Yes, it's indeed happening ... a new chapter. x3 I am so sorry that it took so long again and this one isn't even that long, but I hope it makes up for the waiting in some way. :) I try to get more comfortable with writing "steamy stuff", so take this chapter as an experiment which I hope doesn't backfire too much. ^^" yeah, so if you like it, that's great, if you didn't I'll get back to something more harmless then next chapter ... probably.

First of all, a giant THANK YOU to my most amazing beta alexa-hallywell who almost got back faster to me with the edited chapter than I could send it. :D *HUGS* *aggressively throws confetti*

Disclaimer: yeah ... you know the drill. :3

I don't know if I replied to these reviews or not, I just want to let you guys know that I am so freaking thankful to all of you that are patient enough to wait for every chapter so long and still leave a review. I love you all so much. (It's just that the last semester has been stressful like it hasn't been in a long while and I've kind of lost track of some things ... . So SORRY!) And YAY, I reached 100 reviews with this one. :D

Warning: boyxboy-stuff which I tried not to get too explicit? I think it's still T-stuff, but if anybody of you thinks otherwise, let me know and I can change the rating.

Chapter 11

Magnus had always known that he would regret telling Alec about the hacking. He'd just never expected it to play out like this.

On his free days Magnus loved to sleep in, dozing off in bed, caught in that moment between sleeping and being awake and he usually didn't appreciate to be torn from that place without a warning by a sudden weight placed on his hips. Growling Magnus opened his eyes and glared up at his boyfriend through angry slits. He loved that man, but Alec's unbelievably irregular sleep and work schedule was something he had yet to get used to. It was interesting how he was more and more affected by that now that they were actually sharing a bedroom. But Alec never complained about Magnus' grumpiness in the morning, just smiled at him, got him coffee, giving him a kiss on the cheek whispering "I know you still love me." with that mischievous gleam in his blue eyes. And how could Magnus stay grumpy for long when faced with that? Not long enough to start an actual argument.

This time though Alec was too occupied with looking for something on the tablet he was holding to appreciate Magnus' attempt at looking really threatening. In the end, Magnus gave up on it and simply placed his hands on Alec's thighs enjoying the easy intimacy between them while he waited for Alec to find the right words. The tension of breaking glass was missing and it was a great feeling.

Alec was chewing on his lower lip as he intently stared at the screen of his tablet, his brows furrowed, insecurity and determination fighting on his face all too openly. Eventually he took a deep breath and stared down at Magnus with a surprising determination.

"You're a hacker, right?" Magnus wasn't sure if it was really a question, but as Alec raised both eyebrows expectantly he seemed to indeed wait for an answer, so Magnus said:

"Well, yeah ... a retired one though." He added the last part just to be safe because he didn't know yet where this conversation would take them.

"But you could still find someone through the internet who ... maybe leaves anonymous reviews online?" It was always an interesting thing to watch Alec trying to play innocent because he really wasn't very good at it. "Like ... hypothetically."

A grin spread across Magnus' lips and he could see the pout growing on his boyfriend's when he realized that he had been figured out. "Yeah? Let's say ... hypothetically that ... I could indeed do that, sweety." Magnus sat up as good as possible moving up his hands to interlace his fingers behind Alec's lower back. "Who would you want me to find?"

Alec sighed and put his arms on Magnus' shoulders letting the tablet dangle behind Magnus' back. "There's this one person who has left seriously negative reviews to all of my published books since yesterday evening," Alec muttered trying not to look right into his boyfriend's eyes. "And ... I mean, you can't even read all of them that fast ... right? There has to be something fishy about it ... don't you think? And it's not even constructive criticism anymore."

"And now you want me to find out who they are so you make them regret they ever disliked your writing so much?" Magnus knew that he had a bit of a 'warning mother'-tone in his voice, but since he'd found out about Alec's actual plan to kill his ex-girlfriend Camille, he had decided to take the writer's moods very serious. For the moment though his boyfriend pouted a bit more and fortunately didn't look much like a serial killer in the making.

"Of course not!" Alec eventually exclaimed, though still a bit too late to make it really believable. Magnus chuckled and pressed a quick kiss to Alec's cheek.

"Yeah, no, sweety, not a chance I'll do that for you. Just ignore it." Alec sighed and Magnus rubbed his thumbs in soothing circles across the skin of Alec's lower back as they had slipped underneath the fabric of his worn shirt. It was one of the reasons Magnus actually liked his boyfriend's preference for baggy clothing.

"I mean, I wouldn't even do anything, not even send an angry email demanding an explanation ..." Alec leaned forward pressing his forehead against Magnus'. He looked at him with the cutest puppy eyes Magnus had ever seen even for Alec, who was disturbingly good at that, but his resolve not to do it stayed strong. He had made the decision to quit hacking the day he'd decided to tell Alec about it and no matter how much he loved the writer, his illegal days were behind him. He was now a respectable employee in a bookstore. It was the same with his decision to not let Alec bottle up his anger towards other people long enough to make another murder plan.

"Not. A. Chance." One peck against Alec's cheek for each word. But then Alec smirked a little before he pursed his lips with newfound determination again.

"Not even if I promise you sex for it?" he muttered in a low voice. His smirk grew when he noticed Magnus swallowing heavily. Alec detached their foreheads and brought his lips close to his boyfriend's ear. "Every day." His lips graced Magnus' earlobe sending a violent shiver down his spine. Alec's warm breath tickling the side of Magnus' neck, his thighs closing around his waist a bit more.

It was that moment that Magnus wondered how far he would go for Alec. How far could the other actually push him if he really wanted to? Could Alec make him forget his principles, priorities and everything? With just the right words at the right moment, the right gestures, directing his body, his mind, like a puppeteer. Magnus knew that it took more than a pair of pretty eyes to convince him, but the thing was that Alec's looks were only a facade to so much more and among those million facets of his personality, there was a darkness that made bad things suddenly seem not so bad anymore. Tracking down someone over the internet? Come on, it's not like you've never done this before. With Alec around there was always that little voice in the back of Magnus' mind ... whispering ... wondering. Seeing Alec all messy and clumsy around the apartment it was so easy to forget what he did for a living, that his books were filled with blood and cruelty. Cold and ruthless was what happened on those pages splattered with ink by these slender, pale fingers.

"No." Magnus voice was surprisingly steady given the situation and maybe the expression on his face was a bit too strict, but somehow he knew that he had to draw a line, right now ... maybe more for himself than for Alec. His boyfriend pulled away again studying Magnus' face with a slightly tilted head and an unreadable expression. Then his lips suddenly melted into a warm smile and he pressed a soft kiss against Magnus' forehead.

"Good."

"Good?" Magnus narrowed his eyebrows. He was pretty sure that he had missed something about this whole thing.

"Yes, good." Alec grinned at him and it was pretty clear that he wouldn't get any explanation out of the writer. Though when Alec made to get back up again, Magnus still grabbed the hem of his shirt and ... for the first time since Alec had gotten into the bedroom he actually looked at it. It was of a faded dark grey color which was probably why Magnus hadn't paid much attention to it at first. But now he noticed that it had something written in the front. The letters were faded as well, but it was still visible that they had been hot pink once. 'Blink if you want me!' Magnus had grown used to the few shirts with funny quotes Alec owned, but this one struck a very particular memory at the back of his mind.

It was his! Magnus had always thought he'd lost it during his move to France, but it turned out Alec had kept it the whole time and somehow that knowledge warmed his chest in a whole new way.

"Why do you have my shirt?" he asked slowly, taking quite a delight in seeing Alec tensing up.

"What do you mean?", he asked once again failing to look innocent. Magnus' smirk grew in time with the strength his used tugging on the hem of said shirt to pull Alec back into his lap. "This, my little biscuit, is my shirt." Alec stared at him wide-eyed and slightly panicked, his breathing only going a little bit heavier than before. "You want to tell me how it got into your possession?" And as they looked at each other something else became once again painfully clear.

Alec couldn't lie, not to others at least. He could tell awkward half-truths, but even those he had to prepare. He was an honest person, cruel enough, too, to struck others down with true words because he could place them right beneath their fingernails. But at the same time he could lie to himself like nobody else, in the silence of his own mind. He built brick walls around himself, so the shards of other people's heart wouldn't struck him when they were torn apart by his words. So he wouldn't get cut.

Without these lies though, taken away by someone Alec had trusted with his own truth, he could be fragile, beautiful like thin glass pierced by clear sunlight. A window which didn't need colors.

"I kept it." Alec dropped the tablet he'd still been holding on the bed next to Magnus, so he could wrap his arms around the other's neck. "Do you remember that one evening we played Truth or Dare with some people from your floor of the dorms? I got dared to wear one of your shirts to class the next day ... because I didn't want to say who was the last person I'd had sex with." His voice was hypnotizing, calm and caressing while it brought a memory back to life that had Magnus torn between happiness and the dull ache of sadness like so many others. In the end he smiled and wrapped his arms tighter around Alec, pulling him closer, letting go of the shirt's hem, letting go of the shirt to concentrate on the person wearing it.

"I almost had a heart attack when I saw you indeed wearing it in class the next day," he muttered, gently nosing the line of Alec's jaw, breathing in, breathing out, smelling warm skin. It calmed him down in a completely new way. The shirt had been one of Magnus' sleep shirts which was why it was one of the articles in his clothes that weren't skintight. He felt a chuckle wandering through Alec's body and enjoyed feeling it like that.

"You were so horny in college." Magnus smiled against Alec's collarbone. Idle fingers combed through his still messy hair.

"Only for you," he whispered and meant it. Was this what intimacy was supposed to feel like? "And I still am." Magnus felt Alec grinning against his temple when the writer leaned forward, so he could watch his own index fingers drawing lazy circles across Magnus' shoulder blades.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Alec shuddered when Magnus' finger slowly traveled further down his back taking a slight detour over the top of his thighs before eventually settling on his ass squeezing a little. It was enough to make Alec gasp and Magnus loved that sound. One quick movement followed and Alec was on his back with Magnus hovering above him. They narrowly missed the tablet, but Magnus still placed it on the night stand for safety reasons.

"And I always will be," he then muttered before leaning down to kiss Alec, though before that could happen Alec had his hand placed on Magnus' mouth stopping him in the motion. Alec smirked at Magnus' surprised look and took his hand away again. "No matter how attractive you are all disheveled in the morning, sweety, I'm not going to kiss you before you've brushed your teeth."

Magnus cocked one eyebrow. "Sweety?"

"Yes, and I'll stick to it as long as it takes you to drop the 'Biscuit', sweety ... now go and brush your teeth, I'm not going to run away."

Magnus really really really didn't want to leave right now even if it was just for the bathroom. He bit his lower lip thoughtfully. "You know, I don't have to kiss you on the mouth ...," he tried with a low voice and hooded eyes that swept over the elegant curve of Alec's neck, though before he could go lower a finger on his chin made him look back up again. Maybe it also prevented his mind from completely going to the gutter as well. Alec's eyes were shining brilliantly up at him. The finger holding his chin travelled higher tracing the line of Magnus' lower lip resting right on the seam between his lips. It was so easy to place a kiss against the fingertip like that.

"But what if I want to kiss you ..." Alec raised his eyebrows in a silent challenge and Magnus' throat went dry. There it was again, that darkness, soft and warm, so easy to get lost into. Alec had been watching other people his whole life, learning what made them tick, how little gestures could tear down fortresses of self-confidence. Magnus had always wondered how the world looked through those two shards of blue glass.

"I'll be right back," he croaked out and tried not to stumble over his own two feet on his way to the bathroom. When he reached the sink he stopped and took a few deep breaths only now realizing how frantically his heart had been beating inside his chest. It wasn't fear, it wasn't even due to arousal, it was excitement. Excitement about this completely new sensation. Something that he'd never noticed he had been missing was finally at its place deep within him, something that suddenly made it possible for everything else to be rearranged.

After brushing his teeth Magnus went back into the bedroom and Alec was still there, still laying on his back on top of the covers playing some game on the tablet. Magnus stopped for a moment just to silently laugh at himself for being afraid. He could drown in this feeling. Alec noticed him and smiled.

"Hey there." The words were light like feathers, soothing long forgotten scars.

"Hey there," Magnus said back as he made his way over to the bed, a smile as soft as Alec's on his own lips. The tablet was once again placed back on the nightstand, so Alec's arms were free to welcome Magnus back in their embrace. He straddled Alec's hips again and leaned down, his lips hovering mere heartbeats away from the writer's.

"May I kiss you now?"

"Yes, please do."

It wasn't quite sex yet, but it always came close. It was okay for both of them because they wanted to take their time.

The 'Blink if you want me'-shirt ended up next to them bunched up, forgotten for the moment. Magnus slept without a shirt now that it had gotten warmer and Alec began to appreciate it, but Alec also tried his best to keep Magnus' mind off the shirt. He wanted to keep it. But then again as Magnus' teeth skimmed the skin on his neck, maybe he didn't have to worry that much about a shirt right now. There were other things. The tip of Magnus' tongue followed the trace of his teeth. It was slow and lovingly gentle and it melted Alec to the core. Their bodies moved together in soft, calm waves and at one point Alec decided to move his legs to cradle Magnus between them, holding him close like that because he needed his hands to trace the lines of Magnus' chest. Though when his boyfriend felt Alec's legs around his waist he detached his lips from the other's neck to look at him, heavily panting, with green eyes and gold stars burning within them.

The room was utterly silent, but they didn't notice it. Then the silence was broken and it wasn't important anymore. Magnus waited.

"I love ... this," Alec whispered and Magnus smiled.

"Almost there, biscuit." Then he leaned down and caught Alec's lips in a searing kiss, but it was Alec's tongue that made the first step. Yes, he was almost there, almost utterly and completely in love.

The phone rang when Magnus was halfway down Alec's chest with his lips caressing and teasing the tight skin right beneath the other's belly button. "Please tell me, you don't have to answer that one," Magnus muttered skipping down to the waistband of Alec's pants tracing the skin right above it with his tongue. Alec closed his eyes and fisted the blanket that laid crumpled beneath them. It almost caused him physical pain when he spoke the following words.

"I'm sorry, but that's the ringtone of my agent." With a groan that made Alec almost forget that the phone was ringing Magnus rolled over on his back glaring in the direction of the living room where the offending mobile phone kept piercing the air with the instrumental version of some song. Heavy-heartedly Alec got up and crawled out of the bed. Standing in the doorframe he looked back once again in the hope of sending Magnus an apologetic smile, but his boyfriend was demonstratively looking out of the window, which on the other hand gave Alec the opportunity to let his gaze wander over Magnus' body unnoticed. His eyes traveled over the bare chest, the pajama pants riding low on the other's hips. The early sunlight looked great on his dark skin and the thin fabric of his pants did little to nothing to cover the evidence of what they had been just doing. A new wave of heat crashed over Alec's body and he slowly pulled his lower lip between his teeth as his eyes slipped halfway closed. He suddenly was very aware of his own unbuttoned pants and the fact that the zipper was already pulled halfway down. The next ring of his phone though shook him violently out of his lust induced trance and he hurried into the living room.

"Hey, Jocelyn, what's up?"

"Good morning, Alexander, you seem in an oddly good mood today," came the voice of Jocelyn Fairchild from the other end of the phone. Alec pursed his lips as he made his way back into the bedroom. Not as good as it had been if you'd called about an hour later, he thought, but kept that one to himself.

"Let's say I had quite a good morning so far," he said lightly as he crawled back onto the bed to join a beaming Magnus who draped his body along the side of Alec's intertwining their legs comfortably.

Jocelyn chuckled. "Okay, well, then I hope I'm not going to ruin it with the reason for my call."

Alec narrowed his eyes as he absent-mindedly raised one arm, so Magnus could place his head on Alec's shoulder. "Why? What's up?" He resumed to combing his fingers through Magnus' black locks, that by now looked like they were beyond saving.

"You've been invited to a signing again, Alexander, and let me tell you, especially this time I highly advise you to go. A lot of other big names for the thriller genre will be there and it would be good publicity for you."

Alec rolled his eyes. "You know I don't do these. I want my books to speak for themselves and not through my face." Magnus perked up at that and craned his neck a bit trying to hear better of what was spoken on the phone.

"I know, Alec, but please at least consider it, it would be really good press to simply show up for once. Fans have wanted to meet you since your first book came out and they still don't know how you look."

"But what if I don't want to meet them," Alec grumbled knowing full well that he sounded childish, but it was simply the truth. He knew he had fans that wanted to meet him in person. He got fanmails and letters, not that much, but it still counted. People asked him again and again on social media if he'd be present at certain conventions and bookfairs. Alec had always kindly negated those questions. The thing was, over time more and more pressure had been built up for when he would indeed show up at such an event for the first time. Alec was scared that people would be disappointed, that with their expectations being built up over years, it could only be a let-down to finally meet him. He could get somebody's name wrong, he sucked at small talk, he would be forever remembered as the weird, awkward writer with the bloodlust fantasies.

But then again he would meet strangers that enjoyed those bloody slaughters he brought to life on the pages ... why was he even considering the possibility of going? What was different this time?

Alec looked down at Magnus who had his eyebrows raised at him in a silent question about what was going on and the little voice in the back of Alec's mind kept whispering 'But you wouldn't be alone this time.'

"A signing," he mouthed to Magnus who only raised his eyebrows higher. His green eyes were wide with innocent curiosity. 'What are you scared of?', they seemed to ask and Alec didn't really have an answer anymore.

"I'm scared of embarrassing myself." The words were out of his mouth before Alec could stop them. His eyes were locked with Magnus' and Jocelyn's sympathetic voice at the other end of the line sounded suddenly far away. With no real reason other than not to loose a visible connection with Magnus Alec put the fingertips of his hand that had combed through Magnus' hair, with a bit of maneuvering, against the side of his boyfriend's face. His thumb was lightly placed on the back of his nose, slowly following the line down to the tip.

"Don't worry too much about it, Alec, I'll be there with you to support you all the way through the event." Alec sighed because he knew he was running out of reasons to deny the offer yet his heart was still on the fence. His thumb tapped against the tip of Magnus' nose.

"You'd be there next to me?" Alec asked cautiously not taking his eyes of Magnus who turned his head to place a sort of awkward kiss against the palm of Alec's hand.

"Of course," Jocelyn replied and Magnus smiled up at him. Maybe it was time to break old habits? Maybe he wasn't quite ready though ...

"I don't know ..."

"Please, just think about it, Alexander, okay? You have till Monday next week before I have to give a certain answer of you're attending or not." Once again Alec's lips were set in a strict line and he was about to say ... something when Magnus suddenly reached out and snatched the phone from him. He nonchalantly put it against his ear ignoring the hissed indignation of his boyfriend. "He'll get back to you. Have a nice day." Then he ended the call grinning brightly at Alec.

"Why did you do that?" Alec demanded trying to get his phone back, but Magnus held it easily out of his reach.

"Because you, my little scared biscuit, were about to say 'no' after all," he stated matter-of-factly. Alec flinched back a bit at the truth in his words.

"So what? What is it to you?" He wanted to cross his arms in front of his chest, but at the same time he didn't want to take away his hand from Magnus' warm skin.

"I simply think deep down in that stubborn heart of yours you indeed want to go," Magnus muttered and placed a chaste kiss on Alec's collarbone. "You're curious, Alec, not to mention that you keep humming the whole day whenever you get a letter or a mail from a fan. You're curious about the what if? after all those years being cooped up in this apartment."

Magnus placed one warm hand on Alec's chest, soothing the speeding heartbeat, trying to. Defeatedly Alec looked down at Magnus who smiled up at him encouragingly. But Alec was still a stubborn soul.

"But what if I make a fool out of myself?" Once again he sounded whiny and he knew it.

"Then I'll be there to curse everybody that dares to make fun of you." His hand slowly travelled lower, the index finger drawing circles around Alec's belly button. "Come on, where's the tough kid from college that didn't give a damn about other people's opinions," Magnus muttered with a husky voice kissing a sweet line up Alec's neck while his fingers teased the line of the waistband of Alec's boxers, drawing burning lines over his exposed hipbones.

"In college nobody had any expectations in me and ..." It was getting more and more difficult to concentrate with Magnus' one hand about to slip into his boxers and his teeth currently nipping on his earlobe. "I know what you are up to," Alec managed to get out between heavier growing breaths. Delicious heat crawled up his body as Magnus' hand found what it had been looking for, the movement of his nimble fingers torturously slow.

"Yeah?" Magnus grinned against Alec's flaming cheek as he kissed his way down to his lips. "What am I up to?," he breathed against Alec's panting mouth drawing the line of his lower lip with the tip of his tongue, but before Alec could actually say something Magnus fingers tightened around him and Magnus eagerly swallowed the moan bubbling up from the writer's throat. Alec brought up his hands to knotting his fingers again in Magnus' hair though this time with a whole new sense of urgency. He had to hold on to something otherwise he'd loose himself in the heat of the moment. His hips helplessly arched of the bed, falling into the rhythm of Magnus' stroking hand.

"Fuck, Magnus, that's ... so - oh my god - not fair ...," Alec whimpered between deep kisses, but then Magnus suddenly took his hand away letting a fingernail trail over the inside of Alec's right thigh. He ground his hands pulling at Magnus' hair.

"Okay, let's talk about that signing once again," Magus whispered and Alec was ready to scream. 'You've got to be kidding me'. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his head back into the pillow exposing his neck. He didn't want to give in, but he also was almost catatonic with need by now because Magnus was really very good at this and his damn hand was still on Alec's inner thigh. He also felt something else pressing against his thigh and if Magnus' heavy breathing and open-mouthed kisses against his throat were anything to go by, Alec wasn't the only one fighting for sanity.

Alec laughed breathlessly letting one hand fall on Magnus' back to slowly draw his fingernails over the dark-skinned back which he was rewarded for with a long, low moan against his neck. "I'm going to hate you for this when I can think straight again."

That drew a laughter from Magnus as well as his face came back up to hover only a whisper apart from Alec's. "So, you're going?"

Alec simply nodded, a delighted moan stumbling over his lips because Magnus' hand was back where he wanted it. But he also reached out himself, slipping his own hand past the waistband of Magnus' pajama pants. "So? Is this a pen in your in - ah - your pocket or ... fuck ... are you just happy to see me?" Magnus smashed his lips against Alec's when the writer's hand found its own destination, a long groan vibrating between them.

"I'm always happy to see you, biscuit." Magnus' voice was hoarse, his lips were dry, but he grinned down at Alec like he was the devil himself. "Now shut up."

"Make me."

The second phone call Jocelyn received that day was shortly after noon. Alec was sure that had he been there in person she would have hugged him for the next two hours when he told her that he'd be going to the signing.

Okay, anybody still there? Well, for those who are still here, it would be great if you'd let me know what you thought about this chapter and if you want to read the book signing in the next chapter. :) You can also send me little prompts for the next chapters (about stuff you want them to do or just a word) because the storyline that I've got is pretty loose, so if you want to ... let me know. :)

If you have a tumblr and want to follow me for updates, other AU-ideas, little snippets, you can do that as well (freakypumpkin). But of course you don't have to. If there are questions, feel free to ask.

LOVE YOU! 3