Magnus stood at the opposite end of the pool table, eyes comically wide and gaping as Alec pushed the last ball into one of the holes.
"Is it just me or did your man actually beat you at pool?" Maia said slyly, suddenly appeared beside the warlock, thoroughly enjoying seeing her reigning pool champion friend trying to accept what had just happened.
Alec turned to take a sip of his very, very mild beer before shooting Magnus a shy smile, one corner of his mouth tugging up and thus making it look adorably dopey. "What?" he shrugged casually. But he was secretly pleased at his success, though he did a great job of hiding it. "It's just a game, Magnus."
"Ohhhh no. Pool is never a 'game' when it comes to Magnus Bane. It's more like life or death to him," she enlightened him, laughing.
Magnus finally composed himself enough to speak. "When...How...?" he tried to say helplessly. Never in his entire pool career had he lost. Not even once.
"You beat me at a sparring match last week so I bested you at pool. Tit for tat, Magnus."
The Asian let out a huff and extended his hand. "Call it even?"
"Yeah."
"As much as I'd love to watch you two get all cute with each other, I have customers to intoxicate with booze," Maia informed them and left, but not before letting them hear her giggle.
"I'm still confused. Why is this so hard?!" Magnus wondered aloud.
Alec was standing next to him now. "Maybe I can help?" he said, eyes momentarily flicking to his boyfriend's lips.
Reality still hadn't helped him understand, so why not take another way to do that?