Magnus Pov
"Do you remember the plan?" I ask Jace for the hundredth time. He rolls his eyes and stuffs his hands into his pockets.
"Yes, for the love of, Magnus calm down!"
"Like hell I'll calm down!" I exclaim. "I haven't seen Alec in over a year and we've only talked for a few hours every few months. This has to be perfect!" I look at my watch. Only five minutes until Alec wakes up.
"All you need to do is wait. I already put all the notes in place, just make sure you come in at the right time." He walks over to the back door of the the shop and opens it without a sound. "Here we go." He mumbles.
I follow him in and B-line towards the front of the shop. The familiar sight of the store hits me like a wall. Alec has hardly changed a thing in the year I've been gone. The books have moved and the posters have changed to the newest book but its still home. The chairs in front of the fire place are in the exact same spot and so are the many types of tea and coffee next to it, a cream colored note resting on the coffee maker.
My stomach twists from nerves and I walk past it without a second glance. I crouch behind the register to serve as my hiding spot when Alec comes downstairs. While shifting until I am completely hidden, something catches my eye. The book we talked about so many months ago. I had only mentioned that I heard about it but after a day Alec had told me he ordered it and it would arrive in a week. I left three days before it came in and he had kept it with him this whole time.
A swell of warmth blossoms in my chest and I put a hand over the book. I open the cover and find two words in Alec's hand writing in the center of the page.
Marry me?
My breath catches and I put a hand over my mouth to stifle a cry of joy.
He was going to ask me to marry him. Maybe before I left. What if he was going to propose yesterday? What if he was going to propose a year ago?
I put a hand in my pocket to feel the velvet box inside.
He beat me to it. Damn.
Footsteps come from the stairs and Alec appears in nothing but pajama pants. His muscles stretch and shift under his skin as he hurtled towards the coffee maker and opens the letter with no more than a flick of the wrist.
Damn, he is hot.
Only a few seconds have passed and he already has me swooning.
His head turns towards the bathroom and he steps towards it slowly, like he can't believe what's happening. Two strides later he is pulling it open and stepping inside. I get up to follow him, making sure not to be seen in the mirror.
The sound of paper being torn and a sharp intake of breath.
For the last letter I had put a picture of the both of us I took so long ago.
The picture was of us sitting on the couch with a red velvet cake in front of us, Alec's arm around my shoulders and his other holding the camera. It was the on valentines day two years ago after we talked about our future together. We had talked about what we wanted to do and where we pictured ourselves in ten years. I had said I would still be here and he had told me that if I weren't he would hunt me down and drag me back. We had joked about our made up kids and how we would name them and how we would design their rooms. Then I told him I would marry him and he laughed but I knew even then that I would. Later that night when we were lying in bed, I had asked what he would say if I did propose to him and he said that it wouldn't happen. I can still remember the dread in my stomach and how is vanished when he whispered that he would be the one to pop the question.
And he was going to before I left.
"Alexander Lightwood." I say and got down on one knee. He turns and covers his mouth, dropping the picture.
"Will you mar-" He jumps on top of me, arms around my neck and face in my chest.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! Gods, yes! Magnus, I will!" I pull us both into a sitting position and bury my face in his hair, breathing in the scent of him. The smell of books and coffee and rain and home.
"Thank goodness or that would have been extremely awkward." His laugh reverberates across my chest and I hold him even tighter, trying to bring us both into one space. He was trying to do the same thing, pulling my shirt and hair towards him.
His bare skin feels like velvet under my fingers and I pull away long enough to pick of the fallen box next to us. I take the silver band from it's holder and take hold of his left hand. The ring fits perfectly on his finger and the sight takes my breath away.
"Magnus?"
"Yes?" I'm still looking at his hand, so beautiful with the ring on.
"Did you want to propose to me because of that picture?"
"Yes." I answer. He hits my shoulder and pulls the back of my neck until our lips are together.
They fit perfectly and the feeling sends shivers down my spine.
"I love you, Mr. Bane" I say, breathless.
"Oh no! You are going to become a Lightwood, no argument."
"Yes, love."
The wedding was a small one, just close family.
Iz, Simon, Clary, Jace, Cat and a few friends from the city.
We got married without so much as a hitch and didn't come out of the apartment for three days, content with being together, locked away from the entire world.
We stayed together for another sixty years with three kids and eight grandchildren.
Alec passed away last year and I ran the shop until our youngest grandson took over, Max Lightwood.
Now it's my turn to leave, I've left my darling waiting long enough.
End.
