The Bane Chronicles: The Course of True Love (And First Dates)

[strongest_faith]

Alec was late. He was really late. Late enough that he was pretty sure Magnus would have given up on him. Damn Jace wanting to train and Alec's inability to think of a good enough excuse to get out of it.

He'd rushed through a shower and pulled on a light-blue shirt that was actually new. Izzy said it did good things for his eyes. Alec hoped they were good enough for Magnus to forget that he was supposed to be there more than twenty minutes ago. He also hoped Izzy had been right about the cologne. He'd never worn cologne before.

As he sprinted through the Brooklyn streets to Magnus's loft, Alec dodged between pedestrians and once or twice vaulted a low wall that was in his way. He couldn't be bothered to stop for things like red lights, so he just flitted between (or over) cars where necessary. He was already late, but he didn't have to be any later.

By the time he got to Magnus's loft and threw himself at the buzzer, he actually needed to catch his breath.


[ooc: Dialogue and plot courtesy of Cassandra Clare's The Bane Chronicles.]

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[strongest_faith]

"What?" Alec says, thrown by the interruption.

[highwarlock_bane]

Dismissively waving his hand he responds causally, "I briefly forgot the blond one's name."

[strongest_faith]

Alec blanches.

Did he...did Magnus think Alec was Jace?

"Oh, I'm...I'm Alec."

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus's hand paused mid flick. The lights from the city reflect off of Magnus's blue jewels casting a brilliant blue light that was drowned out by Alec's deep blue eyes.

"Yes" Magnus smiles, "Your name I remember."

[strongest_faith]

Alec smiles, feeling an unexpected relief, something he'll have to pick apart later.

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus is happy to see the smile. Maybe is didn't matter if Alec had a thing for apparently-Jace. Apparently-Jace was beautiful, but he knows it. And clearly way more trouble than he is worth.

"Don't worry about it" Magnus says pushing Chairman Meow gently onto the sofa cushions.

"Have a drink" he pushes his drink into Alec's hand having not taken a sip yet.

[strongest_faith]

Alec isn't expecting a drink to be put into his hand, and he's too busy being relieved that Magnus...saw him to really work out what is happening until he's fumbling the drink, spreading crimson liquid all over himself and the floor. The crash of the glass shattering on Magnus's floor rang through Alec's system like a shot, and he could feel his face getting warm.

[highwarlock_bane]

"Wow, your people are really overselling your elite Nephilim reflexes." Magnus says playfully.

[strongest_faith]

"Oh," Alec says, utterly mortified, "by the Angel. I...I'm so...I'm so sorry." He isn't even sure what he can do about it now. He's just standing in a puddle of red liquid and shattered glass, with a bright red stain down the shirt he'd bought just for tonight.

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus is the paragon of calm as blue sparks fly and the puddle and glass vanish, "DOn't be sorry. I'm a warlock, there is no mess I can't clean up. Why do you think I throw so many parties?"

"Let me tell you, I wouldn't do it if I had to scrub toilets myself. Have you ever seen a vampire throw up?"

Shaking his head, "Nasty"

[strongest_faith]

Alec tries powerfully not to envision what it would look like for a vampire to throw up.

"I don't really...know any vampires, um, socially," he says, feeling awkward and embarrassed about not knowing any Downworlders.

[highwarlock_bane]

The Children of the Angel to keep to their own so that doesn't surprise Magnus. Which is why Magnus was wondering what Alec was doing here, in Magnus's apartment.

Around now, Alec was probably wondering the same thing.

It might be a long night but at least they could both be well-dressed. "I'll get you a new shirt"

Magnus enters his bedroom and opens his closet which only takes up half of the room. After riffling through all the clothes he imagines would look excellent on Alec he settles on the most tame shirt he owns, a black t-shirt he was wearing on Tuesday that has Blink if you want me in sequins across the front.

[strongest_faith]

Alec tries to protest, but Magnus is already sweeping away, toward his bedroom, leaving Alec alone and awkward in the living area. After a moment of standing there in his stained t-shirt, Alec peels it off and uses it to wipe some of the drink off his stomach.

And then he's just...standing there, in Magnus's living room, holding his t-shirt in his hand and wondering if this is such a great idea after all. Magnus must be wondering that too.

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus walks back into the living room and stops dead.

The room was only illuminated by the reading lamp and the light from outside which painted Alec with streetlights and moonlight shadows curling around his biceps, the slender indentations of his collarbones, and his torso all smooth, sleek, bare skin until the dark line of his jeans.

Magnus had heard the story of how the Nephlim were created many times but they had left out the part And the Angel descended from on high and gave his chosen ones fantastic abs

[strongest_faith]

Alec glances up to find Magnus standing there, and he opens his mouth to say something, and then stops.

Had Magnus been just...watching him? Why?

Still standing awkwardly, stained shirt in hand, Alec finds himself wordless, wondering what is going on in the warlock's mind. Wondering, for about the millionth time since Tuesday, why Magnus had agreed to this at all. Except for pity. For not being unsympathetic.

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus exercised heroic self-control, smiled, and offers the shirt.

[strongest_faith]

Alec takes it without looking at it. "Sorry about being a lousy date," he mutters, and pulls on the shirt to avoid having to say more, or saying the wrong thing.

[highwarlock_bane]

"What are you talking about? You're a fantastic date. You've only been here ten minutes, and I already got half of your clothes off."

[strongest_faith]

Alec blinks and smiles faintly, feeling the same sort of gratification he'd felt when Jace had told him Magnus was disappointed Jace wasn't Alec.

He can also feel his cheeks turning pink and doesn't want to think about that.

Instead he thinks about the shirt, about wearing Magnus's shirt, which is...quite tight on him. Magnus is slimmer than he is, and he already wears his shirts tighter than Alec would.

It's shorter as well, though Magnus is taller, and doesn't quite overlap with the waistband of his jeans, meaning if he moves at all, there will be a strip of skin showing between them. The same strip of skin that had so fascinated him on Magnus.

Oh, this is the same shirt.

Oh.

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus realizes that anything more than mild flirting might scare him off.

"Come on. We're going to dinner" he grabs a red leather duster.

[strongest_faith]

Alec follows, mostly because he doesn't know what else to do at this point. He can't tell what Magnus is thinking, what he wants here. He can't get a read on whether he's doing all right or screwing things up immeasurably.

[highwarlock_bane]

Okay, step one is getting to the subway.

The subway is crowded on this Friday night.

[strongest_faith]

There are a lot of mundanes taking the subway. A lot.

And they can all see Alec. They can all see Alec wearing a far too tight, definitely too short t-shirt encouraging them to blink if they want him.

He's never before realized just how many mundanes there are in the city.

"Can't I...um...use a glamour rune?" he asks as they get onto the F train.

[highwarlock_bane]

Magnus understands that Alec is uncomfortable but, "No. I'm not looking like I'm alone on a Friday night just because you don't want mundanes staring at you."

"Here" Magnus points out a couple of free seats.

[strongest_faith]

Alec slips into one of the seats, but then he doesn't know what he should be doing. Small talk probably? He's not good at small talk. Or large talk. Or any kind of talk, really. Other people are talking around them, but Alec has no idea what to say.

He looks around at the subway ads instead. The ones directly in front of them are in purple and blue and show elderly couples smiling at each other. They read, "With the passing years, comes impotence."

Alec finds he cannot look away.