Alec scanned the layout of Bane's loft from the center of the living area; the two had just portaled in from the Institute. The Brooklyn penthouse apartment was expansive, eclectic, and warmly lit.
"The guest room is over there," Bane murmured unenthusiastically, pointing to the right. He sluggishly walked across the room to a drink cart. As he had expected, creating that portal further depleted his already-diminished magical reserve.
Alec nodded and promptly retreated to set is bag down. The guest room was considerably larger than his bedroom back at the Institute. He strode to the large window and shifted the drapes to see the night sky, still dark as it was just after one in the morning. He surveyed the guest room quickly. Finding nothing amiss he rejoined Bane, who had just settled onto one of the couches with a martini in his hand.
"What are you doing?" Bane asked sharply, watching with narrowed eyes as Alec looked methodically around the loft.
"I was going to run a perimeter check."
Bane scoffed. "I have wards for that."
"Still, I should probably go ahead and search the- "
"No need," Bane insisted, irritated for having to repeat himself. "I would feel it if any malicious creature came near this building."
Alec stared at him, considering the response. He went against his own judgment and acquiesced, though, taking a seat on the edge of a blue armchair which sat across from the stubborn warlock.
Bane sipped his drink while absently tapping the glass table beside him. Minutes passed in silence, neither man speaking for a long time.
"So, what did you do to piss your father off?" Bane spoke finally.
"What do you mean?"
"I assume there's some explanation why he selected you for such a boring assignment, babysitting a Downworlder – especially one who has no need for you to do so."
Alec shrugged and looked down at his boots, hiding a suddenly taut expression; his stoic demeanor fell away. "Someone needed to do it."
"What was it that he said?" Bane continued, aware of but indifferent over the Shadowhunter's sudden reluctance. "Ah, yes. I recall him saying that you could use some time away from the Institute. I'm curious, Shadowhunter. What did he mean by that?"
Alec wrung his hands together as he answered, "He's not pleased that I recently refused an arranged marriage."
Bane raised an eyebrow before finishing his drink, trying to remain interested. "Arranged marriage, huh? Here I thought Nephilim considered themselves more progressive these days."
"The partnership was meant to strengthen my father's standing with the Clave."
"Of course. And, yet you refused. That's very rogue for a Shadowhunter if I do say so myself, isn't it? Your kind are built to be loyal soldiers from a young age."
"It was something I couldn't do. Even … even if it disappointed my father."
"So not a good match then?" Bane jested carelessly, even though he detected this was a sensitive subject for the young man in front of him.
"It just … it wouldn't work out. Lydia, she understood that."
"Was she not pretty enough for you?" He questioned mischievously. A slight, close-lipped smile formed.
Alec stared pointedly at the floor, deciding on his response. He found himself surprised to realize he didn't mind telling Bane the truth. He wasn't fazed by the warlock's abrasive front. "Well, no. I'm … I am gay."
Alec was still looking down and didn't see the mage's eyes widen ever so slightly.
Bane stared, unblinking, startled by the Shadowhunter's candidness. He opened his mouth to speak but was stopped by a sudden jarring sensation in his chest, his dimmed magic finally alerting him to an oncoming danger. The hasty ping of breached wards reverberated throughout the weak tendrils of his magic.
"My wards!" he gasped, jumping to his feet and rushing up to the terrace.
"Bane, wait," Alec hollered, chasing after him as he pulled out his bow, already nocked with an arrow. He followed the warlock upstairs and onto the rooftop just in time to see a croucher demon drop from above him and land on Bane's back. The demon and warlock tumbled to the ground and rolled into the railing.
All in the same breath, Alec pulled back his bowstring, aimed and released the arrow, effortlessly taking out the demon. "You okay?"
Bane nodded, shaken. He moved to his feet to scan the darkling area, squinting through the mirk of the night. Croucher demons never traveled alone. Sure enough, both men immediately heard growls and scratches approaching from the darkness. They anticipated nothing less than small hoard of slimy creatures.
Alec switched weapons, activating his seraph blade in time to pierce a lone demon that lunged at him from the shadows.
From the corner of his eye, he saw another two demons scrambling toward Bane, who was able to dispatch of them with a small burst of magic.
Alec sliced through a group of three crouchers as he charged further onto the rooftop. He clambered onto a table, using it as a steppingstone to hop onto the ledge of the high terrace wall to gain a better view of the situation.
Looking down to check on Bane, he saw the warlock shuffling backward defensively against a wall, his enervated magic still effectively blasting demons into nothingness.
A split-second later Alec felt an abrupt force crash into his side, setting him off balance. He immediately wrestled with the demon that had collided into him, but the struggle to remove it threatened his sense of balance on top of the narrow ledge.
Bane seared the final demon that snarled at his feet. With a weary huff, he looked up just in time to see the Shadowhunter lose a precarious battle of balance and drop off the building's ledge, disappearing into a deadly freefall toward the streets below.
"Alec!" Bane shouted, and magic shot from his hands before he even had a chance to command it to do so. Streams of orange sparks lurched across the terrace, propagating over the ledge and chasing down the side of the building.
Bane staggered forward, making his way to the spot where Alec had just fallen from. With the last of his magic still flowing from him, he peered over to see its orange wisps rapidly vining around the fallen Shadowhunter, plucking him from the deadly plummet and suspending him in midair.
Bane struggled determinedly as he called his magic back, slowly hauling Alec up to the roof.
Even during his freefall, Alec had managed to pierce the menacing demon who had toppled him. Now, covered in ash and ichor, he tried to catch his breath as he literally floated in a bubble of magic. His mind realized the sparking licks of light that wrapped around him had just saved him from certain death on the city pavement below.
The trip back up to the roof seemed painstakingly slow, but the warlock magic sustained, and a couple moments later, Bane shifted his arms to drop Alec from the air and safely onto the concrete ground beside him.
Bane collapsed immediately, his breathing heavy and haggard. Alec himself felt too stunned to move, his own breathing still not under control.
After several moments, Alec reached over and touched Bane's shoulder. Bane raised his head from the ground feebly; his golden cat eyes had resurfaced and were staring up at Alec anxiously.
"Are you hurt?" Bane managed to croak out.
"No. Are you?"
"No, but I ... I've had better nights. I'm afraid I can't bring myself to stand," he admitted begrudgingly through heaving gasps.
Alec ignored the dejection heard in the other man's voice and quickly got to his feet. He grabbed underneath Bane's shaky arms and hoisted him up. Slowly, the two men made their way inside.
"What can I do?" Alec asked once they made it back into the living room.
Bane hung heavily from his side but managed to gesture lazily to the left. Alec navigated them to a double-door entrance at the end of the hallway, finding it led to the warlock's bedroom. He quickly deposited him onto the bed.
Bane slumped forward where he was sat.
"My phone," Bane muttered, jerking his head to the bedside table. When Alec picked it up to offer to him, he only shook his head.
"I-I can't," the warlock wheezed out as he clung tightly to the edge of the mattress with white, bloodless knuckles, trying to remain upright. "There's a contact in my phone. Ragnor Fell. I need you to send hm a text. My wards…"
Alec kneeled beside the bed to do as he was asked, but he couldn't unlock the phone. He glanced up to ask for the passcode only to finally notice how little energy Bane had left in him. His eyelids drooped languidly, sweat dripped from his skin, and he still shook. He looked moments away from passing out.
Though Alec had little experience with warlocks, he could tell that the one in front of him had truly depleted his very last ounce of magic, and he had done it saving him.
Alec quickly grabbed the warlock's hand and swiped his finger across the phone to unlock it.
Bane was too busy focusing on remembering to breathe to be surprised at the other man's touch.
"Is Ragnor another warlock?" Alec asked, trying to keep Bane awake. He quickly made his way into the contacts list and found the phone number. He saw Bane nod minutely from the corner of his eye.
"Wards aren't stable … anymore. Ragnor can help."
Alec typed the message quickly, telling Ragnor his help was needed to fortify wards for the High Warlock of Brooklyn. He got to his feet and set the phone down. "Message sent," he confirmed.
"Y-you're bleeding," Bane mumbled thickly.
Alec followed his eyes down to his thigh, seeing the torn fabric and a bleeding gash peeking out from underneath it. "It's nothing at all," he answered, despite becoming aware of how the blood had soaked through a significant portion of his pants. He produced his stele and activated the Iratze rune to begin healing.
Bane fell back on to his bed as if he had finally lost the ability to sit upright. He inched further until his whole body made it onto the mattress.
"Do you need something? Can I get you water?"
"Just leave me," Bane answered curtly.
"Are you sure?" Alec received no response and so turned to leave. The incensed tone amid the warlock's exhaustion had caught him off guard.
As he reached the door, Bane managed to pull his face out from a pillow to stare at him. "You don't belong here, Shadowhunter" he uttered with the last of his strength, the words full of vitriol.
It was somewhere between dawn and sunrise, but Alec wasn't sure of the exact time. He stood outside on the balcony, staring up at the still dark sky covering the city that sprawled out beneath it. He wondered when this Ragnor Fell person would show up. He dared not sleep until the wards could be stabilized.
He startled at a shuffling sound he heard come from behind him.
"Good morning, Alexander."
Alec heard a surprisingly warm voice hum the greeting. He glanced over his shoulder warily to find Bane approaching him.
The warlock had changed; he was dressed in a bright blue, silky robe and matching pajama bottoms. His face was free from makeup, and his hair appeared softer, even though the spikes still splayed out in different directions. The blue robe billowed with the breeze as he made his way beside Alec.
A deep v-shaped swath of caramel-colored skin, exposed by the robe's parted fabric, popped into Alec's view. He flashed his eyes away from the sight, feeling an immediate heat rise through his cheeks up to the tips of ears. "Good morning, Bane."
"Do call me Magnus," the mage requested with a smirk so bright his whole face lit up; even his eyes crinkled with mirth.
Alec tilted his head at the peculiar request. "Magnus?"
"Yes, that is my name, after all." Another smile.
"Since when?" Alec's eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. He hadn't once seen Bane smile in the handful of hours they'd known each other, but here the grin seemed set in place, and it was sublime.
"Since I gave it to myself many centuries ago, young Shadowhunter. This world may know me as Bane, but I am Magnus Bane. And, I wish for you call me by my first name."
"Um, okay … Magnus, sure..."
"It looks like I haven't missed the sunrise. Splendid." A relaxed sigh exuded from the warlock's parted lips. He turned to lean against the railing. His contented gaze settled in, observing the quiet city below, the streets painted with grays and blacks of night and tinges of peach from the orange streetlights still glowing.
"Are you … all right?" Alec ventured, still gaping at him.
"More than all right, Alexander," he answered warmly, rubbing his hands together almost giddily. A playful expression spread across his features. "I feel ... free."
"Look, Bane. I don't know what's going on here."
"It's Magnus," the mage gently corrected him a second time.
Bane – or Magnus, as he now wished to be called - was in an uncharacteristically jovial mood, and the suddenly gentle tone of voice and request for Alec to call him by his first name seemed too far out of place to make much sense.
He took the opportunity to stare at the man next to him more closely without worry of being snapped at, silently scrutinizing every detail. He wouldn't admit it out loud to anyone – not even his sister, Izzy – but Alec had been attracted to the warlock's aesthetic features since he first saw him wrangling shax demons last night.
"Are you startled by me, pretty boy?" Magnus asked with a pleasant lilt to his voice, breaking the silence as he looked over to Alec.
Perhaps Bane had managed a concussion from the rooftop skirmish earlier. Yes, Alec determined; that must be it. "I think you hit your head."
Magnus laughed enthusiastically in response, causing Alec to suck in a breath of shock at the unexpected sound. The sound stirred up a magnificently warm sensation in Alec's chest.
"No, that's not the case."
"Then what happened? What's changed?"
Magnus' stare grew more intense, looking back and forth between Alec's eyes as if trying to find the answer there. "I'm not sure exactly. I think … you."
"Me? What about me?"
"You happened... You've unlocked something in me."
Alec's forehead creased; he was more than perplexed by the ambiguous response.
The two men fell into a comfortable silence and simply continued staring at each other.
Alec observed each detail of the warlock's face, searching for clues to explain the sudden change. Without makeup, he appeared considerably younger. His features were no longer guarded. His dark eyes were rounded and soft in their gaze.
Despite the striking differences in his face and demeanor, though, Alec knew it was still the very same man standing before him.
For the first time since he arrived on the balcony, Magnus frowned.
Alec noticed. The act of the warlock losing his smile pulled Alec himself from reverie. "Magnus," he uttered the name for the first time, happy to see when it made the corner of the other man's lip curl up again.
"It appears I won't be able to watch the sunrise with you as I'd hoped." His eyes shifted to the side, as if seeing or hearing something that wasn't there.
"Why not?" Alec asked. He had not even realized they were going to watch it in the first place, but somehow, he still felt disappointed by Magnus' declaration.
"I must return."
"Where?"
"To bed of course," Magnus smirked as though he had said something funny.
"Oh. Um, yeah of course. You must still be tired... Thank you, by the way, for what you did on the roof."
Magnus began to retreat from the balcony. Before disappearing, he turned. "Don't be frightened of me, Alexander. Just remember, I am the one who is frightened of you." His voice was playful even though the words were serious.
Another warlock riddle Alec couldn't decipher.
"Good night, Shadowhunter. We'll talk more soon."
Magnus disappeared into the loft, and Alec was left to wonder what the hell just happened.