Joyeux Halloween, Mon Amour
Alexander woke to two bright cat eyes staring down at him.
"G' morning, Magnus," he muttered groggily, reaching out a hand towards the warlock. Fingers immediately found his and intertwined within them.
"Happy Halloween." Magnus pressed his lips against the back of Alec's hand lightly.
Alec murmured in response, using his free hand to rub at his eyes. Hallow's Eve... October 31st. Alec didn't care whether or not he celebrated the holidays; Magnus, however, wouldn't hear the end of it. From the way that the warlock had been bursting bubbly and excited euphoria the past few days, he was calm in comparison now. Alec smiled, pulling his hand away from Magnus only to stretch.
He'd half expected to be woken up this morning by Magnus bouncing up and down on the bed, chattering nonstop about the Halloween party that was scheduled for later tonight. As much as he hated the idea, he didn't want to ruin Magnus (and everyone else's) fun. So, he went along with it.
"Did you just wake up?" he questioned quietly of his lover, snuggling close into his side when Magnus wrapped his arms around him.
"Mmm, a little bit ago. It seems so chilly to get out of my warm bed."
"You could always heat the house up," Alec suggested, but, to him, getting out of bed sounded like a terrible idea, too.
"I could," Magnus agreed, and Alec felt the hair on his head move with the warlock's breath. He only pressed closer, breathing in the sweet, although bitter scent that he could only dub as 'Magnus.' It was all so lovely... Why had today been destined to be Halloween?
"Shower?" Magnus questioned quietly, although not moving.
"Later..." he replied, only to stretch again. "What is on the agenda for today?"
"Mmm...? Oh. Nothing really. Everything is only a finger snap away..."
Alec tilted his head enough to look up at his boyfriend. "Magnus..."
"Yeah?"
"I said I was fine with it. I'll do whatever you want... within reason," he tacked on quickly.
There was the slightest twitch in Magnus's facial expression, something that looked a cross between exuberance and quiet happiness. It quickly settled. "Nah, it's okay. I'm not going to force it on you or anything," he stated nonchalantly.
"What do you want to do?" Magnus was being uncharastically quiet about the holidays, and Alec knew better. His warlock boyfriend was right on the edge of-
"Oh Alec, you just can't call it Halloween without carving pumpkins and dressing up! You just can't!"
-bursting from excitement.
Almost laughing to himself, Alec moved away and sat up, reaching his arms far above his head. Magnus had started to say something in a flurry, but stopped, only watching. Alec suddenly felt very self-conscious. "What are you staring at...?"
"You're cute."
Nearly choking on the yawn that had overtaken him, Alec waved his hand impatiently at his partner. "Don't say stuff like that so early in the morning! If you say stuff like that so early in the morning, I feel like something's going to happen before even lunchtime..." Speaking of food reminded him quickly how hungry he was, and, rubbing away goosebumps on his arms, crawled out of bed.
He heard Magnus snap his fingers and the telltale signs of the furnace kicking on. He was instantly grateful- he hated the cold. Maybe it was just another reason that he didn't like Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Although Magnus blamed it on his sour attitude. Regardless of the holidays or the furnace, it was cold at the present, and so he pulled on his hooded sweatshirt for a quick reprieve. He snuggled into the familiar fabric, smiling to himself. "What's for breakfast?"
"Eggs, bacon, toast, and black coffee?" It was asked, even though they both knew the definite answer.
"Sounds good."
"I'll get right on that," Magnus purred, sliding out of bed and heading for the kitchen. All he really had to do was snap his fingers once, but he tended to at least place the food on the plate by hand.
Alexander followed after him obediantly. As Magnus would say, much to Alec's extreme embarrassment, like a trained puppy. But, alas...
"Carving pumpkins and dressing up...?" he questioned quietly, watching the warlock.
"Definitely. I know you've carved pumpkins before so you can't have a qualm against that."
"Actually, I haven't." Alec felt Magnus's shocked gaze on him before he could even shrug. "Jace and Isabelle and Max..." he smiled a bit, "they used to go all out on it. I just kind of sat and watched."
"Oh, Alexander. You truly haven't lived."
Breakfast was placed on the table and Alec slid into a chair, smiling to himself. "Maybe I haven't, Magnus, but can't you just snap your fingers and have a pumpkin cleaned out and carved?"
"I could, but that's strictly one thing that I refuse to do on Halloween. Like decorating the tree for Christmas, it just has to be done by hand."
Magnus was simply like a little kid. Once he got an idea into his head, he wouldn't let go of it. No matter how trivial or inconsequential or silly it was, he clutched to it desperately and refused to reform. Normally, Alec wouldn't have thought much of this. But it was the fact that he could picture Magnus and the bright, round orb, the warlock carving into it with exaggerated perfection, alone in his home. Magnus had never had a real boyfriend, that he knew of. Magnus was somewhat of a philanderer, as much as Alec didn't like to think about, but he didn't really think that he'd gone steady with someone. So, that meant Magnus was alone on Halloween, doing whatever it was he did, alone...
"Alright, I'll do it."
He half expected Magnus to shout with glee, but instead Alec watched as the sly smile worked its way across the warlock's face.
"I knew you'd see the light."
"I really hope I haven't. That would mean I'm bound to die."
"... Alexander, you've given me a wonderful idea."
"An idea...?" he murmured, chewing his bacon as he watched Magnus carefully.
"But nevermind! That's for later." He snapped his fingers, two pumpkins appearing dangerously close to Alec's breakfast plate. "Carving. What will you carve, Alexander?"
Alec wrinkled his nose. "I don't know... Um, what about a... raven?"
"Nevermore..." Magnus whispered under his breath, grinning an unsuppressed grin.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing," he chirped, sliding out of the room afterwards. Alec watched him go, a little baffled.
"He is such a strange person... Is that why I love him?" he mused to himself as he took his dirty dishes and dumped them into the sink. He then turned to the silverware drawer, extracting a serrated knife from the mess.
He had watched his family hack away at the pumpkins every year, and he really hadn't joined in on it. He hadn't wanted to. He was much more content to sit and watch them have fun, while he glanced to and from a book in his hand. But, he figured... This was the first Halloween that Magnus and he got to spend together. They didn't have to be alone... Alec didn't have to sit and watch, staying in a quiet fantasy realm. And Magnus certainly didn't have to be alone in his festivities... as long as they weren't too extravagant.
He had just cut the top from the pumpkin, and was muttering about the sticky, gooey mess, when Magnus had bounded back in with carving supplies. Tools he didn't know the name of: scrapers, small knives, saws, hole-pokers... Pumpkin carving books with patterns, a roll of tape, and spoons were also a part of the group of items.
"This is nasty," he commented, flopping the entirety of the mush that had come from the top of the pumpkin onto Magnus's table.
"Silly Nephilim," was Magnus's only reply as he set to work on his own pumpkin.
Alec muttered again under his breath about how messy it all was before plunging his hand into the pumpkin. He immediately withdrew it. "Ah! Cold!"
"Yes, Alexander, they've been sitting outside. You would be cold, too." Magnus was suppressing his laughter, Alec could tell, although he wasn't fairing too well.
"I didn't know it was going to be cold," he grumbled halfheartedly, shivering. How warm he had been getting only to be chilled via pumpkin guts. All it took was one tiny intrusion of cold into the heat and it was over. Cold again.
"You're highly inexperienced," Magnus observed.
"Well, duh."
He ignored Magnus's chuckling, a little humoured despite his agitation. Well, if Magnus wanted to laugh at him, he was going to laugh right back. He grabbed a few strands of the cold pulp and flicked it at the warlock's face. He was then the one laughing when Magnus flinched away with an explicit exclamation.
"Alexander!"
Alec, laughing, only waved his spoon at the warlock and went back to scraping the insides out.
((((^))))
Then, it was much to Alec's surprise that Magnus soon thereafter came at him with an eyeliner pencil. No matter what the situation was, that was never a good thing.
"Hey... Hey, hey, hey! Magnus! No makeup!"
"It's for your costume, Alexander."
He briefly pondered on that fact. "... What are you planning on making me into?"
Magnus only grinned in return, leaning against the doorframe. "You'll see."
"That makes me less likely to want to do it," he commented dryly. "Just... don't go overboard."
((((^))))
Magnus always went overboard. Always, always, always. It was stupid of Alec to think that he wouldn't. The pumpkins (which his had been the raven; Magnus's had been a haunted house ensemble), the costumes (he'd been transformed into a corpse with far too much stage makeup while Magnus was the serial killer), the party (along the lines he'd heard "Just because your costume is a Vampire doesn't mean you can go around biting people! Normally, I wouldn't care but it's causing a reaction and I don't want to deal with that nasty stuff."), and everything else in between.
It was around four a.m., Alec thought. He'd retreated into Magnus's bedroom sometime around two, after much protesting from his boyfriend, but it was impossible to sleep with the band screaming downstairs. As of ten minutes ago, however, the music had stopped and Alec had moved away from the window, looking hopefully towards the bedroom door. Hopefully the party was over. The loud noises from downstairs had, at least.
He'd long since changed out of his costume and had been staring out the window in quiet speculation, thinking about boring little things that passed through his head. At one point or another, Chairman Meow had found his way into the bedroom and Alec found himself stroking the cut's fur absentmindedly. Currently, the cat was asleep in the windowsill while Alec sank onto the bed gratefully.
The squeak of Magnus's bedroom door made him glance up, though, and a half-lively, half-tired Magnus wandered into the room.
"You missed a wonderful two hours, Alexander. One of the Vampires got with a Faerie and they-"
"As much as I'm sure it's an interesting story, I really don't need to hear it," Alec interjected quickly.
"Oh Alec, you have to admit that this Hallow's Eve was better than you've ever had before."
He let that idea float around in his head for a bit. Well, it certainly was different. He hadn't been stuck up in his room, watching people wander the streets. Not that he minded being alone, of course. And the party had been loud and obnoxious, but he couldn't really say that he would have wanted to skip it altogether, overlooking the fact that Magnus pinned him against the wall and kissed him point-blank on the lips at one point...
He smiled to himself, folding his arms beneath his head. "No, I wouldn't have wanted to skip this Halloween. You're right."
With a snap of his fingers, Magnus had changed from his costume and into only boxers, which was what he slept in. The makeup, glitter, and blood had all vanished and he crawled into bed next to Alec, sighing happily. "See? I told you it'd be fun, you little..." he paused, seeming to struggle for the words. "Alec."
"'You little Alec'"?
"You're Alec. It just sums you up perfectly."
"That's stupid, Magnus."
"Stop complaining," he shot back, laughing. The Warlock turned just then, pulling Alec close to administer a kiss.
Alec returned it, only breaking it long enough to say: "You taste like... pumpkin martinis..." It wasn't overally a bad taste.
He suddenly found two bright cat eyes staring down at him as Magnus had pinned him, hovering over him with a lazy smile. "I told you, Alexander. Holidays can always be worth the while."
October 31st, 2011.
Happy Halloween, guys! Hope you all have a great Hallow's Eve and gets lots of candy or scare lots of people. Always remember- holidays are always worth the while.
