5. 'Yes', 'No' or 'Maybe'

Alec hadn't had the chance to have a real talk with Isabelle since the café. She had been out with Simon and Clary all weekend, though he hadn't known what they had been doing. Jace had seemed to be a bit distracted, when Alec had called him on Sunday. He was soon enough to find out why he had been distracted, when he met at school Monday morning. Jace came up to him in the hall looking smug.

"Have you seen your boyfriend this morning?" Jace asked and Alec hushed him.

"He's not my boyfriend," he whispered. "Is he?"

"I don't know. Do you want me to pass him a note? I hear the multiple choice of 'yes', 'no' or 'maybe' is effective," Jace said in all seriousness.

"Don't tell me – that's what you did with Clary?" Alec rolled his eyes.

"It was more a 'do you want to date the most gorgeous human being to walk the face of the Earth: 'yes', 'heck yes' or 'most def'."

"And which one did she pick?" Alec didn't believe him, of course.

"Well, you know Clary, she made a fourth option box," Jace appeared to be looking for someone down the hall.

"Really?" Alec couldn't hold his disbelief back, but he imagined that Jace had made the note after they had gotten somewhat serious, and she would have felt compelled to correct his overly confident options by making her own.

"Yes, sort of, if you must know her answer was 'OMG is this James Franco?'" Jace said, still searching the hall. Alec grinned.

"What are you looking for?"

"Not what, but who. Ah!" Jace exclaimed. Alec followed Jace's eyes and found that Magnus was walking up to his locker. Alec took a deep breath.

"Please don't do anything stupid," Alec begged.

"That might be a bit too late…" Jace said, just before Magnus opened his locker and glitter exploded out of it. "…but revenge is sweet," he finished with a smirk. "That worked even better than I'd hoped!" Alec imagined he'd been working on a glitter bomb all weekend.

Magnus looked down the hall towards them. Alec covered his face with his palm, but when he looked back up Magnus was walking towards the two of them with what seemed to be a mixed expression of annoyance, amusement and admiration.

"Touché," Magnus said, when he reached them. People all the way down the hall were laughing. All of Magnus' clothes and face were covered in pink and blue glitter. He hadn't even tried to shake some of it off, which resulted in the glitter slowly falling off him on its own as he walked, leaving a trail.

"Magnus…" Alec felt so uncomfortable he couldn't form any words.

"Stay out of it, Alec. This is between Jacob and me," Magnus said. He didn't look angry or embarrassed. He wore the glitter with pride, even though he was entirely covered. Surely some kind of dress code would prevent him from going to any of the classes that day.

"Jace," Alec corrected.

"What?"

"My name is Jace," Jace said unfazed, covering up his grin with one hand.

"Well, that's a weird name," Magnus shrugged this small mistake off. Alec knew he was aware of Jace's name, because he'd talked about him on occasion, and despite what Magnus might claim, he listened to Alec. Perhaps he'd thought Jace was short for Jacob. "Jace Heronfail it is then?" Magnus mused.

"Touché back at you," Jace grinned. "You're really good with nicknames, aren't you? I can't begin to imagine what names you already have for our dear Alexander."

Alec felt dizzy all of a sudden. Why would Jace talk like this in front of the entire school? People were staring at them.

"Jace, please don't," Alec begged under his breath.

"Very well. Truce," Jace put out his hand for Magnus to shake.

"For now," Magnus shook his hand – dust of glitter falling off, as his arm shook firmly with the gesture. He turned on his heels and walked away. Alec looked at Jace with accusation, before walking off to class.

…

Alec couldn't spot Magnus anywhere during lunch, although that was nothing new. He had never noticed Magnus in the cafeteria before they started dating, so why should that change now? Alec sat down at his friends' table. Clary leaned closer to him with the apology shining out of her, before she even spoke.

"I'm so sorry, Alec. I had no idea he would do that," she turned an angry look in Jace's direction at the last part. Alec had no idea why she was apologizing on behalf of Jace, she had never done that before, and Jace did silly stupid things all the time. Maybe they had just reached that part of the relationship where they thought they were one.

"Come on, it was a classic prank. I can honestly say I was a bit disappointed that he didn't even suspect it," Jace interfered.

"How would he have suspected it?" Alec demanded.

"Lighten up, Alec," Jace nudged Alec.

Alec ignored the rest of the conversation, because it was mostly Jace gloating over how brilliant he thought he was and explaining his secret to how he'd done it to the rest of the group, while no one seemed really interested – which never seemed to matter for Jace to tell a story.

Isabelle and Simon were unusually quiet during lunch. In fact, Alec was pretty sure they didn't say a word during the half hour break. So on the way to class Alec held Izzy back.

"Are you coming straight home after school? So we can talk?"

"Yes," she replied with annoyance.

It was a long day for Alec. He was busy thinking about everything other than what was going on in history class – really, who cared about what happened in Europe a long time ago. Instead he was busy worrying about Magnus. Would he be angry now? Did he get in trouble for all that glitter? And then there was Isabelle, who had seemed awfully quiet at lunch; it had almost been unbearable to watch. Maybe she was going through a phase?

When classes were over he found his friends hanging out in the schoolyard. The image sort of reminded him of Freaks and Geeks, the only thing missing was the weed. None of them were smoking at the moment, not even Sebastian, who was also there. He was the first one to notice Alec approaching.

"Alec! How did it go with the switch-hitter?" Sebastian asked. Alec thought he might have misheard him, but he didn't know what else Sebastian might have said for it to make sense.

"The what?"

"He's making baseball metaphors. He's talking about Magnus. It means he can bat from either side," Simon said as if it would explain anything.

"What?"

"Magnus, he's a switch-hitter. Didn't he date a girl last year?" Sebastian continued. Clary looked as if she was trying to figure out a way to shut her brother up.

"He's being rude, ignore him," she sighed.

"No, I'm not, but since we all know that I'm your favorite fag hag I've taken it to be my responsibility to learn the jargon – switch-hitter is a baseball metaphor for someone like Magnus. There are a few baseball metaphors for gay men. Tell me, Alec, are you a Catcher or a Pitcher?" Sebastian was leaning his entire upper body over the table, waiting for an answer that he must have known he wasn't going to get.

"I think I'm gonna leave," Alec said, feeling in a bad mood already. Besides, the two people he needed to talk to, Isabelle and Magnus, were the only ones not in the group of friends in the schoolyard, having a Freaks and Geeks moment.

"What did I say?" Sebastian wondered, as Alec walked away.

"There was like one, maybe two words in there that wasn't insulting!" Alec only just heard Simon exclaim, before he was out of the schoolyard, only just feeling the fresh air in his face.

Sometimes Alec wasn't sure that Sebastian was even aware that he was being a bit of a jerk, but he usually just ignored it, because that's what everyone else did.

…

Isabelle was alone in the house when Alec came home. She was in her room listening to sad music, pretending to be the emo she wasn't despite her black wardrobe.

"What's going on?" he wondered. The look of utter indifference she gave him disturbed him more than it probably should. She was a master at manipulation. But she turned off the music and just lay back down on the bed.

"You're so busy with your own shit, that you don't even notice what's going on right in front of you!" she half-yelled.

"Izzy!" Alec was shocked that she would talk to him like that – like they were just ordinary siblings. They were more than that; they were friends. She could be rude to their parents, but she was never rude to him.

"Dad is cheating on mom," the words spilled out of her as if she was having a fit.

"I don't… No," he shook his head. She couldn't be telling the truth.

"Yes. I heard them talking about it months ago. Dad admitted it. They didn't know I was listening, of course." She was looking at her hands now, as she was calming down. Alec saw how the pressure of knowing this secret alone was lifted off her shoulders.

"You're serious?" Alec sat down at the edge of Isabelle's bed.

"Unfortunately," she said in a low voice.

"So that's what they are fighting about?" he realized. Isabelle nodded. She was right – he had been too busy caring about his own life rather than noticing the problems this family was having. "You know, if they decide to get divorced, it's probably going to be the best solution, right?" He wanted to ease her up to the possibility of a divorce, so that she wouldn't react as she always did when faced with such situations – with anger and hidden pain. It was the 21st century, people got divorced all the time.

"I know."

"Still, that doesn't change the fact that it's wrong of them to ignore us in the process. They should have told us they were having problems." He climbed into the bed and lay down next to her, looking up at the ceiling. "We should definitely confront them about it."

They were quiet for a while. Alec was suddenly relieved to have a sibling in times like these. He seemed to be the calm sibling of the two, but the truth was that he was only keeping calm for her benefit.

"I'm sorry about what I said before," Izzy spoke, and Alec turned to look at her. "About you being busy with your own shit. I know it's not shit. I can't imagine…"

"Izzy, you don't have to," Alec interrupted.

"You had fun with Magnus, right?" The hope was clear in her voice. "He seems like a fun person."

"He is. But he's also more than just that," Alec said, and looked back up at the ceiling after seeing Izzy's lips quirk up.

"I'm glad you have him now," she added.

"I'm not so sure that I have him. I mean, he's not exactly the subtle type."

"You mean because you're not out?"

"Yes. But there's also something else, something Sebastian said…" Alec added, thinking about the baseball metaphor. Magnus had been dating a girl last year, a very blonde and very girly girl. How could Alec match that? And what were a Catcher and a Pitcher? Was it something he could ask his sister about or was it as dirty as he always expected from Sebastian? He noticed Izzy was rolling her eyes.

"You don't listen to Sebastian. He will mess with your head, and it will satisfy him immensely," she said in a voice of warning. Alec decided to take her advice, and that's when he remembered what had happened this morning. He hadn't seen Magnus since the glitter.

"I should probably call and hear what happened after the glitter bomb," Alec got out of the bed.

"Or you could just go to his house?" Izzy suggested.

"But what about you?"

"I have homework," she shrugged.

"Okay," Alec hesitated for a moment, but then he left her room.

…

Alec was not going to let Sebastian get into his head. It didn't matter that Magnus had dated a blonde girl last year, because it shouldn't. Still, it filled him with insecurity to know about it. Instead he should take Jace's advice and ask him if they were exclusive – at least he had suspected that's what Jace had meant underneath all that joking around about passing notes.

Magnus was the one to open the door, and he started smiling when he saw Alec.

"This is a surprise," he smiled. Alec's heart jumped. He didn't remember ever seeing anyone this happy to see him before.

"Hey," Alec said, suddenly nervous.

"Do you want to come inside?" Magnus offered, and Alec just went inside without saying anything. His throat was itching. Was he really about to ask Magnus to be his boyfriend?

"Did you get in trouble?" Alec asked, as they entered the living room.

"No. Not serious trouble anyway."

"You don't seem mad?" Alec studied Magnus' expression. He seemed anything but angry.

"Why would I be mad? It was kind of genius. I didn't suspect a thing," he shrugged, and sat down on the couch. Alec sat down in a chair across from Magnus. "Is that why you're here? To see if I was alright?" Magnus looked amused now.

"Well… yeah?" Alec admitted to this being part of why he was there. Magnus bit his lower lip. It seemed to be a trade he had for when Alec was concerned or thoughtful. Magnus leaned his elbows on his knees. Alec observed him as he seemed to go through different emotions all of the sudden. At last Magnus stood up.

"Alec…" he said, and Alec stood up to be at the same level as him. Magnus sucked in the air in front of him, as they stood eye to eye. "I think I might be falling for you. No I'm definitely falling for you. And if you don't…" Magnus' words were rushed, but confident. Alec only had to take one step forward and he could close the distance between them, interrupting Magnus' rant with a fervent kiss. Magnus seemed shocked by the gesture, but only for a second, before Alec felt hands on his arms, moving over his chest, brushing his stomach, and calming the kiss turning it slower and less aggressive. Magnus pulled Alec at his belt loops, trying to see if he could get any closer. With his hands around Magnus' back, he pressed himself closer to the other boy, diving in, dizziness filling his head, making his thoughts and decisions unclear. He was brought back to his own mind, when Magnus broke off the kiss.

"I… wanted to ask you…" Alec didn't know how to ask.

"Yes, Alexander?" Magnus inquired.

"Does this mean…?"

"What?" He was going to make him ask, even though his expression revealed that he knew exactly what Alec was about to ask him. But he was going to make him say it himself, because he knew Alec was new at dating and he should be comfortable enough to ask the question. At least that's how Alec saw it himself.

"Does this mean we're a couple?"

"If you want us to be?" Magnus said.

"Yes." Magnus reached out for Alec's hand, but he drew it back. If Magnus touched him again, he wouldn't be able to stop himself from making out with him again, and he also wanted to talk to Magnus.

"Is something wrong?"

"I want to tell my parents about you," Alec said.

"Alec, you don't have to…"

"Not right away, but soon. I just found out that my dad had a secret himself, and I don't think he really has the right to judge me, even if that's what he decides to do," Alec explained.

"Let me guess, he's running off with that childhood friend of his – Michael?" Magnus tried to lighten the mood, and it somewhat worked.

"No. But he is having an affair."

"I'm sorry. I wouldn't have joked like that, if I knew that was it," Magnus said.

"It's alright. I don't even know who it is anyway."

"So it could be Michael," Magnus smirked. Instead of telling Magnus how ridiculous he was Alec shoved him in a teasing manner. As a result he faked a fall and dragged Alec with him down onto the couch, and as usual it sent a flutter through his stomach, when he landed on top of the other boy. For a second Alec thought he was going to wrestle Magnus for fun, but when his eyes went over Magnus' lips he loosened his grip around his arms, he saw the lips part and Alec dived in to kiss them without hesitation – all tongue, teeth and titillation. Remembering that he was keeping himself an inch apart from Magnus by holding himself up, he lay down against the other boy feeling Magnus' subtle muscles flex under his own. The feel of Magnus' warmth against his own body made him tremble. Alec was drowning in Magnus' grasp as the other boy clutched at him, but he didn't care, it was a wonderful kind of drowning, and he started getting ideas – he began kissing Magnus down his jaw line and neck, and Magnus seemed to catch his breath. "I don't know how I feel about you getting worked up over my insinuations about your dad, but I think I like where this is going," Magnus breathed. Alec sat up instantly, still on top of Magnus.

"Please don't talk," he said, trying not to think about Magnus' insinuation. Magnus sat up and he was almost as tall as Alec, even though Alec was on top of him.

"As you wish," Magnus grinned, laced his fingers with Alec's T-shirt and dragged him back down to continue what he'd just interrupted.