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“What are you doing?” Magnus asked.
Alex stood in the bathroom of Magnus’s hotel suite, with a sharpie to her nose, her face only inches away from the mirror. Her lips were stained red, probably with Tizer. He didn’t even know where in Valhalla Alex got that stuff. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know
“What does it look like I'm doing? Piercing my nose,” Alex answered as if it were obvious.
“In my bathroom?” Magnus almost shrieked.
Alex rolled her eyes and gave him a look that could only be described as “I-don’t-know-why-I-even-bother”. “Are you an idiot or something? You’re the one who can heal people, Beantown."
Magnus groaned. He really wished Alex hadn’t found out about that particular nickname.
Alex grinned at him and went back to staring at her own face in the mirror. As always, Magnus couldn’t help but notice her outfit. Her jeans were vivid green, with lots of pink and green flowers scattered across them. She was also wearing a pink one of those popcorn shirts that Magnus thought had disappeared after 2003. But unsurprisingly, Alex made the outfit work. Finally, she seemed to decide that the piercing would go on the right side of her nose. And finally, Magnus realized that he was staring.
“So, uh,” started Magnus, who was getting tired of just awkwardly standing around and staring. “What kind of jewelry are you using?”
Alex started on cleaning her nose with the rubbing alcohol, then gestured to a little plastic box on the counter.
“It’s a little gold stud. Shaped like a star. On the counter over there.”
Magnus looked, and sure enough, that’s what it was. It looked like decent-quality jewelry, though Magnus was hardly expert.
“Where did you get this?” he asked.
“Spencer’s,” Alex answered.
“Fun,” Magnus said, only a hint of sarcasm coming through.
Alex laughed. “Eh. I think that store would scare you.” Magnus couldn’t help but feel a tiny bit insulted. Though he knew she was probably right.
“Well, I’m sure the piercing will go great with your outfit. And all your other outfits too. Um.”
Yeah. He was a real romantic. It was a wonder girls weren't constantly throwing themselves at him.
Alex grabbed the sewing needle.
She glanced over at Magnus with a devilish grin that he really shouldn’t have found so attractive and pressed the needle against the dot of sharpie. She looked back at the mirror. With only the tiniest bit of hesitation, Alex pushed the needle straight through. Despite having seen actual decapitations (and been a part of one, courtesy of Alex), Magnus still winced. By the time he looked back at Alex, the jewelry was already in.
Magnus tried to get a good look, but Alex obscured it by fanning her hands around her nose as if that would make it hurt less.
“Stop staring at me! Heal it!” Alex exclaimed.
“Oh. Right. Um-” Magnus awkwardly reached out, not completely sure where to put his hands. That had been a recurring theme in their relationship. He eventually settled for gently grabbing Alex’s nose.
“Ha. Got your nose,” Magnus couldn’t resist saying.
“Heal. The. Dam. Piercing.”
Magnus used his magical healing powers and magically healed her nose.
“Thank you,” said Alex, in her most sarcastic tone.
Magnus stepped back to see how the piercing looked. In Magnus’s (very biased) opinion, it suited Alex perfectly. It brought out the contrast in her eyes, almost matching her lighter eye.
“You look great!” He exclaimed, then gave Alex two thumbs up. Gods. He was pretty sure he could actually feel Heimdall judging him from his rainbow bridge.
Alex raised her eyebrows and smirked. “Like I'm the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you?”
Magnus groaned. They’d had this conversation like, three million times and Alex seemed to enjoy it more every time. At the rate they were going, they'd still be having this conversation while battling at Ragnarok.
“That is not what I said,” Magnus responded.
“You totally did,” Alex said.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh yes, you did.”
Right before his eyes, Alex shape-shifted into a slightly off version of Magnus. Magnus was pretty certain Alex’s version of him was slightly more attractive. Alex had certainly shape-shifted into a Magnus with a much better haircut.
“Oh my!” Alex exclaimed, in a crude imitation of Magnus’s voice. “Alex is just the greatest thing to ever happen to me!"
She fake swooned, and Magnus caught her.
“I think Alex is soo cool and sexy,” Alex continued, still looking like Magnus. “Especially with that nose piercing, wow!”
She looked up at Magnus from his arms and gave him two thumb’s up. Magnus half-considered dropping her. She was a lot heavier when she was shape-shifted into him.
Fortunately, Alex shape-shifted back into herself and stood up.
She grinned, leaned in, and pressed a kiss to Magnus’ lips. He stumbled backward and almost fell into his own bathtub.
He could feel his face burning. And possibly his brain melting. It wasn’t as if Alex hadn't kissed him before- she had, plenty of times actually. He could still barely believe that. But almost every time Alex kissed him, she caught him so off-guard he nearly fell over.
“Um, maybe we shouldn’t be kissing in my bathroom,” Magnus mumbled. He imagined the concussion he'd end up with if he hit his head on the bathtub. And as he'd discovered from his time in Valhalla, it's pretty difficult to heal your own concussion.
Alex raised her eyebrows. “You think we should take this to the bedroom?”
“Yeah,” Magnus agreed, thinking of how much safer it would be if he fell over there. He’d mostly likely just hit his bed and- oh.
The joke Alex had been making suddenly occurred to him. “Wait, no! Alex,” he groaned, burying his face in his hands.
Alex had no sympathy for his embarrassment. She only laughed, and walked away, beckoning for Magnus to follow her.
After waiting a few moments to recover from his embarrassment, Magnus found Alex not in his bedroom, but on the couch. It wasn’t a moment after he sat down that Alex leaned over and kissed him again, this time with newfound fervor. Probably because she knew he wouldn’t fall over if he was already sitting down. Magnus gingerly brought his hands to Alex’s waist.
Alex pulled her face away for a second, and Magnus quickly moved his hands, afraid he had done something to upset her.
“I knew the nose piercing would make me even more irresistible,” Alex said and leaned back in, closer now. Despite his melting brain, Magnus noticed that he could still taste the Tizer on her lips. He put his hands back on her waist and they kissed for a moment more before she backed away again.
“You’re pretty great, Magnus,” Alex whispered, then smiled at him and leaned back in.