All I Want For Christmas Is You - a Magnus/Alec fanfiction

Chapter 13 - December 13th - Magnus

December 13th - Magnus

"Finally!" I sigh, unlocking the apartment door and pushing it open. "Home at last!"

"We were only away two days." Alec reasons, but he looks relieved to be home.

The Chairman bounds over clumsily, bumping into a chair leg in his haste to get us. I drop to my knees, laughing, and pull him onto my lap. I wave a hand toward the kitchen, filling his food bowl, and he leaps off my knee and darts into the kitchen. I think that cat might be jet-powered. He never stops moving. And for a less than elegant kitten, speed is an issue. He proves this as he thumps gently into the doorframe as he dashes into the kitchen. Adorable, fluffy, idiot.

Toby peels off his snow-sodden coat, shivering, and sniffs. He looks a little like he did when he first arrived - but not as bad. His face is pale but his nose is scarlet. He has cold, I realise, with a slight feeling of worry. I turn accusingly to Alec.

"You'd better not have given him your cold." I say warningly.

He sniffs, looking slightly guilty. "Not intentionally."

I sigh. Wonderful. Two thirds of our household is afflicted with flu.

"Well, I'm going to shower and change." I say, plucking at the hem of my snow-soaked shirt. "As if I've been wearing this for three days."

"And two nights." Alec provides, settling Toby onto the sofa with a pile of blankets.

"URGH, don't remind me." I say with a shudder and go into the bathroom.

I wash away the past few days and dress in clean clothes. The sky is darkening fast, I note through the bathroom window, and I realise I'm starving. I also realise that I'm a lot more worried about Toby getting sick than I perhaps ought to be. I shout Alec into the bathroom.

"What's up?" He asks, poking his head around the door.

"Should...should we be worried about Toby catching cold?"

Alec's face softens and he shakes his head. "He's okay, Magnus. Kids get sick. Everyone gets sick. There's nothing wrong. He just has a cold. I was okay, wasn't I?"

I nod. "But I'm worried. I..."

"Magnus," Alec says, coming into the room. He pulls a small towel from the radiator and reaches up, carefully rubbing it through my hair, drying the damp black tendrils that hang over my face, dripping water onto the shoulders of my fresh, dry shirt. "He's alright. Stop worrying."

"You're one to talk." I mumble.

He smiles. "I know. The fact I'm not worrying should be assurance enough that you shouldn't."

I nod and he hands the towel, strokes a hand lightly along my jaw, then turns and shuts the door behind him as he goes back to the living room. I look at my reflection for a few minutes, through the glass of the mirror thick with condensation. When did I get so concerned? I'm not so sure it's a bad thing though, I think with a smile, and head out into the hallway.

"Hey," I say emerging from the bathroom, towelling off my hair. "Want to order takeout?"

Alec nods, his eyes lighting at the prospect after days of Isabelle's questionable cooking, and somewhere under the pile of blankets beside Alec, Toby nods too. He's laid on the sofa, looking cold, with his feet tucked up by Alec's knees. Alec absentmindedly rearranges the blankets to cover Toby's cold bare feet.

"What shall we get?" I ask. "Thai?"

"What do you like, Toby?" Alec asks, and Toby looks up.

"Urm...pizza?" He suggests.