HeartBLOOD

Chapter twenty-five

"You're already up?", Magnus asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Yeah.", Alec sighed and sat up straight in bed. He had been awake for about an hour by now- somehow, the nervousness was starting to get to him as well. He had been staring at the ceiling for the past thirty minutes, trying to calm down before their last training without costumes. There was one combination Alec still struggled with a bit and he just prayed he'd get it down today. "Hey, no reason to be stressing out- you've got this.", Magnus said and got into Alec's bed, striking his arm- it almost was as if he knew what Alec was thinking about. "I hope so.", Alec exhaled and blew a kiss on Magnus' cheek. Just as he wanted to stand up, his boyfriend's grip on his wrist intensified, pulling him back onto the bed. "Don't even think about it.", he grinned and pulled Alec down onto him before their lips pulled together like magnets, sending electric waves all throughout their bodies. Alec felt Magnus' fingertips trace his spine until they were stopped by his boxers. With a little moan, Alec started creating a path of hot kisses all the way from the side of Magnus' mouth over his chin, down his neck, until he reached his chest. Magnus' hands ran through Alec's hair whilst he did what his boyfriend liked best.

"Do you remember how we used to watch the stars here?", Magnus asked as both of them gathered around in the kitchen for a breakfast-snack. "Honestly, I can't look at this room anymore without getting overloaded with memories.", Alec laughed. "Right?", Magnus exclaimed, "Like honestly, in about nine months, there will be new people living in this room- for them, it'll be a completely blank sheet, but for us this is home. For us, this is where we met, where we first talked, where countless incredible moments happened. For us, this is place magical." "Well, I guess everyone gets to make their own memories in these NYABM halls- and they're sure as hell different for everyone.", Alec sighed and emptied his water. "True, and if we don't want to include getting destroyed by Valentine onto our memories-list, we really should get going, otherwise we'll be late."

"Five, six, seven, eight!", Valentine commanded and let everyone run the entire routine again. Alec could feel the soreness from his past intense session with Valentine deep in his muscles, but now was not the moment to drown in self- pity. Besides, realizing it was their last normal training made Adrenaline run through his veins, giving him some of that nervous-excitement he always felt when a performance was not far away. "Come on ladies and gents, you can do better! Jonathan, feet! Camille, what's with the facials? Simon, where's the expression? This is dance, this is art. Now make it look like it.", he yelled and stopped the music, commanding everyone to go back to their starting positions. "Let's take a break, I have a few announcements anyways.", Valentine spat. Thankful, everyone sat onto the sweat-sticky dancefloor. "Tomorrow is the dress rehearsal. Now, the costumes will only be delivered tomorrow morning. Our main issue now is, that year one will have their first costume rehearsal for their midterm performance as well, meaning we have an issue with dressing rooms and especially the stage. As the younger students are way less experienced, they get your dressing rooms and the main stage tomorrow." "So, where are we going to rehearse?", Aline asked. "Year one will take up most of our space- they have a lot of small groups that have to rehearse at the same time, it's a big deal and really complicated as they are unusually many students. That's why we will rehearse in the old part of NYABM- it's locked, but I'll open it tomorrow. You'll get there by passing through the cafeteria, there is the stage entrance. There's a solid stage and a set of bathrooms as well as changing rooms- it's not all as new and pretty as this part of NYABM, but it will do for emergencies like this one.", Valentine explained and fidgeted his keys out of his pocked, "And for the sake of not losing anyone, I'll show it to you now." Without any hesitation, all of them got up and followed their coach. "Have you ever been there?", Alec whispered to Magnus who shook his head:" I knew it existed, but as Valentine said- it's locked. I don't think that stage has been used in a decade at least." With a frown, Alec walked out of the door and followed Valentine through the cafeteria. As described, he saw a door which Valentine unlocked. An uncomfortable cold seemed to be pouring out of that door, carrying a stuffy smell with it. "As I said, it's neither modern nor beautiful, but it will do.", Valentine warned them and guided the group through sort of a tunnel which opened to a huge wooden stage. The lights minimally illuminating the path and the stage seemed to be flickering. "Over there is another one of these tunnels, getting you to the change rooms and even behind that are the bathrooms. It's quite easy to get lost here but I think you can manage.", their coach chuckled. "Man, I don't like that place.", Simon whispered in Alec's direction who shook his head:" Me neither, honestly. But I guess it's better than nothing. It was the complete opposite of the stage in NYABM's main body- black and brown instead of turquoise and gold, wood instead of marble, yellow lights, a billion cables and a strange smell instead of the sleek and clean technology over there. "Alright, let's go back- it's quite chilly in here but when the stage lights are on tomorrow, it'll be a lot warmer anyways.", Valentine commanded and guided his students back to their training room. Despite his assurances, a shiver ran down Alec's spine- he had a bad feeling about the whole room, something seemed off. But it most probably was just his nervousness, anyways.