The Attack

11. The apartment, the letter and the photo

Magnus, who had closed his cat eyes, when they walked through the Portal, opened them and what he saw made him doubt of where he was.

He wasn't sure if that was Alec's apartment, or a movie in black and white.

They had portaled to Alec's apartment, in the living room. The walls were gray, dark gray, and the Warlock noticed there was dust everywhere. He also noticed the living room wasn't much bigger than the bathroom from Magnus' apartment. It was tiny.

There was one sofa, but Magnus wasn't sure if Alec could sit there properly. It was more than small. There was a dirty brown chest of drawers in front of the sofa. On the left of the sofa, there was a door, or there should've been a door, that led to the kitchen.

Magnus walked there, and saw the kitchen was as small as the living room, with a tiny fridge, a stove, but barely anything else. He walked to Alec again, who was simply standing there, looking down, silently.

On the right of the sofa there was a door, which Magnus supposed it led to Alec's room. It was the biggest room in the apartment. Maybe twice as the living room, so even if it was the biggest, it was still kind of small.

There was a bed, a closet, a nightstand next to the bed and a window. Magnus noticed that there was barely something with color. The only colors in the apartment were dark, gray or deep dark blue.

The floor and the furniture were full of dust. Even his bed. Magnus turned to face Alec, who was still looking down at the floor, blushing.

"Alexander, where's the bathroom?" He just asked.

From where they were standing at, he couldn't see at all if there was any other room.

"Uhmm... B-Between my b-bedroom an-and the-the k-k-kit-kitchen." He stuttered out.

The Shadowhunter looked so embarrassed, and Magnus had no clue why he was feeling like that. Alec was still staring at his feet. Magnus walked closer to Alec, and lifted his chin a bit, so he could look at him.

They looked at each other, until Magnus spoke, and Alec lowered his gaze again, with a huge blush in his face.

"Alexander, what's wrong?" He asked softly.

The blue-eyed boy bit his lip, blushing a bit more.

"I-It's just that I-I-I thought you would just p-portal me here... N-Not come with me..." He whispered.

Magnus smiled, and put his hand on Alec's shoulder. "Of course I came with you, Alexander. And don't worry about how your apartment looks like, because..." Magnus took a deep, preparing himself for what he was about to say. "Because you won't be living here anymore." He finished.

Alec frowned, and lifted his head to look at Magnus; the Warlock noticed Alec looked paler than before. "W-What do y-y-you mean I... I won't be living he-here anymore?" He asked, wide-eyed.

"I meant, that I'm kind of asking you whether to move in with me, or live in an apartment I'm gonna give you." Magnus said.

There were some seconds of silence, where Alec thought about Magnus' words, while the Warlock waited, with his stomach clenched.

A couple of minutes later, they were still like that, and Alec finally spoke. "Why?" That was all he said.

Magnus blinked confusingly. He had thought Alec would ask him something else. Magnus knew it would be hard to convince Alec with that. The blue-eyed boy remained with his gaze glued on the floor, while Magnus spoke.

"Because I don't think you should be living alone again, Alexander. Being alone affects you more than it should. You really need to be someone, someone who cares about you. I can be that someone, if you let me." He said.