Welcome to Seaside

[7]

The track skipped to the next one, a completely different artist, a completely different song, and completely meaningless to Alec.

He was lost in this kiss, his first.

Magnus was pulling him closer, his fingers playing at Alec's collarbone, and Alec wasn't putting up a fight for once.

It was over in seconds though with the sound of a key against a lock.

"Shit," Magnus swore. He had his hand in Alec's in an instant, pulling him towards the back of the store.

"This isn't his store is it?" Alec asked as Magnus threw open the back door.

"Not entirely--"

They sprinted down the back stair case, the same one they had met on.

They didn't stop until they were back at the park, where the band was just finishing up.

"Explain," Alec demanded, still winded from running.

"He's the president of the local bank that technically owns the store," Magnus laughed, bent over.

Alec pushed him, so he tumbled onto the ground.

"Asshole!" Alec shouted. He immediately covered his mouth. Luckily no one had heard over the sound of the banjo solo.

Alec found himself on the ground a second later, having been tripped by Magnus.

"You lied to me," Alec said.

"Have you ever heard of the transitive property?" Magnus asked, avoiding his question.

"Nope."

"Did you pass geometry?" Magnus asked.

"Barely," Alec laughed.

"Why does that not surprise me," Magnus mused.

"Okay, I'm incredibly smart. Just not in math."

"Fair enough. Anyways, the transitive property states that if a=b and b=c then--"

"--a=c. I remember that," Alec said.

"I said he owns the store. The bank owns the store and he owns the bank. Thus he owns the store," Magnus said.

"And how do you have keys?"

"I opened by myself one day and they never asked for them back."

"I should be furious."

"You could be furious," Magnus said. "But there's no fun in that."

Alec looked at Magnus.

"I should get back to my family."

"Okay," Magnus said, smiling.

It took all Alec's willpower to leave Magnus on the ground, grinning like a fool.

.........

Magnus was at the door; Max had told him that.

What he hadn't also told him was that his dad was there, talking to Magnus, in his incredibly bright yellow shirt and black skinny jeans. He looked more like a bumblebee than anything.

Alec could see past the gaudy exterior. Magnus looked incredibly hot to him but his father was probably mortified-- probably on the verge of murderous.

Alec descended the stairs carefully, already ready for work.

But when his foot stepped on the creaky stairs and his dad turned around, he actually looked like he was smiling.

"Alexander. You didn't tell us you had made a friend."

"I--"

Magnus was smirking in the doorway.

"We should get to work," Alec said.

Why was his father so okay with this?

Even as a friend, Magnus was a little odd but he was so much more and that made him-- even worse.

Alec flew out the door, with Magnus following close behind.

"You came to my house?" Alec asked as soon as they were far enough away.

"Obviously," Magnus said, fishing around in his pocket for a lollipop. This time he offered Alec one.

Alec just waved him away.

"What did he say? His exact words--"

"Alec, he was fine," Magnus said. "We talked about sports."

"Sports?"

"The Giants," Magnus said.

"Baseball," Alec sighed, looking down at his feet. The sidewalk was oddly white and oddly clean.

"Is that okay?"

Alec looked up.

"Yeah. I just--"

"I get it," Magnus said. "You're not out to your parents--"

"That's not--"

"Yeah, it is," Magnus said. "You don't want them to know you're seeing me. I understand. I'm not mad."

Magnus shrugged.

"And then there's the fact that I'm not exactly a model citizen," Magnus said. Alec laughed, looking at Magnus' gaudy outfit and the way his arms swung back and forth as he walked.

Alec wanted to hold his hand more than anything in the world.

"I don't really care about that," Alec said.

"You're into the bad boy thing?" Magnus asked.

"Is that what you're calling this?" Alec asked, gesturing to all of Magnus.

"I don't really like to be defined, I suppose," Magnus said, catching one of Alec's hands.

Alec's breath caught but they kept walking, like nothing was different, nothing had changed, like they weren't holding hands in public where anyone could see.

Alec loved that.

He loved how soft Magnus' hands were. He liked how carefully he held Alec's hand, as if asking for permission.

"What are you doing for dinner tonight?" Magnus asked.

"Probably something with my family--" Alec stopped himself. Family dinners wouldn't make this summer memorable. Going out with Magnus would define memorable, "--but I could get out of that."

"Can I take you to dinner?"

"On a date?" Alec asked.

"Yes," Magnus said, without hesitation.

"Okay."

"So that's a yes?" Alec nodded.

"I'll pick you up at 6:30?" Magnus asked. They had reached the back of the building.

Soon Magnus would be walking around right over Alec's head but they wouldn't really be together, despite the fact that they were in the same building.

Alec smiled and Magnus took that for a yes.

"Am I allowed to kiss you?" Magnus asked.

No one was around: 8 was too early to be awake if you were on vacation.

Alec leaned in, kissing Magnus' cheek.

Then he disappeared inside the bookshop, leaning against the door for a moments, savoring every second of their walk.