Work Text:
Magnus can hear Alec speaking, soft murmurs of praise and reassurances filling the otherwise silent bedroom, but the sound of his husband’s voice, like everything else, is muted as Magnus drifts in and out of consciousness.
He’s aware of Alec moving around him, undoing, piece by piece, the intricate pattern he’d put Magnus in, with just as much care as he’d had when he’d first pressed the rope against Magnus’ skin. Alec’s hands are steady and gentle, moving over him, caressing, massaging, providing consistent touch that grounds Magnus, keeping him tethered to their room in more ways than one.
Magnus fights the overwhelming desire to let himself float away, to let the sleep that’s persistently scratching at him drown out everything else. He knows Alec wouldn’t mind if he slept -he would actually encourage it- but Magnus doesn’t want to give this up yet, this feeling of complete satisfaction, of relaxation, of release from everything that could ever have the ability to worry or concern him.
Magnus knows from experience that there will be marks left behind where he’d been tied so securely, and that he will still feel that bone-deep ache in the places where they’d been pressed against his skin, but he revels in Alec’s touch anyway, letting himself sink into the bed and against the pillows and, eventually, letting himself fade just a little deeper into unconsciousness, not too much, but just enough that he can fully take advantage of all that Alec is doing for him right now, safe in the knowledge that he’s safe and he’s okay and Alec will take care of him no matter what.
Magnus has never, in all of his many years, felt quite so content and at peace, than he is in the moments, with Alec fussing over him like this, after taking him apart so diligently and putting him back together with just as much reverence and patience, until Magnus feels so very overwhelmed with the amount of love he has for this man.
He feels so loved.
He almost mourns the loss of the rope that had been binding him as Alec finally slips the final length of it away from him, but Alec replaces it immediately with his own hands, and Magnus cannot help but admit that Alec’s touch will always be better than anything else.
Magnus leans immediately, without even thinking about it, into Alec’s arms, now that there is nothing preventing him from doing so, and Alec reacts just as instinctively, enclosing Magnus in his arms and holding Magnus firmly against him. Alec presses soft kisses to every spot of Magnus’ body he can reach, and he’s stopped talking now, but Magnus can hear every utterance of his heart in this moment, and that is more than enough. He feels them moving, feels them lying down, and feels sleep reaching for him once again.
This time, with Alec holding him, not a single inch of space left between them, Magnus lets himself fall into it.