So, you know the way that when you've a huge Spanish project due in a week, and homework due in eight hours, and loadsa loadsa loadsa sleep to catch up on, your head gets filled with all these FLUFFY FLUFFY ideas? And they won't go away?
Yep, that just happened. I just couldn't get this scenario out of my head, so boom, we're here.
It was dangerously close to acquiring a chapter two sickfic. Dangerously.. Must restrain.. Must restrain.. Ah, what the hell! I'll probably write it any.
This is just LOADSA FLUFF AND HAPPY FEELS. I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT. :D
Please let me know what you think! Constructive criticism (hey, be nice! ;D) is always welcome :) Thank you for reading! Drop me a review if you can, thank you SO much xxx :D
Also thinking of just turning this story into a place where I put all of my Malexander (SWOON) drabbles and one-shots, what'd you think? :)
Alec fumbled with the silvery key in his palm, failing to slide it into the intricate lock twice, before successfully giving it a harsh twist and shoving the door to Magnus's apartment open.
The loft was lit softly by flickering candlelight, cast into charcoal shadows by the flickering flames which licked hungrily at the coal in the hearth. Alec was pleasantly surprised to find that the décor of the room had remained unchanged since his last visit, two nights previous, as he knew Magnus had an apt passion and interest in completely redecorating his apartment impulsively. Only a handful of weeks before, Alec had spent an entire day seated on Magnus's marble countertops in the kitchen, face buried in his hands with a groan in his throat as Magnus twirled and danced around his home, waving his long, caramel fingers and switching up the furniture and wallpapering more times than Alec could count on his fingers and toes collectively.
Though, the Shadowhunter supposed, if he could snap his fingers, ignite sparkling blue fireworks at their tips, and entirely change the setup of his bedroom, he probably would. But instead of manufacturing billowing velvet curtains or beaded rugs to add flavour to the room, as Magnus claimed it did, he'd smuggle a laptop or extra blankets, to warm himself during frosty nights, into the weave of his room.
Alec made an incoherent noise as he flopped onto the incandescent, scarlet couch in the heart of the living room, bending over his knees to unlace his dusty, ichor-splattered boots. The exhausted bones of his fingers protested painfully as he worked the tangled laces apart, biting down on his lower lip as a fresh iratze burned irately against his ribcage. Jace had pressed the biting tip of his stele unusually hard to his brother's skin, eliciting a whine from Alec's lips where crimson blood foamed at the corners, but only because he was panicked over the amount of injuries Alec had sustained in this particular battle.
Three iratzes and two separate lectures from both of his siblings about getting a decent sleep tonight, and taking the next consecutive day off, Alec trudged through the pouring rain to Magnus's home. He didn't want to traipse back to the Institute with Jace and Izzy, retreat to his bedroom and shiver through the ridiculously low temperature of the building until he fell into a turbulent and unsettled sleep, eyes stained purple.
Alec wanted to curl into Magnus's arms, have the Warlock stroke his hair in the way he always did, absentmindedly, as he whispered into the Shadowhunter's ear and nuzzled Alec affectionately. The blue eyed boy would drift to sleep easily this way, and possibly -probably- with a smile on his face.
Relieved of the heavy weight of his boots, Alec readjusted the throw cushions and pulled his legs up onto the welcoming padding of the sofa. He blinked unseeingly into the eager flames of the fire, filled with the fragrance of Magnus, and fell asleep.
Magnus whistled and hummed unintelligibly beneath his breath as he made his way into the apartment, blinking wetly to flick away wintry rainwater out of his eyes. He left the door unlocked, but closed, behind him, as he was expecting an entourage shortly. He was throwing a party, a very usual occurrence in his home, and had chopped his work hours today an hour and a half shorter than usual so that he could get things ready at home.
His heart was weighed upon slightly, a fracture he fought to cover up, as Alec had politely declined his invitation. One, he was not into parties and two, he was already tied up with stabbing demons and stuff. But the glittering Warlock hadn't seen his Alexander in two days, hadn't talked to him besides a quick text conversation.
He missed him. He missed him a lot.
So much so, he even briefly considered if he could feel Alec's timid presence in the foyer of his loft, smell the familiar generic shampoo that Alec used and hear the quiet, airy flutters of his sleepy breaths. Magnus heard them enough, when Alec was pressed against his side, face in the crook of his neck, as he fell asleep.
Shaking his head as if to toss away the thoughts, which caused his stomach to ache in longing, Magnus scooped Chairman, his loyal, annoying kitty, off of the floor and began scratching him absently between the ears. His plans were to concoct a mug of coffee, manually as to occupy his time, and then begin his preparations.
But he came to a sudden stop in the threshold of the living room, surprise flashing clearly across his features as his jaw fell in shock. Chairman burrowed under his upper arm and leapt, landing gracefully on one of the armchairs, but Magnus didn't notice.
Alec lay slumped on the couch, one arm bent beneath his head in a position that looked extremely uncomfortable, one knee bent in the air and the other leg square on the wooden flooring as his straightened arm dangled awkwardly from the piece of furniture. Lightly curled strands of hair obscured his eyes. His rosy bottom lip was parted from the other, and his chest rose and fell rhythmically with each relaxed breath that he took.
Recovering quickly from his surprise, a soft smile lit Magnus's face.
Alec was just so endearing sometimes, however unintentional.
He crossed the room soundlessly, shedding his coat and waving it away into the hall cupboard, and knelt beside Alec on the floor. He lifted his spidery fingers, bringing them down to gently brush Alec's hair from his forehead. The strands were faintly wet, curling around his knuckles.
"Did you have a shower without me?" he chuckled, tilting forward to press his lips to Alec's temple. The Shadowhunter sighed contentedly in his sleep, unconsciously leaning into Magnus's touch as he now kissed Alec's forehead feather-lightly.
Magnus caressed and kissed Alec's face for a moment longer, before sighing happily across the younger boy's skin. "You look uncomfortable," he said in a murmur, stretching over Alec's shoulder to grasp his folded arm gently.
It was then that Magnus realised that it wasn't just Alec's hair that was damp, his clothes were soaked, and it was instantly apparent that, unless Alec bathed whilst in his clothing, Alec had been drenched by the rain.
And by soaked, Magnus meant dripping.
The Warlock gasped. He clambered to his feet, took a seat on the edge of the couch beside Alec's waist, and cupped the Shadowhunter's face affectionately.
"Alec," he whispered, stroking the boy's high cheekbones.
"Alec, you need to wake up, darling."
Frowning, Magnus brushed his palm across Alec's forehead, smoothing his hair back away from his face to lay bare his unmoving, closed eyes. "Alec," he crooned, carding his fingertips through his boyfriend's locks. "Wake up."
The eighteen year old stirred as the heat of Magnus's palm touched his forehead, squirming as the temperature contrasted drastically with the iciness of his own body. His eyes flickered back and forth beneath pale, beige eyelids, before he melted back into a slumber following a brush of fingers through his hair.
Magnus sighed. He leant towards the Shadowhunter, peppering languid kisses along Alec's cheek, jaw, and finally, he pressed his lips to the sensitive spot just behind Alec's ear.
The Warlock grinned mischievously as he felt Alec's muscles go rigid, and then he was curving sluggishly towards Magnus, weakly pawing at his boyfriend's shoulder.
"Welcome back, Alexander," he breathed with a smirk both on his face and in his voice, nipping lightly at Alec's earlobe. He straightened up, keeping one hand pressed to the young boy's cheek and allowed a chuckle to escape his lips as Alec began struggling to rearrange his distressed limbs.
"Mmmag-niss?" he stammered, heavy eyes half-mast and already drooping, his healing body desperately clawing its way back to sleep.
"You're soaking wet, baby," Magnus said softly, instinctively aware of Alec's sensitivity to volume. His face contorted in concern, wondering if his poor Shadowhunter was falling ill or possibly gravely exhausted.
"Rain," Alec said, voice muffled as he twisted his head to nuzzle sleepily into Magnus's palm.
Magnus pressed the backs of his knuckles delicately to both of Alec's chalky cheeks, and then his forehead. The Shadowhunter was not unusually hot, a typical symptom of illness, but instead very, very cold. As if there was no blood running through his veins.
"Were you hurt badly tonight?" he inquired, pressing a kiss to the furrow between Alec's eyebrows to smooth it out and relax him.
"Three," Alec sighed, bringing his bent knee inwards to touch Magnus's ribs.
"Three what?" Magnus questioned, squeezing Alec's leg fondly. He'd learned pretty quickly into their relationship that whilst very tired, sick or already half-asleep, his Shadowhunter craved affection, in the form of cuddling and nuzzling, more than oxygen.
"Three," Alec said again slowly, breaking off into a long, tiger yawn. "Three.. Burns."
"Burns?" The widening of Magnus's eyes conveyed his alarm.
"Stele," Alec whispered. He shifted listlessly onto his side, pressing his face into his boyfriend's waist.
Recognition dawned on Magnus, and he released a tense exhale of air, his fingernails gnawing into the material on his knee. He knew it was part of Alec's life, but he hated that his love was dreadfully injured every day.
"Three iratzes?" he murmured, and Alec nodded affirmatively, yawning once more.
Magnus hung his head. He was unsure if he could even imagine how drained Alexander's body was if his injuries were terrible enough that they needed three healing marks. And to top it off, Alec had been sitting in puddle of icy water for god only knows how long, tempting the dauntless flu or cold which was just bound to pounce.
"Alec, darling, you're literally freezing," he said, stroking the boy's hair lovingly. He stood up from the couch, smiling vaguely at Alec's protesting moan. "I'm going to carry you into the bedroom. Okay?"
"Cosy," was all that tumbled from Alec's damp lips as Magnus hooked an arm beneath his knees, the other braced around the Shadowhunter's muscled back, and lifted the younger boy. He knitted his arms around Magnus's neck, pressing his frosty nose into the base of the Warlock's throat, and inhaled Magnus's unique smell gratefully. It filled his senses to the brim, pulling a breezy sigh from the depths of his chest.
Magnus nudged the door to his bedroom open with ease, walking noiselessly inside and crossing straight to the bed. He crouched and mindfully sat Alec on the edge, untwining his arms from around him.
"Sleep," Alec softly yawned, slumping comatosely forward.
If not for the barrier of Magnus's sternum, where his forehead touched, he would've fallen onto the floor. He rested there, his mind too full of fog and wool to even consider lying back or climbing between the sheets. "Sleep with me?" he whispered into Magnus's shirt, lips cool to the Warlock's skin even through the slip of fabric.
"We're getting you out of those drenched clothes first, darling," Magnus said, ducking to kiss Alec's hair, which glistened with raindrops.
He snaked his fingers down the Shadowhunter's solid chest, tiptoeing along the boy's lower belly until he reached the metal button of Alec's pants. Grimacing, he fought with this little obstruction for a moment or so, cussing as the slick metallic circle continued to slip through his fingers. Alec groaned impatiently into his chest, the sound reverberating through Magnus's ribs. It sent shivers along the column of his spine, which he repressed with the dour simple thought of Not the time.
"Mmagnuss," Alec managed to say around an encompassing yawn. "Snap… Snap… Snap it away."
Magnus obediently snapped, at the same time summoning a fluffy towel and a pair of silky pyjamas for Alec. With the Shadowhunter suddenly completely naked and vulnerable before him, a ready, flirtatious comment sprung to the tip of his tongue, but when Alec's shivering increased tenfold now with the lack of clothing, Magnus's joke died.
"So tired," Alec whined as a shudder wracked his pale body, uncharacteristically sounding as if he was about to tear up and cry. He clenched his fingers into Magnus's shirt, choking on a swallowed sob as he pushed his face into the Warlock, seeking even an ounce of warmth to counteract the agonising chill in his bones. Magnus hummed a soothing noise, cupping one of Alec's cheeks and brushing his lips to the other, whispering to hang on for just two minutes and then Magnus would help him sleep.
Alec's hair dried quickly most of the time, and it needed only a minute or two of towel-drying, courtesy of Magnus, before the golden-eyed man deemed it healthy to sleep in. He dressed his lethargic, floppy boyfriend in plaid, cotton pyjamas pants, a snug grey t-shirt and wriggled Alec's feet into a new pair of black socks. He spared a short, stolen moment to delight in how fashionable he made his boyfriend appear. Alec would never allow him to swaddle him in these clothes if he was in his right mind. By the time Magnus had finished, and had pulled back the covers of the bed to settle the young boy into them, Alec was flushed and restless.
He sat stubbornly up when Magnus coaxed him to lie down. Spoke when the Warlock encouraged him to be silent, to close his eyes and go back to sleep.
"Magnus, Magnus," he said urgently, blinking with wet eyelashes at the Warlock, eyes wide and blank and starkly unreadable. Magnus, from his position perched at the edge of the bed, sighed and brushed the back of his hand to Alec's cheek.
"Yes?" he inquired.
"I need to.." Alec's frantic fingers grasped the hem of the comforter, yanking it away from his body, where Magnus had delicately wrapped it around him. An instant shiver gripped his system, gooseflesh breaking out across his exposed forearms.
"Under the covers, baby," Magnus chided, pulling the blankets back up to swallow the Shadowhunter as he was yet again eased into a lying position.
Alec sat up, pushing himself onto his backside by the clammy palms of his hands. Oddly, he swatted Magnus away when the Warlock attempted to gently push the fretful boy back into the mattress for the umpteenth time. Alec remained tormented, digging his fingers into the blankets and fisting them with a panicked expression. Panting, he raked his free hand, which trembled, through his hair and Magnus's arm shot out to catch it before it fell to his side once more.
"Shh," he said in a whisper, blowing lightly on Alec's bleached knuckles. "Relax. You're okay, darling, you're just very, very tired."
"Headache," Alec said woozily, slapping a palm to his forehead. His features twisted in discomfort, nose crinkling as he squeezed his eyes tightly shut.
Magnus sighed sympathetically, and Alec scrubbed at his brow painfully, stuttering as he yawned.
The Warlock knew he should have the preparations for his well underway, if not finished, at this stage of the night, but he couldn't bring himself to leave his partly-delusional boyfriend.
He loved each tiny bit of Alec far more than he would ever enjoy a party. The two could not possibly be compared without insulting the Warlock's affections for the Shadowhunter.
Alec abruptly coughed, the sound choked and strangled in his throat. He clutched at his chest, sweeping his eyes up to meet Magnus's gaze from beneath his beautifully long, inky eyelashes. Fatigue melted his cerulean irises, turning them molten, and something raw kindled in his eyes.
Loneliness. Magnus pouted.
And finally relented. He'd wanted to, so very much, since securing Alec snugly in the blankets fifteen minutes earlier, but had told himself that he couldn't- that he had to stay up and get ready for the party soon. Now, he didn't care. He simply wanted to soothe the exhausted tension in every line of his boyfriend's exquisite face.
"Want me to come in there?" he offered softly. "I'll keep you warm."
Alec nodded, smiling charmingly at his boyfriend as Magnus retreated briefly to dim the bedside lamp. He slipped his fingers beneath the skirting of the covers, and then began peeling them back to lay beside his Shadowhunter.
Alec snuggled delightedly into Magnus's chest the moment he felt the Warlock's enticing heat sneak across the bed sheets to caress his skin in a teasing fashion. He hummed appreciatively as Magnus looped his long arms around his quivering body, moulding like warm milk to the taller man's frame. Already he was beginning to feel toasty, his churning mind compliantly slowing as it was comforted by Magnus's embrace.
Alec was impossibly close to the Warlock, so close he could feel Magnus's heart thrum beneath his hands, but he wanted more..
Magnus chuckled mirthfully as he felt something brush his knee and lower thigh demandingly.
"Cuddly tonight, are we?" he teased, shifting his limbs beneath the stifling covers (he was willing to stick the heat if it would soothe Alec).
Alec grunted his approval, now allowed to burrow unimaginable close by sliding his leg between Magnus's, tucking his head gently under the Warlock's chin to spread lazy kisses along the base of his coffee-coloured throat.
"Not that I don't love it," Magnus said, rubbing circles into Alec's back. "But no more kissing me, darling, you're meant to be sleeping."
The only vocal response he received was a groan in rebut, but reluctantly, and after five or six more sweet pecks, Alec pried his lips from Magnus's skin. He began to whisper something to the golden-eyed man with an utterly breathless tone of voice, splaying his scarred hands against Magnus's solid chest, but was involuntarily silenced as the Warlock began stroking his fingers slowly through his dark hair.
Magnus felt Alec instantly relax at the cottony touch, tightly-strung body softening against his own until it was entirely lax. The young boy released a long winded sigh of exhaustion, his flushed cheek sinking into the pillow under his pretty little head.
So Alec liked his hair to be stroked. Smirking, Magnus deftly filed this piece of information away for later use.
He purred reassuringly as Alec's agitated resolve finally began to cave, slowing the gears of his mind and stilling the throbbing of his heart, and allowed himself to rest. Magnus caressed his hair and back, sweeping his fingers beneath the fabric of Alec's shirt to touch bare skin, and brushed soothing kisses to his Shadowhunter's face. He realised quickly that the press of his lips lulled the boy further when Alec moaned softly in response, snuggling into the crook of Magnus's neck.
Alec's lips parted as a sigh escaped his lungs, expression dozy and posture completely tranquil. The curled lengths of his eyelashes lay still, casting shadows along his cheekbones.
"Goodnight, Alexander," Magnus breathed, nuzzling the Shadowhunter's hair affectionately as he felt Alec's fingers become boneless and weightless against his chest- the first telltale sign that the boy was finally drifting..
"I love you," he softly promised.
"Love 'oo," he heard Alec tenderly reply a moment later, followed by a dopey, drowsy sigh as the tired boy gave in to the hazy clouds of his mind.
So many fuzzy, warm feels. I can sleep happily now (and die tomorrow when I don't have my homework done, ugh). Lemme know what you thought of the chapter!
Chapter two sickfic, yay or nay? :D THANK YOU FOR READING. Goodnight! xx :D