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Magnus pulled at his shirt and shifted awkwardly on his feet. He felt grossly under-dressed in his pale shirt and denims. Alec had implied: dress to impress but had conveniently forgotten to mention the scale of the party, saying, they’d only drop in for a bit and immediately leave for drinks. Besides, Magnus didn’t want to give Alec any ideas . . . that he had dressed up for him. (Although he had selected to wear his favourite shirt).
When Alec had left him eight texts asking him to definitely attend his little party, this ridiculously posh affair was not what Magnus had imagined. Apparently it was of utmost importance that Magnus attend, ‘to rescue Alec from drivel’, if nothing nobler. Magnus felt himself gawk at New York’s finest, gathered in this postmodernist basement club which, when he thought about it, had an alarming number of skimpily dressed possibly underage waiters; and it was all starting to feel a little shady.
Alec’s nonchalant description of the host, Hodge—was it?—had failed to reassure Magnus’ deeper instincts for self-preservation. It’s just business, baby. Alec had told him outside the entrance, Magnus’ face had grown warm at ‘baby,’ and later, he had scoffed at himself in disbelief: what was he, fifteen?!
Magnus had planned a quiet night for himself, curled up with Church and Chairman Meow and the last of Liu Cixin’s trilogy. He had truly tried his best to avoid Alec Lightwood, to the best of his abilities. Or, that’s what he told himself. Frankly, Magnus’ sudden friendship with Clary and Isabelle inevitably put him across Alec’s path. More than he wanted, or needed right now, for that matter. Through the empty glass in his hand, Magnus observed the lighter band of skin around his ring finger. Camille had recently up and left him after their tenuous eight-year engagement. And he had gradually ceased to feel the bite of heartbreak. And Magnus didn’t want to admit it, but when he had first seen Alec Lightwood, practically undressing him with his eyes many months ago at the Morgenstern party; Magnus had felt his heart stir and his blood thrum in a way that he had forgotten was possible. Not even Camille had managed to make him feel the way Alec Lightwood made him feel in those short seconds of their first interaction. Ever since, it had been a torturous dance because, suddenly, Alec seemed to magically appear everywhere Magnus went. It had become very problematic, really, because as hard as he tried to resist Alec, Alec had slowly become something of a permanent fixture in his social life and with increasing frequency, in Magnus’ dreams. He pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking away his thoughts and refilling his glass. Then he turned, his eyes unwittingly searching for Alec’s tall form.
So far, Magnus had successfully avoided being chatted up by several individuals who, entirely drunk, had made inappropriate passes at him. But you can only be so fortunate for so long. Sure enough, he noticed a pretty blonde looking his way, and from the deliberate way she stood across the room from him, Magnus could tell that she had been trying to catch his eye for a while. Shit. And now she was walking towards him, no doubt certain that she had him.
“Hey, you.”
“Hi” Magnus affected politeness, looking everywhere but at her.
“You wanna get out of here?”
“I—uh,”
That’s when he saw Alec Lightwood walking towards him. Relief washed over—spoke too soon—he thought, because Alec Lightwood stopped beside him and possessively slipped an arm around his waist, pulling him flush against his side.
“Are you enjoying yourself? Miss—“
His tone was so smug.
“Yes, t—thank you. I’ll make myself scarce.” She stammered.
“Have fun.”
Left alone by themselves, Magnus felt hyper aware of Alec’s presence beside him. He felt the warmth of the man’s body even through all the layers of clothing between them. This is bad. Bad. Swallowing quickly, he felt his ears go impossibly hot as Alec’s eyes met his. They were full of mirth, and something heated and Magnus felt his throat go dry. Transfixed by his gaze, Magnus took in Alec’s full features, his eyes drifted from Alec’s large, bright hazel ones, with flecks of pink from the lighting—this close, he could see the gorgeous curl of his lashes—down his straight nose to his ridiculously full mouth with their ridiculously perfect teeth. Magnus exhaled audibly. If only he’d move his mouth an inch . . . it was so easy, just an inch and surely, he could just feel Alec’s . . .
“See something you like?” Alec said in a whisper, leaning into his ear.
Magnus snapped out of his trance and hurriedly extricated himself because, fuck yes, and fuck no, this was a terrible idea and he really, really couldn’t even if all he wanted, yes, all he wanted was to lean back in and kiss him and see if—
Alec was called away just then and Magnus suddenly felt a little bereft. He nursed his drink and looked around—
Something was odd.
There was a woman. Nothing at all stood out about her. Average looks, average dress, average manner. She had moved into his peripheral vision for the fourth time now. Magnus watched her drift into a group of people, there was some conversation for a bit, then the group dispersed and each member went separately to a different cluster of people. Magnus now noticed that this formed a repetitive pattern. Four times, now five. The group she approached had a different combination of people each time, but it was always the same set of people moving from cluster to cluster, and the pattern always started with her.
"Alec." Magnus appeared at his side. "Who is that woman? Brown hair, green dress. Do you know?"
Alec looked where Magnus directed him, “Her?” he snorted in disbelief, and skimmed his eyes away.
“No, I mean, look” Magnus said, rolling his eyes but feeling immensely flattered.
Alec stopped and looked again. Magnus observed how he kept wanting to look away from her, to direct his attention elsewhere. Oh, she was very good.
"Incredibly astute, Mr. Bane," Alec breathed, his lips split into a charming smile, and went over, presumably to introduce himself.
Magnus watched with some degree of confusion, as Alec’s smile disappeared and the woman stormed off while Alec seemed to be making a phone call. Magnus followed the woman with his eyes and that’s when he saw it—a black thigh holster where her dress had parted. Feeling panic rise in him, Magnus desperately looked for Alec, finding him gone from his spot. That’s when he felt him.
“Don’t panic,” Alec said quietly from behind him, then his hands came around to rest on Magnus’ arms and Magnus felt scalded by Alec’s touch. He must have been distracted because Alec was calling his name, “Magnus?”
“Huh?”
“We have to leave right now. They’ve found us.” With that, Alec grabbed Magnus’ wrist and pulled him through the throng of dancers. Magnus had a million questions and his confusion was heightened from the buzz of alcohol combined with Alec Lightwood’s touch, unrelenting. Magnus blinked, his vision blurring and clearing, following Alec as the latter kept glancing behind to check on him for some reason.
“What—what’s happening?” Magnus managed to ask when he found himself in an office. Alec was turning the lock on a safe. “Alec?”
Alec didn’t respond, but he never let go of Magnus’ hand. “You’ve been drugged” he said.
At some point, Magnus found himself clutching Alec’s hair as Alec helped him slip his right foot back into his shoe. What the fuck?
Magnus was panicking again. “Breathe” Alec said, holding both his hands in his larger ones and squeezing them, “You’re okay,” he said, his face was knit with concern. Magnus nodded, he trusted Alec.
“Alec” Magnus called out at another point. “I’m right here,” Alec responded. They were back on the dance floor, still holding hands. They were sitting somewhere and when Magnus’ vision had cleared he noticed that they were in a different club.
“Where are we?”
Alec looked at him apologetically, holding up a glass of water that was half-full.
“We’re at the Pandemonium.” Alec explained while Magnus sipped on the water. “I am so sorry. I had no idea what I was really getting into. You see, Jace was supposed to be with me today, but he got called away on a different case and Luke, he’s a friend, he suddenly called me and told me it was imperative—“
“Hold on, hold on,” Magnus said, “What are you saying?”
“Jace is NYPD. So is Luke.”
“So, they asked you to plan this party?
“Yes, that woman you saw is a Black Lotus recruiter.”
“Black Lotus? The Yakuza?!" Magnus asked, alarmed. Alec cringed and nodded. "Wait—How do you know all of this? Why are you telling me all of this?”
Realization dawned on Alec and he looked further contrite, “Shit, you’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just—they mistook you for Jace and drugged you, and I’m so sorry . . .” his voiced lowered “. . . I couldn’t stand it if anything were to happen to you.”
“It’s not your fault.” Maybe it was the drugs still in his system, but Magnus found himself reaching for Alec’s hand and squeezing it. “And I’m fine!”
Alec met his eyes and smiled tentatively, “Yeah, about that.”
And then they found themselves slipping out the back door and walking swiftly towards the footpath. Magnus was certain they were being followed so they broke into a run through the crowded Friday night rush of New York.
They’d maybe run three of four blocks when Alec pulled him into a dimly lit alley, made a quick phone call and waved at the CCTV camera to assure whoever he had just called, of his presence, because apparently, Alec Lightwood was a part time CI now.
“I’m not a CI” Alec laughed. And then under his breath, “I will murder Jace.”
But Magnus' blood was singing, wild and mad and alive from the absurdity of his situation. The alley smelt of piss and fermenting rubbish, rain drummed on his face (he deliberately did not think about what it was probably doing to his favourite shirt), and he slumped against a wall and heaved with a breathless bout of laughter. Right there, on his left side, close enough to feel the warmth shimmering off his larger frame, Alec tilted his head up against the brick, “I promise this wasn’t how I had planned our first date.” His beautiful hazel eyes were laughing, dark messy hair was plastered to his forehead by rain and sweat.
"I thought it was just coffee?" Magnus raised his eyebrows, and by way of an answer Alec opened his hand to display a small sapphire that caught the streetlight and shot a blue glare his way, bagged in—yes, one of Magnus' socks.
“What is it?”
"We got it," Alec gasped at the same time, grinning widely with adrenaline and oxygen deprivation. “Oh, apparently it’s a data drive.”
"You surprise me." Magnus said, suddenly, breathlessly.
The makeshift packet disappeared into Alec's pale blue jacket. Alec looked at him, and they both wheezed out a fresh bout of laughter, drunk on danger and thrill and triumph.
Finally Magnus straightened to put his back against the wall, pressing a hand to the stitch in his side, his breath slowing. Perhaps it was that Magnus had seen a new side to this confident Ken doll—he huffed at his own comparison—that was as vulnerable as he had begun to feel around Alec, so when Alec spoke, Magnus detected some hesitation.
"Magnus." Alec had turned to put a shoulder on the brick and was looking at him with peculiar intensity. "This is over now."
"Yes," Magnus said, "all right," since that seemed to be important.
Alec continued to stare, waiting for something. "I’m not a CI," he repeated, with more emphasis.
"I believe you."
"Oh, for God's sake," Alec said impatiently, grabbed Magnus's head and pulled him into a searing kiss.
Magnus tasted rain and red wine and—oh, Alec was biting at his mouth now. And there was no mistaking the nature of the kiss, since tongue was almost immediately involved and Magnus fisted his hand in Alec’s hair and pulled him closer. Magnus wasn't completely clear afterwards just what had been done by whom, but when he came to his senses some moments later, his shirt was untucked, Alec's hand was underneath it and roaming freely over his nipples. And there were multiple darkening love bites below Alec's ear, along the long line of his throat.
Once, in high school, a basketball had hit Magnus' chest, right on his diaphragm very, very hard. For some reason, he remembered that now.
Alec’s own shirt was hanging open and Magnus’ free hand roved the expanse of his skin. Alec bit his earlobe and Magnus made a garbled noise that certainly was not "stop." God, it was glorious. Now Alec’s mouth was hot below his jaw and—
"Alec." Hips were pushing Magnus into the wall and Alec’s body was so warm and—
"Alec." His fingers were relentless, pressing against his aching hardness but they really had to stop because—
"Alexander."
"What?" Alec murmured, immediately claiming his mouth in another hot kiss.
It was a herculean feat, pulling away from Alec’s delectable mouth to point at the camera on the corner of the building. "I think the NYPD is watching."
After the handover, Alec asked, “How about coffee?”
“I think I might need something much stronger.” Magnus sighed, and feeling emboldened by the remnants of his adrenaline rush, he said, “Drinks at my place?”
The look on Alec’s face set his heart aflutter.
“Yes, Please.” Alec replied.