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1
Alex yawned widely, rolling over in her bed and squinting at the wall. A couple minutes her brain came back online and she pushed herself off the bed to try to feel more awake. She sighed, pulling back the covers, and leapt out of bed to do her morning stretches. Once her routine was complete, she got dressed for the day in more comfortable attire than usual; green striped leggings, a white shirt, a pink sweater, and her signature rose Converse shoes. After quickly finger-combing and mussing her hair and stretching her arms a bit more she exited her room in Hotel Valhalla and left for the Floor 19 lounge where her and her hallmates usually ate breakfast together.
Everyone except Mallory was already there, and they all waved at her. She huffed exasperatedly at the jam spread across TJ’s cheeks in an imitation of war paint, serving herself some breakfast then going to sit by Halfborn, who was currently the least crazy person in the room. Mallory soon joined them and forced Alex out of her spot. The girl just rolled her eyes and curled up on another couch next to Magnus, tucking her feet under her and staring disinterestedly into space. She idly listened to the group’s conversations going on, suppressing a smile at TJ’s dumb jokes.
Alex zoned out for a bit, leaning her head on her arm and gazing at the floor. She yawned, still tired from last night’s battle. It was a pretty fun battle though; often they were boring and dragged out a lot, but the dragons last night really added the element of surprise-
“By the way, Alex,” a voice called to her. Alex bolted upright, startling Magnus. She snickered at his expression. “Um, nice sweater,” Magnus said a bit lamely. Alex’s eyes widened and a flush covered her face.
“Oh, uh, thanks,” she muttered, hiding her face again and staring at the floor with a renewed vigour. Magnus smiled and went back to the conversation.
2
It was the daily battle, and Alex was determined to win. By win, she meant either stay alive, die bravely and heroically, or kill a heck ton of monsters. She felt powerful in her usual colourful ensemble and her garrotte wire tight in her hands. She stood tall and waited for the signal to start, then dashed straight into the thick of the battle, garrotte flying as it kept others at bay and injured enemies. Alex retreated to the edges, picking off stragglers and people who tried to challenge her.
A large, muscly guy charged at her, his sword landing a hit on her. Alex hissed at the slight pain of the gash in her arm and charged her opponent, whipping him over and over until he tired out. She managed to get behind him and whipped at his arm, the wire wrapping around his wrist. Alex caught sight of Magnus a way away across the battlefield, yelling defiantly and stabbing at a figure in a helmet. While she was distracted, the enemy took hold of her wire and yanked it forward, causing the girl to fall forward and land face-first on the ground. Before Alex could retaliate, she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest (probably due to being stabbed), and the world went black.
When Alex came to in her room, she groaned loudly and dragged a hand down her face. Stupid Alex, getting distracted. She sighed. No use ruminating on the past.
Alex had just left her room when Magnus yelled at her. She exhaled. “Good morning, Magnus,” she said faux-pleasantly, a sarcastic grin on her face.
Magnus returned it with a genuine one. “Hi. What happened at the battle last night? You totally had that guy, how’d he win?”
“Uh-” I got distracted by the sight of you taking down enemies in a very attractive manner- “I let him win. He has hot self-esteem.” Magnus looked at her weirdly. “LOW self-esteem! I meant low!” Alex panicked. “I forgot something I’ll be back BYE.” She turned around and went back to her room, gritting her teeth and whacking herself in the head.
3
Magnus’s laugh was so pretty; Alex could practically see the angel choir. He mentally slapped himself to shake himself out of his daze. Pull yourself together, Fierro!
“And then Mallory almost slapped TJ halfway across the room, it was amazing-” Magnus interrupted himself with a yawn, covering his mouth. “Sorry, I’m tired.”
“You did take a while to regenerate last night,” Alex commented. “Maybe you should go take a nap.”
“Mmm,” Magnus murmured. “Maybe I will.” He smiled sleepily at Alex, stretching like a cat and curling up on the couch where he sat, inches from the other boy’s knee. “Goodnight Alex.”
Alex froze, a blush creepily steadily up his face. “G-goodnight, Magnus.” He said, hesitating before patting Magnus’s head and making a hasty exit from the room.
Can’t you act normal for one second, he berated himself. Get a grip. But it was kind of hard when your crush was too adorable for his own good.
4
“Ha ha ha!” Mallory laughed dramatically as Magnus’s playing piece stopped on her property. “Take that, Chase!”
Magnus groaned and threw his leftover Monopoly cash at her, draping himself over the back of the sofa. “I’m ruined!” he cried. His shirt was exposing a sliver of pale skin, something that was driving Alex ever so slightly insane. She was trying her best to pretend she wasn’t affected but her face was still bright red.
Alex recovered the dice and rolled, barely noticing when she landed on another of Mallory’s properties. The red-haired girl snapped her fingers in the other’s face. “Fierro! You owe me money!” Alex sighed and handed over the rest of her meagre earnings, trying to act as normal as possible. She sneaked a quick glance over at Magnus and quickly averted her eyes again as she spied him pouting like a four-year-old, which shouldn’t have been as adorable as it was. Oh god, the blush was back.
“Alex? Alex. Alex-”
She snapped to attention, eyes widening at Magnus staring straight at her. “Yeah?”
“Are you okay?” He frowned at her. “You were kind of out of it and you’re all red. Are you getting sick?”
She snorted derisively. “No, of course not- what are you doing.”
Magnus did not remove his hand from her forehead as she’d expected him to, instead leaning closer. “You’re bright red, Alex, maybe you have a fever-?”
“No no no, I’m fine!” Alex backed away, cheeks seeming to burn hotter (if possible). “In fact, I’m going to bed now. See you later!”
Alex turned and speed walked away, praying that nobody followed her, ignoring Magnus’s confused whisper of: “It’s the middle of the morning.”
Alex sprinted once she was out of sight, trying to will her cheeks to stop masquerading as second and third suns. She tugged the door handle frantically, finally succeeding in opening it and slamming the door closed behind her. She sunk to the floor and groaned, slapping herself and lying down on the cool floor to forget about her embarrassing freak-out over something as small as a boy touching her forehead.
5
“Ta-da!” Magnus exclaimed. “Surprise! Viola!” He awkwardly waved his hands around.
“Horses?” Alex raised an eyebrow.
“Yes! Horse-riding,” Magnus said. “I thought we could do something together. Not involving death.”
Alex smiled; Magnus could be surprisingly sweet when he tried. “Thanks, Maggie.”
Magnus stuck his tongue out at Alex at the nickname and hoisted himself up, reaching a hand down to Alex to help lift her up. “Here, climb aboard.”
“It’s a horse, not a ship,” Alex grumbled, taking the boy’s hand and seating herself on the horse. She realized she had no idea what to do with her hands. Well, she did; but it was intimidating, and she didn’t want to mess anything up.
“Hold on,” Magnus twisted around, grinning. “I’m not fragile.”
Alex gave him a small smile and wrapped her arms around Magnus’s torso, squeezing him tighter and tighter as they picked up speed. She hid her face in his back and he laughed, making them ride even faster. Alex whooped and she could feel Magnus smiling.
Eventually they slowed, coming to a leisurely walk. “You’ve gotten better,” Alex said, a bit breathlessly.
“I’ve been practising,” Magnus replied, turning towards her. “Ready to go again?” At Alex’s nod, he smiled and kissed her forehead. Alex could feel her face lighting itself on fire and ducked her head down. Magnus faced frontwards again and they were off, riding into the sunset like the most clichéd lovers ever.
+1
Magnus snorted as TJ placed a gentlemanly kiss on his hand. The other boy winked and returned to his place in the small circle, spinning the bottle once more.
A few more rounds went by in peace (or what passed as peace for them) and the empty bottle of mead slowed to a stop on Alex. The girl rolled her eyes and sat up straighter and Mallory made her way over and dropped a light kiss on top of Alex’s head in a clearly platonic gesture. Alex sighed and reached for the bottle. She always hated these kinds of ‘party games’, but she wasn’t allowed to refuse as Mallory and Magnus had dragged her out of her room, promising it would be fun. With a quick flourish of her hand, the bottle spun wildly to eventually land on… Magnus.
Alex gulped. She was sick of always blushing and looking away. This was a perfect opportunity, but still, it scared her. Alex took a deep breath and pushed herself up from the carpet, picking her way over to Magnus. She exhaled and a determined look took over her. She knelt beside the stunned blonde, gazing into his eyes, and went in for a kiss.
It was pretty magical. Alex didn’t read a lot, especially romances, but it seemed to align with the few times she’d read about kissing in books. Magnus’s lips were surprisingly soft, and she hummed contentedly, ignoring the rest of Floor 19’s reactions. Magnus kissed back, lips curving upwards. It was blissful.
Eventually Alex pulled back, smirking at Magnus before kissing him one last time. She settled next to him, almost in his lap, and leaned back on her arm. Magnus was so flustered he could barely think, his cheeks lightly coloured pink. He was still smiling.
Halfborn sighed. “You’ve ruined the fun for the rest of us now.”
Alex stuck her tongue out and moved closer to Magnus, who smiled and placed an arm around her. “Well, we’re off anyway. You guys have fun.”
She dragged Magnus away by the hand, smiling back at him. Even if the spin the bottle had been sorta fun in the end, it didn’t mean she was gonna admit it.