A Little Bit of Chaos, and a Whole Lot of Love | A Collection of Malec One Shots

maybe we can be, after all

prompt, slightly modified:

you're the barista who writes terrible pick up lines on my cup and always gets my name wrong so i try to get back at you by pronouncing your name in increasingly horrible ways.

disclaimer: this prompt is the very base of the fanfic, and you aren't going to see much of it. it's malec. i couldn't not make it angsty-ish. :)

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The chimes hanging over the glass doors of Starbucks jangle, startling Alec out of his sleepy haze. Confused eyebrows scrunching in the middle of his forehead - it's hardly five in the morning, and he's been here for all of seven minutes. New York might be coffee crazed, but it's rare they have customers at the ass crack of dawn - he hastily finishes tying his apron around him before spinning around, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Hello, and welcome to Think Coffee."

The words tumble out of his heavy lips unthinkingly; an automatic response they're trained to greet any customer with.

"Oh," He says softly, a beat later, mind instantly flashing awake when he sees the man standing at the other end of the counter.

He looks beaten down and worn out, but what's no doubt been an exhausting round of work somehow hasn't been enough to take his striking beauty away from him. His olive skin glimmers under the faint golden lights - Alec had decided it was much too early for the blinding fluorescence they normally use - and his eyes shine enough to rival the various pieces of jewellery littered across his being, despite the specks of weariness dusted across them.

His eyes are brown today, Alec notices, not golden, like they really are. He doesn't acknowledge it; being Magnus Bane, Chief Executive Officer of Bane Industries, Ltd. isn't exactly easy, and Alec knows better than to prod him about why he wears contacts, of all things.

"Hi," He says, in lieu of greeting, when Magnus meets his gaze. Magnus smiles limply in response, the corners tugging slightly south.

"Hello, Alexander," Magnus says pleasantly. Alec swallows thickly at the way the man's words curl around his name, his tone deeper than usual, his tongue darting out to swipe across his lower lip.

"What can I get for you today?" Alec asks, forcing a smile onto his face and worry to the back of his mind. Something is obviously bothering Magnus; Alec doesn't miss the slouch of his shoulders, or the tired hand he rubs across his face.

"One black coffee, no sugar," Magnus says tiredly. Alec arches an eyebrow.

"Woah, hey," He begins, surprised at the order, very much unlike Magnus's usual sugar infused drinks.

"Rough night?" He asks, swallowing down his pressing concern. This isn't the first time Magnus has stumbled into the coffee shop after pulling an all nighter, and Alec's certain it isn't going to be his last.

Magnus nods slowly, giving Alec another wan smile.

"You could say that," He says, after a pause, a nearly imperceptible grimace shadowing his features. It disappears less than a second later, however, and Alec's left wondering whether he imagined the whole thing.

"Wanna talk about it?" It's only after the words are past Alec's lips that he realizes what he said.

"I mean, shit- sorry, Magnus, I didn't-" Regret instantly pools in his gut, despite the worry festering there. He's a broke college kid trying to make it without daddy's money - what on earth would Magnus Bane want to do with him? They're two people who have a friendly exchange every morning and nothing more. They aren't friends.