The weekend proved to be good thinking time for Alec. He finally opened up to Izzy who was surprisingly understanding and helpful. She'd basically validated to Alec all the things that he thought to himself on Thursday night. His life had been turned upside down, he did have other responsibilities now and actually if anything, he was showing his maturity by not jumping into bed with Magnus.
That conversation really made him feel better and closer to his sister than he had felt in a while. She also reminded him that, as Clary had multiple times, he deserved to be happy too. He had come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to 'jump into bed with Magnus' as Izzy had so charmingly put it, but he would try to forget about their previous date and hope Magnus could too. He wanted to develop a friendship first, he wanted to walk before he tried to run. As that just backfired last time.
So he had a plan. Talk to Magnus next time he saw him, do it in person, so there wasn't any miscommunication and just tell him how he felt.
The next time Alec did see Magnus was Tuesday morning. Finn nor Magnus weren't anywhere to be found when he dropped Max off just before 8am on Monday. To be honest, he was thankful for that as it gave him another day to run through his little 'speech' he was going to give Magnus when he did see him.
XxX
That speech however, didn't quite come out as planned, as Alec found out on Tuesday.
"Alec, hey!" Magnus greeted Alec just as he was walking out into the parking lot of the Daycare building and Magnus was getting Finn out of his car.
"Oh, hey Magnus, you're a bit late today aren't you? Don't you start work at 8?" Alec inquired as Magnus and Finn padded over to him.
"Yea usually but as my team worked silly hours to deliver that project last week the boss said we could all come in at 9 instead of 8 this week. So I'm dropping Finn off a little later and having breakfast with him at home as I don't usually get to do that." Magnus explained whilst stroking Finn's hair softly beside him.
"Wow, that's nice of him. Anyway erm well unfortunately I've got an 8.30 shift so I better go. It was nice seeing you" Alec went to walk off but Magnus reached out and grasped his wrist quickly.
"Hey Alec wait, I just need to drop Finn inside but then do you think we could talk quickly?" Magnus almost begged. "Uhh, yea sure." Alec responded.
He waited in the parking lot, just sort of hovering and stepping stiffly from foot to foot. He had tried to postpone 'the talk' again, as he really did have an 8.30 shift and it was verging on 8.15, but he owed it to Magnus and he thought it might be kind of like pulling off a band aid. If you did it quickly it hurt less, if you longed it out it would be painful. Magnus returned in less than two minutes and walked over to Alec.
"So, are you really okay? You didn't reply to my text the other night and you did kind of run away from me when I came over on Wednesday.." Magnus said softly to Alec with a kind smile.
"Yea, uhm, yea, I'm really sorry about that. It all kind of happened a bit fast and I have Max to consider, and I just don't know if I'm ready for anything at the moment, I mean you're a really great guy and everything, it's definitely not you. It really is me. As I said I just don't know if I can do this right now, everything's just changed so much recently and it's kind of overwhelming and..." Alec tried to get out in one breath whilst looking down at the ground still stepping from foot to foot.
Magnus cut over him "Alec, calm down. Look I know it was a bit much on Wednesday, we were both a little bit tipsy and it went too far and I'm really sorry about that. But I don't want it to be one step forward and two steps back. I'm happy to give you time, if that's what you need but please don't shy away from me okay?" Magnus said warmly.
"Yea, that sounds great. So just friends for now and see how it goes in time. I can do that." Alec replied in a much more relaxed tone.
"Okay, I mean yea maybe not too much time" Magnus said with a smirk, but seeing Alec's brief look of horror, he continued. "I'm joking. Sort of...well I'll let you get to work and maybe I'll see you later at pick up time?"
"Sure, yea. Have a good day Magnus" Alec said through an honest smile and then jogged over to his car.
He felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, Magnus was completely understanding, he wasn't angry or really upset. Well, he had seen Magnus' smile falter when he said 'friends' but it quickly recovered. They left on good terms and Alec was feeling much happier about the whole situation. Being solid friends first was definitely the way forward.
Clary practically bounced towards Alec when he got into work, telling him that she had secured a place at the town's art show and would be having a whole wall to display her work on at the show in the January. "That's amazing! I'm so proud of you" he cheered as he caught Clary in a bear hug.
"Will you come and support me?" Clary requested. "Are you kidding! Of course I will, I wouldn't miss it for the world. So do you have a specific theme to follow or medium you have to use?" Alec was genuinely excited for Clary.
The pair spent the next hour or so talking in detail about Clary's wall for the art show and bouncing ideas off each other for what she could do. It was only when it got to around 10 that Clary suddenly exclaimed "Hang on! Have you seen Magnus yet? I know he wasn't there yesterday but did you see him this morning?"
"Yea, I did. It went okay I think. I mean it didn't quite start off as I wanted it to. I forgot my speech and completely rambled on until Magnus stopped me but it ended well." Alec explained.
"Okay, that's good. So you told him you wanted to get to be better friends before it progresses any further right? That's what the gist of your speech was when I made you practice it on me yesterday." Clary asked.
"Yea, I said that we should focus on being friends for now and see how it goes with time" Alec recalled.
"How did he react to that?" Clary questioned. "Well, he looked a bit disappointed at first but then he seemed fine with it at the end"
"I guess that can only be expected. Well I'm glad you talked to him. Do you feel better for it?" Clary queried.
"Yea, I do. I'm even kind of looking forward to exploring the friendship a bit more now there's not as much pressure" Alec said whilst biting his lip.
"See! I knew talking to him would solve everything!" Clary shouted with an 'I told you so' look on her pale face.
"Okay, okay, I must always listen to you, almighty knowledgeable one" Alec retorted and then stuck his tongue out at her and stalked off to collect used coffee mugs from the tables.
Alec did see Magnus at pick up time and they had a brief chat which felt quite natural. Magnus asked him whether he had thought anymore about Max's birthday as if he was going to do something then he'd need to send invitations out soon. Alec kind of forgot he'd have to do it properly and that Max would probably want to give out invitations to his friends. Finn was keen to get home and play with some new toy Magnus had gotten him over the weekend so they rushed off rather quickly.
On the way home Alec talked to Max about his birthday and if he wanted to have a party. Max didn't really know what a party was so Alec had to explain that he could have all his friends round and they would play some games, have some food he wasn't usually allowed to eat much of like cake and sweets and then his friends would hopefully bring him presents too. Max definitely knew what presents were as he suddenly became very animated when Alec talked about those.
That had settled it for Alec, Max seemed absolutely thrilled at the idea of cake and having all his friends at home like he had at Daycare. Alec realised he hadn't really seen Max with many of the other children in his class at Daycare so he asked Max who he would like to come to his birthday party.
"Finn! Erm and, and Lucy annnnd Adam and Nate. Oh and Bella. I like Bella." Max finally finished, after a good minute of thinking time.
"That's only five friends, is there anyone else you want to invite?" Alec questioned. "Mrs Miller!" Max shouted.
"Max, I don't know if Mrs Miller would come. What would happen if everyone in your class invited Mrs Miller, she'd have to go to twenty birthday parties a year! She would get very tired" Alec tried to convey to Max, without having to tell him inviting his class teacher was weird.
XxX
The rest of the week progressed similarly. Alec saw Magnus once more at pick up time on Thursday and they had another quick chat but then Max seemingly got some confidence from somewhere and overtook the conversation by telling Magnus about his birthday party.
"Finn's daddy, I will be 3 and have a party" Max yelled over Alec.
"Max! I was talking, it's rude to shout when other people are talking remember" Alec mildly scolded. "Sowwy" Max said.
Then both Alec and Max realised that Finn was talking to Magnus "Daddy, can I go? Max said I can go!" Finn bounced on his feet whilst begging Magnus. Magnus glanced at Alec with a bit of an odd look on his face "That's okay right? I uhm don't want to get under your feet or anything".
"Don't be silly, Max really wants Finn there and it would be nice to see you there too. I'll make sure there's some grown up food on offer." Alec chuckled. Magnus smiled at Alec and Max and then nodded his head to Finn. There was lots of cheering, from Finn, Max and even a little from Magnus.
Over the weekend Alec and Izzy took Max to town and let him pick out some invitations and party bags and other things they would need for the party. They were going to hold it the weekend just after Max's birthday, as Alec had a shift on the Saturday before. Max was a little bit hard to handle, apparently turning 3 in ten days and getting to pick between several very colourful party bags made for a very excitable child.
Izzy was starting to lose her patience waiting for Max to choose. To be fair Alec was a little bit too, they had been standing there for almost five minutes watching Max's head move side to side as he scanned the racks. Eventually Izzy just suggested that they get Spiderman ones as then Max could wear his Spiderman dress up outfit to the party. Thankfully Max seemed satisfied with that so they purchased all the items they would need and headed off home.
XxX
That evening after Max was in bed and Izzy was again out on the town with some friends, Alec was sitting on the sofa writing out invites and a list of the food they would need to get for Max's party. He assumed that as the kids were young their parents would likely just stay for the duration, although he put a note on the back of the invite to explain that there would be a good adult to child ratio given that Max only wanted to invite five kids, so the parents needn't worry.
Just as Alec was finishing up his list he got a text from Magnus. He hadn't actually really spoken to Magnus outside of seeing him at Daycare since they had had their talk.
Hey Alec. How was your week? x
Alec took notice of the kiss on the end but figured that it was just Magnus personality and he probably did that with all his friends. Or maybe he should just learn to chill out a bit and not overthink things.
Hey Magnus. Yea it was good thanks, hope yours was too. Took Max to pick out party stuff today. He's really excited x
They texted for about an hour on and off with Magnus reviewing a picture of Alec's list and pointing out things he had missed. It was only after the conversation had finished that Alec realised his jaw was hurting slightly as he'd been grinning nearly the whole time and laughing at Magnus' silly jokes and mild teasing.
The weekend and the rest of the week in general went quickly after that. Max had given his invites out and the RSVPs had all come back yes. He was getting more and more hyper the closer his birthday got.
Magnus had come into The Coffee House for lunch again during the week and invited Alec for another stroll round the park. They'd talked about their dreams and ambitions as they contently walked side by side. Alec didn't really know if he had any ambitions necessarily but his dream as a kid had always been to be a police officer. He'd played cops and robbers at school with Jace but he'd always be the cop, never the robber.
Magnus asked what had changed, why it was no longer his dream. Alec didn't really know, his parents had just told him that he had to go to college so he could go into a well paid profession and he'd just gone along with it, forgetting about his own wishes. Unfortunately it started to drizzle after only half an hour so they rushed back to the shop before it really started raining and Magnus strode off towards his work without a kiss goodbye this time.
XxX
Saturday Alec had a short afternoon shift but it was a busy one, it was always more busy on Saturdays. It was him and Clary running the show as Zach was meant to be in but he had called in sick that morning. Alec didn't mind, he liked being busy and useful.
About fifteen minutes before the end of Alec's shift Magnus came through the door, this time with Finn and his mum in tow. "Oh, hey Alec. I didn't realise you had to work weekend shifts too." Magnus commented.
"Yea, usually every other weekend unfortunately. What have you guys been doing?" Alec replied. Apparently they'd just been out getting Finn some new clothes as he was going through a bit of a growth spurt and also a present for Max for his birthday. After Magnus' mum had come back from taking Finn to the toilet she said hello to Alec again and requested a very large cappuccino as she'd been on her feet all day and needed some energy.
As Alec was making the cappuccino and a vanilla cream, sugar filled, caramel frappucino for Magnus Clary came up behind him and asked if they were still on for after work. Alec gave a quick yea response and focused back on Magnus and his mum.
"You guys doing anything nice?" Magnus inquired.
"Clary said there's this new Italian restaurant opened down by Westchester church that she really wants to try and it's Izzy's night with Max so thought we'd check it out" Alec answered nonchalantly.
"Oh, yea I heard about that, I wouldn't mind trying there at some point." Magnus agreed.
"I'm sure lovely Alec here wouldn't mind if you joined. I can take Finn home" Magnus' mum looked expectantly at the two of them.
"Uhh, oh no I don't want to impose." Magnus answered quickly. Clary once again materialized right next to Alec "Don't be silly, it's not an imposition is it Alec?" Clary sweetly said, sort of fakely in Alec's opinion, as she stared Alec down.
"No, uhm, no of course not, why don't you come along Magnus. We'll be finished with our shift in ten minutes or so." Alec suggested after a few seconds of Clary's glaring.
"Perfect, that's settled. Come on Finn I'm going to take you home" Magnus' mum spoke down to Finn as she motioned for his hand.
The three took a slow walk down to the new restaurant, which Clary had managed to increase the booking for to three as long as they sat down a tad later at 6, rather than 5.30. As they were walking Clary had to take a phone call leaving Magnus and Alec walking slightly behind together.
"I'm really sorry about my mum, I kind of feel like she forced you into this" Magnus apologised to Alec.
"No need to be sorry. It wasn't like I was taking Clary on a date or anything, the more the merrier" Alec laughed softly at his own joke. They fell into an easy conversation as they approached the restaurant.
As it neared 8pm and Alec, Clary and Magnus were all slumped in their chairs with full bellies laughing at Magnus' mild teasing of Alec's rather faded star wars t-shirt, Alec realised he really wanted to savour the evening, it was rare for him to get free time from work and caring for Max, and he couldn't really think of a better way to spend it. The food and the company was delightful, even if he did have to endure being ganged up on by the fashion police.
A/N: A quick thanks to TerriJ who has reviewed every chapter so far! xx