The next morning, Alec decided to return to the coffee shop on the corner. He didn't know why, but he'd come up with a new character after visiting it, and you couldn't go wrong with their coffee. He sat now at a table that didn't immediately draw attention: far enough away from the door to be hidden but not secluded enough to be shady. He was sipping his black coffee and drawing again, but this time it was a woman in shades of gray, with a veil over her face and crimson hair.

He was only pulled from his fictional world when there came the screeching sound of chair legs on the floor and a smack as a plastic cup was slammed down on the table in front of him. The drink inside was horrifyingly rainbow. Alec looked up, meeting the smiling golden-green eyes of a man with gorgeous caramel skin and spiked-up black hair.

"I know, I know: I shouldn't drink this. It's artificial and bad for me and everyone thinks it'll make the drinker turn gay… unfortunately for them you can't get much gayer than me, so I think I'm safe."

Alec, astounded, just gaped up at the man, taking in his odd appearance. The hair seemed to be gelled up into the shape of a crown, and there were streaks of pink, blue, and purple in it, along with—holy shit, was that glitter? He had a magnificently slender body, clothed in a dark blue and silver sequined shirt and a leather jacket with gems on the seams, and bright lilac pants that were so tight they had to have been painted on. The whole look was completed with multiple flashy necklaces and so many earrings it was like he'd been decorating his body like a Christmas tree.

"Speechless?" The man mused teasingly, sliding into the seat across from Alec. Glitter spilled out of his hair and off his shoulders with every movement.

"I-I, um," Alec said, sitting back in his seat. "Who are you?"

"I should think you'd know, since you did look completely horrified when you saw me out this very window yesterday around this time."

"I thought you were someone I knew," Alec muttered, not wanting to mention that the someone he'd thought the man was happened to be a famous musician.

"Really? I don't look like a lot of people. If you can name someone besides me who could pull this outfit off, I'd like to have lunch with them." He leaned on the back of his chair with one elbow, slouching in a ridiculously sexy way and shedding more glitter.

"Glitter," Alec finally managed to say around the bonfire consuming his face.

"Yes?"

"You're shedding."

"No, my cat does that. Do I look like a cat?" The man raised an eyebrow. Alec scrutinized him, and when he looked at his eyes he saw the glint of slitted pupils between pools of gold and green, just like the eyes in his drawing. He wanted to say yes, that the man did in fact bear a resemblance to a cat, but instead he just took a sip of his coffee and muttered a soft 'no.'

"Pity," the man shrugged.

"What are you doing?" Alec wondered suddenly. "I don't even know your name."

"You've probably heard it somewhere before," the man still looked unconcerned. A fuzz from somewhere floated by his head, and he batted at it. "Magnus is my name. You?"

"Alec," Alec replied, feeling foolish as he did so.

"That short for anything? Alexander, perhaps?" Magnus purred. Alec struggled to remove the association with cats from his mind.

"Yes, actually, but really, I prefer to be called Alec."

"Wonderful, Alexander," Magnus grinned like the Cheshire Cat. Alec almost groaned. He couldn't believe how catlike this man seemed, now that he thought about it. In fact, Alec wouldn't have been surprised if he shapeshifted into a cat and sauntered away as they spoke.

"Alec," he corrected.

"But Alexander is the name of one of my favorite authors. I don't know anyone named Alexander except for you. Besides, it's a delicious name," Magnus added, casting a sidelong glance at Alec with the last part. Alec found himself blushing more now than he had in years.

"Well, Magnus is the name of one of my favorite singers," he said vaguely. "We have that much in common." He hoped to god that Magnus wouldn't figure out that Alec was Alexander Lightwood, and then hoped even more that this man in front of him wasn't Magnus Bane. That would be like a story he could write, but life wasn't like that.

"It's been lovely, Alexander. I will see you around. I must finish up my gay drink and get on my way, but it was enchanting to meet you," he called as he left, raising the horrific rainbow smoothie into the air as a final goodbye. Alec took a long moment to catch the Taylor Swift reference before he put his head in his arms and sighed, taking a sip of his black coffee. It was suddenly a bit too bitter. He opened his sketchbook and drew the glittery, catlike man, hands braced on a table in front of him, his purple-glossed lips quirking up into a ravishing, malicious smile. Then, feeling in the mood for irony, he titled the drawing The Bane of My Existence.

Magnus almost hummed to himself as he strolled along the streets of Alicante. He hadn't gotten to bring up the park, but he was fairly certain that Alec was the same person who'd been painting so beautifully the day before. It was a fabulous coincidence that the gorgeous boy was named Alexander, and if he'd said his name was Alexander Lightwood, Magnus would've believed him in a heartbeat. Then he realized Alec had never said he wasn't Alexander Lightwood.

You're being stupid, Magnus. This isn't a fairytale, he thought irritably, but retrieved his sparkly phone from his pocket and looked up Alexander Lightwood. As he'd imagined, the first website that popped up was suggesting that Magnus purchase his books. Magnus would've done this if he hadn't already owned every one. He clicked on images, but they were mostly of the book covers, except one: a selfie, taken by a girl in her late teens, with a smirking golden-haired man and a grouchy-looking black-haired man. The latter was undoubtedly Alec, and the link on the image took him to the Instagram of Isabelle Lightwood. Magnus remembered one of Alexander's books being dedicated to an Izzy, and figured this was as close as he was going to get. He scrolled through, finding multiple pictures of Isabelle with a redheaded girl (hadn't she been the barista?) and of Isabelle in various outfits, but couldn't find any more of Alec. He clicked the button to follow Isabelle.

I'll talk to that barista tomorrow, he decided, see if I can meet this Isabelle Lightwood person.

Satisfied with his plan, Magnus held up his gay drink, smirked, and took a picture. He posted it under just met a boy who makes me gayer than this drink ever could with a winky face and a peace sign. Almost immediately, comments started appearing, asking who the hell he meant and where he was. He ignored them all.

Isabelle and Simon were lying on their backs on the grass in the park, chatting. Well, Simon was doing most of the talking, and Isabelle was laughing with him and looking at her phone. A notification popped up that said magnificentbane had followed her. Against her better judgement and falling prey to the same trap luring in teens across the world, she opened the app to check it out. The profile picture was the face of a grinning man wearing flawless sparkly makeup, his hair spiky and also full of glitter.

"Hey, Si? Do you know who Magnus Bane is?" She asked her companion. He looked sideways at her.

"Iz, anyone who knows anything at all knows Magnus Bane," he answered.

"I've got me, myself, and GLITTER!" They both sang gleefully, then laughed.

"Anyway, I think he just followed me on Instagram," she explained, showing him her phone. Then she inspected the selfie of who she assumed to be Magnus holding a cup with a rainbow drink and smirking. "Wait. He's here in Alicante. That cup has an Alicafé logo on it. Oh god, Alec's gonna freak out." She called her big brother, waiting tersely for him to pick up. When he did, she practically screamed in his ear: "Alexander Lightwood, Magnus Bane is in Alicante! He was at Alicafe today! Have you seen him?"

Alec paused in what she assumed to be awkward, stunned silence before he responded. "Well, I mean, I had a conversation with a super glittery guy earlier today who said his name was Magnus…."

"Alec." Izzy said, deathly serious. "Does he know who you are?"

"I hope not. He knows my name is Alexander but I didn't mention anything about Lightwood."

"Well then why did he suddenly follow me on Instagram?"

Alec apparently didn't have a response for that. She could hear his confusion through the phone. She wondered if she should tell her brother the text underneath the image of Magnus Bane with his rainbow drink, but decided not to in the end.

"I don't know, Iz. Whatever. Have a nice day," Alec said dismissively, and hung up. Isabelle stared at her phone for another minute, then PMed Magnus: If you are who I think you are, you'd better have a really good excuse for following me.

Darling, the reply came not a moment later, I think I am who you think I am, and I also think I have just about the best excuse in the world.

Which is what? Isabelle typed, on high alert.

Your brother.