I'M BACK! Sorry for taking so long to post this, but I needed a little break after BTL, that fic took me a whole year to complete, so I really needed a vacation before starting a new story. You know I try to post chapters every weekend, and sometimes, following that schedule can be a bit stressful, so I needed a breather.

Before I continue with my nonsense, I'm going to add here the complete summary for the story, FF has a very short space for summaries and that complicates things for me, as you know I prefer to post on AO3 and, therefore, my summaries tend to be very, very long, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ here it is:

"Alec works as a columnist for The Shadow World, New York's best-selling entertainment magazine. He loves to write, he loves his job, but he has a little problem...he hates celebrities. Well, not all celebrities, just the fake ones. The ones who according to him got everything on a silver platter. One day, he gets the chance to interview the star of the moment, Magnus Bane, everyone's favorite singer and actor—and the very first name on Alec's blacklist. What happens when the interview doesn't go as planned? And worse yet, when he's forced to keep seeing the man constantly? As a writer, Alec's always been a master of reveals, a pursuer of the truth, will he manage to uncover the true face behind the superstar? Will he find what he was looking for?"

Anyway, I have a lot of things to say about this story, but I don't wanna spoil it, so I'll just ask you to trust me and bear with me. This fic isn't action-packed like BTL, they're actually very different, but I hope you still like it. It's long, I'm still not sure how long, but as always, I'll let you know at some point. If you've read any of my stories before, you know that the list of characters and additional tags will be updated along with the chapters to avoid spoilers. Also, I think it's important to let you know that in this fic we'll be following only Alec's POV (with the exception of the prologue) and that's because I want you all to discover Magnus along with him. If you know me at all or follow me on social media, then you know Magnus is my absolute favorite, so I always try to give him these mysterious and hopefully interesting backgrounds, and in this particular case all I can say about his character is that the less you know about him, the better. So, as a warning before we start, «don't believe anything you read until Magnus confirms the information himself».

In this universe, he's a celebrity, so what you (and Alec) are going to read about him may or may not be true, so please, I beg you, don't jump to conclusions before the story is finished, okay? I'm telling you all this because I know that some of you are very passionate about some stuff and there's a particular piece of information that we "learn" about him almost at the end of this chapter that might lead you to believe that I'm erasing a very important part of the character. I am not, believe me...I would never do that. I'm going to add an additional note on the subject at the end of the chapter just in case someone didn't get what I was talking about here, but trust me, I'm a very unproblematic writer.

Anyway, I'll shut up now and let you all read because this is getting way too long. Don't forget to subscribe/bookmark the story, share your thoughts about it and/or leave some kudos here and there. Any kind of motivation is always welcome (and encouraged) ;)

Enjoy!

Prologue

Magnus was walking through the streets of Brooklyn, his favorite New York borough, enjoying the unexpected anonymity and freedom that the very early hours of the morning gave him. He was a celebrity, a big one according to the media, so being able to walk freely and without being disturbed or followed by anyone in practically any part of the city was a luxury that unfortunately he couldn't afford very often. There were days, of course, like today, in which Lady Luck smiled at him and he had the chance to do it, so every time that happened, he tried to enjoy it to the fullest and make the most of it.

He liked to walk aimlessly and just blend in with the city, enjoying the sights and sounds around him like a true New Yorker. It was relaxing, fun, better than being cooped up at home with nothing to do. He was an artist, a free spirit, he didn't function properly when he was locked up—confinement tended to ruin his creative process.

He spotted a newsstand on the corner of the street he was exploring and walked toward it. He liked to read the newspaper from time to time to keep up with what was happening in the world. For the sake of his mental health, he wasn't allowed to do it on a daily basis, but he did read it occasionally. He always skipped the entertainment section, of course, reading it was a dangerous matter and he knew it, his name tended to appear in it more often than not, but that didn't prevent him from enjoying the rest of the publication.

He took some dollars out of his pocket and paid for a copy of today's newspaper. The headlines were about the new stupid remark that the current president of the country had made and the national and international political repercussions that this 'incident' had had—same old same old—so he just sighed loudly and tucked the newspaper under his arm to resume his walk. But just as he was turning away to go find a place where he could sit and read in peace, his eyes landed on one of those entertainment magazines that people seemed to love so much and the headlines caught his attention.

He hated those magazines with all his soul and tried to avoid them like the plague, but that became a bit of a tall order when his name was there, printed on the cover of one of them in a bright yellow font—like a freaking spotlight.

"Crap." Magnus murmured.

He really tried not to succumb to the temptation to read it and just walk away with his newspaper, but he was an extremely curious man and knew that if he didn't read it now, he would end up looking for the article online sometime during the day—and that always ended badly. The internet was a very dangerous place for celebrities, so convinced that reading it now was the least damaging thing he could do, he grabbed the magazine from the nearest rack to read it. He knew he would regret his decision as soon as he knew what the tabloids were saying about him and that his manager would probably give him a lecture on 'why-you-should-never-read-these-things' later when he knew what Magnus had done, but it was too late to stop now—he already had the magazine in his hands and there was no way he would leave without reading it.

««Magnus Bane and Camille Belcourt, back together! The couple was spotted in Paris sharing a romantic weekend! Check out all the exclusive pictures inside!»»

Magnus rolled his eyes and opened the magazine, looking for the article and the so-called 'exclusive' pictures.

"Magnus Bane was seen this weekend in Paris enjoying some alone time with ex-girlfriend, model and actress, Camille Belcourt. Several eyewitnesses say the couple was seen showing some PDA in the city of love as they strolled through the most romantic spots." Magnus read the first paragraph and couldn't help but chuckle.

These people always got everything wrong. It was true that he had been in Paris last weekend and it was also true that he had been strolling down the most popular streets of the city with Camille, but it had been for a movie. He had spent the last six weeks of his life traveling all around the world filming his new action movie and last weekend he had wrapped all his scenes. Camille was his co-star, the heroin to his hero, so of course they had been together in Paris—where the last sequence of the movie had been filmed—but they were definitely not back together. What they had had was in the past, it was ancient history. Now they were just co-stars, acquaintances...nothing more.

"If you wanna read it, you gotta buy it, man." The man in charge of the newsstand told him.

"Of course." Magnus said, paying for the stupid magazine as well. He knew that this type of gossip wasn't worth his time or money, but he really wanted to read the rest of the article and see how these people had twisted what had really happened. The pictures he had seen so far showed them shooting the final scenes of the movie, nothing more, but he was curious about these 'several eyewitnesses' who had seen them 'showing affection' in public. He had been very careful to keep his distance from Camille when they hadn't been filming to avoid this kind of sensationalist notes, but apparently it hadn't worked.

"You kinda look like him." The man said, pointing to the magazine as he gave Magnus his change.

"I get that a lot." Magnus shrugged. "But anyway, keep the change and have a nice day." He said, waving goodbye and walking away without looking back.

He couldn't wait to go home and read what he had supposedly done with Camille all weekend.

Chapter 1

When the first rays of sun began to seep through the windows, Alec stirred in his sleep and instinctively raised an arm, placing it over his eyes to block some of the light from hitting his face. It looked like it was a sunny day like any other at this time of the year in the big old city, so still deeply asleep and completely oblivious to what that amount of light in the room meant, Alec turned around and went on sleeping, only being vaguely aware of that warm light now hitting the bare skin of his back. It felt good, like the soft touch of a lover—careful, sweet, tender. It was like a slow chill that ran through your body and awakened nerves that you didn't even know were there, like a warm good morning kiss that-

Alec's eyes snapped open. "Good morning kiss! Morning! Shit!" He exclaimed, sitting straight up in bed, confused and slightly panicked. It was morning, the sun was already out and shining, so that only meant one thing: he was late for work.

Practically sprinting out of bed, Alec ran through his shoebox apartment and hopped into the shower, coming out dressed and ready to go in less than five minutes—a new record.

He glanced at his watch and cursed under his breath. He had less than ten minutes to be in the office and knew that no matter what he did, he wasn't going to make it. His office was in Lower Manhattan and although he lived in Brooklyn, not that far from there, God knew there was no way he could get there in time. Today was going to be the first time in all the years he had been working there that he would be late.

Alec worked as a writer and columnist for The Shadow World, one of New York's best-selling entertainment magazines. After graduating from Yale with a BA in English, Alec had moved back to Manhattan—his hometown—to pursue a career as a writer. At first he had tried to apply for jobs in renowned media outlets, aiming for the journalistic big leagues; the dream back then had been to write for the New York Post or the The New Yorker, he had always wanted his words to have an impact on other people's lives, to have a meaning, but unfortunately he had quickly discovered that not all dreams could come true and that sometimes you just had to accept what life gave you, so he had ended up taking a job in his family's magazine: The Shadow World.

It was no secret that the Lightwoods owned one of the most popular entertainment magazines in all New York. Alec's grandfather, Andrew Lightwood, who had been a well-known post-World War II journalist, had founded the magazine 65 years ago and this had fallen into the hands of his only son, Robert Lightwood, after Andrew had died of a heart attack more than twenty five years ago. Alec had grown up wanting to be a writer just like his father and grandfather before him, so when he had finally obtained his degree and had found himself without a job and with broken dreams, he had had no choice but to accept his rightful place in his family's magazine and start his career as a writer there. It hadn't been ideal, writing for the entertainment industry had never been in his plans, that world had always seemed shallow and hollow to him, but over the years he had learned to love it, finding the beauty in it.

Of course he hadn't entered the magazine being one of the main writers, he was a Lightwood, yes, but his parents had never treated him differently from any other entry-level writer. Like everyone else in there, he had started from the bottom, writing only very small articles that no one paid attention to and the horoscopes section. However, now after almost four years of intense work, he was finally one of the magazine's top writers and even though he knew that what he wrote wasn't Pulitzer material, he was happy with what he did. He loved his job, his life and working for his family's magazine—shallow and hollow or not.

"Shit!" Alec exclaimed when in his haste to get all his stuff ready, he stubbed his little toe against the bedpost. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" He cried out in pain.

So far, his day wasn't starting so well and that had already put him in a bad mood. He had overslept, he was in pain, and he knew that the moment he arrived at work, his bosses—who incidentally were also his parents—were going to kill him.

Without even bothering to grab a banana or at least have some yogurt for breakfast, Alec grabbed his bag, put his laptop inside and hurried out of his apartment, almost colliding against his neighbor, Mrs. Johannes, who lived across the hall.

Mrs. Johannes was a very nice lady whom Alec loved with all his heart. When he had moved into the building nearly five years ago, she had baked him some cookies as a welcome gift and since then they had become friends.

"I'm so sorry." Alec quickly apologized. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, don't worry, dear. I see you're in a hurry, did you oversleep?" She asked, as she resumed what she had been doing before Alec nearly knocked her down—watering the plants in the hallway, something no one seemed to bother doing except her.

"Yeah, the first time in almost four years." He admitted.

"I'm sure your bosses will understand, but go, dear, don't waste any more time, I'm fine." She said, smiling at him and clearly noticing that Alec couldn't stay to talk. "And have a nice day!"

Alec smiled. Mrs. Johannes had always been his favorite neighbor. She was simply the sweetest person he had ever met. She was caring, sweet and overall a very good person. She was relatively young, Alec had never asked her about her age, but he guessed she was in her early fifties, and although she was a lonely woman, she was always smiling and greeting all the neighbors with her usual enthusiasm. Alec didn't know what it was about her, but she always made people smile, she had that effect—when she was around, everyone just got a bit happier than before. Maybe it was because of the sweet and warm brown eyes or the lovely smile, but she really could make anyone smile—even Alec, who was having a bad day.

"Thanks, you too!" Alec said still smiling as he headed for the elevator. He felt that his day had considerably improved with that small encounter he had had with his neighbor, but as soon as he reached his destination, he changed his mind.

Apparently he had celebrated too soon. The elevator wasn't working due to some last minute maintenance service thing and that meant he would have to take the stairs to get to work—all six floors.

"Great!" Alec exhaled sarcastically, practically flying down the stairs and for the first time really appreciating the fact that he was in good shape. In all the years that he had been living there, he had never taken the stairs and it was until now that he was realizing that there were too many; if he hadn't been killing himself in the gym for the past three years, he would have probably ended up giving up around the third floor.

When he emerged from the building, he took a deep breath to regulate his breathing, but just as some fresh air was entering his lungs, his bad luck struck again and some raindrops landed on his shirt.

"You've got to be kidding me!" He exclaimed, cursing in silence. The sun was out, it was May, why the hell was it raining in the middle of the spring? Alec had no idea, but this day was definitely not improving and only getting worse by the minute.

Using his bag to cover himself and avoid getting to the office all soaked, Alec ran to the nearest subway station and rushed to work, praying to the MTA gods that his train wasn't delayed—it was.

o-o-o-o-o

By the time Alec made it to the office, the clock already marked 9:27am—he was officially half an hour late for work. He tried to be discreet and stealthily make his way to his office, but just as he had been expecting, the moment he set foot in the building, Lindsay, his mother's assistant and the official eyes and ears of the magazine, spotted him, immediately beckoning him to her desk. Alec had really wanted to avoid the annoying 'you're late' lecture that his mother was surely going to give him, but apparently there was nowhere to hide in this building—his mother, Maryse Lightwood, had eyes everywhere.

"Alec, your mother is waiting for you." Lindsay said, giving him a very serious look through her square spectacles. On the outside this woman looked like a really sweet person, that was why his mother had her as her assistant, but she could be cruel and cold as her boss.

"Of course she is." Alec said with a sigh, reluctantly entering his mother's office.

As a kid he had always loved visiting his mother at work, not only because she let him sit and spin in her chair until he got dizzy, but because being in her office had always made him feel inspired. The view she had of the city and the Hudson River was impressive, Alec used to spend hours upon hours looking at the city from there, creating in his mind all kinds of stories that somehow came to life before his eyes through those huge windows. However, over the years, coming here had become less and less pleasant. The view was still impressive, there was no doubt about it, but that excitement and inspiration that this place used to make him feel had long since died.

"Mother." He said as a way to greet her. He knew he had to find out his mother's mood before saying anything. She could be very understanding when she so wanted to, but it all depended on her mood.

"You're late." She said, not even looking up from her paperwork. She was a very busy woman, she was the second most important member of the executive board—the chief financial officer—and the reason why The Shadow World was still the renowned magazine it was today, even after all these years.

"I'm well aware of that." Alec said, trying hard not to roll his eyes. He didn't like being disrespectful in front of his mother. She was not to blame for the bad day he was having.

"What happened? You're never late."

"I overslept." Alec said, though he thought that was a bit obvious. One look at his appearance—and the dark circles under his eyes—and it became plain evident what had happened. The problem was that his mother hadn't even looked at him.

"Why?"

"I...hmmm, I couldn't sleep last night." He partially lied.

He had stayed up writing an essay for school, and when he had decided it was time to go to bed, his mind had been too active to recognize his body's need for slumber. It had taken him three solid hours to fall asleep.

Alec hadn't told his parents that he was taking a graduate program at NYU in creative writing. In fact, he hadn't told anyone what he was doing. He didn't know why he had kept that from his family and friends, but he had, and now that he had been doing it for more than a year, it kinda seemed pointless to share it. He had told himself that he would tell them when he got his graduate degree.

"Are you sick?" His mother asked.

"No."

"Okay, then. This can't happen again, do you understand?" She said, finally looking up at him. "You're our son and if we allow you this type of behavior the other employees will start to think that you have privileges and that's not true. You're a Lightwood, yes, rightful owner of this magazine, but-"

"Oh, for God's sake, mother! This if the first time I'm late!" Alec interrupted her, rolling his eyes in spite of himself. He had really been trying not to, but his mother was treating him as if this was a repetitive behavior and it was not. In the four years he had been working here, this was literally the first time he was late.

"That's how your sister and brother started, and you know how that ended." She said.

Alec knew his sister, Isabelle, and his adoptive brother, Jace, had both been degraded to interns for almost a year as punishment when they had started to arrive late for work using their last name as an excuse. He remembered how much they had complained about the, according to them, 'unfair punishment,' but in the end it had served them to understand that the fact that they were the children of the owners didn't give them privileges within the magazine—they were just like any other employee here, with obligations and responsibilities.

"I'm not like them." He said in self-defense.

He had never been like his siblings, he had always been the responsible one—the sensible one. He knew that his parents had more important things to worry about than if their children were arriving late for work or not.

"I know, and that's exactly why I'm just giving you a warning. I know you understand, Alec, so please, I don't want this to happen again, understood?"

Alec sighed, he really didn't want to argue with his mother at that early hour—he wasn't in the mood for it. "Okay, mother, it won't happen again. Can I go to work now?"

"Yes, go." His mother said, dismissing him with a simple gesture of her hand. "Oh, and before I forget, there's going to be a meeting in," she glanced at her watch, "less than 10 minutes in the conference room, Aldertree has some news to share with all of you, so don't be late for that."

Alec rolled his eyes at the acid comment, but didn't argue back. "I'll see you later, mother." He said, walking out of his mother's office and closing the door behind him.

He walked to his own office without stopping to greet anyone, as he did every morning, and just dropped his bag on his desk, sinking into his chair to take a deep breath before having to go to this meeting that his mother had told him about.

Apparently, it was a last minute one—and Alec hated those. They only meant trouble and more work, so every time they called one, he had to mentally prepare himself for it. He had no idea what this one was about, but if Aldertree, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, had called a last-minute meeting to 'share some news' with them, that just meant that whatever he had to say wasn't going to be good. He had either decided that they had to redesign the cover for the issue they were working on or he hadn't liked the final result of some article and was about to humiliate whoever had written it in front of all the other writers—something he seemed to enjoy doing quite often.

"Alec?" Raj, another of the writers and Alec's office neighbor, knocked on his door. "I'm not sure if you know, but there's a-"

"Last minute meeting, I know." Alec cut him off. He liked Raj, well, most of the time, but he wasn't in the mood for his smart-ass remarks—not today. The man had a tendency to say the most inappropriate things at the worst times.

"Well, Aldertree said it was very important that we all were there on time, so you know...hurry."

Alec exhaled. "Do you know what this last-minute meeting is about?"

"No, but I guess we'll find out soon enough. We have to be there in like...well, now. I'll see you there. Have a good day, Alec."

"Thank you." Alec sighed because it was very unlikely that that last part happened today, he had woken up on the wrong side of the bed. "You too."

There were days when nothing seemed to go according to plan and today was definitely one of those days, so resigned to attend a meeting that he already knew was going to leave him with a headache, Alec grabbed his notebook and laptop, and headed to the conference room.

o-o-o-o-o

The conference room was already crowded when Alec walked in. Both writers and designers were already in their respective seats waiting for the meeting to start. He scanned the people gathered there and found his siblings, Izzy and Jace—writers of the magazine as well—and walked toward them, sitting down in the empty chair they had saved for him.

"Hi." He whispered, sounding as listless as his mood.

"Having a bad day, big bro?" His sister asked, eying him curiously.

Alec was sure she, and almost everyone else in the room, could see the black cloud hovering over his head. "Don't even mention it." He said, placing his things on the table and almost causing Jace's coffee to spill on the table. Thankfully, his brother's quick reflexes avoided the incident and saved him from making a fool of himself in front of all the other writers, but it had been a close call. "As you can see…" he pointed to the almost spilled coffee, "I'm having one of those days."

"No kidding." Jace joked.

Alec sighed. "Do any of you know what this meeting is about?"

"No idea." Izzy answered. "I overheard mom this morning and she was saying that apparently there were going to be some changes in the upcoming month's issue, she was with Aldertree, so I guess that's the reason behind this meeting."

"Really, but why?" Alec asked confused. They very rarely changed the articles for the upcoming issue, and much less when they were only two weeks away from publication day. They were a monthly magazine, so they always worked two weeks ahead of schedule. When an issue was published they already had the next one finished and so on. That was why Alec had thought that whatever Aldertree wanted to share with them was about next month's issue, not this one.

"I don't know, but rumor has it that-" Izzy was saying when Victor Aldertree, Alec's direct boss, walked into the room to begin the meeting.

He wasn't the friendliest of the bosses, he was rude and rather cold, so the moment he entered the room everyone went silent. Aldertree was the youngest editor-in-chief that the magazine had ever had. He was only a few years older than Alec and according to his resume, he had graduated from Oxford with a BA in English, an MA in journalism and mass communication and a PhD in media culture and communication, and all of that under the age of 32. Alec didn't like him at all, but he had to admit that what he had achieved at such young age was impressive.

Alec watched as his boss walked to the head of the table with that air of superiority he carried with him wherever he went and sat down, taking some documents from the sealed envelope his assistant was handing him over and scanning them quickly before speaking.

"Good morning, people." He said, in his slight English accent. "I seem to have some very good news to share with you this morning." He announced.

Good news? Alec was intrigued—those didn't happen so often.

"What is it?" Lydia Branwell asked equally intrigued. She was another of the writers and columnists of the magazine.

"Well, miss Branwell, the magazine just got an exclusive last-minute interview." Aldertree said, sharing the news with excitement—something quite unusual in him. "A 15 pages long exclusive interview to be precise."

"What!?" The whole table began to exclaim excitedly.

Alec's eyes widened. They almost never got 15 pages long exclusive interviews, it was very rare. Mainly because not many sponsors were willing to pay for that amount of pages, so this only meant that some big name had to be behind this sudden change. The last time they had gotten an exclusive that long had been two years ago when Miley Cyrus had married a former fellow Disney Channel star on some beach in Malibu.

"Who are we interviewing?" Izzy asked curiously.

Aldertree's smile widened as everyone looked at him expectantly. "Magnus Bane." He announced.

The table burst into exclamations of wonder and excitement for the second time in less than a minute. Magnus Bane was, without a doubt, the star of the moment. Everyone loved him and treated him like a god sent from Olympus. His music was heard in each and every station of the country, and his films and TV shows had the highest ratings and box office records.

"The Magnus Bane?" Clary Fairchild, one of the designers of the magazine and Jace's girlfriend, asked with a surprised expression.

"The one and only." Aldertree said. "His new album comes out next week and the guy is going to announce his tour in the following weeks. Also his new movie will hit theaters later this year, so his people want to promote him as much as possible, and this number seems to work best for him hence the sudden change."

Soon, the whole table had transformed into a conglomeration of fans—more like groupies—gushing about their idol just before a concert. They all were lively sharing stories and fangirling over the singer slash acclaimed actor slash heartthrob of the moment that was Magnus Bane. Well, all but one: Alec. He was looking at his boss and co-workers with judgmental eyes. How could they be so excited about one of those plastic celebrities? Magnus Bane was as fake as a 13 dollar bill.

Ever since he had started writing for the entertainment industry, Alec had never hidden his disdain for what he called FPCs. Fake-plastic-celebrities, who, according to him, had acquired their luster very easily, ie, celebrities who had been given everything on a silver platter. In a world where connections, money and influences controlled the popularity ranks, Alec couldn't help but look at these pseudo-celebrities with disdain. He had a list of FPCs that he loathed with all his soul and Magnus Bane was, without a doubt, at the top of that list.

The man had been a nobody no less than four years ago, but then one day the guy had released a semi-decent album that had done okay, and next thing Alec knew, the man was everywhere: radio stations, movies, TV shows...Broadway. Magnus Bane had shared the stage of the iconic Lyceum Theater, one of New York's oldest theaters, with none other than Barbra Streisand. Mrs. Barbra Joan Streisand! Who had authorized that Broadway atrocity? Alec didn't know, but he still questioned that decision every day. The guy could be an okay-singer, but he was not an actor, or at least that was what Alec wanted to believe. He wasn't a fan of his work, so he hadn't exactly seen any of his movies, TV shows or plays, he had only seen a few seconds of some videos here and there and the guy hadn't impressed him. To this day, Alec still couldn't understand the hype surrounding Magnus Bane.

Alec was so engrossed in his own thoughts that he missed when Aldertree began assigning and changing tasks for this impromptu new issue of The Shadow World. When he turned his attention back to the table, Aldertree was already asking Izzy, who was in charge of the fashion and style section of the magazine, to write a full report on Magnus's outfits. Izzy immediately started to gush about how, according to the world's top fashion critics, including someone named Robin Givhan who apparently was a big deal in the fashion industry, Magnus Bane was considered a fashion icon.

Alec rolled his eyes dramatically when all the heads on the table started to nod frantically. Could these people be more biased?

Aldertree then asked Jace to write about all the upcoming events that Magnus was going to attend, including the tour for his new movie by the end of the year, and all the charity events he would be hosting in the next few weeks—the guy was known for being a very 'charitable' soul.

"And you, Duncan…" Aldertree said, instructing the relatively new writer, who was in charge of the cinematographic reviews, to write about every single movie Magnus had made an appearance on, and to write a 'what to expect' of his upcoming film.

To Raj, who was in charge of the 'under the spotlight' section of the magazine, Aldertree assigned him the task to follow the guy around, to know what he was going to do in the next couple of weeks, and to coordinate some interviews with his cast-mates.

"Become his shadow!" He warned him. "And take one of the photographers with you."

Alec let out a huff. Apparently, this month's issue was going to be Bane-azzled and there was nothing he could do to change it.

Looking around, Alec noticed that slowly the articles of the magazine had been reassigned and that there were only two columnists left in the table without an assigned task, Lydia and himself. His boss hadn't announced yet who would be the journalist in charge of doing the oh-so-amazing exclusive interview, but Alec already knew that they were going to choose Lydia for the job. Magnus, despite the fact that had come out as a bisexual man very early in his career, was known as a ladies' man. It was the 21st century, but even so, the media had decided to ignore that part of the actor/singer's life and had turned him into a heartthrob—every woman's teenage dream. Girls swooned with all his songs and movies, and wet their panties every time the man did so much as to blink. It was plain obvious that they were going to assign a girl to do the interview. And although having an exclusive interview with that many pages had always been Alec's goal, he was relieved not to interview this FPC. He'd rather go back to writing the horoscopes section as he had done back when he was just an intern than interviewing Magnus Bane.

"Miss Branwell." Aldertree said, and Alec found himself holding his breath. "We won't move the Broadway interviews we had scheduled for this month's issue. You still have to go to the 'Love Runs Out' opening night and interview the entire cast. Don't forget to bring a cameraman for the after party."

Alec gulped. Oh-Uh.

"Congratulations, Mr. Lightwood!" Aldertree exclaimed, looking directly into Alec's eyes. "You just got yourself your very first exclusive interview!"

The whole table started to cheer and give Alec little pats on the back, congratulating him on the incredible opportunity. However, all Alec could think about was the fact that today was definitely one of those days when even if he tried harder, it couldn't get any worse.

o-o-o-o-o

When the meeting was over and everyone went back to their respective offices, Alec, who was still a bit shocked and trying to process everything that had just happened, approached his boss when the latter was on his way to the door.

"Aldertree, wait!" He exclaimed.

"What is it, Mr. Lightwood?" Aldertree said, turning around to look at him.

"Could I have a word with you?"

"Of course, let's go to my office."

"I...hmmm no, here's okay. I was just wondering if choosing me for the interview was the best option? I mean, we know who Magnus Bane is, right? And for obvious reasons," Alec said, pointing to the lack of feminine curves in his body, "don't you think it would be better if Lydia or some of the girls did the interview instead?"

"I have a question for you, Mr. Lightwood, what is your position in this magazine?"

"Hmmm...I'm a writer." Alec responded a bit confused.

"Correct, and what is mine?"

"Chief editor."

"Exactly, don't you think that gives me the credentials to choose who I consider best fitted for this job? Yes, it does." Aldertree said, responding to himself. "I know this news may come as a surprise to you, but I found that person to be you. I need this interview to be perfect and since I can't do it myself, I decided to trust in your skills." He explained. "If this goes as planned, we will not only consolidate ourselves as the best-selling magazine in this city, but we could ensure ourselves a lot of new sponsors, which would help us improve our content. Money means more locations, more interviews, more exclusives and more everything, isn't that what we all want for this magazine?"

"Yes, but…"

"Besides," Aldertree continued, ignoring Alec completely, "if the interview with Mr. Bane goes well, we could even try to get a sneak peek of his upcoming tour. Do you have any idea what that scoop could mean for us?"

Alec just nodded because he was fully aware of what that possible scenario could mean for the magazine.

"Ms. Branwell can come across a bit abrasive and controlling at times and I don't want her or anyone else to jeopardize this opportunity, so you better do a good interview, Mr. Lightwood, I would hate to let the rest of the writers and your parents know that despite bearing the Lightwood name, you're not ready for the big leagues."

Alec refrained himself from responding despite the clear provocation. It was always a bad idea to lose his temper in front of Aldertree, the man was protected, the executive board seemed to love him, and though Alec hated to admit it, he was good at what he did. "I won't disappoint the magazine." He said, exhaling in resignation.

"I'm glad to hear that, I expected nothing less from you. Anyway, I'll see you later to give you all the details about the interview, start doing your research, you have no time to lose."

"Yes, I-" Alec started to say, but had to stop. Aldertree had already left the conference room and he was all alone.

Alec sighed. He probably didn't like this Magnus guy one single bit, but he was a professional and therefore he was going to do his job and deliver the best interview this magazine had ever seen.

o-o-o-o-o

Later that day, Alec was engrossed in his research on Magnus Bane. He was trying to find information that might help him come up with better ways to approach the upcoming interview, but surprisingly there wasn't much about the guy.

According to his official biography, Magnus was a Summa Cum Laude graduate from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, he had a BA in acting, an MA in text and performance, and had received musical training since the age of four. He was born in Boston*, and was the only son of the renowned businessman, Asmodeus Bane, deceased in a plane crash four years ago. There was no information from other members of his family at all, his mother was barely mentioned there as part of the Bane emporium, but not even her full name was listed. In fact, now that Alec was looking at all the different tabs he had with Magnus's information, he was realizing that almost all of them talked about Magnus's career, his achievements, his awards, his charitable and social endeavors, but none of them mentioned anything about his private life. When it came to the man behind the superstar, there was literally nothing—no family, no friends, no hobbies, no nada. Of his personal relationships, the only one mentioned was the one he had had with that famous actress and model, Camille Belcourt, a little over a year ago, but that was it. Who was Magnus Bane? Nobody knew.

"Odd..." Alec whispered, surprised that there was so little about the man who was considered the star of the moment.

Of course that didn't mean that the guy had a clean record when it came to rumors and scandals, as far as Alec could tell there had been several about him in the years he had been under the spotlight. Like, for example, two and a half years ago, when one of his high school friends had released an unauthorized biography of his life, recounting the time they had shared together during the years that they both had attended the Idris Academy for boys. It had been quite the scandal. Alec remembered reading some articles about it, but in all of them Magnus's team had refused to address the book and had just asked the media not to pay attention to the people who were using Magnus's popularity to sell a couple of books.

Then, a few months later, there had been a rumor that Magnus had been forced into rehab by his team to help him with his drug addiction problem. That information had never been confirmed, but the tabloids had started the rumor when Magnus had suddenly disappeared for a couple of months after the success of his first feature film—Pandemonium. Alec couldn't deny that the whole situation had been extremely fishy, Magnus's manager had flatly refused to explain where his client had been during all those months of absence and that had just fed the rumors, but without any proof whatsoever of what had really happened, no one could ever confirm or deny whether or not Magnus had dealt with any drug addiction problem.

And finally, about a year and a half ago, before the premiere of one of Magnus's new films, the media had been in a frenzy when some very compromising photos of Magnus and his co-star, Camille Belcourt, had been released, confirming their torrid romance. It had been a couple of months in which the couple had been everywhere, getting papped left, right and center, and attending every Hollywood event together. The romance had lasted a few months, but just as it had started, it had ended, causing an even more chaotic media coverage. Magnus and Camille's breakup had been cataloged as the breakup of the year. The audience and the media alike had mourned the separation and even today, after months of the couple being apart, they kept trying to link them together and begged them to be an 'item' again.

Alec didn't know why people in general were so deeply invested in celebrity relationships, one thing was to be curious about the social life of the person they admired or in some cases were paid to write about, and another one was to violate their right to privacy—sometimes both the audience and the media really crossed the line.

Alec sighed, googling Magnus's name again to order the unauthorized biography—for research purposes, of course—and quickly looking for some pictures. Now he was curious to know more about this man. At first glance he seemed to be very open about his life, his carefree attitude reflected that, but with his little research Alec had discovered that that wasn't the case, so...why was he so mysterious? What was he hiding? Were all the rumors about his drug addiction true? He was asking himself those questions as he scrolled down the never-ending pictures of the guy.

It caught his attention that in all the red carpet pictures of the events he had attended so far, Magnus was either with his personal staff or fellow cast-mates—never with a date. Well, except for Camille, but now that Alec had the chance to look at the pictures more closely, he had the suspicion that that relationship had been yet another of the countless PR relationships that occurred in Hollywood every day. It was pretty easy to notice that Magnus didn't look as happy when he was with her as when he was with someone else—his smile was a bit forced, lifeless. He seemed to be more concerned about the way they looked together in front of the cameras than about enjoying the moment and the fact that he was sharing it with his girlfriend—if that made any sense.

Because of his line of work, Alec knew how 'relationships' worked in the industry, it was widely known that two celebrities were better than one in terms of earning power and brand recognition; it made sense, strategically speaking, for 'the rich and famous' to date 'the rich and famous,' but people often seemed to forget that these celebrities were also real people with real feelings and real hearts that despite the circumstances could also get hurt.

With that last thought, Alec couldn't help feeling a teeny-tiny bit of sympathy for the man. He couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like to be forced to date someone just for promotional purposes—it was wrong. However, as soon as he changed the picture, that teeny-tiny, almost invisible bit of sympathy he had felt for the man dissipated into thin air.

Magnus was now posing all alone for the cameras and that annoying, cocky smile of his was back on his face. He really seemed to have the time of his life whenever the spotlights were on him.

"Why are you so arrogant?" Alec wondered aloud as he scrolled through the pictures. Magnus's poses just got even more ridiculous the more he changed the pictures, the only thing that remained the same was that stupid smile that seemed to have a permanent spot on his face.

"Pathetic..." He murmured, changing the picture again and regretting it almost immediately.

The next picture wasn't exactly what could be classified as appropriate material for the workplace. Magnus had made a half-naked photo shoot for Men's Health magazine and, well, these pictures had clearly been taken for the sole purpose of showing how well-toned his body was. The photographer had made sure that the lights and shadows helped to highlight Magnus's perfectly sculpted abs and arms, and legs and-

Alec felt the blood rushing to his cheeks, so as fast as he could, he changed the picture and took a deep breath. Fortunately for him and his beating heart, in the next picture that popped up on his screen Magnus was fully dressed and although the memory of the previous picture was going to haunt him for a while, he was able to concentrate again.

Now Alec couldn't deny that they guy was slightly attractive, well, not slightly, he was very attractive, with a body practically sculpted by the gods, but the fact that he was so sure of himself just made Alec feel the urge to punch him. For some reason he couldn't, nor wanted to understand, he couldn't stand him—not even a little bit.

"Mr. Lightwood." Aldertree said, entering Alec's office without knocking—a bad habit of his.

"Hmmm, Al-Aldertree...what-what happened?" Alec stuttered, realizing that if his boss had decided to enter his office ten seconds earlier, he would have had a really hard time trying to explain why he had a high-resolution picture of a half-naked Magnus on his computer. "I was just doing my research on Magnus Bane like you asked me to." He quickly added, still trying to justify the reason why there was a picture of Magnus's face covering almost half of the screen.

"There's not much about him." Aldertree said, looking at the picture, but not really paying it any attention.

"I've noticed." Alec murmured. He had naively thought he would find a lot of information about the man online, with him being a superstar and all that, but to his surprise, Magnus Bane had turned out to be a complete mystery.

"Then let's hope you can get him to share something else with you this Friday."

"The interview is this Friday?" Alec asked in surprise. He had been expecting to have more days to prepare himself. He knew they were against the clock, but it was Wednesday, that meant the interview would be in only two days—it was too soon.

"Yes." Aldertree said, placing a sealed envelope on top of Alec's desk. "This issue will be out in two weeks, we need this interview and the rest of the articles to be ready as soon as possible, the board wants to review them next week. Anyway, here's all the information you'll need for the interview—address, date and time, specifications, restrictions, everything."

Alec grabbed the envelope and ripped it open, quickly scanning its content. There were some specific requests for the pictures, wardrobe changes and technical stuff, as well as a list of forbidden questions—nothing new, but what made Alec frown was the location of the interview.

"His house!?" He asked in surprise.

"Yes? He never does uncontrolled interviews, they have to be in a studio or private place of his choosing."

"Can't we try to persuade him to do the interview on the outside, like the Battery Park or something?" Alec suggested, definitely not wanting to do the interview in Magnus's very own house. When celebrities were in their own environment, they tended to be even more insufferable than they already were.

"Many media outlets have tried and none have succeeded. He is very picky about that part. He never, ever, does uncontrolled interviews."

Alec rolled his eyes. "That's exactly why I can't stomach this guy. He's so arrogant! Who does he think he is? I hate these celebrities who think they're above everyone else." He complained.

"Yeah, I hate them too, but they help us sell magazines, and this guy is going to help us sell lots and lots of them," Aldertree said, "so if he wants the interview at his house, then at his house it will be." He added firmly before walking away and closing the door of Alec's office behind him.

Alec sighed and reluctantly resumed his research. The interview was in a couple of days, but he was already dreading the moment he had to be face to face with that man.

*Remember what I said at the beginning? Don't believe anything you read until Magnus confirms the information himself, okay? If you re-read that paragraph you'll see that it says, "according to his official biography," "according"...key words, people, key words ;)

Anyway...I hope you liked it! I'm really excited about this story, I can't wait for you to see how their love story unfolds!

I'll see you all next week! The interview is coming, so get ready!