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Alec liked to think he was a much better cook than his sister. He had people like Jace who could back him up on this when it came to dishes he was used to cooking, such as chocolate chip pancakes and spaghetti; however, Alec had never tried to cook steak before in his life.
Right now, he was in the kitchen staring at the two steaks he’d brought in from the grill outside. He’d insisted that he would be the one to take care of the steaks and that Magnus could stay inside and worry about the vegetables.
He really should have let Magnus handle the steak.
Magnus stared at him when he dropped the pan unceremoniously onto the granite countertop and sighed rather loudly. “You okay, love?” Magnus asked, resting a hand on Alec’s lower back.
Alec glanced at the warlock, all gold eyeliner, sparkling clothes, and midnight hair. He briefly wondered how he’d ever gotten so lucky. “I really didn’t think it would be that hard to cook steak, but I’m pretty sure I just failed epically,” he muttered and gestured to the two slabs of way-too-dark meat.
A laugh, the one that always made Alec’s spine tingle with adoration, filled the air and then Magnus was grabbing a knife and a fork, cutting into the meat with more effort than should have been required. After a few more seconds of struggling with the tough meat, Magnus popped a piece of it into his mouth. He chewed thoughtfully for a few moments, his expression entirely blank. Alec couldn’t tell whether this was a good or a bad sign.
“It’s not bad,” Magnus said after he swallowed.
Alec buried his face in his hands. “You hate it.”
“No, it’s good,” Magnus replied and ran a soothing hand up and down the bare skin of Alec’s arm, sparking fingertips igniting swirling marks of black.
Alec let his hands fall from his face and reached out to grab the fork Magnus had just set down on the counter. He stabbed the left-over bite of meat and shoved it into his mouth, determined. Almost immediately, he spat it back out. “Why did you let me put that in my mouth?” Alec yelled, fumbling for a glass of water.
“That’s not the worst thing that’s been in your mouth.”
Alec turned around to look at Magnus with wide eyes and progressively reddening cheeks.
Magnus threw his head back in laughter at the expression on Alec’s face.
“Magnus!” Alec exclaimed. “You-you can’t, um. You can’t say stuff like that!”
“Of course, I can.” Magnus leaned forward and pecked Alec’s lips, his grin still stretched across his face. “Now, how about we just order some takeout and forget this ever happened?”
“Dear God, I’m worse than Isabelle,” Alec groaned, slumping against the counter.
“Darling, I don’t think anyone is worse than Isabelle when it comes to cooking,” Magnus chuckled and turned around to turn the stovetop off, removing the skillet of steaming vegetables from the heat.
Alec nodded solemnly. “Okay, it’s not that bad, I guess.”
Magnus moved to face Alec once again, leaning against the counter opposite of the shadowhunter. “Oh no, it is that bad. It’s just anything Isabelle cooked would be even worse. Lethal.” There was a moment of silence before Magnus continued, giving Alec a small smile. “Guess it runs in the family.”
The second the words left Magnus’s mouth, Alec’s entire body seemed to tense. His hands balled into tightly clenched fists by his sides and he pulled his bottom lip into his mouth, biting down. He couldn’t help but look down at his shoes, gaze never wavering.
Realization flashed across Magnus’s face and he stepped forward, grabbing Alec’s wound fingers in his hands and straightening them out. “Angel, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I also didn’t mean to bring that up.”
Alec shrugged, still refusing to look Magnus in the eye. “It’s okay. I deserved it. Sorry for reacting like that.” He turned around, grabbing the pan of burnt steak and tossing the pieces of meat off of the pan, into the silver trashcan. He was trying desperately to hide the fact that he kind of just wanted to go crawl into bed and go to sleep, hiding away from his mistakes.
Any time those horrible fights clawed their way into his mind, he wanted to go to sleep until he forgot them.
He knew it was ridiculous and that they’d essentially been his own stupid fault, but that didn’t mean thinking about them was a pleasant pastime. Without saying anything else, he walked out of the kitchen to where his black leather jacket, stained with demon ichor, was resting over the back of the couch. He heard Magnus mumble a low “dammit” while he rummaged around in his jacket pockets for his phone.
Just as he was about to turn and head back into the kitchen, he felt arms snake around his middle, squeezing tightly. Soft lips pressed against the back of his neck once and then twice on his deflect rune.
“You know I love you. I wish I could take back that entire fight. Forget I ever said any of those horrible things to you. I was just hurt and angry,” Magnus murmured into the hot skin of Alec’s neck.
Alec spun slowly in Magnus’s grasp and placed a delicate kiss on the warlock’s forehead. He let his lips rest there for a moment, eyes closed. He savored the feeling of his body molded against Magnus’s, the way their hearts seemed to beat in perfect tandem whenever they were near each other. “I didn’t mean to overreact,” Alec said softly.
Magnus tilted his head up, kissing Alec’s jaw a few times before resting his head against Alec’s muscled shoulder. This was a position they were used to, something they often did when they just wanted to be close to each other: wrapped in each other’s arms, Alec’s head resting on Magnus’s and Magnus’s head on Alec’s shoulder.
“You didn’t overreact,” Magnus replied and reached a hand up to scratch gently at the hair on the back of Alec’s neck, a motion he knew drove his shadowhunter insane. “I shouldn’t have joked with that.”
A low sigh mixed with a pleasured groan escaped Alec’s lips and he tilted his head back into Magnus’s hand. “You can joke with that, it’s fine. Now that we’ve cleared everything up.” Magnus continued scratching Alec’s neck with his fingernails, moving his free hand to slide under Alec’s t-shirt and rest on the bare skin of his hip. “I love you, too, by the way,” Alec sighed. “So much.”
“Hmmmm,” Magnus hummed and brought Alec’s mouth to his, kissing him a bit lazily. Alec tilted his head to the right, fitting their opened mouths together perfectly. “What do you want for dinner?” Magnus mumbled his question in between kisses.
Alec attached his lips to Magnus’s neck, biting down on the skin softly. He reveled in the way Magnus let his head fall back with his eyes closed, lips parting open. “I don’t think I’m too worried about food anymore,” he said.
“Is that so?” Magnus whispered into the air, tightening his grip on Alec’s hip.
“Mmmhmm,” Alec grinned. “Bedroom?”
“Bedroom.”