Soft Love
*.*.*.*.*
Alec is leaning against Magnus on the couch, tip of his pen between his teeth, head on his warlock's chest. They're both slouched down, feet kicked up on the coffee table in front of them, legs tangled together. Alec is running through some paperwork he hadn't been able to finish at the Institute that day between missions, and Magnus is flipping through a book he'd bought on their latest trip to Italy.
It has been a still night so far, they'd had dinner over laughs and drinks, and Alec had changed into a pair of sweats and a grey tee before they collapsed onto the couch together. And it has been too nice, Alec thinks with a sigh, signing another mission summary—his last for the night, actually. Finally.
He sits the whole stack down on the couch beside him, glances up at Magnus through his lashes. Magnus looks beautiful like this, Alec thinks, relaxed, the glow of their sidetable lamp casting shadows against his features in a glorious sort of way. His lips are pursed in thought as his eyes flick across the pages, and if it wouldn't be too much effort, Alec would sit up and kiss Magnus for the way he looks right now, for the way he always looks.
Magnus' lips quirk up as he seems to feel Alec's eyes on him, and he closes his book, puts it down before he looks down to Alec himself. His breath hitches—and Alec feels his heart stutter in his chest—when their eyes lock.
Alec could sit here forever, he thinks, just staring at Magnus like this. He could just sit here, and he would be content forever.
"If you want a kiss, you could just say something," Magnus says then, breaking the quiet. "Staring at my lips until I get the hint is a little too much like pining for the stage we're at," he teases.
"I'll always pine for you, no matter what stage we're at," Alec promises, vows, even. "And I didn't want to bother you; you looked… beautiful like that, so relaxed; I didn't want to distract you," he adds softly.
Magnus' face softens all the more, and Alec hadn't thought it was possible five seconds ago, but now he knows that it was entirely possible for Magnus to look even more beautiful than he already had. Any time he looks at Alec, in fact, he always looks so, so beautiful, and Alec will never be sure what he has done to deserve someone like Magnus, but by the Angel he is so, so thankful all the same.
"I love you," Magnus says in reply, as though that is all he has to say. And it is enough. If it is anything, it is enough—is more than enough.
"I love you too," Alec replies, and he does sit up then, finally, gives up the comfort of his previous position to sit up fully next to Magnus, brings his hand up to cup the side of his face, and he looks at him, and Magnus looks back, and the night is still and peaceful for another long moment as they merely gaze into each other's eyes.
They have earned soft moments like this, Alec knows. They are so rare and so precious, and they have fought so hard for the world around them and for each other, and they deserve to simply be content and happy with each other for this moment.
Finally, Alec cannot hold back any longer, and he says, "Can I have a kiss?"
Magnus smiles all the more at that, and for a second Alec thinks he sees tears prickling at the warlock's eyes, but the moment passes, and Magnus nods, then leans in and kisses Alec, and it is so soft, and so tender, and so much more full of love than their words had been just a moment before, that Alec feels tears prickling at his own eyes as well.
Yes, he thinks to himself, they have earned this moment, and this soft love of theirs.
*.*.*.*.*