Alex had an excellent time when Magnus told her about his conversation with Jordan.
She sprawled across her bed, laughing so hard she had to clutch a pillow to her chest between gasped "I wish I could've seen that!"s, legs kicking uselessly as she tried — and failed — to breathe. Magnus sat on the edge of the mattress, arms crossed, watching her with an expression hovering somewhere between fond and deeply betrayed.
"It's not funny," he grumbled. "I was so nervous I didn't even know what I was saying half the time. And it could've gone really bad. Like, really really bad. What if she'd reacted badly? It could've endangered the whole monthly quest."
"Oh, I know," Alex managed between fits of laughter. "Believe me, I know!" She rolled onto her side, wiped at her eyes, then looked at him with a grin still far too amused to be sympathetic. "So why did you do it, then?"
"You know why." Heat crept up his neck, and he promptly looked away. "I didn't want to be the reason your relationship with her soured. Or well, become any worse."
"Uh-huh." Alex's smile softened. She pushed herself upright, then climbed over and straddled his lap without warning, looping her arms around his neck. "And that," she said lightly, "is exactly why I didn't try harder to stop you from telling her you knew more about my relationship with her."
"Huh?"
She rolled her eyes. "It was a calculated risk—okay, more like a gamble!" Her tone shifted, growing more serious. "You telling her you knew could've blown up in our faces spectacularly. Or it could've worked in our favor. It was one or the other, and even I wasn't sure which it'd be. I was hoping for the second, though."
"Then why—"
"Because we only have a little over two weeks left," she cut in gently. "That made it worth the risk."
Magnus frowned. "You still could've told me that yesterday instead of letting me go in blind with no prepara—"
"No, I couldn't have." She shook her head. "It had to be something you decided to do on your own for it to have any chance of working. Jordan would've blown up immediately if it had felt calculated instead of genuine."
She traced a finger down his neck, slow and deliberate, stopping over his heart.
"It worked," she said quietly, "because what you said came from here."
She tapped his chest once. A beat passed.
"And besides," she added, lighter again, "if it had backfired, I would've figured something out." She smiled. "But it didn't. And now she'll trust you more."
Magnus hesitated. "Uh… Alex. I don't know if I'd call it 'trust.' She mostly just seemed annoyed. Maybe… reluctantly tolerant. At best."
Alex giggled. "Trust me! I know her." Her expression softened as she looked at him. "And I know you. Your honesty and your genuineness are… disarming for people like her."
And me, she added silently, feeling heat creep into her cheeks. A brief pause followed.
"If I'm right — and I probably am — she'll let her guard down more around you from now on." She leaned in and kissed him.
The kiss lingered, unhurried, stretching into a minute… then two, until they finally pulled apart, both a little breathless. Alex blinked twice, like she was gathering her thoughts again.
"Just keep being you," she said. "Earnest. Genuine. See if you can build her trust up from there. We'll adapt as we go."
They kissed again. This time, it didn't stay innocent.
Somewhere between laughter and breathless murmurs, clothes ended up on the floor, limbs tangled, the world narrowing down to warmth and familiarity — and the very poor decision to forget they were in a shared dorm room.
Until key turned the knob and the door banged open.
"I'm back!"
They froze. Mid-everything.
Alex's head snapped up. Magnus made a sound that was halfway between a choke and a prayer.
A beat passed.
"…Am I interrupting anything?" Sofia asked pleasantly.
Silence stretched, thick and unbearable, as Sofia took in the scene. Her eyes flicked from discarded clothes, to the bed, to Magnus's panicked expression. Then she whistled.
"At it again, I see," she said. "And this early in the day?"
Magnus's face went scarlet, and not for any flattering reason. He promptly buried it in the crook of Alex's neck, mortified beyond recovery.
Alex, on the other hand, scowled. "Why are you here?"
Sofia blinked. "Because this is my room too, you know?" She gestured vaguely around them. "Not my fault you two keep forgetting that—or that you have the self-control of caffeinated rabbits."
She paused, squinting. "Well, at least you weren't role-playing this time."
She cleared her throat and immediately launched into a mock performance.
"'Take me if you can!' 'Oh, I will, you little minx!' 'No, unhand me, you brute!'"
She shuddered. "Still haunts me."
"Okay," Alex cut in tightly, cheeks warm despite herself, "but now that you've seen we're… busy. Why haven't you left?"
"Ouch." Sofia clutched her chest theatrically. "You wound me, bestie. Can I not stay and watch?" She grinned. "It's not like there's anything I haven't seen already."
Magnus made a strangled noise and pressed his face even harder into Alex's neck.
Alex grabbed the nearest pillow and hurled it. "Get! Out!"
Sofia caught it effortlessly and tossed it aside, committing fully to the performance now.
"Ohhh, I see how it is," she said, hands to her chest. "When you two needed to sleep with me to save his life, I'm the star of the show. Now I'm cast aside like a discarded prop."
Magnus lifted his head slightly, guilt flashing across his face as he glanced back. "Sofia, I—"
"Relax, I'm kidding," she cut him off, waving a hand. "Mostly." Then she sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll make myself scarce." She paused at the door, turning to Alex. "I was gonna ask if you wanted to go shopping with me, but clearly you've got… other priorities."
She opened the door, then glanced back over her shoulder.
"Oh, by the way, want me to grab anything while I'm out?" she added cheerfully. "Maybe a new box of condoms? At the rate you two are going, I'm guessing the old one's almost empty."
She laughed and slipped out, closing the door just as another pillow slammed into it from the inside.
For a moment, there was silence.
Magnus buried his face in Alex's neck again, voice muffled. "…I'm never recovering from this."
Alex snorted, arms tightening around him. "Relax. If Sofia actually wanted to make things awkward on purpose, she'd have stayed longer."
A beat.
"…Next time," he muttered, "we hang a sock on the doorknob."
She smiled against his temple. "Deal."
Then she lifted his chin with her hand and leaned back in, clearly unbothered.
"So," Alex said softly against his mouth, "where were we?"
Magnus sighed.
And, despite everything, leaned into the kiss.
***
Late-afternoon light spilled through the blinds in pale gold stripes, warming the bed where they lay tangled together. Magnus was on his back, one arm draped loosely around Alex, the other resting at his side. She lay half on top of him, tracing slow, idle patterns on his chest with one finger.
For a while, neither of them said anything. Then Alex spoke, quietly.
"You know… there's something we're going to need to talk about."
Magnus exhaled through his nose, already bracing himself. He glanced down at her.
"What Sofia said earlier?"
She nodded. "Mostly joking. Mostly." Her finger slowed, then resumed its lazy path. "She wouldn't actually push if we said no. But… she probably does want it. Another threesome, I mean."
He groaned softly, tipping his head back against the pillow.
"And Riley too," she added after a beat.
That earned a longer sigh. They lay there in silence for a few seconds, both clearly organizing thoughts they'd been circling for a while now. Alex broke it first.
"I feel like a hypocrite if I say I don't want to share you after everything we've been through — everything we've done — but I don't—"
"You're not a hypocrite," Magnus cut in immediately. He shifted, turning onto his side so he could face her properly, hands coming up to steady her hips. "What we've done — what we've had to do — was because the System forced our hands."
She didn't argue right away. Instead, she watched him for a moment, expression thoughtful.
"But it's not that simple," she said finally. "The System put us in those situations, yeah. But we still chose our boundaries inside them." Her voice stayed calm, grounded. "And we both know we enjoyed parts of it. I'm not going to lie and pretend I hated every second. If that were the case, I would've stopped. Or walked away."
She met his eyes, steady. "And I know you liked parts of it too!"
Magnus flushed. "Well, yeah. I mean, threesomes with gorgeous women are probably somewhere on every guy's fantasy list." He winced, then hurried on. "But I was never comfortable with cheating on you. I'm still not. And I'm not even sure if threesome counts as cheating or not, but if you don't like it then it doesn't matter either way to me. The only reason I could get through any of it was because you were right there with me."
Alex's cheeks warmed.
"You know," she said, a small smile tugging at her lips, "sometimes you're painfully awkward. And then sometimes you say things that make it impossible not to fall for you."
He blinked. "I'm just being honest, I swear!"
"I know." She leaned in and kissed him, brief and soft. "And it makes this whole situation easier to keep moving through, too."
She settled back against him, quiet for a moment before continuing.
"I've never shared my boyfriends before," she said. "Sammy was my first love — we were exclusive the entire time. And then Dick…" Her mouth twisted. "One of the many reasons I dumped his ass was because he was cheating on me. I don't like to share boyfriends."
Magnus swallowed. She caught the look on his face and snorted, breaking the tension just enough.
"Yeah," she teased. "You'd better realize how lucky you are that I'd rather share you than lose you."
They kissed again, slower this time, lingering until they pulled apart slightly breathless.
"Seriously, though," Alex said, resting her forehead against his. "Knowing you don't want to cheat on me makes it easier to deal with the threesomes. Because I know you're there for me just as much as I'm there for you. That we're in this together — despite what the System forces you… forces us… to do."
She sighed, then groaned in frustration.
"But it's not that simple anymore!"
Magnus frowned. "Why—"
"You just had to be good at sex!"
He blinked. "Wha—"
"Don't 'what' me," she huffed. "You heard me! First Sofia, now Riley. Probably Lila and Mia too, even if they didn't say anything." She shook her head. "They all wanted more of you after getting a taste."
His face went scarlet.
"I—I don't—"
"Sure, Lila and Mia probably won't be an issue," she went on. "But Sofia's my best friend. And I still need to stay close to Riley if we want to keep investigating what's going on with other Systems around the city. So this is going to come up again."
He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
Nothing came out.
Alex raised an eyebrow. "What? Cat got your tongue? What's your stance on casual threesomes with Sofia or Riley, then?"
Magnus stared at her for a long second before answering carefully. "Is this a trick question?"
She narrowed her eyes.
He immediately held up his hands. "Okay. Okay. I'm not going to pretend sex with my gorgeous girlfriend and another beautiful woman is a hard sell. Any guy who says otherwise is either lying or not into girls." He paused, then his tone shifted — quieter, more serious. "But only if you're absolutely okay with it. I won't do it if you have a problem. I mean that!"
Alex looked away, clearing her throat a little too loudly.
"Good answer," she said. "You're safe. For now."
The tension eased after that, the conversation drifting into teasing and lighter banter as they eventually dragged themselves up to make dinner together.
Later, after a simple but unexpectedly romantic meal, Magnus flopped back onto the bed with a groan.
"I swear," he muttered, throwing an arm over his face, "if I didn't have this stupid System, I'd just enjoy college like a normal guy. Hot girlfriend, cozy dates, weekend naps. No death timers. No five-a.m. workouts. No 'seduce or die' quests." He sighed. "I kinda wish I'd never gotten it."
Alex snorted and nudged his knee. "Babe, I love you. And trust me, I hate the System too." She tilted her head. "But let's be real: Would you have even talked to me if the alternative wasn't death?"
He peeked out from under his arm, grimacing. "I… might. Possibly? Eventually. After a few years of psyching myself up."
She raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, fine. No. I would not have," he admitted. "But can you blame me?"
He gestured vaguely at her. "You were… well, you. And I was—"
She took his hand and finished for him, smiling. "An adorkable geek with lower self-esteem than he deserves? Who also happens to be great in bed."
"You keep saying that," he muttered. "But that last part might've been the powers. Telekinesis and all."
She kissed his knuckles. "Magnus. I would've fallen for you with or without your powers." A pause. "Though yes, they are a fun bonus."
"But you still won't tell me what it is you actually see in me?"
She tapped his forehead. "Nope! My secret."
Then she softened, squeezing his hand. "Seriously, though. We'll get through this. Together. Not because the System forced us together. But because we chose each other after that."
Magnus smiled — really smiled this time.
"Yeah," he said. "Together."
After a moment, Magnus frowned slightly, like a thought had just caught up to him.
"Wait," he said. "Did you say you loved me earlier? Because if you did, that would be our first time saying it not after or during sex…"
Alex froze.
"…No," she said too quickly. "You misheard."
He turned his head toward her, skeptical. "I did?"
"Yeah," she said, eyes averted. "I said I got you. Totally different sentence."
"Oh?" His mouth twitched. "You got me."
"Definitely," she said, nodding a little too hard. A faint blush crept up her cheeks.
Magnus watched her for a second.
Then, quietly — like he was deciding something for himself more than announcing it — he said, "Well then, I love you!"
Her head snapped back toward him.
The blush deepened. "I swear," she muttered, looking away again, "you're so doing this on purpose. Just… saying things that make it impossible not to fall for you."
"Huh?" He genuinely hadn't caught that part.
She huffed, then grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer.
"I said I love you too. Now shut up and kiss me!"
He was smart enough not to argue with her on that.