Sitting on the couch in his boyfriend's apartment, Alec Lightwood was pretending to be interested in what was playing on television as he waited for Magnus to walk back through the swinging doors that separated his kitchen from his living room. Alec had been watching the door, waiting for it to swing open, for the past ten minutes. What in the name of - Alec had been thinking when the door finally swung open. He quickly drug his eyes away, before Magnus was in full view.

Magnus had been standing in the kitchen reading the fire message he had just received. Magnus Bane - Downworld Council meeting with the Clave, it had said. Leave immediately. He finally put the message down after reading it for the tenth time. He couldn't leave immediately, Alec was over. I can't just send him home like he doesn't belong here. Putting his shoulders straight, he turned and swung the door open. He glanced up through the circular window set into the swinging door. Alec's eyes were averting themselves from where Magnus was appearing. I just won't go. Not now.

He sat down next to Alec, lacing his long, blue-nailed fingers with Alec's slender, scarred ones. "I've been called to a meeting with the Clave." There was a twitch in Alec's eyebrow, a sign of immediate anxiety. "All in all, I'm supposed to leave immediately, but," he looked at Alec through long, mascaraed eyelashes, "even the Angel knows how much I hate being told what to do. I'll go tomorrow."

A look of astonishment ran over Alec's face. "You can't disobey the Clave! They'll hunt you down! They'll take you away forever!" He felt Magnus's hand graze the left side of his face. Alec raised his own hand and moved Magnus's to his lips, he kissed all of the tips of his fingers and the palm of his hand before he said anything else. "So, you're not going, then?"

Magnus had always been able to see right through Alec's facade. He could tell Alec was sick with worry on the inside for the man sitting next to him. "I hope you're thinking this is good news. I don't want my ten minutes of debating whether to stay or go be a waste." He smiled sheepishly at Alec.

"Well, did you debate what we were going to do for the rest of the night while you were in there?" Alec asked. "I mean, we could keep watching Gilligan's Island or something," he was trying his best to sound wistful.

"You know, I was thinking," Magnus dropped his voice to a whisper, "maybe we could do something..." he snapped his fingers and the lamp went off, "more..." he grinned seductively as he reached out and knotted his fist into the front of Alec's shirt, "Fun." With the last word, he pulled Alec on top of him and kissed him with a long, pent-up ferocity.

* * *

Alec awoke with a start. He and Magnus were lying in the floor, both tangled in what looked like a velvet curtain. He disentangled himself, stood up, and stretched. Finally realizing what had woken him up, he turned toward the door leading to the main room - Someone was knocking on the door. Not wanting to wake Magnus, Alec stepped over him and opened the door to the main room. Of course, he thought. The outside door. He walked through the dusty-floored main room and started down the flight of steps to the large metal door. Without managing to fall down the stairs in his half-asleep state, Alec stood at the foot of the stairs listening to the knocking get more and more persistent. Finally deciding to actually open the door, he grabbed a hold of the handle and yanked it open with surprising force, as it swung back and almost knocked him over. Looking out onto the stoop he saw -

Luke, with a look of half amusement, half exasperation on his face. "You couldn't have gotten down here faster, could you?" He looked Alec up and down, taking in the comical sight that was his bleariness. "Where's Magnus, anyway?"

"What?" Alec's speech was slurred with sleep. He turned away from Luke, beckoning him to follow with a flailing arm above his head.

Luke followed him up the stairs, forcing back laughter the entire way. When they arrived in the dusty main room, Luke started peering around in the nooks and crannies of the room. "Well, where is he?" he asked, stooping to look under the makeshift bar.

"Oh, Magnus. Right." Alec walked into the living room, flicking the light switch as he went. He bent over Magnus's sleeping figure and prodded him awake.

"Whazzmahralk?" He blinked several times before the scene came to into focus. Alec patted him on the shoulder before going to lie down on the couch. "Hello, Luke." Magnus's voice was ahead of his eyes. There was no note of sleep left in the smooth, mellow voice now issuing from the man on the floor.

"Magnus, you do realize that you could have lost your seat on the Council, right?" Luke was looming over him now. Looking into Magnus's sleepy face caused Luke to imagine that he himself was sleepy, and started to imagine Magnus having the height of himself sitting on the ground.

"...just go at night. That's preposterous. Nighttime is my time." Catching the last of what Magnus was saying, Luke came out of his reverie of chibis-form Magnuses running in circles. Magnus, he had noticed, had donned a think Brooklyn accent for the early morning awakening.

"You know what, forget it. Be in Idris by 5 PM. No," he glanced quickly at Alec, "excuses."

Magnus turned away from him and started roaming around the living room, picking up things and setting them down in other places. Luke began to wonder if he was looking for his cat. "You may leave now that you've delivered your message, yes?"

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Thank you very much, Lucian," Magnus was leading Luke towards the stairs. "I would walk you all the way, but I'd rather not." Magnus arched one eyebrow at Luke.

"You must be really good at getting people out of your house. They must not even realize they're leaving."

"I'm very formidable, you know. They'd just rather believe they don't know they're leaving than listen to me screaming at them to get out." He winked at Luke. "If you're done now..."

"Goodnight, Magnus."

Luke was halfway down the stairs when he heard Magnus say, "Oh, don't let Chairman Meow near the door. He'll run away again."

* * *

"Alec, wake up." Magnus was standing over him, fully dressed. "We've got to get ready."

Alec leaned up and looked around the room. Sometime in the night, he had gotten into Magnus's room and he was sprawled out across the bed. "Where're we going?"

"Alicante. I want you to go with me." Magnus was moving around the room picking clothes out of drawers and stuffing them into an oversized duffel bag. "I packed you some clothes and made sure I woke you up with enough time for you to take a shower if you want." Alec noticed that he was talking very fast. Obviously, no matter what time Alec had woken up, Magnus would have still been in a rush.

"I'll go jump in the shower really quickly. Just leave me out some clothes and I'll be done in 10 minutes."

After all the rushing with the shower and Magnus rummaging around in all the drawers, taking out every piece of clothing that he wanted, they were finally ready to go. Alec was finishing up a bowl of cereal that Magnus had left out for him while Magnus himself opened the Portal into Alicante.

"It's time for us to go," Magnus whispered. Alec reached out and grasped Magnus's hand. The familiar tingle of magic just under the skin was like a welcoming breath of fresh air; it was just like going home.

He and Magnus were going home. Together.