The Institute
a multi-chapter fan fic by ariviand

Chapter Ten: Interaction

"Anyone else?"

Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, sometimes Professor at the Institute, stood by his makeshift refreshment table, making one last call for coffee. The pot, sans machine, still looked hot and fresh. Maybe it had even been magically refilled at some point too, because it looked at least half full.

A majority of the class had already helped themselves to a cup of Joe. The select few who didn't want to imbibe shook their heads at the final offer, squirming and trying to get comfortable in the old, creaking desk chairs. The coffee was a nice touch, but school is still school, and no one seemed particularly eager for the class to start, especially since they had no one idea what subject they were currently sitting in on.

"All right, then. Grab your mugs and your stuff, and follow me."

That was unexpected. Alec glanced over at Jace in question. Jace looked exasperated. It was just a trace of annoyance in his golden eyes that Alec recognized, though the rest of his features appeared calm. It was key to being parabatai, being able to sense one another's moods, as well as learning each others' strengths and weaknesses. Jace was far from an open book, but after several years' training and living side-by-side, Alec liked to think he was starting to get Jace.

Of course, just when he started thinking like that, Jace would do something else that seemed intentionally aimed at throwing him off and shutting him out. Like now. Jace rose from his desk without a word, walking in front of the first row of desks and moving to the door without waiting for him. Alec scrambled to follow, rounding the overturned trash can cautiously, squeamish about bumping the stacks of mugs a second time.

It was a curious sight: the line of darkly-clad, uniformed students trailing behind an elaborately dressed warlock who waved them ahead with a hand covered in large rings and shining, painted nails. It was like night and day, hard to believe they co-existed in the same world. It certainly put it into perspective, the vast differences between Downworlders and Shadowhunters. Did the high warlock intentionally go to extremes to prove a point?

Alec considered his own preference for nondescript, ill-fitted black clothes. Alec subscribed to a completely different mode of thought. Flashy was bad, form-fitted clothes were functional, but not something he wore to flatter. Shoes should be kept polished and free of scuff marks, but beyond that, he wasn't terribly concerned about his footwear.

His sister, Isabelle, was another case entirely. Her room at home was all glitter and metallic paint on the walls, feather boas lining her bureau and an array of loud clothes strewn about the small space. She loved short skirts and slinky fabrics and jewelry was best friend, second maybe to a high stiletto shoe and lethal boots. She was always doing something with her hair, even when she was just getting ready to work out. Alec didn't understand all the wasted time and effort, and tried to write it off as Isabelle being a girl and he, obviously being a boy.

But now Alec had to admit she had a lot in common with the outlandish warlock. It was no wonder they seemed to rub on so well from the get go.

That thought made Alec scowl, remembering how embarrassed he had been when Isabelle drew the Professor's attention to him. Maybe she thought she was doing him some kind of favor, making introductions. But to Alec, it felt mocking.

Even if the warlock was as ostentatiously gay as he looked, the fact that Alec was also gay was none of his business. Even if Alec was looking to date - and he wasn't, he didn't need or want his sister's help in hooking him up. He didn't want anyone at school to know, least of all some warlock who wouldn't know discretion if it bit him on the-

Alec flushed and looked away. He decided to strike that saying from his word bank altogether.

"Alec."

"Shut up," Alec snapped unfairly, assuming Isabelle was just going to make fun of his inexplicable blush.

Instead, she tugged on his arm and led him right. Alec hadn't realized the other students had turned down the hall and in his abstraction, he'd nearly kept walking and left them behind. His sister had saved him further embarrassment, steering him back on course.

Fine. They were even now.

"So. What do you think?"

"What?"

Isabelle looked at him with dark brows raised. She'd released his arm and kept her stride matched with his. They were both tall and slender, their natural walk pretty fast. Alec usually looked like he rushed out of agitation, whereas Isabelle made it look more like the long-gait stride of a runway walk. The heeled boots certainly helped that image.

"Don't you think he's nice?"

"Who?"

"Magnus Bane."

"Hush," Alec warned as soon as the words came out of her mouth. Hello! The man was just a few feet from them, and everyone knew that Downworlders had sensitive hearing. Isabelle might as well have been screaming and pointing at the warlock's tall shoulders.

"Well?" Isabelle persisted, not willing to let it go so easily. Obviously mortifying her brother wasn't an issue for her. It was routine.

Alec kept his lips stubbornly pressed together, trying to look ahead without letting the shiny warlock in his field of vision. That was pretty difficult to manage, since he shimmered and seemed to dominate the dark hallway.

By night, the Institute was lit by candles lining the long corridors in intervals. During the day, the place relied on natural lighting peeking through the windows. Alec squinted every time they passed one.

Alec jumped at the sudden swat to his arm.

"What the f-"

"You like him," Isabelle decided. If it wasn't bad enough that she'd said that aloud, the very self-satisfied smile that went with it really bothered Alec. Hands curling into fists, nails digging into his palms, Alec quickened his step even more, leaving her behind. He shouldered ahead in the line until he was walking beside Jace, wondering why he hadn't caught up with him sooner.

Because you can't stop thinking about your Professor?

UGH! Put like that, it just made it worse. Alec was resolved not to think anymore about Magnus Bane, not to acknowledge the warlock in any way except what was demanded of him as a student participating in class. Hell, he wouldn't even raise his hand to offer answers. He'd sit and be sullen and make a point of not looking at the man at all for the duration of the class.

Well, that was all well and good. But then the door at the end of the hall was shoved open and Alec was temporarily blinded by the sunlight streaming in.

When his vision cleared again and Alec brought a hand up to shield his eyes from the glare, he couldn't help but notice the warlock as he pushed off from the door, passing off the burden of holding it open to the next student in line. As their Professor stepped outside, the glitter on his bare arms danced. The undersized t-shirt he wore rode high against his lower back. Alec couldn't help but stare, under the spell of so much distracting body glitter and smooth, uninterrupted skin. It was lightly tanned, an exotic caramel shade that Alec had never seen before. It didn't even seem real. No scars, no ink, just silver glitter dusted over light gold skin.

The same silver glitter was all in his hair, making it twinkle - because it didn't draw enough attention that Magnus Bane's hair was standing up in all directions, neatly arranged in shining black spikes. Alec wondered if the warlock's hair doubled as a weapon. There was no way there could be any softness left in that hair, after the overuse of gel and glitter.

And yet, Alec couldn't deny the sudden impulse to reach out and touch it...

Damnit!

This was no good! Alec had seen attractive boys before. Of course. He met a number of boys at mundane school that visited him in his dreams and made the locker room a really uncomfortable experience for him, but Alec always kept it under wraps. If it really started to bother him, the unwanted attraction to other people, he just sublimated his desire and ignored the source of said desire until it went away. Somehow he talked himself out of it. Whether it was out of fear or insecurity, Alec always convinced himself that it wasn't healthy, that it was in fact dangerous for a shadowhunter to entertain an attraction to the same sex, that he shouldn't look, much less think about another boy. He decided not to acknowledge them as anything more than a friend or a classmate or just another body in a room that was not in the least significant, and that was it.

He turned it off and it was done.

That was exactly what Alec was trying to do now, and for whatever reason, it wasn't working.

That had only happened once before. And Alec was only half-willing to acknowledge his attraction to Jace, even to himself. But he wasn't even thinking about Jace at the moment, didn't realize that his parabatai had turned his bright eyes to study Alec curiously as the other boy openly gaped at their Professor.

"Professor?"

It was Isabelle speaking. Alec knew that without even turning to look. He clenched his teeth suddenly.

"Yes, Isabelle?" Magnus Bane replied, casually draping his body along one of the park benches. Why couldn't he just sit down like a normal person? That couldn't be comfortable.

The warlock gestured for them all to take a seat on the grass. Alec sank down heavily, still holding his breath. Isabelle took a seat right beside him, Jace on the other side. Jace was still looking at him as if he'd lost mind.

"What are we doing out here?" Isabelle asked. She sounded a little annoyed. Alec finally let his breath out, turning to glance at his sister. Oh, yes, she was squinting unpleasantly under the glare of the sun, not altogether happy to be sitting in the grass in her uniform skirt, though she'd folded her booted calves beneath her.

"I thought we could work on our tan while talking shop," Bane answered with a throaty chuckle.

"We're wearing uniforms," the broad-shoulder first year pointed out. Alec thought her name was May, or something like that.

"And polyester doesn't breathe," Jace added, frowning.

Magnus Bane, the only one adequately dressed for the sun exposure, at least from the waist up, waved his hand dismissively. "Then take it off."

"What?" Alec said, incredulous.

The warlock looked right at him and winked. Even the skin across his eyelid glittered. "Take off your jackets and roll up your sleeves, if you want," the professor clarified.

Isabelle was one of the first to cast the outer layer off, rolling the cotton of her starch white uniform shirt up past her elbows. Alec winced as she did, knowing there would be so many wrinkles beneath the folds in the fabric. And Isabelle didn't iron.

There was a rustle of fabric to Alec's right. Jace had cast aside his jacket too and loosened his tie. Several buttons on his shirt were loose and he was working on the sleeves as Alec turned his head away, though not fast enough to avoid a glimpse of pale throat and the familiar runes marking the top of his chest.

It's not as if he hadn't seen the other boy bared to the waist before. They never sparred with shirts, and they had changed in the same room together countless times. But Alec was hyper-aware of everyone scaling down around him, and it was all Magnus Bane's fault. He'd started it with that shirt maneuver earlier. He drew Alec's attention exactly where it didn't want to go, and now even the sight of Jace's naked forearms and a bit of exposed neck was really bothering him.

Alec was steaming in his full uniform, but he didn't dare remove the coat or touch the buttons. Sweat rolled down the sides of his face beneath his mussed hair and he sat stubborn and uncomfortable as the professor began speaking again.

Alec glared at the warlock, cursing him fifty ways to Friday within his head.

This was supposed to be a course in Downworlder relations. He gleaned that much from the lesson. But as it stood at the moment, Downworlders were not very high on Alec's list. He didn't trust them, especially Magnus Bane.