Tags - Time Travel AU, Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Reunion, Married Malec, Alec Misses Magnus, Happy Ending, Malec Love Each Other A Lot
6599 words - COMPLETED
Summary - Alec is stuck on a mission in India in the 18th century and he misses Magnus. One day, he wakes up somewhere that feels and smells like home.
Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3
Chapter 3 - Home, at last
There is a whole ritual every time Alec comes back from time traveling. Magnus is always there at the Institute, wearing a mix of worry and eagerness on his features.
The anchoring spell is performed quickly, just a way to make sure that no traveler’s history gets lost when the timelines merge a couple of hours from now. But Alec stays out, always. He refuses to be anchored to anyone but Magnus. They do it in the quiet and intimacy of their loft.
They don’t talk much. Even when they are in their kitchen, Magnus watches in silence as Alec eats like he hasn’t in days, which in this case is accurate. In the two days between meeting Magnus and the new moon, Alec has been so scared of having divulged too much that he hasn’t come out of his room, using nourishment runes, one after the other.
As usual, Magnus doesn’t eat a thing. It has only been a few minutes for him anyway; they had dinner before Alec left. The dinner before a time travel is always a heavy moment. It’s weird for them both. Not sharing time, knowing the next minutes of Magnus’s life could feel like weeks, a month…a decade to Alec.
A decade never happened, but the fear is always there. So, to remind each other that no matter what, Alec will always come back, they keep a third plate for Alec’s return, leaving everything on the table as it was. Alec will always come home, and their home will always be ready to welcome him back.
They don’t really have a lot of time after that. They need to prepare the protecting circle for the anchoring spell, but Alec can see that worry hasn’t left Magnus’s face. As Magnus is tracing the circle on the ground, Alec puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, calling his name as softly as he can.
They still don’t exchange a word. Alec can’t, knowing that if he starts, he could talk for days, shower Magnus with every promise of eternal love flaring up in his lungs with each intake of breath, with every moment of longing that peppered his last month and a half.
But it will have to wait. In the meantime, fear and worry start evaporating with a soft kiss, then a second one which turns into a hungrier one. That’s all it takes. The reminder that they share time again, they never stopped sharing it in some way.
Clothes are being discarded. They don’t have to feel each other’s skin for the spell, but their hearts do.
Alec finds the ingredients Magnus needs without having to ask. His hands are full of jars, and there is an apple tree twig between his teeth. He feels Magnus’s stare on him when he re-enters the living room where a circle of candles has been set up around a mattress.
What? he asks wordlessly with raised eyebrows.
Magnus sniggers, his voice finally filling the silence. “This never gets old.” He unburdens Alec’s arms by taking the jars one by one and setting them on the nearest table. “You, finding your way through my apothecary…” Alec doesn’t move, chuckling when Magnus finally takes the twig from his mouth and kisses his lips. “On your own…” Fingers trail up along his sides, and he can’t hold back a giggle, “in your underwear.”
“Feels good to be home,” Alec whispers into their kiss.
“It does.”
*
Once the spell starts, everything goes quickly. Time adjusting itself around them is intoxicating. It feels like those life showers Magnus likes to take with him sometimes. Running from portal to portal, hand in hand, hopping from a green and sunny hill to a rainy seashore, from hard concrete ground to silky sheets. Remaining there for a few breathless kisses before disappearing into the mattress with laughter when they hear a door opening. Landing on a trampoline, then more streets, more mountains, more kisses and the sweetest of all exhaustions. Watching the first minutes of a play before falling back, trapped between something fluffy and the comforting weight of Magnus. More laughter, always more laughter…then running again. Running around the world and taking everything in as the Earth keeps on spinning.
*
A draft wakes them at the same time. Alec feels Magnus stir, his arm and head leaving his chest before returning there with a sigh.
Around the mattress and the protecting circle, it’s havoc. The windows to the balcony are wide open, curtains billowing out in the breeze, birds exploring the living room and eating crumbs the wind scattered from their forgotten dinner.
There are even a few plants here and there, growing from the ground. It happens sometimes. It’s Magnus’s magic going a little crazy when it comes to protecting what they have. They are used to it. The flowers that grow don’t even always exist outside their own little world.
Alec plants a kiss in Magnus’s hair, inhaling a scent he has been missing for the last month and a half. Already grinning with delight about what’s to come, Alec eventually speaks. “Go ahead, ask…”
It doesn’t take long for Magnus to react. It’s endearing. Magnus always waits for Alec to start this conversation, making it another ritual with its codes and rules.
“Which stranger were you this time?”
There’s joy in his voice, one that Alec usually doesn’t link with Magnus thinking about his past.
Alec doesn’t answer, already shifting to retrieve the small pouch of sandalwood blend, eager to see his husband’s face light up when he figures it out on his own. But he should know better.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Magnus asks, his body suddenly weighing more heavily above his to make his point clearer. Alec isn’t going anywhere. It makes him laugh softly.
“I have a clue, but it’s in my jacket.”
“Which one?”
“The one I had yesterday? The one you took off with so little regard…”
“Well, there were other important things that demanded my attention,” he punctuates with a kiss, not letting his lips leave Alec’s, “and it’s a black leather jacket. You have thousands of them.”
He could tease him back, maybe tickle him, hear him giggle, feel the laughter and joy spread through his body. With Magnus so close, he would feel everything. But he is overwhelmed.
“I missed you so much, Magnus.”
“I know, darling. But I’m here now, we both are…and I’ve missed you just as much. Whoever you were this time, you can be sure that even though I barely knew you, I missed you the second you were gone. That I missed us without really knowing what us meant.”
Neither of them moves, not even for a kiss. Magnus swallows thicky, and Alec is struck by the emotions on his face. Years of being together and Magnus still feels self-conscious when he confesses things like that. But it never stops him, and even after all these years, Alec still feels like the luckiest man alive.
Magnus continues, his collected tone and loving smile trying to bring Alec back to him. “Do you see it?”
“Huh?”
“Your jacket, Alexander, can you tell me where it is so I can summon it?”
“Sure, it’s…” Alec cranes his neck. Their place is a mess, but he spots his jacket on the floor, somewhere between what seems to be an orchid and a cat napping in a morning sunbeam. “There.”
They laugh as Magnus follows Alec’s pointed finger, apparently realizing for the first time the state of their living room.
He snaps his fingers, and the jacket is there. In one of its pockets, Alec finds the small pouch. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds for Magnus to recognize it.
“It’s one of mine! Where did you get this?”
“You gave it to me.”
“I gave it to you? You must have made a big impression on me.”
“I think I did,” Alec smirks, still a little worried that he told too much to that past version of Magnus. “Especially when I told you about my husband.”
He sees Magnus’s eyes widen, just like they did all those centuries ago.
“The married traveler, of course… Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you? For a long time, I was obsessed with that place in the world where it seemed possible for people like us to exist.” His voice breaks a little on those words.
Alec can’t resist the urge to hug him, take him in his arms and secure his head in the crook of his neck. “I’m sorry. It broke my heart to leave you this way.”
“Don’t. Don’t be sorry. I kept a very fond memory of that encounter. And who knows, maybe you’ll have to go back, and we’ll realize we met again in the morning.”
“Maybe we never really stopped meeting.”
“What a lovely thought…”
They bask in the silence for a little while, Magnus’s body relaxing against Alec’s.
“Can you remind me what happened? What we said?”
It’s still so fresh in Alec’s mind that he tells him every detail.
The anchoring spell protects those moments, frozen in time. They have so many memories like this one now, not really knowing if it really happened, if this is part of their story or some sort of alternate reality. It doesn’t matter. They are still here, together in the end, with dozens of memories of a life that maybe was. None of them affecting their life, only adding to it.
Somewhere during the story, Magnus rolled on his side to face Alec.
“When did we see each other after that?” Magnus asks.
It gets complicated to answer that question, Alec doesn’t time travel every day, but he has done it a few times already. It’s not always easy to keep track.
“The pirate ship!” They exclaim at the same time, laughing at the memory.
Alec reaches out, grazing Magnus’s cheekbone, outlining his jaw and diving into his eyes. They sparkle with joy, gold shining proudly in the morning light.
“It feels good,” Alec eventually utters. “Seeing you talking about your past with such lightness, laughing.”
Magnus whispers his answer into the crook of Alec’s neck. “It’s easier now that I know you could be anywhere in it.”
The words turn into soft kisses, each of them reminding Alec why those time travels are always worth it, no matter how long they can feel. Each of them is a chance to give Magnus back what life took from him. Hope, happiness, laughter, cheerfulness…
“You really are a man of your word, aren’t you?” Magnus continues.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re taking our wedding vows further than I would ever dare ask you to, Alexander… As if your love in our present wasn’t enough, you give it to past versions of myself too, do you realize how extraordinary this is? How extraordinary you are?”
“‘m not. Loving you is easy.”
“Stop selling yourself short, my heart, and accept to be worshipped like you deserve to be.”
“Only if you accept it too.” Alec tastes the giggle on Magnus’s lips, letting it infuse in him. He doesn’t need to see him to notice the sudden stiffness in Magnus. “What is it?” he asks, his fingers rubbing soothing circles at the back of Magnus’s hair.
His answer comes in a murmur. “I know it’s selfish, but I’ll never have enough of your lifetime. Whether it’s to repay you or to love you. It will never be enough.” He sighs, his next words barely audible. But it doesn’t matter. Alec would hear those words even in a storm. “I need you for more than your lifetime.”
Magnus has never said it like this, never so directly. It makes Alec’s reply so much easier. “Then, maybe we should find a way to extend it?” Any tentativeness dies when Alec is met by two golden irises and a smile that has rarely been so big. “I never want to leave you alone. I mean, if you’re being selfish, I may just as well be too, right?”
“Yes, yes you may be, darling… You can be whatever you want.”
“I love you.” It’s impossible to stop beaming at Magnus in this moment, so he doesn’t. They will have forever, no matter how long it takes to find it. “Who you are, who you were, and who you will be. I’ll love every version of you as long as you’ll have me.”
“Oh Alexander… An eternity or two is a bare minimum.”
when i watch the world burn (all i think about is you)
Read on ao3 here
Like a good warrior, a good Shadowhunter, Alec Lightwood will die on this battlefield. He will die in a world where he is no longer loved by Magnus Bane, where he no longer walks in a bright, beautiful universe which so obviously was not meant for him - and that’s okay.
-
Both of them raw, heartbroken and bleeding, surrounded by destruction and terror, they find their way back to each other.
Above, the sky is sliced open – angry and red, bleeding with demons that don’t seem to stop spilling from the mouth in relentless numbers. The air is hot, stale, smells of burnt flesh and ash, smells of decay and terror. It’s putrid.
“Alec!” Izzy yells, in time for Alec to notice the demon soaring at close range from his side, spinning to latch an arrow and turn it to dust seconds before its claws tear his head from his shoulders.
He notches arrow after arrow, sweat dripping from his brow, the cracked skin on his knuckles stinging: but the demons don’t let up. He feels barely conscious. Desperate. Hopeless. Alec tastes blood on his lips, his muscles are tight and scream at him. They lost Jace and Clary what seems like days ago, the parabatai rune beating against his skin his only sign that the former is still breathing.
“There are too many of them.” Izzy gasps, her voice tight with dread.
“Keep going!” he barks, although he knows with increasing hopelessness that she’s right. He feels cruel warmth on his fingers as they drip with blood.
If I die now, an unwelcome thought swirls through his mind, Magnus will never know the truth. He will live the rest of his life believing that I didn’t love every part of him, that he wasn’t enough for me. He will live the rest of his life hating me.
The thought brings the pain in his chest to the surface, rising like stones in his throat, and it’s worse than the pain in his hands and arms. Worse than the heat of the air on the back of his neck, worse than his mortality biting at his heels.
Good. Let him hate me. As long as he can be happy tomorrow, let him resent me today.
A demon, crawling on his belly, rounds on Alec from behind. He turns, almost losing grip on his bow as he rushes to tug a blade from his thigh, throwing it between the demon’s eyes. It dies with a gurgling shriek.
Better to die today, his heart – his broken, withering, weak heart – tells him, then live another day in a world where I can never see Magnus Bane again.
The demons somehow grow thicker in the sky above them, and his hands begin to tremble. Izzy draws in a shaky breath beside him.
Like a good warrior, a good Shadowhunter, Alec Lightwood will die on this battlefield. He will die in a world where he is no longer loved by Magnus Bane, where he no longer walks in a bright, beautiful universe which so obviously was not meant for him - and that’s okay.
He notches five arrows, and points steadfastly towards the great black sea of creatures descending through the blood red sky.
“I love you, Izzy.” Alec says.
“I love you too.” Izzy replies, strength and sorrow in her voice.
Alec thinks of Magnus’ golden eyes glowing in the dusk beside him. He thinks of the warmth of his hands against Alec’s face and the lovely melody of his laugh. He thinks of Magnus’ lips, his chest, the silhouette of his shoulders against the sunset, and the flutter of his eyelids after he is kissed. He thinks of Magnus sagging in his arms, muffling his sobs against Alec’s shoulder. He thinks of the ring in the drawer of his desk that he couldn’t bear to touch again.
He thinks of that last desperate, searing kiss that Magnus pressed against his mouth before Alec walked away and shattered his own heart into pieces, and how that’s the last time Alec will ever know Magnus’ touch.
But it’s alright.
The demons descend, and Alec is ready. To fight. To die. To lose, once and for all.
His fingers loosen their grip, and his arrows are released into the wall of death in front of him. After that, everything seems to happen in slow motion.
His arrows are launched for half a second before they turn to dust before his eyes. As do the sea of creatures before him, following a great, blinding stream of clean red light that leaves him blinking dazedly. Alec feels electricity kiss threateningly at his skin as every demon in sight is wiped from the sky. His heart registers its familiarity before his mind has the chance to catch up, jumping into his throat and sucking the air from his chest.
“Magnus!” Izzy cries. He sees her sag in relief out of the corner of his eye as he whips around, breathless and hopeful and heartbroken.
Because Magnus is there. Beautiful and powerful and terrifying, his hands outstretched menacingly at his sides as he stares at Alec with fire in his stunning, glowing yellow eyes.
He has his magic back. Alec thinks with joy, his fatigue and fear forgotten for a brief, shining moment as he gazes at Magnus in all his glory. He looks like a Prince of Hell. He looks like his saviour, like an avenging angel. He looks like everything Alec has ever wanted.
“Izzy.” Magnus says, sparing Izzy his sharp gaze even as his voice softens a touch. “Retreat and regroup with your reinforcements.”
Her eyes flick to Alec’s, before she nods firmly. Her grip on her whip is as strong as ever as she marches with determination away from one battle and towards another, into the dust and out of sight.
“Magnus.” Alec whispers, and his knees buckle before he can quite comprehend what is happening. He finds himself kneeling in the dust before Magnus. Worshipful. Terrified.
“You stupid Nephilim.” Magnus spits. His eyes are burning, angry and raw as they bore into Alec’s. “You stupid, idiotic Shadowhunter.”
Alec says nothing, his mouth suddenly dry, his thoughts suddenly empty apart from a lovesick mantra of Magnus. Magnus. Magnus. Magnus.
Magnus begins to step closer, and Alec feels every inch he shortens the distance between them like a fist squeezing at his heart.
“You went to my father?” Magnus scoffs, looming closer and closer. “After everything I told you about him? A prince of hell? A creature that thrives on pain, on suffering and manipulation, who lives and breathes to draw me back to his side for the rest of eternity? You went to him?”
“I-“ Alec can barely think. He feels blood drip down his arm, dirt and sweat matting his hair against his forehead. “He told you?”
Magnus stops then, a metre from Alec, glaring with fury down at Alec as he stares up from his place on the ground, gormless and awed.
“Of course he did.” Magnus says, hands curling into fists at his sides. “Once he realised I wouldn’t be his pet again, he couldn’t bear another second pretending to be the caring father whose only concern is to ease his dear son’s pain. He thrives off suffering, but god forbid anyone not realise he is the orchestrator of that suffering. A proud creature, is Asmodeus.”
Alec feels shaky, untethered.
“But, Magnus.” Alec mutters, “Your magic. The deal…”
“Yes, a fantastic job you did there, Alexander.” Magnus sneers, even as his eyes shine with unshed tears. “You really held up your end of the bargain beautifully. Consider my heart entirely shattered.”
“But. Now you know, and-“
“He can try and take my magic from me again.” Magnus snaps. “But he’ll have to get me where he can reach me first, and I won’t make it easy for him when he does. This time, I’ll know better than to fall into his poisonous embrace again.”
Magnus’ body is taut, what Alec recognises as unconcealed pain swirling in his eyes and tightening his shoulders. He’s as raw as Alec has ever seen him, as dangerous as he’s ever seen him, with his battered heart on full display and his magic barbed and ready to destroy.
Alec did this to him.
“I’m sorry.” Alec says, because it suddenly becomes paramount to him that Magnus knows this. He doesn’t know how much time they have before the threat of death descends upon them again, but if he dies in the next minute, he needs Magnus to know this. “I never wanted to hurt you. Never. You, you were just so unhappy and I couldn’t bear it, and I knew that if I could give you this, if I could find a way to give you your magic back you could be happy again, you could be whole again. Even if it meant losing me, I-I know you could move on from that. You have before. He was the only way I could think of, and I couldn’t bear it, Magnus. I couldn’t bear seeing you so unhappy because I love you, I love you so much and I knew that you would spend your life resenting me if I didn’t, and I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
Alec is trembling now, and he suddenly feels everything rise to the surface as his eyes heat with tears and the lump in his throat swells. He knew that walking away from Magnus, that throwing Magnus’ hurt and his love back in his face, was the biggest mistake he’s ever made – but now he really feels it, deep in the pit of his soul. It’s worse than breaking his own heart, because it’s Magnus’ heart he’s broken. Magnus’ gentle, wise, strong, beautiful heart; crushed into the dirt.
Magnus is silent above him, and Alec turns his face to the floor and away from Magnus’ face, unable to bear the hatred he will undoubtedly find there.
He hears a crunch and a shuffle, and he finds his face being turned upward by two warm hands as Magnus draws Alec’s eyes level with his, the two of them now kneeling in the dust. Alec can’t withhold the shudder that rocks his body at Magnus’ touch.
“You stupid Nephilim.” Magnus whispers this time, and Alec feels Magnus’ breath against his skin. Magnus’ eyes still glow yellow, but the anger has dimmed, and there is no universe where Alec isn’t helpless to their pull.
“How can you not know,” Magnus says lowly, “that losing you carved a bigger hole in me than anything I have ever experienced in all my centuries of living?”
Alec can only swallow and tremble beneath Magnus’ palms.
“I thought that losing my magic was breaking me.” Magnus murmurs, close and quiet and secret. “But when you left….when you left me, Alec, I couldn’t bear it.”
Magnus licks his lips and shifts minutely closer, seemingly preparing himself.
“I have loved before. Many times. I have loved and lost so many, had my heart broken by so many. I have healed before, learnt from my mistakes, learnt from the wounds other people have dealt me. But with you, I…” Magnus’ eyes dip from Alec’s gaze for a moment and he shivers. Alec barely supresses the urge to wrap him into his arms, blood and confessions and the looming threat of mortality be damned. “It’s different. You’re different.”
Magnus leans back slightly, and while his body is still tense from head to toe and his eyes still glow golden, Alec can see the righteous rage has bled from him, leaving behind the raw, vulnerable man cupping his bruised heart in his palms for Alec to see. The last time Magnus bared his hollowed-out, aching heart to Alec, he had taken it and crushed it beneath his foot – and yet here Magnus is again, offering it before Alec’s eyes. Alec is more terrified now than he has ever been.
“I wanted to remove you from my life. I wanted to tear my memories of you from my mind.” Magnus whispers. Alec’s heart squeezes painfully in his chest. “Never... never have I wanted to do that with anyone else. Never have I felt the need to. Not even with Camille, I-I just, the pain of losing you, thinking you didn’t love me anymore, it was agonising.”
Magnus swallows, loosens his grip on Alec’s face and slides his hands down until he’s cupping Alec’s neck instead. The part of Alec’s brain that isn’t reeling from Magnus’ words, the part of his soul that isn’t drowning in the throbbing hurt that exists between them, marvels at once again having Magnus’ hands against his skin, at seeing his beautiful eyes shine in the desolate air and the shape of his jaw against the seared orange sky.
“I couldn’t do it, though. I wanted to, I wanted to so badly but I couldn’t. And that’s what Asmodeus wanted.” Magnus eyes once again flash with anger at the mention of his father’s name. “He wanted me raw and in pain, so he could draw me into his arms once again, so he could convince me that I had no other choice than to take my rightful place at his side again.”
“I’m sorry.” Alec says, quieter than a whisper, and Magnus shakes his head.
“But he was wrong.” Magnus says with resolution, his voice firm with anger and grit and a fire that makes Alec’s blood hot and goosebumps prick at his skin. “He thought that I loved you, and having you walk from my life would leave me small, broken and weak.”
Alec can’t breathe.
“He was wrong. I am stronger now than I was when he first found me. I am a different man. A better man. And that’s not the only thing he grossly misunderstood.” Magnus sucks in a breath. “Because in reality, you’re the love of my life, and I’m not going to let you go without a fight.”
Alec’s eyes spill over with tears, and in that moment he loses every thought in his head, every sensation in his body other than the need to reach up and drag Magnus by the shoulders towards him, until their mouths meet in a kiss that destroys Alec and puts him back together all over again. Alec feels Magnus’ lips move against his, and it feels like rebirth. Magnus kisses him, and Alec is whole again.
They part only to gasp and press their foreheads together, Magnus’ fingers skimming across Alec’s neck and shoulders as Alec grips desperately at the back of Magnus’ jacket.
“I don’t think I can live without you, either.” Magnus breathes, and Alec is lost.
“I love you.” Alec says, voice trembling, tears like red hot rivers streaming down his face. “I love you, Magnus. I’m so sorry. All I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy. Everything I’ve ever done is to try and make you happy.”
“Shh.” Magnus whispers. “I know.”
He kisses Alec again, soft and sweet and far too quickly.
“I’m still angry at you, you know. Really angry.”
Alec manages a smile, and it’s crooked and apologetic and painful but his heart has been knitted haphazardly together for now, and it’s enough.
“I know.”
There’s a distant, blood-freezing shriek, and both Alec and Magnus look up to see the angry wound in the sky spill more demons, the masses of their black shapes against red hurtling towards the ground at a frightening pace.
They both rise to their feet, and their hands find each other, fingers tangling together where they belong.
“It doesn’t matter how much we fight as long as that rift is still open.” Alec says with dread.
Magnus fingers tighten in his.
“It would seem that way.” He says, but he doesn’t sound hopeless. He sounds determined.
Alec turns to him, brow furrowing.
“Magnus…”
“I’m going to close it.” Magnus says simply, not meeting Alec’s eyes. “I know I can.”
“Magnus, no, it’s-“
“It’s the only way.” Magnus turns his gaze to Alec’s then, and his eyes burn with resolve, purpose, and something that looks a lot like love. “You know it is. It’s the only way we can end this.”
“I’ll come with you.” Alec says hurriedly, and it’s desperate and flailing and childish but he can’t lose Magnus again. He can’t.
Magnus smiles sadly at him.
“No.” Magnus says. “They need you. The city needs you.”
Alec can barely speak past the lump that swells in his throat, past the hot tears that tremble in his eyes and the feeling of urgency that rises ever prominently inside him, because he knows Magnus is right. Magnus is always right.
Instead, he draws Magnus closer to him until they’re chest to chest again, eyes skimming over every inch of his beautiful face.
“You’ll come back.” Alec murmurs, soft and reverent. Pleading. “Won’t you?”
A tearful smile crosses Magnus’ lips, and he lets go of Alec’s hand to cup his face once again, warm and loving and sad.
“Why wouldn’t I?” He whispers. “Look what I have waiting for me.”
Alec’s heart skips a beat. Magnus’ eyelashes lower and his chin tips upwards as he expects to be kissed, but instead:
“Will you marry me?” Alec says suddenly, startling himself with the words as they cross his lips. He hadn’t meant to say them – not here, not now, when there’s an axe hovering over both their necks and they’ve only just collided with each other again - yet he can’t take them back. He doesn’t want to. He doesn’t want another moment to pass where Magnus doesn’t know that Alec loves him, that he will love him for the rest of his life, that Magnus is his earth and stars and everything in between.
Magnus jaw falls slack as he stares at Alec, stares and stares with his fingers still against Alec’s jaw and his brows lifted in innocent surprise.
“Alec-“
“I love you.” Alec says. “If-when we make it out of this – and this isn’t how I wanted to do this I swear – I want to spend the rest of my life with you. You are my world, Magnus. I don’t want there to be any more doubt.”
And as they stand together in the dust, hands on each other’s skin, surrounded by death and desolation and dread, Magnus smiles at him.
“Yes.” He says, and Alec never knew that such a simple, common word could fix every crack in his heart, balm every ache in his soul. “Yes, Alexander Lightwood, I will marry you.”
Alec can’t not kiss him then, their mouths coming together familiar and brand new at once. He kisses him and kisses him for as long as he dares, and feels the world unfold anew behind his eyes.
“I have a ring.” Alec gasps against Magnus’ mouth, “I have a ring, I had everything planned out, I didn’t mean-“
Magnus shakes his head slightly. Alec feels Magnus’ hair brush against his forehead with the movement before Magnus slides his hands into Alec’s hair and kisses him harder.
“After.” Magnus says, the word almost lost between their lips. “After. We’ll do this after. We still have so much to talk about, just…after. I have to go.”
He moves away then, and Alec grips his arms harder even though he can still feel Magnus’ breath on his face, the tip of his nose brushing against Alec’s.
“I have to go, Alexander.” He steps back, eyes finding Alec’s, hands moving from Alec’s hair to his neck to his shoulders before they fall at his sides. Alec’s hands follow suit, and they feel empty and wrong twitching at his thighs.
“Come back.” Alec says. A plea.
Magnus takes another step back, and another, his fierce gaze never once leaving Alec’s. His beautiful face curves into a smile.
“We always find our way back to each other.” Magnus says, and it sounds a lot like a vow.
He reaches an arm back, opens a portal with a graceful curl of his wrist (and how Alec has missed that, even if his entire body is screaming at him to reach out and take Magnus in his arms instead).
“I love you, Magnus Bane.” Alec tells him. He could tell him every minute for the rest of eternity and it would never be enough.
Headcanon that Alec has busied himself with work, after the events of 218, in order to avoid sleeping. He couldn't stand the thought of waking up to an empty bed knowing that Magnus wasn't in the other room waiting for him. After the so much needed reunion, Magnus stayed up all night watching Alec sleeping peacefully. He looked like he hadn't slept in a week. When Alec woke up the next morning the first thing he did was reaching out for Magnus, closed eyes and bed hair still on full force, from his lips escaping a relieved "you're here!"
#alec’s little shake of the head #after he tells magnus he can’t live without him #gets me every time #he’s like #nope #nope #I tried #sorry but living with out you #nope #not gonna happen #I need you and #you are stuck with me
