A/N: I want it on the record that I started writing this chapter mere hours after I posted the last one. I don't know when I'll finish it, but I started with good intentions.

Also, I stated in an earlier chapter that Ragnor was a student at NYU Law. This was a mistake, as he actually attends Columbia Law, and I've corrected the mistake in the chapter I mentioned it in.

Disclaimer: blah blahhhh don't own itttttt

Chapter 6: Homecoming

Saturday. The best day of the week, as far as Magnus was concerned. The day you could sleep in and stay up late, because work was over and Monday was still a day away. Every Saturday, he was practically itching to go hit the clubs even if he hadn't fully recovered from last night's shenanigans.

Not this Saturday, though.

This Saturday was decidedly different. It wasn't different in all aspects by any means- after all, it was almost noon and Magnus was still lying in bed. That was some pretty typical Saturday behavior for him. And he had in fact stayed up late the night before, but not for party reasons. Nope, he'd spent his Friday night texting back and forth with his new friend Blue for hours.

He reread the last text Blue had sent him, a simple "Good night" around 3 am when they'd finally decided to go to sleep, and smiled a little bit. It had been a while since he'd let someone new into his life, and honestly, he was enjoying getting to know this new person.

"Magnus!" Ragnor rapped sharply on the door. "Your cat's losing his mind out here, what do I do?"

"I don't think he's just my cat if he's living with both of us," Magnus hollered back. Still, he reluctantly sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He had to start doing things eventually, and saving the Chairman from Ragnor's incompetence was priority number one.

Throwing a sideways glance into his mirror to make sure he didn't look too gross, Magnus opened the door to see the Chairman yowling at an irritated Ragnor.

"What does he even want?" Ragnor huffed.

"Sustenance, Ragnor, the same as all living creatures," Magnus remarked dryly.

"Why did you even sleep in so late?" Ragnor continued as Magnus bent down to pick up the hungry cat. "You didn't go out last night. I got home from the library at 11 and you were in your room….which never happens on a Friday. Are you sick?" Ragnor's tone changed as he squinted suspiciously at his roommate.

"I'm fine," Magnus brushed past him and made his way over to the kitchen with the cat. "I just had work to do, okay? I'm capable of prioritizing."

"Oh yeah? What work were you doing?" Ragnor questioned.

"I was preparing for my new intern," Magnus lied smoothly as he prepared the Chairman's food. It was definitely what he should have been doing, seeing as she was starting on Monday and he needed to give her things to do, but what did Ragnor know?

"So, what's their name?" Ragnor asked nonchalantly.

"Claire." Magnus replied. He'd briefly glanced at her file when he'd gotten it, and he was pretty sure that was the name.

"Where do they go to school?"

"NYU." That was a pretty safe bet.

"What's their major?" Ragnor prodded on.

"...graphic design." It was a reasonable guess, and it could have been right for all either of them knew, but he'd hesitated too long.

"You were not working." Ragnor declared triumphantly. "You were texting that boy Blue again."

Magnus groaned. "Fine, I was, but it's not that big of a deal."

"I didn't say that it was." Ragnor continued grinning. "I just think it's interesting that you're texting him so much is all, but hey! Who am I to judge?"

Magnus grumbled as he placed the Chairman's bowl on the floor. "I'm just getting to know him. It's fun to learn about someone new. I haven't done that in a long time."

"And I'm sure there's nothing else at play here?" Ragnor said smugly.

"Nothing! I haven't even seen the guy. All I know is that he has blue eyes."

"Your favorite." Ragnor sang playfully.

"Okay, now I'm actually going to work." Magnus turned his back on his annoying roommate and headed to the bathroom to freshen up.

He didn't know what had gotten into Ragnor's head this morning. Sure, Magnus had been texting Blue a decent amount over the past couple of days, but that was normal at the start of a friendship. Hell, when he'd first befriended Ragnor in college, he would spend days at a time in Ragnor's dorm talking at him about whatever popped into his head. Compared to that, his texting relationship with Blue was nothing intense at all. Ragnor was just too optimistic about him moving on from Camille.

Camille….

Magnus squirted some toothpaste out onto his toothbrush and thought about his on and off again girlfriend as he brushed away. He'd already disposed of her toothbrush, and Ragnor had done a good job of throwing out any belongings she'd left in the common areas of the loft, but he'd yet to go through the process of cleaning out his bedroom. He could already imagine what he'd find….some shoes she'd left behind, a sweater or two no doubt, make-up, and of course, the fuzzy handcuffs under the bed.

There was no way he was going to start his day off like that, he decided. Actually reviewing the intern's file was looking more and more appealing.

He spat out the toothpaste and rinsed out his mouth, before deciding to go ahead and shower. It was better to feel good and look good before getting to work, after all.

Name: Clarissa Fray

Age: 21

School: New York University

Major: Graphic Design

The typical list of information about his new intern was accompanied by her headshot. A pale, freckled redhead with bright green eyes and an equally bright smile beamed at him through the picture. Magnus could already tell she had a tremendous amount of energy, and his suspicions were confirmed as he read through the remainder of the application she'd submitted. Loved art since she was a child….a lot of independent experience….wanted to use art to change the world….the same sort of stuff a lot of interns submitted every year. To be fair, her portfolio was impressive enough to support her statements.

Magnus munched on his sandwich as he continued to read through his new intern's file in the kitchen. Hopefully her experience with independent work meant she wouldn't require too much supervision….but on the other hand, this seemed to be her first time working in the fashion industry. That was surprising, since the internship was so competitive.

Do you have any relatives currently employed by Seasons Magazine?: Yes

Well, that seemed to explain that. The name of the employee she was related to was redacted, and Magnus couldn't recall ever meeting anyone else with the last name Fray in his years working for Seasons. Shrugging, he decided not to hold any nepotism that might have played a role in her selection against her. For all he knew, she was related to a low-level employee, not some all-powerful executive. And her work was certainly very good, although Magnus could definitely see a few areas that could use improvement. Hey, nobody's perfect, especially not in college.

"Magnus, I'm making pasta for dinner when I get back, so don't order in or stuff yourself." Ragnor brushed by his roommate with his rather full backpack in tow, no doubt headed for the library once again. Even though he'd only just started his second year at Columbia Law, he was already basically living in the Diamond Law Library again, much like he'd been last year around exam season.

"You know if you study too much, your brain will melt out of your ears." Magnus said teasingly.

"I'm going to work for a bit before I study," Ragnor replied as he tugged on his shoes. "Rent's gotta come from somewhere."

Magnus hummed in acknowledgement, not really listening anymore as he examined Clarissa's file again. He already had some ideas for how to keep her busy during the internship, and he found himself actually a little excited to meet her.

"Bye!" Magnus was jolted out of his thoughts again by Ragnor slamming the door shut, and the Chairman whined his displeasure at the loud noise.

"Well, what shall we do on our Saturday alone in the apartment, Chairman?" Magnus closed the file, deciding that was enough work for one day.

The cat did not reply, having already curled back up into his nap.

"That's a very good idea," Magnus said drily. "I was picturing something more productive, though."

He stood up and stretched, figuring he had about five hours until Ragnor came home around 8 pm, assuming Ragnor remembered to drag himself out of the library and come home, of course. It seemed like as good a time as any to tackle the task of removing Camille's presence from his bedroom.

Magnus finally sat on the floor of his bedroom and surveyed his progress. Overall, he thought he'd successfully located and discarded every single thing that Camille had left in his bedroom, with the exception of the bottle of perfume that he'd broken in his closet. Ugh, the sickeningly sweet smell of roses would linger on his clothes for days. He didn't understand how he'd ever found that scent appealing on Camille.

She just had that effect on him, he supposed. He'd been with Camille for years, and she had an almost hypnotic influence when they were together. Ragnor had pointed it out, and of course, Magnus had never wanted to listen, but now things were different.

She had cheated on him.

Not just messed around with some guy in a bar. Camille did that quite frequently, and Magnus had always been rather willing to put up with it. It was part of her influence. She messed around, and he didn't mind that often because he believed she still loved him. And on the rare occasion that it did bother him, she would dump him and make it seem like his fault until she inevitably got jealous of whoever he started dating after her. It was a reliable pattern, to say the least.

But now, she'd dumped him to be with someone else. Someone she hadn't made out with on a random night, but who she'd actually been seeing and dating and having sex with over and over again behind Magnus' back.

It broke the pattern. It was different. And somehow, that was enough to help shake Magnus out of the hypnosis, just a little.

He couldn't end up back with her again, he decided.

There would be no hoarding of her belongings, no carefully hiding them from Ragnor and treasuring them until she came back. He'd throw them out, maybe ceremonially burn them, and remove Camille from his life once and for all.

The idea made him feel better.

His cell phone buzzed, quickly drawing him out of his thoughts of Camille, and he smiled briefly as he saw it was a text from Blue.

You're a fashion guy, right?

The very definition of a "fashion guy". What's up?

I've got something of a fashion emergency on my hands.

Magnus raised his eyebrows, intrigued. How could the bookish, introverted Blue have landed himself in a situation where even his sister's fashion expertise couldn't help?

How'd that happen?

My brother's headed to homecoming, and the suit I bought him got a paint stain on the pants I can't get out. Do you know how to fix that?

Magnus winced. That poor suit…

Nothing's going to fix that on short notice, Blue Eyes. It needs to be dry cleaned.

Damn. Thanks anyway.

Well, there was no way Magnus was going to let him go without some kind of solution for his troubles.

Tell me, what exactly was your brother planning on wearing? I could help think of an alternative.

He's coordinating with his date, who's wearing a light blue dress. He had black suit pants, a white button down shirt, and a matching light blue tie.

That's perfectly fixable. Magnus reassured him. Tell me this, does he have a pair of khakis he can wear?

Yes, he's got light khakis.

Have him wear the khakis instead of the black dress pants. It's still appropriate for homecoming that way.

Okay, he seems fine with that.

Perfect! Now he's homecoming ready and coordinated with his date.

Great, thanks so much.

No problem. Magnus chuckled, envisioning poor uneducated Blue fussing over his little brother in his suit as best as he could. How did the pants get stained?

It's a long story. Basically, the result of some bad planning.

Tell it to me when you have time, then.

I will. And also, I finally tried the Butterbeer Frappuccino.

Magnus raised his eyebrows. He hadn't been expecting that at all.

Oh? What did you think?

I think you don't have to eat your favorite scarf, for now.

I knew it.

Shut up. Magnus smiled slightly to himself. Anyway, gotta run. Ttyl?

Of course.

Magnus put the phone aside, definitely feeling a bit lighter than he had before. He didn't even notice that he was still smiling.

A/N: Hey, that actually got finished pretty quickly! I know this is kind of a short chapter, but it's main purpose is just to set up some stuff that'll make the story really interesting going forward. Next chapter is a bit more of setting up the story, then I promise it'll get really good. I'd appreciate knowing what y'all think so far!

~Bobbi