Author's Note:
This is my entry for MalecLovely Freaky Friday contest at Wattpad.
Requirements are:
1. Between 1-3 parts
2. A body switch
3. A fight
4. A meal
5. And use a type of bolded foods instead of swear words (especially this one is important, otherwise it ll just look like I was steaming drunk while writing this :) )
Chapter 1
"Thanks so much for helping me out, mate," Jace said.
Magnus grinned as they turned into a pitch black alley, reeking of garbage and decay. Not exactly the place where he wanted to spend a Friday night in. "Don't worry, I'll send a hefty bill to the Institute. So where exactly is our friendly neighborhood demon?" He involuntarily shivered against the cold November night but decided against using his powers to warm himself up a bit. If the demon picked up on Magnus's magic, it would probably make itself scarce, and going on a wild demon chase with any Shadowhunter that was not Alec was about the last thing he wanted to do tonight.
''According to the coordinates Izzy send me, he should be right about here," Jace said. "It's not a demon we've encountered before. Which is weird, because I thought I'd seen them all by now."
Magnus rolled his eyes. "Believe me, I've been around a lot longer than you and your friends combined and even I still come across new species of demons every now and then." His phone buzzed, earning him an annoyed look from Jace but he quickly glanced at the screen nonetheless.
R u nearly finished? 8-ounce steak medium rare, vodka and yours truly are anxiously awaiting your arrival :) XO
That text alone was enough to warm him up from the inside. Alec had cooked him dinner... Before Alec came into his life, Magnus had mainly survived on take-out dinners (or perhaps magiced-in dinners was a more appropriate term) even though he had a state of the art kitchen. But Alec claimed to actually enjoy cooking, saying that creating something with his hands relaxed him after a day at the Institute. And he wasn't half bad at it either.
"Magnus," Jace hissed, elbowing him in the side. "For the love of Tuna, wake up! It's here!"
Magnus quickly put his phone back in his pocket. The stench of decay filled his nostrils. Yep, tonight's target had made its appearance. Finally! "Okay, let's kick this demon's derriere back to where it came from, so I can go home and snuggle up to my favorite Shadowhunter."
Jace gave Magnus his trademark cocky grin. "Sorry, Mags, but you're really not my type."
"Call me Mags again and I'll turn you into a toad." A blue energy ball formed at Magnus's fingertips. "Let's put this foul-scented piece of peach back to where it came from. You got your blade ready?"
Jace nodded, silently sliding closer to the demon.
"Be careful," Magnus warned. "Even I've never seen one of those before." And this thing... It was like watching a giant, slimy blob, that seemed to shape and shift in all sorts of different forms and colors at breakneck speed. "Okay, 1-2... Go!"
From the corner of his eyes, he saw Jace hurl his seraph blade at the exact same time Magnus released his blue energy ball. There was a deafening screeching sound, followed by a blinding explosion of light. The force of the explosion made Jace's body slam into Magnus's and he fell backward, knocking his head hard against the ground.
"Magnus!" Jace's scream was the last thing Magnus heard before darkness consumed him.
Magnus opened his eyes. Peach, it felt like he got hit by a freight train... Were was Jace? He looked next to him, but the blond Shadowhunter wasn't there. "Jace!" he yelled. His voice sounded strange to his ears, almost like -
"I'm here. Just checking if we banished that son of a goat cheese."
Strangest thing... Magnus heard his own voice talking and yet he was pretty sure that it wasn't his lips forming the words. He must've knocked his head harder than he thought. "And did we?"
"Yeah, there is demonic residue, so... Holy tortilla!"
Magnus looked at Jace, only it wasn't Jace that he saw. To his utter horror, he was looking at the spitting image of himself, Magnus Bane. "Astonishment definitely doesn't look good on me," he mumbled, his brain simply refusing to process what his eyes were registering.
"Magnus..." Jace started slowly, disbelief etched on his face. "Tell me what you see when you look at me. Because when I look at you, I'm actually not looking at you. I'm looking at me."
Fear churned in Magnus's stomach. This whole situation was all too familiar to him. But Tuna, he didn't want to think about that now... He couldn't think about that now. He needed to keep his calm, so he could fix this, fast.
"We switched bodies," Magnus stated matter-of-factly, averting his gaze from the place where Jace stood. "Not a big deal," he added with a lightness that absolutely didn't match his inner turmoil. "I've done this before, remember? We just go back to my loft, drink a potion, say a spell and everything will be back to normal. Easy peasy. Not a big deal at all," he repeated, probably more to reassure himself than Jace.
Magnus scrambled up, wiping away the dirt on his trousers, that weren't even his. Ugh... tracksuit bottoms. Granted, they weren't as bad as acid washed jeans, but other than that, he still didn't want to be caught dead in a pair. But now... Once again his choices were taken away from him. He caught a glimpse of a black rune on his arm and it immediately triggered memories of the holding cell in the Institute and that awful, awful Agony rune.
"Magnus, are you alright, mate?" Jace asked softly, concern evident in his voice... Magnus's voice.
"Yeah, fine." He combed a hand through his hair, which felt strange to the touch. "I would ask you to open a portal, but it's probably best if you save your strength for the switch back."
"My strength?" Jace asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Yes, your strength, Jace. Since I'm trapped in your Shadowhunter body, I cannot do any magic. So it is up to you to switch us back, really. But, hey, no pressure. Mate."
"Oh, tortilla..." Jace muttered under his breath. It was probably the first time that Magnus ever saw Jace being unsure of himself, and no doubt it would've been funny if it hadn't been Magnus's own voice uttering those words. "Oh, peach and tortilla..."
They walked back in silence to Magnus's apartment. Magnus was grateful that Jace was quiet for once because hearing his own voice coming out of a mouth that no longer belonged to him, was more than he could handle right now.
It will be alright. It will be alright. He kept repeating that mantra in his head over and over again. This wasn't the same as the whole body switch debacle with Valentine. Jace was not Valentine, and Magnus was not in a holding cell in the Institute, about to be executed.
Jace broke the uncomfortable silence when they were near the loft. "What do we tell Alec?"
Alec. Magnus had actually forgotten all about Alec being at his apartment. The same Alec, who hadn't even recognized him when he was trapped in Valentine's body, despite Magnus's desperate pleas... And now he was locked up in Jace's body, Alec's parabatai and the one Alec had been in love with for years before Magnus came into Alec's life.
And for all you know he might still harbor those feelings for Jace...
No! He wasn't going to let his insecurities get the best of him. "The truth, I suppose."
Jace nodded. "Okay."
Magnus's stomach knotted when he opened the door. A waft of the steak Alec prepared infiltrated his nostrils and under normal circumstances, it would've made his mouth water, but now the scent of food made bile rise in his throat.
"There you are!" Alec walked straight passed him as if he wasn't even there and grabbed Jace by his lapels. But as Magnus was mentally preparing himself for the agony of seeing his boyfriend kiss another man right in front of him, Alec did a step backward, shook his head as if trying to clear it and then looked from Jace to Magnus and back. "What the pepper happened?" he asked, his face lined with suspicion.
"Newsflash: I'm not your boyfriend, Alec. I just happen to look a lot like him. Believe me, he is the one you really want to kiss." Jace pointed his thumb at Magnus. "Magnus will explain it all to you. I'm just going to change into something else because if I stay in these tight pants any longer, I'll be singing soprano for a while." And with those words, he disappeared into Magnus's spare room.
"Believe me, he is the one you really want to kiss..." Every word felt like a dagger into Magnus's heart.
Alec looked at him with narrowed eyes as if he was trying to look past a glamour. Only it wasn't a glamour, this was real. "What's going on?" He took a step in Magnus's direction, reaching out his hand as if he wanted to touch him, but for some reason, he changed his mind at the last minute and combed his hand through his hair instead. "Jace -"
It was an honest slip of the tongue, one Magnus rationally knew he couldn't even really blame Alec for and yet it was enough to ignite a searing anger in him. "I. Am. Not. Jace." The words were clipped, barely audible, but the rage in them was evident.
Alec flinched visibly. "I'm sorry, Magnus. It's just -"
Magnus nearly choked on his anger. "It's just what, Alexander? Like Santa Clause came early this year? Congratulations, your prayers have been answered: now you can finally have a version of Jace that feels the same way about you as you about him!"
