Boylesque (🇬🇧)

Tea, strawberries or pasties?

"You hid all your money in your toilet cistern?" Magnus asked with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"I know," Alec replied, dragging the words out so much, so they sounded as though they would never end. "It was a pretty stupid idea. I didn't know what else to do, okay?"

Magnus knitted his eyebrows in confusion.

"You know that bank accounts exist, right?"

Instead of answering, Alec placed his elbows on his thighs and buried his hands in his hair. He made a sound that came from deep within him, mumbling something softly to himself. It sounded a lot like, I'm so stupid and such an idiot' to Magnus.

Magnus grimaced and gave the back of his head a mental slap. Alec had come to him in need of aid and support not to be lectured like a child. Well done, Bane. Really, well done.

"Sorry, Alexander. I didn't mean to judge or lecture you. It just surprised me a little. That's all."

Alec snorted softly and desperately.

"How about I make us something to drink?" Magnus asked, trying to steer the conversation in a different direction.

"Hmm..." Alec muttered, barely audible, and dug his hands deeper into the mess on his head.

"Something warm?"

Again, Alec only responded with a low groan. Magnus smiled. He got up from the sofa and patted Alec gently on the shoulder.

"Chin up. Everything's gonna be alright."

Alec growled a third time and Magnus couldn't help but shake his head in amusement as he made his way to his kitchen. Since due to the late hour coffee was no longer an option, Magnus decided to make tea for both of them.

He opened the door to the pantry and searched for a less exotic type of tea, rummaging through the many boxes with names like 'Purity Flame', 'Mystery of Desire' or 'Sanctify'.

Finally, he pulled out two varieties that wouldn't mean an extravagant excursion into the diversity of tea drinking if Alec wasn't an avid tea drinker. 'Emotional Detox' or 'I am'. Mhmm... which of the two should he choose?

A gentle touch against his leg drew his attention away from the boxes of tea. Magnus looked down to see one of his cats snuggling against him, running her head along his shin, with a soft meow.

"What do you think, Malou? Would you prefer the sage tea with elderflower and ginger or hibiscus with mint and basil?" Magnus asked his four-legged roommate. She looked up at him and purred softly. But then she turned away from him and padded quietly to her food bowl, which was apparently much more interesting than choosing which tea to offer to his guest.

"Thanks for your help," Magnus muttered, pouting his lips.

In the end, he decided on sage tea, but only due to the prettier packaging.

Magnus heated some water and poured it into two huge mugs with black and white cat motifs on them once it had reached the required temperature. With his arms crossed, he leaned against the counter and waited for the tea to brew the allotted time. He hummed softly to himself. Exactly six minutes later he took the tea bags out of the jumbo mugs and tossed them carelessly into the sink. He would dispose of them later.

Slowly, so as not to spill the tea, Magnus made his way back to the living room, balancing the two jumbo mugs, one in each hand. Alec was still sitting on his dark blue designer sofa in the same position he had left him in ten minutes ago - his elbows on his thighs, his hands buried in his hair and his eyes on the floor. Magnus frowned.