Heh. Heh. I meant to get this up last night, but that plan went down the drain after my super awesome adventure 8D. As most of you should know, Clockwork Angel came out yesterday (at least here it did) so I hopped on my bike and decided to take the 4.5 km trip to the mall. Greeeaaat plan when its 40 degrees out. I almost passed out at the side of the road, and when I got home I couldn't get up the stairs. Kinda set my writing back a tad. Whooops. And in the end, the store was out of copies when I got there anyways. FML. Kay, so, don't own TMI, or I wouldn't be writing fanfiction. Enjoy~

Chapter four.

Magnus was fiddling with his pen, tapping it on the desk lightly occasionally. The class was being forced to sit and listen to the teacher drone on and on about the rules. The one that made him have to bite back laughter was officially the best. Especially because of the number the faculty had chosen. Rule number 69: No males are to fool around with females on campus. What, so were they supposed to fool around with other guys? Worked perfectly for him. He had a feeling that this rule was the hardest to keep control of, and it didn't actually work. But he didn't care. Even if he got caught, the staff couldn't do anything about it because it wasn't in the rules. He knew Alec had caught his stifled laugh, and he grinned at the other male, causing him to look away.

Finally their teacher finished his list of rules, ending in 245. Alec was pretty sure that they had wasted about an hour of the class, leaving only about half an hour left. They obviously wouldn't be doing too much work today. The teacher, Mr Malachi, handed out a set of sheets, which after a short inspection, proved to be more rules. Magnus groaned, resting his head on his hand, and his elbow on the desk.

"Is there anything here that we're actually allowed to do?" he asked in a mutter. It was a rhetorical question, so he was rather surprised when Alec actually answered him.

"Umm. . . learn?" he offered, trying to be helpful. Magnus laughed, nodding.

"Okay, that's one thing" he agreed, deciding not to point out that he hadn't been looking for an answer. It was funny how adorably innocent he was. "Gay sex is another" he added, just to see Alec's reaction. He was rewarded instantly by the widening of bright blue eyes, and the spread of a blue like wildfire across his face.

"W-what?" he squeaked, tensing slightly. He really hadn't been expecting that of all things to be added to the list. Was that what Magnus actually thought of him? Or was he just saying it in general? He was confused, that much was obvious.

"Well they said males and females couldn't canoodle, but they said nothing about two guys, or even two girls" Magnus explained, grinning at the reaction he got.

". . . Canoodle?" Alec repeated, frowning and trying to place the word. He was assuming it had something to do with sex, since that was what they were talking about, unfortunately, but he'd never heard it before. Magnus didn't answer, simply shaking his head and laughing. He was starting to wonder why he agreed to sit with his roommate. This wasn't going well, in his opinion. But he also didn't know anybody else there, so it was either sit with Magnus, or talk to somebody else. And he would feel quite rude ditching Magnus to sit with somebody he didn't know.

"You really are too cute" the sparkly teen informed him, startling Alec out of his thoughts. This was exactly what Isabelle had said! He still refused to believe it was true.

"I am not" he denied the compliment, crossing his arms and looking away, feeling like a child. Magnus laughed again, seeing as all Alec was really doing was proving his point. In his denial, he hadn't even really thought about the fact that Magnus had called him cute. It was more the word that had set off his reaction. Realizing the situation, his eyes widened and he turned to look back to his roommate, not knowing what to say anymore.

"You are too," Magnus argued, "I think you're the cutest fu-"

"Has everybody finished reading over the lab safety rules? Because you're having a quiz on them. Now. Good luck. You'll all need it" Mr Malachi had a slightly evil look on his face, and Alec automatically looked at the notes, reading them over as fast as he could while still absorbing the content. The blue-eyed teen had a frantic look about him. He couldn't do badly on a quiz about the rules. Especially on the first day of school. Magnus didn't even bother. He was good at coming up with answers for questions that he had no idea about. The quizzes reached them soon enough, and Alec put his sheets away with a resigned sigh, pulling out a pen. Magnus had pulled out a pen as well, but it was completely different than his roommate's generic black pen. It was purple, for one. It write in purple ink, even. And it was encrusted with glitter, as so many of his things were. He found no point in having something if it didn't sparkle. Sparkles just made everything more entertaining, and interesting. "You have ten minutes. Begin!" the teacher called from his desk, and most of the class rushed to write their answers down. Most of them had no idea what they were doing, and didn't really care.

Alec scribbled down his answers, guessing at many of them. A bunch of the questions were common sense, or things he had learned at his old school. He could see Magnus out of the corner of his eye, casually writing down answers in a surprisingly fancy, neat script, looking completely unaffected by the stress of getting the answers right. Either he was like Jace and was too big-headed to realize that he could fail, or he was too un-caring about the whole thing, and didn't care if he got the answers right or not. There were only two options in his mind about this whole situation, and neither of them were good, yet he couldn't find it in himself to feel resentful towards Magnus. It seemed to be virtually impossible. Through all the teasing and flirting he had received, he had never once felt like he didn't like his roommate.

"Time's up! Pass your papers to the front! Class is over in five minutes, so take that time to talk amongst yourselves. Too loud, and you're staying for detention" Mr Malachi announced, standing at the front of the room. The class shuffled obediently, passing their quizzes to the front of the classroom, and most of them turned to the people beside them, either talking to old friends, or getting to know new ones. This was probably the strangest assortment of people Alec had ever seen in a class, but it would be the same kind of thing he would see in his other classes. This school didn't have the standard 'everyone from one age group goes into one grade' thing going on. Whatever age you were enrolled at, you started as a first year student. It was more of a specialty school, mixing the curriculum to work with different ages. That was why Alec, Jace, and Isabelle could all be in the same classes, but being separate ages. It was an interesting system, and for some reason worked reasonably well. It was this knowledge that prompted Magnus to ask.

"How old are you?" he tilted his head to the side curiously. Alec looked up from where he had been shoving things into his bag.

"Eighteen" he answered automatically, straightening up. "How about you?" Alec inquired, curious now. He hadn't really thought about it. Magnus looked around his age, if not older. There were some restrictions on the age groups, and that was the youngest was sixteen, and the oldest was twenty, for when you could be enrolled. It was a three-year program as a school, kind of a preparation for college or university.

"Nineteen" Magnus replied, that grin back on his face. So Alec was legal. That was definitely always a plus. He couldn't get arrested for attempting to seduce him. Or succeeding in seducing him. This was looking more in his favour every time he thought about it. And what was better, Ragnor wasn't there to disturb his attempts. He just hoped that they weren't sharing gym class.

"Ah. Cool" Alec nodded, hoping it was a sufficient acknowledgement of his answer.

"Yep. I'm in my prime. You're lucky to meet me now. I can't get any better" Magnus grinned, having no problem with his boasting. But it was true. It was all downhill from here. He was looking forward to the next few years. This school was proving to be interesting, and it was probably his last chance at living before everything was cracking down on him. Being a teenager only lasted so long. He was a bit surprised to hear Alec laugh in response to that, the way he had at breakfast. The way Jace had made him laugh. It was a nice feeling, to know he could make him laugh like that, in such a short time. He had thought it would have taken longer than that. "It's true" Magnus shrugged, but he had a self-satisfied smile on his face. Just then, the bell rang shrilly, and people started getting to their feet.

"Ah, gotta go, I guess. I'll see you later" Alec said, giving a small smile and a wave. He slung his bag over his shoulder and pulled out his schedule and map, following the crowd through the door. Magnus hopped to his feet, walking out behind him and dragging his bag with him.

"Yep. See ya" Magnus nodded, making a split-second decision and reaching out, grabbing Alec's ass before melting in with the crowd, pulling his own map out and following it, leaving a very stunned Alec behind. He wasn't exactly sure who had grabbed his ass, but he had a very good idea of who it may be. Blushing furiously, he walked quickly to his next class, arriving before most people, including his sister. There were five minutes between each class, and he was sure he had wasted about three of them getting to his class, yet Isabelle was still missing. Most of the class had assembled, along with the teacher, a bitter looking woman, and she let them in. Alec picked a seat near the middle, and put his bag on the one beside him, holding it for his sister. He watched the door, hoping she wouldn't be late. He was startled out of his thoughts by an unfamiliar voice, from the seat on his other side.

"Hey, you're Alec right? I'm Magnus's friend, Ragnor" he introduced himself, grinning. Alec really was even better looking up close. He hadn't actually gotten a very clear look until now.

"Oh, yeah, um, hi" Alec wasn't aware that Magnus had told anybody about him, but once he thought about it, it seemed normal. He had done that with his siblings. Ragnor looked like he could definitely be friends with Magnus, with the way he looked, but he wasn't as flamboyant looking. Alec was slightly relieved by that. He glanced at the door as the bell rang, to see Isabelle slipping through and dashing over. How she was dashing anywhere in the four inch heels she wore, he didn't know.

"Sorry I'm late! I got caught up in talking!" she gasped as she collapsed into her chair. Evidently, she had been running to make it in time. She looked up to see the unfamiliar person turned towards them, looking like he had been talking to Alec. Noticing her attention on him he smiled. "Alec, making friends already? I'm proud of you!" she exclaimed, giving her brother a hug to which he sat still for, but didn't respond.

"Hey. You're Alec's sister, I presume? You two look a lot alike." he said, shooting a slight smirk in Alec's direction. Isabelle caught the look, but her brother did not. "I'm Ragnor. Magnus's friend" he clarified. Alec wasn't exactly making friends.

"Why thank you. I pride myself in my brother's looks. My name's Isabelle" she said, patting Alec on the head, earning her a glare from her brother, and a slightly jealous look from Ragnor. Isabelle knew from just that, Alec had two gay men fighting over him. It was great. And the best part was, he was probably oblivious to it all.

"I don't see why you get to take all the credit" Alec sniffed, tilting his chin up slightly. He was only ever like this around Isabelle and Jace, since he had known them almost his entire life, but he had found himself opening up to Magnus already. Ragnor was more a witness of this event, not the one causing it, but he laughed lightly anyways.

"Because I'm your little sister and you love me" she replied confidently, reaching up to ruffle his hair. Alec shied away from the touch, shooting her a light glare. He didn't know why she could be so touchy-feely sometimes. It was weird, as used to it as he was. Ragnor however was watching Alec steadily, with a slight smile on his face. It was going to be hard to really talk to him in this class, with his sister right there, but he might get lucky. She seemed like the kind of person who would go off and talk to other people as well, whereas Alec wouldn't. He was just hoping that was the case. So he could comfort Alec after he had been abandoned by his sister. Or at least that was how it played out in his head.

"Alright class, welcome to your English class. My name is Mrs Herondale, and you will, treat me with respect" the woman began, folding her arms across her chest.

"She seems pleasant" Isabelle muttered, glancing sideways at her brother, who had a head on his hand, and was watching the teacher. He had always been the good child, paying attention in class and doing his homework on time. Isabelle however, was not that kind of person. She reached down and pulled a nail file out of her bag, crossing one leg over the other and fixing her nails, ignoring the looks Alec gave her. She did however, keep note on how many times Ragnor was looking at Alec. Her count was to about twenty, and the teacher had only been talking for about five minutes. And each of those looks made it more obvious that there was no way Alec was getting away from this school year with his virginity intact.

Alec sighed, taking the occasional note. At least they didn't have to listen to her drone on about rules. Unless spelling and punctuation counted. Apparently this class was more getting to know the language, in case any of the rich idiots in the class had forgotten how to talk properly or spell properly over the summer. For some reason, he didn't doubt that would be the case. He was oblivious to the fact that Isabelle kept smirking, and Ragnor kept looking at him, but he did notice a few times that he seemed to be getting closer. He noticed most things about people invading his personal space. He had no idea why he would want to move closer, but the main issue that he was. He shifted a bit towards Isabelle, slightly uncomfortable, but trying to copy down his notes, unlike the people on either side of him. He wondered idly what Jace was doing. He didn't even know what class he had. But it probably had something to do with hitting on girls.

The class was slowly brought on to new material, so Alec nudged his sister, nodding towards the board. She looked up for a moment, read one of the notes, shrugged and went back to her nails. He sighed. And Isabelle wondered why English was her worst subject. All she cared was that she knew how to speak it. That's it, she passes, except for the fact that it doesn't work that way. Only in her dreams. Or at least the ones that didn't include pretty boys.

Alec was sure Ragnor had stopped moving, finally, and it was almost the end of class. Mrs Herondale was wrapping the lesson up, and the students were getting a little rowdy, no doubt eager for the long-awaited lunch. Glancing up at the clock, there was only about a minute left. Alec shoved his notebook into his backpack, followed by his pen. He was just sitting back up when he felt a hand on his thigh, and then the bell rang. He jumped to his feet, face flaming and eyes wide, wondering what it was with people today. He was being molested left right and center. And both times had been by guys. Was it that obvious that he was gay? Isabelle was right behind him now, following him out the door and asking why he had left like that.

"It's nothing. I'm just hungry" he replied, which was partly true. He was starving. She shrugged and followed him, her long stride keeping up with his easily.

"Mmm, I wonder what's for lunch?" Isabelle contemplated the options. It was awesome that they didn't have to do their own dishes here, and that the food was all ready-made. The only work they really had to do was keep their dorms clean, which was rule number 56, and do their schoolwork. Alec didn't answer her question, simply following his map back to familiar territory. They had an hour for lunch to spend as they liked, inside, outside, or in their dorms. Heading to the dining hall, Jace was visible immediately. He was seated near the middle of the room, lying half across the table like he was trying to save it for them, while avoiding lying on the food. When he saw them come in he sat up properly and waved his arms for the others to join them. It was then Alec saw the girl sitting to Jace's left. His jealousy immediately flared, but he forced a smile on his face and walked over, dumping his bag and sitting down.

"Hey Alec, Izzy. This is Clary. Clary, these are my adopted siblings" Jace introduced them proudly, before looking to the skinny bespectacled boy sitting beside Clary. "Oh, and this is her friend Simon. Everybody say hello".

"Hi" Alec said shortly, giving a small smile.

"Hey there. Nice to meet you" Isabelle said, pulling on a bright smile and sitting down beside Simon, who looked a bit confused. Clearly, he had expected to be ignored for most of the lunch. Clary and Jace had been ignoring him all through class, unless his childhood friend made an effort to actually include him in the conversation. "Alec, where'd your friends go?" Isabelle asked, scanning the room. This startled out of his conversation with the short redhead.

"What? Yeah where are your friends Alec? I wanna meet them!" Jace declared, scanning the room as Isabelle had, but having no Idea who he was looking for.

"Oh, you mean that, uh, rainbowy kid I saw you with earlier?" Clary asked Alec, looking like she was trying to be helpful. At Alec's short nod she continued. "Yeah, I saw him earlier, walking in this direction. I guess he got caught up with something, but I'm sure he'll be on his way" she smiled, and Alec gave a small smile back, trying to be polite.

"Thanks" he mumbled. For some reason, this girl rubbed him the wrong way, from the moment he saw her. And it probably had something to do with Jace's fixation with her.

Yeah, so that's all my overly tired brain could come up with after I finished reading Mockingjay this afternoon (WHICH IS AN AWESOME BOOK, HOLY CRAP!) So I hope it's at least decent T_T"