Magnex

Chapter 5

The next day wasn't much better. Alex and Magnus had agreed to get dressed after Nico and Hazel left, and Magnus would change in the main room, while Alex got the bathroom. Magnus had just finished pulling on his own baggy clothing, when Alex stepped out of the bathroom, making Magnus nearly choke on his own saliva. She had forgotten she was staying here a whole week, so she had gotten Nico to lend some of his clothes. She was wearing a plain black t-shirt, ripped black skinny jeans, as well as her rose high tops. Her garrote was tied to her shoelaces as usual. Magnus found himself wishing she wore all black more often. It really suited her. Unfortunately, once again, Alex mistook his awestruck staring for something else.

"Stop staring, Maggie, or else I'll kick you in the-"

"I get the picture," Magnus said, forcing himself to look anywhere other than Alex, which she seemed to find amusing.

"Well, you look pretty," He said. Alex shrugged.

"Thanks, but I'd prefer 'handsome' today." Magnus blinked.

"You mean-"

"Yes, I'm male today." Magnus nodded. It really wasn't that hard for him to see Alex as whatever gender he said he was that day, because, at least to Magnus, as soon as he said it, that's the gender he looked like. Magnus had a sneaking suspicion he was the only one though, considering how often the other demigods had accidentally, referred to Alex by the wrong pronouns.

"Well, in that case, you look handsome," Magnus said, trying to make the statement sound as platonic as possible. Alex snorted.

"If you're sucking up to me so that I won't decapitate you when we get back to Valhalla, it's not going to work," Alex said, bending down to tie his garrote tighter to his shoelaces. Gods, Magnus tried not to stare. For some reason, the fact that Alex was male(albeit, rarely) didn't seem to make him any less attractive to Magnus. It's not that Magnus had a problem with the possibility he wasn't straight, but it was the fact that he was attracted to Alex fucking Fierro. He clearly looked away from Alex until he stood up, to show him as much respect as possible(even though he had already failed at that by daydreaming about how much he wanted Alex). He decided to shut off his brain for a while, which he was good at. A good brain shutdown seemed to be just what he needed. The two demigods walked out of cabin 13 to go and find Annabeth, who had promised to show them around camp a bit more. 

Eventually, they found her, inspecting all of the cabins with Percy, although it was clear she took it far more seriously. Annabeth looked up from her clipboard and smiled at them, but Percy remained oblivious. He was balancing a pencil on his upper lip and seemed to feel that was the most urgent task at the moment. Annabeth poked him, almost causing him to lose his balance on the pencil.

"What? Are Magnus and that other chick here for the tour?" He asked, still not having noticed them.

"Actually, it's 'dude' today, not 'chick'," Alex said, causing Percy to drop his pencil and look up. He looked Alex up and down, only for a split second, but he could tell Alex noticed due to the annoyed face he made.

"But you don't-"

"Look any different?" He finished, putting his hand on his hip. Percy looked like he had been poked between the eyes. Magnus was sure this was just new information to him, but it was still funny as Helheim to watch. He looked over at Alex who didn't seem to be nearly as amused. He was cool with people not knowing what gender he was on any given day, he expected it, in fact. He did get annoyed when people tried to argue that his outfit or overall appearance of choice was a better indicator than what he said. Magnus could vaguely understand how that felt.

He had seen a lot of transgender kids on the streets when he was homeless, and the phrase 'gender dysphoria' came up an awful lot. Magnus still wasn't sure about the absolute definition, or how it specifically affected transgender people, but he knew that it could be cause by things most people considered minor, like wondering and voicing if someone was right when they confirmed their gender because they don't look the way that person thinks that gender should look, which sounds pretty silly now that he thinks about it. Magnus figured that's what Alex was feeling now, although he couldn't be sure, considering he could shape shift into any body he wanted to be in. He had heard it could be pretty bad though, but he didn't want to try and comfort Alex and be met with ridicule over the fact that it wasn't that serious. On the other hand, Alex could be feeling really shitty, and Magnus figured that a somewhat decent friend would try and comfort their friend when they think they feel bad. Magnus, however, thought the idea of decapitation was enough to get rid of that idea. He knew that talking about feelings was not something Alex enjoyed. Maybe Magnus should recommend him to Otis's therapist.

Percy seemed to drop the subject after that, although Magnus was pretty sure he could see him sneaking glances at Alex as they walked around the camp, as if checking to see if Alex had hidden boobs somewhere under his shirt. Magnus doubted it. Although, Alex had filled out that wedding dress well...

Stop it! Stop being perverted! 

Magnus knew that was a lot to ask of himself, but he thought he owed it to Alex to try, given the fact that he had pretty much objectified every part of his body in the past few days, which he couldn't imagine anyone appreciating.

He decided to focus on the tour and forget any thoughts that may involve him in Alex in very... unique situations.

Gods, he was fucked.