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“Magnus!”
Magnus barely heard Alec’s shout over the thunderclap of power that erupted from his hands, the rushing in his ears as his magic surged forth. His magic reacted before his conscious thought did, following his blind need to close the rift before the demons making a beeline for its shimmering doorway could get to Alec. Alec, who was standing too close, always putting himself in harm’s way. Magnus couldn’t let him get hurt.
His magic burst forth faster than light, ripping up pavement, shoving aside cars, shattering windows in its hurry to get to the rift. And then he closed it in a flash of light, a splitting of the universe, a wave of power that blinded him, brought him to his knees, almost escaped his control over it.
The rift was gone between one blink and the next, and the demons with it, and Magnus swayed, toppled from his knees to land hard on his hip, bracing himself on stiff wrists. The crumbled pavement ground into his palms.
And then Alec was skidding to his knees before him, catching him by his shoulders. “Magnus, hey, are you okay? Can you look at me?”
Magnus looked at him. He wondered hazily if Alec had scraped up his knees in the drop to be at his side. But—no, he realized, the knees of Alec’s pants were reinforced, and the fabric hadn’t even been torn. Good design for fighting demons. Magnus’s knees, on the other hand, felt bruised from the fall, his expensive tailored pants scraped to ruin. The world was spinning.
Alec was saying something to him. Magnus barely heard him over the ringing in his ears. The sunlight felt very bright. He leaned forward to press his face into Alec’s chest to spare his eyes. It helped with the spinning, too. A gust of winter wind cut through him, and he shivered.
He felt Alec shift against him, and then he was wrapping his jacket around Magnus’s shoulders. His jacket was fleece-lined and very warm. He always wore the most practical clothing. Unlike Magnus, who was wearing a thin, glitter-woven shirt that was totally inappropriate for the weather, just because he liked seeing the smile it brought to Alec’s face.
He was regretting it now that he was sitting here on the cold pavement, shivering even with Alec’s jacket over him.
“Magnus,” Alec said again. Magnus could hear him this time, thankfully, though he almost wished he couldn’t when it meant he had to hear that tremulous note of fear in Alec’s voice. “Are you okay?”
Magnus nodded against his chest. “Just give me a second.”
Alec’s hand came up to cradle the back of his head. “Whatever you need.”
After a long, long moment, the world stopped spinning and Magnus sat up and away from Alec. Alec kept a hand on his neck, bracing him as he tried to peer into Magnus’s eyes.
“Are you…” he swallowed hard, his gaze distressed. “What do you need?”
“Nothing,” Magnus said, “I’m alright now. Just—overdid it a bit.”
Alec looked back over his shoulder to where the rift had been. “That was incredible.” Awe bled into his voice. He turned back to Magnus. “But are you sure you’re alright? All that magic—”
Magnus pushed himself to his feet on shaky legs, holding onto Alec for balance. Alec followed him up. “I’m quite alright,” Magnus told him. “Nothing that a good steak and martini can’t fix, hm?”
His hands started shaking as he sat on the couch, listening to Alec bustling around the kitchen. When Alec emerged, holding a mug of something or other, Magnus had clenched his fingers in his pant legs to make the shaking less evident, not that it really worked.
Alec frowned at him, watching this. He unwrapped Magnus’s hands from their tight grip and wrapped them around the mug instead. The touch of his fingers was warm, and Magnus leaned into it.
Alec touched the back of his hands, then felt his forehead. “You feel cold. Are you cold?”
Magnus nodded, holding the warm mug tighter, letting it seep into him. “It happens sometimes when I use—not necessarily too much magic, but when I use it too quickly. It—” he waved a vague hand—“messes with temperature regulation.”
This explanation didn’t seem to alleviate any of Alec’s concern. He watched Magnus for a long moment, just scrutinizing him, then got up to pull the blanket off the back of the couch, wrap it around him.
Magnus sighed, even as his heart gave a little squeeze at Alec’s careful touch.
“Drink that tea,” Alec ordered. “Do you want me to turn up the heat?”
Magnus nodded. “Please.”
Alec did, then returned to sit beside him, wrapping an arm around Magnus’s shoulders. Magnus leaned into him, sipping his tea.
“Thank you, darling,” he said, and Alec pressed a kiss into his hair.
“Will you be okay?” Alec asked. “Or do I need to call someone?”
“I’ll warm up on my own eventually,” Magnus said.
His shivering got worse, even with the blanket, and Magnus found himself leaning in closer to Alec, the warmth of the tea doing little to truly raise his body temperature. After a while of Magnus shaking against him, Alec slipped out from beside him. Magnus missed him immediately, mourned the loss of his warmth, his strength, curling in on himself.
But Alec only returned a moment later with another, heavier blanket, which he wrapped around Magnus’s shoulders. Magnus looked up at him from within this pile as Alec sat back down beside him.
“I feel like I’m more blanket than Warlock,” he joked.
Alec pulled him close again. “Good.”
Magnus tucked his face into the warmth of Alec’s neck, pressed his hands to Alec’s stomach and back.
Alec sucked in a breath at his touch. “Magnus, you’re so cold.”
With a pang in his chest, Magnus started to shift away, but Alec held him fast. “No, don’t move.” He pressed his own hand over Magnus’s, held it to his stomach. “But are you sure you don’t want me to call for help?”
“It’ll pass,” Magnus promised him.
Alec shifted nervously against him. “Maybe I should make some more tea. Or—raise the heat more—”
The last thing Magnus wanted was for Alec to get up, but instead he said, “You’ll roast yourself if you do that.”
“That’s okay. I don’t want you to be cold.”
Magnus pressed in close to him, shivering harder. “I’ll be okay.”
When he tried to get up to make more tea, Alec almost stopped him. Magnus gently removed his hand from his arm.
“I’m just going to the kitchen,” he assured him. “And anyway, good to get the blood flowing, hmm?”
Alec still looked uncertain. “If you’re sure.”
Magnus patted his hand, even as the colder air away from Alec’s body made him shiver. “I’ve been in this situation before, remember?”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“I promise, darling. It’ll be fine.”
This, Magnus thought as he clutched at the kitchen counter, vision going black at the corners, was decidedly not fine.
“Magnus!”
When he woke up, he felt… warm.
His face was pressed to Alec’s bare chest, and they were horizontal, and Alec’s arms were tight around him.
“Don’t you dare move,” Alec mumbled into his hair. “I don’t trust you not to pass out again.”
“Hey now,” Magnus protested, but his words were muffled by his proximity to Alec’s skin. It wasn’t like Alec was entirely wrong, anyway. He tried to shift away a bit so he could see Alec’s face, but Alec’s arms just tightened around him.
“Do not,” Alec repeated, “move. You don’t even know how much self-restraint it took for me not to call the entire Spiral Labyrinth down to make sure you weren’t dying.”
“They would have just laughed at both of us,” Magnus told him. “Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”
“Warmer. I had to get your damn temperature up somehow.”
There was an edge now to Alec’s voice, and Magnus sighed. “Darling—”
“Don’t.” Alec was quiet for a long moment, then his voice broke. “Magnus, please don’t. Don’t tell me you’re fine when you know you’re not. Okay? Just don’t.”
It took Magnus a second to figure out how to answer. Finally he said, “I don’t want you to worry about me.”
Alec pulled back a bit so he could kiss his forehead. “I always worry about you.”
Magnus swallowed and hid his face in Alec’s chest again.
“Look,” Alec said, “I won’t tell you not to use your magic like that. But at least tell me how it’s going to affect you? I just want to help.”
“I wasn’t planning on passing out,” Magnus grumbled.
“Magnus.”
“Fine. I will endeavor to give you more of a heads-up next time. If it means I’ll get cuddles like this.”
Alec laughed, but it sounded a little strained. “You don’t have to suffer to get a hug.”
Magnus snuggled in closer to him. “Not even if I want to use you as a human space heater?”
“That’s what I am now?”
“You started it, darling.”
Alec sighed. “Not even then. Just ask.”
“Very well, my dear. If it’ll make you feel better.”
Alec groaned. “That’s not the point—you know what, never mind, just come here.” He turned onto his back, tugging Magnus on top of him. “Just come get your hug.”