Thanks for the support you guys! And sorry for being so flaky on the posting time. I couldn't get into my account... it's a long, dumb story. Just a little bit of fluff before more drama descends. You're welcome.


"Get up!" Alec yelled, throwing himself on Magnus, who just groaned and rolled over. He adored Alec, he really did, but Magnus despised getting up even five minutes before it was completely necessary. Unless he was getting up to do his makeup, there was no point in dragging himself out of bed. Alec was the opposite, and seemed to have made it his goal to wake Magnus up everyday.

"Oh my god." Magnus cried, rolling away from Alec. "What do you country people have against sleeping?"

"Sleeping is just a distraction from getting stuff done."

Magnus actually opened an eye to give Alec an incredulous look. "You're kidding me right? Who said that?"

"My Mum." Alec shrugged.

"Sleep is the best part of life." Magnus said, shaking his head and burrowing deeper into the blankets. "If I had it my way I would be a sloth and sleep all the time."

"I don't think sloths—"

"You're ruining my nap time."

"This isn't really napping." Alec huffed, but he stopped jabbing Magnus in the side and rolled onto his back to look at the ceiling. "Technically you're just putting off getting up. Which doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me."

"Why doesn't that make sense?" Magnus grumbled. "It's the asscrack of dawn and I have no desire to get up and sing with the birds or whatever you plan on doing at this ridiculous hour."

"Sing with the birds?"

"Aren't you people supposed to be one with nature?"

"Nope. We're not Pocahontas." Alec laughed. "We just aren't terrified of it like you city folk. And it's not the asscrack of dawn, it's like nine in the morning. You've practically slept in."

"Oh Jesus." Magnus sighed. "Someone really needs to teach you that sleeping in isn't sleeping in unless it's after ten. Anything before that and it's just a faulty alarm clock." He rolled back over to grab a handful of Alec's shirt and tug him close.

"What are you doing?" Alec whined. "I want to get up and do things."

"That's just too bad." Magnus grinned, not even bothering to open his eyes. "You're my boyfriend and therefore I get to use you as a pillow whenever I please. I'm also trying teach you the benefits of sleeping in."

"Is that so?" Magnus was certain that Alec had intended to sound annoyed, but Magnus could hear the smile that was flirting on the edges of Alec's voice. "I wasn't aware that this was part of the whole relationship thing." But his voice softened as Magnus rested his head on Alec's chest. His hand went to Magnus' hair and Magnus let himself be lulled into a state of drowsiness simply by cuddling next to his boyfriend.

It was only yesterday that Magnus had found out that everything he'd thought about his parents was wrong. He'd thought there were so many odd reasons why he couldn't quite get along with his parents, but he'd never thought that an affair or his father not actually being his father would be one of them. It was a lot to grasp, and he felt a pang of sympathy for the parents he'd always thought of as distant or awkward. Magnus had almost been annoyed when his parents reached out, thinking that it was a pitiful attempt. In reality, Magnus' parents were probably more confused about how to deal with all this than Magnus was.

"Are you okay?" Alec whispered. Magnus was grateful for Alec, because without him, Magnus probably would have gone into a state of bitchy denial. He couldn't understand how Alec was putting up with him, especially when Magnus had been rather insensitive to Alec's family problems. He didn't try and pressure him, but he was sure that he hadn't been as gentle or patient as he should have been.

"I don't know." Magnus answered, figuring honesty was the way to go.

Alec sighed. "I really don't have anything good to say. But if it makes you feel any better, we've got something awesome planned for today."

"We?" Magnus said, unable to keep himself from smiling. There was no doubt that the 'we' included Isabelle and that meant that the day was going to be crazy — Lightwood style crazy.

"We as in Isabelle, Jace, Clary, Simon, Max and I." Alec clarified and Magnus felt the smile on his face grow. He looked up at Alec, his face slowly coming into focus. He wasn't looking at Magnus, but instead staring up at the ceiling. "Well hello there." He laughed, noticing Magnus watching him.

Magnus grinned and leaned forward to peck Alec on the cheek. "C'mon. I'm starting to die of starvation. And I really want to know what this mysteriously awesome day is going to be."

"Oh," Alec sighed, "so now you're getting up?"

"Yeah." Magnus shrugged. He stretched his arms over his head and felt himself smile as he noticed Alec admiring the view. "I think I'm going to call Camille. Is that okay?"

"Yeah sure." Alec nodded, giving Magnus a hug from behind and sighing. He rested his chin against Magnus' shoulder and gently pressed a kiss to the curve of his collar bone. "I guess I'll go help make breakfast and then you'll come down?"

"'Course." Magnus couldn't help but smile, leaning into Alec's embrace and closing his eyes. He savoured the feeling of his boyfriend, grabbing one of Alec's hands and gently bringing it up to his lips.

"Oh," Alec said, fighting a blush and stumbling over his words, "wear old clothes by the way. You can borrow some of mine if you want, something that you won't mind ruining."

"Why?"

"I can't say. It's a surprise." He said, backing towards the door, a grin stretching over his face. "I can't ruin the surprise."

"Tell me." Magnus whined, grabbing Alec's hand and pulling him back. "I'm not letting you leave."

Alec surprised Magnus by pulling him in for a kiss. Alec beamed and let Magnus go, Magnus missing the touch instantly. "Not telling." Alec said, dancing out of Magnus' reach.

Grinning, Magnus heard Alec leave the room as he fumbled with his phone, flopping back onto the bed as it rang. "Hey stranger." He said, though he couldn't keep himself from smiling.

"Hello there." Magnus' smile faded quickly, it wasn't Camille on the other end of the line.

"Will."

"Long time no speak." Will wasn't sarcastic, he almost sounded empty. Magnus was worried right away, but the nature of his friendship with Will forbade him from saying that right out. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd forgotten we existed."

"I found other things to do." Magnus said slowly, thinking about the last 24 hours.

"Oh of course." Will said, displeasure dripping from his voice. "The boy toy."

"Stop calling him that." Magnus hissed, the worry he'd felt for Will quickly fading into annoyance. Will seemed to enjoy pushing Magnus' buttons and Magnus was always quick to fall into his trap and get mad. "He has a name you know."

"Magnus, I stopped learning the names of your flings years ago. I can't learn the name of every one night-"

"It's not like that Will and I would very much appreciate you shutting the fuck up. Where's Cam?"

Will sighed dramatically. "She's in the bathroom, her head hanging over a toilet cursing life. I believe that Ragnor is holding her hair and trying to avoid getting sprayed with vomit."

"Lovely." Magnus bit out. "Tell her to call me."

"What?" Will faked sadness and Magnus ground his teeth, not up for handling Will's brand of irritating. "No more gossip about the boy toy? Nothing to tell me about his glorious hair or abs?"

"Nothing to tell you." Magnus said. "Anything to tell me about Tessa?" It was a low blow, but Magnus felt like Will was starting to deserve it and there were plenty more where that came from if he continued to poke fun at Alec.

"Oh yes." Will said, though his tone was more reserved now, less snarky. There was something to tell Magnus that he couldn't keep up the act anymore. "She and Jem are dating. Or at least I'm guessing they are because they've been on a few dates now."

Magnus' irritation drained out of him. "Oh god, Will." Will didn't say anything just hummed. There wasn't very much to say, because it was clear to Magnus how much this would destroy Will. It was hard to love something that much, Magnus thought. He couldn't even imagine watching Alec date someone at this point, the very thought made him feel sick. Watching Tessa date Jem must have been unbearable for Will. "Are you going to be okay?"

"Am I going to be okay?" Will repeated. "I guess so? Oh my god. Why can't I be happy for them?" His voice was resigned now and Magnus could hear the sadness that he was trying to repress. It didn't take Magnus more than a second to realize that Will hadn't talked to anyone about this. Who would he talk to? As much as Magnus might annoy Will and vice versa, they came to each other when they had problems that their best friends couldn't handle. "They're happy, everyone else is happy. And I can't tell anyone anything because if it gets back to Jem it will kill him. I don't know what to do."

"You're going to be okay." Magnus said, answering both his own question and Will's demand for advice. "The first thing you need to do is calm down. I think you're overthinking this a little. It's going to be rough. But maybe distance yourself a little? Give yourself some time to get over it and them some time to try being together without you in the picture."

"I guess so."

"Will, I can't offer you much. I've never been in this situation before-"

"Don't remind me about you and Mr Perfect again, please." There was a level of desperation in Will's voice. Magnus felt guilty again, realizing in his blind happiness that he'd been more than a little cruel to Will who was stuck in a situation that had forced him to lose two people he loved in one go. There was no advice, no uplifting piece of wisdom that Magnus could give Will that would ever soften this blow.

"Sorry." Magnus said, his voice almost a whisper. "I'm here though. Talk to me. I'm willing to listen. Christ, if you listened to me talk about Alec's abs, I will listen to you vent about your personal life."

"Magnus, I do nothing but annoy the shit out of you. You can't possibly mean that."

"Oh but I do."

There was a pause, before Will let out a breathy laugh. "You're actually a really good person Magnus. I don't think I've ever told you that before."

"I know you haven't."

"Can we start over? Like a little bit?"

Magnus tried to hide his surprise, but made no effort to hide his smile. "Yeah sure Will. I mean, I don't think we can ever truly stop annoying the shit out of each other, but we could stop being outright dicks?"

"I'd like that." Will said softly. "Oh, I think Camille has stopped spewing like an open fire hydrant. She's going to probably demand food. Did you still want to talk to her?"

"No. I'll call tomorrow." Magnus figured he'd let them have their drama for now, before piling on his own tomorrow.

They said goodbye and Magnus hung up the phone feeling lighter somehow. It was odd for Will to be at all emotional, because he was often such an ass that Magnus didn't give a damn about his feelings. But to be in a position where Magnus noticed his hurt but those inflicting it couldn't see, that was something that made Magnus want to help him, no matter how useless he was to the problem. It felt nice though, to know that he could at least be there to talk when Will needed. And going by the almost breakdown that Magnus could hear in his voice, he was going to need someone to talk to or he was going to go crazy.

Magnus dragged himself off the bed and with a yawn moved to get dressed. He had a surprise waiting for him downstairs and he might as well go great the bizarre group of people that honestly thought nine AM was 'sleeping in'.


"Are you kidding me?" Jace yelled as Magnus walked into the kitchen. His arms were waving around his head, like he couldn't control them anymore. Magnus' adorable boyfriend ducked under them to get to Magnus and press a gentle kiss to his lips.

Isabelle shook her head. "I'm really not."

"What are we talking about?" Magnus asked, looking between the two of them. Putting his camera on the counter, he grabbed a piece of toast of the counter and held it out to Alec who took a bite and smiled.

"Stop being cute." Isabelle said, rolling her eyes. "And we're talking about how Tiffany is still on ANTM."

"No way!" Magnus yelled, causing Alec to jump. Isabelle nodded, pointing at Magnus with both hands and bouncing up and down.

"Right?!"

"Tyra's losing it." Jace said, shaking his head. "Tiffany can't even master the walk. She needs to go home, realize what it means to want to be on the show and then come back. She just has no respect for the craft that is-"

"America's Next Top Model?" Alec asked, looking back and forth between all of them.

"Exactly-"

"We're talking about America's Next Top Model?" Alec said and Magnus couldn't help but giggle at the look on his face. It was almost as funny as the look that Jace gave him for saying such a thing.

"Obviously." Jace said with a huff. "Are you going crazy or something?"

"Are you?"

"No." Jace said, shaking his head. "I'm just discussing ANTM-"

"Why are you saying that like it's normal? Since when do you watch that show? I thought you hated it and it was the stupidest thing known to man." Alec was looking at Jace a little bit like he'd grown and third head. Even Magnus couldn't deny that it was odd that Jace was an ANTM fan, he never would have guessed.

Jace sighed and began explaining like he was a hero in an action movie telling the tale of his origins. "It all started a few months ago. Isabelle was watching it and I decided to sit down and destroy it, find it's flaws and tear it apart. But then-"

"-Your eyes were opened to the wonder that is America's Next Top Model." Magnus said, not laughing and just nodding like this was something he heard all the time.

"I can't even believe this is happening right now." Alec said, still stunned by the conversation that had just occurred. "I can't believe I'm having a conversation about America's Next Top Model."

"Very true." Isabelle said, laughing a little. "Are we sure that Alec is the gay one?"

Jace opened his mouth to protest but not before Max called. "Mum says we're going to be late to Clary's!"

"We're going to Clary's?" Magnus asked. "Is that the surprise?"

"Yeah," Isabelle said, looking at him in disbelief. "Did you really not figure it out? We told you to wear clothes you could ruin. We're going to do the splatter painting we were talking about ages ago."

"I guess I've had a lot on my mind." Magnus said slowly, shoving his hands into the pair of jeans he'd borrowed from Alec's room. They were the same ones he'd worn the day they painted the barn and there was still a bit of dried paint on them. Magnus fiddled with a chip of paint that was just on the edge of the pocket, feeling the rough surface under his hands and letting it give way to the well-worn, soft fabric of the jeans. He watched the bit of paint float to the ground and was completely in his own head, about Will and his parents. There were so many things that had happened over the last little while that he couldn't quite believe it was all happening at once. Magnus felt like he was standing outside a window, looking in and watching someone else's life. His life was parties and bashing on his parents, it had never been this emotional. But it had also never had Alec. Alec, who grabbed his hand and rubbed his thumb over the back of it gently.

"Hey," He said, giving Magnus a smile like slow-spilling honey, "You okay?"

"I think so?" Magnus said, gripping Alec's hand and little tighter before letting go. "I've got you. I'll always be okay." Alec flushed a little, biting his lip to hide his pleased smile. Magnus kissed his cheek softly.

"I'm driving!" Alec yelled, grabbing the keys to his truck - and successfully bursting Magnus' eardrums.

"Shotgun!" Magnus, Isabelle and Jace all yelled in unison.

"Magnus gets shotgun." Alec said, slinging an arm around Magnus' shoulders and spinning his keys on his finger. "Because I'm bias and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Well that's just not fair. And for the record, Clary does not find out about this obsession I have with a certain show." Jace said, giving them a look that Magnus was beginning to realize was some kind of sibling code for keeping secrets. Isabelle just waved him off and Alec nodded, slowly like he still wasn't sure what he was agreeing to.

Magnus was beyond excited by the time they got to Clary's house, pulling into the driveway. Alec jumped out of the car, followed by the others as they tumbled out. Magnus revelled in the feeling of almost having siblings, because it truly felt that way as they piled out of the car and ran up to the door.

Simon answered it, which Magnus thought was odd, though going by no one else's surprise wasn't actually. "Hey guys." He said calmly, giving Isabelle a look that was far more adoring than the one he gave Jace. Magnus hoped for a brief moment that he wasn't that obviously sappy when he looked at Alec, but knew deep down that he was probably worse. "Clary and Jocelyn were just setting up the paints. Do you guys want anything to drink?"

The house was eerily quiet compared to the Lightwoods, which usually featured a cornucopia of noise that echoed through the house. Magnus supposed it was just Clary, Jocelyn and Luke in the house. Just as he was thinking this, a woman came out of one of the rooms. There was a book tucked under her arm, brown hair that fell just past her shoulders and blue eyes that were focussed intently on the mug of tea she was cradling in two hands. She looked surprised to see them and moved forwards as though to say hello. But her face paled as she saw Jace and she only nodded briefly before heading up the stairs.

Simon's brow furrowed as they watched her go. He leaned in to murmur to Isabelle. "That's so odd. She's usually really friendly, I promise."

"That's Amatis isn't it?" Alec said, as they heard a door close softly upstairs. "I didn't imagine she'd look so much like Luke." Magnus had barely even noticed she'd looked like Luke, because he'd thought she looked more like a ghost. There was something haunting in her eyes and Magnus had a feeling there was something that had kept her away from the country. Feeling a little bit selfish, he squished the want to ask her or help her and reminded himself that he had his own problems. If Magnus couldn't fix the things that were going on in his own life, there was no way he could handle someone else's - especially someone he'd never really met.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Simon said, already moving on from Amatis' strange behaviour. "I think it's all in the eyes. Same with Clary and her mum. You'll see." He said to Magnus, before leading them on to the kitchen. He walked as though he owned the place and Magnus got the feeling that this was just as much home as his own house was.

Jace hummed softly smiling at some of Clary's art that was framed on the walls. It was impressive and hard to tell that it wasn't professional. "She really must hate being back in the country." He said softly, as their group had fallen mostly silent. "She hasn't been back for years has she?"

"No." Clary said, startling them all. Jace straightened immediately, his face visibly brighter. "She left a long time ago. Back when your father was still alive."

She said this to Jace and it was easy to see the words stamping on his good mood. Somewhat deflated, Jace nodded and was completely silent for once. Magnus felt a pang of pity for him, because at least Magnus' parents had raised him, whereas Jace's had never had the chance.

They got to the kitchen and Simon quickly handed out drinks, giving one to Clary last and grinning as he opened his. "So Fray, what's the game plan?"

"Well," Clary said, smiling again, "we're going to splatter paint which is terribly messy - hence the old clothes. It'll take a little while, but we told Maryse you'd be home for dinner. We're almost set up and my mum said she'd come out and get us when it was set up."

They nodded, Alec and Jace dissolving into some talk about sports that didn't interest Magnus in the slightest. Nonetheless, he listened to them, resting his head on Alec's shoulder. Alec didn't say anything, but let Magnus lean into him and wrapped an arm around his shoulder. Magnus noticed briefly Isabelle cooing at them in the corner but ignored her and the flush growing on his cheeks.

Soon, a woman, who looked so much like Clary it had to be her mother, peaked her head in the kitchen. She had deep scarlet hair that was pulled back in a messy bun. Her clothes were already splattered with paint, an apron thrown over a pair of old jeans and a long-sleeved white v-neck. She had Clary's green eyes, but there was something about her that was more defined, her angles were sharper.

"I'm Jocelyn." She said, a bright smile on her face. "You must be Magnus. I've heard so much about you." She shook his hand, somewhat more tense than Maryse and Elaine. Then, Magnus' mind flashed back to what Alec had said about Jocelyn and the sheer amount she'd suffered. He felt a surge of pity for her, but it was mixed with admiration for the woman who'd clearly become so strong.

"Only good things I hope." Magnus said, returning the smile and shaking her hand gently. She returned it with a firm grip, before walking over the fridge and pouring herself a glass of milk. Her sleeve inched up as she brought the glass to her lips and Magnus caught a glimpse of a jagged scar that disappeared up her forearm.

"Only good things." Jocelyn said, still smiling and not seeming to notice that Magnus had seen the scar. She set the glass on the counter and sighed. "Follow me!

They walked into a different room that was quite obviously their art studio. There was paint on the walls and Magnus assumed the floors, though it was hard to tell with the huge canvas that had been spread along the floor. An array of colours had been laid out against one wall.

"Everyone smock up!" Clary cried, throwing them each a tattered apron as Jocelyn quickly ducked out of the room. Magnus tugged his over his head and leaned over to tie Alec's, his boyfriend sending him a grateful look. He tied Magnus' and wrapped his arms around Magnus' waist, resting his head on his shoulder.

Alec pulled away slightly as Jocelyn came back into the room, holding an empty paint can full of brushes.

"Alright!" She said brightly. "Luke and I are going to go for lunch, there's stuff for sandwiches in the fridge and Clary knows how all this is going to work." Jocelyn pulled her smock back over her head and smiled at them. "Have fun!"

"Thanks Mum!" Clary yelled, rubbing her hands together. "You guys ready?"

Before Magnus could respond, Simon had grabbed a paint brush and flicked paint onto the canvas. A splatter of purple sprayed onto the empty space. Isabelle let out a delighted giggle and did the same, going for orange and flinging her arm out in an arc.

Things were going great, they were laughing and at some point Clary had put on rock music that Magnus was surprised she liked. Though going by the way they all sang along, whoever told Magnus that country people only liked country music needed to check their facts. Though they fulfilled his stereotypical mindset when some song about going to a bar with his 'crew' came on and they lost their minds. Magnus had never heard the song before in his life, but before long he was laughing as even Jace screamed the lyrics and threw paint in the air.

"Jumpin' up there with the band!" Isabelle said, jumping up onto the table for what Magnus didn't think was that upbeat of a song - he wondered how they'd react if he played them the music he listened to at raves.

"Takin' me by the hand!" Clary laughed, barely able to get the words out as Isabelle took her hand and dragged her up onto the table.

Magnus put a hand over his mouth to hide his laugh and turned to Alec, breathless. "If we ever broke up, you'd write a dramatic country song for me, wouldn't you?"

He meant it as a joke and Alec smiled, but his voice was nothing but sincerity when he said. "I'd write you a hundred songs, but I'd rather keep you." Magnus laughed again to hide his blush, kissing Alec's cheek again

Isabelle was dancing, when she reached out and grabbed a handful of blue paint that was dropped onto Simon's head.

And so began the war.

Magnus felt like he was going to die from all the paint he had somehow eaten or inhaled. Between gasping for breath and laughing, his mouth was open enough that he didn't think he was ever going to forget what the paint tasted like.

Just when he thought he was safe, Alec pulled him in for a kiss - they both tasted like paint that Magnus had to pray at this point wasn't poisonous - and dragged a paint covered hand through his hair.

"You did not." Magnus said, his mouth gaping open. "Did you just put paint in my hair?"

Alec shrugged, his false innocence marred by the devilish grin he was sporting. Magnus was about to say something else when Alec smear a green paintbrush across Magnus' cheek, from cheekbone to earlobe. Magnus heard Simon laugh and threw a spray of purple paint in his direction, catching him in the mouth and all along his face - successfully cutting a line over one of his eyes and through his eyebrow.

"Oh, it's on big city boy." Simon said, going for the pain roller. He jumped over the canvas and chased Magnus around the edge, shoving Jace into the wall and almost slipping on paint in the process.

"Alec!" Magnus yelled, ducking behind his boyfriend's shoulders. "Protect me!"

Alec laughed but played along, grabbing a paint brush and holding it out to Simon as though in a duel. Isabelle cheered on Simon, before laughing and trying to actually go back to painting. Jace did the same, he and Clary working on a corner that they had deemed not done. Then Simon shook his head to Alec and got an evil look in his eye. He gestured to an open can of orange paint and Isabelle. It only took a second for Alec to clue in, their silence going unnoticed under the loud music. It took Magnus a little longer to realize what was going to happen and before he could say anything to warn Isabelle, her boyfriend and his own had hoisted the can above their heads. And poured the remaining contents on Isabelle.

The empty can clattered to the ground as Alec and Simon threw it away from themselves and ran, fleeing to the other side of the painting where they were convinced Isabelle wouldn't follow. There was a heartbeat of silence before Isabelle started to scream bloody murder, a slew of obscenities and high frequency noise that Magnus would never want to be on the receiving end of.

"You motherfucking sons-" Isabelle screeched, wiping paint out of her eyes. It coated her face, her hair and her clothes. The orange oozed down her legs and dripped off of her arms, not touching her hands and stopping at her elbows. Her hair was a column of orange and she brought it over her shoulder and rung it out, splattering more orange paint onto the edge of the canvas. She straightened up and quieted down, marching across the canvas. She got about halfway, leaving orange footprints down the side, when she almost slipped into the paint and went sliding into Simon.

Jace grabbed onto her arms on instinct before making a noise of protest when he too was covered in orange paint.

"Ew." He said, stretching it out and trying to push her off him. "What is the matter with you?"

"What's the matter with you." Isabelle said back, not even making it a question and shoving Jace so that he fell into a paint tray. Isabelle slapped a hand over her mouth. "Oh my god."

Alec and Magnus looked over where they'd been caught in their own - completely mature - paint war with Max. "Holy crap." Alec said, stifling his laughter. "On a scale of one to ten how purple do you think that Jace's butt is right now."

"Eleven." Magnus said, struggling to keep a straight face as they watched Jace stand up, covered completely in paint from his lower back to the backs of his knees.

"I'm going to kill you." He said to Isabelle, his tone only slightly joking.

"Maybe the paint war ends here?" Clary asked, looking to the siblings as though praying that one of them would just surrender already. "I think we should finish the painting soon. It's already way past lunch."

"Is it actually?" Magnus asked, feeling like they'd only been painting for a matter of minutes. He glanced down at his watch and noticed that it had been almost three hours, unlike the original hour or so they'd planned on painting before lunch.

"Clary!" Max said suddenly. "Paint me a beard!" He held out a brush to her, smiling angelically and looking too adorable for Clary to refuse. As she kneeled down and asked him who he wanted to look like, he grinned again and said Tony Stark. It took her a few minutes, but Magnus thought she did a pretty good job, considering she was going from memory. Max seemed more than pleased with the result and spent a good ten minutes trying to convince Alec to get a beard too. Magnus' boyfriend just laughed and ruffled his brother's hair, saying he was never going to get an orange beard.

"That's too bad." Magnus said, stuffing his paint covered hands in his pockets. "I was really hoping to see what you looked like with an orange beard."

"Too bad for you." Alec said, smirking and sending a spray of blue paint onto the corner of the canvas. "You'll never know."

Magnus was about to respond when a voice came from the doorway. "Oh my goodness." Jocelyn said, making no effort to hide her laughter. "Y'all look ridiculous."

"Grab my camera!" Magnus said suddenly, pointing just outside the room. "Can you take a group shot of us?"

"Of course!"

Clary's mum lined up the shot, smiling at them all from behind the lens. They crowded together, Magnus throwing his arms around Alec on his right and Jace on his left. There was still paint drying on the side of his face and he couldn't keep himself from laughing slightly. Simon was whispering something to Isabelle that had her cracking up. There were a few clicks and Magnus took the camera back from Jocelyn gingerly. Careful not to get any of the paint on the buttons, Magnus grinned and flipped it around. Everyone crowded around and they took a selfie, making the weirdest faces they could.

"That was perfect." Magnus said, only glancing at it quickly.

"Have you guys had lunch yet?" Jocelyn asked, seeing the back of Jace's jeans and trying not to laugh.

"Nope." Simon said, so they went out and started to make sandwiches. Simon also made a comment about the glorious amount of paint that he'd eaten.

"You're telling me." Magnus said, reaching over Clary's head to grab the mayonnaise from Alec. "I can't taste anything except paint."

"Would now be a bad time to mention that it was poisonous?" Jocelyn said. They tall turned around, faces full of panic until they noticed the grin she was fighting. "I'm kidding!" She yelled, laughing. "You guys looked so terrified. I didn't think you'd accidentally eaten that much of it."

"I ate about half a can." Isabelle said, sending Simon and Alec a glare.

"I can tell." Luke gave Isabelle a funny look, kissing his fiancé on the cheek and moving past her to the fridge. "I thought the whole point of this was to get paint on the canvas."

"Yeah," Isabelle put her hands on her hips, "that's what I thought too." She faked mad, waving a butter knife at her brother. Alec backed up, two hands up in surrender.

"That's my siblings." Jace said, putting a hand over his heart and slinging an arm over Max's shoulders. "We like to hang out, throw some paint, eat some paint and then threaten murder."

Max nodded, his seriousness completely ruined by the fake beard that was starting to smudge around his mouth. "That's family right there."

Simon snorted into his juice, causing Isabelle to turn around and wave the knife at him. Almost dropping his cup, Simon dodged the butter knife like it was a sword, faking tears and getting on his knees for forgiveness.

"And that would be love." Clary muttered under her breath.

"Oh and you'll never guess who we saw." Jocelyn said, smiling brightly and diverting attention from Simon and Isabelle's performance. "We bumped into that lovely boy, Sebastian. You all must remember him? He's so polite."

Magnus bit his tongue, looking at Jocelyn in disbelief. It was so very obvious that Sebastian was being a nice guy to all the right people. Get the adults to like him and he was in the clear, but he had no problem insulting everyone else. Thinking of the things that he'd said to Jace had Magnus' blood boiling and going by the looks on everyone's face, he wasn't the only one.

"Yeah." Isabelle said, her smile doing nothing to hide the venom in her voice. "He's a real charmer that one."

"Am I missing something?" Jocelyn asked, looking around at their faces. "I thought Sebastian really was quite nice."

"There were some harsh things said." Clary said, slowly and carefully. "But we would love to get to know him better. Right guys?"

"Sure." Alec said, nodding and attempting a smile that came out as more of a grimace. "We probably just got off on the wrong foot."

Jace stayed quiet, his face dark. Magnus searched his mind for something to say and ended up blurting. "A kid brought a gun to my school once." Then, catching the alarm on their faces, back-pedalled a little. "What I meant was that it could be worse? He could be violent or something."

Simon smiled widely. "Magnus is right. Sebastian might be mean and awful, but at least he isn't a gun wielding lunatic."

"On that happy note…" Jace said, rolling his eyes.


Alright! The next chapter is a bit of a crazy one... drama and such. Let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully finish Chapter 20 in the next few days (I've already written the ending, the beginning just doesn't exist yet.)

I felt like I needed to check in with the Infernal Devices crew, but I didn't feel like they needed to be happy. Oops. Oh well. In case you haven't noticed, they follow the plot of the books - with the exception of that time I shipped two people who I don't think ever met.

Also, for the people that actually watch America's Next Top Model, I'm sorry I have no idea A. what the show is actually like and B. who has ever been on it other than Tyra Banks and the girl she yelled at that one time.

xx

PS. Did you guys know that this fic is now more than a year old!? I seriously need to get off my butt about posting...