CHAPTER FOUR – DAY SIXTY-SIX TO SEVENTY-ONE

Alec spent all of Saturday wondering when he should call Magnus; he was very new to relationships. His last relationship only lasted a few months, because the other guy couldn't understand his need to take care of Max and his siblings. Alec was crushed when he used that excuse to get away, so Alec swore off dating because Max was the most important person and he needed to focus on his family. Well over a year later and he was burnt out. Going out the night before was more refreshing to him then taking an extended vacation from work. He had hookups over the years but nothing that lasted long, many were just a one-night stand here or there. But actual relationships were different and he didn't want Magnus to just be a hookup. He felt connected to him; their dinner proved that. They spent two hours just talking and drinking with a little food mixed in.

"Alec," Max yelled before jumping on to his bed with a whoosh.

"Oh." Alec lifted his arms up to catch him but was too late and Max landed on his stomach; knocking the wind out of him. "Max."

"I want a story." He smiled at him.

Alec winced at the pain from moving with a nine-year-old who was leaving his knee jammed into Alec's stomach. "Shouldn't you already be in bed?" He knew for a fact Clary put Max to bed an hour ago.

"I snuck out. I want you." He whined.

It was almost ten and way past Max's bedtime even for a weekend. "Max, come on." Alec went to stand up but was stopped when Max dug his knees in, one into the mattress the other still in Alec's stomach.

"Can I stay here tonight?" Max pleaded.

At the same time, Alec's phone rang, he went for it before Max could continue.

MAGNUS BANE

The names flashed on his screen and for a second Alec was conflicted on what to do. This time Alec easier picked Max off of him and pushed him to the other side of his queen-sized bed, he reached for his phone right before the screen went blank. "Hello."

"Hey, Alexander."

Max went to jump on Alec again, but he caught him easily this time; the boy's knee hit his hip with a crack. "Ow. Max, stop." Alec had to move the phone to his other ear to get Max from jumping. "Sorry, Max stuck out of bedtime with Clary and is jumping on me." Alec caught his breath at the laugh coming from the other end.

"Should I be jealous?"

Alec blushed, he was sure his entire body blushes at that remark. He had experience in sex, but bedroom talk always made him turn bright red. He had to cough then.

"Are you there?" Magnus asked with another laugh when his only response was a cough.

"Yeah, sorry." Alec finally stood up, pinning Max to his hip, "Hold on, one second." He went to his door, phone still in his ear. "Clary, your prisoner escaped." He raised his voice to be heard around the house without yelling. He waited for Jace's girlfriend to peak her head out of their bedroom until he dropped Max on the floor, he landed on his feet with a smirk at Clary. She stepped out after him and then chase started then, soon Jace was also out of the room and both were going after Max. Alec waited another moment before heading back to his room to shut the door and lock it.

He didn't notice Izzy in her doorway staring at him and not the scene with Max, Simon was next to her. "Was Alec on the phone?"

Izzy nodded, "I wonder with who. The only people he calls are currently in this house."

Alec waited for his lock to be turned, "Sorry about that. My normal Saturday night." He laughed with his response as if it was normal for everyone to watch a nine-year-old out run two twenty-four-year-olds. "I swear I am going to have a bruise from that kid's knee hitting my hip."

"I waited for you to call me."

"I didn't know when I should." Alec felt he had to be honest. "I haven't had anyone to call in a long time, so I forgot protocol."

"Protocol. Spoken like a true IT person."

"What can I say, its what I'm good at."

"You got Max next Friday?"

Alec shook his head then realized he was on his phone and would need to do more than just move his head. "No, actually. Clary and Jace are taking them to Clary's stepdads place for a long weekend. He loves the animals on the farm. Izzy and Simon are going as well. I'll actually be alone all weekend."

"Go on a date with me."

Alec froze mid-movement and all. Just froze in the middle of his bedroom. Magnus was actually asking him on a date, so they were going to be more than co-workers or friends. They would be dating, that didn't mean relationship, it just meant dates.

"I mean I'm counting last night as our first date."

"You are?" Alec finally made it to his bed.

"You aren't?" Magnus questioned.

Alec could tell from the sound of his voice that Magnus was enjoying this, his smile could be heard with every word.

"Didn't it feel like a date to you?"

"I mean yes but-" Alec stopped himself from continuing with '-I didn't know you were gay.' The words just froze; he was doing a lot of that tonight.

"Not at first but it ended like a first date. Well..." Magnus snickered, "More kissing then most of my first dates."

"Most?"

"Go out with me, Alexander."

He couldn't stop his smiling then, "Friday night then." The pounding came to his door then; it was Jace from the force of the blows. There was a mufflered voice, but Alec knew he had to go. "Look I have to go, Jace isn't having any luck with Max." It was their standard round robin, Jace never had luck putting Max to bed when he wanted to test the bounds because Jace was the fun brother so when it came to laying down the law it fell to Alec since Izzy got cute when she was mad and Max would just laugh which made her even worse.

"Yes, put the prisoner to bed."

"I'll see you on Monday, Magnus."

"Goodnight, Alexander."

And the line went dead. Alec looked at his phone for just half a second until the pounding started, he threw his phone on his bed and went to collect Max. Just as he thought Jace had Max over his shoulder, who was squirming like a worm. "What is going on?"

"He's hyper and won't sleep. He wants you."

Alec took Max and put him down who went running to his bed to bury himself in for the night. "What are you guys going to do next weekend without me?"

"He loves my mom; he'll go to sleep for her," Clary smirked and everyone knew it was true. Jocelyn say sit and Max would sit for hours, she was just good with kids and Max adored her which worked well since Clary and Simon were not leaving their tiny family any time soon.

"Goodnight." Alec shut his bedroom door in their faces and went to get Max, he knew himself well; there was no going to bed any time soon for either of them.

Monday came too soon for Alec, there didn't seem like enough coffee to be awake at 5:30am but he had to get ready, wake up Max, get him ready and out to the school bus by 7:12am. Thankfully, they had three bathrooms, so he didn't need to compete with Izzy for the bathroom on anymore; when she moved into the master suite, she also got the master bathroom which worked out well for everyone. Jace got his own with Clary and Alec always gave Max his baths and showers in his. This morning, however, Max was continuing on his nightmare from the weekend. Alec couldn't get him to settle down; no one could; he was uncontrollable the entire weekend. He landed himself in time out four times on Sunday and that was the good part of the weekend. He kept jailbreaking from his own bed on Saturday, so he didn't get the right amount of sleep so he was a nightmare the next day. Alec internally blamed Jace and Clary because they allowed him to stay up a little late for a movie which through his entire schedule off and they didn't even try to get him to sleep until almost two hours after his bedtime. Max was a kid who needed sleep; Alec tried to disturb his sleep when he was a baby to try and get him to be able to sleep at any time but it never worked. He tried running the vacuum or doing laundry to get him to be okay with noise which worked; it was the only thing that works; he could sleep like a rock but, Max needed his sleep and he didn't get it this weekend. Alec was wholly excepting to get a call from the school today. But the morning when smoothly, after Alec had his second cup of coffee.

His ride to work was uneventful; he drove himself into the office a little early this morning because he needed to be out early, so Alec spent the twenty-minute ride with just him and the news, talk radio.

"Alec?" He turned to find Magnus getting out of his car in the row behind him. He locked his car while Magnus walked up to him. "Did you have a good Sunday?" Magnus asked with a smile, his messenger bag over his shoulder and a takeaway coffee in his hands. Magnus found early on that he and Alec were very different when it came to their coffee; Alec needed black and bitter whereas Magnus needed lots of sugar and a splash of cream.

"Horrible." Alec yawned, which he could not cover due to him carrying his briefcase and a travel mug of his own. "Max was hyper and spent the day getting on Jace's nerves. He never does it for Izzy or Clary but Jace he gets him so annoyed with Jace's temper."

"You know, Alexander, that's the most I've ever heard you say about your family here." Magnus held open the door for him with a broad smile; he wasn't complaining just shocked.

Alec ignored him, "How was your Sunday?"

"Not bad, I took a day off and didn't do a damn thing."

Alec got the elevator and they rode it down in relative silence. Magnus felt the shift in Alec; he was going into work mode which meant no personality at all which annoyed Magnus to point since he was beginning to pull his personality out and Magnus liked the personality Alec had. He smiled to himself he was now on a mission to get Alec to show more of himself at work. He heard Jem and Will talking about Alec from time to time and how aloof they found their manager. Alec had wonderful customer service skills and the users adored him, but he left his personal life at the door. Magnus was aware that he and Alec dating would be a big deal for Alec around the office and he wouldn't enjoy Magnus making a scene or talking about it so it was going to have to be a mission that Magnus could pull off while here yet private at the same time. This was going to require thinking on his part and find any way possible to be in Alec's office.

"Alexander?" Magnus stopped walking right outside the elevator, "Are you okay?"

Alec froze with Magnus when he said his full name; Magnus was right about one thing when he said his name it was sexy. He had to close his eyes to not think about it. "Yeah, just tired from Max and it's going to be a busy Monday."

Magnus nodded and walked around him to get into the office. He wasn't wrong with that, Mondays were always busy and hellish in IT.

"Magnus, wait." Alec stepped up to him, he stopped himself before his handmade connect but that meant he left it hanging in mid-air. "Are you okay?"

He smiled; looking at Alec's hand not his face, "Now, I am." And he was. He was glad Alec asked him, it sent a thrill down his spine. He felt like he could go into the office, and face the team without wanting to announce he had made out with the boss over the weekend and Alec wasn't a cold-hearted as they thought. Another thrill went down as his spine as he sat at his desk and finally thought about it; Alec did bring out his personality with him. Alec did so in the hallway just now and he was excited with the fact that it was possible to pull it out of him. His mission was going to be easier than he initially thought.

It was Wednesday before Magnus finally got a moment alone with Alec, the rest of the team had gone out to lunch and Magnus didn't go on principle; the guys weren't willing to invite Alec with the excuse that 'he never goes why would he start now.' Magnus felt confident that he could get Alec to go, but they weren't willing to ask, so Magnus refused since he actually did bring a lunch with him that day. He waited ten minutes to make sure the guys wouldn't be back before getting up to see if Alec was in his office, and he was.

"Alexander." Magnus knocked on the open door like he always did.

Alec looked up with a smile but he was on the phone, he waved his hand for Magnus to come in and take a seat. Magnus closed the door slightly behind him, leaving it only open a crack. "Yeah, thanks, Tessa." He nodded, "I'll let the team know today. Thanks." He hung up the phone to look at Magnus who had a questioning look on his face. "Tessa is allowing us to close the help desk at 3:30 on Friday due to our good numbers for the last few months. Small victories." He couldn't help his smile, he was happy for his team but also glad Magnus was here with him. "So what's up?"

"The guys went to lunch. Is it true you never go out with them?"

Alec sat back in his chair, "Yeah, I always bring a lunch. It's too hard to get away most of the time, so it's just easier to eat here."

"You know it's going to burn you out over time. You need to break during the day to help make the afternoon easier." Magnus sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees to get a closer look at Alec, his possible boyfriend but definitely make out partner. "I am going to make it my mission to get you out to lunch with the entire team. Team building activity."

Alec laughed, "Right." He drew out the word, showing his disbelief; unconsciously wetting his lips in the process.

Magnus stood up then, walking around Alec's desk before he could complain; he only gave enough of a warning for his boss to sit up straight before their lips met. Magnus pushed him back into his chair with the angle of his kiss and demanded Alec open his mouth under his. He felt the pleasure radiate through him when Alec closed his eyes and followed his commands. Their tongues met and Magnus let out a groan as he pushed further; forcing Alec's head into the headrest of his chair but not before Magnus snaked a hand to the back, locking his hand between Alec and the chair.

Alec brought his hands up to Magnus' chest with the intention to push him away but instead he curled his fingers around the open buttons at the top of his shirt; wrinkling the shirt and pulling him even closer at the same time. Magnus had to bend his knees to keep their position, but he didn't mind, he got Alec to relax for a moment to enjoy each other. Magnus finally pulled back; with Alec's closed eyes he couldn't stop but go in for another kiss, angling the other way.

Magnus heard a sound of muffled talking beyond the glass doors and pulled back to look at Alec. Their eyes finally met. "I could not wait until Friday. Sorry." He wasn't sorry, but he knew that's what Alec wanted to hear with the pure panic in his eyes.

"Magnus."

He pulled back and stood at his full height, stepping back so Alec wouldn't have to strain so much to lock eyes with him. "I'm really not sorry." He figured Alec as going to scold him since they were both aware he was lying.

"I know." Alec stood up, wiping his thumb over his bottom lip.

"Don't do that, Alexander."

"You shouldn't call me that-" He dropped his hand but used his tongue instead. "Not here at least."

"That's even worse." Magnus closed his eyes and groaned, silently. The sight of Alec touching his lips lightly without using the back of his hand as most would, did things to him. Magnus felt it was a total turn off when anyone did that as if showing that the kiss wasn't meaningful but Alec didn't do that, he used his thumb which kept it intimate then his tongue which was downright sexy.

"As much as we both enjoyed that, you can't do that again." He wanted to sound like he meant it but he couldn't since he didn't mean it. Part of him wanted to go on, but this was work and he needed to not risk anything by kissing here.

Magnus smirked, stepping back to the office door; he wanted to make a hasty retreat after what he was going to say next, "We both know that is definitely going to happen again in this office." And with that, he was gone.

Alec tried not to think about what Magnus meant with 'that,' they had not even gone on an official date yet; although they were in agreement that Friday was definitely a date. Alec spent the entire afternoon losing focus on work and focusing more on what Magnus had planned for him on Friday, he still had two days to wait and it was going to be a very long two days.

Magnus, however, had other plans and made sure to sneak some time in with Alec under the rouse that he needed help with a situation whether the guys were in the office or not, he just wanted to talk to him and would never make him feel uncomfortable with trying anything with the guys around. He would just have to wait for Friday to come for that. He was more forward than Alec but he would do everything in his power to keep Alec forward with him without changing him. Magnus understood his professionalism and didn't want him to think otherwise. On Friday the guys left again for lunch but this time Magnus went with them; he didn't need another reason to get him and Alec alone, they would be together that night for their date anyway, so Magnus went to eat with great pains in leaving Alec alone at the office.