Chapter 6 - Part 2

(Isabelle's PoV)

As soon as Isabelle and Alec walked into the bar their cousins immediately blocked their way. Isabelle glared at them, "What?"

"Just remember," Gideon growled, "Don't make friends with the Lightwoods."

"Wow! So it really is a blood feud," she muttered under her breath before saying at a normal volume, "Why don't you point out who they are to us then. You know, so we don't go and accidently make friends with them!"

Gideon pointed across the room, "That's Will (to a boy with black hair), Jace (golden hair), Kit (also gold hair but at least two years younger – did they really think she'd be interested?), Cecily and Ella (both also had black hair)."

"Ok got it. Stay away from anyone who is ridiculously hot!" she said.

Tatiana nodded, "They are hot but they're also mean!"

Isabelle wondered if her cousin could sound any more like a little girl whose balloon had just floated away, she shook her head in disbelief.

"Exactly," Gideon agreed, "besides they won't be interested in you too. Asides from you being Lightwoods of course, Jace already has a girlfriend, Will prefers one-night-stands and the two girls think they're too good for anyone," he said the first looking at Isabelle and then at Alec for the last part.

"I'm gay!" Alec reminded them indignantly.

"Then you should know that the Herondale boys are most definitely straight," replied Gabriel smirking. Alec opened his mouth angrily and closed it again. Then he turned on his heel and stormed off to find his friends.

"I know!" said Isabelle exasperatedly to her cousins as they turned back to her, "I've got it! Herondales bad! Everyone else good! I don't need to hear it again!"

…

After a little while of searching through the crowd for a familiar face, Isabelle saw Emma, the girl she paired up in PE with. She was standing with a group of girls who she thought she'd seen in her classes at one point or another. 'Well it was better than spending the evening with Tatiana and her friends' she thought as she made her way over to them.

"Hi Isabelle," Emma smiled at her brightly, "these are my friends. Christina, Clary, Maia, Lily, Sophie, Helen and Aline. Guys this is Isabelle."

After a chorus of greetings they all went back to their conversation when Clary waved someone over. She thought it was Simon from maths, he was weird but nice and kinda cute.

"When is the music going to start?" Clary asked.

Simon pushed his glasses back up his nose and ran a hand through his hair before answering, "I don't know. The sound won't work."

Clary sighed, "You're going to lose the crowd if you don't do something soon."

"Yes thank you Fairchild. I am well aware of that," he replied.

"You could ask Jem to play something, I saw he had his violin with him," she suggested.

Simon brightened immediately, "Yeah! That's a good plan. I'll go ask him."

Then he ran off into the crowd towards the opposite side of the stage. Isabelle watched him go until he disappeared and by the time she'd turned back around Clary was also gone, although she thought she seen her red hair whip through the side door that was near them.

…

When Isabelle spotted Simon again she slipped away from the group and started to walk towards him. But just as they neared each other Jem – she thought – started to play. She didn't stop walking but stared awestruck at the stage and consequently crashed into someone.

Luckily she managed to right herself before falling down but as she straightened her dress she saw that it was Simon she'd walked into, and apparently he didn't have such good balance; he was on the floor.

"Sorry," she apologised and offered her hand to help him up but he didn't take it, scrambling to his feet himself, "No it's ok."

Then he put his glasses back on and looked at her properly for the first time, "Oh. H- Hi Isabelle," he stammered, "A- are you o- ok?"

"Of course," she smiled.

"Um, ok. Um… how've you been?"

She thought he was acting weird although since they hadn't actually talked in maths she couldn't be sure, "Yeah, I'm ok… hey, have you done the maths homework yet because I can't do the last question. I've got no idea where to start."

"The answer's three-n-squared-plus-n-minus-5," he replied.

"Wow! Um, ok, cool… thanks. So… do you need any help with sorting out the sound?"

"No, I'm good I mean we're good…. I mean its u- under control."

"… Ok… good,"

"Look… um… I'd better go see i- if the guys have made any progress. It w- was nice talking to you, s- see you round… um, we're going to take song requests later… you know, if there's anything you want t- to hear," he said hesitantly.

She nodded trying not to let her disappointment show – not that she was exactly sure what she was disappointed about, "Sure, that's cool. Bye Simon."

…

Simon mentally kicked himself. For God's sake, he couldn't even hold it together for five minutes and all because of a stupid crush! As he thought of the stammering, stuttering mess he'd just been he groaned. George had tried to help get him a chance with Isabelle and he'd gone and blown it. He'd expected to blow it but he hadn't expected that the only coherent thing he'd say was the answer to a maths problem. He hadn't made any bad star wars jokes but she'd still probably never speak to him again.

…

(Emma's PoV)

Towards the end of the evening Emma left her friends (they wouldn't notice, Isabelle was back and another girl had joined them. She had brown hair, grey eyes and stood next to Sophie quietly) and went to find Julian.

"Hi," she said once she'd found him – in a shadowed corner, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.

"Hi," he said back, returning the kiss but to her lips. A few minutes later he asked, "Not that I'm complaining but why've you abandoned you're friends?"

"The band is taking requests now," she explained, removing her arms from around his neck, "I thought we could ask for a Hectic Glow song so you could film it for Ty… that is the band he likes right?"

"Yes, that's a really good idea. I'll go ask," he kissed her again and left.

She continued to watch the band and the people who got up on the side of the stage to give their requests. Then she recognised Zara among them and bristling watched her intently as she ignored George who was taking the requests and stalked past until she was in the middle of the stage, leaning forwards she spoke into the microphone, "My request is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran."

Then she walked to the edge of the stage and jumped off. Emma's jaw dropped as she saw that it wasn't Diego's arms she jumped into, it was Sebastian Verlac's! Unable to tear her eyes away she watched them kiss passionately in front of Christiana's brother who was gaping at them with disbelief along with the rest of the room. When Zara and Sebastian finally broke apart she twisted around in his arms and spat at him spitefully, "Not so perfect after all, were you Diego?"

Everyone continued to stare as he turned and left the bar. The room was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Then Simon awkwardly cleared his throat into the microphone, "The next song is a cover of a song by the Hectic Glow."

Julian got his phone ready to video, Emma hadn't noticed when he'd come back. With the exception of the music the room was still completely silent with shock.

…

(Alec's PoV)

At some point during the evening, he couldn't remember exactly when, Magnus had found him and asked if he'd like to join him and his friends. The room was noisy again when Catarina's phone buzzed.

"Who is it?" Alec asked.

She glanced at him sideways, "Ragnor. He's babysitting Magnus' kids… oh shit! Where's Magnus?"

"I'm here," his glitter was exceedingly more exuberant tonight than it had been two days previously, "what's wrong?"

"Ragnor just texted me," she explained.

"What? Show me," he demanded. Reluctantly Catarina held up the phone for them to see. The message read, 'There's been an incident. Come quickly. Don't tell Magnus.'

"I am going to kill him!" he yelled.

"I'm sure there's nothing much the matter," she tried to reassure him.

"He wouldn't have texted you if it wasn't a problem, he'd of texted me. He's texted you which means he didn't want me to know so it's obviously a problem. And one he can't deal with by himself," Magnus was really mad.

"I wonder if Rafael is over there," Catarina mused.

"No. Rafael's dancing with Lily, over there," Alec pointed.

"I'll see you tomorrow guys," Magnus muttered as he strode away. Alec looked at Catarina – who was already melting into the crowd – and then towards Magnus' retreating back.

…

"Hey! Magnus! Wait up!" Alec yelled after him as he burst into the street. Seeing Magnus slow his pace noticeably he ran after him.

"Alec, now's really not a good time," he said tiredly.

"Just let me come and help," he pleaded, wondering why this suddenly mattered so much to him, "I'm good with kids. I can help while you yell at Ragnor. Please."

"Ok," Magnus relented sighing, "but you have no idea what you're getting yourself in for."

…

Alec followed Magnus into the sixth-floor apartment and looked around, it wasn't that big although he suspected that the toys scattered everywhere had something to do with that.

"Catarina?" the voice came from the next room, sounding hopeful. He and Magnus followed it.

"Hello Ragnor. Having a good time?" Magnus greeted him.

"Oh, it's you."

"Daddy!" Rafe ran across the room, Magnus bent down and hugged him then picked up Max too.

"What's that Rafe?" he asked looking at a plaster on his hand, looked up and quickly glared at Ragnor and looked back down again.

"Me and Ragnor were making rice-crispy-treats but I touched the pan and it was hot so I burnt myself?"

"Does it hurt?"

"Not any more. Ragnor made me run it under cold water for ten minutes and when the rice-crispy-treats were cold enough we ate them. I think sugar makes everything better!"

"Did Ragnor tell you that?" he asked suspiciously.

"No," Rafe shook his head, "he said that sugar is bad but I think he's wrong!"

Then Magnus turned his attention to Max, "What about you?"

Max showed him his thumb, which also had a plaster on, in answer.

"What happened?"

Rafe answered for him, "We were doing colouring and Max tried to sharpen a pencil."

"Did you sharpen your thumb instead?"

Max nodded, "It hurts."

Magnus bent his head and tenderly kissed his younger son's thumb, "There, all better now! Come on, it's time to go to bed."

Alec glanced at the clock on the wall, it said it was quarter to eleven, probably long past their bedtime. Then he looked back to Ragnor who was staring at him. He could hear Magnus reading a book to his kids in the next room.

"Who are you?" asked Ragnor rudely.

"A friend."

…

Ten minutes later Magnus reappeared looking weary, "They're asleep. Ragnor, get out. We can talk tomorrow… and by the way, that was two incidents, not one."

Ragnor looked down at his feet, "Actually, the incident I texted Catarina about was Chairman Meow," he nodded to the tiny cat asleep on the sofa. He was lying on his back with his feet in the air, "he ate some of the rice-crispy-treats."

"You texted about my cat pretending to be dead (he scooped him up) but ignored the fact that both of my children injured themselves under your watch! You're unbelievable!" Magnus yelled – Alec suspected he was considering throwing Chairman Meow at him.

Ragnor opened his mouth to speak but Magnus cut him off, "FUCK OFF RAGNOR."

…

After Ragnor left Alec was left awkwardly standing in the middle of the room, he motioned to the door, "I guess I should go too…"

"No," said Magnus, "I mean, I'd like you to stay a bit if you want."

Alec nodded, "Sure," he sat down on the sofa next to Magnus. They sat in silence until he screwed up the courage to speak again, "You're a really great dad, you know?"

He glanced over, "Thanks but I'm not."

Alec shook his head, "You are."

A couple minutes later Magnus spoke, "You're probably wondering why I was so short with you last Thursday."

Alec shrugged, "I can guess,"

"You can?"

"You didn't like me assuming that Rafael and Max were your brothers' right?"

"No. That's not it, I was annoyed at myself because I was embarrassed that they're my kids." he explained. Alec didn't say anything.

"I'm not a good dad. A good dad wouldn't be embarrassed. I hate myself so much for that. I love them but they don't deserve me," he continued.

"Actually, what they don't deserve is a dad that loves them any less than you do. You love them so much, so unconditionally and you put them before everything else. I don't think it's possible to be a bad dad if you do that… Anything else that you feel doesn't matter," he finished self-consciously.

"You're right," Magnus replied slowly, "Thanks Alec."

"Don't mention it… um, I'm er guessing that you're judged a lot for having kids young. I get how you feel."

Magnus nodded, then looked at him hard, "I thought you were eighteen."

"I am. But age doesn't make a difference if you're gay," he shrugged. It was weird, he thought, how easy it seemed telling Magnus compared to telling his family.

"I guess that's true," Magnus agreed.

"How old are you?" Alec asked after a moment.

They looked each other in the eyes and if suddenly reaching an agreement he started talking, "I'm twenty-one. When I was fifteen I started dating my now-ex-girlfriend. When we were sixteen she got pregnant. We had Rafe just after we finished our GCSEs. He lived with her and her parents. He never stayed with me, I lived in a foster home.

We agreed that I would take my A-levels while she looked after Rafe, she didn't mind – she'd always hated school. I don't think her parents really liked our arrangements but they got slightly friendlier once we turned eighteen, that's when we got this place. I'd had a job since I was sixteen and the moment I finished my exams I started working full time.

I didn't see her much or Rafe but we were doing ok… until almost two years ago now. She got pregnant again. Her parents were really angry this time, which she didn't like seeing as she was actually an adult that time, I didn't blame them. Anyway, four months after Max was born she moved out, dumped me. I haven't seen her or her parents since and she's never once called to see how the boys are doing. Catarina calls her my evil-ex-girlfriend."

Alec didn't know what to say, he just stared. Magnus had been looking at his feet most of the time he'd been talking but now he looked up at Alec as if seeking assurance that he'd done the right thing, "Say something, please," he thought he saw tears glistening in Magnus' eyes.

"I think you're the strongest person I've ever met, you're incredibly brave," he paused, "and I'm seriously considering punching you if you ever say that Rafael and Max deserve someone better again."

Magnus smiled weakly, then he stood up and walked into the kitchen. He came back holding a sticky tin and picked his way back through the minefield of toys that were spread across the floor, unfortunately he still stepped on a piece of Lego ("Fuck") and sat down holding out the tin towards Alec, "Rice-crispy-treat?" he asked.

"Yes please,"

"Thank you for listening," said Magnus as they dug into the sticky, sweet mess.

"That's what friends are for," replied Alec. Then he cringed, it sounded so cheesy.

He smiled excitedly, "You've forgiven me for Thursday?"

"Of course."

Alec glanced at Magnus as he continued to eat, his glitter was coming off, his eyes looked tired, and even his spiky hair seemed to be drooping slightly. He didn't mind though, Alec thought he still looked beautiful. Wait what? He didn't actually just think that did he? He thought back over the last couple of days and realised that maybe he did have a bit of a crush on his friend. But that was bad… Magnus would never be interested in him in a million years.

Feeling awkward he cleared his throat, "Um, I'm really sorry, but it's later than I realised and I have to go."

He thought Magnus looked disappointed, "Ok."

They both stood up and just as Alec was about to turn and leave Magnus asked, "Is Alec short for something?"

He looked back, "Yeah. Alexander. But no one calls me that except my parents when they're annoyed at me for staying out too late!"

Magnus smiled, "I won't keep you any longer then. Goodnight," then he leant forwards. Alec stayed frozen in shock watching but as their lips touched he closed his eyes. The kiss was gentle and soft, he could feel Magnus smiling against his mouth.

It didn't last long and when Magnus pulled away he whispered, "What was that for?"

"I've been wanting to kiss you all evening," he admitted, "and it was to say thank you… again."

"But I didn't do anything," Alec protested although inside he was jumping for joy that maybe Magnus might possibly feel the same way as him.

"Yes you did. You came here and then you stayed and listened. No one's ever done that before, at least no one I haven't been friends with for years."

Alec smiled.

Then Magnus continued, taking one of Alec's hands in his own and brushing his other thumb gently across his cheek, "Alexander Lightwood, will you go on a date with me?"

"Yes."

A/N: It's the first day of the summer holidays! But it's raining and I have nothing else two do. Hope you Enjoy :)