Second Chances. Chapter 1.
Alec stood outside the local convenience store, eying the collection of junk food lying out on the shelves of the mini-mart. A large bag of chips was marked at $2.59, $1.78 more than what he had in his pocket. His stomach growled and Alec winced, leaning forward to rest his forehead against the cool glass of the store window. He had paid rent earlier, meaning that he was completely broke for the rest of the week, meaning that he was screwed.
He was out of cereal, and wasn't going to get paid until Friday. Two days from now. He needed food, or else he was in serious trouble. He looked around, staring down the dark streets of Brooklyn, wondering if he should try and chance the dumpsters in the dark alleys, or worse, stealing. He paused, realizing what he'd just considered, disgust rising in the pit of his chest. Tears of frustration pooled in his blue eyes, and he let out a shaky breath, trying to calm down.
It had been a mistake, the worst mistake possible. If he'd never come out to his father, he wouldn't be here, out on the streets, scraping by with two dead-end jobs, living in a rat-invested motel. He'd be home, with Isabelle, Max and his parents, welcoming back Jace when his brother got back from his lacrosse championship in Pennsylvania. Alec rubbed at his eyes, jumping when he heard someone cough next to him. He looked over to see a balding, middle-aged man, shorter than him, but twice as wide, staring at him with dark, beady eyes. He was dressed in a stained white dress shirt, his khakis tight around his waist, making a large bulge over the belt. He wasn't attractive at all, and Alec shifted away nervously.
"Are you okay?" The man wheezed, sounding like he'd been smoking for years. Alec nodded weakly, his eyes going back to the food displayed on the shelves.
"I'm fine." He replied, nearly falling away in shock when the older man grabbed onto his wrist. The grip was cold and clammy, and Alec struggled to yank his arm free. "Wha-"
"Are you hungry? I could give you some money." The man offered, and Alec froze, staring at him in surprise.
"You would?" He asked, surprised at the act of generosity. He came from a friendly suburban neighborhood where the people would help you out, no matter who you were. Neighbors watched kids out on the street while parents were busy at work in their rich home offices. He couldn't even begin to count the number of times his siblings had spent their afternoons with Clary's family. This part of town was so much different though, with muggers far more common than soccer moms. Alec hadn't expected to find any charity out here. "You would seriously do that?" The old man licked his lips, looking Alec over. A bad feeling stirred in the back of Alec's mind, tempered by hunger.
"Sure. I just need you to do something for me." Was all he said, leading Alec into the shadows of the alley next to the store.
Alec gagged, pulling away from the man, turning his face towards the brick wall of the alley. He could feel the semen drying against his cheek and struggled not to puke. Instead he scrubbed at his face with his sweater sleeve, leaving a translucent, white stain across the black fabric. He spat out the bit of cum that had gotten into his mouth, hissing at the taste. He swipe his other sleeve across his face, trying to get rid of any traces of what he'd just done, his skin rubbed raw in the cold night air.
"Fuck." The man groaned, and Alec looked up at him with wide eyes. The stranger was tucking himself back inside his pants, and Alec realized that he didn't even know his name. He'd given a complete stranger a blow job. His first blow job, for money.
"Oh god." Alec muttered, turning away, shame roaring through him like a fire. Did he seriously just do that? A small part of him wondered if the entire past week was a horrific nightmare, and that in just a few moments he'd snap awake when Max decided to jump on his bed like he did whenever Alec slept in.
"Was that your first time?" The man asked, and Alec could hear the leer in his voice. A flash of green to his right drew his attention, three $20 dollars bills fluttering to the ground at his feet. The bills were wrinkled and stained with god knows what. "Maybe we can practice again sometime, cutie." The old man winked at him, and Alec felt sicker then ever. He took a few shaky breaths, trying to calm down, fighting back tears. He hadn't even kissed a boy before, not seriously, and he'd just...Alec shuddered, wrapping his arms around him. The man had been gone for a few good minutes before Alec finally touched the cash, pocketing it in his dirty jeans. He still needed to go buy food for tonight. He replaced the shock of what he'd just done by working through how exactly he would spend the cash. Maybe he could phone home to check on Isabelle with some spare change. He knew his sister was going to cause trouble for the house after what his father had done.
He walked out of the alley, to distract to notice the person in front of him until he stumbled into them with a grunt. Alec scrambled back, staring up at a tall man. The stranger's hair was long and black, his eyes a bright green. A tattoo of a leaf was wrapped around his cheek. Alec, still a hormone-ridden teenager despite all that had happened to him, would have blushed at this man's appearance alone, but his eyes were cold, distant and completely unnerving. Alec's attention was slowly drawn beyond the man, spotting a group of equally beautiful women behind him. One woman in particular stood out from the crowd. Her hair was a riot of fiery waves that seemed to billow in the air despite the fact that there was no wind. Her gaze was as clear as crystal, piercing Alec where he stood.
"Well, well, he has graced us with his presence at long last." Her voice was clean like river water, and Alec was enthralled. He managed to tear his gaze away long enough to look at the other women in the group. All of them were different from the next, from hair to eye to skin color. The only other thing similar about them was the dark gleam in their eyes, as well as their beauty. Alec took a step back, suddenly nervous.
"What?" He asked, a snicker flowing through the crowd of women, completely malicious. The red-haired woman sighed, shaking her head.
"Men. All the same." Her waved her hand through the air. "Idiots." Alec spared a glance at the green-eyed stranger next to him, but the man's attention was fixed on the woman, fierce loyalty shining in his eyes. "You're in our territory." Alec looked back over to the woman, confused.
"Territory?" He repeated, and the woman sneered.
"You think you can take a client from the Seelie Court and not face the consequences? This is our part of town, but since you're new, I'll be lenient. Hand over the money that man gave you, and get out of here. I won't ask twice." Alec looked at the woman, his hand digging into his pocket, clutching the wad of cash that was his lifeline for the rest of the week. He'd done something unthinkable to get this money. He couldn't just give it up.
"I..." He began, looking around, searching for a way out. The woman made a noise of annoyance.
"Meliorn." Alec scrambled out of the way when the green-eyed man lunged for him. He had enough experience practicing lacrosse with Jace to successfully avoid a few more swipes at him.
"Stop it!" He shouted, not wanting to end up on the wrong side of some gang. "Leave me alone!" The alleyway wasn't exactly a source of weapons to use in his defense, and even then Alec had never had any proper sort of weapon training. The most he had was gym class, and that didn't teach you how to beat people up.
"Pathetic." The woman sniffed, as if Alec's yells were the worst part of the whole ordeal. Alec was barely managing to avoid Meliorn's fingers in the tightness of the alleyway, ducking and weaving deftly, his shoes squeaking loudly against the ground. Fear caused his breathing to quicken, and he realized he was beginning to have a panic attack, his chest grow unbearably tight. Was this how he was going to die? In an alley, mugged by a gang?
"What's going on here?" A voice called out from the dark, and Meliorn froze, letting Alec fall back against the cool brick of the alley in a haze of gasps. Alec inhaled sharply, turning to look at the mouth of the alley. The red-haired woman and her gang had taken their attention off of Alec, what could almost be called fear on their faces. Alec followed their gaze to see a man dressed in riot of color.
He was in bedazzled, lavender leather pants, with an electric blue, mesh vest that fully showed the lean muscles along the stranger's stomach, barely covered by a jacket of dyed leather. His fingers were covered in various rings, all ranging from metal to costume jewelry. Glitter danced in his hair, pulled into spiky locks. His face was the most startling, a ring of red glitter ran around eyes so golden they had to be contacts, with a ring of emerald green eyeshadow around that. Slowly, the man's gaze drifted to Alec, before he smiled.
"You're new to the game, aren't you?" The man observed, walking forward. He moved too close to be considered comfortable, until Alec could smell what he thought was sandalwood coming of the man's skin. Alec found himself tilting his head up to stare at the stranger, unable to look away. Tall, Bright and Glitter-Covered bent over slightly, meeting Alec's eyes. "But you are cute, in a street-rat kind of way, that's certainly a plus." He leaned back, looking at the group of women and their one man. "He's with me, ladies." Alec cringed at the rage that twisted the faces of the women. The red-haired leader spoke up, clearly angry.
"Bane, you-"
"He's. With. Me." The man stated slowly, placing an arm around Alec's shoulders. Alec looked up at him, before looking to the group of women, seeing the wary expression on their faces. Mr. "I Can Make a Group of Angry Lesbians Back Off With a Look" rolled his eyes and made his way forward, dragging Alec with him. Alec looked behind him, seeing that the women weren't following.
"Um, I..."
"You're lucky I came when I did. The Seelie Queen and her faeries are like a pack of rottweilers, tearing into any young, fresh meat they can get at." The man spoke up as Alec struggled to keep pace with his long strides.
"Seelie Queen? Faeries? Like, real faeries?" Sparkles snorted, shaking his head.
"Of course not, everyone knows faeries don't exist." He looked down at Alec, a glimmer of affection in his eyes. "So tell me, cutie, what's an angel like you doing in this part of hell?" Alec flushed, ducking his head down.
"I...I live around here." He stated lowly, looking away. He heard the man laugh.
"No you don't. If you grew up around here, you'd be wandering around in ridiculously baggy jeans, a stupid hat and have six different addictions ranging from smoking to heroine." He gestured to the decaying buildings around him. "Try again." Alec could feel his cheeks tingling.
"I...I do live around here...I recently moved here is all. My parents kicked me out of the house." He explained, digging his fingers into the fabric of his dingy shirt. Glitter Knight shook his head, sounding sympathetic.
"Poor kid, but don't worry. Your parents will get over themselves and you'll be back by the end of the week." Alec stared at the ground, his heart aching as he thought of home.
"No, I don't think so." He murmured quietly, but his savior heard him.
"Why not?" He asked, sounding genuinely curious. Alec looked away, staring at the pavement. The man looked at him for a long moment, before turning his attention down the street. "So, where are you staying?" He asked, switching to a more comfortable subject. For the most part. Alec's fingers found the sixty dollars in his pants pocket.
"The motel on Saint St." He replied, cringing when he heard the man scoff.
"That place? Ridiculous. You could at least try for the hotel on 23rd." Regardless, he began walking in the direction of Alec's motel, his arm a comforting presence around Alec's shoulders. It reminded him of how Jace would walk with him after school on the way home. Alec pushed the memory away, tears prickling at his eyes.
"I don't have the money. I have two jobs, but it's a nightly thing so..." Alec trailed off, looking down at the pavement.
"I see." The man tilted his head to the side, looking at Alec. "So you tried the prostitute gig? I've got news for you, sweetheart. You're not cut out for that." Alec looked up at the man, his eyes wide.
"It was only one time, and I needed the money to buy food-" The stranger cut him off.
"It only takes one time for you to catch whatever disease that guy had. I suggest you get tested." He added, looking at Alec, his expression serious. Alec stumbled, stopping and looking at the man.
"But he didn't look like he was sick!" That guy could have had a disease? Like AIDS? Could he have caught it? Even if he only used his mouth? Alec could feel the blood rushing in his ears, nearly drowning out the man's next words.
"They never do until it's too late." The stranger's eyes were soft, looking at Alec with an unreadable expression. "Come on, it's late. I'll walk you back to your place. There's a clinic on the way, I'll point it out to you. Be sure to go to it first thing tomorrow morning." Alec barely heard him, his mind full of terror and panic. "What's your name?"
"A-Alec." He whispered, anxiety clawing at his throat, stopping the scream that threatened to slip through. The man nodded his head, his hand squeezing Alec's shoulder tightly.
"I'm Magnus. Magnus Bane."
A/N: Whooo! New story! This particular one has been lying around my desktop labeled as "Malec-Ho Story" but I felt that it needed to be posted. It'll include TID characters as well. :)
Reviews are loved~