He felt chills, like spiders crawling up and down his arms.

Walking down the busy, cold street, Magnus shoved his hands into his pockets, daydreaming. About what, he couldn't say, but he inhaled the cool air and thought to himself that maybe things were getting better.

Looking down at his phone, he wasn't watching where he was going and walked right into another man. He dropped his phone at the collision.

"I'm so sorry," he said, bending down to retrieve his phone. Then he glanced up.

And saw Alexander Lightwood standing before him.

"Magnus," he said, blinking in surprise.

Magnus didn't say anything, just looked down and began walking away as if the encounter never happened. Then he felt a hand on his arm.

"Magnus, wait," Alec said, "Talk to me. Please."

Magnus pulled his arm away. Alec had no right to touch him anymore.

"What do you want, Alec?"

Alec flinched, as if the shortened version of his name sounded odd on Magnus's lips.

"Nothing," he said. "Just… how are you?"

"Peachy. Can I go now?"

Alec's face fell, and for the first time Magnus saw how… different he looked. His eyes had dark circles around them and they were red, as if he'd just been crying. He was slimmer than last time they met and his hair was long and unruly.

He looked half dead.

"I'm sorry, Alec, I just… I have to go."

"Wait," Alec put his hands up. "Just tell me. Tell me you don't love me anymore."

"I don't," he replied.

Alec looked shocked at his quick response. "What?"

"I don't love you, Alec. I've moved on."

The sky above them seemed to gray, and Alec's face grew angry.

"Good," he said. "Because I could never love you back. After what that man did to you? You're disgusting. And I bet you liked it, too. You're a whore, Magnus. A disgusting whore. And you deserve what you got."

Alec slapped him across the face as his tears fell.

And then he was awake, sitting up in his bed with a man lying next to him.

"Alexander?" he whispered.

"Close. My name's Elliot, Mags. We've been dating for months, remember?"

Oh.

"I'm sorry," Magnus said. "I just…"

"You miss him."

"What? No! I'm just… getting used to it, that's all."

Elliot pulled him back down so Magnus was lying next to him again. He traced the scars on Magnus's chest with his finger.

"How did you get them?" he asked.

"You know I don't like talking about it."

"Did Alexander give them to you/"

"It's Alec. And no, not really."

"Not really?"

"Hmm."

"Okay. Who's V.M.?"

"The one who did give them to me."

They were silent for a while. Elliot smiled and started leaving kisses up Magnus's chest, eventually reaching his jaw.

Magnus closed his eyes. "Elliot," he began.

"Shh."

"I don't want to, Elliot."

"You never want to. Don't you think it's time? We've been dating for months and haven't gotten past kissing. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just not ready, and if you don't like it, you can leave."

Elliot groaned and rolled back to his side of the bed. "It's because i'm not him, isn't it? You still love Alexander."

"It's Alec."

"Whatever, Mags."

Elliot got out of bed to head to the bathroom. Moments later, Magnus heard the water turn on.

He thought about the dream he had. What did it mean? Did he really not love Alexander anymore?

No. Part of him would always love Alec. But that's not what he needed right now.

Maybe Elliot would be good for him. A distraction. Magnus never got very far with him, but maybe it was time for things to progress.

Elliot exited the bathroom, dripping wet. He shuffled through the drawer of his things he kept at Magnus's.

"You wanna go get some breakfast?" he asked.

"You're not mad at me?"

"I could never be mad at you. I understand that you've been through some tough shit, and I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want. Magnus, I think I'm falling in love with you."

Oh shit.

"Thank you," was all Magnus said.

Elliot looked disappointed. "Get dressed. We can go to that bagel place you like."

Alec had been getting worse and worse with each passing day. He hadn't been sleeping or eating and Isabelle had told him he looked as pale as a ghost.

He hadn't been training, hadn't been going out on hunts. At first it was as if he needed that, needed the violence to keep himself out of his own head and away from thoughts of Magnus. Now it was the opposite. Thoughts of violence only brought back images of what happened to the man he loved. And he couldn't fight anyway, not with the state he was in. He was useless.

Sometimes in the early morning or late night, Alec would go to Magnus's building, where they had made so many memories together. He had never seen Magnus leave or enter, and he never knew why he went. It just hurt.

However, when he went that morning, he did see Magnus leaving the building. And he wasn't alone. He was arm in arm with another man, and a dog was heeling next to the stranger.

Alec froze in the middle of the sidewalk. Magnus looked up and saw him, coming to as stop as well. The man looked between them.

"Magnus," Alec said in a whisper.

The man frowned. "Oh!" he said, "This must be Alexander!"

"It's Alec," Alec replied.

"I've heard a lot about you." And with that, the stranger punched him across the face, causing blood to spurt from Alec's nose.

"Elliot!" Magnus exclaimed, horrified.

As Alec recomposed himself, he saw Elliot grab Magnus's face and kiss him hard, as if to show Alec that Magnus wasn't his anymore. It made Alec angry. Beyond angry.

When the kiss broke, Magnus said, "Elliot, will you give us a minute?"

Elliot looked hesitant but soon led his dog away to sniff at some bushes.

"What are you doing here?" Magnus asked.

"I come her sometimes to… I don't know."

'Oh." Magnus looked at his feet.

"I see you've moved on."

"I… yes, well… yes."

Alec cleared his throat. "How long?"

"A few months."

"Oh. And you two, well… have you, you know. Slept with him?" He needed to know, no matter how it sounded.

"We sleep together."

"Oh," he said again.'

"But we haven't done anything sexual."

Thank the Angel, Alec thought. He couldn't bear the thought of someone else being with Magnus like that.

"How is everyone?" Magnus asked. Since the incident, he hadn't kept up with any of his old friends.

"They're good, yeah."

"Jace?"

Alec inwardly flinched. "He's fine," he said bitterly.

There was a brief silence. "Alexander. If you don't need anything, I should probably be going."

"Wait," Alec grabbed his arm. "Just tell me. Tell me you don't love me anymore."

Magnus looked at him with a soft expression.

"I could never stop loving you, Alexander. But that doesn't mean I forgive you."

"What do you need me to do? Tell me, Magnus, and I'll do it. Anything."

"Give me space."

Alec could do that, of course, but his worry was that Magnus would find someone else, Elliot maybe, and fall in love. And forget Alec. He couldn't live with that.

"I'll give you space," he said. "But please, Magnus…" He was about to ask Magnus to wait for him, but no, that wouldn't be fair to Magnus. He should do what he felt was right for him while he was recovering.

"Please, what, Alec?"

"Just be careful."

Magnus nodded and turned away, heading to where Elliot was waiting for him. They locked hands and walked away.