"How do you feel about riding?"
"What now?" Magnus looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow at Alec who was perched on the edge of his bed. His blue eyes were alight with an almost childlike excitement and Magnus couldn't decide if he should be worried or share in the excitement. Magnus was lying down, the fashion book Alec had found him in the library propped open on his chest.
Alec fidgeted with the hem of Magnus' blanket and grinned at him. "I was thinking we could take the horses out and have another picnic. There's this amazing hill and I thought maybe you might like to take some pictures there."
Magnus gave Alec a smile and nodded, closing his book and setting it aside. He stretched, poking Alec with his foot and smirking. He sat up and wandered over to his closet. Magnus made a point of getting changed slowly, feeling Alec's eyes on him the entire time.
The boy's eyes roved over Magnus' back and Magnus glanced over his shoulder to see Alec lick his lips. Biting his own lip, Magnus pulled a shirt out of the closet and when he stepped back, Alec was behind him, running his hands up and down Magnus' torso.
"You're kind of making me want to stay." Alec sighed, breathing the words onto Magnus' skin and making him shiver.
Magnus leaned into Alec, letting out a sigh of his own, "I thought you loved riding. Jace said you were obsessed with the horses you know."
"I know." Alec said softly, "But I'm beginning to like other things more." He let his lips ghost over Magnus' jaw and chuckled as Magnus' moaned.
"We're never going to go riding if you do that."
Alec laughed, but pulled away. Magnus pouted but it faded to a smile when he saw Alec bouncing up and down. "I really want to take you riding. I wasn't kidding about that, so we're going to have to do this another time."
Yanking his shirt over his head, Magnus sighed. "Are you just going to stand there while I get changed?" He asked, grinning over his shoulder at Alec who'd gone back to sit on the bed. There was teasing in his tone but Alec flushed scarlet.
"I like the view." Alec smirked and Magnus laughed, turning so Alec couldn't see his blush. It was strange how easy it was to be with Alec and Magnus was almost unnerved by how much the other boy affected him. With most people, someone watching them would be creepy, really creepy. But with Alec, there was something sweet about it, thinly veiled awe and curiosity as he watched Magnus move around the room getting ready.
Magnus turned to go into the bathroom to put on his makeup but Alec was up in a flash and caught his wrist.
"Don't." He said softly, "You look fine." Magnus opened his mouth, hoping he wasn't as red as he felt. Alec pressed a chaste kiss to his lips and dragged him away from the bathroom. "You don't need make up. You look amazing."
No one told Magnus that. No one bothered.
"Okay." Magnus said, despite himself. He grabbed his camera off his side table and followed Alec out of the room.
Isabelle poked her head out. "Where are you two going?" She asked suspiciously, looking between the two of them and raising an eyebrow. "You're not going to go get it on in the woods are you?"
"Hopefully." Magnus said, at the same time Alec said, "No."
Alec turned to look at Magnus and Magnus gave him a mischievous smile, winking and making Alec blush. "We're big kids Izzy." Alec said, trying not to laugh, "We'll be fine."
She hummed, but slowly closed the door, "Okay. Fine." The door shut and the two of them turned to walk down the stairs, Isabelle calling through the door, "Got my eye on you Bane?"
"She only has one eye?" Magnus whispered and Alec snorted.
The barn was the same as the day before, musty and overall fulfilling Magnus' expectations on the way a farm would smell.
He ran his fingers over the doors of the stalls as Alec spoke to all the horses and stroked Balios. Alec was so in love with his horse Magnus was almost jealous, watching him coo and cuddle the animal.
Noticing that he was running his hand across the stall of the horse that was most likely to take his hand off, Magnus yelped and jumped away. Alec turned around at the noise and snorted. "Princess isn't going to eat you."
"You said she bites."
"Only sometimes." Alec said with a shrug, though he didn't make an effort to get any closer to the horse either. "Do you want to take Aristotle or Fancy Pants? I suppose you could take Princess if you wanted..." Alec trailed off with a grin as Magnus took an even larger step away from the stall.
"I'll go with Aristotle please." He said, his voice high. Alec laughed, moving to pull tack off the back wall. There was a huge array of saddles and bridles and things that Magnus wasn't sure weren't objects of torture. Tapping his hands on his thigh, Alec looked over all the equipment before pulling a saddle out and carrying it over to where Magnus was.
Magnus was constantly reminded how different he and Alec were. From the clothes to the attitude. But the largest divide between them was where they were from. Magnus would struggle to adjust to country life and would always ache for the hustle bustle, but Alec was right at home. He opened the gate and led Aristotle out, before beginning to strap the saddle on. Alec seemed as at ease with a saddle as Magnus was with a makeup brush.
"Shouldn't you, I don't know, tie the horse up or something?" Magnus asked, looking at the horse with unease. He was a bit more bothered than Alec was that Aristotle was standing in the middle of the barn with absolutely nothing keeping her from stomping on Alec and running away.
Alec laughed, "Nah, Aristotle is the nicest, calmest horse I have ever met." He patted her nose and she snorted. "You don't have to worry about her."
Magnus nodded, "If you say so." He touched the horse gently, humming a song to her as Alec wandered over to grab the bridle. As Alec slid it on, Magnus watched him. The way his hair fell into his eyes and his long fingers gently adjusted the straps. He imagined Will getting mad at him for being so gooey and so quick to fall madly for this boy. But there was nothing he could do.
"Are you okay?"
Jolted out of his trace, Magnus looked up to see Alec looking at him, an eyebrow raised and a small smile growing on his face. "Uh, yeah. Why?" He stammered out, trying to pretend like he wasn't mentally arguing with himself about something he sort of already knew was unavoidable.
"You were looking at me funny." Alec shrugged, getting Balios out of his stall. Balios shifted a bit, but didn't stray far from Alec. Alec tacked him up faster than he had Aristotle - if that was even possible - and before long, the two horses were ready to ride.
And Magnus was ready to have a heart attack.
"Uh, Alec?" He said, watching the other boy grab a few extra things they might need, one of which was the famous blanket from their previous pond adventure. "I should probably mention I've never actually ridden a horse. I hadn't even seen one until I came here."
"What?" Alec stared at Magnus like he'd just admitted to having been born with a second head. "How is that even possible? You've never been on a horse." He paused, "That would explain why they freaked you out so much."
"Yeah, it would, wouldn't it."
Alec just shrugged, "First time for anything."
Magnus' widened. "Do you not have any advice? I've never been on a horse and I'm kind of freaking out again."
"What's there to be scared about?" Alec asked, "You're about to ride the most calm horse in the world. And I'll be there. The whole time. I promise." He took Magnus' hand and put the reins in his palm, gently folding his fingers around the leather, "You can do this." Alec said, blue eyes wide and honest. Magnus nodded, practically losing himself in Alec's eyes and wondering if he'd ever be able to capture that color in clothing.
Alec led Balios outside and gestured for Magnus to follow. He did, charily leading Aristotle out of the barn and into the brilliant sunshine. Alec left Balios standing in the middle of the field, patting his side and letting the horse lean down to munch on the grass.
"Let's get you on that horse!" He exclaimed, his eyes bright.
Magnus' eyes widened, "Oh no! Why don't we get you on yours first?" He asked, skipping away from Alec and unintentionally taking the horse with him.
Alec raised an eyebrow at him, "Because then I won't be able to help you get on Aristotle... I'll be stuck on my horse?" Magnus shook his head and Alec sighed, "C'mon Magnus! It'll be fine."
Magnus sighed, "I'm never going to get out of this am I?"
"Nope."
Alec grinned and grabbed the reins from Magnus' hand. Instead of holding on to them, he dropped them on the ground and led Magnus over to the side of Aristotle. "Okay," He said, smiling at Magnus, "You're just going to put your left foot there in the stirrup." Magnus put his foot in the holster, wondering who the hell named the pieces of a saddle. "Grab the horn."
"The what now?"
"The horn." Alec laughed, pointing to what Magnus thought they really should have called the handle. Groaning, Magnus reached up and grabbed the 'horn', hanging off the horse awkwardly and waiting for Alec to give him another instruction. "Now, avoid smashing your camera, but swing your right leg over the horse."
"I don't know if you know this." Magnus huffed, "But this horse is very high and I'm not sur-"
Alec interrupted Magnus by seizing him around the waist and lifting him up. Magnus yelped and swung his leg over like Alec said and then clung to the horse for dear life. "Holy shit." He said, his voice a few octaves higher than usual.
"Told you it was easy."
"It was not and you did not." Magnus shouted, reaching out of smack Alec and almost falling off the horse with a startled cry. Alec reached up to steady him and gave Magnus another heart-breaking smile.
"But you did it anyways. That was the hard part." Alec picked the reins up off the ground and handed them to Magnus who took them in a daze. Then Alec lifted himself easily onto his horse, with a sort of grace Magnus was certain he didn't have when he was flailing on his own horse. "Now, for the fun part."
"I do not consider this fun."
"Not yet." Alec had a glint in his eye. He gently nudged Balios and the two of them walked-Magnus would not even try to use horse-y terms-over to Magnus and Aristotle. "Are you ready to ride?"
Magnus shook his head, clinging to the 'horn' and loosely gripping the reins. "I think I'm ready to get off." He said shakily, wanting to make Alec happy but at the same time too terrified to move.
"Don't worry." Alec said lightly, "Just hold the reins. Let go of the horn."
"Who named it the horn." Magnus said, aware that in moments of panic he was going to do what he always did: ramble. "I mean that's a really stupid name and it just sounds wrong. What idiot thought, 'oh yeah, that'll be a great name'? It doesn't really look like a horn does it? I mean I don't really know, I haven't seen a lot of horns and I guess it depends on the kind of horn and wow, I'm pretty high up aren't I? This is sort of crazy, almost as crazy as the person that named this-"
"Wow." Came a sarcastic voice from below, "He's almost as annoying as you on sugar."
"Go away Jace." Alec sighed, glaring down at his brother. "Magnus is sort of scared of riding."
"Sort of?" Jace asked, raising an eyebrow. Magnus was aware that his lips were moving and he might have been mumbling something and he sort of hoped that he didn't come off as crazy as he felt. "I'm pretty sure he's having a full blown panic attack."
"No I'm not." Magnus said indignantly. "I'm fine." He straightened up and let go of the horn, sort of terrified but not wanting to give Jace the satisfaction, "Now, please get the fuck out of the way so I can learn to ride a horse."
"Okay." Jace grinned, "Good luck with that big city boy." He gave Magnus and Alec a cheeky wave before walking back to the house, pulling a phone out of his pocket and fiddling with the buttons.
"Probably calling Clary." Alec mumbled, watching his brother and shaking his head slightly.
"What's the deal with that anyways?" Magnus asked, attempting to keep his mind off of the fact he was still on the horse. "Are they together? Because they sort of act like it... but they aren't really official."
Alec snorted, "They have this little dance that they do where they hang out and are basically dating but deny that they're dating. You met Clary, you know how awesome she is. I don't really get what she sees in Jace though..."
"You don't mean that." Magnus said with confidence, knowing that despite Jace being an ass, the Lightwoods loved him through and through.
"Yeah," Alec grinned, "I don't. But let's ride."
Magnus bit his lip and nudged the horse lightly, imitating the way that Alec had done it. Aristotle started to walk forward. Magnus yelped but held on to the reins, feeling a smile spread over his face as he saw one blossoming on Alec's face.
Before Magnus could figure how he was actually riding, they were walking through the woods. Alec began to take every opportunity to shower Magnus with praise and Magnus was forced to fight the blush that threatened to emerge.
"You're doing amazing!" Alec practically shrieked, throwing his arms up. Magnus wanted to scold him for not being careful on the horse, but Alec rode like he was born on a horse. And that shit-eating grin on his face was too cute to resist.
"How much further?" Magnus asked, "I mean, I like riding but my ass is starting to hurt."
Alec laughed, "Welcome to the lovely world of riding. We'll be there really soon. It's just up here."
True to his word, they were there in moments and Magnus forgot to breathe. Every time he saw something in the country he couldn't believe it was real. He'd always seen the pictures of flawless landscapes and land that stretched on uninterrupted for miles. But in New York? It was practically non-existent.
"Wow."
"I know." Alec said, dismounting from Balios and coming over to where Magnus was with a smile. "Here, give me your hand and I'll help you down." He extended a pale hand and Magnus reluctantly accepted it.
"Okay," Magnus sighed, "Now how do I get down?"
"Do the reverse of how you got up."
"But I couldn't get up!" Magnus exploded, "You helped me!"
"And I'll help you again," Alec said softly, running his thumb over the back of Magnus' knuckles. "It's easy." Before Magnus could come up with a sarcastic retort, Alec was running him through the steps of getting off the horse. "Alright. Stand up in the stirrups. Now, swing your right leg back over the horse."
Magnus followed Alec's instructions and soon found himself dangling off the horse once more. He grinned and pulled to get free.
"Alec."
"Yeah?"
"I'm stuck." Magnus said, yanking on his foot again and concluding that he was indeed stuck. "My foot is stuck."
"Really?" Alec said, looking at the foot with interest. "That's so weird..."
"I might be starting to freak out again." Magnus muttered, wheeling his arms and narrowly missing Alec's face. Scrambling he grabbed the 'horn' again and sighed, resting his head on the side of the horse. "I'm going to die. Stuck to a horse."
Alec snorted, "No you're not. We just have to pull you free." He seized Magnus by the elbows, dragging him backwards. Aristotle snorted and began to pull in the opposite direction, successfully making Magnus the subject of a tug of war between his crush and a horse.
Magnus let out a cry as he felt his foot coming free, it was somewhere between a cry of triumph and pain, because he realized that it wasn't the nicest experience to be properly tugged in two directions. Alec loosened his grip on Magnus' shoulders, pausing to ask him if he was alright.
Before he could say anything, Magnus and the horse became detached in a heartbeat. Magnus stumbled back into Alec, who stumbled back and fell on his butt. The horse wandered a little ways away, stumbling herself and looking really confused.
And there, hanging from the stirrup was Magnus' shoe.
Alec started laughing. Quietly at first, but soon it was full blown laughter. The kind of laughter where your eyes water and your sides ache and you can't even speak because it is physically impossible to stop laughing. And then Magnus started to laugh too.
And so, they lay there in the grass, laughing until they cried and pointing wordlessly at the shoe that was hanging off the horse.
"I can't believe-it-horse-shoe-" Alec gasped, leaning backing into the grass and throwing at arm over his eyes. Magnus was awkwardly lying between his legs, laughing too hard to move.
"Oh my god." Magnus said, finally getting his breath back and wandering over to see about doing the same with his shoe. "That actually just happened. My life has turned into a rom-com."
"Rom-com?" Alec asked, watching Magnus from his spot on the grass.
"Romantic comedy." Magnus sighed, "That much should have been obvious."
"So, who am I in this comedy?"
Hopping on one foot and trying to put his shoe on-much to Alec's amusement-Magnus rolled his eyes. "You're the ever elusive love interest of course." Alec blushed fiercely. "We are forever separated by our hesitancy to love but brought together by the humorous situations we keep landing ourselves in. There's Jace, the asshole brother who embarrasses me in front of you. Isabelle, the ever loving sister who is silently rooting for me on the sidelines. And Max, the adorable little kid who is there because every movie needs a kid."
"And the Jace-Clary thing? Where does that play in?" Alec grinned, still sporting the blush.
"Well," Magnus said plonking himself down next to Alec, making a barely audible 'oof'. "They're clearly the side couple that everyone loves and someday they will have their own spinoff movie that won't do quite as well but will still do fairly well in the ratings."
Alec laughed, "Okay. And do we get together at the end of this movie?"
"It's a rom-com." Magnus said, folding his hands under his head, "Everyone gets together in the end. Everyone's parents become happily married once more and we fade out with a kiss and some cute music to play during the credits." Alec watched him, blue eyes sparkling.
"And after the credits roll? What happens then?" Alec asked, looking away from Magnus and peering up at the sky. "Do we stay together? Is it revealed that my parents aren't okay with it?"
"Why does it matter?" Magnus sighed.
"Because it's not just a rom-com." Alec said, sitting up. He looked like he was on the verge of tears, but couldn't seem to contain his anger. Magnus wasn't sure Alec wasn't angry at him and it wasn't a far fetched idea to think that he had some role in it. "It's our lives! We could lose everything. I could lose my family! Do you think that's some kind of joke? I'm scared out of my mind because I can't turn all this off when the credits roll. It doesn't all end after we become a couple." He yanked on his hair, bringing his knees up and resting his head against it. "I just don't know."
"You don't know what?"
"What to do." Alec said, his voice watery and wavering. "Everything is amazing when I'm with you and I want to forget but there's a world out there. There's a world that's going to judge me and you and I don't know if I can face that. But I don't know if I can face being without you either. So what do I do?"
Magnus wasn't sure what to say. He wanted to tell Alec to love him, to give up everything to be with him. But could he really do that? Could he be selfish enough to ask this boy to do that? Could he do that to Alec?
"I don't know." Magnus said slowly. "Are you happy?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Alec cried, throwing his hands in the air. He glared at Magnus, though the look hand no real heat.
"I'm just saying," Magnus said slowly, "You have to realize that this is something you're going to have to face. Are you happy pretending to be straight? Pretending that you like girls like Maia? That we're just friends? Are you happy with that life? Could you ever be?"
Alec ran his hands over his face. "No. But wouldn't it be better to be unhappy than alone?"
"You'll never be alone Alec."
"You can't-"
"Alexander Lightwood." Magnus said, pulling Alec's hands away from his face and forcing him to face him. "You are never going to be alone. Isabelle thinks the world of you and Max couldn't imagine life without you."
"Jace-" Alec started, looking down at their joined hands.
"Is your brother." Magnus sighed softly, "He will love you. Because you're you. Because you're comfortable in your own skin. They're your family Alec and they will love you no matter who you love."
"My Dad." Alec said firmly, "You saw his reaction when you said you were bisexual. My father? Are you kidding me? My Mum loves him too much to ever leave him, even if that means leaving me. And my siblings have no choice. They're minors and if he kicks me out-"
"Then you can come home with me." Magnus said. "You can come back to New York and live with me and my parents."
"I couldn't." Alec said, "Your parents would never be okay with that."
"Are you kidding?" Magnus laughed, "My mother would eat you up in seconds. She'd fall for that adorable little accent of yours and be a goner. Not to mention my friends would fall all over you." He brushed some hair out of Alec's eyes. "You're scared about being alone and I get that. But you will always have me."
"Really?"
"Of course." Magnus snorted. "Now, I know we've just met and it's probably stupid of me to say but I really, really like you. And I know you want more time but I want to call you my boyfriend." Alec let out a little gasp and Magnus stopped.
Alec looked up and their eyes met. Magnus opened his mouth to say more but was cut off by Alec smashing their lips together. He moaned softly as Alec twined his fingers in Magnus' hair. "Say it." Alec whispered and Magnus grinned.
"Boyfriend?" Alec's grin grew and Magnus laughed, "You seem awfully happy about that one word."
"It just sounds..." Alec paused, letting his hands fall to the nape of Magnus' neck. "Nice."
"So can we be in an officially relationship?" Magnus asked slowly, fiddling with the hem of Alec's t-shirt. "We don't have to tell your parents but I want to change my facebook status. And we might as well tell Isabelle. Not to mention my friends would go ballistic. I think Camille is picking out honeymoon locations. That girl seriously thinks that we're-"
"Okay."
Magnus' eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Really?" Alec nodded. "Oh my god. You're mine? Officially?" He brought Alec in for another searing kiss, dragging him into his lap. Alec giggled into the kiss and Magnus kissed his nose before pulling away. The smile on Alec's face was bright and brilliant. It made Magnus' heart skip more than a few beats and he wondered how of all the people he was lucky enough to be with this beautiful boy. Magnus grinned and snapped a picture of Alec who laughed and shook his head.
"Aren't you way too close to my face?" He asked, watching Magnus line up the shot despite the fact that they were almost nose to nose and Magnus had to lean back to even fit the camera between them.
Magnus scrunched his nose. "Nope. I want to capture this moment. And I don't need the background to do it."
"You're just going to take a closeup of my face?" Alec said alarmed, "That's going to look awful."
"Hey." Magnus smiled, "My boyfriend is beautiful."
"Boyfriend." Alec repeated, still thoroughly entertained by the prospect. "And I think that he's decent looking at best. I mean, my boyfriend is way more attractive. To put it in Isabelle terms, he's hella hot."
"Hella?"
"Hella."
Magnus burst out laughing. "I completely and utterly disagree. How dare you call my boyfriend decent! He's fucking gorgeous and I am going to tell him that every day until he believes it." Alec blushed and Magnus bopped his nose gently with his finger, "Your boyfriend is pretty hot though."
Alec laughed and rested his forehead on Magnus'. They were giggled to themselves and stealing kisses in the sunshine when something occurred to Alec and he pulled away.
"We shouldn't do this." Alec said, pulling his arms from around Magnus' neck and letting them rest on his shoulders. "You're going to go back to New York and I'm going to be here. Forever."
"Why wouldn't you come out to live with me? Or visit at least?"
"I can't." Alec murmured, "I have to stay here and run the farm after my parents. Isabelle and Jace could be so much more. If I don't take it one of them will have to. I can't force them to stay here, I can't."
"Do you want to run the farm?"
"Maybe?"
Magnus narrowed his eyes. "Seriously. Do you want to run the farm? You don't have to. You could do anything. Clary said you liked drawing?"
Alec flushed, "Well yeah, but I need to run the farm. If I run off to do something else, someone else is going to have to take over the farm." He avoided Magnus' eyes.
"But do you want to?" Magnus pressed.
"No." Alec admitted, "I've always wanted to be an architect."
Magnus rubbed tiny circles in Alec's hip. "Then go be an architect. You don't have to run the farm. Your parents aren't going to do that to you or Isabelle or even Jace." He tilted Alec's head up. "You have nothing to worry about."
"It's not that easy."
"Nothing is ever that easy with you, is it?" Magnus muttered and Alec glared at him.
Alec got up, pushing away from Magnus. "It's all simple for you isn't it? You just wander around worrying about yourself. I have to think about my siblings. Everything I do could be reflected back on them. I need to protect them and make sure they're okay." He crossed his arms, looking away from Magnus with a scowl.
"Alec," Magnus started, "I didn't-" Alec raised an eyebrow and Magnus sighed, getting up after him. "Okay, so maybe I'm a little selfish. Maybe more than a little. But you're so fucking selfless that you're never going to get anything. You're so focused on making Isabelle, Jace and Max happy that you're never going to be happy yourself. And I can't live with that. So don't just accept you life, why don't you try living it? Become an architect or try at least. Can you do that for me?"
Alec bit his lip. "Okay. For you." Magnus grinned and Alec snorted, "You're so smug aren't you."
"Just a little."
Magnus turned away from Alec and took pictures of everything he could see. He heard Alec laugh and took a picture of him too, hiding his smile behind the camera.
"You know we're probably not going to last." Alec said solemnly after a heart beat of silence. Magnus let his camera drop to his chest and met Alec's eyes. "The chances of us being able to work around months of long distance... Most people at least can see each other, they can hope to stay together."
Magnus shrugged. "I don't care. Besides, we'll just have to do the same as everyone else." He winked at Alec, "Hope."
"You could get a job as a chef you know." Magnus said, licking his fingers one more time and grinning up at Alec.
The chef in question snorted, "It was a sandwich Magnus, not a full course meal."
"Still." Magnus protested, beaming up at his boyfriend and stretching out on the blanket. Alec leaned over him and pressed a soft kiss to his check. Magnus waggled a finger and brought him back for a kiss on the lips. Alec sighed into the kiss, melting in Magnus and hovering above him.
"How much time do you think we have before they start sending out a search party?" Alec asked as Magnus kissed his neck gently. He gasped as Magnus bit down just under the collar of his shirt.
Magnus grinned mischievously, "We have some time."
"We've been out here for hours."
"Holy shit." Magnus said looking at Alec disbelievingly, "You're joking? It feels like we've barely been here for an hour."
Alec hummed, tugging on a strand of Magnus' hair with a smile, "Nope. We've been out here for almost three hours. So, unless we want someone to come looking for us and catch us up to no good, we should head back soon."
"I don't want to." Magnus whined, "Can't we stay a little longer." Alec bit his lip and Magnus sighed, "Okay. I get it. We really have to get back."
"Sorry," Alec said, sounding genuinely apologetic, "I'll bring you back out here for another ride later."
"You better."
After a brief struggle to get Magnus back on the horse, the boys were ready to go back to the house. Magnus let out a long sigh, looking down at the hill. The sun was setting in the distance and for a brief moment, Magnus could see himself getting used to this life. He wondered if he could give up everything to be with Alec, come live in the middle of nowhere. Spend his days out in the sun riding horses instead of escalators and wandering the forest instead of the shopping mall.
"Are you okay?"
Magnus looked up to see Alec watching him. He forced a grin that he hoped was convincing and nudged Aristotle. "Yeah, I was just thinking about updating my facebook status."
Alec rolled his eyes but nodded and the two of them headed back.
Magnus and Alec wandered into the house, Alec going into the kitchen to clean up the picnic stuff and insisting that Magnus go upstairs.
Trudging up the stairs, Magnus heard whispers and raised an eyebrow. He rounded the corner at the top of the stairs and felt his mouth pop open. Clary and Jace were kissing, outside of Jace's room. Magnus was certain of a few things: they had clearly done this more than once, they didn't know anyone else was home and Magnus did not want to know what Jace's hand was doing.
Magnus cleared his throat awkwardly and the couple sprang apart. Clary was flushed redder than her hair and Jace was looking more annoyed than embarrassed.
"Well then." Magnus said slowly, starting to walk towards his room.
Clary shifted and Jace glanced at her before walking up to Magnus and dragging him a ways away.
"Don't tell Isabelle." Jace said firmly and Magnus gave him a look of confusion. "Listen, she'll just go trying to get us to be a couple. I don't know if Clary really wants that and I'm kind of scared to lose her."
I know the feeling, Magnus thought. "I won't tell a soul."
Jace let out a huge sigh, "Thanks Magnus. I know it's weird but, just roll with it okay?"
"Sure?" Magnus laughed, "Just so you know, I know what you did for me and-"
"What I did for you?"
"The horse thing."
Jace made a face, "That was nothing. I knew that you wouldn't want to seem like a wimp in front of Alec and if I insulted you you'd get the guts to ride. So, I did the thing I did best, I called you a pussy and then walked away."
"Still, thanks. And," Magnus continued, "She likes you just as much as you like her. She's only nervous because she thinks that you think it's a fling."
"Are you sure?"
"It's happened to my best friend only about a dozen times." Magnus rolled his eyes. "Now, go talk to her. This conversation if becoming awkwardly long."
Jace laughed, but nodded and walked back to where Clary was. He whispered something to her and the two of them wandered off downstairs. Magnus shook his head and sighed, pushing the door open to his room.
Magnus sat down in his chair, wondering if maybe he'd been wrong about Jace all along. Everyone seemed to think he was awful, but there had to be something good there if Clary was willing to stick around. Jace Lightwood was a piece of work and he liked to convince the world that he was an ass. But the way he looked at Clary? Magnus knew it pretty well. It was the same way he looked at Alec.
Clearing his head of all thoughts of Jace and Clary-after promptly deciding it really wasn't any of his business-Magnus swung open his laptop and grinned. Because a few clicks later, Magnus Bane was in a relationship and all of facebook could hear about it.
