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Chapter Text

Chapter 1

Undoubtedly one of the longest days Magnus had had. His job was such, and he didn’t complain about any of it, the long hours, the meet and greets, the panels, because he loved it. But his manager, and friend, seemed to be worried enough for the both of them. Magnus flopped on the sofa as he tried to tell Catarina once again, what he seemed to have been repeating all evening.

“It was one crazed fan Cat. Nothing I can’t handle. Nothing that should get you all worked up.” Magnus reassured her once again.

“But this is not the first time Magnus! I’ve let it go all other times, and it keeps happening. And those interviewers are going to have a law suit tomorrow when they wake up. I swear! What kind of a show doesn’t have its audience under its damn control. I should have done something.” Catarina sighed.

“What can I say, I am irresistible. You can’t do anything about that darling.” He replied with a wink.

“It’s no time to joke Magnus. I’m serious and worried. And even if I let it go, which I’m not, Ragnor is a hundred percent not. He’s been pestering you to get a bodyguard for a while now, and I doubt what happened will make him step back from the idea.”

Magnus didn’t want a bodyguard. He didn’t need one. It was extreme, to begin with, and the idea of someone following him around all day every day didn’t settle well with him. So, what if a girl did manage to come to the stage and kiss him? It was ONE person. It’s not like there was a bounty on his head. And as weird as that whole fiasco was, there was no reason to assume it would happen again. Catarina took a seat in the bed opposite him in the hotel suite he was currently staying in. He had come to Los Angeles for the promotion of his new movie. He had a few more interviews to attend the next day then he would be on a flight back to Brooklyn… back home, where they would start shooting the next season of ‘Crystal Court’ in a few days. But right now, he was just tired.

“But Ragnor doesn’t know, does he?”

“We’re are talking about Ragnor Fell! He notices if you have one less hair on your head, and you think he’ll miss something that happened on live television?”

“But he hasn’t called yet.” Magnus said hopefully. “So maybe he missed it. He is a busy man.” He finished with a yawn.

Catarina looked at him, still worried, that much was clear. But she seemed exhausted herself.

“He has not called. So maybe it’s alright. And that’s a big maybe. And I know you couldn’t have done anything about it Magnus, but just try to be… more cautious I guess. And if Ragnor calls you-”, She paused as if to think of exactly what to say then finally went with “Don’t pick up, I’ll deal with it when we get back to New York okay?” Her doubt about the solution evident. Magnus nodded

“Goodnight Magnus. You need some rest before tomorrow.” Cat got up, clearly ready to call it a day herself.

“Night Cat. See you tomorrow.” Magnus smiled getting up to remove the make-up before going to sleep. And it didn’t take him too much effort to let the night and the long day at work take over him.

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Alec got back home from another interview. Getting a job as a bodyguard shouldn’t be this hard! He may as well have stayed in the accounting firm with his desk job. But he wasn’t happy, and he didn’t want to sit there and stare at numbers all day, so he had one day gotten up and decided that he wasn’t going to waste any more time doing anything his heart wasn’t in. He had quit that day and pondered about what exactly he wanted to do. It wasn’t so much as a sudden revelation, as it was a calculated risk to decide to go training a few months in a different state and get licensed as a bodyguard. He had always loved fighting and combat. He even took archery lessons as a kid (not that he needed to use those skills anywhere, but he could shoot an arrow at bulls eye every time).  And he did enjoy his time training. More than he admitted. But he had expected to land a job soon, maybe working for someone important. And look at him now, trying to get a job with a film star. To top that, it was a job Jace’s girlfriend had told him about, and out of desperation, he had accepted to give it a try.

He laughed at his own pathetic state as he walked to the fridge to grab himself a bottle of water. Clary had just landed her big break as a set designer in some long running sci-fi show. Alec wasn’t familiar with the show. But he knew his job was for the lead in the show. He had little time to do his homework before the so called ‘interview’, considering the disaster that it was. It was obviously expected of him to know about the man he’d be working for.

He sat on the sofa with his laptop open to find out who exactly he was not going to work for when Izzy walked in through the door.

“Hey big brother.” Alec and Izzy had shared this apartment ever since she moved to New York three years back. He was nothing if not a protective older brother. “How was the-” She began but was cut off by his phone ringing.

Alec held up a finger and answered the call. “Hello?”

“Hi! Alec Lightwood? This is Ragnor Fell. We spoke this evening.”

“Yeah! I remember, Mr. Fell.”

“I was wondering how soon you can start the job?”

“I’m sorry? How soon? You mean I got the job?”

“Right! Sorry! Congratulations! You got the job. Now, how soon can you start?”

“How soon would you like me to start?”

“Can you start tomorrow? Say 9am?”

“Yeah! I can do that. Thank you!”

“Great. I’ll text you the address. Bye.”

“Yep! Thanks again. Bye.”

He still couldn’t believe what had just happened. He could have bet that he wouldn’t have landed the job. He looked at Izzy, who had gotten herself comfortable on the couch, staring at him. “I got the job Iz.”

“That’s great news!!!” She shrieked. “Isn’t it?” She questioned realizing that Alec didn’t seem to reciprocate her excitement.

“Yeah. Of course, it is.” He shook his head. “It’s just that… I was hoping to do something else, you know, like, I don’t know, something important.”

“Like guarding the world’s most precious diamond?” Izzy raised an eyebrow, which made Alec laugh.

“You know what I mean. I just didn’t think I’d be working for a film star.” He shrugged.

Izzy smiled. “Who exactly are you working for though? Jace told me Clary got you the interview but Simon cut the call before I could find out who it was. He was making me watch ‘Star Wars’ again”

“I don’t know. Some guy named Magnus Bane. I didn’t really get time to google him. But I know he’s there in this really popular TV show, I think-”

“Wait! Magnus Bane? As in the Magnus Bane?! Alec… I talk about him all the time HOW do you not know who he is already.” Alec gave Izzy the ‘you think I listen to all your celebrity rant’ look.

“Crystal Court? Every Thursday! Season 4 is coming out this fall? Clary just got a set designing job at the show?”

“I know. I know. It’s just, I’ve never really cared.”

“Alexander Gideon Lightwood! You are hopeless!” Izzy sighed. “I’m going to go sleep now. But I have to make you watch the show now. Remind me of that tomorrow. Okay?” She finished walking into her room.

Alec stared at the screen where he had already typed in the name.

Magnus Bane. Apparently the most sought out actor in Hollywood. Absolute heart-throb and, as one website so elegantly quoted, ‘A free-wheeling bisexual’, and definitely easy on the eyes. No wonder he was in Izzy’s radar. He did a little more web searching realizing there wasn’t much of a ‘research’ per say, to do about an actor as he had expected, slipping into sleep right there, on the couch.

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Magnus was beyond excited to be back in Brooklyn. He had taken up the movie during the Hiatus to explore himself as an actor a little more. And he had a blast of a time. But like Dorothy so rightly put it ‘there is no place like home’.

“And you’re sure Ragnor hasn’t called?” Catarina asked, for the umpteenth time.

“Yeah Cat! I’m certain he’s not seen it darling. It’s unlike him to not call if he had.” She nodded, slightly more convinced. They were riding on a car back to his loft. Ragnor was sitting Chairman, so any rage that was probably held back would be thrown at him as soon as he was. Now that was the worst-case scenario. Best case scenario was exactly what he had been leading Catarina to believe, the one that he was praying to everything good, was true.

He got out of the car eager to see his cat. He used his keys to find his way inside, only to be greeted with a stranger petting Chairman. Magnus stopped on his way.

“Hi?” Magnus broke the silence hoping to catch the man’s attention, who seemed startled. He had half a mind to call the cops but then realized that a robber wouldn’t be sitting in the middle of his loft, and would have definitely run away at the sight of another in the house.

“Hey… um. Hi, I’m… a” He started, a hand still on Magnus’s cat. Magnus raised his eyebrow.

“Magnus!” Ragnor walked in with a mug of coffee in his hand. “How was the trip?”

Magnus didn’t answer, instead staring at his friend, silently questioning him about the guest. He almost didn’t notice Cat walking in.

“Hi Ragnor!” She said with a smile, noticing the addition to his loft as well. “And who is your friend here?” She asked, curiosity not so subtle.

The ‘friend’ in question was still quiet, with a forced polite smile plastered on his face.

“Oh! Yes.” Ragnor answered, “Magnus, Catarina, meet Alexander Lightwood. Chairman seems to like him huh? That’s great, considering how much time you two are going to spend together.”

The two probably looked more puzzled than ever, so Ragnor continued “Alec here, is your bodyguard.”

Magnus gaped at Ragnor first and then turned to Cat, who seemed to be reflecting his expression.

“Ragnor.” Magnus said tightly. “Can we talk. Alone. In there.” He ordered, dragging Ragnor along with him to the kitchen, ready to give him a piece of his mind.

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 Alec watched the entire encounter mostly silent, except for the stumbled mess of words when Magnus first walked into the room. He was expected to be formal and proper, but that is impossible to do that with a cat on your lap. Ragnor wasn’t really worried about him being unprofessional as long as Alec kept the cat, who was apparently named Chairman Meow, away from him. Ragnor had filled him in on the fact that the star wasn’t aware of him getting a bodyguard.

But when Magnus walked in there were a few things running in his mind, starting with how could the man be more beautiful than in the pictures, then he realized that he was gawking, and not standing, which he most definitely should have been, and soon after, it dawned on him that he was an outsider in the actor’s loft, with his cat.

And when he walked out to talk to Ragnor, Alec realized that there was a mutual disinterest to Alec getting the job. But he needed the job, so he prayed that Ragnor was convincing enough to persuade Magnus.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2

By the time Magnus and Ragnor were back, Alec had managed to get Chairman out of his lap, with a lot of hesitation on his part, and a lot of protesting on the cat’s, and introduce himself to the Catarina, who was apparently Magnus’s manager. She seemed nice, and if it wasn’t for the possibility of him losing his first real possibility of a job, he probably would have been able to have a proper conversation. Catarina soon excused herself to go and un-pack and he was left alone again with the cat. So, when Ragnor walked out, Alec was glad for the awkward silence to be over, and to not have to wait any longer, thinking of how things could go down the drain.

Magnus walked out right after, a look of defeat mixed with, what Alec was almost sure was anger. Alec was standing up this time, but Magnus actively ignored him and walked straight to his pet, picking him in his arms, all without a word being spoken. Alec made a conscious effort not to run out of the room considering the daggers being thrown at him, and oh lord, was it hard.

“Well, seems like you didn’t need to come today after all.” Ragnor broke the silence, and Alec bagan bracing himself for some bad news. “But at least you got to meet who you’d be working for. And Magnus got to meet you too” Ragnor continued, and Alec let out an unnoticeable sigh of relief, “But tomorrow you’ll start working. We’ll discuss payment over the phone Mr. Lightwood, and Magnus, you’re meeting the rest of the cast and crew for drinks tomorrow at Pandemonium-”

“I know. I planned the party” Magnus said looking bored.

“Just a reminder. And thank you for meeting us today Mr. Lightwood.”

“Alec is fine” he smiled.

“Alec. We’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Thank you Mr. Fell, Mr. Bane” He was probably not expecting cold ignorance, but if that’s what he had to work with, he’d find a way to do it. He walked out of the loft and let out the breath he had been holding for the entire duration of the, he wasn’t really sure what exactly that was. A meeting? A second interview? Whatever it was, Alec was extremely glad it was over.

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This wasn’t what Magnus had in mind on his first day back home. Maybe re-arranging the furniture, or sit on the couch binging on ‘America’s Next Top Model’, spending more time with Chairman, who was currently sleeping beside him. Meeting his bodyguard, not so surprisingly, didn’t make the cut. He should have expected something fishy when Ragnor didn’t call. Magnus was expecting him to rage out when he walked in, not add a person to his life! It was his decision to make.

“It’s not that bad, you know. You’re probably not even going to notice he’s there.” Cat said digging the kitchen for some food. She had walked out claiming to ‘unpack’ before things got awkward. Her luggage was already in her apartment, but she had unpacked most of Magnus’s things during the encounter. “And he honestly doesn’t seem like the talkative type to me, so you wouldn’t even have to make small talk.”

Magnus gave her a disapproving look.

“I’m just trying to help.” She raised her hands up.

“I know.” Magnus sighed. “I just was not expecting my day to go like this.”

Cat smiled knowingly. “Well, it’s an experience. Plus, give it a few months then you can just fire him or something,” she paused, “considering you keep yourself from doing anything stupid that requires protection.”

“Catarina!” Magnus exclaimed a bit too dramatically. “I can’t believe you think so lowly of me!” Cat hit his shoulder in reply, and before they knew it, they were off planning tomorrow’s get together. Most of the cast and crew would be there. It had somehow become a pre- season ritual of theirs. The little bit of a boost that they needed to go to work two or three days later (considering the hangover they might have the next day) and kick things off with much needed enthusiasm. It started before they were filming season 2, and Magnus loved to organize it. It was a chance for existing crew to mingle with the new additions to each team and cut off on some of the ‘new kid’ awkwardness that might exist. He really was excited for tomorrow.

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Alec wasn’t looking forward to tomorrow. To begin with, he didn’t do well with social gatherings. But he didn’t really have to do anything, did he? He just had to stand there and make sure Magnus was safe and ‘out of trouble’, as Ragnor had put it. And stay out of Magnus’s sight too, if possible. The man seemed to want nothing to do with Alec. And Alec understood. Imagine having someone knowing every place you’d be, every meeting you have, ever person you’d meet, and the said random person trailing you everywhere to ‘keep you safe’. The thought doesn’t settle well with most. Which is why Alec avoided being a personal detail for as long as he could push it. Because he wouldn’t like one himself.

Alec sighed into his pillow, unable to sleep. He needed this job, he reminded himself, if he wanted to pay off his debts. According to Ragnor Fell, the job would pay him more than well. So maybe in a few months, he could quit. He could explore a little more. And tomorrow was going to be completely bearable, hopefully, because Clary and Jace were going to be there. That is if he went to sleep now.

He tried, he couldn’t. So, he picked up a book from the shelf in front of him hoping that would help him doze off. He finished the book, but still couldn’t sleep. Probably first day jitters. He finally gave up and went to brush his teeth.

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Magnus was up just before noon. He hadn’t had a good night’s sleep for weeks, and it more than helped to be back in his bed. He had a lazy day. A long shower, a late lunch and no disturbances. But his bubble was burst when he realized… what was his name? Alexander Lightwood. Yes. That Alexander Lightwood would be here in a few minutes to escort him to Pandemonium, the club where the party was being held. He groaned as he fell back to his pillow. He needed to get ready as well. He got up, and just as he did he heard a sound form outside the door. He was almost certain it was a meow. Did someone leave a cat at his door? He turned around and opened the door.

“Umm… Hi?” Alec said, his cheeks turning red. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t really sure what to do. I found him near a bakery when I was getting here,” he said pointing at the cat that was snuggling deeper into his jacket for warmth, “It was cold, and I didn’t want to leave him alone.”

Magnus said nothing. So, Alec continued after noticing Magnus’s attire “Uh, if you will… Um- if you need some more time to get ready, I’ll just drop him off at my place and come back here.”

Magnus just moved out of the way indicating the two of them to come in. “What will you do with him then?” he finally asked.

Alec glanced at the cat before looking up to face Magnus. “I don’t know, maybe drop him off at an animal rescue. I won’t have time to take care of him.” He shrugged.

“Then let him stay here. Chairman will have company.” Magnus walked to take the cat from Alec’s hand. He looked at its collar. “Church? That’s a good name!” and it seemed Church didn’t like his warmth stolen away from him, because he jumped right off Magnus’s grip and started circling Alec’s feet, who then lifted him up, with a genuine smile on his face.

“Okay, I’m going to go get ready now. There’s food for Church on the top shelf there.”

“Thank you, Mr. Bane”

Magnus waved his hands dismissively. When he walked back out ready with a touch more of make-up than usual, he realized that both the cats had taken an unpretentious liking to Alec. He also realized that this situation wasn’t really Alec’s fault either. He got a job he took it, the same as any other person would have. But that didn’t make handing over your life’s schedule over to him any easier. He cleared his throat. Alec got up and picked the car keys ready to escort him out.

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Alec was clearly underdressed for the occasion. It wasn’t like anyone sent him a memo saying that it was a black-tie kind of event. He just assumed it would be like a normal get together, so he wore one of his sweaters without holes in them. Seeing Magnus should have served as a warning, but from what he knew, the star loved making a fashion statement, so he didn’t think it was a big deal. And if he had any questions about his employer hating him, it was clear now. A single sentence, that’s all!

He looked over to the other corner where Magnus was talking to Clary. They were both laughing about something. He wasn’t supposed to drink, so he had ordered a coke that he had been sipping on for ages now. Clary needed to mingle. Sure. Understood. Where the hell was Jace?

“Hey Alec.” Speak of the devil. “Did anyone tell you that you look like a creepy stalker that you are supposed to chase away?” He said, taking a seat next to him.

“Ha ha. Where were you?”

“Nowhere. Clary just wanted me to be there with her for a while because she didn’t want to feel out of place. But now apparently Clary and Magnus are best friends.” He pointed over at where the pair were still indulged in conversation. “So, I came to help you feel a little less out of space. Speaking of, what the hell were you thinking wearing this?”

“I didn’t know it was going to be this kind of a party.” Alec shrugged helplessly.

“But hey, at least no one seems to notice.”

Alec scoffed. “And that comment definitely helps. Thank you Jace.”

“I’m surprised Magnus Bane didn’t tell you when you went to pick him up.”

“Magnus Bane, apparently, wants me in this job less than I want to be in it.”

“Don’t worry man. I’ll drink your share today.” He said signalling the bartender for another drink. “To taking crappy jobs to pay your crappy debts, and hopefully getting your crappy life figured out.” Jace said, lifting his glass

“I wish I could drink my share of that.” Alec raised his own glass to Jace’s.

“Don’t worry Alec. If all you have to do is sit and stare at him, then you’ve got it.” Alec rolled his eyes checking one more time to where Magnus was standing.

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Magnus didn’t remember too much of what happened after midnight. He had a few too many drinks, sure, but that was the purpose of it, no? He remembered going to the bar to get himself another drink when the crowd started dying down, then he remembered Alec finding him a few beers later.

He rolled in his bed to find his phone. He squirmed at the screen. What time was it? 4 am, well if he’ll be damned. Just near the phone he found a glass of water.

“Hi… you’re awake? I just went out to go get an aspirin if you had a hangover.” Alec placed the tablet on the table near the glass of water. “Good night.” He said and left. He looked tired, but that was about all Magnus noticed.

Magnus heard the door lock softly and went back to sleep. He wasn’t really sure any of that was actually happening. He was probably still buzzed.

When he woke up the next afternoon, the aspirin and the glass of water still next to him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

Alec didn’t have the next day off, unfortunately. He had reached home at around 5 this morning. He might not have had a hangover, but that didn’t stop his head from throbbing. Maybe he should have kept a tablet for himself. Magnus sure knew how to party. And the energy there sufficed to make anyone feel drunk. What was his schedule for today? Oh right. Rehearsals. For the TV- show, he still didn’t know much about. He got up from his bed. It was already noon, so he mustered up a quick shower and decided to get coffee on the way.

The Day was mostly uneventful, and he did manage to get a smile and a thank you from Magnus for the tablet, which was the most kindness he had received from the actor in his 2 days of work. He had stayed there in set, watching the directors explain the scene, and the actors play their respective parts, reading the same line differently each time to see which emotion suited best. They even did their last-minute costume adjustments. Considering 90 percent of them were hungover, everyone did a great job not making it obvious. And from all that, there wasn’t much he could gather about the show, except for its essence. It seemed like a fantasy series, right up his alley as far as genres were concerned.

“How did you get the tablet anyway? I didn’t have any the last time I checked?” Magnus asked as they were in the car going back to the loft.

“I don’t know. I went out to a pharmacy and got one.” Alec shrugged stopping at the signal.

“Pharmacy? There isn’t one for 3 miles from my place. And at the ungodly hour of 3 am Alexander! You really didn’t have to.”

Alec shrugged again. “Isn’t it in my job description to make sure you’re okay Mr. Bane? So, I thought your mood would be a little less cranky with a slightly less severe hangover.” Alec bit his tongue when he realized what he’s just spoken. “I mean- not that- not that you are cranky, just that- You had rehearsals and things, and you know-”, He tried a little helplessly.

Magnus laughed, “It’s okay. To be fair, I have been ‘cranky’ around you, and I am sorry about that. Ragnor can… he can be an obnoxious bastard if he wishes to, and none of it is your fault Alexander.”

“Alec.”

“Do you have a problem with ‘Alexander’” Magnus questioned, a tint of harshness slipping in.

“Nope” Alec replied tight lipped.

“Good. Then Alexander, thank you for dropping me home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Alec simply smiled, not certain how to reply. Maybe small acts of kindness do pay off.

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Magnus unlocked the door to be greeted by Church and Chairman. Catarina had talked some sense into him that afternoon pointing out that being bitter with Alec was not going to get him anywhere. And despite it only being a day with Alec, Magnus knew he wasn’t a bad person, and he hated it when Cat was right. No, he still was not comfortable with a stranger knowing his life, but he was a celebrity, and there were multiple strangers who did know about his life. Cat’s suggestion was to try to get to know the other man as ‘more than a stranger’ so it came to an eventuality of a companion travelling with you everywhere, than a personal bouncer. But what truly swayed Magnus’s choice to decide not to be cold with him was the fact that his cat loved him, and Chairman didn’t adapt easily. If Chairman liked him, then maybe they could, possibly, someday, in due course, be friends after all. On cue Church climbed onto him, as if to remind Magnus that Alec was also the reason he now had 2 cats instead of one.  Magnus scooped up the cat in his arms and went to the kitchen to get himself some water.

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Alec was glad Izzy was there with them today. It had been a week since he started, and he was bored of standing in one corner of the set. He had made a few friends, Emma for instance (she worked at the sound department), made it a point to stop by for conversations whenever she could. But the routine was getting strenuous. This particular day Clary had invited Izzy over to visit the set, and also, they needed an extra set of hands to prep the props, so Alec decided to be of some help. Izzy was doing her final year of fashion studies, so she had an eye for artistic things, not as inclined to it as Clary was, but definitely more than Alec was. Since Magnus was shooting, Alec had the choice between staying and watching the shoot, sitting still in Magnus’s trailer, or help Clary. The answer seemed obvious to him.

“So, Magnus is not mean to you anymore?” Clary asked, resulting in a questioning look from Alec’s side. “Jace told me. Something about him really not wanting you in the job.”

“Wait! Magnus was mean to you? Why was I not aware of this?!” Izzy asked.

“It’s not middle school guys. Magnus was never mean to me. He was… um, cold. And no, he isn’t anymore.”

“Well, that’s nice to know. He doesn’t seem like the kind of person who would be mean- sorry, cold- to anyone though. He was so sweet at the party!” Clary said. “He knows my mom.” She beamed.

“That’s great Fray. You should start a band.” Alec probably deserved the paint that got splattered on him. “I’m kidding. But I get why he would not want me around”

“Do you like your job though?” Izzy enquired. Alec didn’t reply for a while. Did he like the job?

“There isn’t much to do. I just have to follow him around. And there is no possibility of a danger of any kind either. I trained night and day for months, and none of that is actually coming of any use.” He sighed.

“Hey there! Who’s to say I don’t have a bounty on my head?” A voice interrupted. Alec swore silently. He had the knack to say the wrong things at such great times. He almost winced.

“Magnus!” Clary exclaimed.

“Hey Biscuit. I see you’ve met Alexander.”

“I actually recommended him for the job. Him and I have been friends for, what, a year now.” She smiled. “And this is Izzy. She came over to help me with… all this stuff.” she said pointing at the huge room where several groups of people were working in separate groups.

“Hey. Sorry about the messy state.” Izzy looked down at her overalls. “I love your work on the show though! That episode where you saved the little girl. Ugh! You were so good.”

“Thank you darling.” Magnus said. “I came to ask you if you wanted to take a break for lunch,” He said looking at Clary. “Raphael and Maia have scenes to do right now. The rest of them already left. But since you already have company-”

“No! We were going to take a break anyway.” She said getting up. Alec followed her up.

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“And how do you two know each other?” Magnus asked Izzy, as they found an empty table to sit in.

“Oh. She’s my brother’s girlfriend. Well my other brother’s” She stated. When Magnus looked unsure, she continued. “Alec is my brother.”

Of course. The resemblance was uncanny. It was shocking he hadn’t noticed it before.

“What do you do?”

“Oh, I am doing my final semester in Alicante University. Fashion studies.”

Alec and Clary joined them on the table soon after.

“Okay. So, I know I’m not supposed to ask you anything about the show but can I still do it?” Izzy asked. “Clary refuses to give me details, it’s annoying really, and Alec doesn’t know any details. Hell, he probably doesn’t even know the characters’ names so he can’t give me any, So can I?”

“You can darling, but I can’t guarantee any answers, the producers, especially Ragnor would leave me dead in the ditch if I do. And you don’t watch the show! I’m offended.” He watched Alec choke a little, but the other two laughed.

“I keep telling him to.” Clary said. “Izzy tried once too… you remember what happened?” She asked still laughing.

“Jace and I left before the starting credits?” Alec mumbled.

“Yeah! I don’t know why though. You both love fantasy!” Izzy pointed out.

“Yes, but we were going to binge on marvel movies! And you and Fray are the kind of people who give live commentary for every damn thing. What were we supposed to do?” Alec whined.

“Hey!” Izzy and Clary protested. Magnus smiled.

“Point being,” Izzy continued, “I still have to make you watch it.” Alec rolled his eyes.

“I wish Jace was here. He’s so much better at handling you two.” Alec glared at the girls. “But I’ll watch the show.” He finished poking at his food.

“I sure as hell hope so Alexander.” Magnus

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Alec stayed true to his word. He went back home that evening and opened Netflix to give at least the pilot a try. He clicked play and sat glued to the screen for the next god knows how many hours. He laughed, he cried, he cursed at the screen. The show was about a warlock- a half-demon, half-human creature, who could wield magic- and his life. Magnus, was of course the lead, whose mother killed herself very early in, and he had to deal with the prejudices of having a demon father. The emotion that he showed on screen was palpable. He fell in love with the character immediately! Alec wasn’t easily moved by movies, shows or books. He managed to keep his sentiments at bay especially for fictional worlds. But by the end of the night, he had finished the first season, which was, sadly, only 10 episodes long. The sleeves of his jumper were soaked in his tears and he didn’t care.

He got up to make himself some much-needed caffeine, which he required if he wanted to stay up during the day. Izzy joined him a few minutes later and noticed his puffy eyes.

“Alec…” She started softly.

“It’s nothing Iz, just binged on the first season of Crystal Court.” He said, offering an explanation to his current state. Her worried look turned into a squeal in a matter of seconds.

“Oh my god Alec!” more inaudible squeals. “About damn time big brother!!”

“Oh god, you sound like Simon right after he made me watch the Star Wars for the first time.” Even more squeals and Alec covered his sister’s mouth with his free hand. “Calm down Iz.”

“Okay okay… did you like it?”

“I cried Iz! I never cry!” Alec gave up on trying to hide stuff from his sister a long time ago. They had made a pact with each other to always admit when you are wrong so that they had no ego clashes that always drew siblings apart. No apologizing was necessary, just a subtle admission was always enough. This wasn’t that big a thing, but they were just this way around each other.

“Seeeeeeeeeee!!!!!! Was the MCU binge worth missing out on this?” She yelped.

 “Yes, it was! It’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Jace would agree, but I got to sit him down and make him watch the show too.” Alec said

“Good! He won’t listen to either of us about it, then maybe he will to you.” She said pouring herself a cup of coffee.

“Damnit. I have to go get ready.” Alec said glancing at the clock and gulping all his coffee.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“And… CUT!” The director yelled. “Great shot you guys. That’s a wrap for today. Rest up and we’ll see you again tomorrow.”

Magnus walked to his trailer where Alec was sitting with his earphones on and eyes cemented to the phone screen. He peeked a little and realized that it was him on the screen.

“So, you did finally watch the show.” Alec looked up, slightly taken aback by the sudden interference.

“Um, yeah.” He replied, pausing the episode.

“Did you like it?”

“Yeah?”

“Is that a question?”

“No… I mean yeah, I really do love the series! It’s just I feel like season 2 is more relationship centric than season 1 was, and relationships are great, but the story itself deserves more screen time. Wouldn’t you like to know more about Micah’s past? He’s got 800 years’ worth of history to tell. And I-”

Magnus shook his head and smiled.

“Sorry. I’m rambling, I don’t know what I’m talking about.” Alec blurt out.

“Oh no, that’s not it. It’s just, that is exactly what I told the Show writers half way through season 3.”

After a long silence, all Alec could manage was an “Oh.” But Magnus couldn’t stop smiling the entire way home.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

Alec walked in to, what was possibly, the weirdest thing he had witnessed in his whole goddamn life. Jace and Simon were standing in the kitchen rapping about lasagna! Yes, like the food. Alec would have laughed if he wasn’t so confused, so he stuck to giving his sister and Clary an astonished, but amused look, who returned the gesture. All three were barely holding it together, but when Simon started beat boxing the whole room lost it.

“Lewis, I swear for a person in a band, you absolutely suck at beat boxing.” Alec said between laughs, taking off his jacket.

“Hey! It’s not my forte, sure, but don’t!” Simon whined “Besides, I’m also making the food, so be careful what you say… I might decide to poison you, or-” he dragged the last word a little longer than necessary “-I could always ask Izzy to cook!” He shrugged.

“NO!!” Everyone in the room just short of screamed. If there was one thing they all agreed on, it was that Isabelle plus kitchen equals disasters and fire brigades and everyone having to take a day off from food poisoning.

“Hey!” Izzy folded her hands defensively.

Alec laughed and patted Izzy’s head before excusing himself to take a shower. When he was out the couch was set up with bean bags and extra blankets and pillows on the side. Everyone had their plates of lasagna on their hands still debating about a movie to watch. Alec went to the kitchen to grab himself a plate as well.

This was routine for them. The first Saturday of every month, they’d all meet up. It started when Alec and Jace moved out for college, and Izzy decided that they couldn’t ever have a life without her knowing all the juice details. It took a long time for Clary and Simon to join the ritual, because to the Lightwood siblings it was a sacred rite of passage.

“Clary!” Izzy exclaimed interrupting the movie selection. “Did I tell you… Alec started Crystal Court!”

Clary clapped a bit too enthusiastically!

Jace gave Alec a betrayed look. “Et tu Brute?” Alec rolled his eyes.

“I still would NEVER watch it with these two-” Alec said moving his finger between Clary and Izzy “-but you really should give it a try.”

“But about that later.” Simon cut in. “Please don’t make them geek out more than the already are.” He pleaded. “How’s the job by the way? You’re going to get you first month’s payment tomorrow no?”

“Yeah! Finally, I can start getting rid of my debts. And once that is done, Robert Lightwood can go to hell for all I care.”

“Does that mean we are getting a treat soon.” Simon asked with his mouthful of lasagna. Alec tilted his head a little to the side then nodded.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“You know Mr. Bane, you really need to make sure you have more food in your pantry. You run out of it really quick.” Alec pointed out closing the empty fridge.

“It’s been a month Alec, so, for the millionth time just call me Magnus. Please! And didn’t you go shopping for groceries yesterday. I asked you to, no?” Magnus was on the couch changing channels. Nothing was catching his eyes. They had a week off before they started shooting again.

And he was also starting to warm up to Alec. They had sort of worked out a mutually beneficial system, and Magnus was beginning to realize that Alec was not that awful a person to hang out with either.

“I’m your bodyguard Mr. B- Magnus, not your nanny. And no, I asked you to go buy groceries yesterday before I left.”

“Isn’t it your job to keep me safe from harm. And not having food to eat isn’t doing me any good Alexander. So even as my bodyguard, you’re supposed to make sure I’m well fed.”

Alec sighed. “I’ll go get you something to eat then.”

“Me? You haven’t yet eaten either.”

“Fine, us then.” Alec grabbed the door handle.

“Wait. I’m bored. I’ll come with.”

“Seriously? Are you willing to deal with paps and crazed fans in your PJs?”

“Isn’t that why I hired you? And you have been complaining about not having much to do. Maybe today’s the day you get to tackle someone.” He replied with a sheepish grin.

“That was once! And I didn’t even know you were listening.” Magnus raised his eyebrows as if to say your point being.

Alec frowned, but held the door for Magnus to walk out and locked the door behind them.

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Alec and Magnus were strolling around the supermarket, which thankfully wasn’t that crowded. Considering it was 11pm, it didn’t come as too much of a surprise to either of them. Alec was pushing the trolley while Magnus put an obnoxious amount of junk food in it.

“Aren’t most actors on a diet when they shoot?” Alec asked after Magnus added another packet of Cheetos.

“Yes, but I’m an exception.” Alec snorted.

Alec was glad that over the past month they had found their footing, and Alec didn’t hate the job so much now because of the same reason. Well, it was one of the reasons. For starters, now he didn’t feel like he was poking his nose into somebody’s business without their approval. And he had also found ways to make himself useful in the set. He was admittedly also getting more spoilers for season 4 each day, which was just an added perk. Magnus was also beginning to feel consequently less annoyed by Alec. So, they’d slipped into a comfortable acquaintanceship.

“Are we going to get some real dinner now?” Alec asked. He really was hungry, and there seemed to be no solid food in Magnus’s groceries list,

“Oops.” The other man said sticking his tongue out. “It’s too late for me to make dinner. We should probably just buy take-out on the way.”

Alec shook his head as they walked to the cash counter where Magnus added a few more candy bars to their bill. Alec didn’t complain.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“You seriously don’t know how to use chopsticks? Wow!” Magnus stared as Alec went to the kitchen to get himself a fork. They had stopped by at The Jade Wolf. Magnus was in the mood for some Chinese.

“Is that really that big a deal?” Alec took his place across from him.

“I don’t think so, but for some reason that’s just really funny.”

Alec puckered his brows, then went on to open the food. “You are almost as bad as my sister.”

“So, you have two siblings, right? Must have been one hectic household?” Magnus asked opening his own packet.

“I actually have three. You’ve met Izzy, then there is Jace. He’s Clary’s boyfriend. He was at that party you had when I first started working, so, maybe you saw him. Then there’s Max. He’s the youngest. He’s in a boarding school in UK right now.” Magnus listened as Alec spoke. It was glaringly obvious that he loved them. “And no, it wasn’t really hectic-” Alec continued. “My parents were mostly at work, and I was the eldest, but Izzy, Jace and I pretty much preferred it that way. Do you have siblings?”

“No. But I have Ragnor and Cat, which is practically the same thing. I’ve known them since I was 10, and they can be very annoying, but I know it comes from a good place. This one time we were in Peru-” He paused and laughed at the memory. “-we managed to sink a canoe. Ragnor says it was my fault but I say we are both to blame equally.” He went on the explain the story in detail and it was one hell of a story.

Their conversation weaved its way into each other with almost no effort. Now they had had a few beers and were slouched on the couch with another one in hand.

“So, wait, you’re telling me that Raphael is actually sweeter than Camille? But she seems so nice on screen! I mean you two have some serious chemistry.”

Magnus laughed. “We are actors, it’s our occupation to make googly eyes at each other. But Camille is definitely not a sweetheart. I’m assuming you’ve never had the pleasure of running into her?” Alec nodded curtly. “Then hope it stays that way. And Raphael just has a tough shell. He’s a softie otherwise. I know, it’s hard to believe!”

“But I thought you and Camille were dating?”

“We did. Back when I didn’t really know her. Which is why you should take my advice to steer clear of her more seriously.” Alec laughed. So did Magnus. At a point their eyes caught each other. There was a certain hint of hazel in Alec’s eyes that Magnus hadn’t noticed before. They were still smiling, but a calm silence seemed to take over.

Alec snapped out of the moment first. “What time is it?” He asked grabbing his phone from the center table. “My phone’s dead.” He said putting it back down. Magnus picked his own and read the time on the screen.

“It’s 5.”

“Oh god! I should get going.”

“It’s 5 in the morning and you’re quite drunk. Plus you live pretty far away. I’m not going to let you drive home.”

“You’re right, I should call a taxi.” He said reaching for his phone again, ceasing his hand realizing that it was dead. “Can I borrow your phone?”

“Why don’t you just sleep here. It’s not going to be easy to call a taxi now.”

Magnus was expecting some resistance. He was expecting to put in a little more effort into convincing Alec to stay, but when he said “Okay, sounds good.” Magnus knew Alec was about as tired as he was.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec woke up the next morning when Church decided to climb onto his stomach, deciding it was the perfect bed. He lifted his head up a little to see the cat and then he crashed it right back to the pillow on the couch, closing his eyes. He didn’t want to shuffle in case it woke the cat up, but he tried opening his eyes again. He smiled when he remembered what happened before he fell asleep. Were they really up talking all night? Church moved from his stomach to near his legs before curling up there.

He slowly got himself to sitting position, trying his hardest not to disturb Church.

“You know, you should have probably adopted him yourself. I swear that cat hates me. Why?!” Magnus said, directing the last word at Church.

Alec smiled. “Good Morning.” He said.

“Morning. I made you some coffee and took the liberty of charging your phone. It’s been blowing up all morning. Isabelle called while you were asleep. I answered, hope you don’t mind.” Alec shook his head, “Good. I told her you were asleep. If it helps she didn’t sound that mad.”

“Oh you don’t know Izzy. She can sound so calm over phone. I’m up for a good dosage of lecture when I get back home. I don’t even want to think about it.”

Magnus handed him the cup of coffee and took a sip from his own.

“When did you get up?” Alec asked.

“Like 15 minutes ago.”

“Is you head trying to break your skull too?”

Magnus snorted. “Oh darling, my head is having World War 3 with my skull right now. Thank god I don’t have to work today.” He sat down in one of the chairs nearby. It took a few more seconds then it should have to realize that he was staring, again. He looked away too quickly, making it more obvious than it already was. He finished his coffee in one gulp.

“I really should get going. Wish me luck.”

“I hope you come back alive tomorrow” Magnus said raising his cup. “I need my bodyguard to do nothing that he was trained for, again.”

“One time Magnus! One time!” Alec got up. “Thanks for the food by the way, and the drinks, and the couch.” Magnus waved his hand dismissively. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See ya!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

Alec unlocked the door to his apartment, trying to slip in as quietly as he could. His head wasn’t really helping either. Every little creak the door makes always sounds louder when you are trying to be quiet for some reason. Like when you are up past your bed time, trying not to disturb someone when they are sleeping, or in this case, trying not to get murdered by your sister’s wrath being unleashed upon you. He closed the door behind him, not bothering with being quiet anymore, because Izzy was already waiting, arms folded sending daggers at him. Alec flinched ever so slightly when the door shut louder than he had expected it to.

“You should have at least bothered to call me.” Izzy glowered

“Phone was dead.”

“And when did it die?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere after midnight. Sorry.”

Izzy heaved a sigh, and pulled him into a hug. Well, that didn’t go as bad as Alec had thought it would. “Just find a way to tell me the next time you’re late. Got it” She muttered slapping his arms.

“Okay. Ow.” Alec replied, rubbing his arm.

“Why did you stay there anyway? Your boss said you were asleep. You slept at Magnus Bane’s apartment Alec!” Her eyes widened with excitement. It still astonished him how easily his sister could switch between emotions. They were screaming at him to give her (as Iz would so elegantly put it) the ‘juicy deets’.

“Yes, I was.”

“And…”

“And, nothing. We got take out and we ended up talking for a while.”

“That’s not nothing Alec!”

“Iz, I work for him… Ordering take out because we were hungry is nothing.” Alec knew his sister enough to know what was running in her mind.

“Okay. Fair enough, but you always come back home after you’re done for the day.” She enquired, as Alec poured himself a glass of water.

“Oh, we had a few drinks, and it was pretty late, or early-” Alec shook his head “-so Magnus thought that it was better if I stayed the night then left.”

“Woah. Woah. Hold on up, a few drinks?” He was scared Izzy would pop her shoulder with the momentum she turned in.

Alec looked like a deer caught in headlights, but he quickly shrugged it off and went to his bed to get some more sleep. He still wasn’t prepared to be a full functioning human being for the day just yet.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus wasn’t kidding when he said Church hated him. The only being he remotely seemed to even tolerate was Alec. The cat wiggled out of his clutches for the third time. Magnus gave him a stinky look, then stuck his tongue out. The cat scowled as he cuddled in the sofa.

“Real mature Magnus.” Catarina said walking into his loft. “And you really should lock your door more often.”

“Catarina! Hey. What brings you here today?”

“You forgot didn’t you. Also, your cat is dead.” She said pointing at Chairman, who was lying flat on his back.

“He’s not dead.” He loved pretending to be though, “And what did I forget?” He looked up checking up his imaginary to do list.

“Ragnor, you and I were supposed to have brunch today. Now get going. We have barely 20 mins. Go, go, go…” She shouted, pushing him towards his room. Oops. Alec probably had mentioned it sometime yesterday that it was in his schedule, it probably got lost in the rest of their conversations. He was having a great day when he woke up in the morning, despite his pulsing head. And maybe a small part of that reason was finally being able to talk to someone other than Ragnor and Cat as freely as he did yesterday.

Magnus took a quick shower and pulled out a purple shirt and black trousers, and did his usual routine, make-up all while Cat was screaming at him to keep an eye on the time, he styled his hair quickly and was out just in time to make sure his manger didn’t burst into flames. By the time they got to there, Ragnor had picked a table and ordered some wine.

“About damn time.” He raised his glass to his mouth.

“Magnus.” Was all Cat said, and Ragnor gave her a half smile.

“Not surprised.” He glared at the standing man. “Can you sit now so I can order food.”

“It’s nice to see you too Ragnor. How was your day today?”

Ragnor simply rolled his eyes and continued staring at the menu that was handed to him.

“You look crappy. Didn’t sleep last night? I thought you didn’t have to shoot again till next week.” Cat asked after they were done ordering.

“Oh, I lost track of time. Alec and I kind of ended up talking till morning. And come on darling… I never look ‘crappy’.”

“So, you’re playing nice with the kid. That’s nice to know.” Ragnor said pouring some more wine in his glass.

“Oh, yes. We played with LEGOS, and even built sand castles.” Magnus replied with a cheeky grin. Cat screwed her face into a grimace that reminded him of a pug and Ragnor just gave him a half smile.  

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec had stayed in bed for the better half of the day. Izzy had left for college. Jace was supposed to be there in any time now. He taught piano lessons to kids on the weekends, so Alec was presently alone at home. He’d gone for a jog, and even hit the gym. Now he was trying to think of ways to occupy himself meanwhile. He was just about to reach up for a book when Magnus called.

“You’re really bad at your job, has anyone told you that?” Magnus said from the other end.

“Hello to you too.”

“Hi. Now seriously! Why didn’t you tell me I had brunch today?”

“With Mr. Fell and Ms. Loss?”

“Yes Alexander, that’s the one.”

“I did tell you, right before we went to the Jade Wolf.”

“Well… you should have reminded me again.”

Alec laughed. “Damn, I really am bad at my job! It seems like you made a huge mistake hiring me Mr. Bane.” He could hear the star laughing too.

Magnus grunted “Do not ‘Mr. Bane’ me, and it seems like you owe me a mistake then.”

“I did accept the position.” He offered. That’s when Alec’s doorbell rang. “Just give me a minute.” He heard a muffled sure and opened the door.

“Did I ever mention how annoying kids can get after they get comfortable with you?” Jace walked in, pulling off his scarf.

“Every week.” Alec said holding up a finger, he didn’t want Magnus waiting on the line for too long.

“Hello, yeah. Sorry about that. Was the point of this call to point out my incompetence or was there something else too?” Alec teased. Jace gave him a curious look and he just mouthed Magnus.

“Well, that was the major objective of the call, but I’m bored. And I know you have today off, but do you have something else to do?”

“Actually, sort of. Jace and I were just planning to go out-” before he could finish Jace grabbed the phone.

“And you should come along!” He chimed in, ignoring Alec’s scowl. “Yeah, I’m the brother that’s dating Clary… Ahhaan.” He paused. “Yep.” Pause. “Not at all.” Pause. “Great, I’ll text you the address then. Bye” And then he cut the call.

“What was that for?” Alec wrinkled his nose.

“What” Jace defended, “I was doing you a favour. Izzy told me.”

“And what exactly did Izzy tell you?” he raised his eyebrows.

“That you have a little crush on Magnus.” Jace stated with a certain obviousness.

“I have a what now?”

“Oh, come on Alec. She told me you stayed the night at his, and that you were up all night ‘talking’.” He air quoted the last word. “You were with him on the phone too… seemed kinda flirty.”

Alec sighed placing his face in his palms. “Good god you two! Let’s get something straight. I do not have a crush on Magnus, and we were just talking. Also, he called me. And you barely heard the conversation, how would you know it was flirty. You and Izzy are going to have to stop interfering in my non-existing love life.”

“Well. He’s still coming to the Range.” Jace tiled his head helplessly, as Alec continued to glare at his brother.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus had never heard of this place. What was this place exactly? They were not in the bustling city anymore, this seemed more like some place in the abandoned corner of the map. He got out of his car to be greeted by his bodyguard and his brother.

“Hi,” Alec smiled with his hands stuffed in his pockets. “This is Jace.”  He said tilting his head towards the other man who smiled.

“Hey. Glad you came. It’s nice to meet you in person.” Jace said offering his hand. Magnus took it.

“What is this place?” Magnus asked still clueless about what they were doing here. He had stuck to a pair of jeans and a top, not knowing where exactly they were going. He was definitely underdressed by his standards, but it was the best way to keep a low profile if it was a crowded place.

“Oh, this.” Jace started. “This is an Archery Range.”

“I’m sorry, a what?”

“Oh, you know, a bow, and a pointy stick, concentric circles to shoot on, that kind of thing.” Jace said shaking his head sideways. “They also have fencing, which is also a pointy stick, but it’s made of metal, so you have options. And don’t worry, there is no one around today. It’s usually only Alec and me in the weekend.”

Magnus snorted. “You guys do archery and fencing in your free time! Damn I wish I had such interesting pass time.”

“We just short of kill each other every time, pretty competitive.” Alec admitted.

“What are we waiting for then? Let’s go in. Also, I don’t know how to use a bow and arrow, but I’m pretty good with a sword, learned it for the show,” He murmurs “So if either of you utter a word of what happens inside to anyone, I might just have to murder you.”

The Lightwoods laughed but nodded as they found their way inside the building.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec and Jace loved fantasy since they were kids. Magic, dragons, angels, demons, wizards, warlocks, you name it and they could tell you exactly what they are, and what shows and books tell you differently about how to kill them. In fact, there was a time when they believed that all the stories were true. Oh, that phase led them to do crazy things, one of them was managing to convince Alec’s mom and dad to pay for archery and fencing lessons. He still wasn’t sure how they said yes, but Alec and Jace made it a point to keep practicing. Lord alone knows why, but they enjoyed every moment of it.

Jace jumped and tried to attack Alec’s shoulder, who expertly blocked the blow, then spun making their epees clash again. Jace took a quick step back and Alec followed aiming for his shin. Jace moved just in the nick of time to avoid the blade. They swung their swords back to their sides, teasing each other to give it another try, a smirk plastered on both their faces. Magnus had just finished a round with Jace and lost. He didn’t know the rules of fencing so, he had accepted a respectful defeat still promising to kill Jace if the news went outside these four walls.

“Too tired after round one Jace?” Alec askes, circling his opponent.

“Not until you lose.” He winked, then lunged. Alec just moved aside. He was about to riposte when Jace’s phone rang. The epee touched Jace’s chest, and Alec grinned. Both removed their helmets and Jace answered his phone.

“You’re both really good at this.” Magnus remarked as Alec took a seat next to him.

Alec smiled. He was flushed, and breathing heavy, “We’ve been doing this since we were 10. You’re bound to get at least descent at it. But I’m actually surprised I won, Jace has always been better at fencing. Archery is more my thing.” Magnus handed him a bottle of water. He drank some then passed the bottle onto Jace who was just out of the call.

“That was Clary, apparently she wants me to come over. She says it’s something urgent.”

“Do, you want me to come along?” Alec asked, noticing the concern on his brother’s face.

“I don’t think so. I’ll call you if it’s anything serious though, okay?”

Alec nodded. Jace packed his stuff, and left in a heartbeat. Alec laughed as soon as he did.

“Why are you laughing?” Magnus probed. “What if Clary is actually in danger or something. You probably should have gone with him!” Magnus looked worried, that caused Alec to laugh even more.

“Clary is going to ask Jace to move in together.” He finally managed when he was done laughing. “She told me about it yesterday, and I knew she wasn’t going to be doing it your usual way. Fray knows how to surprise Jace.” He was still chuckling. He had barely managed to keep it together when Jace was walking out. “Which also reminds me. I need to call a taxi to get home.” He said looking towards Magnus, who was looking at him with an amused smile on his face. Alec immediately deflected his mind to unzipping his vest, only if just to avoid thinking about the intensity of the attention currently on him.

“You know, I have my car here. You could come with me. It’s on the way, so it won’t be a problem. Plus, I’ll finally know where you live.” Magnus smiled, and Alec was sure the blood rushing to his cheek was still, definitely, because of the fencing.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

The range seemed bigger, now that it was only the two of them. Magnus walked up to the rack filled with bows and quivers with arrows. Alec wanted to shoot a few targets before he left. He’d of course, told Magnus to leave if he wanted to, that calling cab wouldn’t have been a problem. But Magnus wasn’t sure why, but he wanted to stay. Alec was clearly familiar with this. He picked up a bow hung on the top of the shelf, along with a quiver of arrows and walked out. Magnus spent a little more time examining the exhibition then mimicked Alec’s choices, since he clearly had no idea what the difference between the bows were. There was only one type of bow on the set, and he didn’t have to use it at all, he just moved his hands rhythmically and the CGI took care of the rest. The weapon was heavier than he had expected. He stumbled before catching himself. This was not going to go well.

He walked out, hanging the bow on his shoulder hoping that would help. Alec was already aiming at his first target, his string pulled. The lights were illuminating the vast field they were standing in. Magnus watched as Alec’s shoulder blades aligned, pulling the string further and then released the arrow. He then lowered his bow, his free hand reaching for another arrow. He waited till he heard the first one hit the target to get into position for the second. There was something about watching him practice that Magnus found endearing. If he was being completely honest, he would rather watch Alec do whatever he was doing all day than try a hand at it himself. There was a certain elegance in how he aimed, a grace to how he held his position, in how his lips curled every time his aim hit its mark. It was… stunning. It was mesmerising.

It took Magnus far too long to snap out of ogling at him, longer than he’d like to admit. Magnus finally swung the bow back to his hand trying to find the proper way to hold it. By the time he could nock his first arrow, Alec had already emptied his quiver and was walking to the board to retrieve them. He curled his hand around the bow and drew the arrow towards him. The string, however, seemed to be more adamant than he had initially thought. He relaxed and tried again, this time with more force.

“You sure you got the right bow? You said you’ve never done this before, right?” Alec walked up to Magnus, who brought the arrow back down.

“No, I haven’t.”

“Then maybe you don’t want to start with a compound bow. It’s a lot harder to handle. You should try, -” he walked up to the array of archery equipment and picked up a simpler bow. “-a recurve bow. It’s easier to carry and draw.” He handed Magnus the one he’d just picked up, relieving him from all that weight. Magnus pulled at the string. It was certainly lighter. He picked the arrow up again.

“You’re holding it wrong,” Alec interrupted. He moved his hand to guide Magnus’s fingers. “Index above, the other two below. Keep your little finger away from the string. It helps with the aim.” Magnus nocked the arrow and drew the string, then turned to face Alec asking for approval.

Alec placed his hand oh Magnus’s shoulder and pushed it down. “Relax” He whispered. Magnus almost dropped his stance. Alec moved back and pushed his elbow down to align with the arrow. He stepped back. The absence of warmth for far too tangible.

“Try now,” And Magnus was more than happy let go of the string. He was suddenly short of air. The arrow was way out of place. That was not supposed to happen.

“That was not bad, maybe try not moving the bow so much next time,” Alec suggested.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Why was the range empty?” Magnus had refused to let Alec drive because he ‘was not his bodyguard today’. It felt wrong to sit in the backseat, but it didn’t feel right sitting where he was at present either.

“Oh, um, Clary’s dad, Luke owns the place. It’s is usually closed for the weekend, so Jace borrowed the keys.” Alec was pulling on his sleeves trying to do something, anything, with his hands. He was uncertain why he was nervous, if at all.

“Do we need to take a turn here?”

“Yeah, right.”

“Are you from New York?”

“Yep.” There wasn’t anything else he could muster up, so the silence filled for him.

Magnus gave him a sideward glance. “Are you okay?”

“Ahaan.” No, he wasn’t. What the hell was he thinking back there. Clearly, he wasn’t. His brain should have tried a little harder to convince him it was a bad idea, but why would it do that. “Why do you ask?”

“You just seem a bit off. You’re normally not this… fidgety. Are you sure you’re alright Alexander?”

“Left.” Magnus turned the car into the lane. “It’s just a little further.”

“Okay,” Magnus mumbled condescendingly.

Alec stayed silent. Oh god. Was he making this more awkward that it needed to be?

“The third building.” He paused, the car came to a halt. “I’m sorry, I guess I’m just tired. You want to come in?”

“No, that’s okay. It’s getting late anyway. Chairman and Church are probably hungry too. And you should probably go get some sleep.”

Alec smiled, picked his stuff from the trunk, and waved bye, then walked into the building. And as soon as he entered his apartment, he groaned with his back against the door closing it. Izzy and Jace had really gotten to his head with all their talk about Magnus. Jace wouldn’t stop talking about the star on their way, and Izzy did enough with just planting the idea in Jace’s mind. He needed a shower. Right now.

He found a sticky note left on the fridge when he came out, left by Izzy letting him know that she would be at Simon’s. He reheated some pizza, not realizing how hungry he was till the smell of melting cheese hit him. He thought back to the day. Honestly, it was nothing. He was just helping someone with something he was familiar with, and they weren’t. He was being polite. That’s not that odd.

Then why did it feel like more than that?

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It felt like after Alec got into their car, their roles reversed. Wasn’t Magnus supposed to be the uncomfortable one? He was just barely thinking straight when the two of them locked up. Alec was perfectly fine, as he should have been. Then when they got into the car, Alec looked like somebody had just told him Santa wasn’t real. It was so obvious when the man was thinking. His brows pull together, his lips either tighten in a line, or he pulled on his cheek skin with his teeth, and he always found something to do with his hands. Wait, why did he know all this? But Alec’s sudden and abrupt state of distress, made Magnus snap out of his. He probably was just tired, what else could it have possibly been. Whatever it might have been, he could always ask tomorrow. He reheated some pasta for dinner and sat down in front of his TV. His phone pinged.

Alexander: You have an interview with ET and Clevver tomorrow. Don’t tell me I didn’t do my job!

Magnus smiled.

Magnus: Don’t be so prickly dear. Still not sure it wasn’t a mistake hiring you. Attitude might not be doing you a favour.

Alexander: Ha ha. I do not have an attitude.

Magnus: Oh Alexander, you’re cute when you get defensive.

Alexander: It was a bigger mistake deciding to work for you.

Magnus: Maybe… Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping?

Alexander: Aren’t you?

Magnus: Was having dinner.

Alexander: Didn’t you get home an hour ago?

Magnus: Wasn’t hungry then. Now back to why you aren’t sleeping. Didn’t you say you were tired?

Alexander: I am. But I can’t sleep.

Magnus: Another reason why you are such a bad employee. You are supposed to drive me to those interviews. What if you doze off during the drive.

Alexander: Don’t be absurd. I have so many better ideas to get rid of you, and I don’t intend on dragging myself down during the process.

Magnus: Woah! Aren’t you supposed to me protecting me! How can I trust you NOW?

Alexander: Well, you can trust that I won’t let you die till I know what exactly is going to happen to Micah! The spoilers I’m getting from set make no damn sense. They’re like a jigsaw puzzle and I don’t have all the pieces.

Magnus laughed.

Magnus: Glad to know a fictional character is the reason I’m still alive. But you really should try going to sleep.

Alexander: You too… I don’t have to be in front of a camera tomorrow. You do.

Magnus: Goodnight! J

Alexander: Night.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec did sleep soon after, glad to have put the awkwardness away. He woke up at around 7 to his phone ringing. He grunted and pulled himself to a sitting position before answering.

“Hello?” His eyes remained close.

“Alec!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

“Max? Hey… good morning! Why you up so early buddy?” He rubbed his eyes with his index finger trying to get up.

“It’s noon Alec… Oh my god. I’m sorry, I forgot about the time difference. Did I wake you up, well…? I don’t really care, but I’m sorry if I woke you up. But that’s not the point! I have some great news, and I called Izzy, but she didn’t pick up, so I called you. And I just found out, but it’s still pretty awesome, and I’m so excited!”

“Okay, okay. Max. Why don’t you try breathing between your sentences first then tell me what’s so ‘awesome’?”

“Right!” Alec heard his little brother exhale loudly. “We coming to New York in two weeks!”

Alec’s eyes flew open. “Woah!! Really! Max that’s great! I haven’t seen you and mom in so long. Izzy is going to jump!” He chuckled. “When exactly?”

“I’m not really sure, like I said, I just found out! Mom just told me she might have a few days off and we are coming there and I called you! And mom wants to talk. Let me give the phone to her.” There was a bunch of stifled words then Alec finally hear a, “Hello?”

“Hi mom. How’s London?”

“It’s great Alec. You should visit sometime. It’s getting a little tiring with just us travelling all day long to see my children. Have some consideration for you mother.” He could hear her smile on the other end. Him and his mom had some rough patches, but they always figured it out. It was comforting to know that at least one of his parents wasn’t completely senseless.

“Yeah mom. Someday.”

“Oh Alec, your ‘someday’ will happen only after Max completes his high school and moves back to New York.”

Alec snorted. “This family does love pulling my leg.”

“Hey. What else is family for? How are Jace and Isabelle?”

“They are great! They will be really happy to know you guys are coming. I’m really happy you are coming.” He could feel his mother smile.

“Me too.”

 :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Magnus. You’re going to get late. Wake up! And lock your door more often for god’s sake.”

Magnus mumbled something which sounded similar to go away then buried his face under the pillow. He heard a chortle then someone removed the pillow from above his head. He whimpered then clutched on his blanket and pulled it over his face.

“Magnus… Get up. I’m really starting to think I need to get paid more if I’m also going to be your nanny.” Alec complained.

Magnus closed his eyes tighter, but moved on to push the blanket away just enough to reveal his eyes. “What do you want.” He whined.

“Well, for starters, I’d like for you to start locking the door before you go to sleep so you don’t die when I’m not around. But now, can you just get up.” Magnus pulled the sheets back up grunting his disapproval. “Magnus.” Alec tried once again. Magnus sighed then got up.

“I do not like you!”

“Yeah? Too bad, I still have to get you to work.” Magnus fake wailed but got up nonetheless. He was pretty used to getting ready quick, but his ‘quick’ was still a minimum of half an hour, so maybe it was a good think Alec woke him up now. He buttoned up is blue shirt and sat down in front of his dressing table. Magnus would have, of course, preferred to put on his make-up first, but he really was running late. So, he decided to risk it. He put on some eyeshadow and eyeliner, and a couple of other things, deciding not to add a streak of colour to his hair. He put on a few rings, and grabbed an ear cuff in his hands.

“So, what do you think?” He walked out, fixing the cuff in position.

“I think, you’re late.” Magnus wrinkled his nose.

“You know, I am your boss, right.”

“You look great, Magnus. And you know it, so, don’t ask me. But we are still not going to make it in time. Can we get going.”

Magnus smiled. “Gladly darling. Lead the way.” He gestured at the door. Alec strolled out, and Magnus followed.

“Lock the door Magnus,” Alec called out from near the elevator, and Magnus did.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7

“Alec, you still don’t have any Manga in your collection. You’ve got to be kidding me right! I’ve been asking you to read one forever.” Alec shrugged at his youngest sibling. He had just gotten them home from the airport an hour ago, and Max, obviously, ran first to the bookshelf in the living room. Max, Jace and him were always avid readers. He still remembered how excited Jace was when he saw Max pick up a book.

“I tried reading a manga in the library once, the whole reading the book last page to first gives me a headache.” He attempted. Manga simply wasn’t his cup of tea.

“Excuses Alec, excuses.” Izzy prompted.

“You don’t get to talk. Name me the last book you ever completed.” Alec retorted.

“Uhh… I think mom’s calling me.” She mutters before walking into one of the rooms. Max and Alec both stifled a laugh.

“You never told me what it’s like working for Magnus Bane!” Max exclaimed when they’d settled placing his bad on one side of the bed. Max and Alec were sharing a room.

“What’s to tell bud?”

“Um. Everything. Is there any gossip I’m not aware of? How many parties and interviews have you been to, are they like they show it on TV? And please, please tell me you’ve got spoilers for season 4!”

Alec snorted. “I’m not at liberty to discuss.” He said, putting on his best ‘bodyguard’ voice.

“Oh, come on.” Max prods.

“I do know some details. I’ll give you one. But you got to keep this a secret. If Izzy finds out I told you, and not her, she will kill me! We both know to take her threats seriously.”

Max giggled excitedly and nodded. He was always everyone’s favourite and for good reasons. He was the youngest of the Lightwood siblings, and so innocent to everything that happened in their lives. That alone was enough for all of them to save a soft spot for him and protect him.

Alec leaned in closer, “Micah is getting a new love interest,” he whispered.

“What! No way!! Really?” He just short of screamed. “What about Calliope? Is she still in the show? Who is playing the new love interest? Oh my god! Do you know who it is? When are they announcing it?”

“They are announcing it today or tomorrow, I think. At least that’s what Magnus told me. And I can’t tell you anything else.”

“But…” Max began, putting on his best whining voice when Jace walked in and covered his eyes.

“Guess who?” He smiled.

“Jace! Hi!!” He let those two alone as they seemed to divulge into their own series of conversations to check on the rest of them. Clary, Izzy, and his mother seemed to be engrossed in their own gossip.

“Hi, Fray!”

“Hey, Alec. We were just telling Maryse about you and Magnus.”

“Oh God with this again. There is no ‘me and Magnus’. Let it go! Really,”

“Oh yeah? Is that why you went to the archery range with him 2 weeks ago?”

“And the bowling alley last week?” Izzy pitched in.

“And ordered take out with him again just yesterday,” Clary added.

“I’m his bodyguard. I’m literally paid to follow him around wherever he goes. You people just seem to want to make a deal out of everything.” He said, exasperated at having to repeat this same concept to them yet again. But what tired him more was the fact that he was barely able to convince himself that it was just his job. He wasn’t blind! Anyone who saw Magnus Bane would know that the man was beautiful, but then once you get to know him, you begin to understand just how much. But that just meant he admired the star, right? And there still wasn’t a ‘him and Magnus’. He told himself that wasn’t something that should concern him, and it shouldn’t.

“Whatever you say, Alec,” Izzy said. “Clary, let’s go see Max. He probably needs someone to talk about manga.” She dragged Clary with her to his room. His mom, however, remained slouched on the kitchen counter eyeing him.

“What?” He asked. Maryse simply smiled.

“I may not be the ‘Mother of the Year’ Alec, but I still know my son.” Alec blinked. “So, what is it with this Magnus guy? Tell me about him.”

“Magnus is, um… quite magical.” He mused. His mother continued to glare at him with a smile. “He’s… Uh… Very… very good at acting?” He offered lamely. He wanted to bang his head against the wall. It was weird to think that this was the same person who had tried to get him to marry someone for pure business purposes just a few years ago. Thankfully for him, she understood the choices he had made and was still constantly trying to make amends for it. He never hated her for her decisions then, but she probably still felt guilty.

After a few minutes of awkward silence, he decided that there was no way to salvage what he had just said, so he decided to go with. “I should probably go get ready for work.” Maryse nodded, the grin still plastered on her face.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus was sitting in makeup. Getting ready for the day’s shoot. Tessa was making another wound on Magnus’s arms, meticulously adding more shades of red, purple, and black.

“So, Max and my mom are here for a few days, and I might have, sort of given Max a tiny little spoiler,” Alec confessed biting his lips. Magnus’s lips curled at the action.

“And what exactly did you tell him, Alexander?”

“About the new love interest.” Magnus raised his brows, that wasn’t that big a detail to leak. In fact, he was supposed to announce tomorrow who was going to be playing the new love interest. It wasn’t even supposed to be kept under wraps, it just never came up in any of the panels. Camille had landed a role in some hotshot movie, and the schedules clashed so she had decided to focus on the movie. She still had a contract so was forced to come and shoot a few days with them to wrap up her storyline, which is why the show didn’t announce her departure either.

“How much did you tell him?” Magnus questioned.

“Just that there is going to be one. Sorry.”

Magnus shook his head. “Oh, how am I ever going to forgive you for this! Do you know how important that news was! If this were in wrong hands we’d all be dead Alec. Dead.”

Alec narrowed his eyes. “Really?” Magnus began laughing, which prompted a gentle punch from Tessa.

“Can you keep still. I’m trying to make you look like you’re hurt here.” She complained.

“Sorry.” Magnus and Alec said in unison. Magnus felt a phone buzz on the dressing table.

“Alec, this one is yours.” Tessa pointed. Alec picked the phone and his jaw tightened as he saw the screen. Magnus watched as his expression went from carefree to something in the vicinity of anger. He cut the call. Magnus felt the brush off his arm the second time the phone rang. Alec declined it again. Tessa was also intently watching him now. The third time, Alec groaned.

“I have to take this.” He said through his teeth placing the phone near his ear. “What do you want-” was all the conversation that Magnus managed to hear before Alec’s voice was replaced with silence. Tessa continued to brush up on the slash. Who was that? Magnus didn’t know there could be a person who could extract that kind of a reaction from Alec.

“It’s probably nothing. Stop looking so worried.” She spoke.

“Worried about what?”

“Alec.” Magnus blinked in confusion. “Oh please. You know, for an actor you really aren’t that subtle.”

“Subtle about what?” He asked. But he knew exactly what Tessa was talking about. One look, and he knew she did as well. He was probably screwed.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“You want to meet Max?” Alec scoffed, “That is not happening.”

“Come on son, I have the right to see him too.” Robert Lightwood knew how to get him worked up. Alec was pretty good when it came to keeping his cool, but he could not even think about his father without wanting to burn something.

“You had the right to see him. You lost that a long time ago. Now if that’s all you had to say then your call is pointless.”

“You still owe me.” Of course, he’d bring that up.

“I owe you money and nothing else.” He finished abruptly touching the red circle on the screen and shoving the phone in his pocket. He exhaled sharply rubbing his forehead with his thumb and index finger.

“Everything good?” He had not heard Magnus walk up to him. His expressions were soft.

A smile forced itself onto Alec’s face. “It’s nothing.”

“Alec,-” Magnus started.

“Magnus, we’re ready for you.” A girl with an earpiece and notepad in her hand interrupted. Magnus looked unsure.

“Go, seriously, I’m okay,” Alec reassured him

“Okay… But don’t think this conversation is over.” He said walking with the girl to the set.

He walked over to the snack bar, hoping some coffee would help wash out the conversation with his father. He turned around, barely catching himself from crashing into a woman in a bright red dress. The coffee, on the other hand, splattered a little off the cup due to the sudden stop, falling on the woman’s shoes.

“Oh God! Are you kidding me? Do you not notice other people walking?” Alec finally got a chance to look at who was talking to him. “Self-absorbed twit,” Camille mumbled.

“Excuse me? It was an accident. So, calm down.”

“Yeah? You want me to calm down? Your entire salary couldn’t pay for this pair.” She pointed at the shoes stained with coffee.

Alec breathed in and out. It was pointless losing his temper over this, irrespective of how stupid the argument was.  “I’m sorry.” He said, composing himself, “To both you and your shoes.” He joked.

“Are you making fun of me. Listen up you-” Camille pointed her finger to his chest, “-whoever you are. Learn to behave with respect, or I’ll make it my damn goal to get you kicked out of whatever job you currently have here.”

Woah, okay. Calm, Alec, calm. “Sorry, Ms. Belcourt.”

“You better be. Watch where you walk next time boy.” Magnus was right. Alec smiled, tight-lipped. He didn’t need to stay for any more of this, so he turned around and walked away.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec seemed to still be in a bad mood. Magnus didn’t know how to help.

“Magnus. Magnus.” He shifted his head a little to look at Raphael. “Were you listening to anything I just said?” Magnus tilted his head to a side. His friend sighed. “I said I saw Camille snap at someone today. God, I’m so glad she’s leaving.” Magnus couldn’t agree more. She was a vicious snake, it was hard to believe he ever dated her without noticing that for a good year.

“Today is her last day of filming, right?” Raphael nodded. “Good riddens then.” They both ate in silence for a while.

“Okay, I think I have to go change now. I’ll catch up.” Magnus raised his hand as Raphael walked away. His thoughts still lingering over Alec.

“What are you thinking about?” A voice interrupted.

“Nothing important. You ready to go?” Alec nodded. His hands were shoved in his pockets, which meant Alec was nervous about something. It was 10 pm, but the busy city was still bustling with energy. When the car neared Magnus’s loft, there seemed to be some space to breathe again. They mostly drove in a comfortable silence, each wrapped in their own minds. “I kinda want to take a walk,” Magnus waited for a reply.

“Okay, I can drop the car off near here somewhere and I’ll come back for it later.” Alec found an empty space near a bakery and the two of them got off the car.

“I ran into Camille Belcourt today. I think I preferred her character.” Alec was walking by his side, their shoulders almost touching.

“I told you to steer clear of her.” Magnus laughed, eyes still on the pavement.

“I tried.” Alec protested and continued to walk when someone blocked their way.

“Woolsey?” Magnus said addressing the man. He could clearly see that he was pissed. “What are you doing here?”

“Not trying to run into you.” Woolsey’s tone delivered enough.

“Look. I’m really sorry fo-” He’d hardly registered the fist that was flying at him and the hand that stopped it. Magnus stepped back, taken by surprise. “Woah” His eyes widened.

“Back off.” It was Alec who spoke this time. His hand was still holding onto Woolsey’s. Woolsey grabbed onto Alec’s hand twisting it. Alec was not facing Magnus, his trapped hand behind him.

“Listen up pretty boy. Stay out of this. What are you, his newest conquest?”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec freed his hand with almost no effort. Today was not the best day to taunt him. That conversation with his father had milked his day, and the day just seemed to go downhill. “You don’t want to do this.” Alec tried. He saw Woolsey snort. The hit came a lot faster than he expected it to. He couldn’t block it this time. He felt a sharp pain on his left cheek, probably because of the ring in his opponent’s finger. He wiped off the blood that trickled down the side of his face with his thumb. As much as he would have liked to punch the man in his face, he knew he shouldn’t. He tried talking him off once again. When that led to him having to prevent another blow to his face, he sighed. This was going to turn into a full-blown brawl, wasn’t it?

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus stood there stunned as the two men in front of him wrestled each other. He registered none of it, except that Alec was trying his hardest just to play defence and not offence. He flinched every time either one landed a hit. It seemed to go on for too long, but Alec eventually managed to get Woolsey’s cheek against the wall, and hands locked.

“I get that you’re drunk and need to pick a fight. But I’m going to say this just once. You. Need. To. Go.” Alec enunciated each word. Magnus was glad that the alley was empty, and that there were no paps or just people taking pictures of the scene they were creating. He was still staring. Awe-struck.

“Are you okay?” Alec asked when he’s finally managed to find his composure.

“I’m sorry, did you just ask me if I’m okay?” Magnus looked at him disapprovingly. “Alec, you are the one bleeding.” His hand moved slowly to Alec’s arm, examining the wound. He’d probably scratched it at some point during the fight. “You are not supposed to ask me if I’m okay. Also, what were you thinking?” Magnus couldn’t explain if he was angry or worried. He searched Alec’s eyes for an explanation. “Let’s get you home, so we can see exactly how stupid your decision was.”

Alec could still walk, so that was a good sign, but he was still clearly hurt. Neither of them said a word till they reached Magnus’s loft.

“Sit down. Don’t move. I’ll get the first aid box.” Alec took a seat on the couch. Magnus set the box next to him, took a cotton ball, and started cleaning his wounds. There weren’t many, mostly just scratches. No swelling. Thank god for that. Magnus lingered longer than he needed to at each injury.

“I’m okay,” Alec whispered softly. “I really am.” Magnus looked up from where he was kneeling next to Alec.

“He would have probably just slapped me and let it go. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Well, I honestly wasn’t expecting a fight. I didn’t know you had managed to piss off ninjas. I swear he had claws.” Alec gave a low laugh. “Who exactly is this Woolsey.”

“An ex.” Alec shook his head.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Are you okay,” Magnus asked again, handing him a glass of water.

“Magnus, you literally just band aided me. And again, I’m great.”

“Not that. You’ve been a little off since that call. Who was it?”

Alec wasn’t sure why he answered. “It was my father. He wanted to come see Max”

“And you didn’t want him to?”

“No. My father and I… we aren’t in the best terms.” He paused. A little hesitant to continue, but he did. “He runs a business here, he wanted me to take over. Well, he wanted me to marry this girl, but then I came out, and stuff just went crazy from there. My mom found out that he was cheating on her, and he still wanted me to marry Lydia. Soon mom, Jace, Izzy and I had already cut ties with him, but he called me once to talk. He threatened to cut us off.” He snorted pathetically. Magnus listened. “None of us wanted his money, but he basically wanted us to pay him back for what he ‘gave us’. I don’t know what he was attempting but I told him I’d give him the money if he’d leave us alone.” Magnus placed a comforting hand on Alec’s back. “Max was still too young when all this happened. So, no, I don’t want him anywhere near my family.”

“So, you still owe him.”

Alec nodded. “It’s not easy to pay off the amount spent in the education and nurturing of 3 very needy kids, unfortunately.” He laughed nervously. His family didn’t know that. They thought was paying off his college debts that Robert Lightwood had paid for. He wanted it to stay that way. He took a sip of the water in his hand. Magnus was still looking at him.

“This a pathetically stupid story you didn’t need to waste your time with. Sorry for boring you,” Alec said finally meeting his gaze.

“No, it’s not pathetic. And it was quite entertaining really. You don’t have to tell me about crappy dads. Mine is practically a prince of hell,” He said frivolously. Alec smiled.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“I didn’t thank you,” Magnus remembered, trying to divert Alec’s thoughts from spiralling into whatever hole it was trying to crawl through.

“What for?”

“Being my knight in a leather jacket, of course.”

“I just did my job,” Alec shrugged.

“Oh, that’s right! You should be thanking me then. You finally got to do what you were trained to do.” Alec laughed heartily. The sound filled the room. His eyes crinkled when he laughed. And Magnus wanted to click a picture and frame the moment.

“One time!” He complained. Magnus’s heart started dancing.

Oh, he was positively screwed.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8

Alec opened the door to his sister screaming “You’re an idiot.” He closed the door behind him. Izzy continued scowling at him, “What on earth happened, Alec?”

“It’s a long story.”

Izzy folded her arms, “Well, I have time.” Alec sighed. He didn’t see a point in trying to make her feel better, and it was bound to happen someday. It wasn’t known to happen very often, but his family should have been ready for him to get a little hurt at some point. He did sign up to be a bodyguard after all. He told her the briefest version of the story so she didn’t worry more. When he was done she pulled him for a hug. He flinched in pain.

“Where are mom and Max and the rest of them?” Alec noticed that it was just the two of them.

“Oh, they are in a movie. I came as soon as Magnus called.”

“Wait. Magnus called you?”

“Mmhmm. He wanted me to make sure you were okay. He also wanted to make sure I wasn’t pissed when you got back home looking like a mummy.”

“Ha ha. But that didn’t work now, did it.”

“What were you expecting? A ‘Yay Alec, you just got beat up’ party?”

“Nope, an ‘are you okay’ would have mostly done it.” He pretended to think for a few seconds, then nodded, “Yes, that would have.” Izzy glared.

“I missed the movie for you!”

“I’m sorry about that. But how did Magnus get your number anyway?”

“Oh, you remember that night when you stayed over at Magnus’s and worried me sick. I called him that day to let him know that I took his number from your phone, and to make sure that he had mine. For situations like this.”

“How often do you talk?” Alec didn’t know why he was prying, he didn’t know why the accusation slipped in either.

“We text a lot. Mostly fashion stuff, but he is a real easy person to talk to. I swear I forget I’m talking to a TV star sometimes.” Alec decidedly looked at his hands, smiling. He knew exactly what Izzy was talking about. “Oh, hermano. Don’t worry so much. A guy who bothered to take enough time to fix you up then calls your sister to make sure you were okay doesn’t have eyes for me. Besides, Simon wouldn’t approve.” She winked. It was Alec’s turn to glare.

“Oh please. You couldn’t be more obvious,” Izzy said. The door unlocked and the rest of them walked in. Simon and Clary in a heated discussion about something. Max gave Alec a questioning look noticing his state. His mother looked worried.

“It’s just a few scratches. Nothing too serious.” Alec replied to all their unspoken queries. And he wasn’t lying. They all seemed too tired to inquire further. Max was practically sleep walking at this point. He didn’t even bother to change before he crawled onto one side of Alec’s bed. Alec got out the extra beddings from inside a cupboard knowing they would all decide to crash here today. After everyone settled in their respective places, Simon taking the couch, Jace and Clary on the mattress below, Izzy and Maryse in Izzy’s room, Alec got to his bed and carefully placed a blanket on Max.  He took his phone in his hand, unable to sleep.

Magnus: Did you get home safe?

Alec tried not to grin like an idiot but failed.

Alec: I did, but my sister could have told you that. Thanks for that by the way -_-

He was just about to switch tabs to open YouTube when he heard a ping.

Magnus: Hey! I was trying to help.

Alec: Speaking of, I just heard you and my sister have become besties.

Magnus: Aww… Alexander, are you jealous?

Alec: Why would I be jealous?

Magnus: Idk.

Magnus: Maybe you want me all to yourself. Who am I to say?

Alec: You wish!

Magnus: She and I have a lot to talk about! The lack of your fashion sense for example

Alec: HEY!

Magnus: Do you know how rare it is to see you in something not black!

Alec: At least I don’t wear a black shirt that says ‘Bodyguard’ on it.

Magnus: Isn’t that because Ragnor made sure no one knows that I have one?

Alec: Reasons… But I’m pretty sure people know.

Magnus: Not people who don’t know me personally, which is kind of the point, no?

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus ended up staying all night chatting with Alec. It wasn’t unusual. They had easy flowing conversations all the time that took a toll on their sleep. But he didn’t have to go back to shoot till evening the next day. Today? Time is a weird concept. He woke up only what someone pulled the blanket from under him. Not completely though, he had a tight grip on it.

“Has anyone ever told you it is almost impossible to make you get up?” Magnus woke up to Alec staring down at him. “I’ve been trying for the past 15 minutes!”

So, he wasn’t dreaming. He groaned but got up. “What time is it?” His voice was raspy. He cleared his throat attempting the sentence again.

“It’s 6 pm. Have you not had anything to eat all day?” Magnus blinked a few times, adjusting to the light that Alec had just switched on. “Maybe you needed to hire a sitter first,” Alec muttered. “Go brush your teeth and get ready, I’ll find you something to eat.” By the time Magnus was out, Alec had whipped up some coffee in a travel mug, and a sandwich. He even fed Church and Chairman Meow.

“Let’s get going. You can eat this in the car, right?” He asked noticing Magnus walk out of the room.

“Yeah. Sorry I’m late,” He apologised, taking the sandwich and the cup from the counter as Alec grabbed the keys. “That aside, why on earth are you here! You should be resting. I wasn’t expecting you to show up today. I could have called someone else.”

“It doesn’t even hurt. Besides, you wouldn’t have bothered to get up and go to the studio if I didn’t wake you up.” He wasn’t wrong. They got out and into the car.

“Didn’t you want to spend some time with your family? That should have been a good enough excuse.”

“We did go out today, but Izzy wanted to take them shopping in the evening because I was going to work, and I’m apparently a buzz-kill with that.”

“Didn’t Izzy stop you?! I’m disappointed,” Magnus said taking a bite of his sandwich. “Mmm… This is good!”

Alec smirked from the driver seat. “Thank you!”

“Why didn’t Izzy stop you from coming?”

“Because she wanted to go shopping.” He teased. Magnus shook his head, then pulled out the script for the day’s shoot on his phone, going over the lines, which was when he saw missed calls from Ragnor.

He swore, “I forgot to do the facebook live today. Urghh! Ragnor is going to kill me.” Alec didn’t say anything, but Magnus could hear him snickering. He ignored Alec and called Ragnor.

“Magnus! Up from the dead, I’m assuming. Ready to go back?”

“Ragnor!” Magnus sang, dragging out the ‘a’ “Hi! It’s a funny story actually.”

“If the story doesn’t start with ‘I’m an imbecile’ I don’t accept it.”

“I overslept.”

“Enhh,” he made the sound that they play when you get an answer wrong. “Try again.”

“Will you just listen-”

“Enhh”

“Let me talk ple-”

“Enhh”

“Ragnor. STOP-”

“Enhh”

“I’m an imbecile.” Alec’s snickering turned to laughter. “Now I’m sorry I didn’t pick your calls, and that I didn’t do the announcement. Now can you just tell me if someone else did it, or if you rescheduled it.”

“Catarina changed it to tomorrow morning. Tell me that you’re on your way to the studio. Or did you forget that as well?”

“I’m offended. How bad do you think I am. Of course, I remember.”

“Good. Then I’ll see you here.”

Alec was still laughing. “I’m glad you find this entertaining Alexander.”

“What?” he asked defensively, “It is kinda funny.”

They were at the studio gate already. Alec finally managed to get it together before driving in.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus had to shoot all night. Alec had called up Izzy to let her know he wouldn’t be back home till Magnus was done. Alec was in the set for a few scenes, and then went to Magnus’s trailer and picked up a book that was left lying around. He even managed to get a little sleep (he needed that considering he didn’t sleep the previous night) and got up right before Magnus walked in. He looked exhausted and hadn’t yet changed.

“Coffee?” Alec asked. He needed one himself.

“Yes, please! Really strong one. I have to start the live chat in-” He glanced at the clock hanging on the other side,”-five minutes ago. Damn.” He grabbed his phone. Alec went to the expresso machine to brew some coffee. He put in some hot water and waited. Magnus had already started with a bunch of ‘Hi’s and shout outs and answering questions about the show. He reached out for two coffee mugs, but it took about 5 minutes before he could fill them.

“So, the big announcement! Yes!” Magnus didn’t look tired anymore. In fact, he had such a sweet grin etched on his face, it was infectious. “We have a new member joining the cast! Yay!” His eyes roamed over the screen smiling wider with each reply. “Ahhan! It is exciting. Right, I didn’t say who it is. Axel von Fersen! He is not here right now, but I think he’s going to be talking to you tomorrow. Don’t take my word for it though. Any guesses on who he’ll be playing?” He scrolled through a few more comments, “Not the villain. Nope.” Scroll “Nope. Oh my god, who is this.” He looked dead at the camera before saying “Do you really want zombies in Crystal Court? He’s playing Micah’s new love interest! Not a zombie!” Alec realized he had just been standing there watching. It was impossible not to. There was still a gentle smile plastered on Magnus’s face that made him look somewhat younger. The simple way that he interacted was charming. Made sense that he was a TV heartthrob.

Alec grabbed both the cups, almost filled to the brim and he handed one to Magnus, who looked up from the screen.

“Oh my god! You’re an angel Alec,” Magnus groaned. “Thank you!”

“Don’t mention it,” Alec said, taking a sip from his own cup. He went back to where he had left the book, continuing to read it. He was more than halfway through, and the book had him totally captivated but it was hard to concentrate now. He found himself reading the same line over and over again, glancing at where Magnus was sitting more often than he should.

“Who’s Alec?” Magnus looked up to him, and Alec’s eyes averted back to the page he had yet to turn. “This is Alec. Say hi Alexander.” Alec squirmed ever so slightly, clutching the book a little harder, but waved at the camera with a nervous smile, that he was extremely aware looked uncomfortable. Magnus turned the camera back to himself then continued talking.

“This guy over here stayed up all through the night with me in the shoot. It was for the spoilers, wasn’t it?” Magnus asked looking at him.

“What else would it possibly be for, you?” Alec shrugged.

“Darling. You’re making me blush!” he replied sarcastically, “Anyways, I think I need some sleep. And don’t miss the season premiere this Thursday, I will be live tweeting along with the other cast members. You’ll be live tweeting too, no Alec?” Alec nodded. “Good. Okay, I’ll see you lovely people scream in agony Thursday! Tune in! Love you all! Bye!” Magnus waved then tapped the screen a few more times.

Alec closed the book, not that he had managed to read a lot of it after Magnus came in. “Ready to go?”

“Oh, lord! YES.” Alec laughed and waited for Magnus to change out of his costume before grabbing the car keys.

He dropped Magnus off then headed home. He took off his shoes, then fell face first on the couch, drifting to sleep almost immediately. He’s barely been sleeping for half an hour before Max’s screaming woke him up.

“Izzy!! Alec is trending on twitter!! WOAH! This is awesome!”

“Huh?” Alec pulled himself to a sitting position.

“Oh good! You’re awake! Did you see all this stuff? Oh my god.”

“Max, calm down.” And just as his brother did, Izzy started squealing, but that was short lived too as if she realized she took whatever it was in the wrong context.

“Alec, you okay?” Izzy asked.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Max was staring at the screen. Izzy passed Alec her phone, a bit unsure if that was the right thing to do. It was a snapshot of him from Magnus’s live chat. He looked through a few of the tweets. Most of them talking about how he was the actor’s new boyfriend. A few ‘I wish someone looked at me the way Magus Bane looks at him’. There were even a few fan arts already. How did people get time? Didn’t this happen barely 2 hours ago? He sighed.

“Are you okay?” Izzy repeated. She knew how much Alec hated the spotlight. He didn’t take attention well. And becoming a trending topic would have definitely made Alec’s list of fears. But he felt fine. A little disoriented, but fine.

“Yeah. The internet keeps blowing up over stupid things. Give it a day. They’ll get over it.” Izzy looked at him, concern still clear in her eyes. “Now do me a favour and switch off your phones. Both of you.” He looks at where Max was sitting. “We have some camping to do.” He clapped his hands and got up. “Phones. Off.” He reminded then once again, before going to his room to change.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Come on Alec, please pick up!” Magnus spoke into a still ringing phone.

He had gotten to the loft pretty late (early?). So, he had gone to sleep almost immediately. But when he got up Cat had called him and asked him to check his twitter. He did, and boy oh boy was he surprised to see Alec’s face all over the internet. He had been trying to reach the other man ever since, but the call wouldn’t get through. Magnus was starting to become restless. It was supposed to be an innocent small talk kind of thing, he didn’t expect 3 seconds on a live chat to become the internet’s ‘topic for the day’. Alec must have been really furious if he was avoiding Magnus’s calls. He began pacing in the room, frantically touching the call icon near Alec’s name again. He tried for an hour, then another. No reply. So, he sat down and called Cat.

“I think he’s mad at me.”

“Magnus? Did you try calling Alec?”

He exhaled loudly. “Yes, I think he’s ignoring my calls. Cat! I did not mean for that to happen. What am I going to do?”

“Okay, calm down. It’s probably not what you think it is.”

“He hasn’t answered his phone in 2 hours Cat!”

“Could mean a lot of things.” Magnus felt his phone vibrate.

“Hold that thought.” He looked at the screen and the name Alexander popped up. “That’s him right now. I’ll call you later, okay?” He didn’t wait for her reply before answering the other line.

“Magnus. Is everything alright, I have like 40 missed calls from you.”

“Alexander. Finally! Oh my god, I’m so sorry about what happened!”

“The 40 missed calls? That’s alright, but what’s going on?”

“Oh my god, you don’t yet know. Did you check your Twitter, or Tumblr or anything at all yet? Please don’t, it’s crazy. But you probably need to know. I really am sorry. I didn’t think this would happen. Eh, you still don’t know what this is. Alexander, will-”

“Magnus! Stop. I know.”

“You know?”

“I know. Izzy showed it to me when I got up, and it’s okay.”

“It is?”

“Yes, so will you calm down now. Was that why you called me?” Magnus breathed for what seemed like the first time since Cat called.

“So, you’re not mad?” He tried to keep the surprise out of his words.

“Nope. Why would I be, it wasn’t like you were supposed to predict that.”

“Then why didn’t you pick up?”

“Because I was out camping. We always keep our phones switched off-” Alec paused. “Wait, you wanted to- you called me to make sure I wasn’t mad?”

“Yes? I thought you would be.” His voice came out softer than he intended for it to be.

“And what if I was?” Alec said, lowering his own.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know.” Neither of them spoke for a few seconds. “Good thing I don’t have to figure it out now.” Magnus laughed, slightly pathetically.

“Good thing. Anyways, I have to go now. If Izzy sees me with a phone she’ll kill me. I banned all of them from theirs. So, I’ll see you tomorrow. Bye!”

“Bye,” He cut the call, then texted Cat that everything was fine with Alec. But Alec’s question was still bothering him. So, what if Alec was mad? Why did it trouble Magnus if he was? It wasn’t like he hadn’t pissed off a fair share of people in his life, most of them his partners at the time. He didn’t care then. Why the sudden bother? He found himself scrolling through his twitter feed again, but this time smiling at his phone. It was becoming obvious to him, it just took him a little longer than the rest of the world to figure it out. Well, more like to admit it.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

Magnus had been behaving very uncomfortable for the past few days. Alec didn’t know the right way to ask why. He figured that Magnus would tell him if he needed to know, but he also had a pretty good guess that his mood was because of what had happened after his live chat. Trending must not have been that big a deal for Magnus. He was a star. But Alec had this new set of people suddenly interested in his life. Oh my, when he had gotten back from camping he had at least a thousand unknown people were following him on any social media he had. He didn’t bother to make his twitter private because he never felt the need to. Now he was just not patient enough to delete all the requests, so he let it be. He didn’t approve of it, at all. But he didn’t want to add on to, what he assumed was Magnus’s guilt, so he kept quiet, still trying to keep their usual flow of conversation going. That wasn’t a hard task, but Magnus seemed to be tip toeing around him, not avoiding, but he seemed to be rethinking everything he said before the words came out of his mouth, as if he might do something to offend him.

“Magnus?” Alec didn’t want it to be like this with Magnus. He hated that it was bugging him.

“Hmm?” They were both currently sitting for lunch. Clary had just left after finishing hers claiming she had to supervise prop placements in the show’s new set.

“Will you stop thinking.”

“Sorry?” He looked up from where he was poking the food with his fork.

“I said stop thinking,” Alec repeated. “And stop being so cautious, please. It doesn’t really suit you. I mean at all!” Magnus looked confused, and slightly amused, but didn’t say anything. “I’m supposed to be the fumbling mess in this setup. You should say whatever comes to you first. That’s how this works.”

Magnus laughed. “Oh, Alexander. What makes you think I’m not doing that?”

“It’s just,-” Alec sighed. “I feel like you’ve been overthinking the whole thing.”

“What thing?”

“You know, the whole going viral thing. And I don’t know how to make you feel like there is no problem. Because there isn’t. You’re just being stupid.”

“It was my mistake,” Magnus confessed after a brief pause.

“Well, let’s make it even then. Seems like I owe you one.” Magnus’s eyes shot up.

“Owe me what?”

“A mistake. Isn’t that how we make things even. So, the next time I do something utterly reckless and unforgivable, remember you can’t blame me.”

“Does calling me stupid count as one? I think it should,” he teased, but within a few seconds, his face turned grim again. “I’m still sorry about that though. Izzy told me about your distaste for the limelight, and I did not mean to put you in that position.”

“Good… Now that that’s out of the way, can you go back to being Magnus Bane again? Also, do you not have anything else to talk about with Izzy? Why me? I spend a fair share of my time with you, you can ask me stuff you want to know about me.”

“You make a very interesting topic darling. How am I to blame. And I cannot get juicy gossip to torture you from you, can I?”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Yes, Magnus was overthinking, and yes, it was related to the entire fiasco that took place, which mind you didn’t seem to die down that much. But that was about as far as Alec had guessed. What he didn’t know was that Magnus didn’t know how to look at him without thinking of how gorgeous he was, or how perfect his lips were, and how much he wanted to just reach out and touch them whenever they were in close range. He was guilty about what happened, don’t get him wrong, but the little revelation he had after affected him worse. It made talking to Alec both easier and harder somehow. Easy because of how much he wanted to spend time with the other man that making up topics came to him with no effort, hard once he realized just how distracting Alec was. Magnus had always been good with words. He was better at flirting, and the best at getting people to fall for him. But he was bad at ‘relationships’. Which is why this scared him. The last time he was in a relationship was with a musician named Etta. She had left him broken hearted. And since then, he’d stuck to one-night stands and casual flings. The problem here, however, was simply that if they did have an ONS, they’d have to deal with the awkwardness of still having to see each other every damn day. Magnus hadn’t yet decided if that was worth dealing with. So, he’d decided stroppy was the best option right now.

 “Hey Magnus, uh- Max and mom are leaving tomorrow for London, so umm… I might need to leave early. I don’t think you have anything important in your schedule tomorrow after 2, but there is this one party you have to go to in Hunters Moon, I think. If uh- If that’s okay, that is.” Church had nuzzled on Alec’s lap and had settled there. They had gotten back from the studio about an hour ago, and Magnus couldn’t stop looking at Alec. It was surprising that Alec didn’t notice. He was glaring at the cat, who cocooned in further, jealous of the pet now instead of the man. The man in question was stroking the cat absentmindedly.

“Of course, it’s okay. You know what, take the day off.” Maybe a day to pull himself together without Alec to unravel his self-control would do him some good. “You can spend tomorrow with them,” He saw his bodyguard about to protest but didn’t let him speak. “I’ll manage the transport and the travelling and everything else, don’t worry that pretty little head of yours Alexander. I did all this stuff before you were hired as well. I think I can survive one day without you.”

“Okay. But if you need anything, just-”

“I won’t. But yes, I know.” Magnus glanced at the clock. “It’s getting late. Now shoo before my cats decide they like you better than me,” He waved his hands gesturing Alec to go away. Alec gave Magnus a lopsided smile that made his stomach drop to the floor. He bit his lip trying not to swoon. Alec shuffled a little trying to persuade the little creature that seemed to have taken residence on his lap. Church didn’t seem bothered by the movement but screeched in protest when Alec picked him up to put him on the side.

“Bye Magnus, call me if-”

“Yes. Now go. Bye!”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

All the Lightwood siblings had cut work that day. Simon and Clary joined the crew in doing so. Since Max and Maryse had to catch a flight in the evening, they had decided to stay in the apartment and do something. Alec, Jace, Simon and Max ended up taking over the kitchen for lunch while Clary and Izzy were playing on the X-box, screaming at the top of their lungs every time one was even slightly ahead of the other. Maryse, being the mother, had taken it upon herself to do both hers and Max’s packing. Not that anyone had opposed to the idea.

“We’re making a mess of the kitchen!” Max complained “I can’t find the carrots. Where are the carrots! I’m pretty sure I took them out,” he said continuing to dig through the pile of vegetable peel.

“At least it’s better than the condition it would have been in if someone else had given it a hand,” Simon said eyeing at the girls. Jace nodded with serious dedication.

“We heard that!” Clary sang, her eyes still glued to the screen.

“Found it!” Max shrieked, “The carrots. Found em.” He smiled sheepishly.

“If anyone finds the spatula in the war zone pass it to me,” Jace said from near the stove, Alec opened the drawer, dug through the utensils then threw the spatula to Jace who caught it.

“At least we can make Clary and Izzy do the cleaning, huh?” Simon suggested.

It took them longer than anticipated to get the lunch out, mostly because each one was scavenging the kitchen for something, taking a good fifteen minutes to find it. Alec’s mom had joined them soon enough trying to help them sort out the chaos that they were standing on. By the time they had managed to find the plates it was already 4:30 and all of them were starving. This was the kind of time Alec loved spending with his family. Unplanned, unorganized, moments of simple pleasure. After they were done eating, the girls were forced into doing the dishes and the four of them took over the X-box. After about an hour or two, they finally got up to make sure everything was packed.

When they reached the airport, it must have looked pretty weird to anyone watching. All of them were very giggly and, for the lack of better terms, hyper. All just to drop off two people. They were obnoxiously loud and randomly burst out laughing for no reason. One started the others joined, then one of them would realize that they were in a public place and attempt weakly at shushing the others. Before they knew it Max and Maryse were supposed to leave.

“What? Already?” Izzy whined. Her mom gave her a small smile. Max wailed, and Alec put an arm around his little brother ruffling Max’s hair with his free hand.

“Well bud, just a few more months right! Then you get to come back!”

“You guys will be coming for the graduation though right? Of course, you will. I’m not giving any of you another option!”

“Duh! Not something we can miss. You need your family to embarrass you right!” Jace, Clary, Simon and Alec nodded with enthusiasm at Izzy’s comment as Max’s eyes grew wider at the thought. But they all laughed. Alec walked to his mother as the others huddled closer to Max.

“Hey mom, don’t over work yourself okay? He may be the youngest, but he knows how to handle himself. So just find something to relax. You don’t have to worry about all of us, we are all fine.” Maryse clasped Alec’s hands in both of hers and nodded. The others huddled in soon enough.

“You can’t tell a mother not to worry about her children, Alec. But tell me if you have any progress with this Magnus guy okay.” Alec pulled a face at her.

“I’ll keep you updated mom, don’t you worry.” Izzy pitched in.

“And I’ll keep Izzy updated,” Clary added. Alec took turns glaring at each one.

Before anyone else could chime in with more comments the airport announcement system went on again. They all bid quick good byes with tight hugs before Maryse and Max left to check in. Alec dropped Simon, Clary and Jace at their respective homes and he and Izzy finally reached their little apartment. Neither were hungry considering the late lunch, so they slipped into some comfortable clothes and went directly to bed.

The loud sound of his ring tone woke him up. He didn’t bother to check the caller ID, he just grabbed his phone and answered, eyes still closed.

“Hello?” His voice sounded croaky.

“Alexander! Hi darling, I-”

“Magnus?” He pulled the phone away from his ears to check the time on the screen. 2 am. “Hey! Where are you?”

“At the party silly!” Magnus giggled. He could barely hear what he was saying over the loud music in the background. Adding giggling to the equation wasn’t helping. Alec sighed.

“How drunk are you?”

“Pfft, why would you think I am drunk.” His words were slurry, pulling at some syllables, barely getting out the others.

“Do you need to get home?”

“Yes! I’m drunk! Alec, I need to tell you-”

“You sit tight, get a glass of water I’ll come and get you.” Alec didn’t wait for a reply. He knew it was futile anyway. He washed his face, eyes burning at contact with the water, but at least he was fully awake now. He left a post it note for Izzy on the fridge in case she woke up, but it probably wasn’t required. He grabbed the keys to his car then drove to Hunters Moon, parking near the back door. Hunters moon was a famous celebrity bar, Alec thought it would be best for Magnus to avoid the crowd assuming the state he was in. He looked down at himself. Maybe he should have changed. He can’t walk into a bar with his PJs. Well, his brain wasn’t at its best at 2 am, sue him. He reached out for his phone and called Magnus hoping he was at least sober enough to walk out.

“Hello?” He was surprised to hear a female voice on the other end.

“Hi… I’m sorry, I must have dialled the wrong number,” he said, but he could hear the loud music playing.

“Alec, hey, it’s Maia. Hi. Magnus is… um… Not in a condition to answer his phone right now.”

“He’s passed out, hasn’t he?”

“On the verge of it. Is it something important?”

“No, I’m actually waiting outside to get him home, I would come and get him myself, but I don’t think I can manoeuvre my way inside.”

“Oh,” Maia screamed on the other end, her voice still muffled due to the other sounds.

“Yes. So, could you just get him to the door on the back alley, I’ll take it from there.”

“Sure thing.”

“Thank you!”

Alec waited a few minutes and then he heard the music pouring out louder than it was. He glanced at the door and saw Maia and Raphael struggle with a barely conscious Magnus. Alec took one of Magnus’s hands from Maia and shifted Magnus’s weight onto him. “Thank you! Have fun at the party.” They both seemed pretty hammered themselves but acknowledged him with a smile. Magnus was still mumbling something, and without warning lunged to the side with no support. Alec quickly pulled him, preventing him from falling. Magnus’s hands looped behind Alec’s neck. His face awfully close to Alec’s. He seemed to have regained some senses due to the sudden moment.

“Alexander! Hi,” his voice was wobbly. His breath smelled like cranberries and vodka.

“I told you to drink water, not more alcohol,” the close proximity made Alec’s voice drop automatically to a whisper. Magnus didn’t reply. Instead, he moved forward and rested his head on the crook of Alec’s neck. He nestled in further, and Alec’s breath hitched. He felt himself shiver but placed his hands on Magnus’s shoulders anyway. To keep him steady, he told himself. His grip tightened. He guided the other man to the car and buckled him up. Alec couldn’t help but notice how vulnerable he looked in his current condition. His usually perfectly styled hair seemed to be all over the place. His shirt crumpled and the multiple chains and necklaces hanging around his neck tangled into one another. Magnus closed his eyes probably drifting asleep. Alec pushed back a strand of hair from his face, then walked to the other side and drove him to the loft.

It took a little more effort than he had expected to get Magnus inside the loft though. Alec had to search through so many pockets before finally finding his keys inside of his vest’s pocket. He practically dragged the other man to his bed and made him sit in the corner trying to remove his perfectly polished faux leather shoes.

“Sit still for a while Magnus. Please,” Alec said.

“Mmhmm.” Alec couldn’t help but smile. His hands untied the lace and pulled the shoes out of his feet, all the while his eyes still on Magnus. He slowly kneeled and placed his hands back on Magnus’s shoulders to keep him from tumbling.

“Now go to sleep, okay?”

“Mmhmm.” His head fell on Alec’s shoulders instead. “Don’t go.” Magnus lifted his head up and placed his lips on Alec’s cheek. It was a very delicate kiss, he almost didn’t feel it (hell he probably imagined it) and Alec was glad no one was there to witness the blood rushing to his cheek at the moment. Magnus however simply fell onto the pillow and began snoring softly. Alec got a blanket and placed it carefully over the sleeping man, then lifted his hand to where his skin was still buzzing because of the contact.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Ugh! He was never going to drink ever again. Magnus could barely open his eyes. He didn’t remember much of last night. There was a lot of dancing, a lot of screaming and even more drinks. He didn’t remember how he got home, or how he’d gotten out of the bar. He grunted and got up. Maybe a glass of water, an aspirin (or ten). His head was throbbing! He was never going to drink again. But even he knew that was an empty promise.

“Alec?” He asked noticing a man sleeping on the couch. Alec shuffled around turning his back to Magnus. “Alexander. What are you doing here?” He shot up suddenly, eyes wide.

“Hey!”

Magnus put his hands against his ears. “Don’t shout.”

“Hangover?”

“You think? What are you doing here?” Magnus repeated.

“You called me last night to come pick you up. At least I think that’s why you called me, I couldn’t hear a lot of what you were saying-”

“Softer, and slower Alec.” He whimpered.

“Right. Sorry. So, I got you here and you asked-” He paused as if changing his mind. “I thought I should stay and make sure you are okay.”

“Izzy?”

“I texted her that I’m here.”

“I’m sorry I called.”

“I asked you to. And it’s a good thing you called. You should have seen yourself.”

“That bad?”

“Worse.” Magnus cringed. Another thing he didn’t remember, drunk dialling Alec. Did he say something stupid, did he do something stupid?

“I don’t remember much of last night,” Magnus confessed.

“I don’t know much of what happened.” Alec shrugged. “Do you want me to make some breakfast or something. You must be starving. Drink some water. Pancakes sound good.”

Magnus nodded. Nope, a day without Alec was not enough! He stared as Alec walked to the kitchen and got him a glass full of water. Get a grip Magnus, he told himself before grabbing the glass.

Chapter Text

Chapter 10

Magnus walked into the bathroom, last night still hazy in his mind. Water filled his cupped arms as he washed his face and glanced at the mirror. Oh god! He looked awful! Mascara and eyeliner smudged, kohl making his dark circles look darker. And he looked like this when he spoke to Alec. That’s great. Just… Great! He thought to himself, his hand working to remove all the smeared make-up. He opened the cabinet to the side searching for something to lessen this nuclear bomb exploding in his head.  He took a quick shower slipping into something comfortable. His hair was still dripping wet when his phone buzzed. Catarina’s name flashed on the screen. He slid the little icon on the bottom to answer.

“Hello!”

“Magnus! Just why and how do you get yourself into such situations. Just! Has anyone told you how hopeless you are! And I mean really hopeless. It is the absolute worst thing to have to be your manager when all you do is manage to get done yourself is create this kind of reputation for yourself. Didn’t you tell me Alec had his day off yesterday? How did you still get him involved in this? Poor soul. I’m not even sure he knows! Ahhh!! Magnus!” Cat screamed on the other end.

Magnus was too confused to comprehend too much of what was being yelled at him. His head wasn’t helping. “Catarina. Will you calm down? Just tell me what happened. And how does it involve Alec?” Magnus’s finger was massaging the skin above his nose, “And can you please not scream. Hangover.”

“Well, I don’t care about your hangover. You being careless is your fault. And I would be blaming Alec if he actually had anything-”

“Can you just tell me what we are supposed to blame Alec for.”

“We are not blaming Alec for anything. We are blaming You.”

“Okay, what are we blaming me for?”

“For being a reckless bastard who doesn’t know how to take care of himself. I’ll send you a link. Check it out yourself, and I’ll let you have the pleasure of informing Alec yourself too.” He could practically see the embers flying out of her head. She seemed furious. Oh god, what did he do? He heard a beep indicating that she cut the call.

He searched through his phone clicking on the link Catarina had sent him. His eyes widened at the picture, in it he had both his arms looped around Alec’s neck, and a slightly drunk smile etching his face. Alec’s side was towards the camera, so you could only see his messy raven hair. He didn’t even bother reading the headline before looking at the summary of the article.

Is the Crystal Court star seeing someone new? Magnus Bane was seen with the mysterious man near Hunter’s moon… blah blah blah, tension… yadda yadda yadda, gossip. Magnus grunted in frustration. He didn’t remember this either. How was he going to explain this to Alec? Dragging him into the limelight again all within a time span of barely two weeks! He dragged his palms over his face throwing the phone onto the bed. His stomach was in knots, he didn’t know what to do, so he called Cat again.

“Cat, I can’t do this! I feel so awful!”

“You deserve to,” She replied coldly.

“Catarina. Not now, I didn’t even remember calling him up, and I did not expect him to show up at-” Oh god he didn’t even know what time he’d called Alec. He groaned.

“Okay, listen up. Magnus, I would say it’s not your fault, but then I’d be lying, you still have to tell him what happened because no one else is going to do it, and because it won’t be good for him finding it from someone else. So, suck it up, call him and let him know what happened. And if he wants to quit, you got to handle that too, because I for one won’t blame him. I’m not sure the article mentions anything about it being Alec, but I doubt it’ll take too long to figure out.”

Magnus hadn’t even considered that possibility. But leave it to Catarina Loss to be his brain. The idea of Alec quitting for some reason terrified him. A few months ago, that is all he could ever ask of anyone, and now suddenly he wasn’t willing to let that go, let him go. Not now, and maybe not for a long while after now.

“Magnus, are you listening.”

“Hmm? Yeah. Sorry, just… I don’t know how to tell him.”

“Here’s an idea, call, then figure out the words you want to use. Thinking about what to say is only going to make it worse.” Her voice was more comforting this time. She probably genuinely felt bad for him.

“Okay,” he replied, he sounded weak. “Thank you, Catarina. I’ll try to fix this. I’m sorry I’m such a… reckless bastard.”

“That you are,” She managed. “Tell me how it goes.”

Magnus took a deep breath in before walking out.

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Alec knew his way around Magnus’s kitchen at this point. The man had no sense of timely eating whatsoever. He doubted he even had solid food that wasn’t take-out before Alec got hired, and if he knew how to cook, he didn’t do it very often. He had no hard time finding the flour or the eggs or sugar. He had finished the batter and just started on the pancakes when Magnus entered looking… distressed? Why would he be distressed? It was probably the hangover. But that was different. Alec somehow knew that this wasn’t because of the hangover.

“Hey. It’ll just be two mins before this one’s done, why don’t you sit down?” Alec said pointing at one of the bar stools near the counter. He didn’t seem to listen to anything Alec had just said but quietly took his seat. He was clutching his phone harder that he probably needed to. Alec flipped the pancake before eyeing Magnus again.

“Is everything okay?” Alec attempted. He didn’t reply. “Magnus?”

“Huh? Yeah. No. I just- I-” He stuttered. He unlocked his phone and Alec took the pancake off the pan onto a plate. His fingers worked its way through the phone stopping at something before he finally met Alec’s gaze. “You need to see this.”

Alec eyed him doubtfully. He took the maple syrup bottle and placed it along with the plate of food next to Magnus, taking the phone. Oh no! Oh no no no no no no no no no no no! How did this happen?

“Oh my god! No, no no no. I’m- Oh god.” He placed the phone on the counter. Magnus was still looking at him, the pancake remained untouched. “I’m so sorry Magnus, I didn’t notice the paparazzi. If… If I did, I would-” he ran his fingers through his hair. “I would have done something. I- I-”

“Huh?” Magnus’s eyes squinted searching Alec’s for something.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t see them anywhere. It was 2 am and I didn’t really expect anyone to be there, and I had just gotten up, I’m still in my PJs, I wasn’t thinking straight, I still should have noticed though, I’m so sorr-” He wasn’t stuttering anymore, but the words seemed to be escaping his mouth at without a break.

“Alexander, stop! Why are you apologising? This conversation should be the other way around. Aren’t you pissed that your face is probably going to be plastered on so many tabloids? You’ve never had to-”

“But, my face isn’t really seen-”

“There are no ‘buts’. I’m sorry I put you in this situation again. And to top that off, I called you up at 2 in the night. I can’t believe you came Alexander. And now, you’re asking me to forgive you because you didn’t see some person hidden out in the corner while you were barely awake. How is that fair?”

“I’m your bodyguard. I’m supposed to be there whenever you need me.”

“Yeah, and most bodyguards don’t do that.” He complained. His eyes telling Alec that there were parts of that sentence he still kept unsaid.

“It’s actually literally our job description. So…” Alec shrugged. “I’m so-”

“I swear if you apologise one more time for something that is entirely my fault I will…” He paused thinking, probably thinking of a punishment, “I won’t give you pancakes.” He claimed, a proud smirk painting on his face.

Alec raised his brows. “I’m making them,” he said, lifting the spatula as proof.

“I won’t let you eat your pancakes?” he tried, increasing the pitch in his voice. Alec laughed.

“Fine then. No pancakes for you either.”

“Noooooo!” Magnus whined. “Fine,” he said stretching the word, “You can have pancakes. No more ‘sorry’s though. It was not, and I mean absolutely not your fault.”

“Noted, and same goes for you.” Magnus nodded, still not entirely convinced. Alec was sure of that much, but he would take this for now. “But I think I need to make a call…”

“After breakfast?” He asked hopefully. “You need to get something in there if you want to stay in good condition through the premiere today.”

“The premier’s today?”

“Isn’t that why you have today off?”

“Damnit. Yes!”

“So, breakfast?”

“Okay. Did you put chocolate chips in the pancake?” Alec nodded enthusiastically, Magnus laughed. “Great.” He finally lifted the bottle of maple syrup drowning the pancake stack in the golden liquid.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“And he was sorry? To think this was the man you wanted to fire after a few months so you could be free again. Not that Ragnor would have allowed you to, all things considered.” Cat said after Magnus narrated the entire story. Alec was in the living room talking to Izzy. He had asked the other man to stay for the premier, who gladly accepted. Since Izzy was alone at home, Magnus had thought it was best to invite her over as well, which was what Alec was doing at the moment.

“I don’t deserve this guy!” Magnus sighed. “He’s too innocent and pure, and I can’t even think of anything that is possibly wrong with him!”

“Magnus… You know I’m not the kind of manager who would ask you to do anything for the sake of your career except maybe improve your acting, but that’s not the point of this conversation.”

“Hey! My acting is perfectly fine,” Magnus complained.

“Oh please, 109. Do you really want to tell me about your acting in that?” Catarina countered.

“It seemed funny at the time. I did not know that was going to make the final cut! It’s the editor’s fault.”

“Again. Not the point. So, where was I? Right. I’m not asking you to do this for your career or to be the talk of the town for a while longer. I’m telling this to you as a friend. So, don’t take it the wrong way when I ask… are you sure you don’t want the rumours to be true?”

“What!?”

“Listen, Magnus, I’m not trying to impose this on you, but I have known you for really a long time and you really seem to like this guy. And Alec is a great guy! And if-”

“Okay, no. Let me stop you there. I do not-”

“If I were there you’d know I’m giving you the look.” Magnus knew that much.

It didn’t take any effort at all for him to confess. His friend obviously knew, so there was no gain lying. “Fine, yes. I like him, okay? But that’s not the point. I don’t want to ruin his career for a childish crush. At least not for another month or two.”

“What’s in another month?”

“Nothing…” Alec could finish paying his debts to his dad. Probably. “Besides, he seems like the relationship kind of guy, I’m not sure I’m ready for that just yet.” That much was true. “Is attraction really enough for me to ruin a possibly very good friendship?”

“Since when are you sensible.” Magnus scoffed. “But I get it. And surprisingly enough, I agree. Look at you… making level-headed decisions. Very rarely, but I’ll take that for now.”

“Guess who’s getting the look now.” He heard Cat laugh on the other side.

“Okay. Go, the show starts in 30 minutes. I’m guessing you’re still nervous about it?”

“Nervous? Me? No!” He made a noise that sounded something like pfft. Irrespective of how many times he did this, one thing he would never get used to was watching himself act. It’s like looking at something you wrote way back when you were 10 and reading it now cringing every step of the way. He could always pinpoint at least 6 different things he could have done better or different in each shot.

“Don’t worry, you don’t have to do this alone. I’ll be right over in 5.”

“I know. Thank you. Do you mind grabbing some popcorn on your way?” He heard the doorbell ring and a loud familiar voice. “A lot, actually. Alec and Isabelle are here, and I’m low on snacks.”

“Oh. Okay, sure.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I called that! I freaking called that!” Izzy was screaming at the top of her lungs at the TV as she watched Maia’s character open the Book of the White. She was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch in front of Alec. Magnus and Catarina remained unaffected, Alec, though did not see that coming, did not react, at least not as wildly as his sister did. He put his hands over Izzy’s mouth to cut out her voice so he could hear the dialogues, but the screen soon cut to advertisements.

“And this is why I refuse to watch anything with you,” Alec commented. Magnus and Izzy had their phones out, live tweeting during the show. Alec only took his phones out during the breaks and that too very rarely.

“But I did tell you Meg was going to be the one to open the book-”

“Yeah! You did, but you don’t have to yell because it happened.”

“I’m going to grab some more popcorn.” Magnus got up taking the empty bowl with him. Alec soon followed claiming to need a glass of water.

“Hey. I know I’m very new to watching the show with the star thing, but you seem really anxious,” Alec said grabbing a glass.

“I’m not that obvious, am I? I’m an actor. You’re not supposed to guess what I’m feeling.”

“I don’t think anyone guessed it. Izzy for sure didn’t. Cat probably knows, but I’d like to think I’ve gotten pretty good at knowing you’re quirks.”

“Oh really? Please do tell!” Alec laughed shyly. He paused to take a breath before he started reciting the mental list he didn’t even know he had.

“You play with your rings when you are happy, which is weird because most people do that when they’re nervous. You mumble the ends of words when you’re scared. You run your fingers through your hair a lot when you’re confused. You usually clutch onto something in front of you when you’re anxious. And you walk out of a room full of people when you’re nervous, but you need that room full of people anyway to keep you from being nervous. It’s another weird thing I don’t really get.” He had many more things to add but decided to stop, for now, maybe he’d already said too much. Alec hoped that the blood rushing to his face wasn’t too evident. He ducked his head to the still empty glass in his hand.

“Alexander-”

“It’s starting guys! Come back! You’re going to miss something,” Izzy interrupted. Alec put the unused glass on the counter and headed to claim his place on the couch. Magnus didn’t follow, probably was filling in the popcorn. Alec watched as his sister looked at him, a look which he curtly ignored.

“Hey, Alec,” He turned to face Cat, “Thank you for being so understanding about the whole-,” she waved her hand randomly around her, “-thing.” He knew what she was talking about.

“Why do people keep telling me that?” He frowned. “I didn’t do my job and you people keep thanking me for it.”

“You were supposed to be off. And you still came because he called. That’s more than most would do. So yeah, thank you.” Izzy was too busy having her eyes glued to the screen to probably listen in on the conversation. At least Alec hoped so. “And I know being thrust into the public eye can be awful. And trust me when I say Magnus hates that you were forced into that situation. It’s happened once before with someone, someone he really cared about, and he still beats himself up for it. And it took him a good amount of time to get over that. So, it means a lot to him, and to me, that you didn’t make a scene out of it. So, you did your job and more. Thank you.” Alec didn’t know what to say. He swallowed dryly and nodded. Cat smiled then turned to face the show.

Magnus walked in a few seconds later and offered the bowl to Catarina, who just sort of snatched it anyway. He quietly took his place next to Alec, who wasn’t looking at the television anymore. Magnus glanced at him offering him a small smile. Alec wished he’d actually drank some water. The rest of the episode, his attention remained divided, more than occasionally looking over at the man sitting next to him.

Chapter Text

Chapter 11

Alec had been having a good week. Nothing too huge or worth noting had happened. He liked his days uneventful, especially if it meant no trouble. He was trying harder to be more professional though. Not distant, but trying to form boundaries to keep his (still to be figured out) feelings in check. To keep himself in check. He didn’t know if he was succeeding, or if even the so-called ‘boundaries’ were that at all. Alec wasn’t a social person, but once he considered someone close, he didn’t know how to shut the doors he’d opened. Which is why he didn’t do it very often. That and the fact that not many had bothered enough to even try to break his shell. Not that it bothered him.

When he woke up that day, Izzy was sat up on a bean bag colour pencils scattered all over the floor and her practice sketchbook on her lap. Her hands working expertly at something. Her finals were coming closer, they had a little more than 2 months, but that time was for design, concept and creation, and he knew she was stressed. She probably didn’t sleep all night judging by the bags around her eyes.

“Morning Iz.”

“Morning big bro,” She replied looking up from her sketchbook, clearly tired. Alec just eyed her and then the scatter of stationary that created a barrier, “Brainstorming for the finals.” She crinkled her eyes.

“I assumed. But you could have slept a little. It is a weekend. The papers weren’t going to run away from you.” Izzy sighed. “Any ideas though?”

“A few, in the very initial stage, it’s-” she yawned, “It’s getting there.”

“Go to sleep Iz.” She didn’t object. She put the pencil and the book she was holding on the side table and tip-toed around the mess and found her way to her bed. Alec scooped up her art supplied placing it on the table as well before going to make himself some coffee. Magnus had another long day at the studio today. They’d apparently been stuck trying to film this scene for a really long time but kept pushing it away for some reason. Alec hadn’t asked what it was. He poured himself a cup of coffee then picked up his phone.

Magnus: Hey, I spent the night at Ragnor’s so I’m going to the studio with him. So, don’t bother stopping by at the loft, just drop in here.

Alec typed in a quick reply then set the phone down. Maybe a good time to take a walk. It’d been a while since he’d just walked. Alone. Despite the nervous walks of those late for work, stern ones of those still indulged in work, and the general nervous energy of the bustling city, something about it calmed him down.

He’d taken a quick shower, whipped up some food for his sister and cleaned up a little bit before he moved out to go to the studio. He dropped the car off at its usual parking before heading off to the bakery about two blocks away. He had heard that they had amazing muffins, and he had wanted a walk, so he shot a quick message to Magnus asking him if he wanted anything. It was chilly outside, but he already had his hands inside the jacket pocket, fingers playing with the car keys.

“Alec?” he stopped dead in his tracks, recognising the voice almost immediately. His hands formed a fist without him really meaning to. How was he here anyway? Why was he here?

“What are you doing here?” he forced his voice to remain steady.

“Alec, listen. I know you have only one instalment left and-” Alec turned to face his father his hands still clutching tight.

“And?”

“Listen, Alec, I’m still your father, and I deserve to know what’s happening with my children.”

“It’s weird how we are your children when it’s convenient for you, isn’t it?” Alec’s voice remained cold. Robert’s eyes narrowed.

“Alexander. Do not talk-”

“What do you want?” Alec asked, not willing to make the conversation last strictly then it needed to.

“I want to see my kids. I want to not be excluded from my children’s lives.”

“Well, you should have thought about that before you cheated on mom, and disowned me because I’m gay. Before you decided, what’s her name, was more important to you than the five of us.” He forgot about the bakery and the muffins and strode right past his father. But Robert caught him by his wrist.

“Alexander Gideon Light-”

“I don’t have anything else to say to you,” He announced and wriggled his hand out taking long steps away from the man.

When he reached the studio again, he went straight to the gym. He needed to punch something desperately. He shrugged out his jacket and pulled his t-shirt off, and put on some boxing gloves that were hanging on the side and began letting his frustration do the rest. What part of anything he did made Robert think that any of them would want anything to do with him. He struck the red bag in front of him with all he had, and it flung forward. What made him assume I was going to let him anywhere near them. He landed another punch and the bag which flung forward again. Never! That was never going to happen. The unstable punching bag was adding to his frustration.

“Do you need me to hold that for you?” Alec hadn’t noticed Christina come in.

“Hey,” He said grimly.

“Hi.”

“I’m sorry, I just- I needed to-”

“Needed something to hit. You don’t have to explain.” She simply strolled forward to keep the red thing in place. Alec gave her a grateful smile before continuing to let his throbbing hand wash away his vexation. When he was fairly certain he was fine, at least for the moment, he stopped.

“Thank you,” he said, removing he gloves.

“Hey, all of us have those days.” She winked at him.

“Why are you here anyway? Don’t you have to be at the shoot right now, I thought they were doing a fight sequence.”

“They are. It’s just… something about it isn’t right,” Christina sighed. “They think it’s alright, but I’m not yet fully satisfied with how it looks on screen, so I asked them for a few hours to figure it out.”

“Can I see what it is… maybe I can help.”

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Magnus knew Christina had been struggling with this scene for a while now. Emma had told him that much a while ago. The director had been insisting it was just fine, but Christina being the perfectionist she was, refused to let them shoot the scene without being completely sure of it. So, they had moved on to reshoot a few other scenes from the episode. It had been about an hour or so since Christina had walked to the gym.

“Magnus. Hey, Magnus,” He turned around to look at who was calling him.

“Emma! Hi.” She was running towards him with her earpiece barely hanging on.

“Hey. I need you to do me a favour,” she said panting, fixing her earpiece. “I have some work to do, but can you just please go and check on Tina for me. If- if you’re free of course.”

“Of course, darling,” he replied.

“Oh, thank goodness! I just wanted to make sure-”

“Yeah. I was going there anyway. You scurry along, I’ll let you know how she is.” He smiled, she returned the gesture.

He was going to the gym. But he was searching for Alec, apparently, someone had seen him stalking towards the gym. He was waiting for his banana muffin and didn’t know what was taking him so long. He reached the gym and turned the knob to enter.

“-really Alec, I can’t thank you enough. I swear this will look so much better than what was initially planned. I can’t believe I didn’t figure it out myself.” He heard Christina say. Alec laughed lowly.

“It’s no big deal, really. I mean, I should thank you really,” he said grabbing his black t-shirt that was hanging on one of the bars. Magnus gawked at his defined back. Actually gawked. His pale skin was gleaming with beads of sweat that were just beginning to dry. He looked like some Greek statue. And the only view he was getting right now was of his back. He’d forgotten why he was here, or what exactly he was supposed to do. He forgot how to breathe. And he definitely forgot how to look away. He only snapped out of it when he heard Christina’s voice.

“Magnus,” she sounded chirpy, “I finally figured it out.” Magnus turned his eyes towards her. Alec slipped into his shirt. Magnus almost said please, you don’t have to clothe yourself for me. Almost.

“That’s nice to hear! Emma was worried about you though, so may want to check up on her,” Magnus said after regaining his cool. He watched as he turned her phone on, consciously avoiding Alec’s gaze, thanking heaven that he didn’t blush easily.

“O shoot!” she exclaimed. “I gotta go, but thank you so so much Alec!” He gave him a quick hug before running out of the gym leaving the two of them alone.

“Took you long enough. Where’s my muffin?” Magnus asked, pulling his coherent thoughts back together.

“I um-” Alec was flushed, probably from the workout he had clearly been doing, “I kinda forgot.” He said biting his lower lip. Magnus restrained from groaning. This guy. “I didn’t even reach the bakery actually.”

“Well, there goes my second breakfast.” Magnus shook his head.

“Sorry, I can go get it now if you want.”

“No, Alexander. I was kidding, though I’d love to get one after I’m done with shooting. I was supposed to be out by 4, but I think it’s going to be a little longer now that Christina has gotten a better idea. Thanks to you apparently. How did that happen?”

Alec shrugged, “I didn’t really help all that much. Just a few of the forms seemed a little forced, so I told her what seemed natural. She figured the rest herself.”

“Pretty smart for a 22-year-old, huh?”

“That she is.” Cristina had landed this job about a year ago along with Emma. They’d both dropped out of college, but had work experience with short-film creators, so it didn’t take long for either of them to climb up on the ladder. They were both still amateurs working under someone but had done far more than any 20 something year old would have in such a short time span.

“Got anything to do while you’re here?” Magnus asked.

“Hey Alec, think you can help out with teaching the stunts?” Christina asked, peeking her head from the side of the door.

“I think I do now,” Alec smiled. “I’ll be right there.”

“Cool, set 7.” She crooned, then ran off with an insane amount of energy before Alec asked her what that meant.

“And, I’m not sure what ‘set 7’ is.” He finished dropping his hand.

Magnus chuckled, “I do, I’ll take you.” Alec grabbed his jacket before looking at Magnus as if to say lead the way.

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Alec’s day had turned out pretty okay after that one disappointing meeting with his father. Better than okay actually. He had more fun than he expected to with Christina. And it was the first day on set where he didn’t have to sit and think about what to do next to keep himself occupied till Magnus was done.

“It looks like it’s going to rain,” Magnus commented as they got in the car. They had stopped at the bakery where Magnus had bought a box-full of banana muffins and another with chocolate cupcakes. Alec looked up at the grey sky, almost verging on black with the setting sun (which was also covered by the clouds).

“It does!” It had started drizzling by the time they reached Magnus’s loft. Alec was just about to leave when Magnus asked him to stay a while.

“I have cupcakes and muffins,” He offered with a sheepy grin. Alec couldn’t reject that smile, so he went in. When they were inside Magnus’s, it was almost like hell broke loose outside. The weather went from light drizzle to a ‘flood from the sky’ in a matter of seconds. The thunder and lightning louder than he’d ever heard in New York.

“Woah, okay, I didn’t expect that,” Magnus remarked, opening the box of baked goods. “Cupcakes, muffins or both. Ah, why am I asking, it’s too good, you have to try both.” He saw the flash of light again from the windows. Then a loud rumble followed a few seconds later. He heard the water falling more furiously.

“It’s really raining cats and dogs, isn’t it?” Alec mused. “I should probably call and check if Iz is okay,” He spoke more to himself than Magnus. He reached for his phone from his hoodie pocket, when the caller ID flashed Izzy’s name. He answered with “Speak of the devil.”

“Alec, hey. Thank god, you’re okay. You’re not driving, right?”

“No. I am at Magnus’s.”

“Okay good. I just saw the news. Apparently, the road you take from the studio is blocked. There was some sort of accident there coz of the rain.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and I was worried. Just don’t drive till the rain stops okay.”

“Okay, you’re at home though, right?”

“No, I came to Simon’s. I’m probably going to stay the night here.”

“But you’re safe?”

“Yep.”

“Good. I’ll let you know when I get home okay.”

“Okay, bye. Be careful when you drive, and don’t drive till the rain stops.”

“Got it, you too.” The phone beeped as Izzy cut the call.

“Chairman is sleeping,” Magnus walked in front of him handing him a cupcake.

Alec mumbled a “Thank you.”

“You know, you should probably just stay till the weather calms down. It seems too dangerous to drive in this,” Magnus said, as they heard another loud grumble.

“That’s what Izzy called to say, apparently there was an accident somewhere.”

“Okay, then that’s it, you’re staying here.”

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“Um, so I have pizza and pasta that I can reheat. I don’t know what else we have if you want something else. I can fix up a mean wonton though.”

“Pizza is fine,” Alec replied, leaning on the counter.

“Also, you have a tattoo.” Magnus had noticed it that morning and had made a mental note to ask about it later. It was on the lower left side of his back, nothing Magnus could make out.

“I do.”

“Can I see it?” He asked, hoping the answer would be yes. He would take what little he got.

Alec’s lips tightened before he mumbled a low “yeah” and lifted the hem of his shirt to expose a set of neatly drawn black lines. Magnus walked forward to examine it more closely. His fingers lingered over the ink then he traced the curved lines of it. He drew his had away quickly when he noticed Alec shiver.

“Your fingers are cold.” He sucked in a breath.

“Sorry,” He took a step back, and Alec let the shirt drop. “What is it?”

“It’s called an iratze. It’s a rune. A healing rune. I got it when I was 23.”

“Why?”

“Cause I wanted to.”

Magnus snorted, “I mean why a healing rune?”

Alec smiled, “Because… I guess to remind myself that no matter how bad the situation, things could always be better, it will get better, with or without help. That I could heal myself.”

Magnus’s eyes softened. He’d seen many tattoos before, many with deep meanings, he didn’t know why, but this felt like the most real one of all that he’d seen. “It looks very cool.”  

Alec tittered, “It does.” Magnus went over to the fridge to get the pizza out. He shoved the box in the oven before turning to Alec again.

“Another thing I’ve been meaning to ask. Why were you in the gym in the morning? Someone told me you seemed a little worked up.” He worded the sentence very carefully, being sure not to offend him or something.

“I ran into my father in the morning today. And he was being… him. And I walked away pretty pissed, and I wanted to punch something. Thought that a punching bag was better than a human being or a prop.” He sighed. Magnus didn’t ask any more questions. He simply nodded and removed the pizza from the oven. It was still pouring down outside. It didn’t seem like it was going to stop any soon.

They ate their dinner in a comfortable silence. The TV was playing in the background, but neither of them seemed to really be watching what was going on. They put their respective plates for wash before they came back and settled on the couch. As soon as they sat down the entire room went dark.

“Rain?” Magnus guessed.

“Probably.”

“I’ll go get the candle, coz I don’t want the phone drained if someone needs to call. And the blink cards, so we have something to do.”

“Tell me where the candle and the matches are, I’ll get them,” Alec said turning on the flashlight on his phone. Magnus did the same.

“It’s in the bottom left drawer in my room. I’ll get the cards.” Magnus searched a few of the drawers in his guest room before finding the old pack of blink cards in the bottom somewhere.

When he came back to the living room Alec had already set up the candles in a semi-circle and was lighting them up. He looked up at Magnus and smiled. A soft, sweet, innocent smile.

“So, explain to me,” he told Magnus as he sat down, “how does this game work, I don’t think I’ve played it before.”

“Okay, firstly, I can’t believe you haven’t played blink. Secondly, it’s pretty easy actually. We have these cards, and I’ll share the entire stack between the two of us, and there will be one card left. So, you can put down the card you have if the colour, number, or shape matches. And the first person to finish their cards of wins. Simple.”

“Sounds easy enough. Doesn’t sound too stressful.”

“Oh, you wait!” Magnus exclaimed.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They were playing a pretty heated session of blink at the moment. The first few rounds had been filled with Magnus filling in the rules of the game he’s forgotten to mention, but once Alec got a hang of them, it started getting extremely competitive. He’d started winning somewhere around round 10. Right now, both of them only had five cards, give or take a few more. They were both kneeling on the floor in front of the table dropping more cards by the second. Each had three cards in their hand and waited for the other to draw the next card from their respective stacks. A nod from Magnus and they did. Neither matched, and all of Alec’s cards were in his hands so Magnus drew the last one, almost immediately staking it on top of the existing stack of open cards. Before Alec could figure out what card it was Magnus had his others down beaming at Alec. He simply dropped his cards with the rest shoving Magnus before leaning back on the sofa. Magnus laughed following right after Alec. The rain had started to quiet a little bit.

He'd stopped thinking about what his dad had said for a while, but now it was all rushing back for some reason. He did not want to listen to Robert, at all. But that wasn’t the point. He was behaving like a teenager whose parents won’t buy him an X-box or something. And that was stupid of him.

“Alexander,” Magnus’s voice interrupted his train of thoughts, “I know it’s not my place, and I may be overstepping here, but maybe, just maybe, your dad actually just wants to fix things and doesn’t know how. Again, I don’t know what kind of a-”

Maybe it was what Magnus had said, or the dim lighting and his slightly drunk state, or maybe it was the fact that he could read Alec so easily. Or maybe it was that Magnus’s lips simply looked too irresistible and soft and full, he didn’t know. He couldn’t explain why, but before he could convince himself it was a bad idea he leaned forward crashing his lips on Magnus’s. He got up on his knees to position himself better his hand slipping behind Magnus’s neck, the other finding its way to Magnus’s arm for support.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus was too stunned to do anything. He had noticed Alec being a little too quiet after their game. He started rubbing his hand with his thumb, and Magnus assumed it was about his dad. He didn’t even finish his sentence when Alec kissed him. His mind emptied almost immediately. He felt Alec’s hand clutching him for balance, starting to deepen the kiss. Magnus’s eyes were closed, but he pulled up to sit, all while keeping the contact undisturbed. He was just starting to respond to the kiss when Alec pulled back. Magnus felt his heart sink. His stomach dropped to the floor. He could do nothing more than open his eyes and stare at Alec. He forced them to not betray any of his disappointment.

“I- I-” Alec stammered, panting. “I’m-” He fumbled onto his feet, Magnus used the sofa to try to get up. “I need to go,” He finally managed.

“Alec-”

“I need to go,” he repeated, then walked up to where the car keys were hanging, grabbing them before abruptly pacing out the door.

Magnus slipped back down to the floor with his head on his knees, trying to think of what went wrong. He didn’t know what to think, he didn’t know how to deal with it the next time they met. He didn’t know what Alec was thinking, he desperately wanted to know if he was okay.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec didn’t know what he was thinking. He knew it was a bad idea, and he stopped when he noticed Magnus wasn’t kissing him back. He shouldn’t have kissed Magnus in the first place, leave alone expect him to kiss back. Idiot. He was an utter, complete useless idiot. He knew he shouldn’t have expected anything, but his heart still broke a little when nothing happened. He sat in the car closing the door as he did. He buried his face in his palms cursing himself for doing anything. He tried to convince himself that he wasn’t in control of his actions, but that was clearly a lie. He knew he wanted to kiss Magnus. He had for a long while now, even if he’d tried to keep it hidden from himself. He groaned in frustration. So much for barriers. He’d just made things extremely awkward without really meaning to. He ruined everything, didn’t he?

He started the engine and drove the car back to his apartment he knew was empty. He needed to not think right now. He needed to go sleep. So that’s what he was going to do. And hopefully forget that this ever happened, but he didn’t want to forget it. Even if it wasn’t an ideal kiss, he wanted to remember it. But maybe Magnus would forget. He needed to come up with a valid, non-stupid sounding reason for his actions too, but right now, he just concentrated on the road.

Chapter Text

Chapter 12

Alec let the music drown on his thought his way to the apartment. He made a conscious effort to keep from stepping on the accelerator coz of his… whatever he was feeling. The fact that the rain had calmed down helped. It seemed to empathise with him, dripping on the windshield maybe offering condolences. He reached his home and couldn’t help the exhaustion that washed over. He sighed. His phone automatically working at calling Jace. He was shivering, he’d gotten wet while getting in so, his free hand was rubbing his arm to try to regain some warmth.

“Hello? Alec? Is everything okay?” Jace was probably sleeping. Of course, he was sleeping. It was barely 5 am.

“Jace, um- I- uh- you know what, go back to sleep, I’ll- uh- I’ll call you later,” He stuttered.

“Nope, I’m awake now,” He replied probably moving away from where Clary was sleeping too. Was he even thinking? “Yeah, what’s up Alec?”

“I’m so sorry, it’s- its 5 in the morning and I-”

“Hey, I know you wouldn’t call if it wasn’t important. So, tell me what’s going on.”

Alec huffed a laugh, “Well, it’s not that important, just needed some… advice? Clarity? I just needed someone to talk to. And Izzy would be too in her own head to even listen more than the first sentence.”

“Okay, what did you do? I’m so surprised to be on the giving end of this conversation for once, might I add. I get why you love it. It’s got this very subtle edge.” Count on Jace to joke at 5 am. “Right, so what did you do?”

Alec snorted. “Right, I kissed Magnus. And I don’t-”

“You what?” He heard Jace catching his scream, probably realising the time. “You what?” he repeated, softer this time.

“I kissed Magnus,” Alec sighed.

“About damn time.”

“He didn’t kiss me back. And I just bolted from his place.”

“Oh. Okay…”

“And I was so stupid I didn’t think about the fact that I work for him, or that he’s a freaking tv sensation, or that I work for him.”

“Why did you bolt?”

“Because I didn’t want to see how he reacted. I mean, he didn’t kiss back, that sends a clear enough message, right? I didn’t want to deal with the awkwardness, or the looks, or- or-”

“You do realize that you work for him, right?”

“Yeah Jace, I know. Why do you think I’m freaked out?”

“No, I mean you’re going to have to deal with the awkwardness anyway. You work for him. You literally spend your entire day trailing the guy. I mean that in the most non-stalkery way possible. Ish. But you’re eventually going to talk about it sometime, and that means awkwardness. Unless of course, he has STML or something, or hit his head real hard and got amnesia. My point being, wouldn’t clearing it up before you bolted have caused a little less trouble?”

“Jace! You’re supposed to make me feel better. You’re not doing a very good job,” Alec complained. Mostly because Jace had a point. That would have made things less hard to deal with. “But in my defence, I wasn’t thinking, okay! I did something stupid and… yeah. Now, help.”

“Help how? Do you want me to go over and knock him over so he gets amnesia? I can totally do that. Ooh. What about I hire someone to hypnotise him to forget the kiss.”

“Jace!”

“Sorry, but I can totally do that if that’s what you want. I’ve got your back!”

This caused Alec to laugh. He relaxed ever so slightly. “You know that would put us on opposite sides though, right? With my job and all.”

“If you have one tomorrow,” Jace mumbled, and Alec tensed again. Shoot! Why didn’t he think about that! It was a very fair possibility. Why oh, why in god’s name did he think this was a good idea.

“Jace!!?”

“Kidding. Magnus wouldn’t do that. I think. Nope, he definitely won’t.”

“I should have just called Izzy.”

“And given her a detailed description of the kiss without ever stumbling to the point?”

“I’ll give you that. But you’re seriously no good at this.”

“Um, of course, I am. But now, coming back to the real point of this conversation. Why did you kiss Magnus? I thought you were ‘just doing your job trailing him’.” The sarcasm slipped effortlessly.

“Really, Jace? Really?!”

“What? We all called you out on it. And you denied it every single time. And you kissed him! I want to know!”

“I don’t know. I just got caught up in the moment I guess.”

“Ooooooh. What were you doing?”

“Playing blinks.”

“You got caught up in the moment playing blinks?” he snorted in disbelief.

“It was a very intense game, okay?”

“I bet it was.” They both laughed. “But Alec, I’m sure it’s all going to be fine. I mean mostly. Except for the maybe getting fired and the not stopping to think about the kiss and-”

“Okay. Byee.” He cut the call to a laughing Jace on the other end. He went to sleep a little more off his chest. Despite all of Jace’s jokes, he believed things would be fine. He knew that though left unsaid, Jace wouldn’t tell anyone else about this. The next morning, he got a text from Catarina.

Catarina: So, the shooting doesn’t start again until Wednesday. I told Magnus, and he asked me to let you know about the schedule, so I’ll just send you a pic.

The picture of the new schedule was attached to the message. No message from Magnus. But on the bright side, he still had his job. And he got more time to think about how exactly to deal with the mess he’d created. Yeah. That was good. For now.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus had kept to himself these past few days. But today, he had to talk to Alec today, and he still had to figure out exactly how this was possibly going to go. He’d thought of various scenarios, most of them ending with Alec deciding it was a stupid mistake that needed to be ignored. There were somewhere they’d probably decide that it was nothing they needed to talk about. But they needed to, that was the only thing Magnus was sure about. And he wanted to try. He really wanted to try to make this work if Alec wanted to. But the chances of that verged on slim to none, so Magnus tried his best not to get his hopes up. But hope is a weird thing. Even if you know that something is never going to happen, a small part of you keeps telling you that maybe, just maybe, you are that one in a million. That you might get a chance. And you keep hoping even when doors keep shutting till that last one slams on your face locking you in whatever fantasy you had built for yourself. Hope is a dreadful thing to have, and no one bothers enough to tell you that, but it is a part of what makes humans. But Magnus was trying to keep that tiny spark from burning too bright.

He got a message on his phone from Alec saying that he was down, waiting for him. Okay, he could get this done within the car drive, and then things can go back to however they were before, or change to whatever it was supposed to when they were back at the studio. Yeah. That was going to happen. Or not. Whatever. Okay, he can do this! He’s an actor, so, if nothing else he could at least act his way out of it.

He took a deep breath in before opening the door with a “Hey Alexander, we- Oh, Hey biscuit! What’s- uh how are you doing?”

“Oh, great Magnus! Sorry, Jace and I just crashed at Alec’s last night and asked him to take me along the last minute. I hope that’s alright.”

“Of course, darling, the more the merrier,” he responded with a bright smile.

“Okay, cool. Seems like I have a lot of work to get done. Apparently, the rains destroyed a lot of the props and stuff, we finished most of the work yesterday and the day before, but we still have some left. But yeah. How was your extended weekend?”

“Oh. Nothing worth noting really. Mostly just binging. I got a lot of time to read something that was not the script. And that’s about it.”

“Really? Well, I expected more from the ‘Magnificent Bane’. But hey, you got your downtime, right?”

Magnus laughed. “That I did. What about you?”

“Nothing, I was just chilling at home with Jace, but then they called us to work as soon as the rain stopped.” She rolled her eyes. “Work! But I love it, so.”

“Still with the blond, I see.”

Clary laughed. “Unfortunately.” Magnus had noticed that Alec was quiet. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to disturb that. But he attempted at it anyway.

“So, what about you Alec? Something interesting happen.”

Alec cleared his throat before speaking. “Nah, the same old,” he cleared his throat again, “the same old boring stuff.”

“Really?” Magnus persuaded before realising maybe now wasn’t the best time. He saw Clary narrow her eyes in confusion. Probably sensing something off.

“Yeah, nothing interesting.” Clary’s eyebrows raised at Magnus who simply shrugged it off.

“Okay…” Clary spoke acknowledging the awkwardness and trying to move away from it. At least that’s what Magnus hoped it was. “Anyways, I forgot to ask! Emma told me about you helping Christina with some of the stunt work. That’s pretty cool.”

“I didn’t do much,” Alec answered with a fake cool.

“Okay.” She repeated, looking between the two of them. A silent I’ll get to the bottom of this eventually look passed over her. Magnus really hoped she didn’t before him and Alec had a chance to talk.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec had a proper speech prepared. Well, not an exact speech but he’d planned out exactly what to say to Magnus when he saw him again. But over the past few days, he’d got some of the other things figured out too. Despite what happened at Magnus’s, what Magnus said was probably right. Alec knew more than anyone about not expressing his thoughts through means understandable by everyone. Maybe he got that from his father. And despite how much ever he wanted to protect his family, the fact remained that Jace, Izzy, and even Max for that matter were their own people who had the right to make their own decisions. So, he’d decided to tell them what he could.  It was harder than he’d hoped it to be. He couldn’t tell it to them over the phone, and he didn’t want to get Max involved till he was sure his hopes and expectations of Robert were not just another dream he hoped was reality. This was why he’d called them all over for dinner the previous night. Simon and Clary included because, by extension, it affected their lives too.

“So, he wants to meet us?” Izzy was calmer than he’d expected her to be. Furious on the inside probably. But if she was, it didn’t show. Alec turned to his brother seated opposite to him.

“And he wants to do this after all this time? Why?” Jace had his fists clenched on his spoon, gripping it tighter by the second.

“He asked me about it before, when Max and mom had come over,” Alec confessed. “I didn’t want him to, so I told him off. But then I saw him again, and,” he sighed, “I realized that you are capable of making your own decisions and I didn’t want to- uh, I don’t know, force my opinions on you. I shouldn’t have done it in the first place, but- yeah. I just shouldn’t have.”

“Alec, you did what you thought was right! Like any good brother would have.” Clary spoke, “But why are you considering meeting him now?”

“I don’t know. I mean, if someone kept me away from Izzy, Jace or Max because of one mistake I did, I would be pissed too. And I wouldn’t know how to get you back either.” He was still poking at his food, he didn’t have an appetite that night, to begin with, but it had somehow gotten worse (if that was even possible). “And we don’t have to meet him if you don’t want to, but I just wanted to let you know.” He added.

“Disowning your child because he’s gay is not a mistake,” Jace hissed banging his fist on the table. “Making him pay for the life every parent is supposed to offer their son is not a mistake.” Alec squirmed a little at the sound. He almost considered telling them the whole truth but decided against it.

“I know Jace, but-”

“There is no ‘but’s. He did what he did, and didn’t even bother to apologise. I can’t fu-” Clary placed a comforting hand on Jace’s shoulder. He visibly relaxed taking in a deep breath.

“I think you should meet him.” This was Simon, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet through the entire dinner so far. All eyes turned to him as if asking for an explanation. So he continued, “You guys know I have had loads of issues with my mom. And I am really glad that things got fixed, but I really wish it hadn’t taken me this long. I know your issues are more serious than mine ever were, and parents don’t necessarily understand everything we are going through, but-” he paused taking a sip of water. “But you should just try and listen to him. You don’t have to do anything other than listen. Maybe he has an explanation.” He shrugged “You owe it to yourselves to listen to him.” He finished. All eyes were still on him just a little wider, not having expected to hear something that wasn’t a poor attempt at a joke. “And if you decide that you are going to meet him over food, you can pick the most expensive restaurant and make him pay.” Simon laughed nervously, stopping when no one else joined him.

“Okay,” Izzy finally announced breaking the silence. “I agree with Simon, but we all do this, or we don’t do it at all.” Clary, Simon and Alec nodded. Izzy’s eyes fixed on Jace. He looked around the table once before looking back at Izzy with a curt nod.

But yeah, Simon’s little speech convinced all of them to at least talk to Robert one more time. They had all agreed on the Max front. He was currently hanging out with Emma and Julian who were bantering about something. He wasn’t sure. He was too caught up in his own thoughts, which were disturbed when someone placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Alec?” he recoiled a little at Magnus’s voice. “Can I borrow you for a second?”

He gulped the water placed in front of him before getting up and wittering a quick “yes”. A small part of him had hoped they wouldn’t need to talk about it, but hey, better to clear things up, right? Well, he prayed to the angel above it was. They walked silently to wherever Magnus was taking him.

“Okay,” Magnus began. “So?” He looked at Alec. Okay, he knew what to say to Magnus. He knew what to do to put this entire thing behind them. Admit it was a mistake and that it was just something that happened in the heat of the moment and it shouldn’t have. That he wasn’t thinking straight. He should have. He had this figured out. He took a deep breath.

“Listen, Magnus-”

“Oh, there you are! Finally!” Alec turned around. “Diego wanted some help with this sword fighting scene. Do you think you can help him? I’m kinda busy, and you said you do fencing, right?” Christina muttered breathlessly, she did a lot of running around. Alec looked back at Magnus looking for permission.

“It’s alright. Go, we can talk some other time,” he confirmed. Alec smiled weakly and looked back at Christina.

“I’m sorry. Did I interrupt something? I’ll find someone else if that’s the case, I mean it’s not really that urgent if you have something important going on here. I can always come back later or-”

“No. I’ll come, tell me where he is.”

“Oh, I’ll take you. I’m going that way. And Magnus, they need you on the set.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus was tired of being interrupted. This was the sixth time their conversation got cut off before it even started. This time it was Ragnor with the comic con stuff. Alec just stood in the corner listening, but soon walked out when he got a phone call. Magnus was half listening to Ragnor, his mind constantly finding its way back to the anxiety of not getting this done yet.

“Okay. So, you obviously aren’t listening.” Ragnor pointed out.

“Huh?”

“Exactly. I’ll text you the details later, and I’ll ask Catarina to call you up to tell you the whole thing again just in case your lazy to read it, which you usually are. Now go deal with whatever is distracting you.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Ragnor narrowed his eyes.

“Okay. Just deal with whatever is not distracting you. After finishing the final scene for the day. You can go home after. Reel in your problems.”

“I’m an actor. I’m supposed to reek fake feelings. I’m just getting into character.”

“Uhuh. I’m sure you are.” Ragnor patted him before walking away. “Are you coming.”

“Yes,” Magnus sighed.

The scene took him another three hours. It was a good distraction while it lasted. He quickly walked to costumes changing back to his regular clothes before he started walking to his trailer hoping to find Alec there. He didn’t have to walk long before Alec stopped in front of him. He’d changed from what he was wearing in the morning to something more semi-formal. Magnus took a second to look at him.

“Okay, are you ready to leave?” The nervousness in Alec’s voice kept him from talking, so Magnus simply took to nodding. “Cool.” He took the car keys out of his blazer pocket playing with it on the way to the car. Magnus didn’t know why he didn’t break the silence during the drive back to the loft, but he didn’t. When they reached the loft though, he couldn’t keep it in anymore. This had been eating him all day, and the more the delayed it, the more the chances of Magnus’s fantasies to knot itself tightly in his mind. He was not letting that happen.

“Alexander. Get out of the car.” Alec looked worried throughout the drive, and even before. He didn’t want to make Alec feel uncomfortable, but getting things cleared would help him too, irrespective of what the outcome was. “Alexander.” He tried again. He shifted his head to indicate him to get out. He did.

“Yeah?”

“You know that we really need to talk about what happened that day right? Because I know it can be uncomfortable, but we just need to get it out of the way and talk.”

“Yeah, I know,” he said rubbing the back of his neck, “And I promise we will. I just-” he paused to look at Magnus who was staring back hoping Alec would just tell him what was going on, what he was thinking! He looked back to his shoes before continuing, “I’m meeting my father today. I mean we are. I decided that maybe what you said was right- about him just wanting to be in our lives again and I spoke to my siblings about it and they agreed to meet him. I just didn’t know they would plan it today. And I don’t think I can deal with more than that today. So.”

“Oh… Oh okay. Just tell me this,” Magnus’s throat suddenly felt dry. He licked his lips trying to form words again, “Did you- um- did you regret it?” This was it. He was handing a piece of his heart to Alec hoping for the best outcome, but it probably wasn’t going to be, was it? He hoped Alec wouldn’t throw it down and stomp all over it. He was praying that the slim to none chances were somehow taking pity on him and maybe would decide to work in his favour. The little spark of hope was starting to burn brighter. He looked expectantly at Alec, waiting for an answer to relieve him of this torture.

“Yes.” Magnus felt like someone poured freezing water over the spark. This is why he had never been a serious relationship since Etta. It was too painful, it was too fragile, and people always told you about the good parts never the bad ones. The fall just nearly killed the person on the inside. “But not- I mean- It’s not for the reason you think-” Alec added quickly.

Magnus took a step back, and another. “Right, Of course, you were drunk and maybe slightly emotional. I understand-” He hoped his eyes didn’t betray the hurt, but he wasn’t really trying very hard to hide it. Even he was, it didn’t seem to be working. He could feel it not working.

“No!” Alec cut in, the urgency evident in his tone, “I regret it because I wish it had happened in different circumstances. Because you didn’t want to, and I didn’t want to ruin this- if I can even use the word, which I really hope I can- I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. And I knew exactly what to say when we talked. This was not it. Can we just forget I ever said all of this? I mean you didn’t kiss me back, that sent a clear enough message. I knew exactly what to-”

Magnus’s eyes widened taking the information in. Did Alec just? He didn’t let himself think before stepping forward again placing a hand on Alec’s cheek. The action made Alec stop his rambling, and gape at Magnus. He smiled before raising on his toes to place his lips on Alec’s. He placed his other hand on Alec’s chest pushing him back to the car kissing him a little harder before pulling back. But before he could Alec grabbed his head clashing their lips together again. The world fell away as they kissed. Alec shifted a little, probably for some air and Magnus closed the distance between them. They finally parted after what seemed like forever and no time at all, both panting, their foreheads still touching.

Magnus recovered first, “I would have kissed you back if you had not run.” Alec glanced up to meet his eyes. The smile the found itself onto Alec’s face made Magnus kiss him again.

“Yeah, we definitely need to talk now. I mean later. I still have to go to the-”

Magnus straightened his shirt, “Of course. Later.” Alec turned to get back in the car. Magnus looked down at before a hand reached his chin tilting his head up as Alec’s lips grazed on his.

“For good luck,” Alec mumbled. Magnus smiled a little brighter. “I’ll talk to you tonight?” Magnus nodded not really bothered that he was smiling like an idiot, because Alec was too, and that was enough.

Chapter Text

Alec couldn’t believe that had just happened! He just kissed Magnus. Again. And Magnus kissed him back! Magnus freaking Bane kissed him back. He bit his lip trying to wipe off the obvious smile from his place. When his mind involuntarily spilt everything he never intended to, he didn’t even consider this outcome. But he couldn’t have expected a better one. He had hoped for it to eventually happen someday, but not this soon. He didn’t even let himself consider the scenario because there were so many other things to consider. There still were, which is why they needed to talk things out and figure out what this was. What they wanted this to be. But, Magnus wanted him too. He smiled wider despite his efforts to hold it back. It only dawned on him after he parked the car what he was here to do, and it wasn’t enough to bring his mood down either. Which is saying something. He got out of the car not really expecting to see any of his siblings outside. He was about thirty minutes late so there was a good chance all of them were inside sitting with his dad waiting.

“Hey! You’re late.” He heard Izzy as he stepped in front of the doors.

“Yeah. Sorry, I had to- um… I had to drop Magnus off at his place before I drove here. Plus, traffic.”

“Okay. We didn’t want to go inside without you,” she said grabbing his shoulder. “Let’s go?”

“Yes,” He replied. Simon took Izzy’s side immediately and Jace left Clary’s to come closer to him.

“You look perky. Had to drop Magnus off huh?” Alec glared at Jace, who laughed. He was probably dying of nerves. Humour was always his deflection the same way work out was Alec’s. “I’m kidding. I’m glad you still have your job.” He slapped Alec’s back.

“Are you worried about how this is going to go?” Alec asked a few seconds later.

“Yes, I don’t know about this Alec. I am probably going to lose it in there if he says anything that is even remotely… what’s the word for it? Him! If he says anything that’s remotely him.”

“I know. Which is why all of us are doing this. Together. Right?”

“Right,” He said as they reached the reception.

“We have a booking under the name Lightwood?” Clary said to the receptionist, who asked a few more questions before leading them to where Robert Lightwood was sitting, swirling a glass of red wine in his hand.

“Sorry we’re late,” Simon started, for courtesy probably. The courtesy that none of the others bothered with. They silently took their places around the table, Izzy and Jace taking their place next to Alec, Simon and Clary on either side of Robert. The discomfort did not go unnoticed, but they all knew it was for the best. They ordered food, Izzy picking the most expensive thing she could find on the menu, Clary and Simon having a silent conversation about the awkwardness of being here that didn’t go unnoticed by Alec either. Jace, on the other hand, was stiff. The silence continued even after the waiter left with their orders.

Alec cleared his throat, the silence had been going on for too long. “Okay. So, you wanted to talk. Here we are. Talk.” He grabbed his glass of water taking a sip. His siblings’ eyes bore down on Robert’s and Simon and Clary stared at their empty plates.

“Okay. I’m so glad you all agreed to… um, talk to me, I guess. And I know that you’re all angry –”

“Oh, we are furious,” Izzy cut in, “But please, do continue. I want to see where this goes.”

“Isabelle, I know that I’ve not been the best… father to you all, and that I’ve made my share of mistakes, but it’s not all my fault. And –”

“Wait! Did he just say that?” Jace interjected, “Please tell me he did not just say that! It was not all your fault?”

“Jace,” Alec warned placing a firm hand on his shoulder. “We are here to listen, right? So, we’ll listen. Let’s just get this over with.” He whispered. Jace exhaled sharply shaking his head before offering Robert a tight smile. Another awkward silence settled over them broken only by the waiter placing their appetizers in front of them.

“Oh man, for goodness sake. You suck at apologies. Seriously, start with a ‘sorry’ or something. Not ‘it’s not all my fault’” Simon declared, Clary shot him a look of disapproval that. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have,” he mumbled.

“Well look at my boyfriend. Been coming up with great ideas lately. So, yeah dad,” Izzy spat out the last word with so much poison, Alec winced, “Why don’t you take his advice and start with a ‘sorry’. Seems to usually work for most people.”

Robert sighed. “I’m sorry. I know I put you all through a lot, and I guess I just didn’t know how to react, so I –”

“Threw all of us away for your mistress?” Izzy mumbled. Alec rubbed the bridge of his nose. Why on earth did they have to do this today? Jace and Izzy loved to rush into things, and this was clearly one of those situations. And neither was in the mindset to listen yet. He could sympathise. It only took him so many years. And he could also understand why they wanted to get this checked out of their to-do list as soon as possible.

“That’s not what happened.” Robert caught his breath before continuing, “I just wasn’t in love with Maryse. And that is not her fault, but I’m not going to take the blame for that either,” Jace scoffed, “But I never knew what love was till… till you. All of you. It changed a lot… and it made me have to consider more things. And I was worked up when the business was collapsing and when Alec refused to marry Lydia, and I know that doesn’t excuse all my actions… or any of it for that matter, but I really am sorry for what happened. And I wish I could change it all, but I can’t. And in that anger, the only thing I could think of to still stay connected to my children was through money,” his father laughed pitifully, “And Alec –” Oh crap, Alec flinched, don’t complete that! Don’t complete that. Please do not complete that, “- took that burden away from you too.” All eyes on the table turned to him. He tried to melt into the chair, slowly sinking down.

“What is he talking about?” His sister asked, and Alec examined the confused looks on all their faces. He remained silent, but he knew that the cat was out of the bag. Okay, might as well let everything out in the open.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus couldn’t sleep. It was about 11:30 right now, and he had given up trying to sleep about an hour ago. He was still buzzing with what happened to even remotely relax. So, he was up with a book he’d long meant to read sitting on his bed, checking his phone every two minutes to see if Alec called, which was why the moment the phone pinged, he dropped the book and grabbed his phone.

Alexander: Hey, you up?

Magnus replied with a call. “Hey,” he started, grinning involuntarily.

“Hi, I’m so glad you’re up.”

“Me too. I couldn’t sleep when you told me you’d call now, could I?”

Alec huffed a laugh, “Yeah. Um. Hey, do you mind if I… uh. Do you mind if I come over?”

“Alexander! Of course, I don’t. But its, almost midnight, and where exactly are you?”

“Um. Outside your door?” Magnus got up from his bed heading straight to where Alec claimed to be, “Is that weird, I’m sorry. I just –” Magnus slammed the front door open and pulled Alec into a long due kiss. The kiss he thought the both of them deserved after four days of anticipation and four hours of agony. A kiss he was desperate to have, but Alec had to leave, but now he was here. He felt Alec gasp as their lips met. His hand tangling in Alec’s hair who laughed into the kiss before slipping his own to Magnus’s waist. Magnus’s lips parted as Alec’s tongue slipped in brushing his own. Yes, a kiss both of them definitely deserved. He couldn’t help but think breathing was overrated. Magnus’s finger looped around Alec’s belt hoop pulling him closer, not wanting any space separating them. Alec seemed to not mind it, in fact, he seemed to like it. A lot. Magnus sighed not breaking the contact. Alec’s cold fingers were fiddling with the hem of his shirt slipping under. His touch made Magnus shudder in the best way possible. Air still seemed unimportant, but necessary, so they separated to catch a breath, Magnus’s eyes were wide and confirming that this was real. Alec’s doing the same occasionally glancing at his lips. He giggled resting his forehead on Alec’s shoulder.

“Hi.” He muttered breathlessly. Alec laughed.

“Hi,” he replied placing a gentle kiss on Magnus’s hair. It was only then that Magnus realized they were still standing outside. “Did you lock the door this time or could I have just walked in?”

“Why would I need to lock the door now that you are here to protect me?” he asked playfully. Alec shook his head smiling fondly.

“You’re hopeless.” Magnus shrugged.

“I don’t want to be a mood killer or anything, but I feel the need to ask, how was dinner?”

“The food was great. I’m so full right now I could explode.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes, “I would bet my career that you didn’t eat more than two mouthfuls.”

“Ha! I had three,” Alec chuckled nervously.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything. I just want to know if you’re okay. That’s all.”

“Yeah. I am. Mostly. I guess. I’m just surprised we could do that.” Magnus laughed.

“Me too. And we can talk about that later if you want. I understand today’s been a lot.”

“It actually went surprisingly fine. The first few minutes was rocky but then eventually it was good. But then my father blurted out about the money thing, and now Jace and Izzy are mad I didn’t tell them before that they were involved in it as well. And I probably should have eaten a little something more while I was there coz I am starving right now.”

“I can make you something.” Magnus offered. “I haven’t had dinner either, so might as well make us some.”

“You haven’t had dinner yet? Why? It’s almost midnight Magnus.”

“So, that’s a yes?”

“No, that’s a ‘what the hell were you thinking starving yourself’. But yeah, that’s a yes.”

“Okay, so I think I have enough stuff to make ravioli.”

“You want to make ravioli at 12?” Alec raised an eyebrow.

“What? I’m in the mood to have some home-made gourmet food. Do you want some or not?”

“I’ll help,” Alec gave in following Magnus into the kitchen.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

They had their plates of ravioli in the time span of an hour. Alec didn’t know Magnus could cook, so that took him enough by awe, but when he took the first bite of his food he moaned.

“This is so good! If acting fails, you have a great opportunity as a chef!”

“My acting career is just fine, thank you very much.” He replied chewing his own food. “Alec?” he asked hesitantly.

“Hmm?”

“Do you want to talk about this? About us.”

Alec thought for a moment. His day had been filled with confessions and dealing with them. He was okay with adding another to the list. At least that way he wouldn’t have to overthink his way to oblivion the next day. “Only if it is good,” he finally answered.

“I mean it’s obvious that both of us want this. Right?” The vulnerability in Magnus’s voice made him scoot in closer to Magnus. He took his hand squeezing it reassuringly.

“Yes. But I work for you. And that’s only the biggest of all issues we have to consider.”

“Okay, do you mind that you’re working for me? Is it… I don’t know, going to affect your –”

“No, it’s only going to make me want to protect you more. But Ragnor and Catarina?”

“I don’t think they’ll mind, what about Isabelle and Clary’s boy.”

Alec gave a low laugh. “I don’t think they’ll mind either –”

“But?” Magnus prodded

“But… I don’t want to tell them just yet. Till… um. Till I’m sure of what this is. Is that okay? Plus, I dropped a big bombshell on them with the entire father thing. And I want to give them some time to get used to that. They are already pissed at me. So”

“I get it. I don’t want to tell Cat and Ragnor right now either. Eventually though?”

“Eventually,” Alec promised. And he meant it.

“And even when we do tell our friends and family, I won’t take us public. I promise. It’s always going to be your decision, and I’ve put you through a lot without any of this, I wouldn’t want –”

“Magnus. Thank you,” He squeezed his hand again. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Um. Catarina told me about something. And I was just wondering. Um. She said that… uh, that you were in a similar situation before, where you dragged someone out to fame… and that it did not go very well.” He watched Magnus’s eyes darken.

“Do you remember Woolsey Scott?” he began.

“The pseudo werewolf ex who tried to punch you?”

“Yeah. Him. When I was dating him, I somehow dragged his brother into a scene. His brother, Ralf, came to set a lot, and he started seeing Camille. Camille always comes with problems. Long story short, he was killed by this man names de Quincey and Woolsey blames me for it. And it didn’t become that big a story or anything because Caterina handled it so well, but I still feel responsible.”

“How was that your fault?”

“Ralf wouldn’t have met Camille if it wasn’t for me.”

“And who’s to say that? Magnus, do you really blame yourself for that?” Magnus looked away.

“This is all going wrong,” Magnus complained. “We just admitted that we like each other and the first day of it we spill all our deep dark secrets. Of course, we are friends first and all, but I’ve been dying all day to make out with you and you want me to talk about my feelings? Alexander, are you going to keep asking me questions or are you going to kiss me already?” Alec laughed. He put a finger under Magnus’s chin turning him in for a slow and gentle kiss. “That’s more like it,” Magnus muttered, eyes still closed. Alec leaned in again, more confident this time causing Magnus to fall back a little bringing his hand to the back of his neck for support.

“Wait,” Alec pulled back. Magnus whimpered in a complaint. “You don’t want sauce all over your carpet Magnus. Give me that.” He grabbed both their plates and just short of threw it onto the table before grabbing a fistful of Magnus’s shirt yanking him in for a deep kiss. “I can’t believe I’m allowed to do this,” Alec whispered in between kisses.

Magnus replied by pulling him down to the couch with him. Magnus’s head hit the throw pillow with a soft thud. Alec laughed with surprise, quickly putting his lips back on Magnus’s. He got one of his dangling legs to the other side of the couch withdrawing just a little only to be tugged back to the Magnus. Alec’s fingers moved to the buttons of Magnus’s shirt in a desperate attempt to get the shirt out of the way. Magnus took almost no pain in removing his jumper.

“This is not fair. Why do you have so many buttons?” Alec wailed. Magnus laughed before removing his shirt from over his head.

“That better?” Alec collapsed on top of him kissing the bottom of his ear trailing down to the hollow of his neck and then reached back up to his lips. His perfect lips that were now swollen from all the kissing. He bet his was too, not that he minded. Magnus mimicked his movement placing a peck on Alec’s shoulder, and a sudden realization struck him. This wasn’t the right time to get to this. As much as he frantically wanted to. Alec was vulnerable, and so was Magnus, and it would all happen in the right time. Just not right now.

“Magnus,” Alec whispered placing a hand on his torso, “Can we –” Magnus withdrew suddenly. Alec bit in the groan at the sudden absence of the other man’s touch. “Can we slow down a little,” he finished, not really wanting to say the words himself. Magnus sat up straight, pulling his leg from below Alec’s.

“Yeah, of course. Sorry,” Magnus apologised, running his fingers through his messy hair.

“What? No! It’s not that I don’t’ want this. Trust me, I do. I just. Not now. When we both have a clear mind.” He stopped to look at Magnus, who just smiled. “And a stomach full of food. I’m seriously starving,” he added.

“Alright. I am too. And quite frankly, ravioli cold isn’t that great.” Alec beamed before leaning in for a short peck. At least he intended it to be. He didn’t know who made it deeper, who pulled in closer, or who started the war between their tongue teeth and lips, but they were back in the position they were a second ago.

“Food.” Magnus interrupted hoarsely. Alec chortled.

“Right. Food.” Alec sat up giving Magnus the space to do the same. They each slipped on their shirts before picking up the white bowl they had abandoned.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14

Alec walked into Magnus’s loft knowing for a matter of fact that he didn’t lock it. It had been two weeks since they started… dating? Got together? He didn’t know exactly, they hadn’t talked about it much. Or at all. He blamed it on their honeymoon phase (which, let’s be honest, he wasn’t complaining about), but the question still kept nudging at the back of his mind. What exactly is this? How are we going to make it work out? And he almost always promptly shoved it down further.

“For the millionth time Magnus, can you please lock your door more often. I am genuinely scared for your safety.”

“Alexander!” Magnus exclaimed giving his award-winning smile, “Darling, that’s your job,” he whispered placing a kiss on Alec’s cheek. “Besides, I think I lost my key.”

“What’s that, your fourth key this month?” He scoffed then reached into his pocket to hand Magnus the spare key he was used to carrying by now. “I swear the locksmith knows me by name now. I didn’t think it was possible to be a regular at a locksmith’s.”

“I didn’t think always wearing black would ever suit anyone, let alone always look sexy on them, yet here we are.” Alec couldn’t help the heat that rose up to his face. He should have gotten used to those compliments right now, or the kisses, or the shameless flirting that seemed to be a part of Magnus’s personality. “And you still look adorable blushing.”

“You’re late,” Alec said, changing the topic.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Your tongue print is as unique as your fingerprint.” He’d gotten a good hang of humour, at least he’d like to think so. Being around Magnus could do that to a person, but he regretted that one almost as soon as it came out. He started blushing redder (if that was even possible) because he knew exactly what was going to happen.

“Well, you have mine, so don’t misuse it,” Magnus smirked.

“You’re late,” he repeated, ducking his head to cover the embarrassment, which is probably why he didn’t notice Magnus walk up to him. He lifted Alec’s head up with a finger under the chin and leaned in, but Alec pulled away. “Late! Let’s get going.”

“Oh, you’re going to pay for this!”

“Doubt it, but let’s go!” he exclaimed grabbing Magnus’s hand dragging him away from the apartment. “Ooh, I forgot to tell you. Dad transferred the money to my account yesterday. And we are going to tell Max and mom on Saturday, I don’t know how they are going to take it but… you know. They are coming over for the weekend.”

“That’s great Alexander! How are Isabelle and Jace with this whole thing?”

“They are… Well, they are handling it now. Honestly, they are taking this way better than I expected.”

“At least you’re rich now.” Alec laughed.

“I guess I am… Kind of.”

“Well, I think I deserve a treat.”

He laughed again. “Sure. Why not.” They walked in silence for a while.

“But in all seriousness though. I’m really happy you figured things out with him.”

“Me too. I think,” and at that Magnus’s hands reached for his, lacing their fingers together. Alec glanced at their joint hands and smiled. He stopped as Magnus walked forward and used the connection to pull Magnus against his chest. The shorter man chuckled looking up.

“Knew you couldn’t resist me for long. You’re weak.”

“And I’m okay with it.” He said as Magnus raised to his tiptoes connecting their lips. “We are going to be so late,” Alec murmured.

“And I’m okay with it.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 They were really late to set. Really late. But Magnus was glad that there were not many scenes he had to shoot. He’d sort of skimmed through the script he got last night, and he was pretty sure today was mostly going to be stunts. He had a scene where his character has lost his magic and needs to use a physical weapon (the script didn’t specify what weapon, probably because they needed to figure out which one he could work with at least enough so that it didn’t look bad on camera even though his stunt double would do majority of the scenes ), and since he didn’t have to do that before, Magnus assumed they were going to trial and error today.

“You’re late amigo,” Raphael commented joining him.

“Oh really. I wasn’t aware. Thank you for the input.”

“Jem Carstairs was looking for you. Go find him, I have to go.”

“I’ll find him. Thanks.” And he did in a few more steps.

“Magnus! Hello.” Jem was a calm and composed being. Him losing his chill was not something many people had witnessed. Not something Magnus saw in a lot of people in this industry, so it was always refreshing to talk to him. “You read the script, right?” Magnus gave a small nod, “So we were supposed to start with a sword, but Diego is not free anymore. That’s okay though. I’m assuming you came with Alec, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good, He finished with Maia’s scene yesterday, so let’s go find him? Do you know where he is?”

“I think he went to the gym to see if anyone needed any help.”

Jem smiled in acknowledgement. “Well, to the gym then. Lead the way.” The smile had a hint of excitement in it that Magnus did notice, and he was almost tempted to ask why. But from what little he knew of Jem he was sure there wasn’t going to be a proper answer to Magnus’s question. So, he started walking alongside the other man to find their way to Alec.

“Magnus?” Jem broke the silence. Magnus tilted his head to face him. “Please don’t hate me after today. Trust me. It’s nothing personal.”

Magnus narrowed his eyes. “What’s nothing personal? James, is everything alright?”

“Perfect. Just. Don’t hate me.” Magnus squinted as if that helped make sense of his words. “Alec. Hey!”

“Hey,” Alec replied. “So, what can I help with today? Maia’s shoot is done, right?”

“Yeah, it is. Thanks again for that. And for today, could you to help Magnus with his archery, we are trying to find out which weapon suits him best, and might as well start with this.” Alec nodded, and the ghost of a smile crept on his face as he glanced at Magnus. But it disappeared so soon Magnus was convinced it was in his imagination.

“Sure. But I thought the range was locked today.”

“Oh, yes. But I borrowed the keys. Here,” Jem answered handing the keys to Alec. “And also, could you please come and find me after this is done. I have something important to discuss with you.” Alec looked more confused than Magnus but mumbled a quick ‘yes’ “Great. I have other things to take care of. Stay focused you two,”

Was James Carstairs teasing them? He glared at him and then sighed. Oh, Tessa. Why?

“If you’re done being immature, Jem, –” He looked at Alec, “Let’s get going.” Alec didn’t even blink before grabbing the car keys he’d just put down.

“Bye Jem,” Alec uttered before walking out the door.

“Find me when you’re done!” Jem reminded. Magnus couldn’t keep his curiosity at bay.

“You know what he wants to talk about?” Magnus asked.

“No. Do you?”

“No. But apparently, there is good chance I might hate him after the talk. But to be fair, he told me ‘after today’ not ‘after talking with you’ so maybe it’s got nothing to do with you.”

“And I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Magnus laughed, “I don’t think it’s important. And I really don’t know why you grabbed the car keys. It’s barely a two-minute walk from here to the archery range.”

“Oh, I knew that.” Magnus let out another muffled chuckle.

“Of course, darling.”

“I did!” Magnus loved it when Alec sounded defensive. His voice always went a pitch lower, but it was a very subtle decrease. The little crevice on his eyebrows. Alec would hate it, but they were absolutely adorable, not unlike the rest of him if Magnus was honest. Alec had a hard shell for a defence mechanism, and understandably so. But once he opened up, he chipped away those little parts. And Magnus was still waiting for the rest of him to be ready to willingly open up to him too. He didn’t want to seem pushy because he knew the effort it took to trust. And Alec had handed it to him pretty early on. He didn’t want to overwhelm him with the pressure of wanting anything or to force him to sit and decide what exactly this relationship was (despite how desperately he wanted them to). Before he knew it, Alec was already unlocking the doors to the range.

“Pick the right bow this time, will you. If you carry something you can’t even lift, I’m not going to be able to teach you.” Magnus rolled his eyes as Alec smiled.

“Seriously. I didn’t know jack about anything, so I picked whatever you picked.”

“I never pegged Magnus Bane for a follower,” He joked, handing Magnus a bow and the gloves while balancing the quiver filled with arrows on his shoulder.

“Only for you,” Magnus confirmed. Alec blushing had made his list of favourite things so quickly it was unfathomable. And just the fact that he did blush so easily.

“Do you want to get on with the actual shooting or not?”

“If you’re giving me the option, I can think of so many more productive things to do in an empty space as big as this one. Just say the word.”

“Magnus!”

“I meant something like creating a miniature bowling alley. With enough resources and time of course. There is just enough space too.”

“No, you didn’t.” No, he didn’t.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus was being a little too flirty today. He never did that when they were at work. And when he did, most people brushed it off as Magnus being Magnus. Except for all the people who were behind Alec’s life to try and get the two of them together (They still hadn’t told anyone. He did want to now. Just his family though).

He’d finally managed to get Magnus to get a little serious about the real reason they were there, but Alec couldn’t help himself after a few shots, only 3 out of 40 of which hit the vicinity of the target, by the way, archery was clearly not Magnus’s cup of tea. Since that was clear, Alec decided that he might as well get some sweet revenge. Magnus shuffled with the bow trying to reach for another arrow and Alec walked in closer lifting the single arrow that had fallen down.

“Okay, let me try to show you one more time how this is done,” He said examining the sharp piece of wood in his hand. Magnus started to remove the bow that was slung over his free shoulder when Alec put a hand on it. He walked behind Magnus guiding his hands to perfectly fit Magnus’s while puppeting his hand to lift the bow.

“Alexander,” Magnus whispered slightly breathless.

“Shh. Concentrate.”

He nocked the arrow onto the bow from around Magnus and settled his chin on the other man’s shoulder. He smiled triumphantly when he felt Magnus shiver. He remembered the first time the two of them did this. He didn’t mean to do anything then, but now… He adjusted the angle letting the arrow fly. As soon as he did Magnus dropped the bow and turned around leaning forward. Alec pulled back before they could touch. He heard a soft thud and the arrow had hit the bullseye.

“I should go see why Jem wanted to see me. You keep practising.” Magnus’s answer was a grunt.

“Really Alexander?”

“You’ve been doing it all day.”

“Flirting is different from this! This is pure torture. This is evil.”

Alec giggled, “Jem must be waiting. Don’t worry though, I’ll be back soon.”

He reached Jem’s office and knocked on the door, still smiling.

“Hey, Alec. So, how’s Magnus with a bow and arrow?”

“Honestly, let’s just say it’s not for him.”

Jem huffed a laugh, “Well, we’ll try something else then. Good thing we have some time.”

“Yeah. What was it you wanted to talk to me about again?”

“Oh! That. Yes. Sit down,” He said searching his drawers for something. “I left it somewhere here. Ah, here it is.” Alec looked down at Jem’s hand.

“What is this?” He asked when Jem gave him the piece of paper.

“Oh, it’s a job offer. You’ve been practically working here anyway, thought that we might as well make it official,” Alec gaped at Jem and then unfolded the paper and still remained dumbfounded. “I know that it probably doesn’t pay as much as your current job does, but even if you don’t accept I think you should at least let us pay you for part-time because you are working a lot. I’d hate for you to think that you are offering your services for nothing.”

“Jem. This is amazing! Thank you so much. I really mean it! I didn’t even think of this as a… As a possibility. Thank you! But… I need to, um. I kinda need to think about this before I answer. Is that okay?”

“Of course. I understand that it’s a big deal. But I just wanted to let you know that there is an offer on the table for you.”

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Jem just smiled in reply. “I – uh, I think I should go check on Magnus. I’ll tell you about this – uh, as soon as I can.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus had given up on archery. He was more than okay with just watching Alec shoot arrows. Those little bloody pieces of wood seemed to hate him. He sighed and sat on the floor laying the bow down next to him. He rubbed his eyes taking another deep breath. His head turned up when he heard Alec run in and before he could think of something to say crashed on top of him grabbing Magnus’s face in his hands and going in for a deep kiss. The sheer force of it made Magnus lose his balance, but that didn’t make his stop. When he finally pulled away breathless, Magnus stared at Alec in question.

“I’m not complaining, but what was that for?”

“I got a job offer! As a stunt coordinator here! I’ve never had people pick me for anything because they saw something in me, Magnus. This is a huge deal,” He exclaimed climbing off Magnus.

“Alexander! Congratulation! I’m so proud of you!” And he meant it. The beaming smile was evident enough.

“But that would mean I’d have to quit from being your bodyguard. Are you okay with that?”

“Why on earth would I not be! You have a better opportunity, in something you clearly like more, I’m never going to stand in the way of that.”

Alec gave him a warm smile that made his heart melt. “I do not like any job more than I like you. And plus, if I don’t work for you, we can finally tell our friends and family that you’re my boyfriend.” Magnus’s smile fell at that. This conversation took a turn he wasn’t expecting, and he didn’t do well with such conversations. “I mean –” Alec fumbled. “Uh, you know what. I think I need to go, I’ll – I just need to go.” He couldn’t do anything as he watched Alec leave and only realized a little too late what was happening.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec really needed to learn to shut up. Or at least to think things through before he spurted it out with no regards for the other person’s reaction. He was not the kind of person who ever did things impulsively. Except with Magnus, everything that’s happened has been an impulsive decision. And so far it had worked out well, which is why it terrified him more. What are the chances this one would go well too? Not a lot if he was doing the math right. Life couldn’t possibly be that good all of a sudden. He was so used to carrying all this weight, and now that it was finally off his shoulder he didn’t think another good thing could possibly come his way at this moment. No. He just had to go screw his very good day up.

He stopped a cab and gave the driver the address to his apartment. He was going to sit and contemplate his idiocracy on the way, considering he really was probably the world’s greatest idiot. He left the car keys with Magnus, so he could probably drive himself home, but that was his job. Well, for now, he really did want to accept Jem’s offer even if it paid less. Job satisfaction was always more important. And as much as he loved working with Magnus it still wasn’t the job he wanted. It still in some hidden corner felt like a breach of privacy. But would Ragnor need to find Magnus a new bodyguard then, or will he just be without one? Train of thoughts was such a weird thing.

He paid the cabbie when they reached the apartment and clicked the button on the lift still trying to think of what to do. He’d have to call Magnus as soon as he got home to make sure that he still had the keys and check if he needed someone to drop him off. He rubbed his brows cursing himself for not thinking this through again. The lift door dinged open and he started towards his door when a hand caught him by his wrist.

“Magnus?” He sounded almost as shocked as he felt. Magnus was in front of him. Panting. He placed his palms on his knees continuing to breathe heavy. “What are you –  Did anyone see you here? I mean it is not that crowded, but did you see someone take a picture or something? And how are you here?”

Magnus held up a finger finally catching his breath. “You really need to stop running away when you do something you don’t think is going to have a positive outcome, Alexander.” Alec narrowed his eyes pretending not to know exactly what he was talking about, but didn’t say a word so Magnus continued. “Of course, I’m okay with telling your family I’m your boyfriend. I don’t know why I froze, I have wanted to talk to you about this for a while now, good thing you have no filter sometimes.”

“I have a filter!” Magnus raised his left brow as if to say really. “Fine, not with you.”

“That’s what I thought,” Magnus smiled. Alec shook his head trying to shake off the embarrassment. His hand slowly reached up to Alec’s cheek and his thumb moved in gentle circles just under his chin and Alec leaned into the touch. “I want to take this forward if you do.”

The intensity in Magnus’s eyes was enough to set Alec on fire. “I do.” And then he moved down to meet Magnus’s lips, slowly but surely. The kiss was soft and gentle, with no hurry. It wasn’t a quickly stolen one either, it was a promise, and Alec could feel it.

“Well well well.” Alec pulled away so quickly he was slightly dizzy. He wanted to disappear into nothing. He cringed at the voice and his stomach of nerves. Not how he wanted his sister to find out. He squeezed his eyes shut.

“Isabelle.”

“Magnus.” She beamed. Alec still couldn’t turn around to look at her, but he could hear it in her voice. “What a surprise seeing you here.”

“Izzy? Hey, is Alec –” Max? Alec whipped around to confirm his suspicion. He wasn’t supposed to be here until Saturday! What was he doing here? “Oh my god? Is that Magnus Bane!?!” Alec shut his eyes once again, tighter this time. “Izzy! That is Magnus Bane.”

“And you must be the famous Max Lightwood,” Magnus mused. Alec assumed because he clearly had more experience of this.

“Oh, big brother. Don’t worry, this secret you didn’t manage to keep for long. I’m assuming this has been going on for two weeks, give or take a few days. You’re not really that good at not being obvious.”

“Really?” He finally managed to find his voice.

“Constant texting, always disappearing to nowhere, coming late from work and fumbling with excuses. You couldn’t have been more obvious. Also, Clary pays more attention than you give her credit for.”

Alec sighed, “I’m going to kill Fray.” Izzy laughed.

He looked back to the front where Magnus was chatting with his brother. “They are early. Did you know they were coming?”

“No, they called me half an hour ago to let me know they caught an early flight. I just got home to let them in. I was just about to call you.”

“Well. We do have a lot to talk about. I also have some good news. So, should I break it after you finish the dad talk, or before?”

“I think mom knows you’re dating Magnus too. I might or might not have blurted that out.”

“Izzy!”

“What, I was excited. And I didn’t want to talk without you and Jace.”

Alec snorted. “That’s not the good news by the way. I mean it is, but not the only one. I got a job offer.”

Izzy whipped around to face Alec. “Alec! That is great news!”

“I know. I think I’m going to take it. But I wanted to tell you all first before I did.” She grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a tight hug.

“Tell them after. Maybe it’ll soften the blow.”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”

“Jace will be here in a few minutes by the way. And I’m really happy for you, big brother. You deserve all this and more. I’ll wait inside okay?”

Alec nodded and walked over to Magnus as Izzy took Max inside as well.

“I need to have this talk with mom and Max, but I was thinking dinner, tomorrow. With all of them, Catarina and Ragnor included. We can tell them then?”

“Yeah. That sounds good.”

“I really hope Ragnor and Cat don’t hate me.”

“I doubt it’s possible for anyone to hate you, darling.”

“Well, I’ll have to take your word for it. So, I’ll call as soon as this is done?” Magnus nodded placing leaning in for a quick kiss before leaving. Alec braced himself for the conversation.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“That was not an easy conversation to have, but they all took it surprisingly well. I’m wondering why I didn’t tell them before.” Alec was on the phone

“You do have the tendency to overthink things to the point you convince yourself to take all the blame,” Magnus offered.

“That is oddly specific. But I agree.”

“You’ve had a roller coaster of a week, huh?”

“I have, and hopefully, it ends tomorrow. I miss nothing happening in my life.”

“You and me both.”

“When has your life ever been boring Magnus?” He heard Alec laugh on the other end.

“Honestly, it wasn’t boring, but nothing I really wanted ever happened to me till I walked in on a complete stranger petting Chairman in the middle of my loft.”

“You hated me then!”

“Not really. I hated the idea of you. It’s the opposite now.”

“That’s nice to hear,” He whispered.

“I know. So, I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, wish me luck. My family already loves you, so you have nothing to worry about.”

“You don’t need luck, Alexander. You’ll win their hearts anyway.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 15 (Epilogue)

“Hiatus is my favourite part of working,” Magnus mused unlocking the door.

“And for everyone who ever watched any show, it’s the worst thing ever. I hate hiatuses. Is that even a word? Or is it haiati? I don’t know. But I hate it. And mind you I actually get to read all the scripts now and I know all the plot twists, and I still die at every cliff-hanger. What do actors even need a break? You should just keep filming and that’s it.”

“Well, my dear Alexander. If I was always filming when would I get to spend time with the guy I’m dating,” he turned around locking his arms around Alec’s neck swaying. Alec’s hands wrapped around his waist almost instinctually.

“I’m always on set Magnus,” Alec raised a brow in question.

“Yes… But I don’t get to do this on set.” He raised one of his hands to the back of Alec’s neck pulling him down for what he intended to be a peck. He couldn’t believe that he, Magnus Bane, had kept a relationship going on for more than three months. But he wasn’t expecting anything else. It was Alexander Gideon Lightwood they were talking about. One couldn’t leave this guy if the world was ending and dumping him was the only way to survive. He was nothing short of perfection. Sensitive, sweet, more protective than anyone ever bothered to be with him, and best of all, Alec didn’t seem to notice that he was a hotshot celebrity at all. He treated him like any normal guy would treat his boyfriend. That was more than he could ask from anybody.

“And that’s a point I am incapable of denying. I hate when you pull that on me,” Alec replied leaning in.

“You love it and you know it.”

“Whatever,” he said fighting a smile. “Dinner?”

“Yes, please. Ugh, I can’t wait for the comfortable days in my bed, and binging on Project Runway.”

“We are not going to binge on Project Runway. Supernatural probably, or Game of Thrones, or Stranger things. I don’t get reality shows. The fakeness of it is annoying.”

“But you watch it for the staged drama. It’s entertaining,” Magnus complained.

“No.”

“But –”

“No.” And Magnus was weak. So, he opened Netflix and handed the remote to Alec.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec couldn’t be happier. And that was saying a lot. Things were going surprisingly well, so well in fact that he was scared that he would jinx it just acknowledging how happy he was. Could that happen? With his luck, probably. He loved his new job, and things were getting better with his father. And he didn’t know where to begin with his boyfriend. He scooted closer to Magnus placing his head on the other man’s lap. He was on the phone with Ragnor discussing something Alec wasn’t really paying attention to. Magnus was casually playing with his hair as he nestled in further.

“Okay. Sure thing sweet pea.” Alec looked up narrowing his eyes, Magnus shrugged.

“Sweet pea?” Alec asked.

“It’s an inside joke I forgot about. He hates it, so that makes it my life’s goal to make his life miserable.” Alec shook his head in disapproval. “Also, I have a fitting tomorrow.”

“For that award show?”

“I love how it’s ‘that award show’ for you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be –”

“Yes Alexander, I know. It’s not a bad thing. It’s honestly refreshing.” Magnus smiled, and his heart leapt out of his chest like it always did. He couldn’t help but smile back.

“Take me with you,” He didn’t really know why he said that. It occurred to him and he spurted it out. He’d given up on trying to think before speaking with Magnus around. It wasn’t happening anyway. So, he learned to roll with it.

“To the fitting. My my, when did you get interested in fashion darling? But don’t complain if you’re bored.”

“No, I meant to that award show,” He chuckled lowly, “Take me with you.”

Magnus’s froze. Alec didn’t know what else to do or say so he waited. “Are you sure. Alexander, I don’t know if I’m hearing this right but do you… Do you actually want to go public? It’s not an easy decision. Are you ready to be in the spotlight yet? I know I wasn’t when I first started out. I don’t want you to –”

“I don’t know Magnus. We’ve been dating nearly three months now, and I think I am more than ready to tell the world you’re taken. Besides, I don’t know if the rumours have died down or not –”

“They’ve not.”

“Well, then it’s just telling people what they already know, isn’t it?”

“Fair enough. I’ll call Cat and see if she can adjust a few things accordingly. But that means we have to book you a fitting too. Ooh! I finally get to dress you up.”

“Yay! Fun! Is it too late to change my mind?”

“Uh-uh. No take backs.”

“I’ve got plenty suits, Magnus, I don’t need –”

“Lalalalalalala,” Magnus covered his ears shaking his head, “I don’t hear anything except you are coming. End of discussion.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Magnus, really, I have enough clothes,” Alec complained. Magnus rolled his eyes ignoring him again. They had been through the same conversation a dozen times since he ever mentioned it.

“Alexander, this is not about enough clothes, by the way, you never have enough clothes, and I bet Isabelle would agree with me. Plus, this is an award show. As hot as you look in it, your usual black and black won’t make the cut. And I’ve already told you all this.”

“But –” the car came to a stop.

“Okay, we’re here. Now stop cribbing and take my hand. I’ll make sure they don’t make you too glamourous.”

“But – I – Magnus –” He waited, holding his palm out raising an eyebrow, and Alec finally sighed and took it. “Why are you like this?”

“You should have thought about what you were getting yourself into,” He gave his brightest smile and dragged his boyfriend out of the car. “This is going to be so much fun.”

“For you.” Magnus chortled.

“And no one said otherwise. But I’ll try to make this fun for you too.” He turned around planting a kiss on his cheeks.

“Nothing too flashy.”

“I wouldn’t dare.”

Alec snorted. “I mean it, Magnus.”

“Me too. Mostly,” He winked, mumbling a quick thank you to the doorman.

“Magnus. Hey! Look at you, on time and everything!” Jessamine commented. “I had a few designs for you, most of them are ready. And a few sober ones for somebody too. Ragnor Fell called me about that. I didn’t think anyone around you ever stays… well for the lack of better terms ‘sober’ per say.”

“Hello, Jessamine. I’m afraid I couldn’t influence this one out of his comfort zone. Believe me, I tried.” Jess chuckled. Magnus felt Alec shift uncomfortably. “Oh, and the sober one you’re dressing is this one,” He pulled Alec forward with their still connected hand. “Alexander, meet Jessamine. My favourite designer. Jess, meet my non-flashy boyfriend.” The boyfriend in question blushed furiously. It still surprised Magnus how easy it was to make him blush. It was adorable. It was not an uncommon reaction for most, but somehow this felt more real if that even made sense. Most people who met him blushed because he was famous, and admittedly good looking (what? He was not going to deny that) but when Alec blushed it was never because of either of those reasons.

“Ooh! Boyfriend. Magnus Bane. Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Hey,” Alec smiled.

“Oh my god, he has a really great figure. I wasn’t sure what I was working with. Are you a model or something?”

“Uh, no.” he barely managed, his face getting redder by the minute.

“Trying to be one?” Jess continued.

Alec shook his head, “I’m a stunt coordinator right now. No modelling.”

“Well, that’s a shame.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Magnus exclaimed.

“Do you want to go try out your suit while I measure this one?”

“You okay with that?” Alec nodded. “Well, then I’ll see you soon.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec waited on the slight elevation playing with the sleeve of his sweater waiting for Jessamine to come. Magnus lied, this was no fun at all for him. Fashion had never been his thing, and it probably was never going to be. And he had willingly accepted that. He had Izzy to make all the important clothing decisions for him anyway.

“Hey, sorry about that,” Jess apologised putting an end to his introverted misery, they had already tried on a few suits none of which Jessamine was happy with. Magnus was still nowhere to be seen, and Alec was starting to get slightly fidgety, “It took me a while to find. I thought it would look perfect on you,” She finished handing him a white shirt with a grey suit.

“Thank you.”

“Yeah. No problem. Why don’t you go try that on and we can see if this is the one? I think it is.”

“I really hope it is,” Alec mumbled walking into one of the changing rooms. He still didn’t know what made him want to announce to the world that Magnus and he were dating. The spotlight had become slightly easier to handle especially considering he didn’t need to be the centre of attention but more of a behind the scenes guy. And Magnus had been overly protective of him over these few months too, ensuring his privacy. That was more than Alec could have ever asked for. He couldn’t get the question out of his head.

He quickly shrugged on the suit that was slightly loose for him and unlocked the door. He didn’t bother checking himself in the mirror, because ultimately it was not really his choice, and that probably was a good thing because he would have gone with jeans and a T-shirt.

“Okay, I think it’s a little big, but it looks alright,” He said adjusting his lapels. He looked up and stopped abruptly noticing Magnus in front of him. “Magnus, hey, I – where is your –”

“Darling, that looks way better than alright. ‘Alright’ doesn’t even brush on how good you look right now.” Alec bit his lip.

“Stop exaggerating. Where’s yours?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Alec snorted, “A surprise. What is this, our wedding day? Tell me what you’re wearing.”

“No. But I can tell we’re going to make a smashing entrance.”

“Oh my god! This is it! It’s perfect,” Jess squealed, “Almost perfect, wait right there. I’ll get a few pins. I knew this one was going to be it,” She squealed again grabbing a few pins and pulling Alec into the light. He didn’t have much of a choice, so he let himself be dragged along.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Izzy: Oh my. Is that my brother? How did you get him to do that? Magnus Bane, you are a miracle worker!!

Magnus had to bring Izzy into the loop. He knew she’d be just as excited as him, if not more, to see Alec try anything other than his usual attire. She was still in France, deciding to stay there for a while longer since after acing her finals wanting to enjoy the place a little more.

Magnus: I know! Took me more time than you could think. I don’t think I’m ever going to let him take that thing off.

Izzy: If only my brother wasn’t that stubborn. And I can’t believe you guys are doing this! I’m so excited for you two!

Magnus: Me too.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Alec woke up to the alarm he didn’t remember setting. His half-closed eyes searched the bed for his phone before he realizes it wasn’t his.

“Wake up sleepy head. We have a show to get ready for,” Right, he’d spent the night at Magnus’s. They were up all night talking. He didn’t remember when they went to sleep but he remembered it being pretty late.

“Magnus, what time is it?” He asked leaning against the head of the bed as Magnus crawled over him still under the sheets. The weather was way too cold.

“4 pm, I think. But I need time to get ready.” He smiled leaning in for a soft kiss.

“But I don’t,” Alec replied whining partly because he wanted to go back to sleep and partly because of Magnus’s lips leaving his.

“Well, get up anyway. You can binge on something till 6 and then go get ready.”

“I don’t want to.”

Magnus laughed. “You’re adorable. Now up up and awake.”

“Isn’t it ‘up up and away?’”

“Creative liberty darling, now get up.”

“You have to get off me first then.” Magnus laughed starting to scoot away and Alec grabbed his shirt pulling him back. “Don’t go.”

“Stop being a crybaby Alexander. I’m going to go take a shower now. You can stay here and sleep, you can binge, or you can even join me if you want,” He said smirking, only to get pushed by Alec.

Magnus got up and walked into the bathroom. Alec stayed put. He’d never had this domestic, sweet relationship before. It scared him. Was it supposed to? He didn’t know. He didn’t know anything because he was new to this entire storyline. He’d dated before, yes but nothing serious, nothing that made him feel like this. No one had ever made him feel the way Magnus did when he was just in the general vicinity of Alec. He switched on the Tv which was playing in the background while he still dwindled in his own thoughts.

“Okay, there we go. I’m almost done,” Magnus interrupted adjusting his cufflinks, “It’s 6. You should probably get ready too.” Alec looked up dumbfounded. He was wearing a black silk button up with a dark maroon velvety suit with very minimal makeup, and Alec knew just why he was willing to do this. Why this was different.

“What? Is something off?” He asked checking himself in the mirror.

“No Magnus. You’re perfect.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Magnus was worried. More than he let show. Was Alec sure about this? It was a really big decision, and it was not an easy choice to make. Maybe he was going to regret it as soon as they got out of the car, maybe he was already regretting it now. Magnus glanced up and Alec was not a very good actor. The tension was painted on his face as clear as light.

“Alexander. Do you want to go back home? It’s completely okay if you do. I get it. If you changed your mind all you have to do is say the word and we’ll order take-out or something. You seem nervous, so you don’t need to do this just coz you said you would. I’m rambling so I’m going to stop now but seriously, do you want to leave?” Alec stared up, the brows stiff.

“You never asked me why,” He said after Magnus finally shut up.

“Huh?” Magnus stared back, confused.

“You never asked me why I wanted to go public now. You asked for confirmation a bunch and then you went around and got all this figured out. And I didn’t know why until now either, but now that I finally do I can’t let us do this without making sure you’re okay with it too. Because this affects both of us, not just me. A major aspect of your life is changing too. So, I need to tell you why before you decide its okay to do this.”

Magnus looked at him, and turned towards the driver “Hi, could you wander around a little bit more, please? Thank you.” He settled back in his seat waiting for Alec to continue.

“Okay, I’m not good with confrontations or emotions or anything related, clearly,” He laughed lowly, “So, I don’t think I’m going to beat around the bush or try to come up with reasons why. I’m not good at speeches either so it’s going to probably be the world’s worst confession of love you’ve had to face,” And Magnus stopped breathing. “I love you, Magnus. I have for a while I think, but I didn’t know what it was until today. I think I just wanted people to know that this, us, we’re not going away any soon. And –”

“You love me?” Magnus cut in, not really sure he wasn’t just dreaming.

“Yes.” He muttered rubbing the back of his neck.

“Too bad you can’t jump off a moving car.” He smiled crinkling his nose.

“Doesn’t seem like a very bad option right now if I’m honest, and I actually thought about what to say for this one. I swear I had the whole thing planned in my head and then I actually started and it’s like the plan threw itself out of the window. You don’t have to say it back. It’s absolutely okay if you don’t feel the same way yet, but if you want to think about it for a while then we can call this off and I can take a cab home –”

“Alexander.” He whispered scooting in closer. Alec gasped ever so little, “Shut up.” He closed the rest of the distance between them. His lips moved slowly against Alec’s starting to heat up before he pulled back.

“I love you too, Alexander. I just hate that literally every milestone in this relationship you beat me to it. Why? It’s not fair. If you propose too, I’m going to throw a fit.”

“You love me too?” Alec’s eyes widened.

“It’s hard not to fall for you. I was going to tell you after the award show, but no. You had to do it first.”

Alec laughed shyly, “I’m sorry?”

“Don’t be. I’m glad I didn’t have to die of anticipation. Now are we ready to do this or what?”

“Yes.” He smiled, and Magnus’s world lit up. He was living a dream and he never wanted to wake up.

Chapter Text

Magnus stayed seated on the couch while the Lightwood siblings in their matching ugly sweaters were screaming carols. He doubted any of them understood the concept of tune or rhythm or music in general really. But their Christmas spirit was contagious. That much even he had to accept. He looked to his left where Clary was trying her best not to cringe at the sound.

“Tell me again why we’re letting them do this,” She whispered planting her eyes in Jace who was probably most off key.

“Because we love those idiots and it’s our burden to bear?”

“I can’t believe we let them do this.”

“I can’t believe they convinced us to let them do this.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t think we needed earplugs today. I should have gotten it anyway,” Simon added passing over the plate of Christmas cookies that Magnus accepted gladly.

“Finally,” Clary exclaimed as the carols came to a halt. “You single-handedly ruined Christmas eve Jace. I didn’t think it was possible.”

“Oh, shut up. I have the voice of an angel. You should consider it a blessing that you’re even able to hear me sing,” He winked running his hand through his blond hair.

“You two are pathetic,” Alec commented scooting on the arm of the couch next to Magnus.

“We are pathetic. Have you seen you too? You two are so cute I barf just at the sight of it,” Jace snorted. Alec rolled his eyes.

He couldn’t believe he was welcomed into the family so easily. Well, it had been nearly a year. They didn’t have much of a choice, but he loved each one of them like they were his own.

“Okay, okay. It’s almost 12,” Izzy cut in. “So, before we bounce at our presents we need to decide who is opening the first one. I vote Magnus!” Magnus narrowed his eyes at her.

“Why me? Shouldn’t Max go first? It’s his first Christmas since he moved to New York,” He smiled at the little brother who was biting into the gingerbread man.

“Yeah,” He replied with a stuffed mouth, “But this is your first Christmas with us ever. You should go. Also, I know what gifts they got me anyway. No surprise.”

“What?” Alec, Jace and Izzy screamed defensively.

“What? You guys are almost as bad as mom at hiding your gifts. I didn’t even have to look that hard.” Magnus chuckled.

“Fine, I’ll go first then. Whose should I open though?”

“Alec’s, obviously,” Izzy shrugged.

“Why?” He said looking at Alec who was glaring at his sister, before realizing all eyes were on him.

“You open whosever you want Magnus. It doesn’t really matter as long as you open all of them,” Alec affirmed.

“Well, I would love to start with yours too Alexander.”

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Izzy was so excited she could barely contain it. Alec was finally going to propose to Magnus. She’d known for weeks! And she was so bad at keeping secrets. She dropped so many hints unintentionally, but Magnus seemed to catch on to none of them. Simon, however, did. She would have told him anyway.

“It’s midnight! Merry Christmas!” She said smiling her widest. Simon walked up next to her kissing her cheek.

“Merry Christmas, Izzy,” he whispered. She smiled at him and twined their fingers together.

“Now go. Open your present! Go, go, go.”

“Alright. God. What has gotten into her?” Magnus chortled. “Which one is yours then, darling?” He prompted.

“Um. The –”

“The red and blue one, with the little mistletoes,” she finished for her brother. Who glared at her again. Magnus laughed again, probably still completely clueless.

“You need a serious lesson on subtlety,” Simon muttered holding back from laughing.

“Says who, the lead singer of Rock Solid Pandas?” Izzy countered.

“Shhh… Those are times we never talk about and you know it.” She hit her boyfriend’s arm gently.

“This one?” Magnus asked picking the little box she’d so conveniently placed on top of everything. She bit her lip before the little squeal inevitably escaped.

“Yeah. That’s the one,” Alec said nodding.

“Open it,” Max prodded. He’d known even before Izzy did. He was doing a way better job at being hush hush about it. Magnus examined the little box in his hand before sitting back on the couch. He tore at one edge and Izzy was grinning ear to ear. By the time he was done with opening about half the box Alec got down on one knee. Izzy stood right there gently hitting Simon. Ugh! She was so excited.

“Izzy, Stop,” Simon complained, but she couldn’t. Alec was finally going to ask Magnus to marry him. How could she not be anything less than thrilled for her brother!

“Magnus –” Alec started.

“No!” Magnus stood. “No! I told you no. I told you that you weren’t doing this!” He yelled dropping the box on the couch. “No, Alexander. Just no! No.”

Izzy narrowed her eyes in confusion. Did Magnus just say no? But why? She was a hundred percent sure the answer was going to be a whopping ‘yes’, because what else could it possibly be. She looked at her brother hoping that the regret wasn’t evident on his face. And she wouldn’t blame him if it was. Oh god, poor Alec. But he looked amused, almost like he was about to laugh. Her brows rose up in confusion. She looked at Jace hoping he’d have some answers but the rest of them looked about just as confused.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

“Alexander Gideon Lightwood. You are going to take this back, rewrap it and give it to me tomorrow. I am not going to let you take credits for this one too,” Magnus continued folding his hands, and Alec burst out laughing, mostly because of the confused looks on the faces of people around him, and partly because of Magnus’s tantrum.

“You are waiting till I propose to you at Christmas dinner, say ‘yes’ and then give this to me. I refuse to accept anything from you until then.” And that was enough to shut him up. The others were already quiet. The silence lasted probably shorted than Alec thought it did, but time seemed to have stopped for him.

“You’re going to what?” He finally asked, finding his voice and getting up (His knee was getting tired).

Magnus snorted, “Well. It was supposed to be a surprise. But you had to go ahead and try to beat me at this too.” Alec ducked his head laughing. “So, no, I am not going to say yes today. You had everything else. The proposal is mine.”

“I’m sorry.” He muttered pulling Magnus in for a kiss. His lips moved softly against Magnus’s, no hurry, no tension, just pure love.

“Yes,” Magnus whispered against his lips. “I’m so weak,” He groaned slamming his head on Alec’s shoulder.

“No,” Alec replied. “I think I can wait a few more hours to become your fiancée. I owed you the proposal anyway.”