Magnus walked back to his flat, images of his new student flashing through his brain. Throughout the day, he had been trying to figure out Alec's brain. He wanted to understand what was wrong but Alec was making it awfully difficult.

Magnus unlocked his door with his keys and stepped inside, kicking his shoes off at the door. He sighed deeply and ran his fingers through his hair.

"Woolsey? I'm home," he announced. Woolsey had been his best friend since primary school. They lived together.

Woolsey looked back from the couch in the nearby living room and watched Magnus take a seat next to him. "How was the new student?" he wondered, genuinely curious. He muted the TV so he could pay attention to what Magnus was saying.

Magnus shrugged slightly. "His name is Alec. . . he's really stubborn." he said. Woolsey watched as Magnus rubbed his temples and breathed out quietly.

"Stubborn? How so?"

"Like, he doesn't want to tell me anything. He's really private," Magnus explained, biting his lip as he dug up the memory of the younger boy in the ski mask.

Woolsey chuckled at that, taking a quick swig of his beer before setting it back down on the coffee table. "Special education kids tend to be like that, Magnus."

"I know, I know. But Alec- well, Alec is different. He acts like he's a normal kid except-"

"Except?" Woolsey pressed on.

"Except, he wears lots of clothes."

Woolsey raised an eyebrow. "Maybe he's just cold?" he wondered.

"No, it's more than that. He wears a fucking ski mask and wears long sleeve shirts and sweat pants," Magnus explained.

Woolsey nodded slowly. "That's a bit weird," he commented.

"Yeah, no kidding. The thing is, he seems normal. He talks normal, he learns normally, he's just a bit mysterious and wears a ski mask for some reason. Don't know what to think of it," Magnus admitted.

"Don't think about it too much, okay? It's only your first day. You'll have his brain figured out sooner or later," Woolsey winked.

Magnus laughed at that, propping his legs up on the coffee table. "I hope so."

The next day, Alec was awoken once again to a loud knocking sound. Groaning in pure frustration, he kept his eyes closed and chose to ignore the sound. Unfortunately for Alec, the door tapping never ceased.

Alec punched the pillow next to him angrily before climbing out of bed.

"Just a minute!" he yelled, rolling his eyes. He walked into his bathroom where he put in his coloured contacts and pulled the ski mask over his scarred face. He pulled on another long sleeve shirt and grey sweat pants. He really hated these clothes, but if he didn't wear them and somehow if his mother found out she'd throw a fit and he didn't want that.

The knocking continued, and Alec sighed. "I said just a minute!" he almost screamed. Alec checked himself in the mirror one last time, making sure that no neon-coloured veins or scars were exposed. He then proceeded to go back in the living room and open up the door for Mr. Bane.

"Hello," Magnus greeted, a wide smile across his face.

Alec simply grunted in response and closed the door after Mr. Bane walked inside. He set his breif case down on Alec's kitchen table, where he did most of his teaching throughout the day. Alec glared at the back of Mr. Bane's stupid head.

"What do you want to learn first?" Magnus asked.

Alec shrugged as he took a seat next to Mr. Bane around the table. Magnus spread out worksheets and papers across the surface.

"Biology?" Magnus offered.

Alec shrugged again. He really didn't care. He was too tired to focus anyway.

Magnus huffed. "How about you get some tea and some breakfast to wake up. I'll get everything set up," he suggested.

Magnus could've sworn that for once he saw a genuine smile on Alec's lips for a split second as the younger boy stood up and walked towards the kitchen. Not a teasing, annoying smirk, but a real smile. The holes in the ski mask around his lips and eyes were minimum but it was nice to see some sort of expression hidden behind it. At least Magnus knew that Alec wasn't completely emotionless.

Moments later, Alec returned from the kitchen with two mugs of steaming tea and a muffin. He sat down and slid one of the mugs over to Magnus without saying anything. Magnus smiled warmly and thanked Alec, who didn't reply.

Magnus took a few sips and then cleared his throat. "Right, so, biology," he announced. He passed Alec a graph of the fluctuation of bird species populations.

He took the sheet into his hands and sighed in frustration. He didn't like this. He didn't like Magnus, he didn't like learning, he didn't like his new home . . . he didn't like anything.

Magnus left Alec's apartment that evening with more questions than answers. He still didn't understand what was so "mentally unstable" about Alec. He learned perfectly fine, and he didn't look any different- apart from, well, the clothing issue.

When he walked home, he pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and got lost in his thoughts, thinking about his new student. He wished he knew what was going on inside his head. He really wanted to know.

Back at his apartment, Alec watched out his window as Mr. Bane disappeared down the sidewalk, heading towards the opposite side of town. Alec exhaled deeply because although Mr. Bane was annoying as fuck, he provided a sense of companion. When he wasn't there with him, Alec felt incredibly lonely and he couldn't stand being alone.

Alec stripped down to his normal clothes then plopped down onto his couch with his phone in his hand. He scrolled through his unread messages from his old classmates and didn't answer them. According to his mother, he wasn't allowed to. She didn't want Alec's old school to know about what had happened to him.

The clock was ticking to find love, as Jace put it, but how was Alec supposed to find love when he couldn't even leave his own apartment?