Bound X - Imwastingmylifeinhere - Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard (2024)

Chapter 1: How to get your friends together? Ask forhelp from an elf

Chapter Text

“I can’t take this anymore!” Mallory Keen yelled, at the brink of pulling out her hair due to frustration.

Sitting on the couch of her suite were T.J and Halfborn. And while T.J was looking at the girl pacing up and down the room with worry in his eyes, Halfborn couldn’t deny there was something strangely attractive about his girlfriend when she was furious like this. Not furious with him, of course, but Halfborn always had a thing for women who could fight and kick butt just as good as him. Mallory’s angry expression and red face made her look like she was ready to rip off someone’s arms.

“Mallory, maybe you should calm down,” T.J suggested worriedly, hand twitching over his riffle. He had learned in his life (and death) that angry women should be handled with the upmost delicacy so as not to lose a limb in the process.

“Calm down? Calm down?!” The girl nearly shrieked. “How am I supposed to calm down? We’ve been impaled, decapitated, burnt to death, trumped under the feet of dragons and all of that before even a half hour of combat because Magnus and Alex can’t keep their minds off each other!”

The two boys sighed. It’s not like they didn’t agree with what the girl was saying, the situation with those two was getting out of hand, but there wasn’t much they could do. Sure, some of them (read: Halfborn) had been making jokes in an attempt to make them realize their feeling and get together but it didn’t seem to work.

“I mean, it’s so obvious they like each other! Just kiss already!” The redhead continued. It was a good thing the rooms were soundproof or else all of Valhalla would have heard them.

“I’m sorry to remind you, but you and Halfborn were tiptoeing around each other for years before you finally got together,” T.J said matter-of-factly, used to being the voice of reason in their group.

A blush as red as her hair spread over Mallory’s face and T.J could have sworn he saw a faint flash on the Viking’s cheeks as well. “T-that’s different!”

The soldier raised an eyebrow. “How exactly?”

“Tha- we- the world wasn’t about to end then!”

Silence fell over the room. There was a sort of mutual agreement not to mention Ragnarok. The coming of Doomsday wasn’t exactly something you’d want to hear about on a daily basis.

Mallory plopped down on the couch with a sigh. “I’m sorry, it’s just….”

“It’s alright.” Halfborn put his hand on her shoulder. Loki’s escape had them all jittery, full of energy and nervousness. It didn’t matter how long you had trained for it, no one could know what would happen once Ragnarok came. Mallory was just directing all her uncertainty at something she could understand. They all did; T.J played even more shooter games, letting the familiarity of the action calm him and Halfborn had been studying for a PhD in math.

“You have a point, though,” T.J said after Mallory had calmed down. “But you can’t rush these things. They’ll have to do it on their own.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we can make an alliance with Magnus’ friends to hook them up,” Halfborn joked. He realized the mistake he made when Mallory turned to look at him slowly.

“Halfborn,” she said, a mad glint in her eyes, “you’re a genius!”

“Magnus, for the last time, calm down!” Mallory yelled. “We’re just taking a break; the world won’t end because of it.”

The Floor 19 gang was strolling down the streets of Boston, a normal group of teenagers if not for their weapons concealed under glamour. Yet there was a nervous air around Magnus and it wasn’t hard to guess why; he had been questioning this outing since the start.

“She’s right, Magnus,” Alex agreed. Male today, he was the member of their group that stood out the most with his usual green jeans and neon pink hoodie. “Besides, you’ve been pushing yourself a lot lately, you deserve to relax for one evening.”

These past couple of weeks Magnus had been practically killing himself with the amount of training he did daily. (Or he would have if he wasn’t dead.) He spent every available hour practicing on his (limited) combat skills and his healing. After a couple of days everybody had started noticing the black circles forming under Magnus’ eyes and he took longer and longer to wake up after he got killed. It took all of them to convince him for movie night at Blitzen’s.

Magnus sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry.”

Mallory didn’t know whether to laugh or roll her eyes. There was a very distinct difference between how long it took Alex to make Magnus do something and how long it took anybody else. Oh, she was going to make so many whipped jokes once they got together.

“Nah, it’s fine man. Plus, all that training’s been paying off. You’ve build up some muscle!” To empathize his point, and because they had agreed beforehand it would be funny to do this, Halfborn lifted up Magnus shirt, exposing his midriff. The blonde quickly batted the Viking’s hand away, too surprised by the sudden action to notice the blush on Alex’s face.

Mallory smirked. This was so much fun and they hadn’t even gotten to the good part.

“How far is Blitzen’s house?” T.J asked.

“It must be somewhere around here,” Magnus said, checking the address Blitzen had texted him. “It’s that one over there.”

After Blitzen’s boutique opened the dwarf had been considering renting an apartment in Boston since the daily commute from Nidavellir could be very tiring. On top of that, Hearthstone was living with him and while he tried to pretend the solarium bed was enough Blitzen could see the constant darkness was affecting him.

Their apartment was at the end of the second floor. Despite his friends living there for a while, Magnus hadn’t had the opportunity to visit them yet and see what the place was like.

“Welcome, come in!” Blitzen answered the door, holding it wide for the five einherjar. “How have you been? Did you get killed a lot in practice?”

It was weird how bizarre that sentence would have sounded to Magnus a few months ago but now he didn’t even blink at it. Valhalla could do that to you. “Just the usual.”

“The usual?” Alex asked. “Magnus, you were eaten by a dragon last Thursday and then he threw you up!”

“And that other time you were crashed by a boulder,” T.J continued.

“And you got shot in the ass and fell off a cliff a few days ago,” Halfborn said matter-of-factly, inspecting some of the books on the selves. “Oh, I’ve been meaning to read this one.”

“And don’t forget the time he died by chocking on a biscuit,” Mallory added. At this point they were all laughing; even Hearthstone was smiling from behind the kitchen counter.

“Can we talk about something else that isn’t my embarrassing deaths?”

“If you insist, but you’ve given us a lot to work with.” Alex smirked and Mallory wished she could take a picture of Magnus’ face because it looked like he was going to have a heart attack any minute now.

“So how have you been?” Magnus asked, eager to change the subject.

“Fine, things have been pretty quiet lately. The shop has been doing great and Hearth’s been practicing some new runes.”

I can show you later if you want, Hearthstone signed from the kitchen and Magnus translated since the others didn't understand ASL that well yet (with the exception of Halfborn, who learned because he was bored).

“Well, you get comfortable; I’m going to go get the movies from our bedroom,” Blitzen said and disappeared down the hall. Magnus followed him, eager to see what the house looked like and curious as to why the dwarf said ‘our’ bedroom.

The apartment was normal. A joined living room and kitchen and a hall that lead to a bathroom, a small room full of sewing machines and clothes and a bigger room with a double bed, the walls painted a soft yellow. There were the not-so-normal touches here and there as well; Hearth’s solarium bed, rune stones scattered around the house and the mismatched furniture characteristic of a dwarf’s home.

“You guys share a bed?”Magnus asked. He was still standing by the bedroom door, while Blitzen had made his way to the living room. “How come?”

Magnus realized he said something wrong when Blitzen’s face turned into the very definition of ‘oh, sh*t’. Hearthstone glared at the fashion designer and Magnus never thought that he’d find the sight of an elf in a flowery frilly apron frightening, but apparently there was a first time for everything.

You didn’t tell him?

“I forgot!”

“Tell me what?”

“Well, um, Hearth and I, we’re… we’re kind of-“

Dating.

It took a moment for the information to sink in, but once it did Magnus couldn’t have been happier. “That’s great! Congratulations, guys!”

“T-thanks,” Blitzen replied, playing with his shirt nervously. “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you earlier but we wanted it be between the two of us just for a little bit.”

And you were shy, Hearthstone signed. It was kind of cute, actually.

“A-anyway,” Blitzen attempted to (not so subtlety) change the topic, “isn’t Sam coming?”

“No, apparently they’re having dinner with Amir’s family tonight and she couldn’t come.”

“So what are we watching?” Mallory asked. She and Halfborn had already made themselves comfortable on Blitzen’s couch and were sitting close together. T.J had moved all the snacks on the coffee table and set up the DVD player. For someone from the 1860’s he was really good with technology.

Alex was inspecting a vase near the door. Magnus could just see his mind’s gears turn as he picked the things he liked from it and thought of way to incorporate them in his pots, bottom lip stuck out just slightly. It honestly muffled Magnus how the same hands that could be absolutely deadly with a garrote could make such pretty pots and vases and handle them so gently.

“… do you want?”

Magnus was brought out of his little daze by Blitzen’s voice. He felt his cheeks burnt at being caught staring and quickly tried to figure out what the others had been talking about. On the coffee table were ‘Mean Girls’, ‘Jurassic Park’, ‘Ghostbusters’, ‘The Force Awakes’ and ‘Scream’.

“Um, maybe we should start with ‘Mean Girls’?” He asked, wishing they were talking about the movies and not about something else.

“Sounds good to me,” Alex said and plopped down on the couch. “To be honest, I was expecting you to pick something like ‘Lord of the Ring’.”

“I was thinking of getting that just to tease Hearth, actually,” Blitzen admitted sheepishly. “But he threatened to kick me out of bed if I did.”

Hearthstone nodded in a dam right I would way.

They put the movie in and talked as they waited for the pizza delivery guy to arrive. Halfborn had insisted that, while popcorn was definitely good, no proper movie marathon could start without a main meal and you didn’t go against a hungry Viking. (And yes, Magnus had tried to convince them to get falafel but it didn’t work.) The conversation had somehow sifted back to Magnus’ embarrassing/stupid deaths and he tried to find something to say and change the conversation to save his pride before they got to the yoga incident.

“Hey, Hearth, you said you were working on a new rune. What does it do?”

I was trying to find a way for us to communicate when we’re separated or fighting. It’s like a mental link. I can show you how it works, if you want. Just give me your hand.

Magnus held out his hand, not giving it a second thought. This was Hearthstone after all; he trusted him with his life.

Alex, you too, please.

“What? Why me?” Alex asked, suddenly agitated.

I’ve been using Blitzen to try it out but I need to see if it works just as well on a different person at first try. Plus, you’re going to be with us for the quest this summer, so it might as well be you.

That didn’t seem to calm Alex. Magnus could see him frantically try to think of an excuse, body tense like he was preparing to fight. He remembered back in Jotunheim, how Alex refused to let him heal a simple cut because he didn’t want him to get into his head. Sure, he had accepted that risk later when they were bowling, but that was a life-or-death situation, he didn’t really have a choice.

“Hey, Hearth? How does it work exactly?” Magnus asked. “Like, if I suddenly think I want some falafel, will Alex hear that?”

No, the others only hear what you want them to. It works kind of like a phone.

“Can you see into the other persons head if you want to?”

No, we tried with Blitzen. It doesn’t work like that. Hearthstone smiled a little. Thought that might have been because there wasn’t anything to see in there.

“Hey!” Blitzen protested, lightly hitting Hearth’s shoulder in that endearing way friends often did. Hearth smiled back, which for him was like he was laughing out loud. It was good to see him happy like this, especially after everything that happened with his father.

“But yeah,” Blitzen continued. “Even if you wanted to look into somebody’s head with the link you wouldn’t be able to.”

“I wouldn’t try anyway,” Magnus responded, a smile on his. He might have been looking at Blitzen but his words were 100% directed at Alex. “That would be just rude.”

Alex’s shoulders relaxed. He gave his hand to Hearth and let him cast the rune. The elf put their hands together on top of the coffee table and put one of the wooden runes Sif had given him on their joined fingers, a simple X carved on it.

“Hey, that’s the same rune you used on Blitzen when he was a statue. What does it mean?”

Bound. And you can use runes for many different things.

Everybody looked at the rune as it glowed but all Magnus could pay attention to was how warm Alex’s hand felt. His fingers were long and slender and he could see some pesky pieces of clay under his nails. He found himself thinking back to when they held hands back in ‘Utgard Lanes’. It would be nice to hold hands like that again in a non-deadly situation.

Alex’s fingers moved just a tiny bit and Magnus looked up. Alex mouthed ‘thank you’ and smiled at him. He remembered thinking that Alex’s smile warms up the room by five degrees but it honestly felt like ten right now. Or fifteen. Maybe twenty. Or maybe that was just Magnus’ brain short-circuiting.

“So…,” Mallory said once the glowing stopped. “Did it work?”

Magnus concentrated on Alex and thought again and again falafel falafel falafel. “Did you get that?”

“No, but you looked like you were about to fart.”

Maybe I’ll need to work on it some more.

Just then the bell rang. Blitzen got up to go get the pizza, telling Magnus to get some napkins from the upper left cupboard on his way out. Once pizzas were equally distributed between the five einherjar (which is a gruesome tale best left for another day) they started the movie.

Now, don’t get him wrong, Magnus likes this movie, a lot to be honest, but it’s hard to pay attention when you have somehow ended up sitting on a love seat with your crush next to you. (And yes, Magnus has admitted that he has a crush on Alex, at least to himself. You can only think of kissing someone so many times before you do.) It wasn’t even like there wasn’t any other room, but everyone had spread out and when Magnus came back with the napkins the only available spot was next to Alex.

Well, we have five movies to watch, so that’ll take a while. I hope I don’t potentially combust, Magnus thought dryly. Like, yeah, they’d be here long but there was no reason he couldn’t handle sitting next to Alex, right?

Just as he thought that, Alex tossed a piece of popcorn in the air, opening his mouth to catch but the snack bounced off of his nose and fell down. “Damn,” he muttered, bottom lip jutting out just slightly as he pouted but tried again anyway.

No, he’s too cute. I’m doomed.

It was well past 1a.m when the five einherjar finally left Blitzen’s house, leaving the dwarf to carry a sleepy Hearthstone to bed. They instinctively went into battle formation as they walked back to hotel Valhalla, with T.J at the front, his riffle looking like a baseball bat to other people, Halfborn carrying a sleeping Mallory on his back in the middle and Alex and Magnus bringing up the rear.

It was a miracle that Magnus didn’t say anything stupid to Alex while they were watching the movies, what between his laugher every time somebody got killed in ‘Scream’ (did people’s laughs always sound that nice?) and deciding that resting his head on Magnus’ shoulder half-way through ‘The Force Awakens’ was a good idea (it’s not like Magnus didn’t pay attention to the rest of the movie because of it, of course not).

“Hey,” Alex said, talking quietly.

“Hey.”

“Thanks for back there.”

“No problem. As I said, looking into somebody’s head without their permission would just be rude and I know you don’t like people doing that. Besides, you would cut my head off if I tried it,” he joked, trying to lighten the mood.

Alex smirked. “Good to know you’re aware of that. I didn’t know you were such a gentleman.”

“It’s just one of my many charms,” Magnus agreed, continuing their little messing around.

Alex rolled his eyes but Magnus could see the corners of his mouth angling upwards in a small smile.

They sneaked into the lobby, Hunding winking at them as they passed by. Yep, being friends with the bellhop definitely had its advantages. Magnus should really bring him some nice chocolate soon.

After that, they should have just gone to bed and sleep like the dead for the rest of the night (get it? Dead?), but luck wasn’t on their side. Just as Alex and Magnus went their separate rooms they felt a sudden tug at their wrists. The stumbled backwards, a surprised yelp coming from their mouths (okay, it was just Magnus).

“What the f*ck was that?” Alex said. He rubbed at his wrist, Magnus doing the same thing. Whatever that was, it stung.

“Wha happened?” Mallory asked as she woke up on Halfborn’s back, a bit of dried drool at the side of her face.

“Dunno.” Alex kept inspecting his wrist. “We just tried to go to our rooms and then this… thing happened.”

“It was like we were tied at the wrists and we were yanked back,” Magnus added.

“Maybe something went wrong when Hearthstone cast the rune,” T.J suggested. “You said he used it again another time so maybe it can do multiple things. He probably mixed them up.”

“Maybe. Runes are complicated.” Magnus sighed. “But we can’t ask for help now, their sleep- AH! What was that?”

Alex winced, rubbing her wrist more now. “I was trying to see what sets it off. The moment we’re ten feet away from each other that weird thing happens.”

Magnus felt his stomach tie up in knots. “Then… where are we supposed to sleep tonight?”

Judging from his expression, Magnus was pretty sure Alex would have preferred fighting giants over the situation they were in.

“sh*t.”

Chapter 2: Tank tops? Yes, please

Chapter Text

Magnus had to audition for new friends? Why you ask? Because he’s magically tied to his crush for the night and instead of trying to save him the humiliation they suggested he and Alex sleep in Magnus’ room. How is he supposed to survive the night when he can’t be ten feet apart from Alex?

And not metaphorically either, it’s not that he can’t be away from him because he’s so in love with him (like, yeah, he really likes Alex, but that’s not what’s causing the problem), is that he literally can’t walk ten feet away from Alex without being yanked back to the green haired teens’ side.

And Alex was perfectly fine with that little sleepover! Okay, he was obviously annoyed, but he agreed with the others.

So here they were now, standing awkwardly in Magnus’ suite, not quite knowing what to do.

“So, um, do you want to t-take the bed?” Magnus asked. Damn it, why did he have to stutter like that? The situation was awkward enough as it was.

“You sure? This is your suite.”

“Yeah, I mean, you’re a guest so you should take the bed. I’m fine sleeping on the floor.” Magnus remembered how, back when his Mother was still alive, she’d always say that when one of Magnus’ friends would stay the night. It’s simply good manners, she’d say.

Alex shrugged. “If you insist.”

“I’ll get some pillows for me, you can, um, go change in the bathroom.” Magnus absentmindedly gestured at the pajamas Alex was holding in his arms.

But of course, they were only able to get ten feet away from each other before they were violently yanked back, falling on their asses.

“sh*t, I forgot about that,” Alex cursed, rubbing once again at his wrist like Magnus. Why did that thing have to sting like that?

Stinging wrists and sore butts aside, the two einherjar were now faced with a new problem. How the hel were they supposed to go to the bathroom or change clothes like this?

You know those scenes in movies where two characters turn to each other with a similar look of horror in their faces and say ‘sh*t’ at the same time? Magnus thought they were funny but that they didn’t actually happen in reality. Apparently they did.

“What are we going to do now?” Magnus asked.

“Um, I dunno, you get your pajamas and change outside the bathroom and I change inside?” Alex shrugged. You knew a situation was awkward when even Alex Fierro acted awkward. He was always so confident it was weird to see him act as uncertain as Magnus felt. He had to admit it was kinda cute. (Plus, knowing they were in the same boat made him feel a bit better.)

So they got their clothes and changed. Magnus never really gave much thought to what he wore to bed, simply slipping in his boxers and a t-shirt most of the time, but he felt self conscious now. Here he was, waiting for his crush to come out of the bathroom so he could brush his teeth, in a plain white t-shirt and alien themed boxers. He wished he was still alive so someone could put him out of his misery. He can’t even get another pair from the drawer because of this stupid bond thing!

“I’m done, you can go in-“

Just when Magnus was contemplating putting his boxers on inside out to hide the design the bathroom door opened, revealing Alex in all his pajama glad glory. Would you be surprised to know his pajamas were green and pink? No, probably no. He wore plaid green pants and a worn out pink t-shirt with a faded out stamp of Scooby Doo. And what did he do when he saw Magnus? He stopped, looked at Magnus’ boxers and laughed.

“Alien boxers?” he smirked and damn, why does his smirk have to look that good?

“You’re wearing a Scooby Doo t-shirt!” Magnus protested and what do you mean his voice was an octave higher?

“I’ll have you know Scooby Doo is an all time classic. Now brush your teeth, I’m beat and I want to sleep.”

A couple of minutes and a mouth of brushed teeth later, Magnus exited the bathroom to find Alex splayed out on the floor like a starfish. “What are you doing?”

“I wanted to go to your atrium but the stupid bond is keeping me back.”

“So you decided to lay on the floor in front of my bathroom?”

“Duh.” Alex got up with the elegance of a pink and green cat and stretched. “Anyway, will we go to bed?”

Magnus led him to his bedroom (no that he needed to, but you know, good manners) and grabbed a pillow and one of the extra blankets from the foot of the bed. He made his little bed on the floor and clapped the lights out. (The lighting system might be one of his favorite things about his room. He also might have spent an entire hour once clapping them on and off.)

You know those times when you’re tired and all you can think about is getting to bed and sleeping for the next century but the moment you lie down you’re wide awake? Those times suck. Magnus kept changing sides, trying to get comfortable and just fall asleep but nothing worked. He counted his heartbeats, he counted sheep and he even counted depressed goats named Otis, nothing worked!

“Can’t sleep either?”

Magnus jumped from surprise (and possibly shrieked). “f*cking- don’t do that!”

“Aw, did I scare you?” It didn’t matter it was dark, Magnus could just hear the smirk in his voice.

“You surprised me.”

“It’s okay Magnus, everyone gets scared,” he teased.

There was a moment of silence before Alex spoke again. “Say, why is there so much beige in your room?”

“Beige is one of my favorite colors.”

With his eyes now used to the dark Magnus could make out Alex’s outline, laying at the very edge of the mattress with his head raised. Magnus couldn’t make out details but he could tell Alex was looking straight at him.

“You’re kidding.”

“No, why would I?” Magnus asked, genuinely confused.

There was a sigh and the sound of bed sheets rustling as Alex turned over on his back. “You poor child.”

Magus smiled and decided to let it go. He knew beige was a weird choice for a favorite – if you weren’t an old lady at least – but he thought it was a calming color.

“So, what are we going to do about this bond problem?” Alex asked.

“I guess go to Hearthstone in the morning? If we tell Helgi we’re making preparations for the quest in summer he’ll let us leave.”

Alex nodded. “You know, being magically tied to someone should seem weird to me, but honestly? After everything that has happened, this isn’t even in the top ten weirdest things that I’ve gone through.”

Magnus chuckled. “Yeah, between being an undead warrior, having elf and dwarf friends and fighting giants there’s not much that would seem weird to me.”

“Tell me about it.” There silence and Magnus thought Alex had fallen asleep until he spoke again. “But you know, you’re not a bad person to be tied to.”

Should Magnus’ heart still skip a beat when he’s dead? Actually, forget one beat, his heart skipped a dozen. This boy will be the death of me.

“You’re not bad either,” Magnus responded with a smile.

The next day Magnus found out Alex took a ridiculous amount of time to get ready in the morning. Like seriously, what was she doing in there? She had been in the bathroom long enough for him to read the first few chapters from the book Halfborn had lent him and get two golden crowns in two songs in piano tiles.

When the door finally opened Magnus was at the verge of yelling ‘hallelujah!’ atheist or not. And he would have if Alex hadn’t stepped out of the bathroom with a towel around her neck and a tank top on.

Tank tops are my new favorite clothes, Magnus thought.

“Sorry for taking so long, you can go in now.”

Magnus might have responded but he honestly didn’t know whether he spoke in human or fish.

After he brushed his teeth and washed his face, Magnus was dressed and ready to face the world and the sight of Alex Fierro in a tank top. Or he would have been if Alex hadn’t put on a pink and green flannel. At least this way he wouldn’t walk into a pole because he was paying attention to other things. Those other things being Alex’s arms. Like, did pottery give you nice arms or something because damn.

Okay, pull it together Magnus, you can do this. You’ve been through worse things, you can do this.

“You ready to leave?” Alex asked, pulling her hair back in a small ponytail.

Nope. I’m dead. End me now. Holy sh*t, she looks good.

Getting permission to leave Hotel Valhalla and get to Blitzen’s apartment was surprisingly easy and soon the two einherjar were knocking on the dwarf’s door. Blitzen opened the door, dressed fashionably as usual.

“Magnus, Alex, good morning. Come in, come in!”

Despite the teens insistence he didn’t need to treat them to anything the dwarf still brought out a plate of cookies. “So what brings you here?” he asked, sitting opposite them in the living room.

Magnus explained what had happened to Blitzen, with the occasional comment from Alex, who was eating the cookies.

“Well, you’re out of luck. Hearthstone left early this morning. Apparently Odin called him for a one-week rune magic boot camp in preparation for this summer.”

Alex almost choked on her chocolate chipped cookie. “So we’re stuck like this for a week?”

“At the least.”

“The least?”

Blitzen nodded. “Hearth said there’s a possibility he’ll be gone for a bit more than a week. I would love to message him for you but he made me promise I wouldn’t because apparently ‘it distracts from his training’,” the dwarf said, air quoting the last bit. “I mean, it’s not like he doesn’t do the exact same thing whenever I work longer in the shop!”

“But this isn’t just you sending him heart emojis,” Alex protested. “Magnus and I are literally bound together!”

“I know, but Hearth didn’t think I’d keep my promise so he left his phone here and cast a rune that would stop any kind of letter from finding him.”

Magnus sighed. “So we’ll have to stay like this until Hearth comes back?”

Blitzen nodded. “I’m really sorry guys. If there was something I could do to help, I would.”

“It’s okay, Blitz. We should leave; you have to open the shop.”

They left the apartment with Blitzen, rushing to get to the boutique as he realized it was almost opening time. The dwarf waved them off as he headed for Blitzen’s Best, leaving the two dead teens behind.

“So what do we do now?” Magnus asked. He was at a loss. Hearthstone was his only plan to solve this mess, but with the elf out of town (and probably world) for the week he didn’t know what to do. Being tied to Alex like this wasn’t exactly bad, but it could create all sorts of problems. How were they supposed to fight in practice or shower? Or worse, what if Magnus did something stupid (who is he kidding, of course he’ll do something stupid, we’re talking about him) and Alex found out about his crush on her?

Alex shrugged, unaware of Magnus’ inner struggle. “We just deal with it, I guess.” With a huff, she stood up straight from her spot leaning again the side of Blitzen’s apartment building. “So where do you want to go?”

“What?” Magnus asked confused.

“We have permission to stay out until dinner time at the latest, we might as well enjoy some time as normal teens,” Alex explained. Magnus could have sworn there was a light blush on her face, but it was probably just the light reflecting the color of her tank top. “So where do you want to go?”

They started wandering around since neither one of them had any particular place they wanted to go to. The streets were filed with the usual Saturday morning traffic; people heading to work, walking their dogs, parents out with their kids. It was so weird to be out like this without worrying for some monster to attack and it was even weirder to realize that all these people had no idea about the Norse gods being real or about there being several worlds.

They had some money in their pockets so they got some cheap coffee and a bag of chocolates. They kept walking and soon they found themselves at Public Garden. The place was busy, which wasn’t surprising; there were always a lot of people here when it was a nice day outside.

“Want to sit over there?” Alex asked, pointing at a bench a little ways ahead of them.

“Sure. Um, give me a minute.”

He didn’t wait for Alex to respond and quickly run to the footbridge. Just as he expected, a couple of scruffy men was sitting underneath it. “Hey, guys,” he called out. He fished the mortal money he had on him from his pockets and gave it to them. “Here you go. Have a nice day.”

He turned around and headed back to Alex, aware of their eyes on him. He knew what was going through their heads was ‘What the f*ck was that? Why did he actually help us?’ and he knew giving them twenty bucks didn’t solve their problem. He knew they’ll still be there tomorrow and the day after that but there wasn’t much else he could do.

“Okay, let’s go,” he told Alex when he got back to her. There was a warm, proud smile on her face that made Magnus’ heart swell up.

The sat down on the bench and just watched the people passing by as they sipped their coffee. It was simple, yes, but with everything that had happened lately, not to mention the quest in summer, moments like this had become even more important to Magnus.

He smiled. Who knew just drinking coffee could be this nice. This almost feels like a date.

The moment his traitorous mind made that thought Magnus almost choked on his coffee and felt his cheeks heat up. Calm down, Magnus. It’s just two friends hanging out. Alex didn’t ask you on a date, she just asked you to hang out.

Somehow, Magnus wasn’t sure how, they ended up making stories for the people wandering through the park. He had read about characters doing that in a lot of books but never really understood it. Now, making random little stories for strangers with Alex, he kind of did. It could be fun, especially if you had someone with you.

“That woman over there,” Alex said, pointing at a woman in a hoodie that was jogging, “she has a big wedding coming up. She’s found the perfect weeding but needs to lose a few pounds to fit in it. Her old school rival is going to be there and she wants to piss her off by looking awesome.” She sipped her coffee and smirked. “But they both get drunk at the after party and wake up the next morning naked in bed together.”

Magnus chuckled. “That sound like something out of a sitcom.”

Alex shrugged, smiling. “Your turn.”

Magnus looked around to find someone and his eyes fell on another couple of teenagers. A tall boy with closely cropped black hair and thin almond eyes was walking side by side a girl with wavy brown hair in an undercut, her fringe dyed blue.

Magnus pointed at them. “Those two are out on a date. The guy’s really nervous because he like the girl a lot and doesn’t want to mess things up. The girl acts cool but she’s just as much of a mess around him as he is around her.”

Are you talking about you and your girlfriend, boss? Jack teased him in his head.

She’s not my girlfriend, Magnus replied. And haven’t you been really quiet lately?

I didn’t want to ruin your date. If swords could smirk, Magnus was sure Jack was smirking right now.

It’s not a date!

“Didn’t know you were such a romantic, Magnus,” Alex teased him.

Magnus shrugged, trying to ignore Jack’s comments. “It’s just the first thing that came to me.”

They kept the game going for a little while until Alex asked “Say, who are those chocolates for?”

“For Hunding the bellhop. I make sure to bring him back chocolate whenever I go out.”

Alex gave him that warm smile and again and Magnus almost died. Again. “You’re a really nice guy, you know that?”

Magnus felt his heart skip a beat at the compliment. “I’m not doing anything special. He doesn’t like working under Helgi and chocolate makes him happy so I just bring him some.”

“Yeah, but no one else does that,” Alex countered. “You also treat people nice, you heal them, sometimes not even realizing you did it, and you made sure I was comfortable when Hearthstone cast the rune. I’ve seen you not ask people things, even when you want to ask, because you know they wouldn’t be comfortable answering,” She counted on her fingers. “You, Magnus Chase, are a big cinnamon roll.”

“Cinnamon roll?”

“Yeah, it’s when-“

“I know what it is. It’s just that nobody ever called me that.”

“Really? It suits you.” She took another sip of her coffee. “So if not cinnamon roll, have you ever had a nickname like that?”

“My mum used to call me pumpkin,” Magnus said, not really thinking about the words leaving his mouth until Alex almost doubled over laughing.

“Really?” she asked, laughing so much people were looking at them. “That’s adorable.”

Magnus smiled. “It used to embarrass me when I was older, especially when she said it around my friends. I know she was doing it on purpose, she always smirked afterwards.” He sighed. “But after she died… I really miss her calling me that, even if it’s a bit embarrassing.”

Uncertainly at first, Alex rested her hand on Magnus’s shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting gesture. “I’m not the best person to talk to about parents, there isn’t much to miss in mine, but… your mum sounds really cool.” There was a pause and then “If… if you don’t mind me asking, how did she…?”

“Wolves,” Magnus answered. “Like the ones that killed you. They attacked our house. My mum, she made me leave even if I didn’t want to leave her behind. She… she wasn’t able to get out in time. The house burnt down.”

Alex’s hand was now rubbing circles on his back. “I’m sorry, Magnus. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s… it’s okay. I have to talk about her eventually. She would have wanted me to be able to move on.” No one said anything and then Magnus talked again. “You know, when I first came to Valhalla, I thought she would be there. I thought if anyone deserved to be in Valhalla it was her, not me.”

“Magnus, Sam told me how you got in Valhalla. What you did was brave. You deserve to be there and I’m sure your mum would be very proud of her little pumpkin.”

“You’re never going to let me live that pet name down, will you?”

“Nope,” Alex said, popping the ‘p’. “Honestly, it’s your fault for telling me.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “You know, I think my mum would think you’re cool too.”

Alex raised an eyebrow. “That would be a first. Most adults don’t like me much.”

“Nah, you’re a lot alike. You don’t care about what others think of you, you’re both outdoors people, you both like hiking. And my mum could never stay still for long, she had to be doing something. She used to build things out of old stuff she found in the street, she carved wood, she even made candles for some time. I’m sure she’d love your pots.”

“Anyone would, actually,” he continued. “They’re really cool. I can’t understand how you can make them without them falling apart.” He was waving his hands animatedly and he must have looked funny because Alex chuckled.

“It’s not that hard once you get the basics. I can show you if you want.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. We’ll have to spend time together now that we’re tied together anyway, so,” Alex shrugged and once more Magnus could have sworn she was blushing. Before he had enough time to think about it Alex got and pulled him along with her. “It’s almost lunch time. Let’s go back, I’ll show you after lunch.”

Magnus nodded and followed her back to Hotel Valhalla.

Chapter 3: Bribing with food always works

Chapter Text

Hunding’s face whenever he got chocolate was one of Magnus’ favorite things. His entire face lit up, like the bag of cheap chocolates was the best thing anyone ever gave him. He would be in a good mood for the rest of the day and that he made a friend happy, even if it was over something so simple, made Magnus happy.

Alex and Magnus got back to Hotel Valhalla just in time for lunch. They entered the great hall and saw everybody already there. Dozens of heads turned to their direction when they walked in but Magnus didn’t care about that, searching around the room for his friends. He spotted them on his right at about the middle of the stadium-like room. Large weapons were put on one of the benches, Valhalla’s form of saving a seat for someone.

“Hey, guys,” Magnus called out as he and Alex got to their table. They put the weapons down and sat, their friends having saved them seats next to each other.

“Hey. Did you solve your little problem?” Mallory asked. Halfborn, sitting right next to her, tried to steal some of her food while she was talking but she batted his hand away without even looking at him. She had gotten really good at defending her food since coming to Valhalla.

“No. Hearthstone will be out of town for a week so we’re stuck like this,” Alex explained, popping a potato in her mouth.

“Well, it’s just a week,” T.J said, trying to find the bright side to this situation. “And you’re friends, so it’s not that bad. Think of it as getting to know each other better.”

“Much better, especially when you’ll have to shower” Halfborn added with a smirk and wiggling eyebrows.

Magnus and Alex both paled. Showering had been an issue they knew would come but – as you did whenever you didn’t want to deal with something- they put off thinking too much about until it did.

Showering was something private and neither of them wanted to invade the other’s privacy. It was the same as last night when they needed to change. Sure, changing in front of each other would have been mildly embarrassing, but that wasn’t the problem. They had boundaries, things they didn’t do because they knew the other didn’t want them to, and what the both agreed on was personal space. Forced to be within ten feet of each other or not, they didn’t want to make the other feel uncomfortable.

“Don’t embarrass them,” Mallory told her boyfriend, confusing Magnus and Alex’s ‘f*ck, what are we going to do?’ faces for embarrassment.

“I’m not embarrassing them. I’m just pointing out a viable possibility.”

“And embarrassing them in the process.”

“Anyway,” T.J said, changing the topic to spare Magnus and Alex. “What are you going to do in training since you have to stay this close together?”

Alex shrugged. “Just wing it, I guess. We’ll probably die quickly.”

The conversation moved on as they ate, moving from one topic to another as they often did. Mallory, Halfborn and T.J told them about everything they missed when they were out. Magnus was convinced Valhalla worked like school; nothing funny happened when you were there but the moment you left there was free desert in the cafeteria, fireworks and a live performance by Beyonce. He missed out on seeing Mallory and Halfborn’s flustered faces when T.J caught them making out in an armor closet, for crying out loud!

“I can’t believe I missed such good blackmail material,” Alex complained, voicing Magnus’ exact thoughts. “Imagine what I could have made you done with that.”

“Oh, so does that mean you need to blackmail me in order to beat me?” Halfborn teased. Next to him Mallory rolled her eyes, the message clear: Here we go again.

When he went back to the daily life of an undead warrior after getting back Thor’s hammer, Magnus found out Alex and Halfborn’s friendship consisted mostly of fighting competitions and sh*t-talking each other during said competitions. It was a beautiful friendship.

“Yeah, right,” Alex said. “I can kick your ass any day of the week. Even being tied to Magnus can’t hold me back.”

“Excuse me?”

“In fact,” Alex continued, “I can kick both your ass and your girlfriend’s ass.”

“If you’re so sure about that then prove it.” Halfborn smirked co*ckily, extending his arm over the table. “Mallory and I versus you and your boyfriend at today’s full army combat.”

“I never agreed to this and I’m not her boyfriend,” Magnus protested but his words fell on deaf ears.

Alex took Halfborn’s hand. “You’re going down.”

“How did I get in this mess?”

Magnus and Alex where in Magnus’ room, putting on their armor before training. Alex was standing behind Magnus, tightening his breastplate as the boy talked.

“Oh, come on. It’ll be fun.” She pulled the straps up tighter. “Hold it in place.”

Magnus did what she told him, holding his breastplate up. “Sometimes I wonder what your definition of ‘fun’ is.”

Alex rolled her eyes, not that Magnus could see it. “You’re being over-dramatic. It will be fine.” She tied the strap and Magnus winced at how tight it was but he had learned the hard way it was better if your armor felt tight at first. If it didn’t then it loosened up later and you ended up looking like an idiot because your armor was too big, you slipped because of it and ended up stabbing yourself.

Yes, he had some embarrassing deaths.

“You just deal with Mallory and leave Halfborn to me.”

“Like that makes it better.” Magnus held up the breastplate again as Alex tied the second strap. “I fought against her once. She’s deadly with those knives! She’ll destroy me!”

Having finished with the armor, Alex put her hands on her waist. “What about this? You land a hit on Mallory and I treat you to falafel.”

Magnus tried to be strong. He did. But falafel was his weakness and denying free falafel, even if it was to avoid physical harm, was painful. Stay strong, Magnus. Don’t let her beat you.

“Mm, how about I throw in some baklava? I heard the Fadlans have an excellent recipe.”

They do, Magnus thought. Amir had treated him to some of their baklava rolls once when he was homeless and it was so goooood. Magnus felt his mouth watering just thinking about them. He hadn’t had them in a long time too. Fuuuuck…

“Ugh,” Magnus groaned. “You used my weakness against me.”

Alex smirked. “Is that a yes?” she asked, even thought she knew the answer very well.

“Yes. But know that I'll eat as much falafel as you can afford.”

Alex didn’t seem to mind that and instead chuckled at Magnus’ frown, which looked more like a pout.

They met the others at the hall and headed for the main courtyard. Halfborn and Alex kept throwing insults at each other like they always did before a fighting competition, but at this point the other three einherjar had trained themselves to ignore them.

Soon they were standing in a large clearing in the main courtyard. T.J had taken his usual job as referee and was sitting on a large tree. He had his rifle in his hands, ready to shoot anyone who came close enough to disturb the match.

“Usual rules apply,” he said. There was no real reason to state the rules every time or make as much of a show when starting a match, but T.J though it was fun. “The one who loses first dies. Kill both members of the opposing team and you win.”

The four teens stood facing each other, Halfborn and Mallory on one side and Alex and Magnus on the other. Was it a bit over dramatic? Yeah. Did they care? No, not really. Being so over-the-top about these matches made them more fun.

“Get ready and FIGHT!”

Alex and Halfborn were immediately at each other’s necks, fighting with such intensity it was hard to believe they were just competing and not serious about killing each other (like, kill kill. Not-come-back-again kill).

Magnus and Mallory were much calmer about their battle. Mallory walked towards him slowly, almost like a wild cat stalking it’s pray, ready to jump at it and sink its teeth in its flesh. That image didn’t really help Magnus’ confidence.

“Let’s take this easy, aye Magnus?” Mallory smiled as she pulled out her knives. But her smile wasn’t happy or reassuring, it was a I’m-gonna-kick-your-ass-so-bad kind of smile.

“No can do, Mallory. I get free falafel if I hit you.”

The girl raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Did Alex ask you on a date?”

“N-no,” Magnus replied, cursing himself for his voice breaking like that.

But you would have liked it if she did, Jack snickered. He seemed to only talk recently to tease Magnus.

Shut up.

Yeah, yeah. Now kick the redhead’s ass. Show her what my boy can do!

“Too bad. You would be cute together.”

Mallory dashed forward, her knives in hand. Magnus was only able to dodge her blades in the last minute, his sword and shield feeling heavy in his arms. Not as heavy as they used to be, he thought absentmindedly. Training had paid off.

“Not bad,” Mallory said. Where Magnus was tense she was relaxed, fighting with the kind of ease you got after being an undead warrior for years. “You’ve gotten faster!”

She attacked again and Magnus deflected it. From the corner of his eye he saw Alex on top of Halfborn, strangling him with her garrote. Halfborn grabbed her by her sweater and threw her off but the daughter of Loki simply got up again and attacked, a smirk on her face.

… should Magnus be concerned that he found her really attractive when she was fighting someone?

“Don’t go staring at your girlfriend when we’re having a fight!”

Magnus snapped back to attention just as Mallory was attacking again. He put his shield up as fast as he could, barely protecting himself. Despite that, Mallory’s knives still cut his upper right arm.

“I wasn’t staring!”

Mallory rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”

“And she’s not my girlfriend!”

“But you would like her to be!”

Mallory’s strategy, Magnus thought jokingly as he was fighting down his blush (and fighting off Mallory’s blades, that too), is to distract me by embarrassing me and then attacking.

… wait a minute.

That was what she was doing! All those comments about Alex weren’t just Mallory pulling his leg, it was part of her strategy!

Magnus smirked. Two can play this game.

“Hey, Mallory,” He called out. “What were you and Halfborn doing in that closet? I mean, T.J said you were kissing, but were you doing something more?”

He smiled, satisfied by the red flush that took over the girl’s cheeks, and dashed forward. He got close while Mallory was spluttering out an answer but her reflexes were faster and she managed to jump out of the way in the last minute.

“Say, is Halfborn a good kisser?”

Mallory attacked quickly, but her movements were sloppier because of her embarrassment. Her knife would have hit him before but now Magnus slipped out of the way with ease.

“I mean, by how many times you‘ve been caught eating each other’s faces off, I’ll assume he is.”

“Oh, I am,” Halfborn smirked, having overheard their conversation. “And by how she reacts I guess she agrees.”

“Halfborn!” Mallory scolded him and Magnus saw his opportunity. He run forward and attacked, his sword hitting her side. She stumbled but was able to stay on her feet despite the bleeding wound and Magnus had to remind himself it wasn’t serious because she would get resurrected later. Still, hurting his friend felt wrong.

He saw Alex strangling Halfborn again, standing up straight on his back and using the wire wrapped around his neck to keep her balance. This time Halfborn wasn’t able to throw her off and the girl managed to kill him. His body crumbled to the ground and Alex got off him with a triumph grin.

But Magnus got distracted for a moment too long and before he knew it Mallory’s knives were sticking out of his neck.

“Oh, f*ck.”

The world slowly came into focus as Magnus woke up. He realized he was laying on a bed, fluffy pillows behind his head. The bed was so comfy he was thinking of just turning over and sleeping but then he realized he had been killed. He cursed mentally, already dreading the ache that was sure to take over the place his fatal wound was in. Who knew dying because your hands got cut off would ache so much the next morning.

He opened his eyes to bright afternoon light coming from his atrium. Even after almost two months in Valhalla he hasn’t gotten used to the disoriented feeling that came with waking up after being resurrected. It was just weird waking up like normal when you just got killed.

“So Sleeping Beauty is finally awake,” a voice said.

Next to his bed was sitting Alex Fierro, with his picture book about Norse gods in her lap. She was wearing the same clothes she did during practice, he noted. There was even blood splattered on her clothes on some spots, though she didn’t seem hurt.

“Hey,” Magnus greeted her, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. “How long have I been out?”

“Not long. The others aren’t up yet.” She put the book down and stretched her arms above her head. “You heal pretty quickly though.”

“I guess it’s a son-of-Frey thing,” Magnus said. “But you woke up even before me.”

“I didn’t die.”

Magnus’ eyes widened. “You didn’t die?” he repeated. He knew for a fact it was nearly impossible not to die in full combat practice. The whole point of it was to prepare you for dying in Ragnarok, it was designed to kill you!

“I didn’t stay after you died,” Alex explained. “The moment your body disappeared my wrist started hurting and I had to leave.” She held up the hand Hearth had cast the rune on.

“Oh.” Magnus winced imagining how bad it must have hurt for Alex to leave practice. He felt guilty for causing her pain, even if he hadn’t meant to do it. “Did it hurt a lot?”

“You know how it feels like we’re tied at the wrist by a rope and we can’t move apart further than ten feet cause it’s not long enough? You disappearing from next to me so suddenly felt like I was hanging over a cliff and that rope was holding up my whole weight.”

“I’m sorry.”

Alex rolled her eyes. “You don’t need to apologize for anything. And anyway, it’s okay since I’m close to you now.”

You know that moment that moment when you realize you said something stupid but it’s too late to take it back? Magnus and Alex were hit by that by that feeling at the same time as the realized how extremely sappy what Alex said was. It sounded like something out the romance movies Magnus and his mum used to watch together. (And yes, Magnus likes cheesy romance movies. Sue him.)

“So, um, you said you’d show me how to make a pot,” Magnus said to get them out of the awkward situation before Alex face palmed. “Do you wanna do it now? Since we have time ‘till dinner.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, come on.”

Alex’s room was a lot like Magnus. Cross shaped with an atrium in the middle, but where Magnus had a small living room with bookshelves, Alex had a pottery studio. The walls were white, unlike the rest of the suite, which was in pale pinks and greens. On the shelves on the walls were dozens of pots, plates, teacups and bowls, some painted in bright colors and designs.

In the middle of the room were two potter’s wheels. To Magnus, who hadn’t used one since fifth grade, they looked like large gray discs inside a big plastic bowl on a pole. He decided not to tell that to Alex for fear of losing his limbs.

“Where did the second one come from?” Alex wondered out loud.

That’s right, Magnus remembered, Alex only has one.

“The staff probably brought it. They have a way of knowing what you need,” Magnus answered and as an afterthought he added “Though I’ve never seen them actually seen them around, other than Hunding. Is there even other staff?”

Alex rolled her eyes at Magnus’ philosophical questions and motioned him to one of the wheels. “You can use that one. Get an apron from the hanger and we’ll get started.” She pointed to a clothe hanger on the wall, from which hang pink and green aprons.

Magnus grabbed a dark green one and struggled to tie it behind his back. He spent a good minute trying to do that, cursing and turning in circles, while Alex stood there and watched him with amusem*nt.

“Are you having fun?” Magnus asked. He knew he was going to make a fool out of himself trying to make a pot anyway, he hoped he wouldn’t get humiliated from this early.

“Nah, I think I’ll watch for a little. You’re like a puppy chasing its tail.”

“You’re comparing me to a puppy?” Magnus asked incredulously. Alex just made weird analogies, he concluded. First sunshine and now puppies.

“Yeah, maybe a golden retriever?” She rubbed at her chin in mock thoughtfulness, like she was stroking a beard. “They’re blond, stupid at times and cute. See, you have a lot of things in common.”

She smiled at him the way she did when she teased him and Magnus almost died at the word ‘cute’. She’s trying to kill me, Magnus thought. That or she really enjoys torturing me.

“Will you help me tie this or what?” He said, trying hard to ignore the fact she just called him cute.

“Yeah, yeah. Come here.” Magnus turned and let Alex tie the apron behind his back.

Was it just him or did Alex stand much closer than she needed to? And did it honestly take that long to tie an apron? They were almost hugging and when the strings fell from Alex’s hands she leaned forward to take them. She was so close Magnus could feel her breath on his neck.

f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck, f*ck.

“Oops, sorry, they slipped,” Alex said innocently.

Innocently. Yeah, right. She’s trying to kill me.

Alex finally tied the apron and gestured Magnus to one of the wheels. “Sit there.”

Magnus did as he was told and watched as Alex made two balls of clay and put one on the wheel in front of him. There was a bucket next to each of their wheels filled with water and Magnus wondered how he hadn’t seen that before.

“I’m going to show you how to do it on my wheel and then you try to do the same, okay?”

Magnus nodded. Alex sat down and started up the wheel. Her ball of clay span round and round, almost hypnotizing.

“The first thing you need to do is center your clay,” Alex said, and when Magnus looked at her confused she explained “You make it so it looks like it’s not moving.”

She put her hands together, thumbs over each other. “So, you put your hands like this and push inwards with this part.” She trailed her finger in a line from her pinky to the end of her palm.

She wet her hands and pressed into the clay. It started lifting up, creating a column. “You need to work with both your hands together,” she continued. “Rest your arms on your pelvis so they are stable. If they aren’t you’ll make mistakes while making the pot and turn my room into a mess.”

“Speaking from experience?” Magnus teased, though it would have been more effective if he hadn’t been staring at the clay like he was hypnotized.

Alex smirked. “Oh, the horror stories I could tell you from when I started pottery. My teacher had been finding clay in her hair for a week once.”

Magnus paled a bit. “In her hair? How did it get there?”

Alex smiled they people did when they remembered things they did back in the day that hadn’t ended well, but now were fun stories. “It involved a young Alex thinking she could use one of the advanced techniques to make a fancy pot and accidently putting the wheel in the fastest setting.”

Magnus paled more, imagining a wildly spinning wheel with clay shooting everywhere and horrified screams. That was probably more dramatic than what actually happened, but meh.

“Anyway, make sure to keep your hands wet at all times or else the pot will look like sh*t,” Alex continued. “After you make the column, you karate-chop it down.”

Magnus thought she meant a literal karate-chop and was prepared to duck down to avoid the clay. What Alex did, however, was push the clay down with the side of her hand, her thumbs locked together for stability.

Alex smirked at him. “You weren’t expecting a real karate-chop, were you?”

Magnus’ face flushed. “N-no,” he lied.

Alex rolled her eyes. “Okay, so what you do now is make a hole. Even you can’t mess this one, you just press your finger in. The only thing you need to watch out for is not go too deep or your pot will turn into a donut.”

Alex put her finger in as close to the middle as she could and made a hole. “Now you put your finger in and slowly pull outwards. You need to go slow in all the steps so the pot comes out good and not with one side really thin and the other really thick. You have no idea how many mutated pots like that I made when I was young.”

“So even the great Alex Fierro makes mistakes?” Magnus teased. He imagined ten year old Alex in a bright apron bent over her wheel, tongue sticking out, trying to make a pot. He had to fight hard not to coo.

“Even a genius like myself makes mistakes at times.” She flipped her hand close to her ear, like she was flipping her hair. Obviously, she didn’t actually touch it. Her hands were covered in clay, after all. “Rarely, of course.”

They laughed together at Alex’s flamboyant antics, before Alex went back to her pot. “Now you need to pull the clay up wards. You pinch the wall with your finger like this,” she held up her clay covered fingers, the thumb and the index close together, “and you release the pressure the higher you go, otherwise the top will be thin and crack easily.”

She showed Magnus how to do it, pulling the clay upwards until it looked like a cylinder. “If the top is too wide you can reshape it like this,” she put her hands around the clay in the shape of a circle and pressed in.

“This is the last step. You put your hands together like this,” she held out the middle and index fingers of her left hand and put the same finger from her right behind them, her right thumb dangling freely, “and push with your thumb to give the pot the shape you want. This is a relatively easy one.”

She shaped the pot so its middle was wide but the bottom and rim were the same width. Magnus knew he should be paying attention to her hands, but with her brows furrowed in concentration like this and the specks of clay on her face she looked way too cute for him to pay attention to anything else.

With a small, rectangle piece of metal she trimmed off the excess clay from the wheel and pulled out the non-magic variant of her garrote, sliding it along the wheel to cut it off.

“And all done!” She said, pulling the ‘a’ in ‘and’ and taking her pot in her hands. She put it on one of the shelves to dry and turned to Magnus. “Now is your turn.”

Magnus looked at the wheel like it was a torture machine and gulped, nervous not to make a fool of himself.

Calm down, Magnus, he thought. Just do what Alex told you. It can’t be that difficult.

Chapter 4: Alex Fierro is a f*cking tease

Chapter Text

Really f*cking difficult, Magnus found out.

He blames Alex for it. She made pottery look so easy and effortless, the clay taking shape under her fingers so smoothly, that he though “Hey, this might not be that difficult after all!”

He was wrong.

He didn’t know how it happened, maybe he hadn’t pressed the clay on the wheel hard enough, but when he turned the wheel on the clay became a deadly projectile, zipping past Magnus’s head and into the wall. It happened so fast that Magnus was left blinking.

“Maybe you should fight with a pottery wheel instead of a sword,” Alex had joked. She picked up the clay from the floor and put it back on Magnus’ wheel, more amused than annoyed.

In his second try, Magnus applied pressure with his whole palm instead of just the bottom, making the clay twist around and splat on their aprons. Magnus’ ears were burning from embarrassment but Alex seemed amused by Magnus’ failures. She was smiling at him like you did when a cute puppy did something stupid.

“It’s okay, I’ve done way worse when I was starting. Just try again.”

She helped Magnus pick up the pieces of clay scattered around and made a ball again. She gave it to Magnus so he could put it on the wheel himself this time and their fingers brushed. Magnus’ face flushed immediately, turning as red as Mallory’s hair, but Alex seemed oblivious to her hands basically cupping Magnus’.

“Here you go,” she said, almost whispering. She was so close all Magnus would have to do was lean forward and they would kiss. He tried very hard not to stare at her lips but he failed at it epically.

So Magnus tried centering for the third time. Things were going well at first, the column took shape without flying across the room and cutting off his head or splattering everywhere. But he put too much pressure and the base thinned so much the whole thing just flopped down.

They stared at the column of wet clay laying on Alex’s silicon covered floor for a moment before Alex broke the silence. “It kinda looks like a turd.”

The statement was so random Magnus couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m horrible at this.”

“You’re not that bad,” Alex said, and from her tone Magnus was surprised to realize she wasn’t just being nice but actually meant what she was said “You just need some help.”

Once the clay was on the wheel again, Magnus mentally prepared himself for on more failure. That is until Alex wrapped her arms around him and he lost all thinking ability.

“I’ll help you do this, okay?” she said, seemingly oblivious to the fact Magnus’ heart had went into overdrive and his palms were sweating so much he wouldn’t need any more water to make the pot. She was basically hugging him, she was so close the blonde could feel her entire body pressed against his back. Her hands moved down his arms, towards his hands, and was it just him or was she purposely going extra slow? Her hands cupped his and she intertwined their fingers together.

“Just follow my lead, alright?” She said and Magnus almost died (again) at how close their faces were together. Her head was resting on his shoulder and her lips were right next to his cheek. The smile she flashed him was the final hit.

This is it, he thought. Magnus Chase, died at the tender age of fifteen after not even three month in the afterlife because of his crush.

Maybe he replied to what Alex said, maybe he didn’t; at this point he couldn’t think straight. Alex moved his hands and shaped the clay, explaining something as she did, but Magnus was paying attention to other things. Like how it nice it felt when Alex was hugging his like this (he’s a cuddler, okay?) or how warm she was. How soft her hands felt on his or how her breath smelt of strawberry gum.

(If the only thing on Magnus’ mind at the moment wasn’t Alex Fierro Alex Fierro Alex Fierro Alex Fierro Alex Fierro Alex Fierro Alex Fierro he might have noticed that Alex kept hugging him like this for several extra minutes after the column was formed.)

“There we go,” she said, finally stepping away from Magnus, who instantly missed her warmth.

The karate-chop thing that came next wasn’t as hard and after a few minutes Magnus managed to finish the centering without destroying the clay. (Though he would be lying if he said he didn’t think about doing it just so Alex could help him out again.)

The next step went fine as well. After all, not even Magnus could mess up just holding his finger there.

But opening the clay. Oh, boy. It looked easy, and it was. Pulling the clay outwards felt really nice, really satisfying for some reason Magnus couldn’t understand. He got so carried away by that feeling that before he knew it the clay had stretched all the way to the edge of the wheel.

“f*ck!” he cursed, embarrassed he made a mistake like this. He tried to find a way to correct things but was stopped in his tracks by Alex’s laugh.

“It’s okay,” she said with a smile, eyes shining with amusem*nt and Magnus felt like he fell in love all over again every time she laughed. “Everybody has made this mistake. Opening up the clay just feels really nice.”

Magnus nodded. “Yeah, it’s just feels satisfying! Like soft ice-cream coming out of the machine or putting in the last piece of a puzzle in place.”

“I know right?”

There was a beat of silence and then they both laughed at their little fangirling session.

“Anyway”, Alex said, “you can always start over.”

While Magnus wiped away the ruined clay and water from the wheel, Alex made a new ball of clay. She put it down and Magnus was about to start again when she leaned in very close.

“Do you want me to help you with centering again?” she all but whispered and how could someone be so cute one moment and then so hot the next? Why weren’t there laws against being so hot? (Actually, scratch that. If there were laws against that then Alex would be public enemy number one and he’d rather not see his crush in jail.)

Magnus tried to reply but nothing that came out of his mouth was understandable human talk (though he might have accidently spoke fish).

In the end Alex smirked and let him try on his own at first. She made it perfectly clear, however, that she was there to help him if he need her.

Yet, by some miracle, Magnus didn’t need any help and part of him was glad because he wouldn’t get another Alex Fierro induced heart attack and part of him was sad for the exact same reason.

His column didn’t come out as easily as the one he made with Alex (or Alex made with him, considering he had almost fainted) but it was good enough. The next two steps went by fast enough and when Magnus was opening the clay again he was extra careful not to go too far this time.

Somehow, Odin know how, Magnus managed to make his pot. The lid was a bit lower on one side, the walls were thinner in some places and it’s shape wasn’t as definite as Alex’s. Basically it looked like Alex’s pot reflected in a funny mirror.

Well, it hadn’t collapsed yet, so that was a win.

“It’s… artistic,” Alex said.

Magnus sent her a we both know that’s not what you want to say but you want to be polite look.

“Anyway, let’s put that to the side to dry and go get all this clay out of our hair. Now do you understand how that accident happened?”

Magnus nodded solemnly. He would never again question clay’s ability to get stuck in the weirdest of places.

They cleaned Alex’s pottery studio, washing everything and putting them back in their place, before they went to Magnus room again. It was only then, as they were standing in front of Magnus’ bathroom door, that they realized the problem in front of them.

“Um, let’s go get your things and we’ll figure out how to do this,” Magnus said.

So they got Alex’s things and at this point Magnus was pretty sure she just loved anything pink or green because everything she brought, from her shampoo to her bath towel, was either one of these two colors.

They did some experiment and no matter how you did it there was no way for one of them to be outside the bathroom and the other inside the shower.

In the end, the plan Magnus came up with might not have been the brightest but it was the best he could come up with when the image of Alex naked wasn’t leaving his mind (and Jack bringing it up again and again wasn’t helping either.)

(And, for the record, his other ideas were nailing a curtain in the middle of the room and blindfolding.

“I didn’t know you were into that, Magus,” Alex teased him with as smirk when he voiced his second idea, thinking it was the less ridiculous of the two.

Needless to say, there was enough blood rushing to Magnus’ face for his head to blow up.)

But what was Magnus’ great plan?

“Sitting on the floor with a blanket over your head?” Alex asked when Magnus explained his idea. “That’s your big plan?”

“Well, yeah.” Magnus scratched the back of his neck. “It’s kind of like the blindfold, but we can take something to do with us too so it won’t be as boring as just sitting there.”

Alex sighed. “You know what? At this point I honestly don’t care; I just want to take a shower.”

So Magnus got his blanket and the book Halfborn had lent him along with a flashlight and sat against the wall at the farthest point their bond would allow them. He covered himself up and felt like a child again, reading under his blanket until late even though he knew he had school the next day.

As he read he heard the sounds of Alex showering. There was a rustling of clothes, the laundry bumper opening and closing and Magnus was hit by the realization that he was in the same room with his naked crush. He was suddenly hyper aware of everything, the book on his lap, the blanket over his head and the sound of the water as it hit the glass.

Despite that, however, and despite Jack’s continuous dirty jokes he refuses to repeat, Magnus stayed at his spot and tried to read his book. Tried being the key word, as it was hard to focus on the text in front of him when his mind thought it was a better idea to bring up the fact that Alex probably looked really good without a shirt on. (f*ck hormones.)

When Alex finally gave him the cue it was okay to take the blanket off, Magnus almost fainted at what he saw. Alex Fierro with pushed back, wet hair should be illegal.

Oh wow, Magnus thought. That’s… that’s actually pretty hot. Damn, that’s really hot.

“You can go in Magnus,” she said, but Magnus had lost his ability to form words so he just nodded.

This girl is going to kill me. And weirdly enough, I’m okay with that.

The next was… pretty standard, actually. Magnus and Alex spent the morning in Hotel Valhalla, going about their daily routine. Or trying to, at least. Doing day-to-day stuff proved to be pretty difficult and they kept forgetting they had to stay within ten feet of each other. Magnus was really hoping Heimdall wasn’t filming them for Vine.

They were sitting at Magnus’ room, relaxing after team combat practice. They had thought “Hey, we’re stuck together, we’re a team, let’s go kick butt!” They managed to kick a lot of butts in tag battles, sure, but after a while the people watching them realized that for some reason they couldn’t be farther than ten feet from each other and used that against them. Long story short, Magnus now knew what it felt like to be strangled by a seven foot man.

Magnus was laying on his bed, reading his book, when Alex suddenly jumped off the bed, shaking the whole thing.

“Come on, Magnus, let’s go,” she said, putting her garrote through her belt loops.

“Go where?” Magnus asked, surprised by the sudden question.

“I promised you falafel yesterday, didn’t I? We can go have lunch at Amir’s.” She smirked. “Unless you don’t want falafel, of course.”

Magnus jumped of the bed like a coiled up spring being freed. He wasn’t going to miss the chance to eat the Fadlan’s falafel. (Especially with Alex.) “Let’s go.”

Alex chuckled at Magnus’ eagerness but said nothing.

They were walking to the elevator when Halfborn approached them.

“Guys, wait up!” He called out, “Are you going to Midgard?”

Magnus nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“Can you get me one of those red velvet cakes Mallory likes from the café-bakery near Public Garden?”

Alex smirked. “Planning a romantic dinner for your girlfriend?”

Halfborn didn’t seem embarrassed as he nodded. “Yeah, I promised her a surprise if she fought against Magnus in yesterday’s fight. Plus she’s said I can’t be romantic so I wanna prove her wrong.”

“Well, that will be fun,” Alex said in that “I-like-watching-trainwrecks” way. “Count on us, Halfborn. When do you want your cake?”

“Anytime before dinner is fine,” the Viking said and handed them the money. “Thanks a lot guys.”

Hunding sneaked them out of the Hotel without Helgi noticing and soon the two teenagers were walking the streets of Boston. They fooled around before finally heading for Fadlan’s Falafel, just walking around and talking. It was nice, as simple as it was.

Magnus also found out Alex liked so-bad-they’re-good jokes. That was… something. (Jack thought those jokes were hilarious.)

They reached Fadlan’s Falafel and went up to the register to order their food. Amir was there, giving a lady her change, and he smiled when he saw them.

“Hey, guys! It’s good to see you, how have you been?”

“Great,” Magnus answered simply, glad to see the boy again. “Alex here owes me some falafel so we came to the best place in town.”

Amir chuckled. “You have to buy Magnus falafel? Did you lose a bet or something?”

“Nah, I’m not losing a bet to this guy. I bribed him into something.”

“That explains it. Magnus would cut off his own arm for free falafel.”

“Hey, that’s not true!” Magnus protested. Then after a moment, as an afterthought “How much falafel exactly are we talking about?”

They all laughed at Magnus’ joke (at least they hoped it was a joke) before Amir asked them what they wanted to order, seeing that there was another customer waiting behind them.

They ordered and sat down on a small table near the back. Alex, to Magnus’ horror, started telling those bad jokes again but the blonde didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop. She looked like she was having fun and Magnus couldn’t put a stop to her fun when she looked so happy.

They kept laughing throughout their lunch, exchanging funny stories and crappy jokes and puns. At one point the discussion somehow turned to Magnus’ books and Alex made the grave mistake of asking him which was his favorite. That, of course, led to Magnus spewing out book titles and details about them for five minutes straight.

“I shouldn’t have asked,” Alex muttered as Magnus said the I-don’t-know-I-stopped-counting-after-15-th book title.

“And that must be all,” Magnus finally finished.

“Geez, I didn’t know you were so much of a bookworm, Maggie.”

“Oh, and there’s-“

“There’s more?!” Alex cut him off, a bit too loudly. She wasn’t about to go through this again.

“I was just going to say Harry Potter,” Magnus answered innocently, like he didn’t only speak again to mess with Alex. “It’s a classic.”

“Finally something I recognize. Harry Potter is a classic, even I have read that and I’m not the biggest book fan.”

“Say, what house are you in?” Magnus asked. Ever since he had read the Harry Potter books back when he was a child he had gotten the habit of sorting everyone he knew into one of the houses, though sometimes he couldn’t chose between two houses.

He wasn’t surprised to find Alex was a Slytherin. With her love for green, her ease to change and not to mention her snake tattoo (which Magnus finds extremely hot, by the way) he shouldn’t have been surprised.

“And let me guess, you’re a Hufflepuff?”

Magnus smiled. “What gave it away?”

“Probably the fact you’re a sunshiny cinnamon roll who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

The Harry Potter conversation continued well into dessert. They discussed everything, from who could have possibly come up with a game like Quidditch to what the f*ck was behind that veil Sirius fell in. Apparently Alex knew a lot of Harry Potter jokes as well and, without realizing it, they had moved a lot closer.

Their conversation only halted when the old man that had sat down near them muttered something about “disgusting fa*gs”. He looked at them the same why one would at a pile of sh*t that had been put under their nose. And, judging from how her expression fell, Alex had heard him too.

Magnus was contemplating holding her down so she didn’t attack the man or snap at him too badly when Alex picked up a piece of baklava and held it out to Magnus. “Say ‘ah’, pumpkin.”

She spoke loudly and the man heard if his scowl was anything to go by. Alex’s smile grew slightly at the sound of distaste he made and Magnus realized what she was doing.

He opened his mouth wide and took the piece of baklava from Alex’s fork, making sure to look into her eyes like in the romance movies he watched.

Magnus repeated the action, calling Alex ‘sweetie pie’ just to be as obnoxiously lovey dovey as he could. It seemed to be working because the man was practically fuming now.

Alex fed him another piece and Magnus had to admit that, as cheesy as this was, it was kinda fun. A big, fat drop of syrup dripped down the corner of Magnus’ lips and he was about to pick up a napkin when Alex stopped him.

“Let me get that,” she said and Magnus thought she was just going to wipe it away for him but no. She leaned closer, so close Magnus could smell her shampoo, and kissed the corner of his lips to wipe away the syrup. Magnus’ face burned like the sun, unable to believe Alex had almost kissed him and in public too. (Like, okay, it was exactly on the lips, more like the corner, but it was close enough.)

Alex leaned away, licking the taste of syrup from her lips and Magnus almost died again. Why does she have to be this attractive, why? Is she trying to kill me?

“Sweet,” she said simply and smiled at him. f*ck that smile, f*ck Alex Fierro, I’m done. RIP me.

There was a loud screech as the man got up and left the shop, leaving some money on the table for the bill.

Alex smirked and high fived Magnus. “Take that, you soggy piece of toast.

They paid for the food and left, saying goodbye to Amir and telling his to say hi to Sam for them. They headed for the café-bakery near Public Garden to get Halfborn’s cake.

About a week ago was T.J’s birthday and they decided to get something sweet to celebrate. Halfborn was distracting him in the park while Magnus, Alex and Mallory went to get something, lying that Alex needed pottery supplies. They found the shop by accident, not really knowing any good places around there. They had different kinds of cupcakes lined up at the shop window so they bought some and ran back to T.J and Halfborn. T.J had been so surprised they had remembered his birthday (after all you could lose track of time when you were an einherjar) and they all sang “Happy Birthday” obnoxiously loud to him.

Now, walking back into the shop, Magnus saw the black and beige décor and assortment of pastries he remembered from that time. They spotted a red velvet cake in the center of the window display that was shaped like a heart and, with a shared smirk, decided to get that one.

The girl behind the registered smiled at them as she handed Alex the box with the cake, a bright red bow on top of it. “There you go, sir,” She said with a smile.

“Thanks,” Alex said, a sharp edge on her voice, like every time she got misgendered. “But it’s she.”

The girl’s eyes widened and she looked mildly horrified for a moment, like when you realize you said something you shouldn’t have. “Oh my god, I’m really sorry miss.”

Alex nodded and said it was okay. They walked out of the shop from the exit nearest to the register. A couple of boys were standing there, leaning against the wall with that traditional edgy angsty teen look going on.

As they walked past them Alex tripped and would have dropped the cake if it wasn’t for her einherjar reflexes. Magnus noticed that one of the boys had his leg outstretched.

“Alex, are you alright?” Magnus asked, helping her get up.

“Yeah, are you okay dude?” the first boy asked, mock sympathy dripping from every word. “Oops, I meant girl,” he snarled and he and his friend snickered like they were so funny.

Alex glared at them but otherwise ignored them and the hateful tone with which he said girl. “Yes, I’m fine, Magnus. Let’s go.”

They turned around to leave but the second boy grabbed Alex’s wrist and, Magnus saw with horror, groped her ass.

Whatever the boy was going to say (Magnus wasn’t sure he wanted to know, judging from the lecherous grin on his face) never made it past his lips because Alex twisted her arm and broke his hold in one swift motion. The movement was so fluent and precise Magnus realized that she had practiced it, and simply the fact she had needed to made him want to puke. Surprised by her sudden movement, the boy was too shocked to dodge and Alex slapped his hard across the face.

“You f*cking freak!” the boy yelled after he got over the initial shock of being slapped but Alex was already walking quickly away from them.

Needless to say, Alex wasn’t exactly in a good mood the rest of the day.

They incident clearly weighted on him and it showed. From the way he moved, to his facial expression, to the air around him. He didn’t smile or tease Halfborn about his romantic plan when they gave him the cake. He spent the day making pots, but none of them came out like they were supposed to; some collapsed, some had leaning lids, some even had holes in the bottom and Alex ended up throwing them against the wall. When he told Magnus he was male now his words were curt. He fought with short, snappy movements in combat practice and died fast. Magnus died soon after and their bodies materialized in Magnus’ room.

Magnus tried to cheer him up but he didn’t know how. He didn’t know what he should say in a situation like this and part of him was scared Alex would attack him if he went too close. Nevertheless, he tried to bring the incident up but Alex told him curtly he didn’t want to talk about it.

He tried a more indirect approach. He put on all the songs he knew Alex liked, sneaked into the kitchens to bring him those nice breadsticks they had at dinner he liked so much and said ever bad and puny joke he knew, even asking Jack for help. Still, Alex’s mood didn’t seem to be improving.

Night came and they went to bed, despite the fact he wasn’t able to cheer up Alex gnawing at him. He somehow fell asleep, Jack’s pendant on the bedside table since the sword insisted he needed his personal space for his beauty sleep and Magnus didn’t want Jack accidentally going into sword mode and stabbing him in his sleep.

Hey! Hey, senor, we have a problem.

Magnus woke up to Jack’s voice in his head. The room was still dark and there was no light coming in from the atrium. I guess it’s still night, Magnus thought sleepily and was about to ask jack why he woke him up when he heard rustling from the bed. It sounded like someone was trashing around inside the sheets and Magnus’ heart sunk to his stomach when he heard whines coming from under the bed sheets.

Alex.

He jumped to his feet, tossing the sleeping bag he was sleeping in to the side. Alex was lying in bed, turning and twisting around, the bed sheets wrapped around his legs like vines. His skin was damp with sweat, tears running down his cheeks. Whines and broken sobs fell from his lips but he didn’t seem awake.

Magnus jumped on the bed. “Alex! Alex, wake up!” He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him but the moment Magnus’ hands touched him Alex tensed up and kicked more, his sobs and whines even louder, coupled with a strangled “no”.

“Alex, please wake up. It’s just a nightmare. It’s alright, it’s okay.” He repeated that like a mantra, saying those last words over and over again in what he hoped was comforting.

Alex’s thrashing around slowly stopped as he woke up. “Magnus?” he said weakly and if it wasn’t for the complete silence of night Magnus wouldn’t have heard him.

“It’s okay Alex, it’s alright, everything is fine,” he continued saying in the most soothing voice he could master, trying to imitate his mother whenever he had had a nightmare.

The tears in Alex’s eyes didn’t stop; if anything, the welled up more as he wrapped his arms around Magnus and cried into his night shirt.

Any embarrassment Magnus might have had under other circ*mstances was completely gone as he hugged Alex tight and rubbed his back as he cried.

“It’s alright, it’s okay Alex, everything is alright, it’s okay,” he whispered. Alex’s entire body shook and trembled in his arms but he just hugged him tighter. “It was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real, you’re alright.”

Magnus didn’t know how much time went by before Alex stopped crying. He raised his face to look at Magnus, eyes puffy and red, tear tracks running down his cheeks. “It was,” he said, his voice croaky from crying. “It-it was real.”

“Wha-?” Magnus started saying before Alex kept talking.

“It was my dad,” he said. “My mortal dad. It was when he found out I’m trans.”

Magnus’ stomach filled with dread. “Alex, you don’t need to tell me this if you don’t want to, it’s alright-“

“I want to tell you,” he cut him off. “I’ve never told anyone and-and I need to get it off my chest because it’s killing me. Just-just please listen.”

Magnus nodded, but from how Alex was hugging him he doubted he could see it.

“That’s what the nightmare was about. My dad- I thought he and my stepmother would be out, something about a tennis tournament my dad was taking part in. I was home alone and- I had bought that really pretty dress in secret. I kept it hidden inside a shoe box under my bed. They weren’t meant to be home and-and I wanted to see what it would be like to dress up as a girl and look like I felt.”

Magnus had a bad feeling about where this was going but he let Alex keep talking, hugging him closer and rubbing his back more.

“But- the tournament go canceled because of rain. My dad came home and he-he saw me in the dress. He started yelling, calling me very bad things and saying he should have never taken me into his house. I tried to talk to him but-but he hit me and yelled at me to leave and never come back.”

Magnus felt like killing Alex’s dad. He was his parent, he was meant to love him and yet he had thrown Alex out like he was trash. He better not see that man in a dark alley because he wasn’t going to nice to him.

“I’ve kept the dress too, you know. Every time I see it I remember that day and I feel horrible but I still keep it.” He tried to laugh it off, like it was no big deal, but the laugh quickly turned into a sob. “Then-then the dream changed. Loki showed up. He said my friends probably feel the same why my mortal dad did. That sooner or later they would throw me out too.”

“Alex, look at me,” Magnus said. His voice came out strong, especially compared to how small and broken Alex sounded.

The green haired teen looked up. He had started crying again while he was talking and there were new tears in his eyes. “They’re wrong,” Magnus said. “Your mortal dad and Loki; they’re both wrong. We won’t leave you. Not me, not Mallory, not T.J, not Halfborn, not Sam or Blitzen or Hearthstone. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a boy or a girl, you’re still Alex Fierro, the green haired badass who cut my head once with a clay cutter, who makes puny jokes and loves pottery, who likes hiking and called me sunshiny and a cinnamon roll, who’s beautiful and amazing and one of the best people I’ve ever met. I lov-“ Magnus caught himself. “We all like you for who you are and that’s not going to change.”

Alex looked at him like he couldn’t believe Magnus had just said all that. Yet a smile was making its way to his face and he wiped some tears away. “You’re so sappy, Magnus,” he said quietly, but he didn’t sound teasing; he sounded affectionate.

“Maybe,” Magnus said and shrugged. “But if you think you’re getting rid of me and the rest of our friends anytime soon, you’re wrong.”

“Guess I’ll have to deal with you,” he said and the croakiness from crying was still there but he sounded content.

There was a moment of silence as they just sat there and Magnus realized he should probably stop hugging Alex now. He went to pull his arms away but Alex stopped him.

“Can you stay here tonight?” he asked, keeping Magnus’ arms in their place around his waist.

Magnus was taken aback for a moment but nodded. “Of course.”

Chapter 5: This chapter is in no way sponsored by Oreos

Chapter Text

When Magnus woke up that morning he didn’t want to get out of bed. It was nice and warm and whatever he was hugging made him feel real good.

Then those sweet few seconds between sleep and wake ended and what happened last night came back to Magnus. He remembered Alex’s bad mood, waking up in the middle of the night to find him having a nightmare, hugging him and trying to comfort him. He realized what he was hugging was Alex, that he had slept all night cuddling with Alex Fierro and part of him has freaking out over that. But another part of him felt all fuzzy and warm inside. Alex trusted him enough to tell him about his father and open up to him.

Speaking of Alex, the green haired boy was still sleeping in Magnus ‘arms. He snuggled up closer and nuzzled his face in Magnus’ night shirt, making a cute little sound of content and smiling.

Magnus almost died from cuteness. Why was Alex doing this to him? His heart couldn’t take this much adorableness!

He decided to just lie back in bed and enjoy this. He liked to cuddle and he didn’t get to do it often, especially with Alex.

It was ten minutes later that Alex finally woke up with a sleepy groan. He seemed disoriented at first before he realized where he was. He looked up at Magnus and gave him a smile. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”

The hidden question behind those words was clear; did you have any more nightmares?

“Yep,” Alex said cheerily and rested his head back on Magnus’ chest. “Slept like a baby. You’re really warm, you know. And comfortable. Like a big teddy bear.”

“If I’m that comfy then you can use me as a cuddle pillow any time you want,” Magnus said without thinking. He was inwardly cursing his stupidity and his big mouth before Alex answered.

“I’d really like that.”

Magnus’ heart skipped a beat at Alex’s words. What the green haired boy said coupled with the cute little smile he sent him were enough to give Magnus cardiac arrest. Did he know how cute he was or was he just doing it on accident? Knowing Alex, it wasn’t farfetched to believe he was doing it to mess with him.

They stayed like that for a while, just lying in bed cuddled up together. A part of Magnus said that they should get up but another, a much bigger one, didn’t want to leave the warmth of the bed covers and Alex. In the end, he said nothing and left himself relax inside the comfy bed and the smell of Alex’s shampoo.

“Magnus?” Alex said.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for everything. For trying to cheer me up yesterday and staying with me last night. It really helped. I’ve never been able to fall asleep again after these nightmares.”

Magnus felt his hatred towards Alex’s parents well up again when Alex said that. He spoke like getting nightmares so bad he was reduced to a crying mess was something that happened often. He didn’t let his anger show, however, and just smiled at Alex. “It’s no problem. And if you ever have a nightmare like that again you’re free to come and wake me up.”

Alex smiled and there was emotion shining in his eyes, but Magnus wasn’t able to tell what it was before the boy buried his head in his chest. “Thanks.”

“It’s nothing,” Magnus said and started rubbing absentminded circles on Alex’s back.

They stayed like that for a while. It was nice and relaxing and with all the crazy stuff going on lately, what with free falling to Elf Land and barging into a giants wedding to take back a magical hammer, probably the most peaceful moment Magnus had in weeks. The suggestion he made to Alex before didn’t seem so bad know; if this is what cuddling with him felt like he’d gladly do it every day.

But of course, this was Alex Fierro and Alex Fierro didn’t stay peaceful for long. His arms had moved from behind Magnus’ back to his front, resting against his stomach, and the blonde didn’t think much of it at first. Until, that is, Alex started tickling him.

“Wha-!” Magnus let out a surprised noise akin to a squealing seal. He gasped and curled up in a ball to protect himself from Alex’s fingers. That didn’t seem to deter Alex as the boy pounced on Magnus with a war cry and tickled every part of the blonde’s body he could find.

“Alex! Ah ha ha ha! Sto- Stop!” Magnus yelled, or at least tried to. Every word that fell from his mouth came with a roaring laughter, which made whatever he was saying almost incomprehensible.

Despite his protests, Alex didn’t halt his attack, tickling him with even more ferocity. Magnus was about to start hitting and kicking everything in reach to get him off, but then a part of him thought “Where’s the fun in that?”

With newfound motivation, he pushed Alex back. The shapeshifter fell back on the bed, a surprised noise falling from his mouth. It quickly turned into a laugh when Magnus’ fingers attacked his stomach.

“Payback time!” Magnus yelled. His fingers danced along Alex’s body, tickling every square inch they could find. Alex’s hole body was shaking with the force of his laughter, because apparently Alex Fierro is super ticklish.

“Magnus! St-stop! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!”

Magnus didn’t listen. His fingers moved up Alex’s body, to her armpits.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Magnus! No! Not-not there! Stop!” Alex’s laughter grew even louder, if that was possible. Alex has super ticklish armpits. Magnus filled the information away for later.

Alex kicked when he was tickled too, as it seemed. Magnus got several kicks at his legs, but he didn’t care. Tickle fights were fun and he wasn’t going to let Alex escape that easily.

Or he wouldn’t have if he hadn’t made the mistake of looking up at the green haired boy’s face. His eyes were closed tight, his cheeks red from the tickling and a huge smile taking up most of his face as he laughed his head off. If Magnus could, he would have taken a picture of Alex’s face at that moment and photoshop it on that “reasons to live” meme.

Alex took advantage of Magnus’ distraction and turned the tables. Magnus found himself lying on the bed again, Alex hovering over him as he straddled his hips.

“Got you,” he said before he attacked Magnus again. The blonde tried to sneak away, but with Alex literally sitting of his hips it was impossible. Things got even worse when Magnus’ night shirt rode up and Alex got direct access to his skin. The tickling sensation increased tenfold.

After a while, just before Magnus was sure he would die from lack of air, Alex stopped tickling him. Magnus looked up at him breathless and confused. Don’t get him wrong, he was grateful Alex stopped tickling him and let him take a breath, but he didn’t understand why the other boy did it.

Despite himself, Magnus ended up staring at Alex Fierro again. His hair was tousled from the tickle fight, his cheeks were flushed and his Scooby Doo pajamas had slipped off one shoulder. To someone else they would have both looked like a mess (Magnus was sure he was in a similar state), but to Magnus, Alex looked captivating and beautiful.

Magnus’ eyes fell on Alex’s lips. They were a pretty pink shade, parted slightly as Alex panted and they looked so soft. Magnus wanted to kiss Alex; it wasn’t anything new, he had wanted to kiss him for a long while. What was different now was that Magnus didn’t avert his eyes and try to act normal. He leaned in. He wanted to kiss Alex and that was the only thing in his mind. His body moved on its own, as if pulled in by Alex like a magnet, and Magnus was looking into his two-colored eyes completely absorbed by them.

Their faces were close, so close Magnus could feel Alex’s breath on his skin. Their lips were inches apart and Magnus’ eyes fluttered closed. Just a little closer and they would kiss…

“Magnus! Alex! Wake up sleepyheads, it’s morning!”

Magnus and Alex snapped back to reality. Mallory and Halfborn were standing at the door of Magnus’ room, looking at them. Mallory’s cheery smile fell away as her mouth formed an “o” at the scene in front of her and her face went as red as her head. Next to her, Halfborn just smirked at them.

It was with horror that Magnus realized what they looked like to the other two einherjar. They were lying in a bed whose sheets were a complete mess, Alex straddling Magnus down and hovering over him, a hand in either side of his head. Magnus’ shirt had ridden up to his chest and Alex’s pajama top was falling off one shoulder. Their hair was flying all over the place, their faces were flushed, they were panting and their faces were close because Magnus almost kissed Alex.

In short, they looked like they had been making out.

Magnus’ face went even redder. “I-it’s not w-what i-it looks l-like,” he scrambled to explain, but his words fell on deaf ears because Mallory was already leaving the room, pulling her boyfriend with her.

“W-we’re s-sorry to interrupt!” she nearly yelled, eager to leave the room and get out of this embarrassing situation.

Halfborn didn’t share her view on that because just before he left the room he gave them thumbs up and yelled “Have fun! And use protection!”

The two teens still in the room simply looked at the door in horror, trying to understand if Halfborn had actually said something like that.

With the wild atmosphere of the tickle fight and their almost kiss ruined, they got up and got ready for the day. As they went over the morning rituals and headed out to meet their friends, there was only one thing in both of their minds.

I’ll get revenge on Halfborn and Mallory for ruining that kiss even if it’s the last thing I’ll do.

When they got to the table their friends sat at Halfborn was talking to T.J, who looked very surprised, and Mallory was still as red as her hair. From the smile on the Vikings face it was clear he was talking about their supposed making out session.

“Magnus! Alex! Good morning!” T.J greeted them as they sat down. “I didn’t know you were dating, congratulations!”

Magnus blushed a bit, part of him embarrassed because he would really like to date Alex Fierro, part of him annoyed at how fast Halfborn spread the fake news but also strangely impressed by it too.

“We’re not dating,” Alex clarified, a bit of pink dusting his cheeks as he had the exact same thought as Magnus. He silently vowed to kill Mallory and Halfborn when he got the chance for stopping him from finally kissing the adorable blonde. “You walked in on us having a tickle fight.”

Halfborn raised an eyebrow. “Oh, is that what we call it now?” he asked slyly and Magnus blushed even more.

Alex just rolled his eyes and took a bite of his food. “Anyway, what were you guys talking about before you decided to barge into Magnus’ room?”

“We were thinking of having a slumber party,” Mallory said. “Watch a movie, play some games, stay up till dawn, that kind of stuff.”

Alex immediately perked up. “That sounds fun. Can I pick the movie?”

Against their better judgment, which yelled at them that if they let Alex choose they would end up watching the goriest film in existence or a so-bad-you-just-watch-it-to-make-fun-of-it movie, the agreed to let the green haired boy choose.

While both scenarios were a 100% possible, Alex even admitted to having considered picking movies like that, the movie they watched was pretty decent.

What did they watch? “Sausage Party.” Because of course Alex Fierro would choose “Sausage Party”.

Halfborn was skeptical at first. He had been expecting a gory action movie with a lot of cool fights or something like that and got a bit turned off when he saw it was a cartoon. He was soon proven wrong when the foodstuff started singing and cursing like sailors. He and Alex were the two most into the movie out of the while group.

That’s not to say the others didn’t like it. It was simple and funny, if completely “what the f*ck, who thought of this concept?”, but that what made it good. The silly puns and the fact PB and J were married had made T.J laugh his head off, Mallory had declared minutes into the movie that this was the weirdest thing she had ever watched and Magnus was laughing at all the outrageous sh*t that was happening on screen. Seeing a woman eating baby carrots should have been that funny and horrifying at the same time but it was. By the time the movie ended they were all wondering what the f*ck they had just watched.

Long story short, they spent about an hour and a half laughing and having a good time while watching a silly movie about talking food.

When the movie finally ended and Magnus was sure that last scene had been burned into his mind, they decided to play some games. Mallory didn’t even let them talk before bringing out Twister.

“We’re playing Twister,” she said. Her tone and expression left no room for protests. They moved Mallory’s furniture out of the way and spread the carpet.

“First round is going to be and all boys battle!” Mallory declared, sitting crossed legged on the floor in front of the spinning board.

“I’m gonna kick your asses!” Halfborn said, stretching his arms. Maybe he was taking this a bit too seriously for a simple game of Twister, but then again, this was Halfborn. He and Alex made everything into a competition. In fact, how come Alex hadn’t said anything yet?

“Yeah, right,” Alex said, matching Halfborn’s competitive tone. “If anyone’s ass is kicked it’s gonna be yours!”

“Guys, guys, calm down,” Mallory said. “Now, standard rules apply, no weapons and no shapeshifting.”

They started playing and soon enough, as it always happened with Twister, the einherjar found themselves wrapped in knots.

T.J had been spread across the game’s carpet, hands and feet at the far sides of it. His face was red with exhaustion and his arms shook as he struggled to keep himself up. Halfborn’s left foot was Over T.J’s waist while his left was squashed under him and his arms were stuck on opposite directions.

But the worst (or best, depending your point of view) for Magnus was how he and Alex had ended up. Alex was keeping himself up with his back towards the ground, his body kind of forming a table. Meanwhile, Magnus had ended up spread directly over Alex, their chests touching and their faces inches apart.

Magnus remembered the… Incidence™ from this morning. (He could only refer to it as that if he wanted to keep his face from looking like a ripe tomato.) Their positions were switched, with Magnus now hovering over Alex. His eyes were once again drawn to Alex’s lips and at that moment he would have given anything for his friends not to be in the room so he could lean down and kiss him.

Maybe I can bring it up later, he thought absentmindedly. Alex seemed to be leaning in as well… or maybe I just imagined that. Still… if he was leaning in maybe he’ll say yes if I ask him out.

Now the only problem in to find the courage to do that.

Yeah, easier said than done.

“What are you thinking about, Magnus?” Alex asked, his voice so low he was almost whispering, and the way he said it… Oh,boy.

“N-nothing,” Magnus stuttered out. Don’t stare at his lips, don’t stare at his lips…

f*ck, I’m staring at his lips.

“Really? It seemed like you were thing about something very hard. Don’t go fry your pretty little brain.”

“Hey, no flirting when we’re playing!” Mallory said and Magnus immediately went three shades redder.

“Oh, oh no, my hands are giving out,” Halfborn said, not even trying to pretend he meant what he was saying. Magnus felt his stomach drop as he realized what his Viking friends was about to do.

“No, Halfborn, don’t do it,” he begged along with T.J and Alex. (Alex put some colorful adjectives in his protests, of course.) Their pleadings fell on deaf ears when Halfborn let go his weight and fell on top of all of the with a “Oops!”

T.J screamed. He was the one closest to the ground, so the moment Halfborn fell down, taking both Magnus and Alex with him, all of their weight crushed down on him. Halfborn was laughing his head off, despite the fact his leg was squashed under him. Mallory was laughing as well, struggling to take a picture of them while her hands were shaking from laughter. Jack, who decided to hang out with them in sword form until it was time for him to leave for his date, was saying something about not having seen such a mess of bodies and limbs since some big massacre and laughing. Though a massacre didn’t seem like the best thing to laugh at.

Magnus had landed directly on top of Alex. Every square inch of their bodies was touching and they were pushed even closer by the weight of their fellow einherjar. Magnus face had been turned away from Alex when Halfborn crushed on top of them, so after he got over the initial shock of having a Berserker crush him to the ground, he found his face buried in the crook of Alex’s neck. He could feel Alex’s pulse against his cheek, bumping mush faster than it was supposed to, like Alex had just been sprint running.

There was yelling and laughing in the background and Magnus could feel Halfborn and T.J trying to get untangled, but none of that mattered. It was like you had put wax in his ears; everything else had been muted and dubbed unimportant except for Alex’s face in from of him. Magnus had raised his head from the crook of Alex’s neck but their faces were still barely an inch away, their noses almost touching.

Magnus had called Alex’s eyes a lot of things in the past. Unnerving, startling, beautiful, captivating. But right now it felt like it was physically impossible for him to look anywhere else other than those two colored eyes.

“Hey, get a room you two!” someone yelled – Magnus would later realize it Halfborn - and the moment was broken.

They got up slowly. Magus said nothing, too embarrassed to get any words out and still mesmerized by Alex.

Alex didn’t have that problem. “Maybe we will,” he said. Everybody else in the room - even Jack, who didn’t even have eyes – saw the faint flush on the shapeshifter’s cheeks, but Magnus was entirely oblivious to it.

The next round of Twister was uneventful. “Eventful” being Magnus-almost-having-a-heart-attack-from-over-exposure-to-Alex-Fierro. Their second round was like any other game of Twister since the invention of the game; tangled lips, weird stances you had to somehow maintain and complaints about someone’s butt being in your face. (Magnus found out Halfborn’s farts were of the silent-but-deadly kind and that was a piece of information he could have done without.) Jack had taken Mallory’s place at the spinning board and he took great pleasure from watching them struggle like that.

“I’ll tell you,” he said at one point, “I’ve never understood the appeal of all those human games that don’t involve killing, but this is pretty fun!”

But Jack left once the game was over because it was time for his date. The five einherjar that were left decided to put Twister to the side for the night, having enough of Halfborn purposely falling on them.

And what did they play after that? A classic party game, one that was guaranteed to give your friends excellent blackmailing material by its end and make you question why you have friends like these.

The next game they played was truth or dare.

Mallory put on some music on her stereo, some random station by the sound of it. They sat down in a circle on Mallory’s plush carpet, half nervous and half exited about what was going to happen. Truth of dare could be quite eventful.

“Can I start?” Alex asked excitedly.

Figures he’d be into this, Magnus thought. This is just his game.

“Go ahead,” Mallory said.

Alex put his hand to his chin, as if he was rubbing a beard thoughtfully. After a few seconds he smiled evilly.

“Halfborn, truth or dare?” Alex asked, but everyone already knew what the answer was going to be.

“Dare!”

“I dare you to wear a fancy dress and sing a cheesy pop song!”

Halfborn didn’t falter at all. He went to the phone located on a small table near the door and called room service to tell them to bring a fancy dress in his size to Mallory’s room. In mere seconds the dress had arrived in a box outside the door. Halfborn took it to the bathroom and came out five minutes later. He was wearing a pink ballgown that looked like it had come straight out of a Barbie movie, his face painted with badly done lipstick and mascara.

“If I’m going to do this, I might as well go the whole way. It’s the manly thing to do,” he said as explanation, completely ignoring Mallory’s laughing and the flash from her phone as she took picture after picture.

With a hairbrush as a microphone, Halfborn started singing a potpourri of random pop songs, one moment singing “I can’t help it if I make a scene stepping out of my hot pink limousine” and posing, the next dragging his hands seductively down his torso as he sang “Can’t keep my hands to myself”.

The rest of the floor 19 gang were cheering and hooting for him, Alex filming the whole thing on his phone.

When Halfborn was done with his mini concert, he sat back down, refusing to take the dress off because, according to him, he looked “fabulous”.

“Now, let’s see, who’s going to be my next victim?” Halfborn said, being overly-dramatic. After a minute of consideration, he said “T.J! Truth of dare?”

“Dare!” T.J declared bravely.

“Go to floor 63 and do a ring-and-ditch to that scary lady who killed a guy with knitting needles once!”

The ex-soldier visibly paled but he got up regardless. The rest of them followed him from a safe distance, making sure to be close enough to see all the action.

They found out that the old lady who had once killed someone with knitting needles had surprisingly fast reflexes for her age and that, if it wasn’t for that potted plan that Alex had pushed down, they would have all experience death by knitting needles, because that woman did not like ring-and-ditch.

“Now that I’m still alive,” T.J started, “Alex, truth or dare?”

“Dare, obviously.”

“I dare you to shapeshift into a horse in Helgi’s office.”

Alex smirked. “I like the way you think.”

Once again, the floor 19 gang left Mallory’s room and watched as Alex caused a distraction to get Helgi out of his office and proceeded to trotting around. He pushed Helgi’s paperwork off the desk with his head and “accidently” knocked down chairs. When Helgi finally got back he found Alex eating his potted plant.

“Bah, he doesn’t water that thing at all,” Alex said once they got back to Mallory’s room. “It tasted awful.”

Magnus chose to ignore how Alex knew how a good potted plant tasted like.

“Halfborn, truth or dare?”

“Ah, you’re no fun, picking me twice in a row. I’ll be inventive and say truth.”

“Booooring,” Alex said. After he thought about it for a moment, he said “Halfborn, what’s the most embarrassing death you ever had?”

“Oh, that’s easy. Mallory once wore this really pretty dress, it was before we started dating, and I was staring so much I didn’t notice I had reached the stairs. I fell down and broke my neck.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember that!” Mallory exclaimed. “You were complaining about your sore neck for days afterwards.”

“Your beauty literally kills me, my dear,” Halfborn said in the most over the top playboy way possible.

Mallory rolled her eyes but the affectionate smile was still on her face.

“Mallory, truth or dare?”

The redhead thought about it for a while before she answered “Dare.”

“I dare you to say how much you love me or kiss me!”

Mallory blushed at the dare. Magnus couldn’t tell where her face ended and where her hair began.

After a moment of being torn about what to do, Mallory got up and walked confidently to Halfborn. She took his face in her hands and kissed him. For a moment Magnus thought she had chosen the second option and was simply giving Halfborn a peck, but the kiss went on for much longer and much deeper than a simple peck.

When she finally let him go both their faces were flushed. “Did that answer your question?” She asked with a smirk.

“Oh, it definitely did,” Halfborn smirked back.

Mallory sat back down and tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. “Magnus, truth or dare?”

Magnus, having seen the kinds of dares these people gave, decided to go with the safe (and cowardly) choice of “Truth.”

Mallory smirked and Magnus realized that maybe truth wasn’t such a safe option. “Would you rather be crushed to death under Halfborn’s armpit or never see Alex again?”

Magnus gulped. Halfborn raised his hairy armpit and smirked at him. It definitely didn’t seem like something he would want being crushed under, but the second alternative wasn’t much better.

“I would rather be crushed by Halfborn’s armpit,” he said.

Mallory smiled even wider while her boyfriend looked ready to give him a headlock. T.J put his hand over his heart and lowered his head like he was already mourning his death, even mattering that “He will be missed.” Alex looked more touched than ever. He dashed forward and wrapped his arms around Magnus.

“I can’t believe you’d do that for me,” he said, his voice the very definition of over the top. “I’ve gotten a head lock from Halfborn once. He doesn’t know what deodorant is. I feel so touched.”

Magnus chuckled, wondering what he had done to get so wonderfully insane friends. (Die. That’s what he did.)

They played a few more rounds until they decided they wanted to switch games. As they were wondering about what to play next, Halfborn got up quickly and grabbed a bottle and some shot glasses from Mallory’s kitchen.

“Never have I ever!” he said excitedly.

They sat down again and Halfborn poured each of them a shot. He explained that the drink wasn’t heavy so they wouldn’t get that drank, and anyway, most of them had been in Valhalla long enough to count as adults if they were still alive.

“I’ll start! T.J said. “Never have I ever kissed a granite!”

What the f*ck, why did he say that, no one will have done that, Magnus thought but he was proven wrong when Mallory flicked a V at T.J and put one finger down, downing her first shot in one go.

“I’m going to kill you for that later, T.J” she said and her hand was resting dangerously close to her daggers. “Never have I ever cried over fictional characters,” she said, being the one sitting on T.J’s right.

Magnus lowered his first finger and drank his shot. He made a face as the liquid went down his throat, living a burning sensation behind. Why did people drink if it tasted this badly?

He was about to speak when he saw everyone looking at him amused. “Why am I not surprised?” Halfborn asked.

“Because we’re talking about Maggie here,” Alex quickly answered. “He’s a cinnamon roll and have you seen his library? His guaranteed to have cried at some with so many.”

“Hey, everyone cried when Bambi’s mom and Mufasa died, it’s a fact of life,” Magnus protested. “You should all put a finger down.”

“He has a point,” T.J said but none of them lowered a finger anyway.

“Never have I ever… umm, died by…” Magnus started, not really sure of what to say. Decapitation? No, Alex cut off his head. Burning to death? He’s pretty sure that happened once. Maybe…

His brain of thought is cut of when the other four einherjar yell “Laaaaaame” in unison.

“Never have I ever eaten fifty Oreos in one sitting,” he finally said, saying the first thing that popped in his mind.

“Why would someone eat that many Oreos?” Mallory asked. When her boyfriend put one finger down and drank his first shot she looked at him in disbelief.

“What?” Halfborn asked when he noticed everyone staring at him. Magnus hadn’t expected anyone to have actually done that. “How do you think I was able to get those PhD’s? Oreos are great studying snacks.”

They nodded in agreement, wondering horrified how long he had been studying for if he ate that many Oreos in one sitting. Alex got up, wondering out loud “Do we have any Oreos?” He came back a few moments later with one of those 2+1 packages.

“Never have I ever been locked in a room with someone who wanted to kill me,” Halfborn said, smirking at T.J.

“We promised never to talk about that again!” the ex-private yelled before he downed his shot and lowered a finger.

“What happened?” Alex asked. If T.J was acting like this because of what Halfborn said then the story behind it was bound to be interesting.

“There was this girl,” Mallory started but she was cut off when T.J jumped on her yelling “No no no no!”

“Any way,” Halfborn continued as Mallory kept T.J back, “there was this girl from the 20^th floor that was always staring at T.J and we thought she liked him. He had said she was kinda cute once when we asked him so we decided to shut the two of them in a room together to see what would happen.”

Magnus winced, remembering the “kill” part of what Halfborn had said earlier. “I take it the girl didn’t have a crush on him?”

Halfborn chuckled. “Nope. Apparently T.J had killed her once in full combat practice once and she had gotten humiliated in front of her friends so she wanted revenge.”

“So did she kill him?” Alex asked.

“Nah, T.J tried to reason with her and when she saw how much of a gentleman our boy is she ended up actually getting a crush on him!”

“She would flirt with him every day,” Mallory added as she held T.J down. The poor boy seemed to be dying from embarrassment. “She was really persistent.”

With the secret now revealed, T.J gave up on his protests. The einherjar sat back down in their circle, Mallory’s curls being even more messy than usual and T.J glaring at his friends like they betrayed him.

“It’s my turn now!” Alex said excitedly and the smirk on his face made Magnus really scared. “Never have I ever kissed someone of the same gender.”

Every one glared at him. With Alex being genderfluid that could mean both girls and boys and they all had kissed one or the other or both.

“I hate you,” Magnus muttered as he drank his shot. They were all now down to three fingers except for Alex, who had somehow all five fingers still up.

Their game of ‘Never have I ever’ continued for some more. Magnus learned a lot of random things about his friends some of which he could have done without. They had emptied the bottle of alcohol and they were all either tipsy or drunk now. Not knowing what to play, they blurted out random game names. They kept at it until Alex finally came up with something.

“Spin the bottle!” the green haired boy said.

“Bah, I don’t want to kiss Magnus,” Halfborn said. Sometime as they were trying to decide on a game he had lay on the floor with his head on Mallory’s lap, who was playing with his hair.

“Then we’ll play it like this!” Alex said, very intent on playing spin the bottle for some reason. “When the bottle lands on someone you can either punch them or kiss them!”

Magnus started worrying – he didn’t want to get punched by anyone in this room, thank you very much- but Halfborn seemed to really like this idea. They sat in a circle and put the bottle in the middle.

T.J span the bottle and it moved from the center of their circle because his hands weren’t stable after drinking. The empty bottle slowed down and it stopped, pointing at Alex. The ex-private tried to give Alex a decent punch but he missed and instead of hitting his shoulder like he meant to he hit Alex’s stomach. T.J fell back, giggling like crazy.

T.J, Magnus realized, was a happy drunk.

Mallory span the bottle. Magnus could see she had her fingers crossed and when the mouth of the bottle landed on Halfborn she cheered “Yes!” She got up and, in a moment that gave Magnus de ja vu, she took Halfborn’s face in her hands and kissed him. They waited for them to stop –well, Magnus and Alex did, T.J was still giggling – but they didn’t stop. Halfborn had pulled Mallory down so now she was sitting on his lap and their kiss seemed only to be deepening.

They finally went back to the game when Alex decided to manually pull them apart by saying “If you want to get it on, do it after the game.”

It was Magnus’ turn now. The bottle span in circles until it stopped, landing on Mallory. Magnus didn’t kiss her –there was someone else he wanted to kiss, after all – but he didn’t want to hurt her either so the punch he gave her was more of a bro shoulder punch.

Halfborn span the bottle and it gradually slowed down, finally stopping on T.J. In traditional Halfborn fashion, the Viking punched T.J so hard Magnus was sure he’d get a bruise the next day, but T.J didn’t seem to mind.

Then, finally, it was Alex’s turn. He took the bottle exited and span it. It turned round and round, slowing down until it finally came to a stop right in front of Magnus.

Magnus heart fell to his stomach. Here it comes, he thought. Goodbye limbs, I’m going to be decapitated again.

Alex drew closer. Magnus prepared himself for a punch or maybe having a garrote wrapped around his neck, but it never came. Alex kneeled in front of Magnus and gently took Magnus’ face in his hands.

Magnus’ heart went into overdrive. It was beating so hard Magnus thought it would jump out of his chest. Alex’s hands on his cheeks felt warm, or maybe that was just his own face burning. Alex gave him a smile before he brought their faces even closer, the distance becoming less and less until there was no space between them.

Their lips touched.

Magnus felt like he was burning. You could have set him on fire and it would be cold compared to how he felt now. He had lost all ability of logical thinking, only vaguely hearing the hoots and cheers of his friends. Everything he thought, everything he felt, was Alex and Alex’s lips on his own. They were as soft as he thought they would be, maybe a little chapped in places, but that made them even better. He could taste the faint taste of alcohol, hidden under the sweetness of the Oreos he had been eating. They moved against his own and Magnus, finally over his initial shock, closed his eyes and tried to copy his movements.

But just as Magnus started kissing back, Alex pulled away. Magnus found himself blindly chasing after his lips to kiss him again.

Alex smiled. “You’re not a bad kisser after all.”

Chapter 6: Meeting the family

Chapter Text

Magnus woke up on the floor.

He had no idea how that had happened. Everything was a blur after Alex kissed him (Odin, he got flustered just thinking about it). They could have burnt down the hotel while wearing Hawaiian shirts and singing “Last Christmas I gave you my heart” and dabbing and all he would remember and think about would be Alex kissed me Alex kissed me Alex kissed.

Yes, he had it bad. No need to remind him, he already knew that.

But, to be honest, he didn’t know what he felt right now. Imagine a bunch of differently colored strings all tangled up together. That was basically it.

He was overjoyed, of course. What did you expect? His crush had just kissed him! He would have thrown a party if he wasn’t so shocked. He didn’t even feel nervous by the fact his friends were sure to tease him about it, that’s how happy he was. And sure, it had happened during a game of spin the bottle, but Alex had a choice to hit him instead and yet he had still kissed him. That meant he might like Magnus back!

And, honestly, Magnus didn’t know what to think. He had much more tangible evidence Alex returned his feelings, he could ask him out and go on dates and be together, but dammit, Magnus was scared! He had no prior knowledge when it came to romance, unless you count his first kiss. And even that wasn’t a big deal (I mean, he remembered it when he was given CPR by a re-consumable goat.) He didn’t know how he should go on about this, the only thing he had to get advice from were romance movies and books (which obviously weren’t accurate.)

And, the pessimistic side of him supplied, this was Alex Fierro. He could have kissed him during the game just for the fun of it. It was a game after all and Alex doing something like this didn’t seem that far-fetched.

Still, just doubting himself would get him nowhere. He could ask Blitzen and Hearthstone or Mallory and Halfborn or Annabeth for advice. They were all in relationships; they would know what to do. Then, after that… he would ask Alex out.

Content with his plan, Magnus turned to the side and tried to go back to sleep. There was no reason to get up yet, none of the others would be up anyway. Mallory has a really soft carpet, he thought as he hugged something lying on him closer. It was nice and warm and it reminded him of when he woke up hugging Alex the day before.

…wait a minute.

Magnus cracked an eye open. Light assaulted his vision and he was momentarily blinded. Once he was able to see again, he looked down. A head with green hair was resting on his chest. He didn’t need to see anything else to know who it was, he didn’t know many people with green hair. The only he did know was Alex Fierro, who was currently using him like a human pillow.

Magnus gulped. His heart was thrumming inside his chest so hard it would probably give Alex an early wake up call. It was one thing to wake up next to Alex after he had a nightmare and needed comforting and a totally different thing to wake up next to Alex for no apparent reason. Other than Alex probably thinking he made a comfy pillow.

He didn’t really mind, though. Did he have a miniature heart attack when he saw Alex lying on his chest? Yes. But he didn’t care. Lying with Alex like this was really nice and he wouldn’t mind if he took a long time to wake up.

… His heart might mind though, because as Magnus soon remembered, sleeping Alex was adorable. He nuzzled into Magnus’ chest with a sleepy little whine and smiled in his sleep. He tried to pull the covers closer, but, since there weren’t any covers, he ended up pulling himself closer to Magnus’ body. Please by the body heat, he gave a content sigh. His head was resting over Magnus’ heart and his hand was fisted into the fabric of his shirt like a child holding onto their safety blanket.

Magnus couldn’t possibly wake him up when he looked so peaceful. He wrapped his arms around the other einherjar, a welcomed gestured because Alex relaxed into his arms and smiled.

Maybe taking a nap wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

It was. It was a bad idea.

After Magnus fell asleep again he didn’t wake up for several hours, by which time all his friends had woken up. Of course, none of them thought to wake them up so when Magnus finally got up he found out that Halfborn, Mallory and T.J had taken photos of him and Alex cuddling and sent them to Sam, Blitzen and Hearthstone.

“I didn’t know you two moved so fast,” Mallory had said when a blushing Magnus got and straitened his shirt. “I mean, if you wanted to continue your make-out session from yesterday, you could have gone to a different room.”

“Nah, maybe the danger of someone walking in on them turns them on,” Halfborn smirked slyly.

“Shut up,” Magnus muttered.

“Yeah, you and Mallory don’t have any room to talk with how many times we’ve caught you making out,” Alex added, not sounding nearly as embarrassed as Magnus.

“They have a point there,” T.J agreed, sprawled out on Mallory’s bead with his head hanging from the edge. It didn’t seem like he wanted to move anytime soon.

“Anyway, I wanna go take a shower,” Alex said. “I can’t believe I fell asleep on your carpet. Who knows what you’ve done on there?”

“You didn’t seem to mind that when you were cuddling with Magnus,” Halfborn called out as Magnus and Alex were walking out of the room.

Alex grabbed the nearest object, the empty bottle from last night, and threw it at Halfborn. The Viking avoided it with ease and the bottle hit the wall behind him, falling to the floor with a cluttering sound.

“So,” Magnus asked as they were walking back to his room, “are you a girl today?” He had been having a feeling Alex was a girl today since the green-haired teen woke up but he didn’t want to assume and get it wrong.

Alex looked at him surprised, like every time he had gotten her gender correctly without being told, and smiled at him. “Yep,” she answered. “She and her.”

They got a change of clothes for Alex from her room before they headed to the bathroom. Magnus grabbed his phone and a blanket and sat on the floor like last time.

He knew Annabeth had told him not to contact her by phone a lot because it attracted monsters but a couple of days ago she had texted him saying a friend of hers had tinkered with her phone so it was monster-safe now.

He unlocked his phone and he was immediately taken to the fanfic he had been reading. He closed the browser app and noticed the notifications at the top of his screen. Someone had sent him a message. He tapped the small icon and was taken to the messaging app. Annabeth’s name was written near the top. The date above the message said it had been sent yesterday night.

Annabeth:

Hey Magnus! Percy and I have the next few days free so we’re heading over to Boston. We thought we should meet your friends before the quest in summer so we can prepare better. We’ll arrive somewhere around 10 tomorrow. Meet us at Public Garden around then?

Magnus felt guilty for not having noticed her text sooner but with everything that had happened yesterday you really couldn’t blame him. He texted back.

Magnus:

Ok I’ll meet you near the footbridge

He paused, unsure of whether he should sent what he wanted to ask next. He wrote and erased the short message again and again until he finally got the courage to press sent.

Magnus:

And um I need some advice.

Love advice.

He pressed Blitzen’s contact before he had the time to regret it and delete the message.

Magnus:

Meet me near the footbridge in Public Garden in about an hour. We’re meeting my cousin and her bf for the quest

He copied the message and sent it to Sam as well (because he was lazy and couldn’t be bothered to write it again.) Their responses came back quickly, both agreeing to meet him there.

His phone rang as he got a reply from Annabeth.

Annabeth:

That’s more Piper’s department than mine but I’ll see what I can do

Should I call you or is your crush near?

Magnus:

She’s here don’t call

Annabeth:

Ok

So who managed to capture my cousin’s heart?

Magnus snorted at the over-the-top wording but smiled.

Magnus:

Do you remember Alex?

Annabeth:

Shapeshifting child of Loki?

Magnus:

Yeah that’s her

Annabeth:

Percy wants a picture

Magnus was about to ask why and who was driving since Annabeth was the one talking to him but then he got another text.

Annabeth:

I’m reading you text to him as he drives

Magnus looked through his photo album and found a group selfie they had taken together. T.J was holding the phone at arms with Mallory and Halfborn next to him. The Viking had his arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders and was making kissing faces at her while she laughed. Magnus and Alex were at T.J’s other side, making the most hilarious faces they could come up with.

He sent the photo. He didn’t have many pictures of Alex and this was one of the better ones, even if Alex had her tongue out.

Annabeth:

She’s pretty

Percy says she has awesome hair

To quote

“I mean, it’s not blue, but it’s still super cool”

Magnus chuckled.

Magnus:

I’ll let Alex know

Annabeth:

So what’s your problem?

Magnus:

I want to ask her out but I dunno how

Annabeth:

Just ask her. With words

Magnus:

You know that’s not what I’m talking about

I’m nervous

What if she thinks I’m an idiot?

How did you and Percy start dating?

Annabeth:

Percy says I think he’s an idiot but I’m still dating him

And we got together after the 2^nd Titan War

I asked Percy why he gave up immortality and we kind of kissed

Magnus:

Percy was offered immortality?

What the f*ck have you kids gone through?

And yeah, that doesn’t help a lot

I don’t have a war handy or an offer of immortality

Annabeth:

I don’t know what she’s like other than what you’ve told me so maybe I can give you better advice after we meet

Magnus:

Ok. See you

He closed the messaging app right as Alex pulled the blanket off his head.

“What you doing there Magnus?” She asked cheerily. It was obvious she had wanted to scare him and… yeah, she managed it (though scaring Magnus wasn’t that hard). He held his phone to his chest, as if Alex could see what he had been talking about with Annabeth even though the app was closed.

“I was, eh, talking to Annabeth,” he stuttered out. His own nervousness coupled with how hot Alex looked with pushed back hair wasn’t good for his health. “She and Percy are coming to meet us before the quest in summer. We gotta be at Public Garden in…” he checked his phone, “about forty minutes.”

“Have you told the others?”

“Yeah, Sam and Blitz are meeting us there.”

About half an hour later they were waiting near the footbridge in Public Garden. Magnus had insisted they get there extra early in case Annabeth and Percy arrived early since they would recognize him easier.

They were sitting on the side of the footbridge, their legs dangling over the edge. Magnus was in his usual jeans and t-shirt but Alex had insisted she dressed up nicely. Which wasn’t that different from normal –then again, Magnus always thought Alex looked nice even if she was wearing a sack of potatoes – but much more neatly. Whereas she usually looked fashionably messy (unlike Magnus, who just looked like a mess), she was a lot more neat now. It was nothing big and Magnus only noticed because he had known Alex for a long time.

“So what is your cousin like?” Alex asked.

“Like me, I guess,” Magnus said, not sure how to describe Annabeth. Describing someone you had known for a long time was weird because you had known them for so long they were just… them and coming up with adjectives to encompass so many years of memories just wasn’t possible.

“She’s a big Hufflepuff cinnamon roll too?”

Magnus chuckled. “Nah, she’s more of a Ravenclaw. She’s really smart and she’s been through a lot with her own gods. Everything that happened to her… man, I wonder how she was able to survive all that and still be able to go on.”

“Mm… Well, I guess I’ll see what she’s like when she gets here.” There was a moment of silence before Alex talked again, overly-dramatic like usual. “I can’t believe you’re already introducing me to your family, Magnus. Man, I feel like we’re moving so fast.”

Magnus blushed at the implication and, as much as he wished they were, he muttered “We’re not dating.”

Alex muttered something under her breath but Magnus didn’t hear what it was clearly. (Jack did, however, and it was “No, but I wish we were.”)

Sam and Blitzen arrived soon. Like always, the dwarf was the very definition of stylish in trousers, a blue button-up and a blazer. His hair was pushed back and it was covered by a fashionable hat while his eyes were hidden behind sunglasses. His skin gleamed in the sun and Magnus was sure he had covered every last inch of his body in the sunscreen he sold in his shop that was made specifically for dwarfs.

Sam had her usual green hijab pulled over her head. She was wearing jeans and a light long sleeved white shirt. Her bag was swung over her shoulder and knowing her, she had brought along a pen and notepad to keep notes of anything they might need for the quest in summer.

“Hey, guys!” Magnus greeted them.

“Hey, kiddo,” Blitz said. “How are you doing? Have you been fairing well with the whole…” he pointed from Magnus to Alex and back again.

“Yeah, we’ve, uh, we’ve been good,” Magnus answered, memories of the kiss last night coming back to him. He hoped he wasn’t blushing too badly.

Sam smiled, like she knew something, and Magnus wouldn’t have been surprised if Mallory and the others had texted everybody they knew about the kiss. (They did. They had a secret group chat where they sent updates on how the matchmaking plan was going.)

“So when is your cousin coming?” Sam asked, right as a voice called out “Magnus!”

Magnus turned around to see Annabeth walking up to him. Her blond curls were pulled up in a ponytail and she was smiling widely at him. A black-haired boy, who Magnus guessed was Percy, was next to her. He had ridiculously green eyes and disheveled hair. Around his and Annabeth’s necks were bead necklaces, completely identical if not of the fact Annabeth’s had more beads. Magnus recalled her telling him each bead meant one more year she had spent (read: survived) at camp. Apparently she held the record of most years at camp.

“Annabeth!” He hugged her close and she hugged him right back. The first time he had hugged Annabeth he had been surprised by how strong and firm her hugs were. She held onto Magnus like if she didn’t do it hard enough he would slip through her arms and disappear. With how many of her friends she had lost to monsters maybe that wasn’t so far from the truth.

“It’s so good to see you!” Annabeth said once she let go of him. Percy stood to the side, watching the scene play out with a smile on his face. Seeing Annabeth so happy was always great.

“Same her, couz.” He stepped to the side in an overly dramatic way. “Let me do the introductions,” he said. He moved so he was standing next to Blitzen and said “This is Blitzen, dwarf and demigod and the genius behind ‘Blitzen’s Bests’. His boyfriend, Hearthstone, would have been here as well but he’s in a week-long seminary with Odin on rune-magic.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Annabeth said. “The Aphrodite Cabin back at camp found your e-shop and they have been going crazy over your work. They’ll probably go crazy if they learn my cousin is your friend.”

“Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, right?” Blitzen asked. Magnus could see that ridiculously happy smile tugging on his lips like every time he was complimented on his work.

Annabeth nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”

Blitzen smiled even more. Apparently it made him really happy that children of the goddess of BEAUTY found his work to be good.

“This,” Magnus continued, “is Sam, Alex’s half sister and the Valkyrie that brought me to Valhalla.”

Sam sent a thankful look to Magnus. She didn’t like being a daughter of Loki and she really appreciated the fact Magnus didn’t mention it.

Sam shook hands with Annabeth and Percy, smiling politely at them. “I would have said I’m thankful for saving my cousin’s life but he’s technically dead yet still here so…” Annabeth said.

Sam smiled, understanding what Annabeth was trying to say. “It’s confusing, I know. But I simply took Magnus to Valhalla, he earned his place there because of his own bravery.”

Magnus smiled at her words. Sam was was important to him and hearing her say that meant a lot, especially considering she lost her place as a Valkyrie for bringing him to Valhalla.

“And this,” Magnus went on, “is Alex Fierro, shapeshifter and child of Loki.” Annabeth and Percy chuckled at how over-the-top his presentation was, which was normal, considering he was imitating that Will Smith meme. “Pronouns are presently she and her.”

There was a twinkle in Percy’s eyes that in hindsight Magnus identified at mischief. “Oh, are you the girl Magnus-“

Magnus’ eyes widened in horror as he realized what Percy was about to say. His face flushed and he shook his head vigorously, thankful that he was standing behind Alex so she couldn’t see him.

Annabeth elbowed Percy sharply in the ribs and gave him a pointed look. Percy quickly changed what he was going to say. “The girl Magnus said cut his head of once. With a clay cutter. How did that happen?”

Magnus sighed in relief. Thank goodness, that was close. He willed his face to go back to its regular color and pointedly ignored Sam and Blitzen, who were smirking at him.

“Yep, that’s me,” Alex said, completely oblivious to the near death experience Magnus had just had. “My mother was channeling power through Magnus and I cut his head off so he wouldn’t explode.”

“Yeah, gods channeling their powers through you can be pretty bad,” Percy said, remembering the time they had met Carter and Sadie. Then what Alex said finally crushed on him. “Wait… aren’t you a child of Loki? You said your mother was channeling power through Magnus.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, Loki is my mother. He’s the one who gave birth to me, although I try not to picture that.”

Percy looked even more confused now. Annabeth, who, as always, was the more informed one and had read up on Norse mythology, was grinning at her boyfriend’s baffled face.

“How did-“ Percy started but stopped suddenly. He sighed. “You know what? At this point I’ve seen so much weird sh*t thanks to the gods nothing seems impossible.”

Alex snorted. “You can say that again.”

“Anyway, why don’t we go sit somewhere so we can talk about the details of the quest?” Annabeth said. “You can brief us about anything we need to know.”

The six of them went to Fadlan’s Falafel, as the restaurant had become their unofficial meeting place. Most of the details about the quest were talked about by Percy, Annabeth and Sam, with Magnus, Alex and Blitzen chiming in to add little details. However, the funniest part was explaining the messed up and weird Norse mythology to Percy.

“Wait, wait,” Percy said at one point. “There’s nine worlds? I can hardly keep up with one!”

Sam nodded. “Yes, there’s Asgard, the world of the Gods, Vanaheim, the world of the Vanir, Alfheim, the world of elves, Midgard, the world of humans, Jotunheim, the world of giants, Nidavellir, the world of dwarves, Niflheim, the world of ice, fog and mist, Muspellheim, the world of fire giants and demons and Helheim, the world of Hel and the dishonorable dead.”

Instead if making it easier to understand, the explanation confused Percy even more. “I can hardly pronounce any of that!”

Alex and Magnus nodded grimly. They understood how he was feeling. “I know how you feel,” Magnus said.

“It’s a good thing Valhalla comes with a pronunciation guide,” Alex added.

“It does?”

“Yeah, Magnus sent me a copy,” Annabeth replied to Percy. “I had to practice in front of my mirror to be able to pronounce any of it.”

“Huh. Why don’t we have one at Camp?”

Annabeth shrugged. “I don’t know. We could tell Chiron about it when we go back to Camp. Anyway, let’s recap. We need to go to Scandinavia to stop Loki from sailing on Raftosk, the ship of nails, so he won’t cause Ragnarok-“

“Okay, I have some questions,” Percy said, raising his hand as if he were in class. “First of all, you said you had to stop that wolf from getting freed and causing Ragnarok too. How many signs for Ragnarok are there?”

“A lot,” Sam, Blitzen, Magnus and Alex said in unison.

Percy seemed satisfied by that answer, knowing the I-don’t-to-deal-with-this tone in their voice all too well. He was like that a lot when it came to the Gods. “Okay, secondly, how come it’s always the sun? Like, your big bad wolf swallows the sun, Sadie and Carter had to stop Apophis from swallowing the sun, Ella had that prophecy about ‘the fall of the sun, the final verse’ and now Apollo is human.”

“Well,” said both Annabeth and Sam at the same time. “Go ahead,” Sam said, letting Annabeth talk.

“Well, most ancient cultures relied on agriculture, so the sun was very important to them. If the sun disappeared, it would be the end of their world, since their corps would die and they wouldn’t have food.”

“I never thought of that,” Blitzen mused. Then “Wait, you said Apophis. Isn’t that from Egyptian mythology?”

“Oh, yeah, forgot to mention guys,” Magnus said. “The Egyptian Gods exist too.”

“Seriously?” Alex asked. “That’s not something you forget to mention, Magnus.”

“Sorry, I just,” was too busy thinking about how you kissed me, “It slipped my mind.”

“Okay, and last thing,” Percy said. “Why finger nails and toes nails? How do you even make a ship out of them? How many would you even need?”

“It’s because of blood,” Sam answered, her face grim. She’s thinking about Loki trying to control her, Magnus realized. “It has a lot of power. It’s why they burned their dead, so their remaining blood and DNA could be used for something. It’s why Loki can,” her voice broke, “control us.”

Percy looked horrified. Magnus judged that from his experience with some Gods being controlled by one of them didn’t sound like something enjoyable. “He can do that?”

“Yes, but you can resist him,” Alex answered. “You have to be flexible and fluid. Be willing to change. You have to use his power against him.”

“Kind of like the waterbenders in Avatar?” Percy asked. Magnus perked up at the mention of the show. He loved it a lot. “They would defend themselves by using the water their opponent used against them to attack and throw it back.”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, it’s kind of like that, I guess. Avatar kicked butt, by the way. I loved Toph.”

“I figured you would,” Magnus smiled. He could see the similarities between Toph and Alex, to be honest. Both wore a lot of green, didn’t care about what others said, were confident and perfectly able to take care of themselves and kicked major ass.

The conversation moved on smoothly and soon they had gone over all the details about the quest and noted down anything they would need to take with them. They started telling each other stories, about quest they had gone to, about stunts their friends pulled or crazy things that had happened at Camp Half-Blood or Valhalla. To Magnus horror, Alex decide to go over his embarrassing deaths.

They left the restaurant after they ate falafel. Magnus had let out a horrified gasp when he learned Percy had never eaten falafel and promptly order some. If Percy was going to be part of the family- and by how good he and Annabeth were together, he would- he needed to eat falafel. And, as he said, “It’s blasphemy to come to Fadlan’s and not eat any falafel.”

Once they finished their meal, they left. Sam stayed behind to help Amir and his father with the shop and right before they left Alex patted Sam on the back and told her to “Go get him, sister”, at which Sam rolled her eyes.

They took them around the city to show them the sights and interesting places you could find around that part of the city. Blitzen was talking to Percy and Annabeth, something about a collaboration with the Aphrodite cabin for a new line of clothes for summer inspired by Greek patterns and mythology, but Magnus wasn’t listening. His attention was focused on Alex walking next to him.

Just ask her out, his brain would tell him. Annabeth had slipped him a note saying that he should just ask her to hang out, that it would work, but Magnus was nervous. What was he supposed to do if Alex didn’t have feeling for him and she rejected him? And what if she accepted? Where was he supposed to go to for a date?

It was then that they walked by a movie theater. Near the entrance was a big poster advertizing the 3D viewings of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that would take place this week.

“I want to see that movie,” Alex thought out-loud. “I’ve heard it’s good.”

“It is,” Percy said. “Will got our friend Nico into Harry Potter and they went to watch the movie as a date and Nico wouldn’t shut up about how good the movie was.”

“We went to watch it afterwards,” Annabeth continued. “It was really great!”

When they finally said goodbye to Percy and Annabeth it was late afternoon.

“Stay safe, alright?” Annabeth whispered at him as they hugged goodbye.

“I will,” Magnus promised. “Same goes for you, okay?”

“Yeah. And ask Alex out, I think she really likes you.”

Magnus blushed, remembering what he was planning to do, but nodded.

“It was nice to finally meet you,” Percy said when Magnus said goodbye to him.

“Oh, come here,” Magnus said and hugged Percy. The demigod seemed surprised by the sudden hug but he returned it. “Annabeth has told me a lot about you. If she likes you that much you’re already family.”

Percy smiled brightly. Annabeth seemed mildly embarrassed, but she didn’t say anything.

“Just remember not to break her heart ‘cause she’ll kill you and I won’t be there to hold her back,” Magnus added.

“I’m not planning on doing anything like that,” Percy reassured him. He emphasized his point by lacing his fingers with Annabeth’s.

Magnus smiled as he watched them go. Those two were in love, alright. He really hoped he and Alex could be like that someday. But for that to happen he’d have to ask her out.

They were walking back to Magnus’ room and Alex was talking about something that happened today, but Magnus wasn’t really paying attention. He was too busy giving himself a pep-talk.

“Um, Alex?” he finally said. He had hardly said anything and his heart was already beating like a drum. Stay calm, Magnus, you can do this.

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking…” he started. He wiped his sweaty palms against his pants. His heart was beating so loudly it felt like it was trying to tear its way out of his chest. This was so nerve-wrecking, he preferred fighting giants any day. “Would you, uh, w-would you…”

Why did I have to stutter, just get it out already. Yeah, that’s it, just rip it off like a bandage!

“WouldyouliketogoonadatewithmetoseeFantasticBeasts?”Magnus got a fast string of words out that had become incomprehensive now. Getting those words out there made him feel like he had just ran a marathone.

“What was that, Magnus? You spoke too fast, I didn’t understand,” Alex said.

Magnus took a deep breath. He said it once, he can do it again, come one, it’s not that hard.

“Do you want to go on a date with me?”

Chapter 7: Anyone else having a de ja vu?

Chapter Text

They were tied together. They were f*cking tied together.

Alex Fierro had seen and gone through a lot of things. Being in the streets guaranteed that. Being one of Odin’s sacred warriors with an un-pronounceable name guaranteed that even more, it was part of the contract. (Or, well, it would be if they got a contract. Which they didn’t.)

But nothing he had seen could have prepared him for one of the weirdest things in his short life and death: being magically tied for an indefinite amount of time to his crush.

True, it may not be as weird as talking to the hotel manager while a monstrous squirrel was cursing you or having to assassinate someone in a wedding dress, but it was just as terrifying.

You see, Alex Fierro had never been in an actual relationship. Sure, he's thought people he saw were attractive, and even had a few crushes, but never an actual relationship. He got close to having one a couple times, but it never worked out. Mainly because the interest of the other person in him seemed to disappear when they found out he's genderfluid.

In short, he had no experience in romance whatsoever. He had given up on it, too. Surviving on the streets was hard enough as it was, even without emotions added to the mix.

But then came the adorable son of Frey who respected his gender and his privacy, who didn’t treat him any differently whether he was having a female or male day. Alex thought he was cute at first, but the more he got to know Magnus the more he liked him, and then the startling realization of Oh no, I have a crush came.

Magnus made him feel weird and fuzzy and fluffy and a whole bunch of other mushy adjectives he never thought he’d use in his life or death. Alex would have gladly fought a giant rather than deal with this crush, because at least then he knew what to do. This whole crush thing was confusing and horrifying and he didn’t know what to do but…

But at the same time he liked it.

So here he was now, trying to figure out what decisions in his life had led him to where he was now. Standing awkwardly in his crush’s room, trying to comprehend the fact that he would have to be tied to him for who knows how many days. He’ll probably die from over exposure to cuteness in that time due to Magnus.

“So, um, do you want to t-take the bed?” Magnus asked. f*ck, he’s cute when he stutters.

Dammit, Alex. Focus. You’ve been through worse. You won’t be taken down by an adorable dork.

“You sure? This is your suite.”

“Yeah, I mean, you’re a guest so you should take the bed. I’m fine sleeping on the floor.”

Alex felt like someone had stabbed him. Each time Magnus would do something like this, his heart would skip a beat. This is why he likes Magnus so much; he’s such a cinnamon roll. Alex isn’t sure he can take it.

Alex shrugged. “If you insist.”

“I’ll get some pillows for me, you can, um, go change in the bathroom.” Magnus absentmindedly gestures at the pajamas Alex holds in his arms.

Alex went to the bathroom to change. Or, well, tried to. Because of this weird bond thing, they were only able to get ten feet apart before they were yanked back and fell on their asses.

“sh*t, I forgot about that,” Alex cursed, rubbing his wrist. It stung when they got too far apart.

Is this what people mean when they say ‘I can’t bear to apart from you’?

…wait. If we can’t be apart from each other then how the f*ck will we change clothes?

Alex looked up at Magnus and, judging from the ‘Oh, sh*t’ expression on his face, he had come to the same question. It was kind of like in movies, when two characters realized the predicament they were in at the same time. Apparently things like that happened in real life as well.

“What are we going to do now?” Magnus asked.

“Um, I dunno, you get your pajamas and change outside the bathroom and I change inside?” Alex shrugged. Yeah, that’s it. Act normal, don’t freak out. Don’t imagine Magnus shirtless, don’t imagine Magnus shirtless-

f*ck. I imagined him shirtless. f*ck you, hormones. (It was quite a nice mental image, though.)

Alex went into the bathroom to change. It was a lot like his, large and spacious, with a walk in shower. Where Alex’s bathroom was in shades of pale pink, Magnus’ was beige.

Now that I think about it, his room has a lot of beige.

Odd coloring choices aside, it was a really nice bathroom. Then again, you were probably entitled to all sorts of luxuries like this when you came to Valhalla.

Now in his pink and green plaid pants with the worn out Scooby Doo shirt he’s had for years, Alex exits the bathroom. He finds Magnus standing in front of the door, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Alex eyes takes in his plain nightshirt and the boxers he wore underneath. Alien printed boxers. Little green heads with huge eyes were printed all over the dark blue fabric.

Alex laughed. The boxers are ugly and ridiculous and so Magnus. It was just like him to wear boxers like that, the big dork.

“Alien boxers?” Alex smirked, raising an eyebrow.

“You’re wearing a Scooby Doo t-shirt!” Magnus spluttered out in protest. His face was flushed in embarrassment and his voice had gotten higher. He might have tried to look angry and scary but he looked more like an angry kitten. Mad, yes, but definitely adorable.

“I’ll have you know Scooby Doo is an all time classic. Now brush your teeth, I’m beat and I want to sleep.”

After Magnus brushed his teeth and found Alex laying like a starfish on his floor (hey, his carpet was nice), they went to bed. Magnus made his little bed on the floor and clapped the lights out. Alex was never going to get over that lighting system, to be honest. It was a miracle he hadn’t broken the lamps by how often he clapped them on and off. He had even done that once in the rhythm of ‘We will rock you’. (Don’t judge, he was bored)

There were some things Alex hadn’t understood before he experienced them. He didn’t understand why people complained about high school until he went too, he didn’t understand crushes until he got one. And he had never understood what was the deal with people feeling comforted by their significant other’s clothes because they smelled like them. As cliché and mushy as it was, lying in Magnus’ bed… he kind of understood that. It was weird to explain the feeling it gave him and he couldn’t come up with a way to describe it other than… warm.

Alex resisted the urge to groan at his love struck self. Ugh, seriously, why did people do this whole ‘love’ thing when it made them this stupidly mushy?

Having had enough of feeling like a love-struck teenage girl, Alex spoke to Magnus. He had heard him tossing and turning in his makeshift bed all this time.

“Can’t sleep either?”

“f*cking- don’t do that!” Magnus cried out. He had been so focused on falling asleep he hadn’t noticed that Alex was still awake and when the green haired teen talked he jumped like a frightened kitten.

“Aw, did I scare you?”

“You surprised me.” Magnus emphasized the word ‘surprise’. Alex couldn’t even see his face but just knew he was blushing.

“It’s okay Magnus, everyone gets scared,” Alex teased. He couldn’t help it, it was just too fun to rile him up.

There was a moment of silence before Alex spoke again. “Say, why is there so much beige in your room?”

Alex almost face palmed. His choice in home décor? Seriously? That’s the brilliant conversation starter he thought of?

“Beige is one of my favorite colors,” Magnus answered and Alex had to do a double take to make sure he had heard correctly.

“You’re kidding.”

“No, why would I?” Magnus asked, sounding genuinely confused.

“You poor child,” Alex sighed. What a horrible life he must have lived to have such horrible color preferences!

Mentally setting aside Magnus tragic life story, Alex turned over onto his side. “So, what are we going to do about this bond problem?”

“I guess go to Hearthstone in the morning? If we tell Helgi we’re making preparations for the quest in summer he’ll let us leave.”

Alex nodded. That sounded like a good plan.

Maybe it was the late hour that had loosened his tongue or maybe it was the calming feeling Magnus gave off in waves. Whichever the reason, Alex found himself talking.

“You know, being magically tied to someone should seem weird to me, but honestly? After everything that's happened, this isn’t even in the top ten weirdest things that I’ve gone through.”

Magnus chuckled. His chuckle was really cute. (f*ck, calm down, Alex, calm down. It’s just a chuckle.) “Yeah, between being an undead warrior, having elf and dwarf friends and fighting giants, there’s not much that would seem weird to me.”

“Tell me about it.” Despite what little of his logic had survived this crush telling him not to talk, the words still found their way out of Alex’s lips. “But you know, you’re not a bad person to be tied to.”

There was moment of silence, during which Alex berated himself for what he said. Not a bad person to be tied to? Seriously, Alex? Could you make it any more obvious that you have a humongous crush on him? Then again, this is Magnus, he probably wouldn’t notice even if I blew a kiss at him. But gods, that was embarrassing.

Alex’s little monologue came to a stop when Magnus spoke

“You’re not bad either,” he said.

Alex didn’t know if his heart should skip a beat when he’s dead, and honestly, he didn’t care. I’m not going to last a day like this. This dork will kill me and I’m not even mad.

A week. They were stuck like this for a week.

Don’t get her wrong, Alex didn’t mind being around Magnus, she wouldn’t have a crush on him if she did, but as stated before, she didn’t know whether she could survive a day, let alone a week around him without spontaneously combusting due to cuteness! Either that or her heart would stop after skipping one too many beats. Whichever came first.

“So what do we do now?” Magnus asked. He looked troubled and Alex didn’t blame him. Blitzen had just told them Hearthstone would be out of town for a week, so they were stuck like this for at least that long. This was one weird situation.

“We just deal with it, I guess,” Alex shrugged. She got off the wall she was leaning against and stood up straight. As much as she might complain about the situation they were in, it wasn’t like there was no bright side to it. Mainly being able to spend more time with Magnus. With the worlds in mortal danger, she might as well enjoy it.

“So where do you want to go?” She asked before she could talk herself out of it.

“What?” Magnus asked confused.

Alex’s heart was beating like a drum. It was absurd, all she was doing was asking Magnus on a date to hang out, yet her heart felt like it was going to explode. “We have permission to stay out until dinner time at the latest, we might as well enjoy some time as normal teens.”

On a date, her mind chipped in.

Shut up brain, she snapped back.

“So where do you want to go?” she asked again.

They wandered around the city before they found their way to Public Garden, coffee at hand. It was a nice day and the park was filled with people of all ages just milling around. It was odd to see people enjoy their simple, ordinary lives when Alex’s had changed so much recently. Still, for once, she didn’t want things to change. Being an einherjar, hanging out with the others from floor 19, it was the happiest she had been in a long while.

“Want to sit over there?” Alex asked, pointing at a bench a little ways ahead of them.

“Sure. Um, give me a minute.”

Without waiting for Alex to respond, Magnus turned around and ran to the footbridge. Alex was confused for a second, but then she remembered that a lot of homeless people camped around here, especially in summer. Anything that offered cover, like footbridges, were excellent places to set up camp.

Sure enough, Alex’s guess was correct. A moment later Magnus came back and a couple of scruffy men were looking at him go from under the bridge. Clutched in one’s hand were a few bills.

“Okay, let’s go,” Magnus said when he got to her. Alex smiled at him and remembered when she had called him sunshiny. As embarrassed as she had felt afterwards, she had been right. Magnus was a really nice guy.

They sat down on the bench and just watched people walk by as they drank their coffee. It was… nice. Alex really couldn’t recall many times in her life (or death) when she had been able to just relax with a friend.

They ended up making stories about the people they saw passing by, like in movies. They pointed out people who caught their eye and threw together random stories about what they were like and what was going on in their life. It had sounded like a silly game to Alex when she had first heard about it, but turns out it was pretty fun. Magnus’ stories tended to be more fluffy and innocent while Alex’s were the most random sh*t you could think of.

“That woman over there,” Alex said, pointing at a woman jogging along the path in an oversized hoodie, “she has a big wedding coming up. She’s found the perfect dress but needs to lose a few pounds to fit in it. Her old school rival is going to be there and she wants to piss her off by looking awesome.” She sipped her coffee and smirked, like a villain making their big plan. “But they both get drunk at the after party and wake up the next morning naked in bed together.”

Magnus chuckled. His head dipped down when he chuckled and his hand came up to cover his mouth, as if keeping his laughing in. It was cute (then again, Alex thought anything Magnus did was cute) but sometimes Alex wished he wouldn’t do it so she could see his smile more.

“That sound like something out of a sitcom,” Magnus said.

Alex shrugged, smiling. “Your turn.”

Magnus looked around to find someone. His lips were pressed together in a pout as he concentrated and Alex would be lying if she said it wasn’t the cutest thing ever. Yes, she was a mess, thank you for reminding her.

Magnus pointed a tall boy with closely cropped black hair and thin almond eyes that was walking side by side a girl with wavy brown hair in an undercut, her fringe dyed blue. Alex really approved of her fashion sense. Those boots looked great.

“Those two are out on a date,” Magnus said. “The guy’s really nervous because he likes the girl a lot and doesn’t want to mess things up. The girl acts cool but she’s just as much of a mess around him as he is around her.”

Well, that hit a bit too close to home, Alex thought sarcastically. The way Magnus said the girl felt was literally her around Magnus. She really wished Magnus’ feelings for her were like those of the boy in his story.

“Didn’t know you were such a romantic, Magnus,” Alex teased him, mostly to get the sappy thoughts out of her head.

Magnus shrugged. “It’s just the first thing that came to me.”

They kept the game going for a while longer, just swapping random stories, before Alex asked “Say, who are those chocolates for?”

“For Hunding, the bellhop. I make sure to bring him back chocolate whenever I go out.”

Alex needed a few moments to recall who Hunding was. When she did remember, she was hit once more with the realization of why she likes Magnus so much: here he is, buying chocolate for the hotel bellhop when most people, Alex included, hardly remembered who he was.

She smiled at him. “You’re a really nice guy, you know that?”

Magnus’s face flushed red. It’s probably from the sun, Alex thought.

“I’m not doing anything special,” Magnus said. “He doesn’t like working under Helgi, and chocolate makes him happy, so I just bring him some.”

“Yeah, but no one else does that,” Alex countered. “You also treat people nice, you heal them, sometimes not even realizing you did it, and you made sure I was comfortable when Hearthstone cast the rune.” She counted on her fingers as she spoke. “I’ve seen you not ask people things, even when you want to ask, because you know they wouldn’t be comfortable answering.”

She looked Magnus in the eye and spoke the next words with deadly seriousness, even if the term used wasn’t that serious. “You, Magnus Chase,” she said, “are a big cinnamon roll.”

“Cinnamon roll?”

“Yeah, it’s when-“

“I know what it is,” Magnus cut her off. “It’s just that nobody ever called me that.”

“Really? It suits you.” She took another sip of her coffee. “So if not cinnamon roll, have you ever had a nickname like that?” She could think of dozens of bad, embarrassing nicknames Magnus might have had during his life, but she wanted to see which one he actually had. And no, it wasn’t so she could use it against him, do you seriously take her for that kind of person?

Well, you wouldn’t be wrong if you did.

“My mum used to call me pumpkin,” Magnus said.

Alex doubled over in laughter. Pumpkin? Seriously? Of all the bad, cliché nicknames! Oh my gods, this is so hilarious! An image of five year-old, gap-toothed Magnus flashed in her mind, struggling against his mother as she kissed his cheek and called him pumpkin and she laughed even harder.

“Really?” she asked, laughing so hard people were starting to stare at them. “That’s adorable.”

Magnus smiled. “It used to embarrass me when I was older, especially when she said it around my friends. I knew she was doing it on purpose, she always smirked afterwards.” He sighed. “But after she died… I really miss her calling me that, even if it is a bit embarrassing.”

Alex stopped laughing immediately. Magnus’ mum is dead, she remembered. She cursed herself for reminding him of her. From the way he talked about her, they had probably been really close. Talking about her must be hard for him.

Tentatively, as if Magnus might bite it off, she put her hand on his shoulder, hoping it was a comforting gesture.

“I’m not the best person to talk to about parents, there isn’t much to miss in mine, but… your mum sounds really cool.” She paused, unsure whether she should ask, and then said “If… If you don’t mind me asking, how did she…?”

“Wolves,” Magnus answered simply. “Like the ones that killed you. They attacked our house. My mum, she made me leave even though I didn’t want to leave her behind. She… She wasn’t able to get out in time. The house burned down.”

Alex’s hand was now rubbing circles on his back. Really, why did she think asking about his mother’s death was a good idea? Gods she was stupid, she was making Magnus sad. “I’m sorry, Magnus. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, it’s… It’s okay.” He sighed. “I have to talk about her eventually. She would have wanted me to be able to move on.”

There was a moment of silence before Magnus spoke again. “You know, when I first came to Valhalla, I thought she would be there. I thought if anyone deserved to be in Valhalla, it was her, not me.”

Alex was taken aback for a second until she realized that he meant it. Brave, understanding, kind Magnus really hadn’t thought he deserved to be in Valhalla. It seemed absurd to Alex. If there was anyone who was worthy of being in Norse paradise, it was Magnus.

“Magnus, Sam told me how you got into Valhalla,” she said. “What you did was brave. You deserve to be there and I’m sure your mum would be very proud of her little pumpkin.”

Magnus sighed. “You’re never going to let me live down that pet name, will you?”

“Nope,” Alex said, popping the ‘p’. “Honestly, it’s your fault for telling me.”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “You know, I think my mum would think you’re cool too.”

Now Alex was surprised. “That would be a first. Most adults don’t like me much.”

“Nah, you’re a lot alike. You don’t care about what others think of you, you’re both outdoorsy people, you both like hiking. And my mum could never stay still for long; she had to be doing something. She used to build things out of old stuff she found in the street, she carved wood, she even made candles for some time. I’m sure she’d love your pots.”

“Anyone would, actually,” he continued. “They’re really cool. I can’t understand how you can make them without them falling apart.”

Alex chuckled. Magnus was waving his hands around animatedly, like an excited child. It was kind of adorable.

“It’s not that hard once you get the basics. I can show you if you want.”

“Really?” Magnus basically jumped in his seat from excitement, his eyes twinkling like when he’d talk with Alex about a new show he found. f*ck me, he’s adorable.

“Yeah. We’ll have to spend time together now that we’re tied to each other anyway, so...” Alex trailed off, fighting off the blush rising in her cheeks and failing miserably. She got up quickly so Magnus wouldn’t see her red face.

“It’s almost lunch time. Let’s go back, I’ll show you after lunch.”

Alex and Halfborn were fighting again. At this point it was nothing special. Their friendship mostly consisted of fighting and competitions to determine who was better. They were that pair of obnoxious bros who always competed, even when Alex was a girl and, technically speaking, not a bro.

This time they had dragged their significant others into the fight too. Well, Halfborn had dragged Mallory and Alex had dragged Magnus, who wasn’t really her significant other, even if Alex would like him to be… Anyway, the point is they were having pair battles.

Now, Magnus was hesitant at first. Understandable, since most times he was just a spectator of Alex’s battles with Halfborn, and neither the big burly Viking nor his girlfriend were people he'd want to fight. But Alex had eventually managed to convince him by bribing him with falafel. It was a win-win deal, really. Magnus got free falafel, and Alex got a date with him him to fight in the pair battle.

T.J. took his place in a tall tree and gave them the signal to start. Yes, they might be going a little over the top for a simple battle, but it was more fun this way. T.J. had told them once that their fights were really interesting to watch and that the next time he’d bring popcorn. And, true to his word, a bag of popcorn was balanced on one knee while his riffle was balanced on the other.

The moment the signal was given, Alex and Halfborn were immediately at each other’s throats. They went all out on all of their fights, it’s just what they did. They might sh*t-talk each other a lot, but that was simply how they showed their affection.

Alex whipped out her garrote. She dashed at Halfborn, planning to use her garrote to make him lose his balance. It didn’t work, but that was to be expected. Alex had used that move on Halfborn before, and Halfborn wasn’t the type to fall for the same trick twice. He had a brain in him, as much as Alex refused to acknowledge it, and he used it. To win against Halfborn you had to think on your feet and constantly evolve, both in the way you think and in the way you fight. It’s why Alex always thought of their battles as such fun.

“Tsk tsk. You really think I’ll fall for that again?” Halfborn, swinging his axe at Alex. If she hadn’t ducked fast enough she wouldn’t have a head now.

As the double blade flew over her in an arc, Alex saw her chance. She threw the end of her garrote at Halfborn’s axe and the wire wrapped around the handle. With a swift jerk of her wrist, the axe flew out of Halfborn’s hand and onto the ground behind Alex.

Halfborn was now weaponless.

“Not bad,” Halfborn said as he swung his fist at Alex. She didn’t react fast enough and the blow landed on her cheek. She staggered backwards, momentarily losing her balance. She recovered quickly though, just in time to dodge Halfborn’s second punch.

She retreated hastily, putting distance between herself and the burly Viking. A disarmed Halfborn, while slightly less deadly, wasn’t any easier to deal with. He was an expert when it came to hand-to-hand combat. He was a strong opponent, weapon or not.

Which is what makes this so fun.

Alex ran at Halfborn, feigning an attack to his right. He moved to counter it and with one quick movement Alex jumped on top of him. Faster than you could say ‘einherji’ - which is pretty fast once you learn how to pronounce it – Alex had her garrote around Halfborn’s neck.

Halfborn, quickly realizing what was happening, managed to bring his hand up to his neck to stop the wire. He grabbed Alex by her sweater and threw her off. However, Alex didn’t falter. She got up quickly and, with a smirk on her lips, attacked again.

Halfborn moved swiftly to the side, tripping Alex with his foot and looping his arm around her neck in a headlock.

“Gotcha.”

He lifted her of the ground as Alex struggled to get free. His arm around her neck was cutting off her air. She willed herself not to panic; that would just make her breathe faster and use up more oxygen.

“Say, when will you finally ask Magnus on a date?” Halfborn asked and Alex froze from the suddenness of the question

“I mean, it’s pretty obvious that you like him, but Magnus is a bit dense,” he continued. “If your plan is to drop hints, then you’ll need to up your game or he’ll never notice.”

Halfborn’s grip was gradually tightening as he spoke. He’s saying all this as a distraction, Alex realized. With a fast movement, she swung her leg backwards and kicked Halfborn in the nuts.

His grip loosened immediately. Alex squirmed out of the hold and rushed to put distance between them, trying to get her breathing back to normal and shake Halfborn’s words out of her head.

“Hey Mallory,” she heard Magnus call out. “What were you and Halfborn doing in that closet? I mean, T.J. said you were kissing, but were you doing something more?”

Alex smirked. Magnus was trying to embarrass Mallory as a distraction. She couldn’t help feeling proud of him. Magnus was trying really hard and he was getting better at fighting.

“Say, is Halfborn a go good kisser?” Magnus said again. Mallory attacked him but he managed to dodge. “I mean, by how many times you‘ve been caught eating each other’s faces off, I’ll assume he is.”

“Oh, I am,” Halfborn smirked, having overheard their conversation. “And by how she reacts I guess she agrees.”

“Halfborn!”

Alex saw her chance. She wrapped her garrote around the Viking’s neck, strangling him. This time Halfborn wasn’t able to throw her off because she was standing up straight on his back, using the wire wrapped around his neck to keep her balance. She pulled her garrote swiftly and killed Halfborn. His body crumbled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

Alex smiled triumphantly. She was about to do her happy dance (yes, she has a happy dance) when Mallory struck Magnus down, his last words before he died being “Oh, f*ck.” Normally, she would have laughed, because of course those would be Magnus’ last words, but not this time. The moment the blonde’s body disappeared, a sharp pain erupted at Alex’s wrist.

The bond, she thought in horror.

The pain got worse by the second. Alex was clutching her wrist desperately, hoping it would stop, but she knew it wouldn’t. She would have to be ten feet from Magnus for that to happen.

“Are you alright?” Mallory asked concernedly. Not the smartest question, considering Alex was doubled over in pain.

Alex only managed to shake her head weakly. “I-I have to go,” she choked out.

Without waiting for Mallory to reply, she ran off to find Magnus. And because that’s simply how she is, even while in excruciating pain, she couldn’t help but think 'I guess I really can’t bear being away from Magnus'.

Alex had underestimated how bad someone could be at pottery.

She didn’t expect Magnus to be an expert from the get-go; she knew from experience it took some time to master. She herself had made quite a few mistakes when she started out. It was something new so of course you wouldn’t be good at it at first.

But still, she wasn’t expecting this.

Magnus was bad. Like, really bad. It was almost comical how much he messed up, and Alex would have laughed if she didn’t know that it would make Magnus feel bad.

The first time Magnus destroyed his pot was when he turned on the wheel. The clay hadn’t been centered, so when the wheel started spinning it flew past Magnus’ head, nearly decapitating him.

“Maybe you should fight with a pottery wheel instead of a sword,” Alex had joked. She picked the clay up off the floor and put it back on Magnus’ wheel. She had been more amused than anything at that point. She had heard and witnessed quite a few horrifying incidents involving clay in her years of doing pottery, but a ball of clay almost killing someone (at least by cutting off their head) was new.

The second time Magnus destroyed his pot, he pressed it in with his whole palm instead of just the bottom. The clay spun and twisted between his hands, flying in every direction and splattering all over their aprons.

Alex couldn’t help smiling. Sure, she might have clay all over her(which was nothing new), but the ways Magnus failed were kind of funny. She had laughed a lot at her own mistakes when she started pottery too. Yes, she got frustrated, but after a point she learned not to take her mistakes so seriously, laugh, and keep going. If she had been too scared of making a mistake she would have never improved.

“It’s okay, I’ve done way worse when I was starting. Just try again.”

She picked up the pieces of clay and made a ball again. She gave it to Magnus, letting her hands rest on his a moment longer than necessary.

“Here you go,” she said quietly.

As she stepped back and let Magnus try again she congratulated herself for pulling that stunt off. Her heart had been beating like a kick drum, but she still pulled it off. If Magnus wasn’t here she would have probably done a happy dance.

What Halfborn had said during their battle hadn’t left her brain and she had been thinking about it while she waited for Magnus to wake up. He was right and she knew it. She had to do something about her crush on Magnus or it would go nowhere. After a lot of thinking, she had formed a plan: she would drop hints at Magnus that she liked him and if he said nothing about it she would ask him out.

Of course, being Alex Fierro, she might have gone a bit overboard with her hints, but really, what did you expect from her?

The third time Magnus destroyed his pot, things had been going fairly well. The clay hadn’t killed them and it hadn’t splattered everywhere. But Magnus applied too much pressure when he was making the column and it slumped over onto the ground.

“It kinda looks like a turd,” Alex said as she looked at the clay on the ground. Like, it was long and brown and even slightly wet. It looked a lot like a piece of crap.

Magnus couldn’t help but laugh at how random the comment was. “I’m horrible at this.”

“You’re not that bad,” Alex said. Everyone is bad when they start something new. Magnus’ failures were just more comical. “You just need some help.”

Magnus turned to the wheel and took a deep breath before starting again. Alex moved closer, silencing the part of her brain that was yelling at her to abort the mission as she wrapped her arms around Magnus.

“I’ll help you do this, okay?” she said, her voice sounding a lot calmer than she felt. Her chest was pressed against Magnus’ back and she could smell his shampoo. A part of her was scared Magnus would hear her heart beating frantically in her chest. She moved her hands down his arms (wow, training sure paid off), making sure to go extra slow. Once she reached his hands she intertwined their fingers.

To an outsider, they would have looked like the cliché couple doing pottery together with the way their arms were wrapped around each other.

“Just follow my lead, alright?” she told Magnus, flashing him a smile. Her chin was resting on his shoulder and her face was right next to his cheek.

She guided his hands and helped him form the column successfully. She explained little details and hacks as she did, but she wasn’t focused on that. All she could focus on right now was how warm Magnus felt, how well their hands fit together, and how warm and cozy he smelled. ‘Warm’ and ‘cozy’ probably weren’t smells, but that’s the only way Alex could describe what Magnus smelled like without saying he smelt like sunshine.

The column was formed and Alex should have let go, but she didn’t really want to. She held onto Magnus for a few more seconds, praying that he wouldn’t notice.

“There we go,” she said as she reluctantly stepped back. She didn’t want to let go, but if she didn’t things would have gotten awkward and she didn’t want to deal with that.

The next few steps went smoothly, but it was at opening the clay that things went bad. Magnus got carried away and soon the pot had reached the edge of the wheel, its walls so thin Alex was afraid just touching them was going to bring them down.

“f*ck!” Magnus cursed. He moved to try and save what he could but he was stopped in his tracks by Alex laughing.

“It’s okay,” she told him with a smile. “Everybody has made this mistake. Opening up the clay just feels really nice.”

Gods know Alex has lost count of how many times she made that mistake when she first started. Sometimes, if she’s feeling out of it, she still needs to remind herself not to go too far.

Magnus nodded frantically. “Yeah, it’s just feels satisfying! Like soft ice-cream coming out of the machine or putting in the last piece of a puzzle in place!”

“I know right?”

There was a moment of silence before they both started laughing at how silly their little fangirling session was.

“Anyway”, Alex finally said, “you can always start over.”

Alex made a new ball of clay as Magnus cleared the wheel. He was about to start again but stopped when Alex leaned in very close and all but whispered “Do you want me to help you with centering again?”

Magnus made some incomprehensive noises that Alex took as a no. She stepped back with a smirk and let him try on his own. She made it very clear, however, that she was there to help her if he needed her.

Magnus managed to get by the first few steps without destroying his pot again. He even made the column without any help, which disappointed Alex a bit. She would have really liked to help him again.

Finally, Magnus’ pot was done. The lip was leaning a bit lower on one side, the walls were thinner in some places and its shape wasn’t as definite as it could be, but it was pretty decent for a first try.

And, hey, it hadn’t collapsed, so that was good.

“It’s… artistic,” Alex said.

Magnus sent her a ‘we both know that’s not what you want to say but you want to be polite” look.

“Anyway, let’s put that to the side to dry and go get all this clay out of our hair. Now do you understand how that accident happened?”

Magnus nodded solemnly. Alex was sure he would never again question the deadly abilities of clay.

Chapter 8: Yep, I'm definitely having a de ja vu

Chapter Text

The next day, Alex and Magnus were walking through the streets of Boston.

After they had gotten their asses handed to them at team combat practice to the death, Alex took Magnus out for the falafel she had promised him. Hunding snuck them out of the Hotel and they had spent some time just wandering around the town.

It felt good, being able to be so relaxed around someone. No fear, no need to put up a face. When she was living in the streets she had never been able to relax, she couldn’t afford it. Her old home wasn’t much better for obvious reasons. As pissed as she had been when she first came to Valhalla, she had grown to love that place and the friends she made there.

They wandered around aimlessly until they decided to head to Fadlan’s Falafel. As they walked in the store Alex was telling Magnus a joke, one of those that was purposely so bad it was funny. Magnus laughed at them in the way most people did: rolling his eyes at how bad it was. The difference was that most people’s laughter didn’t make her heart skip a beat like Magnus’ did.

They walked up to the counter to give their order. Amir was behind the counter, giving an old lady her change. When he saw them walking into the store he smiled at them and waved.

“Hey, guys! It’s good to see you, how have you been?”

“Great,” Magnus answered cheerfully. “Alex here owes me falafel, so we came to the best place in town.”

Amir chuckled. “You have to buy Magnus falafel? Did you lose a bet or something?”

“Nah, I’m not losing a bet to this guy. I bribed him into something.”

“That explains it. Magnus would cut off his own arm for free falafel.”

Amir and Alex laughed at that. Anyone who had ever knew Magnus knew about the boy’s near obsession with falafel. He wouldn’t have minded if it was the only thing he could eat for the rest of his life or, rather, the rest of his death.

“Hey, that’s not true!” Magnus protested. Then, as an afterthought, “Exactly how much falafel are we talking about?”

All three of them laughed at Magnus’ joke (or at least Alex hoped it was a joke). Once they had ordered, they sat down at a table near the back. Alex kept telling her awful jokes, Magnus kept laughing at her awful jokes, and Alex kept telling even more awful jokes just to hear his laugh again. Gods, she wanted his laugh as her ringtone.

… well, not her actual ringtone, that would be creepy. But you know what she meant. She’s a girl in love, cut her some slack.

Still, there were only so many bad jokes and puns a person could hear or say in a day, and eventually their conversation moved on to different topics. Somewhere amidst all the weird stories they were sharing Alex made the grim mistake of asking Magnus about his books.

Yes, it was stupid, but could you blame her? He had a huge library in his suite and she had gotten curious. Asking him about his books was dumb enough, but then Alex was stupid enough to ask him which one was his favorite. That led to Magnus spewing out book titles for five minutes.

Alex would have complained more, but honestly… She wasn’t really paying attention to what Magnus was saying.

Yes, that might sound mean, but the only reason she wasn’t listening to the words coming out of his mouth was because she was too busy noticing everything else about him. From the random, animated gestures he made as he talked to the way his eyes twinkled and his face lightened up. She might not know anything about the books Magnus was talking about, but she loved to see him so passionate about something. Honestly she could sit here and listen to him talking about the things he loved all day.

(People walking by that saw the way the green haired teen looked at the blonde boy made a lot of them smile. A woman even sighed to herself, thinking how great it must be to be young and in love.)

“I shouldn’t have asked,” Alex muttered as Magnus said the I-don’t-know-I-stopped-counting-after-15th book title. How he remembered them all was beyond her.

“I think that's all,” Magnus finally finished. Part of Alex wanted to scream hallelujah, but another part of her was disappointed she couldn’t see Magnus fanboy anymore.

“Geez, I didn’t know you were such a bookworm, Maggie,” she sighed.

Magnus suddenly perked up, like he remembered something. “Oh, and there’s-“

“There’s more?!” Alex cut him off, a bit too loudly. A few people turned around to look at them.

“I was just going to say Harry Potter,” Magnus answered innocently. Alex was pretty sure he had only done that to mess with her. “It’s a classic.”

“Finally something I recognize. Harry Potter is a classic, even I've read that and I’m not the biggest book fan.” The books were really fun and she would be lying if she said she hadn’t pretended to be an animagus at least a dozen times.

“Say, what house are you in?” Magnus asked.

“I’m a Slytherin. It might be part of the reason I chose to dye my hair green.”

Magnus snorted. “Seriously?”

Alex nodded. “Well, it’s also one of my favorite colors. I remember I was still reading the books when I first saw the Urnes symbol and thought it looked like what Slytherin’s insignia would be like. I mean, it forms an ‘S’ and everything.”

“Huh, I never thought of that.”

Alex leaned on the table. “And let me guess, you’re a Hufflepuff?”

Magnus smiled. (f*ck me, I love that smile.) “What gave it away?”

“Probably the fact you’re a sunshiny cinnamon roll who wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

They continued the Harry Potter conversation well into desert. They were having an intense fangirling session, debating about different things, like Quiddicth, the veil Sirius Black fell in and how extremely gay the Cursed Child was.

“Like, I was so pissed at the end,” Magnus said at one point. “Their relationship was built up through the whole thing, reading the script felt like reading gay fanfiction, and yet they expect me to believe Scorpius likes Rose, who hardly appeared during the whole thing and when she did she treated him terribly!”

“I take it you have experience with gay fanfiction?” Alex asked slyly.

Magnus’ ears went red in embarrassment but he didn’t shy away from the question. “I’ve been watching ‘Yuri on Ice’ lately and the fanfiction is pretty good.”

“Isn’t that the anime about ice skating?”

Magnus went on to explain to her what happened in the show and they were having a lot of fun. Without realizing it, they had moved a lot closer.

That is, until a man that had sat down next to them muttered something about “disgusting fa*gs”. Alex couldn’t what he looked like from where she was sitting, but judging from the look on Magnus’ face, the man’s expression must have been just as mean as his words.

If they were in Valhalla, things would have been more straightforward. She could just attack whoever said it and kill them. She had done that a couple of times when some of the oldest einherjar were disrespectful about her gender. She tried talking to them at first, but it soon became clear they only respect power. So she did the logical thing and showed them she could kick their asses if they got on her bad side.

But she couldn't do that now. They weren’t in Valhalla, so the man would be dead for good. For one thing, Alex didn’t kill people (at least not people who couldn’t come back to life) and killing him would just be messy (police, people running around screaming etc).

But she wasn’t going to let that scumbag get away with it either. Guess what asshole! Some people aren’t straight! Get over it!

If he hates gay people so much, then…

Alex picked up a piece of baklava with her fork and held it out to Magnus. “Say ‘ah’, pumpkin,” she said in her most sugary voice. She spoke loudly and, if the sound of distaste that came from the man behind her was anything to go by, that asshole heard her. The corner of her lips quirked up in a smirk.

Understanding flashed in Magnus’ eyes before he leaned forward and took the baklava from Alex’s fork. He looked straight into her eyes the whole time, as if they were playing in some sappy romance movie.

Magnus picked up another piece and held it out for Alex, his other hand cupped underneath so the syrup wouldn’t drip. He fed it to Alex, calling her ‘sweetie pie’, and his voice was so lovey dovey Alex would have cracked up under different circ*mstances.

It was Alex’s turn to feed Magnus. As ridiculous as this was, it was kinda fun. She got to feed and be fed by her crush and piss off an asshole. That’s a win-win in her book.

As Magnus took the piece of baklava from her fork, a big, fat drop of syrup dripped from his lips. He reached out for a napkin but Alex got a bright idea and stopped him.

“Let me get that,” she said. Instead of getting a napkin and wiping it away for him, she leaned in closer, so close she could feel Magnus’ breath, and kissed the corner of his lips to wipe away the drop of syrup. A bolt of lightning went through her at the contact and her heart beat like a drum in her chest. She did her best to remain calm and not potentially combust. She wondered if people watching her thought she was so bold and confident, doing things like this, when she was freaking out in her head.

She leaned away, licking the syrup from her lips. “Sweet,” she said and smiled at Magnus. She tried to imitate similar moments she had seen in movies. They had always been really hot and she hoped she had pulled it off or else this was going to be a bit embarrassing.

Well, Magnus seems pretty red, so I guess it worked.

There was a loud screeching sound as the man got up hastily and left the shop, leaving some bills on the table. Alex watched him as he practically ran away and she smirked.

“Take that, you soggy piece of toast,” she said triumphantly. She would have done another gesture at the man’s back, but there were children in the restaurant. Alex had a no-cursing-around-children policy.

They paid for their food and said goodbye to Amir, who assured them that what they had done was awesome.

“I managed to film it,” he told them with a smile. “I’m sending this to Sam, she’ll love it.”

Alex smiled. Her sister strongly believed all people were equal no matter what and she loved it when rude jerks were put in their place.

They left the shop after they told Amir to tell Sam hi from them. They were walking towards Public Garden, trying to find the bakery Halfborn had been talking about. They had found the shop by accident about a week ago, when Halfborn was distracting T.J in the part while Magnus, Alex and Mallory were trying to find a cake. In the end they had bought a box of cupcakes that they all ate together while singing ‘Happy Birthday’ obnoxiously loudly to T.J .

As they walked into the cozy café-bakery they were met by the sent on baking cakes and sweets. The décor was in shades of black and beige like the last time and a large display case full of cakes was next to the register. They spotted a red velvet cake in it, shaped like a heart with a red bow on it made from fondant.

Well, Halfborn wants to be romantic, Alex thought with a smirk.

“Hello, how can I help you?” the girl behind the counter asked them with a smile.

“We’d like that one,” Alex said, pointing to the cake she and Magnus had wordlessly agreed on. Magnus might be a cinnamon roll but he was also a little sh*t and Alex loved that.

The girl put their cake in a box with a bow on top after they told her it was a present, before handing it to Alex. “There you go, sir,” she said.

“Thanks,” Alex replied sharply. She knew the girl had no idea that she was female today and that she was just doing her job by being polite, but she was still met with the familiar annoyance of being misgendered. “But it’s she,” she corrected.

A little gasp went past the girl’s lips, her face the dictionary definition of ‘oh no, I f*cked up’. “Oh my god, I’m really sorry miss,” she apologized hurriedly.

Alex nodded. “It’s okay.” Some people don’t even apologize.

They walked out of the store from the side entrance, since the shop was at the corner of the street. Two boys around their age were leaning against the wall. They were trying to pull of the whole ‘angsty edgy bad boy’ look. Alex didn’t pay them any mind as she walked past.

But then something hit her leg, something feeling suspiciously like a leg. She would have dropped the cake if it wasn’t for her einherjar reflexes. Magnus was immediately at her side, helping her get up. In any other situation, Alex would have mentally cooed at Magnus helping her like this, not because she needed his help but because he wanted to help.

Now all she could think was This f*cking bitch tripped me.

“Alex, are you alright?” Magnus asked concerned.

“Yeah, are you okay dude?” one of the boys said. Alex could have been deaf and still recognize the mock sympathy dripping from his every word. “Oops, I meant girl,” he snarled. He and his friend cackled like they were so funny and Alex was contemplating murder.

Ignore them, the logical part of her said. Don’t make a scene. They don’t deserve it. There just a couple of assholes, it’s not like you haven’t been through this before. They aren’t worth getting worked up over.

She stood and refused to look at the two boys behind her. “Yes, I’m fine, Magnus. Let’s go.” Her words were sharp and icy, like a sudden snowstorm.

She moved to leave but the second of the two boys grabbed her wrist and, Alex realized with horror, groped her butt. Her heart dropped to her stomach from fear and if this had been the first time some asshole had assaulted her or grabbed her from behind she would have reacted differently. What she did now was twist her arm in a well-trained motion and break his grip. Shocked, the boy was too late to react when Alex turned around and slapped him hard across the face.

“You f*cking freak!” he yelled after her, but Alex ignored him. She walked away quickly, feeling sick to her stomach.

Saying Alex was in a bad mood for the rest of the day would have been the understatement of the century.

He felt horrible. He was pissed off and angry and furious, and yeah, all those words mean the same thing but just one of them didn’t feel enough to explain what he was like right now. It felt like someone was holding his heart in an iron grip, squeezing it as if it was a grape, and Alex was fighting back. Every nerve in his body burned with the need to move, to get all this frustration out. He spent the whole day glaring at anyone and everyone and nobody got too close to him, as if there was a bright red bubble of anger around him people were afraid to go in for fear of their lives.

And Alex knew he shouldn’t be feeling like this. Those boys were just a couple of faceless assholes that didn’t matter and he shouldn’t be this angry over what they said and did. But he was and that made him even more furious.

Don’t think about it, he told himself. They aren’t worth ruining your day over. What they said doesn’t matter, your friends don’t agree with them.

Yeah, but… what if they do?

It was that crippling doubt that made Alex want to scream. He was confident in who he was, male or female. Partially at least, he had built that confidence as a shield. Some people wouldn’t accept him, some people would hurt him, and he didn’t let them change him. This is who he is, deal with it. If they didn’t then he wouldn’t deal with them.

But he didn’t want to do that now. He couldn’t bear the thought of Halfborn, Mallory, T.J, Sam, Hearthstone, Blitzen or Magnus leaving him. For the first time in a long while he felt like he belonged, like he had a home. He was happy. The thought of losing that tore him apart.

Don’t think about it, stop thinking about it.

He tried to distract himself, go about the rest of his day and act normal, but it didn’t work. When Halfborn took the cake from them he could see in the Viking’s eyes that he was expecting a joke from Alex, but nothing came. He tried pottery, since that always calmed him down, but he couldn’t do it. All the pots came out wrong; leaning too much on one side, having holes in the bottom or even collapsing. Alex threw them against the wall, hoping it would ease his anger, but it didn’t. He was curt and clipped toward Magnus when he told him his pronouns were he/him now. In combat practice, he fought horribly and died fast.

And throughout the whole day, poor Magnus was trying to help him. He brought up the incident, asking Alex if he was okay or if he wanted to talk about it, but he snapped at him and told him he didn’t want to talk about. Alex immediately felt bad afterwards.

Here you are, worrying about your friends leaving you and you’re pushing them away. Great job, idiot.

But Magnus still tried to cheer him up. He put on all the songs Alex had said he liked, he gave him those breadsticks they had at dinner because he ‘happened’ to have some and told him every punny joke in existence, even asking Jack to tell some after a point. But Alex’s mood didn’t improve. No matter what Magnus did to help, his traitorous mind said “Hey, isn’t it great having a nice friend like this? Imagine if he didn’t want to be around you anymore”.

Night didn’t come fast enough but when it did, Alex went to bed without a word to Magnus or anyone else. I just want this day to end.

In the dream, Alex was a girl.

She was in her room, but not her room in Hotel Valhalla. The room had plain white walls, with a couple of posters of pots and random mountains, the generic kind you’d find in some travel magazine. There was a bed, a desk and a wardrobe along with a green carpet. Despite her favorite colors being pink and green, there was no pink in this room. Her mortal father and his wife had banned her from anything pink.

Overall, her old room back at her father’s house was dull and cold. It wasn’t the temperature - the heating was on, so it was warm inside, despite the cool autumn weather - it was just the aura the room gave off. It lacked warmth, like no one actually lived there. Just like the rest of the house, really.

Alex was kneeled in front of her bed, her heart thumbing in her chest. She was nervous but she wanted to do this. Her father wasn’t home, it would be safe; no one would see her. Her father and stepmother had gone to some tennis tournament and they had left Alex home alone. They’d say she had a lot of homework and needed to study like the good child she was as an excuse if anyone asked why she hadn’t come. They just didn’t want her with them and their snobby friends because they thought she was an embarrassment.

Well, she didn’t mind since she didn’t want to go anyway. Anything was better than a whole afternoon around stiff rich jerks that would constantly misgender her.

She reached under the bed and pulled out a white shoe box. It said Paints, careful of leaks on it in permanent marker. It didn’t have any paints in it, the words were a precaution so the cleaning staff wouldn’t open it. They didn’t want extra work, after all.

She took off the box’s lid carefully, as if it would break if she breathed too hard. Newspapers stained with paint covered what was in the box in case anyone did open it. She hastily threw the papers aside, eager to look at what was inside.

She took the dress out. She had never owned a dress, a skirt, or anything of that sort. All her clothes were gender neutral. She had tried on more feminine clothes in dressing rooms, but she never had one that was hers.

But now she did. This was her dress and she was going to wear it. Not in a dressing room, paranoid that someone would see her and take it from her.

With her heart beating a mile a minute in her chest, she threw off her clothes. She pulled the dress over her head and didn’t look in any mirrors. She pulled open the drawer she held her pottery supplies in. In the very back, hidden inside a jar of nails from when she tried woodwork, was a little bag of hair accessories. Frilly hair bands her hair was too short for and hair clips with cute designs on them. They were some of the only feminine things she owned because they were small enough that she could hide them easily. She took one of the clips and pinned some of her hair back.

She ran to the bathroom, somehow nervous someone would see her even though there was no one other than her home. She walked in with her eyes closed. Once she was in front of the mirror – she knew the room by memory – she opened them.

She gasped. She –she looked like a girl. She looked like a girl! This was it, this was it! This was right!

She was smiling so much her cheeks hurt. Yes, yes, yes, yes! She couldn’t help a happy scream and her arms flapped around, like a fangirl that just got a singed edition of her favorite book.

She was running around the house, loving the way the skirt moved against her legs. She did stunts and rolled along the carpets, alternating between songs, one moment singing Girls just wanna have fun and the next I believe I can fly. She ran to the stairs and she was three steps down when she got an idea and run back up. She jumped on the railing and slid down, laughing like she was in some cheesy high school flick.

She landed in a mess in the carpet but she didn’t care. She lay down, laughing her head off and making angels in the fluffy material. She jumped up, still smiling brightly, to look at what she had made when she heard it.

The sound of the door opening.

A man in white tennis clothes stood at the open door. His hair was dark like Alex’s, stuck to his forehead from the rain and he held a tennis racket in one hand. Next to him stood a woman in fancy clothes, her eyes wide in shock and her mouth hanging open. The man’s expression was identical to his wife’s for a moment, before it changed to rage.

Alex felt her hearth plummet to her stomach. Her blood ran cold in her veins. It was as if she was falling from a high building; all air was pushed out of her lungs and all ability she had to think rationally was gone, replaced with an almost animalistic feeling of danger, yelling at her to flee.

No, no, no, no.

Her father moved forward, firm with anger, and Alex staggered backwards, limbs trembling in fear. Her father seemed to be growing taller, as big as a giant towering over her, and Alex was trying to shrink down to be as small as possible.

“I-I t-though you w-weren’t going to b-be home until l-later,” she stuttered out.

“Why are you wearing a dress?” her father asked as if Alex had never talked. In the silence that had fallen in the house his voice sounded like a boom of thunder.

“I-I-I… it’s… I’m not-“

“I asked you a question!” he roared and Alex took an unconscious step backwards.

It’s for a school play. I was dared to wear it. Excuses ran through her head, but she knew none of them would work. They had seen her, a girl, not the girl forced into a boy’s life that felt as wrong as walking upside down most of the time.

“I-I bought it,” she stammered out.

Her stepmother, still at the door, gasped in horror. Her father’s face was completely transformed with anger, beat red like the carpet in the kitchen. Alex backed away, afraid she would be hit.

She was, but not by fists. By words.

“I knew there was something wrong with you,” her father spat out. He was looking at her like she wrong, as if she was an annoying smudge on a paper he wanted to erase from existence. “From the moment that woman, man, whatever it was, left you here, I knew there was something simply wrong with you. I thought it was your blood, who your other parent was. Still, I took you in and raised you.”

He laughed, a cold, cruel laugh that cut Alex like a knife, like the notion of having her as a child was the most ridiculous joke he had ever heard. “I never should have,” he continued. “I should have just given you back to whatever your other parent was or left you in the street.” He moved toward her and Alex moved backwards, until her back hit the wall and she had nowhere to go.

“F-father-“ Alex started to say. What she would say she didn’t know, but she didn’t get to find out either. A white hot pain erupted from her cheek as her father slapped her. The force of it sent her falling to the ground, taking the glass flower vase next to her with her. It broke on impact, spilling water and shattered glass all over the carpet. As Alex sat up, looking at her father in horror, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, the broken glass cut her hands.

Moments earlier, she was laughing and dancing on this carpet. Now she was lying on it scared and bloodied.

Her father walked towards her, stepping on the flowers that had previously been in the vase. Alex flinched back, afraid of another hit.

“Don’t,” her father barked, “don’t ever call me father! I will not have a freak, a tranny as a son! You have twenty minutes to get your things, whatever you can carry in a backpack and leave this house. Don’t ever dare to come back here or I will call the police!”

Somehow, through the haze of her tears, Alex got her things and ran out of the door. At least the rain would wash away her tears. She ran down the front steps and-

He was in a dark, foggy place. He was in his pajamas now, not his dress, and he wasn’t as young as he had been just a moment before. He looked around, trying to see in there was anyone here, when a figure stepped out of the fog.

Loki.

“Well, that was quite a scene,” Loki said. He had that condescending smirk on his face, like he knew something you didn’t and thought of you as an idiot because of it. Alex didn’t know why Loki was here but it couldn’t be for good.

“What do you want?” he demanded.

“Why so curt? I just wanted to know more about my son. I didn’t know that was how you got kicked out.”

Alex glared at him even harder but didn’t move. Loki was strong and he didn’t have his garrote.

“That must have hurt you a lot. I mean, he wasn’t the best father, but he was your father.” He chuckled. “Imagine what it will be like when it’s someone you love a lot.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex asked but Loki had disappeared. He felt a hand on his shoulder and he whipped around to Loki standing right behind him.

“I’m just stating the obvious, dear. Everyone has abandoned you. Your mortal parents, that girl you had a crush on about a year back. Imagine what it will be like when your friends leave you.”

The fog twisted, like soup in a pot, before it formed images.

“How will you carry on when that feisty redhead doesn’t want to be your friend anymore?” The fog twisted into Mallory, looking at her with disgust and hate before turning her back at him and walking away.

“Or what about that big, smart Viking friend of yours?” Now it was Halfborn, sneering as he punched him.

“How will you react when your friend from the Civil War turns against you?” T.J, glaring as he aimed at him with his riffle. Monster, he mouthed.

“Your sister?” Now it was Sam, looking at him like he’s a piece of trash and snarling insults at him in Arabic.

“What will you do when that Son of Frey you love hates you?” Alex felt his heart plummet to his stomach. He hadn’t realized when he had started crying. He watched through the tears as the fog twisted into Magnus. Magnus, with his kind face twisted in anger, grey eyes glaring at Alex as if to kill him. “I could never love a freak like you!” he yelled at him.

“Stop!” Alex shouted. His hands came up to cover his ears, to block out Loki’s words. It did nothing, he could still hear him. He’s lying, what he’s saying isn’t true, he’s lying…

“What will you do,” Loki continued, his words daggers stabbing Alex straight through the heart, “when everyone leaves you, child?”

Alex woke up tangled in his blankets, cold sweat running down his body and his eyes wet with tears. Through his blurry vision he saw Magnus kneeling next to him on the bed, his grey eyes filled with worry.

“Magnus?” Alex said weakly, voice barely above a whisper. Magnus as he was right now contrasted so boldly against the Magnus Loki showed him. This Magnus, the real Magnus, didn’t have deep lines in his face from anger, he didn’t look at Alex like he was something horrible he wanted to get rid of.

“It’s okay Alex, it’s alright, everything is fine,” Magnus said in a soothing voice, like a mother talking to her child after the child had a nightmare.

The tears in Alex’s eyes welled up even more as he threw himself at Magnus, burying his face in the blonde’s night shirt and cried. What Magnus said was what made Alex realize that this was Magnus. The boy he knew, the boy he had fallen in love with, wasn’t the one Loki had showed him in the fog. They looked alike, but the Magnus in the vision was nothing more than a doppelganger. The real Magnus would never look at Alex like that.

“It’s alright, it’s okay Alex, everything is alright, it’s okay,” Magnus kept whispering, hugging Alex as he rubbed circles on his back. Alex’s entire body shook and trembled as he cried, but Magnus just held him tighter. “It was just a nightmare, it wasn’t real, you’re alright.”

Alex wasn’t sure how long it took him to calm down enough to be able to talk. Magus kept rubbing his back in this really soothing way and Alex tried to relax and forget about the nightmare but he couldn’t. ‘It wasn’t real’ Magnus said as he was trying to calm him down but it was.

“It was,” Alex said, his voice croaky from crying as he detached himself from Magnus’ shirt and looked up at him. “It-it was real.”

Alex’s father had caught him wearing a dress and he had kicked him out. It had happened, it was real. And what Loki showed him… it hadn’t happened but it could and it made Alex want to through up just thinking about it. He needed to talk, to get out of his chest, or else he knew it would gnaw at him and destroy him from the inside. He knew Loki’s tricks.

“Wha-?” Magnus started asking before Alex cut him off.

“It was my dad,” he said. “My mortal dad. It was when he found out I’m trans.”

Even in the darkness of the room Alex could see Magnus’ face going paler. “Alex, you don’t need to tell me this if you don’t want to, it’s alright-“

“I want to tell you,” Alex interrupted him. A part of him was yelling at him not to say anything. This was something he had been carrying inside him for years; telling another person about it would make him extremely vulnerable. But he knew he had to talk about it to someone or else he wouldn’t be able to move on. And if there was anyone he trusted enough to share this with it was Magnus.

“I’ve never told anyone and-and I need to get it off my chest because it’s killing me,” he continued. “Just-just please listen.”

Magnus might have nodded but Alex couldn’t tell since he had buried his face in Magnus’ chest again. Just because he had decided to go through with this didn’t mean it was easy. The way Magnus hugged him made him feel better.

“That’s what the nightmare was about,” he started after taking a deep breath. “My dad- I thought he and my stepmother would be out, something about a tennis tournament my dad was taking part in. I was home alone and- I had bought that really pretty dress in secret. I kept it hidden inside a shoe box under my bed. They weren’t meant to be home and-and I wanted to see what it would be like to dress up as a girl and look like I felt.”

Alex’s voice wavered as he went on. Magnus pulled him closer and rubbed his back more. It helped Alex keep talking without bursting into tears again.

“But- the tournament got canceled because of rain. My dad came home and he-he saw me in the dress. He started yelling, calling me very bad things and saying he should have never taken me into his house. I tried to talk to him but-but he hit me and yelled at me to leave and never come back.”

Alex might have imagined it, but Magnus’ hold on him tightened.

“I’ve kept the dress too, you know. Every time I see it I remember that day and I feel horrible but I still keep it.” He tried to laugh it off, like it was no big deal, but the laugh quickly turned into a sob. He fought to hold back the tears and keep talking. “Then-then the dream changed. Loki showed up. He said my friends probably feel the same why my mortal dad did. That sooner or later they would throw me out too.”

Alex hid his face in the fabric of Magnus’ shirt. Tears fell from his eyes again and he couldn’t hold them back. Talking about it, not just his father kicking him out but what Loki had said, hurt. It hurt so much.

“Alex, look at me,” Magnus said. His voice was firm, firmer than Alex had ever heard it before.

“They’re wrong,” Magnus said. “Your mortal dad and Loki; they’re both wrong. We won’t leave you. Not me, not Mallory, not T.J, not Halfborn, not Sam or Blitzen or Hearthstone. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a boy or a girl, you’re still Alex Fierro, the green haired badass who cut my head off once with a clay cutter, who makes punny jokes and loves pottery, who likes hiking and called me sunshiny and a cinnamon roll, who’s beautiful and amazing and one of the best people I’ve ever met. I lov-“ Magnus stopped, like he had wanted to say something else but changed his mind. “We all like you for who you are and that’s not going to change.”

Alex was left staring at Magnus, trying to process what he had just said. A smile made its way onto his face and he wiped some tears out of his eyes. What have I done to deserve such good friends?

“You’re so sappy, Magnus.”

“Maybe,” Magnus said and shrugged. From his place on his chest Alex could feel Magnus’ muscles move to make that small movement. “But if you think you’re getting rid of me and the rest of our friends anytime soon, you’re wrong.”

I can think of a lot worse things. “Guess I’ll have to deal with you,” Alex smiled.

They stayed like that, hugging each other close, for a little while longer until Magnus’ arms around Alex’s waist loosened and he moved to go back to his bed.

“Can you stay here tonight?” Alex asked, keeping Magnus’ arms around his waist.

Magnus looked surprised for a moment but he nodded. “Of course.”

Alex woke up somewhere comfortable and warm, like he had fallen asleep inside sunshine. This was probably the best sleep he has had in ages.

As the world came into focus around him, he realized there were arms wrapped around his waist and someone’s chest rising and falling under his head. Last night came back to him, the nightmare he had, how he had woken up crying to find Magnus looking at him worried, how he had opened up to him and told him about his father.

So I slept all night cuddling with Magnus, Alex thought. Well that’s… something…

Something that made Alex’s heart skip a beat and his insides all warm and fuzzy. There was a part of him, the part that felt like a schoolgirl with a crush around Magnus, that wanted to go scream in excitement at someone about it. But she didn’t want to move; cuddling with Magnus was way too good for him to give it up unless it was absolutely necessary.

He felt Magnus move next to him and looked up to him with a sleepy groan. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” Magnus said. Damn him, he looks adorable with bed hair. “Did you sleep well?”

Alex could hear the question Magnus wanted to ask but didn’t: did you have any more nightmares?

“Yep,” Alex said cheerily and rested his head back on Magnus’ chest. “Slept like a baby. You’re really warm, you know. And comfortable. Like a big teddy bear.”

Magnus chuckled. “If I’m that comfy then you can use me as a cuddle pillow any time you want.”

Alex paused. He did a double take, taken aback by Magnus’ boldness. Did Magnus just give me permission to cuddle with him whenever I want?

Alex gave Magnus a smile. “I’d really like that.”

Alex lay back on Magnus chest and got comfy. Magnus made no move to leave so Alex didn’t either. He hadn’t actually cuddled with someone before, but this was really nice. They stayed like that for a while, wrapped in each other’s arms under Magnus’ covers. Alex nuzzled his face into Magnus’ shirt and sighed. As sappy as it might sound, he had never felt more at peace than he felt now.

“Magnus?” Alex spoke, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen between them.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you for everything,” he said. “For trying to cheer me up yesterday and staying with me last night. It really helped. I’ve never been able to fall asleep again after these nightmares.”

Magnus readjusted his arms around Alex, pulling the other boy closer. His hand went up from his back to Alex’s green hair, resting there hesitantly. When Alex said nothing about it, Magnus started playing with the soft green locks. “It’s no problem,” he said. “And if you ever have a nightmare like that again you’re free to come and wake me up.”

I love this boy so much, Alex thought as he smiled at Magnus. He buried his face in the blonde boy’s shirt, not wanting Magnus to see the lovestruck look in his eyes or just how moved a simple offer to help out with his nightmares made him. People genuinely wanting to help and be by his side wasn’t something he was a accustomed to.

I can get used to it, thought.

“Thanks,” he whispered into Magnus shirt.

“It’s nothing.”

Magnus kept playing with Alex’s hair as they cuddled. This whole scene, cuddling in bed, with Alex’s head laying over Magnus’ heart and Magnus’ fingers stroking his hair, felt like it had come straight out of a romance movie. The thing that would follow in that movie, and the thing Alex really wanted to do, would be Alex leaning up and kissing Magnus.

But Alex didn’t do it. For all the teasing and hints she dropped Magnus, even almost kissing him in public to piss of a hom*ophobe, he couldn’t bring himself to do it now. Instead, a different thought came to the shapeshifter’s mind and this one he followed through.

I wonder if Magnus is ticklish.

Alex slowly brought his hands from Magnus’ back to his front, letting them rest against the other boy’s stomach. Magnus didn’t react to that and, with a devilish smirk, Alex started tickling him.

“Wha-!” Magnus let out a surprised noise akin to a squealing seal. He gasped and curled up in a ball to protect himself from Alex’s fingers. That won’t stop me! Alex pounced on Magnus with a war cry and tickled every part of the boy’s body he could get his hands on.

“Alex! Ah ha ha ha! Sto- Stop!” Magnus yelled, or at least tried too. His words came out between fits of roaring laughter that made whatever he was saying almost impossible to understand.

Despite his protests, Alex didn’t halt his attack, tickling him with even more ferocity. He was enjoying himself way too much to stop now!

Magnus moved suddenly, pushing Alex back. He fell on his back on the bed with a surprised gasp. Alex realized with horror that he was the one getting tickled now. Magnus’ fingers danced all over his body, tickling any place they could find. Alex was shaking from the force of his laughter, cursing how ticklish he was.

“Magnus! St-stop! Ah ha ha ha ha ha!”

But Magnus didn’t listen to him. His fingers moved up Alex’s body, to his armpits.

Alex’s eyes widened. “Magnus! No! Not-not there! Stop!” If there was one place he was super ticklish (at least more than everywhere else), it was his armpits. Magnus had just found his Achilles’ heel.

Alex was kicking Magnus. He wasn’t really thinking about it, it was just something he did when he was being tickled. Yet despite how much he kicked Magnus’ legs, the other boy wouldn’t stop.

But then he did. Alex didn’t know why he suddenly stopped tickling him, but he didn’t care. He took his chance and flipped them over, hovering over Magnus and straddling his hips. “Got you,” he said before he started tickling Magnus again.

Magnus was trashing around, trying to get away from Alex’s fingers, but that was hard to do with Alex literally sitting on his hips. Magnus’ shirt rode up because of how much he was moving around and Alex smirked when he saw the exposed skin. His hands quickly moved there and Magnus was laughing even more now, since this tickled more than being tickled over his clothes.

Alex was having the time of his life. He never knew tickle fights could be this fun! He wasn’t going to stop tickling Magnus until he surrendered, until he could hardly breathe from laughing too hard.

Or that was the plan until his eyes fell on Magnus laughing face and he felt like he just caught a glimpse of heaven. (Well, technically he’s already in heaven, but whatever.) Magnus’ hair fell around his face like a golden halo, his skin flushed red. His eyes were squeezed shut and a huge smile took over most of his face. So this is what angels look like.

As Magnus caught his breath, he looked up at Alex, his chest heaving up and down as he panted. Alex was staring and he knew it, but he just couldn’t look away from those bright grey eyes. It was as if he was looking at a storm outside his window, clouds of dark and light grey mixing together as lightning flashed inside them.

Alex’s eyes trailed down, from the freckles all over Magnus’ nose to his lips. They were a pretty pink shade Alex could only wish to paint one of his pots with and they looked so soft. Before he realized how or when, Alex was leaning down. There wasn’t a single thought going through his head and he moved in a daze, like the rune binding them together was pulling him closer. Ragnarok could start right then and Alex wouldn’t notice, too caught up in Magnus.

Their faces were so close Alex could fell Magnus’ breath on his face, just a little more and their lips would meet…

“Magnus! Alex! Wake up sleepyheads, it’s morning!”

Alex was snapped back to reality by Mallory’s voice. Mallory and Halfborn were standing at the doorway of Magnus’ room, the redhead’s mouth handing open as her face flashed as red as her hair while her boyfriend was smirking at them.

You have to be kidding me.

“I-it’s not w-what i-it looks l-like!” Magnus scrambled to explain.

Alex knew exactly what it looked like. He was straddling Magnus’ hips as he was hovering over him, the sheets around them a mess, their clothes half off from the tickle fight and their faces flashed and a breath away from each other.

It looked like they had been making out.

“W-we’re s-sorry to interrupt!” Mallory yelled as she rushed to get out of the room and this embarrassing situation. She dragged Halfborn behind her, who yelled “Have fun! And use protection!” before he shut the door behind them.

Needless to say, they couldn’t go back to what they were doing. They got up to get ready for the day, and there was only one thing in Alex’s mind as he did his morning rituals.

I’m going to kill Mallory and Halfborn for ruining my chance to kiss Magnus.

Alex wasn’t sure she heard right.

She and Magnus were walking back to Magnus’ room after meeting with Annabeth and Percy. Alex was busy talking about what happened that day and she hadn’t noticed Magnus looking at his feet nervously. She only stopped talking when Magnus spoke.

“Um, Alex?” he said.

“Yeah?”

“I was thinking…” he trailed off. Alex was getting curious. She had never seen Magnus like this. He refused to meet her eyes and he was rubbing his hands against the fabric of his pants. “Would you, uh, w-would you…”

Magnus looked like he was preparing to do something really scary, like jumping of a high place or walking into a haunted house, before he blurted something out so fast Alex didn’t catch a word.

“WouldyouliketogoonadatewithmetoseeFantasticBeasts?”

“What was that, Magnus? You spoke too fast, I didn’t understand,” Alex said.

Magnus took a deep breath. He looked like he would much rather fight a giant than repeat what he said.

“Do you want to go on a date with me?” he asked.

And that’s when Alex’s mind sort-circuited. She couldn’t have heard that right. Did Magnus… did Magnus really just ask her out? This was real, right? She wasn’t dreaming it again, was she?

Alex would have liked to say he response was something smart and witty. “I thought you’d never ask” or even a simple “I’d love to” would have been much better than what she actually said.

“What?”

“I-I really like you,” Magnus said. Alex’s heart skipped a beat at his words, but Magnus wasn’t done. “And I’ve wanted to tell you for some time but I was really scared to. I-It’s fine if you don’t want to, but… would you like to go on a date with me?”

So Alex hadn’t heard wrong. Magnus had asked her out on a date! She wanted to jump up and down screaming “Yes yes yes yes!” but the part of her brain that still functioned (even if barely) recognized that was a very bad idea. She gathered up all the self control she had and answered Magnus question, though it’s needless to say what her answer was.

“Yes,” she said, and thankfully she didn’t yell that. “I’d love to go on a date with you.”

Chapter 9: Making happy memories

Chapter Text

Going to sleep that night had been…weird. Because of the bond tying them together they had to sleep in the same room, which is what they had been doing these past four days, and it hadn’t been a problem.

But now, right after Magnus finally asked Alex on a date, there was an awkward air between them. Neither of them knew how to act around each other now and things were awkward as they went to bed, even more so than their first night being bound together. Under normal circ*mstances, that wouldn’t have been a big problem; they would go to their separate rooms and be free to freak out over being asked out by/asking out their crush. Now they couldn’t do that and it made the air between them tense.

They didn’t say much before going to bed, but neither of them slept until much later in the night. They both lay under their covers, phone screens bright as they texted different people to let out their excitement.

Alex quickly went to her messaging app and tapped Mallory’s contact.

Alex:

Mallory wake up!

WAKE UP IT’S A EMERGANCY

MALLORY!!!!

Mallory:

What do you want Alex? I was about to go to sleep

This better be good

Alex:

Magnus asked me on a date

Mallory:

He what?!

Magnus asked you on a date?!

Our Magnus?

Alex:

Yes and Im freaking out over here!

Mallory:

Omgs please tell me you said yes to him

Alex:

Of course I did!

Ive had a crush on Magnus for a while now

So I said yes

Mallory:

I know girl

Wait you’re female now right?

Alex couldn’t help but smile a bit at how fast the second text came. All her friends were careful not to use the wrong pronouns and little things like this – how, when she hadn’t seen one of her friends for some time and they weren’t sure what her gender was at the moment, they actually bothered to ask – made her feel so grateful to have them as her friends.

Alex:

Yep

She and her

You knew I had a crush on him??

Mallory:

You weren’t that subtle

Pretty much everyone knows you like him

Alex’s eyes widened and her face went beet red in embarrassment.

Alex:

Seriously?!

Mallory:

Yeah

Alex:

Anyway

I have no idea what to do!!

What are you even meant to do on a date?!

What am I supposed to wear!

Mallory:

Do you know where you’re going for your date?

Or is Magnus keeping it a surprise? ;)

Alex:

I think he said something about Fantastic Beasts

Mallory:

The new hp movie?

Alex:

Yeah

Mallory:

Something cute and casual then

And just don’t panic too much

Magnus really likes you

Alex:

You think so?

Mallory:

Girl, I KNOW so

He wasn’t subtle either

Alex bit her lip. She knew Magnus must like her, he asked her out on a date for crying out loud! But… hearing someone else say it made her feel fuzzy and warm. This was real, it was happening, it wasn’t just another dream she had. (And yes, she’s had dreams where Magnus asks her out or they do ridiculous couple-y things. She’s not proud of how sappy those dreams are. She knew she shouldn’t have agreed on that romance movie marathon with Magnus and Mallory.)

Alex:

Will you still help find something to wear?

Mallory:

Is that an invitation to raid your closet?

Alex:

I know I’ll regret it but yes

Mallory:

Yes! I’ll do your make-up too!

I’ll make you look so good Magnus will faint when he sees you!

Alex smiled to herself, struck by another wave of gratefulness for her new friends. At times like this she wishes she had met them sooner.

Alex:

Thanks

Alex closes her phone and puts it on the bedside table. She better get some sleep. It’s a big day tomorrow.

At the foot of the bed, under the covers of his makeshift bed, Magnus was texting Annabeth.

Magnus:

Annabeth I did it!

I asked Alex out!

She said yes!

Annabeth:

I told you you could do it! J

Where are you planning to take her?

Magnus:

I was thinking about taking her to see Fantastic Beasts

She said she wants to see it

Is that good?

Magnus couldn’t stop the sudden feeling of anxiousness he got. He was all riled up after asking Alex out, an unstable ball of emotions. He felt as if he could go from screaming in joy to rocking back and forth in nervousness in a split second or do both at once, if that was possible. Going to the movies should be fine though, right? Like, it’s a standard first date activity, right?

Annabeth:

That’s great Magnus, I’m sure she’ll love it

Just stay calm and be yourself

Magnus was about to reply when another text from Annabeth came.

Annabeth:

Percy says to compliment her and be nice

I guess that’s important too

Magnus:

Thanks for the advice Annabeth

Annabeth:

No problem cousin

You’re going on a date. They grow up so fast :’(

Magnus:

The emojis were Percy’s idea?

Annabeth:

Yep

Magnus smiled to himself. He only knew Percy for a day but one thing was very clear: he and Annabeth loved each other like crazy and they made each other happy. He was really glad his cousin had found such a nice guy.

Magnus:

Thanks for helping me Annabeth

Annabeth:

No problem

Goodnight

Magnus:

Goodnight

The next morning, Alex had basically sprinted to Mallory’s room as soon as she woke up (okay, she had to tell Magnus so he could come along because of the bond, but she ran after that). Magnus had been surprised to see Mallory greet Alex cheerfully so early in the morning. Normally she would kill anyone who dared wake her before nine. The two girls then went to Alex’s room and Magnus followed them, confused. He was moving to go in with them when Mallory stopped him.

“Nah ah, lover boy. You’ll have to wait until I'm done with her to see your bride.”

Magnus blushed and spluttered at the comment, but before he was able to say anything, Mallory shut the door in his face.

“Just wait out there, okay?” Mallory called out from inside.

Magnus stared at the door with a ‘what just happened?’ look on his face. He sighed and sat down against the wall, glad to have grabbed his phone as they were exiting his room. If Mallory was helping Alex get dressed then gods know how long they’ll be in there.

He was busy reading fanfiction on his phone, so he didn’t notice T.J walking up to him.

“Hey, Magnus. Why are you sitting outside Alex’s room? Did your wife lock you out?”

Magnus chuckled. “Kinda. She and Mallory are in there. I think she’s helping Alex get dressed or something.”

T.J winced. “Oh, they might be in there for a while.” He sat down next to Magnus. “So the news is true, then?”

“What news?” Magnus asked puzzled.

“That you asked Alex out,” T.J explained. “Mallory texted us last night saying you did. She said Alex told her.”

Guess that’s why Mallory didn’t bite Alex’s head off for waking her up early.

“Yeah, I asked her out yesterday, after we got back from meeting my cousin and her boyfriend.” Magnus rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously before noticing exactly what T.J had said. “Wait, what do you mean ‘us’? Who’s ‘us’?”

“Me, Halfborn, Sam, Amir, Hearthstone and Blitzen.”

“Wha-“ Magnus started saying before he was interrupted by Halfborn walking up to them.

“Good morning Magnus, T.J!” he greeted them. “How are you this mormimg? I heard you asked Alex out! Congrats man!” He punctuated that sentence by hitting Magnus’ back in celebration.

“Does everyone know?” he asked, exasperated.

“Not everyone,” T.J said, trying to keep things mellow.

“Yeah, we haven’t told the entire hotel yet,” Halfborn added. He slid down the wall and sat on Magnus’ other side.

Magnus sighed in relief. “Thank Gods- wait, what do you mean ‘yet’?”

“We were planning on announcing it at dinner,” Halfborn explained. “What do you think?”

Magnus sighed, thinking Halfborn was just joking around, but the Viking’s face was serious. “Wait, you’re not kidding? Why would you do that?”

“A lot of the other people from floor nineteen have been putting bets on you and Alex,” T.J explained calmly. It was baffling how casually he spoke about people betting on Magnus’ love life. “We’ll need to collect the money.”

“Why would you bet on me and Alex? How did they even know I like her?”

Halfborn put his hand on Magnus’ shoulder to calm him down. Magnus was freaking out a bit, but then again, he just learned people he hardly knew were betting on his love life, so you couldn’t really blame him.

“You weren’t that subtle about it, dude,” Halfborn stated matter-of-factly. “Neither was Alex. A lot of the staff members and Valkyries are betting too.”

Magnus just buried his face in his hands. “What the f*ck?” he muttered quietly.

“It’s not as bad as you think,” Halfborn went no. “Plus, you and Alex take 10% from the winnings.”

Magnus sighed again. “Each or together?”

“Together. We’re counting you as one person since you’re a couple. And no one agreed on you getting 20%.”

Magnus flushed. “We’re not a couple. I just asked her on a date.”

“And everyone with eyes in this hotel knows you both are crazy for each other,” Halfborn continued. “You’re as good as together for us.”

“Glad to know you have so much faith I won’t screw the first date up.”

“Everything will be fine,” T.J reassured him. “Just be yourself. Alex already likes you a lot, trust us.”

“Yeah, it will be fine, don’t stress so much over it.”

Magnus smiled. “Thanks guys.”

“No problem.” Halfborn got up with a grunt. “Well, we better get going. Don’t want to miss all the bacon at breakfast.”

The two walked to the elevator and disappeared from Magnus’ view as the doors closed in front of them. It wasn’t long before Jack flew off somewhere, saying he didn’t want to “intrude on senor’s date with his cute crush.” Magnus would have been worried about leaving the hotel without a weapon if it wasn’t for a back-up he had. It was a normal sword that changed into a pen (which Jack said was lame) but it did its job.

Magnus was waiting outside Alex’s room for a little while longer, getting through three chapters of the fic he was reading, before the door finally opened.

“I present to you,” Mallory said dramatically, “Alex Fierro.”

Magnus stood up hastily, just in time to see Alex stepping out of her room.

Would it surprise anyone if he said his jaw dropped when he saw her? Probably not. But as cliché or expected as it might be, his mouth was hanging open when she walked out of her room. It all felt like one of those movie scenes where the main character’s love interest walks in and there’s a flowery background and an angel chorus while the main character looks at them slack-jawed. They might be missing the music and special effect but they were close enough.

Alex was beautiful. Magnus wondered if there was a limit for how many times you could use that word to describe someone because he must be way past it. Alex was wearing a cute black dress, pink roses scattered all over it, and a light jean jacket over it. Her shoes were simple leather sandals and she wore bracelets on her wrists. Mascara made her eyelashes fuller than they already were, and her lips were shining with pale pink lip-gloss. Her cheeks were flushed but not all of it was simply blush.

Magnus felt like he had just seen Alex in a wedding dress again, only this time there was a tiny voice in the back of his mind saying “See that beautiful girl? She’s going on a date with you! Don’t screw it up, idiot.”

“Are you going to say something, or just stare at her like that?” Mallory asked. “I mean, I know I made her look hot, but I hope it didn’t fry your brain.”

Magnus, as difficult as it was, managed to pick up his jaw from where it had dropped on the floor. “Y-you look hot,” he muttered. “I-I mean good! Good! You look r-really good!”

Alex smirked, though her cheeks were red. “Thank you. You look good yourself. I’m loving the Ghostbusters’ shirt.”

Magnus looked down at himself to realize that he was, in fact, still in his pajamas. He hadn’t had time to change when Alex dragged him out of his room this morning.

“I, ah… give me a moment to change.”

As Magnus was frantically searching for something to wear, he was painfully aware of just how pretty Alex looked. She looked amazing, meanwhile he wasn’t even sure if he had an ironed shirt. He grabbed a pair of jeans, one he remembered Alex complimenting him on, and tried to find a t-shirt that didn’t have a dorky design on it. With his taste in clothes, that proved to be nearly impossible.

Magnus changed in the bathroom, since getting naked in front of your date didn’t seem like a good decision. He threw his pajamas off with the speed of someone who was late to school and put on his clothes. He was about to leave the room when suddenly turned back to look at the mirror, realizing he had accidently put his shirt on backwards. He changed it quickly and as a final touch combed his messy hair.

The moment he walked out of the bathroom and Alex saw him, she burst out laughing.

“Why is your hair like that?” she asked in between laughter. When Magnus was running the comb through his hair, he decided to comb it back in hopes he’d look good in it. Apparently, he didn’t.

“Is it that bad?” he asked disappointed.

Alex shook her head. “No, it’s not that bad, but your hair is too short to comb it back now. You should let it grow out a bit to push it back.” She stepped closer to him, much closer, and carded her hands through his hair. “There. Now you look more like you and less like a Malfoy cosplayer.”

“Isn’t it messy now?”

“It is,” she said. “But it's a cute kind of messy.”

Magnus’ cheeks flushed at such a straightforward compliment. Alex’s cheeks were dusted pink too and it took her a moment to realize she was still standing extremely close to Magnus and step away.

“So, should we get going?” she asked.

The two of them left Hotel Valhalla and soon they were wandering the streets of Boston. The sun was bright and the air warm, making most people wear lighter clothes. The streets were filled with people going about their business and shops were putting out signs that showed they sold ice-cream.

“So when did you say the movie starts?” Alex asked.

“At eleven thirty. We've still got an hour and a half ‘til then.”

“So what do you want to do until then?” Alex asked. Right as she finished her sentence, Magnus’ stomach gave a loud growl. His cheeks reddened but Alex chuckled.

“I guess we’re going to get some breakfast,” she said. “I know a good diner around here.”

The diner was pretty busy but they managed to get a booth near the window because the people who had been sitting there just left. They made light conversation as the waitress took away the dirty dishes and cleaned the table, but there was a tense air between them.

Relax, Magnus, he told himself. You’re just hanging out together. You’ve done that lots of times.

“Good morning. Are you ready to order?” the waitress asked them. She had on that characteristic ‘I’m-only-smiling-because-it’s-part-of-the-job’ smile most employees had.

“I’d like some coffee and pancakes,” Alex said, putting down the laminated menu. That thing was so hard it could easily be used as a weapon in Valhalla.

“I’d like some pancakes too, please,” Magnus said. The waitress wrote down their order and left, leaving Magnus alone with Alex.

Come on, Magnus. Think of something to say.

“So,” Alex said, breaking the silence, “are you excited about the movie?”

“Yeah. Does it show that much?”

“I actually expected you to come with a Hufflepuff scarf, to be honest.”

“What makes you think I have one?” Magnus asked, with the nervousness of someone who was trying to deny something that was very obviously true.

Alex sent Magnus a look that basically screamed ‘We both know you do so don’t lie’. Magnus sighed in defeat. Yeah, he had a Hufflepuff scarf. He had a wand, for crying out loud!

“Okay, I have one, but it’s too hot outside to wear it and I thought it might be a bit overkill.”

Alex grinned. Magnus reasoning was logical but Alex still mourned for the loss of the opportunity to pull Magnus by the scarf to kiss him. She made a mental note to do that if she ever got the chance.

“So are you excited that the main character in Fantastic Beasts is a Hufflepuff?” Alex asked.

“You bet I am,” Magnus responded and Alex smiled at his excitement. He put his fist on the table as if he was giving a dramatic inspirational speech. “The world will finally learn how badass Hufflepuffs are!”

“Mm, I don’t know, I still think Slytherin is a better house.” Alex smirked. She wanted to mess with Magnus and this seemed like a good idea.

Magnus saw right through what Alex was doing –he knew her for a long time, after all – but a little fan debate could be fun. “Please, Hufflepuffs are way better.”

“Nah, Slytherins are the best.”

“Oh yeah? Prove it.”

Alex smirked. “Well, our symbol is a snake, which is just way cooler than a badger. You got a fluffy little ball and we have a venomous snake.”

“Yeah, but badgers might be cute and adorable but if you anger them they can claw your eyes out. Plus, badgers can eat snakes, so there!”

“Our dormitory is under the lake.”

“Our dormitory is next to the kitchens. Free food and house elf friends, baby!”

“We have Snape!”

“Grown –up man who never moved on from his childhood love, who bullied Neville so much he was his worst fear and not the woman who torture his parents into insanity and who wouldn’t have left the Death Eaters if the Chosen One was anyone other than Harry. Doesn’t seem that great to me.”

“Okay, true, but you have to admit he was a powerful wizard.”

Magnus nodded. “Okay, I’ll give you that. He was strong and really good with potions. But,” he paused for dramatic effect, “we have Tonks, Newt, and Helga Hufflepuff. Tonks is a badass female Auror who still loved Remus despite what society said, Newt got expelled from Hogwarts and wrote a book that became part of the curriculum and is probably the reason why Hogwarts’ motto is ‘don’t tickle a sleeping dragon’ and when everyone else was choosing who they wanted to teach based on bravery or cleverness Helga was like ‘Bitch, I’ll teach everyone!’.”

Alex was silent for a bit, trying to think of how to respond to that until she finally said “We have Draco and Scorpius Malfoy, and Albus Potter.”

Magnus opened his mouth to respond with something but closed it again. He had nothing. “Touche.”

It was then that the waitress came, leaving a large plate of pancakes in front of each of them and a cup of coffee in front of Alex

“That's a lot of pancakes,” Magnus muttered. There were at least double than what you get at most places.

“Yeah, they serve pretty big portions here. I can help you eat them if you can’t finish them.”

Magnus didn’t miss the teasing tone in Alex’s voice. “Please, I bet I can finish faster than you.”

Alex smirked. “I don’t think that’s something to brag about, Magnus.”

Magnus spluttered and blushed as he realized the joke he had walked straight into. “I meant the pancakes and you know that!”

Alex snickered. “Yeah, but it’s fun to mess with you.”

“I still think I can eat them faster than you.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?”

“Oh yeah. Looser pays for breakfast?” Magnus held his hand out to her over the table.

Alex shook it. “Deal.”

They got their forks and knives in their hands and leaned over their plates, ready to start eating the moment to signal was given.

“Get ready,” Magnus said in his best sport announcer voice. “Set. GO!”

They attacked their plates like starving men. You would have thought the pancakes were monsters by how viciously they were cutting them. Syrup dropped on the table but neither of them cared as they stuffed their faces with pancakes. Magnus’ cheeks were puffed out like a chipmunk’s by how much food he had in his mouth and Alex was eating so fast her lip-gloss got smudged. People turned around to see what was happening when they heard all the clattering their forks and knives were making against their plates. An old lady looked at them wistfully, as if she was remembering her youth and silly pancakes competitions she had when she was young.

Half an hour later, they had both almost finished their plates, only one pancake remaining for both of them. They were struggling to finish it. They had eaten the rest so fast they felt full now, but neither of them wanted to lose to the other.

“Ready to give up, Maggie?”Alex asked as she was shoving another bite into her mouth.

“You-“ Magnus was interrupted by a loud burp. “You wish.”

But, try as they might, they couldn’t get the last few bites down.

“Too… much… syrup,” Alex muttered, finally dropping her knife and fork in the plate. She couldn’t eat anything else.

“I’m done,” Magnus said as he plopped down on the table.

“So does this count as a tie?” Alex asked. “We both stopped eating at the same time and neither of us finished them.”

“Yeah. I guess we’re gonna split the bill.”

And they did. After the waitress came back with the check and they paid for their food, they left. It was almost time for the movie to start so they decide to go there, get their tickets and wait until it was time to go into the theater room where the movie would be shown.

They arrived at the movie theater, which was like most movie theaters. Posters for up-coming movies hang from the walls outside, promotional material from resent movies decorated the main room and the air was heavy with the smell of buttery popcorn. There was already a line in front of the snack bar and people waiting to see their movie were fighting the urge to eat their snacks.

“Mm, I love this smell,” Alex said, taking a deep breath. Magnus had to agree with her; there was something great about the smell of burnt butter.

“Yeah. And I want to get some popcorn but I’m still full from the pancakes.”

“Same,” Alex agreed. “But you can’t go to the movies and not get popcorn. It feels off, you know?”

Magnus nodded. Eating popcorn was a key element for movie watching. Too bad they had eaten so many pancakes—wait.

“I-if you want to eat p-popcorn then we could get one and s-share?” he asked nervously. Dammit, I stuttered, why did I have to stutter?

“That sounds like a good idea. I’ll go stand in line and get it, you go get our tickets.”

Magnus got their tickets pretty fast. There were multiple ticket booths and none of them had a very big line. By the time he left the line with their tickets in his pockets, Alex was still waiting to get their popcorn. He stood to the side of the snack bar to wait for her, next to some cardboard cut-out of Olaf from ‘Frozen’ that had been forgotten there since the movie’s release.

He eyed the cardboard snowman from top to bottom. “What’s up?” he told it.

He heard snickers from the snack-bar. Alex had seen him talking to Olaf and she was smiling at him. “New friend?” she asked him.

Doing his best bro face, Magnus slung his arm over the snowman’s shoulders. But Olaf, being made of cardboard, fell forwards. Magnus made some weird little noise and tried to catch the snowman, almost dropping him again multiple times. “There,” he muttered under his breath when he finally got Olaf to stay up. He glanced at Alex nervously, his cheeks burning in embarrassment.

Alex’s eyes were shining with amusem*nt and her cheeks were flushed with the effort it took to keep her laughter in. Magnus knew for a fact that if they were back at Hotel Valhalla Alex would be rolling in the ground laughing her head off. Being in public, she couldn’t do that. Magnus also knew that she would tease him about it.

But if a little teasing was the price he had to pay to see Alex smiling like that he didn’t mind paying it.

Alex finally reached the front of the line. A teenage boy was standing behind the counter in the employees’ shirt and there were so many zits on his face Magnus was sure he could find some constellations there. He thought he saw the big dipper for a moment there on his cheek.

Alex gave their order and the boy went to get it, but he didn’t have that cheerful demeanor the other two employees behind the counter did, even if it was fake. Magnus would have written it off as the kid being bored if it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t look bored. He looked mad, like it physically pained him to get Alex’s order. He put their popcorn down on the counter sharply, making some of the popcorn to fall out. His eyes fell on Alex’s floral dress and disgust showed clear on his face.

“There you go, sir,” he said.

Alex was glaring daggers at him as she pulled her money out of her jacket’s pocket. She dropped it on the counter noisily and a few coins fell on the boy’s side of the counter. “Thanks, dick,” she said as she took the popcorn.

The boy glared at her back. “Ugly fa*g,” he spat at her. Alex heard him, but her only reaction was to flip him off over her shoulder. He didn’t deserve more than that.

“Got our popcorn,” she said cheerily, but Magnus could hear the anger underneath. “Wanna go sit in the room until the movie starts?”

“Sure. I got us tickets at the back, is that good?”

“It’s great,” Alex said as they walked into the room and an employee gave them their 3D glasses. “That way we can throw popcorn at everyone in front of us.”

They sat in silence for a little, but Magnus couldn’t ignore what happened before, so he talked. “Are you alright?” he asked apprehensively. “After what happened there?”

Alex sighed. “I’m fine, Magnus. That guy isn’t worth ruining our date for.”

“But you’re angry,” Magnus said, pointing out the obvious.

“Of course I’m angry. But there’ll always be dicks like him, and I’ve dealt with them for years. Plus, now I've got you and everybody else to back me up, so if anyone gives me a lot of trouble we can beat them up together.”

“I’m sure we’d enjoy that,” Magnus agreed. He couldn’t speak for the others, but he’d sure let Jack go all out on anyone who hurt Alex. “And, if it’s worth anything,” he continued, remembering the boy calling Alex ugly, “I think you look really beautiful today.”

Alex smiled at him and her cheeks redden. “Thanks,” she said. Then, after biting her lip as if she wasn’t sure whether she should say this or not “You know, this is the dress I told you about the other day.”

Magnus’ eyes widened. “You mean…” the dress you wore when your father kicked you out.

Alex nodded. “Mallory saw it in my closet and thought it would be perfect for a date. I spent so much time hardly being able to look at this dress, but now I want to make some happy memories in it. Dicks like my father aren’t worth feeling bad over.”

“Well,” Magnus started, “am I doing a good job at making good memories?”

Alex gave him a small, warm smile. “You’re doing a great job.”

Magnus and Alex looked at each other, smiling. This, Magnus thought as he looked at Alex smiling, is what she should always be like. Happy. Magnus’ eyes fell down to Alex’s lips before going back up to her eyes, only to see she was looking at his lips as well. Magnus had never understood why two characters always looked like they were hypnotized whenever they leaned in for their big kiss scene. Now he did, because he was leaning towards Alex and he was completely mesmerized by her. An explosion could have gone off at that moment and he wouldn’t have cared.

They were leaning in closer, both of them, and their lips were a breath away. Magnus’ eyes fluttered closed as he got ready for the kiss…

But it never came. There was a loud noise, like an explosion, as the movie trailers before the movie started. Apparently, he would have cared if there was an explosion, because both him and Alex jumped apart from the noise. Magnus could have sworn he heard someone say “Oh, come on!” Maybe they got surprised by the loud sound too.

“I guess the movie’s starting,” Magnus muttered.

“Yeah,” Alex agreed from next to him.

They sat back to watch the movie but, as excited as they both were for it, they really wished it started a bit later.

“…and the part where the little platypus thing was trying to hide in the jewelry shop window was hilarious!” Alex said as they exited the movie theater.

“Yeah, but the mating dance was gold,” Magnus said.

Alex chuckled. “Yeah, it was awesome. Bet he doesn’t get very many dates with it though.”

“With a face like that, he probably does,” Magnus said and Alex nodded. Newt Scammander sure was handsome. “And the part where they were dragging Newt out of the courtroom and he was begging them not to hurt his creatures. I almost cried at that.”

“I know, I was sitting next to you. I heard you sniff.”

“It was a touching scene!” Magnus protested.

“I’m not saying it wasn’t. Poor Newt. But his suitcase was amazing.” She sighed with a dreamy look. “I could fit so many pots in there…”

Magnus snorted. “Figures you’d want it for pottery.”

“Nah ah. I want it sculpting and painting and knitting and woodwork and-“

“Okay, I get it, you’re artistic,” Magnus cut her off. “Geez, and I can’t even draw a stick figure.”

Alex shrugged. “We can’t all be fabulous, Maggie.” She punctuated her sentence with a hair flip.

Magnus frowned at ‘Maggie’. As much as he didn’t like it, he was warming up to the nickname.

“But seriously, you know how to do all those things?” Magnus asked. “Even knitting?” Magnus knew Alex was amazing, but still, when did she learn to do all those things? He’d love to see her paintings and sculptures and everything else she's made. They would surely be amazing.

Apparently, Magnus’ admiration was obvious in his face, because Alex blushed and didn’t look him in the eye when she answered. “Well, yeah. I like making things. And knitting isn’t that hard once you get the hang of it.”

“You said the same thing about pottery and I almost killed us while trying that,” Magnus pointed out.

“Yeah, but you made one and you didn’t actually kill us. That’s a win!”

Magnus rolled his eyes. They were standing outside the movie theater talking as people walked by.

“So what do you wanna do now?” Alex asked.

“I don’t know,” Magnus said. “I hadn’t planned anything other than the movie. Like, I had thought we could maybe get lunch, but I’m still full from the pancakes and popcorn and ice-skating sounded fun but it’s summer. Plus, I don’t know how to do it.”

“Does your thought of ice-skating have anything to do with Yuri!!! on ice?” Alex asked.

Magnus smiled guiltily and looked away. Yes, it was because of YOI. He was weak, okay? (He should show it to Alex some time.)

“Well, I’m having too much fun to go back to Valhalla now, so we could go roller skating,” Alex said. “Closest thing you can get to ice-skating in summer. There’s a rink somewhere around here.”

“I don’t know how to roller skate either,” Magnus said as Alex led him to the roller-skating place by the hand. Great, I’m gonna fall on my ass in front of my date.

“Then you’re lucky you have me to teach you.”

Magnus fell down. So. Many. Times.

They arrived at the roller skating rink rather quickly, since it was just a few blocks away. Alex had been holding his hand the whole way there and Magnus was surprised by how natural it felt to him to hold hands like this. It felt right, like he was meant to do it. Alex’s hands were warm, with long, artist's fingers. Magnus hadn’t noticed before, but Mallory must have painted Alex’s nails because they were a nice green color, like trees under the sun.

When they walked into the roller skating rink, they were immediately hit by the cool air from the air-conditioning. Kids, some around their age, some older, some younger, were milling about in the ring. The speakers on the walls were playing top 40 hits songs and there were disco lights in the ceiling.

“The counter is over there,” Alex said, pointing at a long counter, shelves with roller skates stacked on them behind it. She moved towards it and it was only then that she realized she had been holding Magnus’ hand all this time. In this trope, after the character notices they’ve been holding their significant other’s hand, they’ll blush and let go awkwardly. That’s how it always went in the books and movies Magnus has read and watched. But Alex just looks at their hands and then smiles at him without letting go.

They walk over to the counter and ask the employee for their skates. He gives them to them and tells them that they’ll pay when they leave depending on how long they’ve stayed. They carry their shoes to the benches near the ring, still holding hands, and Magnus’ body is running on autopilot, because all his mind can thing of right now is how Alex is holding his hand not because she forgot to let go but because she wants to.

Unfortunately, Alex let’s go of his hand and Magnus instantly misses its warmth.

“Can’t put on my skates if I’m holding your hand,” she says.

After she puts on her roller skates. she stands up and moves towards the entrance to the ring. She staggers a bit at first, but she gets the hang of it surprisingly fast. Meanwhile, Magnus tries to stand up and falls back on his ass on the bench. Gods, he can already see what trope this will be: Person A doesn’t know how to roller skate and Person B teaches them. Don’t get him wrong, he really likes that trope, it’s cute, but he never thought he’d be Person A.

He jumps up and down on the bench until he makes his way to the part of it closer to the ring entrance. Alex is standing next to it, looking at him amused.

“Need any help getting up?” she asks with a grin.

“No, I’m okay-“ Magnus says as he stands up, but he slips and falls back on the bench. “okay, I might need a bit of help.”

Alex smiles and helps him to his feet. With her help, Magnus successfully makes it to the wooden bar along the side of the ring and hangs on it for dear life.

“Okay, this is simple, Magnus,” Alex instructs him. “Just put on foot in front of the other.”

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Magnus asks. He doesn’t have to; Alex is smiling wide and her eyes are shining the way they do when she teases him.

“A bit,” she says. “It’s kinda cute seeing you try to roller skate.”

Magnus ignores the ‘cute’ comment and how it makes his heart skip a beat and tries to move. He’s just pulling on the rail at first, just dragging his body along and struggling to stay up. Alex is skating next to him, sometimes leaving to do a quick skate as far as their bond will let her. Magnus is amazed at how fast she can move on these death traps.

It’s after Magnus circles the ring three times (and fallen down three hundred) like this that Alex tells him to let go. Magnus is scared at first – “If I let go I’ll fall on my ass, Alex!”- but Alex reassures him it’ll be okay –“I’ll catch you if you fall down”. Magnus lets go of the railing hesitantly, still staying close enough that he’ll be able to hold onto it if he starts falling. He manages to stay up and move without a lot of problems; he falters a lot and moves like a turtle but he doesn’t fall for over half of one of the ring’s sides, which is a new personal record.

Alex helps him up again and the keep skating. Magnus will slowly make his way around the ring and Alex will skate next to him, sometimes skating backwards (much to Magnus’ horror). Magnus starts moving faster and going farther from the wall, but he still moves slowly.

“Hold my hand,” he tells Alex at one point. “S-so I don’t fall.”

Magnus’ heart is beating as fast as that pop song playing in the megaphones. Alex smiles and takes his hand with an “Ok” and they skate around the ring.

At times, when a slower song comes up, the lights dim and the multicolored lights on the ceiling cast circles of color on the floor. The smaller children skate around chasing their favorite color and, after an exclamation of “Hey, this looks fun!” Alex starts chasing after a pink circle.

Magnus smiles and lets go of Alex’s hand to chase a green circle. He’s not falling down and he’s moving faster than before. This is pretty fun!

That’s what he thinks right before colliding with someone else. The force of knocking into them sends Magnus backwards and he falls on his ass, as does the other person. The other person that happened to be Alex.

They look at each other for a second, sprawled out on the ring’s floor, before bursting out laughing. Alex gets up first and helps Magnus up.

“You okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine. You?”

“I’m good. I didn’t know you’d go skating into people if I let go of your hand,” she teases him. Magnus smiles, and then he feels Alex’s hand slipping into his. “Guess I’ll have to keep holding your hand. For public safety, of course.”

Magnus smiles, his blush matching her own. “Of course.”

It’s almost two hours later that they walk out of the ring, they feet throbbing from all that skating.

“Hey, what time is it?” Alex asks.

“About five, why?”

“Didn’t Halfborn want to do that big laser tag battle about now?”

Magnus’ eyes widened. “Oh, I forgot about that! f*ck, we probably won’t make it in time. Should we call them?”

“I guess. Let’s pay and I’ll call Mallory.”

They paid the employee at the counter and called Mallory before going out. It was hot outside, might as well stay in the cool for as long as possible.

Suddenly, ‘I’m so fancy’ started playing from the tables near the front. Parents were sitting there, drinking bad coffee as their children skated. Alex moved closer. She knew that ringtone very well and who had that as in their phone as hers.

Sitting at the last table, right next to a big potted plant, was Halfborn, Mallory, T.J, Sam, Blitzen and Hearthstone, wearing trench coats like they were in some bad spy film.

“And what are you doing here?” she asks. They all turn to look at her, identical expressions of “Oh, sh*t” on their faces. Sam’s phone is open on her messaging app, Amir’s name at the top of the screen and a video with Magnus and Alex skating is being sent to him.

“Um… sightseeing?”T.J tries pathetically.

“Were you guys spying on us?” Magnus asks, going straight to the point. “And why is Hearth here? Wasn’t he at some seminar with Odin?”

“Spying is such an ugly word,” Halfborn says. “We were observing.”

“Me and Magnus having a date,” Alex continues. “And Magnus is right, why is Hearth here? He was supposed to be out of town. And world.”

Blitzen scratches his fashionable beard nervously. “Well, you see, it’s a funny story…”

Magnus and Alex wait for answers, but none of their friends talk.

“And what is that story?” Alex asks. Her arms are crossed under her chest and she’s glaring at their friends. As confused as Magnus is about what's going on, he can’t help but admire how scary Alex looks in a pretty dress.

“Well, the thing is,” Mallory started, “we could see you liked each other, but you weren’t doing anything about it and you were both so lovestruck it got us killed in practice multiple times, so we went to Hearthstone and Blitzen for help and they… magically tied you together.” Seeing Alex still glare at her, Mallory quickly added “It was Halfborn’s idea.”

“What?” the Viking said. “I just joked about it, you were the one who went through with it!”

“Yeah, but you were still the first one to talk about it, so it was your idea!”

“Okay, wait a minute,” Magnus cut in. “So you mean to tell me you had Hearthstone cast a rune on us so we’d be stuck together in order for us to get together?”

“Yes, basically,” T.J said.

“It worked too,” Sam added.

“And Hearthstone was here and could have lifted the rune any time?” Alex asked.

Yes, Hearthstone signed. Though I made it so the rune would be broken once you kiss. And they told me that you already did.

“Wait, so the bond is broken?” Alex asked.

Yes. But because you wanted to be close, you didn’t notice it. You haven’t been more than ten feet apart lately, even by accident, right?

Magnus and Alex blushed. It was true, they hadn’t stepped outside the bond’s limits even by chance. As troublesome as it was at first, it gave them an excuse to be closer together. They couldn’t complain about that.

Magnus sighed exasperated. “I can’t believe this is happening. When did my life go so crazy that this doesn’t even seem weird to me?”

“When you died,” Sam answered.

“It was a rhetorical question.”

“So, the bond,” Alex said. “It’s broken? We can be as far apart as we want and sleep in our rooms?”

Yes, Hearthstone signed.

“Are you mad at us doing this?” Mallory asks hesitantly.

Alex sighed. “I… I don’t know. I don’t appreciate you messing with my love life, even if it actually helped, but I know I would do the same and worse in your place so… I dunno, just expect to be killed very violently in practice tomorrow.”

“She’s right,” Magnus agreed. “It wasn’t cool, but I would have done the same. I almost did before you two got together.” He pointed at Halfborn and Mallory. “And at least you didn’t lock us in a closet.”

“Actually, we were thinking about that,” T.J points out. Mallory gives him a sharp elbow to his side.

Magnus pushes the thought of him and Alex in a closet out of his mind. “So the laser tag game still stands?”

“Nah, that was just an alibi in case you caught glimpse of us,” Halfborn said. “You can go continue your date.”

They did. They left the roller skating rink, not really sure where to go. Magnus was still processing the fact that their friends had made a secret alliance to get them together. It worked, but it was still weird to think about. But he got to spend time with Alex and get the courage to finally ask her out, so it wasn’t that bad.

Guess I got a funny story to tell Annabeth when I see her again.

“So,” Magnus aksed. “Want to do something else now?”

“I dunno what,” Alex said. Magnus could see she was still thinking about their friends’ little scheme.

“Want to head back to my room for some Netflix and chill?” Magnus asks, because that’s his default pastime. “I’ve been thinking about showing you Yuri!!! on Ice.”

“You can think?” Alex asks in mock surprise and immediately starts laughing when she sees Magnus ‘Really?’ expression. “Okay, I’d really like that. Figure skating and vaguely gay characters sounds cool.”

Oh, they’re definitely not vaguely gay.

A few hours later it’s night and Alex and Magnus are in Magnus room, binge watching Yuri!!! On Ice.

At first they just sat normally. Alex found the show really funny and she was loving Victor’s dorky behavior. But somehow, somewhere around episode five, they had ended up snuggled together. Alex had changed out of her dress and was now wearing leggings and an oversized pink hoodie. (Magnus thought she looked adorable.) Magnus lay with his head propped up on the couch’s armrest and some pillows and Alex lay on him, her head resting on his chest.

At about episode six they decided to order pizza from room service. They were munching down the thing as they watched, never taking their eyes of the screen (even Magnus, who had already seen the series.) (Twice. Both sub and dub.) When The Incident™ happened in episode seven, Alex was so surprised she dropped her pizza in the box and looked at the screen slack jawed. Magnus looked at her smiling as she freaked the f*ck out – “Oh my Gods Magnus! Did you see that? They kissed!”

Somewhere in episode nine Magnus stopped paying attention and just played with Alex’s green locks. Alex didn’t mind; she liked it when Magnus played with her hair. She kept watching the show. Magnus was right, it was really good. She really liked that Yurio kid.

Then episode ten happened and oh my gods. Alex was freaking out because – “They got engaged Magnus! They got engaged!” Magnus loved how excited Alex was getting; he loved sharing something he loved with someone he loved.

Then, when they were watching the last episode and Yuri and Victor were pair skating, Magnus got an idea. He might be crazy but… he didn’t mind. He was crazy for Alex. That much should be obvious by now.

“Alex?”

“Yeah?” she says, not taking her eyes off the screen. She was shaking with excitement because of the pair skate.

“Can I kiss you?” Magnus asks.

Now that got her attention. Alex looks away from the screen and looks at Magnus. She doesn’t say anything, just stares at him. Magnus starts panicking- maybe asking was lame? Maybe he should have just gone in and kissed her. Nobody asked in the romance movies he saw (well, except for Kristoff in Frozen).

But then Alex moved forward and erased all doubts from Magnus’ mind. And all thoughts. She leaned forwards and kissed Magnus and Magnus kissed back. It was like their kiss back at their little party, but this time it was different. More intimate. They were on their own now, no one was watching them. It was just the two of them. The kiss was simple, just their lips pressing against each other and moving slowly, experimentally, but it was amazing for both of them. Magnus could taste Alex’s lip-gloss on her lips and the pepperoni pizza she had just eaten.

They broke apart because breathing was a thing and just looked at each other, smiling like lovestruck idiots. Which they were.

“You taste like pizza,” Alex says, a bit out of breath. It was just a kiss but she felt like she had just run a marathon.

“Well, we just ate pizza,” Magnus said.

Alex leaned in and kissed him again. “I didn’t say I didn’t like it.”

Magnus smiled and kissed her again. He could die (again) kissing her and he wouldn’t mind at all.

They broke apart just as Yuri said that they called everything on the ice love.

“Do you want to be my boyfriend?” Alex asked.

“Only if you’ll be my significant annoyance,” Magnus said.

“Deal.”

Alex leaned forward and sealed the deal with another kiss.