Water Under The Bridge

Chapter 10:
we have a room

*.*.*.*.*

Alec wanted to kiss Magnus—like, actually kiss him right on the mouth. He wanted to kiss him a lot, actually, and on more than just his mouth, but, he would start with his lips, if he had to pick a starting point. He'd almost done it before he left Magnus' house that night he had accidentally stayed over, but he had chickened out at the last moment, and that was as close to fine as it was going to get.

(It wasn't, actually, but, well, baby steps.)

Ever since that morning, however, all he had done was think about kissing Magnus, dream about it, fantasize about it when things got particularly boring at work. At this point, he was worried he wouldn't be able to get through their next Tuesday morning together without backing him against a wall or desk or something and kissing him senseless.

And he sincerely hoped that Magnus wouldn't have any complaints about that, when it happened.

*.*.*.*.*

"So how did it go with Jace last week?" Magnus asked playfully as soon as he walked in the room that morning, and Alec, self-aware as he did it, looked to his lips for a moment before he licked his bottom one in want. The look that flashed across Magnus' face then told Alec he had caught it, and was storing that action away for later use.

And God did that send a thrill through Alec's very being.

"It…" he finally tore his eyes off the other's lips, searching for the right way to word it, to explain how the previous week had gone without getting into it too much.

There would be a time and place for explaining the entire conversation, but how did you tell someone you had told your brother you were falling in love with them when you hadn't even worked up the nerve to kiss them yet?

"... It was… I don't know, weird?" he tried finally, unsure that was quite the right word for it.

"Oh?" Magnus asked, flicking his eyes down to Alec's own lips in turn, making his heart skip a beat; he thought, for the first time now, that maybe Magnus wanted to kiss him just as much as he wanted to kiss Magnus. And that was a terrifying and exciting and wonderful kind of realization. "How so?"

"He asked me if I liked you," he said, thoughtful as he leaned against his desk, deciding that was as close to the truth as anything else he could come up would be. "Like… he seemed serious and concerned almost? Not like Jace," he shook his head.

Magnus nodded, somber as well; he must have known Jace as well as anyone could by now, given how much time they had spent together before Alec's return, and he must have known exactly what Alec meant by that.

(Well, hopefully not exactly what he meant.)

"What did you tell him?" Magnus asked, mischievous once again as quickly as Alec should have expected him to be.

Alec felt a slow, creeping grin and blush take over his face before he replied, "That I do, that I like you a lot, that I haven't felt this way about anyone before, that everything is just different with you," he admitted, leaving out the bit where he told Jace he was falling in love, but he wondered now if Magnus could pick up on that omission anyway.

"Oh, Alexander," he sighed, sliding closer to Alec until he was firmly in front of him and between his legs, breath brushing Alec's face, featherlight and wonderful.

He rested his forehead against Alec's as Alec's arms came up to encircle his waist, holding him in the most natural and comforting way imaginable. This was easier than things had been with Lydia by a long shot, he thought to himself with a content sigh, easier than he had ever thought it would be with anyone ever.

"It's the same for me," Magnus added finally, rubbing soothing circles into Alec's back. "With you, it's… different than it's ever been before, and I don't think there's anything else better out there—there couldn't be, not when you make everything so… intense. Just standing in the same room as you sometimes is too much, makes my heart feel like it's going to beat out of my chest, as cliché as that might sound."

Alec snorted, brushing his nose against Magnus' idly, comfortingly, allowing Magnus' words to wash down around him and envelop him in a warm blanket. They were just about the same ones Alec had just said, but hearing them from Magnus' mouth, knowing that Alec meant as much to him as he meant to Alec… It was as different as Magnus himself was, and it meant the entire world and then some to hear Magnus say them to him, made him feel better about where they stood, about what Alec meant to him, how he felt for Alec.

They were just words, but they were important words.

"I'll forgive you for the cliché…" Alec trailed off slowly, a cheeky grin taking over his face.

"Why do I sense an if coming?" Magnus said teasingly, pulling just far enough back to level Alec with a look that made his grin grow wider.

"—if—" he added playfully, raising an eyebrow, eyes flitting down to Magnus' lips before they rose back up to his eyes, a coy look on his face as they did, seeking what he wanted more than anything else in that moment.

Magnus grinned in response, nodded thoughtfully as he, Alec could only assume, caught on to exactly what he was hinting at, just as he had been hoping and expecting he would.

Magnus Bane, after all, was nothing if not intuitive.

"Well, anything for your forgiveness," Magnus murmured, leaning close to Alec and making his heart hammer in his chest.

Alec had thought about this so much, had been looking forward to it—because he had known, in his heart of hearts, that they would kiss eventually, that it was only a matter of time—and now that it was finally about to happen, now that Magnus was leaning close to him with eyes that were slowly sliding shut, lips quirking upwards in a way that said he was looking forward to this just as much as Alec had been, he couldn't seem to stop thinking.

And he knew, if he couldn't get out of his own head, if he couldn't stop thinking about what ifs and self-doubts, then he wouldn't enjoy this, their first kiss, as much as he should have. And he and Magnus both deserved for Alec to be present for their first kiss, god damnit.

He bumped his nose to Magnus' again, trying to ground himself, trying to have his senses knocked away from him so he could act without thinking, so he could be in the moment with the other in the way that he deserved for Alec to be. Usually, Magnus was good for wiping Alec's mind clean and leaving him a mess that could only seem to act in the now, so leave it to Fate to have the one time Alec would appreciate such a thing be the one time it wouldn't happen.

He was thinking, though, that maybe Magnus wouldn't like kissing him, that maybe he would be too rough or too gentle, that maybe he wouldn't like the way Alec wanted to wind his hands in his hair, or the way he wanted to tug him flush against his body so he could feel all of him. He was thinking that maybe he wouldn't be a fan of how badly Alec wanted to mouth at his neck, wanted to breath in every ounce of him and then some.

He was thinking that maybe just because he was falling in love didn't mean that Magnus was falling in love with him, and that was an awful sort of thought to have with Magnus' mouth so close to his own.

"Alec—"

A familiar voice cut through the room suddenly that made Alec and Magnus jump apart, bodies still close but mouths too far away to be fair now that they had just been so close just a moment ago.

Magnus was pouting, Alec noticed with a small, reassuring thrill before he could look to the doorway to see who had interrupted, who had come into the room when usually no one bothered them all god damn day. And that pout was the single most adorable thing Alec knew that existed, he thought, and he wanted to kiss it off Magnus' face, the feeling bubbling in his chest light as a feather.

Before the feeling could leave him, he took advantage of it, and leaned forward to did as much, taking Magnus very much so by surprise, though he sighed into the embrace once he realized just what was happening and returned the kiss with a gusto Alec had only ever dreamt about.

And just like that, there was no thinking, no trying to decide where to put his hands or what to do with his tongue or if Magnus would like more pressure or less or if the way he was pulling him in by his waist would put him off or on or what. His hands were moving up, trailing along the other's sides until one came to tangle in his hair, and Magnus pressed his body hard and flush against Alec's. He felt Magnus' hand move under his shirt, caressing his lower back and slowly sliding—

"For fuck's sake, Lightwood—get a room!"

In the back of his bliss filled mind, Alec recognized that voice once again, would recognize it anywhere, and he scowled, making a mental note to absolutely kick Simon's ass later on for interrupting what was, without a doubt, the absolute best moment in his entire lifetime.

Magnus was the one who pulled away first, unfortunately, and it was Alec's turn to pout now. His hand slid from where it had been in Magnus' hair to the side of his neck as he turned around to face the door, to face the intruder who deserved nothing more and nothing less than death by torture, in Alec's humble opinion, for interrupting such a wonderful experience.

Simon would get what was coming to him, that much Alec vowed to himself.

"We have a room," Magnus said, waving the hand that wasn't gripping Alec's waist around in the air casually, without a care in the world. "It's called The Cat Room. Similar to that supply closet the rest of you like to frequent when you're getting frisky around here," he added, giving Simon a leveled, knowing sort of look that made Alec hum in appreciation for Magnus' skills.

He forgot sometimes that Magnus' actual Adult Job was being a lawyer, and that those skills, unlike Alec's, were easily transferable to the real world in very real ways most of the time.

And this just so happened to be one of those times.

(Fuck, Magnus was sexy.)

"Listen," Simon started, cheeks flushing as he threw his hands up in surrender. "I didn't come here for you lovebirds to poke around in my literal or metaphorical closet—" here he was interrupted by both Magnus and Alec with snorts of amusement and derision. "—I just need you to talk to Jace and tell him—"

Alec let out a low groan that stopped Simon's words right in their tracks yet again, and made Magnus turn back around to face him with an inquisitive, curious look on his face. As much as Magnus knew about the going ons of the shelter, as much as he liked to pride himself on being up to date with the recent gossip… there were some things that never made their way to the shelter walls, that stayed between texts and bar stools and bed sheets and that they tried not to let interfere with work stuff during work hours.

Some things, Magnus simply couldn't know because they kept it away from where he would have heard about them.

Of course, that was a fact that was quite quickly changing, but, well, for now there were stories and secrets that Magnus would have to find out second hand—just for now, not forever, Alec had to remind himself. Not forever, not if he had his way.

"You and Jace need to just—"

"—need to just talk it out and get over it like mature adults, blah blah blah. Right, okay, I know that," Simon interjected, crossing his arms and leaning back in the door way, "but here's the thing, yeah? One: I am not an adult. And two: Jace is not an adult. Therefore, neither of us have to deal with this like adults. Okay? Okay. Glad we got this squared away and we never have to talk about it ever again. Now, when you see Herondale, will you tell him I know what he did to my sandwich and it's, as the youths would say, on like Donkey Kong."

"No kid still says that," Alec rolled his eyes.

"But the youths do," Simon insisted, clapping his hands together in finality. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go tell Izzy all about what I just saw here; she'll be so thrilled," he said, grinning madly as he backed away from the door, leaving Alec to roll his eyes even as his cheeks flushed when Magnus turned back to face him, eyebrow raised curiously.

Alec opened and shut his mouth several times, trying to think about how to simplify the Jace/Simon feud in as few sentences as possible so as to get back to kissing Magnus quickly—they hadn't exactly been done, after all. Not if Alec was getting his way, anyway.

"That seems like a long story," Magnus said, seeming to take pity on Alec and his inability to say anything as he tried to decide between what should take priority.

"That's… yeah," Alec nodded dumbly, settling back into the moment, on Magnus' touch and eyes and lips, and remembering how it had felt to kiss him, what it would be like to kiss him again, and again, and again, and again.

(And again.)

"Seems like something you should tell me about…" he trailed off, fingers clasping Alec's forearms, chin lifting up until his mouth was just in front of Alec's, making his breathing still. "... perhaps over dinner tonight?" he asked, eyes half lidded as he moved to kiss Alec, though he stilled just before their lips could actually touch, the tease.

"Anywhere you want," Alec replied in agreement, closing the rest of the distance to kiss him and stifling the huff of amusement that started to escape Magnus' lips at Alec's response.

*.*.*.*.*

They did not talk about the whole Jace/Simon situation at dinner that night. They went to some fancy Italian place that Magnus raved about all the rest of the morning, and they both dressed up for the occasion, and Alec thought Magnus looked far too good in his suit jacket for it to be fair—but then, Magnus voiced thinking the same thing about Alec and his suit, so he decided it all balanced out, somehow, someway.

Alec had only known what a fraction of the things on the menu were, so he let Magnus order for him, reveling in the way he commanded the room, the attention of the waitress and of himself. And when he asked the waitress for their finest bottle of red wine with a wink, Alec's jaw dropped and he needed to shift in his seat to find new comfort as the waitress walked away, seeming a bit faint and star struck herself.

"You're going to owe that waitress one hell of a tip," Alec quipped when he got his senses back about him.

Magnus gave Alec a catty sort of look then, grin spreading across his face slowly, eyes almost narrowed and looking mysterious in the way they were surrounded by shadows cast upon them by the dim lighting and the candles that were lit on the table. Alec shivered under his gaze, both wondering when things had gotten so intense with them and not at the same time. Eventually, he thought, he would get used to Magnus and all these feelings he had when he was around him; though he did hope, at the same time, that he would never get used to it, that things would never stop being new and free and fun with him, no matter how long they were together.

"Are you talking about the waitress, Alexander, or yourself?" Magnus finally asked, leaning across the table proudly, gleefully almost as he laid a hand over Alec's.

Alec sputtered at that, felt his face heat up, and knew that had been exactly the reaction Magnus had been looking for.

And Alec couldn't even find it in him to be mad about it, he was so thrilled by it.

*.*.*.*.*

I'm so happy for you, big brother! Izzy texted later that night when Alec was sitting on Magnus' couch, gleefully tipsy and kissing Magnus contently, enthusiastically.

He didn't read the text until the next morning when he woke up on said couch once again, though, Magnus standing above him with coffee—eventually they would stop waking up in separate beds, and Alec simply could not wait for that day—and asking what he was smiling about.

"What don't I have to smile about?" he quipped, standing up to press a kiss to Magnus' lips as he took the cup of coffee from him.

Magnus let out a content, thoughtful hum at that, but said nothing else, much too caught up in giving Alec a proper good morning kiss in turn to bother.

And Alec would have it no other way.

*.*.*.*.*