Alec's foot twitched as he waited, alone, in the dark of his room, for the name to appear. He would be sixteen in three minutes, and he was excited, but mostly scared.

His parents didn't believe in the marks, not completely, anyway. His mother Mayse didn't have a name on her body, and his father had a name, Diana, on his wrist, but they were married none the less. They didn't believe the name that appeared on your wrist when you were 16 was relevant, didn't even believe soulmates existed. They didn't believe a lot of things that couldn't be verified in the Galfry, the stupid religious text Alec'd been forced to read every year since he was seven.

The current protest followers of the Galfry had was the "gay agenda". Alec'd be lying if he said that didn't terrify him. All he wanted was to be a good kid, to fit in. To not have the pressure of being really into dick when it would get him kicked out of the house.

Alec closed his eyes. Just one more minute. Let it be a girl's name, he hopes. If there is any name at all. His parents have tended toward condemnation first strike they get.

There is no mirror in his room, so he quietly makes his way to the bathroom. It's dark, late out, and everyone should be asleep. He closes the door and takes a deep breath, gathering himself and his bundle of nerves before turning the light on.

Written, neatly, in vertical lettering up the side of his neck, is the name Magnus. And if that isn't a boy's name, he doesn't know what is.

He comes around, a while later, back to the real world, sitting curled up on the bathroom floor with tears stained across his face, his eyes red and puffy. He makes his way to his sister's room, wakes her, and asks her to show him how to cover it.

Lipstick and foundation will only get him so far, she says. He needs to not sweat it off, or rub at it. Or invest in many turtlenecks. She's the younger sibling, but she's the one who's got to tell him it'll be alright. Mom and dad will never know.

Of course, the next day, his parents tell him about the family business and why his life had been so defensive and offensive intensive.

Magnus had never been much interested in the Soulmates crap. He'd had other problems, when he was young. He'd been alone and immortal-who even knew if he'd ever meet the person who was supposed to be perfect for him. It didn't matter to him. They could be hundreds of years off, so he didn't care. He pointedly refused to sleep with someone if he found out their name was Alexander, remembering how his mother had thought he was a monster, both from his form and the name. A boy's name. If he didn't talk about his past it wouldn't bother him, so he never touched anyone named Alexander.

He could stay magnificent and magical as long as his soul mark stayed his. It was private.

When Alec was 17, his mother accidentally walked in on him in the shower after training. Not only was it mortifying, but he could tell the exact moment her eyes locked onto his neck and read the name, a boy's name, and how her eyes turned hard and she told him to get out.

She locked the door behind him and he was never allowed back in.

Stupid soulmate marking. Alec'd never even wanted a soulmate, and it'd outed him and gotten him kicked out of the house. Whoever this boy was, they'd better be worth it.

Magnus wandered the world. He made it to nearly every country at some point, even the ones that no longer existed. In the late 1900s, he moved to New York. The city was alive and hustling and he loved it. There was a whisper about the city, something that made him want to stay, to build a home. In no time at all he worked his way up to High Warlock of Brooklyn, and became a social pillar in the supernatural community.

At 9 pm Alec received a text message from his sister, Izzy. Jace and I are going to a party and I know you don't want to go but it's been three months and I can't meet with you without mom and dad knowing otherwise. Alec hates parties, but he loves his sister. He gets another text while contemplating his answer. It'll be mostly humans who don't know about what goes bump in the night, but a few faeries and warlocks. Please say yes.

Where is it? He sends. It's been far too long since he last saw Isabelle.

Hunters, Magnus feels his wards alert him as his party gets into swing. There are hunters at his party. He walks to the door, and over the sound of the music he hears someone his wards identify as a non-hunter talking to the others over the music.

"It's not like she's got a tracking device? She couldn't know if we left and hung out somewhere else." He's got his back to Magnus, and damn, those are some muscles.

"There're trackers on our phones, idiot. She just doesn't know you're here." A blond hunter replies to the human he can't quite see. "You'll just have to deal if you want to hang out with us."

And doesn't that sound unpleasant. Peer pressure, he supposes, as he watches the human's shoulders sag a little bit. He wonders if the human is aware of the supernatural.

He makes his way over to the group. "How are you all this evening?" he asks, and they all turn their attention to him. The girl, all striking features and dark hair, hands him an invite before he can ask to see one.

"Hm," he hums. "Just leave the violence at the door." He looks the group over, and the human finally turns to him and-holy shit. He's gorgeous, even in an ill-fitting high-collared shirt. Magnus feels his heart make a solid thud against his chest, and for a second he's got pins and needles all over his body over those gorgeous blue eyes. He can feel his inner thigh burning, which is weird, but he lets it go.

Knowing his time with the group to be done, he winks at the man, and hopes he gets an opportunity to talk to him later. Bed him, too.

Alec wants to leave the party as soon as he gets to it. It's loud (not too loud, but certainly not something he really wants to listen to), and he can already see his sister making eyes at someone at the makeshift bar. They'd caught up for an hour beforehand, with promises of having fun at the party, but it looks to be turning out how most parties end with his siblings-one of them getting laid and him being a loser and making sure they don't do anything really stupid.

Which, after stopping Jace from blowing up someone's fireplace, might be why they like for him to be there at these events where they always get wasted.

"Do we have to be here?" Alec asks, a bit disappointed in his siblings.

"Yeah. It's where we told mom we'd be," Iz replies, yelling a bit to be heard.

"It's not like she's got a tracking device? She couldn't know if we left and hung out somewhere else." Alec said, even if he knew damn well his mother wasn't above tracking his siblings.

"There's a tracker on our phone, idiot. She just doesn't know you're here." Jace responds, belittling Alec. Just because he's not a fucking hunter like they are doesn't mean he's completely invalid, thank you very much. "You'll just have to deal if you want to hang out with us."

And Alec had forgotten what it felt like to be excluded by his siblings. He knew they were different, enjoyed different things, they didn't even know what Alec did for a living, and he knows sometimes they leave him in their dust. Every time, it feels like a punch in the gut. Just a step away from his mother's cold eyes and her stony banishment of his person from the family's life.

"Fine," he mutters, giving in. He'll never win anyway, with these two and the cotton of ignorance clouding their eyes.

"How are you all this evening?" Comes a voice from behind Alec, and he turns around to see the guy who spoke as Izzy procures an invitation and shows it to the man.

"Hm," the guy says, and Alec can see his cat eyes through the glamour, but that doesn't matter. His throat burns a little, and he looks upon the guy, who isn't looking at him but suddenly Alec wishes he were. He wants all of his attention, and he thinks he'd like to know what it would feel like to be fucked by this warlock, as he presumably is.

"Just leave the violence at the door," the guy says, and his gaze freezes on Alec for a minute, and his gaze is fire, making Alec hot all over. Then the guy winks at him, and disappears, Alec's gaze on his back.

They stand in silence for a moment, before Alec looks at his siblings. "Who was that?" he asks.

Izzy shrugs, eyes back by the bar. "The host. A warlock of some sort."

"Mm," Jace agrees. "I'm going to go dance. Might as well."

Jace leaves, and Alec just watches, wondering when his siblings stopped caring about actually spending any time with him. They used to see each other as much as they could, catching up and goofing off, but now…

Alec follows Izzy to the bar as she starts to shift that way, though he's not sure she really wants him there. She stands next to the guy she was making eyes at, her face void of any interest. He'll come to her, Alec knows he will. They all do.

And sure enough, the guy makes her a drink. Alec's careful to watch the guy pour it, he knows firsthand what can happen if you trust a stranger with your drink like that. She's watching him too, not dumb, and he watches her start to drink and engage in conversation. Small talk. The eyes are doing all of the real communication.

Soon, he's leading her away, and Alec feels like he's 17 again. Abandoned. He doesn't know why he was invited if no one wants to be around him.

"What happened to your friends?" Comes a voice from his side, and he turns to see the warlock next to him, pouring himself a drink. "Not that I mind that they're gone."

Alec shrugs, not intent on spilling his life story to a stranger. "They were more interested in other people."

"Hm," the guy says, a finger stroking the rim of his drink. "And do you think I could persuade you to be interested?"

Alec looks at the guy, their eyes meeting. He pushes himself closer to the warlock, hand on his arm as he breathes, "I think I could definitely be persuaded." Because if his siblings are going to fuck him over, the least he can do is get fucked. He's not even drunk, fully able to consent.

He pulls back slightly, and he sees the warlock's eyes are dilated, nearly round, even though they'd clearly been slitted earlier.

"Follow me," the warlock says, and Alec follows as he's pulled through gyrating bodies. He glimpses Jace, but then he's gone in the crowd of people.

The warlock brings him to a room with a lock on it, opening the door with a code.

"I have a lot of parties," he shrugs at Alec's questioning glance. Whatever. It works better for Alec that way.

As soon as the door's closed, the warlock pulls Alec closer, pushing their mouths together. He's taller than Alec, quite the feat, so Alec has to tilt his head up to get a good angle as they open their mouths for each other. It isn't gentle, and Alec doesn't want it to be. Kissing, he knows, isn't even going to be the main event.

The warlock pulls his shirt off, biting on his neck, trying, it seems, to leave as many marks as possible. "You taste gross," the warlock comments, pulling away for a second.

"Makeup," Alec says, dismissing it. Hiding his soulmate's name, something far removed form whatever event this is.

He doesn't want to just be kissing anymore, and he's already got his hands on the zipper of the other guy's pants, popping out the button and pushing them down just a little bit before pulling back.

"Do you have any condoms?" Alec asks, because shit can get transferred from oral and he doesn't want to be so irresponsible as to risk it.

The warlock nods, going over to the dresser and quickly plucking two of said contraceptives out of the top shelf, along with a bottle of lube. Alec'll be getting fucked tonight.

The warlock makes his way back to Alec, and Alec takes one of the condoms from him and slides to his knees, pulling down the warlock's tight pants as he goes, exposing a semi-hard dick.

"You're going to suck me?" The warlock asks, though Alec thinks its pretty obvious as he rolls the condom over the guy's dick.

"And then you're going to fuck me," Alec says, because it's been a long time and he needs someone else to fuck him and maybe hurt him a little.

The warlock groans a little bit, and Alec smiles before stroking up the guy's dick a few times. He feels the warlock growing under his ministrations, and fuck, he just can't wait to have this guy inside him.

When Magnus walks into Garroway's bookstore on all things magical, he doesn't expect to see the human lay he had last week behind the counter, head in a book of something undoubtedly mystical. The guy's cute, and a really good bedmate, so he knows he wouldn't mind going on a real date with the kid, especially if it ends in an orgasm like the one he had last time.

Maybe he would. His soul mark had been burning, fussy as shit over the last week. Maybe he'd go out with the kid just to spite the damn thing. Which was, ugh, petty, but he didn't actually care that much.

"Can I help you?" The guy asks, looking up at Magnus. Magnus can see recognition flash over his eyes, but the guy doesn't say any more.

"Is Luke here? He has a book for me." Magnus asks.

The guy shakes his head, dark hair floating around his fair face. "Sorry, he's not. Got a name?"

"Bane," Magnus says, and the guy frowns.

"Like the high warlock?" The guy asks, frown still glued to his face.

"Well, I guess the question of if you knew about magic was just answered," Magnus chuckles.

"First name… Magnus?" The guy's still frowning.

"Yup, that's me," he says, a bit curious about the holdup. Whatever. It's just a rampant group of fae in the park cursing people to change color. He can flirt. "And now that you've got mine, can I have yours?"

"Alec," the guy says. "Er, wait here. I think it's in the back."

The guy disappears, and Magnus feels a bit torn. He's named Alec, so probably Alexander, meaning Magnus would normally just cross him straight off the list. Jeez, he'd already slept with the guy. He should really have asked for his name beforehand. Though… He's not sure it'd have mattered. He'd really wanted the guy, and it had been so good. He could break his rule, just this once, right?

The guy, Alec, came back with a package, presumably a covered book, and unpackaged it for Magnus's appraisal.

"Alec short for Alexander?" Magnus asks, holding the book.

"Only to people I don't associate with anymore," Alec snorts. It's not much in the way of confirmation but it is one. He'll break his rule. Just this once.

"Then, Alec, would you like to go to lunch?"

Alec found he quite liked Magnus. They'd get a sandwich, eat, fuck, and hang out. He was sure to keep his soul mark covered-he hadn't seen one on Magnus, so he couldn't be sure if it was both ways. Magnus wasn't the rarest of names, after all.

It was good. Getting to know someone after so long of existing, job to job, learning about someone instead of dealing judgment and letting death take over. Magnus didn't bat an eye when he got a call on his work cell-different than the one he used to contact his siblings, and now, to contact Magnus, not prying too much.

Between his jobs, and training, he spends a lot of time with Magnus, one of them sleeping over at the other's apartment more often than not as their relationship progresses.

They've dived right in with the sex, and Alec can't complain (it's good sex. Some of the best Alec has ever had). Alec didn't talk about his family, and Magnus didn't talk about his past. They talked about the present, and never about the future. They sometimes talked about their work, but Alec keeps it about his shifts at Garroway's not about the side-job.

Alec wonders if he should ask Magnus about the warlock's soulmark. Maybe he doesn't have one, or maybe it's hidden. He doesn't want to ask. He's happy, now, for the first time in his life since he was kicked out. He's not really hiding anything too big, and he works with Magnus. They don't talk, and they should because they're not perfect and sometimes they fight because of their lacking communication, but he loves it. He might even love Magnus.

It's a pretty big thought, for him. Maybe its easier to believe he loves this man because he's got his name inked on his collar, or maybe Magnus is just easy to love. He doesn't know, and he doesn't really care. He feels good.

Magnus doesn't know what to do. He'd sworn off dating anyone named Alexander, and here he is, head over heels for some kid in a large city. He doesn't even know what Alec does for a living, but he wants to marry the kid. He likes that he's never seen Alec's soul mark; he doesn't want to know if it's supposed to be true love or not. He doesn't want to ruin it by knowing it's not meant to be, or ruin it with his reaction of what means if it's true.

One day, Magnus goes back to his apartment to find the door lightly ajar. Alec's got a key at this point, so he knows who to blame that the door isn't locked. When he walks into the apartment, he knows that something's wrong. He freezes, eyes catching on the blood smeared on one of his bright yellow walls.

"Alec?" He calls, dropping his bag and lifting his hands, ready to use magic, as he steps further into his home.

It isn't hard to find Alec; there's a trail of blood leading to the kitchen, where his boyfriend is laying, pale and bleeding from a wound across his chest.

Magnus rushes to Alec, dropping to his knees. He pulls the man's head to his chest, and Alec's eyes flutter open.

"Had'a get somewhere… safe," he says, flinching in pain. "I'm gonna pass out, now."

Alec isn't sure what he'd been thinking, going to Magnus after a job gone wrong. The smart thing to do would probably have been to go to a hospital , where he could heal. There'd be police, of course, but he doesn't officially exist so it wouldn't likely be that big of a deal.

He shouldn't have gone back to Magnus's, where the hunters could track him. Worse, where Magnus would find him bleeding out on his kitchen floor. Alec's fairly certain that it counts as a traumatic experience for Magnus.

He's lost too much blood. He's going to pass out. He just hopes Magnus finds him before he dies of blood loss. He's going to be in so much shit.

Magnus looks at the blood covering his kitchen floor and sighs. He snaps his fingers and it starts to disappear, but he still isn't very happy. It's his boyfriend's blood he's cleaning, and as pleasant a thought as that would be about some of his exes, he doesn't really like to see Alec hurt. The only way the staccato of his heart is steadying is because he knows Alec's going to be fine, healing up on the couch.

Staring at blood as it dissipates is always a strange feeling, no matter how many times he's experienced it. He wonders what he should do. He'll have to press Alec for details; if Alec's in danger, or putting himself or even Magnus at risk, he needs to know. He can't avoid it. It's a possibility they might need to start sharing their lives with each other. That, or stop whatever their relationship is turning into.

Magnus makes his way across the kitchen, over once bloody linoleum, to put on the kettle. He needs to calm down, and Alec will probably be thirsty and cold when he wakes up. It's a win-win, really.

"Mags?" He hears from the other room, though it's faint. He finishes putting a herbal tea in a pot before making his way to the living room.

Alec is propped up on one arm, the other pressed to his chest as he winces. He straightens as Magnus walks into the room.

"Pretty bad, this is," Alec frowns. "Sorry."

"It's… well, it's not okay, but I'm glad to see you're doing better," Magnus says, sitting on the couch by Alec's feet. "I think we need to talk."

Alec nods, and Magnus pulls the blanket from the back of the couch and wraps it around his blue-eyes boy, silent.

"There's a lot I haven't been saying," Alec starts. "I don't really want to."

"It's okay if you don't want to, but darling, if it's going to effect me I've got to know about it. What just happened was not cool. I do not want to come home to find you bleeding all over my kitchen," Magnus says, putting his hand on Alec's ankle. "And we need to talk. But you're shaking, and I can hear the whistle blowing, so let me make you a cup of tea before we start."

Alec takes a deep breath, and it comes out shaky. "Thank you."

Magnus nods as he gets up, intent on finding two cups and filling the tea pot with water. Once that's done, he takes a deep breath, bracing himself for whatever might come next. He doesn't want to have to let Alec go. He hopes he doesn't have to.

Magnus returns to the living room to see his extra-pale boyfriend picking at his fingers, wrapped up in the folds of the chunky blanket around him. He looks scared, something Magnus hasn't seen on him too often.

He hands Alec a cup, who accepts it readily, throwing him a grateful look. Magnus retakes his seat at Alec's feet, pulling them into his lap.

"We need to talk," Magnus says as the anxious silence stretches on.

"Where do we start," Alec bubbles, looking suspiciously like he's trying to keep tears from his eyes.

Magnus puts his hand on Alec's knee. "Anywhere you want."

"Beginning's best, right?" Alec half-jokes. He's quiet for a beat too long before continuing. "Have you ever heard of Galfry?"

"Everyone's heard of Galfry," Magnus rolls his eyes. "Certain factions may have tried to kill me on more than one occasion."

"I'm not surprised," Alec grimaces, then sighs. "I grew up in an extremely religious family. It was Galfrian or death as far as my parents were concerned. To them, everything was wrong. People of African descent shouldn't walk around without leashes, soulmarks are of the devil, etcetera. They were pretty awful. When I was sixteen I found out they were also hunters."

"So those people you were with at the party..?" Magnus questions.

"My sister and adopted brother. They're not allowed to see me at all."

"You allowed a lay to take precedence over family time?" Magnus asks, surprised.

Alec shrugs. "They were ignoring me anyway. They've been changing, recently. Becoming more strict about the religion and their jobs on their own. Less accepting. Doesn't matter if I'm blood."

"I'm sorry."

"It let me meet you," Alec says, though he doesn't sound entirely pleased.

"So how does this lead to you ending up covered in your own blood in my kitchen?" Magnus asks.

Alec doesn't smile. "After… After mom kicked me out, I floated around the city. Eventually I ended up at a church up North. Not Galfrian. Odyska."

Magnus felt a pull in his gut. He knows the significance of Odyska, the church that only appears for those in need.

"They took care of me there, and gave me a new purpose in life. To help maintain order in the supernatural world." Alec explains, but Magnus already knows what hes alluding to.

"You're a Peacekeeper."

Alec nods. "It's why I come across as a mundane. My abilities only exist when I'm in direct danger."

"So what happened tonight? A treaty gone wrong?" Magnus asks. Peacekeepers hardly get hurt on the job, they mostly stay out of direct contact with the parties they work with.

Alec bites his lip. "I fucked up. They shouldn't have sent me, it was a stupid idea. It was a 'persuasive mission'" Alec snorts. "They sent me after Jace."

"Your brother?" Magnus asks.

"Yeah. He'd been getting too close to breaking the accords set up with a local vampire clan. It was going to get ugly if he didn't stop. I shouldn't have been involved, but htye thought since he had an emotional attachment… Usually they just give me a target and I'm arow in, arrow out, you know? Not really worthy of the name Peacekeeper at all," Alec says, clutching his mug tighter to his chest.

"Jace did that to you?"

Alec shakes his head. "My mom did. She was around, they were patrolling together I guess, and… She saw me and she lost it. This isn't normal. It probably won't happen again. I've only been hurt on the job a dozen or so times."

"You're a hit man," Magnus says, mulling over the word in his mouth like a wine he can't determine the goodness of. He sits back a bit, digesting the information.

"Yeah," Alec admits. "I've killed warlocks and humans and vampires and hunters. Clean up crew."

"Would you ever be asked to kill me?" Magnus asks, curious about all the times he's broken the rules.

"No," Alec says. "They can't."

"Why not?" Magnus asks. Lovers have been required to kill one another for Odyska before, like Tessa and Will. It was considered moral because she had another's name behind her ear.

Alec shrugs, avoiding the question. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Alec, I think we need to talk about it." The soulmarks. If Alec's hinting at what he thinks he is…

"I don't want to talk about them."

"Alec…"

"No."

Magnus sighs. "Okay. We're done for tonight. But we will talk about it eventually."

Alec is surprised when Magnus picks him up, blanket, tea and all, and carries him to the bedroom. His chest still hurts, where his mother tried to rip his heart out. Tried to get his soulmark too, but missed. He's thankful for that, otherwise Magnus might have seen it when his flesh began to regenerate. He'll be completely healed by morning, he knows, if he rests well.

"Thank you," he says as Magnus lowers him into the bed, allowing him to keep the blanket.

Magnus doesn't care that he kills people for a living. He's let Magnus in on a little part of him, and that's alright. They're alright.

Not with a sudden motion, like a light turning off, but with the creep of honey spilling out of the jar, Alec comes to the realization that he might be in love. And he's okay with that. He chuckles, out loud if the look he gets indicates anything.

He shakes his head at Magnus's questioning eyebrow.

He's so okay with this.

Life goes on. Alec recovers, and starts telling Magnus about his days at work. It turns out he's mostly alone, waiting for a new job. He pick up shift at Garroway's, who it turns out he knows from assassinating the guy's best friend. Which was apparently a good thing in Mister Garroway's books, who'd have known.

Magnus loves it. He loves getting to know Alec, learning about his daily life. That wasn't really something they had before. They talk a lot more, and sometimes their pasts come up and they don't halt the conversation.

He tells Alec about the decade he spent as a carnie, and in return Alec tells him about the year Isabelle made it her mission to put ketchup packets between the toilet and its seats in every stall in the entire school. There are stories and stories and stories. Alec never talks about his mother, and Magnus doesn't talk about his until he has to explain why he doesn't want to go swimming.

He tells Alec about how his mother tried to drown him. Alec's not pressuring him, he just… Wants to. He's told people, before, but it's never felt quite like it does with Alec. Alec just nods, and hugs him, because he can't say anything. Magnus knows that Alec's mother is awful to him. But he knows that it's left a misshapen hole in Magnus, one not fillable with words. Alec can't fill his with words either.

Being hated by their mothers is an exile they can almost share, but temporal and personal differences make their pain their own. There are some things meant to be kept apart.

Magnus likes that Alec is sleeping with him more often than not. More than the morning blowjobs and carnal pleasure, he enjoys the companionship. He doesn't want it to end.

Alec isn't careful enough when he leaves Garroway's. He wants to get to Magnus's (he's started calling it home, in his head), so he rushed from the book shop to the train. He doesn't stop to look for tails, doesn't really think to consider it. Magnus had said he was going to make lontong , and Indonesian dish, before they go out, and damn him if he isn't excited.

He should have felt the presence of his family members clinging to him, but he was too distracted. Instead he rushes to Magnus's, trying not too appear too eager as he shucks off his boots upon entering the apartment.

"I'm here," he shouts, shutting the door.

"In the kitchen," he hears Magnus, and he walks to his boyfriend, placing a long kiss on his lips.

"Hello," Alec says, pulling back. "How was your day?"

"Mm, good. I only had one client. Wasn't much of a bother. How was yours?"

"Boring. I couldn't wait to get home," Alec smiles, kissing his boyfriend.

Magnus wraps his arms around Alec, and their tongues roll around in each other's mouths, a practiced but pleasurable tune.

"If I'd known cooking for you would get you this excited, I'd have done it sooner," Magnus laughs, pulling back.

"Yeah, well," Alec says. Great defense.

It doesn't matter anymore, though, as a crash sounds by the front door. They both tense, pulling away from each other, instantly alert.

Hardly a second has passed before a woman with dark hair and blades in both hands strides into the kitchen, followed by Alec's siblings. All of them are armed.

"Mom," Alec says, voice strangled. He doesn't know what's going on, why she's here, and why her eyes are on fire with the promise of crazed violence.

"This is your fault!" Alec's mom screams, and lunges towards her eldest son. He dodges her, and so does Magnus, splitting them so she's between them.

"What are you doing here?" Alec asks. He doesn't know what she's talking about, Magnus can see the hurt confusion in his eyes.

Maryse steps forward, arm sweeping out to maim.

"This is all your fault," she hisses. He dodges around the kitchen as she strikes towards him, Jace and Isabelle immobile, Magnus stuck between helping and staying out of it. Alec's picked up a kitchen knife, though, so he'll be able to defend himself, at least.

"This is all your fault," Maryse repeats, her voice growing hysterical. "First Robert defects because he finds his 'soulmark', a bunch of bullshit. And now Max is taking after you. Julian! Who the fuck is Julian? Why did you have to tear apart my family?"

"I…" Alec falters, missing his step, and one of Maryse's blades sink into his shoulder.

With the sound of tearing flesh, Magnus can feel his magic swirling underneath his skin, ready to devour Maryse in a cloud of unrepentant flame. His magic wants to kill her (he can't say he disagrees).

"Enough," Magnus says. He flicks his wrist and Maryse flies off of Alec, stuck in the air.

Magnus walks over to Alec, standing in front of his boyfriend. "You will not come into my home and harm those I care about."

"I will do whatever I want with my own fuck up of a kid," Maryse snarls, and Magnus can feel Alec shrink behind him. "Family destroyer," she spits.

Alec touches him on the back, before seeking his hand.

"The only family destroyer here if you and Galfry," Alec says, stepping up next to Magnus. "Intolerance destroyed your family, if anything. Not me."

"You and your Magnus," she hisses. "To sleep with another man! How disgusting."
"I thought you didn't believe in the marks," Alec says, determinedly looking at his mother, and not at Magnus, though he's basically confessing to having Magnus's name carved into his skin. "You kicked me out because of something you supposedly don't believe in. You tried to kill me because of something you don't believe in. You need to figure out what it is that I did, and what your faith distorted."

"I'm going to kill you," Maryse says, ignoring Alec's words.

"You're too far gone," Alec says, his face hardening. "I'm handing you over to Odyska. You have made an attempt at my life multiple times, and as a peacekeeper, I cannot allow this to continue. You could interfere with my ability to do my job, and thus, I am submitting you for evaluation. You may say your goodbyes to your children while I make the call."
"Wha.. You can't do that," Maryse says, but she knows full well he can. "Please. Baby. Sweetheart. I'll take you back, I promise. Just don't call them. Not the heathens…"

This woman is crumbling, Magnus notes. Alec pulls his cell phone out of his back pocket, sending a quick text, only a second of hesitation in his trembling fingers. Soon, the air around her is shimmering, and she is gone.

Alec takes a deep breath, and Magnus finds his hand and squeezes. They both turn to look at the siblings at the mouth of the kitchen. Both of them look relieved.

"We didn't know what to do anymore…" The girl, Isabelle, explained. "We knew she'd gone bad, but we didn't know what to do."

"So you brought her to me?" Alec asks, and Magnus can't tell where his feelings lie.

"You're the big brother," The blond, Jace, shrugs. "When she told Max to get out, we didn't know what else to do."

"Is Max okay?" Alec asks, and the space between the siblings is awkward, reprresenting the rift in their relationship.

"Aside from the trauma that is Maryse? He'll be fine. You remember Julian, he just went there when Maryse kicked him out." Jace explains.

Alec nods. "Okay. Do you guys have anywhere to stay, or..? You can stay at the house, but I don't know if you'll want to."

"We'd really prefer not to," Isabelle says. "There are enough bad memories in that house to give me nightmares for a lifetime."

"You, er, if you want you can use my apartment. There should be space for the three of you, if only temporarily…" Alec suggests.

"Alec can stay here while you guys inhabit his apartment, is what he's trying to say," Magnus interjects.

"We want to see our brother. It's been years since we were able to," Isabelle argues.

"Then call Max, and we'll have dinner. We can start with the lontong I've prepared. How does Chinese sound?"

"Like a dream," Isabelle smiles, pulling out her phone.

Magnus pulls Alec to the bed. His siblings have been over non stop the past week, Alec and Magnus going over to Alec's apartment or the three coming over to Magnus's.

It's been amazing, watching Alec with his siblings. The awkwardness melted away the moment Max gave Alec a hug, and though there are difficult moments here and there, Alec has definitely come alive with his siblings. It's weird to see them interact, like he's meeting a brand new part of this person he's been in love with.

Magnus kisses Alec, pulling him onto his lap and tugging his shirt off. They've been too tired at the end of each day to really do anything but sleep, and it's a nice change of pace.

"I want you," Alec moans as Magnus puts his hands down the back of his boyfriend's pants.

"I want you too," Magnus says, flipping them over.

After, they lay next to each other, fingers almost touching.

"Your name is written on my thigh," Magnus says, breaking the comfortable silence.

"And yours is written on my neck," Alec smiles.

"But we already knew that, didn't we?" Magnus chuckles. "I love you."
"I love you, too."