Chapter 2

Magnus was trying, really trying to act normal and make this reunion a little less uncomfortable for them, but it was a difficult task—if not impossible. On the one hand, the elephant in the room was clearly there, sitting right next to them and trumpeting loudly just to be noticed. There were a lot of unsaid things going on between them and that was killing him. He had so many questions, so many things that he wanted to ask about them, about what had happened (or not) six years ago, but Alec wasn't exactly making things easy for him. Magnus had been trying to ask him questions about him, about his life, but the man had been deflecting them all like a pro, only sharing stuff that Magnus himself could have found with a quick and efficient search on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

It had been a long time since the last time they had seen each other and he really wanted to know what had become of Alec's life, even if that made him relive and unearth all the things that had taken him years to forget or bury very deep within himself.

"But enough about me," Alec said, though Magnus had no idea why the man had said that if he had spent almost an hour talking and talking about his siblings and friends in Idris and hadn't said a single thing about himself, "what's been of your life?" He asked curiously. "I heard that you became a pretty famous fashion designer. I mean, look at this place! And there's a boutique of your own brand right on Fifth Avenue!" He said with enthusiasm.

Magnus smiled. The fact that Alec knew what had been of his life—at least professionally speaking—had his heart jumping up and down with joy. It showed that, although Alec had left him and all that, he still cared—even a little. "Well, you know, that was always the dream...all of it. The brand, the name, the apartment in Brooklyn." He said, omitting the part in which Alec was part of that dream because he had always been. Since they had become a couple they had always dreamed big, but together. All this—the fame, the money, the success, and even the penthouse—had been meant to be for both of them, not just for Magnus.

Alec nodded and Magnus saw the sadness in Alec's eyes, though he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Alec seemed to have changed over the years, he wasn't as easy to read for Magnus as he used to be.

"Do you mind if I ask you how it happened?" Alec asked, without looking up from his glass of wine.

"I would say it was sheer luck," Magnus said, "but you're not going to believe me, so this is what happened. A couple of months after you, well, you know? After everything happened, I started working in this retail store in Queens to be able to pay the bills. I folded sheets and tablecloths for a living for months. Anyway, one day, a very fancy lady walked in and asked for help with some tablecloths, I was the only employee around, so I helped her. She needed two hundred tablecloths for a last-minute event and was really desperate. I started selecting the best we had and suggested some combinations because, obviously, we didn't have two hundred tablecloths of the same color, we barely had all she needed in stock. And well, at some point she told me that she thought I knew too much about textures and colors to just sell stuff, so I told her that I actually had majored in fashion design at NYU. Long story short, it turned out that the fancy lady worked at Vogue magazine as an assistant to none other than the editor-in-chief, and well, after she bought all the tablecloths she needed, she told me to apply for an internship at the magazine and tell the recruiting staff that she had sent me, so I did."

"You got an internship at Vogue magazine!?"

Magnus smiled with a nod. "I was there for a year, but then I started working as an assistant to some renowned designers in the city—Phillip Lim, Jason Wu, Alexander Wang—and when I felt confident enough to start my own brand, I quit my job and just went for it. It took me a couple of years to make a name for myself, but I did it. Now I'm not just Magnus Bane, the guy who once worked for all these other designers, I'm the man behind 'Bane,' one of the most successful clothing brands in the world."

Alec smiled so widely that Magnus could see the pride in his eyes.

"I'm so-" Alec started to say when his phone rang, interrupting him halfway through whatever he was about to say.

Alec took his phone out of his pocket to see who was calling and blushed. "I...I kind of have to take this." He said nervously, standing up from the couch and walking to one side of the room as if to have some privacy.

"Of course," Magnus said, trying not to think too much about what had just happened. It was something he had already thought he would have to endure tonight. It was normal. It had been years since they had broken up, it was only natural that Alec had someone else in his life. He had surely met a great guy in Idris and was happy with him. Magnus was almost certain that the reason why Alec had gotten so nervous with that call was because either his boyfriend didn't know that he was currently having dinner with his ex, or he knew it, and was just calling to check on him—as Magnus would do if he were in his place and knew their story and what had happened between them. "I'll go check to see if the food is ready, okay?" He said to give Alec the privacy it was clear he needed.

Magnus entered the kitchen for the second time in the evening and, as he had done the first time, he leaned on the counter to take a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he was going to be able to keep this up. Maybe inviting Alec to his own home had been a big mistake, maybe a neutral place like a restaurant or something like that would have been better than this. Because having him here, in such close proximity, was making him feel things that he thought he had left in the past.

Six years ago, when Alec had decided to go with his family to Idris leaving Magnus behind, he had been left devastated. It had taken him a lot of effort and bottles of whiskey to get over him, but now that they were face to face again, it was as if no time had passed at all and they were back where they had left off. And Magnus hated that, he hated that because it was only now that he had Alec in front of him again that he realized something that he must have realized years ago: that he still loved him. Despite the time, despite the heartbreak, and despite all the unanswered questions, he still loved him.

He had had other lovers since Alec had left, trying to find in them what he had found in the young man, but it had never worked. Unfortunately, he had always seen them as replacements, mere second bests, and that had really affected his dating life. All of them—Axel, Etta, Imasu, Camille—hadn't been Alec. Nobody could be Alec.

"Oh God…" He whispered, realizing that inviting Alec here tonight had, indeed, been a big, big mistake.

But he hadn't been able to avoid it. The moment he had seen him again, he had wanted nothing more than to bring him here. He had wanted Alec to see that he had made their dream of having a place in Brooklyn with all the stuff they had once said that they wanted to have a reality. He had wanted him to see that he had found the perfect the place with the great view that young-Alec had said he wanted their future home to have, so that he could sit on their balcony and write while watching the skyline of his favorite city in the world.

Tears welled up in Magnus's eyes, but he quickly grabbed a napkin and stopped them from falling. He couldn't ruin his makeup, much less let Alec see the effect he still—after all these years—had on him. He had to be stronger than he had been six years ago.

"Breathe, Magnus, breathe." He encouraged himself, trying, while Alec was still on the phone, to compose himself. "Just breathe...everything will be fine. It's just a dinner. It's just a dinner." He reassured himself.

He checked the oven and decided it was time to get everything to the table. Alec was still on the phone, but Magnus couldn't really hear him, just a couple of words here and there as he came and went from the kitchen. So he started setting the table for them to have dinner, taking the plates, the glasses, and everything else they were going to need, little by little.

"I know…" Magnus heard Alec tell whoever he was talking to on the phone on one of the occasions he made the trip from the dining room to the kitchen. He sounded annoyed as if he had been saying the same thing over and over again.

Magnus shrugged and reentered the kitchen, grabbing the rest of the things left to set on the table and making sure to take his time so that Alec could finish his call. But just as he was about to walk out of the kitchen for the last time, he heard it. What was breaking his heart all over again, but what he had been needing to know tonight to be able to build up his walls again and stop second guessing everything Alec said or did.

"Yes, don't worry. I'll see you later tonight, I love you too." Alec said.

Magnus knew that he had been a fool to think that maybe they could turn back time and just pick up their relationship where they had left it six years ago. Just as he had been a fool back then, when, in fact, they had been a couple, and he had thought they were destined to be together forever. When the plan was that when they both graduated from college, they would get a job in the city, they would look for a bigger and better place to live, and they would be happily ever after. But none of that had happened. Yes, they had graduated and for a minute it all seemed like a dream come true, but then...then, Alec's family had come to town and everything had gone to hell faster than it had taken Magnus to ask why. Alec's mother had arrived bearing the news of an impending divorce and a new position that Alec had to assume in the family business in Idris as the new head of the family. And Alec had left, just like that. He had broken up with Magnus, packed his bags and left, leaving Magnus with a broken heart and all his dreams completely crushed.

Alec hung up the phone and turned around, smiling at Magnus. Magnus smiled back, although deep down he was trying to assimilate the new information he had learned about Alec and getting used to—once again—live with it. He had overcome the fact of not being with Alec once, he had already pictured his life without him in it, this was no different from what he had been doing all these years.

"Well, just in time, dinner's ready." Magnus said, giving him his best fake smile.

Alec walked to the table and gasped. "Wow!" He exclaimed. "Did you cook all this?" He asked surprised.

"Don't give me that tone, you know I've always been a good cook." Magnus said modestly.

"Well, yeah, but not a gourmet cook." Alec said. "This looks way too fancy, one of your many pasta recipes would have been more than enough for tonight."

"I took a few lessons at some point down the line to up my game in the kitchen department, I got bored of pasta."

"I always loved your pasta."

"I know…" Magnus said. "But anyway, please take a seat, I'll go find us some more wine. I'm afraid we've already finished the bottle you brought." He added.

Alec sat down, and Magnus, taking a new bottle from his special cabinet, poured them more wine, taking a seat across the table right in front of Alec. Now that he knew with absolute certainty that Alec was with someone, it was somehow easier for him to relax and start meaningless conversations with the man. Because now he was 100% sure that no matter what he felt, no matter how many questions he had and wanted to finally hear the answers to. It was late for them—six years too late.

**The next chapter will be up in 3 hours ;)