Hi darlings,

Chapters have reached double digits with almost zero real plot development. Oops.

Thank you all for sticking with me this long, you are all amazing.

Thank you for the reviews, they make me want to update so quickly.

Okay, characters are CC's; plot (what there is of it) is all mine babies.

Chapter 10 begins!

Alec had not been able to get one word in since he had gotten inside. Not that he really wanted to, but it would nice to have the option.

"When the hell did you get another hickey? You were at a movie!" Jace exclaimed, inspecting the small purple bruise.

"Oh please Jace, like you never made-out with a girl in a cinema." Izzy said to her brother. "And let him speak for a minute. I want to hear how it went." They both turned to him and Alec realised he liked not being able to speak more than this.

"Nothing happened. We saw the movie; we kissed a little, that's it. Okay?" he said, before turning to go up to his bedroom.

"Oh please. No offence honey, but your hair is screwed, your lips are bruised, you have a very dark hickey, and you aren't wearing your coat. You can't honestly think we'll believe that?" Izzy asked, looking at him indecorously.

"I don't care if you guys believe it or not, because that's all you're getting. Good night guys." He said, before running up the stairs to his room and locking the door.

He stripped off the sweater and realised that Izzy had been right, he had left his coat on the back seat of Magnus' car. He could get it back at school he supposed, but someone would probably notice. He would figure something out eventually. He could always go to Magnus' again. He pulled off the tight jeans leaving him in nothing but black boxers. He went into his bathroom, his fingers running through his own hair, wondering why Magnus enjoyed the feeling so much. He turned the shower on fully hot, kicking off his boxers, and it only took a few thoughts back to the night and the back of the car to get him hard again. He stepped into the seamy shower and wrapped a hand around himself, trying to replicate the feeling that Magnus had given his earlier, but no matter what, it didn't feel the same doing it to himself. On some level, he wished he was ready, he wished he could have just gone back to Magnus', wished he wasn't scared.

Magnus thought about Alec all through the night, and since he didn't have siblings to talk to like Alec he decided to tell Chairman Meow everything that happened. He didn't bother telling the cat the G rated version, he spared no details. Except the detail about how upset he was when Alec had rejected his offer to come back here.

He was embarrassed about how upset it had made him. How crushed he had been. But he hadn't tried to keep the boy there; he hadn't tried to convince him. He had just let Alec go, no matter how much he wanted to make him stay. There was something seriously wrong with him. He was Magnus Bane, terminally single, heartbreaker, unflappable, unloving. Now here he was, caring about someone, happily waiting for him. This could only end badly.

Alec wasn't dreading school. Much. He was looking forward to seeing Magnus again, (literally, he hadn't stopped looking for him since they got inside) and his siblings had agreed to stop talking about the date. But then there was that nagging voice that kept reminding him that he and Magnus weren't together like that at school.

In the distance he saw Magnus, standing with Camille and Ragnor, his body pressed up against Ragnor's in a tight embrace. He could see Magnus wasn't just hugging him, his hands were running up and down Ragnor's back softly and endearingly, and Alec turned away. He had no right to be jealous, but he was.

When Izzy asked him what was wrong he just indicated with his head, not trusting his voice. Izzy looked pissed. So did Jace when she pointed it out to him. Alec told them not to get mad, but they still looked angry when they walked away. He walked to his locker, purposely not looking in the direction of the trio. He hung his head, and just concentrated on his breathing, trying not to look upset. At his locker he was glad Magnus didn't approach him again and he began to dread sitting next to him in English.

When he reached the class room he glanced to the back, where Magnus and Ragnor were already seated. He took his seat next to Magnus, but didn't look at him. And apparently Magnus didn't like that because in less than a minute he felt Magnus take his hand and could hear him whisper in his ear.

"Hey beautiful. I really liked our date last night. We should do it again sometime." He heard whispered to him. He pulled his hand free and looked away from him. "Okay, what did I do? Whatever it was I'm sure I'm very sorry." Magnus kept whispering, still leaning in to him. Alec indicated his head to Ragnor, who had his head phones in his ears and didn't even seem to notice Alec's presence.

"What about Ragnor?" Magnus asked, cocking his head inquisitively. "Oh, you saw us this morning huh? Sweetie, don't read into that. I was trying to make someone who Ragnor likes jealous, it was nothing. I don't like him like that and vice versa. Okay?" Magnus took his hand again, and this time he didn't pull away, he just nodded and linked their fingers again.

"Okay. I believe you." He said, completely forgiving him.

English passed uneventfully, and somehow they managed to stay awake for it, although Alec was yawning a lot. He felt Magnus shake him on multiple occasions, to keep him awake. He was grateful, at his old school his parents had been called multiple times about his sleeping in class.

In art they were working with clay, and it was fun, if not a little insane. It was messy, and involved Magnus messing up his manicure, and Alec having to listen to him complain about it, and then break down into laughter because he sounded so much like Izzy, and then get scowled at for ten minutes before Magnus laughed to. Camille had decided to ditch art, and when Alec asked, Magnus said he had no idea why. When class finished, neither Alec nor Magnus had a very good sculpture, but neither of them could stop smiling.

When they separated for the next classes Alec found himself counting down the minutes until lunch, not because he wanted out of class, but because he wanted to see Magnus again. He zoned out in both classes, not paying attention to a single thing that was going on. He sprinted down to the cafeteria, and looked around for Magnus or a member of the trio.

"Alec!" He heard called. He looked to see Jace and Izzy coming behind him, walking in time with the red-head girl and the skinny boy with glasses. When they got up to him, Jace began the introductions. "Alec, this is Clary and her friend Simon, guys this is my big brother Alec." Alec took in the appearance of the girl. She was nothing special, and neither was the boy. But the way Jace looked at her made you think maybe there was something special about her.

"Hi Clary, Simon. Now I gotta go," He said, turning to leave.

"Oh. Right. You've got to go sit with love...OOF," Izzy elbowed him in the ribs. "Oh yeah. Company."

"You really are an idiot Jace." Izzy said.

Alec headed to where he could see Magnus sitting again opposite Ragnor and Camille. He sat next to Magnus who quickly slipped a hand into his.

"Hey blue eyes. Welcome back to the table. Anymore of this and it won't be a trio anymore." Magnus said with a wink.

"Magnus, watch what you say. We can't let it out that we're hiring." Ragnor said, looking lustfully at Alec. He shrunk back in his seat and angled his chair as much away from the boy in front of him as possible.

"Your friends scare me. Him more than her." Alec said to Magnus.

"Oh come on pretty boy. I'm not that bad am I?" Ragnor asked, running a hand up his knee under the table. Alec jumped back, dropping Magnus' hand.

"Ragnor, please stop trying to grope Alec. He's mine." Alec heard Magnus say, looking warningly at the other boy.

"Fine. No more flirting with the pretty boy." Ragnor said, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"I didn't say that. I just said that you don't get to grope him. That's my job." Magnus said, running a hand teasingly up Alec's thigh as if to prove his point.

"What is it with people and talking about me like I'm not in the room?"

"It's okay Allie. They do that with me too. And it seems like they listen to me like I'm not in the room as well." Camille said with a wink.

"I changed my mind. I'm scared by the two of them. You're just my sister if she was a blonde. Which scares me even more." He said getting a laugh from the girl.

He listened to the banter between Magnus and Ragnor for a good majority of lunch. He didn't once think to stop them. Although their squabbles involved quite a bit of light flirting, he didn't feel like Magnus was lying to him about this morning. He knew Magnus, and this was just the way he worked, flirting with everything that had a pulse. He had seen it at the movie theatre when he had charmed the girl at the counter into giving them cheap tickets. And besides, the entire time, Magnus didn't once let go of his hand.

Camille turned out to be less like his sister the more he spoke to her, partly because on occasions she slept with girls, whereas he knew for a fact he was the only one in the family who had ever even considered swinging that way. She also proved to be a very interesting girl, if not a little eccentric. But then again, who would be best friends with Magnus if they weren't a little crazy on some level? She was not the bitch she was made out to be, true she wasn't the warmest person, but she was sort of welcoming and seemed to like Alec well enough. He wondered why and decided to ask.

"Because you make him happy," She answered with a small shrug, saying it as if it were the simplest thing in the world. And at that moment she was very much like his sister.

He was sad when the bell went, not because it signalled the beginning of Gym, which had barely crossed his mind, but because he was actually enjoying chatting to Camille. He was surprised, but he thought he might actually be making a friend.

"You snagged yourself a good one there Mag," Camille said with a wink before walking off with Ragnor to whatever they had last.

"I know," he just heard Magnus whisper, so softly he wasn't even sure he really said it. They pulled their hands apart before Magnus led the way to the gym. "So you and Camille are getting along well?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah. She's actually really nice."

"Unless you spill something on her new Coco Chanel clutch," Magnus shuddered, "That is not a mistake you make twice." Alec rolled his eyes. His boyfriend was so over dramatic. Wait, did I just think that? Boyfriend? He banished the thought from his mind.

The boyfriend thing luckily stayed out of his mind for Gym, which meant he could (yay) concentrate on basketball. He really hated team sports. He hated the way people would pass him the ball and then get pissy when he dropped it, he hated the way so many girls acted like airheads on purpose, and he hated the way Magnus was never benched at the same time as him. The latter pissed him off the most.

When the locker rooms were empty and he was finishing up in the shower, he heard Magnus call into him.

"Hey babe, did I mess up my makeup out there? Cause the only mirrors are over there where you are currently naked."

"The great Magnus Bane doesn't have a mirror in his locker?" He asked sarcastically.

"Of course I do. But not this one. I have a mirror in my real locker in the halls, but in here usually I don't bother."

"Okay, one, that was a rhetorical question and two, you look amazing," Alec called back at his boyfriend. Shit. Now he was back to that again. He slipped on his hoodie, the only thing he wasn't wearing yet, and went over to Magnus.

He wanted to ask him if they were officially and item, boyfriend and boyfriend, but he was afraid that might end badly, do he kept his lips sealed. Instead he leaned down and kissed Magnus once on the lips, very quickly.

"That's to hold ya till tomorrow." He said with a little smile, trying to sound confident.

"Oh, so I guess you're not coming over tonight," Magnus said sadly.

"Can't. My parents are actually coming home for dinner. I called their office and everything," He said, standing up and pulling Magnus with him. They headed out of the locker room.

"What's the deal with your 'rents anyway? They're super rich, own some big company, and are absentee?" Magnus asked.

"That just about sums it up. They work way too much and, well, it makes me mad at them sometimes. I'm used to it. I know that they break promises, and I know that I can't trust them. But every night I can see them breaking Izzy's heart and it just pisses me off." He said. "She's like a kid. She believes that somehow our parents are going to be good and nice one day, stop working late, start caring about us more, but it just isn't going to happen. I hate them for it. For hurting us." He felt Magnus pull him into a hug.

"It's okay. And Isabelle's heart isn't broken, because she's got you and Jonathan looking after it, okay Alexander?" Alexander. That was what his old aunts and uncles called him, no matter how many times he would correct him, but coming from Magnus it seemed like another term of endearment, only more personal.

He didn't realise he had started to cry until Magnus wiped a tear off his cheek.

"I didn't have what you had, no big house, no loving family, no brothers or sisters, but I still know a good family when I see it. Although your parents may not be the greatest, last night when I picked you up, your brother stared me down like a judgemental father, and your sister scolded him and welcomed me in, just like a happy mother." Alec found himself laughing at that. "You guys don't need your parents around, not with each other there."

Magnus left after that, walked off back to his car, in the opposite direction to his. He found himself staring after the boy for a while before walking off as well. His siblings chatted in the front seat all the way home, so he could easily zone out in the back. Alec had felt so safe, wrapped up in Magnus' arms, and he had believed every word that left his mouth, although he didn't completely now. He hadn't thought anyone could do that, convince him that he didn't need his parents, that Izzy was fine. But even if it was only for a minute, he had believed it. And that was enough to prove it. He was never going to let Magnus go.

Sappy ending I know. I didn't mean for it to happen, it just came out that way (I think that's what the doctor said when I was born).

Sorry for the Magnus POV, or lack of. I just didn't find a good time to change, or anything I really wanted to write in his mind. I promise next chapter will have lots of Magnus POV.

Now, I'm going away for a few days. I may or may not have internet, so don't be alarmed if I don't update for a little while. If I can't I will give you at least 2 chapters when I get back, considering I doubt there will be anything to do there.

Reviewers are loved, even more than readers. Do both and I love you forever.

I love you, and I know I'm not the only one,

Mae