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Andrew had never imagined a life where he could openly love another man. It was something he had been taught not to yearn for, something he had decided long ago that he would never bother himself with. When he requested a transfer to the New York Institute to get away from the more rampant downworlder discrimination of his home Institute, he started letting himself think about it. It was never a serious thought, just one that he would finally let himself have when he closed his eyes at night.
And there was a night, a few years after he had truly given up, when he closed his eyes and let himself really think. He thought of days filled with training and battling side by side with his shadowhunter partner, healing him with an iratze when the battle was tough, and holding him in his arms in his bed at the Institute. He never expected that man would be a warlock. It took a lot for him to imagine a life with another man, let alone one of a species he had been born and bred to despise. It still took everything in him, some nights, to look at Lorenzo and see a future.
But it happened, one night, where it wasn’t so hard. Where he lay down in him and Lorenzo's bed and pictured openly loving his powerful warlock boyfriend, yearning for his touch and his kiss. He pictured the way Lorenzo danced his way into his heart, the sense of solidarity he felt when Lorenzo kissed him, the warmth after so many cold nights when Lorenzo held him close. He couldn’t help but smile at how different his life had become all thanks to a wedding.
“What are you smiling about?” Lorenzo whispered as he stepped into the dimly lit room. Andrew’s eyes opened, the slight smile on his lips widening at just the near sight of his boyfriend.
“Well, I’ve got a lot of reasons to smile, don’t I?” Andrew teased as he pulled up the covers and waved at Lorenzo to join him. Lorenzo complied without another word, snapping his fingers to remove the day's clothes in favor of one of Andrew’s shirts and his own briefs. Andrew sighed and shook his head as Lorenzo joined him, tugging at the bottom of his shirt with a pout. Andrew loved the way Lorenzo knew what he was asking without any words as his shirt disappeared.
“Did you finally convince Isabelle to let me magically upgrade your seraph blade?” Lorenzo said joyfully as he pressed against Andrew, his back to Andrew’s chest. Andrew pulled him in closer and pressed a gentle kiss against his shoulder and shook his head.
“She’ll come around eventually. But that’s not why I’m smiling,” Andrew said softly, his lips trailing across Lorenzo’s shoulder to place a solid kiss on the back of his neck. He felt Lorenzo’s skin rise as a chill washed through him and smiled into his neck. By the angel, Andrew loved him.
“Then enlighten me, shadowhunter,” Lorenzo said, the smile evident in his own voice. Andrew took a deep breath and rested his forehead between Lorenzo’s shoulder blades. He backed away just enough for his fingers to run across Lorenzo’s warm skin. He traced runes into Lorenzo’s back, slowly and delicately, his lips mouthing their meaning with every brush.
Precision. Deflect. Knowledge. Accuracy. He used those in battle; to aim his blade, to block a demon's talons, to guess its next move, and to hit exactly where he needed to survive.
Protection. Fortune. Bind to. Destined. He thought, for a brief moment, when the last time he used those runes was. In battle, maybe, when he thought that was all they were good for. But he looked at Lorenzo; the way his eyelids fluttered over his cheeks, the way his skin seemed to glow underneath his fingers, the way his hair spread out over the pillow. Lorenzo was his protection, his fortune, the one he wanted to be bound to and destined to be with. And he let out a shaky breath he didn’t realize he was holding.
“I had a life planned out for myself, you know,” Andrew started. Lorenzo didn’t move, just tilted his head a little closer to show Andrew he was listening. Andrew kissed his cheek as he traced the destined rune over and over on whatever skin was in reach. “I would spend my days pining after some other closeted shadowhunter in the Institute, maybe sneak away with him at night and hope we never got caught.” Lorenzo huffed at that and Andrew calmed him with a kiss behind his ear. “It seemed like the only way to live as I wanted was to hide this… integral part of me. I have Alec to thank for making it easier to live at the Institute, Magnus for opening their connection to the downworld, but Lorenzo,” Andrew said as he tugged at his arm. Lorenzo turned, a worried look on his face from hearing Andrew’s voice shake.
“Andrew?” Lorenzo asked, resting a gentle hand on Andrew’s jaw and swiping his thumb over his cheek. Andrew rested one hand over Lorenzo’s, the other tracing the destined rune over his heart.
“I have you to thank, too,” Andrew whispered, leaning into Lorenzo’s touch and closing his eyes. “I have you to thank for letting me fall in love with you.” He punctuated his sentence by opening his eyes just in time to see the shock in Lorenzo’s. He opened his mouth, a short breath of air brushing across Andrew’s face, a soft sigh of acceptance as he closed his own eyes.
“You never have to thank me for that. Loving you, Andrew, was the easiest, albeit most surprising, thing I’ve ever done,” Lorenzo said as he pushed forward, his forehead resting against Andrew’s as he shook his head. “But I do, love you, that is. And I prayed to your angel every day for you to love me back.” A soft chuckle left Lorenzo’s lips before he pressed them to Andrew’s, the sweetness of the kiss flowing through him and warming his heart.
“Destined. I think… We learn this rune along with all of the others, though, we rarely ever use it,” Andrew said as he traced the simple design over Lorenzo’s heart. He felt it beat a little faster under his fingertip. “I was always drawn to it, tracing it onto my notes, into the wood of my headboard, onto my wrist with this very finger. I didn’t realize why until, well, until you kissed me for the first time. And it was like it finally had meaning.” Andrew laughed, brightly, thoroughly and unexpectedly, with so much joy in it, Lorenzo had to laugh, too.
“I guess I have a new favorite rune.” Andrew grinned as he threw himself on top of Lorenzo, kissing the rune into his skin and smiling with every gentle press of lips. He loved Lorenzo and Lorenzo loved him. It might not have been a shadowhunter like he imagined, but he had Lorenzo, the man of his dreams. And that was all Andrew could have ever asked for.