The only noise that filled the room's silence was the ticking of the grandfather clock. The only noise heard through his ears was the pounding of his own heart. Did waiting always take this long?

Alec's eyes shifted from the shaggy, black rug to stare at the peeling white paint on the door several feet from the armchair he sat in. The young Shadowhunter didn't know why he needed to be there. Isabelle would start to worry. His parents would start to worry. But they should be able to guess by now who he was constantly running off to wait for. He'd been doing this for two months now. They must have realized by now that it was the high warlock he was running off to search for.

Waiting in this used bookstore for the warlock hadn't been something he'd had in mind. Why the bookstore anyways? It's not like the warlock, Magnus, could expect to find one of his spell books around here. Even if he could, he should have been here by now. Instead, Alec was left waiting for an entire hour and a half. No, he wasn't early. He had arrived on time and was trying desperately to keep himself patient. That was turning out to be quite hard when it came to Magnus.

Shifting so that he had his legs pulled up beside him on the chair, the thoughts of taking a nap in the store was becoming quite appealing to Alec. But the moment his eyes fell shut, pressure was placed on his thigh and what seemed like needles injected themselves into his leg.

Alec's eyes snapped open, only to find a green-eyed, tabby cat climbing over his leg and into his lap. He'd almost forgotten that the store owner was one of those cat lovers. But, over the months, Alec had grown to become quite attached to the felines as well.

Purring was heard from the cat as it rubbed its head against the shadowhunter's hand. The cat got what it wanted as Alec's fingers slipped behind its head and rubbed behind its ears. But the feline was jumping down from the boy's lap as a calm, old voice called out the creature's name.

Alec sat himself up again and stretched out his arms. Pulling the sleeves of his fading black sweater over his hands, he got up from the chair and found the need to look around. He'd look but not buy. He wasn't there for himself. He was there for Magnus. But it wouldn't hurt to take a look. Perhaps he'd find something that would catch his interest. Being quite the reader, that wouldn't be all that hard.

Pale fingers brushed over both torn and new bindings. Blue eyes gazed over words of many languages. Fiction and non-fiction. Science, history, fantasy. There wasn't anything you couldn't find in a used bookstore. Alec walked down each row of bookshelves, only glancing at the books that were before his vision. Just by touching them, he felt like he knew what they were about. He didn't need to see the cover to judge the book. He just knew and his fingers didn't seem to lie to him.

Although Alec's fingers stopped on one book, his feet kept walking. But he quickly pulled his hand away and stopped his footsteps. As his eyes glanced back at the book his fingers stopped on, he flinched. Why that one? Of all the books.

The 'How to Make him Love You' Handbook.

Magnus loved Alec. That was a fact. But could Alec make the warlock love him more?

Alec tore the book from the shelf and fell to a cross-legged position on the floor. He dropped the book to the hard-wood floor and stared down at the curvy black letters that were neatly typed across the red cover. His hand shook as it hovered over the cover. He found that his eyes were closed at the time that he slipped his fingers between the pages and opened to what was near the middle of the book. Alec allowed one of his eyes to crack open and he was immediately drawn to the bold headline at the top of the page.

Chapter Four: Pick-up Lines and How to Use Them.

Not good. Alec skimmed over the chapter introduction, which just had to take up an entire three pages. Then it moved on to a list of pick-up lines for girls to use on the male gender. Some seemed as though they could be used by either gender though. Alec flipped to the next page and didn't move as he scanned through the lines.

I thought about introducing you to my sister, but I'm not that generous.

Are you going to ask me out, or do I have to lie to my diary?

My girlfriend thinks we should meet and go out because we'd be perfect for each other.

Who in their right mind would use these lines? You couldn't get anyone to love you by throwing those words at your object of affection. At least, Alec was pretty sure that people couldn't. But what if it was possible? Alec could try. Just a line or two so that he could see how Magnus would react. If it didn't work, he'd throw the book away. Even if it did work, he'd toss away the book. No normal soul would use those things more than just once or twice.

A hand on his shoulder brought Alec from his reading. He gazed up at the man who stared down at him and snapped the book shut with his hand over the title so that it couldn't be seen. If it were anyone else, he wouldn't have bothered. But having the owner of those cat-like eyes being the one watching him, Alec couldn't allow the book to be seen.

"The traffic today was unbelievable. Excuse my lateness," Magnus apologized with a deep sigh. He held his hand out to the boy to help him up to his feet.

Alec's fingers curled around the edge of the edge of the book as he slowly slipped it up the front of his sweater so that it could no longer be seen. His free hand reached up to grab the warlock's and he was on his feet in no time.

"Magnus, you don't drive," Alec pointed out with a confused expression as he wrapped his arms around himself to hold the book against his chest. His mind was more on the book than the fact that you can't get stuck in traffic without a car.

The older man's arm slipped around Alec's shoulders as he pulled the boy forward to walk with him. "Yes, but is it wrong to walk in traffic?"

Alec's head lowered at Magnus's words and he chose not to give his reply, knowing that the man would only try again to make it all sound normal. Instead, he just leaned in against the warlock's body and matched his pace. If it weren't for the voice calling to him, he probably would have forgotten about both his surroundings and the book in his arms.

"Young Shadowhunter?"

Alec jumped and Magnus stopped him so that they could hear the words of the old shopkeeper. But it's not like Alec would hear him anyways. His heart was pounding at the thought of almost committing thievery. Alec turned his head to watch the old man put his cane down on the front desk and smile at him.

"Good luck."

Alec wasn't sure what he could say to the shopkeeper. The man always had this talent of knowing things that he shouldn't. But asking questions or making comments now would only bring questions from Magnus's mouth as well. So Alec didn't speak. Instead, he allowed the warlock to pull him from the bookstore and in the direction of a location known to only him.

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I rarely write fanfiction, so you tell me... is it good? Or no? I have later chapters planned out. Ask for another chapter and it will be given.