So this story takes place shortly after the end of The Hammer of Thor. It's a one-shot that mostly consists of Magnus and Alex building their relationship. Hope you enjoy!
Magnus had been sleeping soundly when a soft shuffling woke him up. Piercing his lips together, he opened his eyes and squinted around his hotel room. The windows in the atrium were lit with a dull blueish light and the room was relatively dark so it must have still been night time. He sighed lightly and closed his eyes trying to go back to sleep but the second he started to relax he heard another shuffle this time louder and followed by a mumbling noise.
This time Magnus sat up and shivered in the Boston air that was even freezing in Valhalla. His hand went to the back of his neck, he was still adjusting to weather since Blitz had given him that unfortunate haircut back in Jotunheim. Magnus made sure Jack was around his neck, then slowly rose to his feet and walked over to his door, opening it without a sound. Peering into the hallway, he glanced around trying to spot what was making the noise but no one was up but him.
Shaking his head, he turned to go back into his room when he heard more shuffling and mumbling coming from Alex's room, this time it was a bit more frantic. Magnus was now fully awake, he glanced around, not sure what to do. Finally, he swallowed and approached the door.
He knocked, "Alex," he whispered just loud enough that she'd be able to hear without anyone else waking up. There was no answer, the shuffling continued. "Alex," he tried again. Still no response. Frowning, Magnus tried the doorknob but it was locked; of course.
As quickly as he could, Magnus ran back into his room and found a paperclip, then faster than you could have said open sesame, he'd picked the lock. He knew this was an invasion of her privacy, but he had to make sure she was okay. Holding his breath with anticipation, he opened the door and peeked inside.
At a first glance everything seemed the same as usual, all the lights were off but a good amount of moonlight came through her atrium window just like his, there was pottery sitting on a rack as well as pottery shards lying on the floor, but all that was completely normal. The shuffling started up again and Magnus's eyes were drawn to Alex's bed where she was tossing and turning while mumbling something incoherent. Wait, not she, Magnus realised, he.
Magnus sighed, reassured that everything was alright, he turned to leave when suddenly he heard a soft, "Stop. Stop. Please, it isn't my fault. Stop!" Magnus turned back towards Alex. He was now curled up in a fetal position and shaking as if he were having a seizure, Magnus looked closer and realized that there were streaks of shiny tears running down his face. Magnus's throat felt tight, he had to wake him up. Quietly he shut the door and tiptoed over to Alex's bed.
As gently as he could, Magnus placed a hand on Alex's shoulder, and shook him slightly, "Alex, hey wake up." He waited a second, Alex still shook, a fresh line of tears escaped his eyes. He shook him again, "Alex, come on, wake up!" This time Alex opened his eyes, "Gah!" he shouted and suddenly kicked Magnus in the stomach.
Magnus flew into the wall hard enough to leave a dent, his vision had just enough time to clear to see Alex reach for his garotte. "Wait Alex, it's me, it's me!" Magnus shouted holding up his hands in self defense. Alex hesitated, then dropped his hands.
"Magnus?" He said, his voice scratchy from sleep. "Wait," he said more clearly, "what the hell are you doing in my room?" He slammed the light switch up, leaving Magnus momentarily blinded.
"Alex, I'm really sorry, I just heard…" His voice trailed off as his eyes adjusted to the light and he got a look at Alex. His different colored eyes were puffy and red from crying and even if it wasn't as noticeable, he was still shaking a lot. "Alex," Magnus said hesitantly, "are you okay?"
He blinked and dropped his guard slightly, he hadn't been counting on him asking that question. Then he blinked again and his guard was back up, "What's that supposed to mean, of course I'm okay, I'm only angry because you broke into my room and-" Alex's voice cracked and he stopped suddenly. For a moment he stood there frozen as Magnus stared at him, then he squeezed his eyes shut and sat down hard on his bed, shoving his face into his hands.
Trying to make as little sound as possible, Magnus got up from the wall and slowly sat down on the edge of the bed next to Alex. He moved to put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly but then decided against it, he didn't want to accidently look inside his head without permission and besides, he figured the kind of pain Alex was going through, wasn't the kind he could heal with magic. Instead he took a breath, "Alex, I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but I just want you to know that if you do, I would be more than happy to-"
"Magnus, shut up," Alex said through his hands, he said it softly as if it would hurt to talk too loudly. The two of them sat there in silence for a few minutes. Slowly, Alex stopped shaking and his breathing became steady, he lowered his hands and stared at the ground, Magnus followed suit. It was another few minutes before Alex spoke up, "I hate my father so much." He said it so quietly, Magnus almost didn't hear despite sitting right next to him.
"Was- was he what you were dreaming about?"
Alex hesitated, then nodded. "He hit me," he said, "and called me worthless, and said I would never be anything more than his worst mistake!" His voice grew with every word, his teeth were clenched, and he was gripping his garotte so hard that Magnus was worried he would break it.
Magnus blinked, he hadn't expected him to open up so easily, but he didn't let it phase him. "Hey," he said gently and wrapped the blanket over Alex's shoulders, "look, I don't really know your father but I can definitely tell you that if he thinks that you're anything less than an incredible, powerful, demigod, then he's the biggest idiot in the nine worlds." Alex kept staring at the ground. Slowly, Magnus placed his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Alex, your father's nothing but a huge jerk and you need to know that you are no one's mistake, you are perfect exactly the way you are and you don't owe your father anything."
Magnus waited but Alex still didn't respond. Magnus let out a breath and started to get up. "Wait," Alex said suddenly and grabbed his arm.. Magnus looked down at Alex who swallowed and looked up slowly, his multicolored eyes pleading and shiny with tears. Then, in a voice barely loud enough to hear, he whispered "Please don't go."
Magnus paused, then nodded, sitting back down on the bed. "Never," he with a soft smile. Alex hesitated for a moment then gave him a small smile back. They sat there for a while, sitting in silence until Alex yawned and crawled back to the head of the bed. He flicked the light off, more gently this time, then curled up under his blanket leaving plenty of room on the other side of the bed. For a few moments Magnus just sat there in the dark staring at him, listening to the rise and fall of his breaths and watching the green of his hair turn silver the moonlight. Finally Magnus lied down next to Alex, being careful not to lie on the blanket, and turned away from him.
"Your hair looks like it was attacked with a weedwacker by the way." Alex said.
Magnus smiled, "I know."
The two lie there for several minutes, Magnus was on on the verge of sleep when he felt Alex shift behind him, for a moment he was worried that his nightmares had come back but then he felt Alex throw part of the blanket on top of him and then shift slightly closer so the two could share it. Alex must've thought he was asleep, Magnus thought groggily, he knew that that was what he'd thought about Alex. But Magnus stayed still, giving no indication that he was awake, then he heard Alex shift again and then he felt a pair of lips press against the side of his head. "Thank you, Magnus," Alex whispered, and then turned back around to lie down on the other side of the bed but still remaining under the blanket.
Within moments Magnus heard Alex's breathing even out but Magnus stayed awake for a little while longer, and when he finally managed to drift off, he fell asleep smiling like an idiot.
AN: Thanks so much for reading guys, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, please feel free to leave a review and keep and keep an eye out for more fanfictions coming up. See ya soon! -Blue Pyromancer
