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Magnus grumbled to himself as he carried a pair of coffees to the table that the Lightwoods had claimed as their own the minute they’d walked into the coffee shop.
It was hard to like a family whose parents not only paid for their children’s university education in full but who also had their names on multiple plagues around campus. Meanwhile, Magnus was working as many hours as he could cram into his schedule in the hopes of being just a little bit less in debt once he graduated.
Not bothering with his usual customer smile, Magnus sat the coffees in front of the girl and the blond boy, who he thought was a Lightwood hanger-on of some kind.He glanced at the third member of the group: Alec Lightwood. Magnus knew his name only because he visited the coffee shop more than the others. And because Magnus had taken note of how attractive he was before he’d realized what his last name was.
Magnus hated him. There was something about his demeanor that screamed wealth and superiority. On top of that, he was always stiff and awkward with the workers in the shop, as if communicating with the common folk was some kind of struggle.
Of course, as Magnus couldn’t forget, he was also gorgeous, but that only made Magnus hate him more. It wasn’t fair that someone so obnoxious was also more or less Magnus’ physical ideal.
It just wasn’t fair.
“Get a fake date then,” the girl—Isabelle, if Magnus remembered correctly—said to her brother.
She offered him a slight nod of acknowledgement when he sat down her drink, which was at least more than he typically got from her brother. Magnus raised an eyebrow at the topic of conversation. Despite what he thought of Alec’s personality, he shouldn’t have needed to stoop to a fake date between his looks and his money.
Curious, though he’d never admit it out loud, Magnus pulled a rag out of his pocket and began wiping down an already clean table as an excuse to linger in that part of the shop.
“A fake date?” Alec asked, disgust prominent in his voice. “What good would that do? You want me to force Mom and Dad on some poor guy who’s not even my boyfriend? No one deserves that.”
“I think it’s a good idea,” the blond said.
Magnus racked his brain for the boy’s name, but he came up empty handed. He knew the boy was practically their family for some reason—maybe a charity case—but that was it. Maybe it started with a ‘G’?
From the corner of his eye, Magnus saw Alec raise a disbelieving eyebrow at his brother. The blond held his hands up in mock surrender.
“Izzy’s right,” he said. “They’re going to keep pretending the gay thing is just a phase unless you show them that you’re serious about dating men. Do you want them setting you up on another date with a daughter of one of Robert’s coworkers? ‘Cause that worked out so well the last time...”
Alec shivered, and Magnus found himself wondering just what that story entailed.
Truthfully, he hadn’t been aware that Alec was gay despite the time he’d spent admiring his looks, and he didn’t appreciate what his stomach did at the new information.
“Who do you propose I fake date then?” Alec asked. “There is literally no one I can ask.”
Isabelle laughed.
“As if it’s that hard to find someone. You’re taking them to a party, Alec. One with a bunch of rich people and a free bar. What college student wouldn’t be up for it?”
Magnus felt her gaze on his back and stiffened. He turned to go back to the counter but had only made it a few steps when Isabelle spoke directly at him.
“Excuse me. Can I speak to you for a second?”
Magnus turned around. She was a customer who he had to be polite to after all. He was in no way curious about the offer she was probably about to make him. Definitely not.
Despite himself, his eyes flickered towards Alec, looking him up and down as he approached the table. When he looked back at Isabelle, she was smirking at him, and he knew that his look hadn’t gone unnoticed.
“I’m Isabelle,” she said, holding out her hand. Magnus shook it as she continued. “And these are my brothers, Alec and Jace.”
The two guys nodded in greeting. Jace was smirking just like Isabelle, but Alec looked a little queasy. A bit of Magnus’ previous fire reignited with the reminder of how little Alec thought of him.
“Magnus,” he said as way of introduction, keeping his voice as flat as possible.
“Nice to meet you, Magnus,” Isabelle said, leaning forward as if they were co-conspirators. “I think you heard part of our conversation, so I’ll cut right to the chase. My parents are raging homophobes, and I’d like my brother to make it abundantly clear that he likes boys. So, do you happen to like parties?”
Considering the only reason he’d been capable of remembering her name earlier was because he’d seen her at a fair share of parties, they both knew he did.
“Who doesn’t?” he asked.
Isabelle’s face lit up.
“Excellent. My brother’s a bit awkward about them himself, but you seem to find him attractive enough that I don’t think you’ll mind.”
Jace stifled laughter in his coffee cup, and Alec turned a bright shade of red but didn’t try to argue with Isabelle as he began fiddling around on his phone. Magnus was sure that he was doing nothing except hitting random buttons.
Magnus didn’t know what to say himself. The rational part of his brain knew the plan was sure to end in disaster, but the more impulsive part of him had already made its decision.
“What exactly does this deal entail?” he asked, giving Isabelle a smirk of his own.
“Just one night of pretending to be my brother’s boyfriend and living it up,” she said. “My parents are a lot to handle, but the more you scandalize them, the better in my opinion. Right, Alec?”
The whole group of them turned to look at Alec, who shifted uneasily under the attention and tapped his fingers against his phone.
“Uh, yeah, I guess it’s whatever,” he muttered, stumbling over the words. “It’s not like they’d approve of anyone I brought home anyway.”
What a glowing compliment. If the elder Lightwoods were anything like Alec, then Magnus was sure they’d be thrilled to learn he was “dating” their son.
“That sounds like a wonderful selling point on this scheme, dear,” he said to Isabelle, enjoying how uncomfortable Alec looked.
Isabelle bounced up and down in her seat and turned to Alec, clutching at his forearm.
“Please, Alec! Magnus will do it. You have to go for it. It’s too good of an opportunity to pass up.”
Alec stared straight at Magnus for the first time, his expression unreadable. Magnus stood his ground. It only took a few seconds for Alec’s shoulders to droop.
“Fine,” he said. “I’ll do it.”
Isabelle clapped her hands together.
“Great! Magnus, give me your phone, and I’ll give you Alec’s phone number.”
He did as instructed, glancing over his shoulder as she typed in the number. They were lucky that the shop wasn’t very busy, but he caught his manager’s eye and knew that he was running short on time.
“I’ve got to go work for a living,” he said, hardly even thinking about how the comment might be taken. “But I guess I’ll be seeing you all later?”
Only Jace and Isabelle said goodbye. All he received from Alec was a short nod as the other boy busied himself with his phone, which had just lighted up with a message from Magnus’ own that was sent courtesy of Isabelle.
Magnus shook his head as he slid behind the counter once more.
What had he gotten himself into?
Magnus eyed Alec as they stood on the doorstep of the latter’s too-large family home. Alec kept taking deep breaths, his eyes closed as he centered himself. Magnus, despite his own family problems, didn’t get what had Alec so anxious. They were about to walk into a party held by Alec’s own parents after all, and the house was plenty large enough that he doubted a party could make it feel crowded.
“You okay?” Magnus asked after a moment of hesitation.
“Yeah,” Alec said, staring at the door.
He didn’t sound fine. After a moment’s pause, he looked at Magnus sharply.
“You should be prepared,” he said. “I know Izzy built this up as some great party, and maybe it is for most people, but my parents are...difficult. Nothing they’re at can really be fun.”
Saying the words out loud made his face twist in discomfort, but the momentary unease was quickly replaced with the same hardened gaze from before.
“I get difficult parents,” Magnus shot back. “Trust me. To be perfectly frank, I don’t give a rat’s ass what they think of me, so I’ll be fine, thanks.”
Alec raised a skeptical eyebrow but sighed and shook his head when Magnus stared defiantly back. While Magnus knew Maryse and Robert Lightwood sucked from their reputations, he couldn’t imagine them being worse than his own parents. Besides, he’d already put up with plenty of shit in his life. What could rich people who needed to save face actually do to him at a party?
It was clear from the stiff set of Alec’s shoulders that he didn’t agree.
“They won’t like you,” he said, not that unlike a toddler who refused to back down in an argument. “And they’ll make that very clear. You should know that.”
Magnus scoffed and tossed his head back.
“No opinion the all-powerful Lightwoods have of me matters. Trust me.”
The light jab at his family name seemed to shut down whatever sympathy Alec had felt for him before, which was for the better. Magnus didn’t need any sympathy from someone who didn’t understand real problems. It was more comfortable to watch Alec’s stony expression return. Alec turned to the door and pushed his way inside, holding it open for Magnus to follow.
Sure enough, the house was expansive enough that there was no indication a party was even happening until they made it to the backyard. There, people were everywhere, most of them in clothes nicer than anything in Magnus’ wardrobe. He tugged at the hem of his suit jacket. Though he didn’t have money, he did have a keen fashion sense, and he tried to take comfort in how many outfits screamed “money but no taste.”
“Over here,” Alec said, pulling Magnus out of his thoughts.
Alec motioned to a secluded corner underneath a tree, one far away from anyone else in the backyard.
“Trying to hide me?” Magnus asked, the smirk on his lips barely hiding his irritation over it. “What’s the point of bringing a fake date to a party if you don’t flaunt them around?”
Alec’s cheeks darkened.
“If you haven’t noticed, I don’t like these parties. Or any of these people. I’d rather not talk to any of them. And the fake date thing was Izzy’s idea. Not mine. Sorry.”
His gaze roamed over the crowd, and the unease there told Magnus that he was getting at least the partial truth. Still, Magnus didn’t agree to go to parties with obnoxious boys only to be kept in secluded corners all night.
“Too bad,” he said, turning to face the guests. “I’m not about to pass up a chance like this to stand in a corner all night. We haven’t even tried the food. And your sister mentioned a free bar?”
Without glancing back at Alec, he headed straight for the largest cluster of people. Alec stumbled over his protests behind him, unable to get any distinguishable words out. Magnus had reached the guests before he felt Alec’s presence behind him, shadowing him as he moved.
“Magnus,” he hissed in his ear, his breath making the hair on Magnus’ neck stand up. “This is a bad idea. You really don’t want—”
“Alec,” a man said in a booming voice.
Magnus turned as instinctively as Alec did towards Robert Lightwood. Before, Magnus had only seen the older man at a distance during university events where he paraded his wealth around. He was less impressive up close, though just as smartly dressed as Magnus had ever seen him. His wife, Maryse, stood at his side, looking scarier than Magnus remembered her being. Her eyes were on Magnus instead of her son, and Magnus bristled at the distaste that was just for him.
“Who is this?” Maryse asked in a tone that straddled the line between falsely polite and outright rude.
She didn’t take her eyes off Magnus even though the question was intended for Alec.
“Magnus Bane,” Alec said, his voice smaller than when he’d been arguing with Magnus. He took a deep breath and pulled himself up to his full height before adding, “He’s my date.”
The revelation made Robert look at Magnus more closely too. Though he didn’t analyze Magnus’ entire appearance with the same vigor as his wife, Magnus heard him sigh as he raised his wineglass to his lips.
Whereas Robert seemed content with showing quiet disapproval, Maryse’s gaze grew fiery, with her posture mirroring her son’s defensive one.
“We know that you want to make some kind of statement, Alec, but I hadn’t thought even you could stoop this low.”
Magnus’ stomach dropped.
When Alec had cautioned him about his parents, Magnus had imagined they’d toss him disapproving looks throughout the party, sure. He’d even been prepared for a couple of comments that could be ambiguously interpreted, but being outright insulted was something he’d thought even the Lightwoods, concerned with the reputations as they were, wouldn’t try.
Alec’s jaw clenched. He moved to the side until he was slightly in front of Magnus.
“I’m not making a statement, Mom. He’s just my date. I didn’t bring him so that you could attack him or me.”
Magnus could have pointed out that Alec hadn’t chosen to bring him at all, but he wasn’t sure if that would make the confrontation better or worse.
Robert stepped forward and placed a hand on his wife’s shoulder. Her head whipped around to face him, her expression almost accusing, like she blamed him for what she saw as a transgression on Alec’s part.
“Let’s not get too heated,” Robert said, looking directly at Alec instead of his wife. “No one wants to make a scene.”
The reminder of where they were cooled Maryse down enough that she arranged her face into something neutral. Her eyes flicked over the crowd, but no one was watching them. All the better. Magnus didn’t want his own humiliation to be public either.
Magnus wanted to fight back and defend himself, but the reminder of who the Lightwoods were was stuck in his head. There was no doubt they could get him kicked out of school if they wanted. No one else had donated as much money to the university as they had after all. They were the most prized of alumni.
Still, he couldn’t let it completely go…
“I’m glad that you’re both concerned with your public image. It really is an important thing, isn’t it?” he asked, satisfied when the fire in Maryse’s eyes rekindled.
“How dare you—”
Magnus didn’t let her finish speaking before he scoffed.
“I don’t have to listen to this. Excuse me.”
He pushed himself through the crowd and back towards the door, not glancing back to see what Alec chose to do.
Magnus emerged onto the front porch before realizing he didn’t have a way to escape. Of course the Lightwood home—mansion really— sat on more land than made up the entire park near Magnus’ dorm in the city. It was too far to walk anywhere else, and Alec had given Magnus a ride to the party because the trains and buses didn’t cover this area well.
He’d known it was a bad idea to accept a ride with Alec Lightwood of all people, but so used to the city, he hadn’t actually considered getting stranded.
Collapsing onto the porch steps, he tugged his phone from his pocket and opened the Uber app. He could hardly bear to consider what getting all the way back to the city would do to his bank account, but he didn’t have another choice. Maybe, once he got some of his fire back, he could guilt trip Alec into paying him back for it. He deserved it.
The front door opening distracted him before he had actually requested a car. His heart raced at the thought of Maryse coming to shoo him off her lawn after what he’d said, but when he turned around, it was Alec who was emerging from the house. He lowered himself onto the top step next to Alec, looking out over the carefully manicured lawn that felt never ending in front of them.
Magnus felt like he’d been hit in the face by so much green after years spent in New York City.
He hated it.
Magnus watched him for a few moments, waiting for him to do something. When Alec didn’t speak, Magnus looked back down at his phone. His finger was once again hovering over the button for an Uber when Alec broke the silence.
“I’m sorry about that,” he said. “My parents are...basically the worst.”
The porch lights cast shadows across Alec’s face, making his scowl appear even deeper than it was. Magnus sighed and locked his phone.
He’d been full of anger towards everyone a minute before, ready to demand payment from Alec in the most confrontational way possible, but now that Alec was beside him, the regretful look on his face cooled quite a bit of Magnus’ anger.
“You tried warning me,” he said with a shrug. “It’s not the first time I’ve been told that I should do a better job of listening to people.”
Alec snorted but shook his head.
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “This is why I told Izzy that this was a bad idea. She thinks that if I just bring home a guy, Mom and Dad will have to accept that I’m gay, but I know that’s not going to happen. It’ll just make things worse because they can’t pretend that I’m making it up any more. There’s not a single man I could bring home who could change their minds.”
Without thinking much of it, Magnus stored his phone back in his pocket and inched closer to Alec on the step, only realizing what he was doing when Alec’s eyes widened.
“Have they always been hard on you?” Magnus asked.
Alec laughed bitterly and shook his head in exasperation.
“Of course they have,” he said. “When my family says that family is the most important thing in the world, what they mean is that our family’s reputation means everything. My mom’s made it perfectly clear that, as far as she’s concerned, I’d be happier if I stayed in the closet and took over the family company even though I’ve never even liked it. She really believes it too. It’s just what Lightwoods are meant to do.”
Magnus took a deep breath. It wasn’t that hard to believe, but it also didn’t warm Magnus up to the elder Lightwoods any better.
“I know there’s nothing I can do to help the situation” he said carefully, going so far as to nudge Alec in the arm.
His heart skipped a beat when Alec’s gaze fluttered down to where their skin had touched and then up to Magnus’ face.
“But I’m really sorry you have to deal with that,” Magnus finished, clearing his suddenly dry throat.
Alec gave him a soft smile that was a far cry from anything he’d bothered to show Magnus when he was standing behind the counter of a coffee shop. Magnus swallowed.
Was that the difference? Was Alec only like this when he could forget how Magnus actually lived? It wouldn’t have surprised him if that were the case, but he hated how he found Alec ten times more attractive than before despite all of that.
“Actually,” Alec said, glancing away, “they’re better than they used to be. I came out my senior year of high school, and it was complete hell then. At least now that I live on campus I can avoid them most of the time. You should have seen their faces when I told them I wanted to live in a dorm though. That was a battle. All this talk about wasted money… As if my housing was less important than that stupid sword my dad thought he needed to decorate his office.”
Magnus snorted. He could so easily picture the gaudy display despite never stepping foot in Robert Lightwood’s office.
“How did he justify that one?”
Alec smirked as if they were sharing a secret.
“Dad insisted that it was an investment. He expects the sword to be worth more a decade from now. My dorm is just money down the drain apparently.”
Magnus shook his head and laughed.
“You have to stop before you make me feel sorry for someone whose disposable income in one year is more than I’ve made in my entire life.”
He didn’t think much of the joke as he said it. It was, after all, in a similar vein to countless jokes he’d made to his friends over the years, and everyone had always laughed along with those. But when Alec stilled, Magnus did too, suddenly worried that he’d overstepped and made the other man uncomfortable.
A split second later, he was annoyed that Alec’s hurt feelings over being reminded of his family’s money would even bother him at all.
It was a bad idea to get himself wrapped up with the Lightwoods. He and Alec were from different worlds, and Magnus had no desire to try and jam himself into Alec’s reality for more than one night.
He looked Alec right in the eye, and ignoring the hesitant look on Alec’s face, he said the words that he knew were a point of no return of sorts. Once said, Alec would either have to accept it or write Magnus off forever.
“Your parents may be assholes, but mine aren’t even around anymore. I was put in foster care when I was ten. My biological father found me later, but that didn’t work out either, so I entered foster care again at fifteen. And well… Now I’ve learned how to manage on my own.”
There it was, the simplest form of the truth he could give.
He could count on one hand the friends he had who knew the full story: what had happened to his mother, what his stepfather had done to him, the true monster his biological father was, all of it. They were all details that Magnus preferred to ignore, and he wasn’t about to blurt them out to Alec Lightwood of all people.
But just sharing that he’d been in foster care was enough of a test. It laid out clearly where their differences lie. Magnus watched Alec intently, prepared for any number of reactions to the new information.
For a while, all Alec did was stare back at him, blinking slowly as he considered the story. Finally, he nodded just as slowly as his brain had worked.
He cleared his throat and said, “I’m sorry you had to go through that and that my parents were such assholes.”
It wasn’t the warmest answer in the world, but when Alec attempted a small smile with it, Magnus decided it wasn’t the worst possible one either. A lot remained unspoken between them, but when Alec said, “I’m afraid the party wouldn’t be much fun anymore. Do you want me to drive you home?” Magnus agreed, the Uber app left forgotten on his phone.
The jingle of the door made Magnus glance up from the coffee cup he was drying with his usual for-customers smile, but the second he realized it was Alexander Lightwood who had entered the coffee shop, he struggled to maintain his usual friendly but distant facade.
After the awkward car ride home the previous weekend, one in which they’d hardly spoken, Magnus hadn’t expected to see Alec in the coffee shop again. He rubbed at the cup he was holding with new vigor as Alec approached the cash register.
Catarina took his order, while tossing not-so-covert glances Magnus’ way. He avoided her gaze with the same tenacity that kept him from looking at Alec.
Once his order was taken, Magnus began making it without glancing at what Catarina had written on the cup. He’d heard it loud and clear after all: coffee, black. The easiest drink to make thankfully, since Magnus wasn’t sure that his shaking hands wouldn’t prompt a disaster if it was something more involved.
He took a deep breath as he finished pouring the coffee and straightened his posture as he finally looked Alec dead in the eye, nearly spilling the coffee at the intensity with which the other man was looking back at him.
“Your coffee,” Magnus said shortly, holding out the cup.
Alec took it without actually looking at the drink.
“Thanks.”
He lingered, the cup in his hand ignored, but he didn’t say anything. Magnus shifted uneasily on his feet. He couldn’t disappear from where he stood, but all he wanted was Alec to leave him alone and let him escape such an awkward situation.
When he couldn’t take the silence any longer, he blurted out, “Black coffee is really boring, you know? You should branch out sometime. At least try a cappuccino.”
Alec looked down at his coffee like he’d just remembered that it existed.
“Maybe I will,” he said slowly, tilting his head to the side as he looked at Magnus.
His gaze was too intense, and Magnus turned back to the cups he was meant to be drying, determined to ignore him until he went away. Yet Alec still lingered.
After another moment of silence, he cleared his throat. Magnus ignored him until he spoke.
“I was wondering if you wanted to go on a date with me this weekend.”
Magnus looked up with one eyebrow raised.
“A date?” he repeated. “Us? On a date? You thought last weekend was a disaster too, right?”
Alec squirmed, shaking his head back and forth as he thought it over.
“It sucked, yeah. Because of my parents,” he said. “But I was hoping they wouldn’t be there this time.”
Magnus watched him for a moment as he fiddled with his cup, now the one who couldn’t make eye contact with Magnus. It made him a little endearing, and Magnus’ stomach fluttered at the thought that gorgeous Alec Lightwood was willing, let alone eager, to go on a date with him after what had happened.
He hesitated for a split second before he said, “If there are no parents involved, I think I can be convinced to go on a date.”
Alec’s face broke out in the largest smile Magnus had ever seen. He swallowed, doing everything in his power to keep his own reaction under control.
“Great,” Alec said, his voice breaking in his enthusiasm. “I could, uh, pick you up on Friday? Maybe at six o’clock?”
“Sounds great,” Magnus said, unable to completely stifle his smile.
“Great,” Alec repeated. He hesitated for a moment, unsure what to do with himself. “I’ll see you later then?”
He raised a hand in a cautious wave. Magnus bit back a laugh.
“See you Friday,” he said. “Or earlier, I suppose.”
He motioned around at the shop, and Alec’s eyes widened. He nodded, and though he didn’t say anything, Magnus had a feeling that he’d be seeing him before Friday. Despite how he’d felt minutes earlier, he didn’t quite mind.
“Later,” Alec said with a sharp nod of his head.
He all but stumbled out of the shop, nearly running into another customer who was on their way in. Magnus smiled down at the cups he still had to clean, pointedly ignoring the look Catarina gave him as she took the newcomer’s order.