Just This Once (Magnus Chase x Alex Fierro)

Chapter 9: Cheesy.... Much?

A/N: So turns out I do have a chapter buried in my archives, so here you go, don't expect more updates anytime soon, I'm out of chapters XD

A/N: Also trigger warning mentions of suicide

After a couple of minutes of aimless wandering, Alex spoke up, "So where exactly should we go eat?"

"Have you ever tried falafel?"

"You mean your most favorite food in the whole wide world, that you've been spouting to me about since we met? No, where to?"

"Just a couple minutes walk from here, I know a place, come on. You'll love it." fifteen minutes of walking later they arrived at something of a coffee shop and traditional restaurant hybrid that says "Fadlan's Falafel" in front.

As they walked inside, a voice called out, "Magnus? Alex? Well isn't the earth round!"

"Amir?" Magnus and Alex both said.

"The one and only." replied Amir.

Then turning to look at each other in unison, Magnus and Alex said, "You know him?" After a moment of awkward staring, they both broke out in laughter.

"Remember I told you I was homeless for a while after my parents died and before Randolph came along? Yeah, I used to come here all the time for falafel. Amir here is kind enough to pass them along to me for free, sometimes. That was way before the place got this big though. What's your excuse?"

"Well... Funny story, my half-sister Samirah al-Abbas is actually engaged to Amir, so yeah. But I don't see Amir that often, I vaguely know Amir has a restaurant, but never been here before."

"Never knew you had a sister." said Magnus, looking surprised.

"You never asked," Alex replied, then turning to Amir, "how is she by the way?"

"She's doing fine, she's just extremely stressed with all the exams she has to juggle around. Where did you two meet?"

"School, we have some of the same classes." Alex replied.

"That's cool."

"I do like what you've done with the place too, by the way. Now if you don't mind us, we're gonna go get ourselves a table, I'm starving," Magnus chimed in, then turning to Alex, "Alex? Let's go."

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"The atmosphere is nice," Magnus commented as they sat down at a table. The alluring aroma of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the air, along with that mouth-watering smell of freshly-cooked falafels. Coffee machines hum mutedly, they, along with their similarly overtaxed operators, are finally getting a much-needed break after being hard at work all day serving hundreds of customers. Despite that, the weary baristas manning the counter still somehow managed to smile at the people coming in and going out.

"It is," Alex nodded, also feeling the calm of the place seeping into him slowly, giving him a sense of peacefulness he hasn't felt in a long, long time. Between the crazy things at school, Magnus, his parents, it feels nice to be able to let his worries go. At least, for a while. He felt himself slowly starting to smile as the knot of tension that he didn't realize was inside of him started to unwind a little.

"What is it?" Magnus asked suddenly, snapping Alex out of his moment of peace.

"What?"

"Well, you started to smile all of a sudden?"

"Oh," replied Alex, "it's... just... I feel relaxed and peaceful, for probably the first time this week. Between school, my parents, and a dozen other things, it's nice to be able to step back and enjoy the moment for a while," he looked at Magnus and smiled at him. "I'm kinda not sorry that the pizza place was closed and thankful that you invited me to dinner," Alex realized what he said too late and blushed. Thankfully, Magnus didn't seem to notice, as he seemed to be staring very intently into Alex's eyes. Alex also found himself mesmerized by Magnus's stormy grey irises and couldn't help but stare.