Chapter Text
Magnus wasn't really sure why he was having this particular party. He had told himself it was for his cat's birthday, but Chairman Meow had long since been hiding under his bed.
There wasn't anyone at this party he wanted to see. His life had become a strangely dull thing as of late. Most of its contents bored him—each apathetic day bleeding into the next.
He was starting to worry about Clary, though. When called Jocelyn she said Clary and her had fought and Clary had run off. Magnus hadn't heard anything since then. They were a month overdue for renewing her memory spell.
Magnus had become rather fond of the girl. It was odd. She shouldn't be anything to him, and yet he had watched her grow. Once every two years was the most frequently he had ever seen a child before.
Magnus heard his buzzer go off once, twice. He moved to the door and flung it open wide for the dramatic effect.
He saw a girl standing there; a shadowhunter with long black hair and dark eyes. He couldn't quite place her surname on just those features, but if he had to guess, he would have said she was a Lightwood.
"Magnus? Magnus Bane?" the girl asked.
"That would be me," Magnus said.
There were three others with the girl, all Nephilim like her: A smug blond, a dark-haired figure standing behind him—and Clary! What the hell was she doing here surrounded by shadowhunters? Where was her mother? He just managed to keep the total shock off his face as he addressed them. To his great surprise, they had an invitation to his party.
"I must have been drunk," he said, to explain their invitation. He threw the door open. "Come in. And try not to murder any of my guests."
Invitation or no invitation, he would have let them in. He wanted to know why Clary was here. How she had even known to come here? How much did she remember? Jocelyn would never have let her come alone if she knew. Magnus suspected she didn't.
Magnus enjoyed the looks of wonder on their young faces as they took in his humble abode. Or rather not so humble, magically-enhanced loft when it was set up for a party. All the furniture was moved aside, the windows blocked for his undead guests and, of course, to make the disco ball stand out more over the dance floor. Clary's gaze, in particular, was fixed on his bartender's second set of arms.
"You like the party?" Magnus said just catching himself in time before he called her Biscuit. It was the nickname he had given her at some point over the years. He couldn’t quite remember the names origin but somehow it suited Clary weather her mother liked it or not. Magnus thought Jocelyn may not yet have totally forgiven him for calling her daughter a banshee. Clary had been very young at the time. Just a toddler who had screamed after pulling on his cat’s tail. Biscuit was at least better than banshee. Jocelyn needed to learn to relax.
"Is it in honor of anything?" Clary asked him.
"My cat's birthday," Magnus said, then feigned surprise that Chairman Meow wasn't partaking in the festivities.
The blonde reappeared again followed closely by the dark figure that seemed to be the blonde's shadow.
"MAGNUS BANE!" The voice had come from across the room. Magnus turned to see a vampire. Magnus couldn't quite recall his name, maybe it was Gregor. Apparently someone had ruined his bike with holy water. Magnus bet it was his rather unexpected Nephilim guests. The blonde, probably.
This vampire was getting on Magnus's nerves. He twitched his finger and closed off the man's windpipe—not that he needed air, but it would shut him up for a while. Magnus then went one step farther and magically removed the man from his apartment.
"That was impressive," the blonde said.
"You mean that little hissy fit?" Magnus said. Why did he have these parties anyway? They just made him grumpy. I guess it was slightly better than spending the whole day alone with his cat.
"We put the holy water in his gas tank, you know," the blonde's shadow said, laughing. Magnus was surprised to hear the shadowhunter’s laugh. He had the most glorious laugh. So infectious.
"Alec," the blonde said. "Shut up."
So that was his name. Alec.
"I assumed that," Magnus said, amused. "So is that why you wanted to crash my party? Just to wreck some bloodsucker bikes?"
"No," the blonde said. "We need to talk to you. Preferably somewhere private."
Magnus tried to act like a warlock would if randomly approached by shadowhunters he didn't know. And since Clary didn't know him, what else could he do? He did, however, notice the not-so-subtle threat the blonde made. This blonde was officially not in his good books.
Magnus led them into his bedroom, which was the only room in the house he hadn't magically shifted into a dance floor. The only room left with a door that closed.
Magnus listened to Clary, keeping up the pretence of not knowing her. It would be best if Clary asked her mother about her memory, and not Magnus.
Magnus wasn't sure where he fit in this situation. Sure he had known Clary all her life but he wasn’t her uncle, or anything. He was a stranger. Would Jocelyn have wanted him to tell Clary? Jocelyn had never told Clary anything: who her father was, who her mother had been, who she was. Nothing.
"We went to the Silent City to see what the Brothers could pull out of her head," the blonde said. "They got two words. I think you can guess what they were."
Ah, so it was no use pretending after all. He knew exactly what the Silent Brothers found there. His signature. He really shouldn't have left it here, but he had been so proud. Such a unique spell; so expertly done. He had no choice now but to tell them.
"So you recognized Clary when we walked in," the blonde said, once Magnus was done explaining. "You must have."
"Of course, I did," Magnus said, exasperated. "And it was a shock, too."
Clary wanted her memories back, and Magnus tried to explain that they would return gradually. The blonde was still bugging him through, making demands. Magnus really didn't like him. What was Clary doing with this untrustworthy Nephilim?
"I didn't damage you," Magnus's couldn't help but snarl. He didn't like being accused of such a thing. Accused of harming the first child he had ever cared for.
Suddenly words were pouring out of him. He hadn't made her feel wrong her whole life. Every teenager felt different. And it was no picnic being different, he should know. He was telling them about his parents next, admitting things he had never told anyone. He wasn't sure what had come over him. It had been so long since such powerful emotions had gripped him that he found he couldn’t stop the speaking. It was as if a tsunami had broken through some invisible barrier and consumed him.
"It wasn't your fault," the blonde's shadow said. "You can't help how you're born."
What an unusual thing for a Nephilim to say, Magnus thought. Opposite of the superiority complex that seemed to be part of their basic genetic makeup. The complex that let them judge and punish warlocks and fairies for what they were born, and werewolves and vampires for what had been done to them.
Magnus composed himself. Clary wouldn't listen, and Magnus, giving up, showed her his copy of the Grey Book to help unlock her memories.
Magnus locked eyes with the dark-haired boy who shadowed the blonde and noticed the boy's eyes for the first time. Blue. Beautiful blue eyes. Magnus couldn't help admiring the features of his face. His gaze was fixed as if a magnet held him.
The boy flushed bright red under Magnus's gaze. The boy’s response thrilled him. But those blue eyes were looking down at his hands now. Magnus wished the boy would look up. It seemed a shame to hide such a beauty.
"Now if we're done here," Magnus said. "I'd like to get back to my party before any of the guests eat each other."
The blonde looked furious, but the blue-eyed boy put a hand on his shoulder.
"Is that likely?" Blue Eyes asked.
His name was Alec, right? Alec was looking at him now, Magnus couldn't help but be amused by the expression on Alec's face. Such open, honest curiosity. So unlike most Nephilim.
"It's happened before," Magnus said, still looking at Alec, staring transfixed at his eyes.
Magnus came back to his senses and shooed the teenagers out of his room, but he kept an eye on Alec.
So the dark haired girl was the blue-eyed boy's sister. If she was a Lightwood then Alec was too… but a Lightwood with blue eyes? Magnus remembered generations of rude and superior green-eyed Lightwoods, but he couldn't recall blue.
"Over here," Alec called as he spotted his sister. "And watch out for the phouka."
"Watch out for the phouka?" the blonde said.
"He pinched me when I passed him earlier," Alec said stiffly, "In a highly personal area."
The blue-eyed boy was so affronted by this, being touched so by a stranger. He was innocent. Magnus had a sudden desire to cure him of his virtue. His mind went through all the things he wanted to do to that boy, all the ways he could make the boy blush. That delicious boy. It was a nasty thought. It made him feel a bit like a dirty old man, but he couldn't help it. The boy was gorgeous!
Alec's sister appeared to be quite drunk, saying the mundane they had brought was a rat. Alec, misinterpreting his sister's words as metaphorical, became very defensive. Alec's protectiveness over his sister was rather adorable, Magnus mused.
Magnus watched the teenagers squabble. His gaze kept drifting back to blue eyes. He shook his head. What the heck was going on? Sure, the boy was a knockout, but really.
Magnus, from where he stood in the shadows watching them, heard them use his name several times, in regards to un-ratting the mundane.
Resigned, he went over to explain to Clary that her friend would turn back into a human on his own in a few hours. Trying to undo the spell would be more dangerous than helpful. Clary did not take this well, but that couldn't be helped. She had always been fiery.
Magnus heard a commotion at his door. It sounded like those crazy vampires again. He was getting thoroughly sick of this party. He excused himself from the bickering teenagers.
Magnus gave the stupid bloodsuckers until sunrise to repair their bikes and called it quits on his whole party. He was so done with it anyway.
His guests left, knowing better than to stick around after one of his parties ended. He did not like stragglers, at least conscious stragglers. It was all well and good if you passed out, he would send you home in the morning, but if you can walk you left when Magnus told you to. Or else.
"I'd say it was a pleasure to meet you, but it wasn't," Magnus said as his Nephilim guests left. "Not that you aren't all fairly charming, and as for you—" He looked right at those blue eyes and winked. "Call me?"
The High Warlock of Brooklyn's number was on file at the Institute, after all. Blue Eyes could call. It was possible but unlikely. Flirting with him was too much fun to resist, either way.
The boy's look of astonishment was adorable. His blush was even better somehow. His stuttering was so flustered, like the attention was astounding to him. Had the boy never looked in a mirror? Poor blue eyes didn't actually get a single word out before his blonde friend pulled him away.
Watching them leave, Magnus felt like his dull life had been hit with a jolt of electricity.
________
Alec hadn't known what to make of being flirted with—or hit on, or whatever that was—by Magnus Bane. He was trying very hard not to think about it.
"Didn't you have any fun at the party, Alec?" his sister asked.
"No."
"I thought you might like Magnus. He's nice, isn't he?"
"Nice?" Alec said, incredulously. "Kittens are nice. Warlocks are—" He paused. "Not."
"I thought you might hit it off," Izzy said. "Get to be friends."
"I have friends," Alec said, looking at Jace. Friends he couldn't have he reminded himself. It had been nice to be noticed though. Shocking, but nice.
_______
Magnus had just gotten his place back in order. The furniture magically returned to their proper place, making the loft look like it had rooms again. The dance floor and lights were gone and his cat was happily sleeping on the sofa. Chairman Meow didn't much like his parties, it was true.
He had just changed into his pajamas, a rather fetching kimono today, and gotten into bed when his buzzer went off again. He decided to do his usual bit this time. He pressed the intercom and spoke in a loud, threatening voice.
"WHO DARES DISTURB MY REST?"
"I'm from the Clave."
"Oh, yes," Magnus said, eagerly. "Are you the one with the blue eyes?"
"No. My eyes are usually described as golden. And luminous."
"Oh, you're that one," Magnus said, his happy feeling fizzing out. The stupid blonde was back. "I suppose you'd better come up."
"I was sleeping," Magnus said, to explain his attire. Clary and the blonde were standing in his entrance way.
The blonde, he could tell, was going to say something very rude about his choice in sleeping clothes, but thankfully Biscuit interrupted before the blonde could speak his--no doubt--hideous thoughts.
Magnus felt his cat brush up against his legs. Clary was such a sweet girl. She even remembered his cat's name. If he didn't know who her father was, he would never have guessed she came from such dark roots.
Clary's rat, or rather her friend, was missing.
Magnus, somewhat reluctantly, helped them as best he could. He told them which vampire was most likely to have taken the rat, where the vampire's lair was, and where the nearest church was. He drew the line at making a portal for them. For good measure he slammed the door in their face. He didn't want them thinking he enjoyed helping them or they may start coming to him for every little thing.
Magnus remembered, over a hundred years ago, when he had first gotten mixed up with shadowhunters. Will Herondale had shown up drenched from the rain, pain written on every line his face as he begged for help. Will eventually become Magnus's friend but being mortal he had long since died. That was the trouble with shadowhunters, Magnus thought. They made you care with their bright life force and the fierce way they loved. Then they up and died on you. Magnus was determined not to get involved with shadowhunters again. It was painful to think of Charlotte, Henry, Will and even Jessamine now. Jem was still around but as Brother Zachariah he wasn't quite the same. Tessa was his last link to those people but she was in the Spiral Labyrinth.
Nope, Magnus vowed, not even if the boy with those beautiful blue eyes came back would Magnus Bane get emotionally involved with shadowhunters again.