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“There you are.” Alec finds Magnus climbing on to the jetty from the lake water in their backyard. The sun is in his eyes so he’s squinting at Alec, but there’s a smile outshining the sun plastered to his face.
The summer had hit town mid-May and with every passing day the temperature had hit a new high. Alec had never minded the sun and the warm weather, it was the humidity and that it made everything cling to his skin that drove his mood over the edge.
His only solace in the heavy humidity is the man walking towards him in nothing but his swim trunks and water running down his chest, stomach and legs leaving wet footprints on the jetty.
Alec steps out of his shoes and drops his bag next to Magnus’ shirt draped over the back of chair. He smiles at Magnus as he starts towards him.
“Darling, hi,” Magnus greets him and wraps his arms around Alec’s neck. “Welcome home.”
Feeling the chill water through his thin shirt, Alec sighs and runs his hands through Magnus’ wet hair, wiping it out of his sunkissed face. His brown eyes sparkle with serenity and warmth aimed at Alec, and it makes his knees weak to think that he’s had this for 4 months only it feels like a lifetime. He knows he’ll never grow tired of it.
“You feel amazing,” Alec is referring to chill of the water, but Magnus arches a brow, jokingly. “What have you been up to today?” He leans in and kisses Magnus softly.
Magnus hums, “I talked to Cat for a few hours. She says the heat in New York is the worst it’s ever be- you look hot, come into the water with me,” he interjects and moves his hands down Alec’s chest and begins unbuttoning his shirt for him before he continues. “And then I went into town, bribed Simon for an iced coffee, ran in to your mother-”
“You ran in to my mother? What’d she say?”
“Oh, nothing much. She wants us to come for dinner some time next week.”
“Hm, I guess we could make it work,” Alec ponders and helps Magnus with the last of his buttons. “I have that expo in Boston from Tuesday to Friday, but I guess we could make it on Sunday?”
Magnus nods and throws Alec’s shirt on the ground and tugs at his hand. “Sounds like a date.”
Alec groans. “Would you stop calling it a date when we go out with my mom? Just because she’s dating Luke doesn’t make it a double-date.”
“It so does,” Magnus chuckles and stops by the ledge of the jetty. He smirks at Alec and pulls him close. “One, two, three, jump?”
“Magnus, I’m not wearing a swimsuit.”
“Hasn’t stopped you before,” Magnus hums with a smile. And before Alec knows it, he’s being pushed into the water - expensive khakis and all - with Magnus’ laughter ringing in his ears.
He stays below surface for a few seconds, letting the cool water envelop him, letting him be weightless and relaxed. Then he feels the current as Magnus jumps in after him and he reaches for the surface.
The humidity hits him like a wall, but it’s a bit more bearable being in the water. Magnus comes up behind him and hooks his chin over Alec’s shoulder, snakes his arms around his chest and hooks his legs around his waist. Alec treads water for both of them.
“Wanna know something?” Magnus murmurs against Alec’s skin, making him lean into the touch. He hums something, urging him to keep going.
“I think you work too much,” he continues. “Or maybe I work too little. I miss you.”
Alec chuckles and turns in Magnus’ grip to face him. They’re pressed chest to chest and nose to nose, and Alec steals a kiss from him, making Magnus chase his lips as he lets go.
They stay like that under the afternoon sun for some time, stealing kisses from each other and splashing water on heated skin, unaware of the clouds pulling in over the mountains, sending chill gusts of wind through the trees and across the lake.
“It looks like it’ll finally rain. We should get out of here,” Alec says and swims towards the jetty. Magnus is close behind him, grabbing at his ankles to tease him.
“Did you know it was gonna rain today?” Magnus asks as Alec helps him up onto the jetty, not keen on not touching Magnus’ cool and slick skin.
Alec shakes his head, intertwines their fingers and walks towards the shore.
Thunder rumbles in the distance and by the look of it lightning hides in those dark gray clouds. A gust of cool wind hits their wet backs and goosebumps covers their arms.
“You have all your stuff?” Magnus is a bit ahead of Alec who’s stopped to look up at the sky. The clouds have already descended and swallowed the tips of the mountains around them. A smile grows on Alec’s face when cold wind tears gently in his shirt and ruffles his wet hair.
“Come on you nature freak,” Magnus chuckles and grabs Alec’s hand to drag him further up the small hill to the house. “It’s going to rai-“
A loud rumble interrupts him and Alec sees him jump a little before inching closer to Alec. It makes Alec smile the way Magnus looks to the sky, worried it might physically attack him.
“Alright, let’s get inside before sky opens,” and before he’s had a chance to finish that sentence, the sky did just that; it opened and it began pouring down, the rain lukewarm at first but colder by the second as the humidity is cleansed away by the rumbling thunder.
They’re halfway to the house when Alec stops again, lifting his chin to face the sky and letting the rain fall on to his cheeks and into his mouth. He lets the chill rain soak him through his shirt, and opens his arms to the sky and does a slow spin in the pouring rain.
He loves this kind of weather. He loves the smell of the rain on warm concrete, he loves the cold pricks of water against his skin, he loves that he can feel the thunder in his bones.
He loves that Magnus laughs at him. “We’re in the middle of a thunderstorm and you want to stop and feel the rain?”
Alec peeks through his wet eyelashes to see Magnus shaking his head in between fits of laughter. Thunder rumbles again, this time closer, and the wind picks up, making Alec sigh with contempt.
The rain is washing away a month of humidity and tension in Alec’s shoulders, making him truly relax for the first time all summer and he wants to hang on to that feeling for as long as possible.
But then lightning strikes again and Magnus calls for him from where he’s standing under the canopy by the house holding a pile of towels. The next flash of lightning takes him back nine months to the first time he saw Magnus standing across the street, tearing apart his dream, and he wonders how he could have been so wrong about him back then.
“Alexander, get in here!” Magnus chides with a smile, wrapped in a towel, and holds out one for Alec to wrap himself in as he joins Magnus under the canopy. They stand side by side and watch as the thunderstorm rolls past them, jumping slightly when lightning flashes and inching closer to each other until they’re wrapped in each other’s towels.
Looking at Magnus, he feels a surge of emotion that makes his stomach turn and pulse speed up. His tongue twists and knots, making his words disappear in the rumbling weather. When Magnus looks at him it’s like he can breathe again and the words rush out of him.
“Marry me.”
Magnus’ eyes crinkle and he reaches up to Alec’s neck and pulls him into a kiss. It’s exhilarating kissing in sync with the thunder that does nothing the slow Alec’s pulse.
He loves Magnus, he’s loved Magnus for nine months, and no matter how happy he is about owning his own flower shop, it’s the thought of Magnus that keeps him going and keeps him grounded.
Magnus’ lips are pink and kiss swollen when they pull apart and his hand remains on Alec’s neck, caressing the damp hair at the nape of his neck. “Yes,” he says, like it’s the easiest thing in the world.