Alec was so stressed that as soon as he heard Jace playing the piano, he couldn't help but get up and automatically go to what everyone somehow deemed his couch. Listening to Jace play had become such a comfort that it was generally the only thing that could actually relax him when it came down to it. Over the past month, all hell had broken loose, and it was all he could do to somehow hold on to who he was. Or at least, who he thought he was.

First, Clary showed up and turned their entire world upside down, but finding out that Clary and Jace were soulmates was somehow the worst part of Clary's appearance. Alec knew that was ridiculous, that there were many more things that he should worried about, but he couldn't keep from hating the fact that Jace had found his soulmate for several reasons. His own confused feelings for Jace had a lot to do with it, but he pushed those aside for the moment. Alec knew how much the legend meant to Jace, or rather, didn't mean to Jace. He had seen the change in Jace's demeanor after the discovery, and he wanted nothing more than to keep Jace happy, or get Jace back to being happy.

Then there was Simon, who he'd actually found slightly endearing and had actually seemed to make Isabelle happy. Until he was turned into a vampire. Now they were all on pins and needles for several obvious reasons, but Alec didn't want to see what might happen to Izzy if Simon was arrested and put on trial. Since he'd been Turned, Simon had been rather standoffish with them all, and Alec knew that was likely the Downworlder-Shadowhunter dynamics at work.

The most confusing situation, however, was decidedly Alec's situation with Magnus Bane. Ever since they'd gone to Magnus's party, Magnus had been making various attempts to get Alec to go out with him. And it certainly wasn't that Alec didn't want to date Magnus, he had decided that he most definitely did, but he wasn't able to let go of being cautious.

For the majority of his life, Alec had always believed that his soulmate would be a woman. When he'd come to the realization that he was gay, he'd tried to deny it for as long as possible. When Alec had finally come to understand that he couldn't change his sexuality any more than he would be able to change his soulmate, he'd allowed himself to relax much more, to tell Isabelle the truth, to just begin being himself. Falling in love with Jace had been an entirely different story. Falling in love with Jace was forbidden, and it quickly became the source of most of his heartache.

But recently, Alec had come to realize that he might be less enthralled with Jace as he once was, and things had become so much different for him. He'd tried to spend as much time with Magnus as possible without making Magnus think that he was promising too much, that he was making promises he knew he might not be able to keep. But the more time he spent with Magnus, the more he wanted to make every promise he possibly could.

Alec reached for his phone as it began vibrating, smiling when he saw Magnus's name on the screen. Magnus wanted to see him, which was no surprise to Alec, but what actually caused him to get up was the fact that Magnus's text said he had something Alec needed to hear regarding Alec's unwillingness to make things official. "I'm going out," Alec said to Jace as he got up from the couch.

Jace turned around, his hands still playing music in the way that Alec often found annoyingly endearing. "To see Magnus?" he asked, chuckling when Alec froze in place. Alec had no idea who Jace had figured that out, seeing as he had only talked to Isabelle about their relationship. "I notice more things than you think, Alec," Jace continued when Alec couldn't seem to come up with a response. "Don't worry about it, just go. We can talk about it more later; none of this changes anything for me, you know that." The only thing Alec knew to do was quickly give Jace a hug before leaving for Magnus's.

Alec tried to keep from smiling as Magnus handed him a drink almost as soon as he had walked through the door. It certainly wasn't the first time they'd shared drinks, but Alec couldn't help but think that it was more of a part of whatever Magnus's plan was than anything else. "I've been thinking about what you said, about your reluctance to be with me because of the whole Shadowhunter-Downworlder situation," Magnus said as Alec reluctantly reached out to take the drink. "And I think I have a solution to that little problem."

The only thing Alec could think to do was raise an eyebrow, knowing that his smile was growing larger by the second. "Take a seat first, though, and let's talk about some other pressing issues." Alec knew Magnus was stalling, trying to build up the suspense, but he decided to play along and took a seat across from Magnus. "First, I spoke with Raphael last night, and he said to let you all know that Simon's doing much better. Raphael thinks they'll both be able to help with this entire situation pretty soon."

"How do you know Raphael, exactly?" Alec asked. He'd always been curious as to why Magnus seemed to trust Raphael without any question. When Raphael said it was Camille who had Turned Simon and not himself, Magnus had vouched for him without a second thought. "You two seem to be much closer than I first imagined."

Magnus inclined his head to admit that he was closer to Raphael than it seemed. "I saved his life when we first met," Magnus replied, and Alec had to admit that he wasn't terribly surprised by the statement. "People grow close when they've spent decades together. Even if we've only spent decades together because he's obviously hopelessly in love with my best friend." Alec cracked a smile at the mention of Ragnor. He rather liked Ragnor, who had a wonderful sense of dry humor that Alec adored. The first time they'd teamed up to make fun of Magnus, Alec immediately decided that Ragnor was his favorite of all of Magnus's old friends.

"Okay, now stop stalling, Magnus," Alec replied, moving to set his drink down. He had tried to wait, he had tried to put it out of his mind, but he desperately wanted to know the reason Magnus had asked him to come over in the first place. "I'm not here because you want to talk about Simon, we both know that." Magnus smiled in a way that told Alec he was amused by Alec's need to know what was going on.

Standing up, Magnus began speaking in an almost diplomatic way. "You say you don't want to be with me because you're afraid of the Downworlder part of this relationship, correct?" Magnus turned to watch as Alec nodded, far too curious to speak up and waste more time. "Well, the only reason I can think that you would ever need to be afraid would be if we were soulmates. So I'm going to show you my tattoo and prove to you that there's nothing for us to worry about."

At first, Alec had thought this was a fantastic idea, but when Magnus reached down to take off his left shoe, Alec suddenly had trouble breathing. Sure, the only reason that they should be concerned about being together would be if they were soulmates, but Alec had never considered what he might do if they really were. When Alec looked down to see the arrow on Magnus's foot, he felt his heart hit the floor.

"Nothing to worry about, right?" Magnus asked, looking back at Alec with a very critical expression. Time seemed to freeze for Alec, and at first, he thought of simply leaving. Leaving would keep Magnus the safest. Leaving would mean that Magnus wouldn't ever have to deal with what was actually going on. Alec couldn't truly figure out what he was doing, all he knew was that he was smiling at Magnus over the fear he actually felt.

Alec shoved his guilt back in place as he got ready for his date with Magnus a few nights later. He knew what he was doing was deceptive, but he'd never actually told Magnus that they weren't soulmates, so he had convinced himself, in a way, that he hadn't lied to Magnus. Alec knew he'd done a lot of things wrong before, but somehow, he couldn't seem to truly convince himself of exactly how wrong it truly was, not when Magnus made it all feel so right.

As soon as Magnus had shown Alec his tattoo, it had felt like a switch inside Alec had been flipped. Before he knew what he was doing, Alec had found himself in Magnus's arms, his lips on Magnus's in the way he'd wanted from day one. The more he thought about it, the more he had no idea what had truly made him hide his own tattoo from Magnus, but he knew there was no going back from it now.

Alec knew how dangerous it would be for Magnus if absolutely anyone found out that they were soulmates, so he'd refrained from so much as telling Isabelle or Jace. He simply thought that if he and Magnus were soulmates, they would fall in love without both of them knowing that fact. He realized that he wanted to protect Magnus at all costs, and if that meant keeping his tattoo from him as long as possible, that's exactly what Alec was going to do.

In his struggles over his sexuality, Alec had never stopped to think what he might do if his soulmate was a Downworlder. He'd been so overwhelmed by the realization that his soulmate would be a man that he hadn't added the fear of that man being a Downworlder as well. The fear that had consumed him after seeing Magnus's tattoo had overwhelmed him for days, and the more he fell for Magnus, the more fear consumed him. Alec had thought a lot about what his answer would be if Magnus was put on trial and he was asked to take Magnus's place, but he hadn't entirely figured that answer out. He knew what he thought his answer would be, but he'd also once thought he'd never fall in love with his parabatai or fall in love with a man in general. And yet here he was, slowly falling in love with Magnus more and more every day.

He smiled as he reached up to knock on Magnus's door, his smile only widening when Magnus opened it. Jace had made a lot of jokes about the colorfulness of Magnus's fashion sense, but it was something that Alec adored. He looked down in worry at his plain black outfit, but Magnus quickly pulled him in for a soft kiss. "You look absolutely wonderful, Alexander, don't worry," he said, his smile evident in his voice. "I've got a surprise for you tonight, and no, don't argue. I know you hate surprises, just trust me." So Alec did.

Let me know your thoughts! I'm super excited for the next few chapters, so I hope you guys are ready for them because it's gonna be a wild ride for sure!