07: Sharks

Carrying Magnus and Izzy proves to be far more difficult given the circumstances. The boat shakes constantly, torn apart from within by some force Alec doesn't know how to name and doesn't really have the mind to try. The floor crumbles beneath his feet, and while it certainly keeps the demons from attacking him while he moves the three of them closer to the gunwale, it also makes the journey far more dangerous than it would've been otherwise. His leg hurts like a bitch, his stomach still bleeds and his eyes burn with the effort of Seeing, but he moves forward inch by inch, Izzy slung over his shoulders, Magnus propelled against him with a hand around his waist to support the weigh. Their progress is too slow.

Yet another hole opens to their left. Alec carefully steps around it.

A body slides across the deck somewhere to the far right, skidding until gravity throws it over and into the river. There's a trail of blood left behind. It's black under the moonless sky. Alec bites his lip and tries to focus on walking.

He's out of breath by the time he gets close enough to peer over the edge and see the water below. He wonders if he should just jump, if it won't hurt Izzy in some way. He doesn't have any other choice though, and Magnus has closed her wound. She should be fine.

The boat gives another ominous groan.

Alec doesn't let himself dwell, willing his legs to obey and take him over. They fall and hit and there's no air in the icy darkness of the river.

Alec doesn't expect the water to be quite that cold. The temperature steals his breath, his muscles momentarily immobile. He remembers oxygen sometime later.

When they resurface, Magnus and Izzy seem to be alright, although both still unconscious. Alec breathes for the first time. He checks if both their heads are above the water line and keeps on paddling, kicking the water with his good leg. He doesn't know what else to do. There's nowhere to go, and he can't see the shore.

"Alexander?" A voice calls behind him, male, heavily accented and sort of wheezy. Alec tries to turn around to look but it takes him a while. He can't see much in the darkness even when he's facing the correct direction. "Alexander, are you alright?" the voice inquires. It's louder now, closer. When the stranger's face finally appears some distance away, distinguishable only by his fair hair, Alec is almost relieved to discover Dorian Harley.

"I'm fine. You?" Alec calls back, noting the large, bleeding gash on Harley's forehead.

"A few bruises. Is that your sister?" Harley swims closer. "She alright?" he asks, brown eyes already shifting to Alec's other charge. The answer is unimportant, and he doesn't wait to hear it. "Who is that?" Harley asks, but his eyes darken with realization before the last syllable leaves his lips. By the time Alec opens his mouth to answer, a carefully neutral mask settles over the man's features.

"Magnus Bane," Alec answers, his tone challenging. "He saved my life. My sister's too."

"Is that so," Harley mutters. His features shift momentarily to convey his utter disbelief at such an occurrence, and his dismay at the blatant lie.

"Yes."

Harley's eyes narrow slightly. His glare is mild, but it speaks volumes: You could've saved a Shadowhunter; you should've saved one of us.

And he could, Alec realizes with sudden clarity, he could and didn't. It's a belated, cold epiphany and one he feels no guilt over- just anger at the silent accusation and a jolt of fierce protectiveness for the warlock in his arms.

Harley sees something in his expression and wrinkles his nose. He turns his eyes to look at the drowning ship, then at the blackness over Alec's shoulder. "We should get you fellas to the boats," he says, resolute.

"What boats?"

Harley jerks his head to the direction he came from. "You ended up on the wrong side, lad. There are lifeboats on the other."

"Is that why you're here?"

Harley shrugs, the gesture swallowed by water. "Let me help you with your sister," he offers. Alec nods. Izzy ends up pressed against Harley's back, her arms around his neck, locked in place by one of his own. Alec shifts his hold on Magnus to one much more secure and far less straining, and swims after Harley's departing form. The distance between them grows steadily larger, chiefly because Alec has only one limb to paddle with. He can still see the shock of white hair in the distance- it's more than enough to show him the way.

By the time they make it anywhere near a boat that's not sinking, Alec's arms have gone numb and his vision turned blurry. Dorian Harley is a smear of pasty white far, far ahead. Everything else is entirely black.

Alec swims. He doesn't really care where to anymore.

A gruff voice disrupts the semi-tranquil trance he's gotten himself into. "Oi, Lightwood, need a hand?"

Alec's head is heavy and extremely hard to lift. He tries. All he sees is another smear of color, dark this time, with something like a halo around the head. He doesn't even try to recognize the Shadowhunter, just bites out a harsh, "Yes."

Large hands pull him and Magnus out of the water and on something wonderfully solid and still. "Stay with me, kid," the gruff voice orders. Alec cracks his eyes halfway open.

"I'm fine," he mumbles.

"I think you need to check up the dictionary on that one," the gruff voice says. "It ain't how 'fine' looks."

Alec huffs but doesn't argue. He doesn't have enough air in his lungs to. "Sit up," the voice commands. Alec tries, he really, really does, but his limbs refuse to work now that he's in relative safety.

"I'm fine," Alec insists, and doesn't move. His words get him an incredulous snort in response.

"Well, at least let me get the Downworlder off you."

Alec shakes his head violently, tightening his grip on the form he forgot was there. "We're fine," he repeats.

"You're not fine, Alexander," Harley's voice interjects. Good. It means Izzy's nearby, too. "Your leg's well on its way to necrosis, and your stomach is torn open." A cool hand grabs his shoulder. "Let go, lad."

Alec shakes his head again. His vision swims. Must be the blood loss. From this angle, the only warning he gets is the sight of black leather boots, the wooden floorboards vibrating against his cheek with their approach. He doesn't have enough strength to resist when the men pull him and Magnus apart.

x

Alec wakes up when they're already near the shore, New York's skyscrapers a mess of rectangles protruding the sky in the dim morning light. The stench of copper and loss lingers in the air.

"You sister's alright," Harley's voice tells him. "Your warlock too."

"He's not my warlock."

"Sure seemed that way, lad."

Alec sighs and turns his head to glance at Harley, sitting across him, legs crossed at the ankles, a carefully calculated disarming air about him. His eyes search Alec's for a reaction. Alec doesn't know which of them he should hide. He turns away before Harley has the chance to gauge anything from his expression.

He looks around the small boat to distract himself from Harley's stare. Izzy's lying on tattered, wool blankets across from him, her injuries neatly bandaged. Magnus is a few feet away, sprawled on the floor. Alec grits his teeth but doesn't say a thing.

They make it to the shore without incident. Theirs is not the first boat to arrive. There are more survivors, a small gathering by the water's edge.

He never thought of the survivors. Of the chance he might get out alive, and his parents and-

Jace, his light hair easily distinguishable in the cluster of Shadowhunters. He hasn't thought of him at all during the fight, didn't wonder or seek him out, didn't think his brother might be wounded or dead. His stomach churns with unease and guilt. He refrains from coming any closer, absurdly afraid Jace might be able to read his betrayal all across his face. Might know, somehow, and hate him for it.

He turns to look for his parents, holding on to hope with both hands. His mother finds him first, coming from behind to yell in his ear.

Alec sighs in relief. It seems as though they have dodged a bullet.

"What are you doing here?" Maryse demands.

"I'm okay," Alec answers the question she hasn't voiced yet. He can see it on her face, in the crease of her eyebrows, in the white knuckled fist and shaking lips. "Izzy's with Harley." He jerks his head to the right, arms occupied with supporting Magnus' tall form against his own. Maryse exhales quietly. Her shoulders loosen. "Is dad alright?" Alec asks. Maryse stiffens.

"So he wasn't on your boat?" her face darkens. "I don't know," she admits after a short pause and a brief glance around the gathered crowd. "I lost him halfway through the battle."

"He'll be alright," because believing that is all they can do.

"He's your father-" Maryse smiles tightly.

"And nothing can bring him down," Alec says for her. She nods, curtly. By the look in her eyes Alec can tell it's no longer a topic she's willing to discuss with him.

"You saved him," Maryse notes, her eyes on Magnus. Her expression remains perfectly schooled while her eyes hold the same suspicion Harley's did.

"He saved Iz." Alec shrugs. That's all she really needs, and wants, to know. "And me."

Maryse nods, accepting. "Are you coming home?"

"I can't," Alec shakes his head. "I'm still-" he trails off, frustrated. "I can't."

Maryse face falls. "I had hoped that-"

Alec shakes his head again.

"Very well." She doesn't seem pleased, though. "Will you be staying with him?" she gestures at the warlock in Alec's arms. "He owes you his life, doesn't he?"

I owe him mine, he thinks, but answers with a weak, "Yeah."

"Very well," Maryse repeats. "Will you be taking Jace with you?" her voice wavers, if only slightly, on his name.

"I thought he'd be going home now that this whole mess is over."

"So have I, but he doesn't seem too inclined to do so." Her eyes dart to Jace, standing at the edges of the crooked circle of Shadowhunters. "He's not speaking to me, it seems."

"Give him some time. He'll come around eventually."

Maryse shifts her gaze to Alec with a slight smile. "I hope so."

"I'll talk to him," Alec assures her. Her smile grows, just a little. He takes off to do just that, because she'd expect him to.

Jace seems to be the only person not surprised to see him or Magnus there. He greets them with an easy smile. Alec's guilt grows. "I just wanted to tell you mom's freaked out by your silent treatment," Alec tells him earnestly, but doesn't look him in the eye. He wonders if he should apologize. Jace's smile falls. The anger Alec can spot in his eyes doesn't seem to be directed at him.

"Good. She should be."

Alec rolls his eyes. "You're acting like a child."

Jace scowls but doesn't reply. It's odd. Alec eyes him carefully for bruises on the head; there aren't any. Jace seems remarkably spotless. "Are you alright?" Alec asks, because that seems to be what every Shadowhunter does these days.

Jace shrugs, "No serious injury."

"That's not what I asked."

"Let's get out of here," Jace says instead of answering, pushing past his comrades with brute force. A way parts before him. Alec follows. When they're out of earshot, Alec repeats his question.

"I met Valentine," is all Jace is willing to say. Alec decides he has neither the energy nor the patience to probe Jace on the matter, that maybe it's best if he won't talk to Jace about the battle at all. Jace lets out a small sigh of relief when Alec finally drops it.

They get to the loft fairly quickly. Jace locks himself in his room as soon as they enter, almost squashing Chairmen Meow in his haste. The cat gives a scandalized mewl.

"Ignore him, Chairman," Alec tells him, before heading for Magnus' bedroom. "We had a rotten day." He kicks the door open and steps into the room and over to the bed, pouring Magnus onto the mattress. Chairman Meow springs on the bed and settles on Magnus' stomach.

Alec makes sure Magnus is tucked in properly before leaving for the bathroom. He really needs a shower.

Peeling off his clothes takes as much time as undressing his wounds from Harley's makeshift bandaging. The bite-marks on his leg look infected and raw, the wound on his stomach barely healed. The Iratze Harley applied to his skin are long gone, unable to hold on to his human flesh. Everything hurts, muscles and bones screaming with every movement he has to make. Even the warm water doesn't help. The tension remains. The exhaustion sinks deeper into his core.

He showers mechanically, barely paying attention at all to what he's doing. He does his wounds the same way. Even the burn of antiseptic barely registers.

Alec exits the bathroom to find Magnus sprawled across his bed, hugging a pillow and looking like a bear awoken midwinter. He brightens as soon as Alec enters his line of vision. He doesn't get up though. Alec figures he's still dead tired. He can relate.

"Hey, handsome," Magnus greets with a smile.

"You look tired," Alec observes mildly.

Magnus shrugs, "I am." His eyes fix on Alec's chest with a slight, worried frown that disappears as soon as Alec sees it. "Is this your way of waking me up or did you forget to take a shirt in with you?" Magnus asks, his tone almost successful at appearing playful and light. Magnus' eyes remain trained on Alec's face. Alec blinks, quickly glancing down at himself. He's really not wearing a shirt.

"I didn't forget," Alec argues, a slight blush creeping high up his cheeks. Magnus cocks an eyebrow, very carefully and deliberately. Alec refuses to drop his gaze. He fists his hands to keep from fidgeting.

"You're an awful liar." With a flick of Magnus' wrist, cotton appears around Alec's torso. It's soft and warm against his damp skin. Alec's more than grateful for it.

"It had to be pink, didn't it?" Alec fakes a martyred sigh, tugging at the newly conjured tee. He doesn't really mind the color, although he would prefer it to be darker.

"I always wondered how that particular shade would affect your complexion," Magnus says. Sparks appear around his fingers again, and the soft, pink shirt is swapped by another- white, low on the collar and extremely tight. "There you go- a neutral, boring white." Alec rolls his eyes, settling by Magnus' side on the bed. The sheets are cool against his bare feet. "You're no fun," Magnus informs him, "and possibly achromatopsiatic."

"You mean achromatic."

Magnus pouts. "See? No fun at all."

Alec ignores him. "Do I wanna know what this really means?" Alec points at the bright, pink latters printed across his chest in bold. Something about lollipops. Magnus grins.

"Nothing you would approve of."

Alec smiles despite himself. He lets himself fall to the side and onto the mattress, curling up to Magnus' warmth until his head rests against the warlock's chest. "How are you feeling?" he asks, words muffled by Magnus shirt. Magnus' heartbeat is steady and strong. It puts Alec's own heart at ease.

"Happy," Magnus tells him seriously, slinging an arm around Alec's waist- mindful of his injury- bringing him closer. He hums in contentment, face buried in Alec's hair. "Butterflies and fuzzy feelings included."

"At least you didn't say 'hot and bothered'," Alec murmurs with a chuckle and a sigh.

"I'm not quite up for it now, darling," Magnus' voice is laced with amusement, but he lets a note of regret drop for effect. "I'll hold you up to that in a few hours." Magnus tightens his hold. Alec lets him despite the pressure it puts on his torn abdomen.

"I'm just glad you're alright," Alec tells him, closing his eyes and breathing the scent of magic and apple scented fabric softener. "You were one of the people I came onboard for."

Magnus tangles their feet together before murmuring, "I know," into his hair. "And I respect your decision." The door shuts and locks itself with neither of them moving. Alec has a dark suspicion, lurking somewhere at the back of his mind, that he wouldn't care or move even if someone did come in. That he'd stay like this forever if he only could.

"It's not that I don't want to reverse the curse," Alec tries to explain; partially because he feels he owes Magnus at least that, mostly because he wants him to understand why. "I do, it's just that-"

"-There'd be no point if there's no one left to fight for," Magnus finishes for him. "I understand. I do." Alec risks glancing up. Magnus' expression stills his heart.

Magnus lets out a small, bitter chuckle. "You came along just when I was about to faint, and I couldn't hold off the wards anymore and you're practically human and I was-"

"-Afraid I'll get killed by a demon while you're unconscious." And Alec understands that, too- the anger and the words and the reason why.

Magnus sighs and snuggles closer. Their breath quickly syncs, in and out, I'm alive and I'm here, still breathing. They fall asleep together- a tangle of limbs and forgotten injuries. Just holding on, tight and tighter, because letting go is no longer an option.

x

Alec wakes up at noon without Magnus by his side. Two things catch his attention: the sound of a shower running and the fresh, white bandages on his person. Magnus has already patched him up by the looks of it. Alec gets up with apprehension, ready for the pain to shoot up his leg and send him crashing on his face. It doesn't happen, and it makes Alec all sorts of happy. The mood lasts as long as it takes him to get to the kitchen and see Jace's miserable self molesting the coffee machine.

"Hey," Alec greets, although Jace must've sensed him coming, must know he's there without even looking. Jace doesn't reply. Alec can read the forming grimace on his face by the sharp lines of his shoulders, the muscles tensing on his back.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Jace warns him. Alec huffs.

"Tough luck," he tells him. Jace groans. "When're you going home?" Alec asks.

Jace whirls around, a baffled look plastered on his face. "What?" as if that's not what he thought Alec came to discuss. Alec wonders if there's something he doesn't know, like there always seems to be with Jace.

"I asked," Alec starts slowly, as if he's talking to a child, completely ignoring the issue he knows nothing about but Jace apparently doesn't want him to address. "When are you going home?"

"I can't," Jace tells him, relaxing slightly. "Maryse kicked me out."

Alec doesn't argue with Jace's phrasing. You're the one who can go home, he thinks, in what he hopes isn't bitterness. "She wants you back," he says, neutralizing his tone.

"Right," Jace snorts.

"She said so herself."

Jace's eyes widen in disbelief, and then narrow in suspicion. "Is this some kind of ploy to get me out of the house so you and Magnus can have sex?"

"What?" Alec sputters. Jace demonstrates with his fingers, smirking as a blush creeps up Alec's cheeks at the obscene gesture. "That's not what this is about."

Jace's expression remains dubious, surprised only for one, fleeting moment that Alec doesn't bother with denial. Alec glares at him, the effect somewhat ruined by the deep, red shade of his cheeks.

"I have absolutely no desire to prolong your stay here more than strictly necessary," Magnus' voice filters from his bedroom. "Sex or no."

"I knew it!" Jace exclaims. Magnus gives him an unimpressed look as he saunters out of the room, a fluffy towel wrapped around his head.

Alec diverts his glare towards Magnus. "Don't distract him!" Magnus has the decency to look apologetic. Alec turns back to the conversation at hand. "Mom wants you home. You obviously want to go home," he says. "Go home."

"Who died and made you queen of logic?" Jace mutters under his breath. His chair poofs into nonexistence and he promptly drops to the floor, almost hitting his head on the edge of the counter. Magnus inspects his nails innocently, untouched by the sudden death glare Jace sends his way.

"Watch your tongue, sweetheart," the warlock scolds, a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Or you might accidently swallow it." Or be made to.

Alec tries to hide his grin. "Go home, Jace," he repeats. "Tell Max hi for me."

Jace turns to look at Alec, expression blank, emotions flickering too fast in his eyes to identify. His mouth settles in a familiar guilty line and his eyebrows furrow just so. Alec shakes his head. It's been a while since he's seen this particular expression on Jace's face. "It's alright," he assures his brother. "You should go."

"Are you sure?" for the first time in years, Jace sounds younger than he likes to pretend to be. Suddenly Alec can see in him the boy he had to watch over and protect the back of.

"Yes." I will be fine. "Mom misses you."

Jace nods, uncertainly. He scrambles off the floor and heads for his room, emerging ten minutes later with a duffel bag on his shoulder and a jacket on his arm. When Jace looks over, his eyes somewhat skittish, Alec makes an impatient gesture. "Shoo."

Jace smirks. He opens the apartment door with flourish and throws "Use protection, guys," over his shoulder. Alec hurls a stray mug at him. The door closes before the poor thing even has the chance to connect with Jace's head. A spell stops its movement mere inched before it hits the door and breaks.

"Please refrain from destroying my apartment," Magnus murmurs into Alec's ear. The mug makes a clean U turn, floating back to its rightful place on the kitchen table.

"I was attempting to destroy Jace's face," Alec mutters. The mug lands safely before him, almost taunting. Alec scowls. "You're no fun at all, you know that?"

Magnus beams. "Your words are arrows to my bleeding heart," he says.

"Mock the archer, why don't you," Alec grumbles as Magnus settles on the stool by his side. The mug glides on the counter and halts sharply before him, slowly filling with coffee. Alec sighs. "Ave atque vale," he mumbles, half joking, half not.

Magnus turns to glance at him, his eyes sharp and calculating, the careful look of someone threading on unknown land. "I may not be a Shadowhunter darling, but I've known enough of you over the years to know on what occasion the phrase is used. Why?"

Alec shrugs. "I lost my bow," he answers, mourning not only the loss of a weapon but all that it represented. Magnus' face brightens considerably, the reawakened worry settling down and polite sympathy taking its place. "I couldn't keep it and carry both you and Iz, so I left it behind." Sympathy shifts to guilt. Alec shakes his head with a slight, encouraging smile. "It's fine."

"I'm sorry."

"You have no reason to be," Alec tells him honestly. "At least I managed to keep your sword."

Magnus frowns, "I'll assume you mean 'sword- a weapon', not 'sword- a euphemism'."

Alec blinks at him. Magnus shakes his head, biting a smile. "Don't mind me." The smile shows, just a little, sweet and teasing. "What sword?"

Alec shifts around in his seat, uncomfortable. "I'm sorry," he blurts immediately. "I know I shouldn't have taken it, but you weren't here to ask for permission-"

"-Untwist you panties, honey," Magnus tells him seriously, sipping his coffee. "I'm not going to scold you. You haven't been quite naughty enough to deserve it."

Alec gestures toward a soggy, black heap by the front door, the leer lost on him. Something silver gleams under the cover of coarse, black cloth. "That sword."

Magnus sets his coffee and snaps his fingers. The sword appears on the table alongside the mug. His eyes widen, and while Alec fully expects him to reach out for the weapon, Magnus keeps his hands to himself. They are shaking.

Alec doesn't ask and tries not to stare and demand anything more than Magnus is willing to reveal. Magnus remains still for a long, uncomfortable moment. When he finally speaks, his voice is cowed and lower than Alec has ever heard it. "It's not a sword," he starts, "It's called Klewang." Alec doesn't recognize the linguistic origin of the word, but the drop and fall of the vowels is hypnotizing. Magnus' eyes are far when he continues, "First used in the Aceh war-" Indonesian then, "-it belonged to my father. My human one."

Alec shifts his chair closer, pressing their bodies together- shoulder to shoulder, thigh to thigh, trying to offer some comfort. The blade had the ability to exorcise demons; it's only too easy for Alec to imagine what Magnus' father must've used it for. "I don't know why I kept it all these years," Magnus says, voice raw. The emotion on his face remains mild, controlled. Almost calm. "It was one of the few things I took with me when I left." He lifts his eyes to look at Alec, boring into him with eyes too old and too tired. "At least it had done some good."

"It saved my life."

"It's good that I've kept it, then." There's a smile hidden somewhere in Magnus' gaze, a hint of it in the curl of his mouth. With a guiding hand on his cheek, Alec tastes it against his lips. Magnus leans into the offered touch eagerly, turning on the stool until they are facing each other. Magnus' arms come around Alec's sides, trapping him against the table. Alec doesn't mind. "What did you say before about being hot and bothered?" Magnus breathes the question against Alec's ear, but the words barely register at all. When his lips move, teeth grazing the arch of his neck, Alec shudders, the flesh still tender from the Drevak attack he had sustained. He slides off his stool, moving until he's standing with Magnus' legs closing on his thighs, his arms tight around Alec's waist. Alec presses closer and tangles both hands in Magnus' hair, tugging viciously until the warlock lifts his head, releasing Alec's neck. With a wicked grin, Alec pulls him down, crashing their lips together.

"Are you?" Alec murmurs between kisses. Magnus smiles against his lips. He trails a finger from Alec's neck to his chest- stopping just above his heart- when a sudden weigh appears where his touch left Alec's skin burning. Magnus tugs at it until Alec's so close he can feel the rise and fall of each shuddered breath. With a swift glance, Alec discovers the dragontear held tightly in Magnus' fist, the thin silver chain it's connected to biting into Alec's neck. He has no space to lean closer in order to ease the strain. Magnus smirks and purrs, "Very, darling," before stealing Alec's breath away.

Magnus slips from his high perch on the stool right into Alec's arms. Using the necklace to his advantage, he pulls Alec along, never leaving his mouth. Alec doesn't care where he's led to as long as they don't have to break contact to get there. "Mari kita bersama-sama selamanya tak peduli apa yang terjadi," it's that language again, the same accent and teasing vowels, burnt into his skin with each kiss, each touch of Magnus' hands against his back, ribs, stomach. There's not enough air, not enough space, not enough of him. They reach the nearest available flat surface and fall as one, bodies close, pulled and held together until the raw edges of one's beginning and another's end blur and merge. The need, primal and wild, to reach and touch, taste and own, heats the blood and speeds their breath until air is not enough, nothing is. More, and they breathe together, suffocating, burning up and crashing down on the high of what the heart wants but the mind is too afraid to take.

More. There's hunger dissolving each cell, reaching out to grab and possess, consume what is offered and what's denied. Take until there is nothing left, until they are one and the same, the threads of their being knit tight together, until unraveling one would mean the end of the other. "What does that mean?" they aren't close enough yet, there's the void, mocking, tempting. The edge is too sharp not to risk jumping off.

"Itu adalah rahasia," the sound is the push, and the fall is short and sweet like the mouth against his. More, because it's never going to be enough. I want your all and nothing, the space between you breaths and the quiet of your mind.

The apartment is as calm as the night outside, but no sound filters through the rush of blood and need. When Magnus pulls away, Alec follows on instinct, head dipping to the mouth eluding him. A finger comes to rest against his lips, barely a restraint; Alec is more than tempted to ignore it.

The disruption is Magnus' cellphone. "Oh, for Merlin's sake," Magnus pulls out the offensive device, squirming against Alec's weight on top of him. "I think the universe has developed a hobby out of cockblocking us."

"Are you actually going to answer that?" Alec demands, voice sharper than he had intended. Magnus looks him in the eye, his face grim.

"Believe me when I say that I prefer lip-locking to chit-chatting," Magnus tells him, already sliding the phone to his ear. "But I've sent fire messages to about a dozen warlocks and witches in the area about our curse; some of them prefer the phone to the traditional way." Alec sighs and drops his head on Magnus' chest, ear above his heart. Since when do the magic folk prefer phones to fire messages? he thinks, but doesn't argue.

"Bane," Magnus says into the phone, voice a little breathy but going for formal and detached. Alec smirks. "Seriously- Clary?" Magnus' voice grows shrill. Alec moans with despair. "No, no, no, listen to me-" Alec sighs. With the powers of the universe united against him, they'd have to dash out and save Clary from whatever predicament she's gotten herself into. "-You are deleting me from your speed dial. I was in the middle of something extremely important-" Alec groans mournfully. "What do you mean you know how to wake your mother?" Alec doesn't bother with raising his head. Magnus takes a deep breath beneath him. His hand comes to stroke Alec's hair. It's a small comfort in the face of his romantic evening plans being shoved out the window. "Fell? How do you know- Yes, I do, but- would you- no, Clary you can't-" Alec snorts. As if she'd listen to that. Magnus exhales sharply; it's not quite a huff, but there's a note of building anger on his face. There is a long pause. "I can't, not in the next two weeks-" Magnus' hand tightens in Alec's hair. He listens for a moment before snapping, "No, Clarissa dearest, contrary to your belief my life does not revolve around you and your little problems. Find someone else to conjure you a portal, there are plenty of us crafty warlocks lazing around, waiting for you call." Magnus hangs up without farther ado and throws his phone against the nearest wall.

"Won't you need that in case all those crafty warlocks call?" Alec asks, cocking an eyebrow.

Magnus smiles, "I'll repair it later," he says, waving his fingers, blue sparks and all, in front of Alec's face. "I have far more pressing matters right now."

Alec meets Magnus' lips before he's the chance to utter another word.

A/N: we're about halfway through the fic and already at the end of CoA. The last chapters will enter the plot of the third book as well, but bear in mind the story will veer a bit farther into the AU realm plot-wise than it has so far. Hope you won't mind :)

Excerpt from the next chapter: "No, it's my problem," Magnus snarls before hanging up. He stares at Alec and his jaw tightens. "It's gonna be alright," he says. Alec wonders if he even believes himself.