Chapter 7

Alec stepped through the door into a huge office. Straight ahead was a huge mahogny it sat a middle aged man, his hair was starting to turn grey and you could see hints of beard. The man was rather handsome, his suit tight enough to show of some muscles. Alec shrugged off the thought, this wasn't the time nor the place to check out men, especially since he noticed a family photo on the desk, of the man, a woman and a young girl. Instead he looked around the room, on his left and right there was bookshelf covering the walls, it was propped full with books. Alec wanted to go over there and touch them, look at them, he loved books and he loved reading. When he still lived at home he had books in every corner of his room. Now he couldn't afford books, but his apartment was still filled with many books. Izzy loved bringing him books and sometimes he managed to find books on sale.

"Hello Mr. Lightwood" the man behind the desk said, making Alec jump a little, for a second he thought his father was here. Alec himself had never been called that before. "My name is Marvin Cox" he stood up and reached out his hand towards Alec.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mr. Cox" Alec said as he took his hand, smiling big, looking straight into the other man's eyes as he focused on giving the man a firm handshake, something his father always talked about. Alec guessed that his father knew something about this, since he was a successful business man. Alec shook off the thought, now was not the time to think about his father.

"A firm handshake, that's good" Cox smiled at Alec "please, have a seat" he gestured towards on of the chairs infront of the desk and Alec sat down as Cox turned to the girl "you too Lily". Of course that was her name Alec thought as she sat down.

"Well, if we start with the boring parts and do the fun after" Cox smiled at both of them as he started to flick through some papers. "The rules are simple, we won't pay you for the exhibition and you won't pay us, you can however sell your artwork without sharing the profits with us. We're going to look at your sketches together and we will assist you in making paintings, you'll meet with Lily here once a week to go over your work, if you want we can set a date now but we can wait too." Alec nodded it was a lot to take in, and he was glad that Cox took a break in talking, giving him some time to process all this new information.

"I have one question" Alec said and got a nod from Cox telling him to go on "I work a lot, could I meet Lily less often? I'm off work like one or two days a week" Cox nodded, telling Alec that they'd work something out. For about an hour they talked about the exhibition and Alec's work. Their favorite work was the one of Clary and Jace so Alec agreed to paint it on a canvas. They didn't decide on a date for the exhibition, but Alec was going back to meet with Lily in about two weeks. Alec thanked Cox and Lily for the opportunity before leaving. As soon as Alec stepped out the door he reached for his phone, dialing Magnus.

"Hello there beautiful" he heard Magnus answer, putting butterflies in Alec's stomach. What was this man doing to him?

"Hi, I'm not interrupting anything right?" Alec asked, just checking, he didn't want to stand in the way of Magnus's work.

"No, I'm on my way to get lunch. You don't happen to want to join me?" he asked. Alec smiled at this, he would definitely want that, but he couldn't afford it.

"I'd love to but, eh, I start work in three hours" Alec said, it was a terrible excuse but he didn't want to admit the real reson.

"Come on, my treat" Magnus sounded a bit disappointed and it made Alec sad. "We can order take out, I'll drive you to work." Alec felt bad, he wanted to see Magnus again and take out sounded good. But he didn't want Magnus to pay for everything, it felt like he used him. When Alec didn't answer Magnus spoke again "Alexander, I have more money then I could ever spend, don't worry about that. I can pick you up and then we'll get take out and eat it at my place."

"Okay" Alec said, not having a good reason to say no, also he really wanted to see Magnus and talk to him about today. He told Magnus where he was and sat down on a bench to wait. Magnus was half an hour away, so Alec decided to sketch. He pulled up his sketching block and started to look around for inspiration. He found a beautiful tree, a Pin Oak to be specific. Alec had always loved those trees, even as a child he found their leaves fascinating, their weird shape, looking liked they'd grown wrong, like they're not looking like they should, that they're not what they should. A little like he'd always felt he supposed, he'd always felt like there was something wrong with him. However once his little brother told Alec that the leaves were beautiful because they were different. He smiled at the memory, struggling to not cry. He couldn't think about him now. He tried to focus on the tree, sketching down the shape of it, really trying his best to get down the shape of the unique leaves. He got so into his sketch that he didn't notice Magnus's red Porsche pulling up next to him, and almost had a heart attack when Magnus honked. As Alec looked up he saw Magnus grin, beautiful as always. Alec smiled back, laughing a little as he put his things down in his bag before entering the car.

"Hi" Alec said, feeling those butterflies again as he met Magnus's beautiful eyes, surrounded by black eyeshadow and a deep purple eyeliner. His lips sparkled slightly and his hair was as always styled perfectly but today he had purple tips, matching his eyeliner. The beauty of this man really took Alec's breath away.

"Hello" Magnus smiled "I really want to kiss you, but there's probably paparazzi's here" Magnus pouted.

"Me too, so let's get that food quick" Alec answered and reached out to squeeze Magnus's hand making him smile as they drove away. They chatted the fifteen minute ride to a chines restaurant, where as they went in, Alec quickly understood that Magnus knew the owners, who greeted him like old friends before rushing away getting them food. They even insisted on giving it for free. As they walked out Alec asked if he'd known the owners long since they gave away food. To that Magnus laughed.

"No, they do that because I'm famous and they want me to spread the word" he explained and with the same grace as always jumped into the car. Alec was still amazed at how Magnus managed to do that, especially since he was in a pair of really tight black leather pants. It was really sexy, Alec thought to himself, the tight pants showing off Magnus's legs, showing of the muscles. The same went for his deep purple shirt, almost bursting at the seams around his biceps, and don't even get him started about Magnus's waistcoat, hugging his body perfectly. As Alec realized that he was staring and not answering Magnus so he nodded in response to what Magnus had said and sat in the car. In the corner of his eye he could see Magnus smile, obviously he'd noticed that Alec was checking him out. Neither of them said anything as Magnus started the car, but as soon as he'd put in drive and started rolling Alec reached out for his hand again. Loving the warmth of Magnus, wishing he could be closer, but not wanting to risk the press getting pictures of them. They rode in silence while Alec played with Magnus's rings. The ride was shorter than Alec thought, or maybe he just got lost in playing with Magnus's rings, it was really calming. What pulled Alec from his trance was the fact that they drove into an underground parking lot, it got a bit darker and colder. Before he could react he felt Magnus pull him closer.

"It's guarded, no paparazzi's" Magnus smiled at him as he parked the car. Alec moved closer, turning his head toward Magnus. He looked at Magnus, the beautiful creature next to him, his perfect make up, his Adam's apple, he wanted to kiss it. He had to use all the self-control he had not to dive down and kiss it. When he finally was able to tare his eyes away from the Adam's apple he found Magnus face almost on his. Alec drowned in Magnus's eyes, he could feel his breath on his skin, making it tingle. Alec had absolutely no self control left, so he closed the space between them, brushing his lips against Magnus's. He felt Magnus respond and lean into the kiss and Alec felt home again. He felt at peace, he felt safe.