A/N: Chapter 4 is finally finished. I got started in a new story so I got distracted but I'm working out a plan for writing so hopefully I will post in a more scheduled fashion. Thank you all for your reviews I really appreciate it. Please enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Shadowhunters.

Magnus rubbed his eyes as he walked into the school building, it had been a long night. Ruben had people over for a greater portion of the night. Then when he was about to fall asleep his stepfather thought he heard a noise and burst in. Needless to say Magnus found himself with only about two hours of sleep. He pulled at his sweatshirt sleeves praying that they would stay in place.

"Hey Magnus. Are you alright?" Alec stepped in stride with the shorter boy. "Well that was redundant. I guess...don't tell me otherwise I can tell. What's up?"

Magnus stopped and stared at him. "I didn't get much sleep...Dad had a party last night and it went on late." He looked around. "I'm just exhausted. But I can't skip so here I am."

Alec frowned and Magnus decided he didn't like seeing him upset. "Why can't you skip to get some sleep? It does you no good if you fall asleep in class…" He fell back on his heel. "Hold on I need to call mom a moment." And then he was gone pulling his phone from his pocket.

Magnus stayed glued to where he stood, partially out of fear and partially because he didn't want to go anywhere without Alec. He stared at his hands, his insides trembling. He felt a hand on his shoulder and was shoved roughly towards the wall. He crumpled to the floor, his hands instinctively raising to protect his face. He looked over his arm.

"Watch out, fag!" Camille said, with a laugh. She looked over her shoulder at him a cruel smile across her face.

Alec then entered his line of sight. "Hey are you alright? Let's get you up and then we are going to my house. Mom gave me the ok. She agrees with me, you can't do well in school if you're tired." He held out a hand.

Magnus took it and let Alec pull him to his feet. "Isn't she upset that you want to skip?" He bit his lip and swallowed.

"She would have been upset if I didn't tell her," he smiled. "School is important but not as much as your health. Come on, we should head out before class starts." He started to walk to the front doors and Magnus followed.

It was a quiet walk as Magnus struggled to understand why this was happening. No one...well other than Clary…seemed so concerned about his wellbeing.

"Now I can get you all set up in the guest bed. Or we can sit in the living room for a bit to watch tv."

"Um...maybe tv...just so I can settle…unless you'd rather the other…"

"I want to do it how you want to. So if you want to watch tv, we'll watch tv." Alec smiled and led Magnus up the stairs to the townhouse. They walked into the entryway where they kicked off their shoes. Alec pulled off his coat and then looked at Magnus. "You can take your sweatshirt off."

"I'm fine, thank you." Magnus didn't meet his eyes. "Where's your restroom?"

"Down the hall to the left. I'll go find us something to watch." Alec nodded toward the hallway before going to the room to the right of the front door.

Magnus made his way down the hall and slipped into the bathroom shutting and locking the door behind him. He looked at himself in the mirror, he did have purple bags under his eyes and he looked like crap. Slowly he pushed up his sleeves revealing a dark hand shaped bruise that his father had given him. He started to entertain the thought of showing Alec...but then what if that changed nothing. I'm such an idiot…

He stayed in the bathroom for a good five minutes before venturing out his sleeves back in place. Alec sat on the L-shaped sofa at the corner with his feet up on the cushion in front of him. Magnus walked over and looked at the sofa and then at the other chairs before staring at the floor.

"Sit where ever you like. There's plenty of room on the couch. Or those chairs are comfy as well. I found Scooby-Doo I hope that's alright."

Magnus nodded, he didn't know how to tell him he had no clue what that show was. He gingerly sat down on the sofa. He looked at the screen and saw four people and a dog running down a hall. As he watched his eyes started to feel heavy and soon his world went black.

*~*~*~*~*Alec's POV*~*~*~*~*~*

Alec looked over to Magnus and saw that he had fallen asleep. Good. He's getting proper rest. I probably should take him to the guest bed so nothing on the television startles him. He slowly got up trying not to make a sound. Moving over to him, the taller boy gently scooped him up and carried him to the stairs. Magnus was light, like feather light. Even with how small he was he shouldn't be this easy to carry.

He sat Magnus on the bed and started pulling at the bottom of the sweatshirt. The smaller boy started waking up with a soft noise. "Easy just trying to make sure you don't get too warm."

Magnus's eyes flew open, "No. I don't want it off!" His chest heaved his eyes wide.

Alec pulled his hands back and tried to keep from showing his ever growing worry. "Alright...but please take it off if you get too warm. I'm going to go to my room. I'll knock and wait for a reply if I need to come in."

Magnus nodded relaxing, his body leaning toward the bed, his fatigue getting the better of him.

Alec smiled then walked out the door shutting it behind him. He walked to the room across from the one Magnus was in. His room was organized, due to his mother always nagging them on keeping everything picked up when they were younger. On the right back corner was his full bed, adorn with a black comforter. Against the windows, so he could look out was his desk with a computer to one side and space for him to write on the other. Against the left wall was his dresser and bookcase.

He sat at the desk picking up a pen and twirling it in his fingers. His mind drifting to Magnus. He wondered why the sweatshirt was so important. Did he trip and fall and just not want the bruises to show? That had to be it, right? He couldn't see anything else happen with him.

His phone began ringing and he pulled it out. His mom's face was on the screen. He hit the answer button before placing the phone to his ear. "Hey mom. Thank you for letting us do this. I know it probably seemed strange. He just looked really tired. He's sleeping in the guest bed."

"Hey Alec. Did you ask him why he was so tired? Is everything alright?" Maryse asked. "This can't happen every time. School is important and if he didn't tell his family we don't need to have the school call them."

"He said his father had a party last night and he didn't get much sleep because of it." Alec was quiet for a moment. "Hey mom can I talk to you about something?"

"Of course. Don't ever be afraid to tell me anything."

He took a breath. "Magnus won't take off his sweatshirt. I went to make sure he wouldn't get too warm. But he freaked out...Do you have any ideas why?"

"Well...there could be multiple reasons. But I can't tell you which is true...He may just be cold. Just be there for him. When you gain his trust he may tell you if anything is happening."

"Alright. Thank you, mom." He hung up the phone and then just stared out the window. He had never cared about someone like this before. He never worried if someone kept their sweatshirt on or not or if they got good sleep.

*~*~*~*~*Magnus's POV*~*~*~*~*~*

Magnus stared at the room Alec had carried him into. The walls were white and the only thing other than the bed was a dresser. He looked to the door and waited for anything that would change. When it did he let himself lay back. He started to feel warm, but even with the promise of knocking on the door he didn't know if he could trust it.

Five minutes passed and he couldn't sleep he was way too warm. He swallowed, and slowly sat up to pull off the sweatshirt. If Alec found out, well that's how it would go. He left the sweatshirt next to him and laid back down. This time it took no time to fall asleep.

A knock on the door woke him up gently. He looked to the door and quickly grabbed his sweatshirt pulling it on. "Yes?"

"Hey, you've been asleep for a few hours. How are you feeling?" Alec's voice came through the door. "Is it alright for me to come in?"

Magnus checked his sleeves and then took a breath. "Yes."

"Well we should head back so you can get on the bus home. We could have mom take you home is you wish though." Alec smiled softly.

Magnus found him staring into Alec's blue eyes and quickly looked away. "No. I should be home at the normal time. He's expecting me home after school…"

"You could call him…"

"No!" Magnus said too quickly and the backtracked. "No, he'll be driving and I don't want to distract him. He said he had plans…"

Alec nodded, "Alright. Then let's head back." They went to the door and got their shoes on before heading back to the school.

"Thank you, Alexander…" Magnus blinked. "Is it okay if I call you that. I assumed that was your full name...but if you don't want me calling you that I won't…"

Alec smiled. "That's fine, Magnus. Mom usually only calls me that if I made a mistake. But I don't mind you calling me that. Don't worry about it alright?" They fell to a comfortable silence before Alec looked at him. "Maybe someday soon we can make plans on hanging out after school."

"Maybe." Magnus nodded and then took off toward the bus as they arrived back at school. He took his seat behind Dot's seat and looked out the window.

A/N: There's chapter 4. Chapter 5 will be a few weeks later and the relationship has gotten stronger. Alec may catch sight of a bruise. Thank you as always for reading. And let me know what you think.