Chapter 10
Magnus walked into the bathroom, last night still hazy in his mind. Water filled his cupped arms as he washed his face and glanced at the mirror. Oh god! He looked awful! Mascara and eyeliner smudged, kohl making his dark circles look darker. And he looked like this when he spoke to Alec. That's great. Just… Great! He thought to himself, his hand working to remove all the smeared make-up. He opened the cabinet to the side searching for something to lessen this nuclear bomb exploding in his head. He took a quick shower slipping into something comfortable. His hair was still dripping wet when his phone buzzed. Catarina's name flashed on the screen. He slid the little icon on the bottom to answer.
"Hello!"
"Magnus! Just why and how do you get yourself into such situations. Just! Has anyone told you how hopeless you are! And I mean really hopeless. It is the absolute worst thing to have to be your manager when all you do is manage to get done yourself is create this kind of reputation for yourself. Didn't you tell me Alec had his day off yesterday? How did you still get him involved in this? Poor soul. I'm not even sure he knows! Ahhh! Magnus!" Cat screamed on the other end.
Magnus was too confused to comprehend too much of what was being yelled at him. His head wasn't helping. "Catarina. Will you calm down? Just tell me what happened. And how does it involve Alec?" Magnus's finger was massaging the skin above his nose, "And can you please not scream. Hangover."
"Well, I don't care about your hangover. You being careless is your fault. And I would be blaming Alec if he actually had anything-"
"Can you just tell me what we are supposed to blame Alec for."
"We are not blaming Alec for anything. We are blaming You."
"Okay, what are we blaming me for?"
"For being a reckless bastard who doesn't know how to take care of himself. I'll send you a link. Check it out yourself, and I'll let you have the pleasure of informing Alec yourself too." He could practically see the embers flying out of her head. She seemed furious. Oh god, what did he do? He heard a beep indicating that she cut the call.
He searched through his phone clicking on the link Catarina had sent him. His eyes widened at the picture, in it he had both his arms looped around Alec's neck, and a slightly drunk smile etching his face. Alec's side was towards the camera, so you could only see his messy raven hair. He didn't even bother reading the headline before looking at the summary of the article.
Is the Crystal Court star seeing someone new? Magnus Bane was seen with the mysterious man near Hunter's moon… blah blah blah, tension… yadda yadda yadda, gossip. Magnus grunted in frustration. He didn't remember this either. How was he going to explain this to Alec? Dragging him into the limelight again all within a time span of barely two weeks! He dragged his palms over his face throwing the phone onto the bed. His stomach was in knots, he didn't know what to do, so he called Cat again.
"Cat, I can't do this! I feel so awful!"
"You deserve to," She replied coldly.
"Catarina. Not now, I didn't even remember calling him up, and I did not expect him to show up at-" Oh god he didn't even know what time he'd called Alec. He groaned.
"Okay, listen up. Magnus, I would say it's not your fault, but then I'd be lying, you still have to tell him what happened because no one else is going to do it, and because it won't be good for him finding it from someone else. So, suck it up, call him and let him know what happened. And if he wants to quit, you got to handle that too, because I for one won't blame him. I'm not sure the article mentions anything about it being Alec, but I doubt it'll take too long to figure out."
Magnus hadn't even considered that possibility. But leave it to Catarina Loss to be his brain. The idea of Alec quitting for some reason terrified him. A few months ago, that is all he could ever ask of anyone, and now suddenly he wasn't willing to let that go, let him go. Not now, and maybe not for a long while after now.
"Magnus, are you listening."
"Hmm? Yeah. Sorry, just… I don't know how to tell him."
"Here's an idea, call, then figure out the words you want to use. Thinking about what to say is only going to make it worse." Her voice was more comforting this time. She probably genuinely felt bad for him.
"Okay," he replied, he sounded weak. "Thank you, Catarina. I'll try to fix this. I'm sorry I'm such a… reckless bastard."
"That you are," She managed. "Tell me how it goes."
Magnus took a deep breath in before walking out.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Alec knew his way around Magnus's kitchen at this point. The man had no sense of timely eating whatsoever. He doubted he even had solid food that wasn't take-out before Alec got hired, and if he knew how to cook, he didn't do it very often. He had no hard time finding the flour or the eggs or sugar. He had finished the batter and just started on the pancakes when Magnus entered looking… distressed? Why would he be distressed? It was probably the hangover. But that was different. Alec somehow knew that this wasn't because of the hangover.
"Hey. It'll just be two mins before this one's done, why don't you sit down?" Alec said pointing at one of the bar stools near the counter. He didn't seem to listen to anything Alec had just said but quietly took his seat. He was clutching his phone harder that he probably needed to. Alec flipped the pancake before eyeing Magnus again.
"Is everything okay?" Alec attempted. He didn't reply. "Magnus?"
"Huh? Yeah. No. I just- I-" He stuttered. He unlocked his phone and Alec took the pancake off the pan onto a plate. His fingers worked its way through the phone stopping at something before he finally met Alec's gaze. "You need to see this."
Alec eyed him doubtfully. He took the maple syrup bottle and placed it along with the plate of food next to Magnus, taking the phone. Oh no! Oh no no no no no no no no no no no! How did this happen?
"Oh my god! No, no no no. I'm- Oh god." He placed the phone on the counter. Magnus was still looking at him, the pancake remained untouched. "I'm so sorry Magnus, I didn't notice the paparazzi. If… If I did, I would-" he ran his fingers through his hair. "I would have done something. I- I-"
"Huh?" Magnus's eyes squinted searching Alec's for something.
"I'm so sorry! I didn't see them anywhere. It was 2 am and I didn't really expect anyone to be there, and I had just gotten up, I'm still in my PJs, I wasn't thinking straight, I still should have noticed though, I'm so sorr-" He wasn't stuttering anymore, but the words seemed to be escaping his mouth at without a break.
"Alexander, stop! Why are you apologising? This conversation should be the other way around. Aren't you pissed that your face is probably going to be plastered on so many tabloids? You've never had to-"
"But, my face isn't really seen-"
"There are no 'buts'. I'm sorry I put you in this situation again. And to top that off, I called you up at 2 in the night. I can't believe you came Alexander. And now, you're asking me to forgive you because you didn't see some person hidden out in the corner while you were barely awake. How is that fair?"
"I'm your bodyguard. I'm supposed to be there whenever you need me."
"Yeah, and most bodyguards don't do that." He complained. His eyes telling Alec that there were parts of that sentence he still kept unsaid.
"It's actually literally our job description. So…" Alec shrugged. "I'm so-"
"I swear if you apologise one more time for something that is entirely my fault I will…" He paused thinking, probably thinking of a punishment, "I won't give you pancakes." He claimed, a proud smirk painting on his face.
Alec raised his brows. "I'm making them," he said, lifting the spatula as proof.
"I won't let you eat your pancakes?" he tried, increasing the pitch in his voice. Alec laughed.
"Fine then. No pancakes for you either."
"Noooooo!" Magnus whined. "Fine," he said stretching the word, "You can have pancakes. No more 'sorry's though. It was not, and I mean absolutely not your fault."
"Noted, and same goes for you." Magnus nodded, still not entirely convinced. Alec was sure of that much, but he would take this for now. "But I think I need to make a call…"
"After breakfast?" He asked hopefully. "You need to get something in there if you want to stay in good condition through the premiere today."
"The premier's today?"
"Isn't that why you have today off?"
"Damnit. Yes!"
"So, breakfast?"
"Okay. Did you put chocolate chips in the pancake?" Alec nodded enthusiastically, Magnus laughed. "Great." He finally lifted the bottle of maple syrup drowning the pancake stack in the golden liquid.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"And he was sorry? To think this was the man you wanted to fire after a few months so you could be free again. Not that Ragnor would have allowed you to, all things considered." Cat said after Magnus narrated the entire story. Alec was in the living room talking to Izzy. He had asked the other man to stay for the premier, who gladly accepted. Since Izzy was alone at home, Magnus had thought it was best to invite her over as well, which was what Alec was doing at the moment.
"I don't deserve this guy!" Magnus sighed. "He's too innocent and pure, and I can't even think of anything that is possibly wrong with him!"
"Magnus… You know I'm not the kind of manager who would ask you to do anything for the sake of your career except maybe improve your acting, but that's not the point of this conversation."
"Hey! My acting is perfectly fine," Magnus complained.
"Oh please, 109. Do you really want to tell me about your acting in that?" Catarina countered.
"It seemed funny at the time. I did not know that was going to make the final cut! It's the editor's fault."
"Again. Not the point. So, where was I? Right. I'm not asking you to do this for your career or to be the talk of the town for a while longer. I'm telling this to you as a friend. So, don't take it the wrong way when I ask… are you sure you don't want the rumours to be true?"
"What!?"
"Listen, Magnus, I'm not trying to impose this on you, but I have known you for really a long time and you really seem to like this guy. And Alec is a great guy! And if-"
"Okay, no. Let me stop you there. I do not-"
"If I were there you'd know I'm giving you the look." Magnus knew that much.
It didn't take any effort at all for him to confess. His friend obviously knew, so there was no gain lying. "Fine, yes. I like him, okay? But that's not the point. I don't want to ruin his career for a childish crush. At least not for another month or two."
"What's in another month?"
"Nothing…" Alec could finish paying his debts to his dad. Probably. "Besides, he seems like the relationship kind of guy, I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet." That much was true. "Is attraction really enough for me to ruin a possibly very good friendship?"
"Since when are you sensible." Magnus scoffed. "But I get it. And surprisingly enough, I agree. Look at you… making level-headed decisions. Very rarely, but I'll take that for now."
"Guess who's getting the look now." He heard Cat laugh on the other side.
"Okay. Go, the show starts in 30 minutes. I'm guessing you're still nervous about it?"
"Nervous? Me? No!" He made a noise that sounded something like pfft. Irrespective of how many times he did this, one thing he would never get used to was watching himself act. It's like looking at something you wrote way back when you were 10 and reading it now cringing every step of the way. He could always pinpoint at least 6 different things he could have done better or different in each shot.
"Don't worry, you don't have to do this alone. I'll be right over in 5."
"I know. Thank you. Do you mind grabbing some popcorn on your way?" He heard the doorbell ring and a loud familiar voice. "A lot, actually. Alec and Isabelle are here, and I'm low on snacks."
"Oh. Okay, sure."
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! I called that! I freaking called that!" Izzy was screaming at the top of her lungs at the TV as she watched Maia's character open the Book of the White. She was sitting on the floor leaning against the couch in front of Alec. Magnus and Catarina remained unaffected, Alec, though did not see that coming, did not react, at least not as wildly as his sister did. He put his hands over Izzy's mouth to cut out her voice so he could hear the dialogues, but the screen soon cut to advertisements.
"And this is why I refuse to watch anything with you," Alec commented. Magnus and Izzy had their phones out, live tweeting during the show. Alec only took his phones out during the breaks and that too very rarely.
"But I did tell you Meg was going to be the one to open the book-"
"Yeah! You did, but you don't have to yell because it happened."
"I'm going to grab some more popcorn." Magnus got up taking the empty bowl with him. Alec soon followed claiming to need a glass of water.
"Hey. I know I'm very new to watching the show with the star thing, but you seem really anxious," Alec said grabbing a glass.
"I'm not that obvious, am I? I'm an actor. You're not supposed to guess what I'm feeling."
"I don't think anyone guessed it. Izzy for sure didn't. Cat probably knows, but I'd like to think I've gotten pretty good at knowing you're quirks."
"Oh really? Please do tell!" Alec laughed shyly. He paused to take a breath before he started reciting the mental list he didn't even know he had.
"You play with your rings when you are happy, which is weird because most people do that when they're nervous. You mumble the ends of words when you're scared. You run your fingers through your hair a lot when you're confused. You usually clutch onto something in front of you when you're anxious. And you walk out of a room full of people when you're nervous, but you need that room full of people anyway to keep you from being nervous. It's another weird thing I don't really get." He had many more things to add but decided to stop, for now, maybe he'd already said too much. Alec hoped that the blood rushing to his face wasn't too evident. He ducked his head to the still empty glass in his hand.
"Alexander-"
"It's starting guys! Come back! You're going to miss something," Izzy interrupted. Alec put the unused glass on the counter and headed to claim his place on the couch. Magnus didn't follow, probably was filling in the popcorn. Alec watched as his sister looked at him, a look which he curtly ignored.
"Hey, Alec," He turned to face Cat, "Thank you for being so understanding about the whole-," she waved her hand randomly around her, "-thing." He knew what she was talking about.
"Why do people keep telling me that?" He frowned. "I didn't do my job and you people keep thanking me for it."
"You were supposed to be off. And you still came because he called. That's more than most would do. So yeah, thank you." Izzy was too busy having her eyes glued to the screen to probably listen in on the conversation. At least Alec hoped so. "And I know being thrust into the public eye can be awful. And trust me when I say Magnus hates that you were forced into that situation. It's happened once before with someone, someone he really cared about, and he still beats himself up for it. And it took him a good amount of time to get over that. So, it means a lot to him, and to me, that you didn't make a scene out of it. So, you did your job and more. Thank you." Alec didn't know what to say. He swallowed dryly and nodded. Cat smiled then turned to face the show.
Magnus walked in a few seconds later and offered the bowl to Catarina, who just sort of snatched it anyway. He quietly took his place next to Alec, who wasn't looking at the television anymore. Magnus glanced at him offering him a small smile. Alec wished he'd actually drank some water. The rest of the episode, his attention remained divided, more than occasionally looking over at the man sitting next to him.
A/N: I'm so sorry this took so long! I've not abandoned the story, I swear, just took me a while to figure out where to go with this. And I don't have any real excuses, but this is what I came up with. Anyways, hope you liked this chapter, if you did Fav, Follow and leave a review so I know where I can improve. Hit me up on Tumblr ( feels-overloaded).
Shameless self-promotion, feel free to ignore, but I wrote this one-shot that I'm kinda proud of coz I think it's pretty cute. It's called 'All of this time', and I'd love it if you guys checked it out! That's it. Sorry about the delay, but then college is gonna start soon, so that may happen more often. Just saying.