Daily Malec Fix Two

17. We Should Talk

Answer: brown butter mizthra cheese.

Jace grumbled and complained the while way to the door as the other 3 stayed quiet. Grandma Lightwood lightly kicked Jace in the butt and told him to scoot before turning back to her grandson.

"Alec, do what makes you happy and people will either understand and follow or I'll kick their butts." She winked. "And Magnus, dear, forgive my grandson for his awkwardness. He'll get beyond it in about a decade or so."

She closed the door and then Alec finally made eye contact with Magnus. He wanted to look away and run but he couldn't fight the connection.

"We should talk I guess." Alec ran his fingers through his hair.

"I suppose we should." Magnus shifted from one foot to the other.

They stood together with the silence growing between them.

"I don't love you." Alec blurted.

"Okay." Magnus frowned. There was no way he could hide the pain.

"I'm sorry. I told your dad that because he's an ass and I just didn't know how to get rid of him." Alec looked down and played with the edge of his frayed sweater.

"It worked so thank you." Magnus reached out to take Alec's hand because he couldn't stand not seeing his bright blue eyes but instead he grabbed his bag that was on the floor.

"Are you leaving?" Alec's eyes were no longer bright. They were dull and emotionless.

"I've clearly overstayed my welcome. Thank you for the help, Alexander." Magnus picked up his bag. Why had he called him that? He was an idiot. He had only started that because everyone called him Alec and he wanted to be special, stand out, but now he should just leave to be forgotten.

"Right. I guess this was never a longtime solution." Alec mumbled.

"See you at school. Maybe." Magnus shrugged and then walked out the door leaving two broken hearts right there on the floor.

Alec ran to him, he yanked the bag away, kissed those slightly sparkling lips, and begged Magnus to stay. But then Alec blinked and let the day dream pass. The door closed and Alec fought to breathe. Had he always been breathing? Was it out, out, in, in? It didn't seem natural. Maybe only breathe in? Nope. Defintely not that.

"Is it safe?" His grandma peeked her head in and Alec shook his head. How long had he been standing there? The sun was low in the sky.

"Uh, sure." Alec tried and failed to smile.

"Where's Magnus?" His grandma asked, but purely out of duty because she knew her grandson. The boy was gone and her grandson was mostly to blame. Mostly, not solely.

"Gone." Alec turned and pulled out a soda from the fridge.

"Okay." She said because she knew he wasn't ready to talk. "Jace, you can bring the food in now."

"No, don't help me. I've got this all on my own." Jace grumbled.

"Good. Now hurry. We're starving." She walked inside, ruffled Alec's hair, and kissed his hair. "It'll be okay, love."

"He left." It came out on an exhale and if she hadn't known him better she would have missed it.

"I know." She hugged him tightly then smiled. "Everything can be fixed if only you have the right tool."

"Well am I going to just stand here or can we eat?" Jace asked, not so kindly.

"I'll grab plates and cutlery." Alec turned on auto pilot and his grandma followed suit by getting glasses.

"Ready for school Monday?" Jace asked as they all sat down.

"No." Alec admitted except he hoped Magn us would be there.

"Same. I have so much homework that I'm not going to do." Jace laughed. "But we're this much closer to getting out."

"Only to do it again in college." Alec smirked. Sure his heart was broken but it wasn't Jace's fault and he didn't deserve to deal with the pain.

They fell into comfortable conversation and the night flew by until Jace and Grandma Lightwood left. Then Alec felt like time stood still. He went to bed and laid awake until the sun was rising.

Question: soda or pop?