Water Under The Bridge

Chapter 4:
what are brothers for?

*.*.*.*.*

"So our sister tells me you've got a crush," Jace said, a sort of teasing smugness in his voice that had Alec freezing where he was at the coffee pot; it was well before business hours and they had just had their daily staff meeting that ended in coffee and chitchat before they all went about getting ready for the day.

Surprisingly, however, the only one to actually hang back that morning had been Jace, his adopted brother. Which, usually, would be fine, but Alec was in far too good of a mood that morning and his brother had a nasty little habit of ruining good moods—sometimes unintentionally, sometimes very much so intentionally, depending on his own mood—so he would be lying if he said he wouldn't have preferred to be left to his own devices rather than deal with whatever it was that Jace was going to subject him to.

It was Tuesday, though, and Magnus would be there within hours, and that would make up for anything Jace could do to his mood and then some…

In theory.

"She did not," Alec replied stubbornly, regaining his wits enough to go back to making his cup of coffee.

"No, she didn't," Jace relented, arms crossed, leaning back against the counter near Alec. "But she did let it slip to Simon, who told Clary, who mentioned it to me…" he trailed off, smugness back as Alec let out a groan.

He was sure Izzy hadn't meant any harm and that she had probably just mentioned it to Simon in passing while they were making small talk, but Simon would have gone to Clary giddily with that information, and Clary would have mentioned it to Jace in passing, in concern, maybe, if the two of them were getting along on whichever day it had been when she mentioned it to Jace.

Part of the reason he had left in the first place, he was reminded then, was because there was absolutely no privacy around there; everyone was family, and everything was everyone's business, and sometimes it was just… so suffocating. He was glad to be back some days, but other days… less so.

"So is it true?" Jace asked when Alec remained quiet.

He turned around, forgetting his coffee on the counter for now, and leveled Jace with a thoughtful look, trying to decide whether it was worth it to tell him the truth or not, whether he should tell him that it wasn't just some silly little crush, that he was absolutely and completely smitten with Magnus Bane. Whether he should tell him that he looked forward to their Tuesday mornings together more than anything else these days. Whether he should tell him that they had exchanged only a few text messages in the past couple of weeks but that each and every one of them made Alec's heart beat in a way that wasn't normal, in a way that told him it was definitely more than just a crush and that it would absolutely turn into something much more than just being smitten if he wasn't careful.

He wanted so very badly to tell someone that, but he was still trying to decide whether or not Jace was the right someone to tell just yet.

"Nope," Alec replied finally, voice tight in a way that would have told anyone else that the conversation was over.

How could Alec forget, though, that Jace Herondale was anything but anyone else?

Jace searched his face for a moment, and the two stood like that in a standoff, each trying to decide their next move, neither of them willing to back down. And Alec was sure he was going to crack first, was going to admit everything to Jace and then some…

But then Jace shrugged before he could actually do as much, reached around and stole Alec's cup of coffee like the absolute brat that he was, before he said anything.

"Well then," he paused to take a sip of the coffee, and Alec was pleased that he hadn't gotten around to adding the sugar or cream yet when he saw the look that flashed across Jace's face as the bitter coffee settled over him. "I guess you won't mind if I take the cat room today and you take the dogs?"

Alec's shoulders slumped at Jace's words, frown on his face. Either he insisted that he be in the cat room and confirm what Jace already knew and be subjected to teasing for God only knew how long… or he agree and spend his day with the dogs and not see Magnus that week. Either way, he lost, and either way, Jace won.

(Fucking prick.)

With a frown still on his face, he said, "Of course I don't mind," with a shrug to try to convey that it didn't make a difference to him, even though it very much so did.

Jace raised an eyebrow at him, but merely shrugged back, as if surprised that Alec had agreed, but not going to challenge him on it any further.

"Sounds like a plan then," he said.

To which Alec responded, "Sounds like it."

He would only have to wait another week before he could see Magnus; a week wasn't that long, was only 7 days. And he could always text Magnus in the meantime, if he was so inclined to, if he could actually think of anything to say that didn't make him come across as a lovesick teenager.

And if he couldn't think of anything… he could always just send Magnus pictures of cats he thought the other would like. Because cat pictures were always a good alternative to actually flirting with someone you were romantically interested in.

Naturally.

*.*.*.*.*

Alec had somehow gotten through the day in the dog room without losing his mind completely. He had been on the edge of his seat most of the day, half expecting Magnus to come through the door at any moment, having just sensed exactly where Alec was hiding—because God knew Jace wouldn't volunteer the information of where Alec was or that it was his fault. Every time Maia came in or out with a dog, anytime a customer came in to look at the dogs, anytime the wind blew or a dog barked or paced their cage, Alec would look up from what he was doing to see if it was Magnus.

It never was.

(Maia had thought he had lost his mind, he had been jumping so much that day, but, well, she thought most people who worked there were mentally unsound so he wasn't too worried about it, he'd decided; he had more important things to waste his time worrying about.)

And that had left him just a little dejected, and a little disappointed, and a little sad at the end of the day, but it was only a week, he reminded himself. Next week he wouldn't let Jace goad him into taking the other room; next week, he would see Magnus if it was the death of him. Or Jace. More than likely it would be the death of Jace, and if Alec had to see to that personally, then so be it.

*.*.*.*.*

As upset as he had been about not getting to see Magnus, he certainly hadn't been expecting a call that night from, well, Magnus himself.

But he had been thrilled all the same when his phone lit up with the other's name, and his heart had been beating in his chest when he scrambled to shut off the tv and pick it up before the other could change his mind and hang up, or before he got sent to voicemail and thought Alec didn't want to talk to him. After not getting to see him that day, Alec absolutely did not think he could handle missing a call from him too.

"Magnus," Alec breathed when he finally answered it, sounding out of breath when all he was doing was lying in bed.

"Alexander," Magnus seemed to purr.

"What's… what's up?" Alec said, shaking his head at himself. It was just a phone call, why couldn't he keep himself together when he and Magnus weren't even face to face?

"Nothing, I just… wanted to make sure you were okay," he said softly, concern in his tone that melted Alec's heart.

(Fuck.)

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine, why would you—"

"Your brother," Magnus interrupted, sounding annoyed with Jace's very existence, much the same as Alec himself felt that day. "Told me you weren't there today because you had come down with a case of something that was rather incurable; he almost made it sound like you were dying, and obviously I wanted to make sure that you weren't actually."

"Obviously," Alec repeated, small grin on his face as he did, though it ebbed rather quickly when he realized what Magnus had said, what Jace could have possibly told him. He was so dead. "But… I'm fine. Jace was just being…"

"An ass?"

"Yeah, that," Alec laughed. "I was there, I was just with the dogs today; trust me when I say I would have much rather have been with you and the cats instead."

"Well if that isn't the sweetest thing you've ever said to me," Magnus teased, his voice tickling the back of Alec's neck.

It was like he was right there, Alec thought; if he closed his eyes, he could picture him, standing behind him in the cat room at work. And if he pushed his mind just a little bit further, he could imagine Magnus was laying right next to him in bed instead, arms wrapped around him, breathing soundly into his neck.

He had seen the bottom of Magnus' stomach and the dip of the top of his chest before, and that was enough to allow his imagination to run a little bit wild with things, to fill in the gaps and imagine what the rest of his chest looked like, what the rest of his body looked like, what it would look like pressed down into Alec's bed, what it would look like with Alec's hands and lips all over him, what he would look like when Alec—

"I can always tell when you're thinking about me," Magnus said then, quietly, pulling Alec from his daydream. "Not in a bad way," he added hastily, as if he could see the look of panic and the blush that had crept up onto Alec's face at the suggestion. "You just… tend to get quiet and look like you're having a better time in your head, that's all."

"I always have a good time when I'm with you," Alec said before he could help himself.

"I don't doubt that," Magnus said, amused. "But… I'm sure you're having even more of a good time in your fantasies," he said, still soft, still amused. Still turning Alec on impossibly more.

"Maybe one day I'll have as much of a good time in real life," Alec said, bold now that he had given so much away.

"I think I would like that just as much as you would."

And Alec grinned for the rest of their conversation afterwards, and fell asleep with Magnus on his mind, and that same smile on his lips.

Maybe he owed Jace a thank you for making him switch rooms with him that day.

*.*.*.*.*