Chapter Text
Alec grunted loudly as he reached for his alarm, missing it twice before hitting it with such force the machine crumbled to pieces under the touch.
It was Saturday morning, 6:30 AM. Usually, Alec would curse the Gods for waking up at this ungodly hour and go straight back to bed to sleep in till noon. But since two days, he had a job – thanks to Jace – and he had to get his ass out of bed within exactly thirty seconds to even stand a chance of making it in time.
The place he worked at was an odd combination of a breakfast place, a café and diner - they basically served everything, all day long – and was located in one of the small yet cosy streets of downtown Manhattan. Jace worked there and had gotten Alec his job. And now Alec was running late (again).
He stumbled out of bed, still way too sleep deprived to be of any value to the world. On his way to the bathroom he grabbed some two-day-old clothes and checked his phone for the time. “Dammit!” He cursed while realising he only had ten minutes left to do… well everything basically. He changed quickly and checked his face in the mirror while running a hand through his messy black locks. “That’ll just have to do for today,” he mumbled.
A little (or a lot, who’s counting?) more than ten minutes later, Alec left his shared apartment with a half-consumed sandwich in his mouth trying to remind himself why he decided to get this job again. Alec, this is what you want, he thought.
Maybe he’d want it tomorrow, but right now the thought of lying between his soft sheets was definitely more tempting.
***
“Nice to see you decided to show up too, Lightwood,” Alec’s boss all but yelled at him the second he opened the back door of the restaurant and found Valentine looking at him with dead eyes and a face grumbled up in annoyance. Jace shrugged and gave Alec his best “get your shit together” look from the back of the room.
Alec had been intimidated by Valentine Morgenstern the very first time they’d met. And how was he to blame? Valentine basically looked like some crazy ass assassin – mind he also has the aggressive and unkind personality of one. The man has gone bald and his entire body is covered in tattoos. Speaking of which, the man’s physique is not one to be missed; his shoulders are wider than the freaking ocean (doesn’t matter which ocean, they’re wider anyway) and his arms and legs are loaded with what could only be an unhealthy amount of muscle, if that’s even a thing.
Long story short: Valentine scares the crap out of Alec.
“I don’t tolerate people being late, but because you’ve got such a pretty face I’ll turn a blind eye to it just this one time,” he continued, looking slightly amused by the looks of shock and mild distress Alec was giving him.
“Right. Thanks,” Alec mumbled not knowing what other response would be appropriate.
Valentine started walking towards the door before he turned around. “What are you waiting for?” He demanded, staring at Jace and Alec. “Get your butts to the restaurant and start doing your jobs!” Without another word he disappeared in a room Alec had yet to discover the use of.
“Dude, you really piss him off,” Jace whispered, making sure Valentine couldn’t hear them. “I mean, he’s never the nicest guy, but right now he’s absolutely insufferable.”
A small smile creeped onto Alec’s face. “Good to know I bring out the best in people,” he chuckled, but was met with a death glare and quickly added, “But I’ll work on not being too late, maybe that’ll sober him up.”
“Good, now let’s get to work.”
The first hour or so was spent cleaning the space since no costumer had come in yet, except for some people getting a coffee to go. But after that is was absolute mayhem. At least that’s how Alec experienced it.
Within ten minutes the diner was filled to full capacity. People sat at the tables and bar, all demanding for someone to take their order or bring their breakfast. Jace was running between the tables trying to keep up with the continuation of raising hands while Alec tried his best to deal with the situation at the bar, all the while wondering why the hell Valentine wasn’t helping them out. It was his restaurant after all, right?
“Oh for Christ’s sake!” Alec yelled a little too loudly to be appropriate after ruining his fifth cup of coffee which had caused milk foam to fly everywhere. “What have I done to deserve this?” he cried out. Jace eyed him from the other side of the restaurant and shook his head in disappointment, though laughing at the same time.
As Alec cleaned up the ever growing mess of dried coffee stains, milk residues and used cups, another costumer found a place at the bar. When Alec returned from one of the rooms inaccessible to costumers to get another cleaning cloth the new man had made himself comfortable.
“Can I help you sir?” Alec offered.
The man barely looked up from his fancy magazine full of overpriced paintings – at least that’s what it looked like from alec’s perspective – while mumbling “My regular, please.”
Alec huffed. How was he supposed to know what the man normally took? “And what exactly would that be?” he asked kindly, trying not to show his irritation.
The man finally looked up and a smile ran across his face. Wow, Alec thought, the inconvenience of just a minute ago already forgotten. The man looked Asian and had the most intriguing eyes that were lined with dark kohl liner and covered in glittery eyeshadow. His dark hair was spiked up and a single strand dyed a bright pink. How does someone like this even exist?
Alec was pulled out of his train of thought when the male spoke up.
“Who are you?” he asked suggestively, while a sly grin formed around his lips. “Oh don’t worry, darling. I’m just messing with you,” he continued when he saw the look of confusion on Alec’s face.
Alec felt like his cheeks were on fire. What was this man doing to him?
“Also, that,” referring to his regular order, “would be a cappuccino with a double espresso, a dollop of caramel sauce and a sprinkle of cocoa, please.”
“Uhm, okay. Got it,” Alec mumbled, already half-forgotten the order and feeling embarrassed by the flirtatious behaviour of the new costumer.
As he turned around to prepare the luxurious coffee, he let out a breath he hadn’t realised he had been holding. What was happening to him? The man was clearly messing around, but Alec shouldn’t be affected by that. He wasn’t, he told himself. Just a little worked up because of the crazy amount of people. Yeah, that was it. It was busy and being new to the job definitely didn’t make the situation any easier to handle.
Alec didn’t realise he was staring again, this time at the full cup of coffee in his hand, until jace hit him on the back.
“I think it’s a dollop of caramel sauce and a sprinkle of cocoa you’re looking for,” he said, emphasising the exact parts of the man’s order with a posh accent.
“Oh thank God,” Alec sighed, relieve clearly audible. “I was seriously going to mess this up. I was on the edge of just adding some of this stuff,” he laughed while pointing towards the chocolate sauce. “I mean, who orders something that complicated?”
“Well, you better remember that exact order, because he’s a regular,” Jace said over his shoulder while walking towards the next demanding costumer.
“You’re new here?” the man asked when Alec finally approached him with his best attempt at the luxurious creation of coffee.
“Yeah,” Alec mumbled but continued speaking when he was met with two questioning eyes. I’m supposed to talk, he reminded himself. “I- uhm, I-” he stuttered and looked up, only to realise the man was still staring at him expectantly. “Yeah, I moved to the city a couple of weeks ago,” Alec finally managed to blurt out.
“Well, I hope you are having a great time in ‘the Big Apple’.”
“Thanks,” Alec whispered embarrassedly while turning away and quickly occupying himself with a nonsense activity.
The rest of Alec’s shift was just as crazy as the beginning. Not only did the amount of customers increase, Valentine had finally decided he’d help out in the restaurant and wasn’t happy with Alec’s performance at all. It came down to this: “Alec Lightwood, you are a screw up. You ruin everything. It’s one big mess and if you don’t fix this situation quickly, you’re fired.”
Alec tried his best, he really did. But being a barista just wasn’t his thing. He didn’t want, and never had wanted, to serve grumpy people their food and make endless amounts of coffee and latte. He wanted to open his own place and do what he loved: cooking.
Alec had wanted to become a professional chef since he was little, but that was an absolute no-go under his parents’ regime. As long as he lived under their roof, a career as a chef was completely out of the picture. Alec still remembered the one-sided discussions with his parents: “The risk is too big. The chance you make it is so small and we can’t have any of that. Can you imagine losing everything because you chose to become a chef instead of live up to your potential?” they had said with disgust and disapproval. “Alexander,” ugh how he hated it when they called him that, “you know that going to university is the better choice to make here. You’ve got to think rationally,” his father had continued. And then his mother had finished with the most cliché comment ever: “You know we only want what’s best for you.” Alec had walked out of the room by then, thinking and we both know that’s a big, fat lie.
So, Alec had gone to university to get his degree in economics, dreading every single second of it. At least, most of them.
The part where he met Jace and Lydia and spent time with them was rather fun.
Jace and Lydia served as the crazy friends who took you to bad parties and got you drunk even though all you had really wanted to do that night was to get comfy on the couch and watch Netflix while consuming an unhealthy amount of candies and crisps. But they were also right at Alec’s side whenever he had failed a semester horribly or was being pressured by his parents again. Lydia had even pretended to be Alec’s girlfriend once for Christmas because Alec’s parents had been badgering him for not having a girlfriend yet. How could he help it? It just never worked out for the long term.
Anyway, Jace and Lydia were the best and Alec loved them with all he had.
After graduating, Alec had taken the job his father had offered him at Lightwood Investment Bureau in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By the age of 24, he had made an incredible amount of money being the head of the economics department. He had a nice, big loft, a BMW and proud parents. Now, none of those were still present in his life, although he didn’t care about missing the first two as much as the latter.
His parents had basically rejected Alec the second he had shown them his resignation paper and had told them he was finally going to follow his heart. So, he had decided it would be best to live somewhere else and start with a clean slate.
That’s how he had ended up in New York, living in a cheap apartment together with a roommate he had met via an app while taking cooking courses to up his game. Of course, Alec had always been talented in the kitchen – if the opinions of his friends and sister, Isabelle, were anything to go by - so the whole cooking thing wasn’t new to him. However, finding a job as a chef with zero experience turned out to be more difficult than thought in advance.
Jace - who had moved to the city right after university - had told Alec about his job at a restaurant downtown. It turned out Valentine knew quite some people around the city who owned decent restaurants; the perfect opportunity for Alec. That’s how Alec had ended up with this shitty job, hoping that if he’d do well, Valentine would put in a good word for him at one of the fancy places.
Alec was about to go on his lunch break when a rather large, and very glittery wallet on the bar caught his attention. Since everyone near the pocket of cash seemed too vanilla to own such a wallet, and no one claimed it either, Alec picked it up.
“Magnus Bane. So that’s his name,” he mumbled as he opened the wallet and took out the person’s ID. Alec had been wondering what the interesting man’s name was ever since said person had left the restaurant after finishing his coffee and paying, and apparently forgetting his fashionable wallet.
“What about him?” Jace asked while peeking over Alec’s shoulder. “Another person forgot his wallet?” he murmured, already knowing the answer and sounding as if it had happened plenty of times before. “Just put it at lost and found. He’ll come back for it, or not. Not our problem,” Jace said while turning his back to Alec and continuing with whatever he was doing.
“I can bring it to his apartment,” Alec said, sounding a little insecure. Why exactly would you do that, Alec?
Jace turned to face Alec again, question visible in his eyes.
“I mean, his address is written in here and I practically pass by his apartment on the way to mine. Also, you said he’s a regular, right? I think he would appreciate a little more service.” Alec seemed to have made his point when the strange look on Jace’s face disappeared.
“If it’s no problem for you, I guess that would be a good thing to do,” he shrugged.
He started retreating into one of the staff rooms but turned around one last time. “Oh, and dude? You better not be lining just your own pockets with that money,” he smirked, pretending to be dead serious, though Alec knew he was kidding, “don’t forget who got you this job!”
“Never. I’ll give you your fair share tomorrow,” Alec deadpanned, a wide smile creeping up his face.
God, he had missed Jace.
***
“No. No. No!” Magnus all but yelled after digging through his handmade Italian leather backpack for the fifth time and not finding what he was looking for. “Where the hell is that thing? I swear to God, if I’ve left it somewhere I’ll summon my stupid ass right back to hell,” Magnus said dramatically while raising his hands in distress.
“Back to hell? You’ve been there before?” a women’s voice laughed from the fluffy couch in the middle of the room. “And also, relax. I’m sure you put it in one of your million bags, trench coats, blazers- what else? Oh yeah, million clutches, cargo pant-”
“Dear Catarina,” Magnus started, “how about you help me search instead of make fun of my extraordinary and very beautiful collection of fashion? And cargo pants, really? I didn’t know you thought so little of me and my exquisite style,” Magnus basically whined, while going through his bag another time.
“That’s it. I’m giving up.” Magnus sighed after having searched for his wallet for yet another hour.
In the meantime Catarina had left and Magnus’ place had been turned upside down. He didn’t live in a really a big apartment, but the place served enough squared feet to make a big enough mess that would take hours to clean up.
The usual serenity was completely lost under the piles of clothes and accessories. The well-decorated open space the loft offered was looking more chaotic than the average sorority house – which says a lot, shame on you Magnus! – and the many turquoise and brown leather pieces of furniture could no longer be sat on.
When Magnus looked around to take in the somewhat unorganised and out of character situation he had managed to create in such a small amount of time, the doorbell rang.
“Out of all times, someone had to come now,” Magnus hissed while walking to the door and picking up some clothes in an attempt to make the loft look like he had his shit together at least a little, but to no avail; the place was an absolute chaos.
When magnus opened the door to find the handsome barista from that morning, even he – the straightforward and sassy person he was – found himself a little startled at the sight in front of him.
It took him not long to recover though. He had already pulled up some smooth line that he blurted out before the tall, dark and handsome (like so handsome; he must have been made first-hand by the all mighty Gods of beauty) man had had a chance of speaking.
“Honey, I must say, I didn’t think you’d be so eager to see me,” Magnus purred, an undercurrent of pure joy in his voice. “But I like the commitment.”
“Actually,” the other man started, “you forgot your wallet at the restaurant, and I thoug-”
Magnus cut the man off. “Here I thoughts the Lord had given up on me,” Magnus cried out, raising his bejewelled hands in the air as if to talk to someone higher up. “Thank you for sending an angel, I’ll forever be in debt!”
Magnus lowered his arms and reached out his hand. “I’m Magnus by the way,” he said when he shook the other man’s hand. “And sorry about that,” he apologised, referring to his prayer (or whatever it was supposed to be). “I have searched for that thing for hours and genuinely thought it had evaporated into thin air.”
Mr. Handsome’s face wore a look of amusement, probably taking in the mess behind the smaller man as he spoke up again. “Magnus Bane, I know,” he simply stated.
“How so?”
“Oh,” the man spluttered, probably having realised that what he’d just said might have evoked the wrong assumptions. “I saw your ID when I looked through your wallet to find the owner and address. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to invade your privacy,” he muttered the last part while a light pink flushed his face.
“Not at all, it’s actually really thoughtful, uhm?”
“Alec. Alec Lightwood.”
“Well, you certainly acted true to your name, Alexander,” Magnus smiled while taking his wallet when the other man offered it.
For a second, Alec looked surprised at Magnus’ remark, most likely not having expected him to know such details about the name, before composing himself. “Well you don’t just get called “helper of mankind” for nothing, now do you?” he asked playfully. “How did you know Alec was short for Alexander?”
“Let’s just say I have my ways of knowing things,” Magnus explained cryptically when a soft fur brushed against his ankles. “Good to see you’re still alive,” Magnus said while shifting his gaze down to where a cat sat at his feet. “That little ball of fur would be Chairman Meow,” the smaller man said when the cat started bumping his head into Alec’s legs instead of Magnus’.
“You okay down there, buddy?” Alec cooed towards the animal that clearly enjoyed the presence of the taller man, as it had fallen on Alec’s feet and had started purring hard while rolling around. “I take that as a yes,” Alec laughed while squatting to his haunches and reaching out a hand to pet the fluffy goodness, before he stopped his motion and looked up. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” he exclaimed. “I should have asked first. Is it okay if I give this friend a cuddle?”
It took Magnus way too long to respond and he blamed that all on Alec. To be more precise, his eyes. How had he not noticed them before? Not at the bar and not when he had opened the door, but now that he had, all he could do was stare dumbfounded.
Sweet baby Jesus Magnus thought when those perfect two optics stared at him with patience. The large white sclera formed the base to a breathtaking, hazel iris with specks of bronze and an overall glow of olive green. And then there was the astonishing glimmer that was caused by the light sheen of water. They were breathtaking. Breathtaking indeed.
Magnus was pulled out of his daze when Alec spoke up again. “Are you okay?”
“Of course,” he was quick to reply when a wave of embarrassment – not an emotion he felt often – came down on him. “Totally.”
It took Magnus another minute to remember that Alec – who had raised himself to his feet again – had initially asked a question and Magnus hadn’t replied. Alec had asked him a simple question and Magnus had stared him in the eyes - and not just for one second - obsessively.
If the tall man didn’t already think I was crazy, he must certainly do now, Magnus thought.
“Of course you're welcome to pet the Chairman,” Magnus said, still embarrassed because of how long it had taken him to respond. “You’re lucky to meet him, he’s out a lot.”
“Do you cuddle him enough?” Alec laughed when he had lowered himself next to the purring cat and started caressing the little animal. “I’m sure he’ll stick around then.”
Magnus laughed at the sight in front of him: a total stranger – who turned out to have the most beautiful eyes in the universe (just a kind reminder) – cuddling his cat while talking about why said cat was barely home. It was weird, but it definitely didn’t feel that way to Magnus.
“I’m certain he doesn’t leave me for the lack of intimacy, I give him plenty of that.” Magnus said. “I honestly think he’s cheating on me.”
Alec cracked a smile and a muffled laugh escaped his mouth. Yup, definitely need to hear that laugh again.
“What?” Magnus snapped while he tried in vain to keep the smile from his face. It was a serious case after all.
“Nothing,” Alec croaked. “Just to clarify though, your cat is cheating on you?”
“Uh huh. And stop laughing. It’s an emotional subject,” the shorter man fake-pouted while wiping an invisible tear off his cheek.
“When did you find out?” Alec asked, pretending to be all serious. “Don’t tell me you hacked his phone and found secret text messages.” Alec got to his feet once again as Chairman Meow lazily walked off.
“Yeah, just ignore your problems!” Magnus yelled sarcastically after the retreating form of the Chairman.
“Worse, actually,” Magnus started when he turned back to meet those hazel eyes again. “I saw him leave someone else’s apartment the other day. The audacity!”
“The bastard! He really had me tricked into thinking he was a good boy,” Alec played along.
They both burst into laughter, as they suddenly realised they had been talking a solid five minutes about a cat cheating on its owner.
“I should probably get going,” the tall man said, a sudden rush in his voice. Magnus had no idea where that came from.
“Yeah sure, thanks again for the wallet and listening to my ramble about my cheating cat, who, I must admit, is actually really sweet.”
“I figured, and you’re welcome,” Alec laughed shyly while turning around and leaving for the elevator.
“See you around, Alexander!” Magnus yelled as the other man got into the elevator. The doors closed quickly, but he still got a glimpse of Alec’s choked laugh and composure of discomfort.
That’s when Magnus realised he had been flirting with the man albeit he didn’t know about his sexuality. But he had been playing along just as enthusiastically as Magnus, hadn’t he? Or had it made him extremely uncomfortable but had he been hiding it well until his façade had weakened a little at the end?
It left Magnus feeling weird and uncertain. He barely knew the man and yet he had been able to make Magnus feel things he never normally felt. Whether those feeling were positive or negative was up for debate.