Work Text:
“Lightwood’s been looking for you.”
Fuck.
It was fine, honestly, it was fine. Magnus had no right to decide what Alec said to who...Okay, maybe it wasn’t fine. Maybe he was jealous.
Maybe.
He wasn’t going to admit it, especially after Alec started teasing him for it. He just looked so smug about it and he couldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was right. In all honesty, Underhill seemed nice enough. He was strict and rule-abiding but so was Alec - until recently - and if anyone was going to be Alec’s friend outside their circle, it would be the hard-working Security Head. Underhill actually apologized for being wrong, as well, and did seem to be happy that they were better now. That had to count for something. He wanted Alec to have more friends, what kind of boyfriend would he be if he didn’t? And anyway, Alec apologized already. He just needed to do some apologizing himself and hopefully, they could forget Magnus getting not-jealous and move on.
Magnus made his way to Alec’s office and opened the door, there wasn’t really any reason to knock.
“Hey,” He said softly, entering the room. “You were looking for me?”
“Yeah…”
Magnus jumped right into it, not wanting to waste any time. “Alexander, if this is about what we were talking earlier- I was wrong,” Magnus said quickly when he saw Alec begin to look away. “You have every right to talk out your problems with your friends, no matter how good looking they are.”
“-This is not about that.”
Oh.
“This is about you living in the Institute.”
“...Oh.” This was not what he thought it was. In fact, it was worse. Magnus knew this wasn’t going to last, that Alec would have to kick him out at one point and he would have to go looking for a place on his own. His boyfriend had been pretending like that wasn’t going to happen, saying the rules were “just suggestions” but he knew Alec. Alexander Lightwood followed the rules.
“Believe me, I-I want to live with you but you were right. Having an outsider live in the Institute, that is against protocol. And...how can I expect everyone else to follow the rules if I don’t follow them myself?”
There it was. Magnus knew Alec loved him, but he also knew that rules would always win. “I understand.” He said, putting on a brave face. He knew that Alec wasn’t doing this to make him upset, but it still hurt. “I’ll move out first thing in the morning.” He needed a new real estate agent sooner than expected, maybe Cat would let him stay for a night while he got things sorted. “However…” Alec continued, making Magnus stop his slightly panicked thinking. “There’s no protocol that says that the Head of the Institute has to actually... live at the Institute.” Magnus was already ready to say yes because he knew where this was heading, and after all they went through, the answer was going to be different this time. “So, when you...find a place, I was hoping that we could... both move in. Together.”
“Only if I get my own walk-in closet.” It was half a joke. Okay, maybe not one at all. The closet space at the loft was abysmal.
The smile on his boyfriend’s face practically melted Magnus’s heart. This was the face he was going to see every day when he woke up and every night when he fell asleep, officially. He was pretty much living with him already but...making it official was better than having it happen with no words between them. “You mean that?” Alec asked, and Magnus smiled himself so widely that his cheeks were already starting to ache. “Of course.” He reached out to Alec. “I love you…”
And then it started happening again.
Blood started seeping out of his nose before he had a chance to hope it was just the sharp insistent pain in his temples. His smile was gone in an instant as the pain was already too much to hide, but when he vaguely heard his name his automatic reaction was to say. “I’m fine” even though everything in him screamed help me! He turned away from his boyfriend, trying to wipe the blood away, but then he started to cough.
His whole body felt like it was doused in cold water when he felt thick, warm liquid spatter onto his face.
No, no, no….
He couldn’t stop coughing and retching no matter how hard he tried. The only thing that stopped the blood just a little bit was the panic that was setting in. The deep, uncontrollable breaths of an incoming attack brought the blood back into his throat, which only made him cough harder. All of a sudden, he couldn’t move right and he felt himself falling backward. He tried to look to Alec but his neck wouldn’t move. “My head...please help me. It hurts!” Magnus was vaguely aware that the words he spoke to Alec weren’t in a language the shadowhunter could understand, but when he tried to speak in English, he found he couldn’t speak anymore. He tried to reach out and take his boyfriend’s hand, but it was shaking so much…
And then it was gone. All he could hear was the muffled sound of Alec yelling.