A flash of sunlight tickling at his nose was what woke Alec up this morning, and the first thing he noticed was the smell of coffee coming from the kitchen of Magnus´ loft. The second thing he noticed, was that the space in bed beside him was empty. It was one of the few times Magnus had woken up before him. Alec caught a glimpse of the watch. It was 9am. For the shadowhunter it was like sleeping in.

After one week of running the Institute while his parents had been in Idris, Maryse had given him a day off.

„Hey, you´re awake.", Magnus had appeared at the doorcase, leaning at the frame. Alec smiled at him.

„What was your dream about?" he asked coming closer and sitting down on the bed next to the shadowhunter. Alec frowned. „Did I talk in my sleep?" „No, but, you know, there is a saying in the Mundane world that says what you dream in your first night in a new apartment comes true." Magnus shrugged. „It´s superstition, but I kind of like it. Unless it was a nightmare." he added at his boyfriend´s suspicious expression.

Although Alec had already spent the night at Magnus´ more than once, this had been indeed the first night since he had moved in with his boyfriend.

Alec closed his eyes for a moment.

When he opened them again, he met Magnus curious gaze. He smiled cautiously. „I dreamed about a summer evening in California. I was there with you. We learned how to surf and took a walk at the beach and had dinner at a panorama restaurant." he summed it up.

Magnus nodded a little absentmindedly, furrowing his brows in thought. Then he returned the smile. „California was on our list before we were interrupted by Camille... Well, that´s something we can definitly make come true. Jem and Tessa are currently in L.A, so we could pay a visit. What do you think, sweetheart?"

Alec´s sapphire blue eyes widened. He had really enjoyed their trip around the world and the prospect of continuing their jouney together filled him with excitement. On the other hand, he had duties to do being the eldest of the Lightwood children. And he didn´t want to disappoint his mother. Then again, he was eighteen, he was finally reunited with Magnus and they´ve been through a lot in the last weeks. Yes, they deserved spending a few weeks of holidays together, he decided. „I´m looking forward to it." he said eventually.

Magnus gave him a lopsided grin. „Alright then. I made breakfast." he said, gesturing Alec to follow him into the kitchen. Alec´s brow shot upward. „You made breakfast?" he asked suspiciously. „You mean you conjured up some coffee and fried eggs, which is technically stealing." Magnus just shrugged. „The coffee I made myself. I have a coffeemaker, as you know."

Alec laughed. The coffee machine had been bought when they weren´t officially boyfriend and boyfriend, and Alec hadn´t outed himself yet. It had been a purchase with the only intention of making Alec more comfortable around the loft, a fact that made him brighten up inside. At the beginning of their relationship the buy of the coffemaker had given him a feeling of comfort, a feeling of being wanted around Magnus, receiving a place in his apartment.

Now, however, he didn´t need a coffee machine to remind him that he possessed a big place in Magnus´ life as well as in his heart.

Alec took a sip of the coffee. Magnus had made it as he wanted it: No milk and a bit of sugar.

„Are you going to tell me?" Magnus´ question caught him out of guard and he coughed into his coffee. Magnus was shooting him a searching look. „Wha- What do you mean?" Alec asked overly indifferent. Magnus could read Alec like an open book – in fact, it wasn´t hard finding out Alec´s lies as he was a terrible liar. But right now, he wished, Magnus would just let it be.

Magnus, in this matter, guessed what it was all about, and he knew that such things had to be spoken out instead of being hushed-up.

„The dream you had tonight." he said softly. „It wasn´t about a trip to California, was it? I´ve seen your face when I asked you. You had a nightmare."

Alec closed his eyes in pain, like he had done in the bedroom earlier. Magnus didn´t push him. He waited patiently, his eyes locked on Alec, until he opened his eyes again. The blue orbs brimmed with tears. „I saw Max." he said, his voice shaking slightly.

Immediatly, Magnus rushed over to his boyfriend and hugged him, gently caressing his back. „I know, Alec, I know how you feel. You don´t need to say it out lout, if you don´t want to." he whispered in a soothing voice. And indeed, Alec didn´t want to talk about the nightmare. He didn´t want to talk about his little brother looking at him with the wide gray eyes of the innocent child he had been, begging him to see him, to save him.

Alec didn´t cry. He wasn´t that kind of person who burst into tears when he broke down. There was just that numb feeling in his stomach everytime he thought of his little brother. Like a hole inside of him, something that had always been there before, something he had expected to always be there, and yet it had been ripped away from him without a warning. He could live on, but the hole would always remind him of what had been there once.

Max, the only one he hadn´t been able to save.

„I miss him." was all he could bring out. It were times like this when Alec could sympathize the real curse of being immortal. Max was Alec´s first loss, but Magnus had lived for centuries outliving everyone he had ever cared about. Alec couldn´t bring himself to imagine what it was like for him, what it would be like for Magnus to lose Alec too, someday.

„I know." Magnus said. And Alec could tell how genuine his sympathy was. It was somewhat comforting „It´s okay. He´ll always stay your little brother. He´ll always be a part of you."

And for a moment, in Magnus arms, it really felt like it could be okay again.

Alec pulled away from the embrace and smiled weakly at Magnus as if to assure him, that he would be alright. Magnus nodded and they finished their breakfast in comfortable silence.

„So... what are we going to do today?" Alec asked eventually, when he was sure that his voice would be steady again. Certainly his warlock had planned something for the rare day on which Alec was completly off-duty.

„I was thinking maybe we could eat dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant we were on our first date." Alec raised a brow. „You mean where the owner treated me like a vicious dog and the waiter almost fainted at my sight? Yeah, that would be a good idea." he said dryly.

Magnus grinned. „We could go annoy this Erik-guy for a bit. That would be fun." he said and Alec laughed. It really was kind of romatic, the idea of revisiting the restaurant where they´d had their first date.

So he just shrugged. „Sure, why not. But I´m not ordering penne arrabiata again!" Magnus laughed at the memory of Alec choking on the way too spicy pasta.

„If he serves any spoiled food this time, I´m going to turn him into a rabbit." He promised matter-of-factly.

„It´s settled then." said Alec. „It´s a date." confirmed Magnus with a wink.