Magnus started to laugh. It was odd to laugh and feel desire at the same time; he wasn’t sure he’d had that with anyone but Alec.

“Magnus!” Shinyun’s voice was hoarse and cracked. “I demand that you take the third blow from the Svefnthorn. I demand it. Or I will kill the thing you love best.”

“Will you spare Alec?” he said quietly. “Promise you’ll let Alec go, and I’ll do it.”

My love for yours, my heart for yours, my soul for yours, Alexander. Now and for all time.

i do not ever want another love / alec is the love of magnus's life special

Alec was different after Magnus. Better. Even Clary had noticed it. In one of the books it is said that she did not recognize an expression on Alec’s face at first, and then she realized it was a smile. He was happy, and that was almost shocking because everyone had grown used to seeing him as distant, quiet, and always burdened. With Magnus, it was as if he had discovered another version of himself, one that allowed light to shine through.

After the breakup he slipped back into that old version, maybe even worse than before. He stopped cutting his hair, he did not eat properly, his clothes were worn out, the kind that looked as if they would fall apart with a touch. Jace was hurting for him, Isabelle was hurting for him, and anyone who knew Alec could see he was falling apart. And Magnus, even if he would never admit it openly, was breaking too. When Jace visited him, he found him with a beard, still in his pajamas, the house a mess. Because for him, life without Alec had lost its shape, its direction, its meaning.

The books make it clear that their love was not simple. In City of Lost Souls there is this sense of distance growing between them, not because of the absence of feeling, but because of fear, insecurity, and the difficulty of trusting completely. Alec was torn between his love for Magnus and his fear of losing him, and that fear drove him to choices that would eventually wound them both. Magnus, who had lived for centuries, carried his own shadows, his own doubts about whether any love could last when time itself was against them. Their breakup was not about the lack of love, but about how much it hurt to love someone so much that you feared you would destroy them.

Magnus holding on to the shirt he once lent Alec on their first date feels like the perfect symbol of this. It is not just a piece of clothing, it is a memory, a fragment of a night when everything was still untouched by fear. For Magnus, keeping that shirt is like keeping proof that what they had was real, that it mattered, even if it is now only a ghost of what once was.

malec drabble

Alec had missed this.

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not to be bleak but what if family rings started as a way to identify bodies. at a time where there were more shadowhunters, or maybe shadowhunters across the globe that just weren’t as connected. you could die in battle and have someone show up as backup and not be able to identify you save for the ring on your hand, clenched around your last weapon, because shadowhunters rarely go down without a fight

wear your family ring on your dominant hand (weapon hand) because it’s most likely to survive. exchange family rings with your lover so that when someone finds your battered half-eaten corpse they’ll know who loved you, who will grieve you, who to notify. many other such cases

Crying sobbing on the floor will never look at these the same how dare you

So like would love to know how alecs 12th birthday went… the day after 9/11/2001. I fear his parents were prob extremely preoccupied dealing with all kinds of stuff around new york… guys what if they forgot… what if dutiful-oldest-child-alec just like knew he wasn’t the priority that day

Izzy and Jace being the only ones who remember it. Izzy making a terrible attempt-of-cake and they put candles in it, went to Alec’s room —Jace carrying little Max—, and sang happy birthday to their big brother 😩

The air was thick with warmth and the scent of something floral—jasmine, maybe. Magnus had said this place was “an absolute treasure, completely off the grid, and most importantly, private.” Alec wasn’t sure how he’d found it, but then again, Magnus Bane had a way of knowing things no one else did.

A shallow pool carved into natural stone reflected the flickering lanterns above. The water was warm, nearly hot, and Alec let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding as he sank in up to his chest. Steam curled around them, softening the edges of everything, turning the jungle around them into a blurred painting of green and gold.

Magnus was already half-submerged across from him, bare-chested, adorned in gold jewelry that somehow didn’t seem to tarnish despite the water. He looked like he belonged there, like the world had built this entire scene just to frame him.

Alec felt like he didn’t.

He shifted slightly, water rippling around him, acutely aware of the way his black swim briefs clung to his skin. It wasn’t the exposure that unsettled him—it was the intimacy. The vulnerability. They hadn’t gotten… there, yet. Not entirely. And Alec was still getting used to the way Magnus looked at him, like he was worth seeing.

-Alesar Design

Hi! I imagined this drawing as it was set during their vacation after city of glass. Alec still clumsy and scared of what could be, Magnus already head over hills for him. I love to draw the contrast between their skin colors❤️

I hope you enjoy

lmao it’s ok, I’m imagining my own fanfic about your fanfic 🥴 take your time

Magnus is Alec's life and Alec is Magnus's death

One minor post to dive into this new theory I have. We know there are a lot of parallels and symmetries between malec: angel/demon, moon/sun, introvert/extrovert, silver/gold, etc Then I start thinking deeper into this tendency of their dynamic to push and pull each other, and come to this

1. Magnus is Alec's life

City of Bones

In the sense that Magnus has helped save Alec's life countless times, it was established in their small breadcrumbs in one of their earliest interaction, when he saved Alec from the demon poison. One can say this quite literally set the foundation of their relationship, as Alec asked Magnus out while visiting Magnus to say thank you for saving his life

City of Heavenly Fire

He also saved Alec again during the gang's journey to Edom, even though Magnus wasn't present. Alec's hallucination, caused by the demons, includes a lot of people, yet Magnus is the one who snaps him out of it, insisting that life is worth living more than fantasy.

The Red Scrolls of Magic

Magnus also brings life to Alec in a metaphorical sense, "breathing a new life" into him. Opening his eyes to new beauties, chances, and people, letting Alec know that yes, he is built for storybook moments too

Queen of Air and Darkness

Magnus is his biggest muse, inspiration. Magnus makes him strive every day to make the world a better place. Alec wants to be better for Magnus, for their family, he loves him so much, he will bend and break the narrative for the future in which Magnus can be happy

2. Alec is Magnus's death

The Red Scrolls of Magic

City of Heavenly Fire

City of Heavenly Fire

On many occasions, when Magnus has a near encounter with death, he remembers or thinks about Alec. Is it because somehow Magnus got the worst luck in existence and keeps kissing death every two months and stressing his friends and family out? Maybe. But this kind of proves Alec is present a lot during Magnus' perceived final hour

The Red Scrolls of Magic

Many times, people have told Magnus Alec will be "the death of him", referencing how his angelic blood and family will make him eventually choose his shadowhunter community above all else, and abandoning Magnus (not featured pictures, cause honestly there are like a lot). I kind of find it interesting how it ties up to Magnus's perception of himself, and eventually of Alec, like when he's kind of implying Alec should prioritize his life over Magnus's here

City of Heavenly Fire

Magnus's letter to Alec

Death, of course, can translate to other things, not just a physical one. The death of one's old self, a transformation, aligning with how Magnus is describing Alec's presence in his life here

3. We Have to Talk About The Black and White Impermanence

The Lost Book of The White

For the sake of my argument, let's theorize White Impermanence as "life" and Black Impermanence as "death."

The Lost Book of The White

Alec eventually succeeds in his trial, and he is able to give "death" to Magnus. And we also know this is true because-

Queen of Air and Darkness

In Thule, Alec did kill Magnus after he turned into a demon. And after Alec's "life" is gone, he is gone too

The Lost Book of The White

I don't see people talk about this a lot, but from the way I interpret it, Magnus, too, has his own trial with the sword in The Lost Book of the White, and he passes it. He gives "mercy" to Alec, making Shiyun spares Alec's life. By submitting to Sammael, he literally gives "life" to Alec, while Alec brings "death" to him via death of the self, because Magnus's biggest fear is becoming a demon (stated he would rather be killed than that)

We can also add that Magnus was willing to sacrifice himself to get Alec and his friends out of Edom in CoHF