Sadness

Alec let his head thump down onto his bedroom wall and released his grip on the bottle in his hand. It smashed against the floor, pouring blood-red wine everywhere. He didn't move. Isabelle had promised that alcohol would help, but he hadn't been able to focus enough to drink any more than a sip or two over the last three hours.

He leaned against the wall and listened to the rain pound on his window. It was hard to believe that it had only been 26 hours and 43 minutes since Magnus had broken up with him.

26:43.

He closed his eyes as the tears began to pour down his cheeks.

Magnus thumped his head back down on his dining room table on which he was lying and let go of the bottle of whiskey, which fell and smashed against the floor. Chairman Meow let out a startled yelp and leapt up on the table to avoid the foul-smelling puddle spreading across the floor.

Magnus sighed. Only 26 hours and 43 minutes since he had made the worst decision of his entire life.

26:43.

"Why do I keep doing this?" he asked the cat, staring up at the ceiling. "Why do I keep falling in love with mortals? Why do I let myself think there's a reason?"

Chairman Meow wisely remained silent.

Magnus closed his eyes, listening to the rain pounding at the windows, trying to get in. Slowly, the tears began rolling down his cheeks.

 Alec was woken from his fitful sleep by Isabelle's insistent pounding on the door. "What?" he snapped.

Isabelle pulled the door open. Glancing around the room at the clothes and bedcovers and wine all over the floor, she stepped in, shutting the door behind her. She pursed her lips concernedly. "How much did you drink?" she asked.

"None," Alec replied. "I couldn't concentrate."

Isabelle sighed. Perching on the foot of Alec's bed, she held out her arms. Alec found himself wrapping his arms around her and hugging her tightly as the tears once again started streaming down his cheeks.

Isabelle stayed silent, hugging him back as she waited for the flood of tears to recede. Then she sighed again.

"This is ridiculous," was the first thing she said.

Alec released her and stepped back. "What do you mean?" he asked injuredly.

Isabelle gave him a look. "I mean, it's ridiculous," she stated matter-of-factly. "You'd think, after eight hundred years, even Magnus would have the sense to realize what a dumbass thing he did."

Alec paused. "What?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes. "I'm talking about Magnus dumping you, and it being the stupidest thing he's probably ever done, with the possible exception of what he did to get himself kicked out of Peru. Obviously."

Alec just stared at her.

Isabelle stood up and looked him straight in the eyes. "You need to talk to Magnus," she decided.

Magnus was shaken from sleep by the sound of a knock at the door. Picking himself blearily off the table, he stumbled over to the door. It was odd, he realized, that it was the doorbell and not the buzzer. Why had the buzzer not gone?

He pulled open the door, prepared to tell his guest off for waking him, but stopped dead.

Alec brushed his dripping hair out of his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Look," he said, "I can apologize every second of every day of the rest of my life, but no matter how many times I say I'm sorry, it won't make any difference if you don't believe me."

In reply, Magnus pulled him in, shut the door, and kissed him.