Summary: Magnus has always been willing to use as much magic as necessary to save Alec - even all of it if need be. But what happens when Magnus needs saving and only Alec can help?
A/N: First of all, welcome! Glad you stopped by! As you can see, this is my new TMI fic. Some things to say before we begin.
One: As much as Malec is my OTP, there isn't going to be a lot of Malec moments here. They do exist, just don't expect them very often. Sorry. And two: Ok, some of the demon stuff is going to be a little off canon. Mostly minor, I hope. I tried to research things as much as possible. If there is a glaring error, PLEASE let me know! However, if you can let it slide, please do.
But enough talk! On to the story! Without further ado - Drag Me Through Hell.
Even though Magnus ate the last of the pancakes, Alec couldn't find it in himself to get worked up about it. Yes, Magnus was a pancake thief, but he looked so good doing it. His signature impish grin was doing funny things to Alec's heart rate. A hundred years ago, people would have seen that grin and called him a daughter-stealer. Luckily for Alec, Magnus wasn't only interested in daughters. The wink was the last straw, though.
"Just take the pancake. There's no need to seduce me for it, Magnus." Alec tried to make his voice sound tough and no-nonsense, but anyone could see that he didn't really mean it. He'd let Magnus get away with almost anything, at this point.
Magnus leaned over the table until his face was just inches from Alec's. There was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, Alec noticed. "You lost my cat, so you owe me."
"Oh, that was a cat? That explains it." The barb was empty. Alec was actually rather fond of Chairman Meow and was very sad that he'd managed to lose him so quickly when Magnus had left for just 30 minutes a few days ago. But there were only so many times he could apologize for the same thing. And Magnus seemed much less concerned than a person who thought their cat was lost forever should be. Alec figured that Magnus was sure Chairman Meow would make it back home eventually, and that he was just milking this situation while it lasted.
"No, Chairman Meow is actually a unicorn." The sarcasm was obvious, but Alec chose to ignore it.
"Well, at least I don't have to worry about feeding and caring for a unicorn anymore. It's so hard to find good unicorn feed these days."
Magnus just rolled his eyes and gave Alec a quick kiss on the forehead before sitting back down on his side of the table. "You still owe me. This one measly pancake isn't nearly enough to repay me for the loss of my cat. Anyway, what are you doing today?"
"Not much, just going to the Institute for a bit for a group training session." Alec checked the clock on the wall. "Actually, I'm going to be late." He picked up his plate and cutlery and dumped them all in the sink. He got a quick kiss from Magnus as he headed out the door.
10 minutes later, Alec was back at the door, fumbling with his keys. I'm such a scatterbrain sometimes, he thought to himself. How could I have forgotten my phone and my stele? He finally opened the door to the apartment and froze when he saw what Magnus was doing and who he was with. Neither of them said anything for a moment. Alec sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I never lost your cat, did I?"
Magnus looked up at him sheepishly from where he'd been playing with Chairman Meow on the floor. "No, not exactly. He was actually just next door."
The thing was, Alec wasn't even surprised. It had a weird sort of logic to it. He'd thought that Magnus was a little too unconcerned about the Chairman's disappearance, but he'd chalked it up to Magnus not wanting to make him feel too bad about it. He shook his head with a sigh. "I'm not even going to ask." Of course, saying that was basically the same thing as asking 'why' anyway.
Magnus just shrugged. "I figured it would be a good way to extort you into doing what I want. Which worked out well for me last night, don't you think?"
Alec couldn't help the blush that crept up into his cheeks. He mumbled, "That had nothing to do with the cat and everything to do with you being so damn irresistible." He hadn't meant for Magnus to hear him, but evidently he had, if the way he raised his eyebrows was any indication. At this point, Alec's cheeks would put a tomato to shame.
"What was that?" asked Magnus with a grin. "You'll have to speak up." he said as he stood up and took a slow step towards Alec.
An idea came to him suddenly. "I said, now you owe me instead. Ah, what to do with my new found power?" The color slowly started to fade from his cheeks.
Magnus took a step closer as he talked. "Hmm. And, what, exactly do you plan to do with all this … power, as you call it?" He smirked.
Alec closed the gap between them until his nose was just millimeters away from Magnus's. "Well, for starters, I think I'm going to have to miss training today."
Magnus's voice had gone rather quiet and breathy all of a sudden. "What a shame."
"Not really," was the last thing Alec said before pushing Magnus up against the wall with an impish grin of his own.
...
Alec had gotten back to the Institute late that night. No one else seemed to be awake, which he was grateful for. He was going to get an earful in the morning about missing training. As he fell asleep, he smiled. It was more than worth it.
When he went down to the kitchen in the morning, Izzy was already sitting there. Thankfully, she was eating toast that morning and Alec breathed a sigh of relief. He felt a little bad about missing training and he would have likely forced himself to swallow down whatever she would have cooked, as a sort of lame peace offering.
Izzy finished chewing before turning to face Alec. "Oh, so you finally decided to show up, did you?"
Alec tried to look as nonchalant as possible. "I texted you to let you know I wasn't going to be able to make it."
"And why was that again?" Izzy asked with her eyebrows raised.
Alec spoke through a mouthful of toast. "Something came up." He shrugged.
Izzy rolled her eyes and turned away, mumbling. "You mean Magnus came up."
Alec sputtered. But really, he figured he shouldn't have been surprised. Izzy knew him better than almost anyone. "What—no. Why—What gave you that idea?" He knew it was useless as he was saying it. Izzy smirked.
"Whatever. It's not like I haven't done the same thing once or twice. But do me a favor and come up with a better excuse than 'something came up' before everyone else gets here, OK? Jace is just going to make some comment guaranteed to embarrass you." She paused, looking at the phone on the counter beside her. "Oh, you missed a call a little while ago." She handed it to him as she went to put her plate in the sink.
The call was from Magnus, about an hour earlier. Strange. Magnus usually didn't wake up until noon if he didn't have anything to do. Why he'd be awake, much less calling him at 6 AM was a mystery to Alec, so he figured he'd call back. Magnus had likely gone back to sleep, whatever the reason. It wasn't likely he stayed up after calling. So Alec was surprised when the phone picked up on the third ring and even more surprised when the voice on the other end wasn't Magnus.
"What a pleasant surprise, Alexander," said the man. It was a deep and firm voice, and it didn't belong to anyone Alec knew, as far as he could tell. "Magnus was calling out for you for quite some time and I was just beginning to wonder who this enchanting 'Alec' person must be. "
He dropped his phone in shock. No, he thought. Not Magnus. He sprinted through the Institute and was knocking on Clary's door in seconds.
"Ok, ok! I'm coming!" she yelled. As soon as she opened the door, Alec grabbed her arm and started dragging her outside. "Ow! Alec, you're hurting me!" Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Jace running towards them down the hall. He ignored him.
"I need a Portal, Clary and I need it NOW."