#aleclwb

Part way through working on the wards, Magnus was already starting to feel tired and annoyed. He was currently down in the main room where only a few Shadowhunters were still awake. A glance at the clock told him that it was close to midnight. He closed up the wards he had been working on and turned to move on to the next room when he saw the small child from earlier.

He was in a pair of pajamas now, carrying a small stuffed teddy bear and sitting on the floor behind Magnus and watching him work. Curious, Magnus knelt down before the young Shadowhunter. “Shouldn’t you be in bed?” The little one shrugged. “Do you know what I am, little Shadowhunter?”

“You’re a warlock,” he said, lifting his hand and making movements like he was casting a spell. “And you do magic.”

Magnus caught sight of the mark on the child’s right hand. At first, he had mistaken it as a rune, but the Shadowhunter still looked too young for that. He reached out and traced the mark. It was a simple black arrow with an ‘M’ and a ‘B’ mixed into the line, and glowed a faint blue color when Magnus touched it.

The young Shadowhunter’s eyes went wide. “What was that?”

Magnus stood up, ignoring the slight burn on his rib from his own mark. “Nothing,” the warlock said. “You should go back to bed.”

“But I don’t-“

“Alec? Alexander?!”

The Shadowhunter looked over his shoulder and Magnus took that moment to walk away. Until six years ago, Magnus had no soulmate mark. He believed he would never have one and took on many lovers. He wouldn’t let having no mark decide his fate.

Then he woke up one morning and out of the blue, an arrow with an ‘A’ and a ‘L’ mixed into it had showed up on his side over his ribs, and after what he had just seen, it would appear that his soulmate was, unfortunately, a Shadowhunter.

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“Do you ever wonder if you have feelings for someone just because you know they’re your soulmate?”

The question had startled Lydia out of her paperwork and she looked up to see Alec standing in the office, subconsciously rubbing one of his gloved hands. She blinked at him for a few seconds before pushing aside her work. Alec needed someone to talk to, and he had come to her.

“What makes you say that?”

Alec shrugged and took a seat. “How did you know what you felt for John was genuine and not because he was your soulmate?”

“Because I didn’t know for several months,” Lydia replied. “And honestly, we didn’t see each other’s marks until we slept together for the first time. His was on his ankle, and mine is on my hip.” She gave a heavy sigh. “I think I knew that I loved him for him and not because he was my soulmate because of those months leading up to seeing each other’s marks.”

“But you have his initials, didn’t you know?”

“Those initials could have stood for anybody, Alec,” Lydia replied. “And I wasn’t yet ready for him to see it because part of me didn’t want to be disappointed if he wasn’t the ‘JM’ on my mark.”

Alec looked down, fidgeting a bit. “Oh.”

Lydia looked towards the closed door and leaned over the desk towards him. “Alec, is this about Magnus?”

Alec jumped at the name and looked up at her with wide eyes. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not blind, Alec,” she said, softly. “I do know about your feelings for him.”

“Then why are you still going through with the wedding?”

“Why are you?”

Alec sighed and leaned back, falling silent for a moment. When he spoke again, it was barely above a whisper. “I have a memory, or something, from when I was a kid. I don’t know if I just made it up or what, but I remember Magnus had come to the Institute and I was watching him work on the wards. He spotted me, because I was sitting behind him, and he saw my mark.”

“What did he do?”

“I remember him tracing it, and it glowed blue,” Alec replied. “So I knew it was Magnus when I saw him for the first time several months ago, so I wondered if maybe I had feelings for him because I knew he was my soulmate.”

“Our soulmates are our soulmates for a reason,” Lydia replied. “They’re not just the people who we are supposed to be with; they are the people who connect with us better than anyone else. There’s a connection there that is even deeper than that between parabatais. I know you’re not ready to accept your feelings for Magnus, but I do know that you are never going to love me, and I am never going to love you.”

“Magnus told me that we would resent each other.”

“I don’t want to resent you, Alec,” Lydia said. “And I’ve done some thinking of my own about this wedding.”

“You have?”

Lydia nodded. “We both want this Institute, but is it really worth our happiness?” She reached out and took Alec’s hand, the one with his soulmark. “And you do deserve to be happy, Alec. You deserve everything.”

“What about you? Don’t you deserve all that too?”

“I’ve had my moment of happiness,” Lydia replied. “And I don’t feel comfortable standing in the way of another’s.”

“You really mean that?”

Lydia nodded again. “I do.” She sat back and smiled. “Now, I have some work to do, and I think there’s another person who needs you right now.”

Alec stood up. “Thank you, Lydia. You really are a good friend.”

“Just make sure to invite me to the wedding, Alec,” she said, watching him blush and stumble away. “Say hi to Magnus for me.”

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“A little birdie told me that the wedding has been canceled,” Magnus said, as he sat in the conference room. The others had filed out, leaving Alec and Magnus alone. Alec wouldn’t be surprised if it was intentional. He dared to look up at Magnus. There was no emotion showing on the warlock’s face, but he could see a small glimmer of hope in his glamoured eyes. A part of Alec wished they were his real eyes.

With a sigh, Alec nodded. “While we’re great friends, being married is not the best decision for us — even if it was only a business arrangement.” He shuffled the papers on the table and put them away. “It-it was the right decision.”

He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Magnus. He hadn’t even realized the other man had gotten up. He felt his heart start to race. There wasn’t much space between them. “Can I show you something?” Magnus asked, quietly.

Alec could only nod. Magnus stepped back, shedding the jacket he was wearing and revealing his muscled arms. Alec knew he was staring, but he couldn’t help himself. Magnus was beautiful. Then he started to reached for the bottom of his shirt and Alec could feel his cheeks heat up. “What-what are you doing?”

“Showing you something,” Magnus replied, his hands pausing as he looked back up at Alec. “Don’t worry, I’m not trying to get in your pants. Well, not yet, at least," he added the last part with a laugh. “May I?”

After a moment, Alec nodded again. Magnus lifted his shirt, revealing his smooth belly button-less stomach. Alec had to force himself to look away for a moment. When he looked back, he could see a black mark on the side of Magnus’ ribs. Reaching out, he traced the black arrow with his initials in it. The mark glowed blue as Alec touched it and Magnus sucked in a breath.

“This is why I didn’t want you to get married, Alexander,” Magnus whispered, and Alec looked up to see the glamour had fallen from his eyes. Now bright cat eyes stared back at him. “It wasn’t just because I have feelings for you; it’s because I knew you were my soulmate. I spent hundreds of years with no mark on me until the day you were born.”

Alec ripped the glove off his hand where his own soulmark was. Magnus let his shirt fall back down and took Alec’s hand, gently caressing the mark. There was no glow and Alec frowned. “But—”

“Do you remember when you were a child, Alexander?”

Alec looked back up at Magnus. “Then that wasn’t a dream?”

Magnus shook his head. “I had known it was you for years. I will admit that, at first, I was upset over it but then I saw you again.” His other hand went to Alec’s cheek.  “And-and I knew that I couldn’t run from you anymore.”

Alec’s heart threatened to burst from his chest. “I was scared, but I don’t want to keep running from it either.”

“We don’t have to do anything about it yet. We can take this slow, Alexander. We—"

Alec cupped Magnus’ face and pulled him in for a kiss. Magnus stood there, shocked, for a few seconds before he was kissing back, wrapping his arms around Alec’s waist and pulling him close. It felt amazing, and perfect, and Alec didn’t ever want it to end.

When they finally broke apart, Alec couldn’t stop the smile curling his lips. “So, about that drink I owe you. Can we, maybe, go out sometime?”

1. What’s your guilty pleasure?

hmm, i don’t really believe in guilty pleasures? at least, i try not to but if i had to pick one it’d probably be certain reality shows, like tattoo fixers or project runway, stuff like that. 

2. What was the last dream you had about?

that’s a questions, cause i’ve been having oddly vivid and weird dreams lately but i think the last one was, like, an alternate version of my prom? idk how to explain - it was pretty surreal. 

3. Describe your favourite character in 3 words. 

I have a lot of faves but I’ll go with Magnus ;) 

Passionate. Worldly. Rare. 

4. What would you change about yourself?

I’d like at least an 80% increase in motivation, please. 

5. Are you car, dog, or llama person? 

i’ll go with cat - llamas are cool but i couldn’t cuddle them daily and dogs are lovely but i also don’t know how to deal with them and sometimes they do scare me lmao. cats are independent but also needy, which is basically me in a nutshell :) 

6. Something you wish you were good at. 

I’d love to be able to play the piano. 

7. What’s your comfort food? 

hmm, a good bacon/lettuce/tomato sandwich on toasted bread always makes me feel better tbh. 

8. If you could make one ship canon, which one would it be? 

oh damn... you know, probably drarry, maybe because i’ve been in that mood lately and idk, i think they deserved to be together and make each other happy in their own difficult ways. either that or sterek, but that’s maybe the obvious answer lmao. 

9. What song would best describe your life right now? 

honestly, my life is not interesting enough right now to be worthy of a song but ain’t not party like an aomg party by jay park has been stuck in my head since it came out, despite the fact that song describes nothing about my life. 

10. What makes you the happiest? 

idk, a few things - when my family’s happy, when i’m reading a good book or fanfic, when i’m listening to really good music, when i do well/finish something or idk, everytime i see magnus bane on my dash, probably. 

11. And last but not least, do you think Luke Garroway is a main character? 

well, duh. 

1. Have you ever fallen out of love? 

2. Do you own any objects (jewellery, trinkets etc) that have sentimental value in any way? 

3. In terms of your favourite characters, do you notice a pattern/trend in their ‘type’ or is it random? 

4. Do you have any tattoos/Do you want to get a tattoo? 

5. A ship/otp you will never, ever abandon no matter what (if you have one)?

6. Who was your first favourite character? 

7. What place in the world would you love to visit and/or live? 

8. Do you have a favourite poem or poet? 

9. Have you ever been to Pride? 

10. Do you have any notps (you don’t have to say specifics if you don’t want, just if you have one/some)?

11. The first concert you went to, if you’ve been to one?