FierroChase

The Crush

(Authors Note: These stories take place between books 2 and 3 of the Magnus Chase series. To make this story flow easier, there is currently no conflict. All characters belong to the Author, Rick Riordan)

Magnus walked out the door of his room on Floor 19 and stepped out, ready to start the day just like every other day. Breakfast, workout, Freetime, Lunch, Freetime, Dinner, Sleep. Magnus frowned. 'I think I've fallen into a rut...' he thought, heading towards the elevator. As he walked down the hall, a door suddenly opened in front of him and slammed into him. Magnus fell on his butt, dazed and holding his nose. A familiar face poked around the other side of the door.

"Hey Beantown!" Alex Fierro chirped from behind the attacking door. The huge smile on his face made it clear that he probably meant to do that.

Magnus rubbed his nose, but already felt it healing. 'Being a son of Frey has its perks...' he thought. "Morning Alex... been working on your arms lately? Ouch..." A quick burst of Frey's touch healed his nose right up, and Magnus stood, facing Alex, who had exited his room and was now standing in the hall. "Guy today, Alex?"

Alex nodded. "How can you always tell? Not that I'm complaining, though. It's nice not being misgendered for once."

He shrugged. "It's a gift, I suppose." A horn sounded from somewhere below them, and Magnus swore. "We're late for breakfast!" He and Alex ran down the hallway, yelling, "TJ! Hold the elevator!" A bayonet poked out between the doors, and they opened back up, with TJ waving them inside.

"Hey guys! Guy and girl?" TJ looked at Alex.

"Guys today, TJ," Alex corrected, as the doors began to close. TJ started patting his pockets.

"Damn!" He opened the doors again. "Sorry for the delay, but I left my gunpowder in my room. Don't wait for me!" and then he dashed out. It was just Alex and Magnus left as the door finally closed.

Things suddenly became very awkward for Magnus. He felt a weird sensation in his chest, but had no idea why. In order to make conversation, he turned to Alex and asked, "Beantown? Really? I thought we got rid of that?"

Alex laughed. "Oh, did we? I totally forgot," the sarcasm heavy in his voice. "Would you rather me call you Maggie?"

Magnus grumbled. "As long as it's not 'Beantown...'" He turned away, hiding a blush. 'Why am I blushing? It's just Alex...' After what seemed like an eternity, the elevator bell finally dinged, and they went to breakfast.

Magnus ran on the treadmill, trying to focus on exercising. All during breakfast he kept catching himself staring or glancing at Alex, and that annoying feeling in his chest wouldn't go away. But right now, all he could feel was the sweat running down his face. Suddenly, a flash of green in the mirror in front of him caught his eye. Alex was in the gym too! Magnus groaned inwardly, but shook his head, trying to refocus on the running. But his gaze kept returning back to Alex.

'Calm down Magnus,' he told himself. 'It's just Alex.' That thought echoed in his head for a while. 'Besides, what am I even staring at? How tight his shirt is? The way his hair falls to both sides perfectly? The way his biceps and abs show whenever he does a pull-up? I mean, I know becoming an Einherjar grants us a ripped body but damn-' Magnus stumbled and nearly fell on the treadmill as he quickly tapped the "stop" button and slowed down, breathing heavily. Magnus finally figured out what the weird feeling in his chest meant. 'Oh gods... I have a massive crush on Alex Fierro.'

"Hey Maggie!" Alex said right behind him. Magnus nearly jumped through the ceiling in fright. His heart was racing, but not because of the cardio he was doing. Alex looked concerned. "You alright? You nearly ate rubber on the treadmill."

Magnus stood there silently, blushing. 'Come on Magnus! Say something!' He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was "Um," and "Uh." Magnus mentally facepalmed. "Oh! No, I'm fine, I just stumbled a bit. Luckily I caught myself before I fell."

"Are you sure you're ok? You look really red..." Alex had a concerned look on his face.

Magnus mumbled under his breath, "Cute..."

"What? I didn't hear you"

Magnus turned redder. "Nothing! Um, I'm fine, I probably just overworked myself, is all. I'm gonna go get some water."

Alex nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. See you at the battleground this afternoon!" He walked off, leaving Magnus red-faced to "get water."

The rest of the day went mostly uneventful, other than the fact that Magnus kept glancing at Alex every so often during lunch, dinner, and sometimes even on the battlefield. He couldn't explain it, but Magnus found himself watching him run around, whipping his garrote in a beautiful deadly arc of silver. That is, until an axe came whirling through the air and chopped Magnus's head clean off. While he resurrected, he thought about what he was going to do about this newfound crush. 'I can't exactly just go an tell Alex... he might not feel the same way. It would only ruin our friendship. It'll have to remain a secret until I'm absolutely sure...' And with that, he woke up in his room fully regenerated, and finally fell asleep, having a dreamless night for once in a long time.