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The thing about practicing a craft that is many, many centuries old is that sometimes, the only reference texts available are very, very old. Which automatically also means they're rare. Of course Magnus, just like probably every other warlock and a fair share of vampires, has a tendency to hoard books, and has long since made a habit of trying to acquire as many old texts as he can get his hands on. And, just like any other warlock, most of his texts he copies and stores in the Spiral Labyrinth, because in his opinion making knowledge inaccessible should be a crime. This means that when Magnus doesn't own a specific text, his next stop is the Spiral Labyrinth, unless he knows for a fact that one of his friends has the text in question.
Unfortunately, even the Spiral Labyrinth doesn't have everything. Which means that sometimes, Magnus has to do sleuthing.
It's kind of fun. It didn't use to be - in the past it was such a slog trying to track down an obscure text that most mundanes consider "occult" at best, "a madman's dangerous ramblings" at worst, and treat accordingly with not very much respect. But nowadays the internet exists, making things much, much easier to find. (Well, in theory. Some things are so obscure that- but that's a problem for a different day.)
And this time, Magnus is really in luck: the book he needs is not only available, it's in the possession of the Library of New York, so he won't even have to use a portal to access it. He does have to fill out an absurd number of forms, prove his identity as a legitimate researcher and make an appointment and wait for several weeks to actually access it, but he's a warlock - if he has anything, it's time.
This does mean that when he finally does get to access the text, he is not prepared to cut his appointment short in any sense. He literally left his phone behind so nobody could call him; he's going to do his research and not move until he's either finished or the library people make him.
Though, no pun intended, when suddenly the fire alarm goes off (in a library!) Magnus is somewhat... alarmed.
After a moment's thought, just to be safe, he throws up a fire protection spell over the areas of the building housing the irreplaceable stuff. Of course he has to be careful, he can't just make it fire retardant and expect the mundanes to just not notice, so he has to set several layers of spells that will divert the fire in believable ways, making the whole process a lot more involved than intended. As a result, Magnus kind of... forgets the part where he has to evacuate the building.
In his defense, he can leave through a portal at any time. The part he forget to take into account is where he actually can't, because there are records of his being here, and somebody is going to be very confused and suspicious if Magnus just vanishes into thin air. He probably wouldn't be able to come back, and that would be quite unfortunate.
This, Magnus remembers only when the (locked!) door to the room he's in opens. Like a scene from a dramatic movie, amidst a billowing cloud of smoke in walks a firefighter in that bulky, dark gray outfit with the neon yellow stripes. It's impressive, but it would be sexier if Magnus could see the man's face better - as it is, he just sees the eyes, the rest is covered by that protective mask. So are the eyes, of course, but there's a clear shield over those so Magnus at least can see a little bit. ...though come to think, that's probably more for the firefighter's benefit.
Magnus blinks, rather discombobulated, mind still half tangled up in the spell he's weaving.
"A fire alarm," the man grinds out, ire audible even with how distorted his voice sounds through the mask, "means you're required to leave the building."
"Ah," makes Magnus, blinking owlishly. "In my defense-" But he never gets to make his plea, because in that moment he starts coughing from the smoke.
"Shit," he hears, and the next moment there's a mask pressed to his face. "Here, put this on-" And suddenly things move very fast for a while. By the time Magnus can finally take a proper breath (and he means that more literally than he would have liked) he's outside the building and by an ambulance, being pushed to sit in the back of it. A different mask is pressed to his face and he's being told to breathe (which, what a novel idea, he never would've thought of it himself). He also gets a blanket wrapped around his shoulders and people ask him all sorts of questions.
Some indefinite amount of time later - that Magnus spends being frustrated that his appointment got interrupted, annoyed that he's likely going to have to wait some weeks for another appointment, dismayed at the chance that a lot of books could be burning down right this moment, and stricken at the memory of the smoke and the fact that the manuscript had still been laid out on the table, what if it gets damaged - a bulky person appears in front of him, blocking out all the light. "You okay?"
Magnus squints up at them. "Lieutenant Lightwood" the helmet says, which is kind of funny - he'd thought that was a uniquely shadowhunter name. Though now that he thinks about it, it'd make sense for it to exist in the mundane world as well, it's not that unique. He hasn't thought about the Lightwood in decades, but last he saw of them they were hardcore riding Valentine, so they can all go drink quicksilver for all Magnus cares. If he sees them again, though, he makes a mental note to make a mocking comment about the mundane Lightwood firefighter who is guaranteed a better person and probably has saved more people than any of the nephilim Lightwoods ever could.
"Oh, sorry," the firefighter says and quickly pulls off his mask, at which point Magnus remembers he was asked a question he probably should've replied to.
He promptly forgets that assignment a second later, when he catches his first glimpse of the firefighter's face. Sure, it's a bit red and sweaty and there are pressure lines on it from the mask, but wow, pretty.
"Are you okay?" the guy asks, brows furrowing. "Are you feeling dizzy? Dazed? Confused?"
"Oh, yes," Magnus replies, pulling his mask off to speak because he's already learned that people have a hard time understanding him when he's wearing it. The positive side-effect is that he's now able to deploy the full effect of his own face, which is rather pleasant to look at as well, if he does say so himself. Affecting a mild, pretty pout, Magnus continues, "Very. Absolutely befuddled, in fact. How can you still be this beautiful after wearing that thing for several hours? I thought there were rules about helmet hair."
Eyes widening, the man blinks at Magnus, and is that- oh yes, his face is definitely getting redder. How positively delightful. People who are this attractive are usually well-aware of it and certainly used to compliments - see Magnus himself - but this reaction looks genuine.
And then the man says, "You haven't seen my hair yet." A moment later he goggles, presumably caught off-guard by his own wit, and instantly ducks his head. Absolutely adorable.
Oh no, thinks Magnus, rather alarmed, pressing a hand to his chest. Still, he manages to scrape himself together enough to grin and reply, "Is that an offer? Because I gladly accept."
"What? I-" The guy lifts his face again and accidentally meets Magnus' eyes. Instantly, he falls silent and stares for one second, two, three, before he abruptly jolts himself out of it. "I, uh, I have to go," he waves vaguely behind him. "Bye."
Then he pivots and quickly marches off.
"Oh my," Magnus breathes, hand still on his chest, following the firefighter with his eyes until he vanishes in the hubbub.
A few minutes later, an EMT appears and gets upset about Magnus taking off the oxygen mask, so Magnus dutifully puts it on again. He does get it and approves of their vigilance; it's not their fault that to him personally the rules they're used to don't apply. As a warlock, he's just more resilient than a mundane. Even if he were to have issues from smoke inhalation, one dash of magic and he'd be right as rain again.
But they don't know that, and Magnus can't be causing any waves here by just vanishing from the scene and upsetting people. This is the library, he's definitely going to be back, so he has to keep his head down and cooperate.
That said, this sitting around and breathing is getting kind of boring. Watching the busy to and fro around him is mildly more diverting, but nothing really exciting is happening - wherever the fire is, it's not visible nor large. Nobody is running so it must be under control by now too, if not already dealt with. Magnus can see smoke coming from the building, but the wind carries it away from them so there's no telling how much of it there is. It's not exactly billowing like half the building is on fire though. The books are probably fine.
Oh, and so is Lieutenant Lightwood, Magnus finds upon spotting the man again. Not that Magnus understands anything about firefighter ranks, but the only reason he suddenly cares appears to be directing people. Or at least he spends some time listening to them, then nodding and replying, upon which they nod and stride off like people with stuff to do. He's in charge of something, then.
Magnus does so like a man who knows how to take control.
A few minutes later, Lieutenant Lightwood turns a little to look towards Magnus. Upon finding himself on the receiving end of Magnus' attention, he freezes.
Magnus lifts a hand and waves. There's a moment of hesitation, and then the Lieutenant starts walking towards him. Taking that as a sign, Magnus pulls his oxygen mask off. Lightwood's own mask is still off and his face looks less red and sweaty now, the pressure lines almost completely gone, giving Magnus a much better idea of just how pretty he is.
"Wow, you're really pretty," Magnus hears himself say. He didn't mean to, but, he decides a moment later, he also has no regrets.
Two steps away, Lightwood freezes and goes red. "Uhm," he makes, shifts on his feet a little. "Is, uh. Is everything alright? Do you need anything?"
"I might need some mouth to mouth attention, because it's getting hard to breathe," Magnus tells him earnestly.
By this point the firefighter's face is so red Magnus gets genuinely a bit concerned for his wellbeing. And then he says, "That's what that oxygen mask is for, you know. The one that's supposed to go on your face?"
Somebody gets sarcastic under pressure! A man after Magnus' heart. Making his eyes go wide, Magnus puts one hand on his chest. "Wow, you're so mean! I'm injured, you know. They gave me an oxygen mask and everything."
Lightwood's face does something complicated before he deflates a little. "You're right, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have- that was unprofessional, I apologize."
"Oh, no," Magnus instantly waves him off, dropping the injured expression. "Please don't, I'm loving it." He winks. "You can be mean to me all you like, so long as you kiss it better afterward."
A strangled noise escapes Lightwood. Abruptly, he turns around and walks away, motions slightly mechanical. Just two steps in, though, he freezes for a moment, then turns back around and heads back to Magnus. "I. Have to go," he states, seemingly unable to look Magnus in the eye. But he did come back, apparently only to say goodbye, and now he's waiting for Magnus to say something. A person who doesn't want any further interactions does not do that.
So Magnus smiles, slow and meaningful. "Please, don't let me stop you. But do feel free to come back later, Lieutenant...?"
"L-Lightwood," the fire fighter stammers. "Alec, Alec Lightwood. Is my name. Alec Lightwood."
"Alec," Magnus repeats slowly, like he's tasting something immensely pleasurable on his tongue. With a little luck he actually might get to, too. "Short for Alexander, I presume?" Lightwood nods, and Magnus smiles. "How delightfully appropriate. My name is Magnus Bane. It's a pleasure to meet you, Alexander."
Alexander makes another strangled noise. Before he can take another quick retreat, Magnus asks, "Will you come back to me later, darling? I'm terribly lonely over here, you know."
Poor Alexander looks completely incapable of reacting to that in any way. After a moment of managing to not to so much as make a sound, he presses out, "Yes," then pivots and quickly strides off again. Though there really isn't much to see, those uniforms really are terribly obscuring, Magnus makes a point of watching him walk away until he's lost in the chaos again.
Then he puts his oxygen mask back on. The last thing he wants is for the EMTs to come back to pay attention to him - or rather, the last thing he wants is for Alexander to see that happening, right after Magnus claimed to be lonely.
Sure, that was facetious, and Alexander certainly must know that. But he's clearly terribly shy, perhaps even a bit skittish while still interested - the fact that he keeps coming back proves that - so Magnus needs to be careful so as not to actually scare him off. If he manages to continue handling this with the right combination of delicacy and boldness that has kept Alexander coming back so far, he might even get a date out of it.
Good thing he really does love a challenge.