Magnus can't find it in him to yell encouragement or shout praises. His eyes keep darting from Alec, to the finish line, to Alec, to the finish line. Move, move, move. Is he breathing? Magnus strains forwards, the crowd roaring in his ears. He's almost at the end – almost done. Magnus chews his lip, finding the edges of his hair and fiddling strands over his fingers. Alec's close, so so close, his muscles straining, his head turning.
Then the stands erupt. People cheer with excitement and so much more – Izzy is on her feet, Chairman barely leaping from her lap in time. He lands in Magnus' lap instead, settling his head down, alert at the echoing noises.
"Did he win?" Magnus whispers, watching as the swimmers pull themselves from the water. It must have been close. He can't find Alec amongst them. Where is he? Magnus wobbles his legs back to the floor, peering around the annoyingly stood people to find his boyfriend. Surrendering, he shuffled to a stand, Chairman clutched to his chest for dear life. The cats head turns and he mews softly; he's found Alec. Magnus sees as he enters the podium from the side. He congratulates one person and then another before standing in the middle looking nervous.
"Did he win?" Magnus repeats. "Has he won?" Izzy turns to him with a grin and he doesn't need to ask any more. He turns back to the podium and watches Alec accept the certificate and the trophy, the crowd still cheering. His stomach does somersaults and his hands feel clammy. Jace is down there with him, the others leaving to congratulate Alec's success. But Magnus finds his hands are shaking, and the people are rushing from the stands and moving so loudly he can't hear anything but their echoes. They sound so distorted they're almost like they're underwater.
Some people jump in the pool, more people follow their example, but the sounds do nothing to comfort him. Magnus tries to block it out, so make his feet move over to Alec to congratulate him but it's all too much. He did it. He watched Alec win. But he can't stay and watch this, the people in the pool joke around and try to push eachother under, tugging them down by their ankles and seeing who could hold their breaths for the longest.
Before he knows it, he is outside, gulping in the evening air that tastes like chlorine. Chairman is at his feet, the bag pack in his mouth like a dog carrying a bone. Magnus crouches down and tries to cough away the feeling of choking, Chairman sitting quietly at his side. It seems like an eternity that he spends trying to regulate hisbreathing, to make sure he can breath through his nose and mouth, to convince himself that his lungs have air. And when he looks up to straighten his back, to attempt to move, he sees Alec, crouching down in front of him. He has trousers on but no shirt, and his hair is dripping water droplets down his body.
"You came" Alec can't help but smile, and Magnus can see it like the moon. He tries to mirror it.
"I'm reduced to a shaking mess of a human shell, but yes. I came" Alec hugs him, holding him close.
"Izzy told me you did brilliantly when I was racing" He murmurs. "Must've been the end; it did get loud, didn't it?" Alec looks down and sees Chairman, waiting patiently to be acknowledged, so Alec scratches the patch between his ears and he purrs. "Thank you, too" The cat dips his head in acceptance and sits on the bag he was brought in. Alec smiles at that. "You put him in a bag?"
"Last time I took him to an event, they took him off me. I wasn't risking it" Magnus shakes his head and runs a hand through Alec's sodden hair. "Can you breathe?" He whispers, so quietly Alec isn't sure he heard it.
"Hm?" Magnus shakes his head, alert, and Alec knows it'ssomething he didn't mean to say. So he kisses his warlock and brushes his face. "I saw you, you know" Magnus peers up. "Before I started, when I came out. I saw the seat was empty, it sort of stood out, being the only reserved seat that wasn't filled. Then I realized Chairman was sitting on it" He laughs quietly. "Then I wondered…but you were sat there"
"Indeed I was" Magnus sighs shakily and Alec notices, the worry is etched onto his face. "Now, do you have some sort of after party to attend?" Alec nods slowly.
"But if you don't want to go back in there…"
"You may go" Magnus shuffles to a stand, Alec rising with him. "Enjoy your…win" Alec smiles dubiously – he doesn't want to leave Magnus alone like this. He's certain he's going to head for a breakdown. "I have a few things to attend to – and then you can have your reward"
"There you are" Alec smiles, happy that the usual Magnus with his 'few things to attend to' is still alive and sane. "Wait…Reward?" Alec seems surprised and it makes Magnus grin. "You came to watch me. At a pool. After six months of getting you to try. That, is reward enough for me"
"That was beautiful, dear, really" The old Magnus is back, it seems. Alec doesn't mind. "But really, after six months of persistence, you really do need some sort of reward" Magnus plucks Chairman from the floor and holds the empty bag in the other hand. "So you go and enjoy your after-party with your family, and then come and join your after-party-after-party with me when you're done. I'll be at the apartment" He kisses Alec far too quickly for Alec's liking, so he holds the Warlock close until he does it again. "In public?" Magnus enquires, grinning. "Later, love" Alec gets a proper kiss this time, and allows Magnus to leave.
000
When Alec gets into the apartment, stomach full of free food and his hair smelling a little less like chlorine, he doesn't expect a portal. He is expecting a bed, some wine, and fun. A portal sets him on edge. But that's what he's seeing instead of the usual corridor wall.
"Where are we going?" He calls out, but Magnus doesn't answer. He finds Chairman hovering by the portal, tail flicking from side to side. There's a glitter trail that leads to the portal – Alec's just realized. "He's through there?" Chairman Meow turned and jumped through the portal in reply. There was a time when Alec wasn't sure, when he made Magnus go through first just in case. Then as he grew used to them, he had to hold Magnus' hand to be sure that he wouldn't strand him somewhere. Now, he is confident so he follows the glitter trail after Chairman Meow.
The structuring of the room is marble and granite with the air of a spa. Alec moves further into the room and shifts off his shoes with his toes, nudging them to the edge of the huge bed. His socked feet feel unsure and slippy underneath him, so he peels them off too and stuffs them in his shoes. When he turns around, the portal is gone and the glitter trail comes from a blank wall. His eyes follow it, but it leads to the bed he's stood in front of and Magnus isn't on it.
He hides his disappointment, but he thinks he's taking too long and looking at the wrong thing because Chairman meows at him to hurry up. He wonders how he knows that, but he supposes he's got used to the cat's impatient whining. But Alec does a 360 and –
"Is that a pool?" He starts towards the large glass wall that makes up a quarter of the four walls. Chairman Meow follows closely at his ankles, weaving impatiently in and out of his feet when he comes to a halt. The large double glass doors in front of him lead to an outdoor pool, half sheltered by a stone coving. It has warm lights glowing around and inside it, a bar set up at the side. Alec wants to move his head to assess the other treats in the room, but his eyes can't move from the pool. Perhaps he's had enough of pools, though. Chairman rudely nips at his ankles.
"Fine" The cat turns and Alec follows, looking at everything. In the corner of the room there's a large glass box – which Alec quickly registers as a shower. It has candles surrounding it, lights in the shower head that Alec suspects will be multi-coloured. Alec gapes but Chairman nudges him along like a dog. "Sheesh, so impatient!" He nudges the cat back with his bare foot, but the cat simply skips a few steps and stalks onward.
He leads him around a tinted-glass wall of block-tiles, an array of neon colours. The light reflects of it like a stain glass window, making pretty patterns on the opposite wall. Around it is a large circle of a room, lit with fire-torches on the walls and a circular Jacuzzi in the centre.
Magnus leans out over the side, arms folded, chin resting on them lightly. When Alec comes in, he can't help but smile.
"You're-…you're in" Alec gapes, tempted to find something to toss at his boyfriend to make sure it isn't an illusion. Magnus shifts his arms and leans out of the Jacuzzi, resting his elbow on the side as he beckons Alec over with a simple flick of his finger. Alec's taken his T-shirt off before he really knows why, but his trousers fall to the floor just as quickly and he's standing in naught but his boxers just inches away from a semi-naked Magnus. Oh…Make that a completely naked Magnus.
"Tell me that again, in a little while" Magnus brings himself up to meet Alec's lips, but doesn't quite reach just yet. His back arches as he leans closer and Alec's head tips for the view with a smile. Magnus grins knowingly. Alec closes his eyes, caught "Now you best get in" He gives Alec a teasing peck on the cheek, slipping back down and submerging himself in the water right up to his shoulders. Alec vaults over the side and all but splashes into the centre, his hands reaching for Magnus and they slip into a comfortable tangle of limbs.
"Are you ok?" Alec asks quietly, wondering if at any moment Magnus would jump up and leave him.
"I think I'm doing rather well, don't you?" Alec nods in agreement. "I know you've probably had enough of all things water" Magnus trails his finger over Alec's collar bone, over to his shoulder and he shivers in response. "But I want you to know that this is for me just as much as it is for you. This" Magnus swirls his hand from Alec's arm to the water, warm and still. "I won't run from it" Alec can practically feel Magnus' body thrumming with determination and calm at the same time. He doesn't think it's possible to do both, but Magnus is looking calm, his body feeling grounded. "I will stay here, with you, for as long as you need me to prove that I can" Alec finds himself kissing Magnus all over. From his lips, his temple, his head, hair – ears, chin, cheek—Magnus groans and pulls him closer. "That, I hope, will be enough of a reward for you"
"It's so much more" Alec breathes, unable to look at anything but Magnus' eyes, hopeful. He finds himself smiling again.
"We have as long as you like" Magnus murmurs, smiling. "Till we're all wrinkly, if you fancy it" Alec's face grows strangely mischievous.
"Hm" He mumbles. "Well that leaves enough time to try everything a few times…" Magnus nods in agreement as Alec continues. "The shower looked brilliant. The pool outside – if it's a clear night – I've always wanted to" Alec bites his lip. "And the bed… that looked pretty cosy, too"
"You like?" Magnus grins, reaching for something on the outside of the Jacuzzi. Alec nods, and Alec can't keep his face serious when the Jacuzzi bubbles to life. Excited, he lets himself laugh, waiting for Magnus' reaction. The warlock simply gets comfortable on the side and shows his utter confidence. And Alec couldn't have been more proud.