Chapter Text
“Hey.” It was an unfamiliar female voice, belonging to an unfamiliar face. The girl was standing by his locker. Alec looked up from what he was doing.
It was a tall willowy blonde with red lipstick, who was leaning against his locker.
“Yes?” Alec asked. “Can I help you?” He furrowed his brow, since he had not recalled ever meeting this girl..
“I’m Anastasia,” the girl said smoothly, looking at him from under heavily mascara’d lashes. “Now, how is it that I’ve never seen you before in school? And I know absolutely everyone…”
Alec shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said, very confused about why this girl was at his locker, talking to him. “Uh, we don’t have the same classes?”
That was a guess. He really had no idea…
The girl named Anastasia smiled, as if she was aware of some inside joke that only she was privy to. “Anyway,” she said blithely, “You’re hot. What’s your name?”
“Oh? I guess…thanks? Anyway, I’m Alec,” he said, awkwardly.
Ugh he wished this girl would just leave right now. This was getting really weird.
“Soooo,” the girl continued, not making any move to leave. “So I saw you with Magnus Bane this morning. Are you two a thing?”
This girl was really nosy! Alec was getting slightly irritated, but bit his lip. He was always taught to be nice and patient. Obviously there were others were not taught this way.
“Uh, yea, we came to school together,” he said gruffly. “He’s my boyfriend, we just started going out together recently…”
“I wouldn’t put stock in that if I were you,” the girl continued, as she paused to examine her manicure. “Magnus isn’t someone you would take seriously, so don’t get your hopes up for anything lasting. Besides, you know he’s really into Jonathan right? I just thought I would let you know. They have this thing going…they like to play around with one another, make the other one jealous, you know?” She looked up at Alec.
Alec inhaled sharply.
Anastasia suddenly looked shocked.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, you didn’t know that?” she said, her eyes widening. “What did Magnus tell you, that Jonathan is just begging him to go out with him, and that he’s following him everywhere? Ah it’s the same old story. I’m just sorry you got caught up in all of this. You look like a nice guy and shouldn’t’ be caught up in their drama, you know?”
Part of him knew he should not pay this girl any mind about what she was saying about Magnus. He had gotten to know Magnus, and Magnus seemed so sweet and amazing. But the side of him,that still couldn’t’ believe that Magnus had even talked to him in the first place, started gaining traction.
“What do you mean by that?” Alec asked, trying not to sound too curious, or hurt. His voice came out relatively steady, with a hint of “I don’t really care what you say, but I’ll hear what you have to say…”
Anastasia shrugged. “Magnus isn’t the serious type, and he likes to play games, lots of games. Jonathan --the unfortunate soul – well, not so unfortunate since he IS the star quarterback, somehow fell for Magnus, “she said, rolling her eyes. “So it’s been a real cat and mouse type of thing. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that Magnus is using you to get to Jonathan. When this game ends with them, you’re history. I just don’t want you to get hurt.” She looked up at him with an innocent look.
Then her eyes roved over Alec, making Alec nervous, but he held her gaze. The expression on her face was slightly predatory.
“Well, Alec, you’re certainly looking fiiiiine. By the way, if and when the thing with Magnus goes kaput, I’d be interested. Just ask for Anastasia. I’m President of the Homecoming Committee,” she said. She took her hand and placed it on Alec’s arm, slowly sliding it down until it touched his hand.
Alec attempted to smile, without flinching. Her touch was like ice, and not welcomed by any means.
“Uh, thanks,” Alec said with as much fake sincerity as he could muster, gritting his teeth. “That was really helpful. I appreciate it.” He hoped he sounded sincere, when he was feeling anything but sincere right about now…
Apparently she hadn’t. “No problem! Just happy to help!” she said, giving Alec a smile before she bounced off.
What the hell was that? Alec thought, shaking his head. Although now he felt a bit shaken that perhaps Magnus had not been telling him the entire truth about things.
But then again, maybe Anastasia was just a real bitch and make the whole thing up.
Still, Anastasia had known how to get him, though…
Lost in thought, he was not aware that Magnus had just walked up to him.
“Uh, what was that about?” Magnus asked. His voice sounded a bit off. He was looking at Alec with a concerned look on his face.
Alec blinked. Where did Magnus just come from?
Magnus stood in front of him, his hands holding his books. His brows furrowed in confusion and anxiety.
“Hey,” Alec said. “How were your classes?”
“They were fine,” Magnus said dismissively. “Anyway, I wasn’t aware you knew Anastasia. “ There was a hard edge of Magnus’s tone of voice, that Alec had never heard him use before.
Alec looked at Magnus. Why was he acting like that toward him? This was completely different than how he was acting this morning, or in the days prior to this…
“Uh, I don’t,” Alec said finally. “She came up to me…”
“What did she want?” Magnus’s eyes, usually so soft, were flinty at the moment.
Alec looked at Magnus, conflicting emotions swirling inside him. He wanted so much to give Magnus the benefit of the doubt, but the things the girl was saying…Anyway why did he care, anyway? This whole thing was fake, so whether Magnus had lied to him about the purpose, what did it really matter, anyway?
Except that it did matter.
Alec believed in always telling the truth, no matter what. And the truth led him to help out something that seemed like he was desperate for help.
Not to be strung along because of a game…
He looked at Magnus. “She told me that you and Jonathan have this game that you play, and that I became unwittingly involved in it,” he said haltingly. “And…I think she asked me out. Well, at least she made her interest known, just in case we didn’t’ end up working out.”
Magnus remained silent, but his eyes were now flashing.
“So,” Alec said carefully, looking at Magnus. “Is any of this true?”
Magnus looked at Alec with an incredulous look on his face. “So you think I’ve been lying to you all this time?” he said in a small voice. “Oh my god, not you too…”
Magnus blinked twice then as his shoulders sagged, and his eyes started to look suspiciously moist.
Oh my god, was Magnus going to start crying? Alec’s eyes widened. Not here, not in the middle of the hallway where everyone could see them!
He made a decision right then and there. He grabbed his lunch bag out of his locker, closed it, and turned to Magnus, who still looked really deflated.
“Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to him. “Bleachers. We can share my lunch today. Let’s talk.”
Magnus refused to look at him, which made Alec’s heart drop. But he did take his hand. Alec laced their fingers together.
“Okay,” Magnus muttered.
There was an uneasy silence between them as they walked out into the Courtyard together, then up toward the top of the bleachers. When they had reached the bleachers, Alec turned back from time to time just to make sure that Magnus was not having trouble with making it up.
When they had reached the top, they both sat down. Their hands had dropped to their sides, and just hung there...
Wordlessly, Alec took out his lunch, which was an overstuffed chicken caesar salad wrap, sliced in two. Separating it into two halves, he offered a half to Magnus, along with a napkin.
Magnus turned to look at him, just them, his eyes still glistening. He took the wrap. "Thank you," Magnus said in a quiet voice.
The way Magnus looked, kinda sad, kinda uncertain, tugged at Alec's heartstrings.
He suddenly felt terrible for inadvertently making Magnus feel this way.
Not knowing what else to say at the moment, he started eating his chicken wrap. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Magnus doing the same.
They both sat there, slightly apart, eating their lunch in silence.
From time to time, Alec would glance over at Magnus. As Magnus was eating, he kept looking off into the distance, as if contemplating things.
Eventually they both finished their lunch, and were still silent, just sitting slightly apart from one another. Alec noticed that Magnus was still looking off int the distance.
He was so not used to this boy being so tense and sad.
Alec felt a surge of empathy for him. Finally, Alec reached over, laced his fingers through Magnus's. Magnus didn't pull away.
Alec then squeezed Magnus's hand, as he started running comforting circles with his thumb along his inner palm.
That seemed to bring Magnus back. Magnus finally turned to look at Alec with a searching look in his eyes. Alec couldn’t tell what he was thinking at the moment. But he felt compelled to say something.
“Listen, Magnus,” Alec said. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like I believed her. I don’t. I really don’t.” He hoped Magnus believed him. He had been wrong to even question Magnus like that. Magnus had never acted in anyway that would suggest that he had been lying in any way…
Magnus smiled, seeming a bit tired. “That’s okay, Alec,” he said softly. “I mean, we really don’t know each other that well. I mean, we really just saw one another once in a blue moon at best prior to all of this. Things just happened so quickly, didn’t it…”
Alec nodded. “That’s certainly an understatement,” he said, breaking into a grin. “But don’t think that I felt forced to do it. This has actually been great -- ”
He stopped, as a thought occurred to him. “But, Anastasia, she certainly did not sound that nice. And she said all those thing about you and Jonathan. It honestly confused me –”
“Anastasia and I were a thing, for a very short time when I was a sophomore,” Magnus interjected. “It was casual. Back then I had just done my first drama solo…and then after that, everyone started noticing me, and it was quite overwhelming. She asked me out, and back then I really had no experience with dating and all. And here she was, beautiful, and friendly – and she was trying to encourage me to be myself, so that’s when the experimenting with styles and makeup began.”
He paused briefly and ran his fingers through his hair. “But I already always knew I was bisexual by then, and as the relationship progressed, I realized I was more attracted to guys to some degree, and I wanted to explore that aspect of it. So I was honest with her. She didn’t take it too well, and she started spreading rumors that I had cheated on her, and that because I was bisexual I was slutty and I slept with anything that moved –”
Magnus shut his eyes, clearly still upset by it all. “That was not a good time,” he breathed.
Oh my god, Alec thought, immediately scooting closer to Magnus and putting an arm around him. Magnus immediately leaned his head in the crook of Alec’s shoulder, sighing.
“Anastasia and Jonathan are good friends. And actually I think they hook up from time to time too. He’s got her totally wrapped around his finger, trust me,” Magnus muttered.
Wow, Alec thought. For someone like Magnus to sound like that when talking about someone, that person must really be horrible.
Alec hugged Magnus just then, and impulsively kissed him on the temple.
“Mmm,” Magnus hummed. “You always know the right time to do that, boyfriend. I love that.”
They sat there together, heads leaning against one another.
Magnus then pulled away from Alec slightly. Alec turned to look at him, a question in his eyes.
“You know, Sebastian says he would totally date you,” Magnus said, offhandedly, trying to sound casual.
“What?” The look on Alec’s face was akin to shock. “When did he say this? And, um aren’t you bothered by that –”
Magnus couldn’t help chuckling at that.
“Oh, Sebastian is a good friend of mine. He was just joking…well, kind of,” he said. He shifted uncomfortably, but tried to keep his tone light. “He was just saying how real you seem, and that was a very attractive quality, aside from all the other great things about you. And how others are starting to notice too….”
He trailed off.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up. Alec was gazing intently at him with his intense hazel eyes.
“So, how do you feel about that, Magnus?” he asked in a serious tone of voice.
“What do you mean?” Magnus asked, slightly confused. But he also felt a bit breathless, upon having Alec look at him like that.
They gazed at one another. Magnus looked away after awhile.
“Well,” he said, continuing to look at the ground, “You are completely amazing as a person, and no one ever noticed you before, at least not in the way that you deserved to be. Of course, they were bound to notice you, though. I mean, you’re so good looking, and sweet, and giving -- and I’m sure people knew that before, but now everyone knows….And you certainly have the right to want to date someone you are interested in, instead of being stuck in this arrangement with me…”
Magnus trailed off, as the words had come out in a rush.
He was feeling some pressure behind his eyes at the moment and couldn’t even speak at the moment…
He suddenly felt Alec’s shoulders tense up, and he released Magnus. Magnus’s heart plummeted. That must have been it, he thought, dejectedly.
There was an uncomfortable silence between them.
“Is it,” Alec’s voice suddenly interjected, breaking the silence, “That you no longer want to be in the arrangement with me, that’s why you are saying all of this?”
Alec sounded so uncertain.
Magnus’s eyes widened, and he whirled around. “No, it’s not that at all!” he exclaimed. “No, I…love what we have.” He sighed. “I got used to having you around. Maybe a bit too much –”
Alec’s hazel eyes regarded him intensely, in a way that made Magnus’s breath hitch.
“So,” Alec said softly. “What makes you think I’d want to be anywhere else, or want anyone else, besides you?”
Magnus stilled, his eyes blowing wide.
Was Alec saying –
“I’ve fallen for you,” Alec said huskily, his hazel eyes full of emotion, never leaving his. “It really wasn’t hard to do.”
He huffed a laugh, a lovely flush appearing on his face. “But what are the chances that someone as popular, fun, and amazing as you, would ever want someone like me ---”
Magnus had already moved, closing the distance, to cover Alec’s lips with his own. Magnus felt Alec stiffen slightly, at first. Then he yielded, his soft mouth moving against his, as his wonderful arms snaked around Magnus’s torso and drew him in closer to him.
Their mouths melded sweetly then opened, and then their tongues were sliding against one another. It was warm, tender, and sending electric tingles everywhere.
They were both humming in unison.
Alec was so happy at that moment, he felt his heart was going to burst.
Magnus liked him back!
This was unbelievable, and wonderful all at once. He sighed into the kiss as he embraced Magnus more tightly and deepened the kiss. Magnus tasted like strawberries.
He’d never kissed anyone like this before. He never wanted the kiss to end.
Finally, they had to part, because they needed to breathe. Alec chuckled in embarrassment as they looked at one another with goofy expressions on their faces.
“God,” Magnus breathed. “That was really good.”
“You don’t need to patronize me,” Alec said. ‘I’ve never kissed anyone like that before –”
“What? No way, it was great,” Magnus said in amazement.
“Uh, beginner’s luck?” Alec said, awkwardly. He chuckled again.
They grinned at one another, as they took each other’s hands.
“So,” Magnus said coyly, “I heard there’s something going on at the end of the year, I believe it’s a little thing called Prom…”
“Attend prom with me,” Alec suddenly said, his hazel eyes serious. Magnus looked at him, wide-eyed.
“I was just about to ask you!” he exclaimed.
Alec shrugged. “I figure I had to take the initiative for something here. You did ask me out first,” he reasoned.
Magnus couldn’t help grinning. “Point taken,” he said happily. “Well, you do know that it’s inevitable that you and I will be voted in as candidates for Prom Kings – that usual Prom King/Queen bs. How do you feel about that?”
Alec looked at him, the expression in his eyes and face, open and loving.
“As long as I’m with you,” he said seriously, “I’m willing to go through anything.”
He leaned in, as his hand reached toward Magnus’s face, and tenderly moved a piece of hair behind his ear, which had fallen out of place..
Magnus’s eyes, now shining, never left Alec’s face. He leaned in toward him, their lips meeting in a sweet, lingering kiss -- full of promise of wonderful moments ahead – no longer as fake boyfriends, but as an official new couple.
THE END