"Magnus?" Clary whispered. "Isn't that Alec?" The two of them had just entered the cafeteria and sure enough there sat the man Magnus had been complaining to her about all morning. Clary was trying not to be hurt that Magnus was only hanging out with her today to complain that his other friend was too busy to spend time with him. She knew Magnus needed someone to be around people who had no memories of him with Camille and she was trying to be okay with that. It would be worth it if it helped Magnus get over that horrid woman.

"That's Jace he's with," Clary observed. "I thought you said those two didn't get along."

"They don't," Magnus replied. Clary watched as Alec got up and encouraged Jace to do the same. She was rather confused by this whole thing. What could those two possibly have in common?

Magnus vanished from her side, but she caught a glimpse of him talking to Alec just before Jace appeared suddenly before her.

"Hi," Jace said "I just wanted to tell you something."

"Alright," Clary said. She hoped he'd hurry up so she could follow Magnus.

"I've been- I mean- I… for a while now," Jace stopped then after a deep breath he continued. "We have that class together. Intro into Humanities or something."

"I know," Clary said. She had first noticed Jace in that class, which had upset Simon. She still couldn't explain even to herself why she had been so fixated.

"Ever since we talked," Jace said slowly. "I kind of haven't stopped thinking about you."

"Really?" Clary said skeptically.

"Yeah," Jace said. He wasn't looking at her but rather at the ground. Clary knew Jace's reputation. She'd overheard women he'd slept with talking about him in the girls bathroom on more than one occasion since arriving at this school. Jace was a player, pure and simple. There was no way this wasn't a line, even if there was a certain vulnerability to the way Jace had delivered the words.

"I bet you dream about me too huh?"

"I do," Jace confessed. He looked slightly confused and Clary had to admire his dedication to the game. A part of her was flattered he'd picked her as his girl of the day. Clary knew she wasn't any great beauty, but even if she had been her choice in clothing did nothing to flatter her. Baggy t-shirts, comfy sweaters and loose jeans didn't exactly scream sexy.

"I think I've seen this play before," she said with a slight laugh. "On TV of course." She smiled; she was flattered sure, but she had bigger problems right now. Clary looked past Jace to watch Magnus. She was worried Alec had done something to ruin the new happiness her friend had managed to grab hold of recently. Clary made to follow Magnus, but they were already done talking. Alec moved quickly to stand beside Jace, but Magnus stood perfectly still by the table where Alec had been sitting a moment ago. His face was blank as if in shock.

"Jace you okay?" she heard Alec say but Clary didn't bother to listen to Jace's reply; she didn't turn to look. Clary walked over to Magnus and put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to bring him comfort.

"What happened?" Clary asked in a whisper. Magnus didn't reply, but continued to look dazed. Clary thought she saw Jace and Alec leave the cafeteria out of the corner of her eye. She didn't bother to confirm it as her main focus at the moment rested solely on Magnus.

"I think," Magnus said miserably as he sank into a cold metal cafeteria chair. "I think he…" Magnus seemed unable to finish the sentence or perhaps unsure how.

"What did he say?" Clary asked instead trying to help him express his thoughts.

"That he can't be my friend anymore," Magnus said.

"What? Why?" Clary exclaimed.

"I think, it seemed like…" Magnus paused then finished in a whisper, "He wanted to kiss me just now." Magnus's voice suddenly rose as he covered his face with his hands and almost yelled. "I'm an idiot! Oh god what a mess!"

Clary couldn't understand why Magnus was upset. She was delighted.

"Go after him," Clary said beaming at Magnus. "Go kiss him!" Magnus didn't reply. He laid his head down on the table and sulked.

"Don't stick to your 'I'm done dating' thing please," Clary begged. "I want you to be happy and Alec obviously cares about you."

"I know how wonderful the beginning is," Magnus spoke into the crook of his arm. "Camille, Etta, Axel, Imasu… they all cared about me too. And each time the start was like magic. That soaring feeling in your stomach that makes you want to give your heart away, to take the leap together. It makes you sure that as long as you have each other you can do anything. But that doesn't last Clary."

"If you don't give it a chance how can you know how it'll end?"

"Because they all end in pain," Magnus sighed. "Note to self: stop befriending people who could possibly be attracted to me."

"That should be tricky for you," Clary laughed. She was trying to cheer him up but it was having no effect what so ever. So much for laughter being contagious. "You're left only with straight guys in that scenario."

"That's what I thought Alec was," Magnus whined.

"Clearly he's not," Clary said. "And unless you want to lose him forever, which I know you don't, you need to fix this."

"There's nothing to fix," Magnus said. "Because there was nothing built."

"Don't say that!" Clary snapped at him. "Alec said he couldn't be your friend right? He must like you an awful lot if he couldn't-"

"Couldn't what?" Magnus retorted. "Be in my presence? Talk to me? I wasn't asking much!"

Clary didn't know what to say. It seemed there was nothing she could say that would make this better.

"I'm going home," Magnus sighed. "Tessa's upset about losing Will. At least at home I can be of some use to her."

With that Magnus walked toward the nearest exit. Clary noticed he didn't even bother to zip up his jacket and she worried he'd catch cold. Clary may not know much about Alec. She may have only met him in passing during one of his many homework meet ups with Magnus, but she suddenly hated him. Couldn't he see how fragile Magnus was right now? Couldn't Alec just give Magnus time rather than breaking away like that!

Clary wanted to give Alec a piece of her mind but she had no idea where Alec and Jace had run off to. Fuming in the middle of the cafeteria was not helping. Magnus was very stubborn and Clary knew there was nothing she could say to convince him when his mind was made up, which it clearly was. She took a deep breath. Magnus needed some space; she would check on him later, but for now she decided to contact her sane and non-traumatized friend.

'Magnus is miserable thanks to his Alec person,' Clary texted Helen. 'I need to rant. Are you busy?'

Putting her phone back in her pocket Clary decided to have breakfast. She and Magnus had, after all, come to the cafeteria to eat, not create a scene. She hoped Magnus would eat something when he got home rather than sulk on an empty stomach. She felt better knowing he was going home to Tessa. Even if Tessa was upset right now she wouldn't let Magnus starve. Clary got in line, ordered her breakfast and was just finishing her omelet when Helen replied to her message.

'Not so much busy,' Helen texted. 'More like procrastinating doing homework.'

'Great I can help with that.'

'Actually not doing homework is a specialty of mine,' Helen replied. 'Don't need help.'

'Lol,' Clary replied and for once she had actually laughed out loud when reading the message. 'I'm headed home. Meet you there.'

'I'll put the kettle on,' Helen answered. 'I'm already home.'

Clary tidied away her tray then wrapping herself up in her thick winter coat she headed back to the dorms. Living with Helen over the last few months had been a wonderful change from her life back home. Her brother wasn't around to annoy her, her father wasn't there to nag her and her mother didn't have so many opportunities to complain about Clary's domestic skills. Living away from home for the first time had been everything she dreamed it would be.

Of course, Clary missed her family. Luke was technically her stepfather but she'd known him as dad all her life and often forgot to refer to him as a step parent. Her older brother, Jonathan, had known their father more so he often called Luke by his name rather than dad. This sometimes confused people into thinking they were only half siblings but those people didn't really matter. Anyone who really knew her family, like Magnus and his aunt, Aleida understood why Clary called Luke dad while Jonathan called him Luke. Jonathan and Clary's biological father had died before Clary was born, but Jonathan and her mother, Jocelyn, remembered him. It was a long time ago now; Jocelyn and Luke were very happy together and the pain of her father's death had long since healed.

Her favourite thing about living with Helen was the great girl talk. Clary's oldest friend was Magnus, who despite his glittery ways was no woman. Simon had been her friend before they started dating and indeed all of Clary's other friends were guys as well. She had no sisters. Living with Helen meant talking about hair and nails while gossiping about boys! Sure Helen was also up for gossiping about girls, but it was still fabulous. With so many guy friends Clary was much more used to talking about how hot women were anyway.

Clary reached her dorm and quickly went inside to get out of the cold.

"Hey," Helen said.

"It's so cold," Clary whined.

"It's November," Helen reminded her. "End of November actually."

"Don't remind me," Clary groaned. "I don't want to think about exams yet."

"I hear ya," Helen agreed. She got up from her desk and went over to their part of a shared kitchen. There was a microwave, a fridge, an electric kettle and a small cupboard full of granola bars. They also had some mugs and bowls for cereal.

"Thanks," Clary said as she accepted the warm cup of tea Helen handed her. Helen picked up her own tea and the two of them sat and drank in silence for a moment. Clary could feel the warmth from the hot liquid spreading through her fingers, returning some of the feeling that had been numbed by the cold. The sprawling building that housed their dorms had a common area but there was no indoor path back to the main school. For this reason Clary liked their small incomplete kitchen especially in winter. Breakfast in your warm dorm before a 10am class was far preferable to a cold morning walk. "I wish Magnus would just let himself be happy."

"So who's this Alec anyway?" Helen asked. "You said it was his fault."

"He's been friends with Magnus for the last… I want to say two months?" Clary said dubiously. "Maybe it's only been a month but either way it's been a while, but now it seems Alec wants to be more than friends and Magnus doesn't."

"That sucks for Alec," Helen said. "But why is Magnus upset?"

"Being friends with Alec was helping him be less miserable since Camille cheated on him," Clary explained.

"Doesn't that imply Magnus likes Alec too?" Helen asked.

"Maybe," Clary sighed. "But he isn't admitting it."

"So, anything happen to you today that isn't about Magnus Bane?" Helen asked with a grin.

"I talk about him alot huh?" Clary asked.

"Kinda," Helen said but she was smiling. "I don't think I've ever had a friend like that before. I mean I could talk about my siblings all day but you don't choose family like you do friends."

"Magnus is more like family honestly," Clary said. "I've known him since I was in diapers." She couldn't remember this far back, of course, but it was always a dramatic way to phrase it.

"Wow," Helen laughed. Clary finished her tea, collected the mugs and went to the common bathroom down the hall to wash them. Her mind wondered as she went and she returned with an answer to Helen's question.

"A non-Magnus thing about today," Clary said as she re-entered the dorm. "Jace hit on me… I think."

"What? Really?" Helen asked.

"Yep," Clary said. "I didn't think I was his type."

"You so aren't!" Helen laughed. "Did you tell Simon?"

"Tell him what?" Clary said. "That Jace spoke to me before I walked away? Nothing to tell." She shrugged as she finished putting away the washed mugs.

"He's sooo hot," Helen whined. "If he wasn't such a whore I'd totally-"

"Wouldn't get anywhere with him cause he'd be less whorish," Clary cut her friend off. Helen laughed, sitting down on her bed. Clary sat beside her.

"Yeah I suppose you're right," Helen said. "But I can still admire the view."

"Oh for sure!" Clary said grinning. "If only we had a Jace Herondale calendar. He could be washing a different car shirtless every month." Clary playfully pretended to decide where the calendar would look best, surveying the room like a photographer framing a work of art. "It could go right there."

"Shirtless," Helen said shaking her head. "My dear small minded friend. He shall wash the cars totally naked." Helen grinned from ear to ear, finishing off the last word with a click of her tongue. Clary couldn't help but blush slightly. She supposed objectifying Jace like this was only fair considering his behavior toward women and besides it was fun.

"Wouldn't it be awkward?" Clary said. "I mean if someone besides us saw it on our wall."

"There would be strategically placed soap suds and other items," Helen explained, wiggling her eyebrows. "So we can use our imagination." Helen had a far off look in her eyes and Clary was fairly sure this calendar was being perfectly pictured in Helen's mind's eye. Clary couldn't help but laugh at her friend's enthusiasm.

"How long has it been?" Clary asked still chuckling.

"Too long," Helen whined.

"If I had any stable or single friends I'd set you up," Clary said.

"So basically," Helen summarized. "If Simon and you weren't dating you'd set me up with Simon. If Magnus wasn't a mess with him and if Tessa wasn't straight, her."

"Yeah," Clary said. "I am so glad we are friends. It seems I am sadly lacking in that department." Magnus had far more friends than Clary, but among them it was only Tessa she could really count as a her friend.

Helen and Clary shared a laugh at her total lack of a social life then finally got down to doing some homework. It was dreadfully dull, but when they were finally finished Clary went to check on Magnus. He was much the same and Clary made very little progress in cheering him up.


Beta read by Holly0114. Also she helped with some description.


Thanks to Hewt for helping me pick a Dutch name for Magnus's aunt! In case you are curious it is pronounced Ah-lie-dah.


Also NO ONE even has a single idea to help me name this story? *Cries* I suck at naming things guys. Maybe it will stay "University Human AU Clace-Malec" forever even though that is a super lame working title. Sigh.

I am uploading this near midnight even though I have to get up for work at 7am tomorrow because I love checking for new reviews all day while I am at work. I could just make you wait till I got home tomorrow but it makes my day at work so much better when I get to read reviews in between tasks.

By the way this sneak peek is based off of a barely started chapter so... ^_^


Sneak Peek Chapter 14

"She didn't believe me," Jace whispered as if to himself. He had said this in his head but it felt good to say it out loud. Like releasing a bird from a cage.

"I believe you," Alec said. "But can you blame her? I mean you do have a reputation."

Alec had a point, Jace thought. Hadn't he said far more compelling things before to get women into bed without meaning a single word of it? How could Clary think him genuine with so much evidence to the contrary.