#and apparently he was so sweet to all the fans he met in berlin while working on the movie

[lieutenant-columbro]

HOW DID HE KNOW

[shsummertimefest-blog]

Before You

Enjoy, @xmusicxbooksxbandsx!

I hope you enjoy it!

The halls of the Institute were as quiet and dark as they always were at this hour of the morning, Alec enjoyed the long walk from the greenhouse to his office because he found that the solace allowed him time to shed his home mode and mentally prepare for work. Before Magnus, he would have woken up alone in his bed at the institute and immediately step out into a buzz of activity. He would have followed his morning routine with everyone else of training, breakfast, and checking in with the op center for orders.

His days couldn’t start out more different now, and he marveled at the big and small ways his life had changed from the way it was a few short years ago. Now, his mornings started with his husband’s steady breaths warm on the back of his neck and a hand clad in a heavy silver wedding ring resting on his chest. It was his alarm that always went off first, and he hit the button swiftly to avoid waking Magnus. Those minutes that he spent awake in the arms of his sleeping love were his favorites of the day. He would pull the discarded blanket up over Magnus before tangling their legs together. Then he would cover his hand with his own, their rings clinking together in a way that made his heart soar. There was a time when he never thought he would have this, so these moments with the sunlight starting to stream through sheer curtains and the love of his life holding him were nothing short of a miracle.

Eventually the Chairman would jump on his legs and sit there just staring at him expectantly, waiting to be fed. Alec sometimes wondered how impatient the cat had been with Magnus before he moved in, considering he slept in most days. He took great pride in the fact that this cat loved him and almost nobody else he came into contact with, and so Alec was happy to get his breakfast. He would turn around in Magnus’ arms and kiss him on the cheek before sliding out of bed and following the hungry feline. Some mornings, Magnus would surprise him by tightening his hold, preventing him from getting out of bed, and whispering in his ear.  His sweet nothings ranged from simple morning greetings to lines from love poems, and everything in between. Those were his favorite kind of mornings, even if they did tend to make him a little late for work.

This morning Magnus had been sleeping so deeply that he didn’t even seem to notice when Alec left for work. The previous day must have left him exhausted. He had been busy all day with clients and they had a late night out together, so Alec was happy that he didn’t disturb his beauty rest.

He thought about their fun night as he made his way through the halls of the institute that morning. He made a quick stop at his office and then headed to the training center where he started his first task of equipment inventory and orders. Truth was, most of the time being the Head of the New York Institute wasn’t even close to glamorous.

He made his way through his checklist quickly and was just finishing up when he heard a throat clear behind him. He turned to see Jace standing there, dressed for his morning workout, with a smug look on his face.

“Hey,” he said, raising his brows. He was always a little worried when his brother looked like he was up to something. “Uh, what’s going on?”

“You tell me. Having a good morning?” Jace smirked.

Alec wasn’t sure what was going on, but he definitely felt like he was walking straight into a trap of some kind. He decided a short response and a little deflect action was best. “It’s fine. How are things here?”

“Not as good as they are at Magnus’ place I’m guessing.”

Oh, shit.

“You wanna tell me what you’re talking about? I have work to do, you know.” Alec said.

“You are the one in here humming, man. You tell me what it’s about.”

“Uhh, humming?” Alec questioned, his brows furrowing.

“Yes, Alec. You were just humming. I know the song too…it’s on the mundane radio. What’s the name of it?”

It hit Alec then, that the songs from the concert they went to last night must have been on his brain and he must’ve been subconsciously humming the tunes. That was something he never even realized he was doing unless Magnus pointed it out to him, and he wasn’t about to admit it to Jace. “No, I wasn’t.”

Jace laughed, “Yeah, you were. Seriously, what is that name of that song? It’s going to drive me crazy until I think of it.”

“What song?” Izzy asked, walking into the room in her sparring clothes.

Great. The only thing worse than having one of his siblings tease him about something was having both of them do it. He rolled his eyes all the way to the sky and clasped his hands behind his back, ipad still in hand.

“He won’t tell me. He was in here humming something and I can’t think of what the song’s called,” Jace filled their sister in.

Izzy looked from Jace to him and Alec knew that she wasn’t even going to ask him about it. She knew him well enough to know that he wasn’t going to admit to such a thing.

Instead she asked Jace, “How did it go?”

Jace reenacted the song he had heard him murmuring, and much to Alec’s disdain he actually did a pretty good job.

Izzy’s loud voice suddenly echoed through the training room, “Lady Gaga?!”

Jace pointed at Izzy “Yes! That’s it! It was on the tip of my tongue. What’s the song called?”

Izzy looked at Alec expectantly, and he just sighed heavily and answered the question himself, “Born this way.”

Izzy grinned at him and Jace opened his mouth in shock before asking, “Since when do you sing Lady Gaga? I didn’t even know you listened to her.”

“I wasn’t singing.”

Isabelle giggled and the sound caused his lips to lift up in the tiniest smile. “Why are you making this such a big deal? It’s in my head because we went to the concert last night.”

His sister jumped and smacked him on the arm, “No way! I thought she was in Europe!”

“We portaled to Berlin. No big deal.” Alec rubbed his arm, while thinking that his sister was definitely as strong as she looked.

Jace shook his head, “Wow. I never thought I’d see the day that you would actually enjoy mundane pop culture like this.”

Alec frowned. “Yeah, well, Magnus loves music, so he’s been showing me some of his favorites.”

“That’s amazing, big brother! Next time, though, I want to go too.”

Oh no. What had he done? A damn song got stuck in his head and now he had his siblings joining him for date night?! Unbelievable.

“I don’t know…I mean, I’d have to talk to Magnus first.”

“Of course, but I’m sure Magnus won’t mind. He loves us. Jace you wanna go right?”

Alec let it remain unsaid that Magnus quite liked their alone time away from the loft. People had a habit of bursting in their private space, and so they often left the city or even the country a few times a week to be alone for a few hours.

Jace wrinkled his nose, “Depends who it is. Some music is just terrible.”

It was clear Alec wasn’t getting out of this anytime soon, so he thought of the plans they had just discussed for the next weekend.

“We are taking Madzie to a concert next weekend. I guess you could come, too, if you want.”

Jace asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s…D…One…or One…D, something like that. Madzie likes them, and Magnus said I won’t regret going.

“One Direction?!” Izzy asked in disbelief.

Jace chimed in, “It can’t be that. They aren’t playing together right now. They have solo projects. Maybe it is one of the members, but it can’t be the entire band.”

He squinted an eye at Jace and couldn’t seem to wipe the judgey look off of his face.

“What?! Simon talks about music non-stop. He doesn’t shut up about it. So I know a thing or two.”

Alec shook his head at Jace and then went back to the topic at hand. “I know they broke up, or are on a break or whatever, but this is like a private concert at a birthday party for one of Magnus friends. They are just doing this one time thing.”

“Oh my god, Alec. Are you kidding me? How in the world did Magnus’ friend get One Direction to perform together again?”

“First of all, Magnus is magical and he can do anything. Second of all, he’s a warlock too, so I’m sure that helps.”

Jace chimed in again, “Wait, who’s a warlock?”

Alec looked at the clock on the wall. He had exactly ten minutes until his meeting. He really didn’t have time for this. He started walking backwards out of the room. “The guy in the band. I’ve met him a few times.”

Izzy’s eyes grew wide. “Which guy in the band?! This is very important info, Alec. ”

“The guy with the long brown hair.”

Jace and Izzy said in unison, “Harry?!”

“Yeah, him. He’s a nice guy. Listen, I gotta go, ok. Meeting,” He said as he retreated even further.

“Fine, but ask Magnus if we can go. And actually, this conversation isn’t over. I’ll meet you in your office at noon and we can have lunch while you tell me about all the famous people Magnus knows.”

Alec rolled his eyes, but ultimately agreed. He got down the hall before he pulled his phone out of his pocket and called Magnus.

“Alexander. What great timing you have. I just woke up,” he said in an adorable sleepy voice that made Alec wish he was there.

“Is there any way that my family can go with us to the concert next weekend? They found out I was going and apparently they are fans.”

“Even Jace?” Magnus asked incredulously.

“Oddly enough, yes. Something about Simon introducing him to different kinds of music.”

Magnus chuckled, and Alec could hear the rustling of blankets in their bed. Torture. That’s what this was.

“Sure. I’ll call him today. With Madzie going, it’s not like it’s adult time anyway.”

“Right. Yeah, but can we please not tell them about Cher in a few weeks? I was so looking forward to being in Paris alone with you.”

“Mmmmmmmm. How about this? I won’t tell them about Cher if you take the day off tomorrow and do absolutely nothing with me.”

Alec didn’t even hesitate, even though he could count on one hand the number of days he had ever had off. “Deal. See you at six for dinner?”

“See you at six. I Love you.” Magnus said.

“I love you, too.” Alec said, before going back to find his brother and ask him if he could hold down things at the institute tomorrow. A random day off. Just another one of many things that had changed since he met and fell in love with Magnus Bane.