#diner owner!alec

[lurafita]

Small Town Diner Malec AU Background Info

Alec comes from money, but broke with his family when his parents tried to push an engagement with the Branwell's daugther for Business reasons. He was like "This isn't the middle ages, I'm gay, sayonara."

He packed, got in his car and drove in a random direction until he ran out of gas. Which happened to be in the parking lot of the diner. He got to know the elderly couple who ran it, they got close, he started working and living with them. When they died two years later, they left him everything. Since losing the old couple, he has been tentatively trying to reconnect with his family. Things between him and his parents are still tense. Izzy is supportive, but there are some untesolved issues with her as well. Max comes over during school breaks sometimes. It's all a work in progress.

Magnus was a highly decorated detective in Brooklyn, got together with Camille, she got pregnant with Madzie. Magnus has always known he was sterile, and that Camille cheated on him, but never denied being Madzie’s father. When things with Camille broke off, because she decided motherhood didn’t suit her after all, Magnus fought for sole guardianship. Magnus himself is the son of a New York stationed crime Boss, Asmodeus. The familial connection had always worked against him in the police department, but the latest case he worked went south. When that case was later connected to Asmodeus, his superiors questioned his loyalties, and he quit the force. Thanks to his friend Catarina, who is the local doc in a small town, he heard about a free deputy position there, and packed up him and Madzie and moved them over there for a new beginning.

To the Master post: https://www.tumblr.com/lurafita/744483785225224193/small-town-diner-malec-au?source=share

[oitommothetease]

Invisible String (8/?)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female reader (Modern AU)

Description: James Buchanan Barnes, the owner of the most expensive-looking club in town and your new apartment. He was a dick and you hated him. What could possibly go wrong when you, the new girl in town, start bartending at his club to pursue your dreams?

Word Count: 2.4k words

Your parents’ house was exactly how you remembered it, but again, it had been only two months since you last saw it. Contrary to your usual life, a lot has changed in two months. You aren't working in a cubicle anymore, you're not going on random blind dates that your sister and mother plot for you. What you are doing is bartending in a town far away from your family. You're fake dating your boss who happens to be the most dangerous person in the town, at least that's what you've heard of the rumors, but so far, James has been nothing but non-threatening to you. Yes, he was mean in the beginning, but a lot has changed since then. 

And now sitting in front of your parents with James beside you, eating lunch; you recall Barry's diner and you miss the food there. It's funny because you always thought that this was your home, your family and everything associated with them should make you feel at peace, but you were feeling everything but that. You were restless and anxious, and you wanted to go to that cozy dinner with James where Sally would tell you anecdotes about her life. You wanted to sit with James and watch him debunk the myths about his career that you believed were true your whole life. Turns out, he doesn't cut off people’s dick for disrespecting him. Who would have thought? And you decided that maybe you should stop reading those stupid mafia stories.

James sensed your discomfort, you don't know how he does that, but he always knows when something is bothering you. He brought his chair closer to you in hopes of providing you some relief. And it did, his presence made you feel at ease and you weren't sure how you felt about it. You knew you were dependent on him for comfort since the incident at his club, but being with him didn't make you feel caged.

You always thought that a relationship would make you feel stuck. That's why you never engaged in one, but with James, it felt liberating. Maybe because this wasn't real and the moment this turns real, it'll be a shithole. At least that's what you told yourself. 

“So, what do you do, James?” your father asked, and you nearly choked on your food. James's hand involuntarily reached towards your back, his thumb running soothing circles while his palms patted gently. 

“I own a club and a few other buildings in town,” your faux boyfriend answered, and you were thankful he didn't get into his other business. You wanted to ask about all the rumors in town and why people are so scared of him and why does everyone in the club carries a gun, but you were scared to ask. You feared that you wouldn't like the answers. Honestly, that's false, you weren't scared of the answers, you were scared that what if he closes himself again the moment you step into uncharted territory. And you really liked this fun, caring, swiftie James.

Everybody was sitting silently at the table which was unusual because usually family dinners were the place where everyone pointed out your faults. Carol kept glancing at your parents every few seconds and vice versa. Your brother-in-law, Nick, was focused on the food and their kids were taking a nap.

 You were going to thank your stars for this peaceful lunch when your sister broke off the silence. “So, how did you two meet?”

Every head on the table turned towards you expectantly, waiting for you to explain how you met James. What were you supposed to say? That you met when you interviewed for your current job and he clearly rejected you? 

Before the panic could make its way to the surface, James' palm landed on yours softly, grounding you. Your sister's eyes fell to your hands on the table and she scoffed.

 “We're glad you're happy, but at least don't forget basic table etiquette,” She commented. How could you forget the ‘no hands on the table while eating’ rule? Just when you were about to remove your hand from the table, James held your hand and placed it on his lap, lacing his fingers with yours. 

“Auntie Y/N!” A shriek made you turn behind, and you saw your nephew and niece running towards you with the biggest grin on their faces. Both the kids jumped in your embrace without a care of their surroundings and you stifled a laugh.

Bucky didn't like kids, hated them, to be honest. In his defense, what's there to like, they're always whining and crying, but seeing you attempting to straddle two 5-year-olds on your lap while their mother complained might change his opinions on the subject. 

You didn't like kids either, except your nephew and niece. They were perfect in your eyes, but maybe you were a bit partial because you sort of shared genes with them. You were so focused on the stories Alec and Izzy were telling you that you didn't notice the eyes that were fixed on you. James looked at you with not only adoration, but also devotion. He knew if he kept looking at you like that, he'd be deep in shit, but it was too late now. 

After dinner, you made your way to the bedroom, only to realize that there was one bed. Fuck. You really should have thought this through. 

Before the embarrassment could seep in, James started collecting a blanket and some pillows. “I'll take the floor,” He said. 

You frowned. “No, James. You've already done so much for me. Take the bed, please.”

James pretended not to hear you and started preparing his bed on the floor. 

“Seriously?” You queried, slightly huffing at his childish behavior. “You're gonna pretend you didn't hear me. How old are you, five?”

Without saying a word, James started humming a tune and situated himself on the makeshift bed on the floor and closed his eyes. 

You stomped your foot furiously, yeah, maybe you were a little childish too. Without muttering another word, you made your way towards the bed and tucked yourself in a comfortable position. 

“You were saying something?” James asked, his voice laced with tease, and you huffed at his tomfoolery. 

“Yeah, just how immature you are.”

“Sorry, I didn't hear that. What was that?” you couldn't see him, but you knew he was doing some theatrical actions by putting his hands on his ears for better listening or furrowing his eyes in feigned confusion. “That I'm so smart? Oh, why, thank you. You're not so bad yourself.”

“That's real mature, James,” you murmured, clearly not enjoying his antics.

A comfortable silence fell in the room. The only thing that could be heard was your breathing and the air conditioner that always sucked in your childhood room but your parents never thought it was a primary concern. Oh, yeah, also, you were staying in your teenage room with your boss. You tried telling your parents that you could get a hotel, but they insisted so now James could see one direction posters on the wall right in front of him.

You would have assumed that he fell asleep if he hadn't broken the silence. “I know it's not my business and you don't have to answer if you don't want to,” he paused, wondering whether he is crossing a line by asking you this. “But why do you let them treat you like that?”

You coughed in surprise, you clearly did not expect him to ask this. You thought maybe he was going to ask you who is your favorite one direction member. Anything really, expect this. “Wow, you do not beat around the bush.”

You could hear him shuffling and once he settled you were sure he was facing you. Well, the bed actually. You did the same, turning towards him. You couldn't see him, but it still felt so intimate.

 “I'm honest with people I trust,” he informed and you smiled, thinking about the time when he told you he did not trust you or your intentions.

“What do I get in return?” you teased, although you would have told him without getting anything in return.

“What do you want?”

You debated for a minute whether you should go forward and just ask him so you did. “What do you do?”

You didn't expect him to actually answer. You knew that your relationship (whatever that was) with James had increased from where it was a few months ago. You deeply cared for each other and had mutual trust in the other. But you still didn't know about the actual work he did. Your realtor told you that he was a criminal, a mobster to be exact, and had sketchy connections with the mafia but you didn't know the exact nature of his work. 

He signed heavily and you were ready to drop the subject, scared that it would only push him away again and you couldn't lose whatever you had this early. 

“We provide weapons to the government at a cheaper price, eliminate problems or shootouts that the government is too scared to take the blame for,” he said, voice unwavering but you could sense the tension. Bucky thought that telling you about his work would make you fear him, and he didn't want to risk losing the progress he made with you, but he also knew that if he wanted you in his life in any form then he has to be honest with you. “We don't do the kind of stuff you're thinking of, it's mostly assisting the government to do stuff where they don't want to get their hands dirty.”

“Why?”

“How would you feel if the leaders of your country were involved in shady business?” It was a rhetorical answer, of course, you would feel unsafe, but your sleep-dazed brain was about to muster up an answer but he quickly spoke. “So if it backfires then they don't lose their men and women and can blame it on us, the criminals.”

“So that's why you weren't scared if I went to the cops? Because you kinda work for them?” you asked. His reaction made a lot of sense now, but some part of your brain hoped that he did that for you. That he would defy the police for you. 

“Off charts yeah,” he answered, “Although that has nothing to do with why I wanted you to go to the cops. I wanted you to because what Rumlow did was unacceptable and he should pay for his actions.”

“Wow,” you didn't know what to say. Anything further could push him back to the 'I don't trust you' James and you couldn't risk that. 

Bucky didn't want to elaborate further, “Your turn.”

“Sir, you just set yourself up for the biggest disappointment,” you joked, already imagining his reaction and smiling to yourself. 

“I let them treat me like this because they are my family,” you replied honestly. “I don't have anyone else but them.”

Bucky knew all about the issues that come with family, but he didn't think you'd be the victim of it. Bucky realized that in his head, he had conjured up a version of you that was perfect, so if he were to know you better, it would decrease his crush on you, right? 

Wrong. The more Bucky got to know you, the more he realized you weren't some angel and were just a vulnerable human like everyone, and the more he wanted you, all of you.

“Where does Rumlow come in this?” you questioned.

“His work is dirty like drugs, sex trafficking so he doesn't work well with government or any sort of authority,” he explained, “He's one of the problems they wanna eliminate but can't because he's too powerful. He works with Hydra.”

“Wasn't Hydra a myth?” you queried. You have heard stories about Hydra too, how Bucky was their rival. You assumed it was about territory or money. You know, like in the movies.

“Nah, doll, it's real. He's part of that organization and that makes him shielded from us and literally everyone.” 

“So you're technically not… you know, killing people for fun like the mafia and all? You're like undercover agents,” you concluded and he shook his head, chuckling at the disappointment in your voice.

In your defense, you expected him to be the movie-type mafia boss who kills people for raising their voice but again, this is not a movie. 

“If it makes you feel better, we smuggle weapons for the government. We're still criminals and dangerous,” he articulated, his tone laced with amusement at your reaction.

 “No offense, but that's a horrible career. Is that what you wanted to do growing up?” you asked, yawning, your eyelids becoming heavy from the exhaustion.

“No,” he answered truthfully. “Not everyone gets a choice, doll. My dad was murdered when I was a kid and I was shoved into the business to protect my family.”

 “Where are they? Your family, I mean,” you inquired, hoping you weren't overstepping.

“Ma basically hates me and my sister maintains her distance, but it's for her own safety.”

You didn't ask about them further, realizing his family was a touchy subject for him. You could relate to that. “What do you want to do?”

Out of all your questions and weird assumptions, this took James by surprise. No one asked him what he wanted to do. Hell, he didn't even ask him that, and now someone finally asked him, he didn't know what to answer. You understood his silence, you always understood everything James felt even without it being voiced. He generally hated when people predicted him, he prided himself on being unpredictable but not with you. James wanted nothing more than to just be Bucky with you.

“Don’t worry, you'll figure something out,” you mumbled, already drifting off to sleep.

James turned towards the opposite side. “Sleep well, doll.” he murmured, his breath growing even, matching yours.

TAGS: @bananapipedreams​ @akkinda10​ @rivers-rambles21​ @emmabarnes​ @goodcleanfunsis​ @valsworldofcreativity​ @boofy1998​ @marvel-3407​

[tobythewise]

Malec | General  Written for HM500 prompt: Ice Written for the @shadowhunterbingo prompt: the morning after Read on ao3

The morning after is always awkward. Always. At least that’s the experience Magnus has always had and he expects this morning to be no difference as he makes his way into the diner for his usual morning coffee. 

Magnus doesn’t regret hooking up with the grumpy diner owner. Far from it. He’s been harboring a crush on Alec for almost a year and never dreamed Alec could possibly return his feelings. 

What Magnus does regret is not talking things out. Which is a surprise to probably everyone who knows him. He’s usually the first to jump in with both feet instead of sitting down and thinking things through. But this time he has no idea if him and Alec are on the same page. 

God, he hates being so unsure. 

“Good morning!” Maia greets, waving as Magnus walks in. 

“And a good morning to you as well my dear.”

Maia smirks at him as he walks up to the counter. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you and Alec have the same type of smile on your face.”

Magnus quirks his brow. “Meaning?”

“Kinda looks like you both got laid.”

Magnus sputters. “I- What? How- What?”

Maia smirks, looking like the cat that got the cream. Magnus narrows his eyes, ignoring the blush running over his cheeks. But before he can get a proper comeback out, Alec is walking out from the back, coming over to where Magnus is standing. 

The blush of his cheeks is back in full force as Alec smiles at him, the look in his eyes incredibly open. Alec leans across the counter and kisses Magnus’ cheek, leaving him standing there frozen with confusion, hope welling up inside his chest. 

“The usual?”

Magnus nods. “Yeah, an iced coffee--”

“Light on the ice,” Alec finishes. “I know, Magnus.” 

Alec turns around in order to work on Magnus’ drink, leaving Magnus feeling completely off centered in the strangest way. Despite that, he has a smile on his face, his heart beating rapidly against his ribs. 

“Here you go,” Alec murmurs, sliding the drink over. Magnus takes it, staring into Alec’s eyes as he brings it to his lips and takes a sip. 

“I realize this might be completely out of character but I’m a little unsure as to how to proceed.”

Alec tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

“What’s going on here?”

“I’m not sure I understand. We’re doing what we do every morning?”

“Exactly! Shouldn’t things be weird?”

“Do you want them to be weird?”

Magnus sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, of course not. I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on here.”

“Oh. Well, let me be clear. I want you to be my boyfriend and I want you to come in every morning so I can start your day with a cup of coffee and a kiss.”

After a moment Magnus nods. “I think I can do that.” Then he leans across the counter and kisses Alec’s lips. 

[alecmagnuslwb]

Somewhere to Stay

Read on AO3

The rain is battering down as Magnus comes to the first stoplight he’s seen in miles. His bike which has been living on fumes for nearly two states finally clunks out on him as soon as the light turns green. A sputtering and creaking noise sounds as he hits the gas and smoke billows up from the engine almost immediately shot down by the rain.

He sighs taking out his keys and pushing the bike over onto the sidewalk and out of the roadway, not that there’s any traffic anywhere in sight. Magnus is fairly certain the people in this area don’t even know what traffic is. He rolls the bike until he can set it under an awning in front of a small bookshop.

He takes off his helmet running a hand through his dark hair tipped in pink as he pulls his phone from his pocket. Mere seconds after the screen comes to life the low battery warning signals and the screen goes dark.

“Fuck,” he says looking up at his surroundings for anywhere he might be able to take shelter and charge his phone. It’s nearing two in the morning so most of the small shops on the road are closed. There’s an all-night diner lit neon across the street, a 24-hour pawn shop a few buildings down and in the distance a bright motel sign missing the letter ‘e’ shines.

The motel is his last option, he’s not one for staying anywhere longer than he has to and he’s been on the road like this long enough to know that any pawn shop that runs 24-hours is a murder mystery just waiting to happen. So, the diner it is.

He flips the collar of his leather jacket up as much as he can and takes his duffel bag off the back of his bike shouldering it before stepping out from under the awning and sprinting across the street in an attempt to stay as dry as possible.

He doesn’t bother checking as he rushes across the road, choosing to believe the one stoplight is more of a suggestion than anything else. He swings open the door of the diner and steps inside brushing his wet hair from his forehead.

The diner is fairly empty this time of the night which is to be expected. A tall Black man in a sheriff’s uniform gets up from a booth as soon as Magnus enters tipping his hat in his direction as he heads to the door.

“Be with you in a second,” a deep voice sounds out from the kitchen as Magnus moves to sit on a high seat at one end of the counter. Magnus looks around as he waits looking at his fellow middle of the night patrons. A man in a backwards cap with a guitar case leaning by his side sits in the farthest away booth more food than seems possible for one guy his size sitting in front of him and a young woman with curly hair looks half asleep sitting at the far end of the counter with a half empty pot of coffee by her side.

The walls are black and white checker tiled, an old juke box with an out of order sign takes up one entire wall and each booth is lined with pleather seating in a variety of mix matched colors.

Magnus drops his bag and smiles. He loves places like this. Little hole in the wall diners with too many neon lights and random patrons that Magnus can observe. He’s been driving around from town to town, country to country on occasion, since he was 18.

Fresh out of the foster system he just wanted to be free, free to go anywhere and do anything. So he’d taken all the money he’d squirreled away in secret since he’d landed in the states as a little boy, bought a motorcycle and packed a bag. He’s worked every odd job one can imagine and picked up some wonderful friends along the way. But nothings ever totally stuck, nothings ever been worth staying in one spot permanently for.

London was the closest he’d gotten. Camille had been a mistake and his love for Ragnor and Catarina while vast couldn’t keep him in a place that reminded him of all the shit she’d put him through.

Wherever the hell Texas this is isn’t likely to become a permanent residence, but he can appreciate the tacky ambiance of an old school diner for a while.

“Sorry about the wait,” the deep voice from before says as the doors from the kitchen swing open. Magnus turns back around from his observing and practically falls out of his swiveling seat.

The face and body that belongs to that deep voice is absently flipping through a pad of paper looking for a blank sheet unaware of Magnus’ blatant staring.

The man is gorgeous. Too tall for his own good, obviously fit body clinging to a light grey t-shirt and large hands that in under ten seconds Magnus has at least the beginning of three specific fantasies about brewing. The man looks up from the pad finally finding a blank page and pulls a pencil from behind his ear the end getting stuck briefly in his unruly dark hair.

The man pauses for a moment once he finally looks up at Magnus for just a second which gives Magnus the opportunity to spot and admire the inky black tattoo on the left side of the man’s neck. Magnus knows that looks, that first notice, that immediate burst of attraction, he’d experienced it himself not but ten seconds prior. It’s good to know the feeling is mutual.

He shakes his head gathering himself, “Sorry about the wait, what can I get you?”

Magnus smiles leaning in a bit more than necessary across the counter. “I’m afraid I haven’t actually seen a menu yet.”

“Oh,” the man says smiling a bright smile than Magnus would pay good money he doesn’t have to see again. “We don’t actually have a menu per se, we just write everything up on the board.” He gestures to wall behind him a covered with a large blackboard. The handwriting is neat, but blocky in mostly capital letters.

“We don’t get a lot of non-regulars who basically get the same thing every time, so the owner didn’t bother with menus, sorry about that,” the man continues.

Magnus waves a hand in the air, not having menus is another appreciated quirk of places like this. “Don’t worry about it, I think I’ll just start with a coffee.”

The man nods not bothering with writing it down. “Coming right up,” he says as he sticks the pencil back behind his ear.

“Thank you…” Magnus says with a bright smile leaving an open invitation for the man to give his name.

“Alec,” he says before stepping away giving Magnus one last look over. Magnus replies with his own name and Alec nods making a brief stop to tap on the shoulder of the sleeping girl at the other end of counter. She startles awake and gives Alec a salute in thanks.

Alec returns with a mug filled to the brim and sits it in front of Magnus with a small bowl of creamer.

“Where am I exactly?” Magnus asks as he opens two of the creamer packets and dumps them into the mug.

“Midnight,” Alec replies as he starts to wipe down the counter around Magnus. Magnus frowns at the response before Alec elaborates. “That’s the name of our town. One stoplight, seven shops including this diner all named Midnight fill in the blank here, about thirty permanent residents depending on the day of the week and a motel that’s not nearly as sketchy as it appears on the outside.”

“One of those shops happen to be a mechanic that either knows how to fix a bike or has the tools they’d let me borrow to do it myself?” Magnus asks taking a sip of his coffee.

Alec shakes his, “Afraid not. There’s a shop about 15 miles from here, it’s the only one in the county and it’s closed on Sundays.”

Damn, Magnus thinks as he realizes it is Sunday.

“The motels open though if you need a place to stay and I could give you a ride to the shop on Monday,” Alec says. Magnus looks up at him surprised by the kind offer. “Or not, obviously I’m a complete stranger so I get that that could sound a bit murdery.”

Magnus chuckles which stops Alec’s small panic.

“That’d be great actually,” Magnus says unexpectedly trusting this incredibly handsome stranger in a diner at two a.m.. He lingers for a bit after that making small talk with Alec about how he’s just passing through until his eyelids start to droop and he realizes just how tired he is.

He says his goodbyes thanking Alec with a sizable tip that he really can’t afford to be leaving. The rain has settled giving Magnus the easy opportunity to push his bike along the street and over to the motel just around the corner settling in for the night.

***

Magnus sleeps all through Sunday. Alec was right, though on the outside the motel looks sketchy as hell, the interior is something almost nice. He skips the diner that night after he passes by and sees a different person behind the counter and goes for the Midnight gas station picking up a few snacks to call his dinner.

Monday morning, bright eyed and maybe putting a little more effort into his outfit and makeup than he usually would to go to a mechanic Magnus waits outside leaning against the glass windows of the diner to meet Alec.

Alec pulls up in a stereotypically Texas looking truck smiling a small smile at Magnus as he steps out. It’s the first time Magnus has seen Alec in all his glory and if everything from the waist up was a vision behind the counter the long legs that stride towards him are a whole new thing. Alec helps him load the bike into the bed of the truck and they ride quietly out to the small mechanics shop.

Mornings don’t seem to be Alec’s thing judging from the one hand on the wheel and the other holding the tallest cup of coffee Magnus has ever seen. The trip to the mechanic doesn’t take long, Alec waits outside a picture of beauty leaning against his truck with his head tipped back in the morning sun. The mechanic looks over his bike and shakes his head talking as he goes over it all.

“The short of it is, the parts this thing needs it’s gonna take a few weeks at least to get everything to fix it up for you,” the old man sighs blowing out a breath that makes his mustache shift. “You shouldn’t have let it build up troubles for so long.”

Magnus knows that, but money has been tight for a while and he just figured his trusty old bike could hold out. It seems he was wrong about that.

Magnus thanks the man before he’s handed a cost estimate and flings himself into the passenger seat of Alec’s truck with a heavy sigh leaning his head back. Alec joins him sliding into his seat, his giant cup of coffee is gone now and he seems much more alert than he had on the drive to the shop.

“Everything okay?” he asks starting up the truck.

Magnus shakes his head not moving it from where he’s leaned back.  

“Looks like I let a lot of things go for too long and it’s going to take a while to fix it, and a lot more money than I have,” he grumbles looking down at the estimate sheet in his hands.

“So, you’re sticking around for a while then?” Alec says. For a second Magnus thinks he hears something that sounds like hope in his voice when he says it.

“Looks like it,” he replies tilting his head to look at Alec. He looks very pretty in profile lit up by the Texas sun.

Alec smiles a small smile just at the corner of his lips, “I might have a solution for your money problem. I know they guy who owns the bar outside just outside of town, he’s always looking for new bartenders since they’re quitting on him all the time.”

“What a resounding review of employment,” Magnus laughs.

Alec laughs in kind. “Yeah, well the Cartoon Saloon isn’t known for its high standards, but it is the only bar in about 50 miles with a decent owner and a bouncer who doesn’t let assholes in or stick around once they show their cards.”

“The cartoon saloon?” Magnus asks incredulously. “You’ve got to be shitting me, that can’t be a real name.”

Alec just chuckles, “I shit you not.”

Magnus spends the rest of the day with Alec getting a tour of the town and who’s who of their small number of residents. He learns a bit more about Alec as a person and returns with his own little bits and pieces in kind. By dinner he’s met Meliorn, the owner of the Cartoon Saloon, and secured a position at the colorful bar starting the next night.

Meliorn leaves him at the diner just as Alec’s shift begins.

“They do not seem like the type to own a bar called the Cartoon Saloon,” Magnus says after Meliorn’s left watching Alec collect the sizable tip they’d left behind.

“We like to bust the stereotypes of the small-town Texas here,” Alec says pocketing the cash.

Magnus hums in agreement.

“That’s true,” he says swaying in his seat lightly. “I mean look at you with your big Texan truck and not a hint of accent to back it up.”

“Hey now,” Alec says playfully. “It’s not about the size of the truck, it’s about what you do with it.”

Magnus snorts, an inelegant thing that makes Alec smile.

“Of course, but still you’re not from here originally I take it.”

Alec leans on the counter, Magnus the only customer.

“I’m from New York, Manhattan specifically.”

Magnus had spent some of his formative years in Brooklyn, for a moment he wonders if there’s a chance he and Alec every unknowingly crossed paths.

“How’d a Manhattan boy end up in small town Texas?”

Alec grimaces a bit and Magnus quickly continues, “Not that you have to tell me if it’s too personal I understand.”

Alec shakes his head, “It’s okay, it’s just been a while since I had anyone ask, small town and all that, the story kind of traveled fast.”

Magnus smiles making a go on gesture encouraging him to tell the story.

“The short of it is my homophobic parents didn’t take too kindly when they caught me with my boyfriend when I was 17, things got pretty bad after that. My siblings, especially my sister, tried their best to shield me from it, but I was the oldest and it wasn’t their job. So, the day I turned 18 I left no looking back, no regrets just packed up a car and drove.”

He straightens up meeting Magnus’ eyes.

“After about a month I’d sold the car and traded it in for that big Texan truck of mine and found myself at that stoplight out there,” he smiles tilting head towards the window. The single stoplight red at the moment, not a car in sight. “I don’t know why but I decided to park outside, ended up here in this diner asking about a job and before I knew it a whole year had passed and I was living in the rented space above the bookstore. A few more years and I had a house and a best friend and for the first time in a long time I felt at home.”

Alec shrugs stepping back when Maia the aforementioned best friend and coffee girl from the night Magnus had arrived comes in. Seemingly on autopilot Alec gets her a glass of ice water and a cup of coffee writing something down on a slip of paper that he sends back to the cook. She thanks him as she lugs a stack of books onto the counter.

Alec heads back towards Magnus after that.

“Do you still see your siblings?” he asks once Alec has returned to his position leaning on the counter beside him.

Alec nods smiling fondly. “My sister Izzy and my baby brother Max have visited here and there over the years. My other brother though,” Alec shakes his head a little sadly, but seemingly resigned. “Let’s just say when it comes to Jace my parents picked a favorite and eventually he went along with it.”

“I’m sorry,” Magnus says reaching out a hand and settling it on Alec’s. It’s the first time they’ve touched and it feels right. Magnus knows what it’s like to have the people who are supposed to love you unconditionally do the opposite.  

“It’s okay,” Alec says smiling a little before flipping his hand under Magnus’ squeezing once before letting go and pushing away from the counter when the cook slings Maia’s order out. “I still have two of my siblings and I found a home here, so it all worked out in the end.”

Magnus smiles a little sadly, happy that Alec found that elusive thing he’s been driving around to trying to find for years.

“Especially since he met me,” Maia chimes in from her end of the counter. She picks up her plate, leaving her books behind, and slides into the seat beside Magnus formally introducing herself. He spends the rest of the evening there chatting with the incredibly delightful woman and tries his first full meal from the Midnight diner.

***

Two weeks pass and Magnus barely even realizes it, he now fully understands how Alec ended up just staying here in this small town. What it lacks in the bustle of city life, Midnight makes up for in the goodness of its people and the charm of the quiet area that surrounds it.

In the two weeks that have passed Magnus has gotten to know this little town and appreciate all it has to offer. There’s Maia whose sharp wit could take her anywhere and yet she chooses to stay here, putting a hard worked for law degree to good use to help the local migrant workers whenever she can. There’s the local preacher, Raphael whose religious standings may not be for Magnus, but his dark humor always makes for great conversation over breakfasts at the counter.

And that doesn’t even cover the stately book shop owner, his Zen boss Meliorn who’s all but officially turned the Cartoon Saloon into a specifically themed gay bar, Simon their local musician who often works days at the diner and can pack away more food than every other resident in town combined or the grumpy motel manager that bitches about everything but also leaves an entire bowl of mints on Magnus’ pillow every night when he comes back from a shift at the bar.

And of course there’s Alec who often works the nightshift and Magnus comes to spend his evenings with after he leaves the bar until the sun rises. It’s become his new routine five days a week. Alec whose heart is even kinder than those pretty hazel eyes, who lets him use his truck to get to work and who has depth to him that seemingly has no end.

He’s learned more about Alec in two weeks than he learned about Camille in their entire relationship and in response he’s felt comfortable sharing his own story. Telling Alec things no one else has ever known about his days in foster care, his travels and everything in between. They’ve grown incredibly close in such a short time and the tension that had been there, that attraction that had been instant has only grown thicker with each passing day. It’s like both of them are waiting to see who’s willing to make the first move.

The people of Midnight just make it feel like a place you can stay and the longer he’s there he wonders if maybe he could. So, of course that’s when he gets the call that his bike is back to being rideable.

“It’s not finished, but if you wanted to move along to somewhere where the parts won’t take as long to get it’d be doable,” the mechanic says in his thick Texas drawl over the phone.

Magnus looks over at Alec who’s standing on the other side of aisle as they peruse the bookshop flipping through of all things, a book about knitting, and he thinks for a moment.

“I trust your work, if it takes a little longer, then it takes a little longer,” Magnus says with a shrug. For the second time in his life he wants to stay, wants to see how this all plays out and this time he thinks it might have a better ending.

***

“Tacky is what that is,” Magnus says as Alec tells him all about the pink porcelain bathroom his grandma had when he was growing up.

“Says the guy who works in a bar that’s walls are covered with giant cut outs of cartoon characters,” Alec huffs as he finishes cleaning out the coffee machine. It’s the dead hours at the diner, three to five there’s almost never a single patron, except Magnus who always comes in after last call at the saloon.

“I work there,” Magnus defends swinging his legs back and forth from where he sits on the counter. A thing Alec has repeatedly told him not to do, yet continues to not stop him. “That does not mean I support the décor.”

He actually loves it, not that he’s gonna admit that out loud right now.

Alec just rolls his eyes as he rounds the counter coming to sit in the chair beside the one where Magnus rests his feet.

“What did I tell you about sitting on the counter?” he says once he’s seated reaching out to tap Magnus on the thigh two times in succession with the back of his hand.

He’s been doing that a lot more lately. Touching Magnus in light brushes, standing a little closer. Magnus isn’t sure how much longer this tension between them can stand until the levee breaks.

“I do not recall,” Magnus says his voice bright and cheery, an absolute picture of innocence. He reaches out patting Alec’s cheek lightly with the palm of his hand, much like in the same manner Alec had just tapped his thigh.

Magnus starts to pull his hand back when Alec suddenly reaches up and stops him, holding Magnus’ hand in place. They stare at each other for a moment and then just as predicted the levee breaks.

Alec surges up and in a blink of an eye his lips are connecting with Magnus’. The kiss starts slow a slide of lips and tongue that catches fire quickly. Alec maneuvers them so he’s standing between Magnus’ legs never letting their lips part for long. They stay there on the counter kissing for minutes, hours, Magnus doesn’t know until they pull back to catch their breath.

Magnus keeps Alec close his hands on each side of Alec’s neck and tilts their foreheads together.

“That was,” Alec trails off eyes opening up, his pupils blown wide.

Magnus hums in agreement trailing his fingers along the lines of the tattoo on Alec’s neck. He leans in kissing Alec one more time, chaste in comparison to the previous ones. Alec smiles stepping in impossibly closer his big hands moving from Magnus’ hips to rub along his thighs before leaning back in.

***

Two days later the mechanic calls and Magnus picks up his bike. Alec worries at his lip as he watches Magnus rev the engine to life, the bike sounding better than it has in years. Magnus catches the nervousness out of the corner of his eye as he pays the mechanic.

They haven’t really talked about what happens next. It’s been two days of bliss since their first kiss in the diner the looming reality that Magnus had intention of driving out of town as soon as his bike was ready not even crossing his mind until this moment. Clearly it’s been on Alec’s mind though.

Magnus rolls his bike over to Alec’s truck.

“I’ve got a shift at the saloon tonight, then I’ll come by the diner, maybe you can by me dinner?” Magnus says as he flips the kickstand so he can lean against his bike.

Alec’s head shoots up from where he’d been kicking aimlessly at the dirt.

“You’re staying?” he says a little uncertain and a lot hopeful.

Magnus smiles reaching out a hand that Alec immediately takes. He pulls him in close so they’re chest to chest both leaning against the bike.

“I was thinking I’d stay a little longer,” Magnus says, his turn to sound a little uncertain. Alec’s responding smile is beaming.

“Maia will be thrilled, she’s tired of just talking to me and Simon all the time, you’re way more interesting,” he says leaning in for a quick kiss.

Magnus huffs, uncertainty slipping away, “Just Maia, huh?”

Alec shrugs, “Well maybe some other people too.”

Magnus just rolls his eyes, completely endeared.

***

Another two months pass in a blink of an eye. Instead of going back to his motel room most nights (or days considering their work schedules) Magnus falls into bed at Alec’s house. Their nights at the diners are now filled with sneaking kisses and more and more frequently Alec drops by the saloon on his nights off for a drink or two.

They have breakfast with Raphael every Wednesday sitting on one side of the booth together and Maia drags them out to the Saloon on Saturdays to be her wingmen as Magnus grumbles a bit about being at his place of work on his night off. He even manages to drag Alec to the dance floor a time or two after a few sweet drinks.

He gets Alec on the back of his motorcycle and it’s easily one of the top five highlights of his life so far. The sex they have afterwards, Alec hyped up on the adrenaline of being so free on the back of Magnus’ bike also finds a spot in his top five highlights as well.

He travels to the closest city to attend an art show with Maia, he finds himself looking into renting the apartment above the bookstore and is on the first name basis with everyone in town and a number of the people in neighboring towns as well.

At first they know him as Alec’s boyfriend, but soon enough they know him for him.

He finds himself building a life. He finds himself not just wanting to stay a little longer, but to stay indefinitely.

***

Alec flips the open sign in the front window off before turning to Magnus. Turning the main lights leaving them in a muted neon glow. The juke box Simon finally got around to fixing plays a soft slow song in the background.

“Huh, never had to turn that off before,” Alec says as slides into the booth beside Magnus. “It’s kinda weird.”

Midnight Diner will be closed down the next day for the “once a decade the county inspector remembers our diner exists inspection” as Alec’s boss calls it.

Alec reaches out snatching one of the fries from the plate in front of Magnus.

“Thief,” Magnus whispers with a glare. Alec just smirks. He looks gorgeous under neon lights, the purples, blues and oranges clinging to the tips of his hair and on dark eyelashes and in that moment with that playful smirk edging at his lips Magnus realizes he’s so goddamn in love with Alec.

“I am so goddamn in love with you too,” Alec says casually, easily like it’s the simplest thing in the world as he steals another fry and pops it in his mouth. It takes Magnus a second, to catch up with the fact that he’d said I love you out loud. He doesn’t regret it, it’s truer than just about anything ever has been for him, but he hadn’t meant to say it so soon.

Alec just turns gripping Magnus’ forearm that’s resting on the table and leans in for a kiss. It’s salty and Alec’s breath definitely still smells like that pitch-black coffee he drinks, but it’s just as perfect as every kiss they’ve ever shared.

They sit there for a while longer feeding each other fries and talking about the surprise trip Alec’s been planning for them that he absolutely will not give Magnus any details about no matter how much he tries to pry something out of him. Meals, sexual favors, Agatha Christie novels to add to his ever growing collection, nothing has made Alec budge.

“It’ll be nice to get out of Midnight for a while,” Alec says. “Even if you don’t know where we’re going.”

Magnus just huffs in annoyance at Alec’s stubborn secretiveness. It will be nice, he loves it in Midnight, but a weekend away will be welcome. Afterwards he’s fairly certain that coming back to Midnight will be even sweeter though. He hasn’t brought it up officially with Alec, but Magnus wants to stay. Not just in a month to month their relationship is going well sense, but permanently. Forever, if Alec will have him.

He feels at home here, not just with Alec, but with the town and everyone else inside of it. He has favorite spots and knows local stories and it just all fits so well.

The apartment above the bookshop is now occupied by Simon after Clary dumped him for the fourth time this year according to Maia, but he’s looking into other options and he wouldn’t be lying if he hasn’t considered the fact that he stays at Alec’s house at least five days a week now.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about the future,” Magnus says. Alec drops his fry stealing mission, wiping his hands off and focusing his attention solely on Magnus. He turns as much as he can to face Magnus in the booth and trails his fingers along Magnus’ forearm.

Magnus takes a deep breath gathering up the courage to say what he wants. He knows Alec, but nearly 30 years of people telling him he’s too clingy or he’s too much for too long there’s a fear of saying it out loud.

“I want to stay, indefinitely,” Magnus says eyes shining bright as he looks at Alec. “Forever actually, if you’ll have me.”

Alec looks stunned and even though it’s probably not even a full second of quiet it’s enough for Magnus to think he needs to backtrack.

"Sorry that's too much. I'm too much," Magnus says making to pull away. But Alec's grip on his arm doesn't lessen and he's pulled right along with him. Magnus can't meet his eyes though, can't see whatever agreement or consideration is resting in them. It's quiet the buzzing sounds of the neon lights the only thing filling the space when finally after seconds that feel like hours Alec's hand lets go.

 This is it. Magnus thinks. Too much. He’s heard so many of his stories, even taken the whole Camille debacle in stride and accepted all of Magnus’ eccentricities, but this admittance just two months into their relationship is just too much too soon.

 But instead of the inevitable pull away Alec's fingers return to delicately trace up along his forearm where he'd just been gripping tight to keep Magnus from running. He trails them up along Magnus' bicep and across his shoulders till he reaches the sensitive lines of his neck and moves upward. Magnus lets out a stuttering breath at the reverent touch still unwilling to look Alec's way. 

 The fingers pause at the juncture of his jaw briefly tracing the sharp edge until Alec's large hand slides along his cheek fully cupping it softly and gently urging Magnus to turn his head and meet his eyes. 

 It takes another moment of coaxing, of Alec's thumb rubbing softly under his bottom lip before returning to rest alongside his other fingers but eventually Magnus does finally turn locking out to those hazel eyes filled not with agreement to Magnus' statement or fear or anything of the like. It's a look Magnus has never really seen directed at him before. It's love. It's adoration. It's worship. It's a heady thing that Magnus knows he'd be trying his damndest to send right back Alec's way if his own eyes weren't no doubt swimming with worry.

 "Too much of you is never enough," Alec says into the now nonexistent space between them, finally speaking once he feels that look in his eyes has been interpreted correctly.

 Magnus breathes out a sigh of relief, his eyes clearing of worry and finally he's able to send the love, adoration and worship right back. 

 He doesn't know what to say but he hopes a kiss will say it all. It’s a quick chaste thing, but he puts all the feeling he can into it.

 “I wasn’t sure, I know you never planned on staying and when you did I just wasn’t sure how long and I didn’t want to pressure you into staying in this small middle of nowhere town just for me,” Alec admits quietly.

 “You are a big part of the reason I want to stay; I won’t act like that’s not true. When I first had the option to go and get my bike fixed faster you were the sole reason I stayed, but the more time I spend here the more at home I feel with you, but also with this town. A small town in the middle of Texas with one stoplight is never where I thought I’d end up, but now it’s the only place I want to be.”

 “It’s the only place I want to be to, with you,” Alec says his eyes looking a little wet. “Forever.”

 Alec pulls Magnus in close hugging. The angle is awkward and both their knees manage to hit the table but Alec’s arms are strong and warm and permanent.

 This is home now, this diner, this town, this man.

 ***

Three Months Later

“Love, do you still have that Space Jam t-shirt?” Magnus asks as he flips through their shared closet. It’s Looney Tunes night at the saloon, Meliorn’s idea of a joke saying they need to live up to their name on occasion and Magnus�� wardrobe doesn’t exactly feature a lot of Bugs Bunny to participate in the dress code.

He does however recall spotting a black shirt with a small space jam symbol on the pocket floating around in Alec’s stuff when Magnus had officially moved out of the motel and into the house.

“Uh, yeah, I’ll get it for you,” Alec says standing up from where he’d been lacing up his boots leaving the right one untied, chest still bare.

“I got it,” Magnus says waving him off. “Bottom drawer right?”

Magnus bends down to open the drawer and sees the t-shirt right at the top, but before he can reach for it Alec trips his way over his untied shoelace to the chest of drawers and slams the drawer shut.

“No I got it,” he says clearly aiming to sound casual, but missing it by a mile wide.

Magnus looks at him, eyebrow raised. “You’re being weird.”

“I’m not being weird,” Alec scoffs hand still splayed out against the drawer keeping Magnus from even trying to open it back up.

“Whatever the hell that was just now says otherwise.”

“I’m just being a helpful boyfriend, getting that shirt for you,” Alec smiles a clear attempt to dodge whatever this is.

“Being helpful by nearly falling on your face to close the drawer shut where I’d already found what I was looking for and not letting me open it back up?” Magnus asks still eyeing his boyfriend quizzically.

“Yup,” Alec says popping the ‘p’. “So, you just go have a seat and I’ll get that for you.”

Magnus stands to his full height, Alec following but replacing his hand that was holding the drawer shut with his foot.

“Okay, yeah no, you’re being incredibly weird so I’m going to get the shirt so I can stop wondering if you’re storing a human hand under there or something with how spazzy you’re being.”

Magnus leans back down quick and Alec attempts to follow, but his untied lace gets caught on the drawer handle sending him to the ground flat on his ass. He scrambles to stop Magnus, but it’s too late he’s already picked up the shirt.

“I don’t see why you’re being so,” Magnus freezes looking at the space under the shirt. Alec’s hand falls onto the edge of the drawer clearly not seeing a point in trying to shut it anymore. Because there under the shirt that Alec never seems to wear is a small velvet box, just the right size for only one thing.

“Oh,” Magnus says in realization. “So, that’s why you didn’t want me to get the shirt.”

Alec snorts, “Yeah, no human hand or anything.”

Moments of quiet pass in their bedroom until suddenly Alec is clearing his throat to get his attention. Magnus looks at him eyes finally tearing away from the box and all the implications it holds.

“Go ahead,” Alec gestures pulling his leg up and finally tying his right shoe.

Magnus shakes his head, he desperately wants to look, but clearly Alec had some sort of plan.

“No, it’s fine, it can wait for whatever you were planning to do with it, I can just act like I saw nothing.”

Alec gives him a disbelieving look.

“Okay, I can try and act like I saw nothing.”

Alec laughs at that lifting himself up onto his knees and grabbing the box from its resting space.

“I’d rather do this now, than have you fake surprise over some romantic dinner or something,” he says flipping open the box. Nestled inside the smooth fabric is a silver ring, simple except for the thin line of black and white diamonds running through the center. “Fair warning, Greta at the pawn shop told me that only one of these diamonds is real and I get to guess which one it is.”

Magnus chuckles at that shifting onto his knees mirroring Alec.

“I was going to ask you in Austin,” Alec continues and Magnus’ breath catches. Austin had been two months ago, a spur of the moment trip just days after Magnus had moved in to support a gig Simon had.  Arguably by the standards of most it would have been too soon, but they’ve moved at lightning speed, brick on the gas since the day Magnus admitted he wanted to stay here with Alec forever. Any modern-day idea of perfect relationship timing be damned. “But then I chickened out cause I worried it was too soon after we’d just moved in together, so I’d been planning and coming up with ideas with Maia’s help for weeks so of course the one time you want to borrow one of my shirts instead of the other way around it’s this shirt.”

Magnus just shrugs an innocent smile on his face.

“So, say goodbye to rose petal dinners, instead you’re getting half-dressed on the bedroom floor.”

“I like it when we’re half-dressed on the bedroom floor so you won’t hear me complaining,” Magnus says cheekily.

“Magnus Bane,” Alec says rolling his eyes a teasing reprimand in his voice that he drops with his next words. “Will you marry me?”

Magnus scoots forward draping his arms over Alec’s bare shoulders.

“Alexander Lightwood, I absolutely will marry you.” Alec smiles bright pulling Magnus in by the waist with the hand not holding the ring kissing his fiancé with all that he has.

Eventually somewhere along the line the ring ends up on his finger somehow and they finally pull back for air.

“That’s gonna be Alexander Bane soon enough,” Alec says slightly out of breath.

Magnus leans back, a little shocked. Bane had been a name he’d chosen once he was free of the foster system and here Alec was choosing it just the same.

“You want to take my last name?”

Alec just shrugs, like it’s no big deal, even though Magnus knows he knows it’s a big deal.

“The Lightwood name lost it’s meaning for me the day my parents decided I wasn’t worth their time, so yeah, if it’s okay with you I want to take your last name.”

Magnus smiles eyes suddenly feeling a little wet, “Of course it’s okay with me.”

He pulls Alec in hugging him tight, the ring looking just perfect on his finger as he runs his hand through Alec’s hair.

“We should see if Raphael is free right now,” Magnus says mumbling it into the curve of Alec’s neck where he’s resting. Alec pulls back.

“Wait do you mean-“

“Sure, I mean we both don’t have to be at work for,” Magnus pauses looking at the alarm clock on his side of the bed briefly. “Another three hours, Maia’s a lawyer so I’m sure she can whip us up a marriage license in no time. So why not?”

“Not that I don’t love the idea of marrying you on a whim before dinner, but neither of us are fully dressed and I thought maybe you’d want Ragnor and Cat to be here, and you know Iz and Max.”

“Oh, right, them,” Magnus says feeling a little embarrassed he’d been so caught up in the euphoria of shirtless Alec proposing that he’d forgotten their family who don’t live within their little six block radius.

“Maybe next week then,” Magnus shrugs and Alec laughs which is quickly cut off in favor of more kissing.

A week later somehow impossibly with Ragnor, Cat, Max, and Izzy in the front row Maia hands them a marriage license she obtained “mostly legally” and with Raphael proceeding they exchange vows and rings with only one real diamond between them in front of a small cluster of the town’s residents.

When they kiss after saying I do it feels like the beginning of everything, like all his years of feeling lonely and out of place; of traveling with no real end in sight have led him here to this man, to this town.

He’s never stayed in one place for long, but now here in this tiny Texas town, he’s finally home.

[malecsecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @shipnotised!

Read on AO3

*****

My Telltale Heart

“Wow. You look like crap.”

Alec did indeed look like crap, and he knew that; 11am was too early to start a Saturday shift in general, let alone when he’d been up until 4am writing feverishly. He still gave Duncan an incredibly unimpressed glare, though.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t do my make-up on lunch break, but I was too busy trying not to throw myself out of the window,” he said, voice as flat as his patience was thin. He ignored Lindsay in the corner, proclaiming that a “mood”.

“Well if you need make-up tips, you can always ask Magnus,” he snickered.

“Stop being a dick to him,” Lindsay said from the depths of her locker.

“Who the fuck is Magnus?” Alec asked.

“One of the new temps lol,” Duncan answered, literally saying “lol” with his mouth and

annoying Alec even more – which he didn’t think possible. “Linds thinks he’s handsome.”

“He IS handsome.”

Duncan snorted. “And obviously gay. He wears makeup. Everyone knows him already Alec, I can’t believe you don’t.”

Alec had already shut his locker – a little too forcefully after Duncan’s comment – and had started making his way out of the room, but turned to address him anyway.

“Like Lindsay said, quit being a dick.” She nodded sagely in the background, validated. “He probably looks better in makeup than you do without. Besides, I never usually learn people’s names unless they’re obviously going to stay and be important to me. But maybe I’ll make an effort for this Magnus – what do you think, Dennis?” He smirked and shrugged lightly before leaving the room and getting back to work. He distinctly heard Lindsay’s laughter behind him.

It was a Saturday though, and he was entirely too busy to give this mysterious Magnus much thought in amongst mentally ranting at every asshole who thought it was okay to leave half empty coffee cups all over his shop. He ran the whole mens floor more often than not, which was fine, he could handle that. What wasn’t fine was the absolute clowns he had been saddled with that day. Surely, it wasn’t that hard to read a label and work out where, roughly, an item belonged? It was fortunate that all the tills were staffed so he wasn’t needed there. He fucking hated the tills.

Obviously, the two new kids with him that day just had to leave dead on time, leaving him to effectively close up the entire floor on his own. By the time 10pm rolled around, he was cursing under his breath. Was it so hard for people to put things back where they’d gotten them from?

“As wonderfully colourful as you’re painting the air, can I offer any assistance?” came a voice from behind him, making Alec realise that his muttering hadn’t been quite as under his breath as he’d thought. He turned, either to justify himself or apologise – he hadn’t quite decided – but the words caught in his throat once he’d saw the owner of the voice. It was quite a voice, and this man was quite the owner. He made the simple all black uniform requirement look haute couture, with a brocade waistcoat over the plain button up shirt, and rings that looked far nicer than anything on display in the jewellery counter on the floor below.

“I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced,” said the beautiful man, offering a hand out to Alec. “I’m Magnus.”

“Alec,” he offered as freely as his smile. He fumbled with the multipack of socks he was still holding before taking Magnus’s hand, holding it perhaps a little longer than strictly necessary. It didn’t seem like Magnus minded.

“We should- are you sure? It’s late,” Alec stumbled out eventually.

“I’m positive. If it’s late for me, then it’s late for you too, Alec.”

“Thank you,” he conceded. “It’s just the rest of this-“ he gestured vaguely to the area around him – “to do.”

There was truthfully only about another half hours work in it for him, but with Magnus assisting him in comfortable silence, they were done in under fifteen. Alec took a moment to slyly check whether he’d have to stay a little longer just to make sure the sections he hadn’t done himself were acceptable – Magnus was new, and Alec had high standards – but it was with relief that Alec noted Magnus clearly knew what he was doing.

“Do you have to get someone to check before we leave?” Magnus asked.

“Normally, yeah, but they trust me to get it right. Thank you, Magnus, I really appreciate it,” Alec said, with a sincerity his colleagues rarely got to hear.

“Well, you definitely don’t look a damsel, but I can’t resist aiding someone in distress,” Magnus said succinctly, with a twinkle in his eye that intrigued Alec. He didn’t make friends that easily, but there was something about Magnus that he really couldn’t quantify. He felt like they could be very good friends, and he found that, unlike himself, he wasn’t averse to trying.

“I’m this way,” Alec indicated, once they’d signed out and left the store. The early November air was biting at this time of night, his ears an unfortunate victim.

“Ah, I’m the opposite. Will I see you tomorrow?”

“No, I got lucky and get Sundays off. Monday?”

Magnus grimaced. “I’m a student, I can only work weekends unfortunately. I guess I’ll see you next week then, Alexander.”

The use of his full name startled him, though not as much as the realisation that he didn’t mind it when it came from Magnus. “Yeah, Um, how did you-“

“Lucky guess,” Magnus smiled. “Do you mind it?”

“I think I’ll let you call me that,” Alec smiled back. “Good night, Magnus.”

“Good night, Alexander.”

And so it was that they spent every Saturday lunch break together. Alec was always scheduled for the long shift, and while Magnus’s shifts only ever started as soon as Alec’s breaks would finish, he was always around an hour early. Alec asked him about it, and Magnus shrugged.

“My lunch options are more varied around here,” he said.

Alec asked Magnus a lot of things, and answered just as many. He took Magnus to Taki’s, a little nearby diner that did amazing spanakopita and other Greek pastries. Thalia, the old lady running the place, had long taken a shine to Alec and insisted on giving him free treats – he accepted, purely on the basis that he’d sneak a good tip in when she wasn’t looking. She knew, and he knew she knew, but they didn’t speak about it. What was important was that she took a great liking to Magnus too, especially when he spoke to her in broken Greek.

“You speak Greek?” he asked, on their first visit there.

“Only a little,” Magnus conceded. “I speak a few other languages somewhat fluently, and figured since I’m good at them, I may as well learn them.”

It turned out that Magnus knew Spanish, French, and Italian (“once you’ve got one romance language down you’ve basically got the others”), a little Greek, a little Dutch, and was fluent in Indonesian. Alec found out that Magnus was actually from Indonesia, though moved as a young teen to America to live with his father. He eventually moved to New York when he refused to join the “family business” – whatever that was, Magnus never specified – and was a grad student studying particle physics now.

Alec, in turn, told Magnus about his family, about sharing an apartment with his siblings and he and Jace working so Izzy could focus on med school. He told Magnus about his mother and Max, trying to help how they could even though they were left with very little after Robert left them. He even told Magnus about Robert, about him being that cold kind of homophobic that tolerated him, but did not accept him.

They spent one memorable Saturday at the very start of December discussing books. Alec didn’t usually allow himself to get carried away in conversation, sweeping hand gestures punctuating his words, but he was talking about something he loved and – well. He trusted Magnus enough to be himself with him, to live a little more freely – similar, but even more so, to how he was with Izzy and Jace.

“I just- stories are such an inherently human art, you know? The best stories echo through time in their original forms simply because humans don’t change all that much, despite era or culture. That’s the goal,” he rambled. Magnus frowned a little, head tilting, and Alec thought that it might have been the cutest thing he’d ever seen a person do – and Max was a cute child.

“Do you write, Alexander?” he asked. Alec froze.

“I-“ he licked his lips, and leaned in. Magnus did the same, and Alec lowered his voice. “Don’t tell anyone, but… yeah. I do. Not even Jace and Izzy know. I don’t know why I don’t tell them, it’s not like I’ll ever get published, but…”

“It’s nice to have something for yourself,” Magnus finished.

“Yeah,” Alec smiled. “You read my mind. Maybe one day, I’ll put it out there, but for now,” he simply shrugged.

“If you ever decide to put your writing out there, I’ll be first in line. Knowing you, I have no doubt it’ll be incredible.”

The sheer belief that Magnus had in him, the trust after only four weeks, broke something down in Alec that he had no idea he’d even built. Suddenly, he wanted Magnus to know him like no one else – or maybe, it wasn’t sudden at all.

He leant down, rummaging around in the small bag he brought with him and pulling out his tattered cheap notebook, flicking it to the most recent page. He carried it with him to work, favoured green pen tucked into the spiral binding, in case inspiration struck him while commuting or on break (he would always leave the store on lunch, even Before Magnus – and wasn’t it something, that Alec was separating his life into Before Magnus and After Magnus?). Alec mostly wrote fiction, short stories, poured out his frustrations and lived his wildest dreams in them, and yet, on that morning’s train, he’d found himself hit with a three-quarter formed idea and rushed to scribble it down.

It was a sonnet, structured like Shakespeare’s ones, and its underlying tone was… hopeful. New beginnings, new bonds, change that was welcome. He consciously made another change now, in sliding the notebook over to Magnus.

“This came to me on the train this morning, so uh – I don’t know if it’s any good. But I trust you to be honest with me if it sucks,” he laughed nervously, hands starting to rub themselves nervously without a conscious thought.

Magnus was silent as he read, and though he read quickly, it seemed to Alec like a whole hour passed, rather than a minute. He watched Magnus read, watched his eyes widen, until Magnus looked up at him with a look on his face of… awe?

“Alexander,” he said, voice hushed. “This is incredible.”

“You… think so?” he replied, blush beginning to rise. Magnus nodded.

“You have a real skill for words, darling. None of the languages I speak could be as beautiful as your own.”

Alec smiled, a soft shy thing, as he gently took the notebook back from Magnus and closed it. He felt impossibly light, a burden he hadn’t realised was weighing on him as much as it had relieved.

“We have to go back now, but – it’d be nice to talk about writing with someone. Can I text it to you, sometime?”

“Absolutely,” grinned Magnus, exchanging numbers with Alec as they walked back to work.

Alec realised, two Sundays after he’d first gotten Magnus’s number, that he had no idea if Magnus was coming to that night’s work Christmas party. He certainly had never made his intentions of going clear, and now Magnus was already at work, so he couldn’t just ask.

Parties weren’t often Alec’s thing, but he did enjoy them now and then, and it wasn’t as if he hated his colleagues or anything. He just felt… out of place. To be perfectly honest, he felt that way most of the time, except around his family, while writing, or with Magnus.

Perhaps it should scare him, that Magnus felt a little like belonging. It didn’t.

He dressed reasonably appropriately for the night, tan wool overcoat and beanie part of his outfit, not just accessories, and charcoal shirt with the top few buttons undone despite the cold. He’d been something of a boring dresser once, before he’d come out, all large sweaters and baggy jeans – but now, while fashion still didn’t speak to him as such, he knew what he liked and how to dress and wore sharp, clean, well-fitting clothes. It wasn’t even a conscious decision, really, but the internet always said you dressed better after coming out and he supposed that had happened to him as well.

He wasn’t out out, but he wasn’t hiding anything either. It was no one’s prerogative to know everything about him unless he wanted them to.

Ten to eight, Alec found himself sat with a bunch of his colleagues waiting for those who had just finished work to join them. Magnus wasn’t already there, and he hoped that he would be showing up with the others, else Alec would probably just head home after the meal and text Magnus all night instead.

That was what they usually did, anyway.

He needn’t have considered alternate plans, though – as Magnus strolled in with the latecomers looking like an untouchable god.

He’d shaved, for a start, and put dark pink highlights in his hair – he’d not had them yesterday at lunch – and he wore a stunning crushed red velvet blazer. Red was certainly Magnus’s colour, Alec thought. He didn’t think about the fact that he noticed how tight Magnus’s pants were, or the fact that Alec couldn’t take his eyes off his friend.

Magnus seemed to be looking for something, and Alec began to stand to greet him, which led Magnus to look his way. He smiled at the sight of Alec, and Alec smiled back, heart leaping, as Magnus made his way over.

“Got you a drink,” Alec said, indicating the two on the table in front of him.

“After that day, I certainly need one. Thank you, Alexander,” said Magnus, resting his hand on Alec’s shoulder as he leant to pick up the drink. “Dark and Stormy?” Alec shrugged.

“It sounded nice, so I thought I’d try it.”

“Good choice, darling. Shall we go be seated?”

They managed to sit next to each other throughout the whole meal, and while Magnus entertained those in the vicinity – like a king holding court, Alec thought, all his subjects enthralled and enamoured – most of their attention was on them alone.

The food was decent, surprisingly good for the place they were in, and the free drinks meant the empty glasses began accumulating steadily. The air buzzed with merriment, and even Alec was laughing freely.

“Hey, everyone’s heading down to Pandemonium now,” Magnus whispered into Alec’s ear.

“Mmm? Are you going with?”

“Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to stop by a store, get some cheap wine, and come back to mine.”

Alec grinned. He wanted nothing more.

Magnus’s place was huge. A penthouse full of oddities and books and incredible art, for a grad student? Even Tipsy Alec was confused by it all, and Tipsy Alec was so much more of a dumbass than Sober Alec. As Magnus closed the door behind them, coming forward to take the bag from Alec’s hands, he noticed the expression on Alec’s face and seemed to read his mind.

“This place is the one gift I accepted from my father. I had… a sizeable trust fund, all legally in my name, nothing he could do about it, and I used it to buy this place after I’d left. I didn’t want to touch his money, but he never wanted me to come here, so - it seemed like a perfectly good ‘fuck you’.”

“It’s a pretty good fuck you, as fuck yous go. You know, I’m surprised you don’t like parties,” Alec said.

Magnus waved his hand nonchalantly. “Oh, I love parties. I’d just much rather hang out with you.”

And fuck, if that weren’t something right there.

Magnus and Alec found themselves sharing just one bottle of wine, far too busy talking to drink, simply enjoying each other’s company when not talking, enough that alcohol simply wasn’t necessary. As a fire crackled in the grate in front of the seating area, Magnus showed Alec his books, told wild travel stories for each trinket, regaled Alec with stories that while they could be those he told when winning friends and captivating hearts, Alec just knew that these were for him and him alone. Magnus had just told a story from his youth where he pretended to be his own father to get out of detention, and that it had somehow worked despite it being a face-to-face conversation, and Alec couldn’t stop giggling, which seemed to set Magnus off laughing too.

“Gods, I was such a little brat when I was with him. Still would be, probably, had I not met Cat and Ragnor and left.”

“Was it hard to leave? With your dad doing… whatever it is he does.”

Magnus’s eyes narrowed quizzically, but warmly. “My father owns a pharmaceutical company that jacks up the prices of literally everything. What did you think he might do, Alexander?”

“Honestly, thought he might be a mob boss, but that’d probably be better,” Alec said. “I see why you want to distance yourself from him.”

“Mmm. You’re one of three people who know about him, here.”

“I’m- Cat, Ragnor, and… me?” Magnus nodded at Alec’s incredulous tone.

“I trust you,” he said, warm brown eyes unwavering from Alec’s own.

“Thank you. For what it’s worth, and this may be selfish, but I’m kinda glad it led you here.”

“Yeah?” asked Magnus, twisting his body round so that he was sat cross legged on the couch, back resting against the arm and facing Alec, who was sprawled out so that his torso lay on the couch, head on the arm rest, and longs legs bent resting on the floor. “Be selfish for a second for me. Why?”

“If you hadn’t realised what a jerk he was, you wouldn’t be in New York. And if you hadn’t cut yourself off… you wouldn’t have needed a job to support you. And I wouldn’t have met you. I’m sorry, if that’s rude, but… I’m really glad I met you,” Alec steamrollered, knowing that if he didn’t get it out now he might never do it again out of stubbornness.

“I’m really glad I met you too, Alexander. Makes being yelled at for not returning things from last year worth it.” Magnus laughed softly then, and so did Alec, a shared experience joining them. Magnus heaved a sigh then, and Alec furrowed his brow.

“Alexander… how drunk would you say you are? I’m completely sober, unfortunately.”

Alec took a second to ponder it, but he needn’t have – they’d been sat there for a few hours, and were only halfway through their shared bottle of wine. The only thing he was intoxicated by was Magnus’s presence, the warmth radiating from him that had little to do with actual temperature and everything to do with the comfort and serenity that Magnus brought him.

“If it makes you feel better about it, I’m completely sober too,” Alec said. “But that’s okay. Being here at 2am is way more fun than any club could be.”

“Good, I’m glad you – that’s good. Alexander, tell me if this is too forward, but…” Magnus trailed off, eyes closed and breathing deeply, as if to steady himself.

“But what?”

Magnus shook his head, and swallowed, before he leant down and forward and pressed his lips to Alec’s.

It was relatively chaste, all things considered, but Alec felt his world turn on its head. Magnus tasted of wine, and chocolate, and home, and Alec closed his eyes and let himself feel. His lips were soft, and as Alec chased them, it hit him that he was halfway to falling in love with the man, and he hadn’t even noticed that that was what it was.

They separated, yet Magnus didn’t go far; Alec opened his eyes to see Magnus still hovering a few inches over him, his own eyes gazing into Alec’s own. Alec’s lips quirked into a smile.

“That was-“

“Yeah,” Magnus breathed out, and returned Alec’s soft, shy smile with one of his own, to which Alec, surprising himself with his boldness, rose up and kissed again.

The difference this time, as they sat up together, was that they could barely stop smiling to really kiss, but neither cared. Their laughter mingled between them in the firelit room, Alec’s admission that he’d never been kissed before at 24 simply encouraging Magnus to kiss him more, barely noticing when the embers started to settle, tangled up in each other on the couch with this new thing between them, that had somehow always been present.

“Stay the night, Alexander? It’s late, we don’t have to do anything, just… stay?”

“Magnus, there’s- there’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

No one commented on the spring in Alec’s step the next morning, and he was grateful; he didn’t exactly want to tell them he’d been woken up with a kiss from a man who made his heart sing, after falling asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. That was his alone to rejoice in.

The next two weeks were much the same as their last five; a whirlwind of texts and soft smiles when their eyes met at work, among the many “no, we’re all sold out of those now” to people who left their Christmas shopping until a week before the date and were surprised everything had gone – like it didn’t happen every year. The only difference was that now they held hands over the table at Taki’s as they spoke, Thalia beaming at them whenever they stole kisses while sharing pastries. They didn’t notice that, though.

They spoke more about dating, than before; previously, Alec had always carried a small burden of shame that he’d never been in a relationship, but Magnus, with all his experience in good and bad relationships, never treated it as a set back in any way. He had a knack for making Alec feel comfortable in his own skin.

“I’m covering a shift tomorrow, by the way,” Alec said, after a few minutes of silent contemplation. Magnus quirked an eyebrow.

“My last day,” he said. “Can’t say I’m sad, but the place did bring me you, so…”

Alec snorted. “Run while you still can. I’ll just miss seeing you at lunch every Saturday.”

“Well, I still have Saturdays free. I see no reason why I can’t still meet you every so often – it might do me good to get out of the house and work on my paper.”

“Yeah?” Alec grinned, indescribably happy. Neither of them had defined what was between them yet, and that was okay; it was like they were still the best of friends, with the added bonus of kissing, and yet Alec was still surprised that Magnus, beautiful, kind, intelligent Magnus, wanted to spend time with him, read his writing and told him it was masterful, urged Alec to be a better version of himself simply by being there.

“Yeah,” Magnus grinned back. “Also we should go back.” He laughed at Alec’s groan.

“Ah ah ah!” they heard Thalia shout as they left the café. Alec turned, curious; it’s not as if they’d forgotten to pay – had they left anything? “Look above, just for you two loves,” she yelled happily.

Magnus chuckled. “Mistletoe, Alexander. Shall we?”

Alec laughed, and leant in, and made a note to ring Thalia later and leave his number, so she could send him the photo she very obviously took.

Sunday was like every Sunday, but times ten; he’d agreed to cover someone in the ladies department for a change of pace, and was kinda wishing he hadn’t. He had, at least, made plans with Magnus to get dinner and spend the night, which powered him through the chaotic day.

Before they could escape however, Jia, the store manager, gathered everyone around the doors. Alec groaned inwardly. He’d forgotten that she did this every year, giving them all a speech about how high the quality of seasonal staff was, and how it being the 23rd it was most of their last days anyway, and blah blah blah. Alec mostly tuned it out in favour of his favourite activity – looking at Magnus.

“Gonna miss your lunch date, Lightwood?” Duncan called out once Jia had apparently finished, laughing, though nobody laughed with him. Alec smiled, knowing exactly what he had to, and wanted to, do. He lifted his arm to embrace Magnus shoulders as he moved to his side, not needing words to know what Alec planned, arm snaking around Alec’s waist and hand settling comfortably on his hip.

“Well, now we’re no longer co-workers – I guess Magnus’ll just have to settle for being my boyfriend instead, huh?” Alec raised an eyebrow, daring Duncan to say anything. By the look of his reddening face, he had nothing, suitably ashamed by the smiles on every other associates faces – even Jia cracked a smile, and Alec thought he heard Simon whooping as Magnus pulled his face in for a quick, yet tender, kiss.

“We’ll just have to go on more actual dates, I suppose… boyfriend,” Magnus said to him as they left, Magnus for the last time as a staff member.

They’d agreed not to get each other gifts, Alec thought; and had ended up giving each other the best gift they could possibly have gotten. Alec had a boyfriend for Christmas for the first time ever, and as he held him close, Alec resolved that he’d never let him go.

[kellangirard]

Making Contact ~ ‪@RaeanneThorn ‬

Waiting was driving us stir crazy. I needed to get out of the lab to think. Rae never even heard me leave. She was focused on who knows what on a half dozen monitors. It had been 2..3...4 days since our letter had been delivered. Nothing. I looked around and realized that I’d been walking longer than I thought. I was a block from my favorite diner. What the hell? Food might be a good idea. I headed inside and ordered a couple of bacon cheeseburgers and chili cheese fries. Who cared about cholesterol at a time like this?

I paced a bit as I waited for our food. The diner wasn’t very big, so I didn’t get far. Luckily I didn’t have long to wait. Just before I paid for the food I realized that we should have milkshakes to make this a proper balanced meal. I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the waitress mix our chocolate shakes. I bet now Rae would notice me. My phone buzzed angrily as I was heading out the door with our burgers. I moved out of the way and balanced everything in my left arm while I pulled my phone out.

It took me a minute to figure out what the text I was seeing meant. It was sent automatically so the sender was unfamiliar, robotic. After a few more moments it dawned on me. We had an email. Holy shit! The anonymous email we set up had received a message. I shoved my phone in my pocket, grabbed the food more securely and hurried back to the lab.

————

At the rate I was going, I was going to see monitors in my dreams. Well, until the nightmare started. The slightest beep had my attention bouncing from one monitor to another. I was going crazy waiting, or rather we were. It had been close to a week since we sent the letter and we still hadn’t gotten a reply. I was beginning to think that we were going to have to try something else. Not anything harmful, but a little more drastic? Something that they could not ignore. But I wasn’t sure what. I concentrated on the monitors, but my thoughts were a million miles away trying to figure out our next step.

——————

I almost dropped the shakes three times in my hurry to get to Rae. I pushed open my office door with my shoulder calling her name. Before I could get to the computer, I had to drop off the food. Once my hands were free, I plunked down in front of my computer and logged in. Knee bouncing with anticipation. Where was Rae? “Rae! Get in here. We got a hit!” I swear my computer was taking three times as long to log in. I couldn’t stare at it. I’d lose my mind. I got up and quickly threw our food on plates and stabbed the milkshakes with straws. By the time I set everything on my desk next to my computer, my computer was logged in. “Rae!”

———————

The first bellow of my name made me jump. Was that Kel yelling like that? I was half way out of my seat when the rest of the words that were yelled clicked. We got a hit? I looked back at the monitors I was watching, I missed something? When my name was yelled for a second time, I was out of the lab and heading to Kel’s office. I didn’t bother knocking. I walked in and crossed my arms, “What are you yelling about?”

——————————

I shoved a milkshake at her. “Your phone. Didn’t you get a message that our email address got a message?” She swiped the shake and plopped down beside me. “I stopped to get food. You’re welcome by the way,” I said as I pushed her burger closer to her. “As I was getting ready to leave, my phone went off. They responded.” I stuffed a french fry in my mouth and logged into the new email address as quickly as I could. There it was. A new email from what I guessed would be an equally anonymous email address. I took a drink of my shake and looked over at Rae. “Ready?” I slowly slid the mouse to her so she could open it.

--------------------------

I wasn’t sure I wanted to be the one to open it. This was important to me, but I knew it was more important to him. I took a sip of my shake, “Mmm, this is good thanks. And thank you for the food. As far as the question about my phone, it was in here. So, no I didn’t see the notification.” I had stalled opening it as long as I could. I took a deep breath and clicked on the email. When it opened, we both read over it in silence.

--------------------

I furrowed my brow before looking at the email. It wasn’t like Rae to be away from her phone. That question would have to wait. I starting reading the reply. “Wait? Does that say what I think it says?” I reread the reply twice more. Was it really that easy? “Does that really say they want to set up a meeting?” I reached for my shake and took a big drink. Mind reeling with the possibilities.

——————-

I didn’t say anything at first. It did say they wanted to meet. But for some reason I couldn’t get excited about it. “Kel, wait a minute.” I ate a few fries before turning to him, “You don’t think this was a just a little too easy? I mean, yeah, I know it’s what we hoped for. But...I didn’t expect it to be this easy for them to agree to meet with us.” I wasn’t sure why, but I just felt that we should be really careful with how we moved forward.

-------------------

There was the Rae I expected. I finished half my burger and wiped my mouth off before responding. “Read it again, Rae. They’re agreeing to meet at a very public location. I assume that they’ll want to check us out and make sure we are who we say we are. We do have the upper hand here, true?” I appreciated her concern and caution, but ultimately, I wanted to be able to help Alec and his wife. Maybe even Draven if we could. They’d gone through too much already. So much that was unnecessary.

----------------------

I sighed, “I’ve read it 4 times over. I know what it says. I’m just saying we’d be stupid to think that just because it’s a public place doesn’t mean there isn’t a reason to be cautious. And how do you think we have the upper hand? They could easily agree to meet us, send someone else to the place and follow us back here when they don’t show. They didn’t survive this long by being careless, Kel. They have survived by being careful, just like us is all I’m saying.” Maybe my concern wasn’t warranted, but what does it hurt to be too careful? I started picking at my food, lost in thought.

--------------------

I tilted my head and stared at her. “Rae, you do remember that we know who they are and what they look like, right? We’re at an advantage. They don’t know who we are. Are you suggesting that we send...I don’t know. A decoy?” I couldn’t figure out where this fear was coming from. Paranoia? Her nightmares again? But I was not going to let it stop me from contacting Alec or Draven. “Rae, you don’t have to be part of this. You know that, right? If you’re this worried, maybe you shouldn’t be.”

--------------------

I shook my head, “That’s not what I meant. I was just saying we’d be crazy to think we have any advantage over them, especially Alec. I just think we need to be a little cautious and not think we can out smart them. That’s all.” I took a few bites of my burger and sighed, “We just need to be careful is all.” I reached for my shake and took a sip. “Thank you for the food. It was really good.”

---------------------

“I’m not forgetting what Alec is, Rae. But I would rather deal with a vampire than The Gathering. As a child, I never imagined that all of the worst monsters in the world would be humans. But you and I have seen them. Worked beside them.” I finished my food and got up to toss my garbage. “What if….,” my thoughts and words trailed off as I slurped the last of my shake.

-------------

I sighed, “I wasn’t saying that you were forgetting what Alec is. I was just saying we shouldn’t let our guard down. That’s all.” I finished off my fries and took a sip of my shake, “I know that They are monsters, in every sense of the word. I know that They need to be brought down, but we don’t need to get ahead of ourselves and forget who we are dealing with on the other side of it.” I was quiet for a few moments and sighed, “What if what?”

-----------------

“What if we set up some surveillance cameras at the location ahead of time? Would you feel better if you could watch it all?” Whether she would go for this or not, I was taking the meeting. I had to. I was partly responsible for what both Draven and Alec had gone through. I needed to try to fix it.

——————-

I thought about what he was saying and shook my head, “No, the owners of the place wouldn’t go for that. But, now that you mention it…” I got up and went over to the cabinet in the corner. I unlocked it with the only key for it, mine, and pulled out a package. I walked back over and sat down, handing the package to Kel. “I bought this a few months back, tweaked it a little,” I couldn’t help but smile, “I wasn’t sure if we would ever need them, but now it looks like the perfect time to use it.” I let him open the box and find the hidden camera and mic.

------------------

Was I more surprised that she’d kept this from me, planned ahead like this or that she wanted to wire me up like an undercover cop? I’m not sure I wanted to answer that question. I might not like it. I took the equipment out of the box and held it in my hand. “Rae, you realize that this means you are agreeing that I meet with Draven alone, right? That you’re saying yes, let’s do this?” I set the camera and mic on the table between us. An eerie calm settling around me like a blanket.

————-

I sighed and shrugged, “And if I said no, Kel? What then? Are you going to sit there and tell me that if I said ‘no, we shouldn’t do this’, you aren’t going to go anyway?” When he didn’t say anything, I smiled a little, “See? That’s my point. You would do it anyway. Even if it meant doing it behind my back.” I finished off my shake and wrapped my uneaten burger up to stick in the fridge. “At least with this, I’ll know you’re doing it, and I’ll also be able to monitor what’s said. Maybe something they say will help us later,” I shrugged.

------------------------

I watched her shoulders fall as she put her leftovers away. She didn’t like this. Any of it. But she was still going to do her job. I turned back to the email. Already trying to figure out a response in my head. “You don’t have to like this, Rae. But I have to go. I have to help them. Especially if by doing so we can take down The Gathering for once and for all.” I looked over at her and gave her a quick smile. “The camera and mic are a good idea. Thank you.”

—————————-

I nodded as I sat back beside him, “I know I don’t have to like it, and I don’t. I really don’t. I think it’s just way too easy that they agreed so quickly to meet us. But I know you are going to do this, no matter what I say, so I might as well accept it and plan for it. Right?” I grabbed my shake and took some more sips, hating that it was almost gone. “When we had talked about adding more security, I bought them. I wanted to see if having those would help, but then it turned out we didn’t need them. They’ve been sitting in there since,” I shrugged, “It’ll be nice to put them to use.”

------------------------

“Maybe they’re just as eager to put an end to all this as we are. Maybe the realization that Alec’s wife could be a target is making this more urgent. There could be a lot of reasons for them to agree, Rae.” I started drafting a response in Word agreeing to meet with them and setting the date and time since they chose the location. I gestured to the screen and moved aside. “Take a look and see if I should change anything? Please?”

————————

I finished my shake and thought about what he said. It did make sense. Now that Alec was married and happy, maybe the threat of having all of that taken away pushed him to want to end the threat once and for all. I sighed and leaned forward, leaning over to read the email. “Shouldn’t it be a little later at night, you know for Alec?”

----------------------

I scanned the draft of the email once more. “I don’t think it’s Alec I’ll be meeting. But don’t forget that Alec is no longer tied to being nocturnal. Although I suppose by now some of the effects from his injection could be wearing off.” Honestly I had no idea if the effects did wear off. Another reason I wanted to contact him. To see how he was adapting to everything.

———————

I thought about what he said and nodded, “Alright, if you’re happy with it. Send it. While we wait to see if they agree to it, we can form some type of plan. I don’t like this, but I don’t want you to go alone. I think you should take someone with you. I can stay here and monitor everything on this end, but I would really feel better if you weren’t alone. You know, just in case something goes wrong.” I waited for him to think over what I said. I couldn’t stop him from going, that was true, but I wouldn’t budge on this point. He was going to take someone with him. That was final.

---------------------

She had agreed almost too easily. Then she gave me an ultimatum? “Take someone with me?” I was too surprised by her suggestion to say anything. I bit back my initial response and focused on sending my response to their email. Then I turned to Rae. “I appreciate your concerns, Rae. But I don’t think it’s a good idea. For one thing, we don’t have anyone I would trust. For another, a second person might spook Draven and Alec and put them on the defensive.”

———————

I shook my head, “You’re not going alone. If that means that I have to find someone to monitor the screens to see if They are onto what we are doing and go with you myself, I will. You are not going alone. I’m not going to budge on this. So you can either do this the hard way or the easy way. Either way, you will not go alone.” He started to say something and I held my hand up, “Nope, I don’t want to hear it. Bottom line. Even if you fight me, I will not budge on this.” I got up and threw my empty cup away, then turned around and faced him, my arms across my chest waiting.

-----------------------------

There were days when I wondered who exactly was in charge here. Today was one of them. “I’m not going to fight you. I’m also not going to agree to this right now. All I will say is that I’ll consider it. Now, since the email has been sent, I’m going to go home and try to get some sleep. I suggest you do the same.” I logged out of the computer, got up, and gave Rae a quick smile. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten you promised to go see a therapist,” I said before heading out of the lab.

————————

Of course he didn’t see the glare that followed him out the door or hear the mumbling. “Of course he would be worried about a therapist at a time like this. Always trying to distract me from what I’m supposed to do.” I sighed as I sat down in the chair and pulled the number of the therapist out of my wallet. I called the number and left a message, hating that I was even doing this. I grabbed my stuff and decided to head to the apartment I had. I couldn’t call it home, I’d spent maybe a week total there in the last 3 months. I basically lived here at the compound. I made sure all the security measures were in place as I left. No sense in dropping our guard now.

[redemptivexheroics]

About The Muse - Emma Thompson

BASICS

Full Name: Emma Joanna Thompson

Nicknames: Emmy, Jo

Age: 23

Sexuality: Heterosexual

Date of Birth: February 13, 1999

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California

Gender & Species: Female/Human

Current Location: Port Angeles, Washington

MORE BASIC INFO

Languages: English, Some Spanish

Religion: Christian

Education: High School Diploma, College

Occupation: Waitress

Drinks, Smokes, & Drugs: Yes/No/No

PERSONALITY

Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

MBTI: N/A

Likes: Shopping, Surfer Boys, Purple, Strawberry Cheesecake

Dislikes: Spiders, Outdate Fashion, Bad Boy, Broccoli

Bad Habits: Shopaholic, Ungrateful, Partying,

Secret Talent: Emma is very skilled at the piano, something she picked up from her mother.

Hobbies: Shopping, Instagram, Swimming, Writing Poetry

Fears: Settling for a less than average lifestyle, going broke, being alone.

Five Positive Traits: Affectionate, Assertive, Charming, Humorous, and Neat

Five Negative Traits: Compulsive, Gossipy, Hypocritical, Insecure, and Spoiled

Other Mentionable Details: Emma due to living a relative easy life feels she doesn’t often to work for things she wants or desires and is quick to make this known.

APPEARANCE

Tattoos: Heart tattoo on left wrist, butterfly on her right shoulder.

Piercings: Navel Piercing, Ear Piercings

Reference Picture: See Above GIF

FAMILY INFORMATION

Parent Names: Alec Thompson [Father], Jenny Thompson [Mother]

Parent Relationship: Complicated

Sibling Names: None

Sibling Relationship: None

Other Relevant Relative: James McBride [Uncle]

Children: None

Pets: Missy [Cat]

BIOGRAPHY

Emma is the only daughter of Alec and Jenny Thompson, her father is a real estate agent and her mother is the owner and manager of a boutique in Beverly Hills. Emma has had an very relative easy life since she was young, and her parents are among one of the wealthiest couples in L.A. Because of her family’s wealth and her upbringing, Emma has developed a spoil rich girl attitude and expects everything to come to her easy. Her parents have to constantly remind her that it’s okay to enjoy the simple things but urge her to go out there and make a name for herself instead of living of theirs. The most she did was go to college which she wants to be big in the fashion industry so decided to do that.

Just because she lets her wealth go to her head doesn’t she mean she’s some typical Hollywood rich girl she has the smarts and skills needed to be successful but rarely acts on them. She often expects great things with little to no effort. She’s also in love with the idea of love, always chasing the surfer boys around town while also playing hard to get.

Though she has hit a sort of snag by throwing a huge party at her Beverly Hills home and when her parents found out they lost it. They disenrolled her from her college, cut off her from her credit cards and easy life and sent her to live with her Uncle James in Port Angeles to learn a life lesson, and once she had she would be welcomed back home with open arms.

Now Emma, stays with her police officer uncle, in a small port town in Washington, and he’s been made aware of the situation and helped her get a job as a waitress at a local diner and Emma is finding it difficult to adjust from a life in Los Angeles to a life in Port Angeles.

[shamelessfm]

( cis male & he/him , aaron tveit ) any time you hear bang by ajr blaring , you know archibald devereaux is home !they are 33 years old , work as a car dealership owner , and have been living in aikens for 30 years . aikens is a tight knit community and everyone knows their favorite movie is interview with the vampire and they love eating burgers. ( ooc info : kels , 26 , she/her )

( cis male & he/him , chris wood ) any time you hear novocaine by the unlikely candidates blaring , you know alec blanchard is home !they are 30 years old , work as a bartender , and have been living in aikens for 25 years . aikens is a tight knit community and everyone knows their favorite movie is die hard and they love eating twizzlers. ( ooc info : kels , 26 , she/her )

( cis female & she/her , kate winslet ) any time you hear control by zoe wees blaring , you know lydia simmons is home !they are 47 years old , work as a diner waitress , and have been living in aikens for 47 years . aikens is a tight knit community and everyone knows their favorite movie is thelma & louise and they love eating milkshakes. ( ooc info : kels , 26 , she/her )

WELCOME TO AIKENS ! Please make sure to submit your account within 24 hours and make sure to look over the checklist .

[lurafita]

Small Town Diner Malec AU add ons

For possible later scenes:

Madzie telling both Jace and Alec that Magnus is supposed to stay away from caffeine and fatty foods, because "auntie Cat said so", after his last physical revealed some high blood pressure/cholesterol. Which results in Jace snatching away Magnus' donut at the station, and Alec switching Magnus to decaf and eggwhites.

Izzy and Alec are working on their relationship, but there are issues they don't know how to deal with right away, and it sometimes comes to a head. Alec loves his sister, but he sees her as a bit of a spoiled, rich girl. Izzy loves her brother, but his disdain for the things she likes just because they are associated with money is grating on her.

Raphael is a troubled teen who was sent by his mother to live with his uncle Ragnor, who also lives in the town (town needs a name…) and owns the library there. Raphael was sucked into a gang in Brooklyn, the Dumort. But when he wanted out, the gang boss threatened consequences for his family, and he was beat up. Which is what prompted his mom to send him to Ragnor. Raphael had to swear to the boss to come back and resume work for the gang once he is of age and no longer under guardianship. When Magnus recognizes the gang tattoo on Raphael, he eventually gets the teen to talk about all this. Magnus had wanted to bust the Dumort gang before, but never could convince anyone to make a statement against them.

Luke is the sheriff.

Dot is Magnus' old partner in Brooklyn. She never believed the accusations against Magnus, but there wasn't a lot she could do to keep him there either.

Lydia is the town's vet.

Jace also comes from money, but maybe doesn't have as contemptuous a relationship with wealth as Alec does. Never the less, this was something they bonded over in the beginning when Alec came to town.

Madzie is the one to find Chairman Meow. Magnus and Jace were supposed to be off that day, or have a later shift or something, but the next town over requested assistence because of a massive car crash or something, so Alec promises to look after Madzie while Magnus and Jace have to leave the up to then cozy breakfast everyone had going on. Then Madzie and Alec are out shopping for the diner, and Madzie hears a pitiful meowing from an alley. And they find the little kitten in a dumpster. Alec takes Madzie to the vet, where Lydia looks over the kitty.

Also, the fridge in Alec's diner fills up with Madzie's drawings.

To the Master post: https://www.tumblr.com/lurafita/744483785225224193/small-town-diner-malec-au?source=share

[omegaplus]

# 1,508

The late Nineties was a time when I discovered independent record stores. Tower Records, however, was far from one but it served as an intermediary between the mainstream and mom-and-pop ones. My best friend at the time Brandon allowed a few visits at the Huntington location before. The following summer, ma’ found herself working at a .99¢ store in Massapequa. At times when she wasn’t driving or found without a car, I was dropped off at the Massapequa location to do music shopping as she was picked up. Tower in Massapequa had an edge most stores didn’t by selling import titles ahead of release date. That’s why I snatched EC8OR’s World Beaters and Autechre’s LP5 as soon as I seen them. And when not depriving others of those same releases, I picked up Aphex Twin’s Classics and original Analogue Bubblebath. At the advent of the internet in the states, Warp Records and DHR were getting a lot of coverage. These were two of only a great many electronic labels overseas (and here in the states) that received a newfound push of coverage. This summer was also when I met Brooke, my ma’s much-younger co-worker. Brooke looked a lot like Chloe Sevigny but was curvy, had a little more meat on her, and have neck-length hair. My ma’ told me that Brooke did absolutely nothing while working there, and the only reason why she got the job was that her dad was close friends with my ma’s friend Abraham, who was the owner of the place. I later saw Brooke at the same community college campus I went to, but because of Long Island’s social politics, we never even traded a word or said ‘hi’ to each other. Once again we go back to the Port Jefferson Music Den and imports, where I would find a copy of Alec Empire’s Squeeze The Trigger, which stands as one of these best jungle-acid techno hybrid records I ever heard; along the same lines as Sonic Subjunkies entire DHR output. Amazing.

Back in my community college days I wrote music reviews for the Compass where I also met a few local musicians slash staffers. Before I knew it I was in their circle. That meant going to see their shows, having diner nights and record-shopping trips with them. Sooner or later, I was invited to their parties as well, such as the one Dede threw one summer. He shared a birthday with fellow musician friend and writer E.J., who referred to himself as the “Greek Tragedy”. Before I arrived at Dede’s, I decided to stop at the Port Jefferson Music Den. While there, I picked up a cache of underground records and import CD’s which would become the soundtrack of the summer.

There was a big turnout at Dede’s with some boombox cassette music and all of one or two outdoor light blubs struggling to illuminate the entire backyard. Everything was going good. People all around were unwinding, drinking, and relaxing, talking about nothing whatsoever and getting themselves dizzier. Hardly anyone saw each other in the dark thanks to Dede’s poor do-it-yourself electrical skills and the final demographics consisted of college preps, B-boys, ravers, coffee-house patrons and bar-types at the time; master arch-types of Port Jefferson and mid-Suffolk county. I roamed around finding friends and people to talk to when someone sitting on the backyard patio caught my attention. His name was Dirty Frank. He asked if he knew me from somewhere. Then for a split second I noticed the two girls he was in between, especially the one sitting on the left of him. She personified cute. Long, dark, curly brunette hair with a blonde streak or two and had big, brown eyes. She was skinny, wearing a black spaghetti strap tank-top with a red butterfly design on it (that was the fashion trend for Ninety-Eight), tight black denims and high-heels. She looked pretty young and pretty hazed on alcohol, too.

I bluffed and said “yes, you do know me from somewhere!” just so I could weasel myself into the conversation with Dirty Frank because I wanted to get to know the girl. Then the four of us introduced each other. Rebecca was her name and we both started talking. I blocked everyone out at the party because my entire focus was on trying to get her and take home all the chips. The more time elapsed, the louder and more belligerent she was but it was OK. She was cute and that gave her carte-blanche, I thought. For a good 45 minutes we were talking and joking around and eventually it went so good that I easily won her number and address. Home free…or so I thought.

As we were still getting to know each other and progressing well past giving and receiving numbers, I look up and noticed a scene getting more and more rowdy and it was right behind her. There were a group of guys huddled together and a confrontation was about to go underway on Dede’s patio. The intensity was getting louder and louder. I was puzzled. Something was going down. Three seconds later, the huddle came right towards her from behind. Rebecca was still running her mouth as the scene unfolds and had no idea what was about to occur behind her. That was when I took her arm and pulled her toward me. Her bottle of beer dropped to the ground and there were all sorts of screaming in frought. One random guy the mob chased after went down hard. They popped him down on Dede’s backyard real good, eight on one. He was in pain for a while but recovered and got back on his feet. The mob left and ran out the backyard door, never to be seen again.

Rebecca was a different story. She was in my arms in tears and holding on to me. She realized what just happened after the fact. The alcohol had her real emotional. She was a shaking, sobbing, petrified mess. I did everything I had to calm her down and keep her from breaking down. For a good half-an-hour I had her very close to me. Rebecca continued the recent trend of girls being in my arms within hours of just meeting them, and this time I took the initiative. The apex was the nadir. Dede’s party was over. Everyone decided to go home. Some high-schoolers pissed themselves that the police would show up to the party but never did. Eventually, Rebecca and I had to split. She had a ride home to Hicksville and said to give her a call. And that was it until Tuesday

I called Rebecca up and she was happy to hear from me. She didn’t realize what had happened that night until I told her because she still couldn’t remember. We went back and forth a couple of times and eventually we made plans to meet up in her home town for an hour or two. When I saw her at the mall this time she was sober and woken up. Nothing went on. No panic, no tears, no alcohol, nothing. Just a ‘whatever’ attitude. She was constantly rambling on and on about this guy that she wanted to give herself up to as we were walking up and down the mall. There was nothing I could do, I gave up myself. After she threatened a kid who talked shit about one of her friends, we ended the evening with a hug and said our goodbyes as we left the mall in Hicksville that evening. As I was standing on the Hicksville platform, I had this extremely surreal feeling: I realized I made it out there, in a totally different town all by myself thanks to the events at Dede’s. It was a very euphoric feeling of freedom but it was unusual how it turned out; a very rare feeling which I could not believe I was capable of, being somewhere new all by myself and meeting someone very new to me. It was nothing I felt from what I usually experienced back in Brentwood, Plainview, and Selden at the time. The train arrived. It was time to board the train back home eastward.

Looking back, it’s one of the five most memorable events in my life based solely on what happened and how I felt. I still remember what went through my head around the time I met Rebecca. She was one of the more interesting girls I have ever met and it was an experience. I considered her to be wild: her drinking, stories of confrontations, and how she wanted to give it her all for another guy had me very curious of what else she could have really been or what these Hicksville girls were made of. But I never found out. I never saw her again.

I see all I listened to at that time. Industrial, digital hardcore, and electronics of all grades (thanks, Europe). There’s solace to be found in between the awkward moments, strikes, and having fewer points to move on to the next round. Purchases made from The Port Jefferson Music Den, Tower Records in Massapequa, and Looney Tunes in West Babylon had the music that makes me think of the backyards, platforms, (strip) malls, and all the key players involved.

Summer 1998 mixtape: 

Wax Trax label Black Box: The First Thirteen Years

Aphex Twin Analogue Bubblebath

Meat Beat Manifesto “Acid Again”

Beastie Boys “Pass The Mic”

Coil “The Snow”

Phil Western The Escapist

Howie B Music For Babies

Cyberaktif “Nothing Stays The Same”

Moby “Into The Blue (Summer Night)”

Juno Reactor “God Is God”

Portishead self-titled

Pigface Gub / Spoon Breakfast

Crystal Method, The “Comin’ Back”

Whirled Records label The ABC’s Of Punk

Shizuo High On Emotion

Ministry “The Angel”

EC8OR World Beaters

Aphex Twin Classics

C-Tec Darker

Jungle Brothers “Jungle Brother (True Blue)” (Stereo MCs RMX)

Alec Empire Squeeze The Trigger

Autechre LP5

Future Sound Of London “Lifeforms”

Empirion Advanced Technology

16-17 “Autogeddon”

Clock DVA “The Hacker”

Esthero “Heaven Sent”

Girls Against Boys “Park Avenue”

Filter “One”

[scottbcrowley2]

Chef Spotlight: Seven questions and a recipe with Alec Tompkins of the Lodge at Carlin Bay - Tue, 31 Jul 2018 PST

Alec Tompkins worked at Beverly’s at the Coeur d’Alene Resort as well as Satay Bistro in Coeur d’Alene before joining the kitchen at the Lodge at Carlin Bay. New owners have transformed the old Carlin Bay Resort into the new Lodge at Carlin Bay, giving the longtime lake dive not only a new name but completely new menu. The old watering hole is now a casually elegant establishment where most diners boat in during summer. Chef Spotlight: Seven questions and a recipe with Alec Tompkins of the Lodge at Carlin Bay - Tue, 31 Jul 2018 PST

[alecmagnuslwb]

Stars

Read on AO3

Fame had come naturally to Magnus. The son of an Academy Award winning actor who stepped into the world of music, mostly as a rebellion to his father who’d wanted him to be just like him, was going to experience all the good and bad of fame.

The good was the way he felt on stage singing a new song that he’d poured his heart into. The bad were the paparazzi.

They’d ruined more relationships that Magnus had tried in vain to save than he could count. They’d speculated wildly about everything from his sexuality to the reason he’d adopted a dog late last year. They exhausted him, but he’d learned to handle them. Had brushed off the damage they caused because in the long run he knew the relationships had always had expiration dates and he’d grown a thick enough skin to handle all the rest.

That all changed when he met Alec Lightwood.

Fame had in no way come naturally to Alec. He was a young diner owner from Manhattan who avoided any sort of contact with anyone that he didn’t absolutely have to talk to. Magnus had met him by chance, ditching his security detail one night, immediately charmed by the fact that Alec didn’t know who he was.

For once he got to be Magnus. Not Magnus Bane rock star, just the man who loved good food, trashy romance novels and his dog Barky Barnes more than anything. Magnus had been halfway in love with Alec that first night, but Alec was good and pure and normal and he doubted that Alec would want to deal with all the fame baggage Magnus came with.

Alec however had taken it all in stride. From the shy man behind a diner counter emerged a determined heart that was willing to take a chance on Magnus, that believed Magnus’ fame was just another part of him to love and weather alongside him when it got too hard. However, despite Alec’s constant reassurance he could handle it; Magnus had carefully kept Alec from the claws of the public eye for nearly six months. Which was frankly six months longer than he’d thought he’d be able to.

Then one quiet date night, one picture from a fan shattered the paparazzi free bubble they’d been floating in for so long.

The media had wasted no time in digging into who Alec was. Magnus had panicked, but yet again Alec had taken it all in stride, not the most comfortable with his picture being plastered online but willing to accept it all as long as he still got to be with Magnus. The first time TMZ accused Magnus of cheating on him with another artist, Alec simply shrugged.

“I know you Magnus,” he’d said with simplicity. “You’d never do that to me, I trust you.”

And Magnus had fallen impossibly even more in love with the man. The paparazzi never stopped, but neither did Alec.

Now, sitting on the balcony of their penthouse apartment, Magnus scrolling through his twitter idly his back pressed to Alec’s chest he finds himself even more in love. It’s been a rough week, another speculated story courtesy of his evil ex Camille derailing what should have been a week with one recording session and precisely nothing else. But sitting here with his boyfriend he feels calm, normal and completely at ease. Vicious exes and annoying TMZ be damned.

“I don’t know why you torture yourself going through that thing,” Alec chuckles, Magnus feeling the sound vibrate through his chest.

“Because,” Magnus says giving no real sound reason for it changing his voice to sound like an old timey movie star. “It’s all a part being a star nowadays.”

Alec laughs, “You sound a thousand years old when you talk like that you know?”

Magnus smiles resituating himself to sit in Alec’s lap, “That’s rude, darling.” He faux pouts still talking with the same silly voice. “And to think I was just about to call you my star.”

Alec groans, a smile on his face betraying the noise, “A thousand years old and cheesy as hell.”

“You love it,” Magnus smiles leaning in to Alec’s warmth and plush lips effectively quieting any further teasing.

Fame may have come naturally to Magnus, but so did loving Alec.

[rawinternets]

Star Wars Episode 2: A rediscovery

OK... at this point, I’ve reviewed in series: 

Rogue One Ep4: A New Hope Ep5: Empire Strikes Back Ep1: Phantom Menace

And boy, I am not excited for Episode 2. Still, I’m ready to give it a chance. 

What happens when I do this is, I watch a movie that improves upon the effort in Episode 1. You can sense here that George Lucas took a lot of the criticisms to heart, maybe even ceded some control to others whom he trusts. Jar Jar is significantly toned down, the spectacle is there but the mystery and darkness is turned up a bit. 

Still, we have a mostly flat movie. Only one “9″ scene and really it’s just the visuals, which have always been Star Wars’s strength. And, we are introduced to George Lucas’s Awkward Teenager Fantasy of a Space Romance (tm) featuring a horribly directed Hayden Christensen and a bewilderingly amenable Natalie Portman. Like, at no time at all in this movie does it make sense that Padme should be falling for this petulant, whiny, and kind of creepy kid... unless we simply assume that she kind of sucks, too. 

Despite John Williams again trying to save the day (and this romance) with a score that soars to beauteous heights with Across the Stars, the film definitely fails here. The infamous “sand” line, etc etc etc all to come. 

Lastly, we get an incredibly hokey and just inexcusably bad Gladiator style setpiece. 1′s and 2′s abound. The end result is a film that kind of flops on the main plot points and otherwise just plods the prequel plots forward, setting up an ep3 that might well have been made into three movies since it’s the only prequel that is interesting or ties to the originals in any satisfactory way. 

On to the scores. 

Average score: 5.48 Standard deviation: 2.07

Scroll. 7. This whole scroll made me say, “I guess...” Like, fine, I guess Count Dooku is a necessary new Sith character. I guess the Republic needs to create an army to help the Jedi... None of it makes me that excited. Appropriate omen for the rest of the movie. 

Approaching Coruscant. 6. Very pretty ship. Very pretty cloudy day on Coruscant. Terrorist attack! Holy shit! Hollywood dramatic death of the decoy getting killed, bad directing/acting by Amidala. I wrote, “woof.” talk about botching an interesting idea. 

Palpatine and Jedi. 7. More expository scenes here. “Dooku was behind it.” Sure, whatever. Keep republic together, sure, whatever. Yoda is fine. Samuel L is bad (must be the directing...). Palpatine scheming is just sort of Meh. 

Obiwan and Anakin. 8. Not too bad, to be honest. Ewan does well, he’s turning up his “Alec Guinness” knobs quite well. 

Jarjar / Padme, re-meet Anakin. 7. Damn, Amidala friendzones Anakin immediately. Anakin less good in this scene vs. with Obiwan. But the tension here actually makes sense.  I wrote, “I’m OK with it.” Jarjar, man. Boo. 

Worm assassination attempt, city chase. 6. This was supposed to be a big sexy setpiece and I was not loving it. Pretty imagery - very bladerunner - but Anakin’s “not another lecture” and subsequent arrogance during the chase scene means I really can’t understand how the Jedi didn’t see this coming. He’s a total prick. On top of that, one basejump from a speeder down 500 feet to another moving speeder *might* have been excusable, but two? And Obiwan catching a lightsaber out of nowhere? Plus, we get bad alien cutscenes. They go to a bar and there’s robot football on in the background, and that’s just a SMH / facepalm type stupid easter egg. Wasn’t into the cigarettes / “death sticks” line that much either. Anakin as a detective is a “meh.” Just... lots of falling flat going on here. 

Jedi Council and Palpatine. 8. Obiwan tracks down the bountyhunter-assassin and Anakin gets to guard the Senator. So, I actually think this is starting to set up Anakin’s turn pretty well. Palpatine is subtly sowing confusion, discord in Anakin’s mind. The council shows serious flaws in trying to spy on Palpatine via Anakin. Palpatine can appeal to Anakin’s ego. Again, the Jedi really were pretty stupid, which I guess we just have to believe (and call-forward to Episode 8, Luke’s POV). 

Jarjar becomes senator. 3. Copy-pasting my notes: “bad. why is anakin monologuing? padme is just sitting there. anakin temper tantruming for no reason. anakin a little rapey.”

Refugees. 3. I skipped over this scene accidentally and that would have been appropriate. Anakin and Padme stilted banter is bad. “At least we have R2! ha, ha, ha!” Good music (as always, JW). 

Diner. 5. Obiwan goes to see an “old friend.” They give a big alien a mustache and have him talk like a Chicago line cook. Gimme a big “meh!” Gotta go to the outer rim to meet some cloners. hurray. 

Library. 7. Jedi archivist arrogance. The mystery deepens - no system is there where the cloners are supposed to be! zomg. But this is all fine, and almost decent with deepening the mystery. 

Padme and Anakin refugee dinner. 7. Kind of as painful as watching someone’s first date at a bar while waiting for a friend. “Attachment is forbidden but we’re encouraged to love unconditionally” and a bunch of other hoke. Anakin is persistent. Still, not a bad scene. 

Jedi training w/ Yoda. 7. A little hokey how Yoda asks the padawan kids to guess at why there’s no system in the archives. A bad yoda chin scratch. A little hokey, but good. 

Back on Naboo. 4. Good music. Dialogue between Anakin and Padme continues to be pretty rough. “Keep our faith in the republic.” More politics. Lake country. Anakin and Padme tension is dumb. 

Camino. 7. Bad name, cool scene. Good mystery unfolding... why is Obi-Wan expected? What are all these soldiers doing here, who ordered them, what’s going on? Kind of clunky revealing dialogue and the CGI is a bit out of hand but also decently cool. I wrote: “I’m OK with the secret army storyline.” 

Lake country on Naboo. 2-6.  Padme is smoking hot. Beautiful scenes here, but then we get this gem: "I don't like sand. it's coarse, rough, irritating... gets everywhere. Here, everything's soft and smooth." Anakin is such a douche. Padme lets him kiss her, but why? Not sure i'm buying this shit. Love song (Across the Stars) is amazing. Beautiful waterfall. But then they dissect their first kiss. mehhhhh. Let's talk politics at a picnic? No. "Make people agree." Anakin is authoritarian and sort of evil. How could she fall in love with this dude? Then he surfs a cow. No. Now they’re rolling around in the grass. No. No thanks.

Django and Boba on Camino. 8. One of the better and subtler scenes maybe in the whole series for acting. Obi-wan and Django do a great job of dancing around each other verbally while sizing each other up. 

Anakin-Padme Dinner / Wooing. 3. God, I wish I didn’t have so much to say about this tripe, but I do. I guess i'm fine with wooing Padme with Jedi tricks... But I still don't really buy the love story. And now we get lines like: "I'm in agony. the closer I get the worse it gets. The thought of not being with you." Suuuuuper creepy. “Haunted by the kiss you should have never given me.” “You are in my very soul tormenting me.” Honestly! This is like The Room. "THEN YOU DO FEEL SOMETHING!!!" Just a bad scene overall. Now Anakin is getting nightmares. "Your presence is soothing." Meh. Natalie Portman - did I mention she’s smoking hot? Anakin's mother is suffering in his nightmares, so he’s leaving to help her. Padme will go with him!? what the fuck. Bad lines too. Also callback to Luke leaving to help Han and Leia... I don’t know. Bad.

“Collect call.” 7. I believe this is the scene where Obi-Wan calls back to the council and Yoda or Samuel L. says their powers are diminished for not being able to see the creation of this clone army. Decent plotline, OK. 

Django Fett vs. Obi-wan fight. 6. Decent. Too much ledge-hanging and Jedi are too super-duper-heroey. Tracking Django is fine but looked hokey. 

Tatooine. 4. A fancy ship lands at Mos Eisley... man, they’re really going back to this well a lot. We see the stupid slave owner bug guy again and long story short, Anakin’s mom has been taken by the Tuskan Raiders. Time to kill some things. 

Obi-wan tracks Django. 6. Asteroid field again. Depth charges again. Supposed to be a good action setpiece but I’m distracted because there’s not supposed to be any cool noises in space. Fine with Obi-wan faking his death to avoid Django. Very pretty scenery and Obi-wan sneaks around some. Whatever. 

Anakin on the mother hunt. 1-7. Clever shadow of Anakin-as-Darth on the side of the building. Back to good music from Ep1. Finds his mom, and we’re back to bad dialogue. “Ani? Ani? Ani? Ani?” ... should feel something here, and don’t. The actor chemistry is just so bad, and I blame George. Still, Anakin going HAM is a good slip to the dark side. Hebrings his mom back dead, and proceeds to monologue shittily to Padme. "Life seems so much simpler when you're fixing things. I'm good at fixing things.” Awful. “Why'd she have to die? Why couldn't i save her? I know I could have?” what the FUCK. Terrrrrrrrrible. "I killed them. I killed them all." "I'm a jedi, I know I'm better than this." OK, finally at the very end as he breaks down, some sort of decent turn in this scene.

Count Dooku. 4. Jesus, how long is this movie? We get a random weirdo trying to create a new treaty with the trade federation to oppose the Republic. TWIST! This is what the rebellion does, but they’re somehow good! Sigh. 

Yoda and Windu. 4. “Pain, suffering. Young Skywalker is in pain.” Whatever. 

Funeral, message. 4. Here’s what I wrote and I remember none of this: “Clete is fine. Not really buying the whole anakin thing with mom. anakin stay where you are and protect the senator! padme is a mess too.”

Senator scheming. 5. So blatant. Sometimes this plotline is really well done and sometimes is sucks. Could have given this a 3-5. 

Dooku and Obi-wan. 7. OK, we have an exposition-y scene where Dooku tries to recruit Obi-wan to his side. This scene saved by two very good actors giving a good performance. 

Jar Jar in Senate. 2. The worst thing the franchise ever did gets to deliver the vote that gives Chancellor supreme powers. Jar Jar is a f***in’ tw*t. And Chancellor creates the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Padme and Anakin on planet. 1.  Oh, right. Anakin was going to go find Obi-wan or some shit. Padme saving the day with her senate powers! mehhhhhh. C3PO and R2 engage in dumb banter, but not as bad as jarjar. We’re now on some kind of shop floor ... that’s a No. Padme is now running through stampers. No. Bad. Dumb. No. Anakin also dumb. No. bad. My reviewing devolves into 2-year-old level angry language. We see machines making machines. C3PO hangs off a ledge. R2 flies around... come on. Wow, this is so bad. Padme falls into a fucking steel boiler. NO. NO NO NO. Anakin’s lightsaber is cut in half and we get a terrible "Obi-wan's gonna kill me." BOOOOO. And now droids and the fucking bountyhunter show up. God, that was worthless. 

Padme and Anakin pre-Gladiator. 2.  Anakin gets to deliver this gem: “I’ve been dying each day since you came back into my life. I love you.” I don't feel this makes any sense. Except I guess it’s clear now, as i said at the beginning of the review, that Padme kinda sucks. “I truly deeply love you.” Why?

Gladiator Death Battle. 1. HOW LONG IS THIS MOVIE? Also: GOD, THIS IS HORRIBLE. The only good part is Obi-wan with some sarcasm, otherwise we have unnecessary zerg monsters and midriff-revealing claw slashes and general dumb gladiatorial action. The “bad feeling” line was terrible, worst of the series. And where did Padme get her fucking keys? 

Jedi save the day. 3. The Jedi look very hokey and stupid, to be honest, and they don’t look like very good fighters at the end of the day. Scores 3 for light sabers but otherwise it’s a 1 or 2 scene. What’s the end game here? Get surrounded and killed? Django vs. Mace Windu who cares. We get terrible Anakin and Padme cheesing, terrible C3PO humor, bad Jedi vs. Droids action, just all around shit. 

Clones save the day. 5.  Yoda arrives with clones to save the day. At least the plotline is somewhat nuanced - who is fighting who, who is good and who is not. This ambiguity is good. But nobody wanted to kill Dooku until he was already escaped? Sort of mediocre action. Soundtrack just sounds like the matrix. Why is yoda so into the fighting? He’s trying to protect the Republic, which he knows is eroded. The jedi sure fucked up.

Death Star Plans? 5. So having seen Rogue One, this doesn’t make any sense at all (continuity errors!) ... but the DS was actually a design from the Trade Federation, apparently? Not into this. George Lucas sucks and Dooku sucks. 

Dooku Chase. 7. God, I can’t wait for this to be over (the movie and the review). Padme falls out of the transport - OK. Obi-wan and Anakin argue and it’s good. Finally some good acting out of this guy. 

Dooku fight. 7-9. Notwithstanding that Dooku seems like a very unnecessary character, this climax is decent. Anakin’s an idiot apparently, and force lightning is apparently a big sith weapon. OK light saber fighting until double-lightsaber fighting, at which point it’s hard to follow the action. George is too busy focusing in on faces. And Yoda shows up. Huzzah. Fun to watch him with the light saber, maybe a bit too much spining around and Yoda ParkourTM, but why is he shouting? Aren’t Jedi supposed to stay calm? What happened to the Quigon meditation approach? Dooku esacpes. bleh. 

Dooku Sidious meeting. 8. It’s all going to plan, yes, yes. Who the fk is Lord Tyranus? Very good music. War has begun, cool. All to Sidious’s plan, no surprise. 

Yoda and Windu. 7.  "Victory you say? Not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen. Begun the clone war has." Meh. 

Clone Deploy. 9. The visuals of Star Destroyers lifting off and a huge army deploying is pretty cool. This is the highlight of this movie, which is sad. 

Secret Marriage on Naboo. 7. Very pretty shot, no dialogue is good, anakin has a fake arm, bad kissing. definitely not an “8″. 

Credits. 6. The tone of the ending music (traditional theme) is too upbeat. Should have taken a page (pre-emptively) from Rogue One’s book and used a quiet, somber theme. Gets there after a minute or so. Bleh. So glad this is over. 

VERDICT

Not memorable, not unique, and basically a handful of scenes could have done the job here instead of what felt like 5 hours of filler. Happy to forget this movie ever happened. It grades out on the histogram as mostly 7′s and an even distribution around 4 or 5, but really, the 7′s were often due to boredom or “meh” type scores. Very flat movie in experience, with only downside and very little upside. 

REVIEW LINKS:

Introduction: Star Wars, a rediscovery.

Rogue One: 6.92 / 10.00 (stdev 2.06).

Episode 4: A New Hope. 8.00 / 10.00 (stdev 1.34).

Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back. 8.00 / 10.00 (stdev 1.29).

Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. 5.00 / 10.00 (stdev 2.08). But probably worse than that, actually.

Episode 2: Attack of the Clones. 5.48 / 10.00 (stdev 2.07).

Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. 7.00 / 10.00 (stdev 1.77).

Episode 6: Return of the Jedi. 7.90 / 10.00 (stdev 1.91).

Episode 7: The Force Awakens. 6.57 / 10.00 (stdev 2.01).

Episode 8: The Last Jedi. 6.31 / 10.00 (stdev 1.89).

Verdict: Star Wars, A rediscovery.

[thehungrykat1]

Craft Beers and Awesome Vibes at The Perfect Pint

We celebrated an awesome despedida party for our The KTG blogger friend, Justinne, last month at The Perfect Pint’s newly opened branch in Makati. The night was filled with live music, sumptuous bar chows, and endless rounds of beers and cocktails as the Babe For Food would be going back to her hometown of Cebu after spending the past year in Manila.

It was my first time to dine at The Perfect Pint and I was quite surprised with the energetic Friday night crowd that accompanied our small party. The restobar serves as a comforting spot for office workers in Makati who have just finished a tiring work week and I could feel how excited everyone was for the coming weekend. This outlet used to be located at Bonifacio Global City but has since transferred here in Greenbelt, Makati. Great times do seem to start here at The Perfect Pint and I was also game for a fun and thrilling evening with my close friends and companions.

The Perfect Pint is a gastropub specializing in local craft beer and food pairing. Located at Greenbelt 2 right in front of Esperanza Street, The Perfect Pint’s mission is to provide its customers with an elevated dining experience while still keeping the warmth and comfort that a pub should give.

The two-level restobar also comes with live acoustic performances from Tuesdays to Saturdays and this gives the place its energetic vibe. The restaurant was packed with diners all the way to the second floor and this is a sure sign that we will be enjoying our evening.

Diners can also sit at the bar area for a closer view of the action. The Perfect Pint offers a very wide selection of craft beers on tap, probably the biggest beverage menu I have seen, and these are all lined up nicely at the bar. Each one comes listed with its specific alcohol content and its own unique brews and flavors.

The Perfect Pint actually brews their own unique signature home brew brands right at the restaurant. These are served here exclusively and are done in small batches to ensure their freshness and quality. They also serve selected craft beers supplied by local craft brewers.

If the beverage menu looks confusing at first, then start with the Beer Sampler which offers a selection of four of their popular beer brews.

As for myself, I tried the Evolve Haze Craze which is a fruity beer that taste somewhat like juice. With flaked grains and aggressive dry hopping, this unfitered beer has a soft and creamy mouthfeel but with plenty of flavor and aroma. I also got a taste of the Cacao Kick Breakfast Stout, a chocolate and coffee lover’s choice of beer. This is brewed with flaked oats and award-winning Malagos chocolates from Davao to give it its peculiar flavor combination.

Of course, I had to try some of their cocktails as well so I ordered the Mango Daiquiri (P210) which is a refreshing combination of mango, lime juice, sugar syrup and rum. Doesn’t it look lovely?

You can also try the Love in the Vineyard (P260) cocktail which is a majestic and frozen blend of grapes and brandy.

Beer is best paired with bar chows and the food menu at The Perfect Pint is expertly crafted by celebrity Chef Gene Gonzalez, who also dined with us that evening. We started with the Poutine with Peppery Beef (P350) which has crispy, thick-cut fries topped with sauteed garlic, beef, cheese and gravy.

We also had a sample of the Grilled Tuna Tenders (P280) but don’t be misled by its common sounding name. This is actually “bagaybay” or tuna sperm sacs which I first encountered during my trip to Davao. It has a milky and buttery texture, surprisingly similar to foie gras, and I’m not sure why Chef Gene decided to play around with its name but I’m sure there have been a lot of surprised diners. These come served on wasabi bread with tomato salsa.

The Heap of Bacon (P390) is a more popular appetizer with its huge pile of home-made extra crispy bacon served with house pickles. This is just pure simple bacon goodness served very very crispy.

While The Perfect Pint serves pork sisig, you should try their unique Oyster Sea-Sig (P385) which comes with deep-fried fresh oysters in a mango dressing. It is unlike any other sisig I have tried before and it gives a different version of this well-loved Filipino delicacy. Anthony Bourdain would approve.

The Perfect Pint also served a variety of pizzas like the Stinky Cheese Pizza (P640), a signature The Perfect Pint dish with its burst of five different cheeses. Meat lovers would be happy with the Cheesesteak Pizza (P640) as it comes with crispy shoestring potatoes with slices of beef atop a mass of gooey cheese.

Now comes some heavier bar chows and “pulutan” like the Kapal Face (P660), another specialty with deep fried brined pork mascara served with house pickles. The crunchy and salty pork cuts even go well with a serving of garlic rice.

The Perfect Pint Sausage Platter (P685) is a juicy selection of herbed and spiced sausages served with fries and house pickles. The bar chows just kept on coming and everything really went with all the beers and beverages that were also served.

The Perfect Pint also offers a Brunch Menu complete with garlic rice and eggs. The Chicken Adobo Flakes (P250) comes with a glass of house-blend ied tea or home-brewed coffee.

More beer pairing followed with the To-Die-For Crispy Ribs (P290) and its crunchy deep fried ribs served with their signature black pepper sauce.

I just love prawns so the Surf & Turf Platter (P1490) was one of my favorites that night. This is a sumptuous combination of tender and braised ribs, fresh prawns, and grilled corn with steel-cut fries and colesslaw. The ribs were so tender and juicy, plus the buttery prawns made this an evening to remember. 

I would like to thank The Perfect Pint owner Alec Tempongko and Chef Gene Gonzalez for hosting us that lovely evening. Good food and good drinks are definitely better when shared with good friends. 

The Perfect Pint

G/F Greenbelt 2, Makati City

750-0288

www.theperfectpint.net

www.facebook.com/ThePerfectPintPH

[lurafita]

Small Town Diner Malec AU first meeting

Thinking that Jace could actually be Magnus' deputy Partner. Then when Malec starts flirting Jace can be like "Come on, man, that's my best friend!" to Magnus, and "Come on, man, that's my Partner!" to Alec 🤣

Of course, the word "partner" could create some misunderstandings.

(I'm personally not a fan of misunderstandings. It seems to be a clichéd plot devise used just to generate needless drama, where characters jump to premature conclusions all the time, even though things could be so easily resolved if they just talked to each other. However, for comedic purposes, I could see an initial, very short lived, misunderstanding of that sort.)

Jace and Magnus entering the diner and coming up to the counter.

Jace: "Hey Alec, this is my new partner, Magnus. Magnus, this is Alec, my best friend." Magnus: "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ale… May I call Alexander?" Alec: "I.. uh- yeah, sure.. I- coffee! You guys want coffee! I need to go… to the back to get it! Be right back!" Alec runs into the back where Izzy was just about to step out into the diner after coming from Alec's apartment upstairs. Alec: "Izzy! Help! Jace has a new boyfriend and his boyfriend called me Alexander and I think I'm already half in love with him! I can't be a homewrecker, Iz! I can't lust after my best friend's boyfriend!" Izzy, skeptical eyebrow raised: "Jace? Mooning over Clary/Maia/Simon every chance he gets, Jace?" She steps up to the little round window in the door to look at the people at the counter. Turns back around to Alec, eyebrow still raised, this time less skeptical, and more exasperated: "And how exactly did Jace introduce his 'new boyfriend' to you?" Alec: "He said 'Hey Alec, this is my new partner, Magnus.' Magnus is such a pretty name, don't you think? Oh my god I'm the worst best friend in the world!" Izzy, slaps Alec over the head: "Alec! Stop this brainless drama and use your head. Jace told us the Sheriff was hiring a new deputy three days ago! They are both in uniform! That's obviously his work partner, not his romantic partner!" Alec: "… Not a word of this to anyone." Izzy: "I'll work it into my speech at your wedding."

To the Master post: https://www.tumblr.com/lurafita/744483785225224193/small-town-diner-malec-au?source=share

[lurafita]

Small Town Diner Malec AU more add ons

Clary and Simon complain regularly that Alec refuses to get flavor syrups for the coffee. Alec: "If you want overpriced drinks that barely even resemble coffee anymore, go to the next Starbucks." (He does order some hazelnut syrup when Magnus casually lets slip that he misses that one cappuccino with a hazelnut flavor that the vendor in Brooklyn always had ready for him.)

Simon's sister has tried to swindle Alec into giving her a shot of amaretto into her coffee since she was 16 and got a fake id from two towns over. Even now at 25 years old, Alec still slides a capri sun over the counter with the words "Dream on, kid." whenever she orders any alcoholic beverage.

Helen is another deputy. Aline is the mayor. Underhill is a deputy. Maia works at the local car shop. I'm not sure about her age, so she may either be a full time employee, the owner herself, or like a summer/student job or something.

When Madzie and Max meet, they are instant trouble maker buddies. Also, Max wastes no time in telling her that Alec's middle name is Gideon. And like all kids that age, Madzie scrunches up ner nose and looks at Alec and says: "Your name is Gideon? But that's an old man's name. Our neighbor in Brooklyn also had that name. He was retired and wore thick glasses." Jace laughs so hard he falls off his chair.

The sheriff's department has police horses, because some areas are easier to travel through on horse back than car. So Magnus needs to learn to ride. Good thing Alec can lend a helping hand there.

To the Master post: https://www.tumblr.com/lurafita/744483785225224193/small-town-diner-malec-au?source=share