Chapter Text
It had been a couple of months since Alec’s failed attempt in his office and his relationship with Magnus had developed into being ally’s but not quite friends. This was mostly due to Alecs internal battle of wanting to get to know everything there was to know about Magnus, whilst also keeping his distance in a futile attempt to protect himself. The other man was a hopeless flirt, and Alec was unable to stop his hearts wild fluttering when Magnus’ flirtations were aimed at him. Alec had spent the first month researching everything there was to know about soulmates to see what could be done to fix his situation. Which as it turns out was nothing. He was part of an unlucky few.
“Some sort of rogue warlock, summoning demons for money maybe?” Jace said to the group, there had been a collection of unusual demons popping up around New York and this summoning pentagram on the floor of a disused warehouse was the first piece of concrete evidence that could lead them anywhere.
“We should call Magnus” Izzy replied, a smirk growing on her face, “I’m sure he’d be happy to help, especially with Alec here” Magnus’ incessant flirting might have been missed most shadowhunters but not by Izzy.
“I’m sure he’s busy right now. I’ll give him a call later, see when he can come”
“Don’t be stupid Alec, the longer we take to track this guy the harder it will be to reach him.” Izzy huffed and pulled out her phone to send Magnus a text. This was swiftly followed by a portal opening and the man himself stepping out. “See he’s not busy”
“Raziel, here we go again” Jace muttered under his breath, he had not warmed to the other man at all.
“I hear you have a problem that only Magnus Bane can fix, which appears to be true of all your problems” he said with grandeur approaching the group.
“Not you specifically, we needed a warlock and you just happened to be the closest”
“Ah well in that case I’ll just leave you to it. Always a pleasure to see you Jackson, I hope another warlock comes along swiftly” Magnus replied turning around to step back into his portal.
“Magnus wait, Jace doesn’t mean that.” Alec shot Jace a glare “We need you; please can you help?”
“Only because you asked so nicely Alexander” the warlock said with a wink, and Raziel help him there went the shivers down Alec’s spine “let’s see what we’re working with” Within minutes Magnus had figured out which warlock was responsible and tracked them to the nearest block. Which shouldn’t be sexy, but Alec was a sucker for Magnus and apparently also a sucker for a guy who knows what they’re doing.
“We better alert the institute about where we’re going and get the guy” Jace said reapplying his runes.
“I’d rather deal with this myself, through the spiral council. He’s one of us and he should be held to our laws not those of the Nephilim” Magnus said.
“He involved us as soon as he summoned demons, thanks for tracking him but he’s our jurisdiction now” Jace argued back.
“With all due respect, and with that, I mean none. I will not be handing one of my kind over to the Nephilim so he can be tortured to death in Idris under the guise of following the law”
“You don’t have a choice, he’s ours now.” Jace looked towards Alec asking for help.
“Magnus is right”
“What??”
“The downworlder cabinet is about working together and that means respecting their procedures as well as our own. The Spiral Council will make sure justice is served accordingly.” He gave Jace a look, daring him to argue back “Thank you very much for your help, Magnus”
“Much obliged, I knew there was a reason you were my favourite. I’ll be leaving now before he moves again, till next time Alexander, Isabel, John” The portal swirled and closed behind him.
“I know he knows my name”
“Oh, shush Jace, your fragile ego is showing” Izzy replied with a giggle.
4 hours and one demon fight later found Alec sat in his office writing up his reports when he received a knock on his door.
“Come in”
“It’s Magnus Bane to see you sir.”
“Good evening” The man had popped his head around the door.
“Are you okay? Did everything go alright with the warlock?” Alec scanned his body for injuries.
“Do I hear a hint of concern in your voice Alexander? I didn’t know you cared so much” Magnus answered teasingly.
“Of course I care. You’re important to me, or us… I mean the shadow world”
“Well, I can’t argue with you there. Where would you shadowhunters be without me? Probably still stood in that dingy warehouse.” He gave Alec a mischievous grin “But to answer your earlier questions, I am fantastic and it all went swimmingly. The warlock is facing trial in the Spiral Labyrinth, and now I am in desperate need of some company. Care to join me for a drink?” Magnus asked
“I would love to, but I’ve got lots to do. Reports won’t write themselves” And my heart can’t take being on a sad imitation of a date with you, but Magnus didn’t need to know that part.
“Oh please, I’ve asked you about a thousand times now. Are you sure you can’t spare one evening for your friendly neighbourhood warlock? It would be amazing for, how did you phrase it, Downworlder shadowhunter interpersonal relations.” It was said with a touch of theatrics and Alec was suddenly very unaware of all the reasons he should say no, the first being his poor heart.
“Erm, yeah okay then. I guess I can join you for just the one”
“Perfect I know the best place”
The Jade Wolf was a place Alec was only familiar with through stories from his siblings and his first impressions were that it was surprisingly quant. Magnus had portalled them in an alley nearby and sauntered on in, giving cheery smiles to acquaintances and Alec was struck with how well-loved Magnus was in the downworld. Alec himself was not even so well loved in his own institute, respected? Yes. Loved? He wasn’t so sure.
“First round is on me, what’s your poison??”
“Oh, I don’t know what they have here”
“Well Maia makes a mean martini, but you seem more like a beer guy”
“Yeah, a beer is good, I’ll have a whatever’s on tap.” Truth be told Alec had never actually drunk a beer, but he was not about to admit that in front of the warlock who appeared to have tried everything known to man.
“Amazing, I’ll be 5 minutes. Promise me you won’t run away to file reports when my back is turned” Magnus teased as he sauntered off.
Alec was embarrassed to admit that his immediate thought as Magnus left was ‘how can I leave this situation as fast and as easily as possible’ but when Magnus returned with their drinks and a dazzling smile all thoughts were forgotten.
“So, tell me what you young shadowhunters get up to for fun” Magnus said placing Alec’s beer in front of him.
“Not much, I train. Mostly”
“Training is hardly fun, that’s your job”
“Well, my siblings go out and sometimes I join them”
“Oh yeah, you have crazy nights out in the bars” Magnus said imploringly.
“Not me, I’m more of a supervisor”
“Such a shame, you should let loose some time. Being the head of the institute so young must be stressful, you’re going to burn yourself out if you’re not careful”
“Yeah, my sister always says I need to find something that destresses me … or someone” Alec looked up surprised to see Magnus watching him intently.
“Not many gay shadowhunters?”
“The Clave doesn’t publicly disapprove of being gay, but it doesn’t encourage it either. But if I’m being honest, I’ve always been a bit of a romantic. I never wanted to date if it wasn’t my soulmate.”
“Ahhh waiting for the extra special someone then. I commend you Alexander, not many people have the patience for it. I know I didn’t but I’m also centuries old so your patience wears thin eventually.”
“Did you ever meet them? Your soulmate” Alec hates that he asked the question, but he has to know.
“No, not yet. Probably not ever” Magnus replies, a sad shadow crosses over his face “But that’s fine as well of course. Just because someone’s not my soulmate doesn’t mean I can’t love them.” A silence comes over them and Magnus looks at him ponderingly. “I have to admit I had ulterior motives about inviting you for a drink.”
“Oh really?”
“I find you attractive Alexander. Very attractive and incredibly kind and brave and, well, I was hoping it could be a date, maybe. But I understand you just said about the whole soulmate thing and that’s fine too. But if you ever change your mind, I would be more than happy to date you” Magnus said self-consciously and he began to regret his boldness the longer Alecs silence continued. After a few minutes Magnus felt he had to speak “Sorry, that was inappropriate. Just forget I ever said anything.”
“No, no, it’s fine. It’s just that I wasn’t expecting that” Alec chuckled nervously. “I find you attractive too, I just, I don’t know what to do” Alec was saved by his phone “it’s the institute, I have to get back. Thank you for the drink and for the chat. I’ll think about what you said, I promise” He left the bar glancing back to give Magnus a smile.