Children of Heroes

Honesty Doesn't Hurt

So... I drew Mayeli on the back of my maths work... My teacher won't mind, it's fine. Anyway I thought you guys might want to see, so there she is ^^

Right, back to the story.

"I am honestly in such a state of shock, I am not sure how to go on." Max threw the back of his across his head for dramatic effect.

Rafe rolled his eyes and whacked his brother over the back of the head with his book, careful to slide his thumb between the pages to keep his place.

"So you kissed her, you're dating, and now you're reading a book for her?" Max rubbed the back of his head, staring incredulously at novel with which he had been attacked. "If only you'd studied the Shadowhunter's Codex as much as you do that book,  you'd be a grade A fighter." 

Now Rafe was just being mocked; grade A was a mundane term he'd picked up from Bethany. Apparently it related to the mundane education system. Whatever it meant, Max thought it beyond hilarious whenever his brother used it, or any other mundane phrases. His taunting was becoming slightly tiresome.

Rafael settled back against his bed's headboard, opening the book once again. "It's supposed to be all spiritual and meaningful, Max. Girls want more than just hunky warriors; they want intellect, sensitivity..."

"'An Imperial Affliction'?" Max demanded, flipping the book closed to reveal its title, spread delicately across the top in cursive calligraphy. "Do they also want pretentious? Because that title sounds like it was written by fricking Shakespeare."

"Well, she also gave me Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing'," Rafe calmly replied, gesturing with his head to the play which lay untouched on his bedside table. Admittedly, the cover of 'Much Ado About Nothing' was instantly off-putting; it simply portrayed two people facing each other in a regal garden. Rafael sorely hoped this was not the most interesting scene in the story.

Max scoffed. "If you read Shakespeare, I swear to the Angel-"

"Who's reading Shakespeare?"

They both glanced towards the door, through which Magnus's head had appeared, alerted by the mention of what Rafael could only assume was an old acquaintance, perhaps even friend. No one spoke; his father's eyes found the book in his lap, and Magnus's eyebrows shot up.

"Are you reading, Rafe?" Magnus gawked at him, before turning and yelling, "Alec, there's an Eidolon demon in our house!" His voice reverberated through the quiet halls.

In an instant, Alec was there, bow hand outstretched, arrow knocked and string to cheek. "Where?" he whispered, surveying the room with one open eye, the tip of the arrow following the line of his sight.

Exasperated, Rafael tossed the book aside and crossed his arms. "I am not a demon! I just..." He stared down at his lap, trying to assemble an excuse for his uncharacteristic behaviour. Finally, he settled for: "I wanted to expand my knowledge of mundane literature."

As Alec lowered his bow and and loosened the tension in the string, he shared a disbelieving look with his husband. Max - who was rapidly rising up through the ranks  in Rafael's list of people he most wanted to punch - laughed loudly.

"No, you didn't." Turning to his fathers, he stated, "His girlfriend likes reading - she gave him a huge stack of books to read."

The room fell into stunned silence. Rafe didn't know what to do: blush; run out of the room before conversation started again; strangle the air out of Max's lungs before he could say anything else; just die..? Max was brimming with delight - it seemed to be his favourite hobby exposing his brother's secrets. Rafe had absolutely no idea why he still enclosed this sort of information to Max.