Chapter Text
Alec was pretty sure that although he'd thought high school was hell, he'd been wrong.
College was hell.
He'd only been here about 30 seconds and already the girl from the dorm opposite wanted to be friends.
'We live so close...'
She trailed off expectantly.
Alec was about to let her down gently when she was joined by not one - or two - but three other girls and suddenly his polite refusal was drowned out by several introductions and invitations.
He willed himself to be nice, but was fortunately saved by Jace - his one childhood friend - who appeared at his elbow and charmed his admirers into leaving.
'College life buddy!'
Jace slapped a hand on his shoulder.
'Better suck it up.'
Alec didn't dignify this with a response and hightailed it to his two bed dorm, standing at the window to watch all the poor freshman mill around outside looking incredibly pleased to be there.
'Alec.'
'What.'
'Wannah come to-.'
'No.'
'Alright, no need to bite my head off. Enjoy solitary confinement.'
Blessed silence signified his best friend's departure. Actually he technically had two best friends, but his sister didn't really count.
Sunlight streamed through the large sash window, snippets of sound reaching him from where it had been cracked open.
The room was pretty nice, unsurprising when the Lightwoods were not only one of the richest families in America, but big donors to this college in particular.
Their adopted son Jace, harbringer of doom and saying the exact wrong thing to the press at the wrong time was the only reason Alec was sharing a room.
They were sort of like two sides of the same coin - and maybe this would help them stay out of trouble.
Or get them into more.
Alec let a ghost of smile slide across his face and rubbed a hand over his dark hair.
Things never seemed to stay still when Jace was around.
He wasn't going to touch that analysis with a barge pole.
Alec threw himself into the ensuite shower and dressed for the weather - in sweats and a tank - thinking about going for a jog to clear his head.
As he laced his sneakers he decided he needed to accept his situation. No doubt Jace would have ten girls in here in no time, but Alec had been fully preparing for this horror all summer.
The benefits of having Jace as a roommate outweighed the negatives.
He texted Izzy to see how she was settling in and then put his music on loud, wanting to discourage potential well-wishers as much as possible.
Unfortunately being a 6 ft tall Lightwood had its downsides.
Jace was making use of his newfound freedom to check out the fraternities (and the sororities of course) and up his friend count tenfold.
Two hours in he had twenty Facebook requests and two phone numbers.
Of course he was going to drag Alec along to as many parties as possible - he needed to not sit inside all day like he had done for the last five years.
The boy was by no means incapable or ugly.
The thought of Alec in a sexual sense flitted through Jace's mind like a butterfly, pretty but without substance. Short-lived.
Jace didn't necessarily discriminate between the genders but there was no way Alec was ready for that nugget of information just yet.
He came back to find Alec sat, freshly showered, on his bed - a small card in his hands.
'What's that?'
'Pi Beta have invited me to their party tonight.'
Jace grinned like a Cheshire Cat, fluidly retrieving an identical card from his back pocket.
Alec's blue eyes flicked over it and he threw his on the bed, face stony.
'I'm not going Jace, forget it.'
He stood up, rubbing his bare chest with he towel that wasn't wrapped around his waist and stomped towards the bathroom.
'Oh come on. You knew it was going to be like this.'
'I'm not joining a fraternity.'
Alec purposefully closed the door in his face.
'Your parents are gonna be pissed!'
Jace shouted after him.
He would come around. The Lightwoods had been in Pi Beta since the 1900's, Alec was just being a baby.
Silence, apart from the banging of cupboard doors, greeted the statement. Jace ran his fingers through his overlong sandy hair and settled down on his bed to check his messages. He had so many Facebook notifications he couldn't be bothered to go through them all and opted instead to see who was going to the Pi Beta party - detailed in a private Facebook group. After a while he got bored of that too and watched some videos on YouTube.
Alec exited the bathroom in jeans and a t-shirt, ignoring Jace and heading to his cabinet to grab the text books for his first block of lectures.
'You're not studying already?'
'Some of us have to study to get good grades.'
'I do study!'
Alec laughed at that, shooting Jace an exasperated look.
'Yeah and the sky is green.'
Jace made a noncommittal noise and returned to the computer.
Alec flipped to the chapter he was on and propped himself up on his headboard, stretching his long legs out until they almost reached the edge.
The boys sat in comfortable silence for about an hour before Jace brought up the fraternity issue again.
'Robert will kill you if you don't even try and get in. Or at least pretend to try.'
Alec didn't reply for a few minutes, then sighed.
'I know that, I just wish I didn't have to do it.'
'I'm going to do it too.'
'Yeah, but you you're an attention whore and you know it.'
Jace grinned.
'I can't disagree. I mean who wouldn't want to bask in my presence, I'm amazing.'
They shared a smile.
'You're alright.'
Jace mock clutched his heart in pain then turned serious.
'I've got your back Alec, you know that. You won't be alone.'
'Oh great. You've 'got my back.' I feel so much better now. Problem solved.'
'Asshole.'
'Prick.'