There were many ways Alec would have preferred to spend a Friday night. His preferences however, whether they referred to his choice of takeaway or style of clothing, were always too boring, too safe. This had never bothered him, though; he aimed to make his life as easy as possible. For this reason, he found himself agreeing to his friend's indisputable demands that they make their way to the bar "to drink to the end of another pointless term". Considering that Alec's course subject had been his father's choice, he couldn't deny that not only the past term but the last two and a half years had been a waste. Although, he claimed otherwise to his father to avoid discord. And after spending several years now with a closeted shame, he found himself doing whatever was necessary to atone for it. For maybe then he would feel less guilt for irrevocably existing with his afflicted conscience.

"Alec, let's go," Jace called from the doorway. "You can pack later; this handsome face hasn't got all night." He flashed a winning smile which Alec couldn't help but reciprocate.

"Just because you're afraid I'll make a mess on your side of the room," he said, zipping his suitcase shut. Although Jace showed the most obvious symptoms of OCD, his ego would never confess it.

"I like a tidy bed to greet me when I'm wasted."

Alec shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "We're not getting too drunk are we?"

"What do you consider to be 'too drunk'?"

Although there was a hesitation to his response, Jace didn't seem to notice. "When I have to drag you all the way home because you've thrown up in our taxi," he replied, meeting his friend in the hallway and locking the door behind them.

"Que será, será," Jace called as he strode ahead.

It was typical of Jace to take action without thought or reason. What Alec would label as 'reckless', Jace would call 'adventurous'. Yet they travelled as a pair, no matter the journey ahead of them; they had always watched each other's back. And even though it was normally Jace who landed them in these so-called adventurous situations, Alec continued to follow. For his heart was loyal but it had also made him blind to a hopeless desire that blossomed in his chest whenever he saw Jace's face and the way his golden eyes would come alight with life as if they had never seen the world before. He was like the sun with rays of energy that unknowingly burned the incessant wound on Alec's heart and torched the small ball of hope inside.

Trailing feebly behind him, Alec sighed. "Whatever will be, will be."

With the second term for that year finished, Jace and Alec were not the only ones who had decided to celebrate this. The bar was teeming with life: the majority of people consisted of students, most of which were intoxicated, but there were also beer-bellied regulars; a handful of under aged youths squashed uncomfortably in a dark corner; and a group of dramatically styled individuals that were gathered suspiciously around a small table.

When the pair entered this drunken jungle, they surveyed their surroundings carefully to find a place to sit. Bass music pulsed from the speakers overhead and there was a pungent smell of perfume and sweat.

"There, at the end of the bar table," Alec indicated, standing on his toes.

Jace grabbed onto his collar and pulled him, evidently eager to not lose their newfound spot. In the struggle to squeeze through the sea of people, Jace collided with another who carried a tray of empty beer bottles. It crashed to the floor, scattering shards of brown glass over people's feet.

"Watch it!" Jace yelled, stepping angrily aside.

The other man, who was taller with dark hair styled into long spikes, glared menacingly at him.

Receiving no verbal response, Jace stared mockingly back. "Are you blind or did my good looks dazzle your vision?"

Snorting, the man picked up his tray and hardened the dangerous look in his eyes which were rimmed with charcoal and glitter. "Oh you're far from dazzling." As he stormed away, Alec grasped the man gently by the elbow. He swung around immediately.

"Hey, I'm sorry. My friend, he's -"

The man glanced at the contact Alec made with his arm before scanning his appearance from top to bottom. "You have a peculiar taste in friends," he said, finding Alec's eyes again.

Suddenly uncomfortable, Alec released his grip. He cleared his throat. "Do you want help clearing that up?"

The man's face softened somewhat and he tilted his head fascinatedly to the side. "I'll take care of it," he said, before disappearing into the crowd.

Once seated and served, Jace held his pint up to Alec. Although they had drank many times before, Alec still disliked the taste of most alcohol. Jace, on the other hand, could drink anything and Alec often wondered whether he actually enjoyed doing so or whether he just tolerated it so that he could become drunk faster.

"To wasting our lives and getting wasted," Jace declared, his golden eyes sparkling mischievously under the locks of his blond hair swept across his forehead.

Alec knocked his pint uncertainly against his friend's. "And to my best friend."

"You mean you're only friend," Jace chortled, taking a gulp of alcohol.

Alec sipped politely at the rim of his glass. The taste was harsh and bitter. "I have friends."

"Name one – and not Izzy because she's your sister and therefore doesn't count.

Alec shifted uneasily in his seat. "Sebastian."

Jace leaned his back against the pillar behind him, resting his hands behind his head. "Ah, but is Sebastian as good-looking, as charming, and as talented as me?"

In the few seconds it took for Alec to respond, he studied the familiar features of Jace's appearance. From the golden waves of his hair, like a halo around his head, to the warm light in his eyes. His jaw was locked in its usual stubborn position and a playful smile, one that he had adopted as a child, pulled at the edge of his lips.

"No," Alec murmured, hoping his blush wouldn't show in the dimly lit building.

Jace seemed pleased with his answer however and Alec took the opportunity to initiate a genuine conversation with him.

"Are we going camping again this Easter?" he asked, taking a hesitant mouthful of his beer.

"Do you want to?"

"Well, yeah, last time was great!" Alec leaned into Jace as he recalled a particular moment from their last trip. The memory made him smile and as he talked he felt as if he was reliving that point in life: Jace trying to catch a fish in the water; his face when he slipped on the riverbed; how they had to settle with Bombay mix and cheese strings for dinner.

Yet Alec found that the more he talked, the less interested Jace became, lost in his own thoughts. When he contemplated the memory again, it hadn't been as amusing as he had initially thought and he let his voice trail off into a hopeless sigh.

The evening continued - as it often did - in this way: Alec recalling old memories to an ever distant Jace, so absorbed in the depths of his mind. Nevertheless, his presence was better than nothing and Alec was happy to merely be spending the evening with him.

Whilst he was barely finishing his first pint, Jace was taking the last swig of his fourth. As he slammed the glass to the table, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Alec!" he exclaimed, angling his body closer to his expectant friend.

"Yeah?"

He nodded in the direction just behind Alec's left shoulder, his expression greedy and animated. "Do you see that girl?"

It was as if a balloon suddenly deflated in Alec's stomach. Of course he was distracted by a girl. Reluctantly, he turned in his chair to locate the lucky person. "Where?"

"The small one with the red hair."

Alec found her seated at a table opposite a lanky guy with dark hair and glasses, trying desperately to make a move on her to which she was seemingly oblivious to. "What about her?"

"What do you think?"

Alec swivelled back around and shrugged. "She's alright."

"Alright?"

"Not really my type, I guess."

Jace shook his head heavily, the effects of alcohol finally kicking in. "I'm beginning to think you don't have a type. Are you even interested in girls?"

"Don't be stupid," Alec muttered, hunching over the counter. "I'm just not interested in the same girls as you."

"So you wouldn't mind if I introduced myself to her?" Jace asked, hopping off of his stool.

"Why would I mind?" He gripped the neck of his glass tightly. "She seems to have company already, though. You'll ruin his chances."

Jace chuckled darkly. "Declarations of love amuse me. Especially when unrequited."

"And what makes you so sure you won't be friend zoned along with him?"

"Do you doubt my capabilities? We've been friends long enough by now for you to know that I have a sixth sense for many things, including the female species." Running a hand coolly through his hair, he slapped Alec on the shoulder. "I'll be right back."

As Jace made his way over, Alec looked on wistfully. He observed how Jace, charming and unafraid as ever, held out his hand to shake the girl's before sliding easily between her and her friend who struggled to hide his rage at the intruder. Much to Alec's surprise, she didn't take to Jace's allure, leaning away from his arm which he'd slung on the back of her seat.

"He's rather arrogant, don't you think?"

Alec turned to find the man Jace had collided with behind the bar. Up close, he could see the honeyed tone to his skin speckled with glitter and the slant to his eyes, suggesting he was part Asian. Necklaces and chains hung from his neck and wrists and rings were fitted onto his slim fingers. He was tugging at one of the long, dark spikes behind his ears and Alec couldn't help but notice how his nails were painted black and silver.

"Who Jace?" Alec asked, slightly intimidated by the aura the other man exuded.

He smirked. "Is that what they call him?"

"Jace isn't arrogant," Alec explained, peaking another glance at his friend. "He's just... confident."

"And unquestionably straight," the man said to him with a knowing wink. "As for me, I point in more than one direction."

Alec stared at him blankly. "Excuse me?"

In one fluid movement, the man replaced Alec's glass with a small shot of blue liquid. "You're quite the naive one, aren't you?"

Alec eyed the drink suspiciously between his thumb and forefinger. "What's this?"

"A tasty, blue refreshment for a tasty, blue-eyed angel," he replied, nodding consciously at Alec. He lifted up his own shot and swallowed it in one swig.

Stunned by the bartender's words, Alec hid his embarrassment by focusing on the drink at hand. It slid easily down his throat, cool and sweet. When he placed the emptied glass back on the counter, he felt the man's gaze on him and his face flushed harder.

"What's your name?" he purred gently.

"Alec," he mumbled. "You?"

"Magnus Bane," the bartender replied, extending a glittery hand. "The one and only."

Hesitantly, Alec took his offer; it was pleasantly cool and sent a jittery shock through his arm. He shoved his hand back in his pocket.

"Are you single, Alec?" Magnus asked, articulating the end of his name thickly in the back of his throat.

All of sudden, Alec became aware how warm and stifling the room had become. Bodies were so compacted closely in the bar that limbs were tangling with strangers and people were shouting loudly to hear each other over the blaring volume of music. His palms began to sweat. "Yes."

"Oh?" he mused, resting his elbow on the drink pumps beside him. "So if I asked for your number..."

"I'm not -" Alec's mouth slammed shut, unable to utter the word. He stood up from his stool, preparing himself to leave before he was eternally disgraced.

Magnus straightened up and turned his piercing stare onto him. His eyes, much like Jace's, were golden, but his were flecked with a vivid green.

"You're not what?"

Alec clenched his fists in his pockets. "Like you."

"News flash," Magnus said, raising an eyebrow, "No one is like me. I'm as unique as they get."

"You know what I mean."

Magnus folded his arms. "Your denial is an insult to my intelligence."

"I'm not in denial!" Alec hissed, surveying the people around him to ensure no one was eavesdropping. Through the crowd he could see Jace hanging onto the hand of the red haired girl who looked close to slapping him around the face.

"You're just ashamed to admit it," Magnus clarified.

The alcohol in Alec's stomach churned and his mouth was dry. "What do you want from me?"

Magnus looked affronted. "I saw a cute guy and was intrigued, naturally. You should take it as a compliment."

As his cheeks burned, he wondered how someone as colourful and extrovert as Magnus could ever be interested in a plain and pathetic individual like him. And since he had never embraced his natural instincts before, he struggled to understand what he thought about Magnus himself; he was unlike anyone he'd ever met before; he was unlike Jace.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, almost inaudible. From the corner of his eye he saw Jace trying to make his way back to him, his gait unsteady. "I have to go." He indicated to his intoxicated friend approaching them.

"I'm curious as to why you enjoy the company of a straight man who seems incapable of loving anyone other than himself."

Alec shook his head. "He's different if you actually get to know him."

Following a thoughtful stare, Magnus found a pen from his pocket and an old receipt on the counter. He scrawled something down before handing it to Alec. "Would you like to get to know me?"

His heart hammering, Alec reached out to take the scrap of paper.

"Alec!" Jace exclaimed, slinging an arm around his neck. As Alec hastily withdrew his empty hand, Jace looked from him to Magnus in bemusement.

"You've returned for another dose of Jace, I see," he said to Magnus with a sly grin.

"As a matter of fact, I was just giving Alec -"

"It doesn't matter. We're leaving, Jace," Alec interrupted, tugging his friend away.

"No, no, wait," he said, holding his hand up. "What's that?" He nodded to the paper in Magnus' hand.

The nausea in Alec's stomach intensified and he looked desperately at Magnus. He stared back with hard, defensive eyes, calculating the scene before him. As he looked from Alec to Jace and back again, Alec held his breath, willing him to understand, willing him to not divulge his secret.

"It was merely a receipt," Magnus said wearily before tearing it up in front of them. "Nothing important."

Jace shrugged and turned to Alec. "Have you called a taxi?"

"I'll do it now," he said. As he delved into his jeans for his phone, he threw an indebted glance at Magnus. His response was impassive. "What happened with the girl?"

"She talked too much," Jace replied airily. "It was quite annoying really."

From behind the counter, Alec heard Magnus snort. After a quick conversation with the taxi service, they made their way out. Despite sensing Magnus' eyes were following them, Alec resisted the temptation to turn around, fearing the emotion that would be lying in his gaze: anger, disappointment, hope. Instead, Alec chose the easier option so that he could avoid disrupting normality and keep his secret from harm. The decision was better, easier and safer; Magnus was nothing but a bane of his existence.