thisfaceismine | [9/27] an awkward meeting

Entry tags:

alec,
magnus

[9/27] an awkward meeting

If there's one thing Freddie doesn't like about his job at the coffee shop, it's the hours. The hours are shit. Particularly for someone whose recreational time tends to extend quite far into the early hours of the morning.

In truth, Freddie feels he deserves some sort of medal for having called in only a time or two since his start at the shop two months ago. On this particular morning he's not even running late, though that's likely due to the fact that he's not yet slept. The guy he'd brought back left a half an hour ago, giving Freddie enough time to at least wash off the jizz and make himself some toast before heading into work.

He has half the toast in his mouth, in fact, as he's leaving, arms occupied with looping his satchel over his head as he turns to lock the door to his flat.

Early as it is he's not expecting anyone else to be up, but the next door over swings open then to reveal one Alec Lightwood. The one with the tats, the one that's his neighbor's boyfriend.

Freddie bites off a bit of toast, chewing as he tugs the rest free and chews thoughtfully, making no effort to hide his appreciative glance of Alec's person from head to toe. "Sneaking out early, are you?" he asks with a grin. "Not very boyfriendly behaviour, that."

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Magnus' apartment was fairly quiet during the early morning hours. Most of the time, it was just Alec and the cats awake, getting themselves ready for the day while Magnus slumbered until early afternoon. Alec didn't mind though.

The weather was starting to change, going from humid to cool so Alec dressed for his run accordingly though temperatures very rarely affected him. He went with minimal Marks that morning, tucking the stele into his pants just in case it was needed. And, of course, he couldn't leave without at least being lightly armed so he chose two smaller knives from the stash he had at Magnus' and hid them as well.

Before leaving, he fed Olivia and Henry and even started the coffee so it would be ready to go whenever Magnus rolled himself out of bed.

When he stepped outside of the apartment, he was immediately met by a voice, a familiar voice that had Alec's guard going up. He glanced over at Freddie, expression blank and said, "It's not sneaking out if he knows where I'm going."

Alec shut the door most of the way, leaving it cracked just in case he needed to go back inside until Freddie was safely tucked into his own apartment.

"Your concern isn't necessary," he said, rolling his eyes. "Or wanted."

More often than not, Magnus was barely awake when Alec returned from his daily run. Never a morning person, the habit had only gotten worse as the centuries progressed, his lifestyle growing more and more lavish and the need to get up early in the mornings diminishing steadily. That said, he was perfectly capable of rising with the sun, or before, if need be, or if the mood struck him.

Today, for whatever reason, the scent of brewing coffee and the sound of Alec carefully moving through the apartment was enough to coax Magnus to consciousness. Henry's decision to plop himself down in the still warm indent left in Alec's pillow was enough to force Magnus upright. His tail swished back and forth directly over Magnus' face. It wouldn't do.

Grumbling, Magnus lazily pulled on a violet silk robe with silver embroidery and his favorite overly fluffy unicorn slippers. Out in the main room, he noticed the front door slightly ajar and the familiar sound of Alec's voice on the other side. He snapped a cup of the fresh coffee into his hands and approached the door, curious. Yes, he was probably wearing his shortest pair of silk sleep shorts, but who cared?

He opened the door and poked his head out. There, of course, stood Freddie, looking smug. Or he looked smug to Magnus anyway, who was still having a hard time removing the sound of Alec's moans from his head, moans of pleasure that Magnus had not caused.

"Oh look, it's a party," he sighed, leaning against the door frame.

It's obvious Alec's readying himself for a run and Freddie makes no effort to hide his appreciative looks, taking in the breadth of Alec's shoulders and the taper of his waist, his long, long legs. Freddie's seen those legs bare now. Or at least some version of them. He's seen every bit of this man naked and can remember well the sound of his voice when Freddie made him come.

More than once.

"Oh sorry, have I shown any concern?" he remarks with a smirk, his eyes lighting up when, a moment later Magnus pops into the door way. "Ah, if it isn't the man himself," he says, arching an eyebrow at the silk robe and extremely short silk boxers. Not to mention the slippers. "Seems an odd choice of footwear for a run."

It would have been childish to tell Freddie to stop looking at him but Alec was tempted to anyway. Freddie wouldn't have listened and Alec wasn't going to go threatening a mundane but the desire was there, deep down and easily ignored. The worst part was that he knew why Freddie was looking and Alec wanted to both punch Freddie in the face and use Billy's birthday present to disappear for awhile.

He didn't get the chance to do either because Magnus suddenly appeared, surprising Alec because he'd just been asleep. He didn't think he and Freddie had been that loud but something had roused Magnus and Alec sent an apologetic look in his direction.

"Freddie wanted to say hello," Alec said though he sounded anything but friendly thought it wasn't directed at Magnus. He slanted a glance at Freddie. "And he thought I was sneaking out on you."

Magnus raised a brow in response to Freddie's, waiting until Alec had explained the situation to consider how or if to give a verbal reply to Freddie. It was probably petty of him, but Magnus wasn't exactly known for his maturity. He knew very well that Freddie had probably been ogling Alec before Magnus had stepped out into the hallway, and the extra-stiff manner in which Alec held himself set Magnus' teeth on edge.

"Well hello to Freddie," Magnus chirped. Coffee held between two hands, he tapped a fingernail against the mug, sending off a spark of blue. A touch of magic to cool his coffee to the perfect temperature.

"I don't run," he explained. "And Alec tries to be courteous in the mornings. Usually no one stops him for a chat."

"Well, I'm nothing it not a courteous neighbour," Freddie replies with a wide grin aimed directly at Magnus.

He's honestly not entirely certain Magnus or Alec overheard the evening he spent with the other Alec. There were no irritated knocks against his walls or magic shot his way. Given how often he's overheard this Magnus and Alec, however, if either or both of them had been home at the time there's no way they hadn't heard.

In any case, Freddie still knows just exactly how Alec looks naked. And that's something he's planning on using to his advantage wherever possible.

"It'd be rude to just ignore you both, wouldn't it? And look at you - you're not even going to invite me in for a cup of coffee, are you?"

Alec would have preferred Freddie ignored him, if he was honest. They could pass like ships in the night, never talking to each other, never even looking. Alec was like that with a lot of mundanes, letting them go about their daily lives while never revealing what he did for them and would continue to do for them both here and back in Manhattan.

Freddie was not one to be ignored and though Alec's expression didn't change, his eyes darkened a bit and he had the brief urge to just push Magnus back inside the apartment and shove the door in Freddie's face.

"I'd be fine with being ignored," Alec told him even if Freddie's attention was on Magnus. "Feel free to do that from now on. I won't mind."

Maybe if Freddie did start ignoring him, he'd forget what he'd heard the other night, how his own freaking voice had come through the wall and sounded like he knew he sounded during sex. Alec desperately hoped he could forget those sounds soon.

Even if Magnus agreed with the sentiment of Alec's words, wanting also as he did for Freddie to never look at Alec again, hearing him say those words made him want suddenly to look at Alec, give him the kind of attention he wanted from the person he wanted. It was stupid and not at all suited to the situation, but Alec had been ignored and passed over so much that Magnus abhorred the idea of it happening now.

But principle aside, Magnus couldn't take his eyes off Freddie, because doing so would be like breaking eye contact with a dog, in his mind. He had to show him who was boss.

"You look like you've off to somewhere," Magnus pointed out with a nod to the toast, the breakfast of the late and hurried. "I wouldn't want to keep you from running off on your way."

Aside from the tattoos and the broody expression, there's quite a bit of difference between this Alec and the one Freddie had spent a glorious evening with, that much is obvious. The other Alec had been more than a little stuck on himself, but there'd still been some warmth to him. Some charm.

This Alec, however attractive he undoubtedly is, lacks all of that.

Magnus, on the other hand, is quite charming. Even while staring daggers at Freddie behind his cup of coffee.

So Freddie grins, lifting his toast in a bit of a wave. "Afraid us peons do have to work for a living. Bloody capitalism." He looks back to Alec then, just long enough to toss him a flirtatious little wink before looking back to Magnus. "I'll just be a few blocks down at the Bean Counter. Can sneak you a free latte sometime if you pop in."

Alec really needed to get out of here and exert some energy before he decided to break the Law and punch Freddie in the nose. It would have made him feel better for maybe an hour but he knew, in the long run, it wouldn't do anything but tick Freddie off and make the whole living situation (even if Alec didn't technically live here) uncomfortable.

"I'm going for a run," he said, turning his attention to Magnus. He leaned closer for a kiss, uncaring that Freddie was watching. Public displays of affection weren't all too common when it came to Alec but they did happen and he wasn't about to just walk away from Magnus without some sort of goodbye.

After the kiss, he shot one more glare at Freddie before turning and heading off, leaving his boyfriend and his boyfriend's neighbor alone together. Hopefully Magnus didn't turn Freddie into a frog. If he did, Alec expected him to take pictures.

The kiss required Magnus to tear his eyes away from Freddie -- because this wasn't that kind of hallway meet up that formed the weak starting point for a porn -- and in this respect, he was happy to do so. He much preferred Alec's lips to staring someone down and dwelling on why he was staring him down. It was a nice, somewhat subtle reminder too that while Freddie might have had someone who looked like Alec for a night, Magnus got him all the time.

"I'll see you later," he murmured, his gaze flicking between his mouth and eyes. When Alec turned to go, predictably, Magnus' gaze went to his ass. With a contented sigh, he looked back up at Freddie.

"Thank you for the offer," Magnus said, deciding to be a little bit courteous. "But I already help myself to your shop's lattes." He wiggled his fingers to signify magic. "I'm lazy."

Freddie doesn't make any effort to look away when Alec leans in for a kiss, nor does he bother biting back a smirk of any kind. After all that Freddie's heard through the wall, it's not as though they have much else to hide and he's fairly sure a bit of it is at least for show. A nice little display of possession on both their parts intended to reinforce their relationship and maybe antagonize Freddie a bit.

As though Freddie's supposed to care.

Alec glares at him as he passes and Freddie returns it with a small grin, turning just a bit to watch him walk away, his gaze dropping to the taper of that waist before he looks back to Magnus, still smiling. "All that magic at your fingertips and you use it to be a petty thief?" he remarks before taking another bite of his toast. "Such a waste."

Magnus huffed an annoyed breath out his nose as he watched Freddie blatantly check out Alec. Usually, he wouldn't let on that he cared. As beautiful as Alec was, it was natural for people to notice him and appreciate that beauty. Usually, he wouldn't be so possessive. But knowing that Freddie had seen Alec naked -- or as close a copy to Alec as was possible -- annoyed him on a very base, stupid level.

He huffed out a breath again, this time in dry amusement. Magnus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. After nearly a year in Darrow, he found himself thinking of home more and more, seeing familiar faces and voices in unlikely places.

"And on my hair." With a twirl of his finger now, Magnus styled his hair in a flash, the mussed dark strands suddenly finding their way into a perfectly coiffed style. "I'm a terrible warlock, I know. I've been told."

Freddie considers that a moment before giving a nod of agreement. He's met a wizard or two in his time here, but both at least had the decency to set something on fire instead of using their magic to steal overpriced coffee and style their hair.

And he has a feeling Magnus can do much more than he and his fluffy slippers are letting on.

"You don't actually think I'm a threat, do you?" he asks then, lips still tugged in a grin and head cocked. "Or does it just bother you that much that someone else has seen your boyfriend naked?"

Magnus stared at Freddie before giving an answer, taking a slow sip of his coffee. It was a more direct question than Magnus had expected of him. He had to give the young man credit for that. But each question requires Magnus to reveal something of himself, to admit to a weakness or a soft spot. Perhaps Freddie was sincere in his motivations, was inviting Magnus to make an earnest answer so that he could be earnest in return. But Magnus in all his years had found that, more often than not, such invitations were a trap. He didn't trust the grin still on his lips or the easy way he held himself.

"Do you think it would be fun to hear someone having sex with you? To have someone look at you and undress you with their eyes and know exactly what's there when you've already told them no?" He lifted a brow. "I've met that other Alec. I know they're two separate people. But it's kind of hard to remember that when it's just voices coming through a wall."

Yes, some weak part of him thought of Freddie as a threat. Yes, it did bother him that someone else had seen Alec naked. But he had made Alec uncomfortable. The other two things, Magnus could easily get over. The latter stuck hard.

Freddie pretends to consider Magnus's words before his lips tug into a little upside down smile and he shrug. The question has immediately thinking of Henry and, he'll admit, the thought of Henry so much as jerking off over him had been unsettling. He understand where Magnus is coming from, but that doesn't mean he has to show that he cares.

"Like you've just said, mate, they're two different people," Freddie points out. "It's not my fault you're my neighbor. Am I not allowed to fuck another consenting adult in my own flat?"

He steps back then as he pops the last of the toast into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. "If it bothers you enough, you can always move. I'm sure you've got magic enough to create yourself a whole new little love nest far, far away from here. Until then, don't put your insecurities on me," he says, his tone a little more serious then as he wraps a hand around the strap of his bag and starts walking backward down the corridor toward the stairs. "Give Alec a kiss for me when you see him next, yeah? Cheers."

He wasn't surprised by Freddie's initial response because, on a basic level, he was right. Magnus didn't think the other man cared enough to have gone through the trouble of finding Alec's double, bringing him home and fucking him purely to mess with either Magnus or Alec. That would have been totally absurd. That other Alec was, Magnus wholly assumed, completely consenting. It was just an utterly unfortunate set of circumstances.

Freddie continued speaking however, which amused Magnus more. (He didn't, in fact, know what insecurities Freddie was referring to, which made that comment slide off his back like water on a duck.) Smiling now, he cocked his head as Freddie began to back away.

"Is that supposed to mean you two are dating now?" he asked. "Not a one night stand? I thought you were going to install a revolving door on your apartment." Magnus was not one to judge in that arena, so he wasn't now.

"Yeah, maybe," Freddie lies with an easy shrug. "Bet that'd fuck you both up nice and proper, yeah? S'pose you might want to invest in some earplugs - it's about to get fairly noisy."

He makes no remark on the revolving door comment. It's not as though he hasn't heard similar comments before, though, typically they're whispered in hushed, appreciative tones. Given his social circle back in Manchester, one largely made up of young, gorgeous, queer people with sex on the brain, he supposes that's to be expected.

"Maybe we'll invite a friend sometime," he continues as he reaches the door to the stairs and grins back over his shoulder. "Apparently there's another Magnus over there as well. That could be interesting."

Now he was being an asshole, but generally speaking Magnus didn't mind assholes. The sound of sex from the other night had caught both Magnus and Alec off guard, which was part of what made it so distasteful, but the truth was Magnus could set up a silencing spell as he had in the past. What's more, he could make up a silencing spell that let only Alec and Magnus' noises pass through and blocked Freddie and the other Alec.

But give his first impression of Alec -- and the fact that he passed over mention of the other Magnus pretty quickly -- he had his doubts about whether the two of them would end up a couple, let alone get involved in that combination for a threesome.

"Enjoy yourself," Magnus called out amiably. "And keep the details to yourself."

Magnus doesn't take the bait, which is only a little bit disappointing. Freddie's still fairly certain he's gotten under his skin well enough and Freddie lets his gaze drop down the length of Magnus once again, lingering for a moment on those ridiculous slippers before sliding upward again.

"We'll see," he promises, licking away a few crumbs from his bottom lip with the swipe of his tongue. "'Fraid I can't do much about these thin walls."

And, with that, he turns on his heels, letting his hips sway just that little bit as he jogs down the steps, holding tight to the strap of his bag. All-in-all, it's a decent start to his day. Though a small part of him is already interested in seeing whatever little gift Magnus might leave for him to find in his flat once he gets back.

This could be the start of something great.

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[9/27] an awkward meeting

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