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It takes him a while to realize what Alec is doing, warm and comfortable and half-asleep as he is in his husband’s arms. At first, he thinks it’s restlessness; Alec’s been getting better at unwinding, but complete inactivity still makes him fidget, and they have been in the bath for quite a while now.
Then he recognizes the slow circling of Alec’s fingers for what it is and his chest tightens impossibly even as he chuckles.
“Are you making runes from our bath foam?”
Alec traces the last line of the Clarity rune. He shrugs.
“It’s calming,” he says, and Magnus wonders if this is what is feels like to drown in adoration.
“Do you want me to…?” Blue flickers over their entwined fingers resting low on Magnus’s chest, half-submerged in the water.
Alec huffs—half-snort, half-laugh.
“That’s okay. I kind of like that they’re temporary.”
Magnus burrows into Alec’s chest, his own cracked open and bleeding affection.
“As you wish, my love.”
He watches through half-hooded eyes as the foam takes the shape of Loyal, Protected, Courage, Trust, before they all dissipate in a series of soft pops. Alec’s movements are unhurried and sure, going from one rune to the next without pause, the water dripping from his fingers barely audible.
Magnus is almost back to that state of semi-awareness when his breath catches.
He’d recognize the Love rune anywhere—has felt it being traced on his skin more times than he can count. It never fails to take his breath away, but there is a distinct ache to it, this time.
I kind of like that they’re temporary.
Blue sinks into rune-shaped froth before Magnus even knows what he’s doing. Behind him, Alec stills.
For a moment, neither of them says a word. Steam seeps into Magnus’s cheeks.
Alec’s chest expands against his back.
“How long will it last?”
Mind still enveloped in the comfort of his husband’s presence, Magnus’s answer is instinctive.
“Forever.”
Alec hums, a thoughtful sound. Slowly, he starts drawing again—another Love rune. His hand hovers over the water’s surface until a twitch of Magnus’s fingers suffuses the rune with a shimmer of blue. Then he moves on, draws another one, and another one, and another one—until the whole bathtub is filled with fluffy white signs of their love and Magnus is shaking with poorly suppressed laughter.
“Alexander—” he starts but gets no further, Alec ducking his head and capturing Magnus’s lips in a kiss that holds as much love as it does promise.
“Forever,” he echoes, voice soft and eyes intense.
Surrounded by him like this, in the private sanctity of their home, there is no room for uncertainty or fear in Magnus’s heart. Only possibility, and a hope of forever.