#jinglefell

“Did no one try to talk you out of it?” Alec asks, kissing Magus’ jaw before leaning back to look him in the eyes.

“Cat is just as bold as me. She was only encouraging me to try it. Ragnor, on the other hand, just scolded us from the other side of the table, telling us it was a terrible idea,” Magnus says, running a hand through Alec’s hair.

Alec just smiles softly, studying Magnus’ face. Whenever Magnus mentions Ragnor, it always hits Alec right in the heart. He can’t imagine the pain Magnus felt in losing a lifelong best friend. Magnus only tries to bring him up in happy memories, but Alec can see what the anniversary of Ragnor’s death does to Magnus too. He notices when Magnus curls up in his chair in his office and tries to work, only to end up blankly staring into a spellbook until Alec convinces him to take a bath, and makes sure Magnus is taken care of the rest of the day.

“Do you miss him?” Alec asks out of the blue, mentally kicking himself for being unable to bite his tongue.

“All the time,” Magnus says, breathing out his answer like he’s been holding in for forever. He’s looking at something right behind Alec’s left ear, and Alec cups his cheek so Magnus would meet his eyes.

“You can tell me about him, if you want,” Alec says, searching Magnus’ face for any sign that he overstepped. By the way Magnus fingers are idly playing with the small hairs on the back of Alec’s neck, he thinks Magnus isn’t angry.

“He was -” Magnus starts, gulping and blinking a few times. “He was good, I guess. I think everyone needs that one friend who will call you out on your bullshit, and Ragnor was that for me. While Catarina is by no means subtle herself, Ragnor had a knack for being brutally honest and yet so earnestly caring. It was so obvious that everything he said had meaning, and was coming from a good place.”

Alec listens closely, just holding Magnus and running his thumb up and down Magnus’ hipbone comfortingly.

“One time, we found ourselves in this poker tournament. We were a little naive and forced to play but nevertheless, I lost about 200 dollars before tapping out, but Ragnor,” Magnus shook his head with a fond smile, “Ragnor destroyed every poker player in that room. People who have been playing for years, who were considered experts. He won about 200,000 dollars, which wasn’t a small fortune back then, and when I asked him how he beat everyone at his first poker tournament, he laughed and told me that all their pokerfaces were ridiculously weak.”  

Magnus smiles fondly, and Alec returns it.

“Good god, Magnus, did you see all their faces? It’s like they didn’t know a Royal Flush from a Full House,” Magnus says in his best British accent, making Alec laugh.

Magnus sighs then, the smile fading a little. “He was someone who didn’t step out of his comfort zone often, but when he did, it was always an unforgettable experience.”

Alec presses closer to Magnus, eyes never leaving his face.

“He sounds like a great man,” Alec says, and Magnus smiles sadly.

“He was.”

Magnus curls closer to Alec, as if letting Alec anchor him through the memories. Alec suddenly feels bad for mentioning it. He’s been trying to get better about his pillow talk, but clearly he still had some ways to go.

“I’m sorry,” Alec says, and he hopes Magnus can hear past the simple two words. Alec grieves the life of a wonderful man he’ll never get a chance to meet. He’s met Catarina and Raphael and Dot, aiming to impress Magnus’ closest friends, but one of the closest people in Magnus’ life is gone. He exists only through the memories he’s molded in his friend’s lives, and Alec hopes Magnus hears that he’s not only sorry for bringing it up, but he’s sorry for all that Magnus has lost.

Of course, Magnus can read Alec easier than anyone else has ever been able to. Magnus kisses the spot on Alec’s neck where his head is tucked in, and Alec runs a soothing hand up and down Magnus’ back.

After a few moments, when Alec is sure Magnus has probably dozed off, Magnus speaks again, “He would have liked you.”

Alec runs a hand down Magnus’ arm and finds his hand, intertwining their fingers, trying to show Magnus how much that statement means to him. Ragnor, like the rest of Magnus’ friends, are like his family, and he knows Magnus isn’t just saying this because he wants Alec to feel good. Alec can hear the blunt honest in his voice, and deep down in his heart he knows that Magnus genuinely thinks it’s true.

“I would have liked him too,” Alec replies, feeling Magnus squeeze his hand.

Ragnor is a man Alec will never have the pleasure of meeting, but he was one of Magnus’ best friends, and he has a piece of Magnus’ heart. One day a few months ago, Magnus admitted to Alec that Ragnor was the voice in his head that pushed him to go to Alec’s wedding.

Alec smiles into Magnus’ hair as his fiancee slowly falls asleep, hoping that if Ragnor can hear him through some kind of supernatural ability, he’ll hear these two words:

The engines hummed to life beneath her feet, and Morgana headed over to the stairs, making her way into the main body of the ship. Although Aithusa was perfectly capable of flying herself, Morgana had always enjoyed exploring the galaxy herself. There was something soothing about flying about the stars.

“Did you get everything sorted?”

That was another soothing thing in her life too.

Morgana pulled the card out of her jacket pocket, waving it in the air at Gwen. The other woman was leaning around the door to the bridge, her hands covered in grease. Whilst Morgana might have run away to escape into the sky, Gwen just loved mechanics. Her father had worked on ships, and taught her everything. She was the best engineering mind around, and Morgana loved that about her.

But then, she loved everything about Gwen, she reminded herself as she leaned in to place a soft kiss on her girlfriend’s lips in greeting.

“Warrant fulfilled, one paycheck in the accounts. We can celebrate tonight,” Morgana suggested, and Gwen laughed softly. “Do we think the boys have managed to stay out of trouble?”

“Oh, unlikely,” Gwen replied easily. It wasn’t often their team of bounty hunters split up. The RAC was very regimented with who could take on what jobs - and Morgana was the only Level 5 on the ship, the only one with full access to whatever the RAC asked of them. They could take on bigger bounties with her name on the warrant. A fact Arthur had never stopped complaining about.

Gwen was technically training for her Level 5, but in truth Morgana thought she was better off where she was. Safe, protected. Level 3 was a good position. Level 5… getting Level 5 meant taking on kill orders. Morgana was open to that sort of darkness, she had been ever since her nightmares started as a child. To do the right thing, for justice, there was nothing that she wouldn’t do. But Gwen…. sweet Gwen deserved better. Morgana wanted to protect her from all that, for as long as she could.

“I suppose we should get back to Westerley before they ruin Old Town then,” Morgana mused, thinking of the planet, the closest thing to home they had. There were good people in Old Town, despite the poverty there. Most people could barely afford to survive, and the rest of the planets in the Quad thought it was a waste of space. But Morgana had always seen the beauty there. They all felt comfortable in Old Town, in a strange way. Even highborn, stuck up arse Arthur. That was where they’d left them, as her and Gwen had gone to finish their latest warrant.

But rather than agree to that plan, Gwen just moved a little closer to Morgana, hands slipping onto her waist. Foreheads bumped gently, and she couldn’t help but inhale the sweet scent of her girlfriend’s hair. Everything about her was intoxicating, and Morgana didn’t know how she’d gone so long without this girl in her life. They’d only known each other a few years. How had she been surviving before then?

“I suppose we should,” Gwen murmured in reply, tilting her chin up, lips brushing as she spoke. Morgana sighed and couldn’t help but chase, leaning in for that promise of a kiss. Fingernails dug into the flesh at her hips, and Morgana stepped closer, a hand looping around Gwen’s waist to pull her close.

“We really really should,” Morgana whispered in her ear, but Gwen just pressed kisses down the line of her throat.

“Aithusa, set a course for Westerley please,” Morgana gasped out. She barely heard the response as Gwen’s teeth nipped gently at her skin. Arthur and Merlin would have to wait. Instead, Morgana took her girlfriend’s hand, pulling her down the hall to her room.