Chapter Text
Alec tensed when he saw Raj in the command center. The room was empty other than him, and Alec definitely needed to be in there. He needed his tablet so he could finish his paperwork, and like a complete dumbass he’d left it on one of the workstations in command. There was no way he was going to avoid this.
Walking purposefully, he stared at his feet and tried not to make eye contact. Unfortunately, his tablet was on the workstation furthest from the door, which meant no matter which way he went he was going to pass in front of the other Shadowhunter. He really needed to find a minion he could send out to do stupid stuff like this for him, without anyone taking notice. He’s sure Izzy would approve.
Well, best to get it over with even though he knew what was coming. He could do this, as head of the institute it was part of his job to work through uncomfortable situations every day. Sighing he took the most direct route to his tablet and picked it up.
“Hey Man.” Raj said conversationally, straightening his jacket and standing at attention. He ignored the look on Alec’s face that clearly indicated he was busy, and stepped forward to put a hand on his shoulder. “How is everything going sir?”
"Good, just trying to finish up early tonight.” Alec said, in an attempt to brush the man’s hand off, he shrugged. He was so focused on his desire to leave, he missed the frown Raj shot him. The thing about it was, Alec actually liked Raj, sort of. He was a good guy. But here lately he’d become just a little too interested in Alec’s personal life. And he had zero respect for Alec’s personal space.
Case in point, “Ah got a date?” The dark haired man said. Alec had to school his features to keep the complete incredulity off of his face. On what planet would he have time to be dating anyone.
He responded with a cool, “Yeah okay.” Meant to be completely sarcastic, but he wasn’t entirely sure the man picked up on it, and he really just wanted his hand off of his shoulder yesterday. Deciding blunt was the only way to go, he picked Raj’s hand up and removed it from his shoulder. Pointedly.
Raj offered him a mildly offended look, but thankfully just got back to work. He almost asked if the man was okay, but checked himself. Here lately he’d been pushy as hell, mostly Alec noticed the increase in brief touches, but he couldn’t fathom what the hell had brought it on. His pause before exiting the command center was his mistake.
Raj had picked up his own tablet, but turned back to Alec. “So who’s the lucky guy? Is he a Shadowhunter?”
Alec had come out three years earlier when his mother had tried to marry him off. He’d been so sure it would kill his ambition to be head of the institute, but the way things had played out he’d come out ahead despite his sexual preferences. Some days no one cared, other days people asked the most asinine questions he’d ever heard. Raj was at least polite about it all, he just couldn’t seem to grasp basic social cues. He’d actually been great in the beginning, but Alec wasn’t interested and he didn’t want to hurt his associates feelings. Eventually he was going to have to ask Izzy what the hell to do about it. Until then he would just have to suffer through the horrendous awkwardness.
So impulsively he said “No, not really my type.”
“Oh.” Damn, now he felt bad, except no there Raj went pulling himself together like he couldn’t just take the damn hint. “What’s his name?”
Alec started to finally just tell the man to fuck off, because his polite head of the institute veneer could only last so long. However, he was distracted from losing his temper by the shrill ringing of his phone. Placing the tablet on the table beside him and pulling the phone from his jacket pocket, he hit the accept button with a roll of his eyes. “Yes Magnus.”
“Hmmm Alexander. So theoretically speaking, if say, I attempted to discourage a couple of out of town shadowhunters from wreaking havoc in my bar, that wouldn’t technically be in violation of the accords…..I”
“Damn it Magnus!” Alec growled. “I’m going to lock you up myself one of these days. The club or your apartment?” Snapping at Magnus kept him from imagining what sort of hell he’d already wrought. Both Alec and Raj’s tablets made a noise, which Alec knew was someone reporting Magnus. Damnit.
“The club still, and I resent…” Magnus was cut off by a shout in the background and after a few colorful words from the warlock, the phone went dead.
Alec swore and ran his hand over his face, put his phone in his pocket and turned to leave. Could the man not control his need for drama for even a day. He’d just seen him yesterday, because he’d had a near panic attack over some delivery of supplies.
“Alec!”
He stopped at Raj’s shout, and looked over his shoulder. “What?”
“That him?”
“What?” Alec had no idea what the man was talking about, but when he tried to keep speaking, Alec figured he was asking about Magnus because he had a report on his tablet, so he said “yes”, and ran off before Raj could say anything more.
He stomped down the hall to the portal room that Magnus had thankfully set up a few months ago, and stepped through the portal to Pandemonium. The portal deposited him in the office beside Magnus’ and Alec wasted no time opening the door to hunt down the errant warlock.
Alec’s boots could be heard stomping through the hallway of the club and all he could think was good. He hoped Magnus could hear him before he busted into what the annoying warlock affectionately referred to as the “trouble room”.
Magnus was presiding over four Shadowhunters in various states of undress. He had them sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall. The warlock was seated in a chair with a drink in his hand looking at the lot of them with fierce disapproval. He wore a red silk shirt open at the neck and black skinny jeans with a pair of sleek black boots. His usual gold necklaces hung about his neck, and Alec was happy to see the protection charm from the institute on his wrist. Izzy, Alec, Jace, and everyone had gotten together with Cat during Christmas to have it made. It was gold and had a gem that Magnus could change the color of at will without interfering with the magic. The protection charm had been Alec’s idea, the bracelet was all Izzy. Magnus was back to red tipped spikes for his hair, and some sort of fire like shimmer around his eyes, and the usual amount of glitter everywhere else. He perked up at Alec’s entrance. “Ah my favorite Shadowhunter. Please see to your riff raff.”
“We didn’t do anything wrong!.” Said one of the, and upon closer inspection Alec wanted to sigh, boys sitting on the floor. The idiots were still in the Academy. Aelc ignored Magnus for the moment, knowing it would irritate the man, but taking stock of the kids on the floor. The one on the far end was trying to hide his face. Ah he was a Branwell. One of Lydia’s cousins. The boys parents would be livid. They may not have done anything wrong in the club per se, but they were not meant to be in a New York night club period. A Downworld club was even more off limits.
He looked over them, grabbed a couple of their arms and turned them over, he wanted to see if they’d activated any of their runes. Sure enough, two of them had stealth runes activated, and one of them had a stamina rune active. Well Magnus wouldn’t be getting in trouble tonight. Activated runes were considered hostile actions and gave Magnus the right to defend his club.
Alec turned his attention to Magnus who was at the moment fit to be tied. “What have I told you about overreacting to Shadowhunter’s in your domain?” Alec said gruffly, they really were just kids. Magnus could have slapped their hands and kicked them out.
“These idiots were going to get themselves killed, I didn’t want a diplomatic incident on my hands. If I’m not mistaken the half pint on the end is a Branwell.” The boy bristled but wisely kept his mouth shut. Magnus waved a hand over his drink so it looked like liquid fire in his glass. “Like I need the Clave anywhere near my club.” He mumbled.
“Magnus, just call me next time before you corral the youth. Novel idea though it may be, I can handle a group of trainees.” He squeezed Magnus' shoulder to soothe the tension from the warlock, and he sighed but pushed back into Alec’s hand.
Then sparked up again, poking him in the chest with one of his ringed fingers as he snarked, “Anyway, what are your children doing in my club in the first place? Doesn’t your academy have wards for this kind of nonsense. Seriously Alexander.”
“Seriously.” Alec mocked Magnus’ high tone just to watch his face turn thunderous. “It’s a wonder this place still has functioning walls, what with all the tantrums you throw in it.”
“Tantrums! Tantrums! Alexander,” Magnus snarled. “I’m going show you just how well these walls function when I hit you with one of them as I throw you across the room, if you do not get these children out of my presence.”
Alec laughed, a full blown boisterous laugh and watched the anger drain out of Magnus to be replaced with a sort of fond exasperation. “Sir yes sir.” Alec said between chuckles, grabbing Magnus’ glass and taking a sip.
Magnus gave a scandalized gasp. “Aren’t you working, Mr. Head of the Institute.”
Alec groaned. “No I’m technically off duty. Except when tetchy warlocks call, I appear as if by magic. On duty or not.”
Magnus rolled his eyes and waved a hand towards the kids. Releasing them from whatever spell he’d been using to bind them. “Whatever Lightwood, be gone the lot of you.”
“I’ll portal them back, but you have to come with me.”
“This is the seventh time in the past four months Alexander. Mind explaining to me why I need to be there to watch you fill out paperwork?” Magnus said doing his best imitation of grumpy cat.
Alec snorted, “If you think I’m not going to make you suffer while I fill out paperwork for your illegal use of magic on Shadowhunters, you must be mistaking me with Izzy. And, if I have to listen to those idiots whine because you couldn’t just kick them out of the club like regular idiots, then so do you.”
“Oh for the, save your threats for someone who doesn’t know you actually enjoy the paperwork and after suffering Jace your whole life, those boys whining is like white noise.”
Alec almost laughed again, but refused to give Magnus the satisfaction of laughing at anything he said. “You have no room to talk, like you don’t actually enjoy visiting the institute.”
“I think if we’re going to start down this road, we’re never getting out of this room with these infants. So shut up and walk faster, that direction.” Magnus pointed to the door.
Alec jerked the boys up from the floor and herded them towards the office with the portal. Magnus shooting him a satisfied smile that Alec chose to ignore. It drove him crazy, but he just rolled his eyes in response.
Alec refused to acknowledge just how much of an affect Magnus had on him. He’d been ignoring it for years. Magnus was charismatic, gorgeous, and just this side of too much. Alec knew the minute he allowed himself to walk down that path, he might never come back. So Magnus was off limits. Period.
Back in the portal room with everyone he pushed them all in the direction of his office. Magnus waved at those he knew and smiled graciously at the ones he didn’t. Maintaining the friendly High Warlock persona was important for political reasons.
They reached Alec’s office without further commentary. He got the boys names from them and sure enough the little scrappy one was a Branwell. He didn’t start begging for Alec not to tell his parents, which Alec had to respect. He gave them each a pen and paper so they could write out their defense, and sent them off to rooms for guests. Alec sighed in relief at seeing the backs of them, and motioned for Magnus to take a seat in front of his desk. Magnus blinked at him, but followed his direction.
“Thanks, I guess.” He said as he rearranged himself to his liking. “Again.”
Alec grunted. “Stop using magic on Shadowhunters. How hard is that?”
Magnus bristled. “Oh come on! They shouldn’t be in my club with their nonsense in the first place. I’ve made the rules very clear. In writing. In magic. How many times am I going to have to knock their heads around to get them to understand I will not tolerate nasty business under my roof?” Magnus sat in a tightly controlled posture. “Never mind that there are hundreds of clubs in the godddamn city, that they pick mine is just pure spite.”
“It’s you Magnus,” Alec said softly. “You’re a beacon for trouble. Hush” Alec held up his hand to stop him from interrupting. “I’m not blaming you for the Shadowhunter’s they damn well know better, but you run a club for downworlders and you can’t tell me they don’t do shady shit under your roof. I know they do. So you get trouble as a by product.”
“I guess that’s why I even have the trouble room in the first place. I’m tired Alexander.” Magnus said as he sank into Alec’s chair. His shirt falling open even further, the relaxed pose putting him on display. Tension began to build in the back of Alec’s neck and he had to tilt his head so he wasn’t looking at Magnus. A part of him had always wondered, but the rational part of him shut down that line of reasoning before it could start. The man was an unapologetic flirt, and Alec just shifted his gaze so he wouldn’t feel the temptation. Magnus was the definition of trouble, club or no club.
Alec pinched the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know why I bother to be honest, I should just let the riff raff tear down the walls.”
“Because you get just as much use out of my club as I do, Shadowhunter.”
“Yeah well doesn’t mean either of us have to like it.”
Magnus rolled his eyes, but his mouth twitched. “Oh cheer up puppy, your babies are safe and will live to fight another day, and you got to see me for an hour.”
“Shut up Magnus. Where’s Raphael by the way, he’s been really good about keeping you occupied lately so shit like this doesn’t happen?”
Magnus turned completely grumpy. “He’s in Italy seeing to an old friend, the fiend.”
“Is that why you were even at the club on a Sunday night, interfering like you probably shouldn’t have been?”
“Christ Shadowhunter, I am not a child. I was working on some of my new wards, not that it’s any of your concern, and the club is always a good place to try them out. It’s not my fault your little infants wandered in looking to start trouble.”
“Whatever Magnus. It was my night off. I’d like to get back to it.”
Magnus grinned like a shark. “Like you were doing anything important.”
Alec glared at him before putting his hand on his desk where his tablet would be, noticing it was gone. Damn he’d left it in opps again before chasing after Magnus. “Some of us were doing normal life stuff not prancing…”
“Ha my ass, you were working. Night off is not a concept you can comprehend. Sadly. All this stress is going to give you wrinkles Alexander.”
“Like I care.” A light dawned and Alec looked at Magnus appraisingly. Hmmm he though. “Regardless, you owe me,” Alec said, ignoring Magnus’ crack about wrinkles. The glimmer of an idea beginning to form and glee building inside him.
Magnus gave a huffy sigh, Alec wanted something. “You big baby.”
“You forced me to abandon what I was doing in opps. I could have been in my room right now relaxing, and you could be at home! You owe me!” Alec announced with pure exaggeration.
Magnus rolled his eyes, hard, but Alec could see the hint of a smile. “Oh my god, fine. What?”
Alec did not let the smug grin cross his face, Magnus would surely pick up on it and tell him to fuck off. He just collapsed back in his chair and pointedly glared at Magnus. “Go get my tablet out of the command center.” Hello minion he thought, hiding an evil grin was hard, but he managed. Making the High Warlock fetch was a well deserved punishment.
Magnus looked incredulous. “You are not serious right now.” He protested. “That’s like a four foot walk from the front of your damn office. It would take you less than five minutes to walk there and back. Come on!”
Alec ignored him, and just looked down at his desk. Dismissing Magnus. Magnus was the one who had taught him how to do this. He’d been present during a clave meeting and pulled Alec aside afterward to give him some manipulation pointers. They were serving him well.
Magnus rolled his eyes again and muttered under his breath all the way out of the door. “This is the thanks I get for not incinerating little baby Shadowhunters. Well just wait until next time. Crispy little nuggets of charcoal. I’m going to deposit them right on his stupid desk. Such an overgrown baby”
Alec did his best to hold his laughter in until Magnus slammed the door shut. He’d have to admonish him for that, wouldn’t want anyone to think the High warlock was grumpy. And thanking every Angel he knew that he wouldn’t have to see Raj again. Alec scrolled through his email on his office PC and smiled at a message from Izzy. He shot off an email to Lydia about her erstwhile cousin.
He was about half way through the paperwork on tonight’s incident before he started to wonder what in the hell was taking Magnus so damn long. Just as he was about to stand and have a look, Magnus breezed through the door with a wicked look on his face. Dropping Alec’s tablet on his desk, he collapsed in one of the chairs and began to laugh hysterically. Alec didn’t want to know, he really didn’t, but he knew Magnus wouldn’t be able to help himself so he sat back to wait.
Sure enough, after wiping away tears, he asked with a grin “Why the hell does Raj think we’re dating?”
Alec gaped. Then he gaped some more. “What?” He glared. “I just told him I had a boyfriend so he’d stop touching me. I never said who…” Alec trailed off as the last few seconds of his conversation with Raj replayed in his mind, then he dropped his head on his desk. “Damnit, that was not what I meant.”
Magnus started laughing all over again. “Poor Alec. But hey it’s okay, you valiantly rescued the Shadowhunter babies and I saved you from someone under your command. But if you ask me to fetch for you again like I’m some sort of gopher, I will fry you. Also, your tablet is dead.”
“Damnit, it wasn’t before I had to come rescue you.” Alec grouched. Not that charging it was a big deal, it was just one more inconvenience after a night full of them.
“You did not save me. There was no saving.” Magnus snapped.
“Fine next time you handle the Clave representative that will show up in my place. And you can do it without my interference. No saving my ass.” He said with a sneer.
Magnus didn’t bother to reply to that. “Whatever, I left Raj thinking you were happily seeing the most glamorous warlock in town. Raj is utterly convinced that you are deeply attached to my wonderful self, and that I was somehow blinded by your….something. However, you owe me one warlock to Shadowhunter favor without bitching. And I mean it. Not a word.”
“Ugh,” Alec grumbled, and waved a hand at Magnus. “Get out.” He’d deal with Raj later.
Magnus’ laugh trailed behind him as he left. He was already out of the office when Alec saw the glitter. Literally everywhere. On the chair, on his desk, on his tablet. Damn the man, he was going to be giving sparkle meetings for a week. Didn’t that just figure.
**
Because the universe wasn’t fair and because he had no luck to speak of, Raj ambushed him the next day.
The mess hall was his favorite place to be in the institute, well maybe it was second to his love for his bedroom. It was the one place in the institute that everyone seemed to respect. They didn’t bother him. He got his food, he sat down, he ate his food, and everyone left him the hell alone. But not today.
Alec’s glower matched his mood because looking up from his grilled chicken to see Raj standing by his table made him want to go hide in his room. He did not need this now. Today. Ever. Damnit. His face was bright with curiosity. Thankfully before he could say anything Underhill sat down at the table and gave him a sern nod. “Have you seen the inventory reports yet sir?”
Alec nodded and waved a hand over his tablet. Beyond grateful that at least someone under his command was aware that he didn’t want to be bothered with personal questions in public. “They arrived this morning. Trouble with the figures Underhill?”
“Not at all sir. We’re going to need to talk to Magnus later today though.” Well damn. And double damn. Raj hadn’t spread it around the entire institute yet. If he had Underhill wouldn’t have brought up Magnus’ name. But the twinkle in Underhill’s eyes as he looked up disabused him of that notion. Alec glared, and Andrew covered his mouth to hide a laugh.
At that Alec was sure the universe was out to get him. Sabotaged. Everyone around him was a saboteur. They were all getting fired. Like soon. Raj piped up. “Oh yeah, I talked to your boyfriend yesterday. He’s nice.”
Alec looked at Raj incredulously. Magnus had choke slammed him into a wall. He’d been trying to save Alec’s life at the time, but still. Alec could think of about 40 different adjectives to describe Magnus Bane, and none of them were anywhere in the vicinity of nice. Magnus was intense. He was lightning in a bottle. The man was not nice. Even if he could be sweet, and he loved his cat more than life, and he took care of the warlock children, and shit. Alec shook his head. He needed to stop fucking thinking about Magnus Bane.
For some reason Raj just got on every last one of his nerves with his comment, and he felt the need to make a point. “He’s the High Warlock of Brooklyn.” Alec said with his are you stupid tone.
“Yeah he’s pretty colorful,” Raj said completely unsure of what he’d done, but picking up on something. Finally. “Um had nothing but amazing things to say about you. It was really great of him to grab your tablet for you while you were busy with the kids.”
Alec just grunted and hoped Raj would take the hint. He was over it. Underhill still had his hand over his mouth to keep himself from bursting into laughter. Alec sighed. He just had to finish eating his damn chicken and then he could escape this madness. Raj took the hint finally and walked away.
“So you and Magnus huh.” Underhill said with a smirk.
“By the Angel don’t even start.” Alec groaned.
“You want me to talk to Raj? Tell him to back off.” Underhill popped a grape in his mouth and Alec could tell he was trying his best not to outright laugh at his commander.
Alec was resigned to the cluster that was this situation, so he said, “If you think it would actually work, by all means.” Alec watched Underhill get up and walk away and Alec grabbed his tray so he could deposit them both near the trash cans. He made his way to the lab area with a little bit of resignation. Izzy was on vacation with that ridiculous mundane, and Alec was making sure her paperwork didn’t get behind and just basically covering for her while she was gone. He missed the hell out of her, but he wasn’t going to complain about the quiet he was enjoying in her absence.
Opening up the lab door he sidestepped her somewhat gruesome assistant. Dropping his tablet on her desk he stretched preparing to sit and get to work. It was quiet in Izzy’s lab and he was thankful her team could manage without her because he had literally no idea what they were working on. A couple of the Shadowhunter’s raised their brow at his presence, but otherwise they just ignored him.
Pulling Izzy’s chocolate out of her top drawer, he glared fiercely at the nosy ones around him. He’d just unwrapped one of the little dove pieces when he felt a buzz just under his skin. Then a loud fierce exclamation, “You have got to be kidding me, you ridiculous tattooed imbeciles! I set these wards last week!”
Alec sighed, and said a quick prayer to the angel that he could ignore it, but he was the head of the institute. He was too well trained to hide from his problems. When in relation to the institute anyway, even if the distress in this case was a high strung warlock. What was he even doing here anyway? Alec didn’t remember signing off on any new ward strengthening paperwork.
Abandoning his tablet on Izzy’s desk, annoyed he’d been knocked out of paperwork mode, he stood up to make his way into the main area of the lab to see what had gotten Magnus so twisted up. Magnus was muttering and waving his arms about dramatically, but Alec could see the cool blue smoke drifting around the doors to the magically sealed chambers in the lab. One of Izzy’s assistants was standing next to him and Magnus was having none of whatever she was saying. The girl was wringing her hands and near to tears. “I don’t care if you were sure you locked the doors, I don’t care if you weren’t the one responsible for allowing your idiotic bretheren from fighting in this room like a bunch of gorillas. I wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t”
Alec interrupted him before the girl burst into tears. “Magnus stop harassing the staff. I would have thought any contractually obligated visits to the Institute would have come with a warning to myself as I’m the head of it. Since that’s clearly not the case, you were going to let this slide, bitching about it the whole time of course.” Alec watched the assistant, hell if he could remember her name, clue into the fact that Magnus was going to cover for them. Her face went from panic to a soft gentle kind of reverence when she looked at the warlock and Alec had to stifle a sigh of exasperation. How the hell Magnus inspired that kind of loyalty he would never understand. Well that was kind of a lie. Magnus was loyal almost to a fault and he...Alec cut his Magnus musings off. He really needed to stop it. He waved her out of the room.
“Of course you’re here, plaguing the lab with your presence Alexander?”
Alec snorted, “No more than you are apparently. I’m doing Izzy’s paperwork, what’s your excuse?”
Magnus shrugged, “Covering for one of Izzy’s hapless lab assistants. She really likes the girl, and I hate for her to get reassigned because one of your field guys broke her experiment and the wards while he was screwing around in here last night.”
Alec rolled his eyes and walked over to the panel by the windows and swiped his access card. He pressed a couple of buttons and the glass surrounding them shrouded over. “Honestly Magnus, if you’d wanted to be subtle, there are more progressive ways to go about it. What’s going on with your wards?”
“Be a good boyfriend and mind your own business.” Magnus said with a snap.
Alec glared and walked over to Magnus’ side getting a closer look at the warlock. He looked exhausted, his hair was just slightly droopy and he was only wearing the smallest amount of eyeliner. “You’re hiding something from me.” He said as he brought his hand up to squeeze Magnus’ neck.
Magnus scoffed, “Of course I am. You’re a Shadowhunter and I’m a warlock, I’m hardly going to tell you everything. Stop being such a nosy boyfriend.” He said all of this from a deep well of exhaustion. A practiced response as he pushed his weight into Alec. Magnus was exhausted. More even that Alec had suspected. He carried on with their normal banter, but he was worried.
“I will remind you that you are in the Institute and I have weapons in every conceivable location that I would be happy to test out on your hide.” Alec narrowed his eyes when Magnus tried to shift into I’m just an innocent warlock mode. “Don’t even try it.”
Magnus huffed but turned his back on Alec so his hand dropped from Magnus’ neck, and Magnus snapped his fingers again to pull up his magic. “So how’s Raj? Has he tried to put his hands in your pants? Is Underhill protecting you?”
How Magnus was even aware of Underhill and his actions made Alec twitch. He knew Magnus didn’t have the place bugged, he just knew people really well, but it still made Alec want to look over his shoulder. Annoyed he just said “Yeah he’s going to talk to him.”
“Poor Alec,” Magnus said absently as he moved his hands in circular motions his magic floating around him like a cloud.
Alec could tell Magnus was barely paying attention to the conversation he’d slipped into his magic, his attention fully absorbed. “He said you were nice, Clearly he’s been hit on the head by too many demons. I may need to remove him from the patrol rotation.”
At that Magnus’ attention got sharper, “Nice. I am amazing, I am spectacular and a brilliant boyfriend, in fact my presence in your life is solid proof that you can make intelligent decisions. Hmm, theoretically speaking…”
“Damnit Magnus, I hate those words coming out of your mouth.” Alec groaned.
“Theoretically speaking,” Magnus interjected, “if I were to tell you a delegation from a coven in Egypt were contemplating a visit in the next month…”
“I would say Raj might need to be present….” Alec cut in and crossed his arms over his chest. Trust Magnus to provide the world’s best punishment. Egyptian vampires were in a class all their own, but they would certainly put Raj in his place. Also he really could use the experience. Win win really.
Magnus rolled his eyes at Alec’s appreciative humm, and went back to his magic. Alec did not miss the way he stumbled. Alec could smell the sandalwood scent of Magnus’ soap and see the cat hair on the man’s clothes. He wrinkled his nose and took a closer look, there were wrinkles in the jacket. Wrinkles. Something was wrong. And Alec knew from experience point blank asking the man would get him nowhere. In fact it was probably best to just let Magnus come to him.
So he wondered back into Izzy’s office and picked up his tablet so he could finish the reports he started. While he was at it he updated Magnus’ paperwork as well. The warlock would hardly mind, he usually just waved his hand and let his magic do the work, but he looked exhausted. Alec scowled at the lab staff as they wandered around checking up on things, and made a note on his calendar to have Izzy call Magnus just in case this business wasn’t solved before she returned. If it was they could go shopping or something. He returned to Magnus’ side and pulled the man’s phone from his pocket. Setting an alarm so he wouldn’t get too far into his head and pass out from exhaustion. Adding a note that the paperwork was done. He slipped the phone back in Magnus’ pocket and the warlock didn’t even stir. Something about that made a warmth bloom in Alec’s chest.
He fiddled with a few other things in the room, placing a chair beside Magnus for when he inevitably got tired, and sat down himself to continue the paperwork on his tablet. Magnus looked up after a bit, saw the chair and sat down.
“Thanks,” Magnus said. “I apologize for snapping at the girl earlier. It’s just been a really shitty day all things considered. Like you’d think demons and warlocks and all the shadow world nonsense that we deal with on a regular basis would make simple things like apartment fires easier to deal with. But going through all of your things looking for salvageable items and the like is just really wearing.”
Ah that would explain it. Apartment fire. “Is the cat okay, and why couldn’t you just magic it back in place?”
“All the cats are fine.” Magnus said with a smile that quickly turned to a frown. “And if I knew every nuance of every nook and cranny of my apartment, perhaps. But I have books from 200 years ago that I don’t remember, and I would have to remember it to restore it.”
Alec felt a prickle of alarm along his spine. “Was it an accident? Do we need to look into it?”
Magnus shook his head, “No worries darling, I checked and Cat did too. I have wards for fire, but they were not broken just faded. I either missed it when I went over them, or I put it up wrong in the first place. The entire building is something of a hazard zone at the moment.”
“You staying with Cat?”
“No, I can’t actually.” Magnus said with a bit of a gloomy look. “She’s out of town as we speak, and her house is infested with a spell gone wrong. She’s actually staying at Raphael’s, which I absolutely refuse to do. No matter what he does that place still reeks of Camille. If I wind up at some grungy motel because of all this ridiculousness, there will be a hex party. You are cordially not invited.”
Alec snorted and looked down at his tablet. “Poor Magnus.” But Magnus was already muttering to himself over his wards. Speaking to him now would be useless as his magic just absorbed his attention. Giving up entirely on getting any more work done, Alec just sat and read a book on his tablet, making sure Magnus didn’t collapse in a heap.
After a few minutes, Magnus did take the chair again and Alec gave a small smile. He went and grabbed a couple of bottles of water, checked on opps, and gave Izzy’s staff very pointed get to work looks. He dropped the bottle of water by Magnus, poked him in the shoulder and told him to drink, grabbed his tablet again and decided he should really go back to his office. “Have fun at the motel” he said on the way out of the room.
Magnus didn’t even look up, he was so caught up in his magic.
About an hour later he got a text on his phone with. “Thank you darling!”
Alec texted back a money emoji, to which Magnus replied with a barfing emoji and Alec just laughed.
~~**~~
Alec had just gotten comfortable in bed, his hand resting on his stomach as he contemplated whether or not he wanted to slip his hand under the waist of his shorts and relieve a little stress, when he heard the tell tell woosh of a portal. Sighing, Alec rolled out of bed and padded over to the seating area in his room, Magnus was crouched on the floor smoke hanging around his clothes. Alec scrambled closer and put a hand on Magnus’ wrist to check his pulse.
Alec reached for him to catch him before he fell over, but Magnus seemed to be unmoored and simply fell into his arms. “Magnus what the hell happened.” The warlock was breathing deeply into Alec’s neck, almost as if he were trying to replace the scent in his nose with Alec’s own. “Magnus.” Alec said more forcefully, placing his hand on Magnus’ neck to try and pull him back. Magnus just shrank down a little more into Alec’s space, looking for protection and Alec couldn’t help wrapping his arms around him and pulling him closer. “Demon.” He said softly into Alec’s bare chest. Shit thought Alec. Regular demons didn’t shake Magnus up like this.
“Alec there’s a demon at the fucking hotel. The place isn’t warded, so I was asleep. He got in my dreams, and I just.”
Alec yanked Magnus to his feet and pulled him into the bedroom slamming the door shut behind them and locking it. Needing the security of a locked door despite not being in any danger. He turned Magnus around to face him. “Was it physically present at the hotel, or did it just use the fact that the place isn’t warded to get to you?”
Magnus didn’t even look around Alec’s room to make a snarky remark about how sparsely the place was decorated. Without fail Magnus always said something about the lack of pillows. Not that he spent a lot of time in Alec’s room, but Every. Single. Time. he would say something. Magnus was beyond distracted. “It was definitely on premise. I’ve….I’m mostly drained from everything, I should have known better. I should have just stayed at Raphael’s, but I can’t sleep there.”
Magnus was deep in self recrimination mode. Alec put his fingers on Magnus’ lips to quiet him. Magnus just looked up and glared, but Alec needed information. “What kind of demon was it Magnus?” Then removed his fingers slowly, noting that Magnus’ lips were free of his usual gloss and were very soft. He dismissed the observation. “Did you spot anymore or just the one?”
“Just the one. It’s an abyss demon. I could barely get the portal done, christ we should just take care of it in the morning.” Magnus tilted his head back and put his own hand on his neck. Alec noticed Magnus was in his pajamas, and they were ripped all to hell. Black silk pants with a tank top top that was all but falling off of him.
“You mean wait for it to move on to someone else.” Alec interrupted. “If it’s an Abyss demon it’s looking for food to carry back home. It’s going to wind up killing someone. I need to send a team out to take care of it.”
As expected Magnus frowned at him. “Give me a few minutes, I’m sure I can...”
“You’re not going anywhere Magnus, get in the bed.” Magnus dug his heels in when Alec gently pushed him towards the bed. ‘The only place you’re going is to sleep.” Alec demanded, not even letting Magnus start.
“Alexander, I am the one the demon came after.” He said as he crossed his arms. Alec rolled his eyes. Magnus was about as intimidating as a wet cat when he was free of makeup, hair flattened, and clothes not impeccably in place. Alec just nudged him towards the bed again. Magnus jerked away from him and glared. Alec’s patience was used up and he let his own temper fill him.
“So are you ready to tell me then.” Alec asked harshly.
Magnus blinked. Then he huffed. “I don’t...”
“Do not lie to me.” Alec said with a snarl. “You know damn well I know.”
Magnus shuffled backwards just the slightest bit. “Fine. but it’s my problem, the demon is powerful. No one is going to get hurt tonight. He has specific instructions.”
“And you thought it was a good idea to lure him out when you were running on fumes.” Alec pulled one of his shirts from his dresser and a pair of sweats, and threw them both at Magnus. They weren’t silk, but he’d worn them before when shit got dangerous and his clothes had been shredded.
Magnus was sputtering. “I didn’t know it was going to be an Abyss demon Alexander.”
“It doesn’t matter Magnus. You should have fucking told me Asmodeus put a bounty on you. I can’t resolve the damn contract, but I could have sent Shadowhunters to the hotel to kill the damn thing.” Alec turned his back to Magnus as Magnus stripped out of his smokey clothes. Alec was pulling on his own pair of sweats because he was going to have to head to opps and inform them about the demon.
Magnus grumbled at him, but otherwise kept his mouth shut. “I need a shower, I smell.”
Alec rolled his eyes. “You know where everything is, I’m going to opps to get a team together. You stay here and get some sleep, you look like hell.” Magnus glowered, but chose to ignore him and stomped off towards the bathroom.
Alec walked barefoot down to Opps and pulled Underhill aside explaining the situation to him as succinctly as possible. Underhill listened intently and shared Alec’s glower. “He okay?”
“Yeah he’s going to stay here tonight. We’ll sort out what to do with him in the morning.”
“What was he doing with the wards in the lab earlier?”
“Best guess, he has something that Asmodeus wants and it’s in the institute. Either Izzy is watching it for him, or this is the only safe place he could stash it after his apartment burned.”
“And he’s not saying one way or another.”
“Plausible deniability. He’s big on that. I have a meeting with Cat and Raphael tomorrow. I’ll let you know what I turn up.”
“Ah just so you know, your mother called.”
“Of course she did.” Alec groaned. He shook his head and shared a sardonic look with Underhill before clapping the man on the shoulder and heading towards the kitchen. Magnus shared far more in common with his cats than most knew. Alec warmed up a mug of milk and grabbed a cinnamon roll since they were sitting there. He made his way over to the library to pick up a book that he’d seen Magnus eyeing a few times, and made his way back to his room.
He walked into the room to see Magnus standing at the foot of his bed playing on his phone. “I said get in the bed Magnus.” Alec dropped the book on the nightstand, sat the mug and pastry beside it. Magnus was still procrastinating, lord only knew why, so Alec pulled him over to the bed and pointed using his best “mind me I’m the leader” look.
Magnus huffed a laugh and crawled into the bed. “I want you to know the only reason I’m agreeing to this is because we swapped your mattress out last year for a far more comfortable version.”
“Yeah yeah, just get in and stop causing trouble.” Alec made sure Magnus was going to listen before he stepped away to head back to his sitting area.
“Where are you going?” Magnus asked in a small almost scared voice. And that more than anything made Alec want to put his fist through the wall. Magnus didn’t have to let shit get this bad before he came to him. Fucking stubborn warlock.
Alec paused but didn’t look back. “Not far, I’m just going to oversee the opp.” He heard Magnus say okay, and Alec continued on to his desk. The team Underhill had selected would be ready to go within the hour. Magnus hadn’t specifically asked him not to leave, and he hadn’t told him how long he’d stay at his desk. He listened closely for the sounds of Magnus’ even breaths. Warm milk would always knock him out. Izzy claimed it was the comfort factor. Alec still swore Magnus was half cat.
He pulled his boots on, and grabbed his gear. Slipping into the hallway he started running his stele over his runes activating them. Abyss demons were a bitch to fight because they were fast and with as dark as it was outside they would need every advantage they could get. Abyss demons were the pets of greater demons for a reason, they were just one tier below a hellhound. They could track anything, and kill it when they found it. Alec didn’t know what game Magnus was playing with Edom right now, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he’d be damned if he was going to let anyone set an Abyss demon lose in his town.
Half an hour later, he and four other Shadowhunters had the demon surrounded. Alec notched an arrow and let it fly, barely side stepping the black ball of energy the thing shot back at him. He watched as his team circled the trapped demon, and suppressed a shudder as the thing lunged and knocked all of them down.Alec pulled his blade and jumped on the shoulders of the large beast and jammed his blade into the things back. He slammed the demon up against the hotel wall and grit his teeth.
The demon hissed and swung around, slamming Alec’s back into the wall and using the leverage to throw him to the ground. The demon brought its foot down on Alec's stomach and he could feel something inside tear, coughing up blood, he rolled away. The demon grabbed him by the throat and shook, but Alec managed to get his hands around the things claws and break the hold. Falling to the ground he shoved himself back looking for cover. The other Shadowhunters were coming in as a distraction and Alec used it to his advantage, slinking through the shadows to get behind him. Slipping up closer he swung his sword to cut the things knees trying to immobilize it. He hadn’t counted on the thing stumbling back almost on top of him, pouring ichor all down Alec’s front as one of the others shoved a blade all the way through the demon’s thick hide.
Alec spit out more blood and tried to shove the thing off of him, when it suddenly got a second wind and shoved one of its claws into his shoulder. Alec screamed. Hot breath over his face, demon saliva in his eyes, and pain ricocheting through his body, Alec still managed to flip his blade around and shove it up into the demon’s stomach.
The demon disintegrated and Alec breathed a sigh of relief. His team came over offering looks of utter sympathy at how banged up he was, but they helped him with the healing runes so he wasn’t too annoyed with them. All in all the fight had taken less than an hour, and they were back in the institute well before the sun rose. Alec dropped his gear and made his way to his room, practically salivating at the thought of a shower. But, when he opened his door it was to be met with a pissed off Magnus Bane. A pissed off half naked Magnus Bane, and Alec felt it in the pit of his stomach.
Damn. The adrenaline from the fight was coursing through him, and he had to resist, everything in him wanted to push Magnus back onto the bed and crawl on top of him and burn through some of the tension in his body. Fuck. Ignoring Magnus was a whole hell of a lot more difficult when the man was in his space. The faint hint of sandalwood hit his nose and Alec got hard. He was already half there, but that pushed him over the edge. He needed to get into his bathroom now.
“You are such a hypocrite! You asshole.” Magnus shouted at him. Alec felt that in his dick too. What the hell. He was not a 16 year old hormone driven child. He damn well knew how to control himself.
Alec was sore and achy, even with the healing runes, and he just flat out didn’t want to deal with Magnus in hysterics or his own desire for the man. So he ignored him and went straight for the bathroom door. The smell of Magnus’ magic crackling brought him to a dead stop.
Magnus had slipped out of Alec’s bed and was stalking toward him with a gleam in his eyes that Alec could hardly ignore. He knew. He’d always known how Alec felt. They both knew, they were just mature enough to quietly not mention it or act on it. Magnus was pissed though. And when he was pissed, he had a hard time holding onto his polite veneer. “You were not meant to be part of the team that hunted the demon Alexander.”
Alec shrugged, when Magnus was like this it was best not to engage. “I need a shower.”
Magnus glared, then raised his brow, his magic snapped crackling along Alec’s sore muscles. “Your mother came in. Honestly you’re a grown man, she should learn to knock on your door you know.”
Alec looked at Magnus with horror. “Damnit Magnus, what did you say.”
“What do you think I told her darling. You weren’t supposed to leave, but you did, so it serves you right. Go shower you smell vile.” Magnus said acidly as he flounced back around and stomped across the room to get back in bed. Alec sighed. It was one thing for Raj to think he was dating Magnus, it was an entirely separate thing for his mother to think that. Knowing he would have to deal with this as soon as he got out of the shower, and steeling himself against whatever the hell Magnus had gotten himself mixed up in, Alec stepped into the bathroom and stripped.