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Magnus got a text at 3:26 am, he expected it to be TJ or Mallory complaining about something, so he was surprised to see Alex’s name when he opened his phone. All the text said was: ‘can you come over?’ Magnus found it strange, maybe he had been kidnapped. That idea was overruled almost immediately, Alex would never let himself get kidnapped.
Magnus was actually glad for the distraction. He had been working on his history essay about Norse gods for the past 4 hours. He was getting sick of writing about the complicated family tree, who was married to who, who killed that family member, it was suffocating. He knew if he needed it his cousin would be more than happy to help him, but it was 3 am, and he knew that she needed to sleep.
Magnus stood up and closed his laptop. Alex only lived a few apartments down from him, but even that seemed like running a marathon.
He went. He wasn’t going to leave one of his best friends alone when he asked for his company.
Magnus knocked on Alex’s door and it opened almost immediately. Alex was standing on the other side of the door, girl tonight, Magnus thought. He had gotten quite good at recognizing her gender.
“It’s 3 am why did you want me over he-”
Alex launched herself at him, almost tackling him to the ground. She jumped into his arms and held on tight. He stumbled back a bit then balanced out. He hugged her in return, and started shuffling over to the couch, closing the door on the way. He sat down on her green couch.
“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked. She just hugged him tighter. “Don’t break my ribs; I can’t heal them by myself.” Alex chuckled a little against his neck, which sent a shiver through his spine. Alex then seemed to notice the way they were sitting. Magnus blushed as she untangled her arms and sat up.
She was basically sitting in his lap. Magnus thought he saw her blush as she shifted to sitting next to him.
“I had some pretty bad dysphoria. That’s why I texted. I forgot how bad it feels to feel like… like you shouldn’t be where you are… even though you can’t get out.”
“I don’t know how that feels, but you can always talk to me, and any of our friends.”
“I know… but I like talking to you the best,” she looked up at him from her focus on twiddling her fingers. “Don’t tell anyone that though, I have no qualms about hurting you,” the look on her face was serious, but Magnus could see the slight twinkle in her eyes.
“Duly noted. And, I like talking to you too…” he trailed off. It was hard to look Alex in her different colored eyes without wanting to just lean across and- Alex stood up.
“You can go if you want, I just needed a good hug. I don’t get much physical touch anymo-” she cut herself off. “Anyway, I probably woke you up. You can go back to sleep now.” But Magnus didn’t want to leave, he didn’t want to go to sleep.
“Wait,” Alex gave him a questioning look as he stood up. “I can stay for a bit longer if you want…” Alex looked incredulous. “And you didn’t wake me up, I was working on my Norse history paper, it was a welcome distraction.”
“Well if you want to stay that bad,” she sounded exasperated but looked grateful. They sat back on the couch and talked until around 5 am when Alex fell asleep. Her head was in Magnus’ lap, he had been messing with her soft hair — how did she manage to make it that soft?? — He fell asleep shortly after, hands still in her hair.
~~~~
Alex woke up to a pounding at the door.
“Jeez, relax!” She shouted. She sat up and made a double-take. She had slept curled up next to Magnus on her couch. She stared at the sleeping boy for a moment longer, until the pounding on the door started again. She stood up and checked the kitchen clock on her way to the door. It was almost noon.
Great.
She opened the door to an angry Sam.
“You forgot about our brunch! This is so not fair, you know I only get a few- wait, is that Magnus? Sleeping on your couch?” Alex almost couldn’t process the question.
“Um…” she turned around, surveyed her very messy living room, and nodded.
“Why is he- wait a second. Did you tell him?”
“No!” She considered Magnus again. She pushed Sam into the hallway and closed her apartment door. “No, I didn’t. And I’m not going to. He couldn’t like me, no one would like someone like me.” She looked down at her green and pink flannel pajamas.
“That is simply not true, and you know it, Alex. You are just scared of him rejecting you. Magnus would be extremely lucky to be able to date someone as awesome as you!” Sam said, punching her sister gently in the arm. “Now go wake that boy up and confess, if you’re ready.”
“Thanks, Sam. I love you, and I’m sorry about missing brunch.”
“It’s fine, but next time you’re paying.”
“Haha,” Alex said, sarcastically. “See you later sis!” Alex yelled as Sam walked to the elevators. Sam just chuckled and flipped her off over her shoulder.
Magnus woke up to a cold spot on the couch next to him. Had Alex gotten up to do something, or maybe she regretted texting him. Had he overstayed his welcome by sleeping on her couch, by falling asleep with her head in his lap when he should have moved her?
“Wake up, Maggie!” Alex yelled as she came through her front door, still in pajamas.
“I’m up, I’m up!”
“Good, we need to talk!” That was never a good thing. “I… I have a confession,” oh, maybe it wasn’t so bad, or it was the worst. “I kinda like you.” It was so quiet that Magnus could barely hear what she said.
“You like me?”
“Is that ok?” She looked so unlike her normal confidence, Alex, self.
“Yes!”
“What?”
“I like you too!” Magnus was so thrilled that Alex liked him back. He’d had a crush on her since they were 17, it was a gigantic relief to know that his feelings were reciprocated.
“You do? You do!” She looked like she was going to explode from excitement. Then her smile faded. “Even when I’m a guy?”
“Even if you were an elephant.”