AN: Okay, are you guys ready for a Malec first date? I sure hope you are, because you're about to experience one!

Enjoy!

Cruel Reflections

All characters belong to Cassandra Clare

Alec's point of view

Chapter 12.

"Oh my God," Alec mumbled anxiously. He tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and then clenched them tightly around it, making his knuckles go white. "Don't throw up, throwing up isn't attractive. You know who is attractive, Alec? Magnus is, he's very, very attractive…And now you're talking to yourself, yeah this is good. Not bad, not bad at all."

He shook his head and let a nervous look spread on his already paler than pale face. Flicking his hair away from his face he darted his eyes on to the road, it swerved strangely and forced Alec to pay attention to what he was doing instead of obsessing confusedly over his date to come.

It was fifteen minutes to two and according to the GPS Alec was supposed to arrive in ten minutes, which left him five minutes to do some last minute freaking out. He had to admit that he had no idea this place even existed. Even though he really did like traveling, the surroundings of his sleepy little town were quite uncharted to him. He driven an hour up north and already the weather had dropped a few degrees. That was not good news. Alec had cranked the heater up and was still freezing. He wore a grey woollen jacket and a blue scarf. Isabelle had chosen them for him. He'd said he was meeting someone but hadn't specified further. She'd pushed and pushed but Alec hadn't budged. Finally she'd given up and ended up laying the clothes on his bed in the morning. It was a surprisingly sweet move coming from his sister, but then again it was foolish for Alec to think that Izzy could resist playing dress up with him.

Twelve minutes to two. God damn it. How was he supposed to breathe? How was he supposed to live in general? "Calm down," he sighed and made a sharp left turn. He'd apparently driven straight into the city centre. It was definitely bigger than St. Clare. Tall buildings of steel took over the view, but smaller cute buildings made out of bricks dotted the scenery in red. Snow covered trees lined the big park Alec passed on the right and made the whole place look almost whimsical. After a while of driving through and out of the centre Alec ended up on a street Called Cherrywood, which reminded him of an old town stuck inside a modern city. Kind of like a palm tree stuck inside of a snow globe. He slowed down as the GPS lady informed him that he had almost arrived at his destination. He drove fifty more meters and parked onto the side of the street. The ding from the GPS let him know he had arrived. Sitting back, leaning his head against his seat, Alec took a deep breath and looked through his windshield. It wasn't snowing, which was nice. That's about as nice as it got, because he could see the name of a bar that Magnus had coaxed him to come to. Apparently he knew the owner so getting in wouldn't be a problem. An old wooden sign hung from the door, swinging in the wind.

"Garroway's," Alec said, tasting the word in his mouth. As he did, a cold shiver ran through his body. It was like he was running on extra power, too much electricity coursed through his body. There was only so much it could hold. He was afraid, scared really, that he would combust into tiny little fragments before he even got out of the car. His heart was beating too fast and his breathing, no matter how much he tried to calm it down, was border lining on erratic. There was just so much depending on this. Magnus was a person he really, really liked. Even more than liked, he needed this person. As crazy as it sounded, he needed this to work. He needed to make a good impression and he wanted everything to be the same as it had been, talking and texting. He wanted this to work. God he really did.

Slowly he moved his hands and forced them to remove the seat belt. He checked his watch; it was two o'clock, sharp. How was that even possible? He'd spaced out a bit, more than a bit.

It was colder outside than he'd thought. Perhaps being cradled by the heater for the entire hour drive wasn't working in his favor. Alec pulled his coat closer to him and tightened his scarf. He locked his car and trotted over to the door. It was oak and looked heavy, but it swung open with ease and left Alec no choice but to walk in. The space was quite cozy actually. A big old wooden bar centred the room, behind it towered walls of different colored liquor bottles. The bar tender was a middle aged man with a brown beard and a blue plaid shirt. He gave Alec a nod as he walked in. Alec tried to look inconspicuous just in case. He walked further into the room, under the yellow lights and looked around, feeling a bit like a lost puppy. He didn't see Magnus around and almost walked into a pool table. Was this the right place? Had he gotten the name and address right? Had Magnus decided to cancel? God he was about to lose his shit if this didn't work out. He must have looked so stupid just standing there. God this was awful. Panic started to clench its dirty claws around Alec's throat as he helplessly peered around the room. God he was so stupid, so stupid to think that this would work he needed to-

"Alexander," he heard a bright voice say from behind him. A pair of hands had covered his eyes, startling him beyond reason. He froze, practically stopped breathing. "Guess who?" The voice continued and paralyzed Alec furthermore.

"Um," Alec stuttered without moving. He blinked a couple of times, but couldn't seem to form a proper sentence let alone a word in his mind.

"That's a terrible guess," the voice continued. A voice Alec knew like his own pockets even though he'd only heard it once. "I'll give you clue. It starts with an M and ends in an S."

"Magnus," Alec said, forcing his body to respond. He willed his arms and legs and mouth to work again and as Magnus dropped his hands down Alec turned around.

"Hi," Magnus said. He wore a white dress shirt covered with a black jacket. It looked plain and black and white, but the sheer essence of Magnus seemed to drip into the look, making him shine. Eyeliner lined his mesmerizing eyes. Alec just stood there like an idiot again, kind of hoping he wasn't gaping, losing all the control he'd fought for.

"You're not very talkative today," Magnus said, smiling and giving Alec an understanding look.

"I'm sorry," Alec said and stared rather blatantly at Magnus' eyes. Were they really that green? Yes, yes they were. "I'm kind of…distracted."

"Well," Magnus laughed and waved his hand. "That happens. Do you want to, um sit down and talk?"

"Yeah," Alec said, nodding over exaggeratingly. "That sounds good." He followed Magnus to a booth next to a stain glass window that let in shreds of colorful light. Alec sat down, careful not to fall over as he kept staring. Maybe he was being too creepy. He ought to stop looking, ought to avert his eyes, but Magnus was really captivating. The way he moved, talked, looked, was just like he'd imagined. It was like your favorite fictional character coming alive exactly the way you'd imagined them.

"So how was your drive? Did you find the place okay?" Magnus asked and waved a waitress over to the table.

"It was good. I have a GPS so I don't really get lost."

Magnus nodded and waited for the waiter to come. When she finally arrived Magnus ordered a coffee, which Alec was happy about. He didn't know the place served coffee, but now that he did, he ordered a latte. The waiter promised to be right back with the drinks and left. After that the room seemed so quiet. Only the radio played in the distance.

Alec watched Magnus lace his fingers on the table and then take them apart and lace them again. His fingers were covered in colorful rings, two or three in one finger.

"I like your rings," Alec said, abruptly cutting through the deafening silence.

"Thank you," Magnus said, a smile spreading on his full lips. He smiled, showing his white teeth. "I got them from a store downtown, they've got all kinds of jewelry. Do you wear jewelry?"

"Um…N-not a lot," Alec said, looking at his hands that looked so plain compared to Magnus'. "I-I mean I have some bracelets my sister got me for Christmas and even a necklace, like, a leather one, but I'm not particularly good at using them."

"Are you nervous, Alexander?" Magnus asked, reaching his hands over the table, leaving his palms upwards.

"Kinda," Alec said, daring a glance at those mesmerizing emerald eyes. He felt a stupid blush rise onto his cheeks and wished it to go away.

"Can I?" Magnus asked and gestured towards Alec's hands. Alec looked around and bit his lip. "Um, sure."

Magnus pulled Alec's hands into his own and ran his thumb across Alec's palms. Jesus Christ that felt nice. He watched as Magnus inspected his hands form every corner possible and finally placed them on the table. Alec instantly missed the connection, the warmth surrounding him seemed to radiate from Magnus and now that he didn't have direct contact he felt as if he'd been thrown to Antarctica.

"You have beautiful hands," Magnus said, "You don't need rings to cover them."

"Thanks. I think." Alec laughed. "I'm sorry for being so awkward, I just kind of…I'm really nervous and you're really…"

"I'm really what?"

"Beautiful," Alec said. The word just slipped out of his mouth. It wasn't as if he'd planned on calling Magnus beautiful, but he just did. He spoke the truth.

"You have every right to be nervous. I am actually freaking out inwardly. I'm just good at pretending to be cool," Magnus said, and smiled at the waitress who brought their coffees to the table. She smiled and walked away, leaving Alec alone with Magnus again.

"I…I just can't believe it's actually you," he said and wrapped his hands around his hot latte.

Magnus drank his coffee black with two spoonfuls of sugar. He watched as the emerald eyed man took a sip from his steaming beverage. He seemed to burn his lip a bit and licked it. Alec looked away and blushed again. This was going well, except for the fact that the amount of fluttering his heart was doing made him think he'd have a heart attack.

"Says the boy who flabbergasted me with his looks," Magnus said, putting his cup down. "I had to tell myself I wasn't hallucinating. You look extraordinary, Alexander."

"My sister picked my clothes out for me," Alec laughed.

"Well your sister definitely knows what she's doing," Magnus joined. "The blue brings out your eyes."

"Oh, I didn't know," Alec said, feeling a bit unknowing. He had no idea whether he should be wearing red or green or brown, which is why most of his wardrobe consisted of black and other colors that almost looked like black.

"So," Magnus started and ran his fingers across the wooden table, ending up arranging the straws in the straw holder. "This is a bit strange. I'm so used to staring at a phone when I talk to you, I can't almost even comprehend having you here all to myself."

Alec swallowed and sipped on his latte, never taking his eyes off of Magnus' fingers, playing with the colorful straws.

"Well here I am," he said. "I'm here and I'm actually a bit hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast"

"Oh, God. Sorry. I didn't think about that. This place doesn't serve food. Do you want to gab something?" Magnus asked, already getting up. Alec didn't really know what to do and got up following Magnus' lead. "Sure."

"Do you like sandwiches?"

"I actually do," Alec said and followed Magnus out of the bar into the crispy winter air.

"Aren't we gonna pay for the coffee?" Alec asked, looking back into the bar.

"Huh?" Magnus said, stopping and gave Alec a lucid look. "Oh, no, Luke said it was on the house."

Alec assumed Luke was the owner Magnus knew and didn't question more.

"Anyway, I know a good sandwich place, it's downtown, but it's really good," Magnus said, leaning against the brick wall.

"I could drive us there," Alec suggested and pointed at his black Mercedes.

"That's your car?" Magnus asked, his face twisting into disbelief. "What kind of eighteen year old has a car like that?"

"One whose uncle sells cars?" Alec laughed and walked Magnus to the door, which he then proceeded to open for him.

"Oh, you're a gentleman, chivalry hasn't died after all," Magnus said and slipped inside. Alec smiled as he walked to the driver's side. Something about seeing Magnus in his car felt nice.

As he got behind the wheel and started following Magnus' directions he couldn't help but glance at him once in a while. He leaned all the way back into the seat and looked relaxed, like a cat.

"I'm sorry I cut the coffee session short," Alec said. "I guess you like that place."

"Yeah, it's where I go with my friends. I thought you might like it too," Magnus said and gave Alec a blank look.

"I did like it," Alec exclaimed, hurriedly. "I was just really hungry. I haven't eaten since breakfast."

"Ah, I see," Magnus smirked. "Well, I wouldn't want you to starve."

Alec snorted and gave Magnus a curious sideways look. Magnus rolled his eyes and gestured for Alec to make a right turn. Alec followed his orders and turned into an out of date looking street, kind of like Cherrywood but with a crazy modern twist to it. "Where do you find these places?"

Magnus let out a knowing laugh and crossed his legs. "It's kind of mandatory to know all the hot spots in my circle of friends."

"Oh right, the circle you weren't looking to expand," Alec said, a mischievous tint in his voice. He stole a look at Magnus who sat in his seat wearing a sugared look, staring out of the window. Finally he opened his mouth and before he spoke, he turned to look Alec straight in his lake blue eyes. "Well, I'm still not looking to expand my circle of friends…my other interests…now that's a whole other situation."

Alec couldn't look away from Magnus. His words were enticing, like a predator waiting for its prey to surrender. He swallowed hard and opened his mouth and then closed it again. "I see," was all he mustered to mumble.

"Alexander, dear," Magnus said, looking awfully serious for a moment.

"Yes," Alec stuttered never averting his eyes from his.

"You ought to keep your eyes on the road or you'll run over someone," Magnus said, shooting Alec an adoring look. "Then you won't be able to have your sandwich."

"Oh, yeah," Alec said, blushing and averting his eyes back to the duller than dull, compared to Magnus, road.

After a while Alec managed to park the car successfully without running anyone over much to Magnus' delight. He locked the car and followed Magnus into a brightly lit sandwich shop. They walked up to the counter and ordered, they decided to split a California club.

"This is ridiculously good," Alec said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. In his entire life he had never tasted a sandwich so good and was willing to bet he wouldn't taste one as good in a while.

"I like to enjoy the better things in life," Magnus smiled and leaned back against the light wooden bench. "Like watching you eat." They had sat down at a table by the window that let in light from the street.

The place looked frigidly modern and kind of intimidating at first sight. Magnus seemed relaxed though, which made Alec calm down as well. He munched on his sandwich happily ignoring the fact that Magnus had barely touched his food.

"So you said you come here with your friends?"

"Yeah, we like to hang out at food places, mostly because all of us suck at cooking," Magnus laughed, leaning forward. He rested his chin against the palm of his right hand and blatantly stared.

"What are your friends like?"

"Um, well my best friend Tessa is super sweet, the mother of the group. She's always making sure we don't do too much stupid shit or get into trouble."

"She sounds like someone my sister would need in her life," Alec said, feeling the corners of his mouth tug upwards, thinking of Izzy having a life coach.

"Well, Tessa is good at solving other people's problems, but vigorously ignores her own," Magnus said, a tint of worry slipping into his eyes, making them darken a bit and a worry line appear in between his eyebrows. He sighed and waved the worry away. As fast as it had appeared, it was gone again. "Then there's Will, he reminds me of you a bit. I guess only because he has black hair and blue eyes, but he has a sort of devilish streak to him that I'm not detecting from you."

"Yeah, evil is not really my thing, but hey if it works for him," Alec said, relishing at how animated Magnus looked when talking about his friends. It was like when he talked about his family, which oddly enough Magnus never did. Before he could think, the question had already slipped out of his mouth. "What about your family, what are they like?"

Magnus' face went blank and his eyes captured Alec's stare causing an intense pressure between them. Magnus swallowed and pursed his lips, contemplating the answer.

"I'd rather not talk about that," he finally said and smiled meekly.

"But," Alec began, but was caught off by the look on Magnus' face which indicated he was not kidding when he said he did not talk about his family. Alec could understand that, God knows he didn't have the best relationship with his family; he had so many conflicting feeling about them, still he could always cling on to some happy memories. A shudder ran through him as he realized that some people might not be as fortunate.

"I'm sorry. I overstepped."

"You didn't," Magnus said, leaning in again. "It's just, I'd rather talk about happy things."

Alec nodded, looking down at his hands before raising his chin. "I just want you to know, that…you don't have to feel like you need to talk about happy things. I get that you're not into the whole pouring all your problems out to other people, but I just need you to know that if you ever do feel like…um talking….I," Alec left the sentence hanging in the air not exactly knowing how to finish it.

Magnus' face softened as he reached his hand over the table, once again clasping Alec's fingers into his own. "I know. Thank you."

Alec smiled and squeezed Magnus' hand. "Good. Now eat your sandwich."

"Yes sir."

AN: So let me know what you thought about this chapter? Do we like what's happening? Would we like to see this date from Magnus' POV? And most importantly how did you think the date went?

If you have anything at all to say about this chapter, feedback is always appreciated! Love Always, Alexandra!