Work Text:
Magnus was late. To be fair, he had warned Alec that today was going to be a sticky day for him. He’d spent the entire day running from one meeting to another. It had been exhausting and mind-numbingly boring, but that was how all technical aspects of organizing a tour went. Thank God he only had to be there for a small portion. He didn’t know how Maryse handled all that legal jargon and monotone lawyers speaking in tongues, but she was his saving grace.
As the cab stopped at the curb, Magnus could feel every muscle in his body ache. His back was acting up like he was a seventy-year-old war veteran. Not even bending over the cello for years had given him this much hassle. He paid the driver then booked it to the front door. It was merely drizzling, but getting wet on top of the day he’d had would just be cruel at this point. He walked into the toasty warmth of the brownstone and finally felt himself relax. Home. There was nothing like it.
“I’m hoooome”, he sung, towing off his shoes by the front door because he and Alexander were both horrible about keeping up with cleaning duties, so they tried to keep the house as tidy as possible until the housekeeper showed up for her weekly visit. That meant no shoes in the house, no eating in the living room or in the bedroom, and no leaving dishes in the sink, although the eating in bed rule got thrown out the window often enough. How could anyone watch August Rush without a tub of Ice cream to drown their tears in? And yes, they were the music nerds that watched movies about music in their free time. It was every bit as sappy as you’d imagine it to be, and Magnus loved it.
He got no reply, and frowned. Alec had been blowing up his phone in the last fifteen minutes or so. “Alexander?”, he called out, walking towards the bedroom, when he walked by the kitchen and the most peculiar smell tickled his nostrils. He veered that way to investigate, and the second he popped his head in, he started coughing. The entire kitchen was foggy and smoky, and the second he walked, the smell seemed a hundred times more potent. He recognized it as burnt garlic. Just then, the smoke detector went off, its shrill overwhelmingly loud.
The pounding of footsteps on the hardwood floor was almost instant, as Alec skidded to a halt in the doorway, chest heaving, clad in nothing but a towel strapped around his waist. He didn’t even spare Magnus a second as he ran towards the oven, muttering “No, no, no, no” under his breath. He turned off the oven then turned to Magnus with a puppy-dog expression.
Magnus knew that laughing would be extremely unwise, so he just beckoned Alec over “Come on, chef Ramsay, go get dressed before the fire department gets here. I’ll try to air out the room”
Alec just sighed and hung his head, walking by him to go back to the bedroom, and Magnus tsked, looking at him sideways “Aren’t you forgetting something?”. He arched his brow, waiting.
Despite his obvious disgruntlement over his burnt dinner attempt, Alec smiled indulgently, and pecked him on the cheek, whispering “Hi”
Magnus’ heart skipped a beat. It was utterly ridiculous that the enthusiastic muscle still did shit like that whenever Alec was near. He supposed it was a good sign that he was just as excited about his boyfriend now as he was a year ago, but he would have thought the honeymoon phase would be long over. It was not. If anything, he got more and more smitten with Alec every single day.
“Go get dressed, I don’t want any firemen drooling over you in a towel”, he teased, swatting him as he moved to leave.
Alec snorted and said “Yeah, right”, already disappearing into the hallway, and Magnus shook his head. The fact that that man didn’t realize his own appeal was the sexiest and most frustrating thing about him. A sudden shrill of the alarm reminded him of the situation at hand, and Magnus got a move on, opening the windows, and fanning the kitchen with a kitchen towel, trying to get the smoke away from the smoke detector.
He donned some mitts and opened the oven door, getting hit by the pungent acrid smell of burnt food. “Oh wow”, he muttered as he coughed. He reached in and grabbed the pot, putting in on the stovetop and fanning it. There was nothing salvageable in there. There was the shape of a whole roast chicken, but the poor bird was nothing but a black piece of coal right then. He would wager that if he touched it, it would crumble into a pile of ashes like a bad cartoon skit.
He tried to imagine Alec diligently slaving away at this meal and felt a smile tug at his lips. It was so Alec to go out of his way to make his loved ones feel appreciated. Never mind the fact that Alec couldn’t make scrambled eggs to save his life, the man had courageously taken on roast chicken for a nice dinner, simply because he knew that Magnus loved it.
Alec stepped back into the kitchen, fully dressed this time much to Magnus’ relief and slight disappointment. He came in to check the pot that Magnus had just rescued, holding it in his hands as he muttered, almost to himself “I wanted to woo you”
Magnus barely held back from laughing out loud, tightening his lips to keep from grinning, but honestly, it was ridiculously endearing that a man that could command an audience with such intimidation could easily be the most caring softie that Magnus knew.
Dating Alexander had felt like unwrapping Christmas presents every single day. That incessant wonder of finding out what’s underneath. It was frankly astonishing that after a year, Magnus still managed to uncover layers and nuances to this man that kept him thoroughly fascinated.
He remembered the days when he felt like his skin would burst if he looked at Alexander and couldn’t help but think that on some unconscious level, he’d always known. He’d always known that this man would be the greatest piece of art he would ever get to study, that he would get lost in the notes of him, get addicted to the symphony written in his eyes and the rhythm told by his heartbeat. Maye that was why he’d fought that long to keep him at arm’s length. Maybe he hadn’t felt ready enough for Alec. But now, he was his. He could say with heartwarming assurance that he loved every melody in the song that was this man, knew them by heart but still felt enchanted to hear them every time.
By the time the fire department had their report written and done with, the fire alarm had stopped shrieking and Magnus was experiencing the beginning of a migraine. Not from the alarm mind you, but mostly from the flirtatious fireman that kept ogling Alec like a piece of meat, despite the fact that they were in their house, and that the fire had started from a fancy dinner that Alec was cooking for his boyfriend. He couldn’t really blame the guy for being awestruck and on most days, Magnus would just smirk and watch Alec try to get himself out of the sticky situation, blushing and stammering and being his adorable clueless self. Today, Magnus just wanted everyone gone so he can get his man into bed, preferably with less clothes on and just. Cuddle. Him. To. Death.
He left Alec in the kitchen, bagging the burnt bits to throw down the garbage chute and escorted the firemen out. Upon his return however, the man was nowhere to be seen.
“Alexander?”, Magnus called in the direction of their bedroom as he moved in that direction.
He found his boyfriend lying on top of the duvet, still fully clothed, his eyes trained towards the ceiling in complete silence. In hindsight, Alec had said very little since the whole incident had started.
“You okay?”, Magnus asked quietly, climbing on the bed and leaning over him. Surely Alec wasn’t this heartbroken about the chicken. He hadn’t realized that his feelings for the bird were this intense.
Alec looked at Magnus briefly before training his eyes back on the ceiling.
“Yeah”, he replied hoarsely, his voice betraying him.
Magnus frowned and used his finger to tilt Alec’s chin down, focusing his attention entirely on him “Hey, talk to me. What’s going on? Is this about dinner? We can go out to eat, or better yet, order in and just hang out in bed”
“I know”, Alec said on a rough swallow. “I just… I wanted to do something special for you. You’ve been working so hard and I wanted to make you feel better, not this disaster…”
Magnus couldn’t help it. He finally let loose the smile that he’d been stifling through the whole thing. “You silly man. Don’t you know that all I need to feel better is you?”
Alec rolled his eyes, his disbelief written all over his face and Magnus caught his chin firmer, trying to infuse as much honesty into his voice as he could. “I’m serious. Alexander, I don’t care about a meal or a gift or anything int this world that is not you and the life we have together. I feel happy and relaxed just by entering the same space where you are”
“It’s your favorite meal, your special meal and I ruined it”, the infuriating man replied miserably and Magnus finally understood the reason for his grumpiness. Long ago, in what seemed like another universe, he’d told Alec about his mother and all the special things they did together. He’d told him about how his mother used to make a production of Sunday roast chicken, a meal that they worked on together and that always felt chockfull of memories and happiness.
“You think that this ruined roast chicken for me? You underestimate my love for roast chicken, my love”, he eventually teased and Alec honest to God pouted. He was so adorable that Magnus wanted to combust!!
“Be serious”, he grumbled and Magnus nodded his head emphatically “I am. See, roast chicken is special to me because it comes with memories. Memories of my mom’s laughter, memories of her standing in a kitchen, happy and healthy and smiling. Memories of her loving me. And now, you added one more memory to that. The memory of that time you almost burned down the house because you wanted me to feel loved. How could you ever think that you ruined anything?”
Alec’s eyes were shining bright, emotions swimming in their hazel depths the same way Magnus got lost on most days and that was the extent of his patience. With a sigh, he leaned down and finally slotted their lips together, sipping from Alec’s the way he’d been imagining since he’d come home and seen him in that tiny ass towel. He nibbled on his lower lip, catching it and tugging at it playfully before delving his tongue to tangle with Alec’s. It wasn’t until he felt the smile pressed against the sides of his cheeks, one that was mirrored on his own that he leaned slightly back and spoke against Alexander’s lips “How about next time, you let me help you and we can make more memories and maaaaybe, we’ll actually get to eat the roast chicken in the end”
If he got a smack on the back of his head, it was worth it.