Light the fuse
Sadly, they don't actually get around to introductions right away. Because before Alec can step up to where their little group is standing, the warlock is already taking off through a portal, his warning of 'Valentine has found us' hanging in the air.
And Alec can even more than understand his worry at having been found by Valentine and what that might mean for any of the warlocks under his - the High Warlock's - protection. Really.
But still, he would have at least liked to have had a chance to see him up close before the warlock took off, introduce himself and if possible also ask for his number.
Alas, he didn't get the chance. And now he has to actively keep himself from pouting slightly at the missed chance as he follows his siblings out of the building.
It's not like it's every day that that you find out about your supposedly imaginary savior, childhood crush and teenage fantasy not only being very much real, but also that 'the man with the sparkles' - the guy who Alec and his siblings have based most of their childhood training sessions around to the point that he has become something of an idiom amongst the Lightwood siblings - is Magnus Bane. Centuries-old, possibly-the-most-powerful-warlock-this-side-of-the-Atlantic, High Warlock of Brooklyn, Magnus Bane.
And then there is the fact that the warlock had definitely noticed Alec, had clearly been focused on him as soon as Alec had made his presence known via arrow-through-Circle-member.
Alec almost feels a little giddy.
But hey, who wouldn't in his position? Who wouldn't feel giddy if their absolute, supposedly unattainable fantasy suddenly became a real, tangible thing.
Well, at least it might have a chance of becoming real, if Alec ever runs into Magnus Bane again without the warlock promptly taking off to parts unknown. Alec frowns in slight annoyance. Just how is he supposed to track down a warlock as powerful as Magnus without anything to go on?
But then they reach the outside and it suddenly turns out that they do have a way to track the pretty warlock after all - even if it does seem oddly convenient for him to have lost a button right when they need something to track him with. But Alec keeps his comments to himself for once and instead happily lends Jace the strength of their parabatai bond for the tracking spell.
Which succeeds pretty much right away.
And - button or not, parabatai-enhanced tracking or not - it still shouldn't actually be this easy to track a warlock, much less a truly powerful one. At least not if there are intact wards surrounding wherever the warlock ran off to.
There is something fishy going on.
Alec is immediately suspicious, a feeling which is mirrored on his siblings' faces. They exchange a glance, suddenly much more on edge as they quickly start making their way towards wherever the tracking spell is leading them.
Although, Jace keeps shooting Alec narrow-eyed glances, probably bothered by Alec's silence and his unusual willingness to just go along with one of Jace's gung-ho, let's-worry-about-the-details-when-we-get-there plans without complaint.
Well, if he wants to hear an 'I told you so' from him so badly, Alec is all too happy to oblige.
"See? I told you it was a stupid plan," he remarks with emphasis.
There is a huff of annoyance from behind them, but before Clary can actually speak up - Alec isn't really all that interested in what she might have to say anyway - Jace is already rolling his eyes, grumbling, "Yeah, yeah, Alec. Your objections have been duly noted." Another huff. "So, what would your grand plan have been, then?"
Alec mockingly raises an eyebrow at his brother. "Oh, now you're suddenly asking for my opinion?"
But there is no heat in either of their voices. Because this isn't a fight or even an actual argument. It's just their usual bickering during any given mission, just a way to keep their minds sharp, focused on the task as they hunt demons in the streets of New York.
And it's not like Alec is actually going to complain about the plan now.
Because - even ignoring how much he suddenly approves of anything that lets him see 'the man with the sparkles' again - as much as Alec might have disagreed with this plan in the beginning, he still went along with it. So from that point forward, any failures in this mission are on his head just as much as they are on his siblings'. That's just how it works.
If anything, as the eldest he is likely going to be held even more responsible than Izzy and Jace.
Alec barely keeps in his sigh. Seriously, having siblings is stressful.
But point is, he is in this now anyway, so complaining about it isn't going to get him anywhere.
He watches as a taunting smirk tugs at Jace's lips. "Well, there seems to be something you're just dying to get off your chest. So, here's your chance, Alec. Have at it."
"Wait, we're doing 'get-things-off-our-chest' right now?" Izzy promptly chimes in from behind them, a definite teasing note in her voice. "Because if that's the case, I'm still nowhere near done making fun of you for last week's mission, Jace. You know, the one where you almost managed to get yourself abducted by a djinn?"
Alec smirks as Jace immediately sneaks a side-glance at Clary with a slight blush on his cheeks. Aw, his little brother is embarrassed at being teased in front of his crush.
Hnpf. Serves him right for dragging Izzy and me into this madness just because he got himself so completely caught up in this girl.
He grins at Izzy over his shoulder and she promptly smirks back, her delight at so successfully embarrassing their brother more than apparent.
Alec loves being on demon hunts with his siblings.
Between the three of them, two thirds of any given mission are jokes and bickering and taunting each other and forming teams of two with the goal to either embarrass Jace or to annoy Izzy or to exasperate Alec.
It's what makes missions with his siblings so much better than having to hunt demons with other Shadowhunters.
But when they they finally reach the tracking spell's destination, their good humor immediately disappears entirely.
There are no wards to speak of around this place and they have barely entered the building before they already run into Circle members literally hunting warlocks.
Alec absolutely hates the Circle.
They split up to cover more ground and Alec proceeds through the apparent warlock hideout quickly but cautiously, while putting arrows through every single Circle member he sees with extreme prejudice.
But it only gets worse from there. Because when they finally reach the actual living quarters, they are greeted by the grim sight of dead warlocks strewn across the living room floor, their demon marks removed and their bodies carelessly discarded.
Alec clenches his teeth. He quickly signals his siblings to check the bodies in the living room, before turning down one of the hallways to the right to make sure there aren't any Circle members still hiding somewhere. And possibly also to go look for his sparkly warlock, whose body wasn't amongst those in the living room to his utter relief.
He finds him rather easily, just having to follow the sounds of crashing bookcases and taunting voices into a room on the left. Alec pauses in the entrance way, just for a moment.
Then he promptly raises his bow to shoot an arrow into the leg of the Circle member currently giving the warlock a hard time, taunting him with the death of his friends, giving Magnus enough time to gather his magic. The Circle member promptly goes flying across the room.
Alec nods approvingly.
"Well done," he comments.
He immediately wants to take that back. Well done? Really? I couldn't have come up with something better to say than congratulating the High Warlock of Brooklyn for winning a simple fight?
But before he can say anything else, he already gets a matching quip in return. "More like medium-rare."
Then the warlock turns around, finally focusing on Alec.
And he looks quite pleasantly surprised to see him standing there, giving him a brief once over before sauntering a few steps closer as his eyes remain fixed on Alec.
And okay, yeah. Alec definitely likes being this man's focus of attention. A hot shiver works itself down his back at Magnus' obvious interest in him.
He also feels entirely vindicated for his claim over the years. This man is definitely the prettiest person Alec has ever seen. If anything, he is even prettier than Alec remembered.
"I don't think we have been formally introduced. I'm Magnus." A slight, almost coy smile is curving the warlock's lips as he introduces himself, his eyes not leaving Alec's for a moment.
"Alec," he returns, feeling a smile spread over his face. At least he managed to sound mostly normal despite feeling so uncharacteristically flustered.
Inconveniently enough, he also seems entirely unable to rip his eyes away from the face which has been ghosting through his dreams ever since he was a child. His eyes alone – warm and intense, lined in black and emphasized by shimmering eyeshadow, his gaze unwavering – have Alec entirely mesmerized.
Damn, but this warlock is pretty.
But as happy as Alec would be to just stand here and stare at the man while pretending to have a conversation, he really has to get back.
He's got shit to do. He always does. Like checking on his siblings, lest they manage to get themselves into an even bigger mess.
He clears his throat. "We should really get back to-" He waves his hand to indicate the next room where he knows his siblings are tending to the injured warlocks.
"Right," Magnus says, his eyes still locked on Alec - and oh, does he ever like that - with a nod and a sinuous hand gesture. "We should join the party."
"Yeah." Inconveniently enough, his verbal skills seem to have entirely abandoned him at the moment.
The warlock just tilts his head slightly, still watching him, making no move to actually leave.
So, Alec gives another decisive nod - more to shake himself from his own stupor than anything else - and then turns to lead the way to the door.
It only takes him a few steps to notice that Magnus isn't actually following him as he expected and has instead turned back towards the body of the Circle member, mumbling something to himself.
And Alec stops in the doorway, turning back around to wait for Magnus.
Because while he does have to get back to keep an eye on things - you never know with his siblings and their penchant for trouble, not at all helped by the presence of that girl who appears to truly bring out the worst in his brother especially - he also has no intention of leaving here without Magnus' phone number at the very least.
And okay, Alec might be a little out of his depth here, seeing as he usually doesn't really do the dating thing. Not because of repression or shyness or anything of the sort and, sure, he has had his fair share of offered dates, but not once has there been a single damn person he would have been interested in trying to seriously date.
People in general just tend to annoy him.
Alec simply doesn't like people. At all. According to Izzy, it's a thing.
And, hey, on his good days, Alec is busy with his Shadowhunting duties and all the other stuff piled on top of him as the eldest Lightwood sibling. Between his mother's expectations, dealing with his siblings' messes and his own rather perfectionist approach to anything, Alec has had other things on his mind than dating.
So, usually Alec can't be bothered to even try.
Although, Alec thinks, giving Magnus - who is still turned away from him - another slow once-over, I might just be willing to make an exception for this one.
Sure, he might not have any idea how to really go about it – it's not like there is going to be any sort of handbook for 'your childhood savior and crush turning out to be real and immortal and thus not having aged at all while you grew up and continued comparing every single person you met to their level of prettiness' - but he'll deal. Alec has always been rather excellent at winging it.
When Magnus finally turns around to face the door once more, he looks almost startled for a second to see Alec still standing there, clearly waiting for him. Then a delighted smile breaks out over the warlock's face, matching the coy look in his eyes.
And as Magnus easily makes his way over to him, hips swaying, Alec feels his heart skip a beat at the sight.
Hot damn, he is so far beyond pretty... more like breathtaking.
Magnus is still wearing that coy smile as they step into the hallway side by side.
"So, Alexander. Tell me a little bit about you."
His voice is warm and flirtatious and Alec can't help but smile as well.
Seems like my chances for getting his number might be pretty good after all.
A/N: Hm, weird chapter. And okay, this isn't quite (or at all) how I had planned for this to go, but Malec simply does as Malec wants. As always. But the Lightwood siblings' banter was a lot of fun to write (apparently they are going to be even closer in this fic than they are in canon). Would really love to know what you think :)
Also, up to this point I've been mostly sticking with the events from the series (just with the slightest twist here and there) but starting next chapter this fic is going to start diverging from canon quite effectively. Just fair warning and all that :)
And thanks so much for your reviews! You guys are wonderful (*^^*)