I Have GOT To Pick Better Habits [semi-closed post]

[summerdude]

The zombies are gone, the bodies are healed, the Magnus is exhausted. He's had an extremely strange few days. First, everyone else seems to start unloading their entire hearts at him -- unexpected! But pretty cool! -- and then he wakes up to zombies.

It really gets him thinking, is the thing. He's been practicing swordplay daily since arriving, sparring with people or against Jack, trying to keep a hand in and not let his mediocre skills atrophy. He's also been exercising in new-to-him invigorating ways, learning new stuff, meeting new people...

He likes it here. He really, really likes it here. He misses his friends back home more than words can possibly express, but if he went back to Valhalla right now, he'd miss the people here, too, some of them even equally as bad. And he doesn't want to subject these people all to Valhalla -- it's really not for everyone -- but he also can't figure out how to bring all his people here. Jack still can't rip through the barriers between worlds here like he can anywhere else in the Nine.

He likes it here... and it's becoming abundantly clear to him that he doesn't want to fight all the time anymore. The zombies have made it really, stunningly clear how much he doesn't miss Battle Practice or dying all the time. The rest has clued him into how much he likes learning new things, and talking to different kinds of people, and figuring out who he is when he's not constantly in crisis all the time, zombies aside.

But liking it here so much feels kind of like a betrayal? Especially after all the specific, deliberate choices he's made to stay in Valhalla with his people. And this sobers him, a little, blunting the rough edge of the adrenaline that's still coursing through his body.

His thoughts are distracting and, thusly preoccupied as he walks through the halls in the vague direction of his room, a shower, and a nap, he absently reaches out and returns Jack to pendant form...

And immediately passes out.

[Post intended for anyone who will be particularly upset by Magnus passing out xoxo]]

Comments

[summerdude]

"He loves you, too," Magnus says, with great conviction. After the conversations they've shared and the memories Magnus has seen, there's absolutely no doubt about that. He's grinning; he's thrilled for his friend. "Being understood is so important." It's one of the reasons he picked Galahad as a friend, after all; he's pretty sure they have a fundamental understanding. A different kind of understanding, surely, but still.

[onthewillowsthere]

"It's good," he agrees; there's a faint tremor in his voice.

[summerdude]

"I'm so happy for you," Magnus tells him. He's been mostly curled up and letting Galahad hold him, but he works an arm free so he can use it to cuddle Galahad harder, as emphasis.

[onthewillowsthere]

Happy. He's happy, too. He tucks his face into Magnus' shoulder.

[summerdude]

"Maybe," Magnus says, and now he's thinking out loud, distracting himself from the lingering badness of the day by focusing on an impossible, unlikely goodness. "If Alex ever came here, we could go on, like, a double date." He's trying to picture what that would look like. He just knows that's a thing you do, when you and your best friend both have really cool boyfriends. He hasn't formally tried it before with any of his coupled-up friends. Double dating with Halfborn and Mallory would definitely end in someone's bloodshed (probably Magnus's), and with Hearth and Blitz it would mostly feel like being chaperoned or pulling a shift in the Chase Space. He guesses they've done it with Samirah and Amir, but Alex (child of Loki) technically was serving as a male chaperone from Sam (daughter of Loki)'s family every time, and it always felt like it would be too unbalanced if he tried to hold Alex's hand when Sam and Amir couldn't.

Of one thing, though, he's relatively certain. "I think Claudius and Alex would be really funny together," he adds. "We could just watch them be extremely clever at each other and exchange smug glances about our excellent taste every few seconds."

[onthewillowsthere]

"What's a double date?" And then, to his astonishment, he laughs. He can almost imagine what Magnus is describing, Claudius and Alex speaking cleverly while he and Magnus admire them, the pleasure of knowing that they both chose well. It feels good to imagine, it feels warm and conspiratorial in the best way. "Yes," he agrees.

[summerdude]

Magnus grins. He loves Galahad's laugh. "A double date is -- wait, do you know what a regular date is?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"A fruit," still smiling. He knows this is the wrong answer -- he's trying to make Magnus laugh.

[summerdude]

Magnus does laugh. "I see we have a comedian in the house," he says, between chuckles, squeezing Galahad's arm mostly-reflexively.

[onthewillowsthere]

"What is a regular date?"

[summerdude]

"It's when you take someone you like -- a boyfriend, or a girlfriend, or even just a crush -- to do activities together," Magnus says. "Or share a meal. I think the point is to spend time together, like, romantically, but in a place where you can have fun and get to know each other better, too?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"The dance will be a date, I think."

[summerdude]

"Dance?"

[onthewillowsthere]

"For Sagramore and Laertes, because they were married."

[summerdude]

"I knew they were married," Magnus says. He flips through his mental notes. "I didn't know there was going to be a reception though; that's cool."

[onthewillowsthere]

"Claudius is planning it. I've been helping when he asks." There's a subtle trace of pride in his voice when he says it: he likes helping Claudius.

[summerdude]

"You like helping Claudius, huh," Magnus says, picking up on the pride in Galahad's voice.

[onthewillowsthere]

"He's my boyfriend."

[summerdude]

"He sure is," Magnus says, giving in to sudden whim and moving his hand up so that he can tousle Galahad's hair, playfully. Then, thoughtfully, he adds, "I haven't been to any weddings," yet; but even though he kind of like it here better than Valhalla, he's going to be so upset if he misses Samirah and Amir's because of being here, "but from what I understand, you can bring a date to a wedding -- like, the person you're seeing, so you have someone there with you -- but I don't think most people think of that as a date. They're usually separate events." He frowns. "I don't know why weddings aren't considered group dates, actually. Maybe because single people go, too?"

[onthewillowsthere]

He smiles again at having his hair tousled -- he likes it. "Is it because everyone should be thinking of the two people who're getting married? Instead of each other."

[summerdude]

"You know what, probably," Magnus says. Galahad's hair feels nice under his fingers, so he keeps touching it. "I've heard it's really bad to do anything to upstage the main couple at their wedding, so that would make sense."

[onthewillowsthere]

"We'll have to mind ourselves."

[summerdude]

Magnus laughs again. "Yeah," he agrees. "I know how you love to be the center of attention. You'll really have to rein it in."

[onthewillowsthere]

"I'll be modest. You won't recognize me."

[summerdude]

"I'll believe it when I see it," Magnus says, in a highly-affected tone of great doubt. "I know it will be very difficult for you to keep from, like, swinging on the chandelier declaring your eternal love in the form of a handwritten ballad."