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Alec is having a shitty day. He only barely woke up in time to get dressed, then his coffee maker broke, and Lord knows if he has to listen to Simon incessant prattling without coffee on a Monday morning of all days, a murder is bound to happen, and it wouldn’t be pretty. So, here he is, at some mediocre coffee shop that’s on his way to his mediocre job.
There is nothing remarkable about Alec Lightwood, he reflects as he gives his coffee order, he’s just a twenty-five year old cog in the machine that is Lightwood & Herondale. Although, he supposes, he has been moving up, in the past year he has moved on to more complicated cases, and while the majority of his cases are pro-bono (so as to look good in the public eye according to Maryse, always an ulterior motive) that doesn’t make them any less challenging. His mother even told him to “keep it up,” which while vague is practically an ‘I love you’ coming from her.
“Lightwood?” a voice calls, and the kind barista hands over his coffee.
“Thank you,” he tells her, before turning, he starts walking towards the door, checking his phone. He just needs to hustle a little more than normal to make it to work in time. Pushing open the door he starts to pocket his phone, and take a sip of coffee when he bangs into somebody.
His blessed coffee goes everywhere, all over his shirt, the other man’s shirt and their shoes. Alec’s just thankful that it managed to miss his messenger bag, he has some important files in there.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” he starts, and he looks up at the man in front of him. The man is beautiful, perfect cheekbones, tan, even skin, and his eyes are the warmest shade of brown Alec had ever seen. All that was amplified by the make-up the man was wearing, and Alec stopped breathing for a second.
“Would you watch where you’re going? God, this shirt was $500, and don’t even get me started on the shoes, just what I needed after this morning,” the man said, and suddenly he was really less attractive then he was before he opened his mouth.
Alec was immediately on the defensive, he wasn’t the only person at fault here, “I’m really sorry, but I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t paying attention to where he was going,” he snapped.
“Whatever,” the man grunted, and pushed passed him into the coffee shop.
Alec stared after him. Really? Had that been necessary? he wondered before shaking his head and heading to work. Looks like it was murder on the menu this morning, he sighed, and looked down at his coffee covered hands with a disappointed look on his face. Poor Simon.
Alec’s day didn’t get better, but it certainly didn’t get worse. His shirt was coffee stained, luckily, he didn’t have any meetings that day, and Simon seemed to pick up on his coffee-less morning by the stain on his shirt and the lack of a mug, so he kept his mouth shut. His mother did look at his shirt with disapproval, and made a small comment about it, but nothing Alec wasn’t used to though.
By the time he got out of work his sister, Isabelle, had called and invited (or demanded, same difference) him to dinner with her, and his brothers, Jace and Max. He stopped by to change clothes and drop off his work stuff before heading over.
Dinner was good, since Clary, Jace’s girlfriend, had cooked, not Isabelle, and it was good to spend time with all them. Since he had joined the firm he had started having less time to hang out with his family, bogged down by cases, and his mother’s expectations. He was even willing to put up with Isabelle’s prodding about his nonexistent love life, when he normally would just run for the hills the moment she mentioned it.
It wasn’t until the next morning that Alec realized he hadn’t replaced his coffee maker. Groaning out loud, he dragged himself out of bed fifteen minutes early so he had plenty of time to stop at the coffee place from the day before. He had only taken a sip of his coffee before it had been spilled, but it had been good, and even if some of the customers were rude, it was still worth it if it was quality coffee.
The bell on the door jingled as he walked in, and Alec let out a loud sigh. The same man from the day before was standing in line and to add insult to injury, he was looking magnificent. His hair was swept up, with purple highlights on the tips, his black slacks were fitted perfectly, accentuating his muscular legs…among other things. His arms were bursting out of his button up shirt (purple, to match his highlights) and the sleeves were rolled. The man turned, and when he saw Alec his face lit up in recognition. Alec prepared to make a run for it as the man stepped forward and out of the line.
“Hi, I’m Magnus,” he said, his voice calm, nothing like what it had sounded like the day before, and Alec looked at him warily.
“Alec,” he replied, extending his hand to shake Magnus’, though tentatively.
Magnus’ eyes were nothing but kind as his hand enveloped Alec’s, “Look, I was really hoping to run into you again today.”
“Why, so you could spill some coffee on me in revenge?” Alec joked, well, mostly, he double checked that Magnus didn’t have a coffee cup in his other hand, just to be sure. He doesn’t know the kind of look his mother would give him if he walked into the office with coffee stains two days in a row and it’s not something he wants to find out. (That’s a lie, he knows exactly what look she would give him, he’s considered having it patented.)
“No, no, nothing like that,” Magnus laughed, “No, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior, I know it wasn’t only your fault. I also wasn’t paying enough attention to where I was going, and I was having a terrible day, my cat, Chairman Meow, had destroyed one of my favorite shirts, so…I was still a little sore about that when we ran into each other. That’s not an excuse, but it is a contributing factor.”
Alec smiled, he hadn’t been expecting an apology, “Thank you, for apologizing, and I’m also sorry, both about what happened with your cat, and for spilling coffee on you. How about I buy you a coffee, and we call it even?”
Magnus nodded, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, “That seems fair…if you let me buy you a coffee on a date?”
“Oh,” Alec said, blinking a little in surprise, “I-I mean, it…could, I w-wouldn’t be opposed to it, that is, if you’re asking?”
“I am,” Magnus confirmed, his smile widening.
“Then…then that’d be great, just…not right now, cause I’m going to be late to work,” Alec explained, jerking his thumb in the direction of his office.
“That’s fine, just give me your number and I’ll text you?” Magnus suggested, holding out his hand.
Alec pulled out his phone and handed it to Magnus, who entered his number, “I’ll see you around, Alexander,” was all he said before he sauntered away.
Alec was left staring after him, blinking. Yeah, yesterday might have been a shit day, but today definitely wasn’t going to be.