Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I don't own anything

Alec woke up from his lovely dream (which was, strangely enough, about Jace asking him what he wanted to name their children) to the rich smell of French toast, and his first thought was, I thought he said he wouldn't cook for me again?

Blinking his tired eyes, he caught Magnus slowly placing the platter of food down and moving to leave the room. Alec watched his turned back work at the door and he felt his heart warm a little at the monster's thoughtfulness.

"Did Catarina make you do this?" Alec asked. His voice was scratchy from sleep and his throat was sore. I probably caught something because of this nasty cold weather, he assumed.

"Oh, you're up." Magnus turned and leaned against the door, looking embarrassed. "No, Caterina didn't make me do anything. I was bored."

Ah, he was 'bored.' Okay, cool guy.

"Well, thanks," Alec replied, clearing his throat. He could never think straight when he was exhausted; that had to be why he honestly wanted to follow through and stop acting pissy about being locked in the palace. He was spending the rest of his life in here; he might as well get used to it. "You know, your cooking isn't actually that bad."

Magnus' deep red skin turned a little bit darker on the top of his cheeks. He cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, clearly not expecting the compliment. "Thanks, I guess. Um, when you're done, do you want to take that tour I offered yesterday?" Alec nodded. "Okay, great. Come up when you're finished." Magnus stumbled out of the cave and nearly sprinted up the stairs, only sparing a moment to look back at Alec like Magnus didn't know how he got there.

Alec shrugged off the weird behavior. He was sure that Magnus had come down the stairs fully preparing himself for Alec's thrown insults, and was shocked at his kindness. See, monster? I can be nice sometimes, Alec thought.

It did not take Alec long to finish his breakfast, and he made his way to the kitchen when he was done. He knew Magnus liked to spend his time there to talk to all his servants. Alec stopped at the archway leading into the room when he heard his name spoken.

"He's fine, better than fine. I think he's sick or something. He said my cooking wasn't bad!" That was Magnus' confused voice.

"What did I tell you? He's not mean; he's only lashing out because he was separated from that Hodge character." Alec figured that Catarina was honestly the only sane one in the palace.

Alec cleared his throat when he walked in and went straight to put his plate in the sink. He walked over to the table Magnus was sitting at and plopped himself down. "Good morning." The was addressed to the entire room.

All the bustling cups and plates and silverware stilled their movements. They held their breath, seemingly waiting for him to explode. One fork moved to keep wiping off the dish he was working on, but a nearby cup shushed him.

"What?" Alec snapped, making everyone flinch back noticeably. This was getting old. "Why is everyone looking at me like that? It's not like you haven't all seen me before."

"You said, 'Good morning,'" Malcolm, as if that cleared up everything. He looked both ways cautiously and hopped over to Alec, leaning in conspiratorially. "Do you want some tea?" he whispered.

Alec sighed, thinking about his throbbing throat. "Sure."

Malcolm gasped loudly and leaped backwards, spilling the tea he already had in him all over the table. "He said he wants tea!" Malcolm announced. "Run!"

Alec scowled and watched as Magnus rolled his eyes and snatched up a dishcloth. He used it to dab up the tea. "He's terrified, because you are being friendlier than usual," Magnus shrugged.

"Do you like it better when I'm in a bad mood?" Alec asked, directing his question at a cowering Malcolm. The cup nodded viciously, and Catarina hopped from the counter onto the table, knocking against Malcolm with her spout.

"Don't pay attention to this one," Catarina motioned to Malcolm. "He doesn't know what he's saying." She took a minute to pour some more tea into Malcolm and gestured him over to Alec. A sugar bowl and a spoon came out from a cupboard, and looked at Alec expectantly. Swallowing uncomfortably, Alec took the bowl and poured two spoonfuls of sugar into Malcolm and set the teacup down. Malcolm moved closer to Alec, looking hopeful. "So any particular reason for the high spirits?"

Alec thought of Jace, and how the dream he had last night was eye-opening to his rapidly growing feelings for the blonde. It was nice, but part of Alec felt like his newfound attraction was forced; only there because Alec missed home. "Nope, no reason in particular."

Malcolm scooted a little closer, and Alec set his gaze firmly on Magnus. The little cup was giving him the puppydog eyes. "Breakfast was nice."

There was that look again; the one where Magnus seemed to not know what to do with the situation. "Thanks, that means a lot coming from you." Alec didn't know what that meant, but he figured it had something to do with his sudden good mood. "Do you want me to show you the palace now?"

"No!" Malcolm whined, nearly sending the tea over the edge and onto the table again. "Why do you hate me?"

Alec figured he might as well get it over with. He lifted Malcolm to his lips and sipped the tea, slamming him back down when the damn cup started giggling. "Happy now?" he asked the giddy cup. Malcolm nodded.

On the bright side, the tea did wonders for his throat. "Okay, we can go on that tour now. I need to get the hell away from that cup."

At first it was a little awkward, since Alec didn't really seem to be impressed by anything. Magnus knew his palace had been more stunning before Enchantress Camille had laid a curse upon it, but it was still grand in its dark glory.

Still, Alec remained stubbornly passive about the whole ordeal. He was polite-nodding when he was supposed to, injecting perfectly placed 'mhmm's into the conversation and the like-but he wasn't amazed. Magnus wanted to see his blue eyes sparkle.

That was all before Magnus had mentioned the library. The second it had come up, Alec's whole demeanor had changed. He dropped his reserved, polite act and his eyes widened.

Magnus was proud of his library. It was huge; ladders were needed to reach the tops of the shelves, and a glass spiral staircase led to the second floor. One wall was made almost entirely out of stained glass; colorful light shimmered in and warmed the room.

Alec squeaked a little and turned to face Magnus in wonder.

"How many books are there?" he said, with his mouth hanging open a little. Magnus chuckled, finally getting what he'd hoped for.

"Enough, I hope. You're a big reader, I assume?" Magnus asked.

Alec nodded mutely and then blurted, "Do you have Robinson Crusoe? I was reading it before I came and I've finished it before, but I would love to read it again, if you don't mind."

Magnus was happy he had heard of it before. "One of my favorites," he said. It wasn't a lie. Magnus led Alec by the elbow up the stairs and Alec glanced down through the clear glass as he walked.

"I've never walked on glass before." Alec's voice wavered a bit, and Magnus smiled.

"You won't fall, I promise. Over here." His hand delicately placed on Alec's elbow, he guided him over to one of the last bookshelves. After a quick search, he pulled out the book Alec wanted. "You can read whenever you want," Magnus told him, his heart warming at Alec's amazed, grateful smile. "There's a fireplace over there with a couch in front of it; it's really comfy to curl up on during one of these snowstorms."

"Really? I can read whenever I want to?" Alec asked. Magnus nodded, and Alec snatched the book up with the delighted grin. "Good. I'm keeping this here for tonight, then."

Magnus watched as Alec ran over to the fireplace and put the book down. On his way back to Magnus he caught sight of another one that seemed to peak his interest, and that one, along with several others, ended up on the couch before Alec walked back.

Magnus was just happy that Alec was beginning to enjoy himself.

After lunch, Alec disappeared and didn't come back. Magnus had searched nearly everywhere in the palace for him, except the one place he prayed the boy would be. With Raphael riding on Chairman Meow in tow, Magnus climbed up the glass staircase of the library.

He found Alec sleeping with his head on top of his book, curling black hair splayed across inked pages. One of his hands had fallen off the yellow cushion and was resting against the red rug on the floor. The fire burned low and made Alec's normally scowling face look boyish and innocent.

If it could, Magnus' heart would've skipped a beat.

He held his breath when he approached his sleeping guest, as if that would keep Alec from waking. Slowly, Magnus pulled the book out and dog eared the page to keep Alec's spot. He snatched up a blanket and pulled it over Alec just in case the boy got cold overnight.

"Wow." Magnus looked down to see that Chairman had stopped walking right behind Magnus and was waving his golden tassel tail. Raphael gave Magnus a judgy look from on top of the footstool. "First two nights in the dungeon, no the kid doesn't get anything. But now that he's all comfy and warm you give him a blanket? He doesn't need a blanket, mi principe. He has a fire."

"Shut up, Raphael. He has blankets downstairs. I already looked."

"Thanks to Ragnor," Raphael pointed out. Alec stirred from under his blanket heap and Magnus motioned for Raphael to lower his voice.

"Come on, let him sleep," Magnus whispered, walking down the stairs. Maybe now Alec would stop being stubborn and insisting to sleep in the dungeon like some common prisoner, Magnus hoped.