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Alec knew there was a lot about magic he didn’t understand, and even more that he had no clue even existed, but walking into the loft with the entire living room covered in a sheet of plastic, Magnus standing in the middle, and magic swirling around him, a huge canvas opposite him, took him mildly by surprise.
“Alexander!” Magnus said, grinning. He dropped his arms, the magic fading from around him and immediately approached the shadowhunter.
“Do I want to know why the living room looks like Clary’s painting room on a bad weekend?” Alec asked, laughing a bit as he put down his bow and kicked off his shoes.
“Yes, as a matter of fact, you do! And I needed you!” Magnus says, approaching Alec, tugging him down for a welcome home kiss, sighing happily. “It’s a bit of experimental magic that I’ve been playing with, and honestly, I am finding it wonderful."
Alec raised both of his eyebrows. Magnus sounded almost giddy, excitement clear in every inch of him. Alec couldn’t help smiling in response, leaning in to steal another kiss. "Oh?"
Magnus nodded, striding to the middle of the room again. "Have you heard of something called synesthesia?"
Alec shook his head. "No, I haven’t."
"It’s a disorder, of sorts, of the mind, it changes how the mind interprets senses. A warlock who has it came up with an idea for her to be able to express those, and I’m testing out a practical version of it,” Magnus said, gesturing to the canvas across from him.
Alec tilted his head and looked at the white canvas. “Try that again? I don’t know what you meant."
"It means,” Magnus said, gathering magic in his palm, focusing on it, the ball glowing bright white with flecks of red and gold. He grinned at it, bright and wide, darting his eyes up to Alexander before he threw it at the canvas on the opposite side of the wall.
Alec stared as paint immediately splattered onto the canvas, exploding out from the ball, but now that he looked at it, the swirls and twists, he couldn’t help grinning. “What is it?"
”You,“ Magnus said, laughing. "How I feel about you, more accurately." He wrapped an arm around Alec, leaning into him, staring at the bright colors, every twist of them giving him another reason to smile. "The way the magic works is that we take an emotion we want to ‘paint’ and then by combining the practical summoning of colors, into the emotion, we then can display it on canvas for others to see."
Magnus waved a hand and the one he had just created was replaced with another, this one covered in dark blues, blacks and hints of green, gold flecks dancing along all of it. He smiled sadly and leaned into Alexander when he heard the questioning noise coming from his shadowhunter. "Ragnor, and how I feel about him being gone."
Alec sucked in a hard breath and turned to appreciate the colors and painting again. Now that Magnus had told him what to look for, he could see how the twisting colors indicated pain and mixed up emotions. He’d been friends with Clary long enough to pick up some understanding of her abstract art. "It’s beautiful."
"Thank you,” Magnus said, looking at the paint. “There’s something oddly therapeutic about it. Gathering all the emotions you have on a topic and then having it explode out of you in color."
Alec nodded. "I can see that." He smiled and pressed a kiss to the top of Magnus’ head. "I think the experiment is a rousing success, then?"
"Almost!” Magnus said, clapping his hands as he remembered, waving away the painting that he had shown, another blank canvas appearing in front of him. "I want to try one more. This one of us."
Alec blinked and tilted his head. "Us?"
Magnus nodded, grinning up at Alec. "Yes. You’ll have to trust me, but all you need to do is focus on me, and how you feel about me, and then I’ll do the rest."
Alec relaxed and pulled Magnus in for a kiss. "That’s easy."
Magnus leaned into the kiss, exhaling hard against Alexander’s lips, his magic already starting to swirl around them. He let his eyes fall shut, their foreheads pressing together.
"I love you,” Alec whispered, feeling the magic jolt around them, even as Magnus kept his eyes closed, likely concentrating on the spell. He could feel the magic moving around them, in them, drawing on everything between them. "I will love you for your forever, and beyond, Magnus. I will change the world for you, and I will love every single day I get to spend laughing, smiling and loving you.“
Magnus gasped softly, his hands coming up to cling to Alexander, holding him closer. The words were adding unexpected power to the magic, but he wasn’t about to make Alec stop.
"I am never going to be perfect, and neither are you, but I do believe that we are perfect for each other, Magnus. And when the time comes for us to start a family together, however that ends up happening-"
Magnus fought down a small noise in the back of his throat, pressing in until they were inseparable.
”-I will be excited to see what adventures are in store for us as we figure that out. I love you, and I love who I am with you, Magnus Lightwood-Bane. And I want to see what that looks like on a canvas,“ Alec whispered, pressing a kiss to Magnus’ forehead.
The magic exploded out of Magnus, diving for the canvas, leaving him stumbling under the sheer force of the magic that escaped him. He stumbled, glad when Alec wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him and he took a second to breathe, almost afraid to look at the canvas. "How’s it look?"
Alec froze, staring at the picture. It was… "I can’t describe it,” he whispered. “But it’s perfect. It’s us, just like you wanted."
Magnus’ eyes slammed open and he turned, looking at the canvas leaning against the wall. Every inch of it was covered in paint and his breath caught.
At the center of the painting, two figures, made of resplendent gold, holding hands, and colors exploding out of both of them, forming wings at both of their backs, covering the rest of the canvas, standing on a background of what could only be Brooklyn. Magnus took a step away from Alec and towards the canvas, his eyes catching on every detail. His magic had clearly read everything that they were, and had put it on here, for him to see and appreciate.
"Magnus?” Alec asked, watching Magnus carefully. The warlock looked thunderstruck, staring at the painting. “Did it come out all right? I love it, but did something-”
“No,” Magnus whispered, shaking his head, rubbing at his eyes. “It’s perfect, it’s perfect, I just wasn’t expecting it to, to, actually…"
Alec smiled and stepped up behind Magnus’, wrapping his arms around the warlock from behind, pulling Magnus back against his chest, admiring the painting with him. "To actually be us?"
"Yeah,” Magnus whispered, his eyes roving over the figures in gold. He bit down on his lip and couldn’t help leaning back against Alexander. “It’s incredible."
"Yeah, you are,” Alec agreed, feeling Magnus snort. “Hush and let me compliment you. That’s amazing."
"It’s half you,” Magnus reminded him, even as he stared at the painting again. “We’re going to be displaying these in a gallery. To show how they work,” he explained softly. “We don’t have to show this one if you don’t want to."
"Well,” Alec said, pressing a kiss to Magnus’ temple. “I am fine with displaying it, but if you even think about selling it, I’m going to have to fight you."
Magnus laughed and turned around in Alec’s arms, wrapping his arms around Alec’s shoulders, pulling him down for a kiss. "No fighting needed. That is ours, forever."
"Good,” Alec whispered, his eyes darting to the painting once more. The golden figures on the painting had shifted, mimicking their pose, but he could tell Magnus about that later. Right now, he had plans. "Come on,“ he whispered, tugging Magnus towards the bedroom.
The painting, and the inherent, living magic within it, became a staple in their household through the decades. Sometimes the size changed, to fit more easily as the loft shifted and grew, but it was always there, and every morning Alec walked by it, he smiled, admiring the two figures in gold that held hands.
However, three years after they were married, the picture underwent its first significant change. Instead of two figures in gold, there were three, a baby clearly present in their arms. Alec remembered seeing it for the first time and shouting for Magnus (and subsequently waking up Max), when he’d realized what it was.
The painting morphed again when Rafe joined them.
And even though they made many more paintings over the decade, they were never quite able to replicate the inherent magic of the first one they did together, and that was more than fine with Alec. It was a reminder that he was part of a whole, and no matter how bad a day he had, it made him smile.
It was them, after all.
