Over the next couple of months, Alec split his time between Max, Magnus, and the situation with Valentine. The whole Valentine ordeal was a rollercoaster, and Alec hardly knew what he believed anymore. He knew a war was soon coming with Valentine, but until then, all of the Shadow World was holding their breath, and Alec was content with waiting things out with his friends and family. Alec was content to sit back and watch Magnus and Max bond, and he had to admit that he truly adored Ragnor. When Alec was able to forget about the situation with Valentine, the two months they all spent together in peace was almost relaxing.
As Christmas neared, Alec found himself wondering what was going to go wrong or what was going to keep them from being happy. When Magnus invited them over on Christmas Eve, Alec tried to tamp down his feeling of impending doom. He tried to hide his mood from everyone else, but there were some habits he couldn't shake, and as the day drew nearer, he found himself spending more time by himself, more time reading, more time trying to shake off the horrible mood he was in. The night before Christmas Eve, he found himself curled up in the library, halfway reading, halfway listening for Max in case of a seizure.
He didn't hear his mother as she came in the library, but when she finally cleared her throat, Alec was surprised to look up and see that she was smiling in a way he hadn't seen her smile in a very long time. She was almost relaxed, but Alec could see the tension in the way she stood, even if it was subtle. Alec didn't fully sit up, however, until he saw that she was holding his phone in her hand. When she saw that he realized what she was holding, she sat down beside of him, moving to wipe his hair away from his eyes. "You looked so peaceful I wasn't sure I wanted to disturb you," she said, the hint of a smile still evident in her voice. "But I think there's something we do need to talk about."
Alec felt himself tense when his mother handed him his phone and he looked down to see several texts from Magnus. "You left your phone in your room," she began explaining, her voice soft in a way Alec hadn't expected. "I heard it going off, and when it kept going off, I thought you might be asleep, so I wanted to make sure its noise didn't wake you up." Alec had left his phone on his bed because he had wanted to read in silence, not having to worry about anyone else for a while. He had known Magnus would text him, but Alec had simply figured Magnus could wait while he took some time for himself.
"I won't force you to tell me anything, Alexander," she continued, placing a hand gently over one of Alec's. "Let me just simply say that I love you, no matter the circumstance. If there's something you want to tell me, don't be afraid to do so." Alec looked over at her in surprise. He'd been terribly worried that she was going to explode on him. It was very obvious from the texts on his phone that he was not communicating with Magnus for Clave business. "Magnus Bane is a good man," his mother finished, moving to get up from the couch.
Alec was almost frozen where he sat, but before his mother could go very far, he reached up to catch her hand. "Mom, wait," he said, hearing the catch in his voice. Alec waited until she sat down once again to being speaking, keeping hold of her hand the entire time. "I guess it's pretty obvious now, but I won't feel any better until I say it myself. I'm gay, and I'm dating Magnus, not that you couldn't see that." Alec looked down at his hands, trying to calm his nerves. When his mother gave his hand a gentle squeeze, he couldn't help but smile ever so slightly.
When his mother looked over at him to very gently say, "I'm so proud of you, Alexander," Alec couldn't help but move to hug her. They usually weren't a very touchy family in general, so Alec was slightly surprised at how receptive his mother was of his hug. He watched her expression change when he asked her if she would like to come with them to Magnus's the next day. He knew that Magnus would be slightly uncomfortable at the thought of it, but he also knew that both his mother and Magnus would make things work if he asked them to simply try.
Getting Magnus to try had been a bit harder than Alec had expected, but he had to admit that dinner was going extremely well. They had all ended up at Magnus's, with his father being in Idris, they had all simply decided that the Institute was too lonely to leave anyone at home that day. Alec had the sinking feeling that his father was avoiding them, but he tamped that feeling down and forced himself to forget about the things that were going to blow up soon. He knew how important it was to make their time count, and with so many laughing and smiling people, he knew that today was one day he needed to cherish.
Alec watched with a smile as Magnus told Max that he and Ragnor had a present for him. Alec had no idea what Magnus had up his sleeve, but from the look on Magnus's face, from the glance Magnus shared with Ragnor, he could see that they had been planning this for weeks. "Magnus!" Max exclaimed when he saw the dog Magnus was leading into the room. "You got me a service dog?" he asked, his voice unable to keep from betraying his excitement. The dog was absolutely adorable, black and white with huge floppy ears, and Alec couldn't help but think of how perfect it looked for Max.
A few weeks ago, Max had come to Ragnor to tell him about how he had found out that there were service dogs trained to help people with epilepsy. He'd been so excited just at the mere thought of it, and Alec felt a pang of guilt when he realized that it hadn't been his own idea to get one for Max. Max's excitement had been in part at the thought that he would actually have a warning before he had a seizure, the dog barking would tell him that it was about to happen instead of always being surprised and terrified when it happened.
As Max ran to hug Magnus, Alec glanced at his mother, overjoyed by the smile on her face as well. "This dog comes with something I want to talk to you about, Max," Magnus said as he bent down to Max's level. "I picked him out because his name is Henry," Magnus continued, and Alec could tell from his voice that he was thinking of a time from very long ago.
"Henry was a wonderful Shadowhunter, one of the best. But he was badly hurt in a fight, and try as I might, I couldn't do anything to keep him from being paralyzed." Alec could see that Max's attention was captured from the way his eyes lit up. "He'd been a wonderful fighter, that was true, but even before his accident he was an inventor. But the accident allowed him to truly become who he was." Magnus smiled at the thought of it, and Alec was happy to see the joy in his eyes. "What I'm trying to tell you, Max, is that there's more to being a Shadowhunter than just fighting. Henry invented the Sensor, he invented the Portal, he invented glitter for goodness sake!"
Alec couldn't help but laugh, but when Magnus started glaring at him, albeit lovingly, he moved to cover his smile with his hand. "My point is that you're more than your ability to fight. You can do so much as a Shadowhunter without ever killing a single demon. And I want Henry to remind you of that." Max flung himself into Magnus's arms once more. "There someone else here who wants to meet you and talk to you if that's okay; he's better at this kind of thing than I am."
Alec was slightly startled to see tears in Max's eyes when he turned around to smile at him, but Magnus reached up to wipe them away in the way that Alec always did. So Alec simply sat by and watched as Max very easily received the Silent Brother who Magnus explained had been a friend of his as a Shadowhunter. He was surprised to hear the Brother's story about his illness, but he was also slightly amazed at the way Magnus was helping Max with everything. Alec hadn't really expected Magnus to be so gentle and understanding, but watching the way Magnus worked to help Max work his way through this was touching in ways Alec had never felt before.
"Woah, hold on," Alec said as the Brother went to give Max the cane he had apparently carried during his illness. "Max doesn't need a weapon; he's never going to fight." The cane became a very lethal weapon, and Alec was already nervous at the thought of allowing Max to work with it. An argument ensued about whether or not Max needed to learn how to fight in a least a competent sort of way, and Alec was surprised when the Brother handed Max the cane without another word.
"James!" Magnus said, looking toward the Brother as though he was insane, and Alec could tell that the Brother had said something only Magnus could hear. "I was used to William using nicknames like that, but certainly not you. My boyfriend is a Lightwood," he said, all of his emphasis on the last part of the name. "Not a Lightworm." Magnus chuckled as Alec looked over at him in surprise, but he could tell that the nickname was something he most likely did not want to know about.
"Alec?" Max asked as the Brother and Magnus started speaking to one another. "I just want to learn. That way if you're not around I can protect myself." For several seconds, Alec thought about continuing his argument, but when he saw the look in Max's eyes, when he registered the gentleness in Max's voice, he couldn't help but give in.
"Alright, Max," he said, trying to keep his voice soft, trying to keep his nervousness out of it. "But I'm going to be the one to teach you." He smiled when Max's face lit up at the thought of that. "That will be my Christmas present to you." He chuckled as Max got off the couch once more, moving to play with Henry, the smile on his face larger than it had been in a long time. For the rest of the night, he allowed himself to relax into the spirit of the season, he allowed himself to push the thoughts of Valentine and all of his other problems aside. He slipped his hand into Magnus's as Magnus took his seat once more, and for the first time in a very long time, he found himself utterly relaxed as Magnus leaned over to whisper, "Merry Christmas," in his ear.
So I'm here to tell you that this story will not be updated again until I get back from my trip! I will be gone from June 20th through July 2nd.
I also want to let you know that I am starting to plan a (very large) OC project. It will be about all the kids of the entire gang. If you would like any information about it, feel free to message me, as I am in the planning stages of that right now!
There is also going to be a lot of information about that on my blog (my username is canonizes on tumblr) and I tag all posts about it as "CanonizesOCs." Feel free to come there and ask me anything you want about any of my OCs, and the original post about them is here canionizes. tumblr post/145874519650/oc-project (remove the spaces!)
If you have any questions for me about anything at all, just let me know! I will see you wonderful people when I get back! Get ready for all that I have in store!