A/N: Part 3 of a festive fanfiction challenge I set myself: '5 Gold Rings' – 5 Christmas proposals in different fandoms.
Trigger Warning: Very slight references to homophobia (internalised and external)
5 Gold Rings
Part 3 – Best
"I love it Magnus – I really do." Alec said sincerely – making an effort to keep his dazzling blue eyes solemn. He was reasonably successful, but the effectiveness of this attempt was undermined by the way he was biting his lip to keep from laughing. Magnus had the vague sense that he should have been annoyed, but he kept getting distracted by how maddeningly adorable (even more so than usual) his beautiful shadowhunter looked when he did that.
He raised a lazy eyebrow sardonically. "It's alright, I know you'll never wear it – I just thought you ought to have one all the same."
Alec released an uncharacteristic giggle of relief – hmm…maybe he was possibly ever so slightly drunk. Magnus searched in vain for a sense of shame at having got his much younger and infinitely more innocent boyfriend wasted; he felt no regret whatsoever. True, he hadn't necessarily meant to get him drunk on an empty stomach… before six in the morning – it was just that Alec was even more inexperienced (and therefore lightweight) than he had anticipated [it was only mulled punch for God's sake!] – but that didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the effects.
"I will never wear it," he agreed cheerfully, impressively slurring his words so slightly that you'd only notice if your preferred hobby was luxuriating in the sound of his voice (which, Magnus possibly had to confess, his was), "but I hope you know that it's because it assaults my fashion sense violently," Magnus snorted inelegantly at the concept of his muted, subtle – veritably dowdy (and yet, somehow, still gorgeous) – Alexander having anything akin to a fashion sense, "Rather than because I'm not proud…I am proud." This time the sincerity in his voice was utterly genuine and Magnus stopped pouting at the shadowhunter's general lack of comprehension of what constituted fabulousness (he was clearly an expert judge of it in others *cough* dating Magnus Bane*cough* - why wouldn't he permit it in himself?) to listen more attentively.
"I wasn't proud, not for the longest time. It was only ever something I was scared and ashamed of, for ages I couldn't even admit the reality to myself…but it has given me you, Magnus, and how could I ever not be proud of that? Anything about me that means you want to be with me – and I will never understand why you do-" Magnus hated how self-deprecating his insecurities made Alec, but they were part of him, and he loved every single part. Still, it frustrated him that there was nothing he could do – however many compliments he showered on his boyfriend, interspersed with delicate butterfly kisses up his neck and peppering his face – to assuage his uncertainty. Alec persisted in doubting that he deserved Magnus' affections. "-makes me proud…more proud than I know how to say." Well, thought Magnus – feeling slightly overwhelmed by the usually reserved Alec's effusive display of emotional eloquence – it seems that the old saying's got it right after all: 'in vino veritas'. He was deeply touched – more so than he wanted to let on – by Alec's sentiments, but it was too early in the morning for equal gravity in his response.
"You'll kiss me in the middle of an Accords Hall full of hostile Clave members and random downworlders but you won't wear the beautiful scarf I bought you?" he teased mischievously.
"Magnus, it looks like something a unicorn puked up!"
"You wound me!" the High Warlock of Brooklyn responded melodramatically, clutching at his chest and falling backwards onto the squishy couch (today a festive and eye-watering shade of crimson) as though the words were a dagger in his heart. "You would reject the symbol of our love?!"
"I reject the idea that our love requires me to walk down Fifth Avenue – which we both know is what you want – looking like I've been nursing a mythical creature with an upset stomach!"
"Ah, but you could have been for all they know. After all," his cat eyes glinted "aren't all the stories supposed to be true?"
"That's a Nephilim line – you don't get to use our own words against me to try to guilt me into wearing an accessory that looks like something they should have made Lucifer wear to pay for his sins (which might have been a more effective punishment than kicking him out and starting all this endless demon crap). I bet there's something against it in The Accords."
"I'm bet there's something against Nephilim dating male warlocks in The Accords too…and referring to their mandate from Heaven as 'all this endless demon crap'." Magnus retorted with fake pompous severity.
"Yeah, well, screw the Clave" said Alec hastily.
"No thanks – holier than thou and self-righteous isn't really my thing."
"Hey! A) You plagiarised that line from my sister and C) I'm one of the Clave!"
"Alec, darling, there's a letter in between a and c."
"Oh shut up – it's not even six yet and I didn't get any sleep." He sent Magnus a pointed look which said warlock chose to ignore.
"As for you being one of the Clave – well there is an exception to every rule and I may have to re-evaluate my previous assertion that I don't want to screw the Clave."
Alec blushed beet red. It made him look even more adorable than he already did, sitting there in Magnus' pyjamas – the T-shirt he had worn on their first date ('Blink if you want me' – Magnus had done some rather frenzied blinking the previous night) and a pair of electric blue silk pyjama bottoms (the blandest pair the warlock owned) – all the outfit needed to be complete was…
"Please" Magnus wheedled, flicking Alec with one of the bejewelled tassels of the rainbow silk scarf – "Please, please, please, please-"
Alec threw it at him. The offending, garish garment was quickly followed by the teenager himself. Underestimating his own strength, as usual, Alec misjudged, took Magnus (whose vision was obscured by a face full of camp incarnate) by surprise and caused the whole sofa to topple over backwards. This in turn took the flamboyantly decorated Christmas tree (they had got a little carried away – Magnus was like a child at Christmas, it was the one thing that never seemed to get old, no matter how many you had experienced; and Christmas at the Institute was rather more restrained) down with them and they ended up in a hysterically laughing, somewhat bruised heap of magically unbroken (literally) baubles, tangled tinsel and tree.
Alec rolled off Magnus, still laughing so hard he was crying, and sat up – shaking pine needles from his mussed hair as he did so. The other tried to follow suit – and established that the pine needles wouldn't come out. The glittery gel that he had been too distracted…otherwise occupied…to wash out last night was now acting as a sort of glue: consequently there were needles sticking to his wonky spikes at odd angles – making him look more like a hedgehog than ever. The disgruntled expression on his boyfriend's face as he made several fruitless attempts to rid his beloved hair of the foliage did little to help Alec get a grip on his (possibly slightly alcohol enhanced) laughter. After convulsing on the floor for several more minutes, watched by his nonplussed boyfriend (who had quickly surrendered hope of salvaging his locks in favour of admiring the culprit making a spectacle of himself), Alec sobered and stood up.
He looked incongruously serious now – even a little edgy in his nervousness – and Magnus was intrigued.
"I have something for you." He confessed shyly – not looking at Magnus.
"Okay…?"
"Wait here."
Alec wandered off in search of Chairman Meow – Magnus could hear him calling his name – leaving Magnus more perplexed than ever. It didn't take long for the feline in question to come bounding joyfully into the room announcing his presence with the noise for which he was named. He rushed up to Alec, who had perched anxiously on the arm of the armchair – too jittery to sit properly – and began to rub himself affectionately against his legs – purring low in his throat.
"No, go to Magnus." Alec encouraged the cat with a gentle shove. The Chairman licked his hand fondly in response. Alec groaned. "No, don't decide now that you like me best…" The cat remained stubbornly by his legs, even in the face of such cruel rejection. Exasperated, Alec picked up the bundle of protesting fur and deposited him unceremoniously in Magnus' lap.
Magnus looked up at him in confusion. "Alec darling, this is very nice, but when you give a gift it's usually something the other person doesn't already own…"
"Look at his collar."
Magnus did so. There was the diamante collar, with its usual tag – for appearances sake only, he could be tracked easily enough if he ever went missing (not that it was terribly likely that such a lazy cat would wander far) – but next to the tag was something else – a shining silver band…a ring.
Having to remind himself to breathe, Magnus carefully extracted the ring from the collar, fingers shaking so much that he fumbled the attempt several times (so overwhelmed that he forgot he could have accomplished the job quite easily with magic). Holding the ring in his shaking palm he stared at it and saw that it was exactly what he had suspected: the Lightwood family ring. It was engraved with a pattern of flames and in the centre was an L… peering more closely he saw that 3 words had been added – engraved on the inside of the ring: Aku cinta kamu.
"Alexander…" he whispered, but before he could go any further Alec began to speak in a rush, "I got the ring from Izzy and had it engraved…I don't know if the Clave would ever allow us to get properly married or if you'd even want to but I wanted you to have it…among Nephilim exchanging family rings is a sign of commitment and I wanted you to know that you have that commitment from me – if you want it; I mean, you properly don't and I know you've probably done all this before – I can't be your first, I know that, but to be your anything would be – "
Alec's face was flaming red and he seemed to be tripping over his own tongue. Before he could get any more tangled up, Magnus – who was relieved to find that his voice had restored itself to normal volume – interrupted.
"Actually, Alexander, you are my first. No one has ever given me their family ring before… and I've never been even sort of married. You are not my first everything – we both know that – but in this, you are my first. And know this, you will be my last and – most importantly – you are my best."