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Alec can feel something settling in his bones, what it is remains unknown for now, but he knows it won’t take long for it to rear its ugly head. For now he just collapses into bed alongside Magnus, deciding that whatever it is won’t be too hard to handle.
;
Alec wakes up to an empty bed, a note sticky taped to his face and a cup of coffee sat on the table beside him. He peels the note off his face, taking the cup in his hands and slipping gently as he does. ‘Had to leave early for a client, didn’t want to wake you. Don’t wait up for me, love you,’ It’s Magnus, and looking at the time he left about an hour ago. He thinks he should really get up, but there’s a slight throbbing at the base of his skull that’s drawing his attention. He knows the sign of an oncoming headache, he’s had enough stress headaches in the past year to see the symptoms, but he also knows that lying in bed all day doing nothing is not going to run an institute in any way, shape or form.
So despite his protesting limbs he gets up and out of bed, thanking the Angel that he had a shower last night instead, and changes before locking the apartment door behind him. It does not take him long to get to the unusually calm institute, the corridors lacking many other shadowhunters as he walks through. Then again, he’d much rather have a quiet day with no demonic activity over pretty much anything, so he does not question the silence, instead sitting down at his desk, making a start on all his reports and paperwork.
His headache just grows worse and worse as the day goes by. It puts him off eating much, refusing whatever food Jace was offering to him at lunch, only Clary had managed to coerce him into drinking some tea. He decides to ignore the telltale nausea and throbbing temples in favour of clearing his pesky inbox and filing away his reports, making a deal with himself that he’ll have a lie in tomorrow to compensate. Magnus isn’t even at home to comfort him, and even if he was Alec wouldn’t want to be taking advantage of his warlock boyfriend’s magical abilities. It’s just a headache, he’s dealt with much worse injuries before.
After the sun sets he gets up from his desk, thinking that a walk around the institute would do him a ‘world of good.’ Turns out that the harsh lights in the ops centre and the increasingly noisy corridors just exasperate his headache (which is more like a migraine now but he refuses to admit that it’s got that bad) more and he has to go sit back down before he either collapses where he stands or throws up all over himself. Izzy catches him beforehand though, taking a smooth second to look at him fully.
“Alec, you don’t look like you should be here,” Izzy observes on sight, knowing that her brother doesn’t take well to dealing with any sort of illness.
“Izzy I’m fine, I’ve just got a couple more emails and I’ll be out of here, promise,” Alec replies, deciding not to stop and chat.
“Okay, but I’ll be over to check if you’re not gone within the hour,” Izzy warns, letting Alec go, for now.
Alec just accepts his fate, even though he knows he’ll give some resistance if he thinks he hasn’t achieved enough today, which is likely. He may have only a couple of emails left in his inbox, but there is still a large stack of Clave reports to finish. He asks someone to get him a coffee, it could be a while before he allows himself to go home.
-
It’s nearing 11PM, with nothing else left to do, Jace is calling it a night. He walks past Alec’s office, not expecting to see him still there, considering how bad he looked at lunch, but he is. With his head cushioned on a stack of paper, Alec is led on his desk, his back in what can only be described as an awful position to sleep in. It’s also nearly completely dark in the room, with only the lamp on the other side of the office turned on. It doesn’t take Jace two seconds to come up with a reason, Alec has a migraine.
He used to deal with Alec’s migraines when they were teenagers, but ever since he’s been dating Magnus they’ve nearly all but disappeared. Even though his method of getting Alec to a bed, activating his iratze and letting him sleep off the excruciating pain is tried and tested, he knows that Alec himself would much rather have the comfort of Magnus instead. He quickly texts the warlock, notifying him of Alec’s condition, getting a reply instantly, ‘I’ll be right there.’
Jace tries to be a quiet as possible when he walks into the office, knowing that Alec is very sensitive to light and sound in his current condition. He stands next to the desk, putting a warm hand on Alec’s back. He only intends to wake him a little, wanting to get him to sit up and maybe even drink some water before Magnus can get here, but he forgets that Magnus would move hell or high water for Alec, no matter what state he is in. Within seconds Magnus is at the door, taking light footsteps as he makes his way into the office.
“Oh Alexander,” Magnus lets the phrase escape fondly, knowing all too well the overworking tendencies that Alec has become accustomed to over the years.
“I just found him like this, but he didn’t look great all day. My guess is that the headache started this morning,” Jace supplies as Magnus gives him an inquiring look.
Magnus just sighs, placing one hand delicately in Alec’s sleep ruffled hair, “I’ll wake him up and take him home, don’t expect him to be here tomorrow,”
“No problem, I’m sure Izzy, Clary and I will have it all under control, thank you for taking care of him,” Jace smiles, moving his hand up and down Alec’s back one last time before stepping back out of the office.
Magnus is not 100% sure how to proceed, not having dealt with one of Alec’s infamous migraines in a long, long time. He gently takes his hand from where it rests on his head and moves it to his left shoulder, patting it with just enough strength to wake Alec from his unexpected slumber.
“Magnus? What are you.. Did I miss date night again?” The guilt of missing a potential date night is written all over Alec’s face, but Magnus can still see the pain in his eyes when he sits up from his place on the desk.
“No, no, but you did fall asleep on your desk,” Magnus laughs quietly in response.
“Oh, who called you? Was it Izzy?” Alec immediately asks, guessing that one of his siblings alerted Magnus to his painful situation.
“Jace actually, told me that you have a migraine,” Magnus supplies, rubbing his fingertips on Alec’s shoulder.
“I’m fine, I promise, it’s just a little headache, not a migraine,” Alec doesn’t hesitate in trying to convince Magnus that he definitely has everything under control when he really doesn’t.
“Yeah that’s why you’re asleep at your desk in a nearly completely dark room, you can’t fool me Alexander,” Magnus sighs contently, seeing Alec’s expression shift to one of defeat.
“Okay, but I’ll be fine by tomorrow, I just want to go home,”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking,”
With one last lingering touch from Magnus, Alec tries to haul himself up from his chair, finding it difficult but not impossible. He braces himself heavily on the desk with his arms shaking with excursion. That just worries Magnus a little more that needed, making him want to be in the safe confines of the loft even more.
“You’re not in exactly top condition to be portaled, but I’d much rather deal with a slightly dizzy you than having to take a cab when you can barely stand,”
“Hey, I can stand, I’m fine,” Alec replies, taking his arms off the desk and standing fully upright for a solid 0.2 seconds before his knees start to give way.
“Woah, woah, easy,” Magnus says, hurriedly making his way to Alec’s side to support him, “this proves that you are not fine,”
Alec just gives up arguing, the pain in his temples forcing his submission, instead just letting Magnus create the unfortunately loud and bright portal in front of him. This isn’t going to be pleasant, Alec thinks as he takes a step into the portal. He is completely right, promptly falling to his knees the second he steps into the loft, vomiting all over himself as he does.
Magnus quickly comes up behind him, a wet cloth already in his hands, hurriedly wiping the vomit from his face, whilst magically replacing his soiled clothing with a top and boxers.
“I’m sorry,” Alec whispers hoarsely, his throat burning as he still tries to cough out the remaining bile that’s stuck.
“No, no, it’s fine, much better that you did that now rather than later,” Magnus soothes, letting Alec know that he’s not angry at him to ruining his carpet.
From then on he just allows Magnus to move him around. He quickly gets deposited on the sofa, a warm blanket wrapped around him as he does. Magnus stands next to the sofa, letting Alec rest his aching head on his hip bone whilst he tries to make the loft as comfortable as possible. He dims all the lights, puts out any candles or incense he was burning, and soundproofs the room, just in case his neighbours get noisy. Alec lets out a sigh of relief as Magnus sits down, allowing him to rest his head in the warlock’s lap.
“Alexander, why did you even bother going to the institute if you were starting to get a headache?” Magnus questions softly, running one hand through Alec’s hair as he does.
“It’s my job,” Alec hums, more comfortable now that he’s finally back home.
“Yes but that comes second, your well-being comes first,” Magnus reminds him.
“By the Angel, did I drag you away from a client?” Alec asks, work still on the forefront of his mind.
“Honestly, yes, but I was not going to leave you in pain at the institute, plus it wasn’t urgent clientele stuff,” Magnus answers truthfully, not wanting to lie to Alec, even if it makes the younger feel guilty.
“I’m sorry,” Alec apologies quietly, a look of shame replacing the pain in his eyes for the briefest second.
“What for darling?” Magnus questions, his hand now running up and down Alec’s arm.
“For having to deal with me like this,” Alec replies miserably, trying to hide his face from Magnus even if it just aggravates his migraine even more.
“Hey, I do this because I love you, and that means every single part of you, migraines and all,” Magnus replies, taking one hand to cup Alec’s face as he does.
“I love you too,” Alec replies sleepily, bringing his hand up to hold Magnus’.
Feeling that it is the appropriate moment to do so, Magnus carefully removes his hand from Alec’s and places them both on his temples. He summons his magic forward and starts to take the pain of his migraine away. From the wince Alec gives off, it hurts at first, but soon it spreads like a gentle warmth from the top of his head, right down his toes. Alec’s breathing evens out, his limbs becoming completely relaxed. Magnus knows that this isn’t a cure-all, the pain will return in a few hours time, but he takes it away for now, just so Alec can sleep peacefully for a few hours.
“Sleep well Alexander,” Magnus whispers, removing his hands from his temples and back into Alec’s dark hair. It’s a peaceful night spent on the sofa.