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Magnus couldn’t dream of anything else.
Just knowing that Alex was his and his only, being able to hold her hand, talk about anything with her was more than enough.
Currently, Alex is sitting on his couch, talking about her interests. At least, that’s what Magnus thinks she’s talking about. He has honestly lost track of the conversation, staring at the way her eyes shone excitedly. Just doing friend stuff with Alex was breathtaking enough, but this- dating, late night talking, making each other happy… It was more than he could imagine.
Magnus could swear that he would’ve waited for Alex to accept his “proposal” until Ragnarok, even if he didn’t know what dating Alex would be like. But thankfully, it didn’t come to that miserable situation. It has only been one month since they started officially dating, but it feels like it has been years. Maybe because they’d always been flirting, which Magnus hadn’t realized until recently, or maybe because not much has changed in their relationship physical-wise. He doesn’t know, but he doesn’t care. He likes the way things are now, even though he’d love to do more. Magnus is still not too comfortable with physical touch, and Alex is still suffering from dysphoria and her past that she clearly doesn’t want to talk about yet. But it’s okay. He’ll manage. Anything to make Alex comfortable and happy.
Last month, Alex had surprised Magnus out of his mind.
“I’m sorry?” asked Magnus. He probably didn’t hear him correctly.
Alex glared at him. “I said, I accept your proposal, idiot.”
“Oh, okay,” Magnus said leaning back on his chair.
“You don’t seem happy,” Alex stated, eyeing him curiously, his arms around his chest like a scolding adult.
“No, it’s just- It sounds surreal, I didn’t think you’d come around so easily.”
Alex untucked his arms, waited for a bit. “So what, you thought I was waiting till Ragnarok?” he asked, still angry but also teasingly.
“I’d wait forever, Alex.”
Okay, maybe he was sappy. But cut him some slack, he’s dating the most beautiful person alive or dead. He’d probably find one hundred different ways until Ragnarok to describe Alex’s eyes or hair or the way she delicately decapitates people or how hot she looks in a dress or suit-
You get the point. Back to the present.
“Honestly, fuck Courtney Love, dude,” Alex huffs a little, nibbling on the chocolate bar. “You agree with me, right?”
Magnus is snapped back to reality. “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch it.”
Alex raises an eyebrow at him. “You dunno Courtney Love?”
“I do, Cobain’s wife, right?”
“Yeah, that bitch. She’s racist as hell. I think she’s transphobic and homophobic too, overall just trash.”
Magnus nods. “If you say so.. I didn’t know,”
“Oh my gods, are you living under a rock?” Alex exclaims, spreading her arms around and gesturing around.
“Just because I look like Kurt Cobain does not mean I’m married to Courtney Love.” Magnus raises an eyebrow, trying to contain his laughter.
Alex shrugs. “Fair enough.”
The conversation died a little. It was late night, maybe after midnight, so they were both pretty tired. They were determined to spend time together, though.
Magnus studies her face for a moment. He notices that she’s wearing a little golden eyeshadow and black liner. “Compliment her,” Samirah had said. “Girls like that. Even though she usually doesn’t care, I’m sure she’d love to be appreciated by you.”
“I really like your makeup tonight, you look nice,” Magnus tries Sam’s advice.
Alex’s face is blank for a moment. Then her lips curve into a soft smile. “Thanks, you look like your typical beautiful self.”
Magnus was speechless again. He’s never gonna win against Alex, it seems.
“I.. uh I- thanks.” He’s hopeless.
Alex’s smile turns into something devilish. “Would you like to become your non-typical beautiful self?”
Magnus cocks his head to the side. “What?”
“Like, with some help from the latest technology of destroying the planet?”
Magnus sometimes has no idea what the fuck Alex is talking about.
She sighs. “I mean makeup, Maggie.”
“Ooh..” Magnus nods in understanding.
“So, you’re gonna let me or what?”
To say that Magnus was content was an understatement. He was actually excited. He'd never admitted it before but sometimes he’d see guys with just a little eye makeup and go “Wow, I wanna be that guy.” He’d always wondered what he would look like if he had just a little bit of makeup. Like those cool punk and grunge guys.
Looking back, it might have been an attraction towards those guys but his point still stands. The only reason he hasn’t tried it before is because he has absolutely no idea what to do, and he’s too shy to ask someone.
The way Alex is grinning at him, shows just how much she wants to do this. At least, he’s not the only one that’s looking forward to it. But this doesn’t mean he can’t get something else out of this.
“Okay, I’ll let you,” he speaks slowly. “But you have to sit on my lap while doing it.”
“That’s what she said,” mutters Alex, still grinning.
“Oh my gods, you’re the worst!” Magnus groans, putting his face in his hands.
Alex laughs. “Okay, okay..” her voice gets smaller. Magnus looks up to meet her eyes and finds her face fallen.
Alex is looking down, chewing on her lip. “You mean that?” she asks.
Magnus realizes her discomfort and tries to quickly change the atmosphere. “No no no!” He raises his hands. “You don’t have to if you’re uncomfortable.”
“It’ll be easier that way, though,” Alex raises her head to look at him, smiling softly. “Let’s do it.”
Wait, so she wasn’t uncomfortable? Magnus’s idiotic part of his brain thinks. No, you dumbass, she was obviously just shy, the other logical part of his brain answers.
Alex gets up from the couch. “Let me get my stuff,” she says. “You get comfortable, and think about what you might like to have on your face.”
She walks towards the door, and pauses on the doorframe. “Besides me, of course.”
Magnus groans again.
***
A few minutes later, Alex is sitting on the couch next to Magnus and searching through her makeup bag.
“Okay, I don’t have extremely bright colors but I don’t think they’d fit you anyway. I was thinking of a simple black liner, maybe some green eyeshadow? Honestly dunno, what do you want?”
Magnus scratches his head. “Honestly? Up to you. I know absolutely nothing.”
“Alright, let’s start with basics then,” she leans to touch his face, cupping his cheeks with her both hands. “Wow, you have really flawless skin. We need no foundation.”
Magnus is fucking burning . He is not surviving tonight. ‘ Get a grip of yourself, she’ll be touching your face to do your makeup,’ he tells himself.
“T-thanks,” he stutters out. “You have perfect skin too,”
Alex raises an eyebrow. “How’d you know?”
“Good point.”
She chuckles. “Alright, here we go, loverboy.” She then proceeds to slide down onto his lap.
At first, Magnus’ brain is just confused. Wait, what’s happening? And then it’s burning. Like the electric cables of a machine exploding, he’s sure that his neurons are having an explosion party. She’s not even that close to him, only like halfway through his lap. Magnus wants to stop this not to embarrass himself but.. It’s too late, now Alex is actually sitting on his lap, black liner in hand.
She uncaps the pen, supports Magnus’ chin up with one soft hand movement. They’re eye level now, Alex’s eyebrows frowned in concentration while Magnus is trying so hard not to make an embarrassing noise or comment. He decides to get lost in her eyes, her two different colors calming him a bit.
“Close your eyes,” Alex commands, and he enthusiastically obeys. Maybe he won’t feel too much when he can’t see.
He was wrong.
Now he’s aware of everything. While getting lost in her eyes, he wasn’t focusing on anything else but now he can’t look into her eyes. He’s aware of her hip bones slightly poking him, her delicate fingers slowly caressing him and holding his chin tightly. She isn’t warm, and Magnus is stuck with the realization that she probably wears too much clothing because of that. He almost instinctively raises his arms to slightly wrap her waist, wanting her even closer; but he stops himself at the last moment.
“What’s wrong?” Alex asks. She doesn’t wait for an answer, instead takes away her hand under his chin and takes his hand. She guides it to her waist. “Hold me tight, I don’t want to fall off in case you jerk away.”
“Okay,” manages Magnus. He carefully wraps his arms around her, and he’s again struck by how small her waist is. Does she even have any fat in her body? Isn't this unhealthy? Should he ask her about it, or would she feel uncomfortable? Maybe she has an eating disorder, and needs help. Or maybe that would be skinny shaming. His mind is flooding with questions and is snapped back to reality by Alex lifting his chin up again, holding his face strongly in place.
“Close your eyes, you idiot. And try to stay in place when I’m applying the liner.”
Magnus nods and closes his eyes. Then he feels something hard against his eyelid. His first reaction is to shut his eyelids harder, but he mostly manages to stay in place.
“You’ll get used to it,” Alex tells him. The pen is pressing along his eyelids, and he’s slightly getting used to it now. When the weird feeling gets less weird, Magnus is once again left alone with the presence of Alex on him. They’re pressing together, so close but still not close enough, the feelings and sensations conquering every bit of his body and thoughts. He honestly has no idea how Alex is holding up. Maybe she’s busying herself with makeup so that she wouldn’t have a crisis like Magnus.
After what felt like only seconds, Alex lets go of his chin and leans back. “You can open your eyes now.”
Magnus opens his eyes, suddenly overwhelmed with the light and blinks a few times to get used to it. Alex’s face is blank, like she’s waiting for him to say or do something.
“How does it look? I look like a clown?” Magnus tries to lighten the tension.
Alex scoffs and leans her head down. “No..” she says, pausing. “You look hot.”
OK, that was not what he was expecting at all. Magnus is honestly so done with the tension at this moment to care about how he looks with eye makeup on. With the sudden burst of ego Alex has given him, he leans to peck her lips.
Alex is stunned, but then she blushes adorably. The blush is almost non-existent on her dark skin, but this close; Magnus can see and feel it.
“I think you should prove it to me, Fierro,” he teases, proud of his flirting skills. Who are you and what have you done to Magnus Chase? Alex is really rubbing off on him.
She’s still blushing and smiling shyly, but the actual Alex Fierro is still in there somewhere. So she answers:
“Oh, I will.”
***
After their late-night date, Alex is sleeping peacefully in his bed. Magnus can’t sleep, because of the late-night coffee he had. He goes to the bathroom, he didn’t have a chance to actually look at the makeup on his face. Magnus looks at himself in the mirror and smiles.
‘I should learn how to do this,’ he decides. ‘I look nice, and Alex likes it.’