Table For Two (Malec AU)

Chapter 1 - A Whole New World

"God, Damn it!" Magnus muttered under his breath as he stumbled over an open empty box that was left in the middle of the hallway of his New York apartment building.

"Great, another new neighbour" he rolled his eyes as he kicked the box aside and continued down the hall to the elevator, passing by several stacks of boxes. He was tired and irritable after a long night.

Three new tenants had moved into the building over the last month, one of which was a couple who loved to have loud parties, one couple who liked to have obnoxiously loud sex and one family with what seemed like 50 kids who liked to scream day and night.

It had been a long night at the bar that he owned and all he wanted was to get home, take off the suede blazer and tuck into his McDonalds breakfast sandwich and watch a movie before he got some sleep.

Magnus rubbed at his temple as he stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall, turning around and watching the doors come together in front of him.

He scrolled through emails on his phone as the elevator rose to the 3rd floor.

He stepped out when the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened, still staring down at his phone through his tired eyes as he walked up to his front door, turned the key and walked into his apartment, throwing his keys in the bowl and hanging his bag on the coat stand by the door.

Falling onto the old battered couch in the living room came as naturally as breathing, he'd done it a thousand times and would probably do it a thousand times more.

He unwrapped the sandwich and got it down in half a dozen bites, sighing as he stared at the story playing out in front of him on his flat screen TV that he was paying no real attention to.

The same old shit, different day. Life was starting to get a little stagnant for Magnus Bane; longtime bachelor and the owner of the coolest bar in town. His days consisted of working at his bar, doing the books, lugging cases of beer around and working through the night every Saturday.

Magnus didn't have a family, his parent's passed away in a car accident when he was 19 and he had no siblings. He did have an Aunt who lived in Connecticut but he hadn't seen or heard from her since he was 10 years old.

But he was lucky enough to have 2 very close friends who he considered to be more like family; Caterina his best friend of 15 years and lawyer, they'd been inseparable since 6th grade, she and Magnus knew everything there was to know about each other.

And Raphael, a young man who worked at Magnus' bar; Pandemonium. Raphael had shown up at the bar one night 3 years ago, heartbroken and alone after being kicked out by his Queerphobic family, nothing but 40 bucks in his wallet and the clothes on his back. Magnus had been kind enough to allow him to stay on the couch in his office and give him a job to help him get on his feet in the big city. These were his people, they were all the family he'd ever needed.

Magnus stripped down to his boxers and fell face first into his unmade bed. His eyes peeked open for a second when he could smell something weird; an old sweaty sock draped across the pillow beside him. He picked it up in a pinch and flung it onto the floor with all the other dirty laundry.

"I really need to hire a maid" Magnus muttered to himself as he closed his eyes, the side of his face squashed against the pillow.

Magnus awoke several hours later to a knocking on his apartment door.

He snorted himself awake as he sat up, eyebrows wound into an inquisitive frown and holding himself up with his palms against the sheets, staring towards the sound of the knocking at the door.