5 Times Alec Tried to Make Magnus Titter, & the 1 Time He Did That and More

2: Team Titter at Work

Magnus had his nose buried in a book. It was a large, leather bound tome with a rather elegant bookmark tucked into it's pages. Alec didn't recognize the language the words were written in but whatever they said held the warlock's rapt interest. Perfect.

Alec looked up and caught Jace's eye from his hiding spot. The blonde Shadowhunter gave him a thumbs up and stepped out into the room. Alec leaned back around the doorjam so he stood in the hallway of the Institute and waited until he heard his parabatai's voice.

"Magnus!" Jace called.

Magnus refused to look up but waved a hand absently in Jace's direction.

"What're you doin' here?" Jace asked, staring at Magnus with interest.

"Exactly what it looks like I'm doing," Magnus said, shifting in the chair so his legs crossed comfortably.

Alec took that as his queue. He took a deep breath and stepped around the corner into the room. He tried to be make his way as unnoticably as possible across the walkway and down the steps towards the tables where Magnus sat. He knew Jace noticed him but trusted his brother not to give away his presence. This was going to be fun.

Jace ignored Alec's approach in favor of shrugging off Magnus's statement. He smacked Magnus's shoulder with a cocky scoff. "I noticed," he said happily, smiling brightly into a set of annoyed coffee brown eyes. "Whatcha readin'?"

Magnus lifted a perfectly plucked eyebrow incredulously at the Shadowhunter before him. "Words," he said.

Jace stepped back and held up his hands in mock apology. "Hey, you know if you didn't want to talk, you could've just said so."

Magnus rolled his glamoured eyes and looked back down at his book.

"It's not one of those fairy tales, is it?" Jace asked, his face scrunched up.

Magnus blinked slowly, biting back a resigned sigh.

"Clary told me about them and I swear Mundanes have twisted imaginations," Jace continued with a shudder. "No wonder Simon talked about hanging by toenails."

Magnus snorted. "Yes, well, the older fairy tales were indeed much darker than their modern counterparts," he agreed. "Although," he added with a wry glance up at the Institute's golden boy, "I'm impressed you actually read them. I didn't know you could read at all." His smile was as sharp as his words.

"You wound me," Jace said, placing a hand over his heart theatrically. "And to think I was going to tell Alec you were here and everything."

"Alec?" Magnus said, perking up in excitement. "He's here?"

Jace nodded. "Just got back from patrol about a half hour ago. He's taking a shower at the moment." He smirked when Magnus's pressed his lips together and his eyes darkened. "Should I tell him your here?" Jace offered with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows.

Magnus's answering grin was suitably dark and excited. "Please," he purred.

Jace nodded and turned to go. He paused as if just remembering something and turned back to the warlock. "Or," he said, "you could just meet him in his room. Just make sure to get glitter all over his stuff," he added with a conspiratorial wink. "We're kind of in the middle of a prank war."

That was it. That sound. That perfect, blessedly adorable sound. The high pitched titter was quite simply too cute for words. Alec felt his face burst into a blinding smile the moment he heard that sound. A soft, fluttery feeling filled his stomach and he suddenly had no idea what to do with his hands. It was just so freaking cute.

He must have made a sound himself because Magnus stiffened. He saw Jace smirk at the most likely horrified expression on Magnus's face. There a dull thud as the warlock smacked the book in his hand shut and spun around in his chair to stare at Alec. Sure enough, his golden eyes were bright, his slitted pupils wide, and his mouth was open ever so slightly in shock. He stood slowly, confusion evident in his unglamoured eyes.

"You-!" Magnus caught himself and turned back to Jace. "Wha- You I'd expect this kind of thing from," he said waving an accusing finger at Jace, "but you!" He turned back to Alec. "Was this your idea?"

Alec just nodded, too busy smiling like an idiot to respond with words. Apparently, his smile was contageous because he didn't miss the corners of Magnus's lips twitching upwards.

"Magnus!" Isabelle called, sauntering into the main room. "So glad you're here." She hesitated long enough to take in the adorable awkwardness in front of her and catch the last thing said. "What was his idea?" she asked, curiosity blooming on her face.

"Alec made Magnus 'titter,'" Jace said, holding up air quotes to emphasize his point.

"He did no such thing," Magnus said quickly. Too quickly. He watched as Isabelle's face broke into a sly grin.

"Did he now?" she asked, glancing at her big brother.

"No he did not," Magnus insisted.

Alec snickered, his face split in a huge dorky grin. "Cute," he murmured. His eyes sparkling with joy.

Magnus turned back to Alec, his eyes wide. He leaned back ever so slightly, an expression of amused horror on his face as he slowly lifted a finger and tapped Alec's chin. "As much as I enjoy this new side of you, Alexander Lightwood," he said, "you heard nothing."

"Oh believe me," Alec countered, "I heard everything. You tittered, again."

"Nothing," Magnus said again, the faintest hint of fear in his eyes.

"Everything," Alec repeated, leaning forward so he was mere inches from Magnus's face.

The resulting blush was worth it and guaranteed further attempts to get that cute little sound out of Magnus once again. Judging by the sneaky brofist Isabelle just gave Jace, Alec was fairly certain he'd just added yet another accomplice to his ultimate goal.

This was too much fun.

Team Titter: 1
Magnus: 0