Ranko: Lately, I have been at a loss for inspiration, which explains why I haven't been updating on some of my ongoing stories recently and it is starting to drive me crazy! Every time I sit down at my computer I just get so restless! So finally I ordered my friend: "Give me a topic!" She said, "Malec." Then I said, "Give me a prompt!" She though for a moment and then said, "Magnus and Alec on their vacation together." So I got to work! This is the product of a sleep-deprived, inspirationless fangirl. I only hope that this little one-shot will get my creative juices flowing again!

I do not own anything that involves the Mortal Instrument series; it belongs to its respected owner/creator!

Enjoy!

-/-

It was two in the morning when Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, was woken up by someone down below relentlessly torturing his buzzer. He couldn't help but think that it better be damn well important for someone to wake him up at this hour. All he was saying was that if someone wasn't in life threatening danger, they were about to be.

He finally reached the speaker and pushed at it irritably. "Who dares disturb the…" Halfway through he decided that it wasn't worth and just said, rather grumpily, "What the hell do you want?"

There was silence on the other end for a while and Magnus briefly wondered—and hoped—that he had scared the person off and he could get back to bed.

Then, a soft voice, not even quite a whisper, spoke. "Magnus…" It sounded so weak and broken and it broke Magnus's heart when he realized who it was.

Alec.

Well, now he felt like crap. He should have guessed that it would be Alec, why didn't he think of that? He's known that Alec has been showing up a lot lately at random hours of the day; he will sometimes just sit on the coach and stare blankly at the wall while Chairman tried to get his attention, or sometimes he will need Magnus to be with him, whether that be in bed or just sitting on the couch beside staring at the wall with him.

Then again, how was he to know it was Alec? He had a key; he didn't have to buzz to get in.

Magnus dropped his head in his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly. "Baby," he said softly and patiently. "It's wonderful to hear your voice, but why didn't you just use the key that I gave you?" Long before Alec acknowledged their relationship and showed it to the entire Shadowhunter community, he had made a key for Alec so he could come and go as he pleased.

There was another long period of silence on Alec's side and then finally, "Can I come up?"

Magnus sighed silently, feeling his heart drop; he had never heard the boy sound so…defeated and just so weak, like he didn't care anymore, ever since… "Yeah, come on up," Magnus quickly said, interrupting that train of thought.

And a minute or two, he heard a knock on his door. He stood before the door for a moment, his forehead resting on the smooth oak, taking a moment to compose himself before he saw his boyfriend. He imagined Alec doing the same thing on his side. He just couldn't stand seeing that look in his clear cerulean eyes, that look of…nothingness, of blankness, of feeling nothing but hallowness and guilt.

Magnus took a few deep breaths and then opened the door.

He and Alec made eye contact for a few brief seconds, quickly sizing up what the other was feeling. Then Alec took a few quick steps forward and clung to Magnus, pressing their lips together and keeping him there by threading his fingers through his hair.

Magnus had no other choice left but to respond to the kiss and put his arms around Alec's slimmer waist.

'This obviously isn't going to be a night he spends on the couch,' Magnus thought as he felt warm tears roll down Alec's face and fall between their locked lips.

Magnus awoke later that night—or earlier that morning—to the sound of Alec crying against him. Magnus sighed tiredly and peeled open his eyes, rubbing at them, and then looking to his left to see Alec, curled up in a tight ball, tangled up in the covers.

Magnus felt his heart breaking all over again and scooted across the bed so he could be closer to Alec. He gingerly put his arm around Alec's frame to comfort him; the boy tensed for a moment, he was obviously awake, but then he relaxed when he realized that it was just Magnus.

Magnus pulled Alec closer to him, making sure that Alec could feel his warmth against his bare back.

Alec…he hasn't been the same since the battle in Alicante. And there was one loss that hit the Lightwood family hard. Though this one's life was not lost in battle; this was the most innocent death and the one that should have never happened.

Max Lightwood.

So young and so innocent; he wasn't even marked by his first rune. He was told to stay in the house with Isabelle, where he was told he would be safe from the destruction that was outside their door. Yet that is where he was killed, for no reason, in cold blood by Sebastian…no, that wasn't right: Jonathon Morgenstern.

Everyone in the Lightwood family was affected very badly by the death of their youngest; Isabelle taking it the hardest, being as she blamed herself for the whole thing.

Alec, though, also placed a lot of blame on himself. He felt like he should have been there with Isabelle as well and no matter what Magnus tells the younger boy, he can't just let it go. And Magnus knows that all the time he spends at the Institute was not a good thing, passing that empty room everyday, exactly the way the young Lightwood left it before he left home for good. He had to find some way of getting Alec's mind off of things; take him away and not worry.

"Alexander," Magnus said in a whisper like voice, tracing the runes on Alec's bicep. "What do you say that we go on a vacation?"

-/-

Ranko: I hope that you enjoyed this! I remember reading a fanfic a little while back that was basically just like this; it was talking about why Magnus decided to take Alec on a vacation. It was more drawn out and beautifully written, but I wanted to try my hand at this topic ^^

Please review and tell me what you think!