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The first time it happened, Alec found a long string of beads in the folds of the bed sheets when he went to remake the bed.
Magnus was long gone on a consultation, though Alec remembered vaguely, in his sleep addled brain, that Magnus had pressed his lips to Alec’s temple softly and whispered, “I love you” before he left. The sun had been barely above the horizon then.
Alec rarely ever left after Magnus, who abhorred early mornings, but this time, he had the loft to himself before heading to the Institute. With the bed empty, he decided he would put the sheets in the washer so Magnus didn’t have to waste any magic on it tonight. Besides, he liked the smell of the detergent he’d bought.
As he was stripping the mattress, Alec found the tangle of jewelry. It took a moment for him to figure out what exactly it was, running one of the beads between his thumb and forefinger. The slide between his fingers triggered his sense memory and he suddenly realized it was the triple looped bracelet. He was very familiar with how it rolled across his ribs when Magnus trailed his hands up Alec’s torso, shirt rucked up. Sometimes he found little circle indentations on his skin after being tangled up with Magnus, their bodies pressed so close together that they couldn’t distinguish their separate heart beats.
With a soft smile, Alec looped the bracelet around his own wrist so that he wouldn’t forget to return it to Magnus.
By lunchtime, Alec had been staring at a small iPad screen for four hours to analyze a map of Brooklyn sewers to track a pack of Ravenor demons. His eyes ached and there was pressure building behind his eyebrows. A soft knock on the door made him jump.
Scrubbing his hands through his hair with a sigh, he put the offending screen down. “Come in.”
The door opened slowly to reveal Magnus, in all his glory. Today’s outfit was casual, black jeans, black boots, and a dark grey Henley. Three necklace chains trailed down his sternum in like a glistening waterfall of gold. “I hope I’m not interrupting, Mr. Lightwood.”
Alec stood up and made his way over to Magnus, tugging him inside by their entangled fingers. “The Head of the Institute is always happy to entertain you, Mr. Bane.” He reiterated the sentiment by giving Magnus lingering kiss, tipping their foreheads together for a moment. “I’ve been losing my mind studying these sewer maps. I think I’m going blind.”
Magnus brought his left hand up between them, his fingers outlined by the soft blue glow of magic. “Anything I can help with?”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.”
Magnus rolled his eyes dramatically. “Alexander, no one likes a martyr.” He lowered his gaze and started to drop his hand down when his eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head slightly in confusion. “Huh. That’s interesting. My wrist is looking a little bare. I wonder where that bracelet got off to.” He rubbed at his wrist thoughtfully.
“Oh! Sorry, I totally forgot.” Alec untangled the beads from his own wrist and held them out to Magnus. “They must have fallen off while you were sleeping. I found them in the bedsheets this morning.”
One eyebrow raised, Magnus looked from the bracelet to Alec. “And you were wearing it for me so it didn’t get lonely?”
“No,” Alec laughed, dropping it into Magnus’ palm. “I was worried I would forget to give it to you, so I thought it I kept it on me, I’d be sure to remember.”
Sliding it back on to his wrist and looping it three times around, Magnus grinned, shaking his head. “Thank you, Alexander. However will I repay your kindness?”
“How about,” Alec began, pulling Magnus in by the small of his back, “you have lunch with me?”
The second time, Alec didn’t even realize he had a piece of Magnus’ jewelry on his person. He’d slept through his alarm and barely had time to get dressed before he had to leave.
He was in such a hurry that he didn’t realize he didn’t have his stele with him.
Magnus had snagged it from the dresser and had it hidden behind his back. “Forgetting something, pretty boy?”
While tugging on his shoes, he stumbled over to Magnus and pressed a sloppy kiss to his lips, breathing a “love you” into his mouth.
Magnus smiled at him, eyes nearly closed, and puckered his lips slightly. “I was talking about this.” He placed it between Alec’s teeth, then padded back to the bedroom to get some more sleep.
From the second Alec arrived at the Institute, he was busy. He had to look over requests for missions in the city, organize tac teams, and receive Inquisitor Herondale for a meeting. It was already dark outside by the time he finally had a minute to call his own, falling into his chair with a huff.
“Hey Alec, I—”
“Out.” He interrupted, pointing at the door, hand over his eyes. “Get out. Right now.” The sound of retreating footsteps was music to his ears.
There was a solid minute of silence which he counted by the heart beats he could hear reverberating in his ears before there was another intrusion.
“What a day,” Isabelle moaned. Alec heard her drop onto the couch and kick her heels off. They fell loudly to the floor with a muted thump.
“It’s a wonder you can even walk in those things, let alone chase demons through the city, run a tac team, and teaching fight training in your spare time.”
“I’m an exceptional being, Alec. Ask anyone.”
He dropped his hand and looked up at her, a silly, affectionate grin on his face. “I don’t think I can argue with that.”
She smiled and was about to say something when she closed her mouth and leaned towards him. “What’s that on your ear?”
“What?” Alec instinctively reached for both his earlobes, then trailed his fingers up the shell until he met resistance on his right. It was cold, solid metal, shaped like a bisected cylinder. He tugged on it, and it came free, falling into his palm. At the sight of the small ear cuff, he murmured, “Magnus.”
Isabelle stood up and came over to his desk, hands braced on either side of his computer. “Did you really not notice that he put that on you?”
Alec barely heard her, pulling out his phone and opening his text thread with Magnus.
[To: Magnus, 6:39pm]: Really Magnus?
[From: Magnus, 6:39pm]: To what do I owe the skepticism?
[To: Magnus, 6:41pm]: ...
[From: Magnus, 6:42pm]: You have very cute ears and I wanted to know what it would look like on you. You were asleep and making those cute little snoring noises.
[From: Magnus, 6:42pm]: I’m weak, Alexander.
Putting down his phone with a smile, he looked down at the small piece of jewelry with a fond expression.
“Not for nothing, that suits you,” Isabelle said offhandedly.
The third time it happened, it was very deliberate. It was three in the morning and Alec had just got off late patrol.
As soon as he got back to the loft, back home, he had toed off his boots, shrugged off his jacket, and dropped his bow and quiver by the coat rack. Though barely able to muster the energy to drag himself from the door to the bedroom, he had forced himself to make it to the bathroom to brush his teeth and shower off the ichor splatters dotting his skin.
Magnus had been waiting for him, lying on his side, facing the door. When it opened, he was ready to greet Alec with a smile.
Stripping off his stained clothes as he went, Alec fell onto the bed and let Magnus pull him in against his chest.
Tangled in bed sheets and shared limbs, glowing with the light of the moon streaming through the large window, they whispered to each other about their day. There was no need to be quiet, but for some reason, the atmosphere felt too fragile to disrupt with raised voices.
After a few minutes of silence following an anecdote from Alec about Jace, Isabelle, and a sparring match, he spoke up again. “Is Magnus Bane your real name?”
Though it didn’t surprise him that Alec would wonder, he was caught off guard by the timing, and fumbled through a response. “No, it’s not. It’s a name I chose for myself.”
Alec’s fingers traced over the rings baring Magnus’ initials, tracing the delicate lines of the cursive letters with his pinky. “Why did you choose it?”
Keeping his eyes on the soothing movements of Alec’s finger to anchor him, he responded, “I wanted to feel like something great. Something powerful and resilient that couldn’t be held back.” He couldn’t tell Alec everything just yet. That dark place he’d left behind by pushing it away and drowning himself in alcohol wasn’t something he was ready to face again. Not yet. Not when he was finally feeling things that he thought had been ripped from his heart by the roots. Not when he was experiencing a love he never had before. Not when he was happy. “I didn’t want to be the person I was who was defined by rejection and loss. So I made a new name for myself. Literally.”
Alec stopped his slow, syrupy movements and looked up through his eyelashes at Magnus, blinking slowly. “After you’ve been on the receiving end of destruction long enough, it’s easy to wish you were strong enough to inflict it yourself.”
“That’s what it means—Bane. Destruction.”
Alec just looked back at him. His expression hadn’t changed. It was almost more than Magnus could bear to see that he still thought of him the same when it felt like the last thing he deserved. “And what does ‘Magnus’ mean?”
“Great.” Magnus reached down to touch the silver ring with the ornate ‘M’ engraving, twisting it a few times before sliding it off and holding it up towards Alec. “Do you know what the name Alexander means?”
“Protector, I think?”
Magnus smiled. “From the Latin “Alexandros,” it means defender of man.” Taking Alec’s hand in his own, he slid the ring onto his left ring finger. “And I would call that great.”
“Magnus, I…”
“I’m giving it to you for safe keeping.” Raising Alec’s hand to his lips, he pressed a kiss to the cold metal. “My Alexander.”