I woke up alone in the morning like I always did. The difference was that this time I was in Magnus' bed. Magnus favoured bright, pop-art colours in his room which hurt my eyes. I didn't remember the room he'd shared with Camille being like that, so I guessed either his tastes had changed or that Camille had had more pull with the decorating. Most likely the latter.

I scanned the room for a clock but didn't see anything. My room didn't have a clock in it, either, but for some reason I'd expected Magnus' would. What I did find was a short note on the bedside table beside a packaged-up toothbrush.

Alexander,

Didn't want to wake you but had to get to work. Make yourself at home and don't stress too much. Will be back later.

Love, Magnus.

My first thought was that I should be getting to work too, before the horrible events of the previous night hit me like a rampaging bull. Well, I probably didn't need to rush, then. I got up groggily, reading the note over a couple more times.

I considered whether or not borrowing clothes was included as part of 'making myself at home', because I didn't really have anything to put on. I could have gone home to dress but I didn't have a key to lock Magnus' door with. I knew I'd be stranded until he made his way back and couldn't decide if that had been planned or if Magnus had just forgotten I couldn't lock the door behind me.

In any case it provided me with an excuse not to go to the Museum in person. I knew that was immature and that I owed Dr Zachariah an apology; but I just wasn't feeling too grown up. A phone call to reception would suffice for the time being.

Imasu picked up as he always did with the scripted greeting he used every time he picked up the Museum phone.

"It's Alec," I said, feeling quite nervous about talking to anybody from work right about then. Especially given that if I was asked for an excuse or sick note, I wouldn't have one . Imasu would expect me to justify myself and I'd have to recount the story. "Just calling to say I won't be in today."

What Imasu did ask, proving he'd already been told about what had happened, was: "Will you be in any day?"

"Probably not." I informed him. The sad thing was that I probably wouldn't even visit one of my favourite places in a casual way anymore. The last thing I wanted was to be bumping into these people all the time.

"I thought not..." Imasu sighed. We were struggling awkwardly with the conversation. What do you say to somebody you may or may not speak to again? "See you around, I guess."

"I guess." I repeated.

I supposed that the two of us were never meant to become real friends. I went to push the end-call button but stopped myself upon hearing Imasu speak again.

"And Alec?" He said.

"Yes?" I asked, surprised that he'd found anything to say to me.

"Harsh."

Harsh was the last word before the conversation clicked to a halt. That one word got right under my skin in the worst of ways and I wanted to throw my phone across the room. I settled for the toothbrush, because I didn't want to break anything.

Fuck Imasu. He didn't know anything. It wasn't like I was there to defend myself, Dr Zachariah could have told him anything. He'd probably omitted the part where he made those accusations about me and skipped right from 'I plucked up the courage to confess' to 'Alec went batshit crazy.'

I seethed a little, but who was I kidding? In hindsight I could see that I was the person being completely out of line.

I told myself that I had to let it go. A chapter of my life was over and I just needed to power forward. History didn't depict that I was very got the letting go, but it was going to be okay. I just had to keep busy.

So, I hunted down where Magnus kept his towels and made use of his shower. His bathroom looked like the one I used to share with Isabelle; when she'd leave about a million bottles lying around with different levels of goo inside, instead of just finishing one and buying another.

With the knowledge of what Izzy was like should I happen to use the 'wrong' bottle, I went about looking for the most generic items. Failing that, the ones which were most full. The end result was a scent startlingly similar to Magnus' sugar-and-sandalwood smell.

After that clothes became an issue. Magnus had loaned me sleepwear the night before and now I didn't want to snoop through his belongings looking for something else. He'd left his closet wide open, so I figured if I could see it anyway, that was an acceptable place to look.

It was a fairly difficult task but eventually I'd remembered that tight-fitting for Magnus would be a loose-to-normal fit on me, so I stopped blanching at the idea of half the things he owned and managed to dress myself in something fairly ordinary.

When I checked the time on my phone I saw that it was only midday. With my mood plummeting the longer I spent doing nothing but dwelling, I set to work busying myself.

First I went back into the bathroom to clean it up. Well, for the most part that was just organising. Magnus didn't live in any kind of dirt despite what you might think when you knocked on his door.

That didn't take so long. I tidied up in the bedroom afterwards, kept Chairman Meow company until the kitten decided to go sleep on one of the stools by the kitchen. I took that as a good indication that I should start cooking.

By the time Magnus came home food was ready. He said he could smell it as he walked in and looked pretty impressed.

Magnus eyed me up and down before he took his plate. "Are those my clothes?"

"I didn't have any of my own here." I mumbled in explanation while I got drinks. I'd long since memorised the layout of Magnus' kitchen and actually had to do less digging around than he did most of the time.

"Oddly sexy…" Magnus commented before he put a forkful of food in his mouth and made a very approving sound. I hoped he was complementing what he tasted as opposed to what he saw and took a seat.

"How was your day?" I asked.

Magnus told me about work; it was all about camera settings and bitchy stylists and models that hadn't eaten in a week. Most of it was over my head but I loved to hear him talk.

He was still talking while I did the dishes.

"Sorry that I didn't call to check up on you. I wanted to at Lunch but I ended up meeting Ragnor and Cat." Magnus said.

"Why weren't you out with them last night?" I asked. That was one thing I had been curious about. Why tell me he was going somewhere when Camille had clearly known he wasn't?

Magnus shrugged, taking a glance over to his neglected dishwasher and then casting a look of disbelief to my hands in the soapy water. "I didn't feel like it, I suppose."

"And you didn't tell me that... Because?" I wondered aloud.

"Because you would have either cancelled your plans," Magnus predicted. "Or gone with Zach and felt guilty the entire time."

"Well. That backfired." I said. I was definitely feeling guilt now. I wished that I had cancelled my plans.

I imagined how different my situation would be now if I'd told Dr Zachariah 'Sorry, I can't go, my boyfriend is going to be home alone.' We probably could have avoided a whole lot of nastiness. Well, a guy can dream, can't he?

"I think I may have lowered your friends' opinions of me." I informed Magnus as I sullenly remembered Ragnor's grim expression the night before. I'd lowered everybody's opinion of me that night. My own included.

"If they minded the odd kiss out of line, they wouldn't be friends of mine." Magnus laughed, probably thinking about his married life. After a pause he added: "Ragnor thinks it was kind of trashy, but he says that about me too. And Camille and Woolsey."

"That's because you, Camille and Woolsey will sleep with anything with two legs and a heartbeat." I commented.

"And you'll kiss anything with over twenty years." Magnus retorted.

I was so shocked that my mouth hung open. Magnus was smirking away while I tried to come up with something to say back to him. I was drawing a blank.

"I like this more level playing field." Magnus said with a smile. "Now you have to get off that monogamous high-horse."

"I was not on a high horse!" I laughed in half-outrage. I got some soap bubbles from the sink and blew them at Magnus. He laughed as well, caught some and smeared them on my cheek.

"Your horse was so high the birds were jealous." Magnus continued to smirk.

With a nudge to the ribs, I ordered him to dry the dishes on the draining board. He always complained that the point of the draining board was to leave them draining. I still made him do it.

When everything was put away, it was getting late again. I tossed the tea towel into the laundry and yawned.

"Time for bed, Love?" Magnus asked.

The way he said 'Love' gave me a fuzzy feeling no self-respecting male should really admit to having. I'm pretty sure we have some unwritten law against words like 'fuzzy'.

I looked towards Magnus' room, thinking about it. I could have gone home… But I was kind of tired.

Chapter up! Hope you guys liked it, thank you for reading and for any reviews you've given.

I start College this morning so I may change the time of day I upload to save me rushing around in future. Next chapter 'Parting' will be up soon.