Winter Blooms (Alec Lightwood)

🗝 Chapter Thirty-Eight 🗝

Though Alec had said that he was going home, he had made an easy detour first.

Magnus Bane's apartment had not changed much since Alec's first seeing it. The door opened after his knock, Magnus' voice echoing through the entire space with a confirmation that he would be right there.

"Alec?" It was confusion when he saw the Shadowhunter. "I thought you were Varian."

It was not a thought, but rather a very specific feeling, the aura that followed the Shadowhunter was twisted in wisps of Varian, the confusion made him smile.

"Oh, shit, sorry Magnus, it's just me." Alec was nervous, that much was obvious in the way that he avoided looking directly at the Warlock, instead his eyes search the room. "I was hoping to discuss something with you."

Magnus hummed as an easy reply, "May I offer you a drink?"

"Please." Alec's voice cracked on the word, he cleared his throat as he crossed the room, sitting as stiff as a board on the couch. "Please." It came out clearer this time.

Magnus had no idea why the Shadowhunter was here, but did not daly in making him a drink. A mimosa, his memory serving right when he thought of the Shadowhunter's preference for them.

"I'm here-" Alec paused, taking a light sip from the drink before starting again. "I'm here to ask if you would, if I can, if-"

Magnus chuckled, the noise interrupted Alec easily, who looked embarrassed. "Take your time Alec, whatever it is I'll be patient."

And with that silence fell over the room.

Alec's voice seemed to be caught in his throat, no longer was he the easy speaking Shadowhunter who had so easily shared his strength with Varian nearly a year ago. The Shadowhunter that hosted a wedding wanted by his father and mother who and then kiss the only Warlock in all of New York that sought the approval of no one. In Alec's eyes, everything that he did seemed to be a contradiction in the moment now.

Instead he was a shy man, seeking approval from the father of his boyfriend for the best thing that could ever happen.

He set his glass on the table in a final way, and though his eyes did not leave the ground between Magnus' feet, his hands began to search through his pockets.

Magnus watched on, unsure what he was so insistently looking for, but curious all the same as he sipped his whiskey. He had not been a fan of whiskey for the longest time, but his taste for it grew as his son found it to his liking.

Alec sighed, his hand pulled from his pocket with a little box resting in his palms.

And Magnus Bane knew immediately, he smiled, though he gave the man a chance to ask what it is he wanted too.

"I want to ask Varian to marry me." Alec's voice was soft, his eyes lifting from the ground and looking in Magnus'. There was no lie in his eyes. "I have a ring, and I have the place, but I wanted to ask your permission."

Magnus began to consider it very carefully, though he knew his answer the moment that Alec asked.

To him, the consideration was more so trying to remember why on Earth this was the proper custom. The idea that Alec took it upon himself to ask in the first place made him smile. For it made him happy to be asked, as he was Varian's father, and while he would not say no, the idea of being capable of saying no made him feel a sense of power.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Magnus smiled as he said it, dramatically throwing a hand into the air and spraying bright red heart shaped confetti onto the Shadowhunter in front of him.