A bit shorter and a lot later then I'd hoped but I actually struggled to write this one. I don't know why I included this much Max, I seriously can't write for him. But whatever, enjoy! Read and review to let me know what you thought.
Magnus was jolted out of his daze by a knock on the door. He wandered over to open it, his mind battling itself. On the one hand he was hoping it was Alec and on the other he was trying to convince himself that he wasn't going to fall for Alec. He wasn't sure what he was feeling by the time he actually opened the door. It wasn't Alec though, it was Maryse. She was standing there with a smile on her face.
"I know your week of sulking isn't up yet but I heard you talking to Alec earlier." She gave him a hopeful look, "Would you like to join us for dinner? Alec's just putting the final touches on the pasta and then we can eat."
Magnus looked at his room for a second and then turned to her, a smile on his face as well. "I think that might be nice. A bit of company is overdue."
He closed the door behind him and followed Maryse down the stairs. He quickly looked at his clothes and decided that he looked nice enough for a simple family dinner. He blushed at the thought of playing footsie with Alec under the table and cursed Jessamine for putting that thought into his head. Magnus noticed that they took a different staircase from when he first arrived, the one they'd taken from the front door having lead them straight upstairs and the one they were taking now stopped on a small landing and then went down into the kitchen and dining room. The two rooms were separated only by a high counter with four barstools.
When they got there the four Lightwood kids were there. Alec saw Magnus coming down the stairs and gave him a beaming smile that Magnus couldn't help but return. Oh, the things that boy's smile did to him. He focussed on the other siblings for a moment, having the opportunity to finally see them up close.
The young boy was hiding bright grey eyes behind his glasses and was far skinnier than both his brothers. He was a lot shorter than the others and had the same nervous energy that Alec carried with him. He was setting out plates with his sister, who was beautiful up close.
She turned to Magnus and smiled, her straight, shiny black hair framing a pale, skinny face that had the same angular cheekbones as her two brothers but black eyes that shone underneath thick black lashes. "I'm Isabelle." She said, her Texas accent wasn't as strong as Alec's or Maryse's and only appeared at the end of her introduction.
"Magnus."
Isabelle gave him the same laughing grin that Alec had given him, "I know. You've been living upstairs for god's sake." When she smiled like that Magnus could see the obvious family resemblance. It was something he'd never seen between him and his mother and something he'd always wanted to have. Magnus thought it was sort of amazing, to look so much like someone else but only in the right light, only in the right moments.
He laughed too, "Right. I keep forgetting that."
The blonde boy snorted, "Well, here I was worrying about your intelligence. Clearly my worries were misplaced." Trying not to take offense to anything he said, Magnus noticed immediately that he looked nothing like the rest of the family. He was tanned, blonde and had luminous golden eyes. It was a stark contrast and Magnus was left assuming that Robert looked very similar or this Lightwood was adopted. From far away Magnus hadn't paid much attention to the blonde hair. But now that he was looking at them closer, there was no resemblance whatsoever.
"That's Jace." Alec explained, walking over to the table with cutlery. Magnus held out his hand and Alec handed him the forks. The two of them made their way around the table, Magnus following Alec's lead and placing the utensils on the pristine cloth placemats.
"Just ignore him." Isabelle called and Jace made a noise of protest but she continued, "That's what the rest of us do." Magnus gave her a grin, meeting her twinkling eyes and biting back a laugh.
"Alec doesn't ignore me." Jace said, folding his arms and giving her a challenging stare which she met with equal determination. She rolled her eyes at his statement and mirrored his pose.
"That's just because Alec's too nice to ignore anyone. God knows how he's been able to put up with you."
Magnus laughed and Alec gave him a smile. Trying to calm his racing heart, Magnus wandered into the adjoining kitchen. Maryse had gone straight to work with the cooking once they'd come down and was dishing the pasta into wide bowls.
The youngest ran up to him, watching his mum dole the food out and giving Magnus a shy smile. "I'm Max." He said, his voice quiet. Max didn't even give Magnus any time to reply, he was already scurrying back to the table.
Alec came by and grabbed four of the bowls, balancing them on his glorious forearms. The other kids had started to sit down, taking their places at the table normally, like everyone had a place and it was all just habit now. They'd added an extra chair on one side, putting Magnus right next to Isabelle and right across from Alec. Maryse took her place at one of the heads and called Robert in from the other room. Magnus tried not to think about what Jessamine had said and how their places made it perfect for he and Alec to play footsie.
Magnus stood up to shake Robert's hand as the man came into the room and his assumption of Jace being adopted was confirmed. He had dark brown hair and eyes, along with rather tanned skin. Clearly the Lightwood children took after Maryse more, taking her pale skin and darker hair. Robert's eyes were kind when he shook Magnus' hand, but his grip was firm and there was a feeling that he was not a man to take things lightly.
"So," Robert said, "What's your first impression of Texas? A lot different from home?" He dug into his pasta, the rest of the family doing the same and Alec helping Max dole cheese out onto his food.
Magnus nodded, laughing a little, "Everything is completely different. There's a lot more noise there, because there's so many cars in New York and so many people." The whole family was watching him, Max's eyes were wide, Isabelle looked excited and Jace looked completely bored.
"Is our town really small?"
Max's voice was small but curious and Magnus had to assume that he'd never left the tiny little chunk of world he called home. "By my standards it is. In New York there are tons of skyscrapers and business towers. There are people everywhere and no one has big lawns or anything like this." He gestured with his hands, smiling at Max's amazed gaze.
Isabelle twisted in her chair, digging her fork into her pasta and smirking at Magnus, "You must go to some pretty crazy parties then."
Running a sheepish hand through his hair and assuming the Lightwood kids didn't know why he was actually staying with them, Magnus nodded. "Yeah, there were some pretty crazy can get out of hand pretty fast. They're cool I guess but sort of toxic."
"Toxic?" Jace was looking at him like he was an idiot and Magnus bit down his worry at the two parents going silent. He didn't want to talk about the horrible things that his friends had done to people, that he'd done at parties. It seemed so funny at the time, laughing at people and being part of an enormous crowd. But Magnus was in Texas to restart, to get some fresh air.
"The people that go to those parties aren't always the best people to be hanging out with." Maryse raised an eyebrow at him and he gave her an apologetic smile, "Reckless, rude, that sort of thing."
Isabelle had gone back to eating, nodding.
Robert decided at that moment to pick up the awkward silence, "So, Magnus. Got a girl waiting back at home?" This just made the silence longer.
Clearing his throat, Magnus focussed on his food for a second, "Uh, no. Also, I'm, uh..." He met Robert's eyes for a second, "I'm bisexual." He sounded quite timid, which sent Magnus back the time when he had to tell Camille and he was preparing for the worst. Magnus wasn't sure why he was so worried about what Robert would say, because getting kicked out would probably mean going home and putting this whole trip behind him. He could hear Rebecca telling him that they were traditional and thought of how nervous Alec was about being gay.
Robert didn't say anything, it was Maryse that broke the silence, "Got a boy then Magnus?"
Grateful for her intervention, Magnus gave her a broad smile and shook his head, "Nah, I'm free as a bird Mrs. Lightwood."
"Call me Maryse or mum, otherwise there's going to be a lot of poop shoveling young man." She gave him a teasing smile but he took her very seriously. "And I'm sure the right boy," she paused, "or girl is out there, just waiting for you to wander into their life unannounced."
Magnus laughed, meeting Alec's eyes across the table and smiling, "Yeah, maybe."
It was strange for Magnus to be part of a functioning family. A family that laughed at the dinner table, cleaned up afterwards and then promptly suggested doing something together.
He'd gotten up from the table and noticed that the kids immediately went to work helping out. Isabelle and Max piled the extra food into containers in the fridge, Robert excused himself with an apology and the burden of undone work and Maryse was told by her children to go get some rest, they'd take it from here.
Jace didn't seem to be doing much, but Magnus ignored him. He rolled up his sleeves and tossed a dry towel to Alec. "I'll wash you dry?" He asked, "I don't know where anything goes so it's probably better that you tackle that part." Alec nodded and Magnus went to work, glancing over every once in a while to watch Alec. He'd lift his arms up to put the glasses away and Magnus had to avoid swooning at the strip of toned muscle that was revealed.
Isabelle caught him looking and gave him a wink, covering her mouth and giggling. Jace gave her a glare and propped his feet up on the counter. "So, what movie are we gonna watch?" He looked from sibling to sibling, raising his eyebrows.
Magnus was surprised, he didn't think siblings actually did anything together. But the Lightwoods seemed to think of this as a regular occurrence. Isabelle immediately suggested 'Mean Girls' and her brothers started groaning.
"Seriously Iz?" Alec asked, rolling his eyes, "You always say that. I can practically quote that movie word for word."
"You cannot."
Magnus was delighted to find that she'd underestimated Alec's ability to memorize things. Her older brother put down the towel, folded his arms and began to recite 'Mean Girls' with the authority of someone quoting the most ancient scriptures. "'This is your lunch okay? I put a dollar in there so you can buy some milk. You can ask one of the big kids where to do that.' 'Do you remember your phone number? I wrote it down for you just in case. Put it in your pocket I don't want you to lose it. Okay? You ready?' 'I think so.' 'It's Cady's big day!' I guess it's natural for parents to cry on their kids first day of school, but you know this usually happens when the kid is five. I'm sixteen and until today I was homeschooled. I know what you're thinking, homeschooled kids are freaks." Alec stopped and Isabelle's jaw was on the floor. Magnus wasn't even sure if he had it word for word, but Alec's confidence made him think that he did.
"X-y-l-o-c-a-r-p. Xylocarp" Max droned, joining Alec and Magnus had to slap a hand over his mouth to keep from completely dying of laughter. The fact that not only Alec knew the words to 'Mean Girls' was both hilarious and somewhat worrying. Isabelle's mouth was wide open and she moved to say something, but Alec kept going.
"-Or that we're weirdly religious or something."
"-And on the third day god created the Remington bolt action rifle so that man could fight the dinosaurs and the homosexuals." Jace emphasized his accent and Magnus choked, fighting back the peals of laughter that were threatening to fall past his lips.
"Amen." All three chimed in on that one and Magnus laid his head on his arm, folding his upper body over the counter and shaking with laughter. He looked up, seeing Isabelle biting her lip and her shoulders quivering.
"-But my family's totally normal. Except for the fact that both my parents are research zoologists and we spent the last twelve years in Africa. I had a great life but then my mom got offered ten-year at northwestern university. So it was goodbye Africa and hello high school." Alec unfolded his arms and spread his hands along the counter top, staring his sister right in the eye while he quoted the words.
"And cue the bus." Jace said, looking up at the ceiling and sighing. The boys stopped there, giving Isabelle a look and forcing Magnus to finally burst out laughing. Alec caught his eye and started laughing too, until all five of them were falling to the floor in tears.
"Fine." Isabelle said, wiping her face and smiling broadly, "We don't have to watch 'Mean Girls'. Max shouldn't be watching that anyways. Mum will kill us if she finds out he's been watching those movies with us."
Jace looked at Magnus and grinned, "Don't go telling on us, you may be a house guest but I will not hesitate to hunt you down like I would if it were my siblings."
Magnus snorted, "I don't doubt it." He turned back to the dishes and handed a clean plate to Alec, trying not to shudder when their hands brushed in the process. "So what movie are we going to watch?" There was silence as the siblings looked back and forth, Magnus was indifferent and Alec just shrugged. Jace and Isabelle both looked like they were going to suggest something when Max piped up.
"We could always watch Iron Man." His voice was quiet but his eyes were excited, like the simple prospect of the movie made him happy.
"I'm down for Iron Man." Jace said, ruffling Max's hair.
Magnus grinned, "I've never actually seen Iron Man."
Max's jaw dropped, he was looking at Magnus horrified and Isabelle laughed. "We have to watch it then!" Max cried, throwing his hands in the air and looking at each of his siblings. They nodded, though Isabelle looked a bit resentful.
Alec leaned over and whispered in Magnus' ear, "Iron Man is Max's favourite movie of all time. We watch it a lot but he loves it too much for any of us to say no."
Smiling because their love for their younger brother was adorable and because having Alec that close to him brought all the blood rushing to his face and turning it a bright red, Magnus nodded and handed Alec the last plate.
Drying it and putting it away, Alec grabbed something else from the cupboard and threw it at Jace. With reflexes that Magnus was positive no one back home had, Jace grabbed the object out of the air with ease. It was a plastic tub of popcorn kernels. Upon noticing it, Max rushed to the fridge and grabbed some butter.
"You and Max go make popcorn," Alec ordered, sliding some salt across the counter and shooing them with his hands. "We'll get the movie room ready." He pointed to Magnus Isabelle and himself. Jace didn't argue for once and slung an arm around Max's shoulders. Magnus could hear Max chattering to Jace as they walked away and he figured that the boy wasn't all that shy once you got to know him.
He followed Alec and Isabelle out of the room, rolling down his sleeves as he went. They led him through a long hallway, Magnus catching a glimpse of a laundry room, two bathrooms, a fancy looking sitting room and at least three closets. Deciding not to mention to the siblings that they had the largest house known to man, Magnus looked at the pictures on the walls.
Alec, noticing he stopped, came to stand by Magnus in front of one of the frames. There was something innocent and happy about the photo, Jace and Isabelle beaming at the camera and Alec holding a baby who Magnus could only assume was Max.
"That was the day he was born." Alec said, smiling at the photo next to him.
Magnus grinned, "Were you happy? Did you want another sibling?" Alec shrugged, one hand crammed in his pocket and the other one running through his hair.
"I didn't want another sibling per-say, but I wouldn't trade Max for the world. At the time I thought I was fine with just Jace and Isabelle, but then I got to hold him. It was crazy. I was too young to hold Isabelle when she was born and we adopted Jace when he was pretty young." Magnus nodded, noting that he was right about Jace being adopted.
"I never got a sibling." Magnus frowned at the picture now, trying to imagine what his own brothers and sisters might have looked like. Would they have shared his hair? His eyes? Would they be older? Younger?
Alec watched him sadly. "You must have been awfully lonely as a kid."
"It was pretty bad. But only sometimes. I had friends I guess, it was just never the same."
"Well," Alec said, pushing Magnus' shoulder lightly and turning back towards the end of the hall, "You're part of this family now and that means you're going to help us move couches." The two of them walked through the door Isabelle had opened. Magnus gaped at the enormous leather couches that Isabelle was moving closer to the TV and the bean bag that Alec moved to drag across the room.
He grabbed the other side and started to help Alec move it, shaking his head. One of the walls was covered in DVD cases. Some held movies and others held video games, but it must have been almost every game and TV show and movie ever made. The shelves went wall to wall and floor to ceiling, a sea of titles and boxes. The TV itself was an enormous flatscreen that was fastened to the wall and used a projector. It was hooked up to every gaming system imaginable and there were controllers everywhere.
"The child inside of me just died."
Alec laughed, tossing some RockBand guitars in a pile of discarded accessories and later adding the drumsticks to the collection. "We can get pretty intense about our games. Jace is the most competitive RockBand player I know."
"No way." Magnus laughed, slouching onto one of the couches and raising an eyebrow at Isabelle. She laughed and nodded.
"He gets a blister from the yellow button."
Jace took this moment to burst into the room, he and Max ladened down with snacks and drinks. There was a six pack of coke hanging off of one of Jace's fingers and Alec snatched it right away.
"Are you guys talking about my RockBand skills again?" He asked, shoving a bowl of popcorn at Magnus and dumping bags of candy onto the other couch. Max followed Jace's example and leapt onto the bean bag. Alec divvied up the candy, dumping some out into bowls for sharing and letting some of them just hoard the entire bag.
Max turned around to Magnus while they waited for Isabelle to sort out the DVD player, giving him a delighted smile. "You're going to love it."
"I bet I am." Magnus said, returning the happy smile and trying to pretend like he hadn't noticed Alec watching him.
Isabelle turned on the movie, sitting back down next to Jace. Magnus was suddenly acutely aware of Alec sitting right next to him, radiating heat. The two of them shared popcorn and watched the movie. Magnus liked Tony and thought he was hilarious, clearly the others thought the same seeing as Jace pumped a fist in the air when they defeated the badie. Max, who had been excitedly commenting on things throughout the entire movie and reacting just the way he would be expected to, fell silent in the last few minutes. Magnus looked over to realize he was fast asleep, his glasses crooked on his nose and his coke on the verge of spilling.
When the movie was over, Isabelle put a finger to her lips, she grabbed to coke from Max' grasp and placed it on the ground, beginning to collect the candy wrappers. Alec walked over to where Max was slowly and picked him up. He gently carried his brother upstairs, Magnus in tow, with Isabelle and Jace offering to clean up. Magnus opened the door marked 'Max' for Alec and watched him carry his little brother inside.
Magnus noted that the older siblings had had Max change into his pyjamas before watching the movie, no doubt knowing that he would fall asleep. Alec gently placed Max on the bed and tugged the covers over him. He put Max' glasses on his bedside table and placed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Magnus could hear Camille dying, screaming about how cute this boy was and how Magnus totally needed to get with him. He did what he always did when Camille popped into his head, he ignored her. His mind version of her always had a way of telling him the worst possible thing to do. He needed the real Camille who was going to be logical. Hopefully.
The two of them tiptoed out of Max's room and stood in the hallway for a brief second. Magnus smiled at Alec and tried to dispel the butterflies that filled his stomach when the other boy smiled back.
"Thanks for inviting me to movie night." He said nervously, running a hand through his hair, "It was fun."
Alec smiled, "I'm glad you liked it, you'll get used to it. We watch movies a lot, almost as much as we do TV show marathons. Did you like Iron Man?"
Laughing Magnus stared at his feet, "I did actually."
"Good."
"Well," He shifted back and forth slightly, meeting Alec's eyes and noting that they practically glowed in the dark hallway. "Good night then."
"Good night Magnus." Alec turned and started to walk towards his bedroom, raising a hand in goodbye and giving Magnus that easy smile. Sighing Magnus smiled back and raised his own hand. He wandered back to his own room and closed the door, leaning on it. He wasn't going to fall in love with a boy that lived in a different part of the country. It wasn't going to happen.
"I need to talk to Camille." He said aloud. If there was anything he needed right now, it was some serious girl advice.
Again, sorry for the wait! I'm starting the next chapter now so hopefully I'll get that up soon (and it will be slightly longer...).
xx
