[Alec POV]
Thinking of Magnus in their apartment, waiting for him to come home, lets his mind wander. He wonders what Magnus´ is doing right now. He talked about starting to exercise a while ago. Alec tries to not get his hopes up too high but still imagines Magnus shirtless, sweat glistening on his shoulders, his pectoral muscles, his abdomen, his b….
"Fuck! Sweet Angel of the… MOTHERF…!" He rubs his shins and grumbles. His face beet red. He´s not entirely sure why. Whether because his legs hurt or out of embarrassment if someone has heard or seen him. Because he – a graceful, responsible Shadowhunter who fights demons for a living and is dependent on his agility and dexterity – managed to trip over a step and landed flat on his face. It´s a beautiful floor. Even more beautiful from up close. The wood has a wonderful texture. Incredible artisanship.
Still embarrassed he finally stands up and moves on to climb the last set of stairs – more carefully. He notices a bowl lying on the ground in front of Magnus´ door. Their apartment. He´s still not used to calling it theirs. He picks it up to put it on top of the shelf it fell off. Weird.
He takes out his phone to muster his reflection. Unsuccessfully trying to even out his hair and smoothing down his clothes, he smiles. He takes a deep breath as if he hadn´t been here every day. As if it wasn´t HIS apartment and they were meeting up for a first date.
It´s most certainly not a first date. Even though he had a similar stair-case-incident back then – he never told Magnus. Looking back at the door, Alec tries to calm himself a bit down. It´s been a bit over 7 months. 7 months and 8 days to be exact – and it still feels like he swallowed a beehive. But it´s a good feeling.
Why bees and not butterflies? He thinks while he pulls his keys out of his back pocket. Okay, I hate butterflies. They´re nasty. I love bees. That must be it.
The muffled sound of a song, he´s not familiar with, seeps through the thick wood of the door and as he turns his keys in the lock, he concludes that it´s still weird and kind of dangerous to swallow a beehive. Why am I like this?
Alec enters their apartment, head ducked and not paying attention to his surroundings as he calls over to Magnus.
"It wasn´t me! I swear – Hey, Magnus – the bowl was already on the floor when I came up the stairs and I don't kno –," Alec finally turns around after hanging up his jacket and putting his keys on the wooden board next to the door. "Holy shit!" He barely manages to vocalize, the tips of his ears flushing.
"Something wrong, love? My eyes are up here." Magnus smirks, apparently fully aware of his appearance.
"Yes! – I mean – No. No! Nothing´s wrong. Why? Why would you ask me that? It´s just – long day. Dust. Itchy throat -," he stammers and feels his blood rushing in two distinct directions.
SHIRTLESS. Of course, he has to be shirtless. The bees in his stomach still buzzing, a bit lower this time. Alec Gideon Lightwood! You´re an adult – it´s not as if you haven't seen him like this before. Get yourself together.
"Dance with me?" Magnus asks. "If it´s not too much trouble." He says with an amused glance over Alec´s body. Alec doesn´t know if he´s talking about the redness in his face or – Suddenly he´s pulled flush against Magnus who at once puts his hands over Alec´s shoulders. Heart hammering in his chest.
"Hey! I am perfectly able to walk on my own." He complains, swatting away Magnus´ arms playfully – trying to suppress a smile – and failing at it completely. After all, he circles his arms around Magnus´ waist and shivers when he feels the warlock's hands brushing against his neck and stroking through his hair.
"I just couldn´t wait any longer to hold you in my arms." Magnus puts his left hand on Alec´s shoulder, his right remains at his neck.
"Urgh. Seriously. Now you´re being dramatic, have you been talking to Simon again. Or to my sister? Or BOTH? You always talk like that when you´ve been with Simon or Izzy."
"No, I have not. Your reaction is just hilarious." He pulls himself up to Alec´s height and places a kiss right behind the Shadowhunter's ear. "Speaking of 'hilarity' – What was that noise?" The curious look in his eyes doesn´t completely manage to hide his smile.
"I don´t know what you´re talking about." Alec tries to sound indifferent as Magnus is beginning to sway to the soft beat of the song.
"Oh, right. You must´ve hit your head then."
"My head is fine," he sighs. "If you must know – oh, I´m so sorry –," he bumps into Magnus as he thinks of an explanation to his mishap, "if you must know, there was a – uhm – a butterfly! And you know, I hate these things and I tried to avoid it and because of that," he waves his arms to demonstrate how he defended himself. "I missed a step and I stumbled." Proud of his explanation his eyes dart back to his boyfriend's.
"A butterfly in the hallway. How strange – and here I thought that the graceful, handsome Shadowhunter just had a flight of –," he pulls Alec back into him to twirl around, closer to the balcony, "clumsiness." He kisses him on the nose.
Alec feels the heat rushing back to his face and he turns his face so he can look over the city. Also, to hide his blush in the evening light, even though he knows that it´s impossible to hide his emotions. He never can – and that´s not a bad thing.
"Maybe," he leans his forehead against Magnus´, closes his eyes and smiles. "Maybe it was." Opening his and looking up to find the amber ones already gazing at him - lovingly. "But the bowl wasn´t my fault."
"I know, Alexander. The foolish cat tried to sleep in it again." Magnus received an immediate answer – an angry hiss – from the place on the windowsill. Magnus turned to look at the curled-up cat directly. "Apparently, I have a thing for clumsiness." The music stops.
Alec jerks his head back. "I am not clumsy! I am a Shadowhunter. It would be bad if I was clumsy."
"I know you´re not. If anything, it´s my fault. If I recall correctly," Magnus smirks at him, "it´s not the first time you fell in front of my apartment." Magnus taps his right index finger on Alec´s clavicle. Sparks of magic pulsating through the bone, making the Shadowhunter squirm slightly.
"Of course you heard that." He sighs in defeat before taking Magnus´ right hand into his, following the lines with his thumb.
"And it made – Makes me proud. If it doesn´t sound too weird."
"How would that make you feel proud? I embarrassed myself. Twice."
"Because you´re a Shadowhunter. You don´t stumble, you don´t fail, you´re good, exceptional, at your job. But that stumble made me realize that you´re more than that. And I knew that you´re different. I knew your heart was involved." With his free hand, he brushes a loose strand of hair back behind Alec´s ear, inching slightly closer.
Alec shivers at the touch and places Magnus´ right hand over his heavily pounding heart. Locking eyes with him, it responds in accelerating its beat. "It still is." He closes the gap in between them and feels Magnus tightening his grip, slightly pulling at the fabric.
