100 Ways To Say I Love You series [Inspired by this.]

1. “Pull over. Let me drive for awhile.”

A huge thank you to @taupefox59  and @alecolightwood for beta-ing this! You have been immensely helpful and I am extremely grateful and you’re both so so wonderful <3

Also on AO3.

They’re on their way back from Alec’s parents’ house. It’s late and all the roads are empty, even the ones going into the city. There’s something soft about the world at night, about a highway lit up by a few headlights and the streetlamps that line the road. Even the glow off the dashboard is anything but harsh, caressing Magnus’s profile and bringing out the faded blue streak in his hair.

Alec hums, running his fingers down the outer seam of his jeans and leaning back in his seat. He glances out the window at the towering trees just beyond the crash barrier. They’re hard to make out in the dark, but it’s clear that they’re far away from the imposing skyscrapers and concrete jungle of the city.

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches Magnus running a hand down his face. It’s back on the wheel by the time Alec’s turned to look at him.

“Are you tired?” he asks, not missing the way Magnus has started to frown.

They were supposed to be out of the Lightwoods’ by seven, but dinner had run late in the wake of Jace’s announcement. He and Clary had gotten engaged after a long year of dancing around the question. It hadn’t come as a surprise to Alec. Jace had been talking about proposing ever since they’d all made the trip out to Clary’s mother’s wedding.

Nevertheless, everyone had been ecstatic to hear it. Isabelle had spent the rest of the night smacking her brother on the arm and pulling Clary into impromptu hugs, and Maryse had politely asked that they all stay a little later to toast the news with a bottle of champagne.

It was well past ten by the time it seemed acceptable to make their leave. Alec had kissed his soon-to-be sister-in-law on the cheek and given his brother one last smile before they made their exit, pulling Magnus against his side as they slipped out of the house. With all the lights still on behind them and their winter coats fending off the chill, they’d walked to the car in comfortable silence.

“I’ll drive,” Magnus had declared softly, tugging the keys out of Alec’s pocket and slipping around to the driver’s side. Alec had smiled at his boyfriend, that warmth blooming in his chest that he had grown familiar with over the years, and ducked into the passenger seat. The sound of the engine coming to life had seemed so loud in the quiet of the slumbering neighbourhood.

Now, Magnus darts him a glance from the driver’s seat and gives him a tired smile. “I’m fine,” he insists. “It’s only another half hour.”

Alec watches him for a long moment. He’s always beautiful no matter what he’s wearing or where they are, but Alec has always found there to be something uniquely endearing about Magnus after the lights have gone out and his guard has dropped. Exhaustion makes him vulnerable in a way he usually isn’t and Alec feels humbled to be privy to this part of him.

He reaches across the console between them to rest his hand on Magnus’s forearm. It prompts Magnus to glance at him again with warm eyes and a fond expression before turning back to the road.

It wasn’t so long ago that they’d been discussing the topic of marriage themselves. A month ago, they’d lain wrapped around each other in their bed and whispered the conversation into the rays of filtered morning light sneaking through the window. Alec had traced his fingers along Magnus’s skin, enthralled by the way the sunlight touched him, and asked him if he’d ever thought about it. Magnus had run his hands through Alec’s hair and told him that he thought about it all the time.

Alec had smiled, the soft and private one reserved just for Magnus. They’d kissed lazily, bare torsos touching and sheets tangled around their waists, and Alec had admitted that even though he wanted Magnus to be his husband, he still loved them just the way they were.

Magnus had only kissed him harder and whispered that he loved them as they were, too. The memory is a fond one.

“Pull over,” Alec tells him gently, moving his hand up to squeeze Magnus’s. “Let me drive for awhile.”

Magnus gives him a look of pure exhaustion and complete adoration, his eyes crinkling around the edges and brows drawing tighter like they do every time Alec does something thoughtful. He shakes his head like he’s about to protest, but Alec smiles sweetly so he pulls over instead.

They kiss over the centre console. It’s the familiar kind of kiss, the one that comes from knowing each other as surely as they know themselves and waking each morning to the other’s lips on theirs.

They had met through a mutual friend just over eight years ago. Magnus had been looking for someone to help him sort out the launch of his very own fashion line and Alec had just graduated from university with a degree in business. The connection had been instant, but it had taken many late nights going over budgets and marketing strategies for anything to happen.

It’d taken a full year for Magnus to lean across the spreadsheets and hectic notes to kiss him.

They worked well together no matter what they were working on and it wasn’t long before they were partners in everything they did. Being together romantically had come as naturally as their business partnership, though they’d still had their issues.

Alec had spent a month at Isabelle’s place because they hadn’t understood each other’s unique way of expressing their appreciation for their partner, but they’d always worked it out no matter how bad it got. Sometimes their relationship was the only steady thing in their lives, especially when they had to travel abroad for business or had a bad review during New York Fashion Week.

Honestly, they were more married than anyone they knew who was actually married. Even Lydia and John, a staple of happiness, always joked that Alec and Magnus had their shit together better than anyone else.

After eight years, they didn’t need rings or wild declarations to know they loved each other. They had found other ways, quieter ones, and it suited them better than the proposal by the Eiffel tower Jace had given Clary.

Magnus squeezes his partner’s hand as he settles into the passenger seat, and Alec squeezes back before starting up the car again.