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Magnus was sitting on the balcony when Alec arrived back from the Institute for the night, his fingers tapping restlessly against the side of his wine glass.
Alec sighed.
Things had been tense between them lately, mostly due to his own inner turmoil and inability to hold a civil conversation without word vomiting all of his frustrations, and he wanted to pause just for one night. He was tired, and he needed just a few moments of peace with his boyfriend before they continued discussing his problem.
It was his job to fight demons, not Magnus.
He stepped closer, his mind conjuring up a brief image of him waving a white flag of surrender, and offered his boyfriend a small smile when he looked up from the couch and met his eyes. Magnus looked a little bit disheveled, probably because he had just finished his work for the day as well, and Alec felt a strong urge to just sit beside him and run his fingers through his hair. He had grown so used to the casual touches that they shared, the things that had become almost automatic, and now that they were happening less and less, he missed them.
“Hi,” he said instead, pausing in the doorway with his hands clutched behind his back.
Magnus returned his smile and his greeting- his eyes were just sad enough to make Alec’s heart physically ache in his chest- and looked down at his glass. “Would you like a drink?” He spoke tentatively, walking the fine line that had appeared between them.
Alec contemplated for a moment, then shook his head, taking another step forward and sitting down on the arm of the couch. His eyes were once again drawn to Magnus’ fingers, which hadn’t stopped tapping against the glass since he had made his presence known. He watched the elegant way they moved for a few seconds, noting the little chips in the surface of his nail polish, until he felt Magnus’ gaze on him. The second their eyes met again he blurted out the first thing that came to his mind, desperate to somehow bridge the gap between them.
“Can I paint your nails?”
Magnus seemed shocked by the request, his eyes widening slightly, and Alec couldn’t say he was feeling any different. He had thought about offering to do it in the past, when Magnus seemed tired or otherwise distracted and in need of a break, but maybe that was exactly the point. He did need a break. They both did.
Magnus cleared his throat, shaking his head the way he always did when Alec surprised him, and snapped his fingers. A small bottle of dark blue nail polish appeared in his hand, and he held it out for him. Alec took it, keeping grip on his hand as well, and kicked his boots off so that he could turn and place his feet on the couch.
“Shake the bottle first,” Magnus instructed softly, and Alec complied.
He worked carefully, making sure everything was even before moving onto the next nail. At some point Magnus turned on some quiet music, and slowly but surely the tension between them faded, morphing into something almost hesitant, like it had been in the beginning. It was strange, but not necessarily in a bad way. It didn’t last long, though, as Magnus spoke just as Alec finished up the last nail.
“Can we take a break from fighting tonight?”
Alec’s breath hitched in his throat, and he twisted the cap back onto the nail polish bottle, setting it down on the table beside them before looking at his boyfriend. His eyes were unglamoured, full of unhidden longing, and Alec knew that he wouldn’t have been able to say no even if it wasn’t exactly what he had been hoping for to begin with.
He reached forward, finally, and brushed Magnus’ hair back from where it had drooped onto his forehead, and nodded.
“Yes,” he sighed, brushing the back of his hand across his boyfriend’s cheek. “Yeah. I think we could both use one.”
An hour later they settled into bed, pressed as close as they could manage. Alec could feel Magnus’ slow breaths against the nape of his neck, revelled in the warmth that his body provided, and yet tears still surfaced in his eyes. He didn’t want this to end. He wanted to stay in this moment forever, to be secure in the knowledge that he would never have to let go of this, and to be able to say with certainty that Magnus would never have to suffer through losing him.
“Alexander,” Magnus whispered, stroking his thumb across the back of his hand as if he knew exactly what was going through Alec’s mind in that moment. “I love you.”
They still had so much to figure out, so much to learn and accept about each other, and it was terrifying. There was so much about Magnus that he still didn’t know, so many stories that he wanted to hear and file in his mind. So their fight was far from over, that much was clear, but they would figure it out.
They always found their way back to each other.
“I love you, too.”