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Alec was an extraordinaire at handling sick people. It was an indisputable fact amongst his siblings that he was the one to go to if you were ill; depending on the severity of the illness he would range from telling them to ‘suck it up, it’s just a papercut’ to waiting on them for an entire day because they were suffering from a severe flu. On the flip side of that, he was atrocious when ill himself. Izzy had long ago stopped trying to only help him, instead she would take a far more subtle approach by hinting that maybe Alec should leave early to go see Magnus who would flip into mother hen mode instantly when he heard his boyfriend sniffle. Jace was just as bad a patient and felt it would be too hypocritical for him to micro manage his parabatai when Alec was ill so unless it was deadly, Jace steered clear. But Magnus, as was being proved now, was never going to accept any of Alec’s ‘I’m fine, I have work to do so I have to keep going’ bullshit.
The first time Alec had come down with a mundane illness was when he was at Magnus’ loft; he had tried to hide his headache and how his angelically gifted balance was completely off. Alec really should have expected Magnus to put his foot down but it had still been a surprise when it had happened, the shorter man had looked up at him with a baffling mix of concern and frustration and hope. Alec had stood no chance against that look.
This was the second time Magnus had used that look on him. Alec was sitting, swathed in multiple multicoloured blankets, on the couch with Magnus curled up next to him, humming along to the songs being sang on the show they were watching. Alec was running his fingers through Magnus’ hair which, after just one episode of the show, led to the warlock dozing off. The peaceful humming traded for even breaths. Alec smiled and tried to move for the remote to pause the show, he knew that Magnus wanted to watch it all with him and he wasn’t going to take that away from him. It took the entire length of a song on the tv for Alec to ever so gently move out from under Magnus and most of the blankets, he kept one around his shoulders because without it he would completely lose all of his warmth. Again.
Alec had taken about two steps towards the armchair on the other side of the coffee table when he found himself tumbling to the floor at break-neck speed, a hoarse shriek tearing up his throat and his left leg in piercing pain. Magnus was sitting up, startled like he’d never closed his eyes. Alec could hear his sparking magic and lay on the floor defeated even when he heard Magnus sigh and stand up. The shadowhunter wasn’t sure he’d ever done anything so humiliating in front of his boyfriend. He had tripped over the table. Not even the corner of it. The middle. The middle of the table. What sort of shadowhunter was he? Lying on the floor, face pressed into the soft carpet with his body tangled in a glittery purple blanket.
“Alexander, darling, what were you trying to do?” Magnus whispered gently due to the shadowhunter’s now flaring headache, Alec briefly wondered what on earth he had done to get such a fantastic man to love him.
Alec turned his head to face said fantastic man, not caring too much about the red flush on his cheeks. “Nothing, I’m all good. Go back to sleep, Mags.” He mumbled softly, smiling as Magnus raised an eyebrow.
“I dunno, the sofa’s cold without you. I might just have to join you on the floor which you seem to have decided is comfier than cushions.”
“Mmm, okay.” Alec tried to shrug and couldn’t help grinning brightly when Magnus pushed the coffee table away a bit and lay facing Alec, his thumb stroking away the tear tracks Alec hadn’t even noticed.
“Does it hurt that much?” Magnus asked, not waiting for an answer before sparking up his healing magic and sending wave after wave of warmth and care to sooth Alec’s headache.
“I wanted to pause the show so you didn’t miss any.” Alec said instead of answering.
“I- Thank you, Alexander. But next time, I’d rather we just rewind rather than you hurt yourself even more. You’re ill and trying to walk through inanimate objects is just going to make it worse, darling. Okay?” Magnus kept his voice hushed, Alec could remember how the night before he had been so quiet that Alec had barely been able to hear him through his feverish haze.
“Doesn’t it hurt to keep whispering?”
Magnus frowned at his question, it was one of his expressions that Alec knew would involve a head tilt if he was upright. “No? Why?”
“Oh, it’s just...you’ve talked a lot in a whisper ‘cause of...my headache and I didn’t want you to be doing it if it hurt.”
“Alexander, it doesn’t hurt. Don’t worry, and hopefully that headache will be gone soon. Now get some sleep, you need it.”
“You go back to sleep too, Mags.”
Magnus chuckled and pressed a kiss to Alec’s forehead. “Of course, my love.”