Chapter One

Alec lugged his heavy suitcase up the narrow stairs and stopped for a breather. He glanced at a sign and swore. Everything he had heard about college, all the fun stuff, parties, drinking; they never once mentioned what a pain it was to carry all your stuff to your room. The dark haired teen growled under his breath and picked up his suitcase, his muscles bunching under his black t-shirt, and marched up the last few steps as quickly as he could. Once he arrived at the 6th floor, he walked slowly past open and closed dorm doors, reading out the numbers under his breath. When he came to the end of the hall he finally found his room. Cursing fate and his heavy suitcase, Alec rummaged around for his new dorm key that reception lady had given him. He slid it in the lock and opened the door.

The room was small, and only had one window at the far end. There were two desks, each with a chair and a lamp, a set of bunk beds across the desks, and a small door leading to a toilet.

Alec only had a split second to silently thank his parents for pulling some strings so he could get his own bathroom before he realized that half of his room…was sparkling.

The bottom bunk wall had been covered in posters ranging from Queen to Adam Lambert, the college sheets and pillow had been swapped out for canary yellow bedding, and one of the desks had a laptop, a large mirror, and a picture of a cat. "Uh, hello?" Alec called, and then nearly had a heart attack when his new roommate stepped out of the bathroom. Instead of dying on the spot, Alec managed to drop his suitcase on his foot.

Magnus had been examining his new bathroom, which was sinfully small, when he heard someone call out in his room. Excited, and a little nervous, he stepped out to meet his roommate. He defiantly wasn't expecting to find a dark haired, blue eyed wonder staring at him in shock. However, Magnus snapped out of it quickly when the gorgeous boy dropped his suitcase on his foot and swore. Chuckling, Magnus moved to help drag the horrifically large thing inside their room, "Hi, I'm Magnus Bane."

"A-Alexander Lightwood." Alec panted, trying to recover with a little bit of his dignity, "But everybody calls me Alec." He felt the blood rush to his face. Oh god I must sound like an idiot, Alec mentally strangled himself.

"Alec…I like it." Magnus declared, stretching, "So I hope you don't mind, but I've commandeered the bottom bunk."

"That's fine, I like top better." Alec said, and then choked when he realized what he'd said, "I mean top bunk!"

Magnus laughed, "Put your stuff away, Alec." He joked, and then wandered back into the bathroom. He shut the door and locked it, his cool façade disappearing as his heartbeat tripled, "Holy shit…"

Alec quickly unpacked, shoving his clothes into the desk drawers, setting up his laptop, a picture of his family, some boxes to hold a bunch of crap he'd brought, and a pillow. He quickly tossed it up to his bed and climbed up, curling in a ball next to the window. "God I sounded like a fool…" He could still feel his blush burning his cheeks. Rooming with this guy was going to be next to impossible. Magnus Bane…Alec shivered, those leather pants he'd been wearing looked like they'd been painted on. He quickly tried to regain some cold, Lightwood composure as Magnus walked out of the bathroom, looking perfectly at ease with everything, "So, what are you studying?" Alec mentally flinched; lame, Lightwood!

"Fashion." Magnus grinned, holding his arms out and spinning, "Can't you tell?" He was wearing those tight leather pants and an open, button light purple shirt, the collar lined with leopard print, and the sleeves had been brutally ripped off. Magnus's tan arms were covered up to his elbows with mesh, fingerless gloves. He wore black eyeliner and blue purple eye shadow; his lips were coated in a faint sheen of lip-gloss.

Alec realized he was staring, and quickly looked away, "That's cool." He grinned weakly, "I've never had much of a sense of fashion, unfortunately."

Magnus laughed, "Nothing that can't be fixed, I assure you!" He glanced out the window at the sinking sun and made a face, "I hate twilight. It means a perfect, fabulous day is dying."

"But another day's beginning." Alec argued, "I love sunsets, I like the nighttime much better than the day."

Shrugging, Magnus flopped down on his bed, kicking his feet out to poke Alec's bed, "What are you here for?"

"Oh, I want…well…don't laugh, ok?"

"Why would I laugh?" Magnus inquired.

Alec snorted, "You won't believe how many people have. Well, I want to be an artist." He waited for Magnus to burst out laughing, but instead he got a question.

"What do you like to draw?"

"People."

"Are you good?"

"…I got into an art school, didn't I?" Alec heard Magnus roll around on his bed.

"Then why would people laugh?"

Alec got quiet and shifted a bit, a little uncomfortable to tell a complete stranger about his family problems.

"For the record," Magnus stated, picking up Alec's trailing end of the conversation, "I would never laugh at something someone is taking seriously. I'm not that kind of person." He listened hopefully, not wanting to scare his new roommate into a shell.

"Yeah…I picked up on that when I met you." Alec replied, his voice just soft enough for Magnus to hear him. He then sat up as the sun sunk below the horizon, taking its bleeding colors with it, "I'm going to get ready, we have school tomorrow anyway."

Magnus watched Alec grab a pair of dark cloths and duck into the bathroom, before sliding off his own bed and stripping down butt naked as he hunted for his silk pajama pants. He was tugging them on when Alec emerged, clutching his clothes, and then halting in his tracks.

The sight of a bare-chested Magnus pulling up his pants nearly made Alec go into a cardiac arrest again, "I, uh, sorry!" He stuttered, turning to go die in the bathroom. He paused when he heard Magnus's laugh.

"Alec! Calm down! I don't have anything you don't!" Magnus teased, tightening the draw string on his pants. He leaped gracefully into bed and grinned at his roommate, "You wanted top?"

They both laughed as Alec climbed up into his bed, and got comfortable; talking to each other about how exciting it was to finally be away at college.

(Three Months Later)

"Magnus!" Alec called from the bathroom, "Magnus!"

"What?"

"What the HELL is this!"

Magnus poked his half-gelled head into the bathroom and squinted at the bottle Alec was holding, "Uh, lotion?"

Alec raised an eyebrow, his blue eyes narrowing, "Strawberry flavor?"

With a devilish grin, Magnus winked at his roommate, "Never said what kind of lotion."

Alec yelped and hastily put it down, ignoring Magnus's pearls of laughter, and finished getting ready, "Damn we are so late…"

"And you're the one always complaining that I take too much time." Magnus sneered, and then ducked as Alec threw the lotion at him, "Hey!"

"Come on!" Alec raced out of the bathroom and grabbed his bag of art supplies, tapping his foot impatiently as Magnus crammed a sequenced scarf into his tattered fashion bag, and then they both were flying out the door.

The pair of them raced down to the art building on campus, tossing good-byes over their shoulders as they sprinted into their designated classrooms. Alec skidded in and practically threw himself into his seat just as the Professor walked in. Breathing heavily, Alec placed his sketch book on the easel and started scratching out a rough outline with an ebony pencil of the new model. As he drew, he was momentarily distracted by an incoming text. Quickly glancing at the Professor, Alec whipped out his phone and checked his mail. It was Jace. Alec frowned and texted back before snapping his phone shut and going back to work. Ever since that first meeting between himself and Magnus, Alec had been practically desperate to get his roommate off his mind. He kept an eye out for other men, and finally found Jace. They weren't going out, or a couple, or anything like that; but Alec didn't bother to contradict the rumors whenever confronted. He did everything he could not to think about Magnus, but he was like a car accident. Alec didn't want to look, but somehow he couldn't help it.

The class was over all too soon for Alec's liking, and they turned in their sketches for evaluation. He then went and waited outside the fashion class for Magnus to finish up. He used to wait inside, but the hectic frenzy of activity almost got him killed, so he decided to stay outside where it was safe. Magnus's class was over 15 minutes after his own, so Alec took out his sketch book and started drawing. First he started with the head, then a curving figure with long legs, and then the arms and hands. It was only when he started doodling on the spiky hair and playful smile did he realize who he was drawing. "Shit…" It looked just like him, the cocked hips, the lithely muscular body, and those eyes…Alec had to finish them at least. His pencil danced as he drew in those taunting eyes that always seemed to appear in his dreams.

"Who's that?"

Alec yelped and slammed the sketch book shut, looking up to see another art student staring at him. It was a friend, Clary, they modeled for each other once in a while, "Oh, Clary, jeez you scared me." Alec stuffed his book and pencil away and smiled at the girl, "Nobody."

"Oh, well he was a very handsome nobody." Clary grinned, and then glanced at her watch, "Shoot! Simon's probably waiting for me, bye Alec!" She ran off, perfectly timed with the fashion class ending.

Magnus was the first out, looking like a deer during open season, he grabbed Alec's arm and dragged him away, not letting up until they were out of the building.

"Magnus? What's wrong?" Alec panted, trying to get his arm back.

"That woman! If I ever see her tasteless, colorless, old ass again I will kill something!"

"Oh, Professor Imo—?"

"Alec! Don't speak its name!" Magnus gasped, and then plopped down on a bench and began stuffing trailing bits of cloth into his bag.

"What'd she do this time?" Alec sighed, sitting next to his roommate.

"She said that a blue sequenced head scarf does not go with a purple open vest!" Magnus spat, as if that was the worst thing anyone could have said.

"…the bitch." Alec replied, already used to these sorts of things.

"Thank god it's lunch time. I need to go eat my feelings." Magnus grumbled, standing up and swinging his bag over his shoulder, "You coming?"

"Yeah." Alec grinned and they went off to eat.

(One month later)

Magnus was lying in bed, tossing and turning, hating life. He couldn't sleep, it was bloody 3 am and he couldn't sleep! Magnus mentally wailed; he needed his beauty sleep! But Alec wasn't home yet. Magnus scowled at the bottom of his roommates' bed. Alec had been invited to a party by that…Jake? Jack? No, Jace. And he hadn't come back yet. It made Magnus mad as all hell, and he spent the next few minutes imagining painful deaths to this…John? fellow. The teen snarled and rolled over again, glaring at the door, willing Alec to come back. Ever since he'd first met his roommate, Magnus couldn't let it go. He'd felt something, and if Alec dropping his suitcase on his foot like a complete klutz wasn't a sign that he'd felt the same thing, Magnus didn't know what was. Those damn blue eyes watched him in his dreams and whenever he let his mind wander. They filled up his fantasies and pinned him down like a butterfly to an observation board. The door handle jiggled, interrupting Magnus from his thoughts. He quickly pretended to be asleep, cracking his eyes open to watch.

Alec staggered in with a blond man, (Joe?) and giggled, "Shh! Don't wake Magnus up, he'll be pissed."

The blond guy murmured something and Alec snorted, "Shove off, Jace." He slurred, pushing him away, "I'm not tha' drunk!" The blond one laughed quietly and said good-bye, shutting the door shut quietly as he left.

Magnus felt a violent surge of savage pleasure; good! Rejected! Shot down! Take that! Haha! He then mentally slapped himself; he was friend zoned by the man who haunted his dreams. If anything, that was worse. He watched Alec strip down to his boxers and fumbled around for some sleepwear. He tried not to laugh when Alec swore and gave up, stumbling towards the beds to go to sleep. Satisfied that Alec was ok, Magnus closed his eyes and was content to go to sleep until he felt a heavy, hot something flop down on top of him, the scent of that person invading his nose like a toxic drug he could never have.

Alec sighed happily and pushed the covers back, lying on top of his roommate, and then pulling the sheets back up and passing out cold.

He's not wearing any…he doesn't have…oh shit...! Was all Magnus's mind could process as their heated, bare skin rubbed against each other, setting Magnus on fire. He bit his lower lip and tried to extract himself from underneath Alec, but froze when he mumbled in his sleep and hung on tighter. Magnus lay there on his bed, frozen solid, and tried desperately to slow his heartbeat and breath rate. At this point he might start hyperventilating. Well, no sleep tonight.