Another chapter my dears!

Please review! They make me excited and then I want to update faster for you!

MissNena214: I have a plan, and I know it is hard, but stick it out for a couple more chapters, because it won't work if I rush it. Xxx

AsraStar: Thank you and here you are! Xxx

Hotlight10: I know, I think I was just trying to get across the shock of the whole situation. But Max and Will are gonna have a chat this chapter or maybe next. Xxx

Guest: Your review made me smile! As above, this chapter or the next. Xxx

Lu xxx

…

Jace had locked himself in the bathroom.

He had stalked off almost immediately, shaking his head and looking very pale. Alec and Clary had followed him and left Izzy and Simon to converse in hushed voices and Max to play with Tessa again. They were standing outside the door now, Clary desperately trying to persuade Jace to come out and Alec listening quietly and trying to act as if he wasn't there. So far Clary hadn't been able to get out of Jace the reason why he couldn't just come out and grit his teeth.

"…come on Jace, its only dinner…"

"Clary, please just leave it."

"I won't! You two need to talk! You are brothers for goodness sake!"

"I know!"

"Then why can't you come out of the flipping bathroom!"

"I just can't!"

"Why?"

"I just can't."

"Jace… oh please stop being so silly, if you can't explain then just come out!"

"Clary…"

"No, Jace!"

"Clary, I can't put him through it!"

"What?"

"You should have seen his face after that… scene in Taki's. He hates me. And I really upset him. I really did, I hurt him badly. I can't face that, I can't do that to him…"

"Jace…"

Alec put up a hand to shush Clary.

"Jace, I don't care. I should probably have expected that reaction. I don't hate you. I could never hate you. To be honest, if I was angry at anyone, it was Kaelie. We shouldn't have met like that. Just… please come out?"

There was the sound of the lock being slid back.

Jace peered around the edge of the door.

"Hey Alec."

"Hey Jace."

Alec pulled his brother into a hug.

…

Max had enjoyed the evening before. Aunty Izzy and Uncle Simon had been epic, especially Simon, who had talked to Max for ages about comics and superheroes and manga and all sorts. And Uncle Jace had been a hoot, messing about, teasing Clary, getting along like a house on fire with his dad and making the entire table burst out laughing several times before asking why what he had said was so funny. And it turned out that Clary could cook, despite the fact that she had nearly set fire to the kitchen four… no five times.

But now it was the next morning, and Max was terrified.

Because he was in school. Which meant seeing Will again. Will who was his brother, Will his twin brother. Will who had absolutely no idea about any of it.

The bell rang, Mr Garroway came in and everyone settled down. As usual, Will was late. Well, it was just an ordinary day for him. Nothing was special. Nothing was different.

"Right, morning everyone, first off…"

Will burst in. Max tensed.

"Sorry Mr Garroway, Dad wasn't home so I had to get a taxi here."

"Oh. Oh, okay."

Mr Garroway looked a little surprised, but didn't comment. He just gestured for Will to sit down and carried on talking about the school drama production or something like that. Nothing interesting. What was interesting was Will, walking over to sit down. He didn't seem to have his usual energy or enthusiasm, and he looked really down. He dropped his bag off his shoulder and slumped down into his chair and put his forehead onto his hands, his hair falling into his eyes, his shoulders sloped and dark rings under his puffy eyes. Eyes puffy from crying? Max didn't know. He wondered what had happened last night.

"Hey Will."

No response.

"Will? Will? Will are you okay?"

Nothing.

"Will."

Still nothing.

Max sighed and got down to filling in some stupid form that Mr Garroway had just dumped on the desk, no really paying attention to it properly. He was worried about Will – did he know? What had happened? Had something happened between him and Magnus, between Magnus and Camille, that had hurt him or someone else or what?

The first two hours of the day passed agonizingly slowly, Will still stuck in some sort of trance, completing worksheets and exercises but not really doing anything besides, just staring blankly ahead. He looked like he had just fallen out of bed after a sleepless night, bleary eyed. He just looked distant, as if he was thinking over something time after time after time, trying to make sense of something so confusing his brain couldn't even capture most of it, or so devastating that it was refusing to.

It was worrying.

Very worrying.

Eventually the bell went for break, and they all filed out of the classroom and into the corridor. Will was the last, dragging and scuffing his feet along the floor, his head down and his arms wrapped uncharacteristically around his torso. As he walked out of the door Max grabbed his arm and pulled the boy towards him. The corridor was pretty much empty, the others having disappeared outside. The boy turned slowly towards him, blinking, as if he hadn't really realised where he was or what was going on.

"What…?"

He said groggily.

"Um, are you alright, Will? You look a bit… rough. And you have been out of it all morning, and you had a reasonable excuse as to why you were late."

Will rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"Um, I'm fine, it's just dad was a bit upset last night, and everything went a bit screwy."

"Oh. How come?"

"Well, I'm not sure exactly…"

Max raised an eyebrow.

"Well I do. You see, Camille and Magnus got engaged and I kinda screamed at my dad about it, and by the time we got home he was really upset, he basically said he reckoned I didn't want him to be happy. And now, they're still getting married but I'm pretty sure that they both hate me. And all because I had the nerve to upset my dad."

"Will, but… Will, it's not your fault."

"It is."

"It's not."

"And how so? I should have kept my mouth shut…"

"Will, it wasn't anything that you said…"

"I know what you're gonna say Max, that I shouldn't blame myself, but you don't know…"

"I do. I know exactly why he is upset. And it was not because you didn't approve of his engagement to Camille."

"What?"

"I know for a fact it wasn't your fault, I know exactly what caused the sadness."

"Wha…how?"

"I just do."

"No, no Max I can tell, I know you. There's more to it than that. I know there is. Just tell me, okay? I want to know, I want to find out what this absurd idea that you have in your head is. Or if you are just lying to try and make me feel better."

Max took a deep breath.

"Okay, but this is the truth, even though you won't believe it, any of it."

"Got it."

"Right, so you know that I have two dads. One I don't know in person, that I've never met, and one that I have? That I live with?"

Will nodded.

"And how I know about the other? His first name? What he looks like, everything, except who he is, where he is?"

Will nodded for a second time.

Max took another massive breath.

"Well…I do know where he is, who he is…"

Will just looked confused.

"How? Did your dad introduce you? Did they get back together? What?"

"No. Not exactly."

"Then how?"

"I saw him. I saw…I saw Magnus."

"Hey, that's my dads name…Max where is this going?"

"He's my dad too. He's my other dad."

Max just blurted it out, because he knew that if he didn't just do so, he was never going to be able to say it, and Will really deserved to know.

Will didn't answer.

"And… you're my twin brother."

Will blinked, clearly dumbfounded by everything he had just had to try and take in. After a few moments, he spoke

"Sorry, what?"

"I'm your brother."

"But…but that can't be true, I mean, my dad, he, I… why didn't he tell me?! Why didn't he tell me?! It can't be true, you're lying, it's not true."

"I'm sorry, Will, but I'm not. Can't you see? I look just like Magnus. And you look exactly like my dad, Alec. It's true. I'm sorry, but it is."

Will just stared for a moment, and then ran off down the corridor, his jacket flying behind him, combats clacking noisily on the tiles. He looked a bit like a fallen angel – or an avenging one. Max followed slowly in a walk, not too eager to catch up with his brother. That had been hard, telling him like that, especially as it had been the first thing he had had to say to him after he had himself found out. It hadn't been ideal.

So, he walked slowly, giving Will his time to try and take it in a bit, because he knew how hard it was to take in, how crazy it seemed, how hurtful and scary and strange it was to suddenly have knowledge like that thrust upon you. He followed in the vague direction Will had sprinted off in, trying to calm his breathing and heart rate, which had shot up in the past two minutes, knowing that in a moment Will would need him to lean on, in a moment who would want to talk, in a moment he would want answers… but for now he would want space.

Max walked outside, greeted by a burst of sunlight that was almost blinding, the screams and laughter of other children, the soft warm feeling of early autumn soaking into his skin. It would have been pleasant on any other day, but now all that mattered was helping Will through the whole thing. Max's eyes quickly scanned the courtyard, and spotted Will leaning against the wall, his arms wrapped around his knees, his eyes pressed against them, shaking softly. He looked awful – from the distance that Max was, he couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn that he had gone as white as a sheet.

He made his way over, but Will looked up and saw him, and walked off. He looked angry, and upset, and shaken, but in his eyes it was clear it wasn't really Max that had caused him to feel that way – well, not that Max had had to tell him. He looked furious that his dad hadn't said anything. No, their dad. Magnus was also his dad. He needed to remember that. He just stayed absolutely frozen to the spot, his eyes fixed on Max as he made his way over.

"So… twins, huh?"

His voice was shaking slightly, but he kept himself at least a little composed.

"Yep. Twins."

"God, I never saw that coming. And… and how funny that it was my best friend of everyone that turned out to be my brother. We called each other blood brothers all of the time – turns out that we are literal blood brothers. I love coincidences."

"Me too. You aren't upset at me, are you, Will?"

"No… no just shocked, that's all."

"Hey Will…"

Will looked up again with big, big eyes, the big blue eyes that Max saw every morning and evening when he looked at his dad.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to meet your other dad tonight?"

Will smiled up at him, nodding.

"I'd like that."

Max smiled back, offering a hand to Will, which he took.

They stood like that, the two of them, smiling at each other, finally helping everything come together in the way that their fathers never did.

…

Well? How was it? I wasn't so sure on this one…

Lu xxx