Scott had changed over the years. His hair had started graying a bit, but it didn't look bad. It just made him look more mature. He had laugh lines around his lips and nose, and small wrinkles by his eyes. He had gained a bit of weight, but not enough to be unattractive.
When Alec got over the initial shock of waking up next to Scott, he got out of bed. He was fairly certain he hadn't slept with Scott, since he was still wearing both boxers and pants. His t-shirt was in a bunch on the floor along with his coat and he picked it up. Putting his t-shirt on, he didn't hear the bed sheets ruffling behind him as Scott sat up.
"How are you feeling?" Scott asked.
Alec didn't even turn around to answer him. "I'm fine," he said. "I just want to go."
"Alec …"
"Scott, I've barely thought about you for years," Alec said, turning around to face him. "I don't want to do this."
Scott was looking at him, and he was smiling. "I'm not going to ask you to get back together, if that's what you're worried about," he said. "You were just very, very drunk last night, and I think it's better you take it slow."
As if on cue, Alec could feel the nausea welling up inside him. "I don't remember anything. I don't remember meeting you last night."
"I had a feeling," Scott said. "Sit down. I'll get ready, and I can take you back to you and Magnus' place." At that, Alec stiffened. He hoped Scott didn't notice, but of course he did. "What is it?"
"Nothing," Alec said and sat down on the bed with his back facing Scott. It was obvious that it wasn't nothing, just by how tense his shoulders were. "Just … Get ready."
"Don't lie to me," Scott said. "You're a horrible liar when you're hung over, so don't even bother." The bed shifted as he got out of it. Alec didn't look at him. "Just tell me what it is."
Alec sighed, because he knew he was right. "Magnus and I …" he started, but sighed again, not wanting to explain it to Scott of all people. "We aren't exactly …"
"Aren't exactly what?" Scott sounded confused. "You were very busy last night telling me how great things were between you two."
"Was I?" Alec asked. He sounded uninterested. "Well, things aren't great between us. We're separated."
"What?" Scott stopped whatever he was doing to look over at Alec. Not that Alec could see that. "I'm sorry to hear that. What happened between you two?"
"It doesn't matter," Alec said, looking at his hands. "Just don't take me back to our apartment."
"Okay," Scott said and quieted, even though it was obvious he wanted to ask more. Then they were both quiet for a moment, until Alec felt the mattress shift as Scott sat down next to him.
"Where did I even meet you yesterday?" he asked. "What are you doing in France?"
"Before I tell you that, you need to know that you were absolutely drunk," Scott started to explain, and Alec braced himself for what would be next. "It must have been around 3 A.M. or so. I was down in the lobby, just getting back to the hotel from work. I've been traveling a lot for work, and we had some things to take care of here, and also some things to take care of halfway across the world, so we've been relying mostly on video conference calls with our offices over there, and it's usually late here and early there. So I was just getting back, and you were down in the lobby by the front desk. You were yelling at the guy there, and telling him that you were staying here with a friend, and that you had been for the past week, and you were calling him all sorts of nasty things because he didn't recognize you and because security by the elevators had kept you from going up."
"Oh God," Alec breathed and hid his face in his hands. He was so embarrassed that he would ever do that, drunk out of his mind or not.
"I went to try and help clear things up," Scott continued. "And once I recognized you, I told the guy that you were staying with me. And after apologizing, a lot, for your behavior, he agreed to not pressing any charges on behalf of the hotel or anything, and I brought you up here."
Alec was quiet, waiting for Scott to continue, but he didn't. "I can't believe this," he finally said.
"I'm not going to say it wasn't that bad," Scott said.
"I don't want you to," Alec said, just as an alarm clock went off on one of the bedside tables, and he flinched. Scott scooted to his side of the bed and turned off the alarm clock. "What time is it?"
"1pm," Scott said as he scooted further and sat next to Alec. "I have to be at work in an hour and a half. Do you want to get breakfast?"
"It wouldn't be as much breakfast as it would be lunch, would it?" was Alec's distant response.
"Then let's go for lunch," Scott said and stood up. He was dressed now, but Alec hardly noticed. He was much too embarrassed to even look at him. "Come on. It's fine, you don't have to worry about last night, we can just forget it happened at all."
"If it hadn't happened, we wouldn't be getting lunch together," Alec said and looked at him.
Scott sighed and looked at him, dropping his arms to his sides. "Do you just want to leave, then?" he asked. "I'm not going to stop you. I just thought it'd be nice to catch up."
"We can get lunch," Alec said and looked down again. "But don't try and pretend it didn't happen."
"Fine," Scott said, and he held his hand out to Alec, who stood up without taking it. He dropped it again. "You'll need to tell me about what happened with you and Magnus."
Magnus was trying to go about his day as usual. It was January 1st, and one of the bleakest one of those that he remembered. Apart from the years Alec had been in a coma, they had spent every New Years Eve together, complete with an early dinner with the group, a party and a New Years kiss. He hadn't had a party, and the group hadn't been over, and Lewis hadn't been home. He had hoped that Alec would show up and that they could have a nice night together in spite of everything else. No dice.
All the stores were closed. He hadn't gotten enough groceries to last him through both New Years Eve January 1st, so he had been out to lunch. It had been dull and the meal had tasted bland – just like anything else did now.
On his way up into the apartment he decided to check his mail, and found a brown envelope. He didn't consider it further and brought it up with him, dropping it on the sideboard next to the front door along with the rest of the mail. He left it there as he put his jacket on a hanger and went to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee.
With a cup of steaming coffee in his hand and a burned tongue he went to get the mail from the sideboard and took it to the living room, where he sat in the sofa and dropped the mail on the table in front of him. He put the coffee down and opened the first envelope – the brown one. He turned on the television for background noise and picked up his coffee again, and took a sip as he took the papers from the envelope.
He nearly choked and dropped both the coffee and the papers. He scrambled to get the papers before coffee got on them, not caring enough about the coffee seeping into the floor. He had to read the headline 5 times before he even managed to comprehend what they said, and when he did, he took his phone out and dialed Alec's number immediately. He tried to breathe calmly as he waited for him to pick up the phone. After a few rings, he did.
"Hey Magnus," he said. Magnus could hear noise in the background, and found himself getting annoyed that he couldn't just have been in some hotel room in private.
"What is this?" he asked, referring to the papers in his hand, even though Alec couldn't see them. His voice was shaking, but still sharp.
"What is what?" Alec asked on the other end of the phone.
"These papers," Magnus spat into the phone. "You can't be serious."
"Oh," was the only reply Alec had for him.
"I need to see you," he said, then. "I need to talk to you. Where are you?"
"At lunch," Alec said, but he didn't say where.
"With who?" Magnus asked.
"Scott," Alec replied quietly, and Magnus almost hissed into the phone.
"You can't be serious," he said, but then he sighed and decided it wasn't important right now. That was another fight for another time. After they got back together. "Just come home and we'll talk."
"I don't think there's anything we need to talk about," Alec said.
"These are divorce papers that you signed," Magnus exclaimed. "Of course we need to talk. Come on."
"Magnus, I don't-" Alec started, but Magnus interrupted.
"I'm not joking," Magnus said. "I'm not signing these. Especially not if you won't even talk to me about them."
"Fine," Alec said, and his voice sounded cold. "If you really want to do this, let's do this. I'll be over after lunch." Then he hung up without saying goodbye and Magnus put the phone down next to him on the sofa. He looked at the divorce papers in his hand again.
This couldn't be right. They had been fighting, but every couple fights. Surely Alec couldn't be serious about a divorce?
Magnus wasn't so sure anymore.
AN: Sorry. Been busy with writing my book, school, work, life in general.
Review if you like.
Lea