What is this madness?! A one-shot?! NOOOOO!

But seriously, I don't do one-shots, so this is amazing. I mean, it's a long one-shot that kinda just got longer, and longer, and longer…BUT IT'S STILL A ONE-SHOT! I SWEAR!

(I might need to turn it into a two-shot later by splitting this chapter up…or three-shot if people like it…)

High school AU. Based on some events that happened to me and then I was told "That would make a great story, you know."

My OC from my "High Warlock of Brooklyn(s Sister)" story is in this story, BTW, because I am incapable of avoiding putting my own characters in.

The Shadowhunters and Mortal Instruments series all exist here, just imagine there are other characters that are similar that replace the characters so that they can be in this AU. Oh yeah, I also don't own Cassandra Clare's work. :(

Warnings-ish:

-I ramble.

-My grammar might be bad because I'm mentally exhausted from school. For example, I edited this thing and found I called a girl the brother of someone. See, I am brilliant when I'm writing sleep deprived.

Enjoy!

:)


Alexander Lightwood was tired of school.

He sat down in his English class with a sigh, wondering if he'd have the will to go on after this class. He considered himself pretty adept at English at this point in his life. It was his first and only language, after all.

Sure, his parents were making him take a Spanish class because apparently he didn't want to learn the language when he was little enough that it would be, you know, easy for him, and his parents didn't force him to be bilingual back then. It was his parents' fault that maybe one of them didn't just only speak in Spanish to him, or maybe say that only Spanish was allowed in their house or something. Only now did they apparently realize that Spanish was a necessity for him and forced him into Spanish class at school.

But English just felt unnecessary. Seriously, there were only so many books you could read, essays you could write, vocab words you could learn, and tables you could bang your head against before you couldn't learn anymore.

He was just relieved that he had gotten his essay on Anti-Gay legislations in parts of the world other than the U.S. over with. The teacher laid down a thousand laws about how they couldn't do anything on the U.S. since they'd take U.S. History next year and they were technically supposed to be in a World Studies class this year. They were told how they should structure the paragraphs, how they had to make things in size 12 font, double spaced, and Times New Roman, while also making it under 5 pages (which was stupid considering they were practically expanding the text as much as they possibly could).

The subject he chose was close to his heart, so when he saw it on the topics to research, he instantly jumped to snatch it up. It was only when he started researching that he realized what he'd gotten himself into. First off, Google and basically any database that he used focused heavily on the U.S., since, you know, he lived in the U.S. Second, he had to read things about why the rest of the world was extremely homophobic in order to provide a counter argument to all of the reasons why it should be accepted. He read all these stories about how people who were homosexual had to live in oppressive societies where they could get jailed for just holding someone of the same sex's hand, whether they were actually a couple or not.

His teacher just kept giving more and more papers on how they were supposed to cite sources and how they should structure their evidence and analysis and they killed so many trees giving out the papers for it all. Seriously, it was like the English teacher was trying to compete with his Biology teacher, who gave them papers every single day, often avoided printing on the backside of the sheets for reasons Alec could only speculate, and never actually teaching. He just kinda gave them sheets of text and then said when the test would be, leaving the students to either do the work or just talk to their friends and be on their phones.

He couldn't tell if he envied or felt more lucky than his sister, who was two years younger and still in middle school. She had way easier stuff, and even when he was at her level he felt middle school was easy compared to high school. At least he was two years in and had still maintained his 4.0.

He passed his paper to the other students who were in front of him to join the growing pile at the front that the teacher would collect. Today was just more work on the book that Alec had finished, annotated, and completed the current worksheet on already. The teacher said that they'd be working on it in class, but he wanted to get it over with at home - as well as have an excuse to tell his family to leave him alone because he was working.

He sighed and stared at his desk, covered in the regular graffiti of high school teenagers. Someone wrote "Live, Laugh Love," in a heart, and then someone else apparently countered it with "Die, Cry, Hate" inside a rhombus. There was an eye drawn by someone with actual skill, but it was only one eye. Alec picked up his pencil and did the best he could to make a second eye beside it. There was a clear difference in the skill level, but it wasn't bad in his opinion.

He saw someone drew a couple stick figures, one shooting a bow and arrow at the other whose back was turned. The arrow was drawn mid-flight heading towards the stick figure with little lines to indicate it was flying through the air. "Finish this," was written next to it. A couple people had drawn pictures of the stick figure with the arrow sticking out of the back of his head, some where he didn't seem to have had a reaction and others where he died painfully. There was one where another stick figure intervened and sliced the arrow in half with a sword with the caption "Ninja interference!" beside it.

Alec drew a picture of the stick figure turning and revealing he had his own bow and arrow and shot one to intercept the first. He'd always wanted to be a professional archer, while his sister Izzy said that she would do well with a whip. They had made little makeshift weapons when they were little and pretended to save the world. His best friend Jace - who had come over so often when he was little that they had considered him family and Alec's brother - had said he preferred the classic sword. Alec hadn't seen much of him since they got to middle-school and he learned of this thing called dating girls.

He saw that someone had just wrote a simple "Hi" in the top corner of the desk. Alec wrote "Hello" underneath it.

He heard the bell ring and realized the hour was up and he was finally released to the glorious hour of the day called lunch. He packed up his things and hurried out, dreading when Calculus would start afterwards.


"I'm Magnus. What's your name?"

Alec stared at the response on his desk and debated whether to respond truthfully or not. He was a cautious person and knew about stranger danger, especially when it came to high schoolers. Still, there couldn't be too much harm in writing his first name alone. There had to be plenty of Alexanders in the school, and a lot of them had to go by Alec. Still, better safe than sorry.

He usually went by "Alec," and his friend had once pointed out that it was weird since he didn't have a single "C" in his name. He really should be "Alex," but he had grown up as "Alec" and he liked it that way. He had once read a story about someone named "Alek" and so he figured that Alek would still be a proper way of spelling his name. He was already putting a letter in his name that didn't belong normally, and spelling his name with a "K" looked cool.

"Magnus? Cool name. I'm Alek."

Alec wondered what kind of person was named "Magnus." Then again, it didn't seem that weird of a name in the long run. His friend Shu had gotten him to read some "Magnus Chase" book filled with some mythology about Thor and Valhalla and whatnot. What was that called? Norse?

Oh well. It wasn't like he was ever going to meet this guy in person.


"Alek's a cool name too. What hour are you writing from? I'm in English 7th."

"4th hour English."

Alec found himself excited to sit down and find that he had a response. The graffiti on the desk continuously changed and had writing in all different places, but Magnus had written his message in light pencil and in the corner where it seemed no one else had touched, which was smart. Hopefully Magnus knew his handwiriting if someone else responded between 4th and 7th hour, but overall, the messages seemed as inconspicuous as they could.

He wanted to write more, but it was probably best that they kept their messages to a minimum to avoid drawing anyone else's attention. He had no idea what other conversation topics there were, but he wanted to continue the strange way of chatting. It was certainly new, and he knew that it probably wouldn't last when they ran out of things to say, but it would be fun while it lasted.


"Ever notice that when you say 'Backwards' and 'Forwards' your lips move in the direction your speaking?"

A couple of people had already noticed the message and wrote things like "Oh my gosh, I never noticed that!" "Awesome!" "Admit that you tried it the moment you read it!"

Alec felt a moment of shame that he had tested it the moment he read the message before moving down to the final comment. Then again, he realized how stupid it was that he was ashamed of that. It was a natural response, and the person who wrote it was trying to be funny. Besides, it wasn't like Magnus was watching him or anything. He overreacted way too much.

He felt a little disappointed that the message had got out to other people, and would probably get out to more before 7th hour. At least he knew Magnus's handwriting pretty well. It was neat for a high school boy, but not as neat as most of the girls wrote.

He figured he might as well give a fun fact of response, so he looked one up on his phone and wrote down one that he thought would be interesting enough.

"Ever realize that the first show of a series is often called the pilot because it's the first time the show is on air?"


":) Marvel or DC?"

"Depends which source you're considering. Both have enormous franchises with ups, downs, a cartoon series or ten, movies and video games. Can't say one's better than the other."


"Favorite fandom then?"

Alec noticed that Magnus was asking questions that anyone could answer, and so they didn't seem too personal. Alec felt a weird urge to ask for something more, but he reminded himself that these messages were for all who sat at the table to see.

The 'then' on the end of the question made him wonder if it was specifically directed at him. A small and irrational part of him clenched in hope that it was.

"Shadowhunters and the like. Heard of it?"

The book series had always mystified him. He and his friends had always pretended to be the characters in the book. It's where he got his affection for a bow and arrow, where Izzy got her inspiration for using a whip, and where Jace had gotten his fondness for swords - especially how he decorated the play sword that he used as a kid with the runes and markings of the book and the matching TV series.


Despite the other answers that had been left, behind, Magnus had kept the question above in the corner for others to answer and wrote "Bottom Left." Alec looked over to the bottom left of the desk and saw another message.

"Love that series. What would you be if you were there?"

"Shadowhunter, duh."


"Warlock. Best type of Downworlder. Shadowhunters are jerks."

"Some are good, you know. But Warlocks are cool. They seem a bit overpowered - if plot convenience would stop getting in the way."


"I know, right? I guess one or two SH's aren't bad. But most are. What weapon would you use?"

Alec smiled, ready to nerd out, but remembering that he should try and avoid paragraphs of information.

"Bow and arrow. Always been my favorite."


"The character that uses that weapon is the only SH I like. He's the only one I can possibly take seriously. Everyone else seems way too dramatic, but he actually seems genuine. He's a bit negative in return, but that's what makes him real. Right?"

Alec was surprised that a message that long had survived, but he was grateful that he'd been able to receive it.

"Yeah, I love his character along with his weapon. Perfection. He your ultimate favorite?"


"I like the main Warlock best, obviously. He's got a playful demeanor, but he's the guy with the hard past hiding behind the façade. And his magic is awesome."

"And he's dating the archer. It was meant to be."


"Yeah, totally."

Alec realized what he'd written only after he read back the previous message before he felt his chest tighten in embarrassment. He'd basically just suggested that the two of them were meant to be dating like the characters in the series.

He took a deep breath. Magnus probably only agreed because he thought that Alec meant they were meant to be fandom friends, that's all. Dammit, him and his overreacting. It wasn't like someone taught you how to react when you grew up liking guys. He didn't know if it would be the same if he liked girls, but he knew that because he was different than 99% of the guys around him, expressing who he was could be scary. He worried all the time about whether guys he was communicating with were the same as him or not. Most of the time, as he'd learned over the years, they weren't, but his mind always wanted to find someone else, just one damn person, who he could sympathize with at the least. He couldn't seem to squash that optimism if he wanted to, and he'd tried.

He breathed, trying to beat down the awkwardness that was building within him for no reason and just imagine he was nerding out with a friend.

"So, what would you do if you were a Warlock?"


The two of them exchanged multiple messages, making sure to erase things that took up too much space and limiting themselves so that they didn't draw too much attention. They threw out a few questions in the middle of the desk to draw the attention of anyone else that read what was one the desk, but Alec found himself enjoying going to English class more than he ever thought possible.

"11 122 53 114, Alek. 61 152 143 54 # 51 52 53 04 15 46 27 98 19 310. Figure it out."

Alec blinked at the series of numbers, but saw no immediate pattern. He liked a challenge, but his brain had been overwhelmed with remembering all the stuff that he needed for school and he was basically brain-dead at this point. He looked for the classic patterns like exponential growth or that trick where you take the last two numbers and add them to get the next, but when those didn't work, he gave up.

He snapped a picture with his phone, distracted the entire day as he wracked his brain to figure it out.


"It's a code."

"No shit, Sherlock."

"No shit, Shu," Shu corrected.

She took his phone and wrote down the code on a piece of paper. They had their 2nd hour off together, and Alec wanted to complete the code by the next day he got into English class. In his - possibly OCD - need to decode the numbers, he resorted to asking his charismatic friend for help.

"Let's see…Okay."

"You solved it?!" Alec asked in disbelief.

"Well, I found a way to start it. It's not a hard code, Alec."

"I'm fried from school. I don't know how you retain your sanity and still get straight A's."

"I'm just awesome like that. Anyway, just look. There are three sections, three codes. The first one has your name next to it because that's the translation to the first code."

"Making a key to translate the second part," He realized.

"Yup. Now, see that there are four numbers and four letters to your name - each number represents a character. The first number, 11, would translate to "1, 1" with this chart."

She drew a five-by-five tic-tac-toe chart and then wrote the letters inside, putting the letter "K" with the letter "C."

"It gives the alphabet an even 25 letters. "C" makes the sounds of both "K" and "S," and since "K" comes first, the two are interchangeable. Okay, so the 11 would be row 1 column 1, which is "A," and unless I have no comprehension of the English language, I'd assume that your name starts with an "A." This falls apart by the second letter since there are three numbers and this code only goes to five each. However, another pattern emerges so that every last digit of each number increases by 1. This would indicate that we shouldn't be taking the last numbers into consideration, they're just there to tell us the order."

She wrote down the new code: 1 12 5 11.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.

(AN: This is lined up how she's writing it, but this is the best I can do on this site)

"Well, would you look at that? 1, 12, 5, 11 - A, L, E, K. Simple. But why's your name spelled with a "K?" Where'd you get this? Is it some kind of code where you need to find the name of the person who gave it to you, or is the person who gave it to you trying to tell you to find an "Alek" with their name spelled with a "K?"

"I know who gave it to me, and I told him that my name was "Alek" with a "K." This first part served a double purpose of addressing me as well as giving us the pattern of the code that we need."

"Okay then. To the next part. 61 152 143 54 # 51 52 53 04 15 46 27 98 19 310. If we follow the same pattern we did with the last one, we have to take off the final number of each of these, and it looks like they do the same thing as the first - the last number just counting up in order. The final one we're going to take an entire 10 off, since that's two digits, but it's still the number in numerical order."

She wrote down 6 15 14 5.

"So if we follow the number stuff from before, that means that this would be…F…O…N…E?"

"Fon-E? Like the Roman version of Satyr, Faun? Phony - as in fraudulent?"

"Whatever. Let's just move on to the next."

She wrote down the final and longest bit. 5, 5, 5, 0, 1, 4, 2, 9, 1, 3

"Um…E, E, E, nothing - maybe space - A, D, B, I, A, C/K? An anagram? No, those second numbers indicate that this is the order they're in…"

Shu chuckled. "Oh my gosh."

"What?"

She giggled. "It's a phone number, dumb-dumb. FONE is just a funny and code way of saying 'Phone' since apparently it was meant to be a little challenging for those who didn't understand. The pound symbol also means 'Number' - and hashtag, but that's not necessary here. The code basically says 'Alek, here's my phone number.' It's not very hard, but I doubt that any other high schooler is willing to solve this, and any nerd who does probably thinks that this is the phone number of some guy named "Alek" with a "K." If you text the number and ask the name of the person who gave the code to you, maybe it will prove that it was you who solved it and if someone else solved it, they'll probably type "Alek" instead so the recipient will know when it's you. Unless someone else knows the guy's number by heart, but this is high school. Kids don't even know their own numbers, let alone their friends'."

"Pretty smart," Alec admitted.

"How'd you get the code, anyway?"

"It was written on my desk by this guy I've been chatting too for a while. Magnus."

"Magnus Bane?"

Alec shrugged. "Don't know. He never gave his last name."

Shu chuckled. "Well, have fun with that Alec. See you in Calc!"


"Need it again?"

The code was now fully erased, not a hard feat considering the smooth desks that didn't cling to the graphite like paper would where you could write as light as you wanted but there'd still be a mark.

Alec smiled and proudly wrote, "I got it. After school."

He decided that it'd be best to text the number when he went home and had plenty of time. He knew that his nerves wouldn't settle down if he started texting and then got interrupted by the bell and had to wait in anxiousness until he got out of the no-cell-phone classes.


'Magnus?' Alec texted to the new number.

He felt butterflies in his stomach, hoping that he'd gotten this right.

'It's Alek,' He added quickly so that there wasn't any confusion.

He paced around his bedroom waiting for the ding and buzz from his phone for the response. He knew that he must've looked like a bit of an idiot, getting all nervous like he was texting the guy he was about to ask to prom. Sure, he was homosexual, but that didn't mean that every guy he talked to was gonna be a potential date or anything. He'd always imagined Magnus as a 'he,' since Magnus sounded like a guy's name and he couldn't really fathom it being a girl's - both based on the name and his handwriting.

Alec opened himself to the possibility that he was wrong, but he was pretty sure. Sort of. His nerves were causing his confidence to waver. This should be easy and simple, right?

When the buzz and ding finally came from his phone, he practically dived for it, sitting on his bed. He just hoped that his little sister didn't see that. His door was closed, but he was still paranoid. Dammit, it was just texting a friend, and he was acting like a fool.

He looked to the message and felt delight as he read it.

'Magnus from 7th here. Hi Alek.'

Alec was considering a way to respond, but Magnus beat him to it with a second response.

'I see you figured out my riddle. A lot sooner than I expected. Not that I'm complaining.'

'I got a little help from my friend Shu,' He admitted.

A smiling emoji popped up. 'That explains it.'

Alec typed his response, but Magnus was quick.

'Not that I'm saying you couldn't do it without her, of course.'

'Of course.'

He realized that Magnus had addressed Shu as a 'her' even though he hadn't suggested her gender. He supposed that Shu sounded like a girl's name, but jumping to conclusions in the modern day was something he was familiar with. Nice people - who he figured Magnus was - usually tended to avoid assuming things until they had confirmation. He also remembered that Shu had suggested that she knew which Magnus he was talking to.

'Is your last name Bane?'

'Yup.'

'So you two know each other?'

'Yeah, since we were little. She and I drive to school together every morning.'

'How have we never met?'

'The answer to everything: plot convenience.'

Alec smiled and gave an emoji to represent his feelings.

Alec typed something that he wanted to say, but hesitated, his finger hovering over the 'Send' button. By the Angel, it was cheesy and probably super embarrassing. He hadn't even met Magnus in person yet. But it was just a casual remark. Alec took a deep breath and reassured himself, pushing 'Send' before he could stop himself.

'I like talking with you.'

"Alec, dinner!" Izzy shouted from the hall.

He quickly locked his phone, terrified of what his little sister might say. The rational part of his brain realized that he shouldn't be so concerned, that showing his nervousness was the thing that was going to make Izzy suspicious in the first place. He could just say it was a friend from school - it wasn't like he didn't already text friends, he wasn't anti-social or anything. He hadn't met Magnus in person, but he was still a friend, he was! It's not like-

Wait, why was he having a mental argument with himself over this?

He rushed to the door and opened it before Izzy could start pounding on it. "I'm coming!"

He followed his sister to the kitchen, leaving his phone on his nightstand. He closed the door behind him and was halfway down the hall, missing the reply that came.

'I like talking with you too. I wanna meet you in person sometime.'


'Alek? You there?'

'Hello?'

'Drop your phone in the toilet?'

'Phone ran out of battery?'

'Are you dead in a ditch? Answer me!'

'At least tell me if you're dead or not, please'

'I must know what has happened to cause your absence! I shall not stop bugging you until you respond!'

'Alek!'

'Alek?'

'Alek'

'Alek'

'Alek'

'Respond'

'YOOOOO!'

'It's Magnus! I'm still here!'

'Earth to Alek'

'Alek of 4th English, do you copy?'

'Alek, I'm sad, pathetic, and alone, please help me!'

'I've gotta go to sleep now, but we shall continue this in the morning!'

Alek smiled as he saw the tons of texts he'd gotten since he'd left. He got the gist of it after the first couple dozen, realizing from the scroll bar that Magnus was determined to say the least. He didn't bother going back up to the top, and he figured that responding at this hour would probably prompt another few hours of conversation, so he opted to wait until morning.

After dinner, he had helped Izzy with her science project where she had to make a rollercoaster for a marble ("It's not a marble, Alec, it's a metal ball bearing.") out of some tubing. They had decided to use some small Styrofoam tubes that they cut in half and wooden dowels. Izzy was concerned because her teacher had been very strict on the measurements that she had to keep the coaster within, and Alec had to admit that it seemed a little unfair. She needed a loop, three hills, and it needed to last at least 30 seconds if she wanted a top score.

She had been stressed over it, trying to make it work, but finding that it was near impossible to get the momentum for the ball bearing to make it through a loop within the height restrictions she had been given.

"Maybe we should've made it out of something smaller than this tubing," Alec suggested.

"We don't have anything smaller!"

Izzy was stressed out at that point, having been working for hours with tape and glue, pulling the thing apart every time it didn't work and getting more and more frustrated.

"I hate this stupid project! I bet rock science is nothing compared to this dumb thing!"

"Hey, we can go look for more stuff tomorrow, okay? Maybe we can make the design even simpler."

She sighed, grabbing a pillow from the couch and screaming into it. When she was finally done, she chucked the pillow at the couch and stomped off to her room. Alec knew that going to be while angry was hard and stressful when you couldn't go to sleep feeling like you'd accomplished something, but they needed a break, and a day's sleep would help her calm down and rejuvenate her. Hopefully.

In their family, leaving a puzzle unsolved was physically painful. It wasn't because their parents had raised them that way, although they did praise them for it. It was simply because they grew up realizing that getting it over with was the easiest way to go about your life. Right now, they both agreed that getting this project over with was the only way they'd be able to fully calm their nerves.

Alec had stayed up an hour later, finally figuring out a way to make the loop work by putting it at the beginning. He measured out the drop needed to make the loop by the millimeter, also making the loop as small as the requirements demanded. He was extremely careful as he used one hand to keep the thing in place and then tape it down. He tested it after he had stuck it into place on the dowels and it still worked.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The challenge was far from over, but at least now he could go to bed feeling like he'd gotten something done, and he'd be able to inform Izzy of the accomplishment.

When he went to her room, as expected, she was still tossing and turning in bed. When he reported his accomplishment, he could see Izzy taking a deep breath in some relief. He knew his sister, and she would be able to sleep just a little easier at the very least.

When he was finally ready to go to bed, he moved to charge his phone for the night before seeing the spam of text messages.

Unfortunately, he was too tired and thought he had everything that he needed to know, so he missed the first message that Alec had been absent for.


'Mr. Shadowhunter? You awake?'

'Alek, unless you have first off, you can at least say hello in the morning.'

'But if you have first off I am so jealous and will hate you forever!'

'At least until the day you don't have first off next year.'

'But if you have first off two years in a row, then I shall hate you forever!'

'I am determined now, you shall answer me.'

'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!'

'Alek here, eating breakfast.'

'Finally! Where were you?'

'Helping my sister with a project. Frustrating as ever.'

'Sister?'

'Little sister, Izzy. You eating breakfast?'

'Yup. Shu says 'Hi.' And that we could meet up before school starts.'

'When do you get there?'

'When do you?'

'A few minutes before first bell. I have to drop off my sister at her middle school a small ways away. Speaking of which, gotta get going now.'

'When's your lunch hour?'

'5th.'

'Dang, I'm 6th.'

'We can meet each other sometime. There's no rush.'

His phone was silent for so long that Alec nearly thought Magnus was gone. It was only once he'd gotten in the car that he felt it buzz in his pocket.

'Right.'


"My sister says she helped a friend named "Alec" solve a code earlier today. I wonder"

Alec realized that Magnus had written this before Alec had texted him last night. It occurred to him that Shu had to have been Magnus's sister - Shu had been the one to help Alec crack the code yesterday. That was what the message was saying, right? Shu had a brother?! How had he not known this before? He would have to ask her about this later.

For now, he figured he'd might as well answer.

"Guilty as charged. I'm with a "C." Mad?"


"So you're Magnus's sister?"

"Yeah," Shu said, writing down the next question on her graph paper. "Technically."

"You don't even have the same last name!"

"We have different moms. Our dad…got around, you know? He left my mom first, and she was…unstable. Eventually, she died, and I found out that I technically had another family. A man named Kandai adopted me, but when we found out about Magnus…his mother had committed suicide. Apparently our dad had a habit of leaving women in the dust to suffer forever. Anyway, my new dad offered to adopt Magnus too, and so we live together, but Magnus kept his mother's last name."

"How have we never met before?"

"Magnus has different classes than me, but I could only say that it was bad luck for you. Any time that I offered you a ride home was when Magnus got a ride from a friend in return. I mean, let's be honest. There are hundreds of kids in our grade alone, and you've probably seen Magnus but you never paid much attention to him."

"What's he look like?"

"Uh, Asian is the simplest way to say it, I guess. His mother was half-Dutch, half-Indonesian, but he's got the almond eyes like me. Skin color's brown, hair covered with gel and glitter, more makeup than most girls including eyeshadow with the occasional sparkles, painted nails, lipstick, and he dressed in flamboyant and glitzy ensembles - call them strange, call them unique."

Alec tried to imagine the person that he'd been messaging with looking like some kind of party-boy, but he wasn't sure how he felt about it. He imagined one of those goth kind of guys with tons of makeup and fancy outfits. Somehow, that didn't sound like the kind of guy that would nerd over the same things as him.

"We can meet you after school before we leave, if you want," Shu offered.

"Uh…I kinda have to hurry off to pick up Izzy after school. She wants me to be there early so that we can quickly get out of there and pick up some new stuff for her science project."

It wasn't exactly a lie, considering that he knew that Izzy had truthfully requested (demanded) that he make it there as soon as she got out of school so that they could get to the store. He understood how frustrating the project was to Izzy, and felt his own need to get started on finding another way to make the stupid thing work. He was admittedly nervous about meeting Magnus from Shu's - probably exaggerated - description as well as Alec's overactive and over-reactive imagination.

"No problem. We'll get you two together at some point."

"Yeah, right…"

"Did you get pi over six for b?"

Alec suddenly realized that Shu had somehow been working while talking and was now two questions ahead of him. "I'm working on it."


"Alec!"

Shu came running up to him as he tossed his backpack into the back of his car. He and Izzy had come to the agreement that Izzy could ride in the front seat since she was in third-grade, and the moment that Alec was old enough and had his license for long enough that he could have passengers younger than the age of 40 - aka their parents - she had made it clear that she was passenger-seat worthy. The rule was that people sat in the front and backpacks in the back.

Shu came hurrying up, probably having run from the other side of the school to the parking lot considering she had told him that was where her final class was. She leaned on her knees as she panted and caught her breath, before standing and getting her message out.

"Hey, glad I…caught you. Magnus said he could meet us in the parking lot right after school so he could meet you since he couldn't wait."

"Um…that's great, but I told you I have to hurry or Izzy's going to have my head."

"There he is!"

Alec looked where she was staring, but he couldn't really tell where she was trying to refer to in the crowds of kids attempting to escape the school as soon as possible - and who could blame them? Shu jumped up and down to get Magnus's attention to show where she was, but she got the attention of everyone since when people hear noises they always involuntarily look in that direction, so Alec was just as clueless as before.

He saw the (normally?) dressed eccentric teenagers, but even the ones that he thought might be Magnus didn't get a reaction out of Shu.

"Hurry up, Mags!" Shu shouted, before a boy finally seemed to be coming towards them.

As he got closer, Alec took in the details of Magnus. He wasn't particularly what Alec had expected, although Alec really didn't know what he had expected. Magnus was wearing a particularly sparkly jacket and dress pants like he was going to a rave - or possibly doing a presentation, considering that it was a requirement for kids to dress up in fancy clothes for certain speeches, tuxes and suits for men with varying degrees of ties, jackets and shirts. His hair was spiked up with hair gel, his eyes surrounded with the sparkles of glitter along with the makeup that Shu had mentioned.

It wasn't as in-your-face as Alec had imagined based on Shu's description. His attire was simpler than the crazy that was possible in this world - especially in high school - yet it still stuck out. He had multiple rings and earrings, but no other visible piercings. Magnus's sleeves were rolled up, showing his slightly tanned skin, his nails were black with sparkles reminded Alec of stars in the sky, and as Magnus grew closer, Alec also noticed that Magnus's hair had light sparkles as well. It might've sounded like a lot of glitter, but it worked pretty well. Alec found he couldn't tear his eyes away, for better or worst.

"I'm coming, Shu. I came as fast as I could! It's not my fault if Camille decided that today was the proper time to get into a smack-talk challenge with the teacher and have him hold us back after the bell rang."

"Was it bad this time?"

"Not really. Remember that one time she insulted the World History teacher and she held us all back for an hour after school?"

"I can't believe that's even legal," Shu muttered. "Anyway, this is Alec."

Magnus looked to Alec and held out his hand. "Short for Alexander, I assume?"

Alec struggled to find his voice, realize that Magnus was holding his hand out for a reason, and that Alec actually had to respond by shaking his hand. It took Alec an extra moment to learn how to control his hand and arm again.

"Uh, y-yeah. But I just go by Alec."

Alec took Magnus's hand and shook it, just noticing that Magnus was taller than him. It was only by a couple inches, but Alec had, for some reason, expected him to be at his height or shorter - which was kinda dumb, considering there were plenty of guys at school that were taller than him. He was just happy that he had broken six feet. The most embarrassing thing was that Shu was actually an inch taller than him at six foot one, taller than most of the girls around her, if not all of them in the school that Alec had seen so far. He just hoped that he himself still had a few more inches to squeak out, even though it was unlikely. Magnus was still taller than Shu just barely, not including the three extra inches of spiked hair.

As they shook hands, Magnus gave a gentle smile, and Alec couldn't help but let a smile creep across his face too. He felt comfortable meeting Magnus, already thinking that he would be a good friend.

"So…you're Magnus?"

Alec was at a loss of what to say. It was just a casual meeting of friends, right? It certainly didn't have anything to do with the fact that he was getting slightly distracted while he stared at Magnus's face. Nope.

"The one and only Magnus Bane," He declared happily. "So, I hear you're sister's doing a roller coaster project. I had to do one of those in middle school. I won the prize for the best-looking coaster."

"I won for longest time that I kept the ball bearing moving," Shu said. "It required a bowl, but it worked."

Her phone buzzed, and as she pulled it out and read it, she seemed to perk up. "Charon, Ragnor, Raphael, Will, Jem, Caterina, and Tessa need a ride to a party. You can take Magnus home, right Alec? Thanks, see you!"

She ran off through the crowds and disappeared, leaving even Magnus surprised at the sudden departure.

"Uh, can I get a ride?"

Alec felt a moment of panic. What the hell was his friend doing?

"I…sure, but I've gotta go shopping with my sister for parts for the roller coaster when I pick her up, so…"

"Oh, I don't mind. I'll bet I can help out, if you'd be okay with that."

"Um…s-sure?"

Alec had never done something like this before. It wasn't that Alec was necessarily anti-social, but Shu had just plopped a stranger next to him and told him to allow him into his life - namely his car and meeting his sister. But then again, was he really a stranger? Alec had been talking with Magnus for ages now, and he was Shu's brother, someone who he had known for years and learned long ago to trust.

So Alec allowed Magnus into the car and drove over to Izzy's school. Her school day ended at 3:45, while his ended at 3:00. Of course, just like any other school, parking was hell if they didn't get there as early as possible, and it took Alec, at the very least, seven minutes to get to her school with good traffic, ten minutes was more average.

"So, I guess that I've solved the question of what happens when Shu asks me to go out for a night. Not that I don't already go to plenty of parties anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"She says she's always worried about me meeting her friends, and so she specifically seems to have been the cause of our lack of meeting."

"Well, you're not that bad. I don't see why she wouldn't like you to meet her friends. Seems like you'd be the life of a party."

"Oh, trust me, I am. I've wondered why she seems to think I'll embarrass her too. I mean, I'd say that I'm quite charming."

Alec chuckled. "Well, you've mastered the act of drawing attention without being an eyesore. You look cool."

"You don't look too bad yourself. You're cuter than I imagined."

Alec felt heat surge through him and his stomach knot. "Uh…c-cool."

They turned down the street to the school and Alec turned the car around before parking. "Izzy said that she'd meet us down the street so that we wouldn't get caught in the traffic," He explained.

He looked at the clock and saw that it was 3:31 - still another 15 minutes before Izzy got out and another five to ten for her to get to the car. Alec parked the car and killed the engine to save the gas and the battery, sighing and sitting back.

"How long will we wait?" Magnus asked.

Alec jumped, nearly forgetting that Magnus was even in the car. He wasn't sure when he forgot, but his nerves seemed to be against him - probably making him go crazy.

"I-I'd guess half an hour."

Magnus chuckled. "Shu said you had to leave early to get here."

"I did! See the cars on this street? They aren't just cars from the people who live here, they're people who've arrived early from the parking chaos. If we'd gotten closer to the school, you'd see that streets are at least 70% full right now. Usually, people have to get here, like, an hour early to be able to choose the parking."

"If people come earlier and earlier to arrive here on time, it seems like that's going to end up with people just never leaving in the morning."

Alec chuckled. "Yeah. Why they think it's a good idea to have schools in the middle of neighborhoods with cramped streets and up to three exits at maximum is beyond me."

Magnus sighed and leaned back in his seat, shifting to get comfortable. "So, what do you usually do when you're not going shopping for a roller coaster?"

"Nothing much. I go home and work on my homework, probably nerd out over my books and TV shows with my family."

"Any other friends besides Shu?"

"Sure, but not many that I bring over on an average basis. There is my neighbor Jace who's practically my adoptive brother, but ever since he discovered girls, well…you know."

"What about you? All high school kids have interests trying to find relationships."

"Not really. Love is kinda hard for someone who's…"

He cut himself off instinctively. He didn't necessarily intend to be closeted about his sexuality, but it happened as he learned how different it made him from everyone around him. He became concerned about sticking out, worried that he would draw the attention of his parents. His parents weren't very present in their kids' lives, never talking during the car rides to school and back before Alec could drive or take Izzy to school, and they didn't do that very often either, mostly just hiring babysitters. They were rarely around the house and didn't talk much with him or Izzy when they were in the same room. It made them into a type of ethereal beings to Alec, and he felt afraid that if he did anything to stand out and draw their attention it would be awkward, even scary. He figured it was safest to just keep his distance. It had worked out well enough so far.

"Who's what?" Magnus asked, and Alec forgot that he'd stopped half way through his sentence.

"Y-You know. Just an unpopular, nerdy, nobody like me. I'm not really a partying kind of person, and I guess I've just never been able to trust that relationships in high school are going to work out, so why even try in the first place? And it's not like anyone's asking me out or anything, so I just stay out of that whole song and dance."

Magnus chuckled. "So you've never been on a date before?"

"Not really."

"Well…what do you think you'd like to do for a date, then? I'm guessing not the classic dinner or amusement park."

Alec shrugged. "Don't know. Just a quiet evening doing something we both like, I guess. For me, that's probably nerding out over Shadowhunter stuff. I miss the old days when me, Izzy, Jace, and occasionally some of our other friends would play out like we were Shadowhunters. Jace and I decided we'd be parabatai. We pretend to be fighting demons, sometimes acting as though we were reenacting the actual cannon events and sometimes creating adventures of our own." He laughed. "We once convinced Jace to let us tie him to a tree since he was 'kidnapped' and then left him until our parents came home and demanded he was released. I miss those days."

Magnus laughed. "Me and my friends would prefer to be Downworlders. Luke thought he wanted to be a Shadowhunter at first, but then changed his mind and became a Werewolf instead. Cat, Tess, Rag, and I would be Warlocks, Raphael, and his posse liked to be Vampires, Meliorn even joined in and said he'd make a good Seelie."

"That I can agree with. He's a year younger than me and I can never tell his angle sometimes."

"Sometimes? I can never tell what's going through his head."

"Izzy once said that she liked him. Honesty, I don't know what's going through her brain. I guess she and Mel are only a year apart, but…I don't know, she feels too young to be even thinking about dating."

"Shu and I get along pretty well - we can practically read each other's minds. We'd always pretend to be mixing potions and going 'Whoosh!' as we pretended to use magic."

"Being a kid was fun."

"Who says you ever had to stop?"

"Life."

"Oh, life is just a big bully. Look at me. I'm still being who I want to be. Who gives a damn what life thinks? It's not like I'm saying 'Screw you' to all the rules, but I've promised myself that I won't change who I am just to conform to society. In this day and age, we can be whoever we want, and I'm not gonna let that opportunity go to waste. I'm not gonna be ashamed with the clothes I wear, the way I act, the makeup or jewelry. I'm bisexual. So what? No one gives a damn, and if they do, that's their problem, not mine."

"Bisexual?"

"Yeah, I like both genders. It's so shocking," He said sarcastically. "You're…not against that, are you?"

"No, no! It's fine."

Magnus gave a skeptical look, and Alec felt the urge to admit his homosexuality to him. Of course, he'd grown accustomed to biting his tongue all his life, and he knew that telling someone usually just made them treat him differently, coming back to bite him in the arse eventually. There were no such things as exceptions to that rule. Then again, he didn't meet a lot of other people who admit their own sexuality so openly. After everything Magnus had said about himself, he definitely wouldn't be one of those guys that suddenly treated him like he was some kind of alien when they talked or interacted with each other, right?

He opened his mouth, ready to force out the simple sentence, but he'd hesitated in his thoughts too long, and Magnus was already moving on, trying to get off the topic.

"You ever gone to a bar or anything? Party? Alcohol? I mean, you don't seem the type, but…"

"No," Alec said. "I've just been afraid of what I'll do if I go overboard, and considering how little I trust my friends, I'll try and avoid taking any advice from them. You? No offense, but you do see the type."

He chuckled. "I give off that impression, don't I?"

"Answering a question with a question. That's an evasion."

Magnus gave a look that Alec couldn't decipher, but it was either an annoyed 'smart ass' face, or an alluring 'I like you already' glance. "You're right, but doesn't that give you the answer right there?"

Magnus picked at his black nail with a condescending smile. Alec had to admit that Magnus's response did make his point obvious without actually saying it.

"So…you've done that kind of thing?"

"Just a little. Nothing overboard, though. I know when enough is enough, and I have a reputation to uphold."

Alec chuckled. "I'd assume so."


"Sorry, Magnus, but rules are rules."

"Shu was the one who kicked me to the curb," Magnus protested. "Not that being stuck getting a ride in the back isn't nice. I can lie down all on my own."

"We get into a crash, and I shall mourn your unbuckled and dead self," Izzy called from the passenger seat.

"Well, he's going to survive the next half an hour, since we're here," Alec announced, pulling into the parking lot.

He parked and they all got out, Izzy rushing ahead and down the aisles and looking for what she might need. She grabbed some more dowels after we'd broken most of them to make them shorter so that we could start again with longer ones, and Magnus suggested glitter and glue for the decorating party. Alec laughed, but found that it couldn't hurt. Besides, he assumed Magnus was pretty decent at decorating. And if Magnus was paying for whatever he got, it didn't concern Alec.

He bought a couple of other things that he said might come in handy too, while Izzy contemplated what she thought might be useful. She bought one of those large Styrofoam things that went into making houses. They got the smallest one possible, but it was still pretty big. At least they could fit it in the car.

Alec unconsciously took Magnus home with them without thinking about if Magnus had anything else to do, or even if their parents were okay with one of Alec's friends - who he'd just met in person that afternoon - could be invited into their house. He considered what to do, but Izzy and Magnus were already discussing ways to fix the roller coaster they'd made and Magnus was offering things from his experience, as well as Shu's.

Alec sighed, coming up with an excuse for if their parents came home and questioned Magnus, editing in his head the entire way home as he imagined what his parents might do if they disapproved of Magnus. Izzy seemed to have been instantly fond of Magnus, and Alec couldn't really seem to find anything that he disliked about the eccentric and kind man. Still, he was disconnected from his parents, and they seemed like the kind of dictators of the house that wouldn't approve of any strangers whose visit hadn't been scheduled a week in advance. Even if his parents acted like they were okay with it, Alec knew that they would give those faces with deep sighs that said 'You are going to get a year-long lecture about this, young man.'

Alec pushed the inevitable doom to the back of his mind - like he did with most tests for school - and figured that he might as well bring Magnus home. Izzy needed him for the project, since Magnus was much better at helping that Alec was, and if Magnus wanted to go home, he'd just say the word and Alec would take him.


"I need one more hill!" Izzy exclaimed, though it was hard to tell whether she was excited or agitated.

Magnus had come up with the idea of using some of the thick paper-ish stuff he bought - kinda like that cardboard stuff that you find inside of the larger rectangular Tootsie Rolls. He cut and bent it into thinner shapes, bending them so that they created a track that was sturdy enough for the ball bearing while also easy to manipulate - all they had to do was cut out the pieces and use bent tacks like train-car couplings to allow the parts to swivel and turn. The dowels were placed strategically to hold up the thing, and Magnus had managed to add in the loop and two little hills along the way (albeit they had had the issue of the ball bearing soaring clear off the hills because of its momentum like it was a ramp).

After hours of working, gluing, taping, cutting, tacking, and manipulating, they had finally made it to the bottom of the coaster with the track working up until there.

"No problem," Magnus said. "The ball should have proper momentum to get over one if we just…"

He looked around and grabbed one of the Styrofoam blocks they had lying around, having cut out a new base for the coaster with the giant board they'd bought and used the extra stuff to create some pillars where the dowels weren't sturdy enough. They had cut out tons of cubes - which was a challenge in it of itself considering how thick and tough the Styrofoam was - and had a lot of those flakes decorating the carpet as a consequence.

Magnus set the cube on the base and moved the track over it as a final hill. He held it in place as Alec dropped the ball into the track a little ways back, and the bearing rolled smoothly over. Izzy measured the hill, and it was just over the required height.

They quickly glued things into place, and Izzy sighed in relief, collapsing on the floor. "I'm done with this thing! Finally!"

"Well, it still looks like a construction project," Magnus pointed out. "The wood, the Styrofoam, the obvious glue and tape. Don't you wanna decorate it?"

"Not today…!" She drawled. "I'm done! Just done! Just don't turn it into an embarrassing mess and you can do whatever you want to decorate it!"

She dragged herself up and went to the kitchen, moving to make herself a TV dinner. Alec realized that the sun had gone down and their parents hadn't returned yet. It wasn't uncommon for them to have late work nights, but he realized how late it had gotten.

"Challenge accepted…" Magnus muttered, reaching for his shopping bag.

"Don't you need to go home?" Alec asked. "Aren't your parents or Shu worried about where you are?"

He shook his head, taking out a bottle of glue and a bottle of glitter. "Nah. Shu knows that I stay out, and our dad is generous. He knows we can handle ourselves. The agreement is that we have to be back by the next day to report in - without any emergencies requiring the police or getting arrested, and we can stay out as long as we need. We've obviously got curfews on school days, but that's not for hours still. Besides, why would I pass of the opportunity to do my thing?"

He started decorating the coaster, first focusing on the obviously ugly parts where glue was sticking out, take was haphazardly placed, and where the print on the base of the Styrofoam board was.

"What about your mom?" Alec asked.

Magnus froze for a moment, visibly trying to hide his flinch, before he went back to work, his movements more smooth and forced than his eager and flashy mood just a moment before.

"She died, I don't have one anymore."

Alec mentally punched himself in the face. That was obviously the wrong thing to ask. In the moment, he'd just wanted to ask about his adoptive mom! He didn't even consider that Magnus might take that the wrong way, especially considering that Shu had never told him about having an adoptive mom. Dammit, this was the wrong time to not pay attention to details.

"Oh…sorry, I meant…Shu said you were adopted, so…"

"Only by one man, he isn't married. He's dating this guy, so…I don't think I'm gonna have a mom any time soon."

Alec wasn't sure what he could say to make things better, but Magnus seemed to understand that and tried to continue.

"Not that I really need a mom. Shu's more than enough feminine influence than I can handle in our house."

Alec chuckled weakly. "What about you?"

"What are you talking about? I am the very definition of masculine!"

He gave a pretend-offended face that was greatly exaggerated, and Alec broke into laughter. "My mistake."

"Well, you better learn from your lesson. Now, I've got more glitter if you wanna help."


The two of them got to working on decorating the coaster, Magnus taking over most of the work and Alec really there for moral support. And it seemed Magnus only wanted him there to admire his abilities. Alec was fine with that, and the two of them had a great time chatting to each other about little things as they worked, Magnus probably able to do the job blindfolded, his hands on auto-pilot.

"I mean, I like to think that there are other things out there, but that must make me sound crazy," Alec rambled.

He realized that he was being more open to Magnus than he'd ever been to any of his friends, even Shu. Perhaps it was the fact that Magnus felt like a stranger, a new person who hadn't had the chance to get the image of the serious Alec that usually came across to most new people he met. He hadn't met Magnus during class where he was diving head-first into the work to avoid talking to other people; he hadn't met Magnus while he was trying to make a great impression and ended up coming off as the complete opposite of who he really was and how he really felt; and he hadn't met Magnus when he was just too tired of the world to care whether he talked to him or not.

"I guess it's normal to want to have a different life than the one you have - that those people that we idolize in movies and books would probably give anything to trade places with us - but you can't help but want to be there, have those cool powers, have those friends and family."

"Then again, dealing with the Shadowhunter community might seem a bit annoying when they're threatening you to do as they say or die all the time," Magnus said, not taking his eyes off the project.

Alec noticed how he got when he was into his art. His fingers moved in a choreographed dance, adding touches of paint, glitter, feathers that he had apparently bought while Alec wasn't looking, and all looking pretty well together. If Alec had been given all these random - and quite honestly crazy - items and was ordered to make an art project out of Izzy's coaster, he'd probably make a hot-mess that would have Izzy putting him six feet under.

Alec helped out a little by making flags out of the duck tape and dowels before passing them to Magnus to be properly decorated. He felt like he'd contributed.

"Maybe, but you'd have cool rune powers. Everything from stamina, to bravery, to flexibility, invisibility, defensive blocking, maybe those runes that make your opponent just plain miss you no matter how hard they try to fight. Then there's that 'Fearless' rune that the girl makes."

"Yeah, but he nearly makes our favorite Shadowhunter admit his sexuality to his homophobic parents. Stuff like that can be a really sensitive thing. Fearlessness can be bad, you know."

Alec nodded. "Believe me, I know. But our favorite Warlock stops him because he knows that."

Alec didn't know when Magnus had started calling his favorite character both of their favorite Shadowhunter, but Alec felt a surge of joy bubbling through him. He liked having something between him and Magnus. They had barely met, but in reality, they knew each other pretty well just from their messages.

And to think, if Alec hadn't written that one word 'Hello' to Magnus's 'Hi,' he might've never made such a great friend.

"Hey, you've convinced me. The High Warlock of Brooklyn is my favorite Warlock. Then again, you'd probably be my favorite Warlock."

"All hail the new High Warlock of Brooklyn: Magnus Bane!"

They laughed together, and Magnus put one of the final flags up.

"So, what do you think?"

"It looks awesome. Izzy's gonna love it."

Magnus looked at the watch (sparkly as the rest of him) on his wrist before jumping up. "Shit! Shu's gonna think I'm having sex with you!"

Alec felt the heat rising to his cheeks. "What?!"

"It's already 11 PM!"

He gathered his bag of stuff, shoving the items remaining in as fast as he could before snatching up his jacket (when had he taken that off again?) and bolting to the door.

"We need to get home or I won't hear the end of it from her!"

Alec chuckled. Yeah, Shu sounded like someone who'd be like that, especially if she was your sister. Alec followed him to the door and out to the garage. He called to Izzy that he was taking Magnus home and got a quick "Tell him to come over more often!" before she went back to binging Netflix while their parents were away and Alec was otherwise distracted. It wasn't like Alec and Izzy didn't enjoy watching the same things, but not worrying about what someone else wanted to watch was very nice.

Alec walked Magnus to the door as they tried finishing their conversation about which rune was the most useful for a Shadowhunter.

"You wanna hang out tomorrow?" Magnus asked. "We should confront my sister together about how she's failed to introduce us before."

"No doubt. See you tomorrow, then."

The two of them smiled at each other, but neither really wanted to end the conversation. Finally, there was a banging at the door that startled them both and the door opened to reveal Shu. "There you are, Mags. Papa made dinner for you if you want it!"

"I, uh…I'll see you," Alec said quickly.

"Yeah," Magnus responded with a nod.

The two of them laughed awkwardly before Alec managed to get his legs working to turn and walk off. Alec managed to make it to his car - Magnus and Shu retreated inside the house - before he took his seat and dropped his head against the steering wheel with a heavy sigh. That went well.

Time to go die of embarrassment on his bed.


"So Alec's short for Alexander? In that case, you really should be Alex."

Alec chuckled. "We've had that debate before. It's weird, but I've never been Alex."


"Alexander's cool tho'. I like it more."

"That makes one of us."


'Alexander help me! Calculus is evil! Why do tests have to happen on Mondays?! It haunts my entire weekend, looming over me and telling me to study when I shouldn't have to!'

'I can come over after school to help you today, but I've gotta look after Izzy.'

'Shu can entertain her if you bring her over too.'

'She says she's up for it. See you this afternoon.'


They had developed a routine after that, the pairs of siblings going to each other's houses after school to hang out. The girls had the lower floor while the boys had the top one at Magnus and Shu's house (since their house was cool and on a hill where both floors could technically be called the main floor). They sometimes came together, but Alec found himself wanting more time alone with Magnus, whether they were playing games, watching TV, or doing homework/studying.

Other friends often came over too, but even Magnus seemed to like the time when it was just him and Alec. At least, Alec liked to believe so.

Alec found himself attached to Magnus's flamboyant outfits, sparkles everywhere sparkles could exist, his infinite energy and bright personality, the cheerful attitude that made it so he never ran out of things to say, and his seemingly indefatigable tolerance of Alec's unworthiness. (AN: See that, English teacher? I can (attempt) to use those vocab words you teach me. I probably failed though)

Alec now saw the rest of the world as dull when he compared it to looking at Magnus - and he may or may not have been doing a lot of staring at Magnus these days. He had never done any drugs, and yet he felt like he was going through withdrawal each time Magnus left, leaving him sitting in his bedroom listening to the lonely sound of his clock ticking on the wall.

He thought about Magnus's face, decorated with makeup that only he could make look so innate and amazing on him. His hair was sparkly and spiked up, and though Alec had always thought that looked weird on others, on Magnus it was just so natural. Magnus was unique, and Alec couldn't seem to find a flaw in any part of him. His outfits never seemed to have any flaws or little blemishes, and though Alec wasn't one for wearing stuff nearly as complex himself, he liked seeing the new combinations of outfits he came up with. Alec had yet to find one that he didn't like.

Honestly, how was Alec to compete with this absolutely perfect man? He was so bland and antisocial compared to Magnus - a shy and reserved introvert compared to a bold and brave extrovert. They seemed to have developed a friendship, to Alec's surprise and delight. Magnus seemed like someone who wouldn't give someone like Alec a second thought since he was a nobody and Magnus seemed like the somebody of somebody's - at the very least within the school. How had he never noticed Magnus before? Oh yeah, it was because he was trying to purposefully avoid and ignore popular people since he knew he didn't belong in that realm.

He couldn't help but think about how nice Magnus's smile was, how Magnus seemed to brighten the mood with nothing but his presence, how Alec loved his laugh, his smile, his eyes when Magnus was fake-flirting-which-Alec-suspected-was-real-flirting-in-disguise-and-no-he-was-not-crazy. He secretly liked it when Magnus acted coy but Alec got his normal over-thinking level of worry whenever Magnus just laughed it off as his normal quirky self.

Alec wasn't sure what he was supposed to do. He was kinda okay with just admiring Magnus without saying anything. Biting his tongue hadn't let him down in life so far, and if he said nothing, then he'd be able to continue silently gawking at Magnus with the ability to pretend/hope that Magnus didn't notice, and imagine that if he did notice he was saying nothing for a reason. Wasn't living with teenage hormones and overcomplicated relationship(ish?) issues fun?

Ugh, when had Magnus been just a friend and not a 'I-like-you-a-little-more-than-a-friend-but-I'm-not-sure-where-we-are-because-I'm-an-insecure-sort-of-closeted-guy-who-is-too-afraid-to-say-anything-even-though-logic-says-I-should' (Whatever that was) again?

Yeah, Alec might have a problem.


"You like Starbucks?" Magnus asked, staring out the window of the car as they drove to his house after Magnus had come over for a Shadowhunters binging session.

Alec thought about it. "Well, not on an average basis. Here and there, but I've got a budget."

"How about we meet Saturday? My treat."

It occurred to Alec that he and Magnus had never gotten together outside of their houses, and rarely ever during weekends. In all honesty, he did have a reason for that. He felt like a teenager trying to avoid that awkward conversation where he introduced his boyfriend to his strict don't-mess-with-me parents. Another of the reasons he avoided the drama of dating.

"I'll see what I can do, but you never know what happens when my parents come home on weekends. They either completely ignore us or make us do a ton of work as though they don't think we have lives."

Magnus shifted nervously in his seat. "Oh, uh…that's cool."

"They work in this big fancy company that Izzy and I really never care much about," Alec continued, not paying much mind to Magnus, small reaction. "But I think they want us to do the same thing as them - or at least be as responsible and apparently seek out the work so that we can look like we're cool. My little brother Max is traveling with them on their trips at this point, and I think he's become just like them - probably our parents' favorite for that reason."

"You have a little brother?"

"Yeah, he's eight. Izzy earned her freedom from our parents a couple years ago when she was 13 and I was 15. I think they were happy to be rid of us, but they love Max. Apparently he turned out right, or something."

"I'm sure it's not that bad."

"Maybe, but it's not like it bothers Izzy or I. He takes the attention of our parents away from us and allow us to be whoever we want to be. Personally, my parents have felt like strangers all my life. Izzy's only two years younger than me, so I've never really had experience being an only-child with all the attention on me, and with strict and high-standard parents like them…it's kinda a relief to think that Max is being what they want and seemingly enjoying it. Whenever he visits, he seems to be satisfied. He wants to grow up and be respected, and I can't fault him for that."

"So…your parents visit at random?"

"More like they planned to come every weekend but they just aren't reliable. I try to keep my weekends free and don't go out."

"Not even for dates?"

"I don't like to, honestly. It's not like I do the dating thing anyway. Oh, we're here."

He parked in front of their yard. Alec shut off the car and moved to get out, but Magnus was quick to unbuckle his seatbelt and hope out. "I'll be fine on my own," He declared.

Alec sensed a darker undertone in his voice, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was. Had Alec done something wrong? As far as he was concerned, their relationship had gone pretty well, even considering Alec's over-reactive and awkward personality. Alec was afraid that he had offended Magnus somehow. He liked Magnus, he wanted to stay his friend, and saying something stupid and leaving Magnus on a bad note that Alec didn't even understand didn't bode well.

"A-Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

He did have a moment of hesitance, as though he expected Alec to go on. Alec was frantically trying to remember any moments that had stuck out in their interactions that he might've screwed up on, but he didn't have much time, as Magnus said a quick "See ya" and shut the door. Alec considered going after him, but he didn't know what to really do. Sadly, he couldn't apologize when he didn't know what he did wrong, and he was wracking his brain trying to figure it out.

He finally sighed and decided that it was too late to do anything about it now. He'd see Magnus tomorrow, maybe.


"What? Cakes are awesome! How dare you claim they are inferior to brownies?!"

Alec smiled, instantly recognizing Magnus's handwriting with barely a glance. That had been a response from last debate they had gotten into, and even with all the other answers from other students, Alec had learned to spot Magnus's handwriting in the cluster easily - especially considering how eccentric his answers usually were.

"I can go for a middle ground of chocolate cupcakes," He offered.

As Alec tried to predict what Magnus would respond with, he remembered that something had been off about Magnus the previous day. Alec was concerned about what he had done wrong. Things seemed to have been going well between them for…months now. As mentioned before, the Lightwood family did not like problems they couldn't solve or at least couldn't even start to comprehend.

Perhaps he could fix things through their favorite form of communication. It wasn't as instant as texts, and it wasn't face-to-face awkwardness. Alec knew that he certainly liked talking to Magnus, though now he had a proper image in his head of him. He just hoped that Magnus wasn't angry enough at him to stop sending messages.

Magnus always had something to say, after all.


"Cool."

That was it. That was everything on the desk that he could find was Magnus's handwriting. By the Angel, what the hell was it?! Alec wasn't good at staring conversations, especially considering that he and Magnus had talked about basically everything that Alec could start a conversation with previously. For the first time in what Alec had realized was actually months, he wasn't able to write anything on the desk.

Alec had tried to meet Shu and Magnus in the parking lot after school, but Shu was alone and had informed him that Magnus got a ride from Ragnor.

"Is he avoiding me? Did I do something wrong?"

"That's what I'd like to ask you," Shu muttered. "He seemed deflated when he came home last night. He never comes home without his energy, even after the longest of raves all throughout the night. I don't know how he can handle the social nightmare that is a high school party, but he always has. Did you say something to him?"

"I don't know! How am I supposed to know? I can't tell when two people are dating or broken up even when they're acting pretty blatant. When people are obvious about their emotions, I am oblivious!"

"Well, that's true. Just hurry up and figure it out. When Magnus is sulking, he sulks to the extreme that he dresses."


Nothing.

Absolutely nothing was on the desk with Magnus's handwriting. Alec, like, quattuorvigintuple checked. Did Alec really mess up this badly?

He was afraid to text Magnus at this point, since he didn't want to feel the rejecting sting when Magnus could respond at any time but wouldn't for reasons Alec couldn't understand.

He thought about every awkward moment that had happened between them. It was hard to recall things to the exact detail, but at worst, he had slipped up about Magnus's mother during that first time he'd come over to help with Izzy's roller coaster (which she'd gotten an A+ on, by the way). Overall, he and Magnus seemed to have been getting along the whole time they'd known each other. Things had seemed to go downhill at the end of their last…it wasn't officially a date, so…visits, and so he thought about the conversation in the car.

Magnus had asked about Starbucks, Alec had explained about his parents and about Max, how he wasn't one for going out that often…

'Not even for dates?'

Alec dropped his head to the desk and wanted to bang it repeatedly. He had thought he meant any kind of special occasion - a date for something like someone's birthday party or a doctor's appointment!

Alec is an idiot.

That summarized his entire existence. It would be his yearbook quote, it would be on his resume, it would be written on his gravestone because he had died of stupidity.

He had been trying so hard to not mess anything up with Magnus, keeping a conversation going and trying to be open about himself, that he'd just kept on talking and didn't think too much about his words so that he could just be honest and not act flustered if he said something that he thought was dumb when it was just his over reactive brain.

The guy that he maybe-kinda-sorta-really liked just got told that Alec wasn't willing to date at any time. Magnus had asked him out - that was what the Starbucks think had been! - and he had said no, he doesn't do that kind of thing. And Magnus had been disappointed, maybe more than disappointed, but Alec wasn't paying enough attention, trying not to look like an idiot himself. But in the end he was an incompetent dunce when it came to understanding other people - especially in the category of romance.

Magnus had liked him and had made the first move so that nervous-beyond-comprehension Alec didn't have to!

And Alec had screwed it up!

It seemed the harder he tried to get things right, the easier it was for him to completely ruin everything.

He needed to fix this, dammit. This was all just a misunderstanding. He needed to explain this.

After class, he tried texting Magnus to meet him after school. He didn't get a response by the time the five minutes of passing period were over, and he waited out lunch hour, knowing Magnus would have the highest chance of checking his phone in his lunch hour - 6th.

But by the end of his Calc class, Alec found no new messages.


"He's been getting a ride from alternating friends and even walking home whenever they're busy," Shu said. "He seems determined to not get a ride home with me and risk running into you."

"I know what I did and I'm an idiot!" Alec blurted.

"Well, okay then."

Alec went over everything that had happened now that he finally understood, and Shu raised an eyebrow. "So…he asked you out, trying to be casual because he was taking into account if you didn't necessarily want a relationship, but he asked you so casually that you brushed it off as you auto-piloted while you tried to keep your cool while talking to him?" She summarized.

"Basically. I also told him that I don't like dating. I meant that I didn't like going out in general, but in the context he accidentally took it as I don't like going out with people - as in dating people - and since I don't do dating right now it came off as I don't wanna date him at all."

She blinked. "Wow."

"I know."

"I'll talk to him about it. In the mean time, you find a way to ask him out like you should have done a while ago. Honestly, you two have danced around each other for so long that I was concerned you'd grow old still wondering who would ask who out first."

"How'm I supposed to do that if he won't talk to me?"

"That's where I'm coming in, trying to get him to give you a chance and stop avoiding you like a lovesick idiot who just had a breakup when, in reality, he gave up way too easily. In the meantime, you devise a plan, at the very least. Honestly, it's like I'm dealing with children."

"But I-"

"Look, you're shy, but if you like him, it'll be no problem. I gotta go and catch him and pick him up before he walks home and complains to me about how he's all sweaty and gross because of the long trip."

She plopped into her car and drove off, leaving Alec to sulk his way back to his car. Was this supposed to be as simple as just saying that it he'd like to take up that offer of coffee? It should be, right? But Alec wanted to make up for his incompetence somehow.

He took out his phone and scrolled through the pictures that they'd taken together over the months - the one time that Magnus had offered to paint some runes onto Alec with his artistic ability and giving Alec a block rune on his neck; the time that he'd given Alec one of his fancy jackets and Magnus had insisted on taking a picture despite it being too big for Alec; the one time that Shu and Izzy had joined them in playing Shadowhunters and Warlocks, everyone getting Magnus Makeovers. Izzy declared that Magnus was going to repeat what she'd done for next Halloween.

Alec scrolled through all the pictures before finding the one with the code that Magnus had written on the desk for him that had given his phone number. The first step that had made them more than just strangers writing notes on a desk.

That gave Alec an idea.


Magnus was sulking. He knew he shouldn't be sulking, but he was.

He tried to do his normal thing to get his mind off things, but it was then that he realized that he hadn't been to as many parties ever since he started hanging out with Alec every day. Usually, the thought of another party was nice to him - a chance to get into his groove with his friends, being the most party-going of all of them and being proud of it.

Now, the thought of a party just sounded dull, noise and people he didn't really care for, and those that he did didn't compare to his desire to spend time with Alexander again. Their interactions had been quite, simple, just the two of them with the occasional extra joining in here and there, but mostly just the two of them.

He'd gotten to know the aspiring Shadowhunter, his initially shy personality slowly opening up as he got more comfortable with Magnus. When Magnus had first heard about him from Shu, he had assumed the introverted teen would be averse to interacting with Magnus's flashy personality. But through their messages, he showed that he had a fun side, and when he could be himself, he was a daredevil at heart.

But Alec was kind, struggling to find a middle ground where he could express his own personality while also conforming to make others happy - ultimately viewing others' opinions more important than his own. Magnus had gotten him out of his shell, hearing that he had a lot of thoughts swirling around in his head, just as strong an opinion as anyone else, especially with things he was passionate about.

"You're not yourself, my friend," Ragnor said.

"Gee, what clued you in?" Magnus muttered, lying on his bed while Ragnor was sitting at the desk in his room with a book.

Just like Ragnor, the aspiring professor, to have a book wherever he went. Then again, it was the Iliad. Magnus assumed he was just reading that to remind people how smart he was. He'd been reading that thing for a solid month, and Magnus was convinced that he'd completed that thing within the first three days. From what Magnus had got from skimming through the book, a lot of it was just 'This man who had this father got killed by this man, son of this man, who ruled over this place, where this thing happened, and he stabbed the guy in the place a man really doesn't wanna be stabbed and then he fell to the ground and he was dead.' Ragnor gave a speech about the important parts, but Magnus was too distracted to listen (then again, even if he wasn't, he couldn't keep up with Ragnor anyway).

"Well, you either lost a bet to Shu so that you have to go a week without any makeup or glitter-"

Magnus let out a chuckle. Ragnor had a refined accent, and since he tended to talk like a scholar, those two facts made him sound just ridiculous when he said 'Glitter.'

"-or you're having relationship issues. Considering what happened that time you were rejected by Camille, I'd assume the latter. And after you decided that you would let Imasu go - no idea why, you could've gone after him so easily - I think I have a concept of what your 'I'm pining over someone, however something is getting in the way' demeanor is."

"Good for you."

"Oh dear. No snarky remark. You really are upset. Weren't you going after that Alexander bloke recently? Who rejected who?"

Magnus gave a face. "If you must know, he just doesn't date anyone."

"Chaste?"

"Pretty much. I tried to ask him out and he changed the subject."

Ragnor gave a playful smirk. "Yes, I believe that qualifies as harsh. Are you sure he simply didn't misunderstand your meaning - or you misunderstood his?"

"I asked if he wanted to meet up at Starbucks, he said that his parents might come back since they usually come back on weekends, and they also have a younger brother of his, Max, and they're a pretty functional family even though they're separate, and how they plan to visit every weekend from their fancy work but they aren't always consistent, and then he said that he doesn't like going out. I asked him 'Even for dates?' and he was like 'Not really, I don't do the whole dating thing anyway.'"

"And you're certain that he understood you were asking about a date? Perhaps he merely digressed about his family in his nervous emotional response to your question."

"What part of 'I don't date' do you not understand?"

"I'm filling the optimistic role of your conscious, considering you don't seem keen performing the task yourself. You're clearly more upset about this recent rejection than you are with normal relationship issues. You have two types of relationships - those that you care about and those that you don't. Camille and Imasu were examples of those you do care about, and subsequently mourn about when things hit bumps and come to a conclusion. Frankly, I disapproved of Camille anyway, so I was not mourning in particular, and Imasu was your own choice to let go. However, it seems that this recent tragedy with Alec was no decision of your own - no feeling that you were too much for each other and best apart - while he also didn't outright reject you in particular - he didn't claim that the two of you in particular wouldn't work out. If you wish to sulk, at the very least come to me with the claim that you tried your hardest to convince him that you would be worth the risk of opening up to love."

"If he doesn't want to date, I won't push him."

"Even though it's clear he's pining after you? Honestly. It seems that when you fall in love you become a total idiot. At the very least, your self-sacrifice does prove your noble intentions."

"Yea for me."


Magnus headed lazily towards his English class, tempted to take Ragnor's advice and just talk to Alec. He had little doubt that Alec was nice enough to overlook Magnus's negligence of him recently if he gave a small apology. The problem with that was, he wasn't sure he'd be able to have a friendship with Alec if he knew that he wasn't going to be able to ask him out.

Magnus had been trying not to come off too strongly, as Magnus was surprised enough that Alec wasn't driven off by his flashy appearance and flamboyant behavior alone. He felt like he was on the verge of driving Alec away with everything he did, and he took his time getting to know Alec as a friend before finally just asking him to go out on a date. He probably should've asked Alec a little more clearly, or returned to the subject after he'd rambled in that cute way that he does when he's trying to sound casual but is nervous about messing up and looking bad.

He knew he really should go talk to Alec, but now he wasn't sure how to start up the conversation again. Even if it was a misunderstanding, there was always the small chance that it wasn't and Alec having to clarify that yes, he wasn't into dating - let alone dating someone like Magnus - stung just when Magnus thought about it. He didn't know if he'd be able to stand if that happened, and the risk made him talk himself out of it each time.

He'd considered talking to Alec, but his thoughts kept on returning to him like a blaring alarm going off in his head. Every time he told himself to shut up and talk to him (did that make sense?) his nerves refused to settle down until the time came that he could meet Alec after school and he pathetically asked one of his friends for a ride to his house or just plain started walking home on his own.

He dropped into his seat, scanning the desk for Alec's handwriting. He couldn't get over the natural instinct that had developed. Alec and Magnus had definitely texted and called each other - and hung out in person, obviously - but they had never stopped writing their notes to each other. Magnus found it fun, and it felt like a bonus way of hanging out with Alec, their written notes rarely, if ever, mentioned through other forms of communication. Just having to wait the day for Alec's response felt exhilarating for weird Magnus-reasons.

He had stopped writing, unable to figure out something to say, and so Alec had stopped in turn. English class had reverted back to the normal, nap-inducing class that it had been - especially considering Magnus was having more trouble with socializing than he ever had. His friends must've thought he had lost a family member or something since they didn't bother him or question if he was all right. At least they respected when he wanted to be left to sulk in peace.

But today, he was drawn to a particular code in Alec's handwriting:

"131 12 73 144 215 196, Magnus. 191 202 13 184 25 216 37 118 199, 191 12 203 214 185 46 17 258?"


'Magnus. Starbucks, Saturday?'

Magnus stared at the paper that he had translated the code onto in awe.

"You going?" Shu asked, looking over his shoulder.

Magnus couldn't say anything. He was still trying to comprehend what this meant. Alec wanted to accept his previous offer? Or did Alec just want to be nice when he realized his previous mistake and take up Magnus's offer out of courtesy?

Shu whacked him on the back of the head. "Oh, just date already, for Heaven's sake! Go on!"

"But…it's not necessarily a date, Shu."

"Man, love really does make you an idiot. Fine, don't go. Pass up this golden opportunity. But just remember, you'll be asking 'What if?' for the rest of your life if you don't."

With that, she walked out of the kitchen of their house.

Magnus looked back down at the paper, his mind racing. Perhaps he had turned into an idiot, a love-sick fool who must've seemed incompetent from another's outside perspective. But right now, he wasn't sure how he felt, how he should feel, and whether this risk was something he would be able to survive if it didn't pay off.


And thus, Magnus found himself driving over to the coffee shop that Saturday.

As he walked in, he quickly scanned the room, but didn't notice Alec anywhere. Trying to keep his nerves down, he simply ordered a coffee and took a seat at the corner of the room, able to scan the area for if Alec had just gone to the restroom or something, as well as the front door so that he could see if Alec arrived later.

There hadn't been a specified time, and Magnus couldn't wait, so he showed up at 8, hoping that he'd waited late enough. It dwelled on him that Alec could've been expecting the evening, and Magnus started regretting all of his life choices.

He was almost done with his coffee, which he had been absent-mindedly sipping as he let time pass, and looked at the clock to find it was nearly 8:30. He couldn't tell if that was good or bad, but he realized that the simplest way to resolve this issue would be to freaking text Alec. He had almost forgotten that was a thing, ever since they'd stopped communicating.

Magnus pulled out his phone and unlocked it to open the texting app, clicking on Alec's name (which had a picture of him all Shadowhunter-ed up when Magnus had given him rune tattoos). He was so engrossed in the process, trying to come up with what to say, he didn't notice when someone plopped down at his table.

"Hey," Alec greeted.


Okay, so it's probably bad, but I tried. In my defense, I wrote this while I was very tired. Sleep deprivation gives me ideas that are brilliant at the time.

Yes, I cut it off there because I'm evil - MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

But it's also because this 'chapter' is too damn long. If you want more, like, review, follow, all that jazz. I would be happy to continue if people want it, but I warn you that relationships are not my forte. But Malec is adorable, so for that alone, I'll try.