Second fic for a Pride Month prompt challenge from tumblr. Prompt: rainbow.

Before Magnus, Alec's life was pale and colourless.

Or rather, in the wake of Magnus' brilliance, everything seems pale and colourless, as though Alec stared too long at the sun and is blinded by after-images. Looking back, Alec sees one bright flash of gold that hurts around the edges, a warm burgundy his sister likes to wear and then nothing but black and white, occasional shades of grey. It's the life of a soldier: black and white, do your duty, you're a Shadowhunter, kill demons, deal with the Downworlders, remember you're superior, you have the blood of angels in your veins, use your authority, your power, respect your elders, respect the Clave, no room for questions, black and white, left, right, never stop, don't take your eyes off the enemy, black and white. Black runes twine across Alec's skin, even now, and he's never really thought about it before but now he wonders how they might look in other colours.

Magnus is nothing but colour. Alec sometimes wonders that it must have scared him – to see the antithesis to his entire experience wrapped up in one person like that. But as scared as he was, Alec could feel that irresistible draw to Magnus, and now...

Alec shifts, arms around Magnus, and feels the cocoon of bedclothes around them. Magnus' breath comes slow and steady on the skin of Alec's chest and Alec settles his nose on the crown of Magnus' head, breathing slow, breathing deep. Magnus smells ridiculous – he always does. Alec can't place the scent but that he smells like early spring, and it's ridiculous because Alec can hear the New York autumn rain rolling down the windows from where they lie in sanctuary.

Alec's mind lingers on the colours, the man in his arms a rainbow, a spectrum. He wonders how he never saw in colour before, but maybe he needed this – this man, who seems to be every colour at once, whose spirit shines bright from within – to overwhelm him, oversaturate him, wake him up.

Magnus is red. He is the roses he got for Alec, and the blood that came into Alec's cheeks when he did (because seriously, who gets a guy flowers?!). He is the wine he likes to drink, the ruby of the necklace he gave Izzy, the little marks he likes to suck into Alec's skin.

Magnus is orange. He is the marigolds he gave Alec, raising another blush in his face. He is Alec's favourite coffee mug in his kitchen, the sunset over the river in the summer, the soft coat of the cat from down the street he sometimes feeds.

Magnus is yellow. He is the daffodils he got Alec – and Alec shouldn't have still been surprised by then. He is the post-it notes he leaves Alec when he goes out early for coffee, the feeling of the sun on Alec's skin and the gold in his own eyes.

Magnus is green. He is the carnations he got Alec, finally getting a real smile in response. He is the dappled light through the leaves of trees, the graffiti'd words on the electricity box outside the library and the boxers Alec was wearing the first night he slept over.

Magnus is blue. He is the winter roses he gifted Alec, and the kiss Alec gave him when he did. He is the magic sparking at his fingertips, the sky on a clear day and the lights of the club where they secret themselves away in the crowd.

Magnus is purple. He is the violets Alec gave him because Alec needed to get his own back. He is the bruises on Alec's body the day after training, the portals they stride through and the socks he was wearing when they first kissed.

And Alec feels the colours opening and flourishing inside him too, like all the flowers, tended by Magnus' gentle fingers. He feels all the colours splash onto his soul, spreading and merging, watercolour on cloth, making new colours that exist somewhere between the two of them. He feels open, vulnerable, like he's been tearing down walls of black and white and grey, grey, grey to show his face.

Magnus stirs in Alec's arms and Alec tilts his chin to leave a gentle kiss to Magnus' forehead before pulling him closer. He feels Magnus' eyelashes flutter against his throat and the little hitch of breath that tells him he's awake. With a soft sigh, Magnus curls into Alec's body, and Alec feels his lips pull into a smile.

"I love you."

"I love you too."