A/N: Hi. New chapter. I'm really tired... *falls asleep on computer* no. Ok, sorry bout that. I do not own that which Cassandra Clare owns, but I do own Magnus's songs and Alec's books! I also drew the two pictures of Alec and Magnus that they took in the park last chapter, but couldn't figure out how to put them in, so... oh well. Enjoy!

Magnus couldn't sleep. He sat cross-legged in the middle of his massive, fluffy, colorful bed, sketchbook open on his left, phone across from him, computer sitting to his right, All the Locked Doors in his lap. He wasn't focusing entirely on any of the objects around him, or his cat, for that matter, who lay curled majestically on his head. He wasn't focusing on the song lyrics drifting through his head or the music of the Blackthorns (an epic band made up of seven siblings). He was focusing solely on how stupid he'd been that day in the park.

After he and Alec had gone their separate ways, both still muddy and ruffled, Magnus couldn't pretend he hadn't seen Alec blushing. And he couldn't pretend he didn't care. Because he was slowly but surely developing feelings for Alec—feelings he didn't know what to do with, didn't know how to label. Feelings that made him question how he hadn't noticed how empty he'd been before.

And he was scared. He looked at the picture he'd taken of Alec: rumpled, mud plastered to the side of his face, blue eyes blazing. His skin shimmered beneath the sheet of water. The photo was maybe not the best ever, but it captured what needed to be captured: a beautiful boy in a beautiful rainshower. Magnus then went to look at the picture Alec had taken of him, his hair slicked down, glitter running into the rivulets of water on his face as he grinned wickedly, eyes turned up toward Alec's face and, incidentally, the camera. He liked that picture. He liked how un-perfect he looked, how untainted.

Maybe Alec's also a photographer, Magnus mused. It wouldn't surprise me. He's good at basically everything he does. It was true. Alexander Lightwood was amazing. He was obviously an amazing writer, but he was also exceptional at art and apparently photography too, and Magnus wasn't complaining about how he handled himself in the park and just listened. Nobody just listened anymore. Sure, Magnus was listening to music now, but he wasn't really hearing it for what it was. He wasn't absorbing the words or appreciating the emotion that went into singing them.

"I need to listen more," he said aloud. "Whaddaya say, Chairman? Should I work on listening more?"

When his cat didn't give him a thought-out, insightful answer, Magnus sighed and reached for the nightstand, where he kept a bowl of clementines. Not as good as a real orange, but he didn't want to get up and walk to the kitchen. He knew Ragnor and his boyfriend Raphael would be watching some movie or television program in the living room, and he didn't want to intrude.

"Okay, spill," Catarina ordered, marching into Magnus' room with a tub of caramel fudge ice cream and two spoons. "You only listen to this stuff when you're falling, Mags, so I'm going to get this out of you if it's the last thing I do." She flopped into his bed with him and handed him a spoon, which he took. "So! What's his name?"

Magnus groaned. "Really, Cat, do we have to do this now?"

"We could've done it earlier, but you were covered in mud and I didn't know how long it would take you to get cleaned up. But then I heard this song and I knew something else was going on. The Blackthorns are your heartache band." She picked up All the Locked Doors and studied it. "Are you reading this again? Magnus. You've read this thing fifty-eight times as far as I know. Is something wrong?"

"Cat. I am not talking about it. Even if there was someone, he can't possibly see anything in me past my music. And about the book, well, it is my favorite book in the world."

"What's his name?" Catarina pressured. Magnus spooned a large scoop of ice cream into his mouth so that response was impossible. She took the ice cream tub away so he wouldn't be able to deploy the same tactic again.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me. Is he famous or something?"

"Maybe…" Magnus couldn't lie to Catarina, something he hated right now.

"Actor?" She guessed. "Oh, there are plenty of hot actors these days."

"I don't think he's an actor, no," Magnus admitted.

"Musician, like you?" She guessed again.

"No, but he likes my music. Cat, stop it. Please."

"It's my business to know who gets to my Magnus like this," she grinned, snuggling into his shoulder. "I don't mind if you don't tell me. But I'm going to find out, and then I'm going to give you hell for it."

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Magnus smiled as he leaned his head on Catarina's. They fell asleep like that, in their day-clothes, surrounded by Magnus' stuff, a cat stretched across their heads, and the Blackthorns' music swirling around them like snowflakes, the words melting into their skin.

As you might expect, Alec couldn't sleep either. Every time he closed his eyes, Magnus' hand was on his face again. His chest felt like it would implode with every breath he took. It was all he could do to keep in an insane bout of laughter. He was writing an interaction between two of the characters for a new book he was drafting, using his mood to his advantage to get the conversation right. The scene was between the main character's big brother and her best friend. Alec couldn't help but find it funny that he'd made the brother a 'golden boy,' with long blond hair and handsome from every angle. Like Jace. The only differences were that the main character was nothing like Izzy, and that this character was bisexual, while Jace was so straight he didn't need a ruler to draw a line.

Magnus Bane's songs were blasting through his room, and he found he was focusing more on the words than on his own writing. Songs about going against the majority. Songs about losing everything. Songs about wishing you could be there. Songs about not being good enough. Alec could relate to almost all of them, but when he really wondered where Magnus had felt the incentive to write these songs, he had to stop to think about it. His mother's death had inspired Anymore. High school bullies had inspired Enough is Enough. All of the hardship compiled into one churning mass had inspired so many beautiful songs.

How am I supposed to breathe

If the stars want to drown me

How am I supposed to sing

If they took away my voice

How am I supposed to live

In a world that doesn't want me

How am I supposed to decide

If I don't even have a choice

Alec was expecting the realization to knock him off his feet at any minute. He knew he couldn't just accept that hey, his new hot and sparkly friend was Magnus Bane, could he? He'd had fantasies about meeting the musician before, but now that he had, he'd felt none of the emotions he'd expected to feel, and that scared him. He was just waiting for the wave to break at this point, waiting for something to wash up and drown him.

Isabelle burst into his room. "Who is it?" she shouted, cannonballing into Alec's bed. "You're obviously crushing! Tell me!"

"I'm not," he said broodily. "Go away."

"You're holed up in your room listening to Magnus Bane songs, writing fluff scenes for characters that aren't normally fluffy, and eating more chocolate than I do during 'my time of the month,' as you boys put it. Which is a lot of chocolate. So, Alexander Gideon Lightwood… who is it?"

"Alec has a girlfriend?" Jace also rushed into Alec's bedroom and flopped onto his back on the bed. "Dude!"

"I don't have a girlfriend, Jace." At least that was true.

"Well, is there a girl you'd like to be your girlfriend?"

"Nope."

"A girl you hooked up with?"

"No! God, Jace, I'm not like you!"

"So there's no girl I should know about?"

"No girls!"

"Any guy I should know about?" Jace raised his eyes to meet Alec's, and when Alec didn't negate the claim, he grinned. "So there is a guy. Okay. I haven't been paying attention to any of the male population in the area lately, so… Izzy?" He turned to look at his sister, who was still smiling evilly. Alec was bewildered. They just… accepted it? They weren't going to be weird? They weren't going to even think about it?

"I know a few guys." she said innocently. "I don't know Alec's type, so I'm not sure who to set him up with. And obviously he has to actually know the person to like them, which narrows down the list… I can think of like three at the moment."

"Guys. Stop," Alec groaned, closing his computer and leaning back against his pillows.

"Over my dead body," Jace grinned.

"I was always jealous of the girls who had gay brothers," Izzy admitted. "I can't believe I have one of my own. Now I can talk about all the hot actors with you, since I can't talk about them with Clary because this guy gets offended—" she kicked Jace in the stomach "—and you can meet my friends and not be weird around them cause there's no chance of you liking them, and—"

"Izzy. Just shut up, please."

"Alec, I know who it is. I'm not going to tell anyone, but he likes you more than he cared to admit to me. In fact, I'm going to sort this out tomorrow, because I'm meeting him for coffee." She smiled and ushered Jace out the door. "Love you, big brother."

"Love you too," Alec called, and threw his arm over his eyes. Izzy had seemed so confident in her knowledge of Magnus, but how would she have known? Of course, the Instagram thing, he remembered. And Magnus had mentioned talking to Isabelle in the park, before it started raining, before they'd landed in the mud, before Magnus had touched his face… God, Alec, you're hopeless.

His phone dinged, and he opened it to find an unknown number saying Help, your sister's crazy. He texted back: Magnus?

Yeah?

What are you talking about?

Izzy txtd me & said we had to talk. Im nervous.

Dont be.

If u say so darling ;) goodnight.

And Alec put his phone away. Damn his little sister. He fell asleep worrying about everything and nothing at all.

Bright and early the next morning, Isabelle was dressing to accomplish. She had a busy day ahead of her to help her clueless brothers, but she wasn't complaining, seeing as she got to spend time with two of her best friends: Clary and now Magnus. She knew Jace liked Clary, but she wasn't sure how much, and she wasn't sure it would be worth it if all he wanted was to get into her pants, the way he did with most girls. She knew Alec was confused by his feelings for Magnus. And she knew Magnus was confused by Alec in general. So she was meeting him for coffee at Alicafé, where she could talk to both of them about her brothers and get some friendly bonding time in too.

By the time she reached Alicafé, Magnus was there, booted feet up on the windowsill, glittering brighter than the stars and grinning ferociously. He was wearing bright yellow pants, a turquoise button-down, and a dark purple vest, about a million shiny necklaces, and his color scheme for makeup and glitter was aqua, a bit greener than his shirt but not as green as his eyes. It complemented his spiked-up black hair. Overall, he was as stunning as always.

"Hey there, darling," he called when she entered. "I got your urgent message. What's this about?"

"What, I'm not allowed to spend time with my GBF?" Isabelle teased.

"I prefer freewheeling bisexual," Magnus told her, still smiling easily.

"Forgive me," she smiled back. "What are you doing today?"

He stretched, body arching in a catlike manner as he brought his feet back to the floor. "Nothing, just hoping to stay out of the house so that Catarina can't catch me and pressure me into talking about all of the details of my life. Why?"

"Is this about your life in general, or a specific aspect of it?"

"Don't you start too," he said, exasperated.

"Oh, but I'm right in the middle of it," she said. "I know you like my brother and I know my brother likes you, but neither of you have done anything about it."

Magnus had the good grace to look shocked.

"Alec… likes me?"

"He was lying on his bed listening to your music on full blast and eating chocolate and moping. And he keeps drawing this silhouette with cat eyes that looks just like you. It's quite obvious."

"So what do you want me to do?"

"I don't know, what do you normally do?"

"I normally meet random hot people at parties, sleep with them, and leave. I'm not doing that to Alexander freaking Lightwood."

Isabelle stood up and planted her hands on the table, leaning over Magnus, who now looked scared. "You'd better not. You make my brother happy. If there comes a day when you don't make him happy, I will end you." She sat back down and smiled. "Okay. Sorry, that's my spiel for anyone who's involved with my family. I like you. I want to see you and Alec happy. And I want to take you shopping. I could use your godly fashion sense, because my brothers are seriously lacking in that department."

"Deal," Magnus grinned, relaxing visibly. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as I eat something," Isabelle laughed. "I had to leave quickly so Alec and Jace wouldn't ask me where I was going." She stood up and went to the counter. Clary asked her what she wanted, and she ordered a mocha and a croissant. When she paid in cash and received her change, she put it in the tip jar by force of habit.

"So what's up with you and Jace?" She asked when the redhead turned to make her coffee and retrieve the pastry.

"Something, maybe," Clary said hesitantly. "I mean, I don't know, Isabelle."

"You don't have to know. But make sure he doesn't do something dumb and hurt himself trying to impress you, okay?"

"Got it," she smiled, handing Izzy her order. She returned to Magnus and took a large bite of the croissant.

"So why do I get a death threat and she gets a 'watch out for him'?" Magnus asked jokingly when she sat down.

"Jace can take care of himself, Alec can't. That's all there is to it."

"Good to know you have such confidence in your brother."

"I know, right? So I was thinking first we could hit the mall…" she rattled off her plan to Magnus, becoming so engrossed with this glorious new friendship. She made a vow to herself that she would surely give Alec hell—and worse—if he ever let this one get away.

A/N: So… I do have a general idea where this is going. I know what the end will be and I know what I have to do to get there… so I guess I'll just go with it? Yes? I have a lot of writing experience but hardly any fanfiction experience, so bear with me. Review for thoughts, suggestions, constructive criticism, whatever, and have a great day! :)