*-*-*-*-*-*-*- MagnusBane:PsychicDetective*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Chapter11-
No Doubt About It
(Neal McCoy)
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec-Alec *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Alec shifted uneasily as he waited for the elevator. Coming here had seemed like a good idea, and, once the idea had got in his mind he couldn't really ignore it. The more he thought about it no way would Magnus have gone out of town if Raphael and Simon were having trouble…
He didn't want to seem intrusive, but he couldn't help worrying about the guy, and wanted to be certain he was alright. Ever since the incident at the bank, when Raphael confided in Alec that he worried he may have missed his chance to tell Simon that he loved him, Alec had begun to see that there was a lot more to the guy than what he usually showed.
Yeah, 90% of the time the guy seemed to shift between bizarrely intimidating and manipulative as hell (the flirting thing was downright disturbing at times…). He usually seemed confident, self assured, and in control… But every now and then he'd catch a glimpse of something else, and he knew that there was more to the man.
And then you'd see him with Simon.
Alec wasn't surprised that Simon hadn't believed Raphael about how scary he could be. Raphael was a total sap when it came to him. Magnus was right, they were annoyingly sweet together. He'd never seen any couple so totally in love.
Raphael looked at Simon like he was absolutely everything. He couldn't imagine how hard it'd been for the guy, thinking they may have been over…
This was probably a bad idea
He really hoped Raphael wouldn't think he was being pushy or was, in any way, pitying him (Yeah… that would NOT go over well). It wasn't anything like that.
He just got the feeling the guy wasn't as extroverted and vivacious as Magnus and Simon…
Though, really, who was?
It didn't seem like he had a whole lot of people outside those two that he really felt close enough to that he could confide in. He figured it wouldn't hurt for Raphael to know that, if he needed to, he could turn to Alec.
Okay, this almost certainly would not go over so well…
Maybe if Simon's here at least Raphael will be in a good mood, and less likely to get mad or purposely intimidate him-Alec knew damn good and well he did, just because he found it entertaining.
Why was he worried about the guy again?
Well…Too late now
The elevator dinged, opening into a small, rather welcoming alcove. Okay, so when Simon said it was the top floor, he didn't say it was the entire top floor. There was only one door; he figured that must be the apartment.
He slowly approached the door, took a deep breath, and quickly knocked before he could think better of it
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*Magnus smiled, shaking his head at the couple one more time. They really were adorable together. He was so glad that his friends had found something so wonderful. He really never thought he'd get to see Raphael so happy and content, and Simon was an absolute delight, they seemed to balance each other perfectly…
If he was honest, though, he was just the slightest bit jealous…
He would never begrudge them their happiness, and couldn't imagine a better couple; really, he just wished he could find someone he felt that happy with. Someone who really got him, who really, genuinely saw who he was, and not only accepted it, but loved him for it,
Someone like-
"Alexander, hi…" he said, startled to see the detective at the door.
Alec looked far more startled…
"Magnus? H-hi, umm…I-I thought you were supposed to be out of town still?"
"Oh…I, umm…tha-"
His mind was drawing a total blank, he couldn't think of anything to say, that never happened!
Alec's face fell, it seemed like something dawned on him
"Oh…you, you weren't really out of town…were you?" he said quietly
"Umm…I, well…No, I wasn't"
Alec nodded slightly
"Yeah, I-I kinda thought so, I hoped I was wrong, but…I, s-sorry, I'll just go" he shrugged a bit
Magnus reached over quickly catching him by the arm, stopping him,
"Darling, come in, please…At least let me explain."
He shook his head slightly
"It's okay, I understand, you don't need to explain" he said, turning to leave again
Magnus caught his hand, turning him back, and tugging him into the apartment, closing the door before continuing.
"My darling detective, please do not be upset…we only did it because we were worried about you and couldn't think of any other way."
Alec paused, looking confused
"We…?"
Simon and Raphael looked up at them from the couch, then froze. Magnus shook his head, looking up at him imploringly,
"Darling, I absolutely adore you, Simon practically idolizes you, and Raphael… well…he may not admit it, but he cares about you too. We had to do something…"
Alec looked even more bewildered than before
"Umm…Magnus, I thought you were avoiding me because of whatever I did at the bar."
Oops…
"Uh…"
"So, if you weren't avoiding me because of whatever I said at the bar, why were you?"
He glances around the room taking in all three of them.
Magnus looks like a deer caught in the head lights.
Simon's eyes are as wide as saucers; he actually has one hand over his mouth like he is trying to forcefully keep himself from talking.
Raphael looks…Well, Raphael looks vaguely bored and slightly annoyed…so, normal.
He turns back to Magnus with a rather suspicious look,
"What did you guys do?"
Magnus shook his head slightly…
"Umm…"
"It was my plan, they just went along with it" Raphael spoke up from the couch
He stood up, moving casually towards the other two
Alec raised his eyebrow, folding his arms,
"What was your plan?"
He shrugged slightly, leaning casually against the wall
"To help you solve the case thereby getting you to lose the idiotic idea that just because your mentor turned out to be a narrow-minded jackass you were somehow suddenly incapable of being a detective.."
Alec's jaw dropped slightly,
"You…What? How? Why?" Alec asked, more shocked than anything
Raphael gave a very put upon sigh, rolling his eyes,
"You were moping… dwelling on every single insignificant little setback, and letting the petty vindictiveness and childish gossip of small minded simpletons get in your head, making you doubt yourself…
It was annoying, and you needed to stop, so-"
"Dude! What are you doing?!" Simon demanded
"I'm helping explain-"
"Raphael, please just stophelping, you're really bad at it!"
He shot Simon a slightly sheepish look
"Sorry, amor…I did not want him upset with either of you…"
Simon shook his head faintly, but softened slightly, Magnus rolled his eyes at Raphael, feeling a bit more in control. He rested his hand on Alec's arm, squeezing gently.
Alec barely glanced at him,
"Thank you, Raphael, that was…umm… sweet, of you to try… but I believe dear Simon was quite right, you should probably stop trying to help. Would you two mind giving us a moment?"
Raphael looked somewhat hesitant,
"Mags, are you sure y-"
"That's fine, take all the time you need" Simon interrupted
He shot an encouraging smile between Magnus and Alec, before nodding quickly, taking Raphael's hand tightly and heading back to Raphael's room, closing the door firmly behind them. Magnus shook his head with a fond smile before turning back to the detective. Alec was looking down, he didn't seem mad, but rather dejected…
After everything today, Magnus thought he may have actually preferred mad.
"Alexander, come sit with me, at least allow me to explain, please?"
He shrugged slightly;
Well, at least the detective didn't seem ready to walk out, it wasn't much, but it was something…Magnus slid his hand down Alec's arm, taking his hand gently and tugging him over towards the couch.
Alec sighed faintly, shaking his head
"So…basically, you guys felt sorry for me and decided to solve the case, then just let me think I actually did it on my own?"
Magnus shook his head,
"No sweetheart, no one felt sorry for you…we were worried about you."
Alec rolled his eyes slightly,
"And the difference?"
Magnus huffed quietly, shaking his head, meeting Alec's eyes, he reached over, catching his hand, squeezing faintly
"It's not pity darling…It is because we care about you, and hated seeing such a wonderful person who means so much to us so upset."
Alec blushed faintly at the praise, shaking his head slightly, before glancing back up. Magnus slid a bit closer on the couch,
"Darling, I am sorry we deceived you, but seeing you so upset the other night, so down on yourself, hearing you sound so despondent…It nearly broke my heart."
Alec looked slightly shocked
"I-it did?"
Magnus tilted his head,
"Of course it did…My darling detective, I told you before that you truly are everything that a law enforcement officer should aspire to be. I meant it then and the longer I know you, the more I believe it to be the absolute truth. The thought that you couldn't see that, that you couldn't see, not only what an exemplary detective, but what an amazing person you are in general?"
He sighed, meeting Alec's eyes, squeezing his hand,
"I-I couldn't have you thinking so little of yourself…But I knew that me helping you was beginning to be an issue, that you saw it as me overshadowing you, but darling? That was never my intention, I swear…"
Alec moved closer, shaking his head quickly
"I know you never meant to do that, you were just working the case, doing your job… I felt guilty for even being jealous."
"You were jealous?" Magnus asked curiously
Alec seemed to falter a bit, blushing, scratching nervously at his neck,
"U-umm…well, yeah? Kinda…And I know that's sort of petty and it wasn't that I didn't want you to be able to do the work, I didn't want to, like, be better than you, or anything like that…
I just-I hated feeling like I wasn't doing enough, like I wasn't contributing anything. I didn't want you to start to feel like you were stuck working with me, like I was a burden…"
Magnus gasped, staring at him in shock
"Alexander, darling, I could never think that! I absolutely love working with you, we work beautifully together, I could not ask for a better detective to be partnered with."
Alec blushed, giving a slight smile
"Yeah, yeah, we really do. I just, what you do is remarkable, and I still don't know how you do it, but god, you amaze me constantly, and I just get to feeling like I can't keep up...like I'm kind of irrelevant."
Magnus tilted his head, considering
"Alexander, you do realize, what I do, I couldn't do it without you?"
Alec rolled his eyes slightly
"Yeah you could, you do. Most of the time anymore it seems like I just stand around and look like an idiot while you actually figure it out... I must seem so foolish to you." he trailed off, shaking his head,
Magnus moved closer, reaching up, brushing a bit of Alec's hair behind his ear, resting his hand against his cheek. Alec sighed faintly, leaning into the touch.
"Sweetheart, nothing could be further from the truth. You are one of the most wonderful people I have ever met; you are kind, compassionate, and the most astonishingly accepting person I have ever encountered in my entire life. You truly see people for who they are, not what they are…you really have no idea how rare that is…
You see me for who I am; take me seriously, listen to me, value my opinion…you treat me as an equal.Do you have any idea how rare it is for someone in this profession to do that with someone like me?"
Alec inched closer, resting his arm on the back of the couch, brushing lightly against Magnus's shoulder,
Magnus sighed, slipping closer still,
"Think about it sweetheart; how much do you think I'd really want to work with the department if I had to work as closely with someone like Dax or Hodge, or any of the other obnoxious, condescending jackasses that just dismiss me as some kind of joke? Do you really think I'd want to stay around?"
Alec chuckled slightly
"Actually, I get the feeling you'd just try even harder, and pretty much do everything in your power to make sure that everyone sees just how completely incompetent they actually are…"
That surprised a bit of a laugh out of Magnus
He nodded, leaning a bit closer
"Wow, you really do see me, don't you?"
Alec smiled softly, leaning closer, reaching up, lightly tracing the shell of Magnus's ear, and down along his cheek.
"Yeah…I really do."
Alec leaned in slowly…
Then startles back when a grey and white striped cat hops lightly onto the back of the couch then right down onto his lap, promptly curling up and purring. Alec gives a light chuckle reaching down to scratch his neck, which makes the cat purr even louder.
"Well hi there, buddy, and who are you?"
"That's Chairman Meow."
He chuckles again, shaking his head faintly at the name, before glancing back up at Magnus,
"Wow, he's really friendly, isn't he?"
Magnus stares in shock
Chairman hates everyone…
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* _End Of Chapter Notes_ *-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*That damn cat…
O18O
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