Hello people! Here is a fluffy angsty chapter! LightsaberSnake, thank you, I'm glad your enjoying. I wasn't initially going to have Alec sing in that chapter, but it just felt like something he would do with the way that events unfolded, like he had to let Magnus know how he felt before he lost him. I don't know, just tell me if you think this is moving too fast, because I hate when Fanfics are unrealistic. Anyways, enjoy the Malec love!
They were watching a movie called "The Book of Life" in Spanish class. Magnus and Alec were sitting next to each other, holding hands under the desk like pre-schoolers. Most of the class wasn't paying attention, drawing, talking, throwing things at one another. Magnus and Alec didn't need to talk because everything had already been said, well everything that they could say here. They still needed to have a conversation about Magnus' past, but that could wait until they got home. They just sat there and enjoyed the fact that they were no longer in an argument.
They were enjoying the moment until Magnus felt something hit the back of his head. He had a pretty good idea of what it was too. He had seen the torment that Kurt had gone through, and just because Karofsky wasn't there anymore didn't mean that they were off the hook. Magnus waited a moment to be sure that Alec didn't notice the crumpled paper ball that had been thrown before reaching down and picking it up. He sat with it still crumpled in his hand until Alec was completely engrossed in the movie, then opened it. The note simply said "GAY" in big, horribly written letters. Magnus almost laughed. They couldn't have come up with anything better than that? Though he knew if Alec saw this, it would have made him upset, so maybe Magnus just had thick skin. After all, he had been taunted more times about his perceived sexuality than he had been in relationships, which was a lot. Magnus almost laughed again at the situation, he was the High Warlock of Brooklyn, he had lived for over 400 years, seen everything, been apart of most major events they learn about in history, and yet this one mundane thinks he can bully him. It was really quite amusing.
Magnus quickly made the note disappear, burning it in a dumpster somewhere. He turned slightly so that his eyes met those of his "tormenter" and smiled, letting his glamor fall for a moment until the other boys face was horror-struck. Magnus turned back to the movie with a satisfactory smirk on his face, once again grasping hands with Alec.
Magnus and Alec got up when the bell rang and walked together out of the class and to there next one, history. The whole way there they got looks, some disgusted, some just curious, but all of them invasive. Alec's hand quickly detached itself from Magnus', much to his disappointment. Magnus was used to getting strange glances and he had learned to embrace it. Alec was still new to all of this and he already got enough glares from shadowhunters for being in a relationship with a downworlder. He put his head down and walked quickly to their history classroom, his angelic grace and agility showing as he carefully and effortlessly weaved his way through the horde of teenagers, Magnus trailing behind him.
"Hey," Jace said from his seat as Alec and Magnus walked into the room. Alec said nothing as he sat down behind Jace, Magnus to his left, "You ok buddy?" Jace asked tentatively, the amount of times he had said that in the past few days was ridiculous.
Alec just nodded giving him a small smile. Magnus took this as his cue, "We've gotten a lot of... looks," He told the blonde boy.
Jace suddenly looked angry, "What kind of looks," he said through gritted teeth, his hands balling up into fists. He would defend Alec against the world until the day he died, and even that wouldn't stop him from haunting anyone who would be stupid enough to insult his parabatai.
Alec swallowed, "It doesn't matter," He said looking at his parabatai. It was true, as much as Alec hated being starred at, it didn't matter what any of these mundies thought, or what the nephilim thought. The only opinions that mattered to him were from the people he cared about, and they all accepted him, for the most part.
"The hell it doesn't. Who? I want names," Jace said, more exasperated than truly enraged.
"Jace, I knew what I was subjecting myself to when I came out. I don't expect people to change for me, or for the world to be kind. I can ignore the glares and comments, be the bigger person. If it starts to be more than that, then i'll do something about it. But right now all I can do is hope that the world changes for future generations, that we can change it so that all of our children don't have to grow up with the prejudice and expectations that were thrust upon us," Alec said.
"Wow, you know you should talk like that more often, its really attractive," Magnus purred into his ear, pecking his temple.
Alec's cheeks burned bright red, Jace just pretended that he didn't see that and continued, "Just, tell me if anybody does anything so I can kick their ass."
"Have we been in school that long that you've forgotten that I'm a shadowhunter?" Alec asked sarcastically.
Jace rolled his eyes, a hint of a smile on his face, "No, but I know that you won't beat it into their system not to do anything else."
"Well I'm not going to kill them!" Alec said, trying to hold back a laugh.
Jace seemed to consider that for a moment until Alec shoved him, "Alright, alright, fine. No killing, but that doesn't mean I can't torture them a little, maybe summon a demon," Jace spoke with a smug smile on his face.
Alec laughed, "Good luck with that," He muttered.
"What? I could summon a demon!" Jace said defensively.
"Yeah, maybe if you payed attention in lessons," Alec scoffed.
""Maybe if you payed attention in lessons"" Jace mocked.
Magnus was smiling at the two, if it had not been for the surroundings, he could have easily mistaken them for Will and Jem. The Herondale in him was very visible, Magnus was stunned he didn't know sooner.
"Alright, so, today we will be talking about the Great Depression," their teacher, Mr. Lisgo, said, "Now, who can tell me when the Great Depression stared?" He asked.
Magnus' eyes grew dark and heavy with the topic, his body slumping, growing smaller in the chair, trying not to get noticed. Alec looked at him questioningly, "Hey, you ok?" he whispered.
Magnus gave a small, sad smile, "Yes, Alexander, I'm alright. I will be alright," Alec nodded giving him a supportive, reassuring smile.
"Mike? Would you like to tell us all when the Great Depression began? And while your at it, give us a little insight about what it is since you seem to be in a chatty mood," Mr. Lisgo called him out. He was one of those teachers who was fun, and comedic, but if you did something he didn't like he would call you out on it.
Normally this was a quality Magnus enjoyed, but right now he wanted nothing more than to turn him into an owl and leave. But, alas, the clave was already suspicious of downworlder activity at the high school and he had no desire to be locked up for 'reckless endangerment of mundanes' and 'exposure of the shadow world'.
"It started in October of 1929, the stock market crashed and banks had closed, taking peoples money with them. Millions lost their jobs and houses. In the three months following, over 100 suicides were recorded in New York, some call them 'The Jumpers of 1929' because people got drunk and jumped from windows of office buildings on Wall Street. It was a truly terrible time," Magnus spoke with a far-away look on his face, almost like he was...
"He was there" Alec breathed, it was so soft that he himself could barely hear it.
"Yes, America, along with other countries, fell into a time with little money and few jobs. Lots of people couldn't handle living in the world at that time so they jumped..." Their teacher droned on but Alec was no longer paying attention, he was thinking about Magnus.
"Now, I want you to write a short story about someone living in 1929. I want to know how they found out, what their reaction was, and how it effected them. You can work alone or in groups of two," He assigned and waved at them to get to work.
Jace looked a little put off when Alec scooted closer to Magnus to work with him, he was getting into this whole school thing way too much. Who would ever think that Jace Herondale would like school.
"So I was thinking we could do it from the perspective of a bartender. We could have multiple different people's stories that they're telling to the bartender, and-" Magnus started as soon as Alec had come over, focusing on the historical event and not the memories of a ghastly decade.
"Magnus," Alec said, cutting him off, "Talk to me," Alec's eyes were staring into his, taking in all of the sorrow hidden behind his smile.
"I am talking," he said, trying to keep up the facade.
"But your not saying anything," Alec countered, his voice soft and welcoming, "You were there, weren't you? In New York in the 20's?" he said lowly after a minute of silence.
Magnus sighed, dropping the fake smile and allowing his age to show through the grief on his face, "Yes," He said quietly. Alec moved closer, trying to get into a position in which he could comfort Magnus, but due to the award desks, ended up just holding his hand, "It's not something I like to look back on. Well, the twenties are, they were dazzling. You would have loved them, dancing, parties, jazz music, and the glamorous attire. But the depression," He paused, looking up at Alec, "I lost many friends during that time. It was a feeling I felt so rarely, to be so powerful, yet not be able to do anything. I almost lost a good friend of mine, Alfie,"
"What happened," Alec asked, now in a position where he could rub his boyfriend's back.
"I lit a cigarette," Magnus laughed, "with my fingers, of course. It wasn't much, but It was enough to convince him not to jump, to let me help him. And I did, I wiped his memories of the small fortune he he'd acquired previously, and of the women who broke his heart. I spent a lot of time and energy wiping his mind, and I got nothing in return. I always wondered why I did that, why it mattered to me, and I suppose it was because I didn't want to loose touch with humanity. I was alone then, and I had been for near 20 years. The depression effected everyone, mundanes and downworlders, even the nephilim to a degree. It reminded us that we are not so different from each other and that we are no less vulnerable than them," He finished, now looking into Alec's loving eyes.
"I'm so sorry you had to go through that, and even more so that you had to do it alone," Alec spoke, words soft and tone comforting. He pulled Magnus' head down onto his shoulder, "I promise that as long as I'm alive, you'll never be alone again," He whispered into Magnus' ear, kissing his hair.
Ok, I know that was kind of boring, but not everything can happen all at once! I felt like this needed some reality to it. This had some references to "The Bane Chronicles" by Cassandra Clare and if you haven't read it, read it because it is amazing and totally outdoes any of the other series. Next chapter will have Magnus singing to Alec again, its going to be an apology song. Tell me if he should sing it in the glee room in front of everyone, in the auditorium in front of everyone, or in the auditorium just for Alec. Because I dont want them to sing and unrealistic amount of times. Hope that you are still enjoying this and that it won't just fizzle out. There will probably be another 5-10 chapters, depending on how long the chapters are and how many more sub-plots I can come up with. Also, sorry for any grammatical errors, I was too tired to check back over it!