A/N: I loved the reviews from last chapter! Those chapters are a lot of work to do them justice, but are so much fun, too. I'd love to discuss things more with Heartfield and Wolfie if either/both of you would like to PM me.
To the guest who asked: we have a long way to go in this story...
TattleTales: How are you ALWAYS the last reviewer for the chapter? Whether you review on Wed or Sun, you are always the last one. It's crazy.
"Hey, um, Dad?" Alec said nervously. He ran a hand through his hair, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
Robert Lightwood had just gotten home from work. He sat his brief case down with one hand while loosening his tie with the other. He looked distracted. "Yeah."
"Um, well, Magnus is coming home in a few days."
"Yeah," Robert said.
"Since I'm only twenty and you have to be twenty-five to rent a hotel room by yourself," Alec pressed on, wondering how much his father was hearing him. "I was, um, wondering if you'd rent one for me?"
"Rent… what?" Robert looked up from the stack of papers in his hands. "Magnus is welcome to stay here. You know that."
"Well, we wanted some time alone together…"
"Jace is gone. Izzy's leaving soon. I'll be at work. There's just your mom and Max here." Robert returned to rifling through the papers.
"Yeah, but we haven't seen each other in over a month and we want to be…alone." Alec put extra emphasis on the last word, hoping his father would understand him
Robert gave him a quizzical look and Alec wondered why his dad was being so thick.
"Oh, Jesus, Dad. Are you really going to make me say it?" Alec said in frustration. Robert finally set his papers down and focused on what his son was saying. "We want to be alone. You…um…you know we…um…" His voice dropped, as did his eyes. "You know we have sex, right?" he said in a rush, as if that would make it less painful. Like ripping off a band-aid, right?
He suddenly wished the floor would open up and swallow him whole.
Robert's eyes slid closed, his hand coming up to cover his face. "Oh, god, Alec. I'm so sorry. I wasn't even paying attention. Yeah, shit. Of course you want to be alone with…oh, god."
Alec was happy to see his father was just as embarrassed as he was. Okay, maybe not, but at least he was uncomfortable.
"Where do you want me to make the reservation?" Robert said after collecting himself. He was all business now, which calmed Alec considerably.
"The draft is at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn. So a hotel near there would be great." Alec wasn't sure he'd ever spoken quite so rapidly. He just wanted the conversation over as quickly as possible before he literally died of embarrassment.
"Consider it done," Robert said. Alec mumbled a thank you and turned to go. "Oh, and Alec? I really am sorry…about before…"
"Forget about it," Alec replied with a forced grin. Please god, forget about it. I don't ever want to think about that conversation again.
Alec nervously paced his hotel room. There weren't any fancy five-star hotels near the Barclay Center, so they ended up at a Holiday Inn. Nothing special, but then, they didn't need much an extravagant setting for what Alec planned. They just needed the basic comforts and each other.
He checked his appearance for the millionth time as he stalked past the mirror…again. His hair was its normal, stubborn self, hanging a little in his eyes. He probably should have gotten it trimmed already. Maybe he would do that later…
He was dressed in a plain blue T-shirt, because he knew Magnus liked that color on him, and a pair of basketball shorts he was pretty sure actually belonged to Magnus. Somehow they'd ended up in with his things and he'd worn them more times than he cared to count while Magnus was away. In fact, since his waist was bigger than Magnus's, they were probably stretched out and too big for his boyfriend now. Maybe he'd just keep them…
He sat down on the edge of the bed, crossed his legs, uncrossed his legs, crossed them again, then gave up and started pacing again…
On the next swipe past the king size bed taking up most of the room, he flopped into the middle of the bed, stretching out his long frame and propping his head on a pillow. He moved the pillow and folded his hands behind his head. He flipped over on his side, bending one knee in a sexy pose. Then he remembered he'd have to open the door when Magnus got there because he wouldn't have a key-card yet…
Back at the mirror, he sniffed his armpits, wondering if he should put on more of his favorite deodorant. Magnus loved the smell of it. Or maybe he should put on some cologne? Would the deodorant and cologne together be overpowering? He didn't want to have to take a shower if it was and take a chance of Magnus showing up while he was in the shower and couldn't hear him. He opted for a little more deodorant. He was a little sweaty waiting for his boyfriend to show up anyway…
Finally, mercifully, there was a knock. Alec moved hastily to answer it, losing his balance and nearly face-planting against the door. He caught himself just before he did, thankfully, but he was sure Magnus heard the thump of his body's off-balance collision before he was able to stop himself. He shook his head and threw open the door.
And there he was. Like an angel in all his splendor and glory. The most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. He took all of two seconds to appraise the black T-shirt with the NBA logo on it, the matching basketball shorts, the slightly spiked hair, the goofy half-grin that told him Magnus had indeed heard him bounce off the door, and the twinkle in those gorgeous green-gold eyes, before he grabbed the front of Magnus's shirt and pulled him into the room.
Magnus collided with him and Alec's arms encircled his waist in a flash, holding their bodies close together as Alec breathed in the scent of him, that wondrous smell he'd been jonesing for during the last couple of weeks. Magnus threw his head back, laughing, as Alec sniffed his neck and behind his ear, kissing a trail along his jaw.
Alec had a big 'oh I missed you' speech planned for Magnus's return, but the words were lost in the way he felt. He didn't need words, he just needed Magnus. He pushed him onto the bed, yanking his shorts off as soon as he landed. He couldn't help himself. He buried his face in Magnus's crotch and inhaled deeply. His musky scent was so much stronger there. This was what he'd been missing so badly. This was exactly what he needed.
"I take it you missed me?" Magnus said with a chuckle. He looked down his body, eyes meeting Alec's in a lust-filled gaze.
Alec ran is tongue along the length of Magnus's growing erection in response. Magnus shuddered and moaned at the touch. He twined his fingers in Alec's hair, and the touch alone made Alec's cock go rigid. He bobbed on Magnus's cock, just to hear him made those wonderful noises some more. Each groan, moan, sigh, gasp shot straight through Alec. He was quite sure he was already making a small wet spot in his shorts.
Alec pulled off Magnus and worked his way up that long, lean body. He raised the hem of his shirt inch by inch as he planted kisses every few inches. Magnus raised his hands over his head so Alec could remove and discard his shirt, then quickly relieved him of his own clothing.
And finally, finally, their lips met. How they managed such a soft, delicate kiss when their cocks were straining so hard and demanding attention, Alec will never know. He felt like he'd never wanted Magnus more in his life, but then, he felt like that every time they touched. But this, right here, their bodies aligned on the bed, arms holding each other close, lips pressed together, tongues teasing each other, cocks tingling with each brush - this was everything he'd ever wanted. This was simply perfection.
Their bodies moved in unison as they kissed. A growing spot of moisture accumulated on Magnus's belly from their combined leakage. And yet neither of them made a move to do more. They were both horny as all hell, but after so much time apart, they wanted to take their time, get reacquainted, just be in each others arms, lovingly touching and caressing the other's body, and kissing each other until their lips were sore.
At long last, Magnus pulled back, his breathing coming in harsh pants. "I…need you…Alec…" Alec nodded, thinking he couldn't take much more himself. "Condoms?" Magnus said, looking to the table on either side of the big bed.
"Damn it!" Alec cursed. In all his preparations, all his obsessing, he'd forgotten to get the condoms and lube out of his bag. Dumbass.
He scrambled off the bed and rooted through his bag until he found what he was looking for. Turning around to face Magnus, he adopted a self-deprecating expression and shrugged. Magnus snickered and Alec leapt face down onto the bed, landing beside him and bouncing slightly. He turned his head enough to look at Magnus.
"How could you forget those?" Magnus teased, and Alec rolled his eyes.
"'Cause I'm an idiot?" Alec said.
Magnus rolled onto his side and Alec recaptured his lips. Their tongues danced together again, and Magnus draped an arm across Alec's back, pulling himself closer. His rigid cock pressed against Alec's hip and it took every bit of self-control Alec possessed not to rock his own erection against the bedcovers. He. Was. So. Fucking. Horny.
"Stop teasing me and get on with it," he growled at Magnus, who grinned slyly before taking the items from Alec's hand and moving behind him.
Alec spread his legs a little wider and raised his ass up off the bed while Magnus sheathed and coated his dick. Then he moved into position, straddling Alec's hips, aligning his tip with Alec's hole. Alec pressed his forehead into his pillow, eyes rolling back in his head, as Magnus slowly worked his way in. God, he'd missed this so much. When Magnus was finally seated as deep as he could go, he lowered his weight against Alec's back, wrapping his arms around his chest and holding him once again.
Feather-light kisses peppered Alec's shoulder and neck, then moved along the edge of his jaw. Alec turned his head enough for Magnus to be able to kiss him again. Their lips met as Magnus started moving inside him and Alec was taken to a whole other plane of ecstasy. This was one of their favorite positions, but their long separation made it so much better somehow.
Magnus took his time, gently rocking his hips so his cock moved ever so slightly within Alec, lightly brushing against that special bundle of nerves each time and setting his nerve endings aflame. He left damp kisses on Alec's cheek, suckled the shell of his ear, nipped at the back of his neck. It all felt so amazingly good, so erotic, so perfect.
Their love-making seemed to last forever, and yet no time at all. Alec felt like days, or even weeks might have passed, or it could have only been minutes. Time stood still for them in that moment, for the two lovers who'd been apart for too long.
Magnus's hand smoothed down Alec's body, coming to rest at his groin. He wrapped his hand around Alec's weeping cock, and the touch of his lover's hand was so much better than the feel of the cotton sheets. Magnus's thrusts became harder, rocking Alec's cock against his boyfriend's hand and creating more friction. His rhythm accelerated, drawing them both closer and closer to the edge. Alec could feel Magnus tightening up, his body tensing as he got closer, even the grip of his hand grew tighter.
Alec rested his head against the pillow, panting into the space it provided. Magnus buried his face against the back of Alec's neck as their sweaty bodies slid smoothly against each other. With one last thrust, he cried out as jets of his fluid filled the condom deep in Alec's ass, and his body twitched with the waves of his orgasm. That was all it took for Alec to lose himself to the bliss as well, and he coated Magnus's hand and the sheets with his own warm, sticky fluid, his body jerking as he came.
Magnus smeared the wetness in his hand into Alec's chest as he crushed their bodies together, his lips once again searching out Alec's. The kisses were messy and disjointed as they fought for breath, but they seemed so damned important that neither was willing to stop to let their breathing settle. Neither did they care about the spectacular mess they were making of Alec's body and chest hairs.
Magnus finally softened to the point where he couldn't remain inside Alec any longer. He withdrew and Alec turned over, wrapping his arms around Magnus's waist and sealing their bodies together with his semen. Their kisses became slow and lazy, occasionally licking at each other just for fun, until they finally recovered completely.
"Oh. My. God." Alec breathed, punctuating his statement with a chaste kiss.
Magnus looked down between them and laughed. "What a fucking mess."
His eyes caught Alec's blue ones. They registered the pun at the same time and that set them to laughing. Some time later, breathless, covered in goo, and so very happy to be with each other again, Magnus kissed him softly then disappeared into the bathroom, returning a moment later with a warm, damp towel to attempt to clean up their mess.
They didn't leave to hotel room for days. Hell, they didn't leave the bed unless they had to use the facilities or answer the door for room service. Hotel food was not the best food they'd ever eaten, but they weren't concentrating much on that. They just needed food to refuel their batteries so they could go another round.
By Wednesday, they were both complaining of being sore. Alec wondered if they'd be able to walk right when they went to the Barclay Center the following day for the draft.
The draft. They'd spent the entire time together, nearly a week in fact, just being together, attempting to quell their insatiable desire for each other. That hadn't really worked but it had kept their minds off the upcoming draft and kept them too exhausted to worry much about it. Alec did wonder a few times how on earth they were supposed to spend extended time apart if they couldn't even handle 6 weeks without fucking each other stupid when they reunited. He didn't know how to answer that question, so he put it on the back burner…again.
But the night before the draft, it seemed impossible to continue to not talk about the draft.
"So," Alec began, "June 22nd."
Magnus brought their entwined fingers to his lips and kissed the back of Alec's hand. "Yeah."
Alec suddenly needed to talk about this. He sat up straighter on the bed, folding his legs under him, and put on his serious face. The effect was slightly ruined by the fact they were both still naked. "What's Baxter said about the combine? Are they still predicting you going in the top five?"
Magnus sighed, seemingly giving in to the conversation that he knew was inevitable. He sat up, too, still holding Alec's hand. "Baxter's been talking with teams that have shown interest in me. He said he doesn't see any reason for my draft position to change. No one's said anything to contrary anyway, but I don't know how much that means."
Alec gave him a quizzical look. He let out a somewhat bitter laugh. "If my stock drops because I'm gay, do you really think they'd tell that to my agent?"
Alec grumbled at that. What a stupid reason for a team to pass on him. He leaned over the side of the bed and drew his bag toward him. He reached inside and pulled out a folder with some papers in it.
"What's that?" Magnus asked curiously.
"Well, once they drew the lottery positions, I wanted to see what our options were. So this," he handed papers to Magnus as he spoke, "is the lottery order. These are the major mock drafts, and these are the current personnel on each team, so we can see who is most likely to draft a point guard."
"Alec -"
"I know. Magnus, believe me, I know. I just need to have some idea what were are looking at tomorrow. I need to know the odds of you ending up somewhere where we can be together. Not having any idea is killing me."
Magnus' features softened. "I know. Okay, let's do this."
Alec grinned. "Alright. So, I've been looking at this, and I think every one of these teams could use a point guard." Magnus chuckled at this. "What? I'm serious. Look. The Lakers got the number one pick. They need a point guard."
"They need every position, honestly," Magnus said with a chuckle. "But they're gonna take that kid from LSU. I can't say I blame them. He's the consensus number one and he's fucking awesome."
"The one that's a forward, but plays like a guard, too?" Magnus nodded. "Yeah. Okay. He's pretty good."
Magnus snorted. "He's better than 'pretty good.'"
Alec made a defeated gesture. He knew what Magnus said was true, but he still felt disheartened by it. Los Angeles had a college that offered a Sports Medicine degree. He sighed. "Philadelphia has the second pick. They have a good point guard, but he's young."
He shrugged. Magnus smirked when he said, "They could always play me as the two-guard."
Alec's mouth fell open. "Who in their right fucking mind would play you as a shooting guard and not a point guard? Magnus, seriously, you're one of the best point guards I've ever seen!"
Magnus shrugged. "I'll play wherever they put me."
"Well…yeah, but. Maybe they'd move the other guy to the two, and let you play point. That would make more sense. You're better than him anyway."
"Maybe they'd play two point guards. I've seen a few college teams doing that recently."
Alec snorted. "I can't see that happening. That's just too weird. Besides, point guards are so cocky and attention whores. They need to -"
Whatever else he was going to say was cut off by Magnus's pillow hitting his face. They both laughed a wrestled for a moment before Alec sat up, swatted Magnus's arm and said, "Be serious, you jerk."
"Yeah, yeah," Magnus said with a grin. "Alec, you do know this is only hypothetical, right?"
Alec made a noncommittal gesture. Maybe he was thinking a little too hard on this. "Right. So that's a maybe for Philly. The Suns have the third pick," Alec said after consulting his sheet of paper. Like he didn't already have the entire fourteen team lottery order memorized.
"Yeah, but they're already guard-heavy. They have four guards that played at Kentucky."
"Really?"
Magnus nodded. "And they're all really good."
"That's crazy," Alec said. "So, Phoenix is probably out."
"Unless they take me for a potential trade."
Alec's face fell. Trade? He'd completely forgotten that some teams will already have a trade in the works by now, and they may use their draft picks to sweeten the deal. Shit. What if Magnus got drafted to a team that would work perfectly for them, and then got traded? Fuck fuck fuck. Oh well, there wasn't anything he could do about that, so he pushed it out of his mind for now.
"Right. So, the Knicks got the fourth pick. That would be ideal. They could use a good point guard. And you'd still be in New York."
Magnus nodded. "That would be ideal…"
"But?"
Magnus shrugged. "Baxter says that's one of the teams with a trade in the works. Who knows if it would be approved or not, but he says they are looking to trade their pick for a couple of other players. So even if they pick me, I probably won't be going there."
"Fuck." Alec sat silently for several minutes. He'd been excited about the Knicks having the fourth pick, especially since one of the major mock drafts had Magnus going there. "Fuck," he repeated. He was already beginning to hate NBA politics.
He looked at the sheet again to refocus his mind after that let-down. "Minnesota has the fifth pick. What's Baxter say about them?"
"They're a strange team. Everyone is either at the beginning or the end of their career. They have some really talented young guys and should be pretty good once they pull it all together. It'll just take a few years for that to happen. I don't think they've expressed specific interest in me, but who knows?" He shrugged one shoulder in an off-handed manner.
Alec sighed again. None of the mock drafts had Magnus falling out of the top five. Alec didn't want him to, or at least he hadn't until he found out that the Knicks were considering a trade already. Now? Was it worth the lower salary to stay in New York?
"Denver has the sixth pick, and Brooklyn the seventh. But I'm sure you'll go before that," Alec mumbled, feeling thoroughly dejected.
Magnus ran his hand along Alec's arm. "This is why I didn't want to play this game, Alec. I didn't want to upset you."
Alec looked down at the hand on his arm, and gently nodded his head. "I guess I'm glad I found out about the Knicks trade now. It would have been worse if they took you and I got my hopes up for nothing."
"Hey," Magnus said in a tone that told Alec to look at him. "It's not hopeless, you know? It doesn't matter what the mock drafts say, or what trades are in the works. No one knows what the teams are going to do until they do it. Sometimes they take guys higher than expected, sometimes lower. The only one that's probably a lock is the Lakers taking that LSU guy first. And even that's not a hundred percent until it happens. Don't give up on me, okay?"
"I'll never give up on you, Magnus. You know that. I was just hoping this would make me feel more optimistic about the future, not make me more worried."
"Come here," Magnus said, tugging Alec down into his arms. "It'll all be over tomorrow. Then we can start planning our future."
He kissed Alec softly as Alec's arms snaked around his middle and they held each other close. One more day. One more long, agonizing day and then they would know what was going to happen. Alec felt like everything had been leading up to this day for months. Probably longer if he were honest about it.
Just one more day.
A/N: I thought now might be a good time to say the following: I am using the real names of NBA franchises. I am just borrowing them and doing what I want with them, and this story is in no way a reflection on the NBA teams or any of their viewpoints. I am in no way affiliated with any of the teams. All the characters from the NBA you encounter from here on (I think I mentioned LeBron and some others previously) are all fictional and any similarity to actual players is coincidental. Believe it or not, I don't actually know ALL the names of the NBA players, though some of the above team insights are based on real life. Anyway, I just don't want you guys to think I'm using real people for this story! 'Cause I'm not :)
