Work Text
1. Tokyo
Alec sat in his office, eyes glazing over after hours of seemingly never ending paperwork. He didn’t know how it was possible for the Clave to be
that
big of a pain in the ass. They’d sent over the Angel knows how many form requests in the last few hours, and Alec had been contemplating passing the stack off to Jace or Underhill or
anyone else
so he could go home to Magnus and cuddle on the couch for the rest of day or maybe even eternity.
Magnus.
Just the thought of his boyfriend had him smiling, piles of paperwork already forgotten, at least for the moment. He couldn’t wait to go home and curl up in front of a movie with some takeout and Magnus’s arms around him. It was the closest thing to heaven Alec thought he would ever experience, being in Magnus’s arms. He couldn’t wait to have that forever.
Of course, there was a small issue with forever: he hadn’t exactly
told
Magnus that was something he wanted, hadn’t asked if that was something Magnus wanted, too. But he was going to. He just didn’t know how yet. Magnus was a man of intricacies, of unimaginable depths of love and courage and hope and kindness despite centuries of hurt. Alec couldn’t take that hurt away, but he could give Magnus just as much love and warmth for as long as he’d let him.
His eye caught on the collection of picture frames at the corner of his desk. Some were of Izzy, Jace, Max, their mom, but the rest were Magnus. Magnus smiling in a selfie he’d sent Alec about a year ago while away in Paris on business. Magnus twirling Madzie around in the loft in the middle of an impromptu dance party. Himself kissing Magnus’s cheek in Central Park. The two of them making silly faces in the photobooth in Tokyo.
That’s an idea
, he thought, remembering their date in Tokyo, only their second but definitely one of the most memorable. Alec smiled, remembering their debates on whether or not “fatty tuna” was an offensive name and the Palace Hotel and strolling through the city streets after dark and taking in all the lights.
It wouldn’t be difficult to persuade Magnus to portal them there, he reasoned. He could pass it off as wanting to go on a trip down memory lane, which wouldn’t exactly be a lie. Any time he’d spent with Magnus was a favorite memory of his.
All he needed was a ring. And, well,
maybe
a slightly more concrete plan than just “hey let’s go to Tokyo, babe!” No, Magnus deserved the perfect proposal. He deserved flowers and candles and music and all the love in the world. It
had
to be perfect. Not because he thought the way he proposed would change Magnus’s answer, but because he deserved nothing less than the absolute best Alec could give him.
He set the picture frame down and stood, grabbing his jacket from where it was draped over the back of his chair. The rest of the paperwork could wait till tomorrow, he decided. Right now, he had a boyfriend waiting with open arms at home, and a multitude of plans beginning to form and circling around his mind.
2. Dancing
The loft was dim when Alec arrived home from the Institute. It wasn’t unusual, really, but candles flickered around the living room and he could hear soft notes echoing from the record player. The sight of Magnus swaying gently to the music with a glass of wine was a
very
pleasant surprise, though. Alec knew how to dance, sure, but he’d never been particularly fond of dancing until he’d met Magnus. Until he’d seen the way his boyfriend’s body turned fluid and became one with the melodies.
A few weeks had passed since that afternoon in his office, and he was still determined to plan the perfect proposal. He’d almost mentioned it to Izzy, but he wasn’t quite ready to face her questioning excitement or the teasing. Izzy would be happy for him, he knew, but he wasn’t ready to let go of the private elatedness he felt as the prospect of asking Magnus to marry him, of making him his
husband
.
He’d almost brought up Tokyo the night before, almost suggested they go in a couple weeks, but his nerves got the best of him. And besides, he hadn’t figured out all the details yet. He hadn’t even picked a
ring
yet.
By the Angel
, he thought. Maybe he did need to talk to Izzy. Alec definitely didn’t know anything about jewelry or rings, just what he’d picked up from Magnus over the years, and even that wasn’t a lot.
“It’s rude to stare, Alexander.” Magnus’s voice broke him from his thoughts and he realized Magnus had stopped dancing, but now stood looking at him with a fond smile.
“Whoever decided that has obviously never seen you dance,” Alec said because it was true. It was impossible to not stare when Magnus moved. Every movement, every graceful turn, sent butterflies through Alec’s chest.
Magnus laughed, the sound far prettier than the music surrounding them both, Alec was certain. “Care to join me?” he asked with an outstretched arm.
Maybe this
, Alec thought suddenly as he graciously accepted his boyfriend’s hand and let himself be pulled into swaying movements.
Maybe not Tokyo. Maybe just us, and our home, and dancing in the candlelight
. Magnus loved to dance, it was hardly a secret. But he always seemed more delighted when he managed to get Alec to join him. He would love it, Alec was sure. But he could hardly think about this now, he decided. Not with Magnus’s face mere inches from his own and the flickering candles casting soft shadows and the faint sweetness of Magnus’s wine lingering in the air only making him more dizzy as they spun around and around around each other.
3. Scavenger Hunt
“Hey Iz,” Alec said, tapping against the open door to his sister’s room. “I...need your help with something.”
Izzy sat at her vanity, leaving sharp black strokes across her eyelids. “What’s up?” she asked, meeting his eyes in the mirror.
He hesitated, tugging absently at the hem on his sleeves. He’d spent the last month wandering aimlessly through jewelry shops trying to discern what any of it meant, but he’d failed miserably. It wasn’t the rings themselves--those he could figure out, for the most part. He wasn’t completely helpless. He knew gold from silver, and had a general idea which gems were more valuable or carried more meaning. His problem was that there were so many beautiful rings in the world, in New York, that Alec didn’t know which one would be perfect for Magnus. There were just
too many
to choose from. Alec liked to think of himself as a decisive man, but he’d never struggled to make a decision on something so much in his life--not even when he’d walked out of his own wedding to kiss Magnus Bane in front of the entire New York Institute and half the Clave. Okay, maybe
that
was an exaggeration, but he was at his wits end.
Izzy set down her eyeliner and spun around to face him. “Alec? You alright, hermano?”
He let out a somewhat shaky sigh and stepped into her room, seating himself on the corner of her bed. “Yeah, I just need your help with something, and it’s…a big deal.” Alec Lightwood, Head of the New York Institute, Master of Great Understatements.
“What’s the Clave want you to do now?” she asked with a groan.
“It’s not…it’s not the Clave. It’s more...personal.” She raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue. He took a deep breath. “I’m going to propose to Magnus.”
Izzy’s face lit up, her eyes widening and a huge grin spreading across her face. “Alec, that’s amazing!” She stood and threw her arms around him. “I’m so happy for you!”
“Thank you, but I still have to ask him, you know,” he teased as he hugged his baby sister. “That’s what I need your help with, actually,” he added as she pulled away to sit next to him. “I still need to pick a ring, but I really don’t know what I’m doing.”
“Come on, let’s go,” she said with a laugh.
“Right now?” Izzy was already standing and pulling him along with her.
“Yeah, why not? I’m not on patrol until later tonight, and Jace can handle the Institute for a few hours.”
“That’s debatable,” Alec scoffed as Izzy pushed him out the door.
***
“It doesn’t really matter how valuable the ring is, Alec. Especially since it’s Magnus we’re talking about. He’s had centuries to acquire wealth, I don’t think he’s
that
concerned what karat the stone or metal is,” Izzy told him as they perused in one of Izzy’s favorite shops.
“The metals have karats, too?” Alec asked in confusion.
Izzy shot him a look. “You’re more hopeless than I thought.”
“Me too,” he muttered. “So what is important then, oh wise one?”
“You should find something with
personal
meaning. Something that reminds you of him or of your relationship. Something that shares a part of yourself. Even something that you think he would just find beautiful,” she answered.
Alec hummed, returning his focus to the rings in front of him.
Oh
. He pointed to it through the glass case. “Can I see that one, please?” he asked the employee.
“Found one you like?” Izzy asked, moving to look over his shoulder.
“Yeah,” he breathed as the woman held the ring out to him to inspect. “It reminds me of his eyes.” It did. The band itself was simple gold. A ring of small diamonds surrounded an oval citrine gemstone. The color almost perfectly matched Magnus’s eyes. It was beautiful, just like them. Just like the man Alec hoped would wear it.
Izzy smiled at him slowly. “It’s perfect, Alec. He’ll love it.”
Soon they were back at the Institute, both staring at the ringbox and grinning like children caught in a game. Alec couldn’t believe he’d finally found the perfect ring. A ring that he hoped Magnus would love. A ring that he hoped would remind Magnus every day just how much Alec loved him, not despite of his flaws and insecurities and fears, but because of them, at least in part.
“So how are you going to pop the question?” Izzy’s question brought him out of his thoughts.
“I haven’t decided yet. I have a couple of ideas, but I want it to be perfect, you know?” Alec shrugged nervously. “Now that I have the ring, I should probably figure that out, huh?”
Izzy hummed, the corner of her mouth curving inward as she thought. “Ooh!” she exclaimed suddenly. “A scavenger hunt!”
Alec raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“I saw it on TV once, some mundanes did it. You set up a scavenger hunt for Magnus to go on with little clues and inside jokes and cute messages, and then at the end of the scavenger hunt he finds you.”
“So...he’d be doing the scavenger hunt by himself?”
“He could, but it’d be fun to have me or Clary or someone go with him. Doesn’t that sound romantic?” she asked, her voice going cartoonishly dreamy. Alec loved his sister but sometimes he
hated
his sister.
“Izzy, I love you, I do. But that sounds like a terrible idea.” His sister pouted, but he continued. “First of all, why would I not want to spend the day I’m proposing with Magnus? The whole point is that I want to spend forever with him.”
Izzy’s frown softened into a smile.
“Second of all,” he added before she could say anything. “That’s the most
mundane
bullshit I’ve ever heard. Mundanes are idiots,” he said with a shake of his head. They both nodded, mockingly serious, before bursting out laughing.
“Whatever you decide is going to be perfect, Alec,” Izzy said once they’d calmed down. “You don’t need to stress yourself out planning the perfect proposal. It’s going to be perfect no matter what as long as
you propose
, and Magnus says yes, which he’s absolutely going to. If he doesn’t, I’ll torch his closet. Just say the word.”
Alec laughed and pulled his sister into a hug. “Thank you, Iz.”
+1 Breakfast
Marry me
, Alec thought. The words jumped into his head so suddenly. They’d been on his mind for weeks now—months even—but today they surged up inside of him, begging to burst forth like water behind a dam.
Marry me
, he thought, completely ready to ruin all his plans and surprises and the
ring
.
Marry me
, he thought, realizing that none of that mattered. All that mattered was the soft morning light casting a golden glow on Magnus and making him unfairly more beautiful. All that mattered were the cat eyes on display and unafraid to be seen in the mornings when it was just them. All that mattered was the soft words and the french toast they’d made together and the way Magnus was looking at him right now. The way Magnus always looked at him. All that mattered was Alec Lightwood was ridiculously, irrevocably, unconditionally, and forever in love with Magnus Bane and he wanted to spend forever showing him that.
“Marry me,” he said, surprises and months of planning be damned.
A slow, disbelieving grin spread across Magnus’s face. “Alexander, I...” his voice was hesitant but full of awe, like he didn’t know what to say.
“This isn’t how I was planning to do this,” Alec said in a rush. “Just so you know. I’ve been planning with Izzy for months. I was going to convince you to portal us to Tokyo and spend the night recreating our first date, or I was going to ask you to dance in the living room and eventually lead you out onto the balcony, or Izzy wanted me to do some scavenger hunt thing she saw some mundanes do on TV, or—”
Magnus laughed, the sound cutting him off. His face had changed from disbelief to pure awe. “Can I answer now?” he asked, his voice more of a whisper. Alec nodded, and then Magnus stood from his own chair and moved to sit straddling Alec’s lap instead, one arms looping loosely around his waist and the other cupping his cheek.
Alec’s own arms looped around Magnus’s waist. He studied Magnus’s eyes, breath catching at the sight of them. His cat eyes shone with the morning light streaming through the kitchen window and with the wetness that had appeared as Alec had spoken. Magnus’s thumb brushed against Alec’s cheekbone, and he shivered at the touch.
“Yes,” Magnus whispered before pressing a kiss to Alec’s cheek. “Yes,” he said again, pressing another to the tip of his nose. “Yes.” The corner of his smile. He pulled away and Alec felt blinded by his smile. Alec was convinced the only thing in the world anywhere near as bright as Magnus’s smile was the feeling in his own chest.
Alec’s eyes widened. “I have a ring. I didn’t even give you the ring.”
Magnus let out a surprised laugh and his eyes shone as they crinkled around the edges. “That’s alright, darling. I have you.”
Alec kissed him because how could he
not
after something as incredibly sappy and heartwarming and beautiful as
that
. Magnus’s lips tasted like the syrup from their french toast, he realized with a grin that made it far more difficult to kiss him. “You do,” he whispered. “Have me, I mean. Always.”
“And you have me, too. Always, Alexander.”
“I’m still going to give you the ring, though,” Alec insisted. “I think you’ll love it--or I hope you will. I picked it because it reminded me of you.”
Magnus’s eyes turned into liquid gold and his smile was the fire. “I love you,” he said in a hushed voice like the words were involuntary, just slipping out on their own accord because in that moment they were so true, it hurt to remain unsaid. “Fiancé,” he added, his smile growing even larger, even brighter.
Alec couldn’t see his own face, but he could feel his own smile rivalling Magnus’s. “I love you, too, fiancé.”