Alec was fairly certain that he had never been so in love in his entire life. He was just walking through the door of the Institute after his first date with Magnus, and he knew he had never smiled as wide as he was smiling just then. He was hoping that he could get through the halls of the Institute to his bedroom without seeing anyone, but, of course, that was a hope that was sure to be dashed.

He snuck as quietly as he could, but just as he was going past Isabelle's bedroom her door flung open. A hand immediately reached out into the hallway and took Alec by the arm, pulling him into the room and shutting the door in one swift motion.

"Sit down now and tell me everything!" Isabelle was far too worked up over this already, but Alec could tell that was also possibly due to the fact that he was still smiling. "How did it go?"

He had no idea where to start, he had yet to form a full opinion on the matter. Or rather, he had yet to fully collect his thoughts and wrap his head around what had just happened. Instead of voicing this to Isabelle, he simply smiled and said, "It went perfectly, Izzy. I don't think I could have asked for better."

"You have to give me all the details right this second." She paused, staring at him for just a second before giving a short laugh and continuing. "I know all this 'girl talk' isn't really your thing, but you're not getting out of it, so get over it."

Sighing, Alec leaned back and attempted to get settled in, knowing that trying to wiggle his way out of it would be in vain.

Magnus was fairly certain that he had never been so in love in his entire life. In love with himself that was. His fake date with Alexander Lightwood could not have gone more perfectly. It was easy to tell that by the end of the night, he had Alec right where he wanted them. Right where they wanted him.

He opened the door to his apartment, not even attempting to be quiet even though it was terribly late, knowing that Jonathan would still be up. He walked in to see Jonathan sitting on the couch as though he had been patiently waiting for a while. He had been waiting for a while, Magnus knew, but he had definitely not been patient about it. Jonathan was currently reading a book, something about demonology, of course, but he looked up as soon as Magnus walked in.

Instead of speaking, Jonathan raised an eyebrow, asking how the date had gone, and Magnus's heart skipped a beat. He took a seat beside Jonathan, but he didn't speak. He was too busy reliving how he and Jonathan had met.

It had been just another day in Paris for Magnus, and he had walked into the bar hoping to just get drunk and forget about everything for a while. When he walked in, however, he had immediately been taken aback by the wild eyed boy sitting at the bar. He had thought about going up and making conversation, but something about the boy's posture had told Magnus that he was on a mission. And not a good one.

Sitting at his own table, Magnus had watched the boy, who he now knew was Jonathan, interact with another boy about his age, who he now knew had been Sebastian Verlac. He had followed and watched as Jonathan had murdered Sebastian where he stood. What Jonathan hadn't been expecting was for Magnus to come up behind him saying, "Well, well, someone has been quite naughty today, hasn't he?"

As Jonathan whirled on him and chucked a seraph blade straight at his heart, he threw up a deflection spell, perfectly anticipating what Jonathan would do. As surprised as he was at Magnus's deflection, Jonathan didn't skip a beat either. "Who are you and what do you want?" he said, staring straight into Magnus's eyes with a look that would have scared off weaker men.

Magnus, however, was not weak, so he stared back even harder, saying, "Who I am is not the important thing here, what is important is why you have murdered another Nephilim."

Surprisingly, Jonathan answered, "I am not one of the Nephilim." He spat the last word with such hatred that Magnus was taken aback.

Tilting his head to one side and raising an eyebrow, Magnus kept his voice neutral as he said, "Well then what exactly do you propose you are?"

This conversation had finally led to Jonathan spelling out exactly who and what he was, a Morgenstern with demonic blood. This should have been unsettling to Magnus, a Shadowhunter with demon blood. Yet somehow, he found it refreshing. After centuries of being looked down on by Shadowhunters, it was wonderful to have found someone who looked up to him because of what he was, because of the fact that the demon blood was something they shared.

One thing had led to another, and Magnus had found himself slowly falling for Jonathan, something that felt surprisingly natural. He had never been terribly concerned with being "good", so when Jonathan had proposed that Magnus help him and his father with their plans, Magnus had thought only momentarily before accepting.

Now here they were, living together in New York and plotting to take down the Institute from the inside out. Turning to face Jonathan, Magnus finally began speaking. "It couldn't have gone better. He's so naïve it's almost unbelievable. He suspects absolutely nothing, and I'm almost certain he's falling in love."

Jonathan smiled, it was a cold smile, and although it sent chills down Magnus's spine, it didn't unsettle him in any way. "That poor boy has no idea what love is," was all that he said.

Flashing a smile of his own, Magnus responded, "I take it you think you do know what love is then?" His heartbeat picked up pace as Jonathan reached over to brush the hair out of Magnus's eyes.

"Of course I do, Magnus. Love is exactly what I feel when I'm with you." After that, Magnus's lips quickly found Jonathan's.

"You're being absurd!" Alec knew his voice was a bit louder than it most likely needed to be, but he was so annoyed with Jace that he was too tired to care.

"That's no different from normal, Alec!" Jace was purposefully keeping his voice below a yell. "You're just upset because you know I'm right about this." Alec stared at him, trying to understand where this was coming from.

It had been a few months since he had come out to Jace, so he had thought that telling Jace about Magnus would have been fine. He was wrong. Jace had remained silent after Alec had finished explaining the situation, and it didn't take long for Alec to ask what was going on. Jace had promptly admitted that he didn't think Alec should be with Magnus.

The resulting conversation had quickly turned into an argument over whether or not Magnus was trustworthy. Jace was very adamant that Alec should stay away from Magnus at all costs, but Alec was fairly certain that Jace was simply reacting to an underlying prejudice against Downworlders.

Finally, Jace sat down and dropped his head into his hands. "Look, Alec," his voice was much softer this time around. "I'm just worried about you getting hurt. I'm just trying to look out for you, and all I'm saying is that Magnus Bane has never given me any reason to trust him with your heart."

Alec was momentarily taken aback, but he recovered quickly enough that Jace barely noticed. "He hasn't given you any reason to not trust him with my heart either."

Jace stood to leave the room, and Alec thought he wasn't going to say anything else. Right before Jace reached the exit, however, he paused to say one last thing. "Just be careful, Alexander."