A/N: Another fast update! I'm spoiling you guys all over again. Hahaha. Well. Sort of :P This chapter is dedicated to Cailee because she rocks and it was mostly her idea. Actually, the entire rest of the story is dedicated to Cailee because I talked to her for three hours last night and came up with the rest of the story (and otherwise, this may have been the last chapter in a long time, so you should be thanking her.) Enjoy!
Oh, warning! Cussing in this chapter. If you care.
Disclaimer: Why do I put this? Clearly, I am not ridiculously rich off of the money from the Mortal Instruments books, or I would have better things to do with my time than write fanfiction about them. Namely, drive a Porsche and pick up hot guys. NOT MINE!
Oh, IMPORTANT! The wonderful faithful muse caught this, or I wouldn't have even noticed. I wasn't even thinking about Maia when I chose the name Daniel, but when I made the connection, I was actually thinking of Maia's ex, Jordan Kyle. Oops! Daniel is actually Maia's brother in the books. However, because I already screwed that up, Daniel can be yet another crappy ex boyfriend for the purposes of this fanfic. Sorry for any confusion!
It wasn't as if Alec intended to make Jonathan mad all the time. He just had a lot on his mind. When he, Isabelle, and Jace had gotten home the night before, Max had told Alec that Magnus had stopped by. He said he wanted to talk and he's sorry. Max's words rang in Alec's head all morning. Maybe, he kept thinking. Maybe they should talk. But every time Magnus looked his way, Alec glanced away. He was confused. He didn't know what to think.
Jonathan slammed his hand down on the table. "I am so sick of this, Alexander Lightwood."
"Why are we doing this?" Ragnor asked.
Magnus sighed, putting down the binoculars. "I told you, Ragnor."
"Actually," Ragnor mused, "I'm not even sure what we're doing."
"We're on a stakeout!" Magnus said loudly. Several people from the surrounding tables looked curiously around. Magnus ignored them, holding the binoculars up again.
"Yeah, you said," Ragnor commented.
Magnus set down the binoculars for a second time, looking impatient. "I'm trying to figure out a) why Alec has been avoiding my eye all morning—"
"More than usual, that is."
"And b) if he actually is mopey. And maybe sabotage Jonathan Valentine. Just a little." He pressed the binoculars to his face. "They're talking. Well, Jonathan is talking. Alec doesn't look like he's listening."
"You know," Ragnor said, "what is with the term 'stakeout'? There are never any stakes involved. It's not even like you stake down the tent or anything. Stakeout. Weird."
"There are very high stakes!" Magnus protested. "Does my love life count as something that is at stake here?"
"That was a horrible pun, Magnus," Ragnor informed him. "And this seems extremely stalker-ish."
Magnus ignored this. "I am so glad I can read lips," he muttered. "Although if I were Alec, I wouldn't be paying much attention to Valentine talking about Lindsee, again, either." Magnus winced. "And now he's getting all pissy about Alec not paying attention." In the next moment though, Magnus stood up so fast, the binoculars clattered to the floor.
"Magnus? What's wrong?" Ragnor asked. But Magnus was already stalking away, looking fierce and about as furious as Ragnor had ever seen him.
Alec also didn't mean to snap. But he did. "Sick of what, Jonathan?" he asked. "I have stuff going on in my life too, so sorry if I'm 'distracted'. I also don't care about Lindsee. I'm not really into girls."
Jonathan laughed. He laughed snidely, sneering at Alec as he did so. "Oh, I know," he said. "Which is why it is so amazing to me that you actually think I care about your problems." Alec gaped. Jonathan's laughter vanished. "God, you think I care about you? You, some stupid fag boy with an idiot gay crush on some bitch? And I cannot believe you bought all that about Magnus!" He threw back his head with another laugh. "I don't know Magnus Bane and I don't want to. He's just another fucking queer. How should I know if he's such a slut? He's got a reputation, but still, I can't believe you were so gullible." Alec was still staring. Jonathan stood. "So I hope you're happy that you screwed up your relationship with the glitter queen of the school by calling him a slut. The fake friendship was fun, but I'm sort of done with you. I don't hang around fags."
He turned, but his path was blocked. "You. Fucking. Bastard." Magnus Bane's voice was even. Jonathan snickered.
"You think I'm scared of you, Bane? Whatever. Go defend your ex-almost-boyfriend's honor."
"I will make your life hell Jonathan Valentine! You are a bloody bastard and I hope to God that you get run over by a semi."
"Wow. Original. All this for one boy? Magnus, I think you're going soft if one little insult to someone else's honor bothered you so much."
"And you are a complete moron if you think this is all about that. I've wanted to kill you since last summer."
"Last summer?" Jonathan yawned. "Hm. A lot of things happen over the summer. What was it that made you so mad again? Couldn't have been that important or I'm sure I would remember."
Magnus lost it. "You raped my cousin and when Sebastian Verlac found out, you ran over him with your car! Not a big event, Valentine? I could kill you now!"
"They never prosecuted," Jonathan pointed out. His mouth was laughing, but his eyes were ugly.
"You bribed the jury."
Jonathan yawned again. "Your cousin? The little Asian girl? Why on earth would I do that anyways? She isn't even that pretty."
Magnus punched him in the face. It was not a girly slap; it was a solid hit that bloodied Jonathan's nose.
The beating Magnus got for his attention consisted of considerably more than a bloody nose before Jace finally showed up, seeing his best friend was involved, and wrenched Jonathan away by the collar, hissing threats. Girl-fans of Magnus raced after them, screeching furiously. Teachers were sparse in the cafeteria, and though there was a large crowd of students watching, none showed up.
Alec watched it all helplessly. He was no fighter and he knew it, but he wanted to jump in to help. It was all over before he could unclench his stomach and move, though.
Magnus stood inside the ring of onlookers, swaying. His face was bloody, his weight rested on one leg, an arm cradled to his chest. "Fuck," he muttered. Alec could hardly believe he had made it through that standing up. Jonathan's intent had clearly been to pound the 'glitter queen of the school' into the ground.
Alec finally lurched forward, touching Magnus's shoulder. "Nurse?" he bit out?
Magnus shook his head slowly. "No. Bathroom." His voice was strained.
Alec took Magnus's arm and led him forwards. "Move!" he yelled at the kids standing in their way. They gaped at the pair, but moved aside. Any anger or confusion about Magnus was temporarily clouded out with alarm. He helped Magnus to the bathroom, walking as fast as he thought Magnus could. Once they were inside, Alec shut the door and turned around. Magnus sank to the floor.
"I'm impressed you didn't faint before," he commented shakily.
"Faint in front of my fan club? Never." Magnus seemed to be a little punch drunk.
"Are you okay?" Alec asked. He leaned down to assess the damage to Magnus's face.
"Nothing's broken," Magnus said hopefully. "I'm pretty sure."
Alec nodded, putting aside questions for the moment in favor of wetting a paper towel and handing it to Magnus. "Need help?" he asked.
Magnus shook his head and swiped at his face with the towel. His hand shook, and he almost missed. Alec shook his head as well and knelt beside him, taking the paper towel back. He gently wiped Magnus's face, trying to ignore the hiss of pain. There was a cut above his eyebrow from Jonathan's obnoxious class ring, and his cheek was bruised and his nose bleeding, but thankfully not broken. Alec fetched more paper towels, instructing Magnus to hold one to the cut and one to his nose to stop the bleeding. Then, he rummaged in his backpack and pulled out a mini first aid kit.
"You keep a first aid kit in your backpack?" Magnus joked weakly. "How paranoid is that?"
"If you had siblings like mine, you'd understand," Alec told him, pulling out a small bottle of antiseptic. He made Magnus move his hand and smeared some onto Magnus's forehead cut. Magnus winced. "A Band-Aid would look weird," Alec reflected. "You good without?"
"Yeah," Magnus said. "And what do you mean, siblings like yours?"
"Jace gets beat up a lot," Alec explained. "Even if he does usually win, the other side almost always gets in a good hit or two. Isabelle is just plain dangerous and girls try to scratch her eyes out on a regular basis. Max is horribly clumsy. If there's something to trip over, he trips. Sometimes he trips when there's nothing there."
"So that leaves you," Magnus said. He obeyed Alec's gesture and held out the hand clutched to his chest. "The one normal one in the family."
"I'm not sure 'gay' and 'paranoid' add up to 'normal,'" Alec muttered distractedly. He turned Magnus's hand over, then reached again for the kit. "I think your wrist is sprained," he said. He pulled out a roll of gauze and started wrapping Magnus's wrist tightly.
Magnus started, and not from the pain. He had thought Alec was still well in the closet, but there he was, slinging 'gay' around like it was common knowledge. Come to think of it, it sort of was common knowledge now, even if no one talked about it. And Magnus was not sure if Jace or Alec's parents knew, but a good number of their classmates did. Magnus couldn't help but feel a tiny bit proud of Alec.
"So why'd you do it?" Alec asked briskly, still concentrating on the gauze.
"Do what?" Magnus asked.
"Punch Jonathan."
"You heard why." Magnus leaned back against the cool tile wall.
"I know why you lost your temper," Alec agreed. "But why did you come over?" He didn't look at Magnus's face.
"He called you names." Magnus's words were soft. "Which is so third grade, but he made you think he was your friend and then he stabbed you in the back."
"Why would you care?"
The words stung, but Magnus deserved them. "Someone has to defend your honor," he said.
Alec helped him to his feet gently, biting his lip.
"And since I destroyed it so completely, I figured I should help build it up again."
Alec let out a breath. "Magnus—"
"I owe you an apology."
Alec stopped him before he could get any further. "Right now, you owe yourself a drive home, sleep, and an ice pack. Can you drive? Is your ankle okay?"
"I'll be fine; it's just twisted. But Alec—"
"Later." Alec said. "Okay? Later. I have to get to class—the bell rang five minutes ago."
Magnus sighed in defeat. "Later then."
"And Magnus—thanks."
Alec tried not to think that him delaying the apology was just a ploy to get to see him again. After all, he owed an apology of his own, and he needed some time to get his words in order.
A/N: Whoo! That took longer than I thought it would. I rather liked it, though. Finally you know why Magnus hates Jonathan! (Becca, I'm sure you're thrilled). So if you liked it, review! If you hated it, review and tell me why! LOVE
K