Of course. The conversation had to turn to his parents, the people he was most ashamed of. Alec sat on the edge of the couch, the arm of it digging into his side. He tried to stay as far away from everyone as he could. When they started talking about Sebastian, Alec felt sick to his stomach. How could he just get away?

"Um...I have to... You know, go. Izzy... I mean my sister... um, needs me? Bye." Alec stood up and quickly walked toward the door, and he could feel everyone's eyes on him like targets. He swung open the door and closed it behind himself and breathed in the fresh air. Finally safe. Suddenly, the door swung open behind him. Expecting Aline, Alec was confused when someone else walked through.

"You were lying." A soft voice said behind him. "If you were uncomfortable, you could have said something." It was Magnus Bane. Magnus cocked his head at Alec, his yellow-green eyes seeming to try to decipher why Alec had left.

"A-Aline?" Alec stuttered, trying to ask about Aline.

"She's fine. Helen said she'd take her home for you." That managed to make Alec smile. They way Magnus said it, he probably knew about Aline's crush on Helen. Or maybe Helen had a crush on Aline...

"Tell her I said thanks." Alec said, starting to walk down the steps towards his car.

"Wait!" Alec felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked at Magnus. He had to look up, because Magnus was almost a foot taller than him. Magnus' cat-like eyes looked into his, a note of apology in them. "I'm sorry for the way my friends acted. I can't excuse it, but..."

"I deserve it." Alec said, looking down.

"No, you don't." Magnus said, sounding determined to change his mind. "You haven't done anything."

"But that's exactly it." Alec said quietly, embarrassed to be sharing his feelings. "There is so much I could've done to help. Then your friends wouldn't have done anything. But instead, I just stood to the side, out of fear. I deserve it."

"I don't know who your parents are, and I don't know who you are. But I can tell you are a good person. You came to this meeting, even though your parents could find out. You helped us during lunch today. You don't support the rude TV shows. Plus, I would know best of all that a person isn't their parents. You don't have to believe me, but I believe in you." There was a long pause.

"Alexander." Alec said quietly.

"What?"

"That's my name. Alexander, Alec, Lightwood." Alec turned away from Magnus and got in his car and drove for home.

Why had a Downworlder boy Alec barely knew been so nice to him? He said probably one of the sweetest things a person had ever said to him, and just thinking about it made his face flush. He checked the clock on his car, trying to clear his mind. 6:07. He was back extremely early. He needed to think of an excuse so his parents wouldn't question him relentlessly. Maybe that he wasn't feeling well? No, his parents would get a thermometer. Saying that Aline was feeling sick would work better. When he entered his house, Max was sitting on one of their sitting room couches reading the book that Livvy had given him, looking upset. Alec hated when his little brother was unhappy. Alec walked up and sat next to him. Max looked up.

"You're back early." He said, sounding bitter.

"What's wrong?" Alec asked, ruffling Max's brown hair. Max moved his head out of the way, which was extremely out of character for him. He usually loved his hair being ruffled.

"You know how I wanted to go over to Livvy's house?" Alec nodded. "Well, mom and dad won't let me. And not because she's a 'bad influence' or whatever like my other friends."

"Why not then?"

"The most stupidest reason." Alec was surprised. Max was in love with language and grammar, and when he didn't use it correctly, you could tell he was upset. "I can't go over to Livvy's house because she lives with two Downworlders. Half Downworlder." Tears began to fall from his gray eyes. "It's so unfair! I can't even be friends with the few Downworlders in my class, and now I can't even be friends with someone who just lives with Downworlders? It's not a disease, they're just people! They just don't have this ugly thing." Max glared down at his hand, and a few teardrops fell on it. Alec hugged him, whispering in his ear.

"I know, I know. Trust me Max, I know."

Max fell asleep, crying in Alec's arms. Alec moved him over to lay on the couch, and put his glasses on the coffee table. Alec wiped the tears off of Max's face. This feud between Downworlders and Marked wasn't only hurting him, it was hurting Max as well. If Izzy knew that their parents made Max cry, she would kill them. Luckily, Izzy was still on her date with Simon. Alec walked down the hallway to his room, and ran into his mother.

"Alec?" His mother questioned. "I thought you were on a date with Aline."

"She wasn't feeling well." Alec lied, surprisingly well.

"Aw, poor sweetheart. I hope she feels better. Have you seen Max? He seemed rather angry with us."

"Yeah, you should probably leave him alone for tonight. I'll put him to bed." Alec offered, knowing Max didn't want to speak with their parents.

"Thank you, dear. It's probably for the best." Maryse said, patting him on the shoulder as he walked by.

Alec flopped onto his bed with a bottle of Pepsi in his hand. He hadn't eaten all day, but didn't feel like going into the kitchen. He reached for the book he was reading when his phone dinged. Picking that up instead, he saw a message notification from Aline.

Are you okay? It read. He typed in a quick response.

Yeah.

Magnus said he talked to you. Did it help?

Actually, yeah. Alec tried to think of what to add. Maybe something like, he's sweet? But even that might come off weird, he thought in his head.

Good. Aline responded before Alec had to ponder that any longer. I went home with Helen, btw.

Yeah, Magnus told me. ;)

I want to type shut up, but you aren't talking.

Anything exciting?

NO! She just drove me home.

The two talked until it was almost nine-thirty, Max's bedtime. Alec texted Aline that he had to put him to bed, and she understood. Alec walked into the room that Max was sleeping in, but he wasn't there. When he checked Max's room, he saw Max quickly put something under his pillow.

"What was that?" Alec asked.

"Nothing." Max said, smiling. "I thought you were mom or dad."

"Well, I'm not," Alec grinned, "So what do you have over there?" He walked up to Max and began tickling him until he was red with laughter.

"Stop!" He giggled. Max lifted up his pillow to reveal a phone, Izzy's 'old one'. She claimed it was out of style, but it was still a fairly new model. Alec unlocked the phone and saw it was on a messaging app. He was texting Livvy. "No, no!" Max shouted. "Don't read those!" Max grabbed the phone out of Alec's hand before he could read the messages. Alec raised his eyebrows. "If I'm not allowed to talk to her at school, I might as well text her." Max explained.

"It's not a bad plan, buddy. Just don't let mom or dad find out you have a phone, and you'll be fine." Max smiled.

"Thanks, Alec."

"But," Alec said, "You do have to go to bed. So put that phone in your nightstand and sleep, okay?"

"Okay." Max snuggled into his anime-themed blankets. Alec kissed him on the forehead. "'Night." He whispered.

"'Night." Alec responded before leaving to go back to his room and read.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I wrote this chapter furiously because I was super happy about getting reviews. I decided to write some responses. (Ps: Alecline, you got your max. Happy?)

Malec shipper af: thank you so much! And don't you worry, Malec is coming.

MALECISBAE: thanks for your continued support! And I love the alecline BROTP.

Malec is OTP and Maiaisbae: same. I basically modeled Maia's character after myself

Makenzie Wolf: thanks so much for continuing to review!

Alecline(I don't know your username but you know who you are): max is here!

AlecAline BFFS3: I've always had a headcanon that Alec and Aline were best friend when they were younger, so I decided to add it in here!