Chapter 3 - Siblings, Studying and Favors

Song: A Wish For Something More - Amy MacDonald

"Izzy."

Isabelle rolled over to face the wall and ignored the whispers, she pulled another blanket on top of herself and hid her face by pressing it into the pillow.

"Isabelle." The voice persisted. "I know you're awake."

She mumbled a threat and snuggled under the many blankets.

"I'll feed your make-up to Church."

She opened an eye, but kept her face hidden from the person.

"Look, this is important." The person said, she heard rustling around and then a noise of triumph as the person found her makeup bag. She turned her head to look into her room, through the dim light she made out the lanky figure of her brother. What does Alec want at this time?

"What do you want?" She growled.

"Your help." Alec replied, he put the bag on her dresser, he moved across the room and she felt the bed lower where he sat down.

"At," she glanced at the clock on her bedside table, "Two in the freaking morning?"

"Yes. I can't sleep and I've been trying to sort it out but I know nothing about clothes and you do, so I figured you'd help me. Aren't you always saying you'd be happy to help me about clothes?"

"Yeah, but not at two in the bloody morning." She grumbled.

"It was implied you'd be fine with it at any time." He said, "Anyway, you don't even know the reason why." He paused, obviously waiting for her to ask.

She smiled and despite herself found her asking: "Why?"

"Because, tomorrow I'm studying with Magnus." He answered quickly.

It took her a moment to work out what he'd said but when she realised she shot bolt upright, her eyes wide and excited as if she hadn't been sleeping in a coma-like-state a few minutes before, "No way!"

Izzy was the only one other person to know about Alec's secret and his crush other than himself. She supported her brother in every way she could, she tried to get him to open up and to tell people but he wouldn't and she respected his decision. She was also subjected to all his rants about Camille and his feelings about Magnus, hence why she was elated for him.

"Yes way!" He answered, his blue eyes shone with his exhilaration even in the dimly lit bedroom. Izzy launched herself at her brother and pulled him into a big hug, she was proud.

"I'm so happy for you!" She grinned, she then jumped up and off the bed, grabbed his hand and pulled him to his bedroom. Once there Izzy released her brother and went straight to his cupboard and started rummaging through his clothes, Alec turned on the bedside lamp and sat on his bed – he didn't have a clue with clothes and would only get in her way. She had a ton of questions, "When did you become friends again?"

"Just lately, we started talking through the windows again." Alec answered, he glanced to his windows, he hadn't closed the curtains yet, but Magnus' were tightly shut.

"And you did tonight and he asked you over?"

"Yup. After he congratulated me for scoring the winning goal, we talked about how we were and he said his English essay was bringing him down so I offered to help, he accepted and invite me over and he asked if he could draw me for his art project."

"He wants to draw you like one of his French girls?" Izzy couldn't help herself from the Titanic reference.

"No! He said I had the right look for his art project." Alec blushed and took a sip from thw water by his bed.

"Ooooh, maybe it's a nude drawing!" Izzy squealed. Alec spit his water out and started choking, Izzy got up and thumped him on the back, she dropped the clothes she picked on his bed.

"No!" he spluttered, his face going even redder

"That was an excellent spit take, but do you care to explain why you're both up and making a racket for at two in the freaking morning?" Jace said, he was leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed, his face wasn't happy. Alec laughed at how similar both Izzy and Jace's reactions had been.

Alec looked for Jace to Izzy and back. Izzy's look had told him to tell Jace the truth. "Because Iz is helping me pick an outfit tomorrow for when I go to study at Magnus'."

"Okay, but why such a fuss for Little Miss Sparkles?" Jace raised an eyebrow.

"Because," Alec looked down and took a deep breath, Izzy held his hand and squeezed it, trying to be encouraging, he pressed back and looked at Jace, "I'm gay and I have a crush on Magnus."

"Finally." Jace smiled, he walked into Alec's room and flopped onto the bed with his two adopted siblings. "I mean I knew, you've never dated a girl or shown interest in them. And I could have guessed about Magnus."

"How?" Alec asked, he was taken aback at how easily Jace accepted it.

"The way you look at him in class." Jace said, "Your eyes goes misty with longing and you gaze for ages and you chant his name in your sleep and write it in your notebook over and over and over …"

"I do not!" Alec exclaimed and shoved Jace with his foot, Izzy grinned. She was happyh Jace had accepted it so easy and that they were still acting like normal.

"I bet he writes love letters." She added.

"That's a good one Iz, thank you." Jace grinned at her but Alec glared, "Dear Magnus, I love you so much but it's a shame your girlfriend is such a witch and a tyrant who cannot let you go and let our love grow!" Jace threw a hand to his heart and acted it out. Alec prodded his ribs with his foot again.

"So I sit and silently pine for you but my heart cannot take it any longer. Break up with her and be with me! I can't bear to be without you!" Izzy joined in, a hand to her head, Alec threw a pillow at her. Izzy passed Jace the pillow and he got up, clutching it to his chest.

"Oh Magnus, I pretend this pillow is you and I dance around my room, all alone." Jace danced.

"I even write poetry!" Izzy shouted.

"Oh please. I do not write poetry! That's more like Jace about Clary!" Alec pointed out. "Oh, my dear darling Clarissa, you don't know how much I wanna kiss ya. You're a funky red head that I'd love to get in my bed. So I'm serious when I say Clary, you're the girl I wanna marry."

Izzy laughed and clapped her hands. Jace scowled, "It's a good job you don't write poetry."

"Oh please, you're going to use that and we both know it."

"I might do…." Jace smiled sheepishly. They laughed. They spent a good half an hour joking around, they didn't notice the curtain in the room opposite open slightly.

Magnus sat at his desk in his rainbow painted room and sighed as he gazed out of his window. Alec was awake because the curtains were open and he wasn't in his bed, but Magnus had been downstairs feeding himself and his cat when the brunette had done this and so didn't know where he was. He tapped his foot against the floor. He hated waiting. He was waiting for his laptop to load and for his neighbour to come over and help him with English and Art. He sighed again and glanced up and out of the window. He knew Alec wouldn't be up early, he and his siblings were up late last night (well, early this morning) talking in Alec's room, Magnus had seen when he went to get some water in the middle of the night.

He saw the bathroom door open and the steam pour out into Alec's bedroom, then Alec stepped out like an evil villain, Magnus laughed and found it incredibly cute. Alec was damp and with a towel around his waist, he held another to his head as he towel-dried his black locks. Magnus' eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly, he knew Alec was well built – it was presumed since he was on the football team – however his baggy clothes hid it, but now Magnus could see every delicious curve of that boy's muscular body. His abs, deltoid, triceps, biceps, pecs and every other muscle Magnus couldn't name, his mouth watered and he couldn't look away. If that towel slipped, he thought, I might throw myself across the gap and into his room.

Alec walked over to his bed where his clothes were, not noticing Magnus ogling shamelessly, and his put the towel used for drying his hair on the bed, he stretched his arms forwards before his hands went to his towel. Magnus felt his face heat. Alec started to undo the towel and Magnus practically flew out of his chair and out of his bedroom, he ran downstairs to the kitchen and threw water on his face to cool his cheeks. After that he stood with his back against the sink, his arms folded as his mind wandered.

It was here he faced the truth: he was attracted to Alec. This didn't surprise him, he knew, and was open about, the fact he was bisexual, but he didn't know about if Alec felt the same or even Alec's sexuality – he had never seen him with a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, but that didn't say much - and he, himself, did have a girlfriend. And for all Camille's faults he did like her, just not in a romantic way, but there was no point throwing away a relationship when he had unknown variables. At least that was his reasoning.

His reverie was cut off by the sound of someone ringing the doorbell. He went over to the front door and opened it, revealing a slightly out of breath Alec, he smelt like mint, sandalwood and a lovely sent Magnus called Alexander. He took in Alec's clothes, they were dark but the jeans weren't baggy and he wore a black v-neck, he looked good, though his hair was messy.

"Good morning, Alexander." Magnus smiled.

"Morning. I'm sorry it's late. I was up late last night and didn't get up very early but we didn't specify a time so…" He trailed off, his cheeks were a light pink for his embarrassment.

"It's fine." Magnus said, he stepped back from the door, "Come in." Magnus started towards the stairs and Alec followed, closing the door behind him.

"Your house hasn't changed a bit." Alec commented.

"No, Mum likes it this way so that's how it'll stay." Magnus answered. "Are you okay if we go up to my room?"

"Sure." Alec said, he fought the blush that was trying to make its way onto his face, luckily Magnus was ahead of him and couldn't see it.

"My room is the only thing that has changed." Magnus said, there was a small bit of pride in his voice. Magnus crossed the landing and into his room. Alec followed.

Magnus' room was painted in rainbow and glitter, there was a double bed in the centre, against the back wall opposite the window – there were bedside tables on either side - a desk pushed up against the window and a laptop whirring on top of it, next to that was a chest of drawers, there were two doors on one of the other walls with a bookshelf between them – one door lead to his walk-in-wardrobe and the other to his bathroom, Alec remembered this – and then the final wall with the window looking into the back garden had a loveseat and an easel against it. On almost every surface were pots and tubes of make-up and glitter.

"Wow." Alec nodded, his blue eyes flitting about the room, "It's bright…"

"Looks like a unicorn threw up, right?" Magnus smirked, he then gestured to the bed, "Feel free to sit down,"

"Just a little." Alec agreed, he sat cautiously on the bed.

Magnus laughed and went over to the chest of drawers, he crouched down and rummaged around before standing up with his English books and art sketchbook. "Let's get to work!"

"So, I think I've got it." Magus said as he wrote down an idea for a point in his essay. He looked up and grinned at Alec who smiled back.

"Good." Alec told him.

"And now…" Magnus smile turned mischievous, he placed his English book down on the canary yellow comforter and picked up his art book. "I get to draw you!"

Alec groaned and fell back on Magnus' bed. In the five hours he'd been there he's grown more comfortable and was fine with sitting on Magnus' bed. Magnus chuckled and grabbed his pencils, he opened his sketchbook.

"Do you want me to pose?" Alec asked, he sat up.

"No. We can just talk if you want." Magnus answered, he began sketching Alec.

"Talk about?" Alec raised an eyebrow.

"Girlfriends? Siblings? Hobbies?" Magnus suggested.

"Well, I don't have a girlfriend, my siblings you know and hobbies, I play football." Alec offered.

"Come on, you have more hobbies than football and there's got to be some new Lightwood drama."

"Fine, hobbies: I still do archery and I read a lot. And with my siblings…" Alec trailed off as he thought, I told my brother I'm gay and he accepted it. "Izzy is mad with Church because he ate her favourite designer top or something."

Magnus gasped, "Oh no, poor girl. I feel her pain." Alec looked at Magnus as if he was joking but Magnus' face was full of genuine sadness. Alec rolled his eyes.

"But it's her 'sixteen and a half anniversary' or her 'thirty-second half-birthday' soon so she expects a present from me so don't feel too bad and I'll probably get her something like that," Alec told him, "What about you?"

"Well, my girlfriend is more of a girl-fiend, I don't have any siblings, as you know, it's still just my mother and me – though I think she's got a boyfriend, and hobbies, I love fashion, I draw and sing."

"Why don't you break up with her?" Alec couldn't stop himself from saying. "Camille I mean." Magnus looked up from his sketchbook.

"Because…" Magnus trailed off, he didn't really know. He was popular before Camille and would be after her. They had become friends and people had often told them they looked good together and somehow they decided to go official, somewhere amongst their time together they both changed and now they both annoyed each other. "I don't know."

"I didn't mean to intrude, it's just there's no point being with someone who makes you unhappy, right?" Alec tried to save his slip up. "Do you have any other things to talk about?"

"Yeah." Magnus smiled, "Favourite colour?"

Alec thought for a moment, "Green and you?" To be specific the exact green of Magnus' eyes was his favourite colour.

"Blue and turquoise." Magnus answered. "Is there someone you like?"

"Like-like?" Alec asked.

"Yup."

"Yes." Alec confessed after a moment. "There is someone I like-like."

"Tell me about them."

"Well, the person is smart even though they goof off often, they're funny, amazing and arty. They're a good person and brighten up my day, I think the person is absolutely beautiful though I think they look better with less make-up, we've know each other for a long time but we drifted apart."

"She sounds amazing." Magnus replied

She? Alec realised Magnus didn't think it was him, he was relieved and not at the same time. "Yeah, I guess. What about you?"

"I don't really know." Magnus bit his lip.

Alec looked out of the window and saw his sister stood there. She flopped on his bed a struck a provocative pose, holding a whiteboard saying: 'Draw me like one of your French girls'.

"By the Angel." Alec said, shaking his head at his sister's antics. Magnus looked at him then looked across to his room and burst out laughing. Izzy grinned and jumped off the bed and hurried out of Alec's room, "I'm going to kill her. When I told Izzy about the art thing she started babbling nonsense like that and saying about poses and nudity."

"Your sister," Magnus said through his laughter, his eyes were watering, "Is amazing! I'm sorry." Magnus still laughing put down the sketchbook and shuffled to his bathroom to compose himself. Alec looked at his sketch.

It was amazing. It looked like him and didn't at the same time because the expression wasn't see often. Magnus had captured him mid-smile, his eyes big and shinning, it must have been when he was talking about Magnus. Alec turned to the front of the book and flicked through it, there were photos and sketches, things done by other artists and Magnus' versions of their works, ideas and techniques used throughout. He saw sketches of Tiara – Magnus' mother – Camille, Catarina, Ragnor and even Magnus' fluff-ball of a cat. There were some self-portraits and a few other people he didn't recognise. All of the images were stunning.

"What do you think?" Magnus asked, making Alec jump, he hadn't heard Magnus return.

"Beautiful." Alec said, eyes still on Magnus' emerald ones. "All the pictures are beautiful and amazing. You really have a talent."

"You were a good model." Magnus smiled. "I owe you one, you really saved me by doing that."

"You owe me one, eh." Alec said with a playful smirk. "I have a favour you can help me with…"

Magnus gulped but nodded. "Okay."

"Awesome, let's go."

W/M: So a huge thank you to SilverPixels for making such a beautiful cover image! I love it! And the exiting the bathroom like an evil villain after a shower thing, please don't tell me I'm the only one who does that? (I tried like a superhero but it wasn't as fun)

What do you think Alec's favour is? Also what do you think?