Arrested (Book 1 of the Arrested Trilogy) {malec au}

Chapter Eight

Even at night, New York remained as active as ever. Car lights, lights from other buildings, people shouting at each other; it could all be heard from Alec's loft house if he opened the window. Luckily his home was soundproof against everything except for Magnus' constant chatter.

"So how was dinner? Better than Taki's?" Magnus asked. He set his coffee mug down and eyed Alec from across the table. "You haven't said a word in over three hours. I'm tired of doing all the talking."

Alec cleared his throat. "It was good. Really good. I liked the p-purée? And the meat was exactly how I like it."

Magnus smirked. "Excellent. A good cook knows their meat like the back of their own hand. No likes raw meat-actually no. That's a lie. Ragnor eats shit straight from the garbage so I can't say that no one eats raw meat. Because he does."

Alec cringed. "Why don't you help him then? Get him off the streets? I mean if you're as rich as you claim you are-"

"I have more important business to attend to with my money than occupy some bum who's responsible for getting himself on the streets."

Wow. Okay Alec sipped his coffee slowly, not wanting to provoke Magnus any further. "Right. Sorry I asked. I thought he was a good friend of yours."

Magnus shook his head. "No need to apologize. You were just curious. I just can't see myself helping a man who ruined my life-" He cleared his throat. "Anyway. Change of topic. How long have you been a cop?"

As if on cue, Alec heard sirens down below on the streets. "Since I graduated high school. I knew all my life that I was meant to be a cop and help people. My dad more or less put in a good word for me. A week after I graduated, I got the call and I was shipped off to the academy a day later."

"Hmm. Interesting. Did you really want to be a cop or did you really want to prove something to someone?"

"What's that supposed to mean? I wanted to be a cop. Always did. I used to pretend I was a cop when I was a kid. Jace would be the robber and I'd catch him and bring him to jail. He hated that," Alec laughed at the memory. "That's when he decided too that he wanted to be a cop. We went to school together."

Magnus pointed to a photo on the wall. It was of Jace and Alec sitting down on a bench, Jace's arm around Alec's shoulders. He was making a weird face and pointing to Alec, whose face was scrunched up with a huge smile. "What's his story? Jace, I mean. How did....you know."

Alec sighed. "His mom died when he was a baby. His father died when he was ten. He was a cop too. Car accident. My parents were good friends with them and didn't even hesitate when it came to adopting him. He's my brother. Always has been."

Magnus took down the photo and looked at it. "Your face looks dumb here."

Alec snorted. "He had told me a really stupid joke right before the photo was taken. I look ridiculous in it."

"I beg to differ. I meant dumb in the best way possible. Like dumb cute." Magnus set the photo down on the table beside them. "You have a lot of good memories in here. Wish I could say the same."

Alec frowned. Magnus looked so sad as he looked around the room at the different little mementos from Alec's past. "They're just mementos. They hardly mean anything compared to the memory attached to them."

"That's what I'm saying. I don't have any good memories at all," Magnus chuckled, stirring his coffee with his spoon. "My apartment wasn't meant to host all these little tokens from memories past. Everything is placed where it is for a reason."

Alec raised an eyebrow. "You have OCD?"

"What? No. I mean I place my belongings where they are because I hide....stuff. Important stuff. Credit cards, contacts, emergency passports-"