhunter properly. Once he was only a few steps away, he felt the shadowhunter’s arms circle around his torso and pull him closer.
The warlock smiled at the feeling of Alec’s fingers running over his bare back and placed his own hands against his boyfriend’s chest before he leaned up and placed a sweet kiss on Alec’s lips. His own smile got even bigger when he opened his eyes and was met with the softest, most loving gaze expression in Alec’s eyes.
“So, how was your day?”, Magnus asked casually, because this was something they would do now. No matter how long or exhausting their days may be, as soon as they were done with work, they would meet at Magnus’s apartment and just talk about their days.
As Magnus had soon found out, it helped both of them. Alec’s recent promotion to the official head of the New York Institute hadn’t helped at all with his habit of always blaming himself for everything that went wrong when he was in charge. If only, it had made things worse. Magnus had stopped counting the nights he had woken up to an empty bed, Alec pacing in the living room and overthinking every single decision he had made that day. Talking about what happened at the Institute had helped a lot with that, even though it had taken Alec some time to really understand that Magnus was not going away, however grave his doubts and insecurities about his new job may be.
As for the warlock himself, he was always glad if he could vent a bit when he came home from an all to demanding customer. And maybe Alec wasn’t the best at addressing his own problems, but he was one of the best listeners in the world. And he gave the best bear hugs and sweet kisses when Magnus was too stressed out to function.
Today, Alec’s reaction to the question left the warlock thinking that his boyfriend’s day had been one of the worse ones. As soon as the words had left his mouth, Alec groaned and dropped his head onto Magnus’s shoulder and let out a deep breath against the warlock’s warm skin. “Don’t even get me started. Those kids Jace has been training are such a nightmare. I swear, he teaches them more of his cockiness than actual skills. Today I told one of the guys we’re training for their parabatai-ceremony that he should work on his combat technique and he totally snapped at me! How can 14 year-olds be so arrogant? When I was that age, I never would have dared to speak to my instructors like that.”
Magnus smiled and ran one of his hands up Alec’s back. He placed a soft kiss against the side of Alec’s face still cuddled against the crook of his neck and then ran his right hand through Alec’s hair in a calming manner. Usually, Alec loved training with younger shadowhunters. Ever since the Valentine drama had calmed down and he had taken his position as head of the Institute, he had put a lot of work in improving the training of the younger generation. “Just to make sure they don’t get us all killed when they go out on actual missions”, he would always say and most of the people at the Institute believed him. But Magnus knew that this was not the only reason for Alec putting so much work into the training routines – his boyfriend cared way too much about his fellow shadowhunters, especially the younger ones, to put this off as a simple necessity.
Magnus let his hand travel down Alec’s back and began rubbing slow circles over the strong muscles underneath the shadowhunter’s black V-neck. “That’s because you are the son of Maryse Lightwood. Your mother would have put you on blade-cleaning duty for weeks if you’d ever so much as thought about revolting.” Alec snorted, and lifted his head from Magnus’s shoulder to look at his boyfriend, eyes soft and full of fondness. Magnus smiled back at him before he continued talking. “Also I hate to break it to you, Alexander, but your brother is a terrible influence on young people.”
That comment had Alec genuinely laughing, throwing his head back in amusement. Magnus’s chest fluttered with warmth at the sight of his boyfriend so happy and careless. It had been a rare sight in the last few weeks. Actually, it had been a rare sight ever since he’d met Alec all those months ago.
“Yeah, you’re probably right”, Alec admitted, eyes still sparkling with amusement, “I think I’m gonna make Jace and Lydia switch training groups. Someone needs to teach those kids some respect. They can’t – “
Alec was cut off by his boyfriend’s index finger on his lips, shushing him successfully. He arched an eyebrow at Magnus, but the warlock just shook his head slightly, eyes taunting. “No more making plans for work. I asked you how your day was, not to come up with ideas how to improve the Institute. You have the rest of the day off, let someone else worry about those kids.”
When Alec opened his mouth to protest, the warlock silenced him successfully with another kiss. It started out slow, their mouths just lazily moving against each other, but quickly turned more heated and most definitely had the potential for more - if the both of them hadn’t been so drained from the day. With a soft peck to Alec’s lips, Magnus pulled away and tried to stifle another yawn, failing miserably in the process.
“Nice to know that I’m boring you”, Alec laughed, his hazel eyes full of mischief.
“You’re not”, Magnus retorted, voice muffled by his hand still in front of his mouth. “I’m just totally exhausted. It’s been a rough week. Also, you just pulled me out of a really nice nap.”
“Well I’d better let you continue that nap, then. I could use some sleep anyway”. Alec took Magnus’s hand and lead him through the room over to the couch. He laid down on his back, leaned his head against the armrest and then reached out for Magnus. “Come here?”
If Magnus had had any intention to refuse, he would have been totally unable to – those long lashes and soft smile were way too difficult to say no to. Also, who was Magnus to deny those soft hazel eyes any wish?
He laid down next to Alec and let himself be pulled close into the shadowhunter’s side. Magnus cuddled into his boyfriend’s side and dragged one arm across Alec’s torso, feeling his chest rise and fall with every breath. His boyfriend wrapped one arm around his back to hold him close. Magnus smiled softly when he felt Alec place a soft kiss on his forehead.
With Alec’s warm body so close and strong arms around him, it didn’t take Magnus long to fall asleep. Even though he was slightly worried that they may fall off the couch at some point. For something so expensive, the piece of furniture really offered a ridiculously small amount of space. Even though they were cuddled up together so closely.
But honestly, Magnus wouldn’t have it any other way.