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"This is a joke, right?"
"One can only dream," Magnus says with a smile, earning himself a sour look from the Shadowhunter at his side. "What?" he demands, turning to better see a scowl that shouldn't be that hot. He lifts their joined arms and shakes them in the Shadowhunter's face. The ribbons tying their wrists together have long, trailing ends, and they flutter with the movement. "You think I wanted this?"
The Shadowhunter just keeps scowling hotly at him, and Magnus continues.
"You think I want to be tied to you?" he asks, ignoring the voice in his head telling him that that might not be so bad. He's been there, done that, and he swore it'd never happen again. And after decades of breaking his own promises to himself, he'd finally, finally gotten this one to stick.
"We'll fix it," the Shadowhunter seethes at him, his voice a low hiss, and an involuntary shiver makes its way down Magnus's spine, igniting a small spark of rage.
"We will," Magnus growls, and he storms off, delighting in how the Shadowhunter stumbles forward after him.
Not so graceful after all, he thinks, and he knows it's unkind but he doesn't much care. If it weren't for him, this Shadowhunter would still be the plaything of what's most likely a trickster demon of some sort. The least he could do is be grateful.
"You could have at least said thank you," he says, pushing through the sand in long strides. They're on a deserted stretch of rocky beach, where Magnus had been enjoying a lovely stroll when he'd come across this Shadowhunter bound from head to foot in gold and black ribbons. He'd sent a bolt of magic flying toward him to cut him loose - he tries to be kind despite everything, after all - and it'd all been fine until the ribbons shot forward, the black ones turning to cobalt blue as they wrapped themselves around Magnus's wrist. He'd been tugged torward the Shadowhunter's side and found to his dismay that the other end of the ribbons were tied firmly around the Shadowhunter's wrist. He found to his greater dismay that no matter how hard they pulled, the ribbons were stuck tight. His magic wouldn't work to cut them free, and neither would the Shadowhunter's weapons.
"Looks like we're in this together," he'd said brightly, trying to remain positive and not give into the panic attempting to claw its way out of him, and all he'd received in return was a blank look. Yes, it wasn't one of his best lines, but still…he surely deserved better.
The Shadowhunter's back to scowling as they're making their way up the beach, and the more they walk, the more irritated Magnus becomes. He doesn't know why, but every little thing's pricking at him. The panic of being tied down, the silence, the anger radiating off the person he's been shackled to, the fact that that person is a Shadowhunter and would very likely have no problem destroying him if it meant that he got the chance to go free.
"What were you even doing?" he asks. He gets a grunt in response. "Were you attempting to do something well? Because if so, I'd say you failed. Miserably."
"You think I don't know that?" the Shadowhunter asks. His voice is low again, and raspy, and there's a note of something almost like heartbreak in it, but Magnus refuses to believe it. Shadowhunters, in his experience, don't hold much with finer feelings.
"I don't know what you think," Magnus fires back. "Seeing as how you've spoken a truly astonishing three complete sentences to me in the brief time we've known each other, and each one of them quite rude." He can't help but laugh. "I don't even know your name. I'm bound to you for quite possibly the foreseeable future and I don't even know what to call you."
The Shadowhunter at least has the decency to look slightly chastened.
"Alec," he says eventually and mostly to Magnus's chin. He swallows, and Magnus watches as his Adam's apple bobs in his throat. It shouldn't look that good. "I'm Alec Lightwood."
"Oh joy," Magnus says, unable to help himself. "I'm tethered to a Lightwood. Could my day get any better?"
As if on cue, the sky opens up, and rain begins to fall. A heavy, drenching rain that apparently knows all the little openings in his clothes, given how quickly he can feel water seeping in. He fights down another shiver as he looks over at Alec.
"I suppose you want to make a run for it," he says dryly, noticing with some small satisfaction that Alec's started to look a bit like a drowned rat.
"You got a better idea?" Alec asks, and actually, Magnus does.
"Of course I do," he says, already bringing up his free right hand to create the portal. He's never tried to do it one-handed before, but it should still work. Hopefully.
It, of course, does not.
No matter how hard he waves his hand, the most he's able to get is a few pitiful blue sparks. He tries snapping his fingers, but they're too wet to be of any use in that department.
"I thought you could just do magic without all the hand gestures," Alec says very helpfully in his left ear. The rain's become so loud that he's had to lean in close and his breath is warm on Magnus's skin. Too warm. Magnus steps away.
"It helps me focus," he shouts, that nasty need of his to always explain himself popping up at the absolute best time. He keeps trying, going so far as to swipe his wet hands across his equally wet trousers, right up until Alec finally rolls his eyes and steps forward, pulling Magnus along with him. He walks fast, and he doesn't once break stride, not even with Magnus doing his darndest to dig his heels in at every available opportunity.
"Where are you taking me?" Magnus yells into the rain and the wind. Alec doesn't answer, and he doesn't stop until they're standing in front of a large, dark house.
"No," Magnus says, as their steps grind to a halt. "I'm not going in there."
"You don't really have much choice," Alec says. He's squinting at him, just as hotly as he'd been scowling earlier.
"You'll ruin...that," he adds, waving his free hand in the general direction of Magnus's coattails, and Magnus can't help but laugh.
"It's already ruined," he says, and there's a note of sorrow in his voice that he really wishes wasn't there. He adores this coat, and he's had a long time with it to adore it, but Alec doesn't need to know about any of that.
"I have alcohol," Alec offers, and that's enough to make Magnus forget about his clothes for a second.
"What kind?" he asks.
"Does it matter?" Alec counters, and no, Magnus supposes it doesn't matter at all.
"Lead on then," he says, plastering a big fake smile on his face and gesturing with his free hand toward the house. Alec blinks at him for a long moment, and then, with a tug at the ribbons binding them, begins to walk inside.
*
The inside of the house is just as dark as the outside of the house, but it's drier, and the alcohol turns out to be a very lovely bottle of Pétrus.
"You don't want to get dried off first?" Alec asks, while he's very kindly holding the bottle firmly between his very nice thighs. He's got his free hand holding the neck of the bottle while Magnus is doing his best with the corkscrew they'd found in a sticky drawer.
"Nope," Magnus says, popping the p because it's annoying and he's still annoyed. His magic isn't working any better inside the house than out of it, and he's reduced to using hand tools. "I want to be drunk."
Alec raises an eyebrow at him, but he doesn't comment.
Instead, he asks, "And what do you want to do after you're drunk?"
"I don't know," Magnus says, shrugging one shoulder. "Pass out? Wake up to none of this having happened?"
Alec rolls his eyes.
"Yeah, because that's likely," he says, and Magnus gives him a disgusted look.
"I know," he says, turning so he's right in Alec's face. This close he can see flecks of green in Alec's hazel eyes, and it makes him even more annoyed. It's not fair that he's tied to a Shadowhunter in the first place, and it's especially not fair that said Shadowhunter is absurdly attractively his type while at the same time being revoltingly unpleasant personality-wise. "You asked what I wanted, not what I thought would happen."
"What do you think is going to happen?"
"No idea," Magnus says, right as the cork comes free with a satisfying pop. He considers it for a moment, and then tilts the bottle up, taking an even more satisfying swig of wine. It's rich and warm going down his throat and he can't help but sigh after he's finished. "Oh that's good."
He's about to drink some more when Alec wraps his hand around the neck of the bottle and pulls it toward himself.
"Hey," Magnus protests, but Alec ignores him, tipping the bottle up just as Magnus had done and drinking deeply. Magnus watches, mesmerized by the bobbing of Alec's Adam's apple when a thought occurs to him.
"Not so fast," he says, wrenching the bottle out of Alec's hands. "You'll make yourself sick."
"Didn't know you cared," Alec says, his voice suddenly much deeper and his breathing heavier. Magnus absolutely does not think about what that would sound like in other situations, in other rooms.
"I don't," he says, taking another long drink of wine and then gesturing at their bound wrists. "But we are rather tied together at the moment and there's nowhere for me to go if you decide to be violently ill from drinking too much, too fast."
"I suppose that makes sense," Alec says, and Magnus rolls his eyes.
"You suppose," he says, drinking deeply from the wine again. He stops, sputtering, when he feels a sharp kick to his leg. "What the hell was that for?"
"Maybe I don't want you getting sick all over me either," Alec says, and Magnus can't be sure but he thinks he's smirking. Hotly. Unfairly.
"Aren't you just the soul of compassion," he says, flopping down miserably beside Alec on the sofa. Some of the wine sloshes out of the bottle and lands on his hand. He starts licking at it, only because it'd be a shame to waste such good, expensive wine. He starts licking more slowly when he notices Alec watching him.
"See something you like?" he asks, smirking back. He enjoys the way Alec's gaze lingers on his mouth, and because he can't not, he licks his lips. Alec jumps in his seat. Or he tries to, only to get pulled right back down. Magnus tugs at the ribbons binding them, if only to make a point. "Going somewhere?"
"No," Alec says, making a face. Magnus raises an eyebrow at him and the face clears. Alec runs his hand through his wet hair. "I mean, yes."
"There's another one of those in the kitchen," he adds after a long stretch of silence in which they just sort of stare dumbly at each other. "I want it."
"Sure you do," Magnus says, doing his best to get to his feet. Alec wraps a hand around his wrist after a few failed attempts, and it's only because of the promise of more wine that Magnus allows it. "But if you insist…"
"I really do," Alec says, pulling him to his feet in one swift movement, and, even though no one is likely to in this dank, deserted place, Magnus decides that should someone magically appear and ask, he'll just say it's the dizziness keeping him quiet.
*
It's several bottles later when Magnus, sprawled across the, rather ugly once he got a chance to look at it, sofa asks, "So what were you trying to do?"
"On the beach," he adds, noticing the white blur out of the corner of his eye that's got to be Alec turning his face toward him. He'd turn his head to look back, but he'd probably be ill if he did. He's feeling rather...sloshy, his usual high tolerance for alcohol having apparently flitted off after his magic when that ran out.
He doesn't let himself wonder whether he'll get either of them back.
"What were you trying to do?" he asks again instead, and it takes a long, long time, but eventually...Alec answers.
"I wanted a soulmate," he says, his voice low and thick.
"You thought you'd find one at the beach?" Magnus asks, raising his eyebrow even though they're not looking at each other.
"Special beach," Alec says, knocking his shoulder into Magnus's. Magnus swallows down the bile that threatens to crawl up his throat. "S'got magic."
"Uh huh," Magnus says, slowly, "what kind of magic?"
He's never heard of this beach being any kind of magical, whether warlock or Seelie or otherwise.
"Dunno," Alec says, sliding down further in his seat. His head ends up resting on Magnus's shoulder, and Magnus lets him stay there, if only because he isn't too sure he wants to try shrugging him off.
"But you wanted a soulmate so you came anyway," he says instead. Alec nods against his arm. "Not very Shadowhunter-like of you, I must say."
Alec simply hums, poking his nose into Magnus's arm.
"Aren't you supposed to find a nice Shadowhunter girl, marry her, and produce dozens of perfect little Shadowhunter babies?" Magnus asks. "It's been a while since I really cared but I thought that's what your sort did."
"Awww you cared."
"Did not," Magnus says immediately, his cheeks burning, quite against his will, at being caught out.
"You did once," Alec says, and before Magnus can argue, he adds, "I didn't want to marry a girl."
"Why not?" Magnus asks, his heart threatening to climb into his throat.
"Because I wanted to marry a boy."
Magnus swallows and shifts in his seat.
"They don't let you do that?"
Alec shakes his head.
"Can't make dozens of perfect little Shadowhunter babies if you're married to a boy."
"No I suppose you couldn't," Magnus says. He chews on his lip, thinking, and then he asks, "So, magical soulmate beach?"
Alec snorts out a laugh.
"Yeah," he says, "Sister's idea."
"She knows about you?"
"No," Alec says. "I mean, she doesn't...know I'm gay but she said I needed rest."
"Why'd you need rest?" Magnus asks, even though it's really none of his business and also he doesn't care. Much.
"Accident," Alec says, and an inexplicable thrill shoots down Magnus's spine.
"What happened?"
Alec shifts, digging his chin into Magnus's arm until Magnus is forced to look at him.
"I nearly died," Alec says, with an oddly serene smile on his face. "And it wouldn't have been so bad but my sister was there and…"
"And you survived for her."
"Yeah," Alec says, that smile still in place. Magnus keeps looking into his eyes, expecting to see tears, but they never come. He doesn't know if that makes him sad or not. Emotions only get in the way for Shadowhunters. They don't hold much with them, call them distractions, or so he's always heard. He just...somehow thought it'd be different here, in this dark house, after the wine. With him.
"And you decided to come here and rest and get a soulmate while you were at it."
Alec nods.
"Why?"
"Because," he says, after a long pause, "then I wouldn't be so alone."
"I see," Magnus says, because he does. He hates that he does but, well… "You know it's not your soulmate's job to fix your problems."
Alec nods his head again, his eyes slowly closing.
"You shouldn't be with someone just because you don't want to be alone," Magnus says. "Soulmate or not."
"I know," Alec says, so quietly he's nearly whispering. "But it'd be nice to have someone."
"It would," Magnus says, just as quietly. A moment passes, and then he asks, "How much did we have anyway?"
Alec laughs. It's a nice sound, Magnus will admit.
"Too much probably," Alec says. "I won't tell anyone if you won't."
"Wouldn't dream of it," Magnus murmurs. Alec snorts out a laugh. Magnus lets himself enjoy it, lets himself enjoy the way the skin by the corners of Alec's eyes crinkles before he asks, "So any idea how long we're going to be stuck like this?"
"Not a clue," Alec says, and Magnus finds himself laughing.
"We got more wine?" he asks. "I think...we need some more."
He doesn't, really, but he's feeling marvelously...fizzy all of a sudden and he'd rather like the feeling to last a bit longer.
"You know," Alec says, sitting up straighter and smiling brightly at him and oh that is nice. Magnus could look at that for a long, long time. "I think we do."
*
Next thing he knows it's morning. He blinks his eyes open and instantly regrets it, the daylight streaming through one of the windows doing its utmost best to sear his retinas.
"Ow," he says, putting a hand to his aching forehead.
"Took you long enough," says a voice from in front of him, and it's only because he's never heard it before that he opens his eyes again. There's a girl in front of him, a woman really, in a tight red dress and impossibly high heels, and her features are familiar enough that it doesn't take much guessing to figure out who she is.
"You're Alec's sister," he says, doing his best to sit up and instantly regretting that too. Not that he gets far, what with how he's still bound to Alec, but the sloshiness from last night is present in fuller force than before and well, he just hopes there's a lavatory somewhere close by.
"Izzy," she says, coming closer. He half expects her to stick out a hand for him to shake, but she doesn't, settling instead for staring at him with her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed over her chest. "You're Magnus Bane."
"The one and only," Magnus says, a little breathlessly. He swallows as hard as he can to force the bile back down his throat.
"What are you doing with my brother?" Izzy asks, somehow narrowing her eyes further.
"Nothing untoward, I promise you," Magnus says, holding his hands up. Alec's right arm comes up too, still as tied to Magnus's left arm as it ever was, and Magnus can't help but sigh. "I was merely out for a walk along the beach when I happened upon your brother and well…"
He waves his arm and Alec's, and he's surprised when Alec doesn't stir at all. He'd half expected a blade to the chest.
"He didn't," Izzy says, her eyes growing wide.
"He didn't what?" Magnus asks, glancing back. Alec's started to scowl in his sleep and it's...adorable.
"Ugh," Izzy says, dropping her arms and clenching her hands into fists. She stomps over, loudly, and begins trying to shake Alec awake. "I told him not to come here."
"What's so wrong with here?" Magnus asks, watching as Alec bats Izzy's hand away.
"Usually nothing," Izzy says, shaking Alec harder. "But if you come on the feast day of Priscilla and Aquila and speak to the tide, which my brother obviously did-"
"You know what's going on?" Magnus asks, cutting her off when she gestures at the ribbons binding them.
"Yes," Izzy says, right as Alec's eyes begin to open. "I told him we'd figure something out but he just had to come and do this."
"He definitely seems like the type to do exactly what he wants," Magnus says, as Alec blinks at them and then shifts, crossing his arms over his chest and closing his eyes again. "So what exactly did he do this time?"
"You don't know?" Izzy asks, and Magnus shakes his head.
"I just know I was walking along the water when suddenly there were ribbons binding me to him," he says, glancing down at his wrist. "You said something about a feast day?"
Izzy nods.
"Yeah," she says, dropping into the closest chair. It's not lost on Magnus that the chair is the one closest to Alec. "Priscilla and Aquila."
"Who were they?"
"Saints," Izzy says, with a wave of her hand. "Patron saints of good marriages."
"Oh," Magnus says, and Izzy gives him a look he can't make out.
"Yeah," she says again, "and legend has it that if you go down to the beach on their feast day-"
"Which I'm guessing was yesterday," Magnus says, earning himself a smile that reminds him of the one he got from Alec. It takes everything in him not to look and see if Alec's awake.
"Smart boy," Izzy says, "and according to the legend if you go down to the beach on their feast day and stand at the edge of the water and ask, then you'll find your soulmate."
"Soulmate?" Magnus asks, his voice shooting up several octaves. This time he doesn't stop himself from looking at Alec. Alec's awake and looking back at him.
"I didn't think it'd actually work," Alec says, his voice low and gravelly and sounding way too good for this entire situation.
"Apparently it did," Magnus says, but there's no heat in it. He isn't sure why.
"It did," Alec echoes, and there's no heat in that either.
"The ribbons?" Magnus asks, just so he can think about something else for a moment.
"They're like a soulmate mark," Izzy says. Magnus isn't looking at her, choosing instead to focus on Alec. He can't make out his expression no matter how hard he tries.
"Are they ever going to come off?" Magnus asks. "No offense but...it's not very practical being tied to someone at every moment."
"None taken," Alec says, a hint of a smile on his face that actually looks genuine. Magnus can't help but smile back at him.
"It'll fade," Izzy says, and they both turn to look at her. "The more you spend time together, the faster it'll go away."
"The bond will still be there," she continues, and that expression Magnus can't make out is slowly turning into something knowing. "But if you wanted the ribbons gone faster you could always go for coffee together."
"Are you asking me out for him?" Magnus asks, raising an eyebrow at her. Izzy simply shrugs.
"It's a start, don't you think?" she says, brushing off her knees and then standing up. "Anyway, you two can work it out. I'm going to make tea."
She's gone before either of them can reply. Magnus turns back to Alec, and he doesn't know why but it's a relief to see that soft smile still on his face.
"Well," he says, because he can't not at this point, "what do you say to coffee?"
Alec barks out a laugh.
"I could definitely use some coffee," he says, his free hand going up and massaging at his forehead.
"Want to call it a date?" Magnus asks, raising his arm and Alec's and waving them. The ribbons flutter with the movement and in the sunlight Magnus can see bright blue flecks of glitter sparkling in the cobalt ones. Bright blue just like his magic.
"Yeah," Alec says, as a thought begins to occur to him about just where his magic might have went. "I do."