Part 3: Fools
After finishing their last periods, Magnus and Alec walked side by side through the hallways to the parking lot.
"So," Alec began after a moment of comfortable silence, they had arrived at the parking lot. "Want me to drop you off?" he offered.
Magnus smiled up at Alec and pulled him down for a gentle kiss. He broke off the kiss that had turned into a heavy make out session.
"As much as I wanted to," Magnus said, out of breath from the kiss. "I think I should take the cab." he added and Alec frowned.
Then it dawned on him what Magnus meant. "Your dad." he muttered, head slumped down on Magnus' shoulder.
Magnus wrapped his hands around Alec's broad back. "I think he's about to go berserk, again." he spoke onto Alec's clothed collar bone that covered his mouth from the hug. Still oblivious of what's coming.
Alec released Magnus and gripped his shoulders. "Hey, if it gets bad, you could always come to my house." Alec said, one of his hands moved to caress Magnus' cheek. "You know that, right?" he added as Magnus leaned into his touch.
"Yeah..." Magnus murmured.
"Call me when you get home, okay?" Alec said, hands fixing Magnus' jacket.
Magnus smiled in adoration at his doting boyfriend and pulled Alec by the nape for another kiss. Before Alec could deepen the kiss, Magnus pulled away, chuckling.
Alec groaned in protest and Magnus placed his index finger on Alec's lips, earning a smile from Alec.
"Drive safe, Alexander." Magnus said, slipping his finger down to Alec's chest.
Alec smiled at the gesture. "I love you." he whispered, taking Magnus' hand in his.
Magnus smiled up at him and Alec leaned down to peck on his lips. "I know you do. Now get that pretty ass home." Magnus said teasingly and gestured to Alec's car.
Alec faked a hurt expression and walked backward, still holding Magnus's hand. Alec didn't break their eye contact as Magnus' hand slowly slipped out of his grip. When he's no longer holding Magnus' hand, he smiled at him and turned around only to stumble on his own foot.
Magnus doubled over laughing, and Alec blushed in a deep shade of red. He muttered something to himself before unlocking his car and climbed in.
"Talk to you later, my dear Alexander." Magnus teased him with a wink.
Alec blushed even more as he fastened the seatbelt. "Umm...yeah...I guess..." he stuttered.
Magnus waved at him, still smiling as Alec drove off.
His smile faded as soon as Alec was no longer in his sight and walked away, bad feeling in his guts.
Magnus entered his room and dropped his bag on the floor. The sinking feeling in his chest amplified the moment he entered his house. It was always quiet with only him and his father as the household, but this time was different. He couldn't find his father anywhere.
Magnus' trail of thought was interrupted by a loud bang of his door being ripped open. His father stood stiff with a loathing expression polished across his face, his eyes burning scars into Magnus'.
Magnus remained still, sitting stiff at the edge of his bed. Facing his father's piercing gaze.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" his father roared, sprinting toward him.
Magnus' breath hitched as his father grabbed the collar of his shirt with deadly force, snapping one button off.
"Don't you feel ashamed? Huh?!" his father shouted, this time his hand yanked Magnus' collar, forcing him to stand up. He added another hand to yank Magnus' collar so the distance between their faces were thinning.
Magnus was terrified, he knew his father was always angry and beat him up for every little thing he did, but the man he was facing at the moment was different. His look was punishing and full of hatred and disgust. Then Magnus realized, his father must've found out about him and Alec.
"You screwed that boy? Huh? Explain yourself! NOW!" his father boomed right in his face.
Magnus' eyes widened, he suddenly forgot how to breathe and started hyperventilating, his heart pounding like crazy. "Father, I—"
Magnus couldn't finish what he was saying as he felt a burning pain digging on his right cheek. His father had slapped him so hard that he tumbled back onto his bed.
"Are you a fag?! Aren't you ashamed of yourself! How dare you do this to our family! Huh?!" his father roared and crawled toward where Magnus had fallen. He yanked Magnus' now wrinkled shirt, forcing Magnus to face him.
"What would she think if she found out about this?!" Magnus' father screamed into his face, his breath scented with liquor. "What's the point of her giving birth to you if in the end you turned out like this? A fag!" he added breathlessly, face flushed red out of rage.
Magnus remained silent, tears dripping from his chin as he helplessly clutched his father's iron solid grip on his collar. His face was a mix of fear, hurt, confusion, and mainly anger.
His father punched him in the jaw and Magnus tumbled back onto the bed again. He could only lay there, helplessly receiving the blow of punches raining down on him. Red liquid dripped from the corner of his mouth, staining his white sheets. His face was now battered, eyelids purple and lips split from the punches.
Magnus couldn't fight back, he could say that he hated his father, but he was the only family Magnus had left. He loved his father as much as he hated him. Magnus' trembling hands clasped his father's weakly as he was about to go on another punch.
"I'm sorry father..." Magnus mumbled quietly between coughs and gasps.
His father's hand trembled as he blinked, there's a wave of emotion Magnus used to know flickering in his eyes but it's gone as fast as it appeared. He then slammed Magnus down onto his bed and stood up.
He went for Magnus' bedroom door and looked over his shoulder at Magnus. "If I ever see you with that boy again, I'll kill both of you!" He screamed and went out from Magnus' room, leaving the door wide open.
Magnus laid on his bed, clutching his bruised torso. He could only hiss quietly as he tried to sit up but failed and fell back on the bed. Thinking of Alec's sweet smile he loved so much to calm himself down.
Suddenly, his heart sank as his father's threat began to play on repeat at the back of his mind. What would happen if his father vented his anger on Alec? Magnus didn't want to imagine it. He didn't care whether his father break his legs or beat him up 24/7, he was terrified by the thought of his father hurting his Alexander, his dear and sweet Alexander.
Magnus made up a decision in his mind that he knew he would regret for as long as he live, but it's better than having his father hurting Alec.
He tugged on his hair painfully and stared blankly at the ceiling, ignoring the blood gushing out of his nose. He couldn't bear the thought of Alec getting hurt because of him. Not in the least.
Magnus sobbed and pulled on his tousled hair harder. "Alexander..." he muttered, pained for what he was about to do. He snatched his cell phone that had fallen on the floor and texted Alec.
The next day, Alec went to Magnus' house. He walked there because Izzy had begged him to lend his car to her. She was going to her high school party or something, it didn't matter. At the moment, he's concerned about Magnus' well being. Magnus only texted him once last night, once, which in Alec's opinion was extremely strange. He never texted Alec only once, usually they would text or call each other for hours. When Alec tried to call him back, he had hung up on him the first three times and switched his phone off, so Alec knew for sure something's happening to him. When Alec arrived at Magnus' front yard, he saw Magnus' father, drunk as usual.
Magnus' father noticed Alec walking toward him and instantly took off from his comfort zone. He trotted toward Alec with the intention none other that to beat Alec up. Magnus appeared from behind him, holding his father back. Alec smiled when he could finally see Magnus, but the smile on his face turned into a frown and his heart sank when he noticed purple bruises all over Magnus' body and face.
"Let me handle this, father." Magnus said, his tone emotionless and firm, but his mind was a mess and his hands were trembling.
His father paused and looked between him and Alec, and then he went back to sit on his previous spot. He glared at Alec from the distance and drank his vodka as he watched Magnus walking toward where Alec stood.
Alec frowned even more as Magnus was closing in to him. His usual beautiful face was a mess, eyes swollen as if he had cried all night—which he did—and mainly because his face and arms are bruised all over, his pretty lips now split and there's trace of dried blood all over them. He glared at Magnus' father then looked down at Magnus.
"By the Angel, Magnus! Your face—"
"It's over." Magnus said, averting his gaze from Alec's. He couldn't bear to look at the pain in those beautiful eyes when he was the reason for that pain.
The words tasted bitter in his mouth. Magnus may looked composed at the moment, but inside, he felt an agonizing pain drilling through his chest as if he had swallowed a bunch of nails and broken shards.
Alec gasped as his heart sank deeper, tears pooling in his eyes threatening to spill out. There must be a reason for this, his Magnus would never do this to him. He knew Magnus too well. Hell, they grew up together and had been crushing on each other for years. He promised Alec that he would never leave him, he would never do this. Never. Alec thought to himself.
The sound caused Magnus to look up at Alec and his heart broke. He fought the urge to just throw himself at Alec, hug, and kiss him, tell him everything will be alright.
Because he couldn't.
Magnus' clenched his jaw and his nails dug deeper into his ice cold palms. He couldn't take it anymore and looked away from Alec's gaze.
Alec's tears were streaming down his face now, his lips trembed as he tried to grab Magnus' hand but Magnus yanked his hand away. "Mag—"
'I love you, Alexander,' he thought to himself as he bit his split lip, causing it to bleed again. He turned on his heels but Alec grabbed him by the arm.
"Please go away." Magnus tried to yank his hand off, not looking at Alec, but he tightened his grip on Magnus' arm.
Magnus suck in a shaky breath, he bit his bleeding lip so hard all he could taste was blood. With what strength left in his beat up and exhausted body, Magnus broke off from Alec's grip, causing him to stumble back a few steps from the force.
Magnus almost turned around to catch Alec out of habit, and then he realized he couldn't, not with his father there, watching them like a hawk. He would never let him hurt his Alexander. Oh, the irony.
Alec balanced himself despite his wobbling legs. They locked eyes for a brief moment and Alec could see the agony in Magnus' bloodshot eyes. Then, it dawned on him, what's this all about. His dad must've found out about them. That could explain the unusual amount of bruises on Magnus and why he tried to shut him out. He sniffed and wiped a line of tears away, his mind was a mess. He didn't want to lose Magnus but also hated to see him in pain. If this will stop Magnus' father from hurting him, then there's nothing Alec could do. He's willing to let Magnus go.
"Goodbye Magnus," Alec managed to croak out. "I love you." he whispered quietly, enough for only Magnus to hear, and smiled bitterly. He slowly retreated, leaving Magnus.
'I love you too.' Magnus mentally replied and suck in a deep shaky breath, holding back tears as his heart crumbled.
Magnus could hear Alec's muffled sobs as he walked away from him. Magnus clenched his jaw harder, his nails sank deeper into his now bleeding palms. He turned and walked toward his father, who was smiling at him with his hands held out.
"It's good that you understand." his father said as he pulled Magnus into his arms.
Magnus forced himself to smile and return the hug. His father stroked his hair gently, a gesture he hadn't received in years. Magnus heart broke for the thousandth time as he turned to look at Alec's retreating figure until he couldn't see him anymore.
"I'm going to my room." Magnus said as he broke off the hug.
His father nodded and went back to sit on his chair.
Magnus climbed the stairs to his room hastily and stumbled on the steps. He stared at his bleeding shin but he couldn't feel anything.
He stood up and went into his room and locked his door. Magnus threw himself onto his bed and broke down.
"I'm sorry..." he muttered at nothing and squeezed his eyes shut until it hurt.
Magnus hadn't attended his classes for two weeks in a row, and Alec was worried sick. Did his dad beat him again? Alec thought to himself. He was sitting in a classroom, fiddling with a glittery blue pen Magnus gave him. His heart clenched as he stared at the pen, not paying attention to the professor who was pointing at a PowerPoint slide after saying something.
Magnus had changed his number, and Alec couldn't help but think about him everyday, even after he decided to let him go, deep down he just knew that he could never do that.
His mind roamed back to their memories as a child, Magnus would always take Alec to the beach even though he couldn't swim just because Alec loved it. Alec smiled at the memory of him teaching Magnus how to swim and remembered Magnus' smile of victory when he was finally able to swim. Then, the memory of Magnus' pained expression as he pushed Alec away hit him like a train.
Alec stopped his trail of thoughts before he got too carried away and broke down in the middle of the lesson. He patted his cheek roughly and decided to skip his next period to go check on Magnus.
Alec was on his way to the parking lot when his eyes landed on Magnus who was walking with a blond girl, chatting and smiling. Alec's heart sank at the sight and he felt a pang in his chest when their eyes meet. Magnus looked away almost instantly and Alec clenched his fist, still walking toward them.
Magnus walked past Alec, ignoring him. Alec's lips trembled as his heart shattered all over again. He ran his hand through his dark locks, feeling a surge of jealousy and hurt flooding his chest. Alec dared himself to turn around just to find Magnus intertwined his finger with the girl's, still chatting and laughing.
Alec bit his lip, holding back the tears forming in his blue eyes. He stared at Magnus' back as the distance between them grew farther. He couldn't take it anymore and walked away, a line of tear straying out of his eyes which he wiped away hastily.
He took a deep shaky breath and pulled out his phone from his pocket and made a call. He had been planning to do something for the past weeks and had gotten Maryse and Izzy's approval, although Izzy was pissed at his sudden decision. With what he just witnessed, there's nothing holding him back now.
"Alec, what's up?" Jace's voice answered from the other end.
"I'm transferring to your University." Alec's voice broke at the end of his sentence.
"It's him isn't it? I'm going to kill that bas—"
"Don't." Alec interrupted him firmly, squeezing his eyes shut. Jace went silent and Alec could hear his long sigh. "Can you do the paperwork for me? Please." he muttered.
"Alright, you know I will. You gonna be okay buddy?" Jace asked, concerned.
"Yeah, I guess... talk to you later." Alec answered then hung up.
Alec could still hear the blond girl's distant giggles behind him. He clenched his jaw, not bothering to look back at them and went to his car, missing Magnus' bitter gaze that landed on his back.
END of Part 3