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It was the day after the day after Christmas, and it was snowing in New York. Because the world seemed to conspire against him, Alec’s flight was canceled. Twice. He'd have to call out of work if this kept up any longer–Only if the blizzard messed with the internet, though. Otherwise he'd telecommute.
The airline canceled the second time when he'd already been waiting for a boarding call at the airport. Yes, he'd been there well before the point most people would have been for such a thing (Alec was nothing if not prepared) but getting the news that there wouldn't be flights home for the foreseeable future seemed to sting just a tiny bit more when heard in the airport itself.
Alec was contemplating whether to brave the storm or hunker down for an undetermined amount of time in uncomfortable lobby-esque chairs when his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Sit tight. A text from Izzy said, I'm sending Magnus to come get you.
Huh. He wasn't aware that Magnus had a car to get him with.
Alec had assumed Magnus took the bus or subway like most other New Yorkers, or maybe biked, since he knew how often the man expressed his concern for the environment. If he had a car, maybe it was one of those hybrid or electric ones that–
"Alexander!" a warm, familiar, voice called out.
Alec did a double-take. There was no way they could have been that fast. Maybe Izzy’s texts had been sent late? That couldn't have been Magnus, calling his name and striding through the airport like some shining ethereal phantom with a face tattoo.
Sure enough, though, it was Magnus, wrapped up to his nose in a scarf quite similar to the elegant one Alec had seen him wear on Christmas dinner.
Magnus–a rare person whose presence was as comforting as his demeanor was sociable–was a safe harbor every holiday in the moments when Alec would inevitably be left alone with the rest of his sister's friends. While Izzy was off with other parts of the family, Alec would be in some other pocket of the party, but he would never feel out of place so long as Magnus was there. The man had an uncanny gift for drawing others into conversation and making them feel included. He had an even uncannier gift of making Alec feel seen. He brought an air of ease to seas of strangers that never slipped, even when the parties died down. The man who Alec admired for his ability to simultaneously lighten up and calm down a room was also an incredible conversationalist. Multiple times, Izzy and Simon nearly kicked them out because they'd kept talking into the next morning.
Magnus was Izzy's friend, Simon's friend, though, and it felt wrong of Alec to feel as devastated as he was when he learned Magnus was sick. At first the man had claimed it was seasonal. Then, however, Alec had stayed for Labor Day last year only to find that Magnus couldn't make the friend group's usual cookout for the same reason. Alec had brought it up to his sister only for her to dismiss that it must have been some immune condition he was unwilling to talk about, and that it wasn’t like Alec to pry.
And, honestly, Alec hadn't intended to pry at all, but that incident in particular sparked a fire of confusion for him.
For one, the only reason he'd asked Izzy was because for some reason–as if he lived in the thickest cover of the Amazon Rainforest itself–Magnus didn't have a phone. Or a computer. Or technology in general. Which was absurd.
The second source of confusion was harder for Alec to think upon. Izzy was hardly ever terse with him. For all their lives, they'd been as thick as thieves, serving as confidants for each other when one of them was down. That had all changed when his sister met Simon, and it had taken some time for Alec to adjust. Perhaps most of it was Izzy entering a new stage of life and finding new people to rely on; Alec knew that would happen at some point–But where Isabelle had once been uncomfortably open about her life, she now seemed reluctant to talk about the strangest of things.
Like anything involving Simon or their friends. Or like why Alec could come over for a surprise visit whenever he wanted; they loved having him over, just… not on that day. Or that one. The two of them would comb through their schedules to find a day that worked for them both, but there was never a pattern with the days Izzy was unavailable. Only that it was only ever one day, once a month.
From there the topics only got more ridiculous and tangential. If Alec brought up that he was surprised Izzy only ever ordered from the same Chinese place–'The Jaded Moon' or whatever–despite hating their food? It was an immediate segue to another conversation.
Alec tried not to worry about it. The relationship between him and his sister could have been much worse–The two of them could have ended up like their mom and Uncle Max if he let this drive them apart. Alec refused to let that happen.
He turned his attention to the situation at hand, trying as hard as possible not to take in just how wonderful Magnus looked amongst all the dull businessmen and airport workers. Startlingly, a thought occurred to him:
"How did you get through security?" Alec murmured.
"Airports are some of the most liminal spaces," Magnus declared seriously; Alec must have gotten that wrong, because he thought he heard him continue with, "It's in their nature to allow passage through," and that couldn't possibly have been it.
"I'm sorry, what did you say?"
Magnus hacked up a wet-sounding cough within the confines of his scarf. "What was that, Alexander?" He replied, voice hoarse.
Alec considered what he thought he'd heard Magnus say and looked back again at the man who managed to enthrall him so. Alec only got to see him every so often– he'd be damned if he spent that time making a fool of himself by insulting the object of his affections.
Alec shook his head dismissively. "Nothing," he said.
Going against what he absolutely knew to be true was far from Alec’s nature. Hell, as an attorney, it was his nature to present and prove the truth as it aligned with human (and, before he'd managed to remove a parent-shaped weight off his back, corporate) values. If there was any man that could make him act outside his nature, though, it was Magnus. In the short time they'd shared, Alec found himself daring to be braver, to be more himself than he'd ever thought he could be.
He wasn't ready to let that go.
The Christmas party had been a lively affair; as a party planned by Izzy, it couldn't have been anything else. The guests–Simon’s sister, Becky; Izzy’s ex, Mel Leehorn or something, and a bunch of others–were all decent company. Out of all of them, though, Alec had only wanted to see Magnus. When the man showed up, wrapped up in a scarf and hat and obviously feeling unwell, he pushed away Alec’s remarks of concern; at least now, however, Magnus was able to admit his condition was not seasonal; nor was it contagious–he wore the scarf simply so that others didn’t have to see him “hacking up unseemly things”. Alec figured the man could use some comfort and normalcy for the night, and so he tried his best to set aside his worries for Magnus’ sake for the time being.
Despite this, well into the night when most of the other guests had left, it became too much.
Alec and Magnus had landed themselves in close quarters on Izzy’s couch, asking each other nonsensical questions when it left Magnus’ mouth:
“What would you do if it were your last day on Earth, darling?”
And Alec fought back how flustered he felt at that–because he couldn’t fight back the blush–and thought over the question until he could gather his answer.
“I think I’d call up everyone I know and say I love them. I know that’s a cliche, but what else counts when nothing is left, you know? There’s no point in spending the last hours of your life regretting the things you didn’t say.”
And Magnus nodded, solemnly. He was far too solemn.
“But, Magnus…” Alec whispered through the fear that hit him like a bag of bricks, “Was there a reason you asked me that?”
“I would think, Alexander,” said Magnus, and god, this would have been classic coy Magnus if the words hadn’t come out so quiet, “that there’s a reason why anyone asks anything.”
“And what was your reason? Magnus.”
Magnus continued to look at the straggling partygoers–anywhere, really, it seemed, but at Alec.
“Magnus, why would you–”
“I’m dying.”
–And that was perhaps the reason why Alec was in the cold of a whiteout snowstorm, following this man through an airport parking garage rather than questioning the wild explanation he’d given him. Alec wasn’t sure a dying man he’d known for years had much reason for deceit. At his core, something he didn’t want to consider, though–Alec wasn’t sure how much time he had left with Magnus, deceit or not.
He wasn’t sure how much time he had left in general, because– holy shit– the unburied husk of a tree was suddenly barreling at the two of them in less than five seconds flat. Alec saw his life flash before his eyes. Then, he saw the tree freeze–and not with ice.
Somehow, despite the speed it had been traveling at, the tree stopped. It did not skid against the pavement. It did not hit any of the cars. It simply froze, and Magnus held one hand out towards it while the other smashed the hood of a beat-up Prius.
"I am not contorting that mundane death trap through two hours of this weather,” he growled. “Alexander!"
"Yeah?"
"Do you trust me?"
"What?"
"Do you trust me?!"
"Yes!" Alec bellowed over the roars of the wind. "I can't say you're giving me much reason to, but yes, I trust you!" Alec would be damned if he knew why. "Magnus, just tell me what's going on!"
“I’m doing what counts,” he said.
The dead tree twisted its branches before them as if alive and ambulatory, sparking with a light that bled from the branch-tips to the ground below.
“A quick explanation,” said Magnus accommodatingly, like Alec wasn’t in the middle of a hallucinatory crisis. “ This is a portal. I made it, using the tree. Step inside, and it will take you to your sister’s home. But, before you go–” he gestured for Alec to wait while he heaved out a cough. “this is all magic and I am so sorry, Alexander! I have to be quick because I don’t know how this will hold against the storm, and if I had the time I’d tell you–Oh, to Edom with it, just come with me and I’ll tell you there!”
Five hours later, after countless other explanations, Magnus finally got around to the explanation that mattered most to Alec:
He was in love with him.
Alec couldn’t relate to all this Seelie or Werewolf or magical drama, but he could relate to that.