If Alex Came Back We'd DEFINITELY Be The Local Power Couple [open post]

[summerdude]

Magnus has come to realize that nobody else in this entire place is presently in a relationship that has lasted nearly as long as his and Alex's. Shen Yuan's concept of "communication" "with" "Luo Binghe" is continuing to horrify him every time he thinks about it. What if there are other people who could use the advice of a sixteen-year-old twenty-five-year-old virgin who has been in a committed relationship for nearly seven years with someone to who he is probably widely known to have never verbally declared the undying depths of his love? (Gods, he hopes Alex figures out a way to do another little visit for their rapidly-approaching anniversary)

To that end, he posts an announcement sign over the welcome table, in the café, and on the door to the kitchen. It reads:

NEED RELATIONSHIP ADVICE OR FEEDBACK? Local Long-Term Relationship Expert Magnus Chase Offers His Aid.

He even lists office hours — an inoffensive parlor (meaning he can tolerate hanging out in it, and the door can close if people want privacy for their conversations) every other day for an hour, immediately following his Drosera hand-off to Galahad.

Comments

[summerdude]

"Oh, for sure," says Magnus, nodding. He's not actually interested gossiping about his friends, so he just leans back against the couch and says, "I've spent so long being, like, 'I'm super new to dating! I'm the baby boyfriend of the friend group!' because me and Alex have only been together for, like, just under seven years and our friends Mallory and Halfborn have been dating for like fifty years, and our friends Hearth and Blitz have been dating for over a decade, and even Sam has been engaged to Amir since before me and Alex even knew each other, that it was kind of weird to realize how new so many of the relationships here are, though?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, wow, yes, it's a totally different frame of reference. So now you're the old hand at relationships who gets to pass on wisdom instead of the new one getting wisdom."

[summerdude]

"I am no longer baby," Magnus confirms. He thinks about joking I want power, but he's pretty sure Tress doesn't know about memes. He's also pretty sure he remembers her mentioning -- "You have someone back home too, right?"

[sporesprouter]

And at that question, her smile grows a bit wistful. "I do. Charlie. I miss him."

[summerdude]

"I feel that," emphatically. "Tell me about him?"

[sporesprouter]

"Oh, he's... so sweet. He's a wonderful storyteller, and he always listened to me, even when nobody else bothered to. He's braver than he ever thought he was, and he worked so hard to protect me even when protecting me would have hurt him. He's just... you know when you've had a good pair of gloves for a while and they end up fitting so well that you might even forget you have them on? That's Charlie."

[summerdude]

"He sounds great," wistfully. "How long have you guys been together?"

[sporesprouter]

"He is great," just as wistfully. "How long? I guess it depends on how you count it. And how much it counts as being together when you're apart."

[summerdude]

Obviously you're still together if you're apart. Magnus is recently an expert on that, too. "What do you mean, how you count it?"

[sporesprouter]

"Well, I wouldn't count when we were first getting to know each other, I guess. But you might be able to count it from when he started being the first person I'd go to with things, just to have him tell stories about them and spend time with him. Or from when he had to leave the Rock with his family because his father wanted to marry him off to a princess. He said he'd avoid marrying any of them because I didn't want him to. He called me his gloves too, that day. But then he was gone for more than a year. I don't think I would count it from when we saw each other again, because he'd been turned into a rat and I didn't know it was him for a while. At the very latest, though, it would be when we told each other we loved each other in the Sorceress's tower. So.. At least a few mo-- Well. A year or so, if you count my time here. Add another year and a bit, or a couple more years, depending on which one you pick."

[summerdude]

"When do you count it as starting?" Magnus asks, and then, in case it helps Tress make any kind of decision, he adds, "With Alex I count it from the second time he kissed me."

[sporesprouter]

"I think... I think I count it from when he left the Rock. Or technically the day before."

[summerdude]

"So that's... a year? A couple of years?"

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "A couple of years, yes. A few months of which we've actually been able to be in the same place at the same time."

[summerdude]

"That blows," Magnus says, with great feeling. "Coming here is the first time I spent more than a week or two away from Alex, and I gotta say: Not the biggest fan of it."

[sporesprouter]

She shakes her head. "No, it's pretty awful, isn't it?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah, it's the worst." Magnus slumps back into his seat. "Maybe I should be asking you for advice. On the whole no-contact long-distance thing."

[sporesprouter]

"I don't know if I'd have the best advice right now, really. It was easier when we were separated at home, because there was at least... I could see a way, you know?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah." Magnus is quiet for a little while, and then makes a face at her. "I'm sorry."

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "I'm sorry for you, too." She manages a little smile. "There's always hope, though, right?"

[summerdude]

"Yeah!" Magnus musters up a smile, too. "Alex came here when we all got our visitors. Maybe there'll be another visit day."

[sporesprouter]

Tress' own smile slips a little. "Maybe. Maybe I'll get a better visitor next time if there is."

[summerdude]

"Oh no." Magnus gives Tress a dismayed look. "I'm sorry, I didn't even ask you earlier. You had a bad visit?"

[sporesprouter]

She nods. "A pretty awful one. It's okay now, but... there really aren't many people I would have been less happy to see again."

[summerdude]

"I think it really sucks how some people got bad visitors," says Magnus, remembering -- again -- having to Peace of Frey Wei Wuxian's maybe-brother, and also the guy who was trying to find Laertes.