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Alec was nervous. He didn’t even know why – his life was the most perfect it had ever been, with both Valentine and Sebastian dead. Things had calmed down immensely, and while he still had an Institute to run, his work load had dropped significantly.
Thus he’d spent as much time with Magnus as possible, to the point where he hadn’t slept in the Institute for a little over 3 weeks. They even had movie night with his siblings a few days ago, the annoying vampire and Clary in tow. Isabelle insisted he and Magnus were disgustingly cute. She teased them a lot about it, acting annoyed at never being able to hold Alec’s attention for long, because he kept getting distracted by Magnus.
They both knew she didn’t mean it though. She was nearly as happy as Alec himself over them working things out. Which didn’t prevent her from throwing snacks at him whenever she caught Alec staring at Magnus.
So all things considered – life was perfect. His relationship was perfect. But he was still nervous. Because he was about to meet Magnus’ oldest friend for the first time – Catarina Loss. He didn’t feel at all prepared. He’d heard a lot about her from Magnus, who liked to tell him his adventures with Cat and Ragnor, while they cuddled on the couch on the balcony watching the New York skyline.
And while he knew Cat to be less prickly than Ragnor apparently had been, he still knew she was very blunt. Which really was a good thing, because Alec liked that quality in people. But he did feel nervous what her verdict on him would be. He wasn’t exactly good at meeting new people. That wasn’t usually a problem, since he usually didn’t care what people thought about him, but this meeting was significant. Because it would be important to Magnus.
Magnus, who currently ran around the loft searching for some kind of potion ingredient he promised to give Cat, but seemed to have misplaced. As such he was oblivious to the internal struggles of his boyfriend. And maybe Alec would be less nervous, hadn’t Magnus only mentioned Cat’s arrival ten minutes ago, when he suddenly jumped from the breakfast table, nearly having forgotten their meeting.
But maybe he’d have had more time to make himself even more nervous, who knew really. Alec absentmindedly took a sip of his coffee, that has long since gone cold, when he heard a loud crash from the study. He nearly choked on his coffee.
“Found it!!!”, Magnus yelled, reappearing in the kitchen with a smile on his face and a little satchel in his hands. “Now, where were we?”, he purred, his eyes glinting mischievously, as he leaned down towards Alec, his lips hovering barely an inch over Alec’s.
Alec couldn’t help but grin and forget about his nervousness momentarily. His heart still skipped a beat whenever Magnus flirted with him, even after all these weeks of basically nearly living at the loft. He wouldn’t have it any other way, he thought, as he cradled Magnus face in his hands and kissed him softly.
Magnus hummed appreciatively, deepening the kiss and tangling his hand in thick black hair. Finally it was Alec who pulled away. “Actually”, he said, “I was about to convince you to eat something.” Magnus smirked at that. “I distinctly remember having done so earlier”, he said, watching Alec turn a pretty shade of red all the way down to his neck. “Magnus!”, Alec admonished, but couldn’t help grinning with him. He was so happy, it was ridiculous.
They were interrupted by the doorbell. As Magnus got up to open the door for Cat, Alec’s eyes widened and he instantly remembered about being nervous just moments ago. He heard muffled voices by the door and made to slowly get up and move to the living room.
He couldn’t decide on whether to sit down or remain standing. He probably looked stiff, as he clutched his hands behind his back. When Magnus entered, followed by Cat, Alec was about to try and offer a greeting, when he heard a soft “Alec!”, as Madzie brushed past Cat’s legs and ran towards him.
“Madzie! Hey”, he said, squashing down to her eyelevel and being immediately pulled into a hug by the little girl. He grinned into her wild curly hair, as he hugged back. Madzie certainly seemed to have gotten more affectionate since she starting living with Cat. He’d only seen her twice after the attack on the Institute, when Magnus brought her home because Cat had double shifts at the hospital and didn’t want to leave her alone.
Madzie pulled away and studied him for a moment. Then she pointed at a freshly drawn rune on his arm. “That one is new”, she said, looking a little closer. “I like it”, she decided. “Thanks”, Alec smiled. “You’re not wearing you neckerchief.” The girl got a little shy at that. “Cat said you’re back and we were going to meet you and you liked my gills”, she explained.
Alec grinned happily. “I do. Hey, do you want some pancakes? I think we have some left in the kitchen.” Madzie nodded. As Alec looked up he noticed both Magnus and Cat looking at him. Magnus gazed at him, a small, happy smile on his lips, his eyes glistening softly. Cat alternated between looking at him and Magnus, amusement clear on her face. But there was also something else there, something softer.
“Alec Lightwood”, she finally mused, smiling slightly. “Nice to finally meet you. I’ve certainly heard quite a lot about you.” “Uhm...some things good, I hope?” “Most of them”, she grinned.
“Okay, uhm, thanks? Nice to meet you too. Can I…get you anything?”, he asked. “I’m good, thank you.” Alec looked back to Madzie. “Come on, let’s get you some pancakes.”
As Alec and Madzie disappeared into the kitchen, Cat turned to Magnus, a teasing glint in her eyes. “Sooo, already offering drinks to guests, is he?”, she teased. Magnus only shrugged, still smiling. “You look happy”, she observed. Magnus’ smile got even bigger. “I am, Cat, I really am.”
“You know, I think I approve of this one.”
---
Later that day, after Cat and Madzie had left, Alec curled up on the couch, lowering his head into Magnus’ lap. Magnus smiled down at him, carding his hands through his hair. “That went well”, Alec said, his tone the slightest bit inquisitive. He had enjoyed himself, getting to know Cat a little, seeing Madzie getting more talkative every time he met her. It was nice getting to know Magnus’ friends. Not only because Cat had a fondness for telling embarrassing stories of Magnus, though she insisted meeting Ragnor would have been way worse for Magnus’ reputation.
She seemed to take to him surprisingly well. She even whispered a promise of bringing him some incriminating photos of Magnus as a pirate next time they met (bless warlocks and their ability to produce photos out of memories, because Alec was pretty sure photography wasn’t even invented at that time, they certainly didn’t have anything in their data base dating that far back), to which Magnus yelled an indignant “I heard that! Don’t you dare team up against me! Alexander! Don’t you dare.” His whole act was destroyed by the small smile that wouldn’t leave his face at seeing Alec and Cat interact, though.
“She certainly seemed quite taken with you. I knew you’d be able to charm her. Even Ragnor might have liked you.” Alec grinned a little at that. He took hold of Magnus’ hand that rested on his stomach, carding his fingers through his and lifting it to his lips. He pressed a kiss on the back of his hand.
They stayed like that for a couple of minutes until Alec’s phone started to ring. It was some kind of rock song that was called “Angel with a shotgun”. Magnus liked it and set it up on his phone because he found it fitting. Alec hadn’t been able to change it back. He hadn’t really tried all that hard though.
It was Izzy, being very apologetic to call him into the Institute on his free day, but promised it wouldn’t take more than two hours.
“I’m sorry, babe, I have to get to the Institute. Shouldn’t take long, I hope. I could bring home dinner on my way back?”
“Sure. Any idea when you’ll be back home?” Alec had to admit that his heart started beating faster every time either of them referred to the loft as their home. It certainly felt like it, more than the Institute ever had. They’d have to talk about Alec moving in for real, maybe. Alec smiled and pecked Magnus on the lips before standing up. “About two hours, Izzy said. I’ll try to be back soon. I love you”
“I love you too, Alexander”