Hey.

Happy 2012. Now, in case you cannot tell (but really, how could you not tell?), I absolutely adore the idea of Simon and Alec being friends. I am not going to say they are similar, because really, they aren't, but they seem to be in similar character statuses, and that makes it work. Naturally, I would not go slash with them, but their friendship would ultimately be adorable. They could do archery together!

So, on that note, I present this piece of work. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. It starts and ends a bit sadly, but the middle… the middle is adorable. Because sometimes, just sometimes… being normal is what you need.

Random Fact No. 2012: Nintendo started in 1889 by making playing cards. They also ran a TAXI, and a LOVE HOTEL, before making toys, and then video games in 1975.

Love Hotels… I have a fascination with them…

Simon was something special. Alec did not know what it was about the vampire that made him somehow sufferable, but it almost certainly existed most of the time. Everything about Simon seemed to scream irritating Mundie, but Alec found himself actually enjoying his company. Alec knew that Simon probably was not quite so delighted to be in the shadowhunter's presence, but it meant a lot to him that the Daylighter did not complain once.

"You're strange, Alec… so different to the others…" They were on their way back to the Institute from Central Park. Simon had originally intended to take the boy to the art gallery, but there had been an 'incident', and he had decided that being in an enclosed area where sound carries probably would not have been the best idea.

"Is that meant to be a compliment?" asked Alec. He knew that Simon was not generally all that fussed on Jace, but he liked Isabelle a lot, so this could go two ways.

"I don't know. It's not an insult, to you or them, but… you are the only one I can imagine doing something other than shadowhunting. I mean, aside from Clary, obviously." Alec almost agreed with that, except he could not picture Clary ever being able to embrace a Mundie life again. Maybe once she had normal dreams, to become a designer or professional nerd, or whatever Mundies dream to be, but everything had changed. She was a shadowhunter who was truly enchanted by the very world she had been swept into. Simon could think otherwise, but Alec knew that Clary loved her new world.

"I cannot imagine being any better at being a Mundane than I am at being a shadowhunter." Alec shrugged, avoiding Simon's eyes. He was not even completely certain what Mundanes did, or how they lived. Apparently their world was knit differently to his own, and while everyone always seemed to think he could live like a Mundane, he scarcely even knew what they were implying.

"Jace wouldn't last two seconds in this world." Simon made a sweeping gesture at the side walk. "Isabelle might, but she would spend her life looking for excitement which isn't there, and would be ultimately miserable and in a constant state of grave danger. But I think you would be okay." At Alec's concerning expression, Simon backtracked. "Not that you are a bad shadowhunter or anything, it's just that you don't seem to thrive on danger the way they do, like it is a job and not a life-"

"Yes, that is a nice way to put it." Alec paused, wanting to think about things aside from his old nightmares of being stripped of his marks and being left as a Mundie. He had thought that once everyone knew what he was that he would be abandoned. He had been so sure that one day he would have no choice but to do 'something other than shadowhunting'. Alec quickly changed the subject to something much worse. "What is it like being immortal?"

Simon looked startled. "What?"

"I know you haven't really gotten to be immortal yet, seeing as you have only been a vampire for a couple of months, but what is it like?"

Simon looked at Alec, a clouded expression taking hostage his features. "It's… this is about Magnus, isn't it?"

Alec blushed a little, nodding. Simon stopped walking and placed a hand on Alec's shoulder, causing him to freeze as well. "Immortality to us means two completely different things."

Alec did not reply.

"Looking into the face of forever… I see an empty existence. What about once I get over wanting to be a teenager, and I still look sixteen? What happens when the people I love die? I will be very empty for a very long time."

"But look at Magnus. He's happy-"

"Did you know Magnus, when he did not have you to occupy him?" asked Simon. The sun was hanging low in the sky, and the Institute was in sight.

"Of course not," replied Alec. "But I saw him at the party, before we were going out. He seemed happy then-"

"I don't think he was, Alec." Simon was not exactly an expert specialised in 'The Art of Magnus Bane', but he could not help but think that the happiness Magnus had shown at the party – the smirks and sarcastic remarks – was not sincere. When he was with Alec, his smile was so much softer, his words seeming special without being quippy. Alec had given Magnus purpose. "Being immortal requires a purpose, something that fulfils you. You are that to Magnus."

Looking away from Alec, Simon felt his eyes forcing themselves to stare at a nature strip and an altogether normal townhouse. He could imagine it being home to a simple Mundane family, with two children, maybe a son and a daughter. A family that might yell at each other, but would laugh as they grew older, sharing meals that weren't blood and growing old.

"What about when I die?" hissed Alec, and Simon was once again reminded that hanging out with Alec meant lying. A lot. Telling Alec that he would die, when everyone knew that he never would. He could not see how this made anything better, but orders were orders.

"I don't know, Alec-"

"I do," sighed Alec. "When I die, Magnus will find a new 'purpose'. Then another. Then a hundred more. One day my name will come up, maybe for being Jace's parabatai, and he won't even remember me. He might start, and think that the name sounds a little familiar, that's the best I can hope for, but he will think that he is imagining things and forget all about it. And I can't even blame him, because I want him to be happy-"

"Alec?"

"Yeah?" Alec looked at Simon, who looked horror struck, perhaps imagining his own future.

"Shut up." With that, Simon pulled Alec into a soft embrace, and for a moment Alec couldn't do anything but stand startled. He got hugs, of course he did. Occasionally from his parents and Jace, and more often from Izzy and Magnus. But their relationships were all so definite. They were all related to him, and Magnus was his boyfriend, and Simon was just… something else. Something irritating and annoying, and altogether infuriating. He was kind, and dorky, and accepting. Alec was hardly even sure what to call him.

"Are you… are you my friend?" Alec almost regretted saying the words. They sounded dreadfully pathetic. He was continuing his still stance, unsure of what to do.

"Yep," replied Simon, as if it was nothing at all.

"Do friends usually hug?"

Simon paused for a moment himself. He supposed guys generally didn't, but him and Clary did.

"I guess not."

"Then why are we hugging?" asked Alec, in that dreadfully straightforward manner he had about him, but the vampire felt the slightest pressure on his shoulder blades as Alec placed his thin arms around Simon's back.

"Because, Alec, I think this is the start of a beautiful bromance." Simon slowly pulled away, smiling at the baffled look of utter confusion on Alec's admittedly pretty face.

"I'm sorry, Simon, but I am not going to cheat on Magnus with you." Alec sounded dead serious, his eyes wide and alarmed. Simon let out a loud rasping noise, which was part way between amusement and disbelief. "Especially not with someone who is seemingly, but uncertainly, going out with my little sister! Good lord, Simon, if she started going out with Magnus I would murder her, so there is no way that I am going to go out with her 'man'. Plus you're younger than me-"

"So was Jace. And Magnus is centuries older than you." Simon didn't know why he felt the urge to point this out, but it was terribly amusing to see the blush on Alec's cheeks creep down his neck as the shadowhunter boy struggled to decide whether he should be mad or understanding.

"That's different, and… I didn't even know you liked guys! You have to tell Isabelle… oh angel, she is going to be so upset. And your thing with Maia too, was that all fake? How could you-"

"Alec, a bromance is just a friendship between guys who are somewhat… close, in a completely non-romantic way, but are sort of weird-"

"Are they all gay?" This conversation was probably one of the more normal ones Simon had found himself having with a shadowhunter.

"Actually, no. Most of them are just really sissy straight guys – not to say that you are sissy, come to think of it, a lot of them aren't – who act gay but aren't really… um…" Simon didn't even know how to explain it. "Have you read The Lord of the Rings?"

Alec nodded.

"Like Frodo and Sam, then." Simon wondered if he would have been blushing, had he still been human.

"So they are all gay."

Simon felt like face palming, until he looked up to see that Alec was smiling. Simon felt momentarily normal, just human as he felt the familiar urge to slap someone without literally wanting to hurt them. So he did, just like he might have done to Eric or one of his other guy friends, across Alec's forearm, and laughed when Alec cracked up laughing. The way he smiled and laughed was like there was nothing wrong with either of them. Like Simon was just another teenage boy, and Alec had a firm hold of his sanity.

Even after an entire afternoon of Alec under the influence of a demon, crying uncontrollably into his now tearstained shirt as the boy was tormented within his own mind as they sat by themselves by an uncrowded lake. Even after Alec had told Simon that he couldn't handle anymore. That he would rather die…

Simon smiled at Alec as they reached the Institute, and the vampire almost did not want to let him go. They could just be normal together, away from the Shadow World. But Alec was Magnus's, and being normal was never going to be worth separating Alec from Magnus. Together, they had a purpose.

"Thank you, Simon. I'm sure you are the best punishment I could have asked for." Alec smiled sweetly, as though he were thanking a grandmother for cookies.

"I don't know Alec, I'm pretty sure that you and Magnus could have played punishment, and you would have had a lot more fun…" Simon smirked, and now it was Alec's turn to slap Simon's arm, blushing hard. Simon wondered if there was a time Alec's face was completely pale without those little red marks on his cheeks.

Both of the boys could pretend so well that their feelings were almost real. Their comments off to the side managed to seek release without the usual strain, making them vaguely amusing. Neither of them ever forgot reality, and that made their happiness always fall into a constant state of tragic perspective.

While Simon could joke that Alec and Magnus might have had fun 'playing punishment', he knew that it would have only been heartbreaking. To sob pitifully in front of someone you share a friendly respect for is far from crying furiously in the arms of someone you would bare you very soul for. No, Isabelle had definitely been correct when she had cast Alec's 'punishment'.

Jace was someone who Alec had a deep and thriving respect for, and although they were closer than Simon and Alec could ever be, the raven haired shadowhunter was never quite at ease in his presence. Though not to the same degree, this stood for Isabelle as well.

And Magnus… Magnus was practically at God status in Alec's mind. His adoration for the warlock seemed to be accentuated by his 'illness', but to disappoint your God or king was something which would truly take its toll upon Alec. Being around Simon was easy, like awkwardness could be ignored and not discussed.

Alec was very grateful that Simon had understood his sister's whim with such good grace. He had held him as he cried, mumbling words of comfort as Alec had caused a spectacle of himself. He had held his hand and cradled his cheek in his palm as though it was nothing. No obligation, not forced… like he really just wanted him to feel happy again.

Alec leaned in for another hug, and Simon felt honoured to receive it.

And with that, Alec walked away from normal, and back into the sanctum of uncertainty, missing the normal yet yearning for Magnus's arms to give him the bizarre.

I hope you liked that. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I get some really touching comments, and I keep thinking, 'You really think I am good?' It is nice to hear that you like to read this. Like last time, I would like around ten, but there are no consequences… except for me.

Aha! But I have motivation for some of you.

I… umm… I cannot believe I did this, but the next chapter is slash *ducks head embarrassedly*. Originally it wasn't going to be, but then it was so sweet, and heated, and there was discussion, and I was like 'I do not think the readers will mind, unless it is rape (which it isn't)', and I started to write it, and I kept wanting to write penis all the time, but that would have been weird, so I looked up other words, and it probably gets repetitive, and I had to look up things about umm… sex *scary word!*, and it was weird, and… *goes into half hour rant*…

Well, short form is that there will be… sex. Which also means that if you don't have this on story alert or author alert, you may have to look a little harder to find it, because it may have to be classified as M.

Sorry, this is a long Author's Note. It is about to get longer.

Like I said, I love the idea of Simon and Alec being friends, and so does the lovely Patricia Sage. Here is a fic she wrote a while ago, but which really seemed to fit my understanding of how those two might get along. Review her, and to prove how much I love it, feel free to read my pathetic review.

http: / www. fanfiction .net /s/6892656/1/Unlikely_Companionship#

(Remove spaces)

Otherwise, it is called Unlikely Companionship and is one of the first to come up in the category of 'Simon and Alec'.

Teaser:

"So Alec, how was your day-"

But said boy simply grabbed onto his hand, pulling him back. He gave him a look – as though he were trying to understand the thoughts which were circulating Magnus's mind – before placing his face in the crook between the warlock's neck and shoulder, pressing light, sweet kisses with an unusual edge of darkness against his skin. Magnus could hardly even fathom the situation.

"Well, if this is what – Ah!" Magnus gave a pleasured cry as Alec nipped at him, perhaps in a 'shut up' gesture, before soldiering on. "If this is what – ahh, Alec stop – sums up a day with… with Simon, I am g-going to have to… to have to keep you here…"

Thank you all for reviewing… feel free to do it again?