Work Text:
Changing schools in the middle of the year wasn't what most students would call a great experience: leaving all your friends behind with the promise on calling and keeping in touch that no one would follow upon, needing to fit into a new environment often hostile at first, getting used to new teachers all over again... Not great. Ergo, most students fought tooth and nail to stay right where they were.
Magnus had been unlucky enough to switch schools twice in the last year. The first time, because his stepfather had been offered a job in New York and his family had moved out of San Francisco to go all the way to the East Coast. The second time, this time, because he'd managed to get in trouble with Principal Belcourt's daughter who'd then decided to make his life a living hell - and there was no way he could stay there until he graduated.
So, new high school, again. On his first day, Magnus had been nervous and fidgety, afraid to meet a new Camille as he stepped in the building but in the end, he deemed himself quite lucky - for once. He had come across another student named Ragnor Fell and the guy, upon realising that Magnus was new, had introduced him to his friends and had given him the grand tour.
Two days later, Magnus was now feeling pretty confident regarding the last five months of his high school life: Ragnor's bunch of friends was easy to get along with and they'd accepted him in the group without any trouble. Besides, he'd gotten a head start at his previous school on the chapter they were currently studying with their math teacher, which gave him more time to catch up on the reading materials for his English class, as those were different from Belcourt's school.
"So you've already learned that?" Raphael asked him during lunch break, pointing at an equation in his math textbook as they were all walking to their lockers. "Can you explain it to me?"
"Sure," Magnus answered with a smile, glad to make himself useful.
"Cat usually helps me out with this," the other boy added, "but she missed class last week because she was sick, so..."
"Maybe you'll have to explain it to me too," Catarina finished.
"No problem," Magnus said as he opened his locker to trade his math textbook for his thin history binder, "This is..."
He trailed off when a creamy envelope slipped from inside his locker and fell to the ground with the lightest of noises. Magnus picked it up with curiosity as well as a fair amount of wariness, half-expecting this envelope that he hadn't put there himself to explode in his hands. Prank for the new kid?
"What's that?" Catarina voiced the question he was silently asking himself.
"Club invitation?" Ragnor suggested, "I know the drama club is recruiting."
"I'm dramatic enough without joining any club," Magnus joked, distracted, while he turned the envelope in his hands.
"Open it," Raphael urged him on, as curious as the rest of them, except that he managed to hide it behind a bored expression.
The teenager complied and tried not to tear the paper as he clumsily opened the envelope, before he was able to take out what seemed to be a letter, instead of an invitation to join a club. Not paying attention to his new friends' keen impatience to know what this was all about, he started to read, taking in the supple and elegant handwriting, noticing a few letters that seemed more hesitant, as if the hand holding the blue pen had been shaking while putting the words down on the paper.
Dear Magnus,
I guess you don't know me yet but I'm the boy sitting in front of you in our chemistry lab. I just wanted to tell you that if you need someone to show you around, you can always come to me. I'd like to know you better and maybe, if you want, we could go for a coffee and make it a date? Whatever you decide, I hope you'll like it here. Sincerely,
Alec Lightwood.
"Sooooo?" Catarina asked once he'd folded the paper in half, a confused frown on his face, "What is it? A love letter?"
"Kind of," Magnus answered, because the message didn't involve any grand confession but it still mentioned a date.
"Oh?" Ragnor chimed in, "Secret admirer? Or did she give her name?"
Magnus glanced at the letter in his hands and he hesitated before answering, not knowing where his friends stood when it came to homosexuality or, more accurately in his case, bisexuality. He didn't want to fuck up his friendship with them after only two days - but if any of them gave him shit about it, then maybe they weren't worth it anyway.
Eventually, he said, voice calm but throat dry:
"He's a boy."
"Okay," Ragnor answered without missing a beat, taking it all in stride, almost as if he'd expected this, "Same question: secret admirer or not?"
"Not exactly," Magnus admitted, "Unless Alec Lightwood is actually a pseudonym?"
Raphael let out a noise of surprise and even dropped his textbooks at that; he picked them up while looking at Magnus with wide eyes and he didn't even notice that he had lost a few pencils as well.
"Alec?" he repeated in disbelief, "Really?"
"Yeah..." Magnus slowly answered, a bit scared by the other's reaction. "He's asking me on a date."
Ragnor looked shocked, Catarina didn't seem to have expected that either and Raphael apparently had a hard time believing him. Was this Alec so bad that his friends didn't want him to have anything to do with that guy?
"What's wrong with him?" he eventually asked, dreading the answer, that Ragnor was quick to provide.
"Nothing!" he exclaimed, sounding sincere and not desperate to reassure Magnus, "Nothing. It's just... weird. Alec hasn't asked anyone on a date since he came out last year. You must be special, Magnus."
The teenager scoffed. Special, him? Right. What was so special about him, the kid who'd just transferred? Well, he was new. Perhaps that was cause enough for excitement? If so, then it would be short-lived: in two weeks, no one would turn to stare at Magnus anymore, he would have just melted into the usual scenery of this school.
"So, what will you tell him?" Catarina asked.
"I don't know," Magnus answered truthfully, because there was just one more little detail he had no idea about, "Who's Alec Lightwood?"
"He's right there," Raphael helpfully supplied, pointing in a direction that Magnus' eyes followed quite eagerly, until they settled on two boys standing side by side.
One of them was looking right back at him - and it must be Alec, staring at him and waiting for a reaction. Magnus squinted, taking his time to acknowledge the teenager, to gauge him and think of his answer. Alec was a buff blond, good-looking, with his hair slicked back and thick lips curled in a smirk as he looked at him, and Magnus was... Disappointed.
The Alec he had in front of his eyes didn't match the Alec from the letter, which had radiated with the vibes of someone shy, a bit unsure perhaps, but... Alec looked cocky. Now, he knew what he would answer, he wasn't one to judge a book by its cover but he also trusted his instincts and first impressions, so... Nope.
Now disinterested, Magnus' gaze slipped away from Alec's face to the second boy's and... Oh. That one looked... Gorgeous. He wasn't glancing in his direction so Magnus took the liberty of observing him to his heart's content: the teen was tall, lean, he had dark, messy and fluffy hair, lips that were made to smile, and who was he?
"Who's that, next to Alec?" he asked Raphael, aiming for blasé boredom and sounding quite excited instead.
"That's his brother, Jace. Why?"
Magnus shrugged, trying to play it cool even though he was completely freaking out inside: so Jace, tall, dark and handsome Jace was not only his type but also the brother of the cocky one who seemed to have a crush on him? Fan-freaking-tastic. Just his luck, really... He couldn't reject Alec and tell him that he'd prefer to get a date with his brother, could he? No. Just because he wasn't interested in the blond didn't mean that he had to be cruel with him.
Still, he had to write a reply and try to let Alec down, gently. Well, gently but without giving the boy false hopes... How was he supposed to do that? How to be clear but not rude or condescending?
"Where's Alec's locker?" he eventually asked around, ripping a blank page off his notebook.
Ragnor pointed at the right locker and Magnus headed for it, even though he hadn't written his answer yet. He didn't know what to tell Alec, how to phrase his thoughts...
"You don't look happy," Catarina noticed, "I take it you're not saying yes to Alec?"
"I'm not," Magnus confirmed, uncapping his pen to start writing - what, though?
"Too bad. It's your decision, of course... But I think you would look cute together."
"Cat," Ragnor said, rolling his eyes, "Leave him alone, he's not interested. Magnus might not even be gay."
"Bi, actually," Magnus revealed, since the gang's reaction to knowing Alec was the one who'd written the letter made him feel quite confident that they wouldn't turn their backs on him if they heard about his own sexuality. "And... Is it bad that I might be interested in Alec's brother instead of Alec himself?"
"Jace?" Raphael asked, his eyes widening, "Really?"
"Uh..." Catarina started, "Not to discourage you but... I'm pretty sure Jace doesn't like boys."
"I'm pretty sure he does," Magnus shot back with a smile, "Not to be cliché but my gaydar is tingling. Don't worry."
"At least it will be funny to watch," Raphael snickered, before he gasped in pain as Ragnor elbowed him in the ribs.
Magnus focused back on the white sheet of paper in his hand while his friends bickered behind his back and he began to write, putting down the words as they came to his mind, refusing to overanalyse them. The more honest and direct he was with Alec, the clearer his answer would be, right?
Alec,
Thanks for reaching out! Everyone's been pretty welcoming so far and I think I managed to make friends alright. About that date... I don't know. I don't want to be rude but you're not really my type. I'm sorry. Hope we can still be friends, though?
Magnus.
There. He didn't like it because it made him feel like the worst asshole in the world but... It was the truth. Alec and his smirk didn't interest him and he didn't want to go on a date with the boy, not even to get to know him better. He didn't think he would like him as more. Jace, though...
With a sigh, Magnus slipped his answer inside Alec's locker, under his friends' focused stares, and he fidgeted a little as he turned back to them. It was done now and there was no turning back.
"Can we grab something to eat?" he asked, stepping forward and walking away already, "I'm starving."
"Sure," Ragnor said behind him with a laugh, "Except that the cafeteria is in the opposite direction."
Magnus turned around with as much dignity as he could muster, doing his best to ignore Raphael's highly amused smirk.
Lunch was a bit tense for Magnus; not because of his friends, who were great and thoughtful, including the newcomer in their conversations even when they mentioned something that had happened years before, something Magnus couldn't even begin to comprehend. They explained then, made him laugh with them, and he knew he was lucky to have found Ragnor on his first day.
However, he couldn't properly focus on his sandwich, looking around in case Alec showed up. He had probably checked his locker for a reply by now, right? Unless he was being conceited, he kind of expected the guy to confront him about it, to ask for a chance, just one... Magnus didn't look forward to it. Lunch happened without incident though, so the teenager assumed that perhaps Alec had accepted his decision.
He was proven wrong at the end of the day though: when the bell rang to signal the end of their last class, Magnus and Ragnor walked out of their Spanish class together and they were planning on meeting Raphael and Catarina in front of their biology room - and they would have, had Magnus not frozen when he caught sight of Alec and Jace, a bit further away from them.
Alec seemed... pissed. Anger marred his face with red blotches blooming across his cheeks - it didn't look good on him. Even though he doubted it, Magnus prayed that his letter wasn't the reason for his fury: Alec and his bulky frame were impressive but surely he wouldn't want to punch him in the face? Not that he couldn't protect himself but it was only his third day, he wasn't too eager to get in trouble so soon, not if it forced him to change schools again. What would his mother say?
He was partly comforted when he glanced at Jace: the dark-haired boy looked dejected, contrarily to his brother, so maybe it didn't have anything to do with Magnus? Maybe they'd just received bad news, a bad grade perhaps, and they were reacting differently to it?
All hope vanished as soon as Alec's angry glare fell on him. The blond teenager strode in his direction, hands clenched in fists, and even Ragnor looked worried all of a sudden.
"Did you have to be so rude?" the blond barked without preamble.
Okay, so this was about the letter. Great.
"I'm sorry, honestly," Magnus tried to explain, keeping his voice soft, hoping that Alec would calm down a little. "I just wanted to make it clear that I wasn't interested."
"Yeah, that was crystal clear!" Alec shouted, "For fuck's sake!"
And just like that, he turned around and stormed away angrily, until he grabbed his brother's wrist and dragged him outside.
"That was... intense?" Ragnor said hesitantly after a while of shocked silence.
"He looked really angry," Magnus whispered, feeling both remorseful for his answer and glad that he hadn't given a chance to someone who lost his temper so easily.
Ragnor shrugged and patted his shoulder in an awkward attempt to comfort him.
"It's the first time Alec asks someone out..." he reminded him. "Maybe you were a little too adamant about not being interested? I mean, if he really has a crush on you, it must hurt."
Crap. Now Magnus felt even guiltier, although deep down, he knew that there wasn't any other solution. He couldn't play pretend, go on a date to humour Alec and then tell him that he'd had enough. It was actually worse, wasn't it? Getting someone's hopes up only to destroy them later... No. Magnus would stick to his first answer.
Now, would it be a bad idea to go after Jace and ask him on a date? Most likely, yes. But Magnus Bane wasn't exactly known for his reasonable ideas.
Magnus decided to sit next to Jace during the next chemistry lab, only to test the waters, see how the gorgeous boy would react to his presence after what had happened with Alec - whom he had made a point to avoid during the previous day, not too eager to get into a fight with him.
Jace's beautiful hazel eyes widened when he realised who was sitting next to him, before he looked away. The sudden move didn't keep Magnus from noticing the delicate blush settling high on his cheeks and he smiled at the sight. So... Jace did like guys, didn't he? No matter what Cat and Raphael thought, that boy wasn't as straight as they believed... He seemed clearly affected by Magnus' presence and the latter wasn't sure that he would resist asking him out on this very day, even though he hadn't planned on it.
They didn't speak at first, listening to their teacher's lecture and taking notes, until they were paired up to realise a small experiment.
"I'm sorry about the way my brother acted the other day," Jace told him quietly while their teacher walked between the groups to check on their progress.
Magnus tensed, unwilling to talk about Alec and have Jace try to convince him to give his brother a chance. Because that was what he wanted, right?
"He was pissed," he answered nonetheless, "So I get it."
"Still," Jace added. "He shouldn't have yelled at you. You have the right to feel what you feel and think the way you do. You can't force yourself to change your mind."
"Uh... True," Magnus replied, sounding a bit hesitant.
So Jace wasn't trying to push him in Alec's arms? He seemed so accepting of Magnus' refusal, almost as if he understood... But he also looked resigned though. Was he sad for his brother but still respectful enough to tell Magnus that it was okay?
He was glad when they changed the topic, focusing on their chemical reaction when the teacher came by to ask them some questions. They didn't talk much after that anymore but Magnus noticed the way Jace kept stealing glances at him and... Was it just him or did he look like he... longed for him?
What if... What if Jace liked him too but didn't dare to say so because of his brother, afraid to hurt his feelings or to make him angry? But if Magnus was the one to ask him out, Alec couldn't get mad at his brother, right?
He weighed the consequences that would come out of his decision, should he risk it and ask Jace out... Until the bell rang and he thought, fuck it. He would let the brothers deal with their hormonal reactions between the two of them.
"Hey," he started while they were both putting their pens and notebooks in their bags, making Jace turn to him with a smile, "I was wondering... How would you feel about going on a date with me? We could go see a movie together?"
Jace's small smile abruptly vanished and an expression of hurt, of sadness, fell over his face. Magnus held his breath, wondering what he'd said, what he'd done, to provoke such a reaction. Was it because he'd said no to Alec? Because Jace didn't want to accept his invitation and feel like he was betraying his brother, no matter how much he kept glancing at Magnus when he thought the teen wasn't looking?
Then, it became worse. Magnus was horrified to realise that Jace's wonderful eyes were too bright, wet with tears that hadn't started to roll down yet, and he gaped at him, knowing without understanding why that he was the reason for this immense pain. What had he done?
"Don't play with me," Jace told him, his voice straining with the effort he needed to keep himself from crying in the middle of the classroom. "If this is your own way to make amends after what my brother told you... If you don't mean it, then it's the worst idea you could have had."
The boy hurried outside then, clearly in a rush to get away from Magnus, who was left alone, feeling hollow inside. He didn't understand what had just happened. He attempted to follow Jace, a bit late, and when he found himself in the hallway outside the room, Alec and Jace were together, Alec's arm looped comfortingly around his brother's shoulders. Jace didn't see him but Alec did, and he glared at him.
To be honest, it didn't even qualify as a glare anymore: if looks could kill, Magnus was certain that he would be long dead and that no one would ever find his body. He'd probably just disintegrate.
He got distracted when someone clapped him on the shoulder, startling him, and he was met with Ragnor's confused face when he turned around.
"What did you do to Alec?" his friend asked, "The poor boy looked heartbroken..."
"I didn't do anything!" Magnus immediately protested, before Ragnor's words registered, "Wait, heartbroken? Trust me, he's not, he just glared at me, he's super angry - again! And I didn't do anything to him!"
Ragnor stared at him in incomprehension.
"Magnus... Alec is what Cat likes to call a cutie. He wouldn't get angry at you for no reason! He wouldn't hurt a fly..."
"Well, I'm not a fly, and I'm pretty sure he wants to murder me, so..."
He trailed off, wheeling around to glance at the brothers and show Ragnor the killer-face Alec was making, except that the siblings weren't there anymore. Great. Now Ragnor would think that he was paranoid.
For the record, Magnus was not paranoid. Perhaps just a little overdramatic, on which Raphael agreed after Ragnor explained to Catarina and him what had happened outside the lab, while the two others were putting their chemistry supplies away.
He wasn't specifically looking for him, on his way back home, but suddenly he caught sight of Alec, sitting on a bench in the park not far from school. Magnus nearly crossed the road in order to talk to him and ask what his problem was, why he'd looked pissed off earlier, but he stopped before he could even take a step: Alec wasn't alone in that park. A red-haired girl was sitting next to the boy and normally, Magnus wouldn't have batted an eyelash at that - except that he did this time, because the two of them were holding hands as they spoke and laughed together, until the girl climbed on Alec's lap and kissed him, running her hands through his blond hair. At the sight, a sudden, raw anger threatened to make Magnus choke.
He didn't feel angry because of jealousy, because the boy who'd written that letter to ask him out was kissing another person, no. What the hell was he playing at, though? If the redhead was his girlfriend, why had he asked him out in the first place? To make fun of Magnus? Perhaps the letter had been a prank, after all... Or maybe he was only leading the red-haired girl on? If they were in a relationship, however, maybe his thing with her was new but... If it was, why had he reacted so badly to Magnus' refusal and to the interest he had expressed in Jace when he'd asked him out? He should have been happy for his brother, shouldn't he?
Nothing was making sense anymore. Magnus should probably confront Alec about that, although not right there and then. It would only make things worse, he mused, and that girl had nothing to do with it - he refused to put her through their doubtlessly heated discussion.
Maybe there was nothing to understand. Maybe Alec didn't know what he wanted. Maybe, maybe, maybe... Magnus was tired of those, of this uncertainty, of not knowing what he'd done to hurt Jace, what he'd said to Alec that justified such hatred if he already had a girlfriend. From now on, he decided, he would avoid the brothers altogether. That was probably the best move if he wanted to stay far from all the drama and protect his future in this school.
Magnus absolutely hated those days when the universe was against him. Currently, the universe was incarnated by his English teacher, who had the brilliant idea of pairing up his students to work on their arguments while defending their opinions in the middle of a debate. It could have been great and Magnus was actually excited about it, until his teacher announced the duos he wanted them to form.
"Thomas and Stefanie, Ragnor and Milo, Magnus and Alec, Raphael and..."
Magnus tuned him out as soon as he heard his name and the one that followed. Alec and he, together for a debate? One of them was going to get killed in the process! Or maybe not, he realised, since Alec wasn't the one who stepped toward him a few seconds later: it was Jace. Magnus narrowed his eyes at him, trying to ignore his stuttering heartbeat when he saw how reluctant the dark-haired boy looked. Had he hurt him so badly, so deeply the previous day? Why, though? He still didn't understand. However, he had a more pressing question, one that he asked as gently as he possibly could once the other teenager sat beside him.
"Does your brother hate me so much that he doesn't even want to work with me when a teacher says so?"
Jace flinched and oops, maybe it had come out a little more harshly than he thought. Was he doomed to hurt Jace in every single one of their discussions? Why couldn't they have a normal conversation, just once?
"I'm sorry?" Jace said with hesitation, "I'm not sure to understand what you mean..."
"Well," Magnus answered, softly this time, "Why did he ask to switch if not because of that?"
"Switch?" Jace repeated, growing more and more confused with every word that left Magnus' mouth.
Urgh. Did he really need to spell it out? Was Jace a little slow on the uptake?
"I was supposed to be with Alec," Magnus explained, "but you're here instead."
"I... I am Alec?" the teenager said, his confusion at Magnus' explanation making it sound like a question instead, before he tried to confirm it. "That's me. Alec. I'm Alec."
Magnus' brain went still at that because... What? Alec was... him? For real? Jace wasn't Jace but Alec while Alec was Jace, which was really confusing to say, and what?! Was it a joke? He had been pining over the same boy who had written to him in order to ask him out, the boy he'd said no to? Oh fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. This wasn't good. He was freaking out and it had to show, because Ja... Alec looked worried now.
"Magnus?" he asked - and oh, those lips saying his name! "Are you okay?"
The teenager didn't reply, couldn't, too shaken up, but his hand shot up in the air and as soon as the teacher glanced at him, he blurted out:
"I don't feel too well, can I go to the bathroom? Please?"
He must have looked desperate, because his teacher's face morphed into the same concerned mask as Alec's and he immediately nodded. Magnus didn't need to be told twice: he sprang from his chair and hurried outside, thinking that he was saved, that he wouldn't have to talk to Alec - and perhaps avoiding him until the end of time was doable? - but of course, Alec wasn't far behind.
"Mister Happ said to make sure you were okay," the boy explained when he caught up to him in the hallway, almost like an apology, not daring to meet Magnus' eyes.
Magnus, who couldn't focus on anything else than the boy's suddenly new - to him, at least - identity.
"You are Alec?" the teenager asked, sounding as dumbfounded as he felt inside.
"Yes," the other answered, his adorably confused little frown coming back at full force. "I... thought you knew that. You received my letter, you answered me, you..."
Magnus interrupted him before the boy could say you told me you didn't like me because it was a horrible misunderstanding and he couldn't let Alec think that he wasn't Magnus' type any longer. He was. He so was.
"I thought I was replying to your brother," he explained softly.
"Jace?" Alec asked, his brows furrowing. "But I signed that letter..."
"And I thought you were Jace! I thought he was you! So when I wrote that answer..."
"Who was it truly meant for?"
Magnus had to take a deep breath to calm down then, because Alec suddenly sounded hopeful and hesitant joy was starting to shine in his eyes, as if he wasn't sure that he could believe his luck yet...
"Your brother," he answered before he did something stupid like writing a new reply right onto Alec's lips, "I didn't know who you were, Raphael pointed at you and Jace and he was the only one looking at me, so I thought... I thought he'd written the letter. I didn't want to go on a date with him though, so... And then I saw you."
Magnus went quiet, giving Alec all the time he needed to fully understand all the implications of this misunderstanding. It made so much more sense now! Why Jace, the real one, had been so angry at him - it was on behalf of his brother. His brother who had gone out of his comfort zone to ask out the new kid and had gotten a pretty bad backlash for his trouble... Only for Magnus to ask him out and hurt him in the process, making him think that he was only playing around. He had fucked up so badly!
"I'm so sorry," he eventually whispered, "I didn't mean to make you feel like this. I really thought your brother wrote that letter."
"You asked me out," Alec said on the same low tone, "but you didn't know I already had. So, were you... Were you serious about that?"
"Absolutely," Magnus confirmed with a genuine smile, albeit small, not knowing how Alec felt about it.
"So... If you'd known who I was when you read the letter..."
"I would have said yes to that coffee," Magnus finished for him. "And we would probably have had our first date already."
It was amazing to witness the way the uncertainty vanished from Alec's eyes to be replaced by pure, unabashed joy, and Magnus suddenly remembered what Ragnor had told him: Alec had never asked out anyone before he wrote the letter and slipped it inside Magnus' locker... He could perfectly imagine his happiness at realising that the boy he liked, whom he'd thought would never share the same attraction for him, was actually willing and so very eager to date him.
Magnus' next concern seemed foolish, seeing Alec's happy grin, but he had to ask, to make sure, because he didn't want any other misunderstanding to get between them.
"Is it too late?" he wondered, half-dreading the answer, "To say yes to the coffee date you suggested?"
Alec chuckled, and wasn't that one of the most beautiful sounds in the world?
"It's not," he answered, lifting a weight off Magnus' shoulders and making him smile widely. "Today after school?"
The other teenager nodded with enthusiasm and his smile didn't disappear, not even when they walked back to their classroom. Magnus was too busy thinking of all the ways he could make it up to Alec for mistaking him for his brother, already planning all the dates they could go on in the future. And if he had his way, there would be many.
There were many dates indeed. Many kisses too, many nights of passion, many smiles and not so many fights but many apologies followed by more kisses. And one morning, years later, when Magnus woke up to a folded letter on the pillow next to his head, where Alec's scent lingered, there were many tearful smiles as he read the words his lover had put down on the paper.
Dear Magnus,
The first time I saw you, in that chemistry lab, you took my breath away, no matter how confused you looked trailing behind Ragnor, glancing around and trying to memorise the name of our teacher. It's been nine years since, and six years of seeing your gorgeous smile every day, first thing in the morning when I wake up, and you still take my breath away now, day after day.
The first time I wrote to you, I meant to ask you out on a date. Today, I want to ask how you would feel about marrying me. Not to sway you, but you'd make me the happiest man alive if you said yes.
With all my love,
Alec.
PS: Just so you know, I'm the tall and handsome man with the neck tattoo that you like to kiss ;)
When Alec re-entered their bedroom a few minutes later, their breakfast and coffees on a tray and an anxious smile on his face, Magnus didn't hesitate before saying yes.