Work Text:
A hot pulse of air blew through the loft as a portal opened up just inside the front door, then hissed shut. Alec made a face, burying his head in the pillow, as booted footsteps came down the hall, accompanied by a meandering tune sung slightly out of key in a language he didn’t recognize. The footsteps stopped at the bedroom doorway. There was a long pause that was so amused he could almost hear it, and then Magnus said, “You’re getting mud all over the sheets. Or at least I hope that’s just mud.”
“Mmrgh,” Alec mumbled without lifting his head. “I’m sleeping.”
“Ah. By the smell, I would have guessed you were decomposing.”
“Mean,” Alec groaned, thoroughly aware of how petulant he sounded, and rolled over to see Magnus peering down at him with an expression that was caught somewhere between merriment and affection. He was wearing a vest with complicated-looking fastenings and metallic blue stitching that matched his eyeshadow over a white shirt with billowing sleeves, and the whole effect was both really hot and vaguely piratical. God. Alec really had missed him, and he was so tired that his brain was turning every thought into word salad, and he really, really wanted to kiss Magnus but he was pretty sure that it wouldn’t be appreciated at the moment. “Ugh. I meant to shower when I got home, I just—”
“Collapsed?” Magnus finished. He bent down to pull his boots and socks off, then sat down on the edge of the bed, tucking one leg up under him. There was glittering blue polish on his toenails. It was adorable, a descriptor that once upon a time he never would have imagined applying to someone like Magnus.
“Yeah.” Alec’s voice cracked around an enormous yawn as he tried to get the energy to lever himself up. “Sorry. I haven’t slept in ages.”
“Yes, I can see that.”
“Gimme a second, I’ll go—”
“Don’t be silly, Alexander,” Magnus said gently, and leaned over to kiss him, muck, demon ichor, and all. One hand smoothed through Alec’s grimy hair, and a prickling blue wave of magic washed over him. When it lifted, he was clean and dressed in his favorite pair of well-worn sweatpants, sinking into clean golden sheets that had been purple and mud-streaked a moment ago. A faint smell of electricity and sandalwood lingered in the air, and Magnus pulled back, smiling. From this close, Alec could see the faint crinkles in the corners of his eyes, the way a bit of glitter had smudged over his temple, the glint where the light caught his glamored brown eyes in a way that hinted at their true nature. “What’s the point of being a warlock if I can’t look after gorgeous exhausted men I find collapsed in my bed?”
“How many men do you have collapsing in your bed?” Alec mumbled, nestling deeper into the blankets, so comfortable that he was pretty sure he couldn’t have moved if he wanted to. And with Magnus leaning over him with that fondly amused expression on his face, he definitely didn’t want to. “Should I—” he broke off on another yawn. “Should I be jealous?”
“Definitely not.” Magnus kissed him again, a sweet leisurely slide of lips, and he made a softly pleased sound when Alec pulled him down with a hand at the nape of his neck, hooking one leg over the back of his knee to keep him close. “Oh. Hello.”
“Hi,” Alec said, smiling dopily. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” Magnus said. His voice was low and soft, his fingers lightly tracing over Alec’s temple, down over his cheek before curving under his jaw and tilting his head up to drop another kiss on his mouth. “But I need you to stop being so cute, or I’m going to be tempted to seduce you.”
“That would be a bad thing how?”
“You’re tired,” Magnus murmured, but he made no effort to pull away. “You need your sleep.”
“It can wait,” Alec said, and pulled him down for another kiss.