Standalones

The Cure for Bad Days

1.

It had been a stressful day at the institute. Correction- It had been stressful days at the institute. Plural.

There were 3 new demon nests detected in a 500m radius and they just kept multiplying every week. The shadowhunters were exhausted from going on regular patrols every night (and day) and Alec, being the head, took the most of the night shifts and had only earned 4 hours of sleep in the past 5 days.

On top of that, there were new requirements to fill out sent by the Clave 10 minutes ago and they were to be submitted in hours. Plus, there were piles, literally piles, of reports sitting on Alec's desk waiting to be read and approved

The only meal he had today were the crusty sandwiches from the institute's kitchen this morning, even his coffee mug, which he was sure Izzy had left for him in the afternoon before she went on yet another mission, was just sitting there. Cold and unsipped.

Alec was tired, no, drained out. He was mentally exhausted and above all, he wanted Magnus.

He hadn't had the chance to properly spend time with Magnus in almost 6 days. He had been too busy.

He missed his boyfriend. He just wanted to cuddle up with Magnus for a few minutes to recharge himself.

Alec was so exhausted.

Right now, he was laying on the couch in his office, taking a five minute break before he got back to work. His phone was dead so he couldn't call Magnus or even text him, which made matters worse, and Alec couldn't find his charger in the mess of his desk.

Alec was just resting his eyes, he knew he couldn't sleep or take a nap for that matter because a) too much work and b) his brain was too worked up and stressed out.

That's when the door opened.

Alec's head shot up immediately at the sound, instincts kicking in, everyone knocked at his door before entering so either someone was in trouble, again. Something went wrong, again. Or it was Izzy and/or Jace, again. Alec wanted to groan out loud because all he needed was to relax, even though he couldn't, for a few minutes-

-but instead, the sight of the person standing in the doorway helped a little tension to escape from his body.

"Alexander?" Magnus said as he entered in and gently closed the door behind him, "Hello, darling."

Alec dropped his head back on the couch's arm rest, "Hi," he replied wearily, still looking at Magnus' face and taking the vision of his beautiful warlock in. Alec wanted to ask him what he was doing here but instead, "I missed you." is what he said.

Magnus smiled a little, walking up to stand besides Alec's side, "I missed you too," he reached down to brush a stray strand of hair falling on Alec's forehead, who in return hummed, "Are you okay? You haven't been replying to my texts."

Alec shifted further on the couch and patted the space besides him, gesturing Magnus to sit, "My phone died," he breathed out, looking up at Magnus with drowsy, bambi eyes, "And I couldn't find a charger."

Magnus sat down beside the shadowhunter, then turned to reach out and softly card his fingers through Alec's hair. Alec closed his eyes, feeling the muscles of his body relax at the touch.

"Are you okay?" Magnus asked again, his hand wandering down and thumb brushing against the dark circles under Alec's eyes.

"I just have a lot of work to do," Alec replied. He was dodging the question, Magnus knew.

"Clary told me that you haven't eaten anything."

"Oh? Is she the one you've told to keep tabs on me?"