Hello dearies,

Me again! Thank you ever so much for the amazing support on my first Malec fic, I'm glad you liked it!
Friendly reminder that English is still not my native language ;)

Happy reading!

Lust, Alec had learnt to know, could be a powerful thing. It took over your body, clouding your judgment and your mind, turning you into a powerless witness to your own desires. With time, he had also learnt that lust and love could sometimes be two very different things, not necessarily linked together. This was not one of those times.

.
He had never looked at Magnus as more than a friend. He recognized the other man's attractiveness but had never really looked twice. After all, when he had met Magnus five years ago, they had both been in committed relationships, Alec with Scott, who was as perfect as he was boring and Magnus with Camille who was as beautiful as she was cruel. It had not ended well.

He had met Magnus thanks to his sister Isabelle who had gotten to know him at a party in Pandemonium and had been praising him ever since. He was, indeed, something else.

Magnus was like looking for a shooting star. You were looking at something beautiful and sparkling and suddenly, you could be surprised all over again by its splendor, its swiftness, its brightness. Magnus was beautiful and charming, clever, kind and spontaneous. Alec knew all of that but he had never seen him as anything more than just a friend. He knew it was all he was to Magnus too and it was perfect.

With Magnus had come Clary and Simon, who were both very annoyingly lovable. They had become friends almost immediately.

Their other friends – which, for Alec were mostly non-existent but he had taken a liking to Maia and Jordan especially – often joked about the six of them behind like the gang from Friends, always stuck together, usually in Magnus's apartment, who actually lived in the building right in front of Alec's in Brooklyn and had the biggest one from them all. They spent most of their evenings or free days together, sometimes not even doing anything but just enjoying each other's company. There was something special about finding people you were so comfortable with that you could just sit together in silence and actually enjoy it.

The six of them had a friendship that Alec cherished above everything else and he would have died before doing anything to jeopardize it. Or gotten really, really drunk.

.

He spent so much time at Magnus's that it was actually out of habit that he took the way to his place instead of going straight home. It was already late, around eleven but he knew Magnus would be up even for a Thursday night. He slipped his key into the door – they all had one – and stepped in, receiving a warming welcome from Chairman Meow, Magnus's cat, who rubbed against his leg, purring. He scratched him between the ears and walked into the living room where Magnus was watching TV, enveloped in a blanket on his couch, a glass of red wine in his hand.

"Alec, darling," he said with a smile, "how was your date?"

Alec let himself fall next to him on the couch, breathing out a deep sigh.

"I need a drink or ten. I've already drank an entire bottle there," was his only reply.

Magnus winced. "That bad, huh?"

"Worse. You have no idea."

"Let me get you a glass and you can tell me all about it."

Magnus dragged himself out from the comfort of his blanket and stepped into the kitchen that neared the living room. He was wearing nothing but boxers and a blue tank top that said "let me get this straight" but the last word was crossed out that made Alec smirk.

"Is wine alright?" he called out from the kitchen.

"Do you have anything stronger?"

It was a foolish question. Magnus always had something stronger. He heard him snort in reply and he came back a minute later, holding shot glasses and a bottle of dark rum. He deposited them on the coffee table and immediately filled them in, holding one to Alec who downed it in one go. Magnus filled it again.

"So," he stated, swallowing his own shot, "Talk to me."

"I am never letting Izzy getting me a blind date again!" he blurted out, slouching further into the couch, letting Magnus put his legs on his lap. "It was awful. A nightmare."

He downed another shot before continuing. "Sure, the guy was good looking but 1) he looked a lot like Scott which was just creepy, 2) he was late and didn't apologize, 3) he snapped at our waitress because she accidentally dropped her notebook, 4) he did not stop talking about his boring job as an accountant and 5) when he did stop talking about his boring job, it was to talk about his ex who probably left him for all the other reasons I've listed before except maybe for Scott. I don't think his ex dated Scott too."

He was already feeling a bit light-headed and turned his head to face Magnus, who was gazing at him with a sympathetic scowl.

"I'm sorry, Alec," he grimaced, tilting his head in a fond expression.

"Oh but wait, I haven't told you the best part yet!" Alec added with an acerbic tone, raising his glass so that Magnus could fill it again. He clinked it with his friend's and they both downed them quickly.

"I'm all ears," Magnus said with a graceful wave.

"At some point in the evening, he probably realized that he had been talking about himself for two hours straight," Alec stated, playing with the hem of the blanket that covered Magnus's legs on his lap, "so he asked me what I did for a living. So I told him I was a writer. Magnus, I shit you not, the guy looked at me straight in the eye and said "Yeah, but do you have a real job?""

Magnus almost strangled himself with the sip he had just taken from his drink, widening his eyes.

"What?" he almost yelled, a look of pure shock on his handsome features. "What an asshole!"

"Wait for it! Wait for it!" Alec smirked, turning blurry blue eyes to the other man. "I told him it was actually my full-time job and that I was lucky enough to make a living out of it. He asked about my books, which was honestly surprising at this point, so I told him about Shadowhunters and he said…"

He stopped for suspense, unable to hold his smile at Magnus's obvious anticipation. He was holding his glass a few centimeters away from his mouth, his green eyes wide with eagerness.

"Come on, Alexander!" he exclaimed, hitting him on the shoulder, "Don't leave me hanging like that!"

Alec giggled, his laugh sounding slightly overenthusiastic. The alcohol was definitely kicking. "He said," he paused for effect and cleared his throat, trying to go for the same pompous tone that the guy had had, "Oh, well people would read anything today!"

Magnus gaped at him, apparently rendered speechless. "Please tell me you punched him."

"You know I am against violence," Alec replied back with a smirk.

Magnus knew him well enough to know he was hiding something. "What did you do?" he asked with a wide smile.

"I might have emptied my glass of wine on his head, yelled in front of the whole restaurant that he should have told me that he had an STD and left him to pay for the whole meal."

Magnus laughed, loud and joyful and Alec instantly felt better. He was also feeling very inebriated but it was Magnus, so he could have been puking on the floor and would not have been judged. His phone rang and he picked it up, narrowing his eyes to see his sister's name appear on the screen through the blurriness. He switched it off and glared at it as if Isabelle could see him.

"Not answering?" Magnus asked.

"Nope. I'm going to let her worry about me all night and tomorrow, I'll kill her for thinking it was a good idea in the first place!" Alec was being childish, he knew that, but Isabelle deserved some retaliation for putting him through this in the first place.

"Why did you go for it?" Magnus inquired, a lazy smile on his face. "You hate blind dates."

It was true. Alec hated them with a passion.

"Honestly?" he sighed, the room spinning around him. His friend did not look much better but nodded sloppily. "I just wanted to have sex," he blurted out and was surprised to realize he could not feel an ounce of shame. He knew it was mainly due to alcohol, but it was also Magnus's nonjudgmental expression, his open smile. "It's been forever," he concluded with an embarrassed groan.

"Tell me about it," Magnus slurred back with the same bothered tone. "I think I might have beaten my own record!"

"Oh really?" Alec snorted, raising a sardonic eyebrow. "How long has it been?"

Magnus seemed to think about it, rising his chin up in reflection, slightly frowning. "I think the last one was that guy I met at the coffee shop down the road so I believe it's been seven months. You?"

"Almost a year," Alec groaned. "The last one was Jack."

"Oh yeah, I remember him," his friend remarked with an easy smile, "The I'm-not-gay-I-just-like-Alec guy? That was a disaster."

"Yep", Alec confirmed, downing a new glass.

They settled in a comfortable silence and Alec set his shot on the coffee table, where Chairman Meow laid on his back, his legs up in the air. The cat sparred him a snobbish glance and went back to sleep. Magnus's couch was like sitting on a cloud, hugging his figure perfectly and he would have probably fallen asleep if it wasn't for the brilliant idea his drunken mind suddenly decided to supply. He turned to Magnus, who was staring at the ceiling, his neck stretched on the armrest.

"Maybe we should have sex," Alec blurted out before he could actually think about it and stop himself.

Magnus's head snapped up, the bones in his neck cracking with the speed of it. "What?" he almost shouted, looking at Alec as if he had grown a second head.

"I mean, it makes sense," Alec uttered with a confidence he was not feeling. "We're friends, right?" Magnus nodded. "But there's no romantic love between us. I trust you and I know you trust me too. We both want to have sex and it would be easier that trying to find someone appropriate when all of our last relationships have been disasters. It could be just sex, meaningless sex and we would not have to talk about it ever again."

"I didn't think I would say that," Magnus stated in a startled tone, "but it actually makes sense, yeah."

"Really?" Alec asked, taken aback himself at the other man's endorsement. He wasn't sure that it actually made sense but apparently to their drunken minds, it did.

"Yeah," he responded and he actually sat up, taking his legs off Alec's lap. "It doesn't have to be weird. We're both adults, making an adult decision. But then, you have to promise me something."

Alec turned his blue eyes toward Magnus, an openness on his face that could not be faked.

"Promise me we'll still be friends and it won't be weird tomorrow morning because I could not deal with that, I value your friendship too much," Magnus whispered and there was an uncommon vulnerability on his face, a profound sincerity in his eyes.

"I promise," Alec muttered back with a fond smile.

Magnus nodded and the next second, before Alec even knew what was happening, he was sitting on his lap, straddling his legs. They stared at each other for a while, studying this new proximity with caution and suddenly, Magnus's hands were cupping his neck.

"Are we really doing that?" Magnus murmured and Alec could see the lust in his eyes. He was certain he had the exact same look.

"Yep. I think we are," he stated and took hold of his hips before crashing their mouths together.

Magnus kissed back eagerly, his hands finding their way to Alec's hair, his fingers lightly caressing his ear. There was an oddness in kissing someone you were so close with, in discovering them in a new way that you had not expected. Magnus kissed like he did everything else: with all he had, with an undisguised passion that made you feel like it was the most natural thing in the world and yet the most stunning all at once. He nipped at his bottom lip, demanding an entrance that Alec happily granted, their tongues meeting each other in an ardent dance. His heart skipped a beat, his hold tightening on the other's hips.

His mind was swimming with alcohol but this was much more dizzying and everything around him suddenly resolved around the man in his arms. Magnus finally pulled away and Alec was surprised to almost find himself whining, panting heavily. His friend's lips only went strolling lower, finding his pulse point and working there on what would probably leave a mark the next day. Alec moaned and his hands moved of their own accord, finding their way under Magnus's tank top, stroking the naked skin he could access to.

"Shit," he muttered roughly when Magnus rolled his hips, chuckling against his neck, sending shivers down his spine.

He grabbed at Magnus's hair, pulling him back up for another breathtaking kiss while the other man worked on undoing his belt, throwing it behind the couch in a loud thud that none of them really heard. Next went his shirt and Magnus actually pulled away, eyeing him up and down with a satisfied smirk. His hair was already disheveled and his lips swollen from the kissing. He looked beautiful.

"Fuck," Magnus murmured coarsely and Alec was glad to realize he was not the only one who was so affected, "I knew you were gorgeous under these horrible clothes."

Alec formed a protest at the back of his throat but Magnus was already kissing back there, rolling his hips again, and it came out more as a moan. The only retaliation he could think of was to take off the other man's tank top, sending it flying across the room before grabbing his hips, spinning them around so that Magnus was lying on the couch, Alec hovering on top of him. He found his way to the other man's neck, leaving a mark of his own, and he couldn't contain his satisfaction when Magnus squirmed under him, moaning softly. He was working on opening his jeans with one hand, the other one lingering on Alec's torso, caressing every bit of naked skin he could find.

Alec reluctantly pulled back, admiring the result of his ministrations on the man's neck, and took his shoes and jeans off before settling back against him, the chests brushing each other's. They were both panting loudly and Alec wondered for a second if it was weird that this was not weird at all but the thought was pushed away by Magnus's hand finding its way down its boxers, taking hold of his throbbing member.

"Shit," he murmured again, his vocabulary painfully lowered.

He let his head fall against the other man's shoulder, groaning a series of profanities as Magnus started moving his hand, stroking him gently. He knew he was not going to last long.

Magnus chuckled lightly. "Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" he whispered in Alec's ear, biting smoothly on his lobe, quickening his pace.

"No, only you," he replied breathlessly, "Magnus, I'm not going to last long if you – shit – if you keep going like that."

"I know," Magnus responded softly but he could hear the mischief in his voice and it sent a new wave a shivers down his spine.

Rolling his eyes, he found his own way under Magnus's boxers, copying the exact same rhythm he was applying on him and he heard him hold his breath with a creeping sense of satisfaction.

They both didn't last long, collapsing into each other with a cry, panting heavily. Alec was seeing shooting stars. Magnus slid from under Alec, grabbing the box of tissues from the coffee table to clean them up. Alec followed his movement with a lazy gaze and when his eyes met a pair of bored orange eyes, he couldn't help but start laughing. Magnus raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Your cat is a pervert!" he giggled, pointing to Chairman Meow sitting on the coffee table, staring at them with surprisingly judging eyes.

Magnus snorted. "Well, he does have a perverted master."

"Yeah, I noticed," Alec joked languidly. He grabbed Magnus's waist, bringing him back against his chest with a yawn.

I took them approximately five minutes to fall asleep, closely intertwined with each other.

.

The next day, Alec woke up to the smell of bacon and a smile on his face. He stretched out and sat up, his neck painfully aching from the uncomfortable position he had slept in. He couldn't help but blush when he took a look to his surroundings. He was still half naked and his clothes were neatly folded at the end of the couch. He grabbed them, putting them on hastily, suddenly feeling overexposed.

He walked into the kitchen, where Magnus was making breakfast, already showered and dressed up, singing along to the radio to a Queen song.

"Hey there, sleepy head! Scrambled or fried?" he asked, pointing at the eggs with his spatula. "There's coffee in the pot."

"Thank God," Alec let out, helping himself. "And scrambled, please."

"Oh please, you can call me Magnus!"

Alec rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile, grateful to avoid the awkward morning-after silences and stolen glances. Magnus was as jovial as he always was and that was a gift in itself.

"There are aspirins in the cupboard over the sink if you need one," he continued, adding the eggs to the pan.

"No, I'm actually alright," Alec replied and he was genuinely surprised, "my head is not hurting."

"Oh, I heard sex is good for headaches," Magnus chimed in with a smirk, winking at Alec from his spot in front of the cooker.

Alec felt his cheeks burn and choked on his coffee, his eyes widening comically.

"Magnus!"

"Oh, come on, you promised you wouldn't make it weird!" the latter exclaimed, depositing the eggs in two plates and setting them on the table.

"I'm not making it weird! You're the one bringing it up! I'm alright with it as long as you are," Alec replied, almost offended that he could imply otherwise. "Are you?"

"Of course I am! It was nice. And if I had to choose anyone for a onetime thing, I'm glad it was you!" Magnus chimed in.

"Cheers to that," Alec responded, holding his mug up.

Magnus clinked his own mug against it and they both set to eating breakfast in a comfortable silence. Magnus had to leave for work soon after and Alec went down the building with him. Magnus waved at him and Alec crossed the road to get to his apartment. The obvious benefit of being a writer was that he could work from home and he was actually in advance in his editor's schedule so he could just enjoy a very long shower. At least, that was what he had planned until he got there, turned the key into the door and heard that the TV was on. He stepped into his living room and Isabelle jumped out of the couch, turning to face him.

"Where were you?" she almost shouted, eyeing him fervently. "You switched your phone off, I was worried sick!"

"Because I am not talking to you," Alec replied calmly, "ever again."

"Why not?" she questioned, obviously ignorant of how bad his date had gone.

"Because the guy you tried to set me up with was the biggest jerk I have ever met."

Isabelle raised a cocky eyebrow and crossed her arms. "Well he couldn't be that bad, judging by the state of your neck" she chimed in with a satisfied smirk.

"That was not him!" Alec blurted out before he could stop himself, slamming a hand against the mark on his throat, his face turning scarlet straight away. "I-I fell!"

"On your neck?" she laughed, not believing one word of it.

It seems to all register because Isabelle openly gaped at him but the surprise quickly turned to excitement and she stepped forward to stand right in front of him, examining the red marks on his throat. He could feel his cheeks burn even more.

"Sit down and tell me everything!" she ordered, pointing at the couch.

"Can I go and take a shower first?" He felt like a little child asking permission to go out and play with his friends. "I didn't get a chance this morning."

That did nothing to temper her excitement. She nodded eagerly, a big goofy smile on her lips. Alec almost ran to the bathroom and turned the shower on immediately, before snatching his phone out of his pocket, quickly sending a text to Magnus.

Izzy was waiting for me in my living room, I feel so invaded! She wants to know why I have a GIGANTIC hickey on my neck – thanks for that! – what do I tell her? You know we would never hear the end of it if I tell her the truth!

It took approximately thirty seconds for the respond to come.

Just tell her you went home with whatshisname! The one you were on a date with. Sorry about that, but I'd like to let you know that I have a GIGANTIC hickey myself which is why I am wearing a scarf at work so that my staff can't use it to blackmail me for more days off later!

Alec rolled his eyes but couldn't help but smile fondly at his friend.

By "your staff", you mean Hannah, right? Because she's the only staff you have. Shit, I already told her that the date was horrible and that it wasn't him. I didn't think this through.

He stepped in the shower and let out a deep relieved sigh when the warm water met his still aching neck. A new text was waiting for him when he got out, feeling like a new man.

Technicalities. Tell her it went so bad that you asked me to meet you to a bar afterwards and we both left separately with other people. That way I've got an excuse for my hickey too because don't forget everyone is coming to my place tonight and you know how nosey these little fuckers are!

Good point. See you tonight xx

Alec wrapped a towel around his waist and one around his neck and got out of the bathroom, going to his bedroom to get dressed. Isabelle was waiting for him on his couch and he knew it was a conversation he couldn't avoid or she would just hunt him down and torture the answers to her questions out of him. He frowned thinking that he was barely exaggerating.

"So?" she asked, still smiling widely.

He told her how bad the date had gone and how much of a jerk the guy had been, trying to belittle him for earning a living by doing what he loved the most in the world.

"I'm so sorry," Isabelle sighed, taking his hand and she sounded so sincere that he just had to forgive her, "I really thought he was a good guy. I've met him a few times at some of Simon's college parties and he was always alright."

"Maybe he's only alright when he's drunk then," Alec said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"Okay, the guy is an idiot!" Isabelle stated with a finality that couldn't mean anything good before leaning in, smirking. "That doesn't explain why your neck looks like you were attacked by a wild beast!"

"Maybe I was," her brother replied, "New York is a dangerous place."

"Alec, come on," she whined, looking more like a child than his twenty-three years old sister.

"Okay, okay," he sighed and told her the lie he had agreed on with Magnus, avoiding her eyes. He knew he was a terrible liar and she would know immediately he wasn't telling the truth if she looked straight into his eyes. He tried to make it look like embarrassment.

"Which bar was it?" she asked when he was done, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"The Alto Bar," he replied with a smoothness that surprised himself. Magnus would be so proud.

She seemed to believe him because she nodded and her face lit up again. She then proceeded in asking him a million questions about the imaginary lover he had slept with the night before, completely oblivious to the fact that she knew the man he had actually spent the night with. She didn't stop until her phone rang, Clary's name appearing on the screen. She got up to answer and Alec took advantage of the situation to fire a quick text to his very existent lover from the night before.

Nailed it. If anyone asks, we were at the Alto Bar.

The reply was almost instantaneous.

Duly noted. See you tonight xx

.

Isabelle had eaten lunch with him and had left afterwards and he was more than happy to let himself fall into his couch, grabbing his laptop and opening the folder that contained his new novel. He lost himself into the writing, the smoothness of the words, the easiness with which he could create an entirely new world. He didn't see the time pass but when he gazed up, his phone ringing next to him, it was past five in the afternoon. He recognized his agent's name on the screen and picked up.

The good news was so unexpected that he found himself jumping up and down as soon as he had hung up. He didn't know who to tell first. He wanted to call everyone but he knew he would see them all that night and he really wanted to see their faces so he restrained himself. He couldn't help but send another text to Magnus though.

I hope you've got champagne, we have something to celebrate!

He then settled on calling his mother, almost shouting in her ears the good news. When he got off the phone half an hour later, a reply was waiting for him.

I'll go and buy some as soon as I'm out of the gallery. Do I need to bake a cake and write "Congrats on the sex" icing on it or are we celebrating something else? ;)

You're an idiot.

The smile on his face was so wide that he wondered if he looked insane. He probably did. He didn't care.

Thank you for reading!

Next chapter coming very soon ;).

xxx
L.

PS : The fic's title is a song by James Bay. Chapter's title is a song by twenty one pilots.