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“I’m all into parties, but what do you say we get out of here?”
Alec breathed a sigh of relief. “Yes.”
Walking away from the Hunter’s Moon with Magnus, Alec finally breathed easy for the first time in weeks. The world had been put right again.
He nuzzled his face against Magnus’ hair, smiling, making the warlock grin. “I’ve missed this.” He whispered.
“So have I.” Magnus said, pulling Alec’s hip closer to his own. “So, what do you want to do? Nightcap back at the loft? Wander the city?”
“I… I want to get out of the city.” Alec said. “If that’s okay.”
“Wherever your heart desires. What are you in the mood for?”
“Just something simple. Minimal number of people. I’ve just been surrounded by people and… I need to get away from them for a bit.” He smiled. “Some hot chocolate would also be good.”
“That could be a complicated combination, but luckily I know just the place.” Magnus took Alec’s hand with one hand, and whipped up a Portal with the other. “Ready?”
“Always.”
* * *
They stepped out of the Portal onto a beach in the early morning light. The weather was chilly and not conducive to swimming, but the deserted beach was beautiful. The beach was littered with giant rock formations, and cliffs surrounded the beach on all sides.
Magnus led Alec to one of the rock formations on the water’s edge, encouraging him to climb it. Alec climbed up to the top and Magnus followed along after him. They sat down, staring out into the sea. Alec shivered and Magnus magicked up a soft warm blankets, pulling it around them.
“Deserted enough for you?” Magnus whispered, pressing his lips to Alec’s for a soft kiss.
“It’s perfect.” Alec burrowed closer to him. “How do you even find all of these places? I know you’ve been alive for a long time, but…”
“This one has a funny story to it. This is wild territory up here, so naturally there are a number of werewolf packs. They came into conflict with a family of nixies that live in a cave on the sea a few miles from here. They called on me to mediate the argument. However, as you know, Portals can only take you somewhere you’ve been. This was in the early 20th century, when I was still living in London, but the furthest north I’d been… well, this was in the time before fast cars, let’s just say that. The roads were awful and it took days to get up here. Even now, the main road coming here from the south is still just one lane, that tells you how little traffic there is.
“But anyway, by the time I got up here, the nixies and the werewolves had sorted out their differences, and when I walked in all muddy and dishevelled from days on the road - and getting down to that cave was an adventure in of itself - they all had a good laugh at the expense of the warlock before they invited me to join their party. Despite the humiliation, I did grow to appreciate the scenery and desolation. So whenever I’ve needed to get out of the city - whatever city - I like to come here. Feel at peace.”
“And you want to share that peace with me?”
Magnus smiled and kissed Alec’s cheek. “I do. The past weeks… they’ve been some of the hardest I’ve ever had in my life. Valentine’s attack with the Soul Sword. Our bodies being switched. Those memories surfacing with the Agony rune. All of this conflict between Shadowhunters and Downworlders… I wanted to blame you for that chaos, but I just couldn’t. None of it was your fault. It took me some time to realize that. And when I did I… I was just worried that you wouldn’t want to hear that from me. That we’d just be all business again. So when you showed up at my door this morning, acting all business, I just panicked. I’m sorry if I was harsh.”
“It’s okay.” Alec murmured. “I… I was feeling the same way. I tried to be all business because I thought that’s all you’d want to see. It was killing me. I know sometimes we need to act professional and all when we’re at work but… when it is just the two of us… it hurt. I don’t want to go through that again. I don’t want to fight with you.”
“I can’t promise that it won’t ever happen, because it does. But I want us to promise that we’ll always talk things out. Not let things simmer or fester or anything like that. Let’s promise to never go to bed angry with each other.”
“I’ll make that promise.”
“Me too.”
They sealed their agreement with a kiss, settling into a comfortable silence as they rested against each other and watched the waves crashing against the shore and sun rising higher over the horizon.
Their peace was disturbed by some shouting behind them. Magnus grumbled and turned to see a group of surfers yelling at each other as they made their way towards the shore in wetsuits.
“Well, I guess peace can even be elusive here sometimes.” Magnus said. “Now, I do believe I promised you hot chocolate?”
Alec shrugged off the blanket and looked around. “Where is there hot chocolate in this place? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“Just a few miles up the road. Come on.” Magnus wrapped up the blanket and made it vanish once out of sight of the surfers, and they climbed down from the rock.
They walked hand in hand up the grassy hill behind the beach, and then along a paved road, where no cars passed them, even as they passed through a sleepy village that was just starting to wake up.
Alec assumed that they would be stopping somewhere in the village, but Magnus kept going and they emerged on the other side of it, back into rolling hills. Alec could see bigger mountains in the distance, but no sign of any civilization.
“Is this place glamoured?” Alec asked curiously.
“What? Oh no. Completely mundane. Just trust me.”
After a few minutes, once they crested another hill, Alec did see a scattering of buildings in the distance. Once they got there, Magnus guided them around a few bends before coming to a stop before one of the many fairly nondescript buildings with a sign on it proclaiming it ‘Europe’s most geographically remote chocolate producer’.
“I know it doesn’t look like much from the outside, but the hot chocolates here are absolutely divine.”
Magnus guided Alec inside, bidding him to take a seat while he went up to the counter and ordered and paid for their drinks, along with a selection of chocolates that he brought to the table Alec had chosen.
“Just some sweets for us to try before the main event arrives.”
Magnus picked up a chocolate and brought it to Alec’s mouth, giggling as Alec rolled his eyes and then opened his mouth, taking a bite of it. A strong citrus taste exploded over his taste buds, soothed by the sweet dark chocolate shell. Alec smiled and accepted the rest of the chocolate, sucking lightly on Magnus’ fingers as he pulled back.
Magnus’ eyes darkened at the sight, wondering if Alec had meant to tease him, but as he looked at the Shadowhunter’s dark eyelashes fluttering and the smile playing around the corners of his lips, he knew that it was all intentional.
“You’re evil.” Magnus purred.
“What? I’m an angel.” Alec said, pretending to be offended. “It’s been confirmed scientifically.”
Magnus rolled his eyes, but he opened his mouth as Alec moved to feed him a chocolate. Just as he was about to sink his teeth into it, Alec pulled his hand back, and Magnus chased the chocolate with his lips. Alec leaned in and kissed him, letting him taste the chocolate on his lips, before pulling back and finally letting Magnus have the chocolate.
They had gone through most of their plate when a woman appeared in front of them, setting down two mugs. She winked and disappeared back into the kitchen.
Alec’s mouth dropped open at the sight of the drinks before them. He’d seen what hot chocolates often looked like in New York’s mundane coffee shops, fancy immaculate creations without a sprinkle out of place. But these were something else - messy and wild, whipped cream faltering under the weight of the melted chocolate and syrups that had been drizzled over top, dripping down the sides of the mugs.
Mugs, which, Alec now noticed, had no handles.
“How am I supposed to drink this?” He asked.
“Messily.” Magnus grinned as he licked a few spots clear around the sides of the mug, and then picked it up.
Alec ran his finger over one of the drips of chocolate, gathering it on his fingertip. He brought it to his lips slowly, sucking it off, keeping his eyes glued to Magnus’. He watched in satisfaction as the warlock swallowed hard, Adam’s apple moving visibly.
“Are you going to drink that?” Alec asked casually, finally picking up his drink as well.
“Tease.” Magnus muttered under his breath. “But be careful, you’re playing with the master.”
Alec smirked over the rim of his mug, finally taking a drink, sighing happily as he tasted the smooth creamy liquid. As he drank more, his burst of energy from teasing Magnus dissipated, leaving him content and sleepy, feeling the exhaustion that had settled into his bones from the days of fighting - both emotional and physical. But now that he was sitting here - wherever here was - reconciled with the man he loved, and the enemy defeated, whatever pain there could have been in that exhaustion felt like it was a million miles away.
Magnus also had a happy sleepy look in his eyes as he drained his mug, dropping it back to the table, surreptitiously magicking his hands clean. He did the same for Alec when Alec finished his. They had the remaining chocolates packaged up to take with them, and then stepped back out into the windy morning air.
“Home?” Magnus asked.
“Home.” Alec agreed, entwining his fingers in Magnus’.
They stepped out of sight and through a Portal, which deposited them back in the entryway of the loft.
“This is what you meant by home, right?” Magnus asked uncertainly.
“Yes.” Alec said, tugging on Magnus’ hips to bring them face to face. “After being back in the Institute for I don’t know how many nights… alone in the dark… after I’d gotten used to sleeping here with you… it didn’t feel like home anymore.”
“I couldn’t sleep in my bed.” Magnus admitted, running his fingers along Alec’s arm. “I slept in the guest room. Or on the couch. My bed didn’t feel like home anymore, because… because you’re my home now. I’m sorry if I sound like some cheesy greeting card, but it’s true.”
“It’s not cheesy.” Alec said softly. “You’re my home now too.”
Their lips met, gently, delicately, hopefully.
They were home.