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Magnus is innocently checking his hair in the mirror for only, like, the fourth time when Catarina shoos him from his room.
“Pre drinks,” she stresses, hand clasping his bicep, “are not fun without drinks. I never thought you’d fail us like this.”
Magnus pouts. “I’ve had a lot on my mind,” he tells her. He blinks twice at her before he lowers his voice and says, “You know what happened with Camille.”
Catarina’s eyes soften and she loosens her grip on his arm, fingers stroking the material of his costume soothingly.
“I know,” she says, and -
“Don’t fall the for puppy dog, Cat,” Ragnor reprimands from where he’s lounging on Magnus’ couch. “You should know better than that, my God.”
Magnus’ doe-eyes swivel from Cat to Ragnor, growing disdainful.
“I wouldn’t sink so low,” he sniffs, and pokes his tongue out at Raphael’s answering snort.
“Alcohol,” Ragnor reminds them all, throwing a bag at Magnus.
“I’m going, I’m going,” Magnus says, almost getting shoved from the apartment.
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” calls Catarina as he leaves, and he flips her off in response.
The elevator’s been out of service for a day or two, so Magnus takes the stairs. He jogs down two at a time, and he’s about to hop down another flight when he hears a bassline pumping along the corridor and can’t help but follow the music.
The apartment blaring Halloween tunes isn’t hard to find, and he pushes the door open tentatively. The party looks to be just warming up - several of the guests are grasping solo cups and chatting, but no one is dancing on the tables or getting off behind the couch, so clearly they’re not quite on the level yet.
A couple of girls dressed as Ghostbusters nod at Magnus as he enters the apartment and he smiles.
“Uh, whose party -?” he starts to ask, when one of them shoves a can of beer his way and moves off to start dancing.
Free alcohol?
Huh, this just got interesting.
∞
Magnus is surreptitiously trying to shove beer cans from the kitchen in his bag when he feels someone’s eyes on him. He drops the bag and kicks it under a counter, then leans nonchalantly on the side and looks around.
Holy Jesus.
There’s a guy staring at him, hazel eyes catching the light and glowing bright. His dark hair is tousled and he’s wearing suspenders.
“Where’s Tweedledum?” Magnus manages, hoping it sounds coy and flirtatious as he scoops his jaw off the floor. Tweedledee? More like Tweedledo-me.
The guy blinks at him. “Around,” he shrugs. He glances down at himself. “It was my brother’s idea. He’s - the other one.”
Magnus nods, taking in the guy’s whole look. He’s gone with the aesthetic of the new Alice in Wonderland’s twins - black and white stripy T-shirt that clings to his arm muscles like heaven, tight black pants and heaven above, those red suspenders.
“Then I should go thank him,” says Magnus, smiling. The guy eyes him for a minute, looks him up and down.
“And you?” he asks, a moment later. The tips of his ears have gone red.
“Johnny Storm,” Magnus says, swinging his hips in the skin-tight blue costume he’s got on. “But I’ve lost my Fantastic Three.”
The guy accepts this with a nod. His eyes don’t stop flickering to Magnus, up and down his body, lingering particularly on his shoulders.
Magnus can’t help himself. “You know why I’m called the Human Torch, right?” he asks.
The guy licks his lips. “Tell me,” he says.
“‘Cause I’m too hot,” Magnus grins, and the guy squints one eye at him before looking away with a smile.
They watch the party-goers for a moment, before the guy breaks the silence between them.
"How do you know Izzy?" he asks. "The host?"
Magnus opens and closes his mouth, lost for the first time in the conversation. "Izzy, yeah,” he begins. “We’re friends. She…” lives on the floor below me and I didn’t even know till tonight, but a party with free alcohol to pre drink on? Who's gonna pass that up?
Maybe being economical with the truth would be beneficial for all, in this situation.
“I’m dating one of her siblings,” says Magnus.
The guy's eyebrows shoot up. "No way," he says, a hint of wryness in his tone.
"Way," Magnus agrees.
"Which one? Sibling, I mean,” he says, gesturing with a hand.
Shit. Fuck. Magnus takes gamble - if he's found out, there's no way he's gonna look like more of an ass than he does already.
And, well, hey. It's a story to tell, right? He needs some explanation for the others about why his liquor run took so long.
"Big brother," Magnus improvises. He bites his lip before his mouth runs away with him and he invents some story about them eloping to Vegas. "How about you?"
The guy blinks.
"How do you know Izzy?" Magnus clarifies.
The guy's eyes drift down Magnus' body again before they snap back up to his face. His lips twitch. "I, uh, I'm dating one of her friends."
Swallowing down a pang of disappointment, Magnus manages, "That's nice." He clears his throat. "How long have you two been together?"
The guy's lips curve up into a smile. "Not long at all, actually."
∞
Every time Izzy’s front door opens, Magnus is half expecting his friends to come barging through, demanding above the music to know if anyone’s seen him.
They don’t, but Magnus can’t say he minds too much. Not when he’s got Alec - Alec, Alec - sitting so close to him he’s practically in Magnus’ lap. Not when he’s got Alec, laughing at every single one of Magnus’ awful jokes and licking his perfect lips distractedly with a wicked tongue. Not when he’s got Alec, hazel eyes darkening as the conversation comes to a natural pause and all that’s left between them is a whisper of breath.
He has to keep reminding himself that Alec is dating someone, damn it.
“Magnus,” Alec gets out, and he’s opening his mouth to say something else when someone calls his name.
“Alec!”
A girl dressed as Catwoman bounds over to him, plonking herself down on the arm of the couch beside Magnus.
“Hey,” she says, “I’m Izzy.”
Magnus smiles at her, ready to introduce himself, but she’s already leaning across him to place a hand on Alec’s arm.
“Have you seen the other two? I can’t be Catwoman without my Poison Ivy and Harley.”
Alec shrugs. "Last I saw, Lydia was heading out on the balcony with some girl," he says.
Izzy lets out a hum. “And Clary?” Alec shrugs. “So helpful, hermano. Thanks.”
It's like Magnus watches what happens next play out underwater because, well, he's known Raphael and the rest of the Santiago family for a long time. And that -
Well, shit.
Almost in slow motion, Alec ruffles her hair and grins at her.
“She’s your girlfriend," he reminds her.
Izzy rolls her eyes, then turns to Magnus, who's still blinking to try and clear his head.
“Hey,” she says, “has he been this much of an ass to you all evening?”
Alec tickles her, leaning across Magnus in the process, and - God, he smells good -
“I would like to apologise for my brother,” she tells Magnus in between breathless puffs of laughter, finally swatting Alec away with a vicious knock to the chin. “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”
“Magnus,” Alec tells his sister - his sister, his sister, his -
Oh, good God. Ragnor and Raphael are going to have a field day.
"Your eyeliner is amazing, Magnus," Izzy says reverently. “Since I can’t find my girls, would you like to dance with me?"
Magnus summons a smile. “Sure, pumpkin. Can I just have a moment with Alec?"
Izzy looks between the two of them.
“I think he wants to give you more than a moment,” she says to Magnus with a smirk, and it’s loud enough that Alec can hear. He turns a beautiful pink.
"Just to be clear," Magnus begins once Izzy has left, fingers twirling in the air, “when I said I was dating Izzy's brother, I meant -"
"Jace?" Alec asks, still smiling. "Nah, I definitely would have had to hit him for cheating on Simon if that was true."
Magnus face palms internally.
"So," Magnus tries, "that friend of Izzy's who you haven't been dating long, that would be..." he trails off, gesturing vaguely at himself.
"You, yeah."
Magnus clears his throat. "I just lied to you about going out with you, didn't I?" Alec nods. "And you've known the whole time, haven't you?"
Alec nods again. To Magnus' surprise, he doesn't look angry or weirded out. He actually looks like he's trying not to laugh.
"You know," Alec says conversationally, "if I wasn't Izzy's brother, I totally would have believed you."
Magnus can't keep the surprise off his face. "Really?"
"No," says Alec, “you're a terrible liar." He bites away a smile. "Why are you really crashing Izzy's party?"
"Well," Magnus says, fiddling nonchalantly with the sleeve of his costume, "I'm dating her big brother."
Alec blinks at him. “Uh, you are?”
Magnus licks his lips. "I could be." He lowers his voice. "If he wanted to."
Alec stares at him, one eye narrowed a bit as if he's not sure if Magnus is teasing him. "Are you - are you asking me out?" he asks finally, sounding bewildered.
"Trying to," Magnus says, shrugging. "I completely understand if it's a no. I haven't made best first impression."
"No!" Alec blurts out, and then, eyes darting wildly to the side, "I mean - yes. I mean - no, you didn't make the best first impression, but you did make an impression - you're kind of unforgettable, actually, in a really, really good way - and yes, I would like to -" he stops suddenly, cheeks red. "You know. Go on a date with you."
Magnus feels his breath leave him in a rush and when it comes back he flashes Alec a blinding grin.
"Excellent!" he says happily. "Can we swap numbers and arrange something later?"
Alec nods, pulling out his phone. "Why, have you got somewhere to be?"
"I would love to stay here with you," Magnus tells him, programming his number into Alec's phone, "but I just promised your sister a dance."
Alec smiles warmly at Magnus. He texts Magnus an emoji - two boys holding hands; Magnus' heart does a backflip - to send over his number and gestures widely to where people are dancing.
"Don't let me keep you," he says, smiling bashfully.
Magnus hums, pressing a feather-light kiss to the back of Alec's hand.
“Oh, darling,” he says lowly, “that’s just what I want to do.”