Alec was looking at the doorbell, not quite sure it had been such a bright idea after all to come here. He couldn't even bring himself to talk to Magnus on the phone, so how on earth would this be going to work out. His stomach felt hollow and he could hear his own blood pulsating through his veins, his heart pumping it way too fast through his system due to his anxiousness. It didn't help that he was looking like a mess right now. He felt mud and demon blood sticking to his gear and skin and the painful pounding were one of the filthy demons got its claws into the flesh of his torso, directly underneath the ribcage. His muscles contracted uncontrollably as black demon blood tripped from his torn leather gear into the wound causing a nasty burning pain that made Alec think of acid burning its way through metal. He swallowed hard and tried to focus. He had to ring the damn bell to tell Magnus how sorry he was even if it was the last thing he did. That was his plan, which did now seem not quite as convincing as on his way to Brooklyn. He wished to still have the keys to the front door and Magnus' flat itself. It would have been, well not really more graceful- showing up dirty and bloody on ones doorstep hardly inhabited any grace-, but better than having to ask for permission to come up .He pressed his forehead to the cold material of the door and finally pushed the button, instinctively imagining the all too familiar ringing sound echoing through Magus' flat, waking him up. Alec had a pretty vivid picture in mind of the look on the warlock's face as he was cursing whoever was ringing him out of bed and the thought made him smile.
The speaker made a little cracking noise and then Magnus' voice got audible, sleepy but loud: "May you be the ruler of heaven or hell itself, I hope this is important!"
"It's me." Alec knew he ought to say more but somehow his mind felt fluid taking every coherent thought away.
No answer. He felt a dumb sting that had nothing to do with his physical suffering. Only a few seconds had past when suddenly the door seemed to disappear and for the fraction of a second he thought his mind was starting to play tricks with him, making him hallucinating. Maybe he had lost too much blood or the demon was poisoning after all. But then he realized that the door beneath him was actually gone, letting him fall into the steady grip of a tall, slender figure. He felt a familiar body against its own, also familiar hands caressing his face and as he lifted his head, Alec looked right into green-golden cat-eyes, wide and worried.
"Sorry I came here I just wanted..." His mind went off again and it took all the concentration he could still come up with to finish the sentence. "Apologize...to apologize and ...see you"
He had the feeling of being lifted up from the ground, feet no longer touching it, but before he could actually wonder about it he finally passed out.
Magnus struggled to get Alec out of his torn and bloody shadowhunter-gear. He had thought about magically removing it but wasn't quite sure if blood and mud made the gear stick to Alec's skin and just snipping the clothes away would have the same effect as violently ripping it off. No, he had to be gentle, trying to do as less damage as possible. After all his own powers weren't unlimited and he still had a lot of healing work to do. The only thing he'd actually done by now was stopping the bleeding. Now he was peeling Alec out of a black leather vest and removed his weapon-belt. His bow was already lying next to the front door as well as his coat. Magnus slid his hands under Alec's shirt whose washed out black colour was only noticeable at the corners, the rest was darkened with blood, but Magnus didn't care if he got his hands dirty. As he lifted the shirt slightly and began to pull it up like one would remove a band-aid, Alec's eyelids fluttered a little. He pulled the torn cloth over Alec's head and carelessly let it fall to the ground.
The wound went deep and an image creped it's way into his mind: Claws sinking into flesh, Alec's flesh, making the boy tumble as the red liquid drips from the torn leather gear. He felt his heart pounding heavily inside his chest as it always did when concern would take hold of him. A soft touch put him back into reality: Alec gripping the hand he had rested on his chest. "Magnus...-", he tried but the warlock wouldn't let him speak. "It's all right." he replied softly, but couldn't help secretly cursing that damn shadowhunter-folk. Normal people and many downworlders as well would just have passed out for good by now, but shadowhunters no way. It was as if they were drawn to pain, he thought, maybe their bodies failed at the instincts to avoid it. He couldn't help thinking about Jace. That boy was the best example for his theory, Magnus thought, he was pure trouble and of course Alec as his parabatai always felt compelled to go along. He sighed and hurried up to begin with the healing process. He placed his hands gently on the deep wound and began cleaning it by removing all that thick black demon blood and then worked his way through the multiple damage it had done. As he began to fix a rather big stitch in the liver, he felt Alec's body tense beneath his busy hands. He knew that the boy was in pain, Magnus had seen others scream, cry or pass out during the same process. But Alec just lay there with his eyes close, enduring whatever might come like he had done when Magnus had healed him after that greater demon got hold of him. All he had done back then was clinging on to the cloth he was lying on until it was done. So with his left hand Magnus grabbed Alec's, not bothered by the hard grip the young shadowhunter had. He fixed torn veins, healed a broken rib , made old blood and infected flesh at the corners of the wound disappear and until he finally could close the wound he never let go of his hand. When it was finally done, he laid back, feeling exhausted. Sensing a movement his gaze wandered toward Alec and met the look of those intense blue eyes. "I should go, I guess." he said, managing himself in an upright position, face still suspiciously pale. "Yeah right", Magnus replied. "Because I did just heal you to find you stuck under one of New York's taxis. Come here you stupid nephilim." He offered him his hands, earning a puzzled look, but after what seemed hours of hesitation Alec took them and let Magnus pull him close, legs tangled and head resting on his chest.
The position was so strangely familiar that it made him aware of all the things he had been missing the last month and he fought sleep as long as he could to linger in the embrace, not sure what might happen if he woke up. At some point Magnus' steady heartbeat must have calmed him enough to let him get some sleep. Though not too much as it was still dark outside and Magnus beneath him was still sleeping, eyes closed, so that in the dim light his lashes drew fine shadows down his high cheek bones. Alec couldn't resist to trace those fine contours with his thumb, before he got up, carefully to not wake Magnus up. He ran a hand through his hair, not surprised to find it covered in dirt and blood and tangled up in knots. He started an inner debate whether to use the bathroom or not. For a long time he was just standing there not sure what to do. He couldn't just go, in fact there was no way he would leave this apartment without talking to Magnus again. So he had to wait until Magnus woke up anyway. He wasn't good in such situations and for a moment he considered to just slip back onto the couch and into Magnus' arms. Although the thought was tempting, he finally settled on taking a shower. Making his way to the bathroom he took a short look around the big room. Only now he noticed that down to the white-dotted carpet it was a mix of black and white furniture, which was kind of unlikely for Magnus, Alec thought. After all he once had come to stay the night and found the apartment coloured in literally every shade of pink a person could imagine. The sight had actually – to Magnus' amusement- made him feel dizzy but seeing said apartment void of all colour was nearly as unsettling. The bathroom though looked the same as always, Magnus once said when it came to sanitary nothing could compete with old-fashioned white tiles, although the shower curtain changed colour once in a while. Right now it was of a deep blue. Alec couldn't remember when he got rid of his shoes, but he slipped out of his socks, jeans and undies and went for the shower.
The warm water and the familiar smell of sandalwood were nice and calming and he felt his muscles relax. When he was done he grabbed a towel, slung it around his hips, threw the curtain aside and stepped out of the shower, just to find Magnus standing in the doorframe. He was so surprised that he stopped mid-movement, glued to the spot he was standing in.
All right, that wasn't going according to plan, if you could call "stalking down your ex-boyfriend without any idea what to do further" a proper plan. Although, Magnus thought, stalking wasn't the right word for it, they were in his own apartment after all, not to mention that they had spent the night cuddled up on his sofa.
Alec was still dripping wet. Magnus eyes went from his feet, white and elegant, which were standing in a small puddle of water, up to his strong thighs and the towel that was hanging low enough to show off his hip-bones. Magnus observed his upper body laced with several permanent runes; "stamina, balance, strength..." – Magnus knew them all, was able to read them on Alec's body as one might read a book- a pretty hot book, that is, with perfect abs and arms to die for. Magnus could still recall the night when he traced every one of them with his fingers, letting Alec explain their meanings although he had known nearly all of them before. He hadn't mind, for it had been nice listening to him explaining them, calm and determind like he always was. He thought again about shadowhunters and how they seemed to be drawn to chaos and pain. Alec was different, he thought, he fought and defeated what was out there like every other shadowhunter did, but never searched for it.
Magnus felt the sudden urge to do it again right now, to run his hands along the beautiful pattern of white skin and black runes. He met Alec's gaze and before he could come up with anything to say or do, Alec moved towards him until they were so close that Magnus could feel his breath hot on his own skin. He could sense the tension growing as Alec let his eyes wander down Magnus' body and then up to meet his gaze once again, pupils dilated so that only a rim of the bright blue of his eyes was visible. Another second passed, another breath and then he just grabbed Magnus, one hand around his waist, the other one at his neck, drawing him into a kiss and Magnus couldn't do anything else but make a sound of relief. He kissed him back, running his hands from Alec's shoulders down to the small of his back; under the smooth and still wet skin he could feel strong muscles. The all too familiar enthusiasm of Alec's kiss and the way he moved with the pressure of Magnus' hands further into their embrace, causing both of them to stumble against the wall beside the doorframe, was enough to erase all second thoughts the warlock might have had. It was highly irrational, after all he had come to the conclusion that Alec wasn't good for him, that in fact their relationship wasn't good for any of them, but then again he had felt miserable after the break-up and, although he didn't want to admit it to himself, it wasn't getting any easier. And now Alec was here, kissing a sweet path from his neck up to his jaw line, just to capture Magnus' lips again. It felt damn good and didn't leave much room for rational thoughts. He enjoyed the slight loss of control as all his thoughts were minimized to the sensation of soft skin on skin and the hot taste of Alec's tongue, challenging and yet pleasing. They parted, breathing heavily in need of air. Alec's eyes were wide and unusually didn't shy away, he opened his mouth as if to say anything, but Magnus wouldn't let him, pulling him into another kiss, hard and clumsy mixed with a sting of desperation because he knew whatever it was Alec wanted to say or he would respond could end this, could force him to think clear, which was the last thing he wanted to do now.