Chapter 3

Alec is pretty surprised with how his day is turning out so far. He woke up this morning completely annoyed that he was pining over a man, but not just any man, a man whom he let his guard down for on Saturday night. Alec had so much fun talking and flirting with Magnus, which was something Alec had never done. He doesn't flirt, he usually gets what he wants for the night and leaves. He's not a relationship kind of guy. Ever since his fallout with his parents and his two previous relationships, Alec is very wary of entering another relationship. The way he sees it, if his own parents are willing to throw away a relationship with their only living son so quickly, any other relationship can crumble just as easily. Alec is still waiting on that shoe to drop with Clary and the Morgensterns. He loves each and every one of them, but he knows that their love and support for him won't last forever. How Magnus managed to worm his way through Alec's walls with one conversation, he'll never know. Then to top it all off, the guy tells him to call him, but gives him a fake number!

It wasn't until Alec saw Magnus at work today, that he realized just how pissed off he was about the entire situation. Of course, looking back on it, it really was a big misunderstanding. What Alec really couldn't believe was that it seemed that Magnus was just as pissed off about him not calling, as he was about getting a fake number. Then to make matters worse, Magnus is now working with Alec. How can they possibly consider any type of romantic relationship when they have to see each other at work everyday? Maybe this can be something they can discuss over drinks tonight.

Once their shift is over, Alec and Magnus head to the locker rooms to change out of their uniforms and into their street clothes. Alec usually doesn't carry a change of clothes with him unless it's his gym clothes, but he does have a set of clothes in his car from when he was supposed to have a guys' night with Jon a few weeks ago. Little did he know at the time, that the guys night would be cancelled due to Holly finding out that she was pregnant. Naturally, Jon wanted to spend the night with his wife and celebrate. Alec chances a glance at Magnus, and he nearly whimpers when he sees him in nothing but his boxer briefs. Alec immediately lowers his head and thinks of anything other than the gorgeous man a few feet away from him. With his back turned, Alec starts to change.

He quickly dons his black ripped skinny jeans, a gray Henley long sleeved shirt, and his old Chucks. It's not Alec's first choice of clothing to go out with this sexy Greek God of a man, but technically this isn't a date. This is just two coworkers going out to get to know one another on a more personal level. The date will come later. Alec stands up from the bench to see that Magnus is dressed and waiting for him. 'God that man is sex on legs!' Alec thinks as he smiles up at Magnus.

"You ready to go?" Alec asks as they make their way out of the locker room.

"Absolutely, blue eyes," is Magnus' response causing Alec to chuckle and shake his head.

"Lightwood! Bane!" Both men turn around at the sound of Chief's voice.

"Yes, sir?" they ask in unison.

Chief shakes his head for a moment. "I hope you two had a good first day, is there anything you need to report?" Chief asks out of curiosity.

"No Chief, Magnus did great on his first day," is Alec's confused response. Chief usually doesn't ask for progress reports on new employees.

Chief gives the men a mischievous smirk, "Alright, you guys have a good night and I'll see you both tomorrow morning." Alec tenses up, but nods anyway.

Once they are outside of the station, Alec guides Magnus over to his car. Magnus lets out a low whistle once they're seated. "Nice car Alexander," is Magnus' only comment.

"Thanks. It was a graduation present. She's my baby, and I plan on driving this car until she dies a slow, painful death," Alec states while stroking the steering wheel fondly.

"You make it sound like this is the only thing you own," Magnus clearly sees Alec tense up at that comment.

Alec clears his throat. "Yeah...well, this car is just important to me, that's all," Alec can tell that Magnus isn't buying his diversion, but the other man doesn't say anything about it.

"So, why don't we head over to 'Kaelie's', that's my favorite bar anyways," Alec suggests with a flirtatious smirk.

"Sounds great." The slight blush that Magnus is sporting doesn't go unnoticed by Alec and he internally swoons.

~oOo~

The men walk into the bar and sit at the farthest table for more privacy. Alec is starting to feel a tinge of nervousness. Now that they're here, it's really starting to feel like a date.

"So, how did you want to start this?" Magnus asks.

"With drinks first," Alec responds with a nervous chuckle.

Just then, the server comes over. She's tall, and slender, with bottle blond hair that has dyed streaks of pink and purple throughout. She has mud brown eyes, wearing a fitted t-shirt with the bar's logo on it, a black skirt that stops at mid thigh, and six inch strappy heels. Alec raises an eyebrow at this, knowing that Kaelie would never approve of that type of footwear for her staff.

"Hello fellas, welcome to Kaelie's, my name is Natalie, what can I get you today," she states while shoving her breasts in Magnus' face. Magnus subtly turns his head away. An unfamiliar jealousy creeps into Alec's chest. Alec furrows his eyebrows at himself. 'That's a new one' he thinks.

"I'll take a beer thanks," Alec states, a little too harshly.

"I'll just take a cosmo, dear," Magnus turns to look at Alec as he says 'dear'.

"Excuse me Natalie, does Kaelie happen to work tonight," Alec asks, a little less hostile this time.

With a confused look, Natalie gestures over to the bar behind which he notices Kaelie manning the bar. He looks back at Natalie and smiles, "Thanks, I'm looking forward to having a little chat with her tonight." With that, the waitress walks over to fill their drink orders.

"Well, well. well. I didn't exactly peg you as the jealous type Alexander," Magnus says with a shit eating grin.

"Honestly, I'm usually not, I have no idea what happened just then. We're not even dating and that... waitress, just pissed me off when she shoved her tits in your face like that," Alec groaned and ran a hand through his hair.

Magnus lets out an amused laugh. "I guess there's a first time for everything and it was kinda hot," with that, Alec groans and puts his hands over his face in embarrassment. Just then, their drinks arrive. To Alec's pleasant surprise, Kaelie is the one to bring them out.

"Alec! How are you doing hottie? It's been what, two days? Is everything okay?" Kaelie asks, she knows that he usually doesn't come in without Clary, Jon, or the guys from the station, and she also knows that he never comes in when he's on one of his four-day stretches at work. Her concern is touching. She also notices Magnus sitting next to him, and her eyes light up.

"Hello there, handsome. Couldn't get enough of our Alec on Saturday night?" Kaelie asks with a huge grin on her face. Alec just groans in response.

"What can I say, he is just too adorable for his own good my dear, but tonight we are just getting to know one another a bit better," Magnus has a flirtatious smirk throughout the entire encounter.

"I'll leave you boys to it then," Kaelie winks and walks away.

Once Kaelie is out of earshot, Alec knows he is screwed. He wasn't expecting Kaelie to drop hints to his past the way she did.

"So Alexander, would you like to tell me what that was all about," Magnus asks.

Alec glances to Magnus and rubs the back of his neck. "Okay, so a little more than five years ago, I was kind of going through a rather hard time in my personal life. I had a fake ID and thought it would be a wise decision to use it. I came here and drank my body weight in vodka, then thought it would be a good idea to drive home. About a block from my apartment, I swerved to avoid hitting a stray cat that ran in front of my car, then crashed into a concrete barrier. Chief was onsite as well as the other emergency responders, and the police. I don't know how I managed it, but I got out of a drunk driving ticket and possible jail time." Alec couldn't help but stare at his beer while he told this story. "Clary was put down as my emergency contact, so when she got the call, she raced over to BMH.

"Luckily it was nothing serious, but Clary chewed me out for about three days, as well as her brother Jon. When I told her where I went, she automatically came here and yelled at Kaelie, saying that she couldn't believe that she would allow underage drinking, Kaelie of course was shocked -my fake ID was very convincing- but Kaelie insisted on seeing me. Clary took her back to our apartment and I made a deal with Kaelie. She wouldn't report my fake ID if I came in every week and helped her clean up the place, help with inventory, and things along those lines. Kaelie has been a good friend ever since," Alec concludes. Of course, Alec hadn't told Magnus everything. He'd left out the part where that was the same day he tried to contact his siblings, and had a horrid conversation with his mother. He looks over at Magnus who has a thoughtful expression.

"You're not an alcoholic or anything, are you?" Magnus asks sarcastically. Alec can't help but to let out a breathy laugh. It seems that Magnus knows how to break tension with just a sarcastic comment.

"Not in the slightest. I was a stupid nineteen year old kid who was just going through a very difficult time at that point in my life," Alec admitted. Magnus nods his head in understanding.

Magnus lifts his glass, exclaiming, "Well, here's to stupidity and life lessons then," and clinks his glass with Alec's beer. Alec couldn't help the laugh that escaped his lips, and returned the toast.

"Let's move on, shall we," Magnus states.

"Absolutely, how about a game of twenty questions to get to know each other. While we were at the station, we mostly spoke about the job itself," Alec suggests.

"Great idea, I'll go first and start off simple. What's your favorite color?" Alec can't help but laugh. He also realises that this is the most he's truly smiled in a very long time.

"My favorite color is black, how about you?" Magnus looks thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes light up.

"Black! Black is not a color Alexander, it's a shade, honestly!" he says with a snort and a shake of his head. "But my favorite color is blue," he says with a wink, causing Alec to blush. "Okay, favorite drink?"

"Don't laugh but it's coffee, Clary and I lived off of that stuff in college, and we both worked in a coffee shop throughout our college career. I actually still frequent that coffee shop at least twice a week, and if you're not into the coffees they brew, they have an amazing assortment of teas. Are you a cat person or a dog person?" Alec inquires.

"I love both, but as far as preference for ownership, I'm more of a cat person. Favorite food?"

"Steak, hands down. I love a good piece of meat." Alec's eyes widen at his statement, he clears his throat. "Your favorite food?" he quickly asks.

Magnus suppresses his laugh. "Alexander, I'm all for a good piece of meat as well, but my favorite food type is actually Italian. I can't pin it down to a specific favorite dish so I'm going to just stick to my favorite type," he sniggers at Alec's scowl. "Okay, hm...now I can't stop thinking about good pieces of meat," Magnus says with a chuckle. "Okay, back to the questions, do you have any siblings?" Alec visibly tenses.

"Not anymore?" Magnus inquires, but Alec repeats his question and thankfully Magnus doesn't push the issue. He only shifts in his seat a little awkwardly before speaking.

"Only child. My parents apparently tried having kids for a while, but for whatever reason, my mom just couldn't get pregnant so they gave up. Imagine their surprise when she found out she was pregnant with me," Magnus laughs at the memory of his mother sharing that story when Magnus was about eight years old, and was requesting a sibling for Christmas that year. "My mom was thirty-six when she finally had me."

"So, what made you want to become an EMT?" Alec asks, surprised that he'd asked Magnus this earlier today.

"Ah well, it certainly wasn't for the money. My parents have basically made it to where I wouldn't have to work a day of my life if I didn't want to do so, but I just really wanted to do something that helped other people. I didn't fancy the idea of becoming a doctor or a lawyer, and my sense of business is horrendous, so when I was still in school, I just looked into civil service jobs. I liked the fact that becoming an EMT would not allow me to become complacent or bored," Magnus looks over to Alec. "What made you want to become a paramedic?" It's a simple question, but Alec's unsure of how he wants to explain without reliving a past that he'd much rather bury deep inside and never speak about again.

"Um well..." Alec rubs the back of his neck, something that's he's done for as long as he can remember when he gets nervous. "When I was fifteen, I was unfortunate enough to witness paramedics try their damnedest to revive someone. I was so fascinated with the way they were working, I just knew that's something I wanted to do myself," Alec hopes and prays to whatever god is out there, that Magnus doesn't ask any more questions about his past, even though he knows that Magnus isn't doing it intentionally. He looks up, and sees Magnus' amazing smile.

"So do you want to tell me about your time in London now? I mean...you don't have to if you don't want to..." Alec trails off. Magnus sighs and shrugs his shoulders.

"I may as well get it out in the open. The way you saw me dressed Saturday night, that's the way I used to dress all the time back in London. I never really cared what people thought of me. I had the support of my family and friends, I didn't need anyone else...or so I thought. The company I worked for, we had forty-eight hour rotations. We ate, slept, and worked together." Magnus lets out a shaky breath, then proceeds. "I chose the one job where I would end up working for nothing but bigots. They would haze me at every turn. I would find my clothes torn apart, my belongings were always vandalized, and then the verbal abuse started. They would call me names that I wouldn't even dare to repeat. I tried going to my boss about everything, he wouldn't listen. He would just brush it off, telling me that I was just imagining things, that no one on his staff would do the things that I would accuse them of doing.

"Then the physical abuse started. Do you know what a blanket party is?" With tears threatening to fall, Alec shakes his head no. "I would be woken up at night to everyone beating me with a bar of soap that they would stuff in socks. Half of them would hold my blanket as tight as they could make it so I wouldn't be able to move while the other half beat me, then they would switch. Even though they didn't physically lay their hands on me, it was still a nightmare. The beatings were so bad that I would have welts all over my torso and a few ribs would break, I finally couldn't take the abuse anymore so I just packed my stuff up and left. I endured that torture for about a year.

"I almost didn't get this job because my former boss told the chief that I was always harassing my coworkers, and that I would file false complaints, but that wasn't the case. He was just trying to cover his own ass as well as trying to keep me from getting a job. Chief happened to leave all of my former employers complaints in the folder he handed me to fill out this morning when he left to get my uniforms. I'm just thankful that he still chose to give me a chance." Magnus looks towards Alec. "And that's the reason why I'm so hesitant to let my coworkers find out about my sexuality. I told my mother about everything that was happening to me. She works for attorneys who deal with hate crimes and whatnot, they tried to find someone in London to take my case to court, but no one would touch my case since the company I worked for was government ran."

At that moment, Alec launches himself at Magnus and brings him into a tight hug, "Magnus I swear to you that won't happen here. I am so sorry you had to go through that. I will, however, respect your decision." Magnus gives Alec a brilliant smile.

"Okay, Alexander, I just have one more question, and then I think we should call it a night since it's already close to midnight," Alec looks up, surprised at how quickly the time went by. "Will you, Alexander Lightwood, like to go out on a proper date with me on Friday night? I know that's going to be our first night off," Magnus looks at Alec with a hopeful expression.

Looking into Magnus' eyes, Alec smiles, "Absolutely!"