Chapter Text
Alec awoke gradually.
Even being still half unconscious, he knew he was at Magnus’s apartment. Waking up in his room at the Institute was a sudden experience, transitioning instantly from sleep to alertness. At the Institute, Alec was constantly on guard, whether anything was happening or not. Relaxing fully was hard when any minute he could be called for to deal with a demon infestation or receive knowledge that Valentine was on the move.
Magnus’s loft was different. Every bit of gained awareness was a flood of sensation. The cool, soft silk sheets against his bare chest in contrast to Alec’s spartan cotton ones; the warmth of the sun radiating from the window compared to the ever permanent draft of the Institute. As Alec’s eyes fluttered open, he became aware of the best thing: a muscular arm wrapped around his waist and a solid weight pressed at his back. Even though they had been dating for awhile now, Alec never felt anything but awe when waking up entangled with Magnus.
Alec shifted slowly, doing his best not to wake Magnus. Magnus had been called away late last night to heal a selkie child with a high fever; Alec had eventually fallen asleep alone. Magnus must have gotten back late. Alec hadn’t exactly gone to bed early himself, and Magnus had apparently been too tired to wash off his makeup, because his eyeliner was smeared, making him look like a particularly adorable raccoon.
After using the bathroom, Alec decided to use the rare opportunity of being awake before Magnus to good use. He stumbled into the kitchen, pulling out supplies. When he’d first started spending time at Magnus’s, Magnus’s kitchen had been mostly bare. Magnus was a total foodie, but while he was a decent cook, he loathed wasting energy for it, preferring to eat out or get take out. Since Alec had been spending more time there, the pantry had gradually become almost constantly full. Alec was a grazer, and it made him feel warm to see his favorite brand of cookies that Magnus hated tucked away in the cabinet.
By the time Magnus finally appeared, yawning and rubbing his eyes, Alec had a plate full of breakfast. Magnus’s hair was stuck up on one side from where he’d been pressed against the pillow, but his make up was gone. Between his sleepy, bare face and his abs peeking out of his silk robe, he was breathtaking. Alec couldn’t resist, stepping into his space to kiss him.
Magnus grinned into the kiss. He parted his lips, and Alec’s tongue slid in, tasting the remnants of minty toothpaste.
“Good morning,” Magnus said when they finally parted. “I’m glad I decided to brush my teeth before breakfast, now.”
Alec grinned. “Good morning. I, uh, I made breakfast.”
“Lovely,” Magnus said, giving him one more peck on the cheek before grabbing a plate.
They ate in contented silence, hands intertwined on the top of table. When they finished, Magnus smiled again. “Thank you for a lovely breakfast, Alexander.”
“I burned the toast,” Alec winced. “And the eggs are over salted.”
“Hey, it’s the thought that counts. I’d rather have you here and making me bad breakfast than being alone and summoning myself a muffin.”
Alec grinned. “I think I can manage more shitty breakfasts, in that case.”
After that, they got ready together. They didn’t technically live together—Alec still had a room at the Institute—but most of his clothes had migrated into a wardrobe that had magically appeared in Magnus’s cramped bedroom a few months ago. Alec was ready fairly quickly—a quick comb through his hair and a loose fitting pair of jeans did not a lengthy routine make—so he set back to observe Magnus. Alec loved him with or without makeup, but he had to admit the eyeliner and mascara made his eyes, already striking with or without a glamor, pop even more. It was almost soothing, to watch him carefully line his eyes and run through pomade through his hair.
When Magnus was finally ready, he snapped his fingers, making a portal to the Institute for Alec.
“I’ll see you tonight?” Alec asked. They had a date planned for a trendy new Indian restaurant.
“Yeah. Why don’t we meet at the Institute? The restaurant is closer to there, and it’ll be a nice night; we can walk.”
“Sounds good.” Alec gave Magnus one more kiss before stepping through the portal. He walked into his office at the Institute, the portal closing with a quiet snick behind him.
The rest of the day went excruciatingly slowly. With Victor leading the Institute, Alec had been largely cut out of the high level daily decisions. When Lydia had been brought in, he’d been devastated—Alec considered the Institute his birthright and was passionate about seeing it succeed. But while Lydia had the backing of the Clave to pull rank, she’d always sought Alec’s opinions, and made decisions jointly with him. Victor was interested in no such thing. Worse yet, Lydia was slowly being forced out too, cutting off Alec’s best source of information. Without the responsibility of running the Institute, he was largely left cooling his heels in his office unless he was on patrol.
At one point, Izzy popped by, shopping bag in her hand. “Here you go, Romeo,” she teased, throwing it into his lap.
Alec breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you,” he said, pulling out a bundle of clothes. Alec had never really cared about what he wore—and he still didn’t most of the time, but he wanted Magnus to think he was attractive. Which had meant, much to his dismay, letting Izzy have a little more access to his wardrobe. They weren’t celebrating or anything tonight—just a normal dinner date—but Alec hadn’t dressed up for Magnus in awhile.
He frowned as he looked at the sport coat tucked in the bag. “You don’t think this is a little much?”
“Trust me, he’ll love it.”
Izzy helped him get ready, tugging his hair into place and adjusting his tie. When she was done, Alec had to admit the outfit looked good. She’d put him in a pair of fitted black jeans and a blue denim shirt covered in small white polka dots; a grey brown blazer and slouchy brown ankle boots. The outfit was a contrast to what he normally wore—it would be difficult to fight in the delicate shoes and constricting jacket, no matter what Izzy regularly did in her heels. It was just another reminder that, with Magnus, he didn’t have to be a warrior all the time.
Izzy had only just left when the soft woof of a portal opening sounded behind him. Magnus could only portal directly into Alec’s office, and Victor had been making noises about removing that privilege—Alec wouldn’t be surprised if he lost his office altogether, honestly.
Magnus raised an eyebrow as he took in Alec’s new outfit. Alec felt a little less silly when he realized Magnus had changed as well—Magnus always looked stunning, but his eye make up was a little bolder than it had been this morning, and his shirt a little brighter and more low cut. “Well, hello,” he said, practically purring.
Alec shrugged, blushing. “I asked Izzy for help.”
“Well, I will have to give her my compliments,” Magnus said, stepping closer.
Whatever Izzy had accomplished on his head was quickly erased when Magnus tugged his hand through Alec’s hair. The press of Magnus’s hot mouth was so distracting that, without Alec entirely realizing they’d moved, the back of his knees hit the edge of his desk. Alec’s knees buckled with the impact, and Magnus seamlessly hoisted him onto the ledge. Alec, knowing he wasn’t light, groaned as Magnus unbuttoned the top button of Alec’s shirt, sucking a hickey onto his collarbone.
Alec pulled back reluctantly. “We’re going to miss our reservation.”
“We can get street food instead,” Magnus panted.
“You’ve been wanting to try this place for weeks.”
“I know something I’d like to try more.”
Alec rolled his eyes at the innuendo. “C’mon. You know I don’t like to have sex in the Institute. It give me the creeps.”
Magnus sighed, finally stopping his assault on Alec’s neck. “Fine. We’ll wait for dessert, I guess.”
Alec snorted as he buttoned his shirt back up. “Admit it, you’re only giving up because you just want to try their palak chaat.”
Magnus shrugged, unashamed. “It’s supposed to be the best in the city.”
They emerged from the office once they'd cooled down a little more, strolling hand in hand as they walked to the exit. They still got the occasional stares, but from Alec’s perspective, things had calmed down a lot. Alec knew that most of that was due to the fact that people were too busy and stressed with Valentine’s movements to linger on Institute gossip. Having Lydia firmly on their side had helped too; the fact that she publicly showed them no ill will had gone a long way towards restoring people’s opinion of Alec.
They were nearly at the door when they heard a patter of footsteps behind them. “Alec! And Magnus. Oh, thank god.” Jackson McGrath ran up to them, panting for breath. He was a little younger and greener than Alec, and his red hair and freckles gave made him look much too innocent to be killing demons. He was new to the New York Institute, his midwestern twang more apparent in his distressed speech. “I found this weird stone on patrol and I’m pretty sure it’s cursed. It burned me when I picked it up—I just now finished healing it. Can you two come look at it?”
Alec sighed. “Do you mind?” he asked Magnus. “We’ll just take a minute to make sure it’s nothing and then we can go.”
Magnus smiled. “Of course. As much as I want that chaat, it’s not so good as to risk innocent lives.”
Alec smiled back, squeezing Magnus’s hand.
“I put it in one of the basement rooms,” Jackson said. “I figured if it blew up that’d be the safest place.”
“Good call,” Alec said. The rooms in the basement were built for prisoners and dangerous objects—they’d been warded and reinforced so that downworlders couldn’t use magic to hurt anyone, restrained or not. They followed Jackson into the depths of the Institute and down to one of the holding cells. He opened the door and gestured them in before following, shutting the door behind him.
Alec flicked on the light, and blinked. The room was completely empty.
He turned back to face Jackson, Magnus turning with him. “Jackson, what—“
Jackson was drawing a silence rune on the door. The lock rune was already in place.
Alec took a step forward. “What’s going on?”
With a dark sneer on his face, Jackson no longer looked like the innocent, mild mannered shadow hunter Alec was used to. “I’ve figured out the answer to our problem.”
Alec swore internally. He didn’t have his stele or any weapons; he never did when he was bumming around in the Institute, as they were normally easily in reach. Beside him, Magnus’s magic sparked and died, the runes of the holding cell smothering it immediately.
They’d walked right into Jackson’s trap.
“What problem?” Magnus asked.
Jackson’s gaze swiveled to Magnus, and Alec felt fear coil cold in his gut. “It was one thing when the Downworlders were our enemies. Then we protect ourself without repercussion. But now with the Accords, they pretend to be our friends, our lovers, and there’s nothing we can do. But I’ve figured out how we can change that.”
Alec took a step in front of Magnus. He could practically feel Magnus’s eye roll as Magnus moved to stand beside him.
“We can’t kill them, but if we neutralized them? If they were mundanes, they wouldn’t be a threat to us anymore.”
“Jackson, think about what you’re saying.” Alec said cautiously. “This is a bad idea—“
Faster than Alec could react, Jackson threw something at Magnus. He must have activated a speed rune. The vial—Alec could see it now—shattered against Magnus’s body. A deep amber colored liquid sizzled as it made contact with his chest; for the first time since he’d met Magnus, Alec found himself regretting the deep cut shirts the warlock wore.
Magnus screamed, pawing at his chest where the liquid seemed to be spreading. He sunk to his knees, and Alec rushed to him, but before he could get there, there was a flash of gold sparks not dissimilar to killing a demon.
When they cleared, Magnus was nowhere to be seen.
~
As Clary moved above him on the bed, her hips just barely dragging over his, Jace sent a prayer of thanks to mundanes and their paternity tests.
As she nibbled on his neck, a rush of pain shot through him. Jace shuddered, nearly throwing Clary off the bed as he bolted up.
“Jace?” Clary asked, concerned.
“Jeez,” he said. “Watch it with the teeth—“ Jace stopped as another wave of pain, tinged with horrible grief, washed over him. Bile rose in the back of his throat. The pain mounted to something overwhelming—his parabatai bond burned like it never had before, even when Alec had nearly died. He grabbed at it uselessly.
“Jace?” Clary repeated, voice frantic.
“Something—something’s bad wrong with Alec.” Jace stumbled off the bed and absent-mindedly threw on a shirt as he stumbled out the door.
He ran, Clary hot at his heels as he ran toward where he could feel Alec. He stumbled as the anger pulsed again—whatever had happened, it was causing Alec to feel so strongly that it was radiating through the parabatai bond. He turned the corner, stepping back as he nearly collided into Alec himself.
“Alec,” he said, grabbing his parabatai by the shoulders. Alec’s eyes were wild; his nostrils flaring. “What’s going on?”
“Have you seen Jackson?” Alec asked urgently.
“Jackson McGrath?” Jace asked, confused. “No, why?”
“We need to find him,” Alec said hurriedly. “He—he—.”
“Breathe, Alec,” Jace said, squeezing his shoulders.
Alec closed his eyes, swallowing. “Magnus is dead.”
Clary gasped behind him, and Jace suddenly understood the terrible grief oozing out of Alec. “Okay, we’ll find him,” Jace reassured him softly. As much as he wanted to comfort Alec and let him cry, Jackson was still apparently on the loose after whatever had happened, and if he’d killed Magnus, he was a threat that needed to be contained. “Clary, Alec and I will find something of his and try to track him. Can you go tell Lydia and Izzy to start mobilizing a search?”
Clary nodded, tears in her eyes as she turned away. Clary and Magnus were—had been—good friends. Jace himself had never spent much time with the warlock, but he appreciated his wry sense of humor, and, most importantly, he cared about Alec and made him happy. For that alone, Jace loved him.
Alec took off in the direction of the living quarters. Alec had shut down, Jace realized as he frantically ran to catch up with him—he was in full mission mode to try to find Jackson. It was an odd contrast, watching him stalk through the hallways in clothes nicer than he usually wore—Izzy had obviously picked them out for him for a date. Jace followed, indulging him for now—he knew the damn would break soon enough.
As they walked down the hall, the emergency lights flickered in alarm, and shadowhunters flooded the hallway, steles and seraph blades drawn. Jace was unarmed, and Alec seemed to be too—he hoped that wherever Jackson had gone, it wasn’t to his room. They approached the living quarters, slipping into Jackson’s room. It was small like most of the first solo rooms shadowhunters got; Jackson was young enough that it probably hadn’t been long ago he’d shared with a roommate. Jace grimaced as he took in the room. It was rancid smelling. He flicked on the light; potions and chemicals littered every surface, along with thick books and pages of scrawled notes. Jace took a cautious step forward, looking at them in closer detail—descriptions of the anatomy and powers of various downworlders were scrawled across the pages. Whatever Jackson had done to Magnus, it apparently hadn’t been a spare of the moment decision.
Alec had ignored all of the various paraphernalia around the room, heading straight for Jackson’s bed. He picked up a discarded t-shirt, holding it out to Jace. Jace stepped forward, grabbing Alec’s trembling hand around the shirt. He closed his eyes, focusing on finding Jackson. No matter how hard he searched, his mind remained blank.
“He must be cloaking himself,” Jace said needlessly.
Alec threw the shirt down and whirled around, punching the air. “Fuck!”
Jace took a hesitant step forward, feeling the the helplessness surge through him. God, what could he even say? Alec’s shoulders hitched, and Jace reached out to grab him. Before he could, there was a furious march of footsteps—Lydia marched in, not even slightly tottering in her high black pumps. Clary and Izzy were directly behind her.
“There’s something you all need to see,” Lydia said.
Izzy, tears in her own eyes, looked from Alec’s back to Jace. “Maybe not right now,” she said quietly.
Lydia shook her head. “No, trust me; it’s important. It’s about Magnus.”