1. Magnus' Annual Summer-Is-Over Party

Once Alec could finally join his friends at lunch, they were already discussing something secretively. Most of his friends were a year younger than him, but his sister had always been one of his best friends even if they were complete opposites, and so he had just started hanging out with her friends as well. And of course there was Jace. Jace had started out at his grade, and they had been best friends for so long, Alec almost forgot sometimes that he hadn't always known Jace. But Jace had had so much going on in his life with moving between foster homes almost every other month, that at some point he had failed too many classes to keep up. Now he was in the same grade as the rest of them, Clary, Simon and Isabelle.

Seeing Jace with Clary now, as he entered the cafeteria, he couldn't help but feel a bit warm inside, as Jace reached out to wipe off a crump off Clary's cheek. Jace had always been in love with Clary, but things had been complicated, since Clary's parents had been Jace's on and off again foster parents. Now, he was finally in a group home, although Alec suspected Jace hated it there, he also knew that Jace enjoyed being able to show how much he cared for Clary. The only ones who didn't know were Clary's mom and stepdad, and Alec could understand why they would keep it a secret from them, at least for now. They most likely still wouldn't accept it.

"Alec!" Isabelle cheered as she noticed her brother approaching. "We were just discussing something, maybe you can help…" she started, but Simon, as usual, had to interrupt her.

"Behold, she's about to ask you something offensively gay," he said. Izzy shoved at Simon with irritation.

"It's not offensive, but you know, Alec might possess a little bit of gaydar. I'm telling these guys that Magnus Bane, he falls somewhere on the sexuality spectrum, right? Surely, no one with that much glitter in his hair is straight," she said matter-of-factly. Alec looked around, and they were all staring at him waiting for an answer.

"Magnus who?" Alec said, although he knew exactly whom they were talking about. The guy was a legend at the school just because of his parties and his bold sense of fashion. Alec had never actually met and talked to the guy. He'd always just ignored him, thinking he was a bit intimidating.

"You guys, leave Alec alone, alright," Jace shot Isabelle a warning look, because she looked as if she was about to make a joke about Alec's fake obliviousness.

"I thought he was dating that girl, what was her name? I think she was a foreign student," Clary offered to deflect the attention, which Alec appreciated. He never really liked being the center of attention, that's why he always hung out with Jace or Isabelle, because they were always the center and so no one would notice him while they were around.

"Alec?" Isabelle wrinkled her nose.

"No, Magnus. Magnus was dating a girl, I'm sure of it," Clary was searching her mind for a name.

"Camilla?" Simon narrowed his eyes.

"Camille!" Clary exclaimed.

"Yeah, she was only here for a year, while her dad was working in the states. I think she moved back to France," Simon shrugged.

"Too bad, she was kind of a babe," Jace recalled, and Clary slapped him lightly on the shoulder, but he just grinned back at her. "Unless you're into redheads of course."

"Why are you talking about Magnus?" Alec wondered, while taking a bite of his apple.

"He's having his annual summer-is-over party and Izzy got hold of an invitation," Simon said with fake astonishment. Isabelle shot Simon a look that could kill.

"I was thinking we should go? Jace wants to go too, right?" she looked hopefully at her friend.

"Why would someone celebrate that summer is over though?" Simon interrupted again.

"I love parties," Jace said with his mouth full.

"Since when?" Simon snorted.

"Since ever. When have I not been up for a party?"

"You weren't up for my LAN party?" Simon accused.

"That wasn't a party at all, and you tricked me into believing so!"

"How did I trick you?" Simon was using his high-pitched voice, as he always did when he was defending himself, but knew his arguments were weak.

"By calling it a party,"

"That's what they are called, a LAN party!" Simon threw his arms up in frustration. Isabelle rolled her eyes, and Clary was about to object and probably tell them all how much fun Simon's so-called LAN parties were, but she thought better of it and sank back into her seat.

"A party sounds fun," Alec shrugged.

"The LAN party was months ago, and you never RSVPed" Simon said, and Alec just gave him one of his shut-up-for-a-second-Simon looks. "Fine, we'll go to a party. Maybe this year I'll be one of the cool kids," he suggested, but Isabelle just shook her head at him.

"No, Simon."

…

Alec and Simon were waiting for Isabelle to be ready for them to go to the party of the year. Alec didn't know why, but it was always awkward when Simon and him were alone together. They never had anything to talk about, and honestly he was only part of the group because of Clary, and now somewhat because of Izzy. Alec didn't know why Izzy was letting him on like she was. Simon was not her type at all, but she kept him around like a little pet boy toy. Alec shuddered at his own thoughts.

"Are you a bit cold?" Simon asked mockingly, noticing the shiver.

"No, I'm good," said Alec, before snapping out of his thoughts.

"Relax, I wasn't gonna offer you my sweater,"

"Such a gentleman," Alec said wryly.

"I mean, it just wouldn't fit on you. It would probably break at the seams over those biceps of yours,"

"What are you doing?" Alec looked at him sideways with annoyance.

"I was trying to make conversation. I don't suppose you wanna talk about Dungeons and Dragons, do you?" Simon asked. Alec didn't answer; he just looked at Simon, waiting for him to stop. Simon had this thing where he could go on forever talking about nothing in particular. "That's what I thought. And that's why I was talking about your biceps instead," he said, just as Isabelle appeared in the doorway with an odd expression.

"Gee, Simon! Are you hitting on my brother?" she asked, and Alec detected a bit of disgust in her tone. If he didn't know better he would have felt a stab from such comment, but he knew the disgust was meant for Simon, because although she was allowed to flirt around with others, she would be disappointed if he ever did the same.

"Is that what you're wearing?" Alec wondered, when he got a look at his sister. The "dress" (she would probably call it a dress in a minute) was extremely short and it was only just long enough to cover up her buttocks. "I hope that goes with a skirt?"

"No, it's a dress," she said as if it was obvious. Simon slapped Alec's upper arm with the back of his hand, while never taking his eyes off Izzy.

"It's a dress, Alec. Gee, don't you know anything about fashion?" Simon said. Alec scowled at the other boy, and Simon now looked up and down Alec. "Right, clearly not."

"You're one to talk," Alec snorted. Alec was wearing a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans, there was nothing unfashionable about his choice of wardrobe, it was more or less timeless.

"When you two losers are done arguing about your lack of fashion, I'm ready to go to a party."

"Absolutely not. Please, just put on a pair of shorts at least?" Alec begged. Izzy leaned on one heel and put a hand to one of her hips as an expression of her annoyance. "Hot pants then?"

"Okay, but only because you knew the words "hot pants"," she sighed and went back into her room. Now it was Simon's turn to look displeased with Alec.

"What? You seriously wanted her to go like that? Think of all the older guys who would be staring at her all night," Alec whispered, knowing that the inevitable situation of guys hitting on his sister would occur no matter what.

"You're probably right. Why didn't I think of that?"

"You don't have any younger sisters, do you?" Alec knew the answer. Simon only had two older sisters. He had never had to be protective, mostly because as far as he'd understood Simon's sisters were just as dorky as he was. There was no chance that they would have ever dressed like his rebellious little sister did.

…

The three of them, Simon, Isabelle and Alec, were meeting Jace and Clary outside of Magnus' house. It was a huge house. Everyone knew that Magnus was loaded. Him and his mother had gotten a lot of insurance money, when his dad had died. But also, Magnus' mother most likely had a well-paid job, which required a lot of travelling.

The party was already pretty loud and there were people everywhere, when they arrived. Isabelle had told them that only socially inept people came to parties on time. They had been discussing whether to drink before, or just find some alcohol at the party. They had decided on the latter, since none of them had fake IDs, and since Alec's father had had a drinking problem they didn't have booze at home. Clary's mom didn't believe in alcohol, and Jace of course weren't allowed anything at the group home. The conversation had ended with Isabelle asking Simon whether he could get any of his mom's, but since she only had peach snaps, they decided to just hope for better booze at the party. And they had been right to do so, because just as they entered the house people were handing out drinks from the kitchen table. Even the drinks, Alec noticed, had glitter in them. There were pink drinks with glitter floating around in there and blue drinks with glitter as well. Alec took one off the table and bottomed it, suddenly feeling very out of place in this crowded house. The cocktail was sweet and he was fairly sure that the glitter was now sticking to his teeth and his lips. The others looked at him for a moment, before deciding to get a drink of their own, seeing that Alec didn't object to it. Although, Jace did make a comment on why they didn't have any beer.

"What, are you not confident enough to have a pink cocktail?" Simon said, already dipping into the drink and coming up with a glittered smile. Jace grinned at him.

"You know what, I'll take one. Since you make it looked so masculine, Lewis," Jace said and took a glass.

"What happened to 'men do not consume pink beverages'?" Clary asked with her best Jace imitation.

"I don't recall ever saying that," he said, but his amusement gave away his lie.

"The other day, I offered you some of my mom's homemade lemonade?" Even Clary looked amused now.

"You have that affect on me Clarissa Fray, you make me want to try new things," he was flirting now.

"Or you could have just taken one of the blue drinks instead?" Simon noted. They ignored him, and it didn't take the two of them long before they disappeared into the crowd. Only in big crowds like these had Alec noticed how lonely he was after Jace and Clary had started being an item. They were always running off together, which was fine, but it always left him alone with Simon and Isabelle, and to be honest it was always only a matter of minutes before the two of them would start arguing about some insignificant issue. Even if he didn't like the attention, he felt forgotten.

Surprisingly, Isabelle split at the first sight of some jock she'd been flirting around with a couple of times, leaving Simon behind. Simon didn't look displeased, as Alec had thought he would. They were just standing side by side awkwardly, each with a glittery drink in hand, looking around at the crowd. Alec liked people watching. It was unbelievable what someone could know about others simply from being a wallflower. You would never even have to talk to them. Simon spotted someone at the other side of the room.

"Oh my God, is that Erik? How did he even get invited to a party like this?" Simon said, and Alec followed his gaze. Sure enough, that was Erik sitting in a Fatboy with a girl in his lap. Erik was one of the other losers from Simon's "band". Alec could not stand the guy.

"I'm gonna go say hi. Are you coming?"

"I'm good." Alec decided he would rather sit alone with a glittery drink, than go hear Erik talk arrogantly about how his last poetry class went and how his teacher was just in love with him. Erik was one of those pretentious hipsters. The school had a lot of hipsters, but Erik was by far the worst.

Just as Alec thought he'd found a good hiding spot, with no one paying attention to him, he felt the pull of someone's eyes on him. He scanned the room, and not far away his eyes met another pair of eyes set in a handsome foreign face that was all cheekbones and angles in the dark of the room only lit by colored lamps. Alec wasn't just staring into a normal set of eyes, he was staring at someone wearing Halloween contacts – it could be snake contacts or maybe even cat's eyes. The eyes moved closer to him, and only when they were right in front of him, did he remember that he was staring and looked down at his boots.

"Hi," Magnus said. Alec had forgotten which Asian country Magnus' mother was from, but he thought it might be Indonesia or something close to it. Alec had never noticed just how amazing Magnus' features were before, but then again, he had never been standing this close to him before either.

"Uhm… Hi," Alec found that he could speak. When he looked back up at the odd eyes he met a brilliant smirk.

"Alexander, right?" Magnus asked.

"Yeah," Alec's vocabulary went down by at least fifty percent. "Alec. Everyone calls me Alec."

"Isabelle's brother. I see a bit of resemblance, but at the same time none at all."

"Oh, is that… is that a bad thing?" Alec wondered, knowing that his sister was the beautiful one of the two.

Why did he want to talk to Alec? He was probably just trying to talk to everyone at his party, but Alec had thought he was perfectly safe standing by himself. Instead he had been easy prey for conversation.

"No, I don't think so. I noticed you were staring. Isabelle would never let anyone know she was staring," Magnus looked amused.

"I was staring? I'm sorry, I…"

"It's fine, Alec. I enjoy a good staring contest," he said and Alec looked back up into his eyes.

"You're wearing contacts?" Alec found that he was able to somewhat keep a conversation going, if only by stating the obvious.

"No, these are my natural eyes," Magnus said in all seriousness. Alec just gazed at him. "I'm kidding. They are contacts. Pretty cool, right?"

"Halloween isn't for another three months," Alec said, hoping his dry tone wouldn't offend the other boy. But instead of being offended he burst out laughing.

"Can I get you another drink, Alec?" he offered, when his outburst was over. Alec looked at the glittery drink in his hand and held it up.

"I think I have enough glitter, thank you."

Amusement ran across Magnus' face, and Alec wondered if he'd said something funny.

"I hide the good stuff away from everyone, because they always just expect me to serve them glitter, and I really don't want to let down my crowd," he said with a secretive smile.

…

It was a warm late summer's night, and so half the party was outside. Clary always enjoyed being outdoors, she always had and so of course she and Jace would find their way to the party outside. A couple of kids had started a small bonfire in what looked like it was meant for just that – a bonfire. One of the kids from Alec's class was playing a guitar and it was as if the outside party was completely different from the one inside. That's when she saw her brother and understood how it was different – they were all stoned and so naturally everything seemed to be going at a slower pace outside. Sebastian was puffing on a bong. Jace squeezed Clary's shoulder once, knowing that she was counting till ten inside her head. She could not believe how dumb her mom and Luke would have to be to not notice Sebastian getting stoned every weekend. He was the otherwise perfect brother and son, but she didn't like him when he was stoned.

"Clarissa!" Sebastian marveled. "You're here! Guys, this is my little sister," he said to no one in particular.

"Sebastian, what are you doing? Mom will freak,"

"Relax. She doesn't have to know. Jace, you have to try this," he held out the bong for Jace, who looked slightly amused. He'd always looked up to his foster brother, and even at times when Clary did not find him the least bit funny Jace had a way of thinking Sebastian's every move was hilarious. It was like they were constantly sharing inside jokes. A few times Sebastian had even gotten Jace into trouble, and of course no one ever suspected Sebastian to be involved. He was a perfectly good boy, Clary thought bitterly even though she loved him dearly - just not like this.

"I'm good, Sebastian," Jace grinned, turned his face and buried it in Clary's hair. "Let's go back inside," he whispered so only she could hear it. But Sebastian's eyes narrowed.

"Gross, that's our sister you're most likely whispering disturbing plans to," Sebastian coughed slightly as an effect of the pot. Jace's shoulders tightened. Sebastian was such a jackass when he was stoned. He didn't think. When he wasn't high everything he did was well-planned and structured, but once he started smoking all that went out of the window, and the filter that usually told him that he was about to say something hurtful and stupid was gone. Clary scowled at her brother and grabbed Jace's hand.

"Come on, Jace. We're leaving," she said and turned away from the stoner crowd.

…

Alec was starting to feel the alcohol in between his eyes, as Magnus kept pouring him yet another glass of rum and coke. He didn't really like the taste of alcohol, but he was just too nervous to not sip at the beverage constantly. They weren't alone, but it felt like they were isolated from the rest of the crowd somehow, because no one was paying attention to them.

"You don't have to keep me company, I'm sure I can find Izzy somewhere in the crowd of jocks," Alec said. His vocabulary had come back after a few drinks, but he was still not sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"I don't mind. You're not exactly bad company, Alec. Besides, I don't really enjoy these parties anymore,"

"Then why do you keep doing it?"

"For different reasons. I don't like authorities. I like to see people be happy. And tonight it was mostly because I got these new really cool contacts, and I didn't want to wait for Halloween to wear them," he smiled brilliantly.

"Oh… that's a good reason," Alec didn't know why he hadn't expected him to give him a real answer.

"What do you do for fun, Alexander?" Magnus asked. Alec always felt odd when people called him Alexander. It was something his mother did when she was being serious about something. "I don't suppose you go to parties for a good time, you seem rather bored?" Magnus noticed the hesitation.

"No, that's not it. I'm not bored," the words rushed out of Alec, and he felt slightly panicked by the idea of someone like Magnus thinking he was boring to him. Why was this boy so difficult to be around? Was it because he seemed extremely confident in his own nature? Or the fact that he wasn't exactly the worst looking person Alec had met – far from it.

"Relax. I was bored as well, before I found a handsome blue eyed boy to talk to, that is."

Alec blushed and looked down into his drink. It was half-empty. Alec didn't know what to do with a compliment, so he just decided to skip the part where he replied to this compliment.

"I like archery," Alec shrugged.

"Really? I did not expect that. Are you any good?" Magnus bit his lower lip absentmindedly, and it made Alec's heart jump for some reason.

"I'm alright, I guess," Alec admitted. He had brought Jace to do target archery one time, and he'd been awful at it, but he'd seemed to enjoy watching Alec while he was hitting the target almost every time.

…

Jace opened the door to a room, and they found it empty. He dragged Clary into the room along with him, his long fingers folded around hers, and closed the door behind them.

"What are we doing?" she wondered sweetly.

"Sneaking around?" he offered. Clary crossed her arms with amusement. This was the first time they were actually alone together, since he'd moved out. They couldn't be alone at his house, because he had a roommate, and they couldn't be alone at her house, because her mother somehow had ears everywhere in the house and she would know. He drew her closer by her elbows and she could feel his breath against her forehead. He was so tall, but as he leaned down she was on her toes reaching up to touch his lips with hers. Excitement went through her body and she unfolded her arms, folded her fingers around his neck and drew him further down onto her mouth. His hands were almost lifting her up from the small of her back. He backed up, never letting go of her lips, and sat down on the bed he knew was there. Clary's heart skipped a beat, when he took his leather jacket off and threw it on the floor. It was all suddenly very real. She'd wanted to be alone with him like this for so long, but it hadn't been possible considering their circumstances, so she'd just kept pushing the thought away, but now…

He took hold of her hips, and almost lifted her on to his lap so he could kiss her again. His kisses were soft and tender, not at all what she was used to. His kisses had always been urgent and passionate, because they had to be when you never knew when someone would come in to interrupt the moment. But it was just the two of them now, and the party downstairs just kept going almost as if it was on a whole other planet. It all seemed distant and far away. When he leaned back to get a look at her, she saw the opportunity to speak.

"Whose room are we in?" she wondered, as she looked around. The walls were all a deep purple color, and the furniture was romantic and elegant.

"It's probably Magnus'," Jace looked toward the closet, and the floor right in front of it was covered in glitter, which even the darkness couldn't hide.

"You don't think he'll come in here?" she asked, while playing with the buttons on his shirt. She had missed "accidently" walking in to his room and him being shirtless. Now he was looking at her with amusement, as if he knew something she didn't. "What?"

"I saw him right before we went upstairs," Jace said.

"What, and the two of you have an understanding of some sort?"

"No, he didn't see us, because he was in deep conversation with Alec," he smirked. Clary felt nervous on behalf of Alec. She had sort of come to like Alec more after he came out to the entire group. It was a sort of respect, and he even seemed to have accepted Clary more as well. He wasn't rude to her anymore. She supposed suppressing your thoughts and feelings could make someone a bit bitter and snappy.

"Should we go save him? Magnus seems a bit crazy and odd at times," she said, but Jace just laughed.

"I think Alec can take care of himself. But your concern for my best friend is endearing and frankly a bit sexy," he leaned in to kiss her again, this time with more passion.

…

"Alec!" It was Simon with his impeccable timing, Alec thought sarcastically as he heard his name being called out through the crowd. He looked up and saw the other boy approaching. Alec cursed under his breath. He was just starting to enjoy himself in Magnus' company. "Alec," he said again.

"What?" Alec sighed.

"I couldn't find anyone, and I just couldn't take any more of drunken Erik reciting his own poem for what seemed like the sixth time!" Simon looked drunk himself, and he only now noticed that Alec wasn't alone. "Magnus?"

Magnus looked from Simon to Alec, probably waiting for someone to introduce Simon.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Magnus looked a bit uncertain.

"No, you don't. I'm Simon, Alec's friend," Simon took Magnus' hand and shook it. Alec exhaled when he noticed that Magnus wasn't horrified by this encounter, but rather amused by drunken Simon.

"Well, any friend of Alec is a friend of mine, I suppose," Magnus hid his grin well. It was like a light bulb went on inside Simon's mind and he whistled through his teeth.

"Don't do that," Alec warned.

"Okay," Simon balanced on his heels. "I'll just go find Clary and Jace."

"You probably shouldn't. I saw them go upstairs together, they didn't look like they wanted company," Alec said and Simon's mouth formed an O, but no words came out of it for a change.

"I hope they are not in my room. I guess we'll find out when they come down," Magnus' smirk was like that of a brilliant villain. Alec looked at Simon, and Simon looked just as confused as he felt.

"How?"

"Let's just say I laid out a trap for anyone who tries to shag in my bed,"

"Should I be worried? That's my best friend up there, I would rather she didn't break anything," Simon said.

"It's nothing like that. I just planted a lot of glitter under the covers in my bed. You have no idea how difficult it is to get rid of evidence, when the evidence is glitter," Magnus grinned. Alec couldn't help but let go of a short laugh, and Simon looked at him in surprise.

"You're drunk. How did you get Alec drunk?" Simon frowned.

"I think I saw Izzy go outside a moment ago," Alec deflected the attention and Simon fell for it, and headed outside. When he turned to look at Magnus he was smiling charmingly at Alec. "He's in love with my sister. It will probably never happen."

"Really? I think they'd make a cute couple, Seamus and Isabelle, it has a nice sound to it," Magnus said confidently and Alec sniggered.

"It's Simon," he said without knowing why he was even trying to help Simon, when he wasn't even present.

"Oh, well that just sounds terrible then. They are no match! Simon? Really? I thought I heard him say Seamus," Magnus was joking, and Alec couldn't help but respond with a huge smile. No one ever made him smile this much. If someone didn't come to his rescue soon his cheeks might get permanent soreness from all that smiling.

As if on cue Clary and Jace came towards them, but they were no rescue at all. Instead Alec had to bite the inside of his cheeks to not burst out laughing, when he saw them. Though their clothes looked fine, a bit tousled, but it was their hair that gave them away – Clary's hot red hair was glittering in the dark in a way it hadn't before. Jace's golden locks were a bit subtler, but there were still traces of glitter on his face.

"We thought, since Magnus makes it look so appealing, we'd try this new fashion statement," Jace said. Clary's cheeks matched the color of her hair. Alec didn't think he'd ever seen her this flushed before. "I think it's pretty obvious to everyone that I look quite dashing," he added, and Clary tried to hide her grin.

"I still think I wear it better," Magnus said, hiding his amusement well.

"Agree to disagree," Jace winked.

"I think we'll go say goodbye to Simon and Izzy," Clary said, while looking around.

"Okay, I'll be right with you," said Alec. The two of them disappeared into the crowd, and Alec turned to Magnus again. He looked smug. "I wouldn't be so self-satisfied if I were you. Jace has a way of making the revenge to a stunt like that twice as bad."

"Oh yeah? Is that why you're smiling so much?" Magnus noticed. Alec tried to hide his grin in his hand. "You can't hide that smile, Alec, it lights up your entire face."

"I should probably go find them. Clary is my ride home," Alec said, trying to ignore Magnus' charms, but somewhat failing at it.

"Okay. But can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," Alec looked up at Magnus' contacts. Magnus took a step closer.

"Do you have a boyfriend, Alec?" he asked and Alec froze, his heart was beating faster as it always was when people talked about his sexuality.

"How did you know I was…?" He couldn't even say the word out loud.

"I didn't, you just told me." Magnus' eyes were warm and gentle and fixed on Alec.

"Oh. Well, I don't… have a boyfriend, that is," Alec ran his hand through his hair as he usually did when he was nervous.

"Interesting," Magnus' lip quirked up at one corner.