A/N:To the guest who asked, yes the title is a reference to the Illiad. And all the chapters are references to famous books; A room with a view, To the Lighthouse, Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man, Alias Grace, Great Expectations, Are you there god it's me Margaret?, Rebecca, and Life, the Universe, and Everything.


Alec POV

I have never been so happy that my parents were out of town, or that they had taken Max with them. Isabelle and Jace were out too, on dates, and I have to say I'm happy about that too. I'm happy because being alone in the house means that Magnus can come over, and I did not realize until now how great it is when Magnus comes over. Like now for instance, we're in my room, on my bed, and Magnus is kissing me.

I had been nervous at the beginning, when he had showed up and come into my house, looking confident and cool like he always does. But all that nervousness disappeared the moment he touched me.

I seriously think that Magnus might have magical powers, every time he touches me it's as though the rest of the world becomes less important, less dark, less scary. And when he kisses me, the rest of the world disappears completely.

I really have no idea what I'm doing.

I mean, I've known that I'm gay since I was 13, but I never thought I'd actually have a boyfriend. I mean I'm shy, awkward, anti-social, and absolutely terrified of coming out. It seems amazing to me that anyone would even want me, and want me so much that they're willing to put up with my neuroses. But here is Magnus Bane, one of the most popular, confident, and (let's be honest) sexually active kids at my school, and he's interested in me? He wants to be with me? And not just as a fling, but in a real relationship? This has got to be some sort of joke.

Weirdly enough, the most reassuring part of this whole thing is that Magnus appears to be just as freaked out by this as I am. He's never seriously dated anyone before and he's never had a boyfriend before. This sort of makes the idea that he would want to commit to me of all people even more incomprehensible, but it also makes me feel like we're on the same level. At least a little bit.

But at this moment, I don't give one flying fuck about any of that anyways.

Magnus has never been to my house before, so this is a first. But if things end up going this well every time he comes over, I'm going to be encouraging my family to go out a lot more. I'm pressed on to my bed, and Magnus is hovering over me kissing a line from my jaw to my chest. Somehow, both of our shirts came off somewhere between us reaching my room and now, and one of his hands found my ass.

I tug a little on Magnus's hair and he looks up at me, his yellow-green eyes sparkling dangerously. If I was standing I would be going weak at the knees right about now. He lunges up and covers my mouth with his and I groan as he rubs our crotches together.

That's when the door to my room flies open with a bang, "Alec? I need-Oh my god!"

It's Isabelle, standing in my doorway, staring at me and Magnus, who I instantly push off of myself as I jolt upright. Izzy's hands are over her mouth and her eyes are shining. "Izzy!" I shout, before realizing how loud I'm being and lowering my voice, "What are you doing here, aren't you supposed to be out?"

"Well, I was, but something happened that I need to discuss with you. I didn't know you would be… busy."

I blush furiously. Magnus has climbed around behind me, wrapped his arms around my waist, and is currently planting light kisses along my shoulders. It's very distracting, but I can't bring myself to push him off.

Isabelle is looking at him curiously, "You must be Magnus." She says, "I'm Izzy."

He grins at her, "Well I would say it's nice to meet you, but as you may have noticed, you interrupted me in an activity which I have rather grown to enjoy." He scoots closer to me, and I elbow him in the ribs.

Isabelle raises her eyebrows at me, and my blush deepens. The realization that my sister just walked in on me making out with a guy, shirtless, is really starting to set in. "Well as adorable as this scene is, I'm going to have steal my dear brother for a few minutes." She announces in a tone that makes it very clear that there are to be no arguments.

I sigh and push myself off the bed, "Just give me a second Iz, I'll be right there." Izzy walks out of my room, thankfully closing the door behind her. I turn around in Magnus's arms and peck him lightly on the lips, "Alright, I don't know how long this is going to take, so you could leave if you have something you need to do." I really didn't want him to leave.

He smiles at me, "Or, I could stay here and wait for you, and when you're done with your conversation we can finish what we started."

"Hmm," I murmur, "That sounds nice." He's kisses me again.

I have to force myself to pull away from him. I stumble off the bed and grab my shirt, pulling it over my head. I walk out of my room quickly and turn to face Isabelle, "Alright, what do you want?"

"Your shirt is inside out."

"Izzy."

She covers her face with her hands, "I think I really messed up."

"What are you talking about?" I ask, surprised that she was this out of sorts. I hadn't noticed it earlier, but maybe she had been putting up a front for Magnus. Or maybe I had just been distracted. I put my hand gently on her shoulder, "Isabelle?"

"I just- I- he kissed me!"

"Who kissed you?" I ask.

"Simon!"

"Oh right. And, was it… bad?"

She sighs, and leans back on the wall, "No not at all, it was great, it's just…"

"What? Did he do something to you?"

"No, no, nothing like that. I just… ran away."

"You what?"

"I ran away. He kissed me, and I ran away."

I have to admit I'm confused, "Alright. Take me through this from the beginning. What happened?"

Izzy groans and pulls me into her room. I sit down on her bed crossed legged, mirroring her as she turns to face me, "Ok, so, I went downtown to meet him at this graveyard place-"

"Graveyard?"

"Yes, shut up, it was an inside joke."

"Ok, but graveyard?"

"Hey, your boyfriend looks like he uses more hair product than a l'Oréal model, don't judge mine."

"So Simon's your boyfriend now." I say.

"What? No. Stop it."

"Sorry." I tell her. Though really, why am I apologizing? She was the one who brought it up.

"Anyway," She continues, "We were having a really good time, and eating falafels, and complaining about siblings-"

"Hey!"

"Yeah, yeah, you know I love you."

"You could say it every once and a while." I grumble. She ignores me.

"And then he kissed me, or I kissed him, I'm honestly not sure." She has this dreamy, sappy, look on her face that I have never seen Isabelle wear before, "We were in this little park, and the sun was shinning, and everything was perfect…"

"So what's the problem?" I ask.

"I don't know!" She slams her face into a pillow, "I don't know what's wrong with me! I- I got scared I guess. It was all so… Romantic I guess. And I don't do romantic. I do parties, and clubs, and broom closets."

"Eww. OK, to much information."

"You're missing the point."

"Which is?"

"Why is Simon doing this to me? I mean, I don't want a relationship! I don't want to hold hands in the hall, or go to cute little coffee shops after school, or…" She drifts off, looking wistful.

"Are you sure you don't want those things?" I ask dubiously.

She glares at me, and Isabelle Lightwood's glares are not looks you want to be on the receiving end of, "I'm sure."

I put up my hands in surrender, "Fine. Then I think you should talk to Simon, and clear everything up. He's probably really confused right now."

"Oh I can't talk to Simon."

"Why not?"

"Because he'll look at me, and he won't be mad, he'll just look hurt, and I'll feel guilty and GAH!" Her face reconnects with the pillow, and this time it stays there. I pat her hair, in an attempt to be soothing.

"So what? You're just going to keep avoiding him? 'Cause I hate to break it to you Iz, but I don't think that's going to work. I think that you're going to have to do something decisive if you want to stop feeling like this."

Isabelle is silent.

"Look Isabelle, I'm a closeted gay teenager, I know all about denying my feelings, and that is exactly what you're doing here. And I know I'm not exactly a roll model when it comes to open communication, but I really think you need to confront this head on."

She looks up at me from the pillow and sighs, "I'll take that into consideration."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Sure. Go back to Magnus, I'm just going to rest for a little, I did a lot of running today."

"Are you sure?" I ask.

"I'm sure Alec. Goodbye."

I leave the room reluctantly, and head back across the hall. I try not to be too worried about Isabelle, she can take care of herself. Or at least she thinks she can take care of herself.

I open my door and all worries about Izzy fly out of my head. Magnus is lying on my bed shirtless, with one arm behind his head, the other holding my copy of A Picture of Dorian Gray. Wow he looks good. There's something absolutely entrancing about hot guys that read.

"You know you can borrow that if you want." I say walking up and sitting on the edge of the bed.

He looks up at me and grins, "No need, I've already read it." He throws the book off to the side and pulls me down closer to him.

"You're an Oscar Wilde fan?" I tease, "Never would have guessed."

"Yeah, yeah." He laughs, "So what happened with Isabelle?"

"Oh you know," I say, not sure how much I should tell him, "Boy stuff."

"I can't imagine your sister having problems getting guys." He says.

I snort, "No, she's great getting guys, it's the long term stuff she's got trouble with."

"Ah, I understand."

"Yeah, I tried to give her some advice, but I'm not exactly the expert at this sort of thing."

"Oh I don't know about that." He says, "I mean you did manage to get yourself a very nice boyfriend, one that is extremely sexy, if I do say so myself." I smile down at him and he smirks, "Now where were we…"


On Monday at school, I head to chemistry, dreading my upcoming test, when I see Isabelle. We hadn't talked for the rest of the weekend, except a bit at meal times. I assumed it was either because she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone or because she specifically didn't want any more advice from me. Now I'm pretty sure I know the answer.

Isabelle is pushed up against a group of lockers, making out with one of the Morgenstern brothers. I can't exactly tell which one it is but I bet it's Jonathan, because even my sister wouldn't sink so low as to hook up with Sebastian Morgenstern. I almost scoff at the scene, Take my advice into consideration my ass.

I avert my eyes (because looking at that is grossing me out, and also activating my over-protective streak which I know Izzy hates) and I immediately catch sight of a stricken looking Simon Lewis. Great job Iz. Sometimes I wonder what it is that's made my sister so completely terrified of relationships. Maybe it was just growing up in the ice-cold wasteland that is the Lightwood household, but somehow I think that it's something more. Isabelle has a tenser relationship with our parents than I do, and I lie to them about who I am on a regular basis, there must be something that caused that, or maybe I'm just paranoid.

It seems useless to think about, so I walk brusquely past both Izzy and Simon, not looking at either of them. This leads me to look at Magnus, who is also walking down the hall at this moment. He winks at me, but I blush and turn away, hoping desperately that nobody saw, and he frowns.

Maybe I need to learn learn to take my own advice.