Chapter Text
It was five years, maybe even six, that Alec Lightwood didn't have a holiday. Probably the last time he left New York was for a weekend with Jace somewhere in the Hamptons, but he no longer remembered what they did or why they went there. Women, probably. Because, before Clary, Jace moved for only two reasons: girls and work. And when he managed to combine the two things he was the happiest man in the world. He didn't remember that short trip as anything pleasant, but after all, none of his vacations had ever been fun. And so, when his sister put a plane ticket to Barbados in his hand, the Wednesday morning following his first date with Magnus, adding that they would finally have a holiday between siblings, he got up and left saying no. To begin with, he didn't like sea and beach life: the idea of roasting in the sun all day was boring as hell. He loved to sleep in his bed at home. His seaside stay would have been even worse, now that he had officially told everyone he was gay; in fact, he was sure that Isabelle would drag him to one of those nightclubs full of muscular hunks greased with coconut oil, which he frankly didn't like. And then now he was with Magnus, their relationship had just begun and he would have felt like leaving him just to go and have fun. This is why he had also refused the second time they had proposed it to him, that is, two hours later, when all three had shown up at the gym that Alec frequented, threatening him not to leave there again if he didn't say yes. In the end, Alec continued to say no and, putting on the headphones, started running on the treadmill and ignored them; they had abandoned the field due to exhaustion. A no was a no, especially for Alec Lightwood. Or at least, in theory, a: “No was a no” because, at a certain point on that exhausting Wednesday, Iz had played the trump card: Magnus Bane. Yes, his boyfriend had been bribed and Alec had felt vaguely betrayed, especially when he threatened to leave him if he refused: "I'll miss you, my sweet blueberry muffin, but go on the damn vacation or I'll never want to see you again ”. So he had told him, then going through his wardrobe and claiming that he had nothing decent to wear. Then he had dragged him through the shops, with Isabelle next to him and she was gloating with satisfaction, probably happy to have finally found an ally. Alec remembered that afternoon as a nightmare, spent without stopping for a moment around Manhattan. Even worse was when he packed his bags the following evening. Every item of clothing had been promptly rejected by Magnus and Isabelle, who had begun to treat him as if he were a beggar, dressed in rags, begging on the street.
"I'll survive even if my shirts are faded and have holes in them," Alec had ruled, throwing them out of the house. Well, before closing the door in Magnus' face, he had kissed him, but that was another matter. With Iz, however, he would have to deal with it later.
And now he was there, after a week's holiday on the warm beaches of Barbados, with a tan that would be the envy of a lumped model, looking with a hint of embarrassment at the entrance to Magnus Bane's shop. He had decided to surprise him, not telling him that he would be home a day early. Even though Magnus didn't like surprises, Alec had felt the desire to make him happy, as well as to see a smile spread across his face. Now that he was about to enter, however, he had a thousand doubts. What if he didn't like seeing him? They had spoken practically every evening since he left; Alec called him to ask him how his day was while Magnus asked him if he had fun and what crazy thing he had done. He had never done anything extraordinary, apart from the regular challenges with Jace, but Alec had avoided telling him this because he didn't want to seem like the usual antisocial curmudgeon. Seeing each other in person, however, was another matter entirely and now he was scared. Maybe a week apart had helped Magnus to clear his mind, maybe he had realised that the boy he was with wasn't anything special. The clues were there, after all. First of all, he had been happy to see him leave and had never complained about the distance, nor had he told him that he missed him or that he couldn't wait for him to return. In their phone calls, Magnus told him about what had happened at work or encouraged him to have fun with his siblings or go to the disco. Each time, Alec replied that he was there to relax and nothing else. He hadn't even told him that Iz had dragged him by force to a gay club (yes, in the end, she did it), full of muscular and half-naked guys, where Jace had obtained at least twenty telephone numbers and Iz had complained all the time that no one would consider her. So yeah, he had been there and he hadn't told Magnus, but what if he had? Would he have cared to see him grinding on someone? Not that he had thought about it, of course, but was he a little jealous of him? What if he looked horrified when he saw him? Yes, perhaps it was better to call him first, to test the waters and understand what he would find once he crossed the threshold. He felt like the protagonist of a bad movie trying to be romantic, but failing. That wasn't a romantic scene, writing him a message with: "Turn towards the door" and being found on the doorstep... Alec would never have been capable of it, that was just idiocy born of his perpetual insecurity.
From Alexander
Friday, h. 5.45 pm
Hi, Magnus, what are you up to doing?
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 5.45 pm
My sweet cream pastry!
I tried to call you all day, but your phone was off.
Are you OK?
I’m in my shop at the moment, I've just faced a rude client.
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 5.46 pm
Yes, I’m fine.
I’ve switched off my phone. I’m sorry for your client.
May I ask you something?
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 5.46 pm
Tell me, my beautiful sweet pea…
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 5.47 pm
Did you miss me a little bit?
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 5.50 pm
Kidding?
I miss you so much, pup.
I can’t wait to see you again!
I miss everything about you, your kisses, your fawn’s eyes…
And watching your butt while you don’t see.
Speaking of which… Why don’t you send me a photo of your tan?
You’ve never sent me one.
I don’t even know if you sunbathe or if you have stayed beyond the beach umbrella alone, reading and listening to music.
Reading Magnus' messages, Alec felt like a fool. And an idiot too. His insecurity was his Everest, that mountain that he would never have been able to climb because it was too high and scary. Even after getting together with a gorgeous guy who kept showering him with compliments, he struggled to believe it was all true. He felt like a fool for having put up such a scene just to understand if he had missed him. It was true that he hadn't told him before, but he must have had his reasons. If Magnus no longer felt any interest in him he would have just told him, he was too honest to be like one of those who dumped you at the first opportunity and without even giving you a shred of explanation. Or at least he thought, maybe he was just really nice and he didn't know how to tell him. Ah, he certainly wouldn't have discovered it by standing still and looking at the shop windows. And then, encouraged by the words flashing on his phone screen, he stepped forward.
When he crossed the threshold, a ringing of the bell caught his attention, immediately before his gaze was catapulted into a strange and large room. For starters, Alec had never been to a herbalist's shop before and when he imagined what he might be like, he imagined Magnus as some sort of mediaeval warlock brewing potions in a pot. Intrigued, one evening he had then looked for the website that his boyfriend had set up, sifting through the pages here and there. But all he had seen were strange names and photographs of jars containing herbs he had never heard of. In some ways, it reminded him of Magnus's loft, because he was sophisticated and exotic at the same time. As with his stay, it was the details that struck him most. Things like an ebony wood ornament with an unusual shape, the burgundy colour of the walls or even some shimmer of gold that could be noticed when the gaze wandered. The sign was a very dark green and simply read: “Magnus Bane's Herbalist.” On the contrary, the interiors were a succession of shelves and stands where various types of jars and packages could be found, probably for cosmetics. There was a department dedicated exclusively to edible products, where various types of tea, herbal teas and food had been neatly arranged. The most extravagant part of that shop was undoubtedly the dressing table, with matching mirror and table, on which dozens of makeup items were placed, piled up in no specific order. There was so much that many even overflowed from the drawer left open. On the first evening, among other things, he had told him that he was a make-up artist in his spare time, but that make-up set looked like a professional one. Other than that, however, it was a normal shop. Made special by the fact that every choice of furniture, colour or object screamed: “Magnus Bane” from all sides. The furniture was vaguely ethnic and played on shades of burgundy, brown and gold. One of the walls had been painted with glitter paint, a detail that made him smile heartily and at the same time soften his gaze because such tackiness was so typical of Magnus... Having reached more or less the middle of the room, his attention was attracted by a large counter; it had been placed on the opposite side from the entrance, probably at a point from which the entire place could be observed. On one side there was the cash register and a couple of small stands above which there were sweets, while on the other side, as well as on the back wall above which numerous shelves had been placed, there were vases, small bottles of glass and earthenware containers. Each of them had been labelled with the name of a herb, probably if he had been interested in the infusions he would have asked him what they were for, but Alec's attentions were catapulted to something else. First of all the music that was playing in the air: it was a relaxing and vaguely exotic melody, one of a kind that Alec would never have listened to of his own desire. However, that one in particular was bewitching and reminded him terribly of Magnus and his feline ways. And he liked him, even if not as much as the smell that lingered in there and which for a moment, as soon as he entered, had made his knees tremble. That was the same scent as Magnus. The same smell that he had noticed on him since their first meeting and that he had worried about for days, what aroma it was he didn't know, but it was everywhere and it made him want to hold him close and kiss him until he missed his breath. He, by the way, was leaning against the jamb of a door that led to the back room, he couldn't see what was inside and to tell the truth, he wasn't even interested. All he saw was Magnus Bane with his back turned, wearing dark jeans and a red shirt, talking on his phone. Oh, he should have announced himself immediately, but instead, he stayed and listened.
“He's come back tomorrow,” he was saying. He still hadn't turned around. "Cat, I'm going crazy. I miss him so much! I know we've been together for a short time and we've talked every day, but I dream about him at night and I can't concentrate on anything. I swear as soon as he comes back I'll throw him on the bed and... Well, I can't say what I would do to him, because Madzie listens to us, but you know very well that the word I mean starts with S and ends with X and there's an E in the middle. Which, by the way, is exactly what I would do to him right now if he were here."
“Hem, Hem,” he coughed slightly, to get his attention. It didn't help and perhaps judging by his current state, it was better that he didn't see him. He wasn't just blushing, he was aubergine purple and gasping, yes, he did that too. He would have stuttered if only his words had come out of his mouth. Magnus wanted to have… Yeah, he means, did he want to have sex with him? He hadn't said it clearly, but it was clear what he meant. And Alec could hardly believe it. Naturally, he had thought about it and had also wondered if they had ever done it or when the right time would come, but he hadn't dared to ask him who, it seemed, had thought about it. And he had also dreamed of him and he had missed him so much that he said he had gone crazy. He didn't understand why he hadn't told him before, maybe he would have had fewer problems or maybe he would have had them anyway. He had to admit that he was a little complex, Iz always told him that he had to stop thinking because he always did it too much, and she was probably right.
“Just a moment,” he heard him say as he waved a hand in mid-air. He hadn't turned towards him and was still talking on the phone. "Listen, Cat, we'll talk about it when you get here. Now I have a client. All right, see you later. Bye," he concluded, after which he closed the call. Alec knew there would be no point in talking because Magnus was about to turn around and would immediately notice him, lanky in the centre of his shop fretting his lips with agitation.
“Don't worry, I'll wait here.” He had said that, swallowing his words while he called himself a stupid idiot. He chose to stoically ignore the fact that Magnus had just declared that he wanted to sleep with him, he just as quickly forgot that he still hadn't told him he was a virgin. It wasn't the time. It definitely wasn't, he thought as he watched him turn away.
If he had super hearing, Alec would probably have heard Magnus' heart skip a beat and immediately start pawing like a runaway horse again. If they had been in a cartoon, however, his eyes would have popped out of their sockets and his tongue would have rolled out until it touched the ground. Instead, he simply turned around with disarming slowness and then remained motionless, with his phone clutched in his hands and his eyes bulging. Alec saw him open and close his mouth as if he were searching for air to breathe or enough clarity to realise what was happening. He didn't say anything to him, at least for a few moments during which Alec feared he had done wrong not to warn him before.
“I should have told you,” he apologised, scratching the back of his neck. "I thought I would please you and I came straight here from the airport, I was an idiot for thinking that. You also said you don't like surprises!" Yes, he had told him: stupid, stupid and more stupid!
"Alexander," Magnus said simply, reaching him in a furious hurry, before enveloping him in a powerful embrace. And kissing him, yes, Magnus did that too and he did it with, in his intentions, a mixture of ferocity and sweetness, in an alternation of sensations that made his knees tremble. Alec felt his ribs being crushed and then his boyfriend's lips began to move down the veins of his neck and up from his jaw to his mouth, which he captured again in a voracious kiss. By the angel, the spicy smell of his skin was something magnificent! How had he managed to resist a week without the touch of his soft lips or that of his hands, which touched his back in slow caresses?
"You continue to surprise me, my sweet pea.»
“I hope it's a good thing,” Alec whispered, smiling inevitably as Magnus pressed against him.
"You should have come back tomorrow! I had already arranged with Elias to pick you up at the airport."
"We came back early because of Iz, she has some work to do and I thought I wouldn't tell you and come here to surprise you. But then when I found myself in front of your shop I had some doubts and so I wrote to you."
“What kind of doubts?” he asked in return, pursing his lips in a sort of grimace.
“I don't know, maybe you were tired of me and didn't know how to tell me. You never told me that you missed me and I thought that… " Magnus didn't even give him time to finish the sentence and explain why he had been so afraid. He quickly surrounded his face with his hands, caressing his cheekbone with the tip of his thumb, then kissed him on the lips. This time his touch was so quick as to be almost impalpable.
“But don't you understand that I want to be with you, Alec?” he whispered less than a breath away from his mouth, before making fun of him once again and involving him in a dance of tongues and laughter stifled by kisses. "This week has been torture, but after everything that happened with your parents, a vacation was what you needed. Isabelle practically threatened me to help her and I couldn't say no, I didn't want to make you feel bad about my state of mind. I just wanted you to have fun."
“Thank you for what you did for me,” he nodded, starting to understand. They had both been stupid, but what little he knew about relationships was that it was never easy to relate to someone. "And I think we were a bit silly, we should say how we feel without fearing the other person's reaction, I know that's how you do it in a relationship."
"Yes, that's how it's done" Magnus nodded, running a hand through his messy hair, while a sweet smile spread across his face. "But now tell me everything, how was your holiday? I was sure that I would find you as white as I left you and instead you show off an enviable tan." As he said it, he had taken a step away from him and was now touching his biceps which were peeking out from the faded t-shirt he was wearing. He was quite tanned, thanks to all the time spent playing volleyball, bowls, racket, rummy and table tennis matches, soccer, swimming...
“Jace and I challenged each other to anything humanly possible, so I spent a lot of time shirtless.”
"Mh, I wish I could have been there, pup."
"Well, but I didn't do anything special! The usual things you do at the seaside."
“So it's not true that you danced with a hunk in a gay club?” Hearing that made Alec blush furiously. If it hadn't been for the tan that coloured his face, he probably would have been noticed even more. How did Magnus know? Only to then realise that the answer was quite obvious.
"Who told you that?"
“Isabelle! So did she tell the truth?"
"Yes, I mean no! Nothing of the sort happened. We went to this place where these guys were dancing, while I was trying to reach the counter one of them grabbed me and rubbed against me. If you want to know, I left immediately."
"Mh, maybe, sweetie, but..."
"I thought of you at that moment," he interrupted him more decisively as his cheeks turned purple. Finding the courage to look into his eyes was difficult, to the point that it was almost painful to stop staring at that precise point on the floor, to meet his gaze. Noticing the way Magnus' face had lit up with joy, however, made him happy.
"Really?"
"I thought about the promise I made to you to come to Pandemonium. You know that I don't like those places, but with you everything is always so different and special. I wish you were there too."
“I sure would have kicked that dude out,” he told him, wrapping his arms around his neck and smiling. He was kissing him again and this time Alec managed to let go enough to think about letting the hands that he held firmly on his waist go down to his ass. He had never dared do anything like that, but he had missed Magnus so much that he might as well give a wink and there was no one in there anyway. Or at least that's what he thought, because just when he had gone past the waistband of his trousers and was about to grab his... Well, it was then a voice interrupted them: "Who are you kissing, Magnus?"
The speaker was a little girl, she couldn't have been more than six years old and she was standing a few metres away from them with a marker clutched in one hand. Magnus had moved away, breaking their embrace and had done so with a naturalness that greatly contrasted with the rigidity that had seized Alec. For an instant he was overcome by a wave of panic, they were two men and they had kissed in front of her and what if her mother had known? Maybe she was against certain things, she thought immediately before cancelling that ridiculous reasoning. Whoever that little girl was, it was clear that she knew Magnus well enough to let him pick her up. They weren't relatives because she hadn't called him uncle or dad, but by name, maybe he was the daughter of one of Magnus's friends and he certainly didn't associate with people who didn't tolerate gay kisses.
“His name is Alec,” he heard him say, holding the little girl close. She was very pretty indeed, about five or six years old judging by the quick, expert glance he had given her. She had two braids that reached more or less shoulder height and had been tied with a pair of pink elastic bands, she was wearing a dress of the same colour and someone must have drawn a transfer on her hand because the little fist closed around the marker, he could see a small rainbow with a purple unicorn.
“Is he your Prince Charming?” she asked innocently, still looking at him. Alec had the strange impression that Magnus was blushing, which was incredible because he certainly didn't seem like the type to babble shapeless like him.
“Sort of, yes,” he confessed, though he didn't meet his gaze even after he continued with the introductions. "This is Madzie, the daughter of my closest friend Catarina."
"Hello, princess!" Alec exclaimed with a toothy grin that made the little girl smile back. Her area of expertise was his, he knew how to deal with children and when he had someone around, he instinctively found himself acting as a centralizer. A bit like the Pied Piper who attracts mice to him by playing his flute. Even though many thought he was cold and distant at work, the children adored him and he knew it. And if there was one thing he was certain of, it was that to gain their trust he had to surprise them. It was not for nothing that he had an enormous wealth of experience on his side. He knew how to do magic tricks, even if they were very simple, he knew every type of fairy tale in the world and he was an excellent listener. Contrary to what many of his colleagues did, Alec had the innate quality of being able to treat children in the same way as he did adults. In his opinion, the words of a child had much more value than one of the pompous and false speeches of anyone among the Clave members. Therefore when little Madzie greeted him with her little hand, curling up against Magnus while hiding a very shy smile, he immediately understood what type of child he was dealing with. There were more extroverts while others, however, were more reserved and it usually took them some time before opening up to a stranger. Judging by the way Madzie had clung to Magnus, avoiding eye contact with her, she must have belonged to the latter category.
"Do you want to see magic?" Alec asked her, winking at her as she nodded. She had that expression of fake disinterest that hid a certain curiosity, which was typical of children when they didn't yet trust someone. Then he didn't think twice, he just made a couple of movements with his hands as if he was about to perform some great magic, and then he passed his fingers behind Madzie's ear, finally showing her a coin.
“Look what you had back here!” he exclaimed in amazement, amusing the little girl and she started laughing out loud.
"Mh, so I'm not the only one with magic fingers here..."
"Nah, it's nothing! I learned to do these tricks because of the work I do" he concluded, giving the penny coin to Madzie who, despite only having eyes for that coin, seemed to have listened to every word.
“Your job is the warlock prince?” she asked, lifting her eyes until they met Alec's eyes for the first time.
"Let's say yes" he smiled, tenderly. "My job is to make very unfortunate children who no longer have a mother or father happy."
"And you came here to make Magnus happy? He no longer has his mother and father." The little girl looked at him, certainly hoping to receive a positive response. Alec found himself not knowing what to say and he couldn't even lift his eyes to meet Magnus's. They had never talked about his childhood and, although he had formed ideas about it, he still believed he wasn’t in a position to make any hypotheses.
He couldn't say he hadn't thought about the life the boy he was dating had led before he came to the United States. Although one of the first things he told him was that he had an adoptive brother, he had revealed nothing more than a few pieces of information to him, all of which were insufficient to make him understand what had happened in his past, such as having learned to cook from his mother, for example. As far as he knew, his being adopted didn't mean he no longer had parents, he might even have been abandoned at an early age. He had to admit that he was curious not only about his origins but above all about his ex-boyfriends. He never spoke about them either, he just sensed that someone had broken his heart, but in all the long talks they had, Alec realised that it was always him who was talking. He had told him everything about himself, from his work to his problems with his parents to some embarrassing exes. The only thing he was silent about was his virginity. That was the reason why he had never pushed him to talk about himself, if he wanted total openness from his boyfriend then he should have given it to him first. But in any case, this wasn’t a thought to be entertained at that moment. Not with a visibly embarrassed Magnus, whose panic was rampant in those hazel eyes. When little Madzie had asked him that question, she certainly had no idea what Alec would answer, but it was Magnus that Alec loved to catch off guard. He hadn't thought about it too much, that sentence had come straight from his heart.
"You know, Madzie, I guess so. I think from now on my job will be to make Magnus happy, do you want to help me?" he asked her, while the little girl nodded with determination. "Now that you are officially my warlock assistant, I'll assign you your first assignment: you’ll have to kiss him on the cheek, can you do it?" Madzie nodded confidently and she leaned further up until she was able to give an astonished Magnus a peck on the cheek. He had wide eyes and was smiling.
"And now what do we do?"
"And now", Magnus intervened, putting her on the ground, "go and sort out all your things, Mum will be arriving soon." She seemed unconvinced that her tidying up would make him happy, but after Alec winked at her, she ran away and disappeared behind the counter. It was only then that he grabbed him by the belt loops, pulling him towards him. After a kiss on the lips, he smiled at him again, but he did it with a vaguely mischievous expression on his face.
"The list of your qualities increases, sweetie: charming, beautiful, with those doe eyes that you would never say no to and that sexy wrinkled panty-ripping look that... and now you conquer Madzie in an instant. How is it possible that you're not already married?" he asked him in that mellifluous way as he wrapped his arms around his neck again. Alec shrugged as if to say he didn't know. He couldn't believe he was all those things to another person.
"No one has ever liked me so much and it was nothing anyway, it's part of my job to deal with children" he admitted, feeling partly guilty for that little lie. His relationship with Magnus and his coming out had made him think. He had had a week to reflect on himself and realised that part of the problem he had with men came from within him. He had never let anyone get close to him, and consequently not one of the men he had dated had proposed anything serious to him. He was a bit of a dog chasing his tail, it was difficult to get involved with someone who barely allows you to kiss him because he is terrified of the idea of not being enough. Perhaps this side of him, Magnus would have understood and accepted, but it was not yet the time and above all it was not the right place for such a discussion.
“Then let me say that this world is full of idiots,” he whispered against his lips, and then he kissed her. And as happened every time Magnus Bane kissed him like that, the edges of Alec's world dissolved and everything became blurred. In that moment there was only him and his scent, the sweet taste of his soft lips and that touch, sweet and desperate at the same time, that he reserved for his back. They had done it this way before, but that day Magnus went where he had never gone before. Alec gasped when he hooked his fingers through his shirt, sliding his hands underneath and touching his warm skin. He wasn't as scared as he used to be, because he trusted him, but it wasn't the place to lose his mind. Yet Magnus' fingertips didn't stop touching his skin and he just couldn't move them away. Getting lost in that kiss was damn simple.
He was unable to quantify how long they remained still smooching in the middle of a shop which, moreover, anyone could have entered. He only knew that at a certain point that Catarina arrived and that only then did Alec come back down to earth. Dedicating all his attention to the woman in front of him was useful in putting out of his mind everything that he would have continued to do to her from that mouth. Catarina was about thirty years old and was very beautiful and self-confident. The way she broke their kiss, coughing not too subtly right before smiling, made them both giggle.
“Sorry, Cat,” Magnus murmured, moving away from him while keeping their fingers intertwined.
"Never apologise for a kiss like that" she winked, recalling her daughter who immediately ran towards her, she had put on a denim jacket and was carrying a pink backpack on her shoulders. When her mother picked her up, she wrapped her arms around her neck and let him kiss her.
“Did you have fun, little one?”
“Mum, do you know that he is Magnus' Prince Charming?”
"Really?" Catarina asked in return, glancing between them with a certain irony in her eyes.
"And he also does magic!» she whispered in her ear, showing her the penny he had given her. "Please, Mom, can we invite him home? I want to show him all my toys."
“Madzie, Alec has just returned from a long trip and is very tired,” Magnus tried to answer for him.
"Oh!" he exclaimed disappointedly. "So you're not coming?"
"I would love to see all your toys, but I have a huge suitcase to unpack. Let's do this, however, if your mother agrees, one day I'll come to your house and do another magic trick for you. This time a more beautiful one!" he exclaimed, while Madzie cheered with joy.
"Can he come, mummy? Can he?”
“Of course, he can,” she said with a big smile. Only then did Alec realise what time it was. He had landed almost three hours ago and still had everything in the car and the sand between his toes, the fault of a last dip in the sea with Jace after leaving the room. As much as he loved being with Magnus and adored little Madzie, he felt the need to take a shower.
“I'd better go now, it was nice meeting you,” he said as a gentle smile spread across his face.
"And I was very pleased to meet the famous Alexander" whispered Catarina while Magnus pushed him up to her entrance, claiming not to listen to her. She then kissed him on the cheek, promising that they would talk to him later. He could just hear Catarina say he was gorgeous, which of course made him blush, but then he took the door and walked out. Breathing in the New York air did nothing to calm his emotions. He felt stupidly happy, in a way she had never been and it was thanks to that strange man with the mohawk and glittery eyeshadow who was now undoubtedly talking about him with his friend. And it had just begun between them, he thought, reaching his car. The best was yet to come.
*
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.30 pm
Are you awake, pup, or you’re still sleeping?
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 9.31 pm
Of course I’m awake, do you take me for an old man?
Who sleeps at 9.30 in the evening?
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.32 pm
Uh, I like you when you’re so sour like this.
You’re a baby tiger with claws ready to scratch.
By the way, I wanted to ask you how your coming back has gone.
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 9.33 pm
Yeah, everything is OK!
I’m tired, but I’ll come back to work on Monday so I'll have all the weekend to rest.
But I’m worried for my parents…
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.34 pm
Still an Arctic pole?
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.35 pm
My Dad called me before, he asked me to host Max for a few days.
Next week he’ll go to the campus and on the following Monday he’ll start with the lessons. I thought that, before college, he came back to my parent's home and that they wanted to stay with him.
But I was wrong.
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.37 pm
Do your mother and your father still have problems?
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 9.38 pm
I think yes, actually, none of us knows anything.
Isabelle talked to my Mom yesterday evening and Max called her before, but she didn't say anything about what had happened between them.
Whatever it is, is a serious thing.
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.40 pm
Maybe your father was right when he said to give her time.
I think it’s true for both of you.
When they're ready, they’ll talk to you.
In the meantime, do you have something to do tomorrow evening?
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 9.49 pm
What do you have in mind?
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.50 pm
Considering that you admitted that you had thought about me at that club in Barbados, we’ll go to Pandemonium!
I’ll pass by your place at nine-thirty.
And I promise that I’ll not force you to do anything you don’t want.
So, OK?
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 9.51 pm
OK, but swear to me that you’ll never tell my siblings about that.
I don’t want them to see me in a nightclub and make fun of me because of my dancing skills.
I love Max, Iz and Jace, but sometimes I hate them…
From Magnus,
Friday, h. 9.53 pm
Promise, sweet pea!
That it will be our dirty, little secret.
See you tomorrow!
From Alexander,
Friday, h. 9.54 pm
To tomorrow!
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