Snippets

(a.k.a. the younger, far more successful brother of Fragments)

Disclaimer: Still not mine, and nobody would pay to read this, so I think we're all set.

Warnings: The usual sporadic references to inexplicit sex.

Notes: This thing contains tense, run-on, and punctuation abuse the likes of which you've probably never seen outside of bad Suefics. My interpretations of the prompts range from extremely literal to taking serious liberties (like number thirteen, Misfortune, which is easily my favorite).

Number eleven, Memory, refers back to Payment, so if you haven't read that, it probably won't make too much sense.

Intro

He stares at the string of numbers and the name scribbled in purple ink on the palm of his hand (which had to have been done by magic, because he certainly didn't put them there) and wonders how the hell he got himself into this.

Love

Magnus says the words so often Alec wonders if they really mean anything at all; but then, it's not the words themselves that prove he loves him, it's the way he breathes them against Alec's bare skin when they're twined together under the covers, sleepy and sated.

Light

Magnus' eyes shine in the dark like a cat's, so when Alec's vision is gray and tunneling, he focuses on those two points of light and fiercely fights off unconsciousness as Magnus presses his glowing fingers to the heavily bleeding gash in Alec's thigh and tells him to just hang on.

Dark

"You're not really afraid of the dark, are you?" Magnus says slyly; Alec rolls his eyes, slaps the light switch, and flops onto the mattress (and then clings to Magnus' wrist so tightly it hurts until the warlock, taking pity on him, turns the nightlight in the bathroom on).

Seeking solace

One year to the day after Max dies, Alec turns up at four-fifteen in the morning, curls into Magnus' arms, and mumbles something about not wanting to be home right now; Magnus just nuzzles his hair, understanding all too well.

Break away

Some days, Magnus worries that Alec will finally realize that he is attractive and desirable and he can do so much better than Magnus – others, he almost hopes for that outcome, because Alec doesn't deserve to be tied down to someone who can never grow older with him.

Heaven

In the past two hours, Alec has broken every bone in his left ankle, fought with Jace, managed to inadvertently offend Isabelle, and fallen asleep on the subway only to wake up with a creepy man sitting very close to him and breathing in his ear, but when he crawls into bed and Magnus rolls over and wraps an arm around him without waking, he realizes that, somehow, he's still unbelievably happy.

Innocence

Magnus is so infuriatingly certain he is the first person Alec's kissed that Alec doesn't feel at all bad about bursting his bubble and informing him his first kiss was actually with a werewolf girl when he was fourteen (conveniently leaving out the fact that she had kissed him).

Drive

Alec discovers Magnus does not have a driver's license at about the same time Magnus discovers that Alec gets extremely motion-sick.

Breathe again

For one horrible, endless moment he thinks the boy is dead when he drags him out of the East River, when his chest neither rises nor falls and his face remains pale and slack and bloodied where he'd hit his head; then he gags and begins choking up the water he had inhaled and Magnus stops whispering no, no, no, no, no, not you, not you and finally lets himself breathe.

Memory

The warlock is framed in the doorway of his apartment building, and Alec is momentarily thrown into a half-faded memory of purple glitter and a bright quilt and long fingers threading through his hair – it's gone before he can catch it, but as he follows his sister up the stairs, he knows that this is not the first time they've met.

Insanity

Magnus wonders out loud if believing in love at first sight makes him crazy; Alec shrugs and tells him they're both nuts, then.

Misfortune

"Magnus, the fortune in this cookie is just an explicit description of what someone plans on doing to me later – you wouldn't know anything about this, right?"

Smile

Usually, telling someone "Don't smile! Don't smile!" is the best way to make them smile when they don't want to, but Alec instead gets more and more annoyed and eventually throws the sugar bowl at him.

Silence

"Alec, love, if you could live forever, would you?" but the question comes too late, Alec has been dead for five years and Magnus is speaking into silence.

Questioning

He wishes she'd cut to the chase and just outright ask if he's planning to deflower her son or whatever it is she has in mind, because having Maryse Lightwood stare at him like that is worse than an interrogation.

Blood

They're both sweaty, dirty, and damaged, Alec is swaying on his feet in the center of what was a battlefield less than two minutes ago, Magnus' magic is thoroughly spent, and he can taste blood on Alec's lips but Magnus doesn't care because they're alive and together and nothing else matters.

Rainbow

They have far better things to do than babysit, so when Jace manages to cajole Alec into watching his son for the millionth time, they return the boy decorated in every color of glitter Magnus owns, figuring they'll never be asked to look after him again (they're right).

Gray

"You need to wear something that isn't black, and yes, gray is a shade of black, so don't even begin to argue."

Fortitude

Alec only looks fragile and delicate – and it's never a good idea to mess with someone who carries more concealed weaponry than a SWAT team.

Vacation

The only reason they don't live together is because, after about a week and a half, they seriously need a vacation from one another.

Mother Nature

"Why did you drag me outside in the pouring rain?" Alec asks, and is rewarded with an answer of "Because it's romantic," before being kissed so passionately that he forgets he's soaked to the bone and can no longer feel his toes.

Cat

"This is going to sound ridiculous, but I have to say it: can we please put your cat somewhere else first, because I am really uncomfortable with him watching us have sex."

No time

The irony was just sickening – Magnus had all the time in the world, and Alec had not nearly enough, yet Magnus was the one who died first.

Trouble lurking

When Alec says, "Can you move about six inches to the left?" in a supremely casual tone, Magnus does as he's told because something's been following them for the last twenty minutes, but he still pitches an overdramatic fit when Alec accidentally shears off a few glitter-coated hairs while flinging his knife into the demon's skull.

This is technically complete, but there are seventy-five more prompts on the list, so if you want more, you know what to do. :P