A/N: This story was inspired by a moment of intense frustration. (chuckles) I have no further or better explanation. We'll see just what my head cooked up…

DISCLAIMER: PLEASE, don't make me die of laughter…! NOPE, I own NOTHING, absolutely nothing. Just… borrowing our boys for a while. (grins)

WARNINGS: Mentions of drug use, MILD TRIGGER WARNINGS for mentions and description of depression and past abuse, some foul language… Uh… Anyone still out there…?

THIS STORY HAPPENS IN THREE DIFFERENT TIMELINES. 2016, 2018 and 2019. I've done my best to separate those sections clearly, and one chapter doesn't jump back and forth. (One scene from each year per chapter.)

UNOFFICIAL THEME SONG FOR THIS STORY: 'Take Me Home' from Jess Glynne

Also… THIS STORY CONTAINS QUOTES FROM THE BOOKS AND TV-SHOWS. Happy Easter Egg hunt! (grins)

SO… In case ANYONE wants to read further after THAT… (chuckles nervously) Let's go! I REALLY hope that you'll enjoy the ride.

Take Me Home

From the Tingling Beginning to the Bitter End

2016

Alec hated clubbing. The only reason he consented to going with Izzy and Jace as often as he did was that his siblings needed supervision. Deeply uncomfortable with the crowd and all the noise, he always sought out some spot from the quietest corner. He was more than happy to let his siblings shine and charm while he kept watch from the sidelines. Usually that worked and spared him from earning too much unwanted attention. A particular, unpleasantly warm summer night made a beyond memorable exception.

Alec wasn't a drinker. But he was so thirsty that eventually he could only head towards the bar. Which turned out to be a mistake – well, the best mistake he'd ever made.

Alec was halfway to his destination when someone bumped into him. His usually excellent reflexes failed him. He was about to tumble gracelessly to the floor. Until a pair of arms appeared to support him. With his heart thundering from more than just startle, Alec shifted his head enough to see his rescuer. He blinked twice, slowly.

He'd never seen anyone even remotely like the man holding him. The thick layer of makeup, the flashy outfit, those intense eyes… He was horrified by what awakened inside him when he realized just how beautiful the stranger was. And mortified when he felt a certain part of him stir to attention. (What were his mind and body doing? He wasn't…!) "I, uh… Thank you."

"You didn't hurt yourself, did you?" The stranger seemed to enjoy the awkward situation entirely too much but was genuinely concerned enough to give him a quick once over when he couldn't answer. "You seem to be alright." Those dark eyes glanced unabashedly towards the humiliatingly prominent bulge in Alec's pants. (Which, for some reason, the young man in distress made no move to hide, even under such scrutiny.) "Better than alright, actually." After admiring the view for a moment the man tilted his head, all attention rising languidly to his eyes. "Now who are you? Usually I know everyone here who seems… interesting."

If Alec's mouth was dry before, it was ten times worse all of a sudden. He tried to swallow but ended up making a rather embarrassing sound the music mercifully drowned out. His heart was hammering in sync with the loud beat. "Alec." There was tingling all over his body that was getting absolutely maddening. Not because it would've been unpleasant, but because he liked it far too much. "You… can let go, now. I can stand on my own." Honestly? He wasn't sure. But he needed the man to let go before his… urges would get any stronger.

The stranger complied, tantalizingly slowly. The dark eyes still locked with his seemed to hold him under a spell. "Try to be more careful. Although… I must admit that the pleasure of saving you was all mine."

Alec smiled, until he noticed it and retreated back to his shell as quickly as he could.

Walking towards where a toilet was supposed to be as elegantly as he could in his current emotional and physical state, Alec was sadly aware of three things. He almost lost his footing twice more, and he had no idea what had him so off balance. The stranger was watching him go and definitely noticed how gawkily he was advancing because of the still existing… problem in his pants. And no matter how hard Alec tried to convince himself otherwise, it all felt like the beginning of something.

2018

The day their turbulent romance ended Magnus could still remember every single detail of his first meeting with Alec, vividly. But better than anything he remembered how it felt when their eyes met. The tingle under his skin, the shortness of breath, the flutter of a suddenly unsteady heart… He was spellbound, and he knew with absolute certainty that the younger man felt the same. He also felt something vaguely like impending doom.

His heart had been broken before, far too many times in a variety of ways. Why should this attempt at opening it up have ended any differently? Just because he allowed himself to fall deeper and harder? Just because he wanted Alec to be different?

For Magnus Bane all good things were bound to come to a usually bitter end eventually.

That bitingly cold evening Magnus burst into an apartment building he knew like his own, ignoring a frightened woman standing in the hallway when his focus was claimed by sounds of a fight.

"… away from my family …!"

"… care about her …"

"… stop, this is my fault …!"

Soon Magnus was pulling his boyfriend off of Raphael, a hotel owner he took under his wing when they were young and stupid and considered a brother. "Alec, stop!" he snarled. Using the shortened version of the name felt as wrong as the whole mess.

The younger man was horribly tense to his touch and pulled away harshly as soon as he could. There were hints of blood on Raphael's face and Alec's knuckles. Tears shimmered in Izzy's dazed and pained eyes, the pupils of which were revealingly tiny. Her jaw clenched hard when she could finally stop screaming at the two men to stop punching each other.

Then Alec looked at Magnus like so many others had before. His eyes were cold and resentful, like the older man was a stranger he didn't like very much. "This is my family! If you told me you saw her with that guy, and about the drugs… Then none of this would've happened!"

Magnus's hand twitched from a desperate need to reach out. In the end it was frozen still by the blazing eyes directed at him. "I didn't know!" he tried to defend himself. And he hadn't known, not like Alec seemed to imagine. But guilt still grabbed a painful hold of him.

"You knew enough", Alec hissed, sealing the emotional blow. And it sounded like the final verdict, especially when the man's whole attention shifted meaningfully to his sister. "We're leaving."

Apparently the day wasn't awful enough just yet. When Alec yanked Izzy to motion she stumbled. At first it looked like she merely lost her footing. Until she slumped to her brother's arms, unresponsive.

2019

Alec found himself looking back on both of those fateful days, the beginning and the end, far more often than was probably healthy. It took longer than it should've before he finally admitted to himself that pushing Magnus away was a mistake. And that breaking up was the last thing he wanted to do. By then it was already too late. He'd said too many things he wanted to take back, from the bottom of his heart. He'd burned the bridges too thoroughly.

Even after they broke up Magnus tried to fight for them, attempted to fix things and support him. But eventually admitted defeat after receiving enough verbal blows. Alec's temper had cost him the most precious thing he'd ever had.

Since figuring things out Alec had thought about reaching out to Magnus a few times. But every time he considered doing it, shame and fear overwhelmed him. Convinced him that it was too late, anyway. Whenever he would've had enough courage something came up to interrupt his valiant efforts. Then too much time had passed by. Or so he told himself on all those nights when he was kept awake by 'what ifs' and 'if onlys'.

Alec was certain that he'd never hear from Magnus again. No matter how much he wished that things were different. Which was why he shivered on that day of late winter, when he inspected his ringing phone to see a familiar name on the screen. In an instant his heart was sent hammering and his stomach fluttering.

"Alec." Izzy's tone was the kind that couldn't be ignored. There was something almost like despair in her eyes. "It's been eight months, and… During the latest sessions I've been told that it's time to try and make peace with the people I hurt, and the mistakes I made. Do you know what my biggest regret is?" She swallowed thickly and glanced away in shame. Then looked back with her usual, comfortingly familiar fierce determination. "It's you two idiots being unhappy and heartbroken because I made a stupid mistake." Her eyes flashed, for the first time since… "I refuse to let you ruin your life because I almost destroyed mine. So pick up, or I will."

Alec groaned. Then complied, because what other choice did he have? He swallowed and licked his lips, suddenly nervous. "Magnus?" Was that really his voice? It sounded shaky and pathetic. Like he feared that anything too loud might scare off the caller.

A few torturous moments of silence ticked by. The voice he eventually heard… It didn't belong to his ex-boyfriend. "Alec, it's… It's me, Catarina." His chest constricted when he was able to focus enough to hear the unshed tears in her voice. "Something's happened, and… You should sit down…"

TBC

A/N: Oh boy… That ending didn't sound like good news, right? (gulps) We'll see where THAT leads…

As the story continues we'll see how they ended up together, broke up AND, most importantly, what their future holds.

BUT… Are you guys interested in reading more? The word's yours, now. PLEASE, do let me hear from you! It ALWAYS makes my day.

In any case, THANK YOU, so much, for reading this! Perhaps I'll see you again one day…?

Take care!