Hello darlings! I'd like to say a huge, bug-eyed glittery thank you to all reviewers! You are so amazingly supportive- I wanted to reply to you all, but these past two weeks have been exam season (rette mich!) so I have been tres tres busy. But your comments have not gone unnoticed; je t'aime to the power of seven. I mean it, I love you!

My last exam is tomorrow :D but I won't publish this tonight so when you read it I'll be freeeeeee! Freer than a potato on an escalator! BUT- the fly in le moutarde, it's raining. Fucking England.

Sorry to ramble, enjoy.

The Institute towered over Alec, and as he gazed up at it, white light streaming in and burning his blue eyes, it seemed as though the edifice was about to fall on top of him. Part of him wished it would. Then he wouldn't have to go in and try to look his family- not to mention his boyfriend- in the eyes, knowing what he'd done. It was a strange feeling, because Alec could remember it all, though it made his stomach churn- every unwelcome finger on the base of his spine, every flick of horrid wet tongue on his neck- yet it had felt at the time like he hadn't even been there, like it was happening to someone else and he was just a spectator. Not that it changed anything. He had still cheated on Magnus, the man he loved more than anything and was lucky to have even glance his way.

Taking a deep, shaky breath and feeling the cold grey air spiral into his lungs, Alec stepped through the door and into the lift. The barred structure made him feel even more caged.

As the lift dinged, alerting the Institute's inhabitants to his presence, the doors slid open and Alec was greeted by Church's accusing eyes. They blazed like tiny explosions in the fluffy face as if to say 'And where have you been?' He leaned down to pet the cat, who relaxed at the touch of his pale, slender fingers ruffling the soft fur, purring like Magnus when paid a compliment.

Alec straightened up quickly, pushing the hair back out of his eyes. He must be going crazy or something, he thought, he had just compared his cat to his boyfriend.

As he did so, Alec noticed the door leading to his mother's office was ajar, soft yellow light spilling out through the gap, carrying with it the low hum of voices, and he padded over to peer curiously in, to the room he had only ever entered in times of great importance. Otherwise, it was a strictly private space.

Inside, Maryse was engaged in quiet conversation with a squashy green armchair that wasn't normally there; it faced away so that he could see his mother's face, but not the individual sitting in it- Alec's breath caught in his throat as he registered the shimmering array of black spikes peeping over the top, unmistakably Magnus' hair.

"Alec?" He whirled around, startled at being caught spying on his mother. It was Isabelle, her hair loose and flowing, looking tired in a silky pink robe and free of makeup. "What are you doing?" He urged her down the corridor and into the main living room, not wanting Maryse or Magnus to hear them, or realize they were there.

"Izzy. What's going on?"

"What's going on where, Alec, what are you talking about, it's too early in the morning." She groggily shuffled her bare feet.

"It's nearly ten, Isabelle."

"Well sorry, Mum." She stuck out her tongue in the childish manner they only ever used with each other. "What do you mean what's going on?"

"With Magnus, idiot, why is he in Mum's office?"

"I didn't know he was. I only just got up, see?" She gestured to the robe, her bare feet and unbrushed hair. "Why don't you know? Didn't he tell you?" Alec fiddled with a thread dangling from his sleeve, twiddling it between his fingers.

"Well, no, because I didn't exactly…come home last night, so I haven't seen him-"

"How could you not come home, what were you doing?" Her coffee-brown eyes narrowed in suspicion, raking him over as if searching for evidence.

"I stayed the night at Simon's." He said simply; there'd be time for the full story later, he couldn't bring himself to tell her now.

"Alexander Lightwood, I don't know what's going on with you," she pointed an accusing, scarlet-nailed finger at his face "But if you don't tell me by the end of the day, you're screwed. I mean it."

Alec knew he was screwed whether he told Izzy or not.

With a stare that could gut a diamond, she flounced away to get dressed, making 'I'm watching you' motions at her brother.

After a while, Simon turned up, nodding at Alec and scooting to sit beside Izzy on a wine-coloured couch. Magnus and Maryse, to everyone's communal surprise, soon joined them, and the casual chatting stopped. Maryse's glares could freeze coffee at the best of times; now she looked even more severe than usual- but possibly more startling was Magnus, or more accurately, the absence of his usual electric grin.

Alec stood up, unfurling his long limbs, and made to kiss him, but Magnus turned his head quickly so that Alec's lips met his cheek. Alec's insides froze: did he already know? How could he? Magnus never denied a hello kiss; usually he jumped him on arrival wherever they met, including a Clave meeting, a crowded library, and a public bathroom, which Alec had stuttered uncomfortably at. He didn't even like to breathe in public bathrooms, let alone make out, and avoided them like the plague whenever possible.

Simon, Alec and Maryse looked uncomfortable, Isabelle confused, and Magnus strangely blank, like a 'Where's Wally' suddenly turned completely white.

Out of his purple blazer pocket, Magnus drew a stele that glinted coldly, pale and stark against his fallen-leaf-coloured digits. It was the stele Alec had left in the Dumont. He held it out for Alec to take, which he did, not meeting each other's eyes.

Fuck.

Alec fancied he could feel the weight of the polluted atmosphere; bearing down from all angles, squashing, compacting, suffocating him. Isabelle's eyes flicked from Simon to her mother to her brother to his boyfriend and found no-one looking back at her, so she raised a deceptively delicate hand.

"Now would be a great time for someone to tell me what the hell is going on." She glared, eyes blazing like the surface of her whip as it sliced through the air, her gaze just as biting and deadly. Magnus stormed from the room in a whirl of glitter, and blue flames that shot from each of his fingertips. "Somebody? Are Alec and Magnus fighting?"

"Uh, we haven't really had the chance to, yet-"

"But we will be." Came Magnus' voice, from the doorway.

"Ahem." Maryse shot Alec a chilly look. "Alexander, your business is your own. I won't interfere, but needless to say I am not impressed with you." With that she left the room, squeezing Magnus' shoulder briefly on her way past and leaving Alec with a feeling he imagined was similar to that of a worm, having been stabbed with a hook, thrown into cold water, and about to be devoured by fish. He tried to cross the room's threshold to get to Magnus, but-

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!"

"Magnus, please, talk to me. Please." Alec's voice was soft, echoing a sadness that seemed to come from somewhere within his soul. Magnus, who had been expecting him to fight fire with fire, looked surprised; yellow-green eyes scrutinising his boyfriend with a mixture of anger and concern.

"By the Angel, will someone enlighten me, please?" Izzy moaned. "Is it about that vampire meeting last night?" Alec's spine stiffened. "Alec, did you kill a warlock or something? Because if you did, that sucks, but we all have to do things we don't like for the shadowhunter cause-"

This, it seemed, rekindled the embers of Magnus' animosity. He snorted.

"Oh, well, that's alright then; Alexander is so dedicated, I hear he'll do anything for the cause. Or anyone. He's all about taking one for the team." A scrumpled paper missile spat out of Magnus' hand, and Alec caught it reflexively. It was a note, in pretentiously swirly yet masculine writing.

High Warlock Bane,
Your shadowhunter left his stele in my hotel, so I am returning it to you.
Speaking of which, tell him to call me- he was rather good.
He can even stick around for longer next time if he desires, leaving me like that was just plain rude.
But I'll forgive him because he's SO pretty.
Sincerely, Raphael Santiago.
P.S. Now we're even.

Izzy peered around Alec's shoulder to read it, and drew back, horrified.

"Yes," Magnus continued, with the air of someone needing to vent. "I suppose he's doing his bit for shadowhunter-downworlder relations, but who knew it would be so damn easy!" Alec flinched like a kicked animal, and Simon felt the urge to comfort his friend, but didn't know how. Why wasn't Alec saying anything? "Ugh, Alexander, I can't even look at you right now!"

"Hey, that isn't fair!" Everyone's heads swivelled round almost comically to stare incredulously at Simon. He couldn't blame them. He was surprised with himself. "Magnus, you weren't there and you don't know anything about what happened, so lay off Alec until he's explained, okay? And Alec, you told me you'd be honest with him, remember?" The towering, power-crackling warlock looked stunned but said nothing, and Alec threw Simon a smile; it was weak, stretched, but a fierce gratitude blazed in the eyes behind it.

The vampire nodded and steered an oddly frozen Isabelle from the room, leaving behind a frosty silence so thick that just breathing was like sucking in butter.

"So, care to explain then, Alexander? Did you not, in fact, sleep with Santiago as implied?" Alec felt as though Magnus' eyes had him pinned to the wall: never before had they looked at him like that, a hard shell of anger, and below that- raw, burning hurt, a hurt that he had caused. That was the worst part. He said nothing. "No? Because your sudden BFF Simon seems to think that there's something I don't know, because I wasn't there, so tell me, why was he there?"

"He, uh, he couldn't get out of the hotel…so I got him out… after. I stayed at his because I couldn't-"

"Stayed on the couch, huh?"

"Well, bed, but nothing happened I swear, we just-"

"Wow Alec, three men's beds in one day, you should start charging." The remarks hurt Alec more than any seraph blade or demon ichor, especially cruel coming from Magnus, sweet, lovely, understanding Magnus, who didn't deserve such a fuckup as himself.

"Simon and I did nothing but sleep!"

"So you say, but how can I trust you? How can I trust you now, you already admitted you bedded one vampire, is one not enough for you? Might as well see what Simon's got to offer, since your boyfriend isn't good enough for you!"

"Magnus, that isn't why- how can you even think that? I love you, I just, I can't explain it. I can't. You just have to trust me-"

"The fuck you can! What the hell is going on with you, Alec? Just tell me."

"I can't. I'm sorry, I deserve you yelling, I deserve you hating me, I just," he seemed to shrink a little, as if by making himself smaller he could get away from the confrontation. "Can't." he worried at the still-sore bottom lip, gooey with semi-congealed blood, voice so low Magnus could barely hear it. "Are you going to break up with me?"

"Of course I'm not going to break up with you!" Magnus stared wildly, as if Alec were criminally insane. "We're going to talk about this, and-" he broke off, a terrible thought striking him. "Wait, you're not going to talk, are you?" Magnus' eyes hardened with resolution, a grim look slathered across his features. "In that case Alec, I am so, so sorry about this."

With a blinding, electric flash, a bolt of magic shot for Alec's head, and, it seemed to him, that the Universe disappeared with a pop.

More coming soon. Let me know what you think. Love China.