Work Text:
Clear, almost glittering cocktails, nearly finished, rest on the side table, and there’s music prancing through the room as they laugh when Magnus spins Alec out and then reels him back in, kissing his cheek.
When the song ends, Magnus glances at the clock; he timed it all perfectly. A few seconds after midnight. A new day, their day. “Happy Anniversary, Alexander.”
“Happy anniversary, one whole year with you.”
“The best year of my life,” Magnus whispers, his voice thick with the truth of those words.
“Mine too,” a strangled whisper, kissing his husband's temple, pulling each other into a tight embrace.
Magnus pulls away, a mischievous but gentle smile cresting on his face. “I have something for you, darling.” He gently tugs Alec to sit down in the chair and then pulls a box from the closet, wrapped in shimmering black paper with a sheer blue bow, handing it over with a flourish.
“What is this? Magnus… I thought…”
“Yes. Yes. We still have all our plans for ‘tonight’ dinner, a portal to Portugal, presents. Anywhere we want to go, but for now… This.”
Alec’s pulse races, taking the box with something akin to reverence because there’s something in Magnus’s demeanor and the tone of his voice that asks for it.
Magnus sits on the arm of the chair and watches as Alex unwraps it, lifting the lid to find a black leather jacket, similar to the ones he often wears. It’s gorgeous, impeccably made, the tailoring is exquisite. “Wow,” he whispers, not understanding but knowing there’s something special about it. He unfolds it from the sky-blue tissue paper, the leather texture tingles his fingertips, then shivers, realizing it’s saturated in Magnus’s scent. He’s unsure whether it’s on purpose or because Magnus wrapped it. He looks up at his husband, a curious brow raises with questions but first he says the most prominent thought on his mind. “It’s beautiful.”
Magnus simply nods back down at it with a smile that clearly means there is more to see.
Alec lifts it further, bringing it to his nose, and then he notices… He opens it to see the jacket lining and gasps, tears immediately springing to his eyes.
It’s midnight-ink black silk, with rivers of turquoise embroidery, the color of Magnus’s magic. A sprawling tapestry of symbols, art, almost like sketches made of thread. “Are those…”
“Memories? Yes.”
Alec can see them all now, portals to Paris, Brazil, Japan, forests, lakes, sunrises and sunsets. The apartment door, gifts they’ve given each other, places they’ve been, things they’ve acquired together, musical notes from songs they’ve danced to, the love lock they replaced, roses, mountains, the institute where they were married, their favorite constellations, tea cups and Alec’s bow. All there in spectacular detail, stitch by stitch, made into a mural of remembrances.
Alec laughs once in disbelief and astonishment, so close to a sob. “Magnus…”
“I wanted you to have our story with you. It will carry us with you wherever you go.”
“It’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” He stares at it again, tear dripping down his cheek, the turquoise stitches tremble beneath his fingertips with the faintest pulse, do they carry magic too? But before he can ask, he sees…
“Oh by the gods, Magnus Bane.”
On the left side of the front lining is an anatomical heart embroidered in extraordinary detail. There are turquoise arteries, shadowed by the silk, and small silver threads in knots that glint like stars caught in the ventricles like stars.
Without an explanation, he knows in his soul that it is Magnus’s heart.
They stand in tandem without needing to say anything, and Magnus takes the jacket from Alec and helps him into it, guiding one arm through, then the other, smoothing it over his shoulders.
And the heart…
“Magnus…” he says, rough in awe again. The embroidered heart sits directly over his own, heart to heart.
“I will always be near you now.” Magnus’s hands fuss at the collar, straightening it. “Too much, beloved?”
“No… I…” Alec catches Magnus’s wrist, kissing it, then his face between both hands, as Magnus exhales against his mouth. Before their lips brush together. Falling into a kiss that is not exactly gentle, their devotion is pressed firmly between them. Alec kissing him as if he can answer “thank you” for every stitch in that silk.
Magnus’s fingers close around Alec’s waist, sliding under the jacket, pulling him nearer, and the heart inside the jacket warms between them, Magnus’s magic beating over Alec’s chest.
Alec pulls away to rest his forehead against Magnus’s. “I love you. Do you truly know it? ” Even though Magnus hums yes against him, he keeps confessing, the words spilling, “I love you in all the ways we’ve survived the literal hells we’ve been through.”
Magnus huffs a soft laugh, rubbing his fingers over Alec’s hipbones.
“I love you in every place we will ever find ourselves. And…” He brings Magnus’s hand over his heart beneath the leather. “And I love you here forever, Magnus. Forever.”
Magnus’s cat eyes shine. “I love you, too, Alexander. Happy anniversary.”
Alec kisses him again.