„We need to do something about this. It's just...wrong"

"It's our boy we're talking about!"

"Don't you think I realize that? That's the problem! He is our boy! This family can't take any more shame, any more gossip," she was spitting out the words. Hatred, fear. That's what Isabelle was feeling as she was listening behind the door, ducked in a dark corner of the hallway. It was past midnight, she should have been in bed. Or at least those were the rules in their house. But she was thirsty and now she was blaming it on the smoke she had decided to try that day...

"Keep it down! You'll wake the kids!"

"Robert, I'm telling you. That boy, Sebastian or whatever, can not enter this house one more time!"

"Maryse, what are you saying?"

"Are you blind?"

"I'm just..."

"Can't you see the way he's looking at him?"

"He's sixteen, for God's sake, Maryse!"

"It's wrong and I won't have it!"

Wrong…

Our boy is wrong…

Their boy...my brother...Alec is wrong.

These thoughts lead the young girl towards the door next to her. Their parents' room was at the end of the hallway. Alec's was the next and her room was right in front of his. Jace's room was further away than the rest, near the opposite end of the hallway, being initially planned as a guest room. As she walked towards Alec's door, the corridor seemed to come to immense lenghts. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She was walking toward Alec's room but what could she possibly say? She knew she had to say something, Alec needed to know that their parents knew. Because they did know something even though for the moment it was just a suspicion. She had to warn him to be more careful or maybe even convince him to talk to their parents. She thought of Alec a few weeks ago, coming home with Sebastian. He was a nice boy, even taller than Alec and he somehow resembled Jace: blond hair, but dark eyes, smiling his way out of everything. Alec introduced him to Maryse as his colleague and Sebastian won her over after a few more minutes. Izzy already knew Seb from school and once she went to the movies with the boys and got to see them together. But they didn't seem together at that time. They seemed like really good friends, Jace even said they were "bros". But that day when he came to their house she saw something. Half an hour or so later she came down from her room. The boys probably didn't hear her, because she had one more step to go when she stopped dead, her hand resting on the hand rail. They couldn't see her. She was right behind the corner, but even if she were not, she doubted they would have looked at her. Because Sebastian's left hand was resting on Alec's and with his right hand he was gently playing with a string of Alec's hair. And Alec smiled, turned his head and kissed the other boy's hand.

She remembered all those things now, while walking toward her brother's room. She had to do something to stop her parents from taking that happiness away from Alec. But it was impossible to think, her brain repeating that word "wrong" in an echo that deafened her. When she reached the door she forgot to knock and almost collapsed inside.

Alec's head shot up, clearly taken by surprise by her rushed entry.

"Izz? Are you alright? What happened?"

The room was dark, the lamp outside apparently broken and there was just a faded blue-ish light coming from his phone. She couldn't see his face nor his expression and thanked God for making this easier on her.

She moved toward the end of his bed and set down.

"Alec?",she said, too low for him to distinguish the trembling of her voice.

"It's really late. Mom and dad will get angry..." he said as his eyes fell back on the phone screen. She saw a faded smirk and then his fingers moved quickly over the screen. A few seconds later she heard the Blink. Beep. Beep. Alec heard the ringtone too, but the light from the streetlamp outside his room flicked on again for more than a few seconds allowing him to notice the look on her face and suddenly his body tensed and he stood up. Frowning and biting his bottom lip – the way he always did when he was ready to hear their parents give them another lecture – he came and seat near her with unsure movements.

"I was just passing mom and dad's room and I… I heard them talking about you.."

"What about me?"

"They were talking about you and about Sebastian. I think they know."

"What are you talking about?" His face was still. His eyes breaking. Sometimes he seemed to her like an open book. She hated that in this moment she could see pain and fear spread all over his face. "What do they know? There's nothing to know."

"Alec..I..uhm.."She wanted to tell him, tell him that she knew too because she saw them and it was okay. He could talk to her and maybe she could help him. And if not, she would be someone who listened. She would be whatever he needed her to be. But the look on Alec's face...he was so scared.

"Izzy, tell me exactly what they said. What did they say?" And even though he was whispering it felt like shouting, so hoarse his voice was.

"I just, uhm, overheard mom saying he can't come in this house anymore." Her voice was starting to break. "I'm so so sorry, Alec. She seemed so angry, and she kept on saying how it was wrong, how the family can't take any more shame or..." she was crying softly before she could finish.

There was such an awful silence as they sat on his bed, tears coming down Izzy's cheeks and realization hitting Alec. She felt the boy near hear breaking, she could almost hear it, but even so she had no idea what she should say or do. She hated these moments, when there was no way to help the one you loved

"Am I? Wrong?" His voice had almost no sound to it, like there were no feelings left but unending despair.

She turned around only to see how defeated and tired he looked. And only then did she realized he was fighting this battle long before she even realized there was one.

She got up and set in front of him, her knees on the floor. He was crying, but with no sound.

"Alec, look at me. Different is not wrong."

"Why does it have to be different?"

"So what'll you have?"

"Black, with sugar and cream"

"Really?" said Magnus raising his eyebrows and one corner of his mouth simultaneously.

Alec felt the urge to take a photo of him right then and there, but he remembered he left his phone in Magnus' car.

"What are you laughing at?" he said instead.

"It's juts you seem more like a just-black-coffee kind of guy."

"You know what? You seem like a cappuccino-with -lots-of-cream-and-maybe-chocolate-on-top kind of a guy,"

"Actually that's very... wrong. I just like black coffee."

They entered the coffee shop laughing so loud they drew attention to them. None of them seemed to actually care or even realize they weren't the only ones in there.

They stood up all night talking on that rooftop and fell asleep, tucked in the warm blankets, till the brisk morning came and they had to wake up. Magnus offered to drive Alec back to his dorm and then go to his apartment to finally take a proper sleep, But on their way he also remembered this great coffee shop that had the best cookies and at this hour they were probably just out of the oven, and Alec needed no more convincing. He could already taste them and then his stomach made another approving comment so there they went.

When they stepped out of the shop, hot coffee in hand, they were still laughing.

"How do you do that, by the way?"

"What?"

"This."Alec raised his eyebrows and did something weird with the corners of his mouth, trying to imitate Magnus' expression from earlier.

Magnus laughed so hard he had to cover his mouth not to spill coffee over his shirt . "Oh dear God. I really hope I don't look like that."

"Come on, you know what I mean. Just do it one more time."

"I can't do it on command. It just comes to me. Actually Catarina took a picture of me doing that face," he added to Alec's pleading expression. "She gave it to me. It must be in here somewhere. It was done in one of those days on the beach."

"Alec?" The voice was coming from somewhere close behind them.

No.

"It was like one of those tumblr posts, " Magnus continued, "when your friends snap a picture of you when you're not looking. But I was looking and it's hilarious, let me tell you..."

"Alexander?"

No. No. Nononononononono. Just God, please no.

He turned around.

He heard Magnus asking him if he was okay.

No. A million times please no.

"Mother?"

"You're late, Isabelle."

"Yeah, sorry. I was in the shower."

"We have rules not so you can break them, Isabelle, but in order to spend more time together as a family. So when I say breakfast at eight, it means eight sharp. Alec was here."

Izzy shot him a look, and Alec mumbled an "I'm sorry" under his breath. She smiled, but almost sadly because in front of her sat an Alec she couldn't recognize.

"Well, dad's not here."

"He had something to do in the office. He'll be right here."

"I thought eight means eight sharp."

"Isabelle" It was her father's voice. He came out of the office and was walking towards the kitchen table.

"Okay, now that we are here, let's have breakfast."

Ten minutes later, Alec dropped the bomb.

"So, we have this project at school and I was wondering – can Sam come over so we can work on it?"

"Sam?"

"Yes, mother. Samantha. Sam Branwell. She's a classmate. We get along."

Maryse seemed surprised, but pleased. Isabelle had never heard that name coming from Alec. She knew Samantha was the daughter of her Latin teacher, but that was it.

"What about Sebastian? You used to get along with him pretty well."

"Robert."

"Honey, I'm just making conversation. So, Alec?"

"Oh, Sebastian? Yeah, we get along – sometimes, I think. He hangs out more with the football team, I guess. I don't really know."

"And you don't like football?"

"No, dad. I do. I just don't like the football team."

"Alec, we have to go."

"Izzy, we're having breakfast," said Maryse.

"Yes, but we also have school. And my first class is with Mrs Branwell" she said, lingering on that last name. "I don't want to be late."

"Okay, let's go" Alec said, practically jumping over to take the keys.

"What was that about?" Izzy asked, ten minutes later on the ride to school.

"What? What do you mean?"

"The Samantha thing. You don't even talk to her. Like ever. And Sebastian, he's not hanging out with the football team and we both know that, because Jace is in the football team."

"Izzy, I do talk to Samantha, actually. And Sebastian – I've seen him with the football team a few times. I don't know. I don't really care."

"You do care, Alec. Come on."

"Isabelle, I don't!" And it seemed final.

"Don't call me that. You never call me that."

"Okay, sorry. Sorry. Just stop asking me these stupid questions about Sam and Seb and just let it go, because I really don't give a damn!"

She looked over at him and saw it. He had closed himself inside, crawled inside, hid. Close the windows, shut the blinders, be safe! It was from a story their mother told them when they were little, about a mother going to the grocery store and leaving her kids alone. The line was from right after she left, instructing the kids how to beware of the big bad wolf...because the mother was actually a goat...yup, relatable to a certain point.

"Anyway, when is Jace coming back?"

"Tonight."

"You'll pick him up from the train station?"

"Yes. So the team is coming back, that means Gerald's coming back. Wanna come with me, to pick Jace up?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm fine. I'll see Gerald afterwards, at his house," she added with a smirk.

"Don't need the details, sis."

As they approached Sebastian's house, Isabelle could spot him waiting, like every other day for the past month, in front of his porch. Alec must have seen him too because he took a sharp turn and changed the route towards school.

"Sebastian was waiting."

Alec drove.

"Alec, I said..."

"I heard you. " And he drove and he didn't look back. Not even in the rear-view mirror.

Please Magnus. Take my hand and let's turn around and go, go, go, go and never look back. I never want to look back, never want to feel these feelings and never want to be here again just please take my hand, please go away, go, go, go away. Fuck. I don't..I don't...

"Alexander, are you okay?" Alec felt Magnus reaching out and taking the coffee out of his almost shaking hands.

She was standing two feet behind them and he could see her car parked just a little further and he tried, he tried to focus so much on the details to keep his calm; the color of the car, the plate number, the concrete, her legs covered by a long, molded skirt, his mother's face, the way her head was just a little tilted to the left, probably confused by the boy sitting behind her son, the boy sitting next to him, Magnus, Magnus calling him Alexander. Breathe.

"Hello, mother. Nice to see you again."

"Alexander, good morning. What are you doing so early on a Saturday morning?"

"We hit the gym, Mrs Lightwood," answered Mganus when he saw the concern on Alec's face. "Let me introduce myself. I am Magnus Bane," he added with an affable smile. Maryse seemed charmed for a minute, taken aback by the beautiful boy.

"It's nice to meet some of Alec's friends."

Magnus smiled, and for a moment Alec could see it: taking Magnus' hand in front of his mother, smiling towards this very handsome man and his mother smiling back at them. For a moment he wished for it, he wished for courage. He hated that he was so scared.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mrs Lightwood."

Alec didn't let his mother answer that. "What are you doing here? I mean... Izzy said you and Max were moving in New York next week." he couldn't sound more accusatory.

"So I guessed Izzy told you?"

"Not everything. She wanted me to talk to you and dad first." Alec took a quick look towards Magnus, implying that this was a family matter. Thankfully, Maryse was thinking the same thing; this was a conversation for another time.

"I came to take a look at the apartment. Actually I'm late for a meeting with the agent. Alec, please answer your phone later, okay? I have to go now. Nice meeting you, Magnus." She turned around and strode over to the car with a last look towards Alec, and he realized something seemed off. His mother looked incredibly tired, but even more then that, that last look on her face disturbed him the most.

"Nice woman, your mom."

"I guess so" Alec said, reaching back for his coffee. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean.." For a second he wanted to say that he didn't want to introduce Magnus as his friend, but thinking about that now seemed to raise a billion more questions in his head. "I didn't expect meeting her here at all. Sorry if I was awkward."

Magnus hesitated for a moment. "Nothing to worry about" he said, sipping from his cup. He flinched. "How can you drink this? It's degenerate."

"Why did you switch them, then?",he smiled, trying to shake off the silence that fell between them before.

"I wanted a taste of the sugar coated Alec." Magnus winked and strode over to the car.

Inside, Alec decided to finally ask him the question that popped in his head a while ago. "Magnus, how did you come out to your parents, to your friends? I'm guessing that you did and I just find it...impossible."

Magnus' faced changed completely in that second. Alec feared that maybe he said something wrong, although he couldn't point it out. And truth be told, he did want to know Magnus better and see him with no walls put up around him.

"Actually, I didn't come out to my parents. Don't look so surprised. I didn't hide it from them either. My dad...he wasn't around when I finally realized what my feelings meant. And me and my mother were very close. She was my sun when I was a kid and my best friends when I was a teenager. When I told her, she already knew." Magnus was smiling fondly, almost longingly, his face and mostly his eyes lit up. "I wasn't scared to tell her anything and I realize how lucky I was." Alec could tell that the boy was almost tearing. "She died shortly after I became seventeen. So I am sorry I can't help you, I know it must've been hard. I had friends whose parents threw them out from their home, whose parents took them to church every other day to cleanse them from their demons. I know it must be hard for you. But only you have this answer. And one day you'll realize that you don't depend on your parents anymore, that you have your own life and don't have to live it the way they would, the way they want you to. You have to accept that maybe they won't accept you and that's okay. Have you ever tried talking to them about this?"

"I didn't even had the chance." Alec could vividly remember the night Isabel came to his room. The night that changed everything. Because just a month later he walked in in Seb's apartment and saw him with that other boy. The boy who was everything that Alec couldn't be. Should he say anything to Magnus? Was this too much to share with him? He felt he could trust him, he wanted to tell him his story and listen to the other boy telling his. And with that, he realized that if he wanted that, he had to do the first step. A step toward what could turn into something beautiful and sincere. So here it was. "One time, when I was in high school, Izzy overheard my parents talking about a boy that I was friends with...A boy that I was falling in love with. My parents made their feelings very clear so I never brought it up."

Magnus started up the car and a few seconds later he turned on the main rode. He seemed to think deeply about what Alec just told him. "Is he the boy you talked about the other night? That one that more than broke your heart?"

"Yes. His name was Sebastian." And saying that made Alec realize that maybe he wasn't healed yet, but it was okay, because he was getting there. And one day he will tell Magnus the entire story and it would hurt even less.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

They were 15 minutes away from his dorm, and Alec suddenly realized he didn't want to spent these last few minutes recalling his life from 17. He glanced through the window and saw the buildings go by one by one, the sun barely beginning to warm the surroundings. He looked over to Magnus and took in the view of this beautiful young man who last night made his toes curl with just a smile and in whose presence now he felt happy and even more...he felt right. "Not now, maybe some other day. I don't want to talk about anything right now. I will deal with everything once I finally sleep. Not that I mind that I didn't last night", he finally said, with a smile in the corner of his mouth. Even though hist thoughts sometimes made him want to scream his lungs out, he was here now, with Magnus, driving through New York, the city coming to life just before his eyes, and he didn't want to be anywhere else.

But Magnus, sitting next to him, seemed far away, deepened in thoughts and Alec realized how everyone had their own way with coping with sharp edged memories. He stretched out his arm and caressed the other boy's cheek. "I'm sorry for what happened to your mother. She must have been wonderful."

Magnus looked taken aback by the boy's gesture. "I am sorry, too." He let his head rest against Alec's palm and Alec thought Oh, this boy!..

When they got to the dorm they were laughing again at some weird joke Alec had made. Magnus said something along the lines "It's the worst joke I've ever heard" but Alec couldn't quite understand why because Magnus was laughing so hard. They stopped in the parking lot and both got out of the car.

"Don't worry. I'm not coming in. We need to rest." Magnus didn't even look tired. "I just...Look, Alec, I wanted to tell you that I can understand your pain, and I believe that if you remain true to yourself you'll find the best way to deal with your parents. But if that's not the case, I want you to know I am here, I'll listen to you or whatever you need."

"Does that mean a second date is guaranteed?" Alec smiled, he couldn't help it.

"Alec, I would be a fool if I didn't go on a second date with you."

Alec surrounded the car and stopped very close to Magnus. He couldn't stop smiling, thinking about what he wanted to do next. "Then I'll give you something to make the wait a little easier." He was so close and Magnus smelled so good, of morning sweat and fade cologne. When Alec pressed his lips against Magnus' he could almost taste the rich flavour of the wine they had last night, the taste of dark, raw coffee. And then he felt his tongue against Magnus', both their salivas invading his senses. He let his lips travel smoothly across Magnus' bottom lip and then slowly drew away, a thin thread of saliva still connecting them, before it fell on the other boy's still open lips.

The sun was higher up in the sky now and it reflected its morning colors on the campus' glass wall. They were surrounded by light and for a moment Alec pressed his forehead against Magnus, resting it just above Magnus' nose. He then could feel him moving up his hands till he finally rested them around Alec's waist, embracing him wholly. He wasn't sure where all that light around them came from or if it really wasn't gleaming just for them.

A/N: It's been a while...I've missed them so much!