Sooo I've very recently started watching Shadowhunters, and Malec? Is kind of sort of my entire life atm. I was trying to wait until I was caught up on the show before I started writing fic for them, but that didn't pan out the way I wanted it to. I'm about seven or eight episodes into the second season as of my writing this so I held out longer than I thought I would, honestly.

Anyway, this is my first venture into writing for the Shadowhunters fandom, so, go easy on me, lol.

Exquisite

*.*.*.*.*

Magnus always rubbed at his lips after they kissed, Alec had noticed. His thumb and pointer fingers would glide over them and a far away sort of look would take over the warlock's face, like he couldn't believe that had just happened, that he had just kissed Alec Lightwood, or that Alec Lightwood had just kissed him.

It was such an innocent gesture too, all gentle and disbelieving in a way that was almost unbecoming of the Magnus Bane most people knew. Which was just as well, in Alec's opinion; just as Magnus was the only one who knew certain aspects of Alec's personality, Alec reveled in being able to say the same of certain aspects of the warlock's being as well. It was nice, being able to share the same open secret; it was assumed that most lovers knew more of each other than normal friends and family did, but the depths of which this knowledge ran was known only to said lovers, and to Alec… there was no better secret.

The shared memories and feelings and touches were nice facets of the secret, but by the Angel, Alec's favorite part of the secret was Magnus and his damned lip touching.

Alec wasn't even sure if Magnus knew he did it, didn't know if it was some subconscious habit or if he did it to remind himself that kissing Alec was special and he should savor each taste of the Shadowhunter's lips that he was allowed. If it was Alec, he would do the latter, would touch his lips just to remind himself that Magnus' love was a precious gift not to be taken for granted. But that was Alec; surely, for Magnus, it was more the former than the latter.

It was quite unfortunate, then, that Alec touching his own lips after he kissed Magnus would be quite unbecoming for the Shadowhunter; the only one fit to touch his lips in such an intimate way was Magnus. Magnus. (Nevermind, of course, that they were Alec's own lips, because Alec was Alec, he was not Magnus.)

*.*.*.*.*

He should have turned his phone off—he should have, damnit, the frown on his face, the set of his brow and jaw said. He usually did, it was fine that he'd forgotten this time, Alec soothed when Magnus' phone rang and they pulled themselves away from each other, a silent sigh falling into the space that they created between their lips. Magnus reached for the damned piece of technology that had interrupted what was a nice, relaxing makeout session that almost had the potential to turn into something more.

(It wouldn't have, Alec knew, because they were both exhausted and on the verge of falling asleep mid kiss when the phone had gone off. But still, it could have, if they'd really wanted it to, and that was the important part.)

"It's Simon," Magnus murmured, looking between his phone and Alec, the question of whether or not he could answer it hanging in the air.

It was countless, the number of times this situation had been reversed, with Alec sitting on the front of his seat, trying to decide between his beautiful boyfriend and his amazing lips, and whatever crisis was awaiting him on the other end of his cell phone. God help him, Alec never did understand how his phone always won out, but it usually did.

Not to be unfair, Alec nodded at the still ringing phone and sat back on the couch, watching Magnus absently as he answered it, his free hand coming to rest on Alec's knee and soothing small circles onto his skin as he talked to the young vampire on the other end. Alec couldn't have been bothered to repeat any of what Magnus had said, or to even wager a guess as to what was going on with Simon—probably something with Clary, if Alec had to guess; always something with Clary—as he was much too lost in thought about that last kiss to bother; the way his stubble had felt against Magnus' mostly smooth face, the way his body sighed at every small touch, every shift either of them made, the way his lips were still tingling from their countless minutes of kissing and touching and sighing and…

He didn't even realize that his fingers had migrated to his slightly plump lips, calloused tips tracing the same path that Magnus' own lips had, until his eyes locked with Magnus' and he swallowed hard, his mouth parting at the sight of Alec; his fingers froze where they were when the hand that the warlock had on his knee stilled as well, and he finally realized what he was doing, where his hand was. He smiled to himself, thinking the action must have looked silly on him, but knowing where he had picked it up from more than made up for it.

"Simon," Magnus murmured into the phone, fingers tightening on Alec's knee suddenly. "It's not that I don't care about what Raphael said when Clary came to visit you this morning, it's just that I care a little bit more about what Alexander is doing with his lips right now, so if you'll excuse me…"

And Alec could hear Simon's protest just before Magnus hit the end call button, but by the Angel he couldn't care about that or what Simon must be thinking Magnus meant by that comment, the things he would tell people. The only thing that he cared about was Magnus throwing his now powered off phone to the side and sliding himself closer to Alec on the couch. He moved his hand up to catch Alec's fingers and pulled them away from his lips and to the warlock's instead, pressing them gently into a kiss that he made sure lingered, eyes locked onto Alec's the entire time.

(Fuck.)

Magnus lowered their now joined hands to their laps, brought his free one up to cup Alec's cheek, thumb brushing over swollen lips absently.

"Why is it that everything you do is so… exquisite?" Magnus breathed, and Alec's breath hitched on that word; if only Magnus knew a thing or two that Alec did about that word, about what it meant when it came to the things that Magnus did.

"Trust me, it looks better on you," Alec murmured, moving his free hand to mirror Magnus' current posture. He'd been longing to do that, to claim Magnus' lips with more than his own, for the longest time, and that he was finally getting to touch him so intimately and innocently was…

In Magnus' words: exquisite.

"What does?" Magnus murmured lowly, lost to the moment between them but not enough to not furrow his brow in confusion.

"The whole—" he pressed down slightly on Magnus' bottom lip, just enough to get his point across, just enough to make the other let out a breath, "—thing you do every time we kiss."

"You mean the thing where I kiss you?" Magnus asked, his mirth evident despite his still present confusion that Alec couldn't help but find endearing.

"No, the thing were you touch your lips afterwards, like you can't believe it's real, like you have to remind yourself that it actually happened."

Something in Magnus softened at Alec's words, and he bats Alec's hand away from his lips, choosing to bring their mouths together again instead, and it's exquisite, the press of lips, the pull of hands, stroking of cheeks and carding of hair, whimpers and low moans and how it makes Alec forget about everything except for Magnus and his lips—as usual.

And of course, for that, Magnus is the first to put space between them once again, smiling as he rests his forehead against Alec's, fingers coming up to brush against bruised lips in a tender show of affection once again.

"That, my dearest Alexander, is because I can't believe it's real; I've never imagined getting to just… sit here and be with you, just to kiss you and not worry about the Clave or the Downworld or my clients or your semi-psychotic family—not Izzy, of course, she's the only sane one other than you—or… any of it. I never could have imagined I'd get the honor of this moment, of your nothing short of breath-taking kisses—you did have a good teacher, you know—or… any of this. Sometimes, it's all I can do not to pinch myself to be sure it's not just a really long dream or hallucination Camille has brought upon me to torture me upon snapping out of it and realizing you're not real. I have to remind myself that it's real while I can, because, one day, it might not be."

Alec shook his head, at a loss for words, and leaned back in to kiss Magnus again instead. God, he loved him.

"I think I'm supposed to be the one saying all the sappy bullshit," he murmured against Magnus' lips, his complaint half-hearted at best.

"What can I say? I've had a good teacher, too," Magnus mumbled in response.

"Am I allowed to interject with my own sappiness?"

"Far be it from me to take anything away from you, let alone the chance to turn into a complete sap—there's nothing sexier than the badass Alec Lightwood turning into a sap before my very eyes, you know."

"More like before your lips," Alec quipped, bumping his nose against the other's playfully.

"Just say your sappy stuff so I can fall more in love with you and we can get back to kissing already," Magnus insisted.

"I was going to say," Alec said, still amused. "That you have it all wrong; Izzy is actually the most semi-psychotic member of my family and she'll be insulted that you seem to think otherwise."

Magnus let out a huff, barely able to contain his snort of laughter. "Well, I can't exactly say that made me fall more in love with you…"

"No?" Alec feigned innocence and confusion. "Well…" he trailed off, his faux offense fading into a sort of thoughtful mood instead, fingers coming to brush at Magnus' lips; he couldn't seem to get enough of doing that, now that he'd started, it was the next best thing to actually kissing Magnus, he thought, and he was going to have to start doing it more often.

"What if… I told you that it will always be real? That I'll always be here to kiss you morning, noon, and night? There's never going to come a day where I'll actually let you forget that this is real, and it always will be. My love for you… it's not going away, it's not a ploy or a game, or trick or dream, it's… all as real as this moment is, as every moment we've ever had together has been, and as real as every moment we'll ever have together for the rest of forever will be. Would any of that… make you fall more in love with me, make you wanna kiss me any more right now?" Alec finished, voice soft and full of the wonderment that he wanted to be sure Magnus felt, now and forever.

"Oh, Alexander…" Magnus sighed, letting the Shadowhunter's name fall from his lips like a breath, like he was born with that name on his lips, on his tongue. And when Magnus leaned forward and kissed Alec again and again and again, Alec could almost taste it, how much more in love with him Magnus was now, and how much more in love with Magnus Alec was in turn. No other words needed to be said between them for this, wonderful, exquisite moment.

*.*.*.*.*