Disclaimer: I don't own the TMI series or any of its characters.
A resounding pounding on his door caused Alec to start. He was working on homework before his date tonight and didn't have time for distraction, which was why he had ignored all of the texts from his siblings and guys from the team, even rejecting the coach's invitation to dinner that night saying he felt "under the weather after last night's game." Coach Wayland, who had become something like a second father to him and had also become close friends with his actual father over the years, just clapped him on the shoulder and told him to call if he needed anything.
Alec decided whoever was on the other side of the door would give up eventually.
Unless. . .
"Alexander Gideon Lightwood, if you don't open this door right now I swear I will . . . do something really bad."
. . . The person on the other side of the door was his persistent and stubborn little sister.
Alec kept ignoring her and continued his homework, nearly finished with his English essay for Mr. Garroway.
"Alec," the knocking continued, and Izzy was about to say something else when she twisted at the doorknob and Alec heard his door swing open.
He mentally cursed himself for not locking his door last night. Alec turned and faced his sister who strutted into his room. Her dark eyes flittered past him and she strode forward, grabbing his phone from his nightstand before he could even register what was happening. Alec leapt off the bed to grab it from her but she was already scrolling through his text messages, a smile plastered on her face as Alec wrestled her for his phone.
Laughing hysterically, Isabelle turned and gave Alec his phone back.
"You didn't text me back."
Alec blinked, "What?"
"You got my text last night but didn't text me back. Why is that?"
"I fell asleep."
"Did you fall asleep alone?"
"What?" Alec asked, flushing a deep red.
Isabelle looked at him with a satisfied grin.
"Did you sleep alone or with someone?" Isabelle repeated slowly, as if Alec were dumb.
He just glared at her, "I went to sleep alone. How'd you know he was here anyway?"
"After we talked that night I looked him up on Facebook, then I saw him at the game. He was a few rows behind me and Jace and he's hard to miss." Isabelle lied, not wanting her brother to know she had spoken to Magnus. She was also grateful Magnus apparently hadn't said anything to him either.
Alec would kill her if he didn't die of embarrassment first.
He stared at her a little while, as if to see if she was lying. She remained stone faced and he eventually sat back on the bed.
"Well, he was here and we just talked. Nothing else."
Okay, that was a small lie on his end, but a little making out was nothing compared to their first night together and they did talk more than anything else.
"What'd you talk about?"
Alec seemed to think about this, likely wondering if he should tell her anything.
"Not much. He asked me out," Alec replied a moment later, deciding he needed to talk to someone about this because inside he was freaking out.
"What do you mean asked you out?"
It was Alec's turn to look at Isabelle as if she were dumb.
"I mean he asked me out. On a date. Tonight."
Isabelle squealed and pulled him into a hug.
"Oh Alec! I'm so proud of you!"
"Wait, you don't even know if I said yes yet," Alec replied as he got out of her strong grasp.
"Well, did you say yes?"
"Yes," Alec answered and was pulled into another bone crushing hug. Alec almost regretted saying anything at all.
"What time is it?" Isabelle asked, as she released him from her death grip.
Alec gave her a confused look, "What time is it now?" He grabbed his cell phone from its place on the bed, "it's a little after five thirty. Why?"
Izzy gave him a dubious look and shook her head with some exasperation.
"And somehow you're considered the intellectual one of the family. No, I meant what time is your date tonight."
Alec grimaced at the insult but answered her anyway, "Seven thirty, why?"
Isabelle smiled and Alec regarded her suspiciously.
"Because baby brother"
"I'm not your baby brother"
"You are in social years. Anyways, I'm going to get you ready."
"What?"
"I'm going to get you ready for your date. You know help you pick out an outfit, do your hair, maybe a little bit of makeup."
"What's wrong with my clothes?"
"The question is what isn't wrong with your clothes Alec. All of your sweaters are two sizes too big and have faded from their original colors."
Alec cast a thoughtful glance over to his closet, where the doors were slung open, and all of his oversized sweaters and jeans hung. The sweaters that were all once black had faded to varying shades of gray and brown, and the jeans were faded and frayed at the ends from being washed so much. He never really cared about fashion to be perfectly honest, unlike his sister to who liked to think herself a fashion prodigy.
Alec just shrugged, "It's what I wore at the party."
Isabelle rolled her eyes, "That's different; you didn't know you were going to meet him. I'm not saying you have to dress up every time you two go on a date."
"You say that like there is going to be more than one."
Isabelle ignored him.
"I'm just saying that it's expected to look your best on a first date. Christ Alec, didn't you ever go on dates with"
Isabelle stopped herself from saying the name, realizing her mistake and mentally kicking herself for it. The unsaid words hung in the air, and Alec just looked away from her.
With a regretful sigh Isabelle stomped over to Alec's closet and grabbed two sweaters and least worn pair of jeans and shoved them into Alec's grasp.
"Damn your kicked puppy routine. Put these on, I'm not sure if you should wear the slightly gray sweater that's the least faded or the brownish one that is close to your actual size so I'm going to have you model them both."
Alec gave her a look, "Model them?"
"Yes," Isabelle replied, stepping forward, "model them."
At Alec's confused look, Isabelle stepped forward and grabbed the bottom of his shirt, jerking it upwards. Alec gasped and tore it from her hands, pulling it back down.
"Iz!"
"Oh relax Alec; it's nothing I haven't seen before."
At Alec's stern look she gave an exasperated sigh.
"It's not like seeing a girl shirtless Alec, you don't have boobs, I just want you to wear both of these shirts so I can decide what looks better or not as terrible, in this case."
"Well, could you at least just turn around or something?"
"Alec, I'm your sister."
Alec stood his ground, and Isabelle turned around with a groan, whipping her hair so that it hit him in the face.
"Try on the gray one first; it'll look best with your complexion." Isabelle instructed, letting him know she wasn't too annoyed with him.
With a sigh Alec complied, slipping on the gray sweater first.
"You can turn around now."
Isabelle did so and examined him carefully once she was facing him. She was right, the light gray color did set off his skin and eye color nicely, but there was still the problem of it being huge on him, a problem which would be solved with the brown sweater. Isabelle tapped her finger to her chin and Alec groaned in annoyance, her other hand on her hip.
"Iz, they don't look that much different!"
Isabelle stopped tapping her finger to her chin and straightened up.
"Fine, I like this one better. But I am doing your hair and you will not get to complain Alexander Lightwood."
Alec sighed, "Whatever will shut you up."
Isabelle smiled, grabbed her brother by the elbow and yanked him into the bathroom.
.
.
.
A little while later, Alec was staring at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, Isabelle standing proudly behind him, ruffling his hair a bit until he swatted at her hand to make her stop.
Alec's usual messy disarray of hair was lightly gelled and parted down the middle making for a very relaxed look. He would never admit this out loud, especially to Isabelle who already looked smug, but he sort of liked it.
"Alec, I'm going to need your help," A voice called, making both Alec and Izzy jump.
Isabelle turned to shoot Jace a glare as he entered the already stuffy bathroom.
"Whoa," he said looking at Alec who never did anything to his hair. "What are you two doing?"
"Nothing," Alec replied sheepishly, shoving past his siblings to get back into his bedroom. It was suddenly very hot in there.
Jace followed, not relenting on the conversation and Izzy was right behind him, wanting to come to her brother's aid. Alec was a terrible liar and she knew he'd need her assistance in warding off Jace.
"Seriously, why are you all dolled up?"
Alec rolled his eyes, "I'm not all dolled up, Iz just put gel in my hair, look."
Alec gestured to his wardrobe which was as drab and carefree as usual. This wasn't enough to pacify Jace though.
"Why'd she do your hair?"
"Why does it matter?" Alec shot back, clearly getting annoyed.
"What won't you tell me? Seriously, what is it you two are hiding?"
"We aren't hiding anything, seriously," Isabelle interrupted, "Alec is just having dinner with Coach Wayland and I was bored, that's all."
Jace regarded them both disbelievingly, but even he knew when to give up, which usually wasn't ever but Isabelle's voice was the stern mother like voice Maryse often used on them and he knew better than to argue with that.
"So," Jace said flopping down on the bed. "What time do you think your date with Coach will be over?"
Jace winked as he asked and Alec flushed.
"It's not a date," Alec replied tightly.
Jace snorted, "Obviously not. He isn't your type at all."
Alec blushed even harder at this and Jace, concerned for his brother's well-being because no one's face should ever be that red, spoke up.
"I was just kidding obviously."
Alec cleared his throat and once the blush had subsided somewhat, looked up at his brother.
"Why do you want to know what time my dinner is over anyway?"
"Because Aldertree, that son of a bitch, is now requiring me to be tutored every Saturday evening and we obviously can't have that now, can we?"
"Why can't we have that?" Isabelle asked, sitting down next to Jace on Alec's bed.
Jace sighed, "Because me being stuck in this school on a Saturday night is a travesty that affects anyone and everyone, particularly Alec."
"Why particularly Alec?" Isabelle asked before Alec could.
"Because last time I drug him out, he got laid."
"I got what?" Alec squeaked and Jace looked at him with a smug smile.
"You got laid, it's rather obvious really. It was Blondie right? I mean the hickeys, the stuttering, and ever since the party you have been a lot happier, a lot less somber and boring."
"I didn't. I didn't do that- get laid…. No."
Alec was ridiculously red at this point and was pulling at the collar of his sweater, as if hoping to somehow cool himself because he was so hot from the blood rush to his face.
"Very convincing," Jace snorted.
"Oh shut up Jace. If Alec says nothing happened, then nothing happened."
"As if Alec would tell you if he slept with someone or now," Jace snapped.
"He'd tell me before he told you."
Jace scoffed, "Yeah right. Alec and I share a brotherly bond, which you couldn't possibly understand, and therefore he would tell me first."
Alec felt guilty at this and just solemnly nodded, his neck was still warm but his blush had faded.
Jace sneered at Isabelle, but she ignored him.
"So what is it you need me for?" Alec asked once he finally regained the ability to speak.
"I'm not sure exactly how, but you need to get me out of this. I don't need a tutor; I just don't care about his class and therefore don't put in any effort. If I wanted to be passing I would be."
"You're failing Aldertree's class?"
Jace blinked, "You focused on the wrong part of that story."
Alec shook his head, "Whatever Jace, I can't help you. I don't know what time I'll be done. Ask Jordan or something."
Jace grimaced, "I can't ask Jordan, he is ridiculously whipped by that May"
"Maia," Izzy corrected.
"Maia," Jace corrected with a face, "chick."
Alec shrugged, "Ask Izzy."
Jace turned to his sister and she smiled, "Yes, Jace you should ask me!"
Jace turned back to Alec, "What could she do?"
Izzy looked insulted, "I'm better at this stuff than Alec!"
"Possibly, but professors here love Alec because he is what we call a teacher's pet. All Alec would have to do is, I don't know, talk boring Geometry stuff to Aldertree and somehow convince him that me being forced to learn on a Saturday is cruel and unusual punishment."
"Well, it is cruel and unusual." Isabelle agreed.
Alec sighed, "Jace, seriously how are you failing math? You're usually good at it."
"I am always good at everything, Alec. I just don't care about math, and Aldertree's voice is unbearable," even Alec partially agreed with that, "so I don't pay attention and occasionally fall asleep in class. None of those things require tutoring though. Aldertree is clearly delusional."
Alec just sighed, there was no arguing with Jace at times like this, especially when he had other things to focus on. Okay, only one thing and that thing was actually a person- Magnus.
"Who's your tutor?" Isabelle asked.
"Samuel Lewis or something like that."
"Simon Lewis?" Isabelle asked.
"Yeah, that's it. Do you know him?"
Yeah, he's the kind of cute guy with classes and brown hair."
Jace shook his head, "Can't say I've seen any kind of cute guy around here except when I look in the mirror, but let's be honest I'm way beyond kind of cute."
Isabelle and Alec both laughed at this.
"So, this Simon, what's he like exactly?" Jace asked when they stopped.
Isabelle looked thoughtful, "He's like the type of guy you make your husband only to cheat on later with the hot next door neighbor because all his nerd speak sort of drives you insane but he's too nice to divorce."
Jace blinked.
"That's . . . not what I meant at all."
Isabelle shrugged and picked at her chipping nail polish, "You didn't specify what you meant."
Jace shook his head, "I obviously don't care about his future love life."
"Fine, he's really nerdy. That's all I know, oh and he's kind of cute but I already said that."
"He's a tutor, I could've figured out the nerd part on my own."
"Then why'd you ask?"
Jace sighed, "This is why I go to Alec for these types of things, I don't lose brain cells in the process."
"As if you could bear to lose anymore," Isabelle muttered.
Alec snorted at this, but Izzy's comment reminded him of something . . .
Jace's shirt. Alec walked over to his dresser, where he had placed the shirt again after having it washed, and grabbed it.
"Here's your shirt," Alec said, tossing the freshly laundered t-shirt to his brother which he caught with ease.
"Hey! I've been looking for this, where did you find it?"
"Really" Isabelle snorted, "because it looks like nearly every other too tight t-shirt of yours."
Jace ignored her and stared at Alec, waiting for an explanation.
"I found it out in the woods. Really Jace you ought to be more careful. If Burt were to go out there and find this shirt and then see you running shirtless, even he would be smart enough to put two and two together."
Jace just shrugged, brushing off Alec's scolding as he normally did.
"Wait. What were you doing out there anyway?"
Alec froze.
Isabelle opened her mouth to speak, but Alec quickly recovered.
"I was clearing my head."
Jace stared at him, "You chose to go back there to clear your head? Really because I only go back there for one thing and it involves an entirely different head."
"Jace!" Alec and Izzy exclaimed in unison, Isabelle hitting him.
"Most violent siblings ever," Jace muttered angrily as he rubbed his shoulder.
"Seriously Jace, I just went for a walk and saw your shirt, which incidentally also has your initials on the tag, which would lead it right back to you."
Jace just shrugged and tossed the object into his lap.
"So what's the worst that could happen? Me getting expelled? I told you, Abercrombie modeling, you don't need a diploma for that."
"You'd make a really good Abercrombie model" Isabelle said seriously, and Alec gave them both a look of contempt.
They ignored him. Alec hated it when they were both on the same side. Alec looked at his watch, it was nearly seven and he needed to leave soon if he was to catch the subway and get to Brooklyn on time. Isabelle saw him glancing at his phone and got up from the bed.
"Well, I don't know about you two, but I've had enough family bonding for one night."
She turned to Jace. "What time is your tutoring thing?"
"It's at 7:45, but I'm not going until one of you agrees to help me."
"I can't help you, I won't be here," Alec said, and Jace turned to Isabelle expectantly.
Behind him, Alec gave Isabelle a pleading look. He needed to leave soon, but they both knew Jace would block him in or something equally obnoxious until he got his way.
"Fine," Isabelle agreed with a sigh, "but you owe me."
Jace smiled, getting up from the bed and walking towards the door, Izzy was close behind.
"How does my eternal gratitude sound?" He asked opening the door.
"Not good enough," Isabelle retorted, following behind as Jace entered the hallway.
"Wait one second," she said, closing the door on Jace before he could protest and running to Alec.
Isabelle placed a light kiss on her brother's cheek, surprising even him the affectionate gesture, and slipped money into his hand (as if he needed it, their parents gave them all a good amount of money each month).
"Good luck tonight and buy him flowers or something."
Just like that, Isabelle disappeared into the hallway.
.
.
.
It was cool outside when Alec finally arrived at Magnus' apartment complex, the sky turning a dark shade of blue that was about the same color as Alec's eyes. Despite the coolness, Alec's hands were sweaty and the plastic holding the roses (it was cliché Alec knew but he had no idea what to get someone on a first date, nevertheless someone like Magnus) crinkled in his tightening grip.
After a terse moment and an internal debate of whether he should stay or go, Alec pressed the small button underneath the name Bane.
"Yes?" A seductive voice crooned over the speaker.
The excited part of Alec wondered if that seductive voice was reserved just for him, the self-conscious part of him wondered if that was just the way Magnus spoke to everybody.
"Um, it's me. Alec."
"Mmmm, come on up darling," Magnus replied, buzzing him.
Taking a deep breath, Alec entered the building and went up the steps, arriving quickly at the familiar landing, his breath catching in his throat as he saw Magnus standing in his doorway.
"Hello Alexander," Magnus purred.
Alec took another deep breath and walked towards the glittery man, mentally preparing himself for what either become the best or worst night of his life.
Seriously everyone thanks so much for the reviews and everything! They mean so much to me because I've never had this many hits or anything on a story!
Their date will be its own chapter and I'll try to update it quickly, sorry this one took longer than normal it's nearly Spring Break and all of my professors are cracking down with tests and papers before then!