#malecweek2017

“Good,” Jace replies more brusquely now, clearing his throat. “Don’t let him do anything strenuous, you know he’s stubborn as a mule. And don’t let him come back to work, under any circumstances. I already threatened him with drastic measures should he do so but I’m not sure he believed me.”

Magnus’ smile widens. “What drastic measures?”

“I told him I would personally bankrupt the company, if need be, so that he would have no place to come back to and that would be it!”

Magnus laughs, easily imagining how that exchange must’ve gone. “I bet he had a heart at--” He cuts himself off sharply, his laugh suddenly gone.

It’s not a joke. It’s not funny. It’s too soon. It’ll never be not too soon. Magnus wants to apologize for his stupid mouth running away from him but he doesn’t need to. Jace hears his “I’m sorry” in his silence, in his slightly hitching breath.

Because Jace was there when Alec collapsed in his office, he was the one who called 911, he was the one who administered CPR, he was the one who saved Alec’s life - while Magnus was in San Francisco, scolding an employee of his for… Magnus doesn’t even remember for what anymore. He found out about what happened only after it was all over, after his lover was in the hospital, stabilized, breathing and with his heart beating once more. Jesus...

“Just…” Jace starts, then falls silent again. “Make sure that he rests, alright? That he takes his meds and doesn’t think about anything but getting well again. Nothing else matters. We’ll take care of the company, me and Izzy, Clary and Simon and… and everyone, we should’ve done that a long time ago, taken on more responsibility. Then Alec wouldn’t have had to--” Now it’s Jace who cuts himself off.

No one should suffer a stress induced heart attack at 32. No one. They all feel responsible. They all think that they should’ve done something.

“I’ll take care of him,” Magnus promises, still watching Alec swinging gently in the hammock back and forth, back and forth. “I’ll make sure he rests. Even if I have to tie him down.”

Jace groans. “Oh my God, too much information. Keep your perverted fantasies to yourself!” he jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

It works. Magnus smiles.

Magnus walks out onto the veranda, then the three steps down and across the lush green lawn towards the large tree growing at the edge of the yard where it meets the beach, a smooth strip of pale, sun-warmed sand. Past it, there’s nothing but the ocean, blue and endless and whispering. It’s the perfect place for a much needed vacation.

Walking up to the hammock, Magnus stops in the cool shade of the tree and smiles down at his lover. Alec’s asleep, the book he planned on reading is lying open and forgotten in his lap. His head’s tilted slightly towards the sea and he’s snoring very quietly. It’s quite adorable. Magnus could stare at him forever.

Then Alec snuffles a little, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. He turns his head, and seeing Magnus standing there, he smiles lazily. “Hey,” he greets him.

“Hey,” Magnus responds.

“Came to check on me?” Alec asks.

Magnus nods. “Someone has to keep an eye on you.”

Alec lifts his arm in invitation. “Maybe you should come closer, then? Your eyesight isn’t what it used to be anymore, as we both know,” he remarks, eyes dancing with mischief.

“Rude!” Magnus grumbles as he climbs into the hammock and sets it swinging.

“But true,” Alec points out. He wraps his arm around Magnus’ shoulders and pulls him closer. “You do need glasses, you’re just too vain to admit it.”

Magnus harrumphs and doesn’t bother to answer such a ridiculous accusation. He and vain. Pah! Nonsense.

Settling down, Magnus snuggles in and rests his head against Alec’s chest. Alec’s chest hair tickles a little, but he doesn’t mind at all. It’s a familiar, cozy feeling, as familiar as Alec’s warmth, as the sound of his strong, regular heartbeat. Magnus has never heard anything more wonderful than the thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump under his ear now. So wonderful.

Magnus thinks he’s subtle. He’s not.

“I’m okay, Magnus,” Alec assures his lover tenderly, rubbing his back. “I won’t ever let it get so bad again. No more fourteen hour days. No more weekends at the office. No work at all in the foreseeable future, apparently.” Now he sounds a little sour.

Magnus smiles. “I heard that Jace threatened to bankrupt the company if you went back before you were fully recovered.”

“He would,” Alec mutters, but there’s true affection in his voice.

“You could always become a kept man, you know?” Magnus suggests, patting Alec’s flat stomach. “My kept man. The restaurants are doing better than ever now that I let Raphael expand our cuisine. I could afford being a sugar daddy. Don’t you think I would be a great sugar daddy?”

Alec laughs and Magnus’ head bounces a little on his lover’s chest. It makes him smile.

Then Alec stops laughing. He pauses for a moment and when he speaks again, there’s something in his voice that makes Magnus pay close attention. “Or we could take it a step further. I could become your househusband.”

Breath hitches in Magnus’ chest and he lifts his head to look Alec in the eyes. “You mean…”

Alec smiles and runs his fingers through Magnus’ hair. “Yeah. I wanted to ask you before… well, before, and I bought you a beautiful ring - it’s in my bedside table at home - and I had all these elaborate plans and--”

Magnus kisses him. He kisses Alec deeply and thoroughly, making love to his mouth. And when they part for breath, he stares down at his lover whose eyes are now a little unfocused and whose lips are beautifully swollen from kissing.

“Yes. If you’re actually asking me to marry you--”

“Well, that’s what I was trying to do, you interrupted me!” Alec protests.

“--then my answer is yes,” Magnus finishes, grinning.

Laughing, Alec pulls Magnus down and hugs him tight, setting the hammock swinging so hard that Magnus squeaks and flails a little, even though he knows that Alec would never let him fall. He’s perfectly safe in his lover’s - fiancé’s! - arms. Safe and loved.