Quite magical

Chapter Eighteen

POV Alec

The afternoon went over surprisingly quick. If Alec hadn't seen the sky slowly turning dark outside the window he probably wouldn't have believed that it was so late already.

"Thank you two for coming today" Cat said as she eventually walked him and Magnus to the door. "It was a real pleasure having you around."

"Oh it was a real pleasure for me too, believe me" Magnus assured her.

Cat raised one of her eyebrows. "I hope you're not just saying that because of the biscuits."

"Well..." Magnus grinned widely, making his friend laugh.

"You're impossible. I can't believe I'm still friends with you!" Cat said and playfully slapped his arm.

"Come on you know you love me" Magnus said but Cat just rolled her eyes in response.

Alec chuckled quietly. He didn't know exactly how long Catarina and Magnus already knew each other but judging by how casual they had been acting around each other within the last few hours Alec guessed that it was probably a rather long time. They really seemed to know everything about each other and for some reason that was kinda fascinating to Alec. He had never had a friend like that, not outside his family. It always took him a rather long time to really open up to other people and apparently almost nobody had enough patience for that. With Magnus however he felt hope that it could be different ... that he would wait for him.

"It was really nice getting to know you" Alec said to Cat, pushing his thoughts aside for the moment. "And thank you for the coffee and the biscuits. It was delicious."

"I'm actually surprised that Magnus didn't just eat all the biscuits by himself." Cat shook her head and laughed when Magnus gasped with put-on hurt.

"I would never do that. I am a gentleman after all" he defended himself with a cute little pout on his face that made Alec's heart jump.

"Yes that's true" Cat admitted. "I wish we could banter some more but I have to look after the baby so ..."

"Yeah of course. See you soon then" Magnus smiled at her and Alec said goodbye as well, then they started heading home, walking side by side. Most of the time their hands were only a few inches away from each other and Alec felt the urge to bridge the distance between them but he was too afraid to do so.

For a few minutes neither of them said a word but it was a comfortable silence. Or at least Alec thought so until it came to his mind that maybe Magnus was expecting him to say something.

"So ... uh ... Cat is very nice" Alec tried to start a conversation. "It seemed to me like you are very close. Like you know her for a very long time already."

Magnus looked a bit surprised for a moment, then he chuckled and shook his head.

"What?" Alec asked, worried that he had said something wrong.

"Nothing. I just forgot for a second how observant you are" Magnus answered. "And yes I do know her for a long time already. As long as I can remember actually."

"That's great. It must be amazing to have such great friends. To be honest I have never had a friend like that."

"I'm pretty sure that this will change at some point. And even if not - you'll always have your siblings" Magnus said with a little smile on his lips.

"Yes that's true. They're great. Most of time anyway. But Jace can also be a real pain in the ass sometimes."

They both laughed and Alec stuffed his left hand into the pocket of his jacket. He had learned his lesson from last time and had grabbed a jacket before they had left for Catarina's but his hands, his neck and his face still were a little bit cold by now.