Alec sleeps soundly for another hour or so, when the smell of coffee wakes him up. He sits up slowly, putting a hand over his eyes and groaning softly, his head killing him because of all the crying, though he doesn't remember a thing. "Where am I?" He mutters completely disorientated, looking at the house through his fingers. And then he sees Magnus in the kitchen, and everything comes back to him. Or so he thinks.

Magnus is humming a song while making breakfast, moving around to sip at his coffee and check his phone from time to time.

He slowly gets up, and hears Magnus humming one of his old songs. He stands still for a moment, not even breathing, so he can listen to his quiet voice. Wishing to be closer to him he starts walking towards the kitchen, but then a tiny fluffy kitten runs to his feet purring. He picks it up on his arms and smiles petting it. "Hello beautiful…"

"That's Chairman Meow, he seems to like you…" Magnus suddenly appears by their side.

He jolts, surprised to hear Magnus' voice beside him, and looks up at him for a moment, then back to the cat. "Oh… Nice to meet you Chairman…" He tells the kitty, petting it behind the ears as it keeps purring. He then turns to Magnus again, a small smile on his face. "Good morning…"

He loves seeing him smile like that, a nice view for a change. So he corresponds to the gesture. "Good morning… How did you sleep?"

"Uh…" He bites his lip nervously. "I don't know… I… Not good, I guess… I had a weird dream…" He blushes thinking of Magnus hugging him, not realising it really happened. "And now my head is killing me… What about you?"

"I knew that would happen… Take this." Holds out a painkiller and a glass full of water for him. "Do you want breakfast? I made scrambled eggs for a regiment." He practically ignored the dream implications and that last question. Magnus didn't want to talk about himself, he wasn't important at that very moment.

"Thank you…" He takes them, downing the medicine. "I would love breakfast…" The thought of eating Magnus' cooking makes him feel better already. "How did you know? About the headache?" He asks confused.

Serves the eggs in two plates, hesitating to answer. "You cried and talked in your sleep…"

He stares at him terrified, putting the glass on the counter. "I… did…? I'm sorry… Did I wake you up?"

"I didn't really mind… but yeah, you said something… "Max". May I ask who is it…?" Carefully asks.

"I'm sorry…" He says again, for waking him up, and then pales when he hears Max's name. "Max is…" He says, looking at him, anguished. "Was…" He corrects himself. "Max was my little brother…"

Almost drops the plate with the scrambled eggs. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to remind you of such a painful experience…"

"Please don't apologise…" Alec says in a low voice. "It's not your fault, you didn't know…" He then drops his voice even more, and adds looking down. "Everything is my fault…"

"Your fault? How is that your fault…?" Magnus asks softly.

"I… If I wasn't… "me"…If I wasn't so… useless… He would be alive now…" His hands start trembling slightly. "I…It's my fault… I couldn't… save him… I should have been the one to die…" He finally says, his blue eyes never looking up.

"Hey, no, that's not fair… He isn't here to defend you, you know?" Tries to cheer him up his way. "You just said that. He was your little brother, he must have adored you… And I'm sure that you did what you could to save him. But sometimes that… isn't enough."

His argument works and Alec smiles sadly, his eyes shining with unshed tears, as he thinks of Max who would really scold him if he heard his words. "You're right he would be really mad…" He sighs. "Nothing I ever do is enough…" He adds. "But…" He looks up at him, truly thankful for his presence, and forces a smile on his face. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't be pestering you with my problems… I've done enough already…"

"That's where you're wrong… Because I already told you, didn't I? You matter… To me you're really important even if you refuse to believe it, Alexander…" Magnus says, looking back at him. "And I want you to trust me and tell me anything you want, no matter how hard it is. I could never betray you."

He drops the smile, unable to hold onto it any longer, and looks at him pained. "How can I be important? To anyone? To you?" He whispers. "I don't understand… But I know I can trust you… I do…" He drops his eyes again, taking a deep breath to keep himself from crying and says in a low voice.

"There was a fire in the middle of the night… My little sister came to me crying and woke me up telling me about it. I took her outside but then I saw Max was still in the house… I thought he would be outside with my parents but they had gone out earlier and still hadn't returned. So I went back inside to get him but before I could reach him, part of the burning ceiling collapsed on me and I fell unconscious. When I came to, it was all over. I was in the hospital, alive, and he was dead. Not only I couldn't save him, but I survived when he didn't. I failed him… I should have protected him… I should have died instead…" He says again, his voice broken and his blue eyes glassy, as he struggles to hold back his tears.

Magnus listens carefully, having problems to digest everything that Alec was telling him. It was too much, too painful and heartbreaking. When Alec finished, Magnus slowly approached and hugged him.

"I didn't mean to… but I saw the burn scar in your back last night… And I can tell by that, that you tried very hard to save your precious little brother… But life is cruel sometimes, so is fate. You couldn't save him probably because it was written before you were born. However, you cannot simply say things like you should have died instead of him because you will make the people who love you suffer… and cry. When I was a child there was no one to tell me that so I grew up having trust issues and that's probably the reason I act so coldly sometimes? But yeah, I… I think I'm a better person now. Catarina, Ragnor and Tessa helped me when I most needed it, I learned to rely on them… It's good to have someone by your side when you're feeling so down and suicidal, you know…" Magnus mutters against Alec's dark raven hair. "I'm telling you all this because I want you to rely on me, Alexander. Just tell me what you need and I will give it to you without hesitance."

"Magnus… I…"