Here it is! Finally. I'm heading to New York this morning, but I'm hoping to get some serious writing time in on the plane. So read ahead. And before you give me an angry review or the like, please read the explanation below and then leave a nice, lovely, heartfelt letter about your love for me and my plastic ponies.

Magnus sighed, it was too much. This was getting ridiculous. The time had come. He just had to man up and do something about it. He had to tell Alec. God, it was going to break his heart.

He walked over to Alec's room, throwing the door open and closing it behind him. Alec, who was reading on the bed and looked rather unsurprised by Magnus entering the room. He sat up and beckoned Magnus over, letting Magnus sit next to him on the bed.

"Are you okay?" Alec asked, watching Magnus carefully.

"No." Magnus said firmly and Alec immediately scooted closer, winding an arm around Magnus' waist and looking at him worriedly. "There's something I need to do and it's driving me crazy."

Alec looked worried now. "What?"

"I have to cut my hair."

His boyfriend didn't seem to realize how serious this was and immediately started to laugh. "Oh my goodness. Magnus I thought something was seriously wrong!"

"It's a big deal!" Magnus insisted, yanking on his hair painfully, "I have no idea what kind of suspicious person will be cutting my hair here! Besides," He added with a dramatic sigh, "You said you liked it long. But it's driving me crazy."

Alec blushed, in one of their makeout sessions he'd admitted to liking Magnus' hair long. Magnus admitted to liking having his hair pulled and played with. Alec took an opportunity to play with Magnus' hair and Magnus was disheartened that he had to cut it.

"It's fine." Alec said, "Of course it's driving you crazy, it's all in your eyes."

"So is yours." Magnus huffed, blowing a piece of hair out of his face.

Alec smiled and gently brushed it out of the way for him, "Well, yeah. But I don't really notice it. You're always gelling it up to keep it away from your eyes." Magnus nodded solemnly, "And there's a perfectly good barber in town."

"Barber?" Magnus asked, wrinkling his nose. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised you don't have a salon or a stylist, huh?"

"C'mon." Alec said, getting off the bed and holding his hand out to Magnus. "We can go right now."

"I don't want my hair cut by some sketchy barber!" Magnus said pulling away. Alec rolled his eyes and smiled at Magnus.

"It'll be fine!"

"I'll go." Magnus said, eyeing Alec's hand carefully. Then he smirked, "On one condition."

"You actually convinced Alec to get a haircut?" Helen asked, surprise coating her tone.

Magnus grinned broadly, "Yes, yes I did."

They were sitting in the playground where Magnus and Alec had almost had their first kiss, waiting for Helen's father. He was supposedly quite good at cutting hair and Magnus wasn't about to expose his doubts to Helen. Andrew Blackthorn was out running an errand and Helen had been visiting the shop when she noticed Alec and Magnus sitting outside waiting for him. She was carting along a parade of siblings. They all decided to walk down to the park and Magnus and Alec would get their hair cut when Helen's dad let her know he was back.

"Where's Aline?" He asked, tapping his fingers on his leg. Magnus noticed and had to resist the urge to reach out and hold his hand.

"She's with her mum." Helen said mournfully. "I won't be able to see her until later. Not to mention I'm on babysitting duty." She huffed, eyeing her younger siblings with a mixture of distaste and apprehension.

Magnus had quickly become acquainted with the family. Octavian was the youngest and only three, he was going down the slide in the lap of Drusilla who was eight. They were almost as cute as Max, but Magnus considered himself a little biased on this count. Tiberius and Livia who were both ten and twins at that, were bickering on the swings. According to Helen, the only siblings that were missing were Julian and Mark. They were off somewhere getting ice cream with a friend of Julian's. Magnus was glad that he didn't have younger siblings the moment when Helen had to convince the twins not to kill each other.

"So," Magnus said slowly, breaking some of the tension. "I guess being an older sibling isn't as much fun as I thought."

Helen sighed, "No, it is. I love them to pieces. They're just so much." She spoke quietly, though her siblings were far too preoccupied with each other to notice their conversation.

"I know the feeling." Alec said, regarding the kids with fondness and Helen with sympathy. "It'll get easier as they get older."

"Not to mention I'm leaving." Helen said, smiling openly. "I'm beyond excited. Aline and I are going to travel the world." Her eyes sparkled and Magnus felt a pang of jealousy. He wasn't sure what was going to happen to he and Alec, but travelling the world sounded nice.

"Any ideas on where you're going first?" Magnus asked, smiling and hoping it didn't look as fake as it felt.

Helen shook her head, "Anywhere but here. As soon as we graduate we're jumping on a plane. I keep trying to tell Alec to come with us, but he feels some kind of duty to be here." She sighed, looking at her friend with something that was almost akin to pity.

Magnus didn't want to blurt out that he was well aware of Alec's false sense of duty to his family, but Alec distracted him. "I might travel." He said slowly, "I just don't know yet."

"You're not going anywhere." Helen pouted, "We both know it. You're going to grow old here, with your parents farm and you're going to marry Maia." Alec's mouth popped open and she rolled her eyes, "C'mon Alec. You two dated for ages and managed to stay close friends even after your break up. The two of you are meant to be."

Magnus was on the verge of laughing. Helen of all people should have noticed that Alec wasn't really interested. Alec said that she had tried a similar cover story with another guy in the town.

"I'm not marrying Maia." Alec said firmly, looking at Helen in alarm. "Never, not in a million years.

"Well that's hurtful."

The three of them turned around to see Maia smiling at them. She was standing a ways away and wandered over. She set herself down in Alec's lap, laughing at him and mussing up his hair.

"I think you two are cute together." Helen smiled. Magnus felt a touch of jealousy, despite knowing that Alec would much rather have Magnus in his lap. He was comforted by Maia rolling her eyes.

"It's never going to happen Helen." Maia shook her head, curls falling over her shoulders. "Alec and I just don't work as a couple."

"Why not?"

Sighing Maia rolled her eyes, "So many reasons." She muttered and Alec actually laughed, slightly breathless and a little hollow, but it was there and he was smiling.

Helen looked disgruntled, but seemed to let it go, looking back over to her siblings and pursing her lips. "Tavvy if you tug Livvy's hair one more time..." The boy backed away from his sister, hands in the air and innocent look already plastered in place.

Magnus laughed and leaned back, "Again, I'm glad I don't have siblings. Do you have any Maia?"

Her shoulders tense and Alec wouldn't meet Magnus' gaze. "No." She bit out, "Not anymore." Magnus raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something, but Alec stopped him, shaking his head and mouthing 'not now'.

"Anyways," Helen said brightly, "I think you're lucky Magnus. Siblings are too much hassle I think." She sighed, narrowing her eyes at Drusilla, who had started to braid her little brother's hair.

"I like having siblings." Alec shrugged, "Even when they were little and loud, not to mention the time when Izzy threw up in my lap."

Helen just rolled her eyes, "That's because you were born to be a big brother. I would kill to have an older brother like you." Alec gave her a disbelieving look and she insisted, "No but seriously! You're protective but fun, you're a good cook, you're smart and nice. I would marry you if I wasn't totally and completely gay."

Magnus barked out a laugh, "Speaking of being really gay."

Aline sighed, "That didn't make a lot of sense city boy." She pressed a kiss to Helen's cheek, "But I'll let it slide. What are we talking about?"

"How awesome Alec is." Magnus said and Alec spluttered.

"I'm not awesome."

"You totally are." Maia said, crossing her arms, "You just refuse to believe it because your stupid brother absorbed all the vanity in your family and there wasn't any left for you."

"I didn't know there was a vanity quota per family." Magnus laughed, trying to help Alec who was looking - unsurprisingly - uncomfortable being the centre of attention. "All these, years I've wondered why I was so vapid. There we go."

"So," Aline said, turning her focus to Magnus, much to Alec's relief, "Is it true that no one is a virgin in the city? Because I've heard some rumours and I'm a little concerned."

"Is it true that everyone smokes pot in the country?" Magnus asked, raising an eyebrow, "I've also heard some rumours that you're all horrible racists."

"I could vouch for that." Maia mumbled, but Helen rolled her eyes and spoke over her.

"Don't be ridiculous, no one here is racist." They all looked at her, slightly disbelieving, "I mean no one is burning stakes or shit. I didn't mean." Her face fell and she shook her head groaning, "Never mind, I can't defend myself."

Aline snorted, but kissed Helen just below her ear with a smile.

"Racists and homophobes." Maia sighed, "Isn't it just a mystery why more people don't move into the country?"

And then Helen's phone beeped twice, a mixture between a wind chime and an oven timer. Aline pursed her lips, as though she wasn't a fan of the new ringtone, but didn't say a word as her girlfriend fished the phone out of the pocket of her jean shorts.

Helen grinned, "Looks like my Dad's done. Who's ready to get their hair cut?"

Magnus raised his hand high, his hair brushing his eyelashes and being on the verge of impossible to deal with. He'd been unable to gel it because he was getting it cut and he tried to pretend that it wasn't cute how much Alec ran his hands through it when they kissed.

Alec, who was clearly not all that thrilled about getting his hair cut, raised his hand slowly and with an almost perpetual frown on his face. Magnus smiled at him, getting a slight grimace in return. Despite all this, Magnus was pleased that Alec was willing to get his hair cut with him and Maia was staring at Alec's hand like it had sprouted tentacles.

"Who the fuck convinced you to get your haircut?" She asked, leaning away from Alec so that she could see him properly without moving from his lap. Her position there had begun to annoy Magnus a tiny bit, but he was trying to avoid becoming the possessive annoying boyfriend.

"Magnus." Helen said happily, giving Magnus what was almost a grateful look. "Isn't that amazing. Isabelle has been going on about it for months and Alec has completely ignored her. I can't do that, I find it impossible to not listen when Isabelle is talking. I don't know how he manages."

"Years of practice." Alec snorted and Maia smiled, wrapping a curl around her finger. "Now," He said, "If you would kindly get off my lap, I will go and solve this hair problem you all seem so worried about."

"It's a big problem." Maia said, getting up without protest and offering a hand to help Alec to his feet. "It's getting ridiculous."

"I like it long." Alec pouted.

"I know." Maia sighed, "But it looks dumb." Magnus snorted, Helen and Aline laughed, and Alec just pouted more, helped Magnus up and begrudgingly went to get his hair cut.

Alec smiled against Magnus' lips and Magnus bit back a giggle. He felt like the pinnacle of a stupid teenager. He'd never had to hide in someone's room before, making out with the constant prospect of someone walking in on them. They were in Alec's room for once, something that gave Magnus a thrill. Alec's room was almost adorably blue. It wasn't Alec's favourite colour - Magnus was almost certain that that was black - but it was the colour that his family seemed to have assigned him. The sheets were blue and the curtains matched. The lampshade was blue, as were his desk chair, his pillows and all the pictures frames that lined the white walls above his bed.

And most surprising, or unsurprising, was the books. The bookshelves lined every inch of wall that wasn't a window. There were gaps here and there, above the bed and desk, but the rest were books. Magnus wasn't sure why Alec needed all these books if he had the most incredible library downstairs, but they were a-dork-ably alphabetized and many of them had bookmarks hanging out, marking half-reads and rereads.

And there they were, on his bed, in his room. Magnus was sitting on Alec's hips, hands on either side of Alec's head and hair just brushing Alec's forehead when they leaned in to kiss. Alec's hands were on Magnus' hips and his fingertips were just brushing the skin under Magnus' shirt. The sunlight was catching on Magnus' back and the clock next to Alec's bed was telling them it was nearly six pm.

Magnus was surprised they'd kept it a secret for this long. Surprised that no one had noticed the two of them sneaking off everywhere and coming back with flushed cheeks and beaming smiles.

They pulled away and Magnus watched Alec's eyes flutter open, his lips stretching into a smile that took Magnus' breath away. He could have sat there all day, all summer even. Just drinking in Alec and watching him breath.

"Are you sure you're real?" Magnus asked, watching Alec flush and roll his eyes, ready to deflect the compliment. "Don't answer that." Magnus mumbled into Alec's lips as they kissed again, "I don't think I care."

He could feel Alec's smile and Alec might have been laughing, but it didn't really matter because they were also kissing and it was inexplicably wonderful. What was not inexplicably wonderful, was that Alec smelt like something that was not Alec. More specifically, it was very much Maia.

So, Magnus, being the impossibly possessive bastard that liked to pretend he was level headed and not the slightest bit jealous, tugged Alec's shirt off and sucked a very, very dark hickey into Alec's skin. He bit down rather harshly and Alec gasped, almost pushing Magnus away.

"What the hell was that for?" Alec said when Magnus pulled away. He wasn't mad, but there was annoyance in his tone and he wasn't smiling anymore. Magnus felt bad, but the mark helped to rein in some of his jealousy.

"Nothing." Magnus said, leaning back into kiss him.

"Magnus," Alec said, managing to make his tone soft, but Magnus could hear the anger that was beginning to boil just below the surface. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing." Magnus said again, but even he could tell that it was even less convincing than the first.

Alec was trying to keep his cool, but his brows were furrowed and he was frowning now. Magnus could feel the sunshine draining away, not from the room but from his mood. A cloud was passing over him and there was that unidentifiable unease in the pit of his stomach.

"For fuck's sake Magnus." Alec said, huffing. Magnus slowly pulled away, moving off off Alec and sitting cross legged in front of him on the bed. "I'm new to this whole dating thing, but I'm pretty sure you're supposed to tell me when something's wrong."

"It's nothing." Magnus bit out, balling his fists and trying to ignore how childish he was being.

"So you're just going to go around biting me? I mean, I understand the premise of giving hickeys and stuff, I'm not a kid. But that actually hurt." He sounded hurt and Magnus could feel the guilt growing.

"I'm sorry okay?" He said, leaning closer to Alec and pressing a soft kiss to his cheek. Magnus tried not to be too hurt when Alec pulled away a little bit. "It's nothing. Let's just forget about it okay?" Alec raised an eyebrow and Magnus sighed, crawling back into Alec's lap and running a hand through his freshly cut hair. "Okay, it was just... you smelled like her, okay?"

"I smelled like her." Alec repeated slowly, then he repeated it again. Then slowly but surely, a smirk spread over his face. It then morphed from a grin to a smile that threatened to swallow Alec's entire face. "Are you jealous?" Magnus groaned and closed his eyes, leaning into Alec's chest to hide his blush. But it didn't matter, because Magnus could hear the smirk in Alec's voice and feel his laughter vibrate through his body.

"I am not." Magnus protested, though it was a weak attempt. "I'm just-"

"Jealous." Alec giggled, "Of my straight, female friend."

"Shut up." Magnus sighed, "Just all that stuff that Helen said. I wonder if maybe you would be better of with Maia, you know, being all hunky dory in that country way."

"You think the black girl and the gay guy should get together? That will be sure to please all those racist homophobes." Magnus lifted his head off Alec's chest to glare at his boyfriend.

"Seriously." Magnus said, "I don't know. I just see you with her and I hate it, because we can't be like that. We can't be that open and it's killing me."

"Oh." The smile melted off of Alec's face faster than a popsicle melts in August. Silence fell between the two of them and Magnus wanted to shove the words back in his mouth. "Magnus I know that you don't like this. I'll tell them."

"I know." Magnus said slowly, running his hands through Alec's hair. "And I'll wait. I will. But I just," He smirked and dragged a fingernail over the dark mark that was blossoming on Alec's chest, "Wanted to mark my territory and all."

That did the trick. Alec laughed and Magnus gave him an apologetic smile. And soon all was forgotten, for the moment. Things went back to being sunshine and the cloud drifted away. Alec dragged Magnus back in for a kiss by the collar of his shirt and Magnus let his hands wander down to Alec's shoulders.

Magnus wished that it could stay that way forever. But it couldn't, because wishes don't really come true and Magnus' track record for being lucky wasn't very impressive. Because they couldn't keep it a secret forever and someone was bound to notice.

And Magnus forgot to lock the door.

"Holy shit."

Magnus' eyes flew open and he practically lept away from Alec, both of them turning in shock and horror to the door. Silhouetted against the light, it was hard to read the expression on his face, but it was completely and undoubtedly one of the people Magnus had been praying it wasn't.

Jace.

One hand still on the doorknob and the other resting on the frame. Jace's mouth was open, only slightly, like he'd lost control of it and had no idea that it was actually open.

No one said anything. It was dead silent and the kind of silence that's stifling and almost comically ominous. Jace looked from Magnus to Alec and his eyes locked on his brother. He just stared at him and Alec stared back. Alec opened his mouth to say something but Jace was gone, his hand leaving the door frame and his footsteps silent as he left.

Alec was up like a shot, grabbing his shirt off the floor and not even sparing a glance to Magnus as he ran after his brother.

Magnus was left sitting on his boyfriend's - if they were still going to be boyfriends after all the shit that was going down - bed, staring at the headboard and wishing that this really was a rom-com so they could make the cut to Alec and Jace's conversation. So he could be anywhere but here.

He felt awful, it was his fault after all. He didn't lock the door and he's essentially outed Alec without his permission. But Magnus couldn't help the tinge of relief. The relief that someone was going to know and that maybe Alec would finally realize that it was okay.

Magnus stared at the headboard, clenched his hands in the sheets and let himself fall backwards.

"Well, fuck."

Magnus wasn't entirely sure how long he spent there, staring at the ceiling and waiting. He knew that it would be good of him to go find Alec, but it wasn't his place. Alec needed to talk to Jace alone, they needed this moment. He thought of what Clary had said, about Jace and Alec being best friends, about Jace pretending to be sick so the two of them could stay home together. And he prayed to god that he hadn't ruined that.

It felt like a hundred years, but Alec came back.

"Hey." He said slowly, standing in the doorway, much like Jace had. Alec closed the door quietly.

"Hey." Magnus replied, surprised by how soft his voice was and how timid he suddenly felt.

"So," Alec said, sitting on the edge of the bed. Magnus sat up and swung his legs over so they touched from shoulder to hip to knees. He curled his foot around Alec's ankle. Alec smiled, bigger and brighter than Magnus expected.

"It went okay?" Magnus asked carefully, not wanting to sound to expectant but knowing that Alec would be destroyed if Jace had said otherwise.

"Better than okay." Alec said. His voice was thick, like he was going to cry. "He wasn't angry at all. Well, other than the fact I didn't tell him."

"Really?" Magnus asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Alec shrugged, "We tell each other everything."

"Right."

"One more thing… he wants to talk to you. He and Izzy are going to try and scare you after dinner."

"That sounds a little terrifying." Magnus said, though Alec's happiness was more than a little contagious and he found himself grinning back.

Alec snorted, "Sure. Like you have anything to be scared of. I'll make them bring Max, that'll tone down the threats."

"I'm sure it would."

"Actually," Alec said thoughtfully, "He might go a bit crazy with the threats. He reads a lot of those weird comic books."

"So I should be scared of all of your siblings?" Magnus asked, unable to keep the grin off his face now. "That's a little worrying."

"You have nothing to be scared of." Alec snorted, but he got off the bed and extended a hand to Magnus, looking more relaxed than he had in a while. "Nothing. No matter what they say, I'm probably not going to dump you or anything insane like that."

"Probably?!"

"So."

"So?"

Jace folded his arms across his chest.

Isabelle pursed her lips.

Magnus rolled his eyes.

And Max looked at them all like they were crazy. "What are we doing?" He asked, "Izzy said that we were going to watch Iron Man two but now we're sitting in the library and Alec isn't here and the lights are off and my asthma is starting to kick in and I'm pretty sure the only person that comes in here anymore is Alec and-"

"Breathe little man." Jace grinned and Max stopped rambling to take in an enormous breath. Then he glared at his siblings. "We're just going to give Magnus here a little lecture about how to treat Alec."

"How to treat Alec?" Max said, his eyes getting wider on every word, "Is Magnus bullying Alec?"

Isabelle stared at him confused, "Huh? What? No. He and Magnus like each other."

"Like like?"

"Like like." Isabelle nodded. She then looked at Max again, cautiously this time, "But it's a huge secret and you can't tell mum or dad. Ever."

"Okay."

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear." Max said firmly, sticking out his pinky and interlocking it with Isabelle's. The two of them were completely serious and Magnus thought it was possibly the cutest thing he'd ever seen. "But, Magnus is a guy." Max said slowly.

"He is, supposedly." Jace said, eyeing Magnus' bright purple jeans and matching fingernails.

"And Alec is a guy." Max said, equally as slow.

"Yes, yes he is."

"So, they're like Helen and Aline?"

"Yeah." Jace smiled, "Just like Helen and Aline. But not girls," He said, "So really, not a lot like Helen and Aline. I mean physically-"

"Yeah Max," Isabelle said, "Like Helen and Aline. Is that okay?"

"I guess so." Max shrugged, "If Magnus like Alec and Alec likes Magnus then it's okay. Cristina says that means that they're dating. So they're like boyfriends? That's cool." Magnus had no idea who Cristina was, but Jace and Isabelle seemed satisfied with this answer and turned their attention back to Magnus.

"You know," Magnus said, before either of them could start their speech about tearing off his limbs and the like. "Max does bring up a fair point. Not about the guy-guy thing or the like like thing or whoever Cristina is, but about the library. Why the hell are we sitting in the library with the lights off?"

"Because it's soundproof." Jace shrugged, "And having the lights off makes it more intimidating."

"I think having the lights off is dumb. I hit my toes on about ten different things that were either bricks or books on our way in." Isabelle sighed, "But I was never going to waste time trying to win an argument with this moron about something so frivolous, so I decided to ignore it."

"What does frivolous mean?" Max asked.

Jace gave a dramatic sigh, picked a particularly large and dusty book off the shelf and shoved it into his brother's arms. "Here's a dictionary, look it up. We don't have much time before our parents think that we might actually be murdering Magnus in here or something. I haven't thought of a good cover story as to why we're in here yet."

"This dictionary is in Latin."

"What?" Jace said, uncrossing his arms and crouching to where Max had plunked himself on the floor. "Huh, would you look at that. He's right. That is most certainly Latin. God, how does Alec read this stuff? It's giving me a headache."

"Anyways," Isabelle said, returning to the topic they'd all seemed to have forgotten. "Don't you dare break his heart. I know that we kind of talked about this but I'm going to make this perfectly clear again. You break his heart, I break you."

"Same goes for me." Jace said, plastering on his tough guy face and crossing his arms. "Alec's my best friend and I will not hesitate to punch you in the face. Repeatedly."

"Same." Max said, though he made no effort to add any threats onto his as though his agreement was threat enough. He went back to flipping through the Latin dictionary. Apparently threatening Magnus wasn't keeping his attention for very long - though Magnus didn't see how the dictionary in a foreign language was much better.

"I'm not going to break Alec's heart." Magnus said, running a hand through his hair and trying to look as sincere as possible. "Trust me, it's not in the agenda. Anywhere."

Isabelle smiled, but Jace continued to frown and gave Magnus a suspicious look. "There's an agenda?"

"Oh for Christ's sake." Isabelle snorted, "It's an expression Jace. Just give him a shot, you liked Magnus before this didn't you? And you thought that he and Alec would be great together, didn't you?" He didn't reply. "Didn't you?"

"I did." Jace said slowly and Magnus could feel the grin spreading across his face. He tried - and failed - to make it not seem as smug as it was. "But that was before I realized they were fu-" Jace's voice had started to rise and he was on the cusp of swearing when Magnus intervened.

"Hey, Max." Magnus interrupted, "Why don't you go find Alec? The two of you can get the snacks ready and then we'll all watch Iron Man 2. How does that sound?"

Max brightened instantly and nodded, any attempt to look tough tossed away and replaced by excited energy. Tossing the heavy dictionary to the floor and scrambling to his feet, he raced from the room and the three teenagers watched him go, Jace shooting Magnus a grateful look before continuing.

"That was before I realized they were fucking behind closed doors." Jace finished, though slightly quieter.

"We're not fucking." Magnus said, at the same time that Isabelle said "They're not fucking."

"You're not?" Jace said, raising an eyebrow, "Than what did I walk in on? Because holy shit."

"He walked in on you?" Isabelle gaped, "Damn."

"Yeah," Jace sighed, "My eyes will never recover. How did you find out?"

"Magnus was sporting a rather glorious hickey."

"Oh brilliant, Alec has one to match."

"He does not!"

"He does!"

Magnus looked from sibling to sibling as the conversation went on like he wasn't in the room. "Well if we're done here… I'm just going to go watch a movie with your brother and my boyfriend."

"Your boyfriend." Jace said, "Right, uh yeah. Listen," He glanced towards the door and spoke quietly, like he was suddenly worried about someone listening in on them. "You're Alec's first proper relationship and you need to understand that he's new to this and you need to understand that he means the world to us. I don't want him to get hurt and though I can't stop him from seeing you, I don't want to have to try and piece him together."

"We know the relationship probably isn't going to live past the summer." Magnus said, "But we're going to give it a shot anyways and I'm going to give it my all."

"That's cute and frankly, Alec doesn't really like us messing with his love life. Not that there's been much to mess with." Isabelle trailed off, smiling at him. "Now let's go watch a movie, the dust in here is starting to clog my lungs. It's disgusting, I don't know why Alec's always in here."

"Because you're never in here?" Jace asked. Isabelle glared at him and punched him in the shoulder. They stepped out of the library and into the lit hallway.

"What were you all doing in there?" Robert asked, looking at the three kids. Their heads shot up and they all looked like deer in the headlights, eyes wide and excuses not yet ready.

"Uh," Jace floundered.

"They were just showing me the library." Magnus said quickly, possibly too quickly. "I hadn't seen it yet and Alec said it was worth a look. I really love all the books. And the map." He was rambling now, but Isabelle and Jace were still frozen and there was no one trying to stop him. "The map is cool too?" It came out as a question and Magnus looked to the others for help.

"Right," Isabelle butted in, "The map is super de duper cool."

They plastered on angelic smiles and Robert just shook his head. "I don't know why I asked." He mumbled, walking into his office and closing the door firmly behind him.

As soon as he closed the door, Magnus turned to Isabelle. "Super duper? Really?" He mimicked Isabelle's high, cartoonish tone.

"No," Jace teased, "It was more like 'super de duper!'" Jace had clearly had more practice imitating his sister because he nailed it on the first try. He and Magnus both dissolved into laughter and Isabelle just stifled a giggle and threw her hair over her shoulder.

"I should have been an actress." She huffed, strutting down the hallway.

"Thank god that never happened." Jace muttered to Magnus, catching his breath.

"I heard that!"

"So we're actually watching Iron Man 2?" Magnus asked, taking a bowl of popcorn from Alec and leaning against the counter. He bit into a piece delicately and watched his boyfriend bound on the buttons on the microwave.

"We're actually watching it." Alec said, his mind clearly elsewhere. Magnus held out a piece of popcorn to him and Alec ate it out of his hand, giving Magnus a brilliant smile. "Just wait until we get to Iron Man 3."

"I didn't even know there was an Iron Man 3 and despite actually liking the first, I don't think I'm looking forward to this one."

"Are there any superhero movies you've actually seen?" Alec asked, the microwave starting it's low hum.

"Captain America." Magnus shrugged, "Though I watched it for Chris Evans' hot body and didn't actually bother to watch the beginning."

"Really?" Alec said, his mouth wide open. "How could you skip the beginning?"

"He was skinny in the beginning!" Magnus defended, throwing the arm that wasn't holding the popcorn in the air. "I wasn't exactly in it for the story! All I wanted to see was his hot, sweaty abs. I never saw the ending either."

"I cried at the end."

"Holy - Did you actually?" Magnus laughed, "Maybe I should see this movie. Would you cry again if we watched it?"

"Maybe." Alec shrugged, "It's actually a really sad ending. Don't even get me started on Peggy in the second one."

"Peggy comes back?" Magnus said, "Wait, I mean-"

"Oh my god, you totally watched the movie."

"No I did not."

"Well," Alec said, pulling the second bowl of popcorn out of the microwave and starting towards the door. "If you cried in that one you might cry in this one."

"I will not."

"Yes, you will. There's a moment that I know is going to bring you to tears."

"It won't."

"Yes it will."

There were a few things that Magnus wasn't going to admit that Alec knew.

1) The movie was in fact, amazing.

2) Magnus may have shed a tear or two when Howard told Tony that he was his greatest creation and all that.

3) He did in fact, watch all of Captain America and he did in fact, sob like a baby when it ended.

Okay, let me explain myself. This story is from Magnus' point of view. Though it's written in third person, we follow Magnus and Magnus only. So, the conversation between Jace and Alec is between Jace and Alec. I don't see much of a reason to include Magnus in that and it's not totally important to Magnus' storyline what Jace said.

BUT never fear! This will be in the series of deleted scenes/bonus scenes I'm posting after the story ends. So, if you're pissed about me taking it out, don't be. You'll get it later.

Also, I know nothing about the country. My knowledge about the country comes from stereotypical jokes and the Hannah Montana movie. So when I say random shit like 'people being racist, etc' that's because that's the way I envision the town I created (not to mention it's the way Shadowhunters are - racism towards downworlders and overall traditional views). If anyone lives in the country, you may apologize to your neighbours for me because I'm not assuming their racist, homophobic or anything equally as terrible. (Not to mention I'm completely making shit up when they paint the barn or collect eggs, and all my knowledge of horses comes from google and the plastic ponies I collected as a kid.)

Okay, I think I have come up with enough excuses... Chapter 14 should be up in about a week, because that's when I get home.

xx