Two weeks.
It was hard to believe, that Magnus had been in Texas for almost three weeks and it had been two whole weeks since he and Alec had kissed and everything had changed. They weren't a couple yet, Magnus was trying to give Alec his time, but there were stolen kisses whenever they were alone. Magnus was doing everything in his power to try not to jam his hands down Alec's pants, because he was fully aware that as Alec's first kiss, he was going to be his first everything. And he didn't want to spoil it, he didn't want to move too fast and risk it all.
So, he would take his kisses, he would gossip with Camille and he would wait for Alec to make his final decision. And Magnus had begun to really enjoy his time in Texas, surprised as he was. He'd come to realize pretty quick that he wasn't going to hate it, but he'd never expected to dread leaving.
But then, he'd never expected Alec. He hadn't even thought of the possibility of meeting an amazing guy in the middle of nowhere. Magnus was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering how any of this could have happened when there was a knock on the door.
"It's open." He called, lethargic from all the warm weather and unwilling to move.
The door opened slowly, and Alec's head popped inside. Magnus' heart skipped a beat as Alec's eyes lit up when he noticed Magnus sitting on the bed. He closed the door behind him and locked it, a handy thing Magnus hadn't even known about until Alec had started visiting his room.
Alec came over and lay down next to Magnus, rolling onto his side to stare at him. He traced the curve of Magnus' jaw and Magnus shivered. Sighing, Alec scooted a little closer to him and placed a quick kiss to just behind his ear.
"Alec," Magnus whined, "What if your parents come looking for you?" He didn't really want to resist, bringing his hand up to twine in Alec's hair as the other boy began kissing down his jaw, biting and sucking as he went.
Alec shifted, lifting himself so he had a hand on either side of Magnus' face. "I really don't care right now." He said, leaning in to kiss Magnus. As soon as their lips met, Magnus didn't hesitate to slid his tongue into Alec's mouth, eliciting a fraction of a moan from the other boy.
Magnus slipped his hand under Alec's thin shirt, running his hands along his abs. His hands dug into Alec's hips as Alec's tongue swirled around in his mouth. Considering that all his kissing practice had been in the past two weeks, Alec was an incredibly fast learner and had quickly figured out exactly what to do to make Magnus tick. He sighed, slipping his fingers just below the hem of Alec's jeans, savouring the noise the other boy made.
Parting their lips for a second, Alec tugged at the hem of Magnus' shirt and hissed in his ear. "Off." He demanded, sending a shiver down Magnus' spine. He obediently slipped his shirt off, gasping as Alec trailed kisses down his neck to suck at the hollow of his collarbone.
"You're getting scary good at this." Magnus said breathlessly.
Alec laughed, "I have a really good teacher."
Their chests pressed together and their lips colliding, Magnus threaded his hands back into Alec's hair, tugging at it gently. Magnus pulled away and Alec looked at him questioningly.
"It's not fair that you have more clothing on in this situation." Magnus said firmly, causing Alec to laugh and sit up. Once the shirt was off, he hooked his ankles behind Alec's calves and yanked him down, pulling his body flush to his own. Alec chuckled and kissed Magnus softly and slowly, making Magnus impatient. He kissed back with fervour, biting Alec's bottom lip and revelling in the heat that came from Alec's exposed skin.
"Alec!"
The guy in question groaned, removing his lips from Magnus' and slowly got off him. "That'll be Isabelle. We're supposed to do a huge cleanup today." Alec sighed, grabbing his shirt from where he'd thrown it to the ground. "You don't have to of course," He looked at Magnus over his shoulder, checking him out rather obviously, letting his eyes rake up and down Magnus's slim figure. "Mum says you can just spend the day drawing. I was surprised, I thought she was going to put you to work for sure."
Magnus opened his mouth to reply but was cut off by another yell. "Alexander Gideon Lightwood!" Isabelle hollered, "What the hell are you doing!? I'm not going to clean all this crap on my own!"
Stretching, Alec sighed. "Should I respond? She's only going to get more angry." Before he could say anything, Isabelle was banging on the door. Their eyes met in panic, Magnus rushing to put on his shirt and Alec desperately trying to make his hair look decent.
Almost as soon as the shirt was over Magnus' head, Isabelle barged in the room, huffing angrily. "Seriously, are you two just having a fiesta in Magnus' room? We have some serious things to do." She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at Alec, "So, what's your excuse."
"There isn't one." Alec said tiredly, "We were just talking and I was going to respond but you didn't really give me a chance."
Isabelle snorted, "Sure, I'll believe that the same day that Jace gets up without making his bed."
"That's never going to happen."
"Exactly." Isabelle said, sniffing haughtily. "Now go, before mom has an aneurysm." Alec rolled his eyes pushing past her and out the door. She looked over at Magnus and her eyes widened. Isabelle looked from Alec's retreating to Magnus and then back again. Then she smirked and when she spoke, her voice carried the beginnings of a laugh. "Your shirt is inside out."
Magnus glanced down in alarm and sure enough, his shirt was inside out and even backwards. Quickly pulling the shirt off to fix it, Isabelle gaped.
"I know I'm attractive Isabelle, but I'm also very not interested and you're making this very uncomfortable." She continued to gape at him and he turned the shirt the right way around before looking up at her quizzically. "Seriously," Magnus said, "What the hell are you looking-oh shit." Magnus looked down to try and figure out what she was seeing and then noticed the very prominent hickey on his collarbone.
"Did? Was that? Alec and?" She spluttered, gasping as though trying to find air underwater. "Holy mother of god and all that is holy. You're fucking my brother."
Rushing over to slam the door behind her, Magnus dragged her away from it and hopefully out of earshot. "Shut the fuck up. No one can know okay? And we're not fucking as you so eloquently put it. I happen to really like your brother and we're taking things slow."
"So how long has he been nibbling away at your neck?" Isabelle said, seeming to regain some of her footing and adopting her usual, cool demeanor.
Magnus rubbed the back of his neck, "Uh, you know." She glared at him and he sighed, spreading his hands over his face, "Two weeks?"
"Two weeks?!" Isabelle practically shouted.
Magnus slapped a hand over her mouth and Alec poked his head in. Seeing Magnus' state of undress and his hand over Isabelle's mouth, he made a face.
"Do I want to know?" He asked, though Magnus was glad that he didn't seem to be worried about Magnus and Isabelle canoodling (as Camille would put it).
Wrenching Magnus' hand away from her face, Isabelle marched over to the door and pulled Alec inside, practically flinging him against Magnus. "I need to know. Everything." A look of realization came over Alec's face and he turned to Magnus, looking very worried and a little bit hurt.
"You told her?"
"No." Magnus said quickly, "She figured it out."
"How?" Alec said, his fists clenching and unclenching at his sides. Magnus didn't think he had any reason to be nervous, Isabelle already knew he was gay and she'd made it fairly obvious that she didn't care.
Magnus cleared his throat and gently pointed at his collarbone. Alec's eyes widened and he flushed. Magnus bit back a giggle and Alec gave him a playful glare. Magnus started making faces at him and Alec did it right back. It'd become one of their favorite games, making faces at each other when no one was looking.
"If you two are done," Isabelle said, her voice hinting at a smile, "There's actual work to be done. You can tell me what happened later."
"You're not bothered at all by this?" Alec asked, still bright red. He looked between his sister and Magnus quickly.
Isabelle began to put her hair up in a ponytail, turning towards the door. "Of course I don't mind. And, no I won't say a word." She smiled at the two of them, "But no dry humping when there's even the slightest chance I will walk in on it. And use protection."
Alec's mouth was gaping like a fish and he stammered out something akin to a protest. Magnus just laughed and waved at Isabelle as she sauntered out of the room. As soon as she was gone, closing the door behind her, Magnus captured Alec's lips in a sweet kiss.
"It's fine." He said softly, holding one of Alec's hands and rubbing his thumb over the back of his hand in soothing circles. "She approves."
"It's not her I'm worried about." Alec admitted, leaning into Magnus.
"Well," Magnus said, dropping Alec's hand to put his shirt back on, "We have some work to do apparently. So, don't worry about this now. I'm willing to wait."
"I know-wait... we?"
"I can't believe the big city boy is going to help." Jace said, leaning on a pitch fork and laughing. "Does he know what he's signed up for?"
Magnus sighed, "He knows exactly what he's signed up for. And he's going to try and help the family that has been hosting him of so nicely." He gave Maryse a small smile, which she returned.
"C'mon Jace." Alec sighed, squinting into the sun, "He's going to help and we're going to get the work done faster if you just shut your trap." Magnus grinned at Alec, who was looking rather good in his loose blue t-shirt and dark grey shorts.
Jace made a small noise, but straightened up as Isabelle walked over.
"Alec, you and Magnus will take the barn. Nothing serious, just do the usual. But also reorganize the tack." Maryse added, "You keep tossing everything back in there after you ride and it's a mess."
Grinning, Magnus glanced over at Alec who was struggling not to smile back. Jace looked between them and rolled his eyes, leaning his chin back on the rake and pouting.
"Jace," He looked up at the sound of his name, "I want you to start with the chickens." He gaped and his siblings laughed. Opening his mouth to protest, he closed it when Maryse raised an eyebrow.
Isabelle kept laughing, trying and failing to hide it behind her hand. Maryse turned to her next, smiling fondly when she saw her daughter holding her laughter. She told Izzy and Max to get started on their normal chores and come find her when she was done.
Groaning, the kids wandered off to their chores. Jace complained loudly, getting no more than and eye roll out of Maryse and a few giggles from Isabelle.
"He's so annoying." Alec said fondly as he and Magnus wandered over to the barn. Alec was relaxed the moment his family was out of earshot and he gave Magnus a brilliant smile. Magnus tried to return the smile and ignored the way that Alec had to wait until they were alone.
"I heard that!" Jace yelled, from all the way across the lawn. Alec jumped and looked over in his shoulder in alarm, causing Magnus to burst out laughing. The blonde made the classic 'I'm watching you' hand signals and Alec flipped him off, sticking his tongue out at his brother.
"He has fucking bionic hearing." Alec muttered, kicking a rock with his foot and shoving Magnus with his shoulder.
The door to the barn squealed as Alec pushed it open. The smell hit him first, a mixture of animal and musty warm air. It smelled exactly the way a farm should and Magnus found it more comforting than disgusting. Magnus' eyes took a second to adjust to the darkness in the room and after blinking away the glaring sunlight, finally saw the horses that Alec loved so dearly. He stroked one of their necks, cooing softly at the animal and Magnus had to resist the urge to coo at him.
"This is Mickey." Alec said proudly. Magnus knew nothing about horses. Nothing. Someone with more knowledge of horses would say the horse was an Arabian, a beautiful chestnut and about fifteen hands high. To Magnus, the horse was brown and large. To him, that was probably the only thing the horse would ever be. "We got him when he was just a colt," Alec continued, seemingly oblivious to Magnus' aversion to animals that could sit on him. "We sort of raised him. He's getting sort of old now, I guess. We got him when I was a baby."
The horse made a funny noise that Magnus would never be able to recreate or name. Alec just grinned and kissed the horse on the nose. He noticed Magnus lingering back and ushered him forwards.
"Don't worry." He sang, "he doesn't bite. Usually." Magnus turned around in alarm as Alec pushed him closer to the animal and grabbed Magnus' hand in his own. Alec placed Magnus' hand on the horse's muzzle. Magnus mentally applauded himself for guessing the name to that one.
Unsure if the racing of his heart was because of the horse named Mickey that might bite off his extremities or because Alec was pressed against his back in a way that wasn't sexual, wasn't platonic and was almost achingly familiar. Part of Magnus was worried that he was getting too attached. That Will was right and the whole business was too soon. But another part of him relished the fall, the tumble into the unknown. Magnus was certain which part was winning.
Alec kissed Magnus' neck softly, "You're really tense right now and very silent and it's kind of freaking me out."
"I'm scared it's going to eat me."
Alec's laugh tickled Magnus' neck, "He's not going to eat you. I was joking about the biting. He's never bitten anyone. You don't have to be scared of any of the horses. I'll protect you."
"My glorious knight." Magnus said dramatically, leaning into Alec and kissing his cheek. He turned around fully to kiss Alec, when the horse snorted and Magnus lept a few feet in the air.
Magnus was thoroughly alarmed. Alec on the other hand, couldn't stop laughing. He wound his arms around Magnus' waist and reached over his shoulder to stroke the horse. Then he dragged Magnus over to the next stall, "This is Princess." The fond tone was creeping back in Alec's voice and he was looking at the horses with such unmasked awe.
"Who in your family has a horse named Princess?" Magnus asked. The obvious choice would be Isabelle, seeing as she is the young girl in the family. But there was something about Isabelle's 'I don't need a guy' 'I will kick your ass into next Tuesday' attitude that made Magnus think otherwise.
"Max." Alec snorted. "He thought it was very fitting."
Magnus, slightly over his fear of the animals eating him, reached out to touch the animal. But Alec snatched his hand away. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Alec warned, "Princess bites."
"Your family really struggles with naming things don't they?" Magnus asked, keeping Alec's hand in his and staring at the horse warily. This horse was also brown, but looked a little different than the other one and Magnus assumed she was some other breed of horse. She was a lighter brown, less of a chestnut and more beige than anything and unlike Mickey, was sporting a rather adorable white stripe down her nose.
"I guess." Alec said with a laugh, "Though Muffin wasn't really our fault. She came with that name."
"Excuses, excuses. Now can we back away from the animal that is actually a danger to our safety?" Magnus pushed Alec back a little bit and they moved on to the next stall. This one was a jet black and had a more demanding presence than the other two.
"That's Balios." Alec said, "He's my horse and that's his brother, Xanthos. He's Jace's horse."
Magnus looked between the two black stallions and nodded, trying to imagine a little Jace and Alec deciding to have brother horses. "Named after Achilles' horses right?"
"Yep." Alec said popping the 'p' and reaching into his pocket to pull out a carrot. He offered it to Balios who made another weird noise Magnus didn't understand and nuzzled Alec's hand before taking the carrot. "My Mum used to read us Greek myths before bed."
"That's a little," Magnus paused, "Dark? Don't most myths end in tragedy and despair."
"Doesn't life?"
"That was very dark." Magnus said, biting back a laugh. "Are you trying to win a pessimist prize? Because you are seriously in the running."
Alec snorted, "I'm glad to hear that I've still got a shot. And my Mum thought it'd be good for us. Those weren't the only stories she told us but they were the only ones she didn't make up."
"She made stories up?"
"And French lullabies."
Magnus stared at Alec blankly. "Do you speak French?"
"I do." Alec said with a grin. "Je peux parler un peu de francais." His voice went lower when he switched languages and he more breathed the French than spoke it.
Magnus' mouth popped open, "Holy shit. That is possibly the hottest thing in the world."
Alec flushed, "All I said was that I speak a little bit of French." Magnus shook his head, drawing Alec in for a kiss. When they pulled away, Alec was still flushed and he bit a kiss-swollen lip. "Is that always going to be the reaction when I speak another language? Because I have a few that I'm willing to use."
"You speak more than one?"
"Well," Alec said, smiling at Magnus and brushing his hair out of his face tenderly, "There's French, Spanish, German, Greek and a tiny bit of Latin."
"Latin?" Magnus asked, raising an eyebrow. "Isn't that a dead language?"
"I guess." Alec said, shrugging, "But I was bored one day and there were some books in the library-"
"Wait." Magnus held up a hand. He pulled away from Alec entirely and faced him. "You were bored. So you learned Latin?" His voice rose at the end, becoming high pitched and getting a laugh out of Alec.
"Maybe?" Alec said sheepishly, ruffling a hand through his hair. "Do you speak any other languages?"
"A smidgen of Dutch." Magnus said, "Indonesian and English."
"Indonesian? Dutch?" Alec asked, "Where did those come from?"
Magnus hummed, "Mum's Indonesian and Dad's Dutch so I know a little bit of both. My Mum and Dad met when my Dad was on a business trip to Indonesia and he saw her on the street and fell in love. So, he brought her back."
Alec smiled, "That sounds romantic. I'm pretty sure my parents met in elementary school because my Dad threw spitballs into my Mum's hair."
Snorting, Magnus shook his head, "It's not as romantic as you'd think. My Mum ached for her home and my Dad insisted that she would learn to love America. And when she didn't, we moved to England for about a year when she decided she hated it there more. We've been living in New York ever since."
"Wow." Alec said softly, "That's awful I guess. Has she seen anyone since she left?"
"No." Magnus sighed, "She came from a really poor town so no one has the money to visit or even phone. And my Dad thinks that if she goes back she will become depressed again when we come back to the US."
Alec played with Magnus' fingers gently, "Did she come and visit us?"
"Yeah," Magnus said, "Before she'd even met my Dad. How'd you know that?"
"My Mum told me." Alec said, laughing slightly, "They were penpals and my Mum begged yours to come for a visit. She came over for a summer. My Mum has pictures of the two of them around town." Magnus grinned, "I'm going to have to find you those pictures." Alec Mumbled, "But, continuing with the grand horse tour."
He lead Magnus over to the last three stables, "This here is Fancy Pants." Fancy Pants was neither brown nor black, but a rather a soft grey with gentle white spots scattered haphazardly over his back. "He's my Dad's horse. Though I'm pretty sure Isabelle named him."
Magnus grinned and stroked the velvet hair on Fancy Pants' nose. Alec nodded encouragingly before introducing him to the next horse.
"This is Isabelle's horse." Magnus said firmly and Alec nodded surprised.
"What makes you say that?"
"It looks like it wants to eat me." Magnus said suspiciously, taking a large step away from the horse.
"Yeah," Alec grinned, "Cortana is just as wild as Isabelle. They make a right pair."
"Cortana? What the hell is a Cortana?"
"It's a sword." Alec snorted, "Well sort of. It's a kind of sword and the name of a specific sword. I don't know much else except that Isabelle is the only person in the word to name her horse after a weapon."
"Really?"
"No," Alec said sarcastically, "This is my Mum's horse, Flamethrower." Magnus laughed and Alec continued with a grin, "Isabelle wanted something fierce and I guess she liked that. There is a disturbing amount of books about weapons in the library."
Magnus made a soft purring noise, running his fingers over the top of the stall door and sighing, "This is so perfect."
"What is?" Alec asked and Magnus could hear the smile in his voice, lifting his words by their waist and making them dance like sunshine.
"Your life. You live in this perfect town, with a considerable amount of drama. You have these horses, you have siblings and pets and cute little homemade signs." Magnus cried, pointing at the hand painted signs that adorned each of the stalls. They were more than cute, each one designed to fit the name and attitude of each horse.
"I'm sure your life is good too." Alec said and Magnus could hear the smile draining out of his voice.
"It's good." Magnus admitted, "But it's never this perfect."
"Is perfect bad?"
"No," Magnus said begrudgingly, "But it scares me. I'm scared that it's too perfect. That I'm going to wake up and realize that this was all a dream. That I'm not having a good time with a cute boy. I'm going to wake up from this haze and find out that people don't have cats named Muffin or Church and that people don't paint cute little signs for their horses. I'm going to wake up and be home again, where I don't know my neighbours and everyone has somewhere to be all the time." He took in a shuddering breath, "I like this life and hate it at the same time. I love the hustle bustle of the city and could never imagine living this life. I will never be good enough for the life and the friendships that you guys have. I will never be good enough for you."
"Don't say that." Alec said, "Don't you dare say that."
"It's true-"
"No," Alec said, so loudly and so firmly that Magnus looked up at him in surprise, "It's really not. You think that you're so tainted and you're so unworthy. But you're amazing. You shine like this strange star and everything about you lights up. I am terrified about everything and I can't even socialize with people I don't know. But you, you make all that okay. And I don't know what that means. You make my so called perfect life feel actually perfect."
Alec picked up one of Magnus' hands and Magnus tried to blink away the tears that were pooling in his eyes. Tilting Magnus' head up, so they were eye to eye, Alec brushed his collarbone gently. "I will never deserve you. And that's okay. I'm drawn to you like a moth to a flame and I have this feeling I'm going to be with you, even if it kills me."
They kissed, Alec holding Magnus' cheek like he was made of glass and the two of them standing in the middle of the barn. There was a rush to it, knowing the family could walk in at any moment and not really caring. Magnus knew that deep down Alec cared of course, but in the moment it felt reckless and wonderful.
"For Christ's sake."
Magnus praised every lord in the sky. Not for the ever present cock-blocking, but for the fact that it was Isabelle that possessed the cock-blocking skill and not say, her mother.
"Go away Iz." Alec said, sighing and resting his forehead on Magnus' but not pulling away, much to Magnus' delight. "We're kind of busy."
"Yeah," Isabelle huffed, digging through a pile of tools and throwing things over her shoulder. The tools clanged and banged as they hit the ground and Alec winced as she tossed something particularly heavy that hit with a clunk rather than an off tune chime. "Some of us are actually busy and aren't just making out in the middle of a messy barn. I'm actually getting shit done."
"Getting shit done is boring." Magnus said, feeling Alec's laugh rather than hearing it and turning around to see Isabelle's face and she straightened up. There was a weird spindaily thing in her hand and Magnus attributed his cluelessness as to what it was to his status as city boy.
"Well," Isabelle said haughtily, "If you don't get anything done, Mum is going to start to wonder what you were doing all day and I have a feeling she's going to come to a conclusion you're not going to like. Especially if you two go around groping each other behind unlocked doors. Seriously," She sighed, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ear and back into her ponytail. "I thought we agreed I wasn't going to have to walk in on you two going at it."
"It's not like you knocked." Alec said childishly and Isabelle gave him such a dubious look that Magnus had to bite back another laugh.
"Who the fuck knocks on a barn door?" She threw her hands in the air, her eyes wide. She flung the device she was carrying around in the air as she ranted about how stupid an idea it was to knock on barn doors and how if the two of them could just keep it in their pants it would be awesome.
"Iz?"
"Yes, brother dearest."
"Bye."
Isabelle rolled her eyes, "I get the message. Despite my lecture about getting caught, and not shoving your hands down each others pants or tongues in each other mouths, and a little bit I snuck in there about STDs, you're still going to go at it in a barn."
"Pretty much." Magnus said, giving her an unparallelled grin.
"I'm out then." She said, turning towards the door, "But seriously, try and look like you've done something or Jace will kick both your asses." The door closed with a thud and Alec let out a breath neither of them knew he was holding.
"We got really lucky." Alec admitted out loud what Magnus knew in his head. There was no way they could have known Isabelle would be the one to walk through the door and they were really lucky it was here.
"Mm," Magnus mumbled an agreement, "Now, where were we?" He leaned in for another kiss but Alec pulled away with a soft whine.
"We were getting shit done."
"Do we actually have to?" Magnus whinged, "I'm rather make out for a little bit and save the work for later."
"So would I." Alec said picking two pitchforks up from where Isabelle had tossed them and handing one to Magnus, "But we have to do this instead. Now, are you ready to shovel some poo?"
"What?!"
