Conditional Love

Chapter 6

Magnus wakes up the next morning still feeling giddy from his date with Alexander. As Magnus is lying in bed, debating on whether or not he's ready to get up, he continues to replay the date in his mind. Magnus realizes that he monopolized the entire conversation last night, and barely learned anything new about Alec. Magnus makes a mental note to change that as soon as possible. He's already thinking of second date ideas when his phone vibrates on his nightstand. Picking it up, he sees a text from Ragnor.

My Little Cabbage: Hello old friend. Would you like to meet for coffee this morning? I still feel bad for standing you up last weekend.

Magnus: Sure! There's this coffee shop that was recommended by a friend at work, Java Jones? Do you know where that is?

My Little Cabbage: That's the best coffee shop in town, of course I know where it is!

Magnus lets out a chuckle after reading that message. 'Maybe I'll run into Alexander today...' Magnus thinks to himself. Magnus looks at the time and realizes that he should start getting ready for the day. With one last text to Ragnor to finalize a specific time to meet, he gets up and starts his morning routine.

Wanting to look nice, but without putting too much effort into his look, Magnus decides on a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, and a cream color Henley. He quickly spikes his hair up, and adds some eyeliner, then he's out the door, all while entering in the address of Java Jones into his GPS.

~oOo~

Magnus walks into Java Jones, orders his tea, then finds the nearest table and waits for Ragnor to show up. He's looking forward to catching up with his friend. While Magnus is scrolling through his social media on his phone, he hears a very familiar voice up at the counter. As Magnus looks up, he sees Alec speaking to one of the baristas. Taking a better look, it appears that Alec has been out on a run. He's wearing black basketball shorts, a black tank top, and black and gray running shoes. Magnus takes a mental note to really update Alec's wardrobe, and add a bit of color in Alec's life. Alec wasn't joking when he said that black is his favorite color, Magnus thinks.

Magnus watches as Alec picks up two cups of coffee, turns, and starts heading out of the door. Before Alec could make it that far, Magnus decides to speak up.

"Not even going to say hi, darling?" Magnus' question is laced with amusement. Alec stops, turns, then his eyes go comically wide when he realizes that Magnus is the person speaking to him.

"Magnus, hey! What are you doing here?" Alec asks.

"Well I remembered you mentioning this place to me the first time we went out. Then my best friend sent me a text this morning asking if I wanted to get together for coffee, so I suggested here." Magnus pauses. "Although, this is the same best friend who stood me up at the bar the night we met, so his track record for punctuality isn't the greatest." Magnus concludes, causing a chuckle to escape Alec. "Tell me Alexander, besides the amazing coffee, what brings you here?" Alec blushes, as usual.

"I was out on my morning run and decided to stop. Then I realized that Clary's shift was almost over so I grabbed a cup for her as well." Alec says, gesturing to the cup in his left hand.

"That's nice that you think of her when you get your own coffee."

Alec chuckles. "Oh, this isn't me thinking of her. This is me thinking that I want to live to see tomorrow. If Clary sees that I came here and didn't get her a coffee as well, she would castrate me!" Magnus can't help but laugh at Alec's dramatics. "Well I should head out before our coffee gets cold. I'm happy that I ran into you today. I wasn't expecting to see you until work on Tuesday," Alec says shyly. Magnus can't help smiling as Alec leans in, then places a kiss on Magnus' cheek. "Bye," with that, Alec walks out as Ragnor walks in.