Chapter Text
‘... I don’t want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need ...’
Magnus Bane switched off the car radio with a scowl. He definitely wasn’t in the mood for hearing ‘All I want for Christmas’ for the fourth time since leaving New York. (He was one overly sugary song away from tearing off the radio and throwing it out a window.) Magnus absolutely wasn’t in the mood for anything Christmas related, period. While he was normally a social person and a notorious party animal this year he also wasn’t in the mood for people in general. This time of the year made him all too aware of the fact that after the festivities were over and gifts had been exchanged, he was a grown man who had no one but his cats to go home to. (Considering his relationship track record so far, he’d likely be single for the rest of his life – and he wasn’t just being overdramatic.) So pardon him for needing to distance himself from ‘the season to be jolly’.
So Magnus did the only logical thing. He rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere and a car to get there. His friends didn’t seem to find his decision quite as reasonable.
When he told Catarina she sat him down and asked with a very serious expression on her face if he was alright. (Yes, he was, thank you very much. He just needed a break from the city and... everything.) At last she promised to look after his two furry babies.
Ragnor told him to drink less and offered to accompany him. (Magnus didn’t want a glorified babysitter. He wanted peace. Ragnor rolled his eyes but refrained from commenting verbally.)
As for Raphael...
When Magnus’ phone went off he sighed dramatically and braced himself before accepting the call. His mouth opened but Raphael was faster. “Have you lost your damned mind?”
“So Ragnor told you”, Magnus guessed dryly. He’d have words with that damned traitor...
“When you said you were going to take a vacation, I envisioned a spa or something. Not a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Since when have you been a cabin person? Especially someone who goes to one of those places all alone?”
Magnus lifted his chin stubbornly. “Since today”, he declared matter-of-factly. “It has electricity, running water and everything. It’s not like I’m spending a couple of weeks in a cave or something. And I’m not alone, I have my violin.”
Raphael huffed. “And playing is all you have to do for two weeks? I know what you’re like when you get bored. Promise me you’ll get out of there before you go all ‘Shining’, okay?”
Magnus frowned. “Is that a horror movie reference? You know I don’t watch those.” A woman’s voice was talking and he tried to concentrate on it. “Look, the navigation is trying to tell me something. If you’re done judging all my life’s choices, I’ve gotta go.”
“I’m never done judging.” Raphael sighed, clearly realizing that this was the closest to getting through to him the younger man would get. “Just take care of yourself out there.”
Magnus scoffed and hated how fond it sounded. “I always do. Now stop worrying and end the call already.”
Some other time Magnus might’ve taken a second to appreciate the fact that Raphael didn’t deny worrying about him. At the moment he had more urgent concerns because according to navigation he managed to miss a turn. While a woman’s voice he was rapidly starting to hate kept telling him to make a U-turn as soon as possible he wondered moodily if fate was telling him to go home.
In the end the last part of the journey that was only supposed to take thirty minutes took him two hours. Navigation became useless and several tiny, snowy roads that all looked the same led him astray countless of times. Eventually it was dark, which made finding anything even more difficult. When he finally reached his destination, exhausted and his hair a mess from frustrated tugging, he just stared at the building in front of him. It was at that moment his decision really struck him.
It really was a small, plain looking cabin in the middle of a dense forest he headed to. When he eventually emerged from the vehicle Magnus couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was watching him and shivered as an owl hooted somewhere quite close by. The only other building around aside his own was a nearly identical cabin a small distance away from it. With how dark it was he imagined it deserted. (The old wreck of a car parked next to it didn’t encourage the idea that someone would’ve been there recently.) Then a curtain moved almost aggressively, covering a large window fully. Magnus shivered again.
This was starting to feel unnervingly lot like the beginning of a horror movie.
Well. He was probably going to get murdered, then. Because he wasn’t going to prove his friends’... concerns right by running back home immediately like a coward.
It took three trips to the car to get all his possessions dragged to the cabin and every time he approached the vehicle Magnus gave his neighboring building a sideways glance. The curtain remained still but he continued to feel eyes on him. After the final time he went in he checked five times that the door was locked properly. Then looked around properly.
The cabin was much smaller than the advert gave away, just a conjoined living room and kitchen, along with a toilet and a bedroom he considered closet-sized. There was a thick layer of dust everywhere and he was almost sure he saw a mouse rushing into hiding. Hopefully it was just his imagination and fatigue playing tricks on him. As Magnus tried to get himself a glass of water the liquid rushing down was brownish for nearly a minute before clearing.
“Home sweet home”, Magnus muttered sarcastically. Outside the owl hooted again. He was convinced it mocked him and his life choices.
/
Alec Lightwood woke up to violin music and groaned loudly once his brain became convinced that he wasn’t actually having a bad dream.
The previous night he wasn’t happy to discover that apparently he was going to get a neighbor for the first time in years. It was too dark to really see the arrival, nor did he care much about the other’s appearance. He came to this cabin to avoid people. Which meant his family, actually, because he interacted with others rarely. (By choice.) Including his sister who was a lovely person but also an infuriating match-maker. And his parents who were still in denial about him being gay. (As though the manner in which he came out would’ve left any room for denial. When he was eighteen his adopted brother Jace dragged him to a bar with the help of fake IDs and got him drunk for the first time in his life. The evening was all good and fun until some guy attempted to hit on Jace and Alec nearly punched the... unpleasant individual. It was all downhill from there. They got thrown out and after a clearly unhappy Jace dragged him home he proceeded to, loudly and in tears, blurt out his secret crush on the blond before throwing up violently. He was loud enough to wake up his entire family to witness the spectacle. Once he was sober Jace turned him down gently and over time their dynamic became a purely brotherly one but it didn’t erase the humiliating memory.)
This year Izzy seemed to have another ‘accidental’ encounter planned for him. (Stupid or admirable stubbornness, considering how miserably the ones so far had turned out.) Jace had his first serious girlfriend ever, a maddeningly perky redhead named Clary, who’d spend the holidays at their house. Alec was over his unrequited crush (or so he told himself) but couldn’t quite smother his... conflicted feelings. His parents asking hopefully if he’d bring over a nice girl, too, didn’t help. So this little... vacation of his wasn’t running away, thank you very much, he just needed a break.
Trust fate to gift him with a nuisance even at his safe place.
Alec pressed his hands to his ears but it didn’t drown out the music. It was only nine thirty in the morning. What kind of a person woke up at nine thirty willingly? To play a violin, of all imaginable things to do?
Alec came to the cabin every year for a simple reason. To be left alone, to have peace and quiet. And he was going to fight for his peace. Full of determination, he left the bed grudgingly and marched to his neighbor. There he knocked demandingly on the door with a stern speech planned out in his head. All words disappeared when the door was opened by a beautiful man wearing nothing but makeup and boxers. (A very, very beautiful man. With an athlete’s body.)
An elegant eyebrow bounced up while the other’s gaze sized him up. “Well, hello. I’m Magnus. And who are you?”
Alec’s mouth had gone dry and his head was in a state of utter chaos. His facial muscles tightened to a painful extent before he managed to speak up, his voice coming out tight enough to be called clipped. “Alec. Why didn’t you get dressed before answering the door?” He absolutely refused to let himself acknowledge how much he appreciated the sight.
Magnus’ gaze hardened. The man seemed to come close to rolling his eyes. “Because you knocked like there was a fire somewhere.” Magnus folded his arms to his chest. (Alec caught himself staring at that area and the abs below uncomfortably long.) “How can I help you, Sunshine?”
What was Alec doing there again...? Oh yes, he was bothered by those abs... The music. Yes, the music. He was uncomfortably aware of the fact that the more... distracted by the other’s body he got the more his facial muscles tightened. Was he scowling? “Your music was too loud. Keep it down.”
This time Magnus did roll his eyes. “I’ll try to play at a later hour in the future to avoid disturbing your precious beauty sleep. But I’m a professional musician so I’m afraid you’ll be exposed to it eventually.” The man shrugged. “I’m sure there are worse things to be subjected to.”
The sight of the other’s nearly naked form was chasing all blood from Alec’s brain... to other areas and he was getting very, very irritated. He sounded far more petulant than he’d meant to. “I hate classical music. And who plays in nothing but boxers?” (What was he, a child picking up a schoolyard fight?)
Magnus’ eyes flashed threateningly. “Inspiration happened to strike right after I took a shower. If my body and music are such big problems for you, drag your tasteless ass back to that piece of junk you call a car and get the hell out of here. Because after all the hours I spent trying to find this stupid place yesterday I’m not leaving. Good day.”
“Hey...!” Alec protested but had the door slammed at his face (almost literally).
On the other side of the door Magnus seethed. His heart raced and head spun from fury. “What an asshole”, he hissed.
Alec actually wasn’t an asshole. (Most of the time.) Walking slowly away from the door, he felt genuinely sorry for how he handled the whole situation. Until angry-sounding violin music floated to his ears. Was it louder this time? “What an asshole”, he grumbled.