Alec sat on a stool, watching Magnus move around the kitchen while he cooked. “Where did you learn to cook?”
“It was quite some time ago when I was staying in Italy; there was a family there that insisted I take cooking lessons. Tessa was there as well; she convinced me to agree to the lessons as well.” Magnus was cooking with a diligence.
Magnus and Alec had just gotten back together. Alec after mopping around for too long, according to Jace, called Magnus to apologize for talking with Camille to make him mortal. Magnus explained how he understood that Alec was scared about aging while he didn’t and thus they reached a compromise. Together they would look for a possible way that would keep them living the same amount of time or to extend their relationship longer. This compromise also included Magnus willing to share his past with Alec. He wanted to be able to ask where he learned things or the people he had met. Magnus had surprisingly agreed.
“Perhaps you could give Izzy cooking lessons; I spent the other night choking down her partially cooked spaghetti.”
Magnus chuckled softly and shook his head. “There is no hope for her if she hasn’t figured out how to cook spaghetti properly.”
“I am sure you could at least teach her that.” Alec took a sip of wine from the glass he had on the counter in front of him. According to Magnus it was a gift from a long forgotten Prince that he may or may not have accidently visited.
Magnus began to mix ingredients together in a pot to create the sauce for their pasta. He was adding ingredients no one would ever find in the Institute kitchen but it smelled amazing. It smelled like a home cooked meal. Alec couldn’t stop thinking about what it would be like to come home to a meal like this every day. His mother cooked, but she wasn’t there so often that he, Jace and Izzy resorted to take out. The mixture of food aromas surrounding him almost brought a longer to have a place to call home where one would cook for you and be there for you. Maybe his relationship with Magnus would eventually become that.
“Magnus, tell me about the most interesting person you met in your life time.” Alec was trying to get to know Magnus more as a person and that meant knowing his past as well.
“That is a tough question but one person does come to mind. There was a Shadowhunter from the Carstairs family named James and after a demon attack on the Shanghai Institute his family was murdered and he was cursed. This cursed left him taking a drug that would kill him eventually but would extend his years beyond that of which the curse would give him. He made the most of his life and his parabatai was William Herondale; a boy quite like Jace. In a sense you are a lot like him in how you are calmer and more collected than those around you.”
“What happened to him? You said the drug or the curse would kill him but which was it?”
Magnus stopped stirring the pot and looked off into space as if he was accessing a deep memory. “What happened to him is a story for another day. Perhaps I could have Tessa come tell you as it is not my story to tell.” He returned to cooking leaving Alec staring at his back in bewilderment.
The rest of Magnus’s cooking continued in silence while Alec thought about the person he had just learned about. James’s parabatai had been William Herondale, who Alec had heard about before, and he was quite like Jace. It was as if there was a relation Alec could feel between himself and a Shadowhunter he had never met. Eventually, Magnus removed everything from the stove and served them both a heaping plate of very Italian looking pasta.
Magnus took a bite of his own pasta and watched as Alec regarded his carefully. “Alexander, I can promise you that the pasta is thoroughly cooked and if not, you can dump it on my head. How does that sound?”
Alec laughed and took a mouthful of the pasta. It was thoroughly cooked alright and let an explosion flavour rip across his tongue. There were all different types of spices that Alec could taste but not individually determine and the ripeness of the tomatoes in the tomato sauce was easy to taste. It was better than anything Izzy, his mother, or any restaurant in New York had created. It was a one of a kind dish made by the one person Alec loved most in the world.
“Who knew you could cook.”
“Very funny; of course I knew I could cook.” Magnus was eating his pasta intently, threatening not even to leave a drop of sauce behind.
Alec ate his pasta much more slowly than Magnus as he was thinking about the home cooked meal thing again. “I wish there was someone to cook for me every day.” He said out loud without meaning to.
“You are welcome here any time Alec and better yet, why don’t you move in?” Alec’s eyes went wide.
“Are you serious about me moving in?” It was such a large step in their relationship and one Alec was willing to take without a moment’s notice. Instead of answering, Magnus came around the table and kissed Alec tenderly on the lips. Alec could taste the pasta along with an indescribable taste that was always accompanying any one of Magnus’s kisses.
“You can take that as a yes.” Alec looked up at Magnus, there was a faint blush on the warlock’s cheeks, one that Alec never noticed before after they kissed. Alec always found he was the one blushing at something Magnus said or did, but today his cheeks were clear. He was too shocked to blush but it seemed that Magnus wasn’t beyond bushing anymore.
“I love you Magnus. No matter what happens I always will.” Alec took Magnus’s hand in his own, intertwining their fingers.
“And I love you Alexander, more than anyone else I have in my lifetime.”
