A Malec Alphabet

Z- Zzz

Zzz (Because what else is there?)

<•>

A bad habit that Alec had never been able to kick was the way he slept. It was embarrassing to say the least, not so much when he was by himself at the Institute, but he consciously tried to not sleep that way when he was at home with Magnus.

He was a hugger.

He hadn't thought twice about it before Jace had arrived at the Institute, and even then, the thought that he would wake up squeezing a pillow to his chest hadn't been negative.

When he was thirteen, and Jace was eleven, they had shared a room in Idris the night before their parabatai ceremony.

In a fit of boyishness, they'd pushed the two single beds together, planning to stay up all night and tell each other everything. They hadn't quite managed either.

When they had awoken the next morning, Alec's arms were clamped around Jace's waist. It had resulted in teasing for days on end that he slept like a girl and that hugging in your sleep meant you were silly.

He hadn't addressed the issue aloud, but Magnus and he were both aware of it.

It had made Alec nearly afraid of going to sleep next to anyone. He'd go to sleep with his arms clamped onto each other, or stiff by his legs, and then the first thing he'd do in the mornings would be to check if he was hugging something.

Magnus, on the other hand, loved the way Alec slept. He looked so unbelievably peaceful and untroubled, he exhaled in little puffs from his nose and, of course, he hugged.

The first time Alec had stayed the night, it had been a bit of a surprise for Magnus to wake up halfway through the night to feel Alec's arms snaking around him, his skin cold on his abdomen.

He'd looked over at Alec to see if he was awake, but no, he was sound asleep. With a small smile, he'd snuggled into the hug, pulling the covers back over them.

Another time, curled up in post-coital bliss, Alec had looked up at Magnus through long eyelashes and asked: "Does it bother you?"

"Does what bother me?"

"Me. Hugging you in my sleep. Don't pretend you hadn't noticed."

Magnus had laughed softly. "Of course I noticed. No, it doesn't bother me; in fact, I rather like it." Alec looked up at Magnus incredulously. "It's nice! I like a good cuddle if you hadn't noticed."

"Really?" Alec yawned.

"If I was the one cuddling up to you in the nights, would you be bothered?"

Alec thought. "No. I guess I hadn't thought about it like that. I think you could do almost anything and it wouldn't bother me."

"Run naked in Times Square?" Magnus suggested.

"I did say almost anything." Alec said, curling up to Magnus.

That had made Alec feel a lot more comfortable. He stopped restraining himself, and he often started the night off holding Magnus in his arms.

Magnus, on the other hand, snored.

Not particularly loudly, and not disgustingly, but loud enough to be noticeable- provided he was the first asleep.

He'd gotten himself into a habit of being the second one asleep over the last few hundred years, and being the first to rise, which was the problem.

Alec, with his Shadowhunter training, woke up early. Magnus would normally stay in bed to ten or eleven in the morning at least. Alec was up between seven to eight every morning, making himself coffee or getting dressed.

Alec liked watching Magnus sleep on the mornings that he didn't have to be up on, but woke up early on anyway. Not in a creeper way, but there was something therapeutic in the rhythms of Magnus's sleep. He would inhale with his mouth and exhale in a short puff through the nose which, as well as being adorable when Magnus scrunched up his nose, was nice background sound to lull him back to sleep. Then there was the sound of his heartbeat, slower than a normal human's, a steady beat and pump. He slept lying fairly still, the only movements being the occasional finger twitch.

Alec would try to guess what Magnus was dreaming about, but he'd never ask.

Sometimes he'd wake Magnus up at three in the morning and they'd lie together looking at the sunrise streaming in from the window above his bed.

Alec would whisper "I love you." and Magnus would smile in his ear and say "I love you too. Now let me get my beauty sleep."

Alec would giggle (yes, giggle, the things that boy did to him...) and snuggle back up to Magnus and whisper "You don't need it. You're perfect."

And entangled under one sheet, two hands were grasped and two hearts beat as one. It was going to be like that for a long, long time.

-

Wow. Okay, I guess this is it then.

Thank you to everyone who's read this, commented, voted, spammed, added it to their reading lists etc.

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Talk about starting from the bottom.

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