mystery of love; malec au

chapter twelve

Alec couldn't keep Magnus off of his mind; even though what he did hurt him tremendously, the good memories that they shared together replayed in his mind like a broken record. He thought of their kiss at the party, and how Magnus had finally looked at him like he truly noticed him. The entire situation made Alec want to scream in frustration.

The next day at school, Alec felt as bad as he did yesterday. Less people stared, but the first thing that he saw when he entered the doors were the jocks scrubbing at the lockers, trying to turn around and leave. Jace stopped him, "Remember that you're hot shit and they ain't shit." Alec sighed, saying that Jace's words were inspirational and he should become a public speaker sarcastically.

Jace said that he would be a great public speaker, turning Alec's body around, walking beside him up the hallway. Magnus turned to look at them as they walked past, wondering if Alec would turn to look if he stared hard enough.

 "I suggest you scrub harder, if you want to leave here before you turn forty." Jace joked at them, seeing that they were barely trying, one of them telling him to fuck off. Alec laughed, feeling better after Jace's comment. It made him feel powerful.

The first few periods were slow for Magnus; he couldn't stop thinking about Alec and how he could fix it, if there was even anything to be fixed. He couldn't help but wonder if their chances were completely ruined after his stunt with the homophobic slur, knowing that it was way too extreme and in a certain way he was only hurting himself.

Lunch rolled around, and it seemed usual, until Magnus stepped out of the classroom. It would not be a normal lunch. The first thing that he saw was an image taped to a locker, feeling his heart race and shock numb his face when he saw what it was. It was a blurry photo, but what was happening was clear and obvious.

Magnus remembered the memory of Justin's party as he looked at the image, in which Alec and Magnus were kissing on the bed. The photo looked like it was taken from a cupboard, Magnus wondering how something like this could happen. He snatched the image from the wall, much like Alec had done the previous day with his photo on the locker, holding it close to him so no one could see.

He then realised that this wouldn't make much difference in a couple of seconds when he rushed down the hallway, seeing the same image taped to both walls repeatedly in the hallway like a strange form of art. Magnus felt the panic grow, seeing people pour out of classrooms and look at the image, then looking at Magnus.

Magnus' first thought was Alec, thinking that this was his form of revenge over him; they had argued about him coming out, and now Alec had got what he wanted. He felt his chest rise and fall quickly, all of his breath sunken into his body, inaccessible to him. His legs moved in the direction of the school canteen, pushing the doors open roughly.

Everyone turned to look at him, Magnus ignoring the stares as he trudged over to the table where Alec sat by himself, waiting for his friends. "Alec," Magnus said as he stood next to the table, Alec turning to look at him, looking down at the photo of them in Magnus' hands. Alec asked what he wanted, Magnus throwing the picture in front of him.

 "Did you do this?" Magnus asked, Alec trying his hardest to look completely disinterested in Magnus' feelings, even though he was upset for him. "How would I have taken this, Magnus? I was in the photo, if you didn't notice." Alec said, his tone dripping with annoyance at the accuse. Magnus said, "This is what you wanted, is it not? For me to come out, even if it meant that I got trampled on in the process."

Alec looked at him harder, his expression softening as he said, "I would never, ever do anything like this. I'm pretty sure it's just you who hurts people publicly, to protect your masculinity. So, go away." Magnus didn't believe anything that Alec said, too deluded with the panic that flowed throughout his body, feeling his life crumble beneath him.