Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn

Chapter Sixteen: Tinder

"You tried to warn me," Alec said as he slipped in the bar stool beside Ragnor. The warlock gave him a long look before he shrugged.

"If you had been born but twenty years earlier, you and Magnus could have been the beautiful Romeo and Juliet story... Of course, you'd both be exceptionally dead, because Valentine would have killed you but there you have it," Ragnor said, flapping his hand dismissively. Alec ordered himself a drink, not even paying attention to what he'd ordered.

"Tell me. How do I keep Magnus alive despite himself?" Alec asked. Ragnor gave him an appraising look.

"Your feelings for Magnus are true, aren't they?" he asked. Alec didn't know what to say to that so he just grabbed at the bottle of beer that was put in front of him and began to methodically peel away the label.

"Well, no matter now I suppose," Ragnor said, taking another drink of something that looked rather like a lava lamp in drink form.

"How do we save him?" Alec repeated. Ragnor sighed.

"Well, Camille destroyed him. I've never seen him so thoroughly destroyed as the night she left, as the days, months, years before he got over her," Ragnor confided. "I have no advice on how to bury a past like that so that Magnus might be saved."

So even Ragnor thought that Camille was the answer to this problem.

Alec picked up his beer and took a swig, and then with a more determined look on his face, downed it and ordered another.

"Looks like you and Magnus have a lot more in common than either of you would admit. Is your plan to get absolutely trollied?" Ragnor asked. Alec nodded. Ragnor gave him a small smile. "Ah, well, in that case I suppose I'll join you. It's highly unlikely you'll make me eat guinea pigs after all."

*

"Ragnor, it's sunrise. You know I hate sunrise. An ungodly hour," Magnus said when he opened the apartment door to see his green friend. Ragnor however just chuckled and from the side of the door frame he pulled a flailing black shape by the scruff of the neck.

Alec couldn't even seem to get his feet under himself he was so drunk. He stumbled and fell into Magnus, headbutting him rather painfully and then slouching off to one side and almost toddling to the couch.

Magnus gave Ragnor a questioning look.

"We apparently frequent the same bar. Or he came looking for me," Ragnor said, shrugging. There was the distinct smell of gin about him. "In any case, he's in a bad way. He might have killed off most of his brain cells with those last few shots of tequila."

"You let him drink tequila?" Magnus asked, watching as Alec tried unsuccessfully to remove his boots and then gave up and flopped back onto the couch.

"I didn't let him do anything. We were both quite active participants," Ragnor said cheerfully. Magnus rubbed his temples.

"If I have to deal with one drunk idiot, I'm not dealing with you as well. Get out," he snapped. Ragnor looked like he had something else to say but then he shook his head and began to make his way shakily down the stairs.

"Come on, Alec, let's get you to bed," Magnus said, stooping down to try to get Alec to his feet. He was surprised to find Alec pushing against him almost violently.

"No!" Alec said petulantly, like a child having a tantrum. Magnus stared down at him, nonplussed.

"You want to sleep here on the couch?" he asked. Alec gave him a sleepy, drunken look.

"I don't want to sleep here," he replied. Magnus smiled and leaned down to try to lift Alec up but Alec struggled again.

"No! No no no!" he protested again. Magnus withdrew. Who knew that Alec would be so cantankerous when drunk?